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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
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Sometimes it helps just to hear someone else talk about it. If nothing else we feel less alone.
Thank you for commenting.
From M. Ghandi:
The Seven Blunders
I think we've got them all covered.
Rod Serling would be proud of you. This is definitely the Twilight Zone.
Well said CD. I think you are on the right track regarding the effective role of "medicine". I have had the privelege of knowing a GP who somehow survived his training and who freely admitted his main function was, as you so succinctly state, to keep the hamsters turning the wheel.
There is a decent documentary out there called "food matters." Think it's on Netflix. Nice discussion of medicine, pharma, and Big Ag vs real human nutrition. They interview a few rogue doctors who have some interesting things to say about their educations, their publications and their professions
There are serious ego issues here for many doctors. It stands to reason that anyone who can withstand the hardships of becoming a doctor might have a healthy ego.
But still, if I can admit I'm a cheap whore (broker) why can't they admit they are hamster repairmen/women? :>)
"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."
or another book from amazon.com... don't mean to pick on ya cog, but had this thought when i woke up this morning after falling asleep reading one of your latest: "does cog realize he's perpetuating the ponzi by shopping and linking to amazon all the time?" i mean i know it's easy does it, quick shopping, straight to your door, blah, blah, blah, but that's how they get ya right? insta-knowledge at your doorstep, all for the price of your soul!
don't get me wrong, i know what's it like to be a book slut, believe me. but what about indie sellers? better yet, what about used book joints, like Powells for instance. and let's not even get started on the use of the visa card vs. cold hard cizzash...
perhaps a rant, so be it. hope you take it constructively. nevertheless, please consider the following:
AMAZON.COM IS NOT YOUR FRIEND
No problem. But there are no links to amazon.com in this article nor the last one I checked. Did I miss something?
I do often link to wiki in the comment section, but simply to provide context to many of my references and jokes that I make as I post comments under other ZH articles. Is this what you are talking about? If I make a comment or joke that people over 50 might understand, I wish to provide context to those who might not.
If I occasionally link to amazon.com it is as a reference, not to sell books. Are there indie publishers out there to whom I can link to? If so, names and web sites please. But I'm doubtful that the indies are selling the books I am referencing. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Thanks.
I regularly check for books and such at half.com. They have a wide variety and one can usually find a cheap version. They've been around for a long time and I sell my used books and CDs there. It's owned by eBay but I don't hold that against them. They were beating eBay's pants off selling used books -- so they bought 'em. That's the eBay way. Anyhow, it's a good place to look for any book and shipping is a fixed rate. All the versions and condition are shown on one page for viewing, so a link to their listing would give all the alternatives available, from new to acceptable.
My local library allows downloading books for free. They automatically disappear after three weeks.
What is this 'library' you speak off? :)
OK everyone. I'm making my list and I'm checking it twice.
it was the 7/4 piece i read before bed. powells.com is a good one for used. they have the E.Fromm book & the Checkov & Jekyll Island.
i no longer buy new books, maybe cougar knows of some good indie book sites? as far as referencing, why not reference a webpage on the title with a quote or an analysis, so those who want can dig in?
again, not to call you out for pickins & quibbles, just that paragraph reminded me of that thought this a.m. and when synchronicity strikes, i find always best to go with it, for better for worse. i myself am trying to cure myself of the habit of impulse buying anything packaged in plastic (including bottled water) or accepting plastic bags. not easy by a longshot. can't tell how many times i walked out of the deli with a plastic bag in my hand before i realized i didn't need it. but that's the point isn't it? we are enchained by THE CONVENIENCE OF IT ALL. this is why we need to continue to help reminding each other...that is, as long as we are willing to accept a little inconvenience in our daily lives in return for possibly loosening the grip on everyone past present & future.
"drop by drop, I squeeze the slave out of myself.".... "with a little help from my friends"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eFQYwqO-4g&feature=related
thanks for continuing to help remind us cog...cheers
Tip E,
Is 'The Fear of Freedom' by Erich Fromm the one you are referring to?
here ya go:
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/dispatches-occupied-territory-–-awake...
Independent publishers are often "vanity press" and the authors are often in it for the thrill, paying up front for the publication of their work. I don't think you'll find much solid content in these venues, certainly not worth wading through at length for a few gems. But that's a generalization, someone can clear that up if they care to.
There are places like smashwords.com that are making an independent market for eBooks, either free or nearly so. Mainstream authors are veering toward the eBook format in large numbers, for their mainstream work as well as the less marketable stuff, and it's possible that in the future we could see a lot of familiar names and topics going out as eBooks. The joy of course would be browsing the eBooks in a topic and seeing some familiar names or highly marketed work, but then discovering something new and daring that would never have made it onto the shelves of a B&N or even Amazon.
And there are those such as myself that take the low road, and post to a personal web site. Because -- you know -- we really just don't give a damn.
Well you do sometimes link to myself, so your karma is really good with me!
Your two ladies had me at first sight. Or was that first bite? :>)
http://madscienceunlimited.com/fiction/index.html
Rod Serling would be proud of you. This is definitely the Twilight Zone.
+98.6
nice CD and i for one am glad i dont have to sign up for your blog like some of the other loudmouth contributors.
That's great.
Because I don't have a blog you can sign up for.
Yet! :>)
Stop that "yet" business. Your talents are better served writing, not dealing with the machinations of a blog. We get your best here. It seems that those who waddle off to the blogosphere just get lost in the haystack of mediocrity. Stay in the limelight!
I second her vote
Banzai7, is that you?
Bill tells me similar things. And you are both correct. I don't want to think about anything other than my writing and my business. ZH fills my needs very well. Where else can I go for an audience like this?
If I were to write elsewhere and split my time, both places would not get my best effort. As it stands now, ZH gets all of me. And I get all of ZH.
Good deal all around.
CD,
This caught my attention:
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?
I used to think it would be a zen moment, one great flash of truth and then peace and harmony forever. My truth has been, however, quite different.
The process has taught me that conditioned self, which what I find it convenient to lump everything, that is referred to above meme conditioning, cultural indoctrination, and all the rest, is a very tough guy. If he was not, then my line possibly would not have lasted long enough for me to have arrived, nor to have survived 70 years; so, it has value and is not to be disregarded lightly.
But my point is that this process has never been simple, clear to me, or direct without having to untangle the conditioned self from this living organism at every step in the road; both entities are required for survival and are not opposed but, rather, collaborative in a natural human being. I suppose this might be considered integration except I am still sorting this stuff out daily.
There are times of 'knowing' although, it is 'not-knowing' at the same time, if this makes any sense.
Damn, I apologize for being so confused in my writing but I have not words sufficient for the un-nameable---this where I usually go into the forest-----all of those other species teach without words and I understand that teaching better than this.
Thanks for your compassion
Oldman, I too must retreat to a place of nature to remember all the secrets I once knew as a child.
"For thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of words may indeed unfold its wings but cannot fly."
~Kahlil Gibran
CD you've expressed views I've held for a long time. The "we know your body better than you do" meme runs rampant through the "health system maze" we're required to endure; and fuck you if you want to know what a test or procedure will cost in advance of said test/procedure. Been there, done that, and been lied to as a result.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
Nice job CD. I don't exactly remember when I started reading Zerohedge, but it was on the old site. http://zerohedge.blogspot.com/
Looking forward to Part II.
Outstanding, as usual, CogDis. I did think the foray into discussing the medical profession might feel like an attack, singling them out (despite the larger point being discussed). But the top part (above the large chain illustration) was top-notch. Thanks for your continued contributions.
Thank you for your feedback. I thought long and hard about writing this before doing so.
I have three clients in the medical field. One doctor, one psychologist and one psychiatrist. I also have a psychologist in the extended family. I also know socially several doctors and mental health professionals. I have had extensive discussions about this subject with all of them over the years. While nearly all see the issues I discuss all of them wash their hands of any responsibility to try to make any changes, right down to how they conduct their own personal practice.
As a financial professional over the last 20 years or so, as I have learned more and more about the financial rape and pillaging, the raging insanity, I have made constant changes in my personal practice to try to change both my profession and how my clients are affected, including refusing to use certain financial products that rape them with commissions or fees. This has affected me greatly financially and socially, but I have been trying to walk the talk. I am not perfect and I don't claim to be. But I am trying.
Where is our professional responsibility to make changes at the lower levels of our profession? In discussions with other professionals, while they claim this or that reason for not making changes, it always comes down to money or pride. Some have even come straight out and told me they would not make changes if it reduced their income, especially if others didn't do the same.
And yet these very same professionals bitch and complain to me and to others about "the system". They are the system. They must change first. But they will not. So I am not going to hold back when discussing this subject.
Here is one physician, Dr Donald Abrams, who is walking his talk. In doing so, he must fight the State, Big Pharma, Law Enforcement.... Big Pharma is a the world's biggest drug pusher, and incredibly powerful lobby... and they want no competition from free people who can grow an unpatented, effective medicine. Scrool down the page and watch the short film:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/09/feds-rule-marijuana-has-no-acce...
I agree that in many ways their hands are tied legally. And so are mine.
But let me give you an example I used with the medical professionals of where they could do more. A constant complaint I hear was that the insurance company dictates some/most/a lot of the treatment plan, so they can not give as much time as they would like to each patient. Understood. So why don't they give some extra time to each patient. Schedule 2 less patients each hour (medical doctor) or give each patient an extra half hour a month (psychologist) so that the patient receives more of your time. This of course means the professional makes less money.
Whoops.
There is always silence at this point, as if my Star Trek universal translator just malfunctioned. Make less money? Are you crazy?
I have cut back my income in many ways to give my clients better service for the money. I have cut back my fees. I give away some services others charge for. Why can't they do so as well?
dup
Dup
I have a lot of medicine in the family and see the same attitude. The lawyers are worse
you live from your heart...it comes across from your writings, thanks for sharing.
Point taken. But:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXQozTxQSiE
As you have said yourself many times, ALL OF US are complicit in creating our cages and chains, both personal ones and the larger, systemic ones.
My suggestion is merely that there is a singularly long example made of doctors (many of whom are exactly as you describe, but some of whom are more self-aware and morally-driven), without expanding the example to media professionals, teachers, academics, even bureaucrats/administrators.
OK, I understand what you are saying.
The other professions will be discussed at a later time. Since this article focused on the cognitive disruption of passing through the ZH event horizon, it was focused on those professionals the person might seek help from to relieve the cognitive pain.
Stay tuned, more to come. I have several in the hopper that are waiting for transport to the upper brain level and two already written. Been doing lots of writing, but not much posting. That is changing.
That was a great piece. Now, why don't you get off your ass (I'm one to talk!) and go out in the real world and try to change things?
I'll say it again, WE are to blame, We allowed ourselves to believe that preaching brilliantly on the internet is the same thing as doing it in person, in real life, in front of real human beings. It isn't.
You won't see change until that occurs.
It's a good place to interject the six-month rule. A little psychological trick I learned when dealing with my ex-wife, and have since used to good effect.
Here's the thing in a nutshell- I found that when trying to change someone's mind, it's not so much that they are always incapable of reason as it is difficult to make someone really listen and get past the wall of vanity we all have. In any conversation, it's far easier to raise someone's hackles and get them to argue or babble than it is to actually change their opinion. Most people's first reaction to new information is to prove how clever they are by coming up with a counterpoint- and once they take a position, they feel compelled to defend it, no matter what arguments are raised to the contrary.
So, the best thing to do is to come in sideways, and speak quietly- always asking for opinion rather than making statements. Speak as softly as you can, with a slightly off-kilter cadence to attract and hold attention- when people strain to hear, they listen harder. Ask questions that guide the listener to the point you wish to make by using the Hegelian dialectic to cause them to build the case you are trying to make for themselves. Go past the main point, and then reverse yourself, to give them the impression that they came to a conclusion you don't quite agree with.
Then shut up about it. Almost without fail, six months later, the subject of a quiet conversation that is engineered this way will come back and suggest the very thing you proposed as their own idea.
The only caveat is to make sure that what you are suggesting is right, or else the technique will cease to work. It won't change reality, just slide through prickly defenses.
This (zh blog) isn't the real world? I beg to differ. CD will have more readers here today than people he could meet in a lifetime...
exactly. It is true education and debate on an immediate affordable format
The world does not change when one person decides it must change.
Well not usually. Though the list of famous tyrants is a long one.
As a general rule the world changes when enough good people of a sensible mind decide that they are not going to do things the way they used to be done. They will try something different, for good reasons, and they know what the reasons are even if they haven't decided yet what they are going to do differently.
And then, the world changes.
But, playing devil's advocate: what if the entire world is not objective but subjective, in your own mind? Then, changing yourself does change the world. And its really the only thing anyone can control.
Its really true that if you want to change the world you must first start with yourself.
The 'net can only do so much. We'll see "change" post-Ponzi collapse when the regime attempts the usual gun/PM grab. That will be the flashpoint.
Ummmm
Actually I have and still do get off my ass. I have been a local community activist for over 15 years in three states. In the 70's and early 80's I was even more active than I am now. So my point of view spans 4 decades.
And I have watched over that time period as more and more people complain and less and less people are willing to even show up. For example, many people in my neighborhood have been complaining to each other for three months over a drainage problem at the end of a local street.
Two of them came to me and asked me to organise the neighborhood to petition the county supervisors to fix it. I did this and received 13 verbal commitments to show up last week at the monthly supervisors meeting. I invested 7 hours over the prior weekend knocking on doors and talking to people. Guess how many showed up. Zero! Zilch! Nada! Even the two people who approached me to organise it did not show up.
If people aren't willing to go to the local county supervisors meeting to petition their local leaders, what exactly do you expect them to do on the national level? At this point the entitlement mentality still runs strong in the herd. They felt someone else should fix the problems, including speaking and showing up for them. The road will need to wash out completely before they physically get involved.
I bought some asphalt patch, and undertook to repair a particularly annoying pothole, near my home, a few years ago. the police showed up, and were threatening to arrest me. the pothole had been there for a year. the county bureaucrat showed up, and I eventually had to agree not to do anything, to improve public property, before I could be on my way. I had to dig out the asphalt patch too.
that, right there, is the ingrained cultural attitude that could be the #1 impediment to any sort of meaningful change in our society absent a complete disintegration. i butt up against this attitude constantly and always, always, i'm considered the Problem.
example: "why don't we get mulch so we don't waste so much water" "oh, we have to get approval to buy mulch" "why don't we use grass clippings or straw" "oh we can't use that, it's not aesthetic." "but you're wasting so much water." "that's okay, somebody else is paying the water bill."
So Be It.
The herd is not to question why, the herd is just to do and die.