This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
A Kept Culture
A Kept Culture
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. Please stop by and take a look. If you wish to subscribe to ‘Dispatches’, a periodic newsletter from Cognitive Dissonance and TwoIceFloes Creations, please click here.
My thinking on a variety of subjects has changed over time and I expect my understanding will continue to evolve as new information, knowledge and propaganda enters my orbit. Contrary to popular belief this is a good thing because it means my mindset is not as static and rigid as some, though it is most certainly worse than others.
One of the great questions of the ages is why we, and by ‘we’ I mean anyone other than ‘they/them’, tolerate the abuse we receive from the hand of our masters. While the mistreatment is most often handed down on an individual basis, “We the Abused” outnumber the abusers by at least 10 to 1. And I count among that ‘1’ all those who enable, support and carry out the abuse. So why do we tolerate something we can clearly stop if we so wish?
Earlier on in my ongoing awakening, a never ending process of self reflection and discovery, I would sometimes use the derogatory term ‘sheeple’ to describe both a people and a condition. I was grasping for a simple all encompassing answer to a complex problem, and believing that the vast masses were blissfully ignorant while passively grazing upon an array of consumer goods satisfied my need to understand what to me at the time was incomprehensible.
This is not to say some are not exactly as described. In fact at one point in my life I fit the bill perfectly, totally consumed in my naval gazing and mostly oblivious to not only my own lot in life, but those around me. As a single parent raising my boy alone for seventeen years, I was righteously indignant if anyone dared to question my focus. After all, I was doing it for the child(ren).
But deep down I knew that at best my explanation was inadequate and at worse deeply flawed. While at several points in my life I was a ‘sheeple’, the description did not fit all my situations all the time. I lived in, and existed within, a far more complex world than could be described using simple concepts and ideas. Like a broken clock I was on the rare occasion quite accurate, but for the vast majority of the time I was dead wrong. I suspect my view was biased by familiarity both with myself and others who fit the description. But more importantly, it was comforting to believe I understood the problem and that I wasn’t ‘it’.
So I continued to search for an answer to THE question, though this time I was more thoroughly grounded after recognizing my desire for a simplistic answer and my need to absolve myself from blame or culpability. This self examination and understanding led directly to my explorations into denial, both of the self and of the collective.
This seemed to make more sense to me and quite frankly still does as a significant contributor to this issue. Denial is infinitely customizable, scalable and adaptable. One can be in total, partial and minimal denial about a subject or subjects and our denial can ebb and flow as circumstances and conditions, including our anxiety and fear, dictate.
We are never completely denial free unless we can claim to have cleared all the Cognitive Dissonance cobwebs from the mind, an assertion I would not make since I stumble across, and become entangled within, new ones on a reoccurring basis. If anything as I continue to grow I find more, not less, though they are increasingly more subtle and nuanced.
But while denial more completely describes the present state of the human condition, it still falls short of encompassing the infinite variety of daily life within the Insane Asylum. How does one cope with being in a near constant state of loss and grief, of borderline depression, while still ‘functioning’ on a day to day basis? In many respects we are endlessly circling the five stages of loss and grief so nicely described in the Kubler-Ross model, yet clearly on a higher, more complex, level of existence because it encompasses both the individual and the collective.

The JFK Funeral - Collective loss and grief
An example of the individual/collective loss and grief dynamic in play was the days and weeks after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Words fail to adequately explain what the nation on all levels experienced at that time. There were few, other than the very young, who were not emotionally moved either directly by the loss or by the collective pall the country entered immediately afterward. As a child of seven years, while I did not understand what was going on, I was definitely moved by the emotional trauma others were dealing with at the time.
However, Kubler-Ross describes a onetime devastating loss or the recognition of an impending loss and the process of navigating that loss and grief, while I am seeking an explanation of a never ending existence within the loss and grief process because the ‘loss’ relates to, and is an integral part of, our daily living. I am speaking directly to the psychological and emotional consequences of the overall condition of our existence rather than onetime events that disturb our existence.
I suspect using the term ‘loss’ is inaccurate or incomplete, at least in the literal sense of the word. While a Lion captured in the wild and then confined to a cage at the zoo ‘knows’ what it has lost, a lion born into captivity never really is aware of a ‘loss’. But both lions may still suffer from the same neurosis which springs from the sense, the knowing, that something not quite definable (and more importantly unchangeable) is wrong.
It is my supposition that “We the People” also suffer from the same loss, the same trauma, as the captive born lion does, an inner ache and a growing awareness that something is very wrong with the world and our life within it. Because the reality we live within is the only reality we know, most of what is wrong is not readily apparent to the majority of us since this is just the way things are and everyone else lives more or less the same life as we do. A failure of our imagination is partially to blame for the sense we all have of being trapped with nowhere to go and no way to change.
The other day Mrs. Cog used a term to describe a fictional character from an old movie. She said the character was a ‘kept man’ and I instantly understood what she meant, though it would not have mattered if she had said ‘kept woman’. In so many ways the relationship between the ‘keeper’ and the ‘kept’ is remarkably similar to our ‘kept culture’ and the basis for our dour outlook and sense of impending doom and depression, even if it only lingers under the surface of our awareness. Let me attempt to further explain.
There is always an implicit, and often an explicit, agreement of understanding between the keeper and the kept that pretty much spells out the duties of each party as well as the rewards and benefits of the arrangement. With regard to our kept culture, on a broader scale the general terms and conditions of the agreement are spelled out in grade school, then further defined and refined in college, while the specifics of each situation are expressed by each employer/benefactor. Here is what you ‘do’ and this is your ‘compensation’ for doing so.
While most, if not all, of the power remains in the hands of the keeper, it is to the benefit of both parties that an illusion of equality is inferred between the keeper and the kept in order for the kept to feel they have ‘agreed’ to, and are ‘willing’ to, fully cooperate with the keeper to fulfill the terms of the agreement. You catch more flies (and keep more kept) with honey than vinegar. But make no mistake about it, this agreement can only be abridged or fundamentally altered with the consent of the keeper and not by the kept, thus demonstrating where the real power resides.
On those occasions when the kept strays beyond the boundaries laid out in the agreement or angers the keeper, it is then that the power carefully hidden from view and veiled behind propaganda, public protocols and cultural ritual is exhibited in a manner that leaves no doubt who is in charge. Just as the keeper may afford the kept a credit card or regular cash disbursements in order to further the illusion the kept is free and independent, those liberties can and will be quickly rescinded if for no other reason than as a reminder of who holds the power in the relationship.

To Protect and Serve......Whom?
So too the power of the state, its sharp edges deliberately smoothed by propagandized historical storytelling and mass media assurances, is obvious to anyone looking down the barrel of a gun or being summoned to court. There is no doubt which party is expected to submit when the keepers of the peace and the purse pull you over or summon you for an audit. Ultimately the authority of the keepers is derived from the threat of force, though it is in the best interest of all parties involved to keep this fact carefully obscured behind a thousand sheer veils.
On the surface it would appear the participants never change in these agreements until death do they part. And for some this is the case. But what helps cement the illusion of freedom for the kept, and magnificent benevolence of the keepers, is the seeming ability to change the conditions of the agreement, with each able to leave in order to form a more perfect union with another kept or keeper. But while individual conditions and connections may change, the overall framework remains the same.
This is similar to a formalized agreement between a players’ union (for example the NFL Players Association) and the sport’s organizing consortium (i.e. the National Football League) which outlines the rules that govern the overall relationship between players and league (the Collective Bargaining Agreement). This enables both parties to negotiate everything and anything so long as it follows the general rules and regulations of the governing agreement. So too, the kept and keeper may both change lovers at will so long as they do not switch roles or do anything else that violates the governing agreement parameters. In some ways the keeper is just as constrained as the kept.
Of course the keeper retains a greater degree of flexibility with regard to timing, selection and opportunity, whereas the kept may not overtly ‘select’ a new keeper, but must ultimately be selected by the keeper. The kept may burnish his/her resume (appearance, social and sexual skills, education and training, athletic ability) to increase desirability. But with the market flooded with available (read cheap) kept individuals, ultimately the market is controlled by the keepers. In practice a keeper keeps more than one and often dozens, though there may be a favorite the keeper returns to time and time again.
So while there is some degree of certainty for the kept so long as they remain productive and compliant, there is still a good deal of risk realized from being kept, and most of this risk is arbitrary and unspoken. Needless to say this creates a smoldering sense of anxiety within the kept and over the long term contributes greatly to their neurosis. Essentially being kept is simply another form of slavery, one driven mostly by the willing participation of the kept in service to the keeper. Thus we witness modern day plantation living in all its glory and profit.

The future Apple headquarters - Modern plantation living
I could go on and on with further examples of how “We the People” are a kept culture, including an in-depth exploration of the psychology underlying it. But why take all the fun out of it by rubbing our noses in our own excrement. The fact remains we for the most part willingly participate in our own slavery because the perks are too good to reject and the pain is not great enough to compel us to shake off the chains that binds us to our own servitude.
While I certainly understand how powerless the kept believe we/they are, and by extension how powerful the keepers remain, this is all an illusion designed to keep the kept (and in many respects the keepers themselves) mesmerized, seduced and sated. The powerful impression of system rigidity and momentum serves to maintain the status quo.
We rarely consider casting off our own chains because we consider our binds tied to everyone else’s and the system itself, thus exponentially complicating the problem in our minds. We conflate our personal condition with the overall systemic condition and vice versa, thus perpetuating the illusion with very little energy introduced to actually change our lives. After all, you can’t fight city hall……right? The funny thing is you don’t need to fight city hall to reformulate your ‘self’, just the desire and courage to do so.
If ever there was a perpetual motion machine invented, it is the social ‘agreement’ I just described. The small amount of energy introduced from outside the closed loop system to keep it churning is minor compared to the amount self produced by the active participation of both the kept and keeper as well as that generated by the ever evolving parameters within the much larger collective governing agreement. This energy, whether internal or external, is expressed primarily as emotion and when multiplied by 325 million, or 7 billion, is quite frankly the most powerful man made force in the universe.
While we blame the keepers for our kept condition, it is we who are ultimately to blame for our slavery primarily because we expect that we must change the world when all we need do is change ourselves. I often ask those around me, “How do you eat an elephant”, a seemingly impossible task. The answer is, of course, one bite at a time. But in order to do so we must be brutally honest with ourselves and recognize our contributing role in the collective farce and the personal conditions we must change if we are to slip the binds that tie.
The perks that come with being kept will not survive the breaking of the keep. And it is our denial of this fact that greatly contributes to the power of the keepers and of our being continuously kept. Pain must be endured and several steps back must be tolerated, even encouraged, if we are to eventually move forward. Centuries of prior collective experience and memory cannot be erased in days, weeks, even months. Nor can we expect others to blaze the trail if we are unwilling to walk the path, alone if necessary. Stop waiting for others to start the process and take your first bite of true freedom.
11-02-2014
Cognitive Dissonance
As the kept, there is no possibility of an exit. Only a promotion to house slave.

- advertisements -


There has to be a great way to show the numbers. People can take on the power to control Government if they see a deeper truth.
Paid up to end of Fiscal year, 30 September 2014
2014 Individual Income Tax Revenue: $1.394 Trillion
2014 Corporate Income Tax Revenue: $320 Billion
14 years Federal Outlays = $42.360432 Trillion
2000 Individual Income Tax Revenue = $1.004461 Trillion
2000 Corporate Income Tax Revenue = $207 Billion
2014 Ratio Individual to Corp Tax = 4.35
2008 Ratio Individual to Corp Tax = 3.76
2002 Ratio Individual to Corp Tax = 5.79
2000 Ratio Individual to Corp Tax = 4.85
2014 Ratio of Individual Tax to Fed Budget = .397
2000 Ratio of Individual Tax to Fed Budget = .561
So we as individuals are paying less for Federal Budget Outlays while the budget explodes. But it is we who pay the most to employ the Federal Politicians.
We, The people, are making this thing run. Monthly Treasury Report, 30 September 2014.
2014 Federal Outlays = 3,504,199
2013 Federal Outlays = 3,535,881
2012 Federal Outlays = 3,538,286
2011 Federal Outlays = 3,630,146
2010 Federal Outlays = 3,455,931
2009 Federal Outlays = 3,653,290
2008 Federal Outlays = 2,978,440
2007 Federal Outlays = 2,778,632
2006 Federal Outlays = 2,654,873
2005 Federal Outlays = 2,472,310
2004 Federal Outlays = 2,292,628
2003 Federal Outlays = 2,211,712
2002 Federal Outlays = 2,011,016
2001 Federal Outlays = 1,854,945
2000 Federal Outlays = 1,788,143
This data might look different as I pulled it months ago:
Corporate Income Taxes Receipts 1998 = $ 188.7 Billion
Corporate Income Taxes Receipts 2002 = $ 148.0 Billion (Recession)
Corporate Income Taxes Receipts 2006 = $ 353.9 Billion
Corporate Income Taxes Receipts 2007 = $ 370.2 Billion
Corporate Income Taxes Receipts 2008 = $ 304.3 Billion
Corporate Income Taxes Receipts 2009 = $ 138.2 Billion (Recession)
Corporate Income Taxes Receipts 2012 = $ 242.3 Billion
Corporate Income Taxes Receipts 2013 = $ 273.5 Billion
Individual Income Taxes Receipts 1998 = $ 828.6 Billion
Individual Income Taxes Receipts 2002 = $ 858.3 Billion (Recession)
Individual Income Taxes Receipts 2006 = $1.044 Trillion
Individual Income Taxes Receipts 2007 = $1.163 Trillion
Individual Income Taxes Receipts 2008 = $1.146 Trillion
Individual Income Taxes Receipts 2009 = $ .915.3 Trillion (Recession)
Individual Income Taxes Receipts 2012 = $1.132 Trillion
Individual Income Taxes Receipts 2013 = $1.316 Trillion
Why do Corporations have such power over our government, why are the wealthy allowed to lobby and change the laws... as if open forums and open public discussions... are what corrupt proceedings? Kill the Meme that we have to have all of these Secrets, Classified Info on everything, Secret Agencies, and hidden treaties and Corporate negotiations.
Open Forums are anti-democracy?
Outlawing Money & Gift Giving is Corrupting somehow?
Anti-Monopoly and Anti-Trust Laws are Corrupting somehow?
Money & Credit are so powerful and Dangerous that we Must Trust Bankers with Running our money systems and our Politics?
But we the people are paying for everything... and now they won't allow Interest Rates on Savings Accounts and CDs to Rise... apparently we don't deserve free markets.
Good stuff! And you just happend to have it?
No I was going to write something 2 years ago. I did some research and pulled some stuff together. It is all public info. I like data.
repost:
I tend to think today we see a confidence game. They didn't know how much they could get away with... they just keep taking a mile.
- This is a big point, if they can let TBTF manage TARP, keep interest rates low, keep buying toxic assets at the Fed, ZIRP, QE, Operation Twist... no DOJ prosecutions... no End to Shadow Banking, no end to creating new financial instruments, no standardized accounting, no integrity in Ratings... we push for another mile
- confidence game
- but the English plan for USA in 1776 was planned for a hundred years
- Lots of stuff is planned 50 years out
Who is to say there is no other way? Has it been tried yet?
Can we look at others as equals and be ok with it? Because if we can it all works pretty good. Thats how it works for my wife and I.
The alphas rip the throat out of anyone who tries another way.
Because other ways are seen as weakness. And the wolves lick their chops when they sense weakness.
There is only one way. Since the beginning of time. Violence.
Don't let the religion bullshit fool you. You cannot change human nature.
I do understand violence and its logic. The alphas are just as trapped as anybody. They can stomp anyone they choose. This is absolutly true. They cannot stomp everyone at the same time. They must stay in front of the crowd and lead it from there. They have limits to thier powers. They can only lead if followed. Its the followers they get power from. The msm roll in this is key and they are losing that power bit by bit. Lies being thier stock and trade it is getting harder to sell every day.
In short they need us to trust/follow them blindly. Then they can and will do whatever they want. Without that they cant do shit.
As long as we let them use the fruits of our labor to do it they will. Take it away and they starve. Dont let dogma bullshit fool you.
What do you think the IRS going after the TP was about? It was all about leading us blindly. They cannot be caught in an open and honest debate. If they do they get stopmed. They are forced to hide the truth of thier actions. An honest leader would not have that issue.
The alpha gig aint as easy as many seem to think.
ultimatly, violence is what is for survival(diner) for the fitist(eventually). just a blip in time. all this oppulance of freedom(time to do things other than gather food and keep a place to live)will be a begone era with a destroyed envirnment that rebuilds to a garden of adam and eve, only maybe there will be no adam or eve, but a most violent creature in the likeness of humans, hmmm......
You seem interested in data:
Weekly and hourly earnings data from the Current Population Survey
Series Id: LEU0252881600
Series title: (unadj)- Constant (1982-84) dollar adjusted to CPI-U- Median usual weekly earnings, Employed full time, Wage and salary workers
Year Qtr1 Qtr2 Qtr3 Qtr4 Annual
1979 339 334 325 328 332
1980 324 314 315 317 318
1981 317 311 304 314 312
2012 337 335 329 336 335
2013 334 333 330 337 333
2014 339 328 332
Constant Dollars, Weekly Earning same in 1979 as 2014.
only if you believe the constant dollar values behind it. otherwise a whole lot worse ...
Only the distribution has changed.
Open your minds to this:
- The luckiest, fittest, smartest, with the capability for ruthlessness survive – always have – always will
- Resources are finite and therefore ownership is a zero sum game
- The strong always take from the weak – if they do not then that is a sign of weakness and a competitor will take from the weak and will usurp the formerly strong dropping them into weakling status
- Humans tend to group by clan or on a broader basis by nationality (strength in numbers bonded by culture) and they compete with others for resources
- Competition always exist (I want it all!) but it becomes fiercer when resources are not sufficient to support competing clans or nations
- Tribal societies understand these dynamics because they cannot go to the grocery store for their food – so they are intimately aware of the daily battle to feed themselves and the competition for scare land and resources
- Modern affluent societies do not recognize this dynamic because for them resources are not scarce – they have more than enough.
- One of the main reasons that resources are not scarce in affluent societies is because they won the battle of the fittest (I would argue that luck is the precursor to all other advantages – affluent societies did not get that way because they started out smarter --- rather they were lucky – and they parlayed that luck into advances in technology… including better war machines)
- As we have observed throughout history the strong always trample the weak. Always. History has always been a battle to take more in the zero sum game. The goal is to take all if possible (if you end up in the gutter eating grass the response has been – better you than me – because I know you’d do the same to me)
- And history demonstrates that the weak – given the opportunity – would turn the tables on the strong in a heartbeat. If they could they would beat the strong into submission and leave them bleeding in the streets and starving. As we see empire after empire after empire gets overthrown and a new power takes over. Was the US happy to share with Russia and vice versa? What about France and England? Nope. They wanted it all.
- Many of us (including me) in the cushy western world appear not to understand what a villager in Somalia does – that our cushy lives are only possible because our leaders have recognized that the world is not a fair place --- Koobaya Syndrome has no place in this world --- Koombaya will get you a bullet in the back --- or a one way trip to the slum.
- Religious movements have attempted to change the course of human nature --- telling us to share and get along --- they have failed 100% - as expected. By rights we should be living in communes --- Jesus was a communist was he not? We all know that this would never work. Because we want more. We want it all.
- But in spite of our hypocrisy, we still have this mythical belief that mankind is capable of good – that we make mistakes along the way (a few genocides here, a few there... in order to steal the resources of an entire content so we can live the lives we live) --- ultimately we believe we are flawed but decent. We are not. Absolutely not.
- But our leaders --- who see through this matrix of bullshit --- realize that our cushy lives are based on us getting as much of the zero sum game as possible. That if they gave in to this wishy washy Koombaya BS we would all be living like Somalians.
- Of course they cannot tell us what I am explaining here --- that we must act ruthlessly because if we don’t someone else will --- and that will be the end of our cushy lives. Because we are ‘moral’ --- we believe we are decent – that if we could all get along and share and sing Koombaya the world would be wonderful. We do not accept their evil premises.
- So they must lie to us. They must use propaganda to get us onside when they commit their acts of ruthlessness.
- They cannot say: we are going to invade Iraq to ensure their oil is available so as to keep BAU operating (BAU which is our platform for global domination). The masses would rise against that making things difficult for the PTB who are only trying their best to ensure the hypocrites have their cushy lives and 3 buck gas (and of course so that the PTB continue to be able to afford their caviar and champagne) …. Because they know if the hypocrites had to pay more or took at lifestyle hit – they’d be seriously pissed off (and nobody wants to be a Somalian)
- Which raises the question --- are we fools for attacking the PTB when they attempt to throw out Putin and put in a stooge who will be willing to screw the Russian people so that we can continue to live large? When we know full well that Putin would do the same to us --- and if not him someone more ruthless would come along and we’d be Somalians.
- Should we be protesting and making it more difficult for our leaders to make sure we get to continue to lead our cushy lives? Or should we be following the example of the Spartans https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZeYVIWz99I
- In a nutshell are our interests as part of the western culture not completely in line with those of our leaders – i.e. if they fail we fail – if they succeed we succeed.
- Lee Kuan Yew is famous for saying ‘yes I will eat very well but if I do so will you’ Why bite the hand that whips the weak to make sure you eat well.... If you bite it too hard it cannot whip the weak --- making you the weak --- meaning you get to feel the whip….
- Nation… clan … individual…. The zero sum game plays out amongst nations first … but as resources become more scarce the battle comes closer to home with clans battling for what remains…. Eventually it is brother against brother ….
- As the PTB run out of outsiders to whip and rob…. They turn on their own…. As we are seeing they have no problem with destroying the middle class because it means more for them… and when the weak rise against them they have no problem at all deploying the violent tactics that they have used against the weak across the world who have attempted to resist them
- Eventually of course they will turn against each other…. Henry Kissinger and Maddy Albright bashing each other over the head with hammers fighting over a can of spam – how precious!
Then open your mind to this while remembering that Tullett Prebon 'provides energy analysis to investment and commercial banks'
YOU DO NOT PUT THIS IN FRONT OF YOUR CLIENTS NOR PUBLISH IT IN THE FT WITHOUT BEING BLOODY SURE OF YOUR CONCLUSIONS:
THE PERFECT STORM (see p. 59 onwards)
The economy is a surplus energy equation, not a monetary one, and growth in output (and in the global population) since the Industrial Revolution has resulted from the harnessing of ever-greater quantities of energy. But the critical relationship between energy production and the energy cost of extraction is now deteriorating so rapidly that the economy as we have known it for more than two centuries is beginning to unravel. http://ftalphaville.ft.com/files/2013/01/Perfect-Storm-LR.pdf
What I hear you saying is that it's a dog eat dog reality and the meanest dog always wins.
I beg to differ somewhat.
I agree there are some very nasty dogs today and they are winning.
I am going to be 70 this year and have seen and lived a lot of different lifestyles from living rough to being a valued personal employee, briefly, of the upper echelons of the keepers.
From these experiences I have come to believe a number of things.
* The vast majority of humans are not mean dogs only kept on a leash by a meaner dog.
*The vast majority of humans are not a danger to their neighbors no matter how different they are.
*The vast majority of humans are social animals and seek comfortable companionship with other humans. They are willing to share whatever bounty, or lack there of, there is with their neighbors. I have found that the less people have the more they are willing to share.
*The keepers are actually pussies. What makes them dangerous, and successful, is the pack of hyenas they managed to convince to do their biding. The hyenas are comprised of members of the kept that have bought the keeper's lies that they are somehow superior and tougher than everyone else.
*Reducing then eventually stopping the supply of willing slaves to the keeper's will put them out of business. The hyenas through their conditioning are not capable of thinking for themselves to the point of organizing their own pack.
*There are plenty of examples in nature of powerless, but indivdually strong, species that live very well without preying on their neighbors in packs. ie: deer, rabbits, mice, most bird species and so on. Many of them are even cooperative amongst themselves.
*Deer and other wild creatures capable of fending for themselves as individuals do not do well in urban environments. That is no accident.
*The keepers like to hype the message that they are responsible for the bounty that is available to modern humans. This is only true in so far as their slaves created that bounty under their whips. The keepers hoarding the vast majority of the resultant bounty for themselves is what is responsible for the starvation and dire circumstances of the largest part of humanity. If the bounty was shared equally, and with the destruction of monopoly practices, which keep commodities scarce for the benefit of the few, there would be enough to go around.
*The keepers way of creating bounty is not the only way. It is actually a very poor and inefficient way. The bureacracy and compartmentalization through competition instead of cooperation creates a huge amount of waste and uses labor very inefficiently. It is not the keepers who figure out better and more efficient ways of doing things, it is their slaves. Organize individuals without the overhead of the keepers and the harvest will be far greater. The following is a great example of the pitfalls of corporate organizations http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/why-i-left-my-254895-a-year-job-at-m...
*Nobody said it would, or should, be easy. If you want to stand up you need to do whatever it takes to get up on your own feet. Nobody else can do it for you. Is it worth standing up?
*Personally I am attempting to learn to live like a deer instead of being part of a hyena pack. I may or may not succeed. The result is not as important to me as the attempt.
Sure, humans are animals. When we mature into something more than animals, we no longer have to come back here.
Darwin was right.
uu................mmmmmmmmmmmmmm Mazlov anyone?????????????
I once proposed the existence of a gene, I called it the Obama gene, which allows humans to divorce themselves from reality to embrace a fiction as truth. In other words a biological system to enable us to be comfortable with cognitive dissonance. I know of no biochemical evidence for the existence of the gene but human behavior points to its possibility. Why do so many still believe our president is a left wing reformer when he has done nothing to rein in the banks and corporations? There would be very strong selective advantage for individuals with such a gene because they are able to look on an abusive keeper and see him as a benefactor. Focusing on the benefits while ignoring the abuse means the kept individual doesn't rebel and rebels are very likely to be removed from the gene pool. Sheep may have a hard life but they usually stay alive while reformers are killed. Our ancestors have endured war lords, tribal chiefs and dictators throughout history and those who weren't able to fog their minds and believe the hopium were continually culled from the flock.
We are the mutants. We are the oddballs, not the sheeple who believe that .GOV has gor our backs. We would likely be happier if we could pretend like the others, but alas, we can't. When we see a naked emperor we are unable to imagine his finery. All I can say is try your best to keep from being culled because the overlords are not our friends.
I believe the gene exists and is in every human. When have learned enough and we no longer need it, we can leave.
nicely said,
I hate that I understand the genocide formula so well that I am compelled to game it,
but I do it for the kids such as cog said. And I still doubt I will be successful. Anyone approaching
success may be just putting a target on their back.
There is basically no way in taxation to game it really, another time I talked about learning
the whole life insurance model from the Nelson Nash book, Becoming your own banker.
It is a personal discipline to austrian economics if one delves deep into the intellectual facets,
however one can only do it with after tax money
and we are still on the plantation, but given very very long time could succeed for the kids.
So why do you stay on the plantation?
There are other countries that at at least somewhat less draconian from a taxation perspective, you just need to invest (the 6 months it takes to fluency in Spanish, or whatever).
Earning/living 20K in latin america will yield freedoms/joys a magnitude higher than most "first world" nations...
One more point, looking at Joel Skousen strategic relocation show with Jones, I have the book,
it might be better to get into to a remote region of US. I am looking at Idaho.
If I structure other things such as all savings into whole life for 10 years and live off tax free
dividends, I may get off the grid that way with income so low from SS I am not taxed into genocide
and not contributing to genocide.
I have said it a few times, the whole life is the only personal austrian economics model available to slaves,
there is a reason such legislation has existed for hundreds of years, it is for them, you are not suppose to
know about it.
I am exploring things, not saying I have the answers.
Sure that's what everone asks themselves, how do we know what is on the other side.
The places I have researched take a lot of money, high real estate to get it. I dont have that,
When I get in there, income is unknown, the real estate has to be paid up front and not rent
with unknown income. My work is specialized, my industry only exists in a few places.
That could be different on SS but I am 10 years away from SS. I doubt we have 10 years.
I have heard of many people coming back from latin america, unwanted. We are hated everywhere,
unknowns. I do important work and I am part of something that cant walk away from that easily, but
I am preparing at least mentally for these eventualities.
Here is a little model. 83,000 1980 income is now the targeted 250k income 1%er. 1/3
Basis 1994 it is about 1/2.
Taxes have to be cut 50% to align with clinton era income level or 66% to align with the reagan era.
I paid a good bit less tax, on combined two incomes in mid 1980's, same similar single income now,
but the currency is worth about 1/3. See federal reserve inflation calculator online.
Taxes have to be cut 66% to save humanity.
Cog, you write some great stuff, I think we are brothers from different mothers.
If you dont know about it yet, the LB Bork book, The Red Ammendment is the whole
enchillada on the LAW side, how they did it, you can find some interviews here and
get a gist. If you got turned loose on this basis in LAW, your writings could really break
the whole thing wide open.
I like a couple things down the list not the scooter magee interview featured.
http://www.pacalliance.us/broadcast/
If I may not be so polite,
Nice slave plantation and they think they can enforce their cannibal massacre genocide on free will, by statute.These pigs are going to be judged in hell.
Better read 14th amendment, voting is a crime:
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.[1] ( making whatever they want deem a crime? irs "rules" ? )
Unfortuneately it is a process maybe years to deprogram, this may be the first you
ever saw any of this and it would take a sincere intellectual interest to get into it. But I hark back to youth,
I was always around older people and didnt
hang with my age, some of this rings a bell back to stuff I heard talked about, when there were
intelligent people, before federali de-education.
I have the book, amazing. I cannot implement it's remedy as I am fully embeded as a corporation
employee, but there are conditions that I will or must. There is a remedy, in LAW.
I want to have all the proceeding at the ready if that time comes.
Which will be global war, total mad max scenerios, total breakdown and un-civil war,
one needs to be prepared for this process whether they are ready or not, keep it in the back pocket.
this one picks up at about 34 minutes.
http://www.notmygovernment.us/audio/LB_1_DeMarce_061610.mp3
this one has some sharp hosts that know what is going on and starts from the beginning.
http://www.notmygovernment.us/audio/Stadtmiller_1_040110.mp3
double post
We are all free men. We can, anyone of us, walk down the street and shoot, decapitate or blow up the person who has offended us and there is little or nothing that any person can do about it. What restrains most of us is an internal and external sense of mores that tell us that such actions would inevitably harm us and those we care about. So, we restrain ourselves. All of us have an innate sense of fairness. Most of us refrain from vile acts because villains are not what most of us aspire to be.
The political and economic structure that sustains all of us has lost its legitimacy. Anyone who is awake is overwhelmed by the fraud and debauchery that permeates the whole system. We all know that it is rotten to the core.
We stand in place because it is not in our self interest to step out of place. When that changes, everything changes.
Simple, but profound. Consent of the governed is dead and buried.
The tipping point cometh.
CD,
What amazes me most is the ability of the elite, through controlling the media, hegelian dialectic, culture issues and so on, to get the masses to act against their own self interest.
The bigotry and abuse of the lame stream media is not so much in what the say,
as in the many topics they prevent from being discussed in an honest and open manner.
We rarely understand what is in our own best interest because we are never taught to think critically. On top of that, are we ever surprised when a deeply trained and conditioned animal once again follows its training and does as commanded?
deeply trained and conditioned = the status quo.
Change = a clear idea/plan of action. (or example, as you indicate)
'Change' does not equal - knowing the status quo is wrong.
Knowing what is wrong - and having a easily digestable/actionable plan are two Very different things.
For most people, having an existing counter current they can join onto is the key to action/change.
So, I don't think the mental block is as signicant as you suggest, people are ready to revolt, but they need a Revolution to attach to. k.i.s.s.
(altho, that does raise the uncomfortable possibility, that we would merely swap from being kept by one master, to another... )
"(altho, that does raise the uncomfortable possibility, that we would merely swap from being kept by one master, to another... )"
Why directly oppose the revolution when you can co-opt? How many 'color' revolutions have there been over the years that weren't actually covert ops? The answer is not all and most certainly some if not nearly all.
for me, thinking critically comes from anti-social behavior(thanks dad), not accepting the norm or rules and questioning people of authority.
Workers in HAZMAT suits at Cleveland address as NE Ohio residents removed from Ebola monitoring
Workers in HAZMAT suits at Cleveland address as NE Ohio residents removed from Ebola monitoring
"My thinking on a variety of subjects has changed over time and I expect my understanding will continue to evolve as new information, knowledge and propaganda enters my orbit. Contrary to popular belief this is a good thing"
Now, I have to stop here, and ask something. Why IS this popular belief? You're right, it does seem to be. "Flipper" has become a popular catcall when someone changes a previously-held position.
But wouldn't it be somewhat STUPID to refuse to adapt to new information? Should we have refused to accept the fact that the earth revolved around the sun? Don't we SEE that those old-time church leaders were WRONG, and laugh at them for refusing to accept the reality of new information?
And do any of these people think new evidence that disproves someone's guilt should be ignored, and that person left in prison anyway because a decision has already been made, and society shouldn't be a 'Flipper'?
I wonder at anyone who believes it is more noble to defend a wrong idea than to be seen as changing course.
All right, I'm gonna go read the rest of your article now. I just wanted to pop in and say that...
better to walk alone, than to go with the crowd, that is moving in the wrong direction. we're more like sleeple. lucid dreamers, who know we are asleep, yet choose not to awaken, and lose the intoxicating imaginary freedom.over a state where the freedom requires effort, and sacrifice.
Because we have been conditioned to believe that an opinion, once formed, must be defended to the death. This is a mental trap that freezes the mind and body into self destructive actions and endless in-fighting among the plebs. When we are taught to venerate external authority as the ultimate God that must not be questioned it only makes sense that all those who worship these Gods would act in a similar manner.
Ha, you'd think those of religious bent would have noticed the recurring theme of entire peoples being destroyed for following bad leaders on a bad course.
You'd think they would set some pretty high standards for their leaders by now, wouldn't you? That they'd be quick to remove any who'd bring down God's wrath on them all.
I think it's something beyond religion, some human willingness to hand over the reins to someone else in return for...what? Some promise of security, probably. But that's a pretty big thing, giving someone else that power over you, so when that person fucks up, it makes you think YOU look like a jerk for going along. So you HAVE to defend the idea, convince everyone else that you made a reasonable, rational choice.
Otherwise you appear to be nothing more than an ignorant cult member who went stupidly along with a really bad idea.
I can't believe they can do the mental gymnastics needed to justify sticking to a belief proven false. Or even not to question a belief called into doubt by evidence.
How do they shut that off? Isn't there something inside them that WANTS to know the truth about a thing? And isn't that 'something' bothered also by the notion that their silence gives the liars the idea that they AGREE with the lies? That they BELIEVE the lies?
That would bother me. Not just being lied to, but letting the liar think his lie got past me. Especially if it's a really stupid lie, because that implies I'm so stupid I'd fall for a stupid lie. And for some reason, it is VERY important to me that anyone lying to me understand that I KNOW they're full of shit.
Logic (link)
... or lack there-of.
.This is something I see all the time. The best techs dont mind being wrong. What pisses them off most is being the same wrong twice. Average techs might just keep replacing the same fuse.
I find it amazing that you put this together over some time and post it today. Just yesterday a question was put up in another thread. How do we escape the matrix. My answer is thru learning as many basic skills as you can. Then passing those skills down to the kids. Make yourself and as many others independant as you can.
There must be some good thing going on on some other level we have not noticed. Something made one person ask his question/my answer/and this commentary. That is not chance. Crazy as it sounds it happened. It keeps happening too. I normally would not have been so bold as to answer that question. But I knew I should at that moment give that answer.
When good things do happen its because they should. Not because of force like with bad things.
Perhaps there is more to this world after all.
Thank you CD. Exelent work.
Chance, and synchronicity, favor the prepared (meaning open, honest and inquisitive) mind. However, Mrs. Cog says I was channeling you. ;-)
louis pasteur's most famous quote! it certainly leads to wanting to prepare your mind.....
Mrs Cog and I were discussing the prepared mind a few days ago.
It really doesn't matter if no conclusions were arrived at when first broaching a new subject. Only that the conversation was started and the initially barriers of thought were overcome.
It is always fascinating watching someone declare something impossible, then over time once the concept becomes more familiar and the fear of the unknown dissipates, not only is a solution found that was previously unthinkable, but the mind then travels down the pathway previously closed.
We are only as sick as our deepest darkest secret.....and only as dysfunctional as the things we do not discuss or consider.
I like to say of things that are repulsive or frightening to us that we do not have to believe what we are hearing/seeing/reading/watching/learning....but we must seriously consider it. It is the exercise of the mind and imagination that opens the doors to further growth, not any particular understanding or solution discovered.
Thanks for your post. Deep thoughts and much truth. Here too long a minion of professional life and some success, and later in life, yet perhaps I'll at least go out with a bit of bang standing up to truth and kicking some ass on the way out!
yea mon, have a(or go to a) meeting and get that shit out! now, there doesn't it all feel better(real therapy needs another simular human). amen to that! one day at a time and another sober day to feel my real feelings, good or bad...
"Chance, and synchronicity, favor the prepared (meaning open, honest and inquisitive) mind."
Dude, how many Phd's do you have?
And I guess the John Corzines' of the world, according to you, have the most "prepared mind" as they have been blessed with "chance, synchronicity and favor."
LOL
PhDs are some of the dumbest smart people I know.