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The Surveillance/Police State - Assisting the Dismantling of Inalienable Rights

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The Surveillance/Police State

Assisting the Dismantling of Inalienable Rights

By

Cognitive Dissonance

 

 

 

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As I am prone to say, locks are there to keep the honest people honest. And of equal importance, locks are there to maintain the illusion you and your possessions are ‘safe’ because the locks will keep the dishonest out. Since perception and proximity play major roles in whether or not we presently ‘feel’ safe, the lock companies and central governments go to great lengths to create the idyllic illusion of total security while simultaneously promoting dangers that threaten your security in order to compel your purchase of their consumer products or government policy. But as anyone knows who has been on either side of a Breaking and Entering (B&E), your locks are but a minor inconvenience to those determined to separate you from your stuff……or your life.

In keeping with the predominate theme of the last 30 years or so of mindless consumerism, where one should be engaged just enough to know what you ‘need’, but not aware enough to question the difference between needs and ‘wants’, the comforting illusion of locked down security with just the twist of a latch or passage of a law helps propel us into our own self obsessed oblivion. We are what we keep, and what we keep are false official promises and grand self delusions of security via the surveillance police state.

In a reversal of “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”, where after basic physiological and safety needs are met the individual moves up the pyramid towards esteem and self-actualization, society in general appears to be caught in the black hole of self-centeredness and narcissism and is rapidly regressing. This degrading state of mind requires even bigger illusionary locks to be applied so that the herd may peacefully graze while the individuals naval gaze.

And what might that collective lock box contain? Why the nearly perfected illusion of God given inalienable rights codified and quantified by The Constitution and The Bill of Rights, skillfully combined with the outright lie that a so called ‘Fourth Estate, the supposedly curious and ever questioning ‘free’ press, is watching over the lock box while we ‘free range’ citizens fatten up and wile away our consuming days. That is, of course, after off to work we go because we owe……and owe…….and owe.

The fact that your home has never been robbed in the past is not a glowing testimonial to the quality of your locks or to the ineptitude of any potential burglars. Rather it is a tribute to blind luck, a good neighborhood or possibly even that you own really lousy stuff no fence would pay a plumb nickel for. One of the best defenses is a strong offense, or in this case to own what no one else wishes to possess. If after leaving the keys and a hundred dollar bill on the dash of your unlocked vehicle, only to return the next morning to find both cash and car intact, you know for certain your vehicle is truly yours.

On the other hand, if you do the same with your ‘inalienable rights’ and find each morning another piece has been stolen, maybe it isn’t the thief so much to blame as the idiots who continue to leave them unattended at the curb stamped with an open invitation to ‘steal these rights’. Or is one of our inalienable rights the ‘right’ to be as inattentive and stupid as possible and still have the ‘right’ to retain our ‘rights’? It certainly seems to be that way.

Back in the day when I was on the wrong side of people’s ‘rights’ I always marveled how easy it was to be a thief, to practice my wicked ways and B&E with thee. In a particularly nasty streak of egotistic self importance I would leave the homes alone that remained unlocked, preferring to leave the slumbering dumb in peace. Even the bad ass knows well enough not to steal candy from the kids. Besides, it just ain’t sporting and seriously degrades your self esteem. Where is the fun in taking what is unprotected when the real challenge is lifting those inalienable rights when they are highly regarded and heavily guarded? Even the lowly thief has his or her minimum standards.

Where fun, and exceptional profit, could be found was in the abodes of those who felt they possessed steal-able stuff and were diligent in locking both their front and back doors to keep me out and their possessions securely in. But these people always seemed to enjoy the deep sleep of the blind and oblivious, secure in the false knowledge that all through the house not a creature stirred, except for this nefarious mouse.

 

Not so safe, are we?

 

When I was bored or found the prey way too easy, especially when I discovered the usual unlocked window or basement door to gain access to the citizen king’s fortified castle, I would up the ante and leave my calling card while taking nothing except the exhilaration of knowing this Tom was creeping while the house was sleeping. It was good to be bad, or so I thought. It didn’t matter though for I was deep into my own version of blindly oblivious, a story for another day and time.

Within a week or two I would be back to see if the King and Queen had heeded my call and secured their sovereign borders. Fiat dollars to donuts, in most cases they had not. So like Sherman’s March to the Sea I cleaned house and left heartbreak and destruction in my wake. It was almost as if they were consenting to my violation of their lives and living arrangements, for all it took was the click of a lock and a check of all the windows and doors to keep me at bay and out of their lives.

It was, and remains, profoundly curious that the so called ‘victim’ would deliberately ignore my posted warning and continue down the road to living ‘victim-hood’. This passive inaction sounds strangely familiar, very similar in fact to our modern day predicament and maybe just a little too close to home for comfort. The parallels between the constant posted warnings by various powers-that-be that another inalienable right will be wronged and surgically removed as unnecessary and even bothersome is not lost on me.

And yet there is nary a peep from the ‘free will’ chickens scratching about in the dirt, hunting for their next cheap consumer thrill. It seems to me this lack of alarm is a bit more complicated that simply fat and happy citizen poultry sated from their latest fiat feeding with not a care in the world, the fox safely at bay and the roost securely locked behind impenetrable coop doors.

Questioned individually each hen and rooster is sure in their knowledge that while the coop may be in danger great or small, they are not nearly as much for they claim greater awareness than their neighbors and clearly saw the posted warning. However when this observer inspects the door he finds it rotted and worn, barely able to support its own weight let alone the determined efforts of the fox outside the henhouse. And yet there for all to see, in particular the inhabitants of the house of citizen chickens, is that shiny new door lock, gleaming in the afternoon sun while securing the hens from the old grey fox.

Or so the promoted fable declares for the fox knows differently. He understands perfectly well that the lock is easily circumvented, allowing the predator easy access to pluck a fresh meal whenever he cares to. Knowing that the lock on the decrepit door is what keeps the coop contents conveniently contained and contented, the fox makes sure to vigorously polish the lock while dramatically bemoaning his unfortunate luck that such a fine and sturdy lock stands between him and his inalienable lunch. 

But clearly the coop’s occupants will eventually notice the thinning of the flock, with Henrietta the Hen no longer around to cluck her disapproval of all the unattended texting chicks spoiling her comfy feathered nest. There might even be a few hens and roosters sounding the alarm, asserting that Henrietta didn’t just disappear into thin air without a trace. Theories of all kinds will be put forth for the mysterious disappearances, from space aliens to trap doors to inside job conspiracies; all centered on the sly grey fox hanging ‘round the front door. Who, I might add, doesn’t seem the least bit thinner despite his cries about having no dinner.

 

The Sly Fox Outside the Hen House

 

So what is going on here? Why did my B&E ‘victims’ and the citizen chickens mostly ignore the warnings and continue on with life as if nothing was seriously wrong with their prized possessions and their inalienable rights? While it is safe to say there are as many different answers as there are victims and chickens, it is equally safe to say that bargaining and rationalization, key components of denial at both the group and individual level, is obviously at play. 

Similar to the situation where it is almost impossible to get a person to believe “A” if they are paid to believe “B”, those individuals and groups who have rejected their personal sovereignty and outsourced their emotional and physical security to questionable individuals, groups and nations, now find themselves increasingly in danger from their very own protectors.

Irrevocably compromised on a moral, emotional and spiritual level and now physically threatened, suddenly their needs and wants merge into one compelling force. They must now ignore or greatly diminish evidence contrary to what they both need and want; to believe they are safe and those entrusted with their safe keeping will in fact honor the unilateral bargain previously struck. When the devil is in the details, ignore or outright reject the details and trust the devil you believe you know.

Once this recognition is thoroughly embodied, often only on the subconscious level with stray threads leaking over to the conscious mind, the primary mission of the individual and the group is to support and adhere to that which is now controlling us, the desire to ‘believe’ we are safe in the face of contrary information. At this point the information illustrating “We the People” are not safe (especially from our protectors) becomes more dangerous to ‘us’ than the protectors themselves.

This is where both the individual and collective ego kicks in to leverage our fears against us in order to ‘protect’ ourselves from us……or more accurately from an increased self awareness which the ego sees as threatening to ‘us’. For those who don’t understand the power we afford our ego over ourselves, and it is our own innate power that we cede, this explanation seems nonsensical, even ridiculous. But of all the manipulators in our lives, both securely hidden or out in the open, our own ego is by far the most powerful because ‘it’ knows us much better than we know ourselves and isn’t afraid to use that knowledge to control and manipulate……for the greater good of ‘us’ of course.

What most of us do not thoroughly understand (mostly because we reject the notion that our ego is much more powerful and controlling than we care to admit because this self awareness threatens our ego, thereby ‘us’) is that our external human tormentors, everyone from the hidden hand behind the scenes to the obviously manipulative politician or corporate boss, use our own ego against us. Even those among us who better understand our egoic vulnerability still miss the impact the collective or group ego has upon us personally. Or to be more accurate, the endless number of collective egos large and small whose influences over us rise and fall within the larger group dynamics and our personal world view.

That little voice in your head is not ‘you’, but more likely your ego. The greatest trick the ego ever pulled was convincing you that your ego is actually ‘you’ and not a malicious intruder/manipulator. Oftentimes our own ego takes a subservient role to the collective while still maintaining overall manipulative control over us. The more time we spend in the past or the future, rather than in the here and now, the more likely it is that our ego is front and center carefully disguised as ‘us’. Fear is the ultimate motivator and the ego leverages our fears, real and imagined, expertly.

 

Peak-a-boo I see you

 

But of even greater importance, at least with respect to this discussion, is that the big voice in the collective head is often not the group consciousness, but rather the collective/group ego.......and presently the loudest, most dominant group ego is the surveillance police state meme, something that must be in place before the actual physical surveillance state itself can manifest. Physical reality is created only after it has been created in the mind, either personally or collectively. That was, and is, the genesis and genius of the 9/11 false flag operation, to set the stage for the ever present boogieman fear meme that pervades and propels the surveillance police state forward. We are, or become, what we fear most.

The alternative blogosphere is filled with people wondering how it is that something few profess to actually want (such as the surveillance state and its police state apparatus) still seems to exist, even thrive, despite the apparent lack of public support. The misguided belief that government imposed public policy follows, rather than leads, publicly expressed opinion and belief persists because few truly understand the dynamics of the human psyche.

This gap in self awareness and understanding is deliberately fostered and encouraged by ‘us’ because ultimately we do not wish to know ourselves. For if this was so we would then be compelled to assume responsibility for ourselves. Personal sovereignty is all about self actualization and acceptance of personal responsibility, not about ‘freedom’ to feed on the fiat ‘free’ from disruption and consequences.

Since ‘we’ as individuals consistently deny ‘we’ are a part of ‘they’ or ‘them’, but instead are uniquely not a part of the herd, in effect we are distancing ourselves from our own contribution to the collective actions and therefore the responsibility for the actions of the group. This alone is sufficient to propel the group ego forward, and more importantly the manifestations of the group ego such as the surveillance police state despite each individual’s protestations that the group’s neurosis and insanity is misguided and unwelcome.

“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

While there are a million and one tiny details that influence this phenomenon, which is precisely what we use to justify and rationalize the belief in our non or insignificant involvement in the group dynamic, it is the very denial of our participation that is the energy source and engine that is driving the group ego, and all its ugly physical manifestations, forward.

Even those who agree in principal that there should be surveillance of troublesome groups are in denial regarding the greater surveillance police state. For example, those with this mindset often feel they personally should not be subjected to surveillance because………wait for it………’they’ are not part of ‘them’, meaning the group or groups which in their mind’s eye should be the ones who are monitored. Of course the surveillance police state is not used to control the individual, but rather the herd which in turn controls the non sovereign individual.

Ultimately if our own personal ego serves a purpose (regardless of how misguided that purpose may be) by feeding us what we want to hear, think and believe as opposed to what we need to hear, think and believe, then by extension the manifestation of the group ego, the surveillance police state, also serves a purpose, providing the group with what it wants rather than what it needs. Meaning even though we claim to dislike the government snooping in all our affairs, deep down inside (often on a subconscious level) we accept it as needed and possibly even desirable for any of a million different reasons.

 

We the People

 

If we accept the idea that while the conscious mind is full of blind spots, blurred awareness and extremely narrow vision, the subconscious mind is always aware and forever acquiring knowledge, a giant vacuum sucking up all information that passes through the five senses, then the subconscious mind is fully aware of the political, social and economic charade currently playing out both in public and in private.

While many of ‘us’ give passing lip service to the slowly growing awareness that our entire consumer culture is based upon access to unlimited resources derived from an entirely limited world, the subconscious mind fully understands there will be winners and losers in this global game of resource chicken. Since survival of the individual is often dependent upon the survival of the group it belongs to, particularly when it comes to increasingly scarce resources being apportioned amongst “We the People”, it stands to reason that greater control of the individual must be exercised in order for the group, and thus the individual, to survive.

Essentially “We the People” have not revolted against the increasingly tyrannical (US) government precisely because deep down inside we understand this very same tyrannical government is our last best chance to survive the coming resource wars and dollar debasement. Since we long ago abdicated our own personal sovereignty and responsibility for our own welfare, we must dance with the government we brought to the party or attempt to go it alone and take our chances, an entirely unsatisfactory alternative in a cradle to grave caretaker world.

I am certain many reading these last few sentences will strenuously object to the premise put forth. But just remember that ‘we’ as individuals and ‘we’ as a group are not the same entities and rarely are either of ‘us’ acting sans ego influence and manipulation. And very often we subvert our own personal goals, aspiration and ego to the larger group, even if only on a subconscious level, in order to receive the benefits derived from acting as a group.

While our ego loves to promote the idea that we are ‘free’ men and women who make personal decisions based upon our own self interest while still balancing moral and social responsibilities, this utopian view has been officially promoted and widely accepted during a period of time lasting half a dozen decades when the milk and honey flowed freely and there appeared to be plenty to go around.

However this excess was a temporary illusion based upon ‘us’ taking more than our fair share for decades, combined with steadily increasing leverage which resulted in an economic system that is now beginning to show serious signs of strain and stress. “We the People” know intuitively that the resource party is nearly over and the punch bowl will soon be rationed at best and removed under the worst circumstances. Seen from the point of view and mindset of the slumbering masses now is not the time to abandon the herd and go it alone, thus the surveillance police state provides the last best chance of survival sans personal revival and rehabilitation.

Even those of us, Mrs. Cog and I included, who do not wish to witness a systemic collapse, but rather a sane transition to a more sustainable and mutually beneficial, non vampiric, economic model know full well that society is fully engulfed in its own egoic insanity and its self destructive lust will not be sated until the group’s egoic energy has finally been dissipated and the dust has settled. Knowing what is coming, who among us wishes total chaos and disorder to rule the roost and for each rooster and chicken to finally recognize the hopelessness of the situation and turn savage and territorial?

Regardless of which little corner of the Petri dish we may have provisioned for survival and hardened against attack, we all understand on a subconscious level there is no place to run and no place to hide when peak insanity runs riot. While we may be prepared to defend and sustain ourselves with no wish for outside help or hindrance, the thought of hundreds of thousands of people displaced (millions if things really get bad) is difficult to emotionally endure, particularly when many if not all of our loved ones will be caught up in the rampage.

Thus many of us would also prefer some law and order to remain intact, if for no other reason than to protect the blindly oblivious from their egoic selves. While this in no way, shape or form translates into the desire to support the oppressive surveillance police state, neither does it directly oppose it. When the madness of crowds finally infects this nation and world, your local Barney Fife police force will not be able to stop it, let alone police it. So just how much police state is enough when the end game finally begins?

 

Love Your Abuser

 

Our subconscious awareness may have differing views on what is inevitable and how to survive the inevitable as opposed to the group ego’s manifestation in the form of you and me. As self aware and tuned in as many of ‘us’ claim to be, very few individuals, including myself, can escape the influences of our ego for long, especially when the social systems begin to seriously degrade and the fecal matter hits the fan.

This means that while conditions are calm we confidently state we will do this and not do that. But my limited experience with mob psychology indicates that when the insanity rages the force will be with you even from afar, a different form of spooky action at a distance. This means tiny threads of madness will seek us out to infiltrate and infect, often through the glowing boob tube and those websites we trust.

Knowing this I will not declare with any degree of confidence what I will or will not do when under internal and external stress. To do otherwise is to embrace a comforting delusion promoted by our ego in order to feel better about our present state and future uncertainty.

Regardless of your ultimate view of the surveillance police state, the ‘evil’ forces behind it and the direction the country and world is headed, the fact remains it would not exist without support from the average Jane and Joe, even if that support expresses in the form of enthusiastic cheerleading, begrudging acceptance, passive obedience, anxious trepidation, angry denunciations or fierce resistance. This is true in all cases unless you ‘believe’ that people, places and things ‘make’ you do things, therefore you and those around you are powerless victims and essentially slaves to the machine.

As comforting as it may be to view ourselves as victims of the powers that be (but most certainly not slaves since we are free range chickens) if this were true then why the preoccupation by those in charge with acquiring our consent, whether directly expressed or passively/reluctantly given? Even as the surveillance state ratchets up several notches each year, not to mention draconian laws that foretell of a dramatic escalation in the Fascist police state tactics, the general meme still put forth is to cajole, convince or confiscate our free will through our willing, often passive, consent. 

While the surface explanation for the mining of willing consent is that it is easier to convince someone to walk over there than it is to force someone to walk over there, there appears there is more going on under the surface which is much harder to grasp primarily because its premise is so foreign to us. And for those individuals who are resolute in their belief in their absolute control over their ‘self’, the suggestion that there are hidden mind memes and psychological levers that are constantly being manipulated in order to manage the human livestock is so outrageously contrary to their world view that it is immediately put out with the trash for disposal.

“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Once again, for those who do not understand this component of the human psyche or simply wish to believe they are not a participant in order to shield themselves from the responsibility for their actions and involvement, this explanation will be dismissed as poppycock and balderdash. But exploring this rabbit hole, while extremely discomforting and full of unpleasant self discovery, is the process one must follow if we are ever to be much more than free range chickens to be served up when the fox is hungry.

Now…let us all bow our heads and say a pray for the beloved and still missing Henrietta.

 

06-20-2014

Cognitive Dissonance

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Wed, 06/25/2014 - 16:06 | 4894946 Goldilocks
Goldilocks's picture

4409 -- Cop Shot in FACE ambushing Resident
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh93rv48CwM (7:08)

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 12:59 | 4886007 dexter_morgan
dexter_morgan's picture

So CD, for the not so sharp knives in the drawer like me, what is the bottom line? I THINK I understand what you are saying, and I see that as much as I think I want to go off grid/go it alone/be sovereign, I haven't yet because of ...... fear? Lack of confidence in being able to go it alone? Still reaping some benefit from this dysfunctional system? All of the above?

So by remaining a part of it, I am enabling the surveillance state to exist and even promoting it as much as I think I hate it?

So what is the answer/solution to this.

I enjoy reading your stuff, though I'd be a liar if I said I always understood everything you say.

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 13:31 | 4886117 Mrs. Cog
Mrs. Cog's picture

dexter - I'd be a liar if I said I always understand everything he says. I am still the three year old in the room asking "why?" repeatedly.

The only part of "sovereign and alone" that I get from Cog's ideas is the part where continual self examination and diligence helps to understand why I have allowed myself to be in the situations that I find myself in today. Ultimately these are the results of decisions I made or failed to address - the consequences of my actions or lack of. If I don't understand what about me got me where I am, how can I begin to choose well for where I want to go? How could we have a healthy whole unless we have healthy parts? No one can "make" me right inside, that is the "alone" part that determines if I am sovereign, not the extent that I choose to interact with others.

 

 

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 13:46 | 4886201 dexter_morgan
dexter_morgan's picture

Mrs. Cog, it is a pleasure. Yes, I know the feeling and appreciate the insight.

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 14:10 | 4886283 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

Yeah, what she said.  :0

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 18:04 | 4887185 dexter_morgan
dexter_morgan's picture

lol

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 12:25 | 4885878 kellycriterion
kellycriterion's picture

Ego and fear are the brick and mortar of human construction. You don't have ego, you are ego. You don't have fear, you are fear.

1. Frame of reference, the unsung, taken for granted, much misused beginning of abstraction and generalization.

2. Causality. Logic in its most basic form.

The first big ideas absorbed in infancy. Necessary and not just reasonable but reason itself. But there's a catch. It all begins in extreme ignorance, extreme vulnerability, extreme dependence. And just when the infant makes progress towards childhood a whole new set of problems arises in the form of social interaction with the wider world. Then from childhood to the problems of adolescence, then to the problems of adulthood. And of course there are all the variables along the way.

Gee I wonder why people are such junkies? Why do the need their egos stroked, propped up continuously? Why do they need their fears, suppressed, assuaged? Why do they need fantasy?

Why do the pushers keep doing so well?

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 12:37 | 4885910 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

"Gee I wonder why people we are such junkies? Why do the we need their our egos stroked, propped up continuously? Why do they we need their our fears, suppressed, assuaged? Why do they we need fantasy?"

Fixed it for ya.  :)

Don't distance yourself from the problem. It is a 'we' problem, not a 'they' problem.

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 10:41 | 4885391 damicol
damicol's picture

I take one simple rational thought and that determines everything afterwards.

This universe is billions of years old and will be billions of years older still without me.

 Dinosaurs  were here for hundreds of millions of years, a drop in the ocean of time and they are so far past in history now.

Every single person alive virtually today will be dead in a hundred years.

You me and the rest will be utterly forgotten after another 100 years.

 

Get over it. There is ONE reason we live.

 It is the same reason that has existed since life began in the swamps or seas.

To pass on our DNA.

Every rational human man at least would get out into the world and fuck every girl he can get a date with and get them pregnant. Just make sure you are in the next city when the result is positive and banging the next on your list.

 

 

Sat, 06/28/2014 - 01:31 | 4904919 damicol
damicol's picture

It is the only reason we exist, Everything else is froth and means nothing ultimately.

 

Tue, 06/24/2014 - 01:26 | 4888367 blindman
blindman's picture

d,
what a beautiful lunar face you post. I wonder if there is
any such thing as a "simple rational thought". I don't think
the mind works like that, never mind the world at large. in
for a pinch and you are in for a pound they say and the pound,
that is what will weigh you down; like gravity and the moon.

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 11:11 | 4885599 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

The caveman mentality. Yes, I suspect we are headed back there if things head downhill from here.

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 09:05 | 4885126 No Quarter
No Quarter's picture

Great read as usual Cog.. Another blow to my Ego ;)

 

Seriously though, every time i read one of your pieces, it reminds me of how much i am not master of my own universe, as much as i'd like to think otherwise.  I think it is very much like being addicted to tobacco. I tell myself i can quit any time and certainly am fully aware of the ramifications to my health by continued use, but i keep going back to it day in and day out. I think, well, chew isn't as bad as smoking, so thats good, right? And then i think, well, its my only real vice, and everyone is alllowed one or two of those, right? Ugh. Its more tortuous KNOWING most of the time. Even as writing, i had to go back and change the modifier You to I. I guess the ego doesn't want to accept i am in control so it softens the I to You just to spread the blame out as much as possible. 

Just like the tobacco, i KNOW the things i should be striving towards for personal, economic and physical sovreignty, but somehow don't  make the real, lasting changes. The other lie i tell myself is that knowing is the first step. But if you never really progress past that step, you haven't really learned anything. VERY frustrating. The world (self imposed cage) i live in is relatively comfortable. My living, while being very clever and functional with lots of usefull SHTF skills, is ulitmately mostly funded by that top 10%. And when they constantly reinforce how great i am, how wonderfull my work is, the harder it is to accept the truth..  Sure, it doesn't have to be the way i have chosen it, but the work would not be as lucrative and probably more taxing in other ways as well

In reality, i should be making a sell-off move out of the city, moving to a more self-sustained lifestyle away from all the crazies. Then the Ego takes over again..............

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 09:18 | 4885155 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

An extremely useful and succinct summary of our present day situation. Bravo!

Like a dog chasing its tail we lead ourselves right back to where we started. This is why most of us will never change unless under stress. It is also why "they" can easily manipulate us by leveraging ourselves against ourselves.

And it is why when 'they' do wish to move the herd they simple create stress, then take advantage of the contrived crisis to create a new reality.

Talk is cheap and action speaks so much louder than words. Mrs Cog and I faced the same realization and decided now was as good as time as any to match action with words. That doesn't make us 'brave' by any stretch of the imagination. We just couldn't live with the knowledge of our inner self deception any longer and decided to begin being more true to our 'self'.

That's our story and we're sticking to it.  :)

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 05:56 | 4884800 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

CD, as often, I read your essays because the give a very interesting glimpse in cognitive dissonance and individualism, US-Style. yet I have my doubts if we would agree where the cognitive dissonance really lie

take this quote "“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.” - Friedrich Nietzsche"

a classic individualistic point of view by Nietzsche

yet you love to use the term sovereign. and you post in the article one of the best known sovereignty manifestos, the US Declaration of Independence

read the first word. "We". Sovereignty is always "We", plural. it's a group thing. a group that demands sacrifices from the individuals. a group that bound it's members, even the future ones, even those who did not yet emigrate to the US

Individualism and Sovereignty are naturally contrapposed. That's where the cognitive dissonance lies

Individualism is a luxury that can be enjoyed... where the "We" is working well

"I can be Me where We are at peace with ourselves"

And so Individualism is the child, product and result of a successful polity, aka sovereignty. which is a group thing, making the whole concept of "Individual Sovereignty" a misunderstanding of causes and effects

and as all children, Individualism is petulant, childish and Me-oriented, ready to declare all the others, all groups as insane because they don't cater to him personally and directly

this is my reading of “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 07:16 | 4884906 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

Ultimately sovereignty is a "State" of mind long before it becomes a physical manifestation. So while no man is an island and cannot stand alone in the face of overpowering aggression, thus the value of the "sovereign" group or herd is self evident, the power of the sovereign (group) entity springs from the individuals within it. This is something I have repeatedly stated in my "Sovereignty Series".

Since a group is only 'effective' (a word used here to mean a multitude of things) when each individual is responsible for supporting the group, it is the individual who empowers the group. If the individual is not responsible and accountable to and for itself, it cannot be effectively responsible and accountable to or for anything else.

A perfect example is an army. If the individuals within the army are poorly trained and not committed to the task at hand, it can easily be defeated by a much smaller force. Was not the larger army 'sovereign' in the traditional definition of the word?

Thus true 'sovereignty' cannot exist in a group unless it exists in the individuals. Sovereignty must be transferred from the willing individual to the group or it is not a complete transfer. Ultimately this is why TPTB are obsessed with gaining our 'consent'. Consent when freely given is much more powerful then when it is taken. An army of conscripts does not fight as well as an army of volunteers.

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 08:06 | 4884956 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

CD, if I understand you right, "true sovereignty" would be sovereignty of free individuals, for you

and this is where I disagree with you. not that imho a sovereignty of free individuals would't be infinitely superiour to all others, but that you insist in treating sovereignty as a concept and reality only in those terms

the army example you gave is a perfect example. the 1856 Crimean War was waged between the Tsar of All Russias, undisputed master over millions of subjects and true serfs (serfdom was only abolished in 1861, and real serfs made up the bulk of the Russian Imperial Army) and a dozen other countries of varying state of democracy

all in all, the Russians did win, even though they were poorly trained and not much committed. the Russian Sovereign did win

and yes, the Tsar was a true sovereign, too, as much as the Soviet Union was

meanwhile, the transfer, or, better, the temporary lending of legitimacy is what happens in democratic setups

why I do make such a fuss on the correct use of those words?

because throughout history, war hawks from democracies going back to ancient Athens have played with them in order to push for war on "false sovereigns", meaning non-democracies. which goes back to why your current TPTB love all misunderstanding around those terms

the People's Republic of China, for example, is sovereign. and so North Korea. hell, even Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union under Stalin were sovereign, as well as the Prince of Monaco or the Pope/Vatican still are... as much as the US

sovereign is a word that describes groups, and that they are bound together, be it an absolute monarchy, a dictatorship, an oligarchy or a republic built on democratic consensus based on a constitution, written or unwritten

not the quality of life within those groups, and for sure not the individuality and freedom that people can or cannot enjoy within those groups

Sovereign is "We", indipendently on how "We" are "We"

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 08:08 | 4884981 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

I do not deny "we" has traditionally been the defining characteristic of sovereignty. And that definition has been used to justify the enslavement of millions over the centuries. Time to take back our minds by taking back our language. Regardless of how sovereignty is exercised or embodied, the power springs from within the individual.

It all starts with 'me', not 'we'

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 08:53 | 4885085 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

another example is ISIS, or, better, ISIL. it's a group. and they are fighting for sovereignty. with what can be described as an army

not democracy. not liberty. not individualism. just sovereignty, which is an army, a territory and an order (in this case one based on Islam)

note that they are committed. note that they are individuals more or less willing, if necessary, to die for their cause. the power of a group. in which the individuals commit themselves, subordinate themselves to the higher cause and the group, up to the ultimate sacrifice

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 08:38 | 4885054 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

CD, those Russian serfs fought in battallions, with weapons, against foreign organized aggression, indipendently from the fact that they were near-slaves

it was a fight between Russian "We" and other "We"s, between groups. power springs from groups (aka armies), not individuals. individuals are only components of the groups, and their determination to fight can stem from many reasons, of which thirst for individual freedom can, but must not be, one of them

it's your country where this understanding is muddled. a country that was long time outside of the great struggles among Powers, and joined late the fray, and from distance. a country that basked for a long time in the belief of being exceptional, and divinely ordained to be different

name me one country, one sovereign that hasn't an army, either it's own or someone's else's (where sovereignty starts to fray at the edges)

sovereignty = own army. and no, one individual isn't an army, and has not the kind of power as an army has. particularly today

I'm sorry, but both history and facts support the way more depressing "It all starts with We, not Me"

"Me" can be free and/or happy after it settled the "We" question, not before. it's the settling of this question where "Me" hast to start to push the "We" in the right direction... as you are trying to do with your essays

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 09:05 | 4885127 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

"I'm sorry, but both history and facts support the way more depressing "It all starts with We, not Me""

I do not disagree with your definition as widely 'known' and applied.

Would you like to see the world turn away from this cycle of endless insanity? Then we need to begin to think, then act, differently. Otherwise nothing ever changes and 'we' are the very definition of insanity.

More of the same thinking brings us more of the same insanity. I no longer wish to willingly participate. Since I am in an extremely small minority I must think and act as a rebel and reject the consensus thinking while being aware that to simply take the opposite side leads directly back into the trap of consensus thinking once "I" win. It all comes down the being personally and individually responsible, something I have decided to term being sovereign.

If the powers that be can subvert my language to control me, then I can do the same to 'them'.

Ultimately I reject their contrived reality and substitute my own. "They" do this to me all the time. I wish to return the favor.

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 10:39 | 4885481 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

I fully agree with the sentiment. note that the subvertion of your language started with this conflation of sovereignty and individual freedom. in order to have a few moar wars

a different way of thinking still entails individuals banding together for individual freedom

the Paradox of the Individual, I'd call that, that he can enjoy freedom... that was fought for by a group

meanwhile, if I'd wished to keep citizens calm and tranquil... I'd serve them a lot of this kind of merry stories of The Sovereign Individual. keeps them... isolated

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 00:41 | 4884657 Alananda
Alananda's picture

CogDis, you brilliantly finessed the question about the distinction between "inalienable" and, as finally written into the Declaration of Independence (DoI), attributed mainly to Thomas Jefferson, "unalienable".

Adask, I think, has written the definitive essay on the distinction and its importance.  (GOOGLE Adask inalienable unalienable for link.)  That you chose to use the term "inalienable" seems very interesting to me.  Are you aware that the inscription on the "Jefferson Memorial" carved into stone (as it were) "inalienable" and not "unalienable" as the final draft of the DoI has?  Early editions of Black's Law make that distinction very plain.

Question:  Knowing the distinction, would you change the word in your heading to UNalienable, or not?

This inquiring mind would like to know!

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 06:57 | 4884891 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

Hi Alananda,

The first thing I did before starting this piece was research the difference between the two words. I very specifically used 'inalienable' rather than 'unalienable' since if something is unalienable it "is “incapable” of being aliened by anyone, including the man who holds something “unalienable”.  Thus, it is impossible
for any individual to sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of an
“unalienable Right”.  it is impossible for you to take one of my
“unalienable rights”.  It is likewise impossible for me
to even voluntarily surrender, sell or transfer one of my “unalienable
rights”.  Once I have something “unalienable,” it’s impossible for me to
get rid of it.  It would be easier to give up the color of my eyes or
my heart than to give up that which is “unalienable”."

Considering the entire piece is about 'us' assisting the dismantling of 'our' rights, they must be inalienable (meaning they can be surrendered, sold or transferred by the 'right' holder, but not taken from the right holder) and not unalienable. 

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 00:17 | 4884621 VWAndy
VWAndy's picture

Just think for a second IF this tool was actually used well to root out corruption at all levels?

Its a tool that is not going away. So how should it be used? Hand it over to a civil grand jury.

 If ya got nothing to hide and all?

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 06:40 | 4884874 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

Many Problems within that.

Clearly we see Fascism in the USA since 2001.

A) It is about Government Control in many areas
B) Federalization of Police, Funding of Local Police, Build up of Federal Government, Spread of US Government Influence & Military Influence Globally
C) Militarization of Country with Endless Wars for 12 Years
D) Increase in Violence or War in Media
E) "Dirty Wars" Overseas
F) Rejection of Geneva Conventions
G) Suppression of True US Military history
H) Control of Media Reporting "Real Cost of Wars"
I) Not Collecting Official Data on Human & Economic Cost of Wars
J) Increase in "Black & White" Logic within culture to suppress discussion in media & communities, no room for gray areas or details or in depth background, in depth look at Lobbying, Interest Groups, & Wealthy or Corporate "Players"
K) Extensive Spy Networks, Propaganda & Population Controls are Hallmarks of Fascism (Think Stasi in East Germany)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasi

If we looked at the Environment that Big Oil companies operate in it would dove tail to the Federal Government for example:

-End Justifies the Means
-Stress Obtaining Foreign Resources Access, Energy, Water, Markets
-Build Foreign Infrastructure for Future Contracts & Development
-Intimidation, Coercion, quid pro quo, legal bribes are the "New Normal"
-US Military is known backup
-Social Planning Required, Populations will Protest and Block Projects
-Leverage People in Power, Build Networks, Capture the Regulators,
-Build Patronage through Charity Projects, Educational Programs, or Environmental Projects
-Use Propaganda & Public Relations to prove Military Power, Economic Power, and Benevolence (Just like Roman Empire)
-Military Training for Foreign Countries not only builds "Networks", "Technology Exchange", but is like Insurance for the Future of Politics

But

1) Who is watching the Watchers?
2) Who is exempt from being watched?
3) How do we know powerful people are not "Blackmailed" since there are a million people with security clearances & privileged access to a government system that is larger by both people, complexity & Funding than most countries governments?
4) Spy Risks, Large Systems in general & those with many links or interfaces are inherently risky, will be infiltrated by more than one other world power, and may actually reveal our "Dirty Business & Dirty Wars"
5) Transparency Principal is terminated in extreme secrecy, but in our republic we parrot values for democracy & informed voters & free speech
6) Industrial Spying is half of the purpose, but not admitted, not regulated, not monitored in secret society like ours
7) Democracy Arises from = Free Press, Free Internet, Free Speech, Economic Freedom from being fired or demoted because of things recorded in video & email
8) Democracy also Springs from large swaths of Self Employment & Small Businesses (all free from intimidation and political prosecution due to past video or emails) AND Industrial Spying can easily bankrupt small businesses who can't fight lawsuits or Anti-Trust Behavior

Tue, 06/24/2014 - 03:13 | 4888440 VWAndy
VWAndy's picture

These things are true. But the thing is its out of whack because its unchecked.

 The best way I can say it is. That dog needs a leash.

 Its a tool period. Its all in how its used.

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 10:31 | 4885446 JRobby
JRobby's picture

"Clearly we see Fascism in the USA since 2001."

That was the year it became visible to a larger number of people , yes. It was certainly there prior.

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 16:18 | 4886664 SameAsItEverWas
SameAsItEverWas's picture

Clearly we see Fascism in the USA since 2001."

That was the year it became visible to a larger number of people , yes. It was certainly there prior.

Yup.  Orwell's most known novel was originally titled "Nineteen Forty-Eight," its intended year of publication; but no publisher would go along, so it was delayed a year and retitled to be more "politic."

And 1947 was the year that the US War Dept. was renamed the Defense Dept.  Orwell knew what was happening because he worked during WWII in the English Propaganda Office.

Harry E. Barnes died in 1968 and he did a better job than anyone of explaining how and why the masses become their own wardens in the self-perpetuating prison foreseen by Jeremy Bentham in circa 1850.  Barnes also explains how and why pre-FDR "liberals" became what he called "totalitarian liberals" or what's now sometimes called here "libtards."

When there are no living people who can remember living in freedom, you have a state like today's where hardly anyone understands that the 9/11 hoax was absolutely nothing new.  Heck, the brainwashing is so effective that hardly anyone even knows that that was a hoax!

Look up the sinking of the Lusitania.  The reason all those people died was Winston Churchill's insistense on sending armaments and explosives on all their large passenger ships, inviting their destruction just as surely as FDR offered up Pearl Harbor.  German U-boats (except for one occasion where the captain was later sanctioned) never fired on people in lifeboats from a sinking ship.  

Hitler did everything he could to avoid getting the U.S. involved in that war.  German U-boats never ever threatened any U.S.-flagged ships until after Pearl Harbor, even though we were sending huge amounts of war materiel to Europe under Lend-Lease, which, BTW, was more of a Lend-Gift program because that debt was written off and very little if anything was repaid.

See H. E. Barnes, Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace, Caxton Press, 1953.

etc., etc. etc. 

Barnes was the greatest social scientist of the 20th century, but nobody knows about him because pretty much everyone, even here, is only interested in what other people are reading, meaning that almost everyone is a lemming and very few people have the gift that Barnes had for wholly original thought.

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 00:13 | 4884615 disabledvet
disabledvet's picture

"you'd paid how much for that?"

i mean we can make it all philosophical...but the bottom line is a tax on land is a crime against humanity. the "dollar regime" that has been created simply cannot be "succeeded" by a "surveilance state." the fact remains the numbers don't lie. cutting off water in Detroit? this is most ridiculous thing i've ever heard of.

a medium wage of 27,000 dollars will fix trillion dollar deficits?

this is a war crime indeed.

without a doubt we have reached "Peak Revenue." There will be no stopping the tax revolt once it starts.

Sun, 06/22/2014 - 23:15 | 4884520 Hulk
Hulk's picture

Hey Cog, any idea on why space aliens never have any clothes on ???

 

Sun, 06/22/2014 - 23:22 | 4884532 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

It has never occurred to me to ask. I pose far more interesting questions when we interact.

Next time I see one I shall ask.  :-)

Sun, 06/22/2014 - 23:31 | 4884558 Hulk
Hulk's picture

Ask them about the annuki while yu are at it! I had my dna  checked for any annuki remnant, but t came back 74% white and 24% asshole, as predicted by my wife!!!

Sun, 06/22/2014 - 23:56 | 4884599 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

LOL Is asshole a race, creed or color? On second thought don't answer. ;-)

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 00:00 | 4884603 Hulk
Hulk's picture

ON a serious note, I discovered Naomi Wolf today and she goes in depth on the very subject of our lost liberties and where it is headed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJSp1skVIkA

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 07:28 | 4884917 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

I'm glad you found her. She has been speaking on this subject for years.

Her "The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot" was published in 2007 and quickly gained my attention not only because it broached the topic differently, but that the author is a woman. This general subject has always been seen (at least by the men) as such a macho subject that it is almost exclusively the domain of men. I always enjoy seeing the world through the eyes of the other half of the population.

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 04:22 | 4884774 Shigure
Shigure's picture

Thank you for the link

Sun, 06/22/2014 - 23:14 | 4884514 Bemused Observer
Bemused Observer's picture

I think maybe people sometimes read too much into this. I see it as an abusive relationship between government and its people. Both know something is wrong, but the people love the bastard and hope he'll change, and government can't live without the stupid bitch.
Why haven't Americans taken to the streets? For the same reasons women who have been battered don't leave. A dysfunctional relationship requires two participants, one to abuse, and one to put up with it.

Think about it. If the crap we've put up with had been done to us by some foreign power instead of our own government, we'd go right after them. But this isn't an enemy, it's someone who is supposed to care, someone we love. It's family, even if all the members hate each other right now.

But every woman has her 'burning bed' moment.

Sun, 06/22/2014 - 23:29 | 4884554 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

Precisely. Both parties in the abusive relationship perceive some type of value recieved from the relationship, no matter how illogical or self destructive it ultimately is.

This was the point of this article. The surveillance state exists because "We the People", either consciously or subconsciously, find value (or potential future value) in the relationship. THAT is a tough cookie to swallow, especially for those who claim they are aware, awake and object to the present state of affairs.

In an abusive relationship you are either in it for whatever reason or you have left and are not going back. If you remain in it there is a reason you do so. While we can claim we stay because of fear of physical attack if we leave, then please explain the attacks endured while staying. Staying assures more abuse. Leaving brings the real chance the abuse ends. So why do you stay?

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 00:41 | 4884653 Bemused Observer
Bemused Observer's picture

Fear of the unknown. Fear of the change, which isn't known, and may be worse. And if it is better, then there is the facing of one's own stupidity for having wasted so much time.
It leads to a kind of paralysis where you'd rather have the decision made for you by fate then take action and be wrong, and in a worse situation.
But sometimes people in that state suddenly snap and take ALL kinds of actions no one expected.
The mood I sense makes me think we are real close to seeing some kind of snapping, losing it. Once it finally blows, everybody with an axe to grind will use it as an excuse to let it all out.

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 01:05 | 4884681 WAMO556
WAMO556's picture

The answere: Better the devil you know then the devil you don't.

Sun, 06/22/2014 - 22:59 | 4884479 AdvancingTime
AdvancingTime's picture

Thanks to information leaked by  Edward Snowden we know the "black budget" last year was a massive 52 billion dollars. This is the money used in "secret" spy operations, and it is enough to send shivers down the back of those that cherish privacy.

This is beginning to look like the society we have read about the totalitarian society of Oceania described in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In Orwell's novel, all citizens of Oceania are monitored by cameras and are fed fabricated news stories by the government. More on this subject in the article below.

http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2013/09/are-we-creating-orwellian-society...

Sun, 06/22/2014 - 22:55 | 4884465 Fishhawk
Fishhawk's picture

I have no objection to winning; it is taking advantage of others by fraud and force that defines the evil that our government employs on 'our behalf.'  Winning ethically is spiritually rewarding; cheating at solitaire deprives us of the value of the game.  Stealing from others less well armed is not winning, and there is no spiritual growth involved in such a charade.  

I hate our government because it competes unfairly in a world made harsh by its policies, induced by the fears of the small egos who direct said policy.  It is also a parasitic cancer on the society is is supposed to serve; there is no leadership here, only the selection of suitable group-think as publicly mandated social memes.  American esceptionalism is horse shit served cold.  

Fishhawk

Sun, 06/22/2014 - 22:47 | 4884443 Fishhawk
Fishhawk's picture

email me in private, ebear; I have pulled the plug, established resistance in my earth view, and can give you some pointers about how to get the most out of drifting around in a small boat.  Plus my garden is amazing for 16 x 24...

Sun, 06/22/2014 - 22:27 | 4884386 Aussiekiwi
Aussiekiwi's picture

The NSA is your friend, without them watching over us there would be a terrorist on every street corner.

Sun, 06/22/2014 - 23:25 | 4884539 AdvancingTime
AdvancingTime's picture

They will also hide under every bed! An opinion piece written by Ted Koppel and printed in the WSJ on August 7th. The article was titled;  America's Chronic Overreaction To Terrorism. Many of the comments I viewed concerning this article talked about how Koppel was acting as a mouth piece for Obama and his views represent the left and those wishing to leave America open to harm.

This is ironic because Obama is in no hurry to stop  the NSA program. We have a bizarre alliance to end the program  that joins the far left that often calls more government action and the Libertarians that want less government. More on this subject and what Koppel had to say in the article below.

http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-terrorist-under-every-bed.html

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 00:25 | 4884628 disabledvet
disabledvet's picture

"the biggest lie is that we are safe because of it."

where is the "S" in the "NSA"?

the Homeland seems uniquely vulnerable here. perhaps a greater "analogue" is in order....

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 01:07 | 4884683 WAMO556
WAMO556's picture

I wonder if they are keeping tabs on ALL of the jihadi training camps here in the good ol USA.

Mon, 06/23/2014 - 00:39 | 4884650 Aussiekiwi
Aussiekiwi's picture

I've spotted it! its right between the N and the A.

Sun, 06/22/2014 - 20:55 | 4884193 forwardho
forwardho's picture

Cog, good to see you working a good program.

There are no coincidences, Any works you do for the good of another will come back to you in miraculous ways.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

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