For the record

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Silver
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 5247

For the record

Post by Silver »

It's long, but it's enlightening.
Its a year old, but it explains how we got to where we are today.
Read it, or don't, but it is another witness to what Brandon Smith has been saying.

http://twoicefloes.com/down-the-trump-r ... g-consent/

DOWN THE TRUMP RABBIT HOLE – MANUFACTURING CONSENT
GALLERY MARCH 12, 2016
By Cognitive Dissonance

We all begin with assumptions, though most of us think of them as truths. Mention the name Donald Trump in a crowded room and you will be on the receiving end of a boat load of opinions; all formed with the benefit of assumptions and preconceived notions customized to each individual’s point of view of how the ‘system’ (aka The Empire) works.

While our ego leads us to believe our ‘opinion’ is based upon logic, critical thinking and factual evidence, the reality is just the opposite. Opinions are often little more than (firm) beliefs dressed up in pretty clothes in order to legitimize and affirm us. Just as clothes ‘make’ the man, so to does his opinions.

And everyone has an opinion on Donald Trump.

When I witness individuals contradicting themselves in order to support (or oppose) “The Donald” I view this as strong evidence of an emotional response. And as ego deflating as this may be, emotional responses are rarely, if ever, birthed from the womb of logic and reason.

The beauty of any ‘belief’ is that it is an artificial construct composed of bits and pieces of thought flotsam and assumptions specifically selected to confirm a previously formed conviction. Rarely can a ‘belief’ withstand a serious and sustained scrutiny, though it is always entertaining to watch a person piously defend a belief as cold hard fact. The degree of mental backpedaling, logic twisting and emotional posturing can truly be stunning at times.

In order to clearly define my base ‘thinking’ let me start out with a list of some of my admittedly severe assumptions (aka thought flotsam) before moving forward.

The Empire is self perpetuating, self affirming and all consuming. Like a shark that must perpetually swim if it is to breathe, therefore exist, either the Empire is expanding or it is dying. This attribute alone embodies a fatally narcissistic point of view which can only be described as insanity.
The Empire eats its own young. In fact the Empire eats everything because the only purpose of, and for, the Empire is to expand, making the Empire a net consumer. It does not ‘give’ equal to what it ‘takes’, for that is the description of a stable and sustainable system. Therefore the mighty Empire is not sustainable and will die a long horrible death. This self knowledge, and all the cognitive gymnastics involved in its denial, contributes to its insanity.

Once a tipping point is reached, and when speaking of the American/Western Empire, that point was reached decades ago, the Empire cannot be changed, fixed or reformed from within. The Empire will subvert, co-opt or consume anything it perceives as a threat to Empire. When the only purpose to live is to consume, to stop consuming is to die. Therefore ‘revolution’ of any sort or degree not authorized by the Empire will be opposed and suppressed at all costs, subtly if possible in order to maintain the illusion of State benevolence, violently and publically if needed and as the insanity escalates.

‘We’ are ‘The Empire’. There is no ‘they’, ‘them’, and ‘those’, only ‘you’, ‘I’ and ‘us’. The question is not ‘if’ we are The Empire, but the degree to which we participate in Empire. If we wish our credit/debit cards to work, our banks to remain open and operating, our standard of living to remain the same or improve, our peace to remain undisturbed and others to assume responsibility for many aspects of our affairs (such as feed ourselves, personal self defense and the entitled ‘right’ to be blissfully ignorant) then we are Empire.
Empire is corrupt and all corrupting. This means “We the People” are also corrupt, particularly if we support the Empire or benefit from the Empire and do nothing to lessen or withdraw from our own corruption. We are all members of the Emperor’s court, though there is no doubt some are much closer to the Emperor and his/her beneficence than others. There is no moral high ground achieved from ‘defensive’ or ‘ignorant’ corruption. To believe otherwise is a demonstration of our own personal insanity and the degree to which we are thoroughly co-opted.
The Empire, as with all empires, requires ‘consent’ by its captive minions in order to continue consuming and expanding. Willing consent is not required, but is preferred for maximum efficiency. Many express dislike for The Empire, but still ‘consent’ to participate for any of a million reasons including fear, greed, apathy and (often feigned) ignorance.
As a rule, Empires die a long, slow, agonizing death while taking with it as many people as possible in the process. Since its ‘citizens’ are deliberately conditioned to identify with the Empire, while in reality the interests of both entities are diametrically opposed, in practice its citizens continue to support the Empire long past its freshness date.
While Empire is always mentally conceptualized with respect to its physical manifestation in a geographic location (i.e. the United States of America located on the North American Continent) Empire is actually, first and foremost, a thought meme and a belief system manifested into physical form by those who ‘believe’ they are what they believe themselves to be. A perfect example of this was the United State’s belief in “Manifest Destiny”, a time period many historians mark as the US’s first entry onto the world’s stage as a power to be reckoned with. And the period of time I mark as the US’s entry into sociopathic psychosis.

The Empire’s base of power is not primarily its weapons of war, its resources or its people. Its power springs from its ability to create currency units which are widely accepted even by its enemies, often called the reserve currency. The point when the reserve currency creation becomes unconstrained is usually when the Empire goes rogue, with the tipping point reached soon after. It is at this point where more stick and less carrot are employed against friend and foe alike, including the resident citizens. Soon after it becomes all stick.

Everyone within the empire serves the Empire, including its individual and corporate ‘citizens’. This especially holds true for its upper level civil ‘servants’, political appointees, elected office holders, state and federal judges, the military at all levels including ‘civilian police officers, the oligarchs and elites. And most importantly, the President of the United States. All are beholden to the Empire and constitute the court of the Empire. While the president may be considered the Chief Executive Officer, the president works for the Empire and is controlled by the Empire’s court. The power of the president flows up from the Empire’s court, not down from the president.

I could go on and on, but you get the point. Unless and until “We the People” view everything through the lens of Empire, meaning we wash the “America the benevolent democracy” myth out of our mind, reality will elude us. This, by the way, is exactly what the myth creators and promoters wish to occur, for you and me to remain spellbound and chasing mythical thought creatures.

Myth - Final

Sampling the Myth

The myth of the presidential ‘elected’ office is far too important to the Empire to allow just anybody to serve in that position. All candidates for the office are carefully screened by the Empire’s court before being allowed a ‘serious’ run for office. This doesn’t mean mainstream outsiders are prevented from pursuing the office, since allowing the oddballs to run helps support the presidential and democratic myth.

Since the court’s best interest is aligned to the empire’s best interest, there is an unofficial screening or leveling process that filters out those candidates considered unworthy long before the second Tuesday in November supposedly decides the matter. It is all made to appear very natural, an expression of the will of the people you might say, and not a deliberate and calculated selection process designed to give the Empire precisely what the Empire wants.

Any ‘rouge’ candidate who doesn’t fit the desired parameters is eventually marginalized and pushed aside by the inability to raise significant campaign funds from court members, by the use of the state’s controlled mass media to discredit the individual (and groups supporting the candidate) and, if need be, by more direct persuasion such as blackmail, threats and financial sabotage.

The American myth of the ability of anyone to become President is precisely that, a myth.

This brings us back to Donald Trump, who on face value alone appears to contradict just about everything I’ve just written. That is unless we check under the covers and read between the lines. Rather than focus on the man and the specifics of what he says and does, let’s pull back and absorb the bigger picture so we may place Trump in his proper context.

As the Empire itself turns rogue and escalates its attacks on foreign and domestic entities, there is a point in time when the illusion begins to slip. One cannot remain married to an abusive spouse for long before the abused begins to question the very basis of the relationship.

This is beginning to happen both within other nations, some who are now beyond questioning the Empire and have begun to directly challenge it (a tricky matter because they are also wedded to, and dependent upon, the Empire) and with “We the People” domiciled within the Empire. These stirrings are the very seeds of revolution.

Obviously the Empire will perceive this as a clear and present danger and will begin to marshal forces to neutralize the issue. One of the most effective ways to do so is by subverting, co-opting or consuming anything it perceives as a threat to Empire. A careful study of the revolutionary movements of the 1960’s and 70’s, using both empire approved history books as well as published alternative sources, reveals the time tested blueprint for co-opting and defusing budding uprisings.

In every (American) case I have studied the technique used is multifaceted. The mainstream population, meaning those still sufficiently enthralled by the illusion to defend their belief system, is convinced through ‘official’ pronouncements and media propaganda that the trouble makers are disaffected malcontents (long haired hippies in the 60’s, conspiracy theorists in the 00’s) who are threatening the court’s peaceful existence.

Simultaneously the resistance is carefully infiltrated with low level agent provocateurs placed on the protest line to sow discord and ‘force’ police suppression to protect life and property. In addition, highly trained operatives are infiltrated into the resistance command structure, including the very top tier, in order to destroy from within using divide and conquer methods.

And let’s not forget the ever popular and nearly always effective false flag attacks perpetrated by the Empire and blamed on the resistance in order to justify crackdowns, imprisonments and vilification. When carefully coordinated with a lapdog ‘free’ press, even resistance sympathizers can be turned against their better judgment and back into the arms of the empire. Fear is, and always will be, an effective tool against those who unwilling to think for themselves.

But what is to be done when the vast majority of the population is beginning to recognize the wolf wears sheep’s wool? While many still believe the ‘democracy’ narrative, meaning they believe democracy (actually a representative republic) is the best form of government for them, they are increasingly doubtful “We the People’ presently live in the believed narrative. The governmental corruption, economic crony capitalism and income disparity can no longer be hidden as the entire middle class slips down a peg or two in the wealth hierarchy. The frayed rope is about to be exposed.

Frayed Rope - Final

The ugly underbelly can no longer be hidden.

When your credibility is suddenly called into question and people begin to seek alternative ‘authorities’, give the people what they want…though not exactly what they want, just what you have conditioned them to believe they want. Or as is the case with our current situation, since anyone who is presently an authority is not to be trusted, give people the antithesis of the existing authority structure.

For example….Donald Trump.

This is not to say Trump is controlled opposition. Far from it in fact I suspect, though the parameters of the election structure acts to buffer and direct in much the same way a cattle shoot guides but does not impede. As far as the cattle or Donald Trump are concerned, given the inherent limitations of the system, both moves forward of their own free will. The huge Trump ego is also its own effective straight jacket.

The Empire does not need to give birth to something in order to control or direct it. Denying creation actually affords plausible deniability, thereby distancing Empire from the tools it employs to stifle or misdirect discontent and resistance.

The brilliance behind this technique is how well it plays upon the mind of the resistance itself. Those who have finally seen the futility of the system and have begun to withdraw, particularly from the act of giving consent by way of ‘voting’, thereby expressing ‘choice’ and consent, are flocking back if only to register their ‘protest’ vote. Just when they think they’re out, it pulls them back in. The cattle chute is just as effective regardless of what, or who, is being corralled.

The Empire’s only purpose is to consume. And in order to consume it must live another day. Especially during the last several election cycles, hope and change was, and is, the only product being sold. When the meal can no longer be served within the narrative, the side dishes are changed so the message is to ‘fix’ the system in order to conform to the narrative.

Thus Donald Trump and his rebel yell, the great white hope (in distinct contrast to the 2008 great black hope), is simply a reflection of the escalation of Empire’s attempt to control whatever it perceives as a threat.

Again, ‘control’ doesn’t mean absolute and unwavering. There are more than enough conflicting synergies and special interests in the system to contain Trump right up to the point where it is possible for Trump to do significant damage to the system. At that point there are many methods, many of them used in the past, which can once again be used to neutralize even the great and almighty Trump. Personally I don’t think that will become necessary.

Trump is every bit the media creation as any other politician, only in this case strengthened by negative press rather than positive. Whenever I see the MSM singing with one voice I try to ignore the spoken message, the narrative if you will, and look elsewhere for the real agenda. When the elite are declaring they are worried about a mere mortal I really start looking for a hidden agenda.

The elite want us to beg Trump to be our President just like they will want us to beg the Fed to print more money to save ‘our’ money system. If I (assuming I was an ‘elite’) knew an economic $#!% storm was headed my way and I wanted someone pre-positioned to do the dirty work for me, in this case a 'strong' leader who will ram 'reforms' down their throats, I would manipulate the herd into begging me for my foul tasting 'medicine'.

Careful what you wish for.

Foul Medicine - Final

A spoon full of sugar Trump helps the socioeconomic medicine go down.

People are not moving towards Trump as much as they are moving away from what the elites (through their various political, business and media mouthpieces) say they don't want. It's called reverse psychology and it’s very effective when done right. The narrative is that Trump is a danger to the establishment, a ‘fact’ shouted from every mountain top, thereby making it ‘true’ simply by virtue of repetition and not by any established fact.

If ‘they’ hate Trump, ‘We the People’ should love him. Incredibly, once again ‘we’ are being played perfectly both by Trump himself, who understands all too well the effect he has by portraying himself as the outsider taking on the filthy corrupt machine. And by the machine of Empire, which uses feigned manufactured outrage at the ‘people’s choice’ to once again regain credibility in a system engineered to deceive and entrap.

There is no doubt there truly are many people genuinely alarmed by Trump’s rapid rise in the Republican primary. What many fail to recognize is how this simply illustrates how deeply dependent upon, and embedded within, the illusion these people are. An extremely valuable side benefit is how this genuine outrage creates additional plausible deniability for the Empire as the overall orchestrating force.

Remember, true control comes from limiting options to force direction rather than to attempt to micromanage every twitch and utterance.

Then there is the bandwagon phenomenon. As Trump looks more and more 'electable' people will begin to jump on the Trump bandwagon. If nothing else people want to run with the herd, particularly when it appears the herd is going to stick it to the farmer and his minions.

As far as I’m concerned, when viewed through the clarifying lens of Empire, Trump, at least at this point in the fall of Empire, is far more beneficial than harmful to both the empire and the empire’s court. And the benefits extend far beyond just an election. While the mainstream consensus, backed up by every consensus ‘poll’ published so far, is that Hillary Clinton is the favorite horse and will beat Trump head to head, Clinton, if elected, will not possess a popular mandate to implement ‘reforms’.

As much as the empire’s court wishes the gravy train to continue, therefore they as individuals and groups will do everything possible to serve their best interest, there is a growing awareness that structural reforms are desperately needed to kick the can down the road several more years, if not decades.

Clinton is establishment, a child of the court, and will not deliver the needed medicine, virtually assuring a swifter end to the free lunch. Trump, on the other hand, known worldwide for his signature “You’re fired”, will fire off some mighty reforms which will bleed and permanently weaken the middle class even further. You didn’t expect the elite and court to actually pay for the reforms…did you?

But, and here’s the rub, Trump, being “We the People’s” choice, will possess the very mandate Clinton would lack and maintain enough credibility to do what no other candidate can do….gut the system of its social safety net while maintaining the financial system with ‘whatever it takes’, all while being cheered by the populace for doing so in the name of sticking it to the elites. Reform you can believe in.

Supposedly beholden to no special interests while holding credentials forged in the blast furnace of business building and bankruptcy, Trump may just be the only person everyone will hate enough to actually garner enough credibility and respect to ‘git ‘er done’. And make no mistake about it, managing a business through bankruptcy means making tough decisions and will be seen as an asset and not a liability when reforms are jammed through.

This is not to say any reforms proposed or enacted will ‘fix’ the system. As I stated at the beginning, the system cannot and will not be fixed. In fact, for many (including not only the crony capitalists and beneficiaries of the corruption, but the millions living off state provided entitlements) the system is not broken and needs at best some fine tuning and adjustment.

Never let a crisis go to waste, and this one will not be wasted. Structural reforms will eventually be made, especially to ‘entitlements’. The question is, will they go deep enough to satisfy no one, but still allow the can to be kicked down the road another few decades?

Stay tuned.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled cognitive programming already in progress.



03-12-2016

Cognitive Dissonance

Silver
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 5247

Re: For the record

Post by Silver »

Mar 16, 2017 1:02 PM

Loose Cannon

By Cognitive Dissonance

Back in the days of sword and sail, warships mounted heavy cannon on their decks in such a way as to maximize their range of fire. Out of necessity, this meant the cannon were not permanently fixed in place and needed to be properly lashed to the deck during high seas or violent maneuvers. The cannon, cast from iron, were extremely heavy weapons of war and wrought great death and destruction if they ever broke free from their restraints and got loose on deck.

Today, the phrase ‘loose cannon’ is used to describe an individual, usually a politician or other ‘authority’, who has become reckless and rash, lashing out senselessly at anyone and everyone within reach. Dangerously uncontrollable would be a proper description of both the loose cannon and the described individual.

But I am not referencing Donald Trump or any other individual for that matter. Instead I am speaking with regard to the faceless, nameless, uber powerful chameleon better known as the Deep State, the existence of which has been repeatedly mentioned in the mainstream and alternative press of late. However, I am not necessarily claiming the Deep State itself is the loose cannon. Read on for the answer.

While various forms of the phrase “Deep State” have been around for decades, I began to pay particular attention soon after the false flag event of 9/11, when I launched into deep study sessions reading the likes of Smedley Butler, John Perkins, Roger Stone, Michael Ruppert, Daniel Ellsberg, Tom Engelhardt, Peter Dale Scott, Noam Chomsky, Webster Tarpley et al. The list is deep and varied and by no means does it represent strictly truthsayers. To truly know your enemy you must understand their tactics, methods and disinformation/propaganda.

I was aware of deeply hidden forces within the US for most of my adult life, based mostly upon my experiences within the counterculture movements of the late 60’s and 70’s. But my second and deeper awakening unfolded when I absorbed a wide and diverse swath of alternative authors and history. My rapidly expanding understanding of how deeply embedded and controlling the Deep State had been, and still remains today, was personally and emotionally unsettling to say the least.

Nobody wishes to admit they were conned. Even worse is the ego blow administered when we concede we have been compliant and complicit through a combination of gullibility, greed and narcissistic self interest. Navel gazing is rarely pretty when seen up close and personal. The bottom line is I didn’t know because I didn’t want to know. Any excuse to explain or justify my so-called ignorance is offered to sooth my tattered ego and falls on deaf ears when brutal honesty is pursued.

Just because I didn’t know doesn’t mean I couldn’t know if I had wanted to; a fact most of us avoid acknowledging under any and all circumstances. We simply cannot declare ourselves thinking and aware individuals if all we compute is preprogrammed propaganda trash. Garbage in equates to garbage out and results in a fetid garbage dump located between the ears.

Similar to how the martial arts expert leverages his opponent’s weakness to defeat him or her, so too does the Deep State leverage our ignorance and denial against “We the People”. Just because we acknowledge the phrase “Deep State” doesn’t mean we recognize, let alone understand, the Deep State itself.

Previously our collective ignorance was encouraged by clever disinformation, bald faced lies and outright denial of the Deep State by the Deep State itself through its various public organs, aka the mainstream media, various ‘think’ tanks and its multitude of managed authorities and officials. When a captive culture is dependent upon paternal authority for affirmation of its very existence, whatever the authority deems real (or not) carries great influence within the dependent herd.

This conditioned way of thinking, of being, is so deeply embedded within our ‘self’ that its existence is denied by nearly all, at least on a personal basis. Tragically, this is why even mentally strong individuals can rarely accept a promoted ‘truth’ for what it really is……a lie, particularly if the lie flies in the face of deeply engrained and conditioned beliefs.

This helps explain why so many people must continue to believe the official lie about 9/11 truth. To fully reject the lie is to reject themselves and what they believe in. You might as well ask them to cut off a pound of flesh as to get them to seriously question the official story.

Sure, many will say they don’t completely believe the promoted lie as the ‘truth’. But they have simply bargained with themselves by accepting lesser lies rather than fully rejecting the lie and all the ramifications that come with doing so.

This is also why people will remain lobsters in a pot, knowing full well the water’s getting warmer by the minute, and only panic when an ‘authority’ finally admits we will soon be served up with butter. Ultimately many simply cannot reject the public lie because doing so means rejecting the paternal hierarchy. This only becomes possible for many if they first seek out, and then receive, external affirmation from a substitute paternal figure/organization.

We cannot reject one paternal hierarchy without joining another, allowing the second to confirm our rejection of the first. The enslaved mind constantly craves affirmation to sooth its inured insecurity. What passes for strong individuals these days is often a deeply insecure mind flailing about in desperate need of external affirmation. Never underestimate the lengths to which we will go to assuage our deeply conditioned insecurity.

This is the supreme leverage constantly employed against us. Condition us to be the problem, poke and provoke us to create a reaction and then quickly provide a superficial solution that simply leads us back to the problem. Each successive generation of controllers only needs to perpetuate the insecurity to both confirm it and play upon it. There is no need to reinvent the wheel; just roll it on down the hill. Prior conditioning, like gravity, does the rest.

But lately the controlling meme is changing. Now the Deep State is acknowledging its very existence in the name of fighting tyranny and intolerance. In many ways this is a brilliant strategy because the first rule of politics is to accuse your opponent of being precisely what you are. He, who accuses first, accuses best.

The CIA, the covert muscle of the Deep State, is publically defying the chief executive of the political union we call America. While this is not surprising to those of us who understand the makeup and methods of the Deep State, it is very revealing to mainstream minions who (want to) know nothing about the ugly underbelly of the underworld.

Being overtly controlling violates basic Constitutional tenets we have long been conditioned to believe overrides all individual and governmental entities. This aberration can only be tolerated by the greater (still brainwashed) population if framed in a way that signals furtherance of truth, justice and the American Way. Essentially the Deep State is declaring they must destroy the village in order to save the village.

In effect, what the Deep State is promoting is the ultimate in Virtue Signaling to a specifically targeted and preprogrammed segment of the population. This is monstrously hypocritical to the nth degree. But morals and ethics only apply to the little people and are useless to the Deep State unless leveraged against us, something it does all the time via its compliant subordinates.

In the opinion of many on the political (far) right, the Deep State has just jumped the shark with its transition to open warfare against its perceived domestic enemies. They say it’s all just ineffective thrashings of a wounded and dying animal, desperate to maintain control in the face of significant opposition from Trump and Company.

Put simply, the thinking is the Deep State would not engage in such actions if it did not feel covert means were more effective. This means, in their opinion, that the USA has become a loose cannon, wrecking havoc on the decks of the nation’s ship of state. Regardless of whether this assessment is correct or not, the present day state of affairs is entirely intentional and planned.

I have written before how Trump was ‘created’ by the Deep State via its controlled propaganda organ, the MSM, rather than a ‘spontaneous combustion’ per a popular outcry of disenfranchised citizens seeking none of the above. Simply stated, if the MSM had not vilified Trump at every turn, thereby turning Trump into a blazing Roman candle signaling him as nothing like the above and a rebel with a cause, Trump would once again have sunk into the ignored wasteland shared by every other alternative candidate before him.

The mainstream media is the controlling propaganda arm of the Deep State. It assumes no major policy or political stance without the expressed consent and direction of its controllers. It could have ignored and marginalized Trump just as it has done to every other contrary candidate since Ross Perot was ‘allowed’ to run back in 1992.

Trump is no accident or political escapee who blew up in the face of the MSM, nor the deep state for that matter. But that is precisely the propaganda meme being vigorously promoted via every glowing screen from sea to shining sea. Even the political right has taken the bait, endlessly repeating Trump the ‘rebel’ mind meme.

So why would ‘they’ do this? What greater purpose, at least for them, is served erecting such a flawed and divisive candidate, then electing him to the highest office in the land?

In a word……control, as in continuing and near total.

While carefully hidden from the general public, the primary control mechanism of the Deep State (the fiat dollar as the world’s reserve currency) is rapidly waning in power and influence. Vast arrays of sleeping sloggers throughout the world are becoming increasingly aware of the corrosive financial policies directed against the many towards the few by the US and its captured co-conspirators. The zombie dead are slowly awakening.

A swirling feedback loop of additional financial excesses creating more social inequities could rapidly ignite in the Deep State’s lap if this explosive energy is not redirected towards division of the masses before they firmly unite. The 10,000 year old domination of the plebs playbook is clear; either control the opposition or fall to the opposition.

For the central entities of the Deep State, the impulse to escalate springs from the obsessive desire to survive their own decadent excesses. Power craves more power, and will not meekly tolerate less. The only purpose of power is to effectively use it to gain more power while maintaining the power already possessed.

If there’s one thing I learned from the alternative social movements of the 60’s and 70’s, it was the following lesson. What appears to be real and genuine on the surface is rarely what actually exists beneath the first few layers of illusionary fluff. Those who believe the music, drugs, fashion and symbolism of that period of time was entirely organic and natural, spontaneous even, needs to dig much deeper down into the rabbit hole.

Things rarely are as they seem. Rather than view that period of time (and today as well) as a series of events the mainstream media reports on in real time, or after the fact, recognize it as essentially a creation of the propaganda press controlled by the Deep State.

If anything, as then and again today, tiny organic embers which are always present in any large and diverse population, once fanned into flickering flames, attract alternative minded moths that move toward the light and embrace change they can believe in. The rest, as they say, is history.

Nine years ago it worked when Obama moved to corral a restless segment of the population. Now it’s working once again as Trump herds a contrary subdivision while giving the first segment renewed purpose and vigor opposing the second. This divide and control tactic is brilliant in its shameless audacity and imprudence.

It has been endlessly reported the horse pulls the cart. But in fact, the cart is placed in front of the horse and leads the horse to water, all while allowing the horse to think he’s the boss. When a conditioned absence of critical thinking meets up with controlling thought memes, the mind readily accepts as truth what it is told. Our bruised ego would allow us see it no other way.

There are no accidents in the Deep State. One does not need to micromanage in order to control. In fact, to micromanage destroys the ability to effectively control a ‘free’ culture because people will only fully engage and embrace that which they believe is organic, true and aligned with their conditioned belief system. This especially holds true for the alternatively aligned mind that is suspicious by nature and nurture.

Only when a prevailing meme is structured to allow infinite and minute modification by the individual, while remaining effectively whole in its basis, can it exercise overall control by allowing the target to believe they can fully embody it while still regulating it.

We must believe it is our idea if we are to ‘allow’ that idea to control us; though we will never permit ourselves to recognize this control as engaged within our ‘self’, only in other weaker, more susceptible individuals. Our ego, leveraged against our ‘self’, rarely if ever allows our true self to acknowledge we are the patsy at the poker table.

Of course, it then follows that everyone at the poker table is a patsy and only the house stands to gain long term. Even if aware of these circumstances, we grudgingly accept this fact so long as we are given a ‘chance’ to win short term, thereby affirming our participation rather than resorting to rejection and revolt. Nobody wants spilled red blood to stain the green table felt.

Naturally, after the house takes their cut off the top for providing the fertile plantation, we divide up the anted pot of our remaining money amongst ourselves. If there is a short tem winner, by extension everyone else is a short term loser. The key here is to understand we are never allowed to believe we are compelled to play the game. It all must appear to be voluntary if the illusion is to hold.

The concept of the intentionally seeded and subsequent gestation of a deeply implanted ‘original’ mind meme was the prevailing theme of the movie “Inception”, a brilliant propaganda piece itself. It is perfectly fine for the magician to show how his trick is performed if he convinces his audience they are too smart to ever be tricked by him. Only the most deeply reconditioned minds are capable of consistently rejecting the ultimate psychological double entendre.

The dirty little secret is found in the ‘re’-conditioning of the captured mind. A labyrinth this deeply layered and convoluted anticipates escapees leaking from the seams and edges. A system of opening and closing doors and passageways peppered with hidden treasure truths keeps the vast majority of smitten mice safely contained.

Most timid minds will merely penetrate one or two layers deep before exhausting their will and resolve to go deeper. Sated by the fact they have found an alternative universe of ‘truth’ already populated with an established, but growing, hierarchy, they settle in and dig their defensive trenches.

The craving for (more) power, even by those who dwell at the bottom, resides in all who submit to a paternal pecking order. Find a smaller crew and maybe you can eat better by moving up the power ladder.

Not only can we not handle the truth, but freedom to find the truth as well. We are trained from birth to believe only a fool, or a severely unbalanced mind, would dare leave the comforting confines of the reservation and strike out on our own. Those who feel the itch to explore are quickly sated by swapping one set of truths for another. Just make sure you close the cage door behind you once safely back within.

It is not the Deep State who is the loose cannon careening about the upper decks, soon to bring death and destruction to our front door. Instead it is “We the People” who are about to have our lashing silently slashed in the dead of night just before the storm to end all storms strikes broadside. We have met the enemy and he is us.

The Deep State and all that it encompasses, along with its large cast of conspiring characters, psychopaths and mindless enablers, is always and forever simply the hand holding the razor sharp knife poised to slash the rope and unleash terror and torment when the time is right for murder and mayhem to commence. It’s killing time in the pen.

The Deep State organized the mining and refining of the iron ore, designed the cannon casting and supporting substructure, trained the crew in its care and operation, directly supervised the lashing to assure competent conditioning and is now sharpening the knife for the final act of control and subversion.

We, you and I and they and them and all those blithering idiots on all sides of the political aisle are the collective loose cannon about to be set into violent motion. And here’s the rub that will rob you of sleep if you don’t quickly dismiss it all before the fall.

The only way to win is not to play at all.

03/16/2017

Cognitive Dissonance

larsenb
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 10813
Location: Between here and Standing Rock

Re: For the record

Post by larsenb »

Silver wrote: March 16th, 2017, 12:13 pm It's long, but it's enlightening.
Its a year old, but it explains how we got to where we are today.
Read it, or don't, but it is another witness to what Brandon Smith has been saying.

http://twoicefloes.com/down-the-trump-r ... g-consent/

DOWN THE TRUMP RABBIT HOLE – MANUFACTURING CONSENT
GALLERY MARCH 12, 2016
By Cognitive Dissonance . . . . . . . . .
Brandon Smith repeatedly ignores information/evidence that doesn't fit his Cognitive Dissonance thesis. Poor fellow. I'm still willing to enjoy the incredible things Trump is doing.

Did you hear the speech he gave in front of Andrew Jackson's 'The Hermitage'?? Here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9823&start=3960#p773108

Very telling move on Trump's part . . . for those who have eyes and ears to see and hear.

Brandon, as so many others, falling into the either/or, black-and-white trap. Now, he just could be right . . . but I think there is too much contrary evidence . . . at this point.

I think a fundamental problem with such a tightly held thesis, is that a person caught up in this kind of view, will simply ignore the evidence that doesn't fit his thesis. His black-and-white view becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in his own mind.

Just for the record . . . . .

Silver
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 5247

Re: For the record

Post by Silver »

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eddie
captain of 1,000
Posts: 2405

Re: For the record

Post by eddie »

larsenb wrote: March 16th, 2017, 2:22 pm
Silver wrote: March 16th, 2017, 12:13 pm It's long, but it's enlightening.
Its a year old, but it explains how we got to where we are today.
Read it, or don't, but it is another witness to what Brandon Smith has been saying.

http://twoicefloes.com/down-the-trump-r ... g-consent/

DOWN THE TRUMP RABBIT HOLE – MANUFACTURING CONSENT
GALLERY MARCH 12, 2016
By Cognitive Dissonance . . . . . . . . .
Brandon Smith repeatedly ignores information/evidence that doesn't fit his Cognitive Dissonance thesis. Poor fellow. I'm still willing to enjoy the incredible things Trump is doing.

Did you hear the speech he gave in front of Andrew Jackson's 'The Hermitage'?? Here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9823&start=3960#p773108

Very telling move on Trump's part . . . for those who have eyes and ears to see and hear.

Brandon, as so many others, falling into the either/or, black-and-white trap. Now, he just could be right . . . but I think there is too much contrary evidence . . . at this point.

I think a fundamental problem with such a tightly held thesis, is that a person caught up in this kind of view, will simply ignore the evidence that doesn't fit his thesis. His black-and-white view becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in his own mind.

Just for the record . . . . .
:ymapplause:

Silver
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 5247

Re: For the record

Post by Silver »

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-2 ... ore-issues

Trump = Obama = Bush = Clinton On 4 Core Issues

by George Washington
Mar 26, 2017 4:53 PM

On a superficial level, Trump and Bush couldn’t be more different from Clinton and Obama. Indeed, pollsters say that many people voted for Trump because they wanted change … Just like they voted for Obama because he promised “hope and change” from Bush-era policies.

But beneath the surface, Trump, Obama, Bush and Clinton are all very similar on 4 core issues.

Moar War
Bush intentionally lied us into the Iraq war … a war which had no relation with U.S. security or defense.

Clinton and Obama intentionally lied us into various “humanitarian wars” … which had nothing to do with our security or defense.

And the same idiots who lied us into the Iraq war are now trying to lie us into a cold (or maybe even hot) war with Russia.

And what about Trump?

He campaigned on peace and non-interventionism …

But he’s already ramped up the war in Syria.

And the war in Yemen. … where the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are committing war crimes.

And he’s already increased drone strikes by 432%.

And Trump’s top advisor is predicting war with China and Russia. He said:

We’re going to war in the South China Sea … no doubt
So it doesn’t look like peace is going to break out any time soon.

And sadly, top experts say the geopolitical policies pursued by Trump – which are very similar to those pursued by Obama, Bush and Clinton – will lead to more terrorism.

Lap Dogs for Wall Street … Making the Rich Richer
Obama, Bush and Clinton all pushed economic policies which made the rich richer, and the poor poorer.

Bush and Obama bailed out the big banks, threw fistfuls of money at the banksters, and otherwise rewarded Wall Street and penalized Main Street.

Clinton repealed the Depression-era law which separated regular deposit banking and speculation (Glass-Steagall), allowed the giant banks to grow into mega-banks, and acted as a cheerleader for unregulated derivatives. And Clinton – like Bush and Obama – decided that white collar financial fraud didn’t exist, or at least shouldn’t be prosecuted.

What’s the effect of these policies?

Rick Baum notes, using official U.S. governments statistics, that inequality steadily increased under all 3 presidents:

Inequality Clinton Bush Obama

Real wages plummeted through the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations.

What about Trump?

He’s appointed the same old bankster cronies. Nothing will change. (And unfortunately, it’s not too early to criticize a new president.)

Spying On Americans
The NSA’s mass surveillance on Americans started by 1999 or earlier … under the Clinton administration.

3 months before 9/11, the head of the NSA admitted that the NSA was collecting so much information from spying that it was drowning in too much data.

Mass surveillance expanded under Bush … and then even more under Obama.

It’s gotten to the point that the government is spying on virtually all of our electronic communications and transactions.

And Trump?

Given that he’s called for whistleblowers like Snowden and Assange to be executed for treason, and quickly implemented gag orders as soon as he took office, he is almost certain to continue the expansion of mass surveillance on the American people.

In other words, a president who severely punishes anyone trying to reveal the extent of spying on Americans probably has no intention of reigning it in.

Supporting Dictators Who Support Terrorism
Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest sponsor of radical Islamic terrorists. The Saudis have backed ISIS and many other brutal terrorist groups. And the most pro-ISIS tweets allegedly come from Saudi Arabia.

According to sworn declarations from a 9/11 Commissioner and the Co-Chair of the Congressional Inquiry Into 9/11, the Saudi government backed the 9/11 hijackers (see section VII for details). And declassified documents only amplify those connections. And the new Saudi king has ties to Al Qaeda, Bin Laden and Islamic terrorism.

Saudi Arabia is the hotbed of the most radical Muslim terrorists in the world: the Salafis (both ISIS and Al Qaeda are Salafis).

And the Saudis – with U.S. support – back the radical “madrassas” in which Islamic radicalism was spread.

And yet the U.S. has been supporting the Saudis militarily, with NSA intelligence and in every other way possible through the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations.

Trump?

He’s selling them massive amounts of arms, keeping them off of the list of restricted countries for immigration, and supporting Saudi war crimes in Yemen.

It appears that the voters have been played … again.

Postscript: If you think that the presidents are more different than we’re giving them credit for, then you must conclude that they have been overridden by other forces. In that case, you may wish to consider consider whether the Deep State and big banks have more power than democratically-elected officials.

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