This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.

Control the Language and You Control the Mind

Cognitive Dissonance's picture




 

Control the Language and You Control the Mind

By

Cognitive Dissonance

 

You will always find original articles by Cognitive Dissonance and other authors first on www.TwoIceFloes.com before they are posted here on ZH. If you wish to subscribe to ‘Dispatches’, a periodic newsletter from Cognitive Dissonance and TwoIceFloes Creations, please click here.

 

As is pretty common these days, the genesis for this article was a conversation between Mrs. Cog and me regarding word and phrase definitions within a larger discussion about perception and understanding. In essence the question was this; how do you think outside the box when your language and belief system have you trapped within? While I am most definitely sympathetic when someone protests “It simply never occurred to me……” ultimately only slaves are not responsible for the language they use and the thought boxes they keep.

Precisely what is it you think you ‘know’ for certain? Exactly what ‘knowledge’ do you possess which is of such certainty and veracity that it need never be seriously questioned or examined? Ultimately if something never occurred to me it is simply because I decided the softer easier way forward was to participate in groupthink and not question my ‘reality’.  I alone am responsible for my curiosity quotient or lack thereof.

Since better answers do not come without asking better or different questions, there is no one else to blame for our ignorance but us. Just because I have been trained and conditioned to ‘believe’, rather than to think, doesn’t mean I am incapable of thinking. What it does mean is I simply do not wish to be curious beyond the comforting confines of my own thought walls. Ultimately I am mentally sated and lazy when I accept not only these externally imposed cognitive limitations as mine, but then convince myself I am essentially content and need do no more when the lie, and my inner voice, says otherwise.

Knowledge, information, propaganda and belief, while all distinctly different words with dissimilar meanings, are often conflated to mean nearly the same thing. Or more accurately, the meanings and definitions are blurred, combined and contrived in order to create a controlling thought meme that is skillfully separated from reality and ‘truth’. Herein is the problem as I see it, or at least a major issue that greatly contributes to groupthink, the hive mind and ultimately the sacrifice of the ‘self’.

Let me start by rendering my opinion regarding the definitions of these words, most of which agree somewhat with common definitions, but not necessarily with common usage. I suspect centuries ago, even millennium, our ‘known’ world, that which we had ‘knowledge’ of and knew about, encompassed pretty much all we surveyed and little else.

In my opinion, and contrary to popular belief, the term ‘knowledge’ includes only what I ‘know’ or the entirety of my ‘knowing’ either through personal experience, direct observation or personal self examination……and nothing else. Anything other than this direct ‘knowing’ is simply hearsay and little more. This is contrary to the widely accepted definition of knowledge being the sum total of what we have been ‘taught’ or have ‘learned’, including all knowledge, information, propaganda and belief we acquired through education or other sources aka hearsay.

Of paramount importance here is to imply no judgmental assessment of this definition of ‘knowing’, such as right or wrong, correct or incorrect, good or bad. For example, I might find some wild berries in the woods and decide to eat them. Almost immediately I become violently ill and remain in that state for hours or even days. One might say from that point on that I know those berries to be poisonous and to be avoided. But do I really ‘know’ this to be true and correct based simply upon my experience? The answer is unequivocally NO!

The berries might easily have been quite edible while ripe, only to turn nasty after passing their peak in the same manner cow’s milk is fine for a period of time, but can then make you very sick if ingested after it has turned. We don’t declare spoiled milk poison, so why wouldn’t the same thinking apply to the berries? Or maybe the berries were contaminated by something else in the woods, such as a truly poisonous plant overhead or bird/animal droppings. There are easily half a dozen alternative explanations for getting sick from the berries.

All I truly ‘know’ about those berries is I became very sick after eating them. In reality I ‘know’ very little else based upon my personal experience and observation. In other words my ‘knowing’ does not always imply correctness or truth, nor does it mean my knowledge is necessarily false or not factual.

In our rush to judge in order to satisfy our often imagined need for certainty, sometimes we jump to conclusions and make assumption that don’t really apply. We don’t need to declare with absolutely certainty those berries are poisonous in order for us or others to avoid them. But in a paternal/authoritarian world where to be believed is to be powerful, one must speak with certainty and conviction regardless of information or knowledge to the contrary. This applies directly to our inner dialogue as well. Oftentimes we muster a false sense of certainty in order to bolster personal courage or to push something uncomfortable deep down the denial hole. 

 

Our Thought Boxes

Our Thought Boxes - Image by Rob Woodcox

Image by Rob Woodcox

 

On the other hand ‘information’ is usually purported to consist mostly of ‘facts’ and ‘truth’ and is compiled, sorted, categorized and publicized by others (who it is presumed gathered it themselves, but often do not) as possessing these qualities. Thus many claim to pass on their own ‘true’ knowledge or body of knowing to others for the benefit of mankind and perhaps their personal profit. Because of prior conditioning and cultural norms we/they actually ‘believe’ this information is part of our/their knowing or knowledge. Essentially what we ‘know’ has been twisted to mean what we have been taught.

If someone else ate those berries, got sick and then told you to avoid them, this would be considered information not of your own personal knowing. Regardless of the person’s motive who is informing you of the berries, to those who have not experienced or observed this ‘knowledge’ personally it is just hearsay, though not necessarily true or false. Consider how in the US legal system information deemed hearsay is not admissible as ‘evidence’ because its veracity is questionable and not of speakers own personal knowing. Yet we never consider applying these same rules of evidence to our own personal lives to screen what we believe we know or what we are told or taught.

The true conflation begins when we are given, and accept, information gained from outside our direct experience and observation as both ‘knowledge’, or something we now ‘know’, and as ‘correct’ and ‘true’, a state often referred to as ‘fact’ by those who are promoting their ‘truth’. If that person who ate the berries informed you they became sick and you should be careful around the berries, the information is being passed on to you with no direct bias other than that derived from their personal experience. But if that person tells you the berries are poisonous and you should stay far away from them they are claiming as ‘fact’ something they may or may not actually ‘know’.

Much of what we ‘know’ in this indirect manner (more information than you might think) is often just as suspect as our own body of knowing if not more so. But since the source of the information is often an ‘author-ity’ (someone who authors or creates his or her own veracity, genuineness or authenticity) or the information is ‘taught’ to us by another authority such as a teacher or ‘profess-or’ (someone who orally or in writing professes their ‘knowledge’ as correct and truthful) we accept their information as genuine knowledge of our own knowing rather than information that is, or at least might be, suspect or tainted.

As I discussed in my article The Science Delusion – Reexamining Our Worldview Mindset the fantastic success of materials science and its total infiltration into our daily lives has helped convince us our world is mostly ‘known’, understood and for the most part static and constant. The high degree of confidence the so-called ‘experts’ have in themselves, and we in them, along with the tremendous success basic materials science has achieved in delivering magical consumer devices and products to an adoring public, all combined with the ever greater need for specialization in our work, thought and leisure activities, have conspired to turn modern day fallible humans into demi-gods of ‘true’ fact and knowledge.

Yes, I mention specialization because in a world where on a daily basis the generalists of acquired knowledge through experience and deed are a dying species, we are forced to narrow our focus onto smaller and smaller portions of the global machine. No longer can we be a computer programmer or a machine operator. Instead we must focus our talents as a Windows “Start” button programmer or machine “Start” button pusher.

I am of course being sarcastic, but only barely so for as our world becomes ever more complex we mere humans can no longer be a jack of all trades, master of none, but rather master of one small part of one trade and jack of absolutely none. The effect this has upon our worldview is not readily apparent, but quite obvious once we recognize the forest from the trees. Our directly perceived experience base rapidly shrinks, or is never expanded for those who are conditioned directly into this brave new world from mother’s womb. Thus we ‘know’ very little other than possibly our very narrow range of ‘expert’ experience gained first hand.

This is both good and bad for those who are caught in the web because our narrow experience base requires us to depend upon others to fill in the huge gaps left over as we navigate through life. The good news is since everyone else is also a narrowly trained ‘expert’, each of us can help others navigate past every bump and pot hole in our assigned section of the road, thus no one ever has a ‘bad’ life experience. Or at least that’s the theory anyway. In practice we might experience a slightly different reality on a case by case basis. Thankfully if all else fails we can rely on the experts in government, academia and industry to smooth the way forward when life gets a bit difficult.

Now that last paragraph was a heaping helping of sarcasm, and deservedly so I might add since the above mind meme is constantly being promoted by all those who stand to benefit as the individual cedes more and more sovereignty to the group collective and the hive mind. An extremely complex organism designed to operate within a carefully controlled environment which requires narrowly trained specialists to operate and repair it is inherently unstable and prone to collapse. When this organism collapses both its beneficiary and servant (better described as its master and slave) aka the individual, collapses with it.

This doesn’t mean we can’t or shouldn’t use other people’s information and professed knowledge as we travel our own path. Instead what we must do is treat everything as potentially suspect and fallible, especially our own knowing, because at this point it is extremely difficult (if not impossible) to separate what we ‘know’ from what we have been taught. It is not just computers that suffer from the “garbage in, garbage out” syndrome, yet so many refuse to even consider many of our thoughts and conclusions are the result of corrupted programming, conditioning and ego manipulation, thus we remain swayed and controlled despite our protestations we are awakening.

 

Plugged In as a Control Device

Plugged In - Image by Rob Woodcox

Image by Rob Woodcox

 

There are those who will claim sans a sense of sound psychological ground under our feet, thus always on edge and continuously charged with a fight or flight impulse, we will be wracked with indecision and lacking in purpose and drive. And for the most part they are correct……when describing those who are not mentally and spiritually centered and have repudiated their personal sovereignty. Automatons most definitely are lost when their programming is wiped or corrupted, but a critical thinking sovereign individual is self empowered and not exclusively dependent upon external affirmation, validation and direction.

This brings us to the subject of propaganda, or the deliberate conflation and distortion of information and knowledge to control and direct thought while confirming prior conditioning. Unlike the purveyors of ‘information’, who most often are themselves unaware of their own corruption and, absent critical introspection and self examination, will impart this existing corruption upon any information they produce or acquire, thereby spreading the corrupting virus far and wide, the propagandist consciously, deliberately and with malicious intent preys upon the inattentive and indoctrinated to manipulate and feed upon their fears, prejudices and predilections.

While the ultimate goal of propaganda may be to control and direct the herd, the actual technique used is to divide and conquer the population while promoting illusionary goals and aspirations to keep the wage slave crew rowing while they bicker amongst themselves. The carrot and stick approach is particularly effective when we are conditioned to use it upon ourselves and others like us. The only condition more profitable to the corporate masters and the powerful elite than a kept slave is a slave who keeps him or herself under the auspices of freedom, liberty and justice for all.

The one common denominator among all types of slaves past, present and future is the slave mentality, ultimately defined and expressed as self limiting thought, beliefs and actions. Propagandized information serves to promote and inflame that very condition which, when combined with an underlying economic system that keeps the population striving forward while perpetually underwater, holds the slave firmly in the past or future and never settled in the present. One short leg on a four legged table is always unsettled and an enormous distraction, forever unbalanced and rarely stable other than for extremely short periods of time.

Belief, on the other hand, is a very complex subject in and of itself even without examining any specific belief. While the word ‘belief’ implies a singular conviction or principal (i.e. “I believe in God/Democracy/Capitalism/Money”) in all the cases I have examined this is far from the case. If we are discussing one specific conviction, for example a religion, it is almost always the case that while the faith might have a set of written principals or doctrine, those doctrine are rarely followed to the letter.

Instead, the ‘faith’ as practiced at the individual level often incorporates various other superstitions, traditions, beliefs and ‘truths’. Because of this condition few feel compelled to ‘follow the letter of the law’ and many afford themselves wide latitude in their ‘belief’ while still claiming to be devout, faithful or at a minimum a ‘believer’.  This applies to religion, politics, education, society, career etc.

And while the faith’s ‘authorities’ will protest otherwise in order to maintain the illusion, in practice they would prefer the flock continue to corral themselves under the umbrella of a unifying belief, thus maintaining the power of the authorities of that belief (remember, to be believed is to be powerful) even at the expense of strict devotion to, and the practice of, doctrine fundamentals. Affording the faithful flock some wiggle room by not insisting otherwise is to the advantage of all parties involved.

It really doesn’t matter what psychological method(s) we use to afford ourselves the wiggle room we desire since there are at least seven billion unique variations and counting on Earth. All that matters is for the wiggle room to be created and then occupied. The various psychological techniques to do so are taught to us as children and the skills further refined as young adults. By the time we graduate from high school we are accomplished self deceivers and ready to enter the matrix as productive liars.

While that assessment might sound harsh, it is so close to reality as to be indistinguishable from the truth. Though we claim moral high ground and declare there is either truth or not, our flexible worldview fantasy demands generous quantities of wiggle room in order to function between a rock and the hard place of reality. If we were ever to actually write down our beliefs on a piece of paper, thus exposing them to the light of day, I suspect we would be quite embarrassed by all the leaps of faith, dead ends, contradictions, cognitive dissonances and dangling reasoning we eagerly maintain when hidden within the dark reaches of our mind.

 

Mental Wiggle Room

Mental Wiggle Room

 

This is precisely why we rarely expose our ‘soft’ truths for inspection, especially to ourselves, since to do so would require us to address all of the issues above and several more which would be the product of the cognitive unraveling. One of the reasons I write, as opposed to just think, is to force myself to sort through all my cognitive conflations. When maintained strictly within the ample wiggle room provided by my mind, my ‘truths’ must only meet my low and flexible logic and reasoning standards. Simply put I lie to myself on a regular basis in order to maintain my belief system.

But when my beliefs are placed upon paper and carefully examined by others, if I am to be honest I must at the very least make a concerted effort to root out the inner deception, corruption and conditioning. Or I may maintain and increase my self-deception by finding other like minded individuals who share my cognitive distortions and preach to the choir a la Paul Krugman and tens of thousands of others.

It is the effective manipulation of our belief systems (there are dozens if not hundreds of minor variations we seamlessly switch between as circumstances and needs dictate) that enslaves us to the present day insanity. And by far the number one manipulator is our ‘self’. While everyone claims they desire the truth, in reality we want only what can be absorbed into our existing worldview framework as smoothly as possible. The ultimate propagandist and manipulator we encounter during our lifetime is our ‘self’ (inflamed by our ego) an ugly self truth we carefully avoid ever personally ‘knowing’, let along examining.

It never ceases to amaze me how outraged we become when presented with propaganda/information/knowledge/belief that clashes with our own personal belief systems, yet we accept with little question or examination similarly distorted information that confirms, conforms with or is easily folded into our beliefs. Hypocrisy begins at home and we are all hypocrites in every sense of the word.

I often say we are only as sick as our deepest darkest secrets, and many take this to mean secrets of a sexual, family or financial nature. In fact what I am really discussing is the self subterfuge, hypocrisy and self propagandizing we all engage in on a daily basis, yet keep secret from our ‘self’, our life partners and the world. While many believe what we don’t (allow ourselves to) ‘know’ can’t hurt us, the ultimate self deception, it does inflame such dissonance and discord deep within our own psyche and inner spirit that we are undeniably insane and growing crazier by the day.

The ultimate personal and group blackmail occurs not when someone discovers our secrets and then extorts us using that information, but when we keep secrets from our ‘self’, thereby exposing ourselves to outside manipulation and control precisely because we are never settled and stabilized into a state of self ‘knowing’ and acceptance. This underlying psychological and spiritual tension also contributes greatly to our poor physical health and is the root cause of much of our chronic illness, disorder and dis-ease. Incredibly not only do we often willingly accept the blackmail, but frequently we embrace it as our own rather than travel down the ultimate rabbit hole, the one we find within.

 

Inner Tension

Inner Tension

 

I am fairly certain quite a few of my readers have grown weary of my relentless and unchanging beating of the ‘look within’ drum. I suspect many feel this is a negative and unproductive view of life, that a more ‘positive’ outlook would work wonders and go far towards enabling and engaging others in self discovery and self enlightenment. My only response is the following. How can we ever possibly know what we need in order to grow and progress if we have never truly and thoroughly looked within and aired our dirty laundry?

Receiving an artificially induced feel good experience from an external source to help paper over an ugly dissonance and the emotional trauma that results can only be considered ‘positive’ in an insane asylum and truly mirrors the method society in general uses to refrain from engaging in the truly hard work of self examination.

This is not to say there is no joy in Mudville, that there is no respite from the self imposed hard work of personal growth and rejuvenation. But only in a society obsessed with distractions, entertainment and pleasure seeking behavior would more of the same be considered conducive to breaking our addiction to what ails us. In this case a little hair of the dog is not the correct prescription.

While we all seek external affirmation to validate our ‘self’, sadly a glaring symptom of our repudiated personal sovereignty and the inner insanity, true affirmation and satisfaction for successful (incremental) self examination occurs naturally and is a healing product of the hard work of self discovery.

There is nothing wrong with basking in the glow received from a job well done……as long as we recognize there is much work left to be done and this is simply a rest stop along the road of life and our journey of self discovery. One is never ‘cured’ of our insanity, at least not at this stage in the cycle, because every interaction with an insane society tends to re-infect and reassert the seductive desire to let go and be (re)absorbed into the wonderful embrace of the collective insanity.

Some good friends of ours who teach English to recent Chinese emigrants to America were visiting mutual friends this summer, affording Mrs. Cog and I the opportunity to visit with them several times. Something said during one of our visits remains ever present in my mind. While discussing the different culture in China, ‘Jim’ said not only did he ask his students to speak in English, but to think in English as well. When they successfully did so the most remarkable questions sprang from their minds, questions he had never heard before let along personally considered. It was more than cultural though because those questions were rarely expressed in English when the speaker was thinking in Chinese.

For me nothing could better illustrate how our language controls our thinking, and thus our mind, more than this simple observation. Temporarily, though imperfectly, freed from their own native language constraints, Jim’s students were free to explore the world, and their own minds, using another language they were not indoctrinated into. The results were clear and compelling and well worth remembering when we complain about ‘them’ controlling us. The act of controlling our language, and thus our minds, begins with and is aided from within. We are the ultimate propagandist extraordinaire.

 

08-17-2014

Cognitive Dissonance

 

Mind Control

 

- advertisements -

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Mon, 08/18/2014 - 22:27 | 5112537 Setarcos
Setarcos's picture

Yes indeed and Kant explained it very well, if in a rather specialized language, e.g. "phenomenal world" - our inner world/consciousness/mind - in which perceptions and senxation come together to form our thoughts, etc..

Schopenhaurer is worth reading too, but it's all easior if one has first read Plato - especially "The Republic: - and Descartes for example, perhaps topped-off with Carl Jung,  After all it is all essentially psychology and flows from the Socratic "Know Thyself and "The unexamined life is not worth living."

Welcome aboard the life journey CD ... see Plato's "Cave Allegory" for a sort of route map. with danger warnings.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 15:33 | 5110256 Salsipuedes
Salsipuedes's picture

"Man finds no significance in reality. He lives in a continuous, perpetual state of fantasy." -Nietzsche

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 20:10 | 5111852 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

And our ego will never tolerate that truth to be fully assimilated for that would mean the end of the ego itself.

Tue, 08/19/2014 - 02:36 | 5113221 Rory_Breaker
Rory_Breaker's picture

CD, there 's a TED talk by Thandie Newton available on youtube related to this subject, please have a look. I'm at work so I can't post the link here, sorry.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 22:31 | 5112548 Setarcos
Setarcos's picture

Not so CD.  Try reading Carl Jung, but first assimilate Plato's "Cave Allegory" ... which does, however, contain warnings and the point that we my never "see the full light of day".

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 23:52 | 5112884 juangrande
juangrande's picture

I disagree. The ego referred to by CD is rooted in the illusion of dualism. Dispelling that illusion diminishes the ego to the point of annihalation. Ego's very existance is dependent upon a misperception/lie. This state of mnd is prevalent today and is manifest all around us. All of this shit around us exists at the leisure of ego.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 15:31 | 5110241 Unlawful Justice
Unlawful Justice's picture

 

 

What ever thought that comes into your head…theres another silly thought…oh and another one…and another.  Then you’ll notice thoughts that you’ve had for years…same thing..okay…its fine…and the thought says YES!, but this is how it is….its not how it is…its a thought about it…and we realize that all thought is limited, relative, a little perspective…one of many many many possible perspectives on anything or any situation.  Any human being…yourself a tiny perspective, and another perspective thats somewhat true, an another perspective also true.

 

So you don’t believe that any one thought can hold the entire truth about any situation or person…it can’t.  So thought becomes…you have a expansive relationship with thought.  So when a thought comes into your head "What a Jerk this guy is”.  Then you don’t totally believe in it any more. Perhaps that is one perspective, but every human-being contains the possibility that are inherent characteristics of the whole of humanity.  The Jerk is also a loved.  Perhaps it hasn’t become clear or obvious to the eye or mind. Its there. So you don’t totally believe in that any more.  Its one perspective on this human-being.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 14:52 | 5109875 Salsipuedes
Salsipuedes's picture

"That is an utterly ludicrous, revolting, preposterous, potentially DANGEROUS and insulting theory." = The truth on a plate.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 12:42 | 5109261 Duffy
Duffy's picture

CD - Might I recommend  a book called "on being certain" and another called "Descartes' error"?

Also - if you haven't read any Vygotsky, def worth checking out.

chewy article... I'm a little surprised you didn't summon Orwell at any stage.

 

Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.

We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men. So much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot.

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
? George Orwell “Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”
? George Orwell, 1984 “It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.”
? George Orwell, 1984 The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns, as it were, instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink. All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 17:30 | 5110821 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

"..chewy article... I'm a little surprised you didn't summon Orwell at any stage."

I considered doing so at several points and decided I wish to tackle the subject without using a trigger such as Orwell. While everyone 'knows' what Orwell wrote and who he is, the word has become a brand name and thus I'm not sure people think clearly about what he actually said.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 11:42 | 5108947 VWAndy
VWAndy's picture

It might not be so much about the language as it is about access to the soap box. Krugster is not so crafty with his words. The issue that sticks in my craw is he is unappossed. Sure the twenty different definitions of inflation dont help. Ambush media is evil too. But as they say buyer be ware. Always concider the source. Teachers in schools tend to be simple parrots repeting stuff they never thought to question. Skeptesisum is best. I find it better to force folks to question me more rather than less. Because if you question everything you can find the truth for yourself. This is the why I dont give a crap about spelling and proper grammar an stuff. I dont want folks to trust me its better if they know it themselves as truth. Mentor some kids and you will see it.

 The truth dont need a coat of paint.

Languege is a tool and as such its all in how its used. A trick I use to spot truth is to boil it all down to its simplest removing the contextual framing of the thought presented. If the message needs to be in a certain context its only true in that context. Thus it is mostly a false statment. Read between the lines too. What cannot be said can be as important as what is said. A curve ball aint that hard to hit if you know its comming.

 

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 14:11 | 5109749 taketheredpill
taketheredpill's picture

 

 

As far as the "source" of information is concerned, the key is accountability.  Who is getting paid by whom to get the information to you.  i think spectrum of accountability runs from a high with a website funded via reader subscriptions, all the way down to a low for a news site funded by corporate advertisements.

 

Agree about truth versus lies.  Simple test on a specific issue is who uses more words.  The truth is easy to explain and doesn't take too many words.  Lies are more complicated and it takes a lot more pages to cloak the real message.  The one thing that stands out about a lot of Chomsky's books is how freaking short they are.

 

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 21:11 | 5112143 VWAndy
VWAndy's picture

Yep you got it. Wouldnt it be nice if our leaders had to answer a flipping question and back it up. With logic and facts and stuff. Man its nice to hang out with masters in my work. Direct hands on knowin leads to answers that work every time. Thats where the real issue is. These folks must be correct and handle being dead wrong too. Every paycheck depends on it. Its called accountability.

 With media being a one way street the truth has no voice. Can you imagine if PK had to prove his point here in the open on ZH? It would suck for him.

 The publics preception is formed without contest whatsoever. At best they might put up a strawman or ambush somebody. True debate gets us much closer to the truth. If one only looked at one side of a coin they wouldnt even recognize the other side as that same coin.

 

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 22:47 | 5109911 Salsipuedes
Salsipuedes's picture

I don't call it the art of brevity. I call CHOMSKY the artless dodger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEDf7OkRCxk

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 11:41 | 5108846 besnook
besnook's picture

you are a zen master. experience is the only true knowledge. and it is your knowledge exclusively.

you can create your own delusion or have one created for you. it is your choice. the easy path, indeed the limit of most people in my experience, is to have one created for you. there are dire consequences socially therefore psychologically in creating your own version of reality. an example, thanks to lesson from a problem solver i met a thousand years ago; i am an avid flyfisherman and tie my own flies. my flies are not like what anyone else uses nor is my fishing strategy. the reason is simply because most other flyfisherman read and sought advice from other flyfishermen. i did niether until i was an accomplished fisherman and fly tier. my flyfishing reality from my dress(no waders, no vest, no net) to my knowledge of the hatch(i could care less) to my technique has drawn interest, negative and positive. i found the negative responses had more to do with the person's self perception as a measure of how "trapped" they are by preconcieved notions. this is not to say there is not pertinent knowledge in the "accepted" knowledge range but as a whole it has the effect of predetermining your knowledge range.

the best advice i have ever received concerning problem solving was to think of the most absurd solution and work backwards instead of thinking incrementally forward. as the process has developed the absurd has become more absurd for me. it has the effect of unbounding the mind. as with the flyfishing example, i run into lots of resistance.

 

 

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 18:27 | 5110805 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

"the best advice i have ever received concerning problem solving was to think of the most absurd solution and work backwards instead of thinking incrementally forward. as the process has developed the absurd has become more absurd for me. it has the effect of unbounding the mind. as with the flyfishing example, i run into lots of resistance."

There is a lot to be said for reverse engineering in all its forms and functions.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 10:48 | 5108569 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

Great photos.  They alone promote a lot of thinking.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 17:24 | 5110795 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

The first two are by Rob Woodcox. Check out his website.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 10:26 | 5108553 amanfromMars
amanfromMars's picture

Nowadays, and with 0day vulnerability exploitations, do words command and control and create worlds.

And possess the power of that knack and crack hack trick, and there be no force on Earth able to enable defeat and destruction upon the smartest of the smarter memes unleashed and set free to reprogram systems and operations reliant to any minor or major extent on virtual intelligence and cyber communications, which are not the same as each other but both vital precursor elements/components guaranteeing the successful stealthy delivery of future product in and throughout the other.

And IT can really fcuk up dodgy status quo plans and corrupt clandestine missions, big time, and with no readily apparent foe and/or convenient clueless enemy to attack and blame. 

Oh dear, what a shame ... not. Things have changed more that just considerably and if the perceived to be in control powers that be incumbent do not exercise every available option to lease purchase that which can command and control and create worlds with words, then are they totally unnecessary in any leading capacity in all future leading positions.

Bye, bye, so long and thanks for all the phishes.

 

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 10:15 | 5108496 nowhereman
nowhereman's picture

"There is nothing wrong with basking in the glow received from a job well done……as long as we recognize there is much work left to be done and this is simply a rest stop along the road of life and our journey of self discovery. One is never ‘cured’ of our insanity, at least not at this stage in the cycle, because every interaction with an insane society tends to re-infect and reassert the seductive desire to let go and be (re)absorbed into the wonderful embrace of the collective insanity."

This is the most important quote in your work, because, if you are on a journey of self discovery, you are truly alone.

It is so much easier to be reabsorbed than to fight your ego's desire to belong.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 18:27 | 5111133 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

"Calgon, take me away" has a certain allure, particularly to those who wish to be taken.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 08:48 | 5108100 sam site
sam site's picture

 

Looking Within, as you emphasize, is a good place to investigate how we're captured.  While constricting language is part of the capture, the far larger influence is toxic injury.  Hitler, financed by the jesuits, understood that if you can cripple their health, you can control people.  That's why he added fluoride to the drinking water in his concentration camps.  The inmates became lethargic from the toxin and Hitlar needed less guards to control the inmates by disabling their energy.

Fluoride not only produces lethargy, like in today's diabetic epidemic, which also produces lethargy because the body's cell walls close off to protect the cells from the many toxins we're poisoned with.  Unfortunately a closed off cell cannot burn the energy from our food so we're metabolically handicapped - no matter how many insulin injections a diabetic gets.  Blaming diabetic lethargy and high blood sugar levels on a lack of insulin is just one of many disinformation campaigns the Jesuits put out to confuse us as they control Monopoly Quack Medicine. 

Other disinformation includes: Cholesterol causes heart attacks, excess stomach acid causes acid reflux, brain chemistry imbalance causes depression, the body attacks itself with autoimmune diseases and the one I like the best is we all die on natures achedule at around life expectancy and disease strikes randomly and uncontrollably - probably from genes.     

There's a long list of debilitating poisons our hidden Jesuit rulers are handicapping us with such as vaccines, fluoride, synthetic drugs, GMO food, HFCS, Aspertame, MSG, pesticides and many more.  Some believe it's a slow depopulation agenda, but if you follow the big money, I believe the aim is to protect their Fed banker scams from detection and possible removal by a healthy, alert, energetic, indignant and vigilant public.   To understand the Jesuit Globalists Progressive Poisoning Agenda view this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB3xcN_eoPo

 

    

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 14:04 | 5109702 Armed Resistance
Armed Resistance's picture

Why bother flourinating the water when you're just going to gas them anyway?  And maybe, just maybe it was a "lack of food" that made the prisoners docile?  I think the whole idea of the article was to go introspective and "test" our own belief systems?  Now's a good time to begin.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 08:31 | 5108037 blindman
blindman's picture

http://cosmos-documentaries.blogspot.com/2013/03/samsara-hd-documentary-...
Samsara
- 102 min 26 Comments
.
Samsara is a Sanskrit word that means the ever turning wheel of life and is the point of departure for the filmmakers as they search for the elusive current of interconnection that runs through our lives.
By dispensing with dialogue and descriptive text, Samsara subverts our expectations of a traditional documentary, instead encouraging our own inner interpretations inspired by images and music that infuses the ancient with the modern.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 08:01 | 5107952 blindman
Mon, 08/18/2014 - 06:43 | 5107798 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

This is easy to see in the Liberal Media-we never read of or hear from Palestinian spokesmen, or the war from THIER point of view;

Instead we are fed lies in contexts of "Israel fends off missles" "Israel seeks peace-no word from Hamas" etc etc etc

"Both sides started fighting...." NOW that IS A LOL Joke!   30 Israelis dead so far-(if they can be trusted) vs 4,000 Palestinians dead in fighting

 

Israel wants Gaza reduced to ruble to induce the citizens to leave-so Israel now has prized beachfront property AND all the oil and mineral rights to the area

 

i long ago saw this for what it was  "Reality Fascism" via information manipulation

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 07:44 | 5107891 Hannah S
Hannah S's picture

It's important to clearly define our terms when we talk about anything.  The definition of words is very important.  The person you are talking with will use certain words and you will take for granted what those words mean.  He says one thing and you understand what he says based on your understanding and definition of the words that he uses.  This is not always, actually rarely, correct. 

You end up either talking past each other or being further indoctrinated and deceived by someone pretending to be something he is not.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 11:36 | 5108918 nowhereman
nowhereman's picture

Yes, indeed, because everyone knows "Nirvana" is a grunge band from Seattle

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 09:27 | 5108255 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

You speak of the BIGGEST problem today...and I suspect for many millennium. This is why I often take great pains to spell out what (and why) I am saying. Even then confusion reigns because people become triggered and stop comprehending. It happens to me all the time. This is why I often read something twice and even three times.

It helps to allow time between readings. So much is lost the first few times around and the passage of time wonderfully illustrates this. The words don't change, but our perspective does....even from hour to hour. Emotion so often clouds our thinking and comprehension skills.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 14:10 | 5109737 Armed Resistance
Armed Resistance's picture

I just know we need COMMON SENSE gun gontol and COMPREHENSIVE immigration reform.  See how many times you can find a proponent of erasing our 2nd amendment liberties or a politician pushing amnesty without using those two words.  I have yet to see it, but it makes for a fun little game anyway.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 12:00 | 5108915 HardAssets
HardAssets's picture

'The Trivium' is a tool for thinking & communicating which includes grammar, logic, and rhetoric. (The study of English grammar is a very limited and narrow sub-set of this.) 'Grammar' is used in a general sense in a process of gathering information. One asks: who, what, where, when ? and digs down deep to answer those questions. One must do this before moving on to the Why ? or How ? of a question. Logic, the Why? Is employed to break down contradictions. Rhetoric, the How? is used to create solutions and communicate them to others. Very rarely do people apply this method of General Grammar, so they are easily manipulated, often by their own preconceptions. They jump to conclusions before gathering all the relevant information:

"The Russians (or their supported terrorist rebels) shot down MH-17. What actions does NATO need to take to teach them a lesson?"

(((What actual evidence do we have to assign blame?)))

"The Ferguson protesters are looting and causing damage. We need to call out SWAT and the National Guard."

(((Are all the protesters violent, or just a few? How come there are photos of the same guy, night after night, throwing bottles? Why don't they enlist the help of peaceful protesters to identify the criminals so they can be arrested? The right of free speech would be protected this way.)))

The General Grammar of Who? What? Where? When? is ignored, and they go straight to the action step of How?

This should always raise a Red Flag in our minds.

If you don't ask and answer the Right Questions . . . you're unlikely to take the Right Actions.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 07:39 | 5107882 Hannah S
Hannah S's picture

Please consider the possibility that your comments reflect the very indoctrination described in this article.

Beware of being seduced by the Gaza narrative.  Gazans could have built a prosperous and peaceful society, an example to the world.  Instead they chose to elect Hamas, knowing full well who and what they were.  They turn out in the hundreds of thousands to chant "Death to America" and "Slaughter the Jews".  They allow the indocrination of their children to the point that the aspiration of every child in Gaza to become a shahid.  They aid Hamas in hiding their weapons, digging tunnels whose only goal is to inflict slaughter on their neighbors.  They watch passively while Hamas fires missiles from schoolyards where their children learn and from playgrounds where their children play.  When they do all this, how can they possibly claim to be innocent?  When they do this, how can they possibly expect things to turn out well for them and theirs?

They have dug a vast pit, filled it with excrement and jumped in. And then they bemoan their fate, scream to the world that they live in shit and blame everyone else except themselves.

 

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 08:23 | 5108020 ebear
ebear's picture

Speaking of propaganda....

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 14:13 | 5109758 Armed Resistance
Armed Resistance's picture

"The propagandidt's purpose is to make one set of people forget that the other sets of people are human."

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 18:24 | 5111110 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

So much easier to destroy what has been dehumanized.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 06:15 | 5107771 Lumberjack
Lumberjack's picture

Got my first "Dispatches" and thanks! As always great work!

 

I came across this and thought I would pass it along.

 

The mental illness of alarmism – climate depression, climate change delusion

 

http://joannenova.com.au/2014/08/alarmists-and-mental-illness-climate-de...

 

After hopes for government-run-climates were dashed in Copenhagen, the price of setting up a fantasy came back to haunt the team.  The fallout was psychological pain. The failure of Copenhagen was a savage set-back for the scare campaign in so many ways. Only now, years later, do we hear just how bad the repercussions were.

The answer to “climate fear” is, of course, to look at data skeptically, and to stay logical. But instead, the big-government-NGO machine diverts more money down the deep well of unreason. Now there are research papers analyzing “The Debilitating Disease of Climate Alarmism”, and counselors are (presumably) paid to counsel people on how to be afraid, but not overly so.

What’s the difference between this and a cult? A 17 year old was hospitalized with dehydration because he believed if he didn’t drink water it would help prevent a water shortage. A PhD grad says ““Every time I talked about environmental issues, I would start crying”.

Meanwhile the sensible types quietly leave, and the maddies press on. Shame about the collateral damage.

A climate of despair

August 13, 2014The Age

Nicole Thornton remembers the exact moment her curious case of depression became too real to ignore. It was five years ago and the environmental scientist – a trained biologist and ecologist – was writing a rather dry PhD on responsible household water use.

The United Nations was about to hold its 2009 climate change conference in Copenhagen, and Thornton felt she had a personal investment in it. She, like many thousands of activists and scientists and green campaigners, had high hopes that a new and robust version of the Kyoto agreement would be created in Denmark.“But the reality was a massive, epic failure of political will. It broke me,” she says. “The trigger point was actually watching grown men cry. They were senior diplomats from small islands, begging larger countries to take action so that their nations would not drown with the rising seas.”

Thornton pauses,  takes a breath. “It still gets me, five years later. That’s when I lost hope that we were able to save ourselves from self-destruction. That’s when I lost hope that we would survive as a species. It made me more susceptible to what I call ‘climate depression’.” 

If the term “climate depression” is new to you, it should be. No such condition is recognised by the world of psychiatry. There is no formalised syndrome.

Yet no matter what the nomenclature (some refer to the problem as “ecoanxiety”, while others talk about “doomer depression” and “apocalypse fatigue”), despondency over a what many believe is societal failure to adequately acknowledge or address environmental issues has become a line of psychological inquiry.

Journals have published papers with titles such as “The Debilitating Disease of Climate Alarmism” and “A Climate of Suffering”.

Six years ago, a dehydrated 17-year-old boy was brought into the Royal Children’s Hospital, refusing to drink water. He believed having a drink would somehow contribute to the global shortage of potable water, and became the first diagnosed case of “climate change delusion”.

The Australian Conservation Foundation had to bring in psychologists (paid from donations?) to help their team cope with the reality after their fantasies of control over the climate collapsed in Copenhagen.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 17:20 | 5110773 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

Thank you for joining the "Dispatches" newsletter list.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 04:29 | 5107719 Xiuhcoatl
Xiuhcoatl's picture

Mr. Dissonance -

You would certainly enjoy Jacques Ellul's "Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes". In truth, it sounds like you've already read it.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 09:22 | 5108240 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

I am not familiar with that book or the author. I am not a classically educated man and tend to avoid established doctrine. That is not always a wise path to follow.  :-)

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 12:53 | 5109314 HardAssets
HardAssets's picture

@CogDiss - Excellent article. Thank you for it.

My education/training was in science & engineering, and later in finance. So, while I knew the scientific method, - this was only applied narrowly, in technical subjects. I used to scoff at the 'liberal arts' as being for 'liberal' lightweights. Given the way they are 'taught' in most US colleges today, as a mishmash of unrelated subjects, I see now that there was some justification for my opinion. But, in my latter years I have come to understand the difference between this kind of 'liberal arts' and a true classical education.

The children of the so-called 'elites' receive a classical education in expensive private prep schools. Most of the rest of us attend dumbed down 'schools' where this (purposely) isn't taught. 'They' want a populace that will parrot what they're told on matters of importance, not actually think for themselves.

Thankfully, we can provide ourselves with a classical education . . . for very little money. Many of America's founders were self taught men.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 17:19 | 5110765 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

Nice comment. Thanks.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 04:56 | 5107709 MEAN BUSINESS
MEAN BUSINESS's picture

From 'The Ladder' 1999 is New Languages :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wucbasJfh6Q  followed by Nine Voices:

Nine Voices (Longwalker)

 

 

 

 

 


On a beach
North Africa
Nine tribesmen stand alone
Waiting for a distant call
Waiting for the world to answer
Thru' the night of a thousand stars
Encircled by the light
They began to sing a new song
Of forces that surround us

Nine voices
This dialogue
Nine voices
Singing as one
Nine voices
This dialogue
Nine voices

When the sun came up they sang
As the perfect calendar says
Each had the power of people

 

 

Speaking new languages

 

 


They gave forgiveness meaning
New ways of letting go
Each child is born for greatness
With forces that surround them

This voice
This dialogue
This voice
Singing as one
Nine voices
This dialogue
Nine voices
Singing as one
His voices
This dialogue
This voices
Singing as one

Nine voices
Nine voices
Nine voices
Nine voices


 

 

-------------

 

"your friend is close by your side

 and speaks in FAR ANCIENT TONGUE..."

 

Great to see Jon Anderson in Texas in 2014 !

 

 

 

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 08:38 | 5107704 medium giraffe
medium giraffe's picture

In England during the scientific enlightenment brought about by the foundation and popularity of the Royal Society, one could still find 'Rhetoric' on the school syllabus.  Imagine a world today in which rhetoric was still taught at school.  Politicians and advertisers would be almost weaponless as the majority of educated folk picked through the various Aristotelian devices being used against them.  Small wonder that it disappeared in the modern age, then.  I think of this often, and I think this example highlights Mr Cog's point rather well.  Good article, food for thought.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 03:37 | 5107684 Troy Ounce
Troy Ounce's picture

 

I can recommend "The Century of Self"

Intelligent, revealing, upsetting and to the point

See all 4 parts. Part 1:

http://vimeo.com/85948693

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 06:24 | 5107779 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

An early favorite of mine.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 14:03 | 5107544 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

This reminds me of an intellectual on a debate program about the Constitution; he was arguing for government social programs such as EBT, WIC, Welfare.

He was entirely serious and said with much weight and gravity in his voice and manner:

"It is right there in the Constitution - '...promote the general welfare...' - you see?  Our Founding Fathers supported Welfare, and would support all of our current Welfare programs if they were alive today."

Sun, 08/17/2014 - 23:24 | 5107162 BOPOH
BOPOH's picture

Just another piece of verbal diarrhea, while russians are dying with little help of the hand of the United States of America. Perhaps you have no idea how it feels when the skies are cracking inside your little brain.

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 00:44 | 5107457 All Risk No Reward
All Risk No Reward's picture

There is a process to systematically discern the real, the unreal and the unknowable.

Trivium Education
http://www.triviumeducation.com/

Trivium Binder
http://triviumbinder.blogspot.com/p/materials.html

 

Sun, 08/17/2014 - 21:35 | 5106734 Unlawful Justice
Unlawful Justice's picture

In my opinion, and contrary to popular belief, the term ‘knowledge’ includes only what I ‘know’ or the entirety of my ‘knowing’ either through personal experience, direct observation or personal self examination……and nothing else. 

 

As the thinker thinks, the prover proves

~ Robert Anton Wilson

I love to study the history of flat earth theory.  The logic that was used to explain why the earth was flat.  “Well if the earth was flat the ocean would spill over and empty”…. “well it must be curved up at the edge like a soup bowl to prevent spillage”    

The question I like to ask in a group of reality seekers… How fast are you moving sitting in that chair?…. 

 

Your spinning 997 mph on a planet that is flying thru space around the sun at 69,000 mph. (Aprox).  and a glass of water sits perfectly still on the table? WTF 

Mon, 08/18/2014 - 11:08 | 5108747 Bemused Observer
Bemused Observer's picture

Because even though we are moving through space at that speed, we 'travel' within our own environments (our "space ship"). It's like how we can travel WITHIN a car at 100 mph, yet not have our hair mussed, or our lips and cheeks flap from wind-force.

If we were riding on top of the hood, things would look a LOT different to us.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!