"In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, not to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is...in some small way to become evil oneself. One's standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to."
This may be overplayed but I always think of this quote in relation to the last 30 years of LIES:
"The most accessible key to our liberation: a personal nonparticipation in lies! Even if all is covered by lies, even if all is under their rule, let us resist in the smallest way: let their rule hold not through me!.....never knowingly support lies!"
We are stuck in the washing machine of propaganda. The legacy and social media platforms take blatant untruths and cycle them through the media machine enough times until the masses start repeating them as long-known truths.
Required reading for anyone thinking about freedoms:
Dostoyevsky's 'The Grand Inquisitor'.
As a follow up: study the history of the Inquisiton, to see what reason and methods inspired all secret police forces, as well as communists and fascists alike.
man, isn't that the truth! i have seen so many people who i thought i knew well, who i believed to be intelligent, reasonable and compassionate, totally lose their ability to think rationally. i've seen them wish others a horrible death, cheer when nurses who had taken care of their relatives just a few months ago were suddenly deemed "too stupid" to work in hospitals, applaud the suggestion that certain veterans be stripped of their earned benefits, that their neighbors be stripped of their jobs, that a seat belt is comparable to a vaccine and that what's been going on in this country and other western democracies is not at all reminiscent of germany in the 30's and 40's, that freedom of speech is dangerous, that bodily autonomy only counts when you want an abortion but doesn't apply at all when i want to make my own medical decisions.
i've had to re-evaluate every friendship i thought i had and many came up sorely lacking.
To be surrounded by people I thought I knew who have accepted the lies is quite difficult. It dawned on me what side of history they would have been on at critical junctures in history. I know a very very few who see through it.
Garry seems sincere and well-intentioned. It's too bad that he buys into the Trump-Russia collusion bullsh!t, when in fact Trump was much tougher on Russia than his predecessor or his successor.
"In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, not to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is...in some small way to become evil oneself. One's standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to."
~ Theodore Dalrymple
We Are All In This Together™.
He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.
~1984
This may be overplayed but I always think of this quote in relation to the last 30 years of LIES:
"The most accessible key to our liberation: a personal nonparticipation in lies! Even if all is covered by lies, even if all is under their rule, let us resist in the smallest way: let their rule hold not through me!.....never knowingly support lies!"
- Solzhenitsyn
We are stuck in the washing machine of propaganda. The legacy and social media platforms take blatant untruths and cycle them through the media machine enough times until the masses start repeating them as long-known truths.
"Safe and effective"
"Climate emergency"
"Most secure elections"
"Trump Russian asset"
"Ukraine is not corrupt"
"Hunter's laptop is disinformation"
"Weapons of mass destruction"
"Russian bounties on US soldiers"
"Jussie Smollett a victim"
"Very fine people"
"Insurrection"
It seems like a good point, but I don't really have time to think about it.
Required reading for anyone thinking about freedoms:
Dostoyevsky's 'The Grand Inquisitor'.
As a follow up: study the history of the Inquisiton, to see what reason and methods inspired all secret police forces, as well as communists and fascists alike.
man, isn't that the truth! i have seen so many people who i thought i knew well, who i believed to be intelligent, reasonable and compassionate, totally lose their ability to think rationally. i've seen them wish others a horrible death, cheer when nurses who had taken care of their relatives just a few months ago were suddenly deemed "too stupid" to work in hospitals, applaud the suggestion that certain veterans be stripped of their earned benefits, that their neighbors be stripped of their jobs, that a seat belt is comparable to a vaccine and that what's been going on in this country and other western democracies is not at all reminiscent of germany in the 30's and 40's, that freedom of speech is dangerous, that bodily autonomy only counts when you want an abortion but doesn't apply at all when i want to make my own medical decisions.
i've had to re-evaluate every friendship i thought i had and many came up sorely lacking.
Yea, but does he know what a woman is?
At this point it is starting to feel like someone is using AI to direct this stuff as well. We are always a few steps behind.
To be surrounded by people I thought I knew who have accepted the lies is quite difficult. It dawned on me what side of history they would have been on at critical junctures in history. I know a very very few who see through it.
Garry seems sincere and well-intentioned. It's too bad that he buys into the Trump-Russia collusion bullsh!t, when in fact Trump was much tougher on Russia than his predecessor or his successor.
This Garry Kasparov?
https://rdi.org/
That's quite a "Never Trump" board line up he has.
And that's the entirety of it, captured in one clear paragraph. Describes every issue of our time.
6 years but ok :)
It's a total immersion, from colleges and universities, to tv/streaming, to even crossword puzzles in newspapers. Another word for it is brainwashing.
And many it seems have precious little critical thinking - or any kind of thinking - to exhaust.