Thanks, Caitlin, I've had several almost-not-quite fallings out with really close friends because I question what we're being told about - well - everything. My partner and I were just talking about how growing up during Vietnam sort of pulled the rug out from under us so that neither of us ever bought into the Official Party Line.
I've backed off from these kinds of conversations and so have those friends. My insistence that the U.S. is throwing Ukraine under a Russian bus can only alienate really good friends.
(but I'll keep writing about it and reading your work)
" Many of the people you'll run into online or in person who defend imperial narratives from your criticisms aren't doing so because they believe the US-centralized empire is awesome and great, they're doing so because it's much more comfortable than confronting the possibility that their entire worldview is made of lies. "
This is about my son, and I do not know what to do about it.
Same here. One of my sons is a successful journalist for a big, establishment publication. I have had bitter, bitter arguments with him, trying to relieve him of his almost unconscious acceptance of the Empire's Big Lies. The rest of the family dreads being in the same room with us. I have asked him if he has been "recruited as a propagandist, does he understand that he is being used to promote/cover-up/excuse Empire crimes." He's young, gets quite a decent salary and likes and respects his colleagues so his careerism and self-interest seem plugged in to defending the mainstream. I used to send him articles from the Alt-stream every day. But I have stopped doing that. It caused such distress to everyone else in the family who are all in different phases of waking up. Far behind me. I can see that he and his siblings are gradually understanding what is happening and not because I am telling them but because their own experience is proving my position to be more correct with every day that passes. My advice is to gently back off but never concede... and know that reality is becoming evident to everyone in the way they can accept. Silently knowing the truth is not the same as resignation.
That's why I only have cats. Much easier to convince as long as they are fed. Try going to a mental health professional, stating your case. Then try to convince them you're not crazy.
I get this. I was team Obama or die. Didn't just drink his Kool-aid, he inspired me greatly, and I invested a lot of emotion in his candidacy My tumble down the rabbit hole indeed shattered my perception of reality
Thank you for being a big part of that process for me. Your writing made me really uncomfortable when I first read it but somehow I kept coming back for more. 😂
Revising your worldview is like learning a language: if you’ve done it once, you have the meta-skill and it’s easier (though still not easy) the next time. I’ve entertained so many worldviews in my life that I’ve come to see them all as partial constructs none of which can encompass or even represent reality with all its mysteries and contradictions..intuition has emerged out of the ruins of all these shattered constructs as a pretty reliable guide.
Kia ora Caitlin (from a cuzzie from the other side of the ditch). Thank you for this wise, compassionate commentary, I think I needed very much to have this explained to me. My best friend since I was 15 (I'm 47) won't talk to me anymore, because of this exact issue/process. Loving your work by the way.
It's curious that people will cling so hard to what are, after all, just ideas, theories, observations which might be illusions. We have to struggle with and for the truth, and as William Blake said, "Opposition is true friendship."
"Opposition is true friendship" only for those whom we might name after a communistic Russian religious sect, the Dukhobors (Spirit Wrestlers). A lot of people hate that sort of thing, just as a lot of people hate contact sports or physical work.
But as for clinging to ideas, the way the brain works on many levels is to generate hypotheses about what it takes in, and then check them against perceptions, intuition, reason, experience, social constructs, and so on. When this process fails, the person with the brain often becomes very distressed, because constructing a world view is a lot of work in the first place, often going back to infacy, and is often accompanied by important emotional commitments. If that works has to be revised in important ways, it's a lot of work, and one's survival may be at stack. You'll observe few people who can change their minds in important ways.
Another great post and very timely for me! I've just had to mend bridges with a friend for pushing too hard. It is uncomfortable but also exciting to see past the narrative. I want to share it because it seems so obvious now but I am learning that to do so takes some subtlety and patience.
Not to mention, once you start to question the cognitive consensus, you can face very real and very personal difficulties. Or a guilty conscience, at a minimum.
If you go along with the flow, nothing happens to you, at least not for the time being.
Tyrants everywhere have used this to their advantage.
Well said!!! You have laid it out brilliantly. People will go to great lengths to hang onto their "world view." Believe me, I know... I'm living my own version of being burned at the stake. This fanatical, terrified need to clutch the baby blanket is the main reason we are in the predicament we're in today.
A great exposition of the basic unreality of the reality most people live in and with: for most people it is much more comfortable to live in a lie than start all over with nothing but the reality of your self and your own careful observations/conclusions. It was the great struggle Nietzsche took upon himself and recommended for those who would be free: you may never know the ultimate truth, the entire truth about most things, but you can disinvest from obvious lies, and especially evil, ugly, debilitating, and perhaps fatal lies. You know they are lies when they offer no physical evidence, must be taken on faith, and involve some kind of extortion, moral or physical, at the hands of authority. The only faith that counts for anything is the belief that you can free yourself from this bondage.
You do realize Nietzsche was a chauvinistic pig that was in-love with his sister, right?
Quote:
“It is obvious that in his day-dreams he is a warrior, not a professor; all of the men he admires were military. His opinion of women, like every man's, is an objectification of his own emotion towards them, which is obviously one of fear. "Forget not thy whip"-- but nine women out of ten would get the whip away from him, and he knew it, so he kept away from women, and soothed his wounded vanity with unkind remarks. ...the men whom he most admires are conquerors, whose glory is cleverness in causing men to die. But I think the ultimate argument against his philosophy, as against any unpleasant but internally self-conscious ethic, lies not in an appeal to facts, but in an appeal to the emotions. Nietzsche despises universal love; I feel it the motive power to all that I desire as regards the world. His followers have had their innings, but we may hope that it is coming rapidly to an end.”
There has been/is barely a single male writer/philosopher/psychologist/sociologist etc., on record who was/is not a chauvinist pig. You'd have to overlook a lot in dismissing them all, and maybe start with Aristotle, who thought women were "imperfect men", incapable of reason. We admire or believe different things/people for different reasons. Nietzsche understood that social norms based on religious beliefs and popular bias ruled the world, and that the chief goal of those who would be free was to stare them down. That applies to women as well or even more than to men because there is no single group that has been as exploited, oppressed and underestimated as have women. Sure, call all male chauvinists out, but you can't simply dismiss them and everything they have to say on every subject.
Defending their comfort gained by force of discomfort and/or death of others; all that cheap gas, cheap plastic, cheap timber, cheap textiles, cheap, oh so cheap food. The squeamish don't want to look, but the rest clasp their hands daily in front of the boob tube or laptop and feel the warmth of a fresh horror.
I think Caitlin nails it with her comment about - it depends how attached you are to a feeling of security - that’s a big source of the problem.
Think about it, the modern progressive movement - successor ideology - is all about creating feelings of security. They create safe spaces and talk of trigger warnings and bemoan micro- aggressions. Successor Ideology, woke, intersectionality, social justice warrior, call it what you will, it is all about protecting people from feeling vulnerable. The vagaries of life are the enemy.
Caitlin is not writing about progressives in this piece she’s just talking about the challenge people face escaping the vertically integrated narrative.
But her words made me realize, the entire woke project is about protecting people and increasing their sense of security, precisely the need to feel secure that makes people so easy to manipulate and deceive.
Agreed on the "sense of security" points - I think it was Ben Franklin who said = "those willing to sacrifice their liberty for their security shall have neither." When it comes to "wokeness" - I believe that this is just a CIA "Loaded term" (like hippie/toadie or appeaser) - with specific reference to a cult movie "They Live" - it is just another way of dismissing fellow citizens who may not have the same views as you - like crazy, never-Trumper or sh*t-lib. These are used to diminish fellow citizens and keep the fight amongst ourselves while a Ruling Class rapes our society of everything grass roots movements of the People have accomplished. I recommend patience with our fellow citizens who are still under the "Spell". SWJW.
I am sorry but you must miss-understand the Importance of the Quote - it is stating that Liberty is actually something we must be diligent and unwavering in our support of - when we cower and allow a ruling class to strip us of our civil rights for "security or safety" - we are in fact surrendering those rights to said Ruling Class. - we are then at the mercy of those whom have stolen our rights (Patriot Act/Surveillance State) Virtue Signaling is what Trudeau does or citizens still wearing masks (proven ineffective) do - performative theatre re-enforcing the lies & manipulations that have brought us to this place. In America at the time, you couldn't shake a stick around without hitting a slave owner - not trying to be an apologist - Slavery is the greatest stain on Western Democracies in their entire history - and should be taught in schools so that we never repeat it. As far as Franklin doing bad things to First Nations people - that I am not aware of - if you would be willing to share that info I would appreciate it.
If they are concerned about increasing security, they must feel threatened and frightened -- which, given the world as it is, is not such an odd thing to be feeling. And it's going to be hard to get through to people (or other large animals) who feel threatened and frightened and maybe also angry.
It's useful to link Oatmeal's thing about core beliefs to tribes and how they form around and with core beliefs about themselves being different from, and better than, other tribes. Bateson's schizmogenesis and the narcissism of small differences are both features of tribal behavior, which is fundamental in human social behavior.
there's a large scar where my worldview disintegration cut deep... and it probably will never heal because it keeps getting more disintegrated everyday.
Thanks, Caitlin, I've had several almost-not-quite fallings out with really close friends because I question what we're being told about - well - everything. My partner and I were just talking about how growing up during Vietnam sort of pulled the rug out from under us so that neither of us ever bought into the Official Party Line.
I've backed off from these kinds of conversations and so have those friends. My insistence that the U.S. is throwing Ukraine under a Russian bus can only alienate really good friends.
(but I'll keep writing about it and reading your work)
It’s tangential to your main point, but that Russian bus analogy is a good one.
The US hopes significant "mechanical” damage is done to the bus, but it will likely still be operational. As for Ukraine, …
The poor Ukrainian‘s are being led down the primrose path.
Wise strategy, I don’t speak to friends about this stuff either.
Keep it up babe 🥰
" Many of the people you'll run into online or in person who defend imperial narratives from your criticisms aren't doing so because they believe the US-centralized empire is awesome and great, they're doing so because it's much more comfortable than confronting the possibility that their entire worldview is made of lies. "
This is about my son, and I do not know what to do about it.
Same here. One of my sons is a successful journalist for a big, establishment publication. I have had bitter, bitter arguments with him, trying to relieve him of his almost unconscious acceptance of the Empire's Big Lies. The rest of the family dreads being in the same room with us. I have asked him if he has been "recruited as a propagandist, does he understand that he is being used to promote/cover-up/excuse Empire crimes." He's young, gets quite a decent salary and likes and respects his colleagues so his careerism and self-interest seem plugged in to defending the mainstream. I used to send him articles from the Alt-stream every day. But I have stopped doing that. It caused such distress to everyone else in the family who are all in different phases of waking up. Far behind me. I can see that he and his siblings are gradually understanding what is happening and not because I am telling them but because their own experience is proving my position to be more correct with every day that passes. My advice is to gently back off but never concede... and know that reality is becoming evident to everyone in the way they can accept. Silently knowing the truth is not the same as resignation.
That's why I only have cats. Much easier to convince as long as they are fed. Try going to a mental health professional, stating your case. Then try to convince them you're not crazy.
Keep a copy of "The Brass Cheque" on display, it will re-enforce that you hold tight and are erudite.
Do you have any advice for me, Caitlin ?
I get this. I was team Obama or die. Didn't just drink his Kool-aid, he inspired me greatly, and I invested a lot of emotion in his candidacy My tumble down the rabbit hole indeed shattered my perception of reality
Don't feel too bad. I was that way about GWB at one time.
Me too! Big time
Mass formation is a weapon.
No it isn't... it is a symptom.
It is called "Behavioral Modification Science"... that is the weapon.
Read my substack.
Ah, Gerard and Fritz, you have just perfectly demonstrated the Narcissism of Small Differences.
This is why we can't have nice things.
Ah Jack shit... you have perfectly demonstrated why Idiots work for Jews...
This reminds me of an off-color story about Gerard Fritzpatrick and Patrick Fritzgerard (or nearly...)
Thank you for being a big part of that process for me. Your writing made me really uncomfortable when I first read it but somehow I kept coming back for more. 😂
Revising your worldview is like learning a language: if you’ve done it once, you have the meta-skill and it’s easier (though still not easy) the next time. I’ve entertained so many worldviews in my life that I’ve come to see them all as partial constructs none of which can encompass or even represent reality with all its mysteries and contradictions..intuition has emerged out of the ruins of all these shattered constructs as a pretty reliable guide.
Kia ora Caitlin (from a cuzzie from the other side of the ditch). Thank you for this wise, compassionate commentary, I think I needed very much to have this explained to me. My best friend since I was 15 (I'm 47) won't talk to me anymore, because of this exact issue/process. Loving your work by the way.
It's curious that people will cling so hard to what are, after all, just ideas, theories, observations which might be illusions. We have to struggle with and for the truth, and as William Blake said, "Opposition is true friendship."
"Opposition is true friendship" only for those whom we might name after a communistic Russian religious sect, the Dukhobors (Spirit Wrestlers). A lot of people hate that sort of thing, just as a lot of people hate contact sports or physical work.
But as for clinging to ideas, the way the brain works on many levels is to generate hypotheses about what it takes in, and then check them against perceptions, intuition, reason, experience, social constructs, and so on. When this process fails, the person with the brain often becomes very distressed, because constructing a world view is a lot of work in the first place, often going back to infacy, and is often accompanied by important emotional commitments. If that works has to be revised in important ways, it's a lot of work, and one's survival may be at stack. You'll observe few people who can change their minds in important ways.
Another great post and very timely for me! I've just had to mend bridges with a friend for pushing too hard. It is uncomfortable but also exciting to see past the narrative. I want to share it because it seems so obvious now but I am learning that to do so takes some subtlety and patience.
Not to mention, once you start to question the cognitive consensus, you can face very real and very personal difficulties. Or a guilty conscience, at a minimum.
If you go along with the flow, nothing happens to you, at least not for the time being.
Tyrants everywhere have used this to their advantage.
Well said!!! You have laid it out brilliantly. People will go to great lengths to hang onto their "world view." Believe me, I know... I'm living my own version of being burned at the stake. This fanatical, terrified need to clutch the baby blanket is the main reason we are in the predicament we're in today.
A great exposition of the basic unreality of the reality most people live in and with: for most people it is much more comfortable to live in a lie than start all over with nothing but the reality of your self and your own careful observations/conclusions. It was the great struggle Nietzsche took upon himself and recommended for those who would be free: you may never know the ultimate truth, the entire truth about most things, but you can disinvest from obvious lies, and especially evil, ugly, debilitating, and perhaps fatal lies. You know they are lies when they offer no physical evidence, must be taken on faith, and involve some kind of extortion, moral or physical, at the hands of authority. The only faith that counts for anything is the belief that you can free yourself from this bondage.
You do realize Nietzsche was a chauvinistic pig that was in-love with his sister, right?
Quote:
“It is obvious that in his day-dreams he is a warrior, not a professor; all of the men he admires were military. His opinion of women, like every man's, is an objectification of his own emotion towards them, which is obviously one of fear. "Forget not thy whip"-- but nine women out of ten would get the whip away from him, and he knew it, so he kept away from women, and soothed his wounded vanity with unkind remarks. ...the men whom he most admires are conquerors, whose glory is cleverness in causing men to die. But I think the ultimate argument against his philosophy, as against any unpleasant but internally self-conscious ethic, lies not in an appeal to facts, but in an appeal to the emotions. Nietzsche despises universal love; I feel it the motive power to all that I desire as regards the world. His followers have had their innings, but we may hope that it is coming rapidly to an end.”
There has been/is barely a single male writer/philosopher/psychologist/sociologist etc., on record who was/is not a chauvinist pig. You'd have to overlook a lot in dismissing them all, and maybe start with Aristotle, who thought women were "imperfect men", incapable of reason. We admire or believe different things/people for different reasons. Nietzsche understood that social norms based on religious beliefs and popular bias ruled the world, and that the chief goal of those who would be free was to stare them down. That applies to women as well or even more than to men because there is no single group that has been as exploited, oppressed and underestimated as have women. Sure, call all male chauvinists out, but you can't simply dismiss them and everything they have to say on every subject.
Defending their comfort gained by force of discomfort and/or death of others; all that cheap gas, cheap plastic, cheap timber, cheap textiles, cheap, oh so cheap food. The squeamish don't want to look, but the rest clasp their hands daily in front of the boob tube or laptop and feel the warmth of a fresh horror.
I think Caitlin nails it with her comment about - it depends how attached you are to a feeling of security - that’s a big source of the problem.
Think about it, the modern progressive movement - successor ideology - is all about creating feelings of security. They create safe spaces and talk of trigger warnings and bemoan micro- aggressions. Successor Ideology, woke, intersectionality, social justice warrior, call it what you will, it is all about protecting people from feeling vulnerable. The vagaries of life are the enemy.
Caitlin is not writing about progressives in this piece she’s just talking about the challenge people face escaping the vertically integrated narrative.
But her words made me realize, the entire woke project is about protecting people and increasing their sense of security, precisely the need to feel secure that makes people so easy to manipulate and deceive.
Agreed on the "sense of security" points - I think it was Ben Franklin who said = "those willing to sacrifice their liberty for their security shall have neither." When it comes to "wokeness" - I believe that this is just a CIA "Loaded term" (like hippie/toadie or appeaser) - with specific reference to a cult movie "They Live" - it is just another way of dismissing fellow citizens who may not have the same views as you - like crazy, never-Trumper or sh*t-lib. These are used to diminish fellow citizens and keep the fight amongst ourselves while a Ruling Class rapes our society of everything grass roots movements of the People have accomplished. I recommend patience with our fellow citizens who are still under the "Spell". SWJW.
Brother I am with you - patience
Wasn’t Benjamin Franklin also a Slave owner, and did bad things to the Indians? You sure he wasn’t just virtue signalling?
I am sorry but you must miss-understand the Importance of the Quote - it is stating that Liberty is actually something we must be diligent and unwavering in our support of - when we cower and allow a ruling class to strip us of our civil rights for "security or safety" - we are in fact surrendering those rights to said Ruling Class. - we are then at the mercy of those whom have stolen our rights (Patriot Act/Surveillance State) Virtue Signaling is what Trudeau does or citizens still wearing masks (proven ineffective) do - performative theatre re-enforcing the lies & manipulations that have brought us to this place. In America at the time, you couldn't shake a stick around without hitting a slave owner - not trying to be an apologist - Slavery is the greatest stain on Western Democracies in their entire history - and should be taught in schools so that we never repeat it. As far as Franklin doing bad things to First Nations people - that I am not aware of - if you would be willing to share that info I would appreciate it.
If they are concerned about increasing security, they must feel threatened and frightened -- which, given the world as it is, is not such an odd thing to be feeling. And it's going to be hard to get through to people (or other large animals) who feel threatened and frightened and maybe also angry.
It's useful to link Oatmeal's thing about core beliefs to tribes and how they form around and with core beliefs about themselves being different from, and better than, other tribes. Bateson's schizmogenesis and the narcissism of small differences are both features of tribal behavior, which is fundamental in human social behavior.
Beautifully optimistic and encouraging!
there's a large scar where my worldview disintegration cut deep... and it probably will never heal because it keeps getting more disintegrated everyday.