Political Dark Side: Propaganda, Censorship, and Calumny

 

by

Gadfly

As a concept, “politics” is neither good nor bad.  Its application, however, is either good or bad.  My favorite political philosopher, David Eastman, had a simple definition for politics: “the authoritative allocation of values.” 

Values are not the same as virtues.  Values are preferences based on desire, which can be virtuous or vicious.  Virtues are principles that promote goodness and provide guideposts for virtuous behavior.  Vices represent evil passions and effects.

Power is a value, and a vicious behavior if it is sought as an end and not a means.  On the other hand, power can represent a virtue if it manifests the authority of moral behavior to achieve goodness.  Both forms can manifest in the character of the body politic of a nation.

These distinctions were recognized and understood centuries ago in the wisdom shared by St. Paul to the Galatians in Chapter 5 of the Judeo-Christian Bible.  In this short chapter, Paul reminds his followers of the difference between the liberty of the fruits of the Holy Spirit in contrast with earthly bondage.  It is amazing how clearly this liberty versus bondage choice is recognizable in the current true life drama playing out in America.

A political dark side dominates the American body politic, and it is patently observable in the form of propaganda, censorship, and calumny. 

In his book, Mein Kampf, Adolph Hitler provided his observations about the importance of propaganda in this passage (I included this material in another previously published article “Evidence Is Overwhelming but There Is an Elephant in the Room”): 

 

The art of propaganda consists precisely in being able to awaken the imagination of the public through an appeal to their feelings, in finding the appropriate psychological form that will arrest the attention and appeal to the hearts of the national masses [this is why Democrats aggressively define the opponent; see also here]. The broad masses of the people are not made up of diplomats or professors of public jurisprudence nor simply of persons who are able to form reasoned judgment in given cases, but a vacillating crowd of human children who are constantly wavering between one idea and another. (...) The great majority of a nation is so feminine in its character and outlook that its thought and conduct are ruled by sentiment rather than by sober reasoning. This sentiment, however, is not complex, but simple and consistent. It is not highly differentiated, but has only the negative and positive notions of love and hatred, right and wrong, truth and falsehood [and Democrats/Leftists employ calumny with no limits].

Propaganda must not investigate the truth objectively and, in so far as it is favourable to the other side, present it according to the theoretical rules of justice [i.e., the emphasis on social justice, fair share, equity, diversity & inclusion, dignity & respect, etc.]; yet it must present only that aspect of the truth which is favourable to its own side [similar to progressive George Lakoff’s axiom that it is the frame that matters, and facts are only relevant if they fit the frame]. (...) The receptive powers of the masses are very restricted, and their understanding is feeble. On the other hand, they quickly forget. Such being the case, all effective propaganda must be confined to a few bare essentials and those must be expressed as far as possible in stereotyped formulas [e.g., racist, bigot, white privilege, misogynist, homophobe, Islamaphobe, etc.  In her presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton argued that Trump followers fit into one or more of the standard progressive stereotypes.]. These slogans should be persistently repeated until the very last individual has come to grasp the idea that has been put forward. (...) Every change that is made in the subject of a propagandist message must always emphasize the same conclusion [does it not shock, let alone surprise, that Democrats/Leftists persist in their calumny against Donald Trump?]. The leading slogan must of course be illustrated in many ways and from several angles [Trump dossier, impeachments, a raid on Trump’s home, etc.], but in the end one must always return to the assertion of the same formula.[1] (Text in bold, italics is my editorial insertion)

With such bold actions in the form of propaganda, why not also censor?  Just today, Jonathan Turley reported that the AP press is in full denial of widely known facts.  See here.

More disturbing because of its subtle yet sinister behavior is the combination of propaganda, censorship, and calumny by Big Tech.  Dr. Robert Epstein, a registered Democrat, provides compelling evidence here.  This can be fixed by Congress and the Courts as threats to our First Amendment Rights.  “We the people” should insist that this happens.

Friends, mainstream media platforms are an additional instrument in advancing propaganda, censorship, and calumny.  Yet, there is a growing number of alternative news sources that still pride themselves on honest journalism.

What more can be done?  First, recognize this is a spiritual contest that cannot be avoided by denying the presence of evil intentions and behaviors.  Second, be on good terms with the source of our moral authority and pray for wisdom and courage.  Third, do what we can to rebuke evil and affirm good behavior.  Not only does the soul of our nation depend upon these actions, but our very own souls are at stake as well.

My articles have recently been sparse because I am attempting to do what can be done through a nonprofit called Stand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the Services, Inc. (www.starrs.us).  I invite you to check us out, join the cause, and spread the word. 

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[1] Mein Kampf citations are from the Project Gutenberg-hosted 1939 English translation by James Murphy.

What Is a Moron?

 

by

Gadfly

This article was inspired by Matt Walsh’s recent book, What Is a Woman?   Walsh discovered “that no one—not doctors, therapists, psychiatrists, or politicians—can actually define the word ‘woman’.”  This despite long standing dictionary definitions, such as “an adult female person.”

Our newly sworn-in justice of the Supreme Court even admitted to not knowing the definition of a woman during her Senate confirmation.  She now sits on the highest court of our Nation (arguably of the free world as well), which judges constitutional issues critically dependent upon clear definition.

How might this happen in Twenty-First Century America—the land of the free and the home of the brave? 

The answer?  Our educational and progressive political factions are producing morons.  How else would one describe those who insist on letting others know what pronouns they go by?

A moron is “a foolish or stupid person.”  The same source for this definition also reveals the use of this term is considered “offensive.”  Here is the announcement: “The terms idiot, imbecile, moron, and their derivatives were formerly used as technical descriptors in medical, educational, and regulatory contexts. These uses were broadly rejected by the close of the 20th century and are now considered offensive.” 

I am obliged to point out that the Progressive Era (and its Leftist ideology) became a formidable political presence at the close of the 20^th century.

Offensive or not, traditional America is threatened by an alarming and growing population of morons.  The condition is not unique to our era.  Here is wisdom over two millennia-old from the Book of Proverbs (KJV):

·       The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. (1:7)

·       In everything the prudent acts with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly. (13.16)

·       The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly. (15.14)

·       Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs rather than a fool in his folly. (17.12)

·       The devising of folly is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to mankind. (24.9)

·       Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. (26: 4)

·       Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly. (26.11)

Now, truth is deliberately or unwittingly spun to be offensive, and it must be leveraged in a way that empowers power. For example, when a demographic enjoys less of the fruits of prosperity or manifests larger percentages of criminal activity, it is called a racial disparity, strongly implying discrimination.  See for example this article about disparity within the Veterans Affairs system.  The megaphone that amplifies this distortion of truth is an army of morons in mainstream and social media.

In his book, What Do White Americans Owe Black People?  Racial Justice in the Age of Post-Oppression, DePaul University Philosophy Professor Jason Hill critiques the institutionalization of spin in university programs.  He sets the tone in this introduction to Chapter 4, “Their Final Solution:  The New Negritudes, Revolutionary Victim Studies, Black Nihilism, and the Abolition of ‘Whiteness’”:

Soon after tasting the victories of this moral eugenics program unleashed against whites’ actual or imagined sins, blacks were voraciously hungry.  They were also filled with anger and explosive rage.  Gratitude was not an emotion they felt, as beneficiaries of the rights accorded them via the civil rights movements.

They were hungry for power—black power.  They were hungry for revenge.  They were hungry to assume the perpetual mantel of victims and the conferral of moral, iconic sainthood that came with it for the first time.  The insignia of moral innocence that they would enjoy as a result of being seen as historical victims would give them a great deal of social capital—in fact, more social capital and political clout than they could have hoped for.  Long after they had achieved that power, and after they had emancipated from the bondage of legal disenfranchisement, too many of them squandered and wasted that capital.  They are now on the verge of self-eviction from the realm of the historical process.

Hill’s analysis explains how universities have become incubators for the “victimhood” mentality, which is clearly Marxist-based.  His analysis is corroborated by such scholars as Bruce Bawer in his book, The Victim’s Revolution:  The Rise of Identity Studies and the Closing of the Liberal Mind.

On a more practical level, champions of identity politics--the Congressional Black Caucus--arranged to further institutionalize “victimhood capital” by chartering the Military Leadership Diversity Commission in the 2009 National Defense Authorization Action, just in time for the inauguration of America’s first black president.  Less than a month after the inauguration, the Department of Defense issued its first publication advancing the concept of “diversity management,” even though efforts to overcome “disparities” based on race, ethnicity, gender, and so forth, are patently in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which made discrimination in any form illegal. 

Using the Department of Defense as a Petri dish to demonstrate efficacy, President Obama then advanced a campaign to infiltrate the entire federal government with Executive Order 13583 on August 18, 2011.  Eleven years later, we have diversity, inclusion, and equity officers and staff in state governments, academia, and the corporate world.  Participating diversity and inclusion morons have no clue; many even celebrate this dangerous indoctrination.

Like alphabet clones in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, beginning in preschool, our children are being groomed to be morons.  There are morons across generations, and despite my hope for them, they tend to be dismissive, even hostile to facts and arguments that threaten their worldview.  The telltale sign is attacks against the messenger, not the message.  Just look at the reaction to the SCOTUS ruling on abortion.

Is America still a good nation when its people argue for killing children in their mother’s womb?  Except for rape or incest, ALL pregnancies stem from CONSENSUAL sexual activity.  This is the first choice the Left completely ignores.  From a pragmatic perspective, duplicity in this form of murder tends to attract votes—a high price to be paid for those who get sacrificed at the altar of secular humanism.  (Nearly four years ago, during the Kavanaugh SCOTUS confirmation hearings, I published an article on the logic of abortion here).

As divided as America is, many—too many--feel enslaved to evolving circumstances beyond their control.  Most stems from ideological bondage.

We are well advised to abide by this passage in John 8:32: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  Being free to make moral choices may or not be satisfying in our mortal lives; yet, for all of us, it matters in terms of being in good standing after death.  Moron or not, we are all accountable for our choices,

BLM + Antifa = KKK

by

Gadfly

Good Americans are worried and confused. 

They worry about the hateful tensions that politically divide America. 

They are confused as to why this is happening. 

One of the reasons is because there are bad Americans.

Yes, it is that simple—the existential and eternal contest between good and evil is on full display in America.

Groups of Americans symbolized in the title’s equation are bad people.  All have been or are spawned, encouraged, and sustained by a political ideology that claims to advocate for those on the margin, disenfranchised, under-represented, victims of cultural identity oppression, flouters of border sovereignty, and so forth.

The Ku Klux Klan emerged during the Post-Reconstruction Era as a terrorist effect upon those—black and white--who sought the full integration of the emancipated black into the fabric of American society.  A political ideology in the form of the Democrat Party advocated for slavery, fought Reconstruction efforts, established Jim Crow laws, and other means for denying liberty to black Americans.

Even after the Civil Rights Act of 1964--clearly a legal and symbolic form of reparations for the sin of slavery--the modern Democrat exploits the perception of racism in other forms.  They cry “voter suppression” without any evidence to support it.  They cry “systemic racism” without any evidence to support it.  These machinations took place as the KKK lost currency with the more concerted effort to more fully integrate minorities in American society. 

The President Lyndon Johnson and Democrat-led Great Society agenda was designed to “buy” the minority vote through massive social welfare—a new form of chattel slavery.  America’s metropolitan inner-cities have been run by the Democrat Party for decades, where black-on-black homicides are endemic. How else does one explain the 80% intact families before the Great Society agenda and today’s 20%? 

Enter Black Lives Matter (BLM; part of the 170-organization network called the Movement for Black Lives).  No doubt some of the inspiration and justification came from the New Left’s Port Huron Manifesto and the creation of Students for a Democrat Society (members of which today occupy senior government positions, serve as university professors, and shape mainstream media). 

BLM was founded by three black, Marxist-trained women, who coined the term.  They naturally aligned with a group called Antifa (Anti-fascist), even though our current Democrat President dismissed them as “just an idea.” 

Combined, these two groups instigated riots across America to influence the 2020 presidential election (explicitly claimed on the BLM website).  Their efforts caused billions in damage and several deaths.  Their efforts were clearly and closely aligned with the Democrat Party. 

Reminiscent of Marxist communists, BLM routinely displays a raised black closed fist to signify solidarity among those aligned with a movement. 

Like the KKK’s symbolic clothing, Antifa wears black clothes and masks.

I have not come across any literature where a Post-Reconstruction Era Democrat spoke critically of the KKK.  Further, I am not aware of a single Democrat that has spoken out against BLM or Antifa. 

Good Americans have justification to be worried and confused. 

It is a citizen duty to recognize this threat to our Nation and to have the courage to do something about it. 

The risk of doing nothing?  Political chattel slavery, with a single political party (like communism or fascism) as the master.     

AD February 13, 2022

 

by

Gadfly

Strange title?

AD in this title refers to anno Domini, in the year of our Lord—the estimated birth of Jesus Christ as the anchor for our present Gregorian calendar.  This chronological reference point has fallen out of “grace” with the dominant and progressive secular humanists who now prefer BCE, which stands for Before the Common Era--even though it remains linked to the original Gregorian Calendar based on the birth of Christ.

          By changing the meaning (or lack of meaning) of the chronological element of our historical process, advocates can diminish the spiritual implication of natural law in deference to their own sense of morality in pursuit of utopia.  This is very Marxist in its approach.

Joseph Schumpeter captured the “Marxist effect” well in this passage from his book (published in 1950), Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy:

In one important sense, Marxism is a religion.  To the believer it presents, first, a system of ultimate ends that embody the meaning of life and are absolute standards by which to judge events and actions; and, secondly, a guide to those ends which implies a plan of salvation and the indication of the evil from which mankind, or a chosen section of mankind, is to be saved.  We may specify still further:  Marxist socialism also belongs to that subgroup which promises paradise on this side of the grave.  The religious quality of Marxism also explains a characteristic attitude of the orthodox Marxist toward opponents.  To him, as to any believer in a Faith, the opponent is not merely in error but in sin.  Dissent is disapproved of not only intellectually but morally.  There cannot be any excuse for it once the Message has been revealed (p. 5).

Why Does This Matter Now?

America is under assault—primarily from within by a domestic enemy.  The idea of America as envisioned in our founding documents—the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, and Bill of Rights—is under attack via radicalism, which seeks through multiple vectors to advance an alternate vision of America.  This alternate vision fragments, divides, and diminishes the fundamental spirit of what it means to be American.

          Today, I watched a powerful interview on the role Big Tech is playing in this alternate vision.  You can watch the entire interview here.  It is based on a Heritage Foundation report that you can access here.

          The research in the above report, its concerns about totalitarianism, and its implications for the future of America reinforces the mission of a new nonprofit organization called Stand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the Services, Inc. (www.starrs.us).

          Those who have been kind and gracious enough to follow Gadfly Corner over the years might be interested in checking out STARRS.  If you agree with the concerns and effort to stem the alternate vision of America, then please spread the word.        

Authoritarianism

by

Gadfly

          In my lifetime, the only American President I have heard or read to be an authoritarian is Donald Trump.  For example, see here, here, and here.  Even worse is the example here:  The “evidence” offered to support the authoritarian premise is tautological (i.e., a statement that is true by necessity or by virtue of its logical form) in its construction . . . but it sure reads like the truth.

          Most of Trump’s Executive Orders were designed to reduce the insidious authoritarian policies from previous regimes.  When progressive federal judges imposed injunctions, Trump honored them until they were overruled by higher courts in accordance with our Constitution.

          Yes, Trump did fire members of his staff when their agenda was not compatible with his.  Trump was the one elected by “we the people,” and his allegiance was to them via Constitutional authority.

          What is missing from the left’s domination of the public narrative is that while Trump did not accept the explanations for the 2020 election (e.g., we’re still waiting to hear the results of the Arizona audit) he voluntarily left the White House.  There was no coup. 

Yet, talk about insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, completely ignores or denies the actual insurrection that took place across America during the summer of 2020.  Here is an excerpt from Mike Gonzalez’s recently published book, BLM:  The Making of a New Marxist Revolution:

Today, the First and Fourth Amendments prohibit much of the domestic surveillance work that would have been necessary to know how much of the 2020 protests were organized by a tight-knit group of Marxists.  We don't have the liberal democracy village by letting others destroy the liberal democracy village.  But have we left ourselves without adequate protection?  The changes that the leaders of the BLM organizations want would erode or extinguish our liberties.  This presents a conundrum.  Any conservative who may be tempted to think that those constitutional protections leave us vulnerable must balance that very real concern with the equally valid consideration of what an unleashed FBI could do to conservative movements freely carrying out constitutionally protected activity [Note: consider, for example, the FBI manufactured “right-wing conspiracy” to kidnap a sitting governor].

As a result, there is no place in the federal government--not in the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, or the DNI--where one can find out how much the 2020 protests, and all the deep societal changes that have followed in their wake, were the work of a network of groups whose leaders are committed to implementing a communist blueprint in the United States.  PolitiFact's Tom Kertscher is completely right in saying that many Americans who reject communism support Black Lives Matter.  When my well-meaning neighbors put up lawn signs that both praise BLM and declare "silence is violence," they don't get the contradiction.  They don't know what they don't know (pp. xx-xxi).

          With all the hype about a leftist authoritarian characterization of Donald Trump (and Trump voters by association), Joe Biden is being celebrated for his actual authoritarianism.  His calls for unity belie the demand for surrender and cooptation.  As F.A. Hayek observed in his chapter, “Planning and Democracy,” in The Road to Serfdom,

The common features of all collectivist systems may be described, in a phrase ever dear to socialists of all schools, as the deliberate organization of the labors of society for a definite social goal. That our present society lacks such “conscious” direction toward a single aim, that its activities are guided by the whims and fancies of irresponsible individuals, has always been one of the main complaints of its socialist critics.

In many ways, this puts the basic issue very clearly.  And it directs us at once to the point where the conflict arises between individual freedom and collectivism.  The various kinds of collectivism, communism, fascism, etc., differ among themselves in the nature of the goal toward which they want to direct the efforts of society.  But they all differ from liberalism and individualism in wanting to organize the whole of society and all its resources for this unitary end and in refusing to recognize autonomous spheres in which the ends of the individuals are supreme.  In short, they are totalitarian in the true sense of this new word which we have adopted to describe the unexpected but nevertheless inseparable manifestations of what in theory we call collectivism (p. 100; bold, italics are mine).

           We are being told the greatest threat to America is domestic white supremacy.  Yet, despite the evidence of thousands killed via Islamist ideology and hundreds of riots in 2020 stemming from leftist BLM and Antifa ideology, we are led to believe the January 6 Capitol riot represented an existential threat of white supremacy led by Donald Trump (like Orwell's manufactured Emmanuel Goldstein in 1984).  

Hundreds of Capitol rioters have been incarcerated for months without bail for mostly misdemeanor charges.  Some are in solitary confinement.  One Capitol rioter was returned to jail after being released on bail with a mandate from the judge to refrain from use of the Internet (a form of censorship).  Eerily, this form of government power was emphasized by Orwell in 1984 when O’Brien lectured Winston Smith: “Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.”     

The FBI has already reported there was no conspiracy to incite an insurrection on January 6, but Congress presses forward with its "insurrection" meme via a special committee to investigate the Capitol riot, issuing hundreds of subpoenas.  

Americans (to include a former president) with unacceptable political views are being "deplatformed," some even denied banking service. 

Then, there is the complicated set of lockdowns, quarantines, and mandated vaccinations and masks.  Check out this Tucker Carlson segment from his September 14 program.  In addition to explaining the little known (media suppression) loss of medical personnel from hospitals because they choose not to be vaccinated, Carlson explains how this Administration further divides Americans in terms of those who comply with authoritarian dictates and those who do not.

Last week, in an unprecedented action, 11 members of the Academies' Congressionally mandated Boards of Visitors were illegally/unconstitutionally terminated because their "values" were not aligned with the current Administration.

This week we learn from Bob Woodward that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley conspired against President Trump (see my earlier articles about Milley here and here).  If true, Milley’s actions are far more egregious than the private letter General Douglas MacArthur sent to Massachusetts Congressman Joe Martin in 1951 expressing his disagreement with President Truman’s policies for prosecuting the war in Korea.  When the Congressman made the letter public, Truman fired MacArthur.  Expressing concerns about policy with an American Congressman is significantly different from undermining an elected president in communications with a foreign counterpart.

What does all this mean? 

Leftists (even some right of center politicians) keep calling America a democracy, even though our Framers deliberately formed a republic as an offset to the dangers of democracy (see for example Federalist Paper 10).  Alexis de Tocqueville predicted what happens in a democracy (bold italics added for emphasis):

After having thus successfully taken each member of the community in its powerful grasp, and fashioned them at will, the supreme power then extends its arm over the whole community.  It covers the surface of society with a net-work of small complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd.  The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided:  men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting:  such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to be nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.  I have always thought that servitude of the regular, quiet, and gentle kind which I have just described, might be combined more easily than is commonly believed with some of the outward forms of freedom; and that it might even establish itself under the wing of the sovereignty of the people.  Our contemporaries are constantly excited by two conflicting passions; they want to be led, and they wish to remain free:  as they cannot destroy either one or the other of these contrary propensities, they strive to satisfy them both at once.  They devise a sole, tutelary, and all-powerful form of government, but elected by the people (Democracy in America, 1840, p. 398).

Anyone familiar with communist/fascist regimes should recognize the signs of a similar regime emerging in America.  Hannah Arendt taught us about these dynamics in her books, The Origins of Totalitarianism and The Human Condition; F.A. Hayek shared his observations and analysis in The Road to Serfdom; and C.S. Lewis in The Abolition of Man.

If we fail or refuse to recognize authoritarianism so we can stop it, we will repeat 20^th Century totalitarianism, unified in collective misery in a wretched ash heap of history.

  

Mass Psychosis

 

by

Gadfly

According to the National Institute for Mental Health:

The word psychosis is used to describe conditions that affect the mind, where there has been some loss of contact with reality. When someone becomes ill in this way it is called a psychotic episode. During a period of psychosis, a person’s thoughts and perceptions are disturbed and the individual may have difficulty understanding what is real and what is not.  Symptoms of psychosis include delusions (false beliefs) and hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that others do not see or hear). Other symptoms include incoherent or nonsense speech, and behavior that is inappropriate for the situation. A person in a psychotic episode may also experience depression, anxiety, sleep problems, social withdrawal, lack of motivation, and difficulty functioning overall.

Context

The above description of psychosis regards an individual and his or her association with reality.  Can it be induced by external influences?  The novel by Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange, presents such a case. 

Reports of mind manipulation are not fiction.  Cult leader Jim Jones had such an influence.  Over 900 lost their lives through murder or suicide due to mind control.

Controversially, following the Korean Conflict, American prisoners of war (POWs) were given an opportunity to voluntarily repatriate to America, assuming successful brainwashing had changed their allegiance to North Korea or China.  This was negotiated via a program called Operation Big Switch.  Some defected. One source documents 21 defectors.  Another source lists them by name.   Here is another source.  Building upon recently declassified documents, Monica Kim provides a compelling (if not disturbing) account in her book, The Interrogation Rooms of the Korean War:  The Untold History. 

Aside from reports about mind manipulation of American POWs during the Korean Conflict, here is a short interview with Yeonmi Park, a former North Korean who defected through China and Mongolia to America.  She captures her experience and insights in her book, In Order to Live:  A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom.  Ms. Park authenticates experiencing mind control, not only in North Korea but also as a student at Columbia University.  Former American Communist, Bella Dodd, reports a similar experience at Columbia in her memoir, School of Darkness. 

In an attempt to diminish the notion of mind control (brainwashing), here is another article that unwittingly validates mind control because such activities did in fact influence the way people thought about it.

Mind Control and Mass Psychosis

          Based on the above definition, the American public is experiencing mass psychosis.  Why?  A recent Daily Wire op-ed by Brad Schaeffer, “Climate Change, Public Health, Racism: The Church of Leftism’s Diabolical Trinity,” compellingly argues how the left is exercising mind control over the American public.  Others have also been warning us for quite some time:  Aldous Huxley in his book, A Brave New World; George Orwell in his books, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm; F. A. Hayek in his book, The Road to Serfdom; C. S. Lewis in his book, The Abolition of Man; Hannah Arendt in her book, The Origins of Totalitarianism; and more recently, by Rod Dreher in his book, Live Not by Lies:  A Manual for Christian Dissidents; and Mike Gonzalez in his books, The Plot to Change America:  How Identity Politics Is Changing the Land of the Free and BLM:  The Making of a New Marxist Revolution.
          How can mass psychosis happen?  As a trained psychologist, I strongly support the explanation provided in this well-packaged video (warning it is fast moving, so be prepared to pause periodically to absorb and process the evidence).

Solution

          For those Americans capable of thinking for oneself, the evil forces at play must be identified, called out, and diminished by advancing truth.  This is truth that emanates from the trials and wisdom of tradition.  It is discovered, not created. 

The principles and values that underwrite our God-given inalienable rights have been articulated in our Declaration of Independence.  This was not a random, capricious undertaking.  It was a deliberate process to capture and understand the wisdom of achievement, disaster, and folly in human affairs.

          Organizations exist and are forming to resist and counter the forces inducing individual (increased suicides is an unfortunate effect) and mass psychosis in America.  A newly formed organization, founded by veterans, is Stand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the Services, Inc. (www.STARRS.us).  It has been called “controversial.”  Those making such claims appear to favor racism and radicalism in the Services; or, worse, they have surrendered to the powers inducing mass psychosis.

For now, most organizations are growing in terms of supporters, yet work in isolation from other like-minded organizations.  When more of these organizations form partnerships in achieving mutually agreeable goals, they will develop the necessary synergy to counter the mass psychosis and restore a healthy Republic.

As I was about to publish this article, I stumbled across a short video (published three days ago) by Catholic Bishop Robert Barron, “The Threat of Totalitarianism.”  His message captures far more eloquently the solution to the problem of mass psychosis.  You will want to watch it more than once.        

Slippery Nipple

 

by

Gadfly

A Slippery Nipple is a cocktail.  Here is one description:  The Slippery Nipple is a layered cocktail shooter most commonly composed of Baileys Irish Cream and Sambuca. When prepared properly, the ingredients remain in two distinct visible layers due to the relative densities of the ingredients.   Afterall, even diversity among forms of alcohol can appear “multicultural.” 

Here is one source for how to make a Slippery Nipple along with some variation:  Slippery Nipple Cocktail Recipe - Cocktails With Class.  A Slippery Nipple is very tasty; but I still prefer a Manhattan—a sipping drink for those who are philosophically inclined.   

Why does how to make a slippery nipple matter?  Most good bar tenders know how to make one.  Expertise matters, even in such simple areas as making a Slippery Nipple.

I suspect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes (AOC), a bar tender after graduating from Boston University (majoring in international relations and economics), knows how to make a Slippery Nipple.  Now, she is a second term U.S. Representative, representing New York’s 14^th Congressional District.

Somehow AOC has acquired expertise in “green” energy and a wide range of social issues.  She somehow has discovered the benefits of socialism.  This may have manifested before or because of campaigning for Bernie Sanders.  So, she benefits from followers who believe there is a free lunch, and they vote for her.  Most of her followers likely have no idea what happened to Venezuela—a thriving capitalist nation killed by socialism.  This is not unusual or unprecedented.  Rod Dreher captures this naivete among citizens who previously lived in totalitarian regimes in his book, Live Not by Lies:  A Manual for Christian Dissidents. 

AOC has had no children—from bringing them into this world and raising them.  Yet, she rails about Texas’s recent legislation on abortion.  Less than 1% of abortions stem from rape or incest (see my article about The Logic of Abortion).  About 99% of pregnancies stem from consensual sex.  Pregnancy manifests based on natural law and human choice; it is not an indiscriminate airborne disease. 

Expertise matters.  AOC:  Stick to slippery nipples.