While it is true that people are being manipulated l can't give them a pass on the consequences of what they do. When 75% of people say they are in favor of universal health care for americans and then vote for the one candidate that is promising he will veto the law if it is passed. Yes they have been manipulated, but there is also a high level of stupidity involved
Agreed. People also choose ignorance, choose to believe the "conspiracy theory" lie even when the manipulators have laid out all the dots for them, such as Event 201 and the CEO of YouTube saying publicly that they will censor anything contradictory to the narrative.
Yes, we are blind to the daily abuse our egoic mind activity subjects us to so it’s no surprise this blind spot extends to society.
It is useful to remember that the people with whom we disagree, the people that defend the status quo—“them”—are also victims of manipulation.
Ultimately all are victims of the compulsive mind-made “me” which has propagandized us into believing we are the voice in our head.
No one is to blame for this egoic condition. We take a stand against tyranny/ domination/ manipulation while recognizing the perpetrators are also tyrannized/ dominated/ manipulated by their ego.
Sorry, I can't give a pass to people within the herd who actually participate in the manipulations by shaming others or worse, "reporting" them to the authorities. The stampede is a powerful weapon that even the initial manipulators don't consciously use, by which they are themselves sometimes "victimized" when they come to believe their own propaganda. People choose whether or not to participate in the stampede.
Sorry, I disagree. There is never an excuse for "reporting," unless it's actually a physical crime against another person, and that's not what's being discussed here. Likewise, shaming, labeling or smearing a person purely for expressing a contrary opinion backed by observation or logic is not acceptable, though I may be guilty of that on occasion if the "fact" or logic is risible. Lord forgive me, for I have sinned. I promise to strive to do better in the future.
When family circumstances 'force' you to endure national TV news, the constant nag of 'cleverly' biased wording, deliberately softening you up for the establishment point of view is infuriating, especially the subtle demonisation of Russia and China. Not to mention the missing stories of real world-wide importance, completely absent, replaced by obvious government puff pieces. It's LITERALLY maddening.
At the risk of shocking or offending, I'd add that it would help a LOT if we would restore real history to our schoolbooks. Under tremendous pressure from religious groups, many textbook editors have erased the Crusades, the Inquisition, religious wars, the Enlightenment these past 20-30 years. Earlier generations learned all that (plus civics, also missing now), just as Europeans still do, which is why the insanity among people who know something about all that is on a far lesser scale than we've been seeing in the States these past many years.
Yes. We must confess the bad while we uphold the good (Enlightenment VALUES as opposed to their arrogant misapplication through the "white man's burden"). Heroes like William Lloyd Garrison, Henry David Thoreau and Eugene V. Debs should be remembered for their values and courage, not just name recognition. Ignorance is what leads to commemorations of Hans Christian Heg or Robert Gould Shaw being vandalized or destroyed.
Agreed, though all the races to imperialism were mainly a 19th century phenomenon, and "The White Man's Burden" was Kipling's hymn to it - in 1899. Imperialism was a far cry from what any of the Enlightenment writers wanted or envisioned. I highly recommend Robert Darnton's first chapter in "George Washington's False Teeth" exposing all that anachronistic postmodern BS for what it mostly is: devious hostility to Enlightenment VALUES. He knows a helluva lot more about the era than Zinn, for ex.
Allama Iqbal, a poet who understood imperialist designs early in the last century, penned many verses, I am quoting one. Rendering is not poetic, please.
This imperialist secret should remain confined in your chest,
It is not wise to kill the subjects with sword,
Make them pliable with 'education' i.e, a n appropriate value-system,
Once they become docile, turn them where you want!
While it is true that people are being manipulated l can't give them a pass on the consequences of what they do. When 75% of people say they are in favor of universal health care for americans and then vote for the one candidate that is promising he will veto the law if it is passed. Yes they have been manipulated, but there is also a high level of stupidity involved
Agreed. People also choose ignorance, choose to believe the "conspiracy theory" lie even when the manipulators have laid out all the dots for them, such as Event 201 and the CEO of YouTube saying publicly that they will censor anything contradictory to the narrative.
Yes, we are blind to the daily abuse our egoic mind activity subjects us to so it’s no surprise this blind spot extends to society.
It is useful to remember that the people with whom we disagree, the people that defend the status quo—“them”—are also victims of manipulation.
Ultimately all are victims of the compulsive mind-made “me” which has propagandized us into believing we are the voice in our head.
No one is to blame for this egoic condition. We take a stand against tyranny/ domination/ manipulation while recognizing the perpetrators are also tyrannized/ dominated/ manipulated by their ego.
Sorry, I can't give a pass to people within the herd who actually participate in the manipulations by shaming others or worse, "reporting" them to the authorities. The stampede is a powerful weapon that even the initial manipulators don't consciously use, by which they are themselves sometimes "victimized" when they come to believe their own propaganda. People choose whether or not to participate in the stampede.
Of course, but as Caitlin said, they need to become cognizant of the manipulations before they're even able to make better choices;
Sorry, I disagree. There is never an excuse for "reporting," unless it's actually a physical crime against another person, and that's not what's being discussed here. Likewise, shaming, labeling or smearing a person purely for expressing a contrary opinion backed by observation or logic is not acceptable, though I may be guilty of that on occasion if the "fact" or logic is risible. Lord forgive me, for I have sinned. I promise to strive to do better in the future.
When family circumstances 'force' you to endure national TV news, the constant nag of 'cleverly' biased wording, deliberately softening you up for the establishment point of view is infuriating, especially the subtle demonisation of Russia and China. Not to mention the missing stories of real world-wide importance, completely absent, replaced by obvious government puff pieces. It's LITERALLY maddening.
Thank you for keeping us awake. It's a constant battle.
At the risk of shocking or offending, I'd add that it would help a LOT if we would restore real history to our schoolbooks. Under tremendous pressure from religious groups, many textbook editors have erased the Crusades, the Inquisition, religious wars, the Enlightenment these past 20-30 years. Earlier generations learned all that (plus civics, also missing now), just as Europeans still do, which is why the insanity among people who know something about all that is on a far lesser scale than we've been seeing in the States these past many years.
Yes. We must confess the bad while we uphold the good (Enlightenment VALUES as opposed to their arrogant misapplication through the "white man's burden"). Heroes like William Lloyd Garrison, Henry David Thoreau and Eugene V. Debs should be remembered for their values and courage, not just name recognition. Ignorance is what leads to commemorations of Hans Christian Heg or Robert Gould Shaw being vandalized or destroyed.
Agreed, though all the races to imperialism were mainly a 19th century phenomenon, and "The White Man's Burden" was Kipling's hymn to it - in 1899. Imperialism was a far cry from what any of the Enlightenment writers wanted or envisioned. I highly recommend Robert Darnton's first chapter in "George Washington's False Teeth" exposing all that anachronistic postmodern BS for what it mostly is: devious hostility to Enlightenment VALUES. He knows a helluva lot more about the era than Zinn, for ex.
Allama Iqbal, a poet who understood imperialist designs early in the last century, penned many verses, I am quoting one. Rendering is not poetic, please.
This imperialist secret should remain confined in your chest,
It is not wise to kill the subjects with sword,
Make them pliable with 'education' i.e, a n appropriate value-system,
Once they become docile, turn them where you want!
I am enclosing the Urdu version in your DM.
Loved, as always.
Minor typo I noticed because I pasted the quote: "deception and dishonesty /and/ is not".