The decline and fall of civil society

The Decline and Fall of Civil Society. Cognitive Dissonance. Dec, 15, 2019.

Chapter One


From my perspective at least, it’s a chicken or egg question. Was civil discourse among a diverse human population desired, or even required, in order for civilization to form and flourish? Or did civilization initially coalesce, with civility to follow shortly after as a means to increase socioeconomic efficiency and to encourage people from killing or maiming each other by setting minimum standards for public conduct?

Or could it possibly be more symbiotic, with both components required in varying degrees and amounts for either component to survive and thrive in the combined form of ‘civilization’?

I am a child of the 1950’s and 1960’s, a time so far removed from today’s brave new world that, even to me, feels like ancient history. This is not to say it was all pomp and circumstance back then, but in many respects so-called civilization was much more civil in my youth than it is now. And this applies to just about all modern social interaction, regardless of the underlying medium, method or mix.

Nothing brings this stark contrast to mind more than when I am out and about pursuing simple chores and errands. ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’ are nearly absent from the public’s vernacular, particularly among those under the age of thirty. Holding a door open for either sex has actually earned me a sharp rebuke on several occasions, always from someone young enough to be my (grand)son.

Whenever I walk in front of anyone, such as along a narrow supermarket aisle or inside a crowded restaurant, many of the younger people I encounter are somewhat surprised to hear me say “excuse me” as I transgress their personal space. On more than a few occasions, the perplexed person asked why I was excusing myself or indicated I had offended them in some manner. But those over fifty years of age nearly always understand and appreciate my consideration.

As a child I was taught that polite niceties and respectful manners in public are the social lubricant of a civil society. That manners make the man, enabling people to quickly assess who you are by your respectful demeanor, polite behavior and social etiquette. I speak to others as I wish they would speak to me, with me always going first and never really expecting anything in return. Sort of the original “pay it forward” on a personal and recurring basis. Or as my mother was fond of saying, proper manners put the ‘gentle’ in gentlemen and gentlewomen.

It was, and remains, a deliberate attempt to take the communication high road regardless of the chaos in our mind, the dirt beneath our boots or the jerk standing in front of us. Sure, some people abuse the process for their own personal gain by leveraging polite society to their own advantage. But this is not an acceptable excuse to refrain from engaging in polite and respectful behavior both in public and private.

So…what happened? Or maybe a more accurate question would be, why is this happening, since it appears our plunge down to the lowest common denominator isn’t over yet by a long shot.

Those looking for one-word answers should just keep looking. Anything explaining or describing human behavior in any detail consumes reams of paper (or megabytes) and entire lifetimes of study. But the desire for simple answers to complex, codependent and manipulated human behavior is a fundamental part of the problem itself.

A perfect example of this is the repeated claim that a crude, rude and egotistical President Trump is the reason this country has devolved into petty snips, snide Twitter storms and other assorted vulgarities. While there is no doubt ‘We Prefer our Sociopaths Well Dressed and Spoken’, Trump is little more than a symptom of the larger social disease writ yuge. Those individuals too ideologically blinded and emotionally invested in their own (political) navel gazing to see anything other than Trump (and his supporters) as the source of nearly all the nation’s problems are themselves a significant portion of the problem.
The same can be said for all sides of the great sociopolitical divide.

Morals, ethics, honor, fairness, justice, even freedom; these essentially esoteric concepts vary widely between race, religion, culture and nation, and have radically changed in definition, usage and structure since human beings began to congregate and cooperate.

But civility, in principal and practice, remains nearly constant over the millennia. Either we greet others with respect and deference, or we do not. It is that simple. Who, what, when, where and why we treat others in this manner depends upon all the previously mentioned esoteric concepts. But civility itself varies only in the words, body language and physical interaction (hand shake, bow or curtsy etc.) if any.

While by definition, something concealed is essentially impossible to see, know or understand, one may examine its secondary effects and attempt to discern an outline or pattern. But this can be hazardous when it comes to humans, for we do not truly know the intentions of our fellow (wo)man, regardless of how close we may think we are to him or her.

Therefore, the social purpose for civility is to even the playing field, to create a common consensus when it comes to (initial) human interaction, particularly between unknowns and even if only on a superficial level.

It is my supposition the human race is insane beyond redemption; therefore, no amount of applied logic, critical thinking or examination can make much sense out of pure unadulterated madness. If this is so, what better way to deal with our collective madness than to begin each interaction with civility in action, word and deed?

It seems perfectly reasonable, even to unreasonable people, to impose commonly accepted rules and regulations when everyone is driving a variety of vehicles on commonly shared roads. And yet so many people ignore the same concept when it comes to basic human interactions on a much more personal level.

It seems to me that as civility among the teaming masses ebbs and flows, so to does the tendency for humans to bicker, fight and war. And it appears this ebb and flow is cyclical.

The one redeeming characteristic we humans possess is our ability to adapt to, and survive, our own insanity….so far. Unfortunately, our technological leaps, particularly in the ‘art’ of warfare, applied propaganda and mind control, far surpasses our ability as a species to evolve and mature. Until relatively recently, one mad man or woman could only inflict so much mayhem upon his or her fellow madmen. Sadly, this is no longer the case.

All that said, there is clearly a cycle, an ebb and flow of high peaks and deep valleys, to our lunacy. I am an interested observer of the theory of repeating historical cycles mirroring the length of a human life (approximately 80 years) laid out in Strauss and Howe’s ‘The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy – What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny’. If there is a single book one should read, then read again in 2020, it’s this sparkling gem.

To quote the Amazon book description “First comes a High, a period of confident expansion as a new order takes root after the old has been swept away. Next comes an Awakening, a time of spiritual exploration and rebellion against the now-established order. Then comes an Unraveling, an increasingly troubled era in which individualism triumphs over crumbling institutions. Last comes a Crisis—the Fourth Turning—when society passes through a great and perilous gate in history. Together, the four turnings comprise history's seasonal rhythm of growth, maturation, entropy, and rebirth.”

Does that sound and look familiar?

Cycles within cycles within even more cycles.

An Unfamiliar Family Unit.

In my opinion, a major contributing factor to the growing incivility is the accelerating breakdown of the family unit, the single most stabilizing factor that directly counteracts the tendency of the insane to become even more spastic, erratic and destructive. Sadly, there are forces at work inflaming, if not outright encouraging, this trend of family dissolution if for no other reason than to divert attention from blatantly maniacal power grabs and consolidation, economic pillaging and corruption, excessive self-indulgent obsessions and various other obscenities.

For various biological, psychological and spiritual reasons, we hopelessly addled humans are prone to addictive behavior. We are, for all practical purposes, born addicts.

Be it alcohol, drugs or a multitude of various other externally ingested/infused/inhaled chemicals that modify the brain/body chemistry in order to alter perceived reality, or obsessive-compulsive behavior such as the mad dash to consumerism, food, sex, money, video anything, thrill seeking, gambling, electronic gaming, hoarding, texting/Twitter/Facebook etc.; the list of addictions and addictive behavior in one form or another is endless.

Addiction has been the scourge of humanity since Eve got drunk on Adam’s Boone’s Farm apple wine. Shortly after World War II, governments, various (multinational) corporations, pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, intelligence services and wealthy private individuals and organizations began extensive scientific research designed to develop products and services that feed off, and feed into, our collective tendency towards addiction.

To be fair, they might describe their research a bit differently.

Over the last decade this targeted R&D, combined with the exponential speed and capacity increase in fixed and portable computing, has culminated in powerful handheld, portable and fixed computing devices. When combined with access to websites specifically designed to feed our obsessive need for instant gratification, social interaction and personal/social affirmation, these computing devices have turned much of this nation, and most of the ‘civilized world’, into little more than walking talking zombies incapable of critical thinking, independent thought or polite personal interaction if it doesn’t involve a keyboard, handset or glowing screen of some kind.

The modern-day phenomenon of instant (often anonymous) long distance communication has succeeded in breaking down the customarily observed social and civil discourse rules normally encountered when personally interacting with someone within arm’s length or stone’s throw.

One simply does not call a total stranger an asshole (or some other vulgarity) to his or her face, if only out of fear of severe and instant retribution for the insult. Yet this type of rude, anti-social and, at times, repugnant behavior is quite common within the Twitterverse, in comment sections of blogs, vlogs, alternative/mainstream news websites and wherever else a ‘user’ feels sufficiently removed from any sense of close proximity to others.

How far has this gone, you ask? People hook-up, make-up and break-up via the ‘verse with nary a second thought. Two or more people have entire conversations via messaging services while seated at the same table, including fights and flirting sessions.

I actually once witnessed a face-to-face fight via an unknown messaging service, something only obvious by closely observing flying fingers on smartphones, expressive body language, dirty looks and the sudden exit by one of the parties who swore at the other party before leaving in a huff. Not a spoken word had passed between them until the very end, yet obviously plenty had been said.

While there always existed the means to communicate over any distance using pen and paper, even personal messenger, the passage of time in order to do so was always a significant and limiting factor. For this reason and others, words were usually carefully chosen and deployed. If nothing else, cooler heads tended to prevail when one needed to compose something long hand and dispatch it via pack mule, rather than compressing your shorthand diatribe into 140 characters or less before punching the ‘send’ button.

Interestingly, I just read that while Twitter recently increased the 140-character restriction to 280, the average message length decreased from 34 characters to 33. So even though our Twitterverse is twice the size, we have somehow managed to find an even lower lowest common denominator. There is no low road to travel, only lower and lower roads.

Basic social skills normally absorbed by the age of five are strangely absent, or at a minimum not fully formed, in fully grown adults these days. But is this really surprising when we recognize the vast majority of people thirty-five years of age or less have spent nearly their entire lifetime consuming manufactured reality in the form of computer gaming, starting with Sega and Nintendo game consoles in 1983 all the way up to stunningly realistic virtual reality devices available today?

No!

What is surprising, at least from my point of view, is the fact gaming addiction and abuse is only now beginning to be seriously studied and medically described so treatment plans can be formulated. I suspect the only viable ‘treatment’ is total withdrawal, similar to alcohol and drugs. And while the actual addiction rates may be comparable to alcohol, meaning as little as 5%-10%, it appears those not addicted, but still abusing gaming, is probably another 10%-20% of all gamers. And I would hazard a guess nearly all those under 35 engage in gaming now and then.

As with nearly all recognized and acknowledged addictions, the gaming addict’s social, emotional and intellectual development is severely stunted or stopped completely. As with those addicted to television, movies or streaming video, one would be hard pressed to convince me spending a significant portion of one’s time in front of flickering screens is healthy and beneficial to life as we know it. Something has to give and the loss often expresses in social interaction deficiencies.

The sum total of this particular slice of insanity is a slow breakdown of polite society among the younger generation who have known nothing else other than instant verbal and non-verbal communication with few, if any, filters. I personally think if all wired/wireless networks, including cell phone and satellite, suddenly went down, withdrawal symptoms would begin immediately, followed shortly afterward by signs of severe psychological stress, including suicide, by anyone under the age of thirty.

I say this with tongue only slightly in cheek. Without providing any links for you to follow (Google is your spying intrusive stalking friend) there have been plenty of academic and scientific studies released over the last several years that conclusively show the corrosive damage done to the psyche of individuals from long term use of video gaming. One simply cannot insert an electric cattle prod of this magnitude into the structural mechanisms of civil society, beginning with the youngest and most impressionable, and not inflict (massive) damage.

The bane of civil society.

Children Having Children

While one may think the title of this section is self-explanatory, meaning a discussion is about to commence regarding under-legal-age children producing offspring, while applicable this is not the case. What is rarely discussed publicly, because to do so would question certain polite lies we wish not to challenge, is adults of legal age and sufficient intelligence, but not of mental and emotional maturity, producing offspring.

For millennia, the common family unit consisted of a man and woman (married or not) their offspring (which may have consisted of children from multiple biological mothers and/or fathers) and often grandmother(s)/grandfather(s) living and participating in the family unit.

Even as the national standard of living rapidly increased after World War II, the parents of the parents, even if no longer domiciled within the primary home of the child, were often still in close contact on a near daily basis, particularly when the grandchildren were young.

In addition to offering physical help with the exhausting task of raising a newborn or toddler, the grandparents were there to offer guidance, wisdom and experience in the delicate and critical art of child rearing.

Using a transmittal mechanism as old as the human species itself, that of hands-on presentation, participation and assistance combined with verbal explanations and encouragement coming from the most trusted source, those who have a vested interest in long term success, valuable life skills only recently practiced by the birthing parent(s) are once again imprinted upon the new parent(s) and, for the first time, upon the child.

I’ve heard and seen the term “adulting” (as in “adulting is hard”) used by twenty somethings (and younger) to describe the act of applying adult life skills they either did not previously possess or were only now putting into practice with varying degrees of success. The very fact there is a unique term used to describe an age-old process of cultural skills and ‘knowing’ transference speaks volumes about the fundamental deficiency of life skills in an entire generation and counting.

I can fully understand the lack of experience when dealing with admittedly difficult first-time life situations. I suffered the same lack of hands-on experience when I was younger. We all did. What is missing is the near complete lack of critical thinking skills, intellectual curiosity and imagination and simple this-then-that diagnostic skills when confronting a first time unknown. The problem is between the ears, not the object in hand.

If not for the availability of YouTube videos and blogs discussing basic skill sets (simple money/banking activities, medical services procurement, insurance, basic tool use and repairs etc.) an entire generation would have collapsed under the weight of its own ignorance before ever getting off the ground.

One simply cannot overstate how vitally important it is for the next generation to learn firsthand from personally invested and intimately involved teachers possessing personally experienced knowledge and wisdom. A lifetime of experience and understanding consistently applied through loving, caring hands to young parents eager to do their best and a child void of preconceived notions and institutional bias often results in a mature and stable relationship between parents, child and civilized society.

While I romanticize the practice a bit, the process as outlined is fundamentally correct and critically important for the long-term survival of the human species. From our log cabin windows and decks, we see on a daily basis this ancient method practiced by the animal kingdom, especially the doing and showing by the parent and community for the benefit of the child. The animals intuitively understand their only purpose on Earth is to teach their children how to survive and flourish.

There is no greater calling or purpose in life than to successfully perpetuate life. To consistently fail in these duties is an extinction level event. We arrogantly insane humans are abrogating our sole responsibility to properly prepare our children for life beyond the nest in exchange for self-indulgent pleasures and self-gratification.

With grandparents increasingly absent or warehoused into nursing homes and retirement communities, the precious life cycle of handed down knowledge and wisdom has lost its most vital component. All other information sources that might be employed to replace the grandparents’ role in the teaching process are tragically inferior and, at best, third rate.

That Dr. Spock book, YouTube video or helpful neighbor lack the critical ingredient needed to bring the parent(s) and child to full bloom, a vested interest in raising that specific blood legacy child under those exact circumstances to the best of their ability. Nothing can replace the sacred familial bonds firmly established when the older parent helps the new parent teach and mold the youngest member of the extended family.

The unfortunate result, after sixty plus years of slow and steady entropy of this precious teaching/learning cycle, is the disintegration, in conjunction with the other influences outlined above, of the self-sufficient, self-sustaining nuclear family unit. We are now in a situation where the birthing parents have not only been poorly trained in life skills by their captured-by-self-interest parents, but now they don’t even have the physical presence of those very same (grand) parents to help raise the grandchild precisely when they are most critically needed.

While today both parents must work in order to pay the bills, whereas two generations ago one working parent provided the same level of financial support, with grandparents absent or warehoused, the new parents have little choice but to warehouse their own infant or toddler into assembly line ‘child care’ institutions. The family destruction cycle perpetuates endlessly, with only a few exceptions to be discussed in the next chapter.

As each subsequent generation fails to pass down critical life navigation skills they were never taught, we eventually arrive at a situation where emotionally and intellectually stunted Eloi adult children are bearing additional Eloi children. Each generation slides further towards the lowest common denominator until we have Eloi acting out like spoiled children demanding free everything, including a life devoid of conflict, safe spaces free from bad Morlocks and someone else (OK Boomers) to foot the entire bill. Again, this concept will be greatly expanded in chapter two.

Obviously, I’m painting with a very broad brush here. Not every family has devolved in this manner; in fact, I suspect it isn’t even a majority who have. But all it takes is a small, determined and very vocal petulant and demanding minority to change social and political policy to suit their immature world view. And by doing so they’re actually helping to widen the political divide they too are caught within.

Seen thru the eyes of a child, the world is a cruel, unfair, unjust and inhuman place to live. I get it. The observation is not without merit and you will not find me arguing otherwise. But children of all ages see the world from a powerless and victimized point of view. From that position, all they are capable of doing is demanding the strongest authority figure fix what’s broken.

But what if that authority figure is causing most of the problems and is quite possibly the principal antagonist? Is the solution more of the same, and then hope it all just goes away? Not for an instant am I dismissing the significant responsibility of the previous generations, including the Boomers of which I am a charter member, for the mess the younger generation finds itself engulfed in.

But unless the generation now entering the halls of power are willing to face the ugly truths, and instead turn their heads and look for the first available scapegoat (just like ‘We the Boomers’ did) exponentially more of the same insanity will be utterly disastrous on a scale unimaginable and unprecedented in the history of human civilization.

I was not being melodramatic or nonsensical when I described the dissolution of the family unit as a potentially extinction level event for the human species. At the very least, absent extinction I expect this situation to eventually result in us willingly frog marching ourselves into a life of human bondage as we surrender our lives to the control of sociopaths and vile despots.

Only the human species has abandoned the family unit.


Denial and Cognitive Dissonance

Probably the most difficult ‘truth’ we all must face, at least if anything is to change, is the stomach-churning realization that all is not as it appears. And I’m not just talking about garden variety ‘official’ deceptions, such as the constant political lies and narrative manipulations in order to start, maintain or expand various wars, covert operations, extrajudicial drone killings or even outright illegal foreign military incursions.

If nothing else, the very fact the US government has been blatantly and repeatedly lying about the war in Afghanistan for the last 18 years should be more than sufficient proof for anyone to recognize those in power are institutionally and psychologically incapable of telling the truth. Psychopaths lie, and for us to deny this fundamental truth is the ultimate in self-destructive self-deception.

There is a deeply embedded political, corporate and institutional corruption operating in plain sight within both houses of Congress, every federal agency of the executive branch, especially the intelligence, investigatory, military, tax, and judiciary agencies, essentially all state and local governments and just about every Fortune 500 company out there. It permeates our learning institutions, the mainstream media, charities, even religious institutions. The only question remaining is the level of corruption one must either remove or endure.

This is the fate of all Empires in terminal decline. The question is always when, not if.

Politicians piously preach about relatively minor political party differences while proclaiming exclusive political party purity. The entire political system is neck deep in pay-for-play kickbacks, corruption, influence peddling, nepotism and pure political partisanship.

I could go on, but I think we already get the picture.

Or at least we think we do, hope we do, are desperate to believe we do…but fear we do not. Something evil lurks in the background where there exists barely audible voices, unrecognizable shapes and fleeting movements lost among the shadows. We dare not approach because we so want to believe we’re the good guys, the world’s policeman bringing truth, justice and democracy to lands far and wide. But we have the sneaking feeling we’re actually delivering death and destruction, pain and suffering and “We the People” are the black hat wearing bad guys.

Can we really be the good guys in the white hats while simultaneously bombing the shit out of second and third world countries because they happen to be sitting on valuable natural resources we want, or draw their sovereign borders within geopolitical hot-spots we insist on controlling? Better not ask, because we might not like the answers we get.

So we pull up our collar, button up our overcoat, don dark sunglasses and plug our ears with our fingers in an ultimately futile attempt to carve out a safe space within La-La Land. Is this not the true American Way, that of feigned ignorance? Or at least abject indifference? Tell me another lie Daddy so I can believe it’s the truth.

We live inside a world view narrative created almost entirely by external ‘authorities’ that, quite frankly, doesn’t make a lick of sense. Rather than face that ugly reality, we massage, mold, spin, embellish and deny portions of it, all in an effort to make it fit within our own uniquely spun version. But just because the externally imposed narrative allows us to choose between two or three different sets of silverware doesn’t mean we have control over the dinner menu, guest list or even when or where we eat.

The secret behind controlling a large diverse population who believe themselves ‘free’ is to let them think they are in charge by offering vigorous debate within a narrowly defined subject list while offering the ‘election’ of easily controllable and pliable puppets drawn from a narrow selection of idiot savants who are experts solely in affable media presentations while staying on message.

Or as I like to say, I love my wife because she lets me think I’m in charge.

One may always complain about the effects of Empire, but one must NEVER question the basis and validity of Empire itself. The only purpose of power is to use it. Or more effectively, threaten to use it while not actually doing so. For example, we don’t like paying taxes, regardless of whether or not we agree with the concept of a shared social burden. And many people would not pay taxes unless there was an implied threat of fines, imprisonment and even death if they did not.

So how do we reconcile the conditioned-from-birth belief we are all free (and therefore free to exercise our free will) with the reality that the vast majority of our lives are controlled to some extent or another by various government edicts (papers please) financial obligations (I owe, I owe, so off to work I go) and the simple fact we must pay someone somewhere merely to exist, necessitating the need to participate in the controlling and suffocating money meme narrative?

The taxes, for example, are a relatively modest example of a narrative variable we all massage in a slightly different manner in order to live with the inner tension of our own cognitive dissonance. Unlike the widely accepted myth of American justice, where we are all supposedly equal and innocent until the state proves us guilty (though some are much more equal than others) when it comes to Federal income taxes, we are all declared guilty until we prove ourselves innocent at our own expense. There are no public defenders in tax court.

Then again, there are exponentially greater dissonances to battle with, such as living with the emotional distress of looking too closely at the men, women and children we bomb into oblivion under the banner of bringing freedom to the world. Can you say boomerang collateral damage? Is it any wonder nearly all of us desperately attempt to self-medicate away the pain, if only through various mindless distractions or via emotionally soothing intellectual masturbation?

Don’t Bogart that joint my friend.

By no means is the infantilizing of civil society restricted to the US. Wherever Empire has spread its cultural infection, stomped its military boot or corrupted the native socioeconomic systems, we witness a similar spiral downward into the abyss. The only significant difference is the degree of desecration and the amount of cultural assimilation achieved so far. Maybe a few more car bombs or random shootings orchestrated by the Empire’s hidden hand are in order to subdue the population.

Ah yes, the America Way in full display.

In chapter two I will more fully explore how our inner demons, grossly inflamed by the Empire’s poisonous sting, exert overwhelming influence over our day to day emotional and intellectual being. And the most powerful control mechanism known to man (and soon AI machine) the money meme.



Cognitive Dissonance

Propaganda and the American Myth

Empire in Decline - Propaganda and the American Myth. Cognitive Dissonance. Aug. 31, 2019.

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive…ourselves.” - With apologies to Sir Walter Scott.


If only life was as neat and orderly as my ancient history text book showed it to be. There it was on glossy paper, spread out across several sets of adjoining pages, maps of the ancient and modern world. Sometimes there were time lines top and bottom, along with countries helpfully outlined and identified. Underneath their modern English names were one or two older names in smaller stylized script, often including exact beginning and end dates. I remember one in particular caught my eye. “The United States of America” followed by the year 1776. But with no end date indicated, it looked like unfinished business to me. You’ve got to love those historians and their precise dates.

Of course, in reality there are no exact dates for the birth and death of city/states, other than in the historian’s mind. Children continue to be born, the old still die, and life goes on under ever changing circumstances. But you are rarely informed of the subjective nature of historical events when you’re young and impressionable, so they’re presented in the history books as cold hard facts. The last thing the reigning Imperial Empire wants is to appear uncertain about prior eons, epochs and echoes in time.

Long before we begin to read and comprehend on our own, we’re presented with the illusion of a specific beginning and end to everything, often accompanied with very clear lines of demarcation. This concept is continuously reinforced through our daily indoctrination via carefully scripted news stories, including political and social opinion presented as ironclad fact care of our modern corporate media saturated existence. Naturally, critical thinking is strictly optional and effectively discouraged.

Mix in a healthy dose of hard-core science, where you learn very early there are correct and incorrect answers to all your questions, and the pattern of modern social myth making emerges. Of course, all the important ‘correct’ answers are held for public safekeeping by our cultural high priests and authority figures, be they academic, governmental, corporate, scientific or religious. Lest you forget, cultural icons, heroes and authorities must always be revered and deferred to, so leave the difficult thinking to them.

Maybe now’s a good time to remember that most history books are written, and re-written, by those very same keepers of the public mythology. What we believe as a culture, sometimes called our public myth, is usually determined by those whose pockets are the deepest and most powerful, not by those who are the wisest and most knowledgeable.

Have you ever read a story or book written by the survivors of the vanquished, the so-called losers? I have, a number of times, and it’s usually very enlightening to see the world from the other side of the bloody divide. In their hands, our cultural myths are not treated with the same loving care and respect we afford them, nor should they be. But of course, they must be lying because they have an ax to grind.

Revisionist history is how those in power politely describe the writings of the marginalized and defeated, roadkill crushed and mangled by the leviathan in the head long rush of conquering empire. The public myth informs us the losers can do nothing but taut the victorious with their lies. Ignore them and they’ll fade away. Besides, the winners never lie about the facts, though we’re told there’s plenty of room for differences of opinion. And just about everything can be reduced to an opinion if you’re looking to malign and obscure.

Of course, one of the duties of the Empire’s leadership and servile sycophants is to distort the written record so it conforms to the public myth. This is the principle reason why recently retired or replaced holders of powerful governmental, corporate and military positions are handed (large) advances to write their memoirs and recollections. That, and to reward them with large legal payoffs for a job well done. While they are often declared ‘best sellers’ by the compliant mainstream media, it is not uncommon to find these books sitting in the remainder bin six months later selling for nickels on the dollar.

These sacred tomes of divine wisdom are quickly embraced by other propagandists as the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help their Gods of propaganda. Once in their hands, the book’s cherry-picked facts, fiction and opinion-masquerading-as-fact are quickly woven into the fabric of the public myth as unimpeachable supporting documentation. Thus, another turn of the propaganda cycle is complete and ready for public dissemination and indoctrination.

Napoleon Bonaparte is alleged to have declared history as little more than a set of lies agreed upon. His assessment is not that far from the ‘truth’ from my point of view.





Belief vs. Knowing

We all possess extremely complex belief systems and world views. How they develop and evolve is greatly influenced by external information sources we rarely question or challenge. After all, these sources are our cultural authority figures, the experts, professionals and intelligentsia that form our cultural propaganda delivery and support system. These sources cannot be seriously questioned, particularly from within, without being declared a heretic. Just look at how non-conforming individuals, web sites, YouTube channels, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts are treated as an example of how heresy is handled these days.

While we may not pay much attention to mainstream media playing in the background, our unconscious mind is absorbing it all, raw and unfiltered. This information feeds into, and broadly supports, our world view with little conscious thought or scrutiny. Regardless of whether it is ‘news’, game shows, sports or soap operas, ultimately it is all programming. This is the reason why constant repetition is so vitally important to both effective propaganda and commercial advertising. It must be true since it is repeated so often, a self-confirming conclusion all positive feedback loops share. Our mind absorbs and retains everything, even when we do not consciously look or listen.

It’s shocking to realize how seldom we change our basic beliefs or understanding when confronted with critical new information that normally would propel reassessment and modification. Instead, we bend or ignore input to fit our established world view. Economist John Maynard Keynes once said “When the facts change, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?” Sadly, most people don’t subscribe to this logical practice. Instead, confirmation bias, the desire to maintain our cognitive continuity (aka our worldview) and outright denial are some of the tools we use to manage and manipulate information to our liking.

And rest assured, there are plenty of governmental, religious, corporate and wealthy individuals and entities ready and willing to help us accomplish this through deliberate and targeted propaganda. The most common personal warning sign we may be sipping from the ‘wrong’ information straw is the emotional pain of cognitive dissonance, usually inflamed when new information is in conflict with our long established and dearly held beliefs and world view. We usually avoid this pain entirely by only watching or listening to sources of information we are in agreement with.

Rarely do we push through this emotional pain to reappraise our inventory of previously established ‘truths’ for validity or relevance. It’s so much easier to discard ugly deviations or cherry pick information that confirms our preferred vision, rather than conduct a top to bottom review that is called for when the facts change. Intellectual laziness is the polite term for this phenomenon. I think a more honest explanation is deliberate and mostly conscious denial.

However, even when I’m alert for and aware of this cognitive phenomenon, I’m still surprised how often I indulge. It’s frightening to recognize how deeply conditioned we are in the art of self-deception. The truth truly does hurts when it’s in conflict with what we believe we know. So, we employ the most powerful pain killer known to man, that of denial and self-deceit.

It’s extremely difficult to reject popular opinion and strike out on our own independent path. Group think is indoctrinated into us from birth and socially rewarded at every turn. It is emotionally safer and much more comfortable if we stay huddled near the center of the pack. The result is herd mentality in all its glory, corralled by the public myth of which we are complicit and dutiful keepers.

I often say all writers are essentially propagandists and this applies to myself as well. I’m using this forum to present information in the most compelling manner possible to make my case. In effect I’m feeding you my point of view to build a train of thought leading directly to my preferred conclusion. This is not necessarily good or bad, but simply a tool or technique of persuasion which can be used for all sorts of purposes and outcomes. Obviously, it can be used to educate or to subjugate, but either way the recipient is an active (and often willing) participant.





Check Your Premise

The most effective propaganda is one whose basic premise is slipped by the target so smoothly it is never recognized for what it truly is. Once the premise is planted and accepted, the hard work is done and the implanted meme can now be leveraged and expanded upon from there. The concept is the same regardless of whether one is teaching basic math before moving on to geometry or the virtues of ‘democracy’, which is then used as a legitimizing façade for a ruling oligarchy or corpocracy.

What’s that you say? You’re too smart to let the wool be pulled over your eyes? That you can discern truth from lies and would eventually figure it out given enough time and inclination? Honestly ask yourself, how much time and effort would you put into thoroughly examining something you already believe to be true? Most would deem it a major waste of their time and not give it another thought. Given the choice between the pleasure of confirming our beliefs and the pain of confronting them, we cognitively caged humans are quite predictable.

Most people perceive complex information as bundles of facts compiled into conclusions and truths, most of which we believe we have originated in part or in whole. We have all witnessed another person take something they heard, saw or read, then modify and embrace it before declaring it their original idea or creation. This cognitive grooming and assimilation occurs so seamlessly and naturally that many ‘honestly’ believe they came up with it on their own and would be highly insulted if we challenged their supposition.

Rarely do we recognize that many of the truths we hold as impeccable are based upon long lines of previously assimilated information provided by others and embraced as our own. If at any point some of this information is proven false or misleading, the entire sequence is suspect along with our own impeccable truth. Consider a long string of numbers to be added together. Make a mistake at any point in the line and the final sum, or ‘truth’, is incorrect to some degree or another.

How we view our world is based upon many preconceived notions and beliefs. Change just one small piece we previously thought correct and everything changes to some extent, no matter how small. Change two or three and suddenly we have a crisis of confidence and a cognitive dissonance. Yet when we feel that pain, how often do we reboot and re-examine everything? And why would we re-examine what we ‘know’ to be correct, particularly when most everyone else in our section of the herd remains in agreement? Peer pressure and conditioning are hard to resist, even in the privacy of our own head.

“We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe





Deadly Debt

My basic premise, and the basis for this article, is that the American Empire is in decline. From my point of view, it’s become readily apparent the so called “American Experiment” has peaked and is now deteriorating. While I can’t produce an exact date for this change, it doesn’t diminish my argument in the least. I’d be hard pressed to give you the specific date for the decline of the Roman Empire, but clearly it followed the same trajectory. Did Rome’s downward spiral start when the capital was moved to Constantinople in 330 AD or when Rome was sacked by the Visigoths in 410 AD? It matters little at this point, except to the propagandists and historians.

Actually, I would argue that while a succession of Empires has come and gone, the culture of human exploitation and destruction we call civilization has grown exponentially in efficiency and lethality over the last several hundred years. We Americans now stand proudly at the pinnacle of the insanity, picking up where the Greeks, Romans, Asians and Europeans left off. I’ll leave that thought for another day, but I think you get the picture.

America as a social and financial entity ceased to function with any semblance of efficacy or fairness decades ago. This reversal in trajectory is the primary reason behind the massive increase in financial engineering used to paper over fundamental socioeconomic problems and extract the last of the profits. To argue over this or that detail is to be in denial of the obvious. In fact, I consider the official bickering over these details as a deliberate attempt to distort and distract while the final looting and rape occurs.

Negative interest rates, now common in Europe and Japan (and coming soon to the US) are a perfect example of the financial wheels coming off the socioeconomic cart. When all incentive for prudence, precaution and personal responsibility are explicitly discouraged, even penalized, the decline and fall of civil society is a foregone conclusion. For example, prudence in the form of saving money is discouraged with near zero interest paid on any sums saved, while the use of ever more debt is encouraged with zero down and zero interest rates charged on the amount borrowed. Negative interest rates will only serve to fan the flames of the already raging fire.

Can you imagine the consumer feeding frenzy negative interest rates will ignite when a manufacturer of (for example) automobiles or trucks informs you they will pay you 1%, 2% or more of the outstanding balance on the ‘loan’ each year just to buy their vehicles? You would wind up paying less than the amount you borrowed. Of course, this isn’t really free money since the manufacturer will simply jack up the original price to compensate themselves and their finance partners for paying you to buy from them. Imagine the inflationary spiral this will create.

The unofficial socioeconomic policy is to delay the inevitable as long as possible, while promising the plebs ‘the authorities’ are on it and all will be well. Just fork over more money, power and control and everything will be right as rain. Unfortunately, perverse financial, cultural and political incentives dictate it’s in practically no one’s best interest to confront systemic socioeconomic issues and arrest the fall simply because great pain will come long before any gain is ever realized.

Those who already possess substantial wealth demand they not only maintain it, but expand it. This elite group controls ninety five percent of the global wealth and ninety-nine percent of the political power, but at best represents one percent of the global population. The entire middle class, decimated by decades of inflation without a corresponding increase in wages, desperately clings to what little they have remaining. Ultimately, for the vast majority, as it now stands this is a losing battle. So, we dither, delay and deny while remaining drunk on cheap credit and consumer pleasures.

And then there are the poor, aka the expendables, globally the largest group by far, powerless in every sense of the word and focused solely on day to day survival. With the middle class increasingly squeezed lower into their already tight quarters, the only place left for them is further down and out.

Those who can, won’t. Those who might, deny. Those who can’t, suffer.





Plausible Deniability and False Hope
Using so-called “experts” to push misleading information and outright propaganda along with other targeted psychological operations, our leaders are pushed, prodded, threatened and empowered by the elite one percent to outright lie about economic conditions both here in America and globally. The rest of the first and second world nations follow suit for their own political survival and personal economic enrichment.

They disseminate lies, half-truths and fake news; not because they expect them to withstand close scrutiny, but rather to enable those who wish to believe the lie a plausible excuse to do so while daring those who don’t to contest their power to do and say as they please. Remember our conditioning; when in doubt, defer to authority and suspend disbelief. This is quite similar to ‘gaslighting’, a form of psychological manipulation in which a person or entity seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or in members of a targeted group, making them question their own memory, perception, and even their sanity.

A classic sales technique is the assumed consent close. Rather than directly ask you to purchase the new car, it is assumed you will purchase. The sales person goes in for the kill by asking closing questions. “Do you prefer the red four door we first looked at or the blue convertible with the leather interior? What is the maximum monthly payment you are comfortable with? Will one or both of you be applying for credit? Do you want the satellite navigation registration in your name or your husbands? May I have the keys to your car so we can determine your trade-in value?” You’d be surprised how many new automobiles, rooms of household furniture, whole life insurance, investment packages and pieces of expensive jewelry are sold in this manner.

Something similar to this technique is used by the mass media to sell us things we already want to buy. Only they aren’t selling the death of America, but rather America’s supposed remarkable resilience and miraculous comeback from near financial death in 2008, a blatant falsehood people only now are beginning to recognize. We’re being sold false hope with outright lies and opinion disguised as factual news and official declarations.

False hope binds us to impossible situations and debilitating conditions.

As long as we believe there is residual value in keeping America on life support, meaning we believe our personal financial situation hasn’t deteriorated significantly enough to push the panic button, we will continue to support this mess rather than clear the smoking debris, remove the leadership and much of the autocracy and start over again. As long as those in power can at least partially shield the majority from major financial reverberations and dislocations, meaning “We the People” slowly degrade rather than explode, we will take a path that best preserves our own personal interests.

As Mrs. Cog likes to say, it’s a recession when it crashes into someone else and a depression when is crashes into you and me. As long as we can defer to authority and demand someone else do something about ‘it’ while also maintaining our own status quo, we will do nothing to confront our fundamental socioeconomic problems. Throughout ancient and modern history, this is the usual path taken by the majority until it is far too late to do much more than sweep up the pieces and bemoan the loss of several generations to devastating financial, social and political distress. Because the nation’s wealth was looted long before the fall, there is little capital and resources to work with in order to rebuild. Thus, the reason for the loss of several generations.

This is the primary purpose of the constant propaganda messaging, to assure those who wish to remain safely within their fox holes (after all, ignorance is bliss) that they can indeed remain hidden in their fox holes. Desperate people do desperate things. The puppet masters do everything in their power to convince people it is best to duck and cower rather than stand up and push back. This is their leverage, as it has been for thousands of years of global history. Those who rule keep the population confused, divided and afraid (and lately, sick) but not so much that doing so reduces our productivity, thereby diminishing their power and wealth.







Wolves Among the Sheep

And the truly frightening realization, something I suspect most of us know deep down in our hearts but don’t actually acknowledge, is that the majority of people in positions of power and/or wealth are either sociopaths or harbor strong sociopath tendencies. Which means they do not think in terms of civic duty and public service, but rather about personal gain and ever more power. As conditions continue to deteriorate, less and less sane and well-meaning people will be willing to step up and attempt to lead, creating an even larger power vacuum the sociopaths are more than willing to fill.

Those who claim “They would never do that” are hopelessly and dangerously deluded, mesmerized by the great American myth or just hopelessly deep in denial. For crying out loud, of course they’d do ‘that’, just as you and I are capable of doing just about anything when subjected to great stress and pressure. The difference is that in the grand scope of things, whatever we might do would harm mostly ourselves and maybe those nearest to us, while ‘they’ can and will harm thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, to maintain their status quo and position of power.

We don’t wish to face the stark reality we as a nation are in way over our heads. As long as we are not forced to look too closely at the terrible condition this country is in and where it’s headed, we are all too willing to do our part and avoid critical thinking. Like an old bull unknowingly led to slaughter because he thinks he’s off to mount the next cow, we’re desperately trying to keep alive the magical American myth of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness while shielding our eyes from the rotting corpse it is rapidly becoming.

That assessment is probably too harsh for the average American’s sensibilities. But let’s ask ourselves a few questions in an effort to discover the truth, or at least something approaching the truth as we know it. First, let me be clear on something before I get flamed for my harsh tongue. I’m not America bashing in the least; I am America myth bashing. The American myth of exceptionalism is enabling our self-destruction as we stand idly by, applauding and supporting the mythical facade our leaders and media display 24/7.

As long as we cling to the hope that all America needs is a tune up and some minor repairs, we’re condemned to a long and painful death spiral. We’re being told exactly what we want to hear because we’re desperate to hear it. To claim otherwise is to lie to ourselves and to each other.

America is crumbling from the foundation up, and yet all we talk about is a fresh paint job and a new screen door (both bought on credit) while handing our grandchildren a bill they’ll never be able to pay. The only way we can live with this lie, while handing suffocating debt to our own future family members, is to deny it’s even happening.

The big lie, one we must continue to tell ourselves, has taken on a life of its own and is consuming everyone and everything in its path. We are addicted to our own public myth. And to sustain the lie we must ignore the truth or face the cognitive consequences, a fate worse than death for a nation incapable of telling itself the truth.

The only way to break through the lie is to go back through decades of propaganda and myth and recognize these lies and our core self-deceit. Since this is too painful, both individually and as a society, we distort reality as quickly as we change channels or YouTube streams. Can you say cute cat videos?

It’s not just our leaders who are corrupt, but us as well. We all know something is seriously wrong, even if we don’t know precisely what is broken or how to fix it. And yet there we are, whistling through the graveyard under the guise of minding our own business…. as if America is none of our business. We think “Just leave me alone and let me live my life in peace” without acknowledging that doing so perpetuates the very system that is slowing suffocating us.

Contrary to popular belief, the fish doesn’t rot from the head down, but rather from everywhere and all at the same time. We comfort ourselves by saying it’s our leaders who lie to us, but the only way a long-term confidence game can succeed is for the ‘victim’ to fully participate. No one forces the victim to be conned… at least not yet.

The conman’s baited hook is the great America myth; you work hard, keep your nose clean, live a good life and retire sitting pretty. While some of the baby boomers are actually living the dream all the way to the end, this is occurring less and less these days and the future looks particularly bleak. Have you noticed how many elderly folks are working at McDonalds and Walmart? Do you ever wonder why this is?





Petulant Children

We have become cowardly, unwilling to commit to the difficult path of setting aside even a minimum of today’s self-gratification in order to assure our grandchildren a functioning society to live and prosper in tomorrow. This is the ultimate act of selfishness, compounded by the fact we self-righteously declare we’ve been hijacked by our leaders. The sad fact is our leaders are doing exactly what we want them to do, to continue perpetuating the lie while telling us it’s the truth.

“Daddy, tell me everything is going to be OK.”

“Everything’s going to be just fine honey bunny.”

“I love you daddy.”

Did we really think we could put our country’s toys, tools and war machines on the national charge card and not worry about the bill, just because some politicians said we could? What are we, 5-year old children, pointing our finger elsewhere when asked who broke the mirror? Even if we personally follow the path of fiscal prudence, we all swim in the same piranha-infested swamp. Therefore, as infuriating as it may be for some to read the following, we all share some responsibility, however small, for the present state of affairs. The only question now is, what do we do about it? Citizenship is about individual responsibility to ourselves and to our fellow citizen, something we’ve been avoiding for quite a while now; at least since we started collectively calling ourselves consumers.

Endless propaganda is used to lull us into a drugged stupor so we don’t dwell on what we’re doing to our children’s children. American flags wave in the background as chiseled men and sultry women expound on how wonderful we are for loving this great nation of ours. The great American love story, brought to you daily via TV and streaming soap operas. This is where the bad guys always loose, men are virile and women sexual objects to lust after. Watch closely children, this is the American dream.

And why wouldn’t we love America the myth? It’s everything we are told we want without the pain of actually creating and maintaining it. Nationalism is our unifying religion, an increasingly fatal addiction to our public myth that enables us to fiddle while America burns. Alas, the carnival ride is breaking down with increasing frequency. More drugs over here doctor, the patient is waking up.

Desperate for relief, we seek refuge with fellow like-minded herd dwelling walking wounded, a perceived safe haven inside occupied territory for the psychically-damaged and emotionally-demoralized, in the deluded belief hiding is an effective emotional pain reliever. Surrounded by lies and deceit, we are indoctrinated to such an extent we still speak the language of defeat and denial without even realizing it. One cannot become clean immersed in filthy shared bathwater, just less dirty than the one behind us and dirtier than the one in front.

So how do we deal with this, and what does this have to do with you and me specifically? After all, aren’t we all just ‘victims’ in a long line of walking wounded, exhausted from moving in and out of various stages of loss and grief? One moment we’re angry with zombie friends, family and neighbors, imploring them to wake up and see the insanity. The next we’re filled with self-righteous indignation as another patsy’s head is placed on the public pike, sated temporarily by the public flogging and bloodletting.

In my opinion we have no choice but to start at the beginning. While we must speak truth to power, first and foremost we must speak truth to ourselves, to talk openly and honestly about what has happened and where we are going. A significant component of the seduction of denial is the avoidance of personal responsibility. This must stop, thus my declaration we are all responsible for this mess. I have no doubt America can stop its decline, but the process begins with you and me, not they and them. Contrary to popular opinion political leaders do not lead, but rather follow the strongest stench coming from the biggest wallet.





Step One….

How do we as individuals tackle this seemingly huge and insurmountable problem? As a former financial planner and stock broker who still runs personal money, I try to use a modified version of my own trading rules in my personal life. They are as follows.

One; know ourselves, particularly our strengths and weaknesses. This is admittedly much easier said than done, simply because the disassembly (and reassembly) of our interlocking myths, beliefs and illusions is NOT a one-time event, but rather a long and laborious process. One or two particular insights or kernels of awareness are not sufficient to reveal the huge tangled mess. In fact, to believe it is a one-and-done event is actually more destructive than doing nothing, since we change very little about ourselves yet believe we have. Similar to Russian nesting dolls, where several more a hidden inside the first, the rabbit hole runs deep.

Two; understand this is far more about perspective than it is about facts, truth or knowledge, three words often used interchangeably and incorrectly. Facts are rarely more than pieces of information which may or may not be correct, truth is almost entirely based upon a point of view often (but not always) derived from arranging facts in a particular order. And knowledge is the inner awareness and acceptance that facts and truth are little more than moving parts in a general consensus reality. Meaning two people can use the same set of facts, yet claim different truths based upon those facts, while a third person, relying upon a large body of knowledge, understands facts and truth are at best subjective and at worst enslaving.

Three; always consider the possibility there is far more to learn about a subject (and ourselves) than we are aware of. The art of propaganda and manipulation is the leveraging of our own biases and assumptions, of nudging and sliding us one way or another. We dismiss the notion we are influenced by these forces because we believe we would recognize them when we see or hear them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Look intently, critically and repeatedly for gaps and weakness in our thinking, especially if we believe nothing is wrong with our thinking. I force myself to read/watch/listen to information I think is contrary to my settled opinions, and I’m always amazed to discover something new-to-me every time I do so.

Four; from time to time, mentally clear our minds from the 10,000 daily distractions that bombard us via every glowing screen we own…or more accurately, every glowing screen that owns us. Yes, I understand this is nearly impossible since so much of our necessary daily activity requires screen interaction. I still manage personal money, which means I must remain plugged in nearly all the time. The weekends are less hectic and afford better opportunities to at least attempt some decoupling from the matrix. Audio books concerning deep dive subjects we’ve always wanted to explore are a perfect alternative to the jibber-jabber intrusions of daily life and can be listened to while doing chores, driving and so on.

Five; trust our instincts and inner knowing more so than our heart and mind. My most shocking early revelation was that my mind lies to me and my heart (emotion) confuses and deceives me. This is not surprising since a lifetime of conditioning and programming instructs us to believe knowledge, truth and wisdom are found externally and only from official sources and authorities. This deliberately narrowed point of view has dulled, if not completely switched off, any intuitive connection we might have with our inner knowing self.

Since we are never taught to consult, let alone trust, our inner knowing, we have all been successfully subjugated to one degree or another by external forces. Worse, we consider this ‘condition’ to be completely natural and normal. Because our cognitive box is the only reality we’ve ever known, it is nearly impossible to ‘think’ outside of it. The more firmly we are chained to the existing reality, the more difficult it is to imagine any other. Therefore, we must attempt to disconnect as completely and often as we can.

These practices slowly develop (re-awaken might be more accurate) a clear-eyed view and a deeper understanding of ourselves, our fellow man and the real world, not as we wish to see it, but as it really is. Unfortunately, we still engage in wishful thinking way too often, constantly pushing the hope ‘dope’ button for increasingly meager superficial rewards. Considering the direction our world is headed, it’s going to be more difficult to think clearly unless we begin to make personal changes now. Old habits die hard because we desperately cling to them for emotional support. Understanding why we do this will go a long way to helping us jettison our old baggage. Even if we are trapped on the crazy train to hell, just because we can’t get off doesn’t mean we must fully participate in the insanity.



08-31-2019

Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance

Perhaps It’s Time to Believe the Impossible
Cognitive Dissonance

"Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things." "I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." - Alice in Wonderland.



It is often said, usually by those who wish to “educate”, control and manipulate us, that we are defined by what we believe. I submit it’s the other way around. We are defined, or more accurately confined, by what we disbelieve and think impossible, or at a minimum, improbable.

Once we consign something to the impossible, unbelievable, farfetched, unlikely, preposterous and unreal cognitive file, rarely, if ever, do we fish it back out of the garbage bin for reassessment and reconsideration. And why would we do so since it clearly belonged there to begin with, otherwise we never would have discarded it in the first place.

That right there is a perfect example of circular logic and emotionally comforting thinking.

From the point in time when non-religious standardized thinking was institutionalized, more commonly known as the scientific revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries, we have been conditioned to believe everything and anything can (eventually) be cataloged, quantified, qualified and confirmed…or denied. More importantly, the scientific method insists “real” truth can only be verified by way of uniform methods that produce repeatable results.

When dancing on the fringe, this mindset requires the use of measuring instruments not yet invented or even conceived of when pushing the boundaries of accepted thought and “reality”. If one disbelieves something, or at best thinks it highly improbable, what real incentive does that person, entity or institution have to pursue that line of thought. The answer, of course, is little to none. This leaves cutting edge explorations to those who are both brave enough to swim against the consensus belief system while also somehow funding those explorations.

This hardening of the cognitive arteries extends far beyond scientific principals and findings. And from my own personal point of view, it’s just another form of collective cultural corruption designed to maintain the status quo for all involved, including every single person alive today. If we are conditioned to believe, we are conditioned to disbelieve as well. And eventually we will fight to remain safely within the cerebral confines of our sheltered minds.

For example, everyone in their right mind knows 2 + 2 = 4. This is a self-evident fact that can easily be proven. Just count the fingers on your hands if you wish to be affirmed in your thinking. But the mathematical tool we use to “count” those fingers is Base 10, which makes perfect sense because we all have ten fingers and ten toes, therefore counting via Base 10 is perfectly normal and natural. Though I might argue Base 5 would also make sense.

But believing 2 + 2 = 4 to be an irrefutable fact completely closes the intellectual door to using any other tool with which to count. For example, if we were to count using Base 3, then 2 + 2 would equal 11, only in this case “11” in Base 3 converts to “4” in Base 10. So, in a sense, 11 = 4 when the proper parameters and perspective are understood.

Of course, in the interest of clear and concise communication, it makes perfect sense for everyone to employ the same “language” (in this case Base 10) when “speaking” in mathematical terms. But 2 + 2 = 4 only applies when counting in Base 10 and is not “truth” in all senses of the word. Because we are trained to think in binary absolutes, of either right or wrong, because we are told 2 + 2 = 4 is empirical truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, our minds of shuttered of any and all other perspectives and realities.

Very little, if anything, of what we purport to “know” is learned firsthand through direct experience or inquiry. Nearly all we believe we know is taught to us by those who were also first taught what they believe they “know”. Meaning the present-day consensus reality is a shared “illusion” of unknown validity and is mostly based upon self-interested circular logic and self-reinforcing confirmation.

I think; therefore, I am…I think. Besides, my fellow insane asylum inmate tells me I am, therefore I must be real because I can clearly see she is real; therefore, she is thee and I am me.

When we are told (by experts and authorities who obviously “know” more than we do) that one person, place or thing is true and correct, all other explanations, versions, concepts and alternative realities become essentially immaterial, moot and thereby inherently and irrefutably wrong. While we are assured there are a billion paths to nirvana, like a rigged casino game, all outcomes are preordained to end within the cognitive corral of consensus reality.

To think, let alone act, outside the norm is heresy at best and social/career suicide at worst. While we will all excuse an occasional dalliance with perceived nonsensical thinking if properly buttressed with laughter and “just joking” disclaimers, those who dare dance with the dark sided of unchaperoned thought and action are scorned, shunned and isolated.

Such is the way of the hive mind.

Born into the hive mind, raised inside a self-reinforcing and self-affirming insanity, “educated” by those similarly afflicted and then mixed into the general population safely ensconced within the insane asylum, are we really surprised the consensus reality dominants our thoughts, speech, thinking and actions? So complete is the illusion, so confining the cognitive box, it becomes nearly impossible to escape the chains that bind. And why would we even try?

For thousands of years the prevailing belief was/is that humans are doomed to be nothing more than…well, human. That we are slaves to the human “condition”, with no hope of escape unless we subject ourselves to the will of others, be it God, Emperor, King or President. How convenient, at least for those who benefit from the controlling belief system by setting the narrative memes, that we are told the only way out is to dig deeper in. Are we really so brainwashed that we truly believe more conformity, compliance, cooperation and concession is the path to personal happiness, awareness and enlightenment?

For those who drink deeply of the hypnotic and narcissistic elixir so readily available as the price of admission, the answer is unequivocally yes. But others, in ever increasing numbers, are beginning to question reality as presented in ways large and small. Some are chipping away at political and religious dogmas and ideologies, asking basic questions of heretofore previously unchallenged fundamental “truths”. Others are traveling deeper down the rabbit hole and discovering there are more than just one or two layers to the deception.

But for those who wish to begin, a basic question presents. How does one break from the consensus reality when the only tools available are designed to circle us back into its domain? Or as I like to say, how does one gain sanity when the only perspective we have is insane?

The fundamental premise one must begin with is simple; humans are not naturally insane and the present-day consensus reality is not the only reality, just the oppressively dominant one. Therefore, our so-called human condition is artificially induced via conditioning, repetition and affirmation. This means the present consensus reality can be changed, if for now only on a personal level. In fact, our “own” reality is the only reality we can possibly change in our severely degraded cognitive state.

The key is to view the problem as one would/should view recovery from an addiction. For that is what we are, horribly addicted to a reality that is poisonous at best and terminal at worst. The first step in any recovery is acknowledging our condition, taking personal responsibility for our situation and recognizing we (alone if necessary) must push against the tide and enact fundamental changes in everything we do, think and say.

No big deal…right?

Instead of perceiving the task as impossible, meaning not believable, it helps to embody a few concepts. Breaking from the consensus reality is a long process, not a onetime event. Reversing a lifetime of rote conditioning and addictive behavior is difficult work that will consume the rest of our lives. There is no finish line to cross, if for no other reason than short of becoming a Buddhist monk and withdrawing to an isolated mountain top monastery, we are constantly assaulted by the consensus reality even as we attempt to understand it, then create and enter an alternative one.

But this doesn’t mean things will not get better. Far from it in fact. As with any new learning, experience builds as the basics are mastered and repeatedly practiced. How does one eat the proverbial elephant? One bite at a time is the only answer to this seemingly impossible elephantine task.

How does one think outside the box when the parameters of the box are the only way we know how to think? To start, question everything, especially our own personal belief system. This doesn’t mean all beliefs must be jettisoned simply because there are flaws embedded within. Our belief system acts as a stabilizer in an increasingly insane world. To merely cut loose is the cognitive equivalent of cutting our engines and letting the hurricane smash our boat upon the rocky shore just because we no longer trust the engine.

Strategic reassessment is necessary in order to avoid an existential crisis of epic proportions. Cognitive confusion and emotional breakdowns are not pretty. The object is to get better without getting significantly worse during our awakening, so baby steps are in order throughout the process. Progress, not perfection, is the standing order at all times.

I try to employ several techniques in order to become familiar and practiced with thinking and living outside the consensus. Or more accurately, exploring the frayed edges where the controlling memes lose their effectiveness. I started relatively late in life, a substantial impediment for much unlearning must take place to make room for alternative concepts and considerations. On the other hand, with age comes wisdom and a clearer understanding of the various tricks and cons used over and over again to keep the herd corralled.

One method is to create an alter ego with which I practice becoming someone I wish to be, but presently am not. Many people today have already created alter egos on various social media platforms, either in their own name or concealed behind a fictitious character or alternative name. The problem is they often use the alter ego to say (and sometimes do) things they wouldn’t ordinarily say or do if directly exposed to others. Since this behavior is encouraged within the insane asylum of modern-day consensus reality because it is unhealthy and destructive, those who do so are headed deeper into the insanity.

My Cognitive Dissonance alter ego is a perfect example of my desire to practice that which I am not, but wish to be. And after a decade of practicing, I am closer than I was last week, month or year. The goal is not to become “Cognitive Dissonance”, for “he” is not me and I am not “him”, but to emulate those qualities I continuously imbue within the Cognitive Dissonance alter ego. Forward progress, not perfection, are my own personal marching orders.

The odd thing is this. By practicing the now possible as demonstrated by my alter ego, by devouring that elephant one bite at a time, the seemingly impossible soon becomes merely improbable, then impracticable, then very difficult, then problematic and soon enough actually possible. Managing personal expectations in order to gain perspective, rather than to self-deceive so we may apply temporarily soothing emotional and intellectual balms, is critical to forward progress.

This requires absolute personal accountability (I am solely responsible for all that I am and no one makes me do anything I don’t wish to do) self-honesty (all lies, at their root, begin with self-deception) and constant self (re)evaluation (the first signpost encountered is never the last).

But we need to do more if we are to begin to break consensus reality spell. And make no mistake about it, the hold it has upon us has all the characteristics of a spell cast upon us by powerful witches, overlords and demons. It is so commanding, in fact, that we know of no other way to live, work, speak and think. It is “reality” after all.

Michael Corleone said in ‘The Godfather Part 3’, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” While we would all like to believe it is “they” who pull us back into the consensus reality, often it is the other way around. While the overall beat of the narrative drum is set by powerful political, financial, military, corporate, religious and now social media entities, at least for now our cushy cages aren’t locked from the outside.

Endlessly conditioned via the carrot and the stick, nearly all of us tend to pull our cage doors shut and padlock them from inside. The tendency for the frightened or inflexible mind to seek closed cages and equally closed minds is well known and thoroughly documented. One of the ways we do this is to seek out and “consume” only information (notice I did not say “truth” or “facts”) which confirm our beliefs and cognitive bias.

To help combat my deeply ingrained bias I force myself to read (consume) things that are contrary to my perspective and point of view. This doesn’t necessarily mean just politics, though that is presently the favored method the meme makers use to divide and control, but also science, education, religion and so on. The primary purpose is not to change my mind, though that is sometimes the outcome, but simply to exercise my perceptive filters and expose them to the knowledge there is more than one perspective with which to view the insanity.

Essentially, I am attempting to pull myself out of a rut even if the result is simply to get stuck in the one next to it. I am exercising my imagination and creativity, my tolerance to disbelieve things I want to believe and to believe things I wish to disbelieve and don’t wish to challenge. I am exploring possibilities, not fact, truth or settled opinion. The value derived is in the process, not the immediate result.

But that still leaves the problem of speaking, and thereby thinking, in consensus reality words, concepts and beliefs. It is extremely difficult to think outside the box when the terms and concepts used to (critically) think require remaining safely within the box. In many respects we don’t know what we don’t know mostly because the unknown has not been described using new terms which introduce new imagined concepts. It’s sort of a chicken and egg thing. Which came first?

Regardless of what we do, think or say, we must first visualize or imagine “it” before the “reality” of what we are now doing, thinking or saying can be created. In practice, nearly all of the basic building blocks of the consensus reality are pre-formed and rapidly accessed by our minds, then combined to create a reality that closely conforms to the consensus. While we may believe we are being creative, the vast majority of imagination is “pre-imagined”. That, essentially, is what I mean when I speak of the consensus reality.

For example, we don’t actually “imagine” a chair, despite the fact there are millions of different designs and our “thought” or “idea” might incorporate slightly different elements. The word “chair” is already established in the consensus lexicon. And the word, when summoned from memory, recalls already imagined design elements, aka already experienced pre-imagined reality. While the element style may vary from region to region, basically it is a device made of sturdy material with four supports and a seat, often a back and sometimes arm rests.

There is little to no substantial creative thought required to conjure up the consensus reality, precisely the reason we are firmly cemented within this reality.

I often say I have no original thought, just original composition and arrangement of old concepts and ideas. I simply lack the capacity to plow new ground in my present state of conditioned cognitive paralysis. But there are people out there who do possess the imaginative capacity to venture off the beaten path to some degree or another. In a broad category sense, they are the artists of the world. More narrowly they are authors, in particular those who write fiction and specifically those who write science fiction.

While general fiction writers are most definitely creative, for the most part they are simply more fully utilizing consensus reality concepts and beliefs in more creative ways. But by no means am I denigrating fiction authors, just as I do not denigrate myself for saying I have no original ideas, only original composition. And there are certainly fiction genres, such as horror (Steven King et al.) or fantasy (Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter etc.) which compel the reader to push the boundaries of consensus reality.

For me though, I find science fiction (and to a much lesser extent science fantasy) forces the mind to not only think, but imagine outside the box. Even though the science fiction author has already created the concepts while writing the story, because many of the concepts fall outside our consensus reality, we are forced to go beyond our known reality and visualize what we are reading as new or altered reality. Often, we must go where we have never gone before.

While the list of excellent science fiction, both old and new, is long and varied, I tend to seek out authors who force me out of my comfort zone by focusing not just on futuristic machines, by thought, concepts, language and thinking. While I prefer audio books, which allow me to listen while doing mundane chores, physical books work just fine.

For example,

The Three-Body Problem Trilogy by Cixin Liu and translated from Chinese. An excellent study in how alien memes and narratives are created, propagated and assimilated while set in China’s Cultural Revolution perspective.

Rosewater by new author Tade Thompson, who explores how the integration of an alien entity changes everything. Set in Nigeria, this alone brings a fresh perspective to western cultural points of view.

The Dispatcher by John Scalzi, a delightfully interesting story about how life works when death doesn’t.

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A Heinlein, a classic that still resonates today for its eye opening perspective on ingrained cultural beliefs when “groked” from an alien point of view.

Again, the purpose of this activity is to exercise our mind and imagination, to push beyond our conditioned comfort zone, to teach our mind, body and soul the invisible fence line is just an illusion we are conditioned to believe is real. It’s sort of a “fake it until you make it” exercise, adding unfamiliar experiences to the mix that help create memories, which in turn begins to supplant conditioned cognitive reflex. Do it often enough and it enters long term memory from which the consensus reality is retrieved and realized.

The above are just a few suggestions on ways we can begin to pull out the deep roots of consensus reality perception and commence to create our own alternative reality. The key is to understand one simple idea. We are deeply immersed inside an all consuming and very convincing consensus reality. As Albert Einstein once said, “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one”. To expect we can escape after performing a few Jedi mind tricks is naïve and self-delusional.

The one item not outlined above is probably the most important facet of this practice. If we remain as deeply immersed in the consensus reality as we presently are, no amount of expended effort in the opposite direction is going to move us very far off the starting line. When standing under a waterfall, a garden hose isn’t going to make much of a difference. We must begin to withdraw physically, mentally and emotionally from the hustle and bustle of everyday life inside the matrix of insanity.

For most this is the most difficult part of the journey. Many won’t even try, preferring the insanity they know to the unfamiliar and frightening reality of personal responsibility and sacrifice that can lead to greater self-understanding and enlightenment. To walk away, or even just distance ourselves from the hive mind, is to experience self-imposed isolation and a rejection of much of the external affirmation we have been conditioned to believe we need. It takes courage and perseverance to be contrary to the herd for any substantial period of time.

This is why I said earlier we cannot discard all our anchors at once, regardless of their flaws and entanglements. For to do so mostly assuredly will destabilize us to the point where we are falling back faster than we are moving forward. Two steps back with each step forward is not the way out, but deeper in.  Whatever we do to begin the withdrawal process, the most critical aspect is to move toward a goal with purpose and intelligence rather than run from ourselves in fear and haste.

Perhaps it’s time to begin to believe the impossible.