This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
The Zero Hedge Effect – Crossing the Event Horizon - Part 1 of 2
The Zero Hedge Effect – Crossing the Event Horizon
Chapter One of Two
By
Cognitive Dissonance
[TV commercial script] (During the voice over we see a series of obviously distraught and distressed men and woman huddled in bed, pacing the floor or sitting on the edge of their seat slowly wringing their hands and quietly crying. The backgrounds are darkened and everything is slightly out of focus while the background music is dour and slightly off key.) “Do you have trouble sleeping at night, endlessly tossing and turning until, exhausted, you get up and begin your day? Are you constantly worried about money or your job? Have you been feeling alone and isolated, with your family and friends refusing to discuss those things that deeply concern you? Do you obsessively read financial blogs and web sites, but never find the answers you’re looking for?” (The scene slowly changes to a husband and wife angrily arguing. Then the scene dissolves into a close up of the worried husband hunched over his computer monitor in a darkened room, the glow from the monitor flickering on his face. The scene fades out while simultaneously fading back in to a close up of his right index finger repeatedly clicking the computer mouse.) “If any of these symptoms describes you or a loved one, you might be suffering from an increasingly common and very serious cognitive dissonance. The good news is that now there is real hope with a treatment available that can give you the peace of mind you need and deserve. Stay tuned for more information.” [End script] Of course, as soon as the TV commercial mentions ‘good news’ we quickly see lots of smiling faces and hand holding, along with people walking in fields of flowers or laughing with friends and family. The narrator then informs us of the latest greatest drug to benefit mankind…..immediately followed by a 30 second listing of potential side effects. If I had not given it away by mentioning financial blogs, one might recognize that the above ‘symptoms’ have been experienced by nearly every one of us at one point or another. Well, most of the symptoms anyway. But in this case it’s not a drug that ultimately cures the cognitive dissonance, but rather truth telling via a relatively new phenomenon sweeping the world. It is pretty clear that there is something special about Zero Hedge, along with several dozen other web sites and blogs, financial or otherwise. So let’s explore a bit and find out what is going on along with a warning not to become complacent and assume that we have arrived and can now stop searching. For hundreds of years there have been various sources of information which, when uncovered, enabled the determined searcher to peer through the facade and gaze upon some of the truth hidden by the official keepers of the public myth. But this knowledge was glimpsed only by a limited few who had the time and means to conduct a comprehensive search of original texts and documents, then publish their findings for an extremely small audience. When the Internet began to open up more of the mysteries hidden from the public, the few expanded into a few more that were, for the most part, clustered around so-called ‘fringe’ Internet communities, newsgroups and more recently small web sites and blogs. But even with the expanded modern day access to vast pools of information via the early Internet, most of the research was still limited to political assassinations, false flag attacks, governmental, military and individual skullduggery, wars of opportunity or empire, financial fraud and so on. More importantly, for the vast majority of time the perspective of this research was retrospective in nature, often looking back years, decades, even centuries into the past. Near real time analysis was limited mostly to pure speculation and supposition, often because real time info was extremely limited and required a consensus reality point of view to gain entry. You needed to be part of the group to be given the right to listen in on the group. Zero Hedge specifically, and several other blogs and web sites in general, approached the problem of near real time research and dissemination of contrary information from an entirely new and amazingly vulnerable sector, that of business and investment, an industry that already disseminates massive amounts of (near) real time information in order to give the impression of a level playing field among lesser competitors and a vast worldwide pool of patsy investors. Now more than ever, primarily because the world depends upon just in time Federal Reserve digital money printing and liquidity injections, as well as Congressional emergency bailouts and crony systemic manipulation, a growing understanding of the inner workings of the financial world, as well as widely disseminated global financial information, has begun to expose the secret world of the financially powerful and politically connected to ‘we the people’.
The democratization of financial information has evolved in a manner never considered particularly vulnerable to the powers that be for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, those who could understand (and use) the financial information flow were never seriously considered to be a source of disloyalty since it was always assumed ‘they’ were either using or twisting this information in order to deceive and/or trade off for power or profit rather than use it to help expose and potentially destroy or disrupt the very system they could profit from.
This limited perspective is a wonderfully penetrating example of the narrow mindedness and naiveté that is displayed by the captured mind of the central sociopaths and their large group of enablers, particularly when they believe they are all powerful. People often expect other people to think, act and say pretty much what they would think, act or say. The (financial) criminal minds, including those of the hard core sociopaths and their first and second tier enablers, are often not very imaginative, particularly if it isn’t required of them on a daily basis for anything more than to rape, rob and steal.
However, in the vast majority of cases the rich and powerful were correct in assuming no one would defect or that those who did would be ineffective, marginalized or quickly squelched. In their minds the equation is simple. Who would possibly give up the enormous wealth and income that flows from intimate business connections and insider information? Better yet, who would want to overcome the cost of entry and the risk of ridicule (or much worse) that comes with becoming a dangerous whistleblower?
Alas, the sociopaths completely underestimated that which they do not possess, the single minded power demonstrated by those with strong moral character, fearless courage and righteous indignation. Combine this with the ability to monetize page views, thus mitigating some of the cost of entry, and a rapidly growing and thoroughly pissed off proletariat, including some morally outraged, burned out and/or jettisoned financial workers, and you have the means, motive and opportunity for economic truth mongers to blossom. The rest, as they say, is history. All of the above is obviously a gross over simplification of the phenomenon, but you get the idea.
I do not wish to diminish the contribution of dozens upon dozens of web sites and blogs that pre-date Zero Hedge (ZH), all of which served to plow the raw and underdeveloped truth speaking land and turn the soil in preparation for the Zero Hedge Effect meme seeding. But the prolific posting of 10 to 15 original articles a day by ZH’s founder(s), who uses the alias Tyler Durden, as well as guest posts and the output of numerous contributors, provides an at times mind bending journey into the alternative reality of truth speaking. As well, Tyler’s in-your-face style serves to embolden those who read his prose, a necessary attraction if one is going to entice reluctant or frightened souls out of their burrows and into what they’ve been told all their lives is blasphemous and heretical territory.
Zero Hedge, and all the other destroyers of the public myths, are so much more than ‘just’ truth telling web sites; they are a singularity, the precursor to a potentially mind expanding metamorphosis, a meme movement of historic proportions that will only be fully recognized and understood with the 20-20 hindsight of historical perspective. This grass roots movement is clearly a force to be reckoned with simply because it has made its presence felt despite mainstream media opposition and outright hostility from those who carry the water for the political, corporate and financial powers that be.
In fact this new and utterly unique form of near real time truth speaking is so revolutionary that I have coined a term for it, “The Zero Hedge Effect”, which I use to describe the overall financial and business truth speaking movement that includes dozens of other web sites and blogs, a sampling of which can be found on the left hand side of every ZH web page. This blossoming has emboldened others to double their efforts and either expand their (non) financial truth speaking web sites or to create all new ones. This is the definition of a popular movement and not a fad. The proof of its power is seen within the escalating efforts by disinformation agents to attack their credibility. One does not fight what one does not fear.
The Zero Hedge Effect describes the overall experience that must have overwhelmed Alice as she explored the rabbit hole and suffered one cognitive dissonance after another in rapid succession. The World of Wonderland must have been extremely distorted and disorientating for Alice, just as the world looks to those who stumble into The Zero Hedge Effect after clicking a stray link or hearing about the Hedge from other web sites. From that moment on they begin a journey into an alternative realty so demonstratively different from what is presented by the mainstream media, the education system and the general consensus belief system that severe vertigo and projectile vomiting are just a few of the early physical symptoms of old meme purging and cognitive disruption.
From that point on nearly all who enter The Hedge, or any of the other non coordinated (but still in the eyes of the PTB, co-conspirator) web sites, experience time and reality dilation and distortion effects similar to what one imagines we would experience if we were to cross the event horizon of a massive black hole, thus the reason I describe the actual transformation process itself as “Crossing the Event Horizon”.
For those who undergo the gut wrenching and emotionally destabilizing process of unlearning nearly everything they thought they knew while simultaneously downloading not only truth, but an entirely new vocabulary of financial and political terms and phrases, they are never the same again. And for this reason alone many quickly turn around and never look back as they scurry towards the warm and seductive embrace of near total truth blackout living.
However, there is great danger in thinking that we have now crossed through the event horizon and are safely on the other side, thus fully awake and seeing clearly. This just isn’t correct and to believe so is the act of the self deluded fool. One doesn’t overcome thousands of years of thought meme conditioning and cultural indoctrination by overcoming a few obviously transparent lies and self deceptions. In fact, one of the lies we tell ourselves in order to assimilate all the initial cognitive dissonances is that the tough part is done and the road forward is clear. Who really wants to face digging an endless pit for the rest of their lives? While I most certainly can be accused of beating this mule to death, let’s once again take a look at the group and individual psychology of this issue. One must begin to understand the reason why people and groups do, or don’t do, the things we do if one is to see the bigger picture. Otherwise it’s simply too easy to dismiss explanations such as what follows as silly and illogical or not applicable to us under the false belief that we act for the most part logically and in our own best interest. Or even that we know our self very well, thus we are finally free thinking, the ultimate self delusion. Forget about pointing fingers at others in order to shield ourselves from this potentially stinging rebuke. I’m talking about you and me here and no one else. Take a chance that you and I might not know everything about ourselves, that we might actually continue to lie to ourselves without even realizing it, and open our minds to other possibilities. For decades, the stock markets were supposedly influenced and even regulated under the ‘logic’ of efficient markets. Only now are people finding the courage to look closely at the illogical lunacy of these theories. Isn’t it interesting that these ‘efficient market’ theories, when accepted by the masses and by a large majority of financial advisors and money managers, had the effect of making suckers out of the very same masses it was supposedly designed to help? But I guess that was just a coincidental accident, right? The same applies when thinking about ourselves and how we act privately and publically. Is it such a surprise to discover that we act illogically and often at cross purposes to our own well being? Yet we are told we’re free to choose, that our leaders work for us, that we determine our own destiny, when a careful and unbiased examination tells us exactly the opposite. If we don’t begin to understand why we continuously fall for the same bag of tricks we will remain hopelessly stuck within the false illusion the rich and powerful present to us as our ‘true’ reality. Any book, article or video that discusses political, social and economic policy or even corruption without factoring in individual and group psychology is seriously flawed simply because the entire story isn’t being told. One simply cannot convey a complex and nuanced condition or idea using less than half of the available alphabet or dictionary. The unspoken presumption underlying many (but not all) attempts to expose ‘the truth’ is that if only the author could inform the sleeping masses of the ‘real’ story, of the hidden information, then the slumbering giant would rapidly wake and shake off the tyranny. My apologies to all the sincere and serious authors out there, but this view is hopelessly naive and speaks more to the psychology and conditioning of the author than the reader. In fact, an important component of our social conditioning and an integral part of the Big Lie is the deeply conditioned belief that it’s impolite or even rude to speak to each other about our own tendency to defer to the manipulation and lies promoted by ‘our’ authority figures. It’s almost as if we are acting like children talking about serious flaws in our parents. If we make believe and don’t really talk about it, then it isn’t real. The only social class allowed to discuss this subject (other than our masters, along with the advertising and government intelligence agency classes) is the professional class of social scientists, doctors, psychologists and academics and then only in the most sterile and dispassionate clinical terms. There is this intellectual wall that’s erected around them forbidding anyone other than these ‘experts’ from discussing psychology in public. Only the great Wizards are allowed to discuss the mysteries of the human psyche. After all, they are all experts and we are just uninformed and potentially self destructive children. Any explorations and explanations offered by amateurs such as myself are quickly branded as deluded babbling or children playing with matches. Only the great Merlin and his anointed sorcerers are empowered to conduct such forays into the dark psychological arts. And God forbid if a non ‘professional’ embarrasses the reader by pointing out the obvious. It’s almost as if people believe that to speak about the unspeakable is just rubbing their noses in their own futility. Hush hush sweet Charlotte, civilized people don’t talk about such things. Or maybe it is all just our fragile little egos screaming at us to leave the blanket draped over the dead and rotting corpse. What we don’t see, what we are conditioned not to see, is that this is all part of our conditioning, that only the high priests are allowed to discuss the very subject(s) that can and will help set us free if only we would understand and use them. This is a constant within the illusion. Anything that can empower or free us is removed, restricted or demonized, thus severely limiting our innate and natural ability to heal, grow and flourish. At best we are told we should restrict ourselves to applying band aids and hydrogen peroxide. Anything more than this should be left to the professional mind magicians and the grand keepers of the public myths.
I’ve been told a number of times by ‘professionals’ including financial, medical, scientific, even philosophical (which just goes to show how deeply all professionals are indoctrinated to stay within the lines including myself) that I shouldn’t stray where I don’t belong. Sometimes I’m even scolded as one would an errant child who has just been warned to stay away from the sharp scissors. We are conditioned to believe that just about any emotional discomfort is considered an illness that must be treated with Makita skull saws and surgical mind grips when what our emotional pain should be seen as is a warning sign that something is seriously wrong with our present day reality and not necessarily with us. When waking up to a world gone mad the prescription that is needed is not additional heavy medication, more mindless TV indoctrination and desperate consumerism. Have you ever wondered why the ‘healing arts’ magicians claim they ‘practice’ their profession, that they own a ‘practice’? This is not a play on words; they use this term very specifically to describe an inexact process. As much as we wish to believe, as much as we are told to believe, that it is a complex science and well above our pay grade, much of it, particularly psychology, is simply theory and consensus belief systems that are applied under ‘sterile’ or controlled conditions. I’ve often wondered how many emotionally distraught individuals who are finally waking to their insanity are re-infected with mad human disease while prone upon the psychologist’s brown leather sofa. And do we not see the sublime irony in the fact that some of the nastiest and deadliest infections are ‘caught’ during a hospital stay? There is a world of difference between setting a broken bone, undergoing transplant surgery or treating psychological trauma caused by the sudden loss of a loved one, which I’m not talking about here, and understanding what makes us psychologically tick and how we are manipulated, how our own imagined and conditioned fears and phobias are used against us. We are confidently told that psychologists know what they are doing, but a careful reading of ‘accepted practice’ suggests to me that they are simply intensively and often narrowly trained practitioners rather than holistic healers. To a great degree this also applies to the medical field as well. We are all conditioned to be the passive and cooperative patient and are told to let the ‘health professionals’ control our health and well being, also known as the illusion. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard family and friends tell me that their doctor doesn’t listen to them. More often than not they don’t listen, at least not beyond the initial description of the primary symptom(s). About two years ago my extended family all agreed we would accompany each other to doctor appointments as each other’s advocate. While it is a huge hassle for all, it is remarkable the difference we have seen in the responsiveness of our doctors and nurses. Our passivity and isolation in the hands of the ‘healing’ professionals is our implied acceptance of their projected illusion. We cannot see outside of the illusion when we fully accept the illusion as the only ‘real’ reality. This is not to say that some people are not gravely mentally or physically ill and would do great harm to themselves and to others if they were not ‘treated’. And of course medical doctors perform a vital service in treating serious disease and injury. This is not what I’m talking about. But how much of today’s treatment, particularly psychological, is simply designed to get the wage slave back onto his or her feet and once again profitably producing on the economic chain gang. I owe, I owe, so off to work I go. Instead of treating the daily cumulative emotional distress so many of us experience as an issue with us personally, maybe we should begin to see that our emotional pain is an obvious and clear warning sign that something is terribly wrong with our world and that it is not ‘we the people’ who should be fixed, but rather that the sociopaths and all their enablers should be run to ground and destroyed while we debt slaves free ourselves. By not discussing the real chains that bind us to the illusion and by not willingly accepting personal responsibility for our own understanding and well being, we perpetuate the basic victim mentality that chains us to our own impotence and unhealthy practices, regardless of whether our bindings are physical or mental. The one constant among nearly all religions (including the Gods of money and consumerism) is the demand that we must willingly accept the proffered illusion if we are to be saved, born again, reach nirvana, live happily ever after, makes lots of money, comfortably retire etc. Instead of 70 plus virgins, I’m promised consumer nirvana if only I reject nearly all healthy physical and mental practices and blindly dive into the shallow end of the consumer pool. Consumer bliss is just another McFat burger away.
While I deeply respect and even admire the tremendous amount of time, effort and dedication that goes into becoming a doctor, psychologist or anyone else in the ‘healing arts’ field for that matter, at some point we must ask ourselves what it is we think they are doing to and for us. I have no doubt that the vast majority of them sincerely believe they are doing ‘good’ and would never intentionally harm their patients. That’s not the question here and it never really was. But that doesn’t mean they do not do harm, just that they do not intend to do harm. In my book, malpractice is far more than negligence, be it gross, intentional, misguided or otherwise. “God forgive them for they know not what they do” sounds like it might apply here. They practice in a field that is a business first and their business is to get the patient back up on the hamster wheel and plugged into the illusion, either physically or mentally. Doesn’t this make them at a minimum conflicted or possibly misguided? Just because everyone else is doing the same thing doesn’t make it right nor does that absolve the practitioner. In so many ways the ‘healing arts’ are just another form of consensus group think run rampant, controlled by Big Pharma, Big Health Insurance and Big Government. The men and women of the health professions are without a doubt subjected to the same propaganda you and I are, including cultural and social indoctrination. And it is the rare individual who can see beyond their social and professional conditioning when it pays them not only to fit in but to excel. That sounds like a serious conflict of interest to me and while I’m sure I will hear screams from the comment section that these professionals put their own self interest last, isn’t that what we all tell ourselves. I would argue that they are even more intensively indoctrinated considering all their years of training. Yet rarely do we view them as a critical part of the control system. Instead we are conditioned to believe they are trained to be impartial and thus impervious to the same influences we recognize affects us. They are showered with drug company information, including ‘incentives’ to prescribe various drugs to fix or repair our mental and physical ills. Or as I like to say in all seriousness, they are given incentives (even if it is simply personal motivation to help) to cast their magician’s spell(s) to keep us within (or to reenter) the illusion. These professionals, and in fact all intensively trained professionals (of which I am one) are the epitome of group think to the nth degree. Only in this case it’s OK because we want to help rather than harm. Show me one professional who willingly admits he or she wishes to harm. We all want to believe our intentions are good and benevolent. And yet harm does and will continue to occur because of our professional actions. Why doesn’t this worry us? Under conditions such as this why do we still willingly surrender our will and our bodies to their dictates without serious questioning? Why don’t we inform ourselves? It might be in our best interest to look just as closely at what they tell us about our mental and physical health as we do regarding our financial health. I suspect that most of us would avoid professional financial advisors who are still completely plugged into the Ponzi and who continue to spout ‘efficient markets’ and ‘endless growth’ nonsense. If so, why are we still playing by the rules when it comes to our mental and physical health? Why don’t we question our doctor or therapist as closely as we might our financial advisor? Might it be that we are still under the influence of the magician’s spell, but our ego won’t let us admit it? The Big Lie is so much deeper than ‘just’ the financial Ponzi. I’ve talked about this in great detail in other articles so I won’t go any further (thank God some are saying). But the reader should consider that their professional doctor and psychologist are just as caught up in the illusion as we are. Their job, whether they are fully conscious of it or not, is to keep you and I peddling away on our hamster wheel and thus fully immersed within the illusion. If you’re reading this article it seems to me you wish to do the opposite. So maybe it is time to reexamine everything including your most basic assumptions. In Chapter Two we will explore our individual and group self deception and how it keeps us trapped within the event horizon. Cognitive Dissonance 07-12-2011
- advertisements -
CD, thank you so much for your contributions to this site. This is my first post on ZH, although I've been a daily visitor for at least 2 years. I look forward to your insights. Keep them coming!
I've read part 1 and am onto part 2. Awesome comments and discussion, read them all.
I've bookmarked some of your other articles Cog Dis, superb.
Much respect CD. Thanks for your writings.
And thank you for leaving your mark.
"To thine own self be true." More easily said than done by man, the "social animal," however. It's good to see people trying to work it out together! Ironically, it seems impossible to do any other way--no man/woman is an island. That would seem to be perhaps the fundamental paradox that so often balls up the effort.
Nice work, CD!
Thank you Bob.
And I think you are correct, we must work this out together because we are all in this together. While I write my pieces in isolation I share them with everyone. And everyone completes them with their comments. I am always amazed how much my pieces are improved by the collective wisdom of those who share their thoughts in the comment section. The two sections do not stand alone, but are fused into the finished piece we see here.
Thank you for dropping by and making your mark.
CD
Isolation can free us from a lot of the "noise," but it imposes its own burden--one that therapists must bear all day, every day. Each person has his/her own value system and, most certainly, mythology that has to be accommodated. I wish psychologists would more often and more effectively speak to the larger cultural context, though a few social psychologists do, but most of us are busy dealing with people singly or, at most, as families . . . primarily helping them, as you say, positively "adjust" to the lives they choose to live. Not too many people are looking to tear down every collectively held illusion we share/suffer--not only is it not what they're paying for, but if it were possible and appropriate to force them to do so nonetheless, what would be the real payoff? We all know that it is both a blessing and a curse at best.
All in all, I think "mental health" professionals should be more forthright about their limitations. Their many limitations . . . including the fact that they have little, if anything, to offer on the "big questions" that is in any way superior to what lay people know.
Unfortunately, there have been generations of hustlers who have misrepresented themselves and the proper scope of their professions. I'm thinking of the talking heads on the boob tube, including Dr. Phil and criminal "profilers" (an especially ridiculous fraud.) Then there are the thousands of state-affiliated "professionals" who work to impose their opinions upon the population by force--Friend of the Court workers, "Expert Witnesses" and the like. IMO, it's a tragedy that the public has been sold such a profoundly malignant load of shit.
I think its a beautiful thing that finance professionals, predominantly men--who, as a gender, overwhelmingly reject therapists--are hashing this stuff out together, without the professional spin. Kudos for bringing it about so persuasively and engagingly, CD.
Since the day my eyes were opened to the truth, I have struggled just to get through another day. I take solace in the small things that bring me happiness - a round of golf, cold beer and a cigar with friends, a great meal with a nice bottle of wine, and lots of laughter. I try at times to bring my friends and family the truth, but they don't really want to hear it, and truthfully, I envy them; this knowledge I possess brings me farther away from the happiness we all seek. The most crushing aspect of all is the realization that I am completely powerless, as are we all, to change anything on a macro level. Unfortunately, there is no un-knowing for me.
What CD just said. You are not completely powerless. You just exercise your power to be unhappy. You are wasting energy and talent. Get positive. Change what you can. Start with yourself.
I felt this way at one time. But then I realized that this could not be true and that it was me who was making myself miserable. No one makes me do anything. Only I make me......whatever. So the information wasn't making me miserable. I was.
This led me to the beginning of the self awareness and consciousness expanding path that I have begun to travel. And I have never been happier in my life.
Nice one.
So pleased CD will be leading us to the promised land. Best time to leave for me is after 'Dancing with Stars', although I have to be back in time work the next morning, what would they think if I wasn't!! looking forward for the next instalment! Will sit quietly next to my computer until that time though...... :P
Think your tale above about the local community organising is really telling. Had a similar experience as a student organiser/representative. If your just going to complain and do nothing,what do people expect? O_o
Not good. But, just like Cypher was unable to realise, there is no being plugged back into the matrix. Oh for the warmth of the group, the soothing feeling of conformity. YES! YES! wait a sec.....NO! :)
I get discouraged but I continue to try. It took my son years and years to break some early habits. I never gave up helping him improve.
To be honest I think my son just grew out of it. Where I contributed was simple when viewed in retrospect. When he looked around for something to replace the bad habit he saw what I had been saying and tried it. When the sleeper awakens the first voice they hear will be yours. Makes sure you are speaking then. Since you don't know when s/he will awaken, don't ever stop speaking and you never need to guess when to speak.
Care to share? I basically just read ZH and infowars (the latter tending to be a little too frenzied, IMO). What are some of your faves, CD?
This is just MY list, but feel free to add your own:
http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/forum/favoritebest-alternative-information...
Nice list.
And there is always the "Zero Hedge Reads" list found on the left side of every ZH page.
CD,
you had me at hello on this, have not read all you have said to say but like it so far
.
Truth Seeks Light; Evil Loves the Dark
http://inewp.com/?tag=third-reich
...
..
"It is a measure of the blanket denial of our leaders. When examined in the light, it doesn’t look at all like “terrorism” is what’s going on. It’s a name used to mesmerize the masses while our military-industrial-congressional-media complex escalates its wars all over the world and escalates its police state at home.
Creating True Believers
Our government’s secrecy, recently embarrassed by the WikiLeaks – has done what such secrecy nearly always does: creating an inner circle of True Believers. Will we also indict the New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegle et al, as well as all radio, television and internet servers who published the leaked documents? Our muzzled mass media seldom mention how many people in other countries are pointing out the comical irony of a country bragging about its “freedom,” while imprisoning and pursuing whistleblowers who have used that freedom to shine an international spotlight on our government’s lies – at home, in the Middle East, and in our international diplomacy all over the world. We’re not used to being the punchline of jokes."
.
"How could it have happened? How could Germans possibly have morphed into Nazis without realizing what was happening to them? And how could it happen here? This too was described decades ago, by a man named Albert Speer. Younger readers may not recognize the name, but Albert Speer was the only top-ranking Nazi to confess, and to describe from the inside how a democratic, artistic, creative Germany was turned into the Nazi death machine so easily:
“In normal circumstances, people who turn their backs on reality are soon set straight by the mockery and criticism of those around them, which makes them aware they have lost credibility. In the Third Reich there were no such correctives, especially for those who belonged to the upper stratum. On the contrary, every self-deception was multiplied as in a hall of distorting mirrors, becoming a repeatedly confirmed picture of a fantastical dream world, which no longer bore any relationship to the grim outside world. In those mirrors I could see nothing but my own face reproduced many times over.”(2)
These insights came to light only after the Nazi machine was destroyed, along with millions who died during the World War required to cut off the ugly head of Naziism. They could come only after the tragic slaughter of innocence because they had no equivalent of a Daniel Ellsberg, Bradley Manning (allegedly) and Julian Assange and his Wikileaks. These men are among our age’s prophets: those putting their lives on the line to serve the kind of truth that may help set us free, if only we will muster the courage to see and to hear that we have become something ugly."
I have breached the crysalis. I am drying my wings in the early half-light. I have turned my face east to receive The New Dawn. I am born anew.
On another recent thread I believe I referenced Dostoevsky's "The Idiot"; and it is well that I did. One doesn't read Dostoevsky so much as one experiences the man and his mind; and once I'd waded deeply enough, past the formalities of plot and charecter, on into the world of it, I found just that -- a new world, a place of profound and ineffable belonging...an eerie sense of destiny, if you'll allow. Echos of those tinglings, that feeling of awakening wonder, first felt nearly sixteen years ago now stir anew. There is a familiarity about all of you, and I'm doing all I can to temper my enthusiasm for you -- it grows increasingly difficult. These people get it. The meek may inherit the earth; but noble fathers must seize it first.
Which leads me to something I feel it necessary to share -- something apropos of the article and its wise author's field. You will notice that Janus' tone is more sombre and deliberate, and that is because the nature of this secret demands a certain reverence. This is one of those things that is too true to be good. This is what Dostoevsky hinted at with 'mystery, majesty and authority' in The Brothers Karamazov: power and dominion over the pliant mind.
In order to gain access of the inner will of another, something called the 'cortial block' must be overcome. To keep this simple, we'll call it 'the bull-shit detector'. All sorts of pleasure-oriented messages can sneak by, but this type of programming is tedious and effectively useless for our purposes. Fear, my droogies, FEAR. Little Alex knew it well, now you shall know it too.
You may be saying that this isn't news to you; then why are your forefitting its effect to the enemy? This is war. Propoganda has purpose. As for methods, it's important that your manner and bearing reflect supreme confidence while delivering your message -- don't oversell it, just speak it with authority -- as if the object of fear were as real as, say, al qaeda. Let your words be on the surface reassuring but undergirded with stomach-churning foreboding. Practice on friends and family...better yet, use those 'single-serving-friendships' as test subjects. They will never receive greater compensation for their participation in anything. You can undo 15 years of Fox News with one bit of earnest evangelism...go ye therefore into all the world, and preach the gospel everywhere.
"Zero Hedge, and all the other destroyers of the public myths, are so much more than ‘just’ truth telling web sites; they are a singularity, the precursor to a potentially mind expanding metamorphosis, a meme movement of historic proportions that will only be fully recognized and understood with the 20-20 hindsight of historical perspective. This grass roots movement is clearly a force to be reckoned with simply because it has made its presence felt despite mainstream media opposition and outright hostility from those who carry the water for the political, corporate and financial powers that be."
What is new about ZH? As far back as Greece, groups of philosophers secretly met to discuss the evils of the status quo. A famous one you might have known was even forced to drink Hemlock as punishment for his 'sins' against the state.
Do you really think ZH is part of some innovative move toward a better world? People accept being dominated by lies and deceit because it gives them comfort from the everyday pain of being ignored and abused by their loved ones and the ones presumed to care about them and lead them.
Unless ZH is preeching peaceful parenting, its just hilarious to sit here and talk about changing the world from the top down. Instead, it has to come from the bottom up. No matter what flavor of the insanity in society, it begins with the fundamental thought systems of the people involved.
Only enslaved individuals accept government enslavement. This is precisely why governments and tribes and clans throughout history have succeeded so well in acquiring almost uniform obeyance – because their threats are the same brand of threats corrupt parents use against their children. All religions and cultures stem from the same basic seeds of violence – always employed in the cause of irrationality.
As long as history continues, the horrific cycles of economic collapse and mass genocidal wars will continue because no matter what level of technology you have, if the basic fact that coercion = immorality is not understood, you wil have brain damaged violence-seeking individuals and their submissive counterparts playing their role in lock step.
I think your essays are just mental masturbation and you are basically treading water while waxing philosophically. In no way at all is this 'financial information movement' going to bring about a logical or sane world. I've read quite a few financial blogs and there is no shrotage of these 'truth-tellers' who are just confused heaps of illogical violence-infused logic in most of their attitudes.
I have absolutely zero faith in the financial blogs bringing about some sort of rational singularity, in the same way I don't think a tree will grow by planting its branch in the ground.
I can tell you from experience that this tree propagation method works. I have used it with willows, maples and some roses. It requires care in branch selection, cut location, site selection, soil quality and timing, among other things, but it does work.
Illogical logic? How does that work out on paper?
Three questions for you:
1) WTF are you doing here wasting your time not only reading, but commenting (at significant length) on ZH content?
2) Why do you think you have the wherewithal to comment constructively on CogDis "essays" when you clearly do not have the mental fortitude to have actually READ them before dismissing all as 'mental masturbation'?
3) Do you know ANYTHING about how trees propagate/are propagated?
To those who argue the futility of trying to reach out, of trying to do better, of trying to inform and educate others, here is a (perhaps imperfect, but gradually improving) template I have used:
http://realsimphony.blogspot.com/2011/07/letter-to-sleepers.html
Some positive responses to the above -- the point of showing these is merely to indicate that there IS a chance you could do some good:
"I am truly glad to have received this e-mail from you. I have been having almost identical thoughts as you elucidated below for a little while now. Things are exceedingly bad and it is very politically risky for politicians to speak the "truth" as to the state of affairs. Instead, people are constantly manipulated by the media and don't really understand what is going on. I sometimes wonder if people are truly capable of understanding even if they tried. Furthermore, the media is quite good at making people FEEL as if they are informed, but when you get to the details, that'll scare most people away because everything is so complex that only a few people are capable of distilling the facts for what they truly are.
The bottom line is that this country is sinking financially at all levels, private and public. Most people have enormous debt and so does the government. What's worse is that this level of incompetence and irresponsibility is unprecedented, and history does not have all the answers the way various talking heads and pandits want to think. Much of the decision making going on now is at-the-seat-of-the-pants while "experts" speculate as to the impact it will have over both the short and longterm.
Things do not bode well and I do no think most people are ready for a substantially reduced standard of living.
Ignorance is only bliss until you realize that you wish you had known..."
"Thanks for the info. Your email was very interesting, however I haven't read all the items yet.
The previous time we talked I think I said that I cannot see how things can get any worse in Greece than they already are. Well, I was wrong. As a matter of fact they can and probably will get worst. At this point, economic terror is spread and many people are afraid. I have to address that in Greece, there is no organised effort to hide things. Greece is an organised chaos. Dept was a fact for Greece since the nation became free from the Turks. The dept was getting bigger and bigger every year because noone cared not even to hide it. Bad control of public money and cheating made everything worse. Politicians can cheat right in front of your face, with little consequences. Everyone complains but nothing more. I think it is learned helplessness.
Some people, as I, prefer to accept things. In case of a world economic collapse, I think that there is nothing you could do to protect oneself. Nobody can imagine what is going to be like. Difficult times may come and it is going to be difficult for everyone. So if you have no money to turn to gold, you just wait to see what is to come. I do not mean to live as if there is no tomorrow. What I mean is that we have to be informed as you say, but also able to live our lives and teach our children that we can handle difficulties.
Anyway, I hope next time we speak I will not feel that things are getting worse here :)"
"I will def. take a look at this all this information as time permits, what are your thoughts on silver/gold bullion?"
Good piece,,
Morpheus: The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.
The Event Horizon is the Red Pill, the overly referenced movie cliche. Since culture is the perpetuator of myth and truth is a journey without destination the human mind floats between the fragile space from perception to contextual discretion. Understanding the limitations of your own mind, the existence of unknown unknowns, is the foundation of critical thought and the only defense against enlightened despotism, the herding of the human mind by the agents of culture.. not easy to escape for a socially constructed entity.
You really have a talent for writing. I really enjoyed this article. However, I, in no way think we will see an event horizon. I've not been back in the states for a visit in 6 yrs., but what I saw then, and the correspondence I've had with people during this time, leads me to wholeheartedly believe there will never be an even that sparks the masses of america to respond. Americans today love to embrace the legendary attributes used to describe americans of 100 yrs, ago, but those folks are long gone. Americans love Hollywood and NFL, NBA, War, and other spectator sports, cuz it gives them pride in their own manliness, through association, but in actuality, is long since dead. Whats left in america as a whole, is a whole new evolutionary branch I like to call Homo Penguinicus. Its like all the best qualities of the two species wrapped into one. Of course the most obvious trait is the waddle, resulting in a grossly disproportionate backside. But the human side contributed some traits as well: shaved heads, goatees, and bad boy tatoos (Tribal design, brought to you by Walmart)you would never see on a real penguin, but is often witnessed in the new species (sub-species?). But like its cousins in Antarctica, you will never see H.P. go against the flock. In addition, they are rather cowardly, and only enter the water (or any social movement) enmass, so as to minimize the danger to the individual. So, do I believe confiscation of guns and gold will set in motion the fury of H.P.? Absolutely not. Just turn on the discovery channel, or even walk outside your home, and the truth with become quite evident.
In my mind you have a lot of very valid points. But, per worship of ancestral exploits, most countries do the same in one form or another. But yes, the false macho bill-boarding that you mentioned is nauseating, as is the tribal plunging of artifacts through one's various body appendages. It is the public fantasy with an ethos of warriorism that really does not exist in this culture outside of brainwashed children in the military. But, it is the popular culture now. Personally, when I see a guy with a fu-manchu, bulging muscles, shaved head and voluminous tattoos, I imagine him on the ground with a bullet in his gut screaming for his mama. I get a vicarious boot out of that kind of innocent fun.
Haha! Thats great imagery! I actually wasn't implying that other countries don't do the same thing. Shit, just watch soccer riot losers. I was trying to point out that the great american male has become totally emasculated. Unable to walk the talk. Just look at how people take to the streets in places like Greece, Egypt, Spain, everywhere... except the U.S.. Its odd how neutered, american men have become. I have no hope for them. I believe we will see a gradual decline til we see americans living in favellas, drinking the cheapest of cane liquors, and hanging out on the street in their dirty underwear like Brazilians. I'll wager thats the american future, and not some John Wayne, or Red Dawn, or Fight the Power type senario
The night of the fight, you may feel a slight sting. That's pride fucking with you. Fuck pride. Pride only hurts, it never helps
Brilliant... absolutely brilliant.
There is an awakening of consciousness that is predicted in this age that we are living in. Mythology has guided mankind for eons... and now, the mythology is being revealed for what it is...
I wonder if the Mayans lost faith in their leaders as we are witnessing today... which led to their demise?
Most people think that an awakening would automatically mean revolution as the awakened cast off the corrupt old. Maybe not. Maybe they just make the old irrelevant and it all just fades away. If we project and conjure up our tormentors we can do the opposite.
Yup. Also while the 'civilazation' may have disappeared the people did not. They simply stopped coming to the cities and remained scattered in the forest around the area.
Perhaps there is more to it. Let me speculate.
Maybe both the "awakening" and the disappearance are linked to another myth. That of of merging and temporarily coincident realities.
As these realities coincide (at or around the Mayan end point?) those reaching for a "higher" vibrational reality would find it easier to achieve, those wanting degeneracy find that easier. While the realities are coincident, it is possible to jump between them, as they draw apart again, it becomes harder, then impossible. Perhaps the more civilized Mayans stepped up a reality during a previous merger and left their more primitive brethren behind? Maybe we will have that opportunity soon?
Thanks for this and all your contributions at ZH CD! Pure, brilliant sanity.
Best regards.
i thought i was smart and intelligent, until i joined zerohedge...after learning 20+ years of garbage i'm finally realizing how the world really works...awesome essay CD!!
But, it is all comfie and warm in the womb of lies and deceit.
The problem I have is that once I start seeing some of the lies exposed I wonder if perhaps, the new information source also has an agenda. Like Dr. Weil and Dr. Mercola.
If we cannot trust ourselves to think outside of the box, how can we evaluate any treatment. I love science but almost every major study coming out these days has a major flaw in the setup, size or statistics. I guess we just have to wait for a ZH-for-health blog. I've been to some alternate therapy sites and maybe I am wearing blinders but I don't buy that the Government is killing us with airplane contrails.
Does anyone know of a blog like this for health?
the believers receive instruction regarding
their beliefs from the "true believers", the pros.
these pros have been indebted, onerously encumbered
financially, so their belief is now subject to
market forces where financialization rules apply.
and again, the cost of the energy for the machines.
mechanizing and financializing our world will most
certainly continue to be a grimm disaster for us if we do not
have perspective on it, like blind children in the
china shops during the running of the bulls are we.
.
Progressive Commentary Hour - 07/11/11
July 12, 2011
Today Gary had special guest on, Gerald Celente, one of today’s pioneers in trend strategy.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/progressive-commentary-hour/
.
more voices..
.
The Gary Null Show - 07/12/11
July 12, 2011
Charles Eisenstein is a visionary scholar who writes about civilization, economics, transpersonal psychology and the evolution of human cultures.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-gary-null-show-wnye/
Good stuff as usual - made me think of the various 12 step programs that have been hijacked by Insurance Companies, Hospitals, and Rehabs - the churn and burn type of establishments that charge insane amounts of money in some cases and offer "professional" help to those in the throes of addiction when they are at their lowest (up to that moment in time) point.
The founders of the 12 step programs made it absolutely clear that the program outlined in their 12 steps were never to be done for profit. They also arrived at their conclusions after professionals had given up on them (a few enlightened professionals accepted they could not help, and endorsed the efforts of the founders of the 12 steps).
So now, the "professionals" are hijacking a system that works, and was created by laymen that they in fact had given up on as hopeless.
Seems to me, the fact that the individual has so much input and responsibility for his return to health in the 12 step program would also be why it works, and why the "professionals" hijack it and then take responsibility and charge for something they really had very little to do with either developing or administering.
The 12 steps are all about breaking down ego and self deception in order to bring the individual out of the Rabbit Hole of his own creation and into a world where perception more closely maps reality in order to live a more fulfilled, useful, and joyful life. Professionals need not apply.
I can agree wholeheartedly with your comment. Bill Wilson's view of the current state of "recovery" would be interesting. Having been thru the 12 Step mill and coming out the other side I can attest to your analysis as being true for the most part. After 20 years of "success" however, I do give the professionals who played a part their due. It was an expensive process, and being the hard-headed person that I am, I'm not sure I would have made it without the "professional" patina. The 12 Step approach does not work for everyone, but for the lucky ones it works unbelievably well!
+12 steps
i went to the psychiatrist and told him i am depressed.
alternately being obsessive and compelled to do things
i hate and then feeling exhausted and doing more of the same.
i said " sometimes i feel like a wigwam and then i feel like
a tee-pee. you know what i mean? "
he said " i know your problem, you're two tents. "
.
a. dimille. 7/12/2011 wbai, 2:00 pm show.
.
but seriously, we are all slaves to the energy needs of
our technology. have the machines won the war? all human
pursuits and expertise, insight, are directed to the furtherance
of the energy needs of our machines, materials and infrastructures.
the dignity of human life is now obviously being discounted and
increasingly devalued wherever it interferes with this single "right"
and over riding belief / meme / ubiquitous mental disease.
.
materialism ( the basis of the legal system itself ? )
.
but the real money is in this idea. what america needs to satisfy
all its intellectual and entertainment needs, infotainment if you will,
is a new t.v. show called "the singing and dancing chef and bullion dealer"
yes another musical chairs, ponzi talent competition but it would
combine song, dance and cooking in a fantastical new age kitchen / workout
jacuzzi and the judges would be authoritative british, german and french
bullion dealers; furthering the japanification of the western colonized mindset.
i would watch for a while, who wouldn't?
.
the contestants would be international young talent, youthful enough to
simultaneously meet the demands of ballet, modern jazz and souffles
while being judged by distracted and disinterested metals dealers.
don't we all want to see a chef cook the perfect meal while dancing
and singing? well maybe not all of us but ask your wife or girl friend.
.
apologies all 'round
Excellent CD.
All you ZH readers that are so quick to condesend and call everybody sheeple are sheeple yourselves.
You worship this crap.
Big Pharma is bad- what a revelation.
fail
"The result of his inaction on that fateful night would haunt him for the rest of his life and he would spend his remaining days attempting to fight for his exoneration."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Lord
For several years I’ve been aware of the Rockefeller influence on medical schools, prescription drugs and the education of physicians – so the doctors would naturally write prescriptions. I recently made the full connection between the Rockefellers and the drug industry in Morris A. Bealle’s book Super Drug Story- out of print, mine is from 1962. This might help some others make the connection – excerpts from pages 5 and 6:
“Forty years ago the Standard Oil Company became impressed with the methods of the big packing houses which used, processed and sold every part of the hog but the squeal.
Their sales research department went ‘way back to the 1860’s when “Old Bill” Rockefeller, the itinerant pappy of John D. (the first) and a patent medicine showman, used to palm off bottled raw petroleum on the yokels as a cure for cancer.
“Old Bill” opened up a new field for himself. He called his bottled petroleum “Nujol” (meaning new oil) and sold it to those who had cancer and those whom he could make fear they would have it.
This sounded good to Standard’s researchers. It sounded even better when they found it cost but $2.00 a barrel to concoct Nujol from crude petroleum. And that from one barrel of the raw stuff they could make 1,000 six ounce bottles of finished Nujol. Instead of caling it a cure for cancer they called it a cure for constipation.
The latest trade catalog lists Nujol as going to the druggist at 43 cents a half pint (8 fluid ounces). The druggist thus pays about 32 cents for a six ounce bottle of Nujol which costs Standard Oil 1/5 of a cent.
These breath-taking profits from Nujol make it inevitable that America’s largest and most ruthless industrial combine (the Rockefeller Empire) should soon add the drug traffic to its already vast production and sales domain. It wasn’t until 1939, however that the Drug Trust was formed and the upward curve in their drug profits began to assume the present gigantic proportions which today make it a macabre $10,000,000,000 a year business.”
I have a favorite blog for medical subjects - a great source of insight http://jenniferlake.wordpress.com/about/
Thanks for a great article CD – also excellent idea to take along a family member to medical appointments.
thanks for taking the time to write this up
And thanks for taking the time to read it.
I know I try some people's patience at times, but these damn things just explode when I start writing and it goes where it wants to go. As crazy as this may sound, when I am writing the article is often writing itself. I'm just the editor and spell checker and essentially along for the ride. Some of you will know what I mean by this.
I know very well. A few years back I started penning a short Valentine paragraph to my wife, and I ended up writing a 2,000 word screed that I eventually round-filed less it ever see the light of day.
Lawrence Block is one of the most prolific writers today. He says much the same thing. Block has written much on the topic of writing itself and his insights might be of use.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Block
Books for writersOfficial website
Great article as always. When cruxifiction was a public service anouncment, or your head was at the city gate when the King's favor was against you all you had was family. Even now that has camps. It does run very deep and divided from decades of technological drifts. When the consumers decides to act as thinking beings only then can we start the process. As we see, not going to plan is it? As I conveyed to my Children who are rather bright, remember operation market garden and a bridge to far may apply. Any step to assert a moral compass cannot hurt either. Good Luck and ZH is illumination to preserve another good day. The Senate asked US the step up. They forgot that maybe we left them behind for there own good. Be the good fight and of honest cheer for we know what they peddle...
Psychopharmacology creates huge profits for Big Pharma, with patients put on medications that are for the most part no better than placebos, or that make them feel "different", not necessarily better, and from then on its just adjusting the "cocktail" for the rest of your life.
Good links to check out in this essay, including comments section from New York Times link.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=are-antidepressants-just-placebos-w-2011-07-12