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The Deception of Real-Life 'Inception'
For all of its "Matrix"-like convolutions and "Alice in Wonderland" allusions, the new film "Inception" adds something significant to the ancient ruminations about reality's authenticity-something profoundly relevant to this epoch of confusion. In the movie's tale of corporate espionage, we are asked to ponder this moment's most disturbing epistemological questions: Namely, how are ideas deposited in people's minds, and how incurable are those ideas when they are wrong?
Many old sci-fi stories, like politics and advertising of the past, subscribed to the "Clockwork Orange" theory that says blatantly propagandistic repetition is the best way to pound concepts into the human brain. But as "Inception's" main character, Cobb, posits, the "most resilient parasite" of all is an idea that individuals are subtly led to think they discovered on their own.
This argument's real-world application was previously outlined by Cal State Fullerton's Nancy Snow, who wrote in 2004 that today's most pervasive and effective propaganda is the kind that is "least noticeable" and consequently "convinces people they are not being manipulated." The flip side is also true: When an idea is obviously propaganda, it loses credibility. Indeed, in the same way the subconscious of "Inception's" characters eviscerate known invaders, we are reflexively hostile to ideas when we know they come from agenda-wielding intruders.
These laws of cognition, of course, are brilliantly exploited by a 24/7 information culture that has succeeded in making "your mind the scene of the crime," as "Inception's" trailer warns. Because we are now so completely immersed in various multimedia dreamscapes, many of the prefabricated-and often inaccurate-ideas in those phantasmagorias can seem wholly self-realized and, hence, totally logical.
The conservative media dreamland, for instance, ensconces its audience in an impregnable bubble-you eat breakfast with the Wall Street Journal's editorial page, you drive to the office with right-wing radio, you flit between Breitbart and Drudge at work, you come home to Fox News. The ideas bouncing around in this world-say, ideas about the Obama administration allegedly favoring blacks-don't seem like propaganda to those inside the bubble. With heavily edited videos of screaming pastors and prejudice-sounding Department of Agriculture officials, these ideas are cloaked in the veneer of unchallenged fact, leaving the audience to assume its bigoted conclusions are completely self-directed and incontrovertible.
Same thing for those living in the closed-loop of the "traditional" media. Replace conservative news outlets with The New York Times, National Public Radio, WashingtonPost.com and network newscasts, and it's just another dreamscape promulgating certain synthetic ideas (for instance, militarism and market fundamentalism), excluding other ideas (say, antiwar opinions and critiques of the free market) and bringing audiences to seemingly self-conceived and rational judgments-judgments that are tragically misguided.
Taken together, our society has achieved the goal of "Inception's" idea-implanting protagonists-only without all the technological subterfuge. And just as they arose with Cobb's wife, problems are emerging in our democracy as the dreams sow demonstrable fallacies.
As writer Joe Keohane noted in a recent Boston Globe report about new scientific findings, contravening facts no longer "have the power to change our minds" when we are wrong.
"When misinformed people, particularly political partisans, were exposed to corrected facts in news stories, they rarely changed their minds," he wrote. "In fact, they often became even more strongly set in their beliefs."
What is the circuit breaker in this delusive cycle? It's hard to know if one exists, just as it is difficult to know whether Cobb's totem ever stops spinning. For so many, meticulously constructed fantasies seem like indisputable reality. And because those fantasies' artificial inception is now so deftly obscured, we can no longer wake up, even if facts tell us we're in a dream-and even when the dream becomes a nightmare.
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49 Comments so far
Show AllI remembered a conversation that I had with my father, and which I'd like to share.
"Dad, you had 12 brothers and sisters. And you and Mom had 7 children."
"Yes."
"And now you're complaining about overpopulation."
As the saying goes, more or less,
Don't let facts get in the way of your opinion.
locust, thanks for sharing that story. But your dad may still have a point if he says this cannot go on (without pointing to everybody else, of course; that is something I notice too often: fingers pointing only to the "third world", forgetting history).
This is not new, but it seems to be even more polarizing in the world today. I read a report about the Mexicans that are being murdered, perhaps by the Mexican army, using U.S. dollars to "fight the narco-trade" or just kill people. The EPA says that global warning is real. The wars the U.S. are fighting are endless. We don't have the money to pay for the wars, so we need to eliminate all social programs, except the ones to rehabilitate our damaged soldiers. The oceans are dying, millions are out of work, the infrastructure is crumbling, and half the population is willing to become fascist to avoid socialism. This is insane, a bad dream, so to speak. it is simple to listen and watch people that cater to your fantasy of a world where the enemy is Pogo, the rich are to be emulated and revered, and we are in good hands with bankers, insurance salesmen, and the coal companies. I grew up with the science fiction of the "good atom" and driving our flying cars with nuclear pellets powering us forward, but my dreams would include desolation and destruction. The question I have is: were my dreams real, and my reality a fantasy, or did the neocon "makers of reality" really want it this way?
"Inception" is a crappy movie with a few ideas thrown in, such as the one referred to in this article and some cog science truisms thrown in, like Lakoff's favorite "what do you think of when I tell you not to think of an elephant?" Mostly though, it's a lot of shooting and wowie-zowie special effects. Just thought I'd throw that out to keep this article from actually prompting people to see it. My excuse is my daughter wanted to go.
I didn't like the movie either, but it's misleading to talk about "cognitive science truisms" in this way. The bit about the bear (not an elephant) is about as far from a truism as I can imagine, at least based on my definition of a truism and my experience with cognitive science. The term "psychobabble" would be more accurate than "cognitive science truisms".
A great bumpersticker I saw a few years back: Don't believe everything that you think!
The major cause is the total lack of critical thinking. Kids aren't taught to examine ideas from different perspectives. They can't "compare and contrast" anything that's off-script. Controversy only involves reality shows; in business and government, controversy is to be deferred, disguised, or disputed. Elizabeth Warren, for example, is controversial because she's a dedicated regulator, not a financial industry stooge. Tim Geithner is not controversial, because he's a financial industry/government insider - one of Professor Wedel's "flexians" - someone adept at flitting between the public and private sectors. The neocons and the people who support them are insulated from the consequences of their actions. The rest of us are on our own.
what is the circuit-breaker? homelessness, supported by violence...
even in a piece about misguided thinking, we can't mention private property as a possible example...
the passing of title and tradition from one generation to the next is the crime...
the world is a free-for-all in which those playing benefit by limiting the number of knowing participants...
we are each a solitary entity...why allow an other to dictate reality? because they are armed, and hold the land...
>>>dubet wrote: even in a piece about misguided thinking, we can't mention private property as a possible example...the passing of title and tradition from one generation to the next is the crime...
Much of the "economic activity" arises precisely from this factor. My own thinking hasn't settled on what's best for the future, and I refuse to go by any little book or manifesto written by someone else in a different period of time with little acknowledgement of nature's limits and with little regard to the individual. But still, this needs to be understood. And it's easy to understand.
You are in a small island, and some powerful man or a powerful clan fences off a big chunk of land, an area disproportionate to their number. Now the rest of the island population will have to make do with less. And they may have to start clearing whatever remaining forest-cover is left - simply to make a living. They may be forced to trash their environment in a sense. And the situation will be worse if the clan living inside the fenced off areas are able to control the vital necessities of those outside as well.
And when things come to a head and there's not enough left for those on the outside, news comes in about some great big island with lots of goodies for the taking. So the islanders go out and steal from the Big Islanders who weren't prepared to defend themselves against such a violent crowd. Even the stealing expeditions were "chartered" by the ruling clan on conditions of a share in the loot. And many on the old island get on the ships to escape the misery, and suddenly find there's much land and stuff. Never mind the small detail of the people who lived there before. More fencing off in the New Island follows. This time larger ones. And the insanity continues up to a point.
In time, some from those on the outside start to work for those on the inside - they become the supervisors and managers, in exchange for slightly more crumbs. They may even gain some "respectability" and soon, many of the remaining will aspire to become one of the supervisor-class - the highest they can aspire to, anyway, considering that their share will still be limited to what's outside the fence.
Then at some point, the solid fences are removed, and replaced with invisible fences, so now some idiots on the outside can imagine that one day they too will become super-rich in the land of opportunity and live the Great Islander Dream. And when all this is happening, all kinds of crazy "industries" and "businesses" that serve NO real fundamental need spring up - just to keep the outsiders "employed", and these are considered necessary to make a living. In time, many of those on the outside start defending the whole setup - because that's the only setup they know, or they belong to the supervisor class and one day hope to be on the other side of the fence.
How do you roll back the insanity?
Hey, Alcyon!
how do you roll back the insanity?
indeed...
mostly, I have impressions...local populations managing local resources...
your scenario is good...the key question surrounds the first person to isolate and sequester land and resources from the rest...why do the others not counter?
there is a general aversion to violence that is seen as admirable...what if it is enabling to the powers that be, instead?
one-sided wars and conflicts seem to be our specialty...what if we, ourselves, are the victims of one ongoing?
a person craving power need not kill, himself...he need only find one or two others willing to do so, and much can be accomplished...a key killing here and there, and fear will do the rest...
I believe we must take back the land, as a start...that the bankers must be removed from their seats of power...that this will require great numbers in union...I suggest we do this September 22, 2012, for lack of any other date...
where we go afterward, I can only hope...local, cooperative, minimal-impact interaction with the living world...
as this article implies, our thinking has been predetermined and propagated with such persistence and skill that it is difficult to clear one's mind to the point of unbiased exploration...
parents, schools, tv, church, government: self-reinforcing...in the end, it comes down to getting a job, because of private property...
we will all die, either fighting for land, or for jobs...
jobs, however, will eventually kill us all right back, by killing the world...
I ramble, therefore I stop...
Many of the ideas we take for granted have been deliberately implanted by forces who have their own agenda.
For instance, check out Operation Mockingbird. Better still watch the testimony of William Schaap at the civil trial on the murder of Martin Luther King in 1999. It's available on youtube.
"What is the circuit breaker in this delusive cycle? It's hard to know if one exists..."
(The cowboy Lone Ranger and "his" indian Toto surrounded by indians):
Uh-u - We're in trouble, Toto.
- What d'ye mean "we", white man?
Oh, for the good old days, when "Jack Armstrong, the All American boy," and "Sky King" (the flying cowboy), took care of all the problems.
The Lone Ranger's buddy wasn't Toto (Dorothy's dog in The Wizard of Oz), it was Tonto, which in Spanish means stupid. But in the snippet you cited, it was Tonto who had the last laugh, and the white guy who was too stupid to see the reality of his situtation.
Yes, Tonto. Tnx for the correction. - Must've been watching too much "The secret of Oz" (DVD, 2010 - Good documentary on the economy).
Toto ("all") and "tonto" ("stupid") mixed - that's how "tonto" it is: "all" are "stupid". Which happens to fit with a white culture that's "too stupid to see the reality of his situtation".
I have conserv. friends that send me endless REICH wing rants. None of which they constructed all of whom are being generated by the REICH WING dream machine out here. I don't even bother to respond to them anymore because they're not worth the effort. Also, because I know nothing I say or send them will change their way of viewing the world. I try and keep things to the weather or family, anything but politics with these individuals.
I have taken it a step further. I don't communicate at ALL with those REICH WING people. Even if it's my mother. :(
I went back to visit my Conservative rural hometown recently, and shortly after I'd arrived, my older brother gently took me aside and warned me that even the weather had become no longer a safe issue.
It was unusually warm on that day, and he said mentioning that might trigger folks to go off on a rant about the warm weather energizing the 'Global Warming' theorists. If it happened to get cooler, he said, it might trigger gloating about how it proved Global Warming to be nonsense. This was a mature, reasonable adult speaking, and he wasn't joking. There's not much left to speak about.
Well said, Jill. I don't know about "cult deprogramming techniques", but some of it does seem a bit cultish. Seriously, I would like to know about "cult deprogramming" and any thoughts or tips on how to talk to a climate change denier. If they would argue based on logic or facts, it would be easier to talk to them.
_ Deleted duplicate _
Jill, Hi, I think you're definitely onto something with the 'cult' analogy and supporters of Obama and the Democrats.
For some folks who may not be fully 'programmed,' in the cult sense, I'm sure the matter involves an element of ego, also, of being unable to concede to themselves or others that the belief they've invested in O and the Democrats was in vain, and that the victory they've celebrated was so utterly hollow.
There's also probably a more personal dimension _ and this is where it wanders into spiritual territory _ of reluctance to admit to oneself that one has pinned all one's hopes for a better future on an utter failure. With no viable alternative political party and nowhere else to turn, and the world clearly accelerating in its spiral down the toilet, some folks are going to just forge ahead with the horse they're on, as it's the only one they've got.
I'm sure you're right, and I've seen some progress on my own front recently _ employing logic such as what you've mentioned _ with being able to get some fairly hardened folks on both the Right and the Left to reexamine their world views. The trouble I've run into is the lack of a viable alternative to offer them, once they're out of the cult of either Limbaugh or Obama. Thanks for your very valuable words.
Thanks for the reply, Jill. In the comment below by Zell, he mentions the ego and the pinning of all of one's hopes on someone and how that makes it that much harder for them to admit they've been wrong. Some of my encounters in real life as well as online would probably make more sense now :) (Actually I've sensed this before, and maybe even said so, perhaps using different words).
I can very well replace some of the characters with followers or believers of other ideologies, including religious believers. Of course, it's easy to label religions as cults, but not at all easy to call an ideology as a cult - or even a belief. But i see it from time to time, even on the left - that some people seem to have invested a great deal of their time and energy into identifying with a certain ideology that prevents real empathy with people. I see that they are willing to condone certain atrocities committed by their ideological brethren, or "role models", instead of judging each entity and historical event on its merits.
You say "There is a viable alternative to offer and it can be a lived alternative" - in a different post below. I completely agree, from a more general point of view - that we need to walk the talk (at least, try to), even as we talk and do the organizing and all that.
I've seen that it's easy to allow ourselves to be conditioned by a belief or ideology - ANY belief of ideology, because it gives a sense of belonging, a sense of identity and a sense of doing something (even if this "doing" is mostly bashing the other guy). It's much harder to constantly shake off any mindless conditioning that can creep up when we aren't looking and keep only that which can be supported on the basis of intelligence and empathy. I say this because it's important to learn the right kinds of lessons from history, so that some of the mistakes of the past (done in the name of some belief or other) can be avoided. And they must be avoided.
Only major catastrophe can flip the circuit breaker.
And we're talking really f**king major.
Like, 100x BP Gulf Oil-geddon major.
Because even the Worst Ecological Disaster in Our History failed to flip the circuit breakers for the incepted.
Until then, it's a fight to the mutual death between delusional right-wing nuts and evil socialist liberals.
Maybe one of the strongest ideas implanted that is often never questioned is that we live in a democracy. I think I should re-post part of my comment on the article (video) "Superclass" yesterday:
www.commondreams.org/video/2010/07/29-0
**************************
There seems to be a general impression in many countries that the old feudal days are over and that everyone is living in a democracy and that minor problems can be solved by electing the right people and all that. Whether this is an illusion or not must be examined. It seems probable that the elite never ceded control for good. It's possible that when they lost their absolute control, they just decided to change tactics to get back their control, and they have never stopped trying - ever. And it's also likely that they have become pretty clever about the whole thing so that most people don't even realize what the elite are up to - distracted as they are (and even the distractions are manufactured).
Why would you think they would let go of what they once had and change stripes just because there were a few "revolutions" here and there? And a few people wrote some constitutions and decided to call their system a democracy? (some countries do not have written constitutions - I don't know how many people are aware of this fact; they only have a collection of laws, precedents, conventions and a bill or charter of rights). And why would imperial powers go to great trouble conquering lands, killing and subjugating the native population and all that, only to hand over their conquest to a bunch of commoners that got on a ship? History cannot be ignored and there is much to be learned and understood. Maybe the elite think and operate on MUCH longer time-frames than the average Joe can ever imagine.
If indeed there is a superclass with a plan different from the common people's aspirations, "What can we do about it?" should be the question on our minds.
yes...one of the most interesting facts I've heard in recent years involved landowners in New England before and after the Revolutionary War...
They were, many of them, the same folks...you may have already known that...
I no longer understand voter pride if their candidate does X, or shame if Y...the candidates are servants of the powers, and will find their way with or without the voter...the appearance of the vote is the important thing...
the campaigns for votes, the raising of money for 'airtime', and the votes, themselves, must be held up as all-important, or the illusion of the voter, as the critical determiner of democratic course, and constitutional punisher of wayward servants, melts away like a splintered polar cap of single-year ice...
>>dubet wrote: ...or the illusion of the voter... melts away like a splintered polar cap of single-year ice...
You do seem to know your ice, dubet. Splintering especially accelerates the melting - because now there's more surface area exposed that can absorb heat. Thin ice melts faster for the same reason - because there's more surface area for a given volume, compared to thick ice that takes much longer to form.
ASK them about their personal standard of living, opportunity and fairness. Does it match up with the American Dream.
It's not so much about Obama as about the whole system.
To "deprogram" that someone one thing you can't talk about IS Obama . Nor the democrats or republicans.
We have to speak a language that does not trigger thought blocking.
The way to do it is,
Connect with the other person on a human level, share common likes. Be friendly and kind.
Be respectful and never put down their beliefs or "idols", that would only trigger a negative response.
Talk about issues similar to the one you want to discuss. This will also get around triggers.
Educate people about manipulation and ethics and personality types. Use examples from real life, but not from politics, this will only trigger them.
And be very very patient.
It didn't take one conversation, nor one day, for them to be programmed, conversely it takes time for people to process information and change their world view.
9/11 for example.
Notables claiming it was not "Osama/19 hijackers" include major political figures from all over the world, including a former president of Italy. Also Russia's military Chief of Staff. More than 1,200 physicists and engineers have put their professional reputations on the line with proof that internal demolition brought down the 3 WTC buildings. Every bit as newsworthy as those facts is the absolute, studied avoidance of those facts by media.
Every time a journalist mentions "bin Ladin" or "the Arab hijackers" it reinforces the carefully crafted myth in the public "mind".
If we could crack through the obvious lies of 9/11, much could be done. Thanks for bringing this up.
And if anyone starts bitching about those crazy Truthers ruining another conversation, I insist they demonstrate that they've looked at the evidence from both sides. People who label themselves progressive while refusing to look at the issue are hypocrites.
People react most strongly to political issues when the issues effect them personally.
The collapse of the economy has challenged the basic ideas that many hold dear. Also, the war has radicalized many former GI's.
The quality and availibilty of healthcare has the potential to mold the opinions of many.
The oil spill will have a huge effect on the politics of the Gulf States for decades to come.
The media matrix can try to explain away these dire events, but the basis for discussion has shifted.
Marge Simpson: "Homer, you only hear what you want to hear ... Homer, are you listening to me?"
Homer Simpson: "Why, yes, I'd love an omelette right about now."
And so it goes....
"What is the circuit breaker in this delusive cycle?"...
New York Times Headline December 18, 2019:
Former Fox News Host Bill O'Reilly Commits Suicide Near Remote Lake In Upstate New York
It's the same as in any cult.
Of all the people I know who still believe the official 9/11 story, and who still have faith in Obama, it's the journalists and "professional progressives" who have the most impossible time to see through the propaganda.
"What is the circuit breaker in this delusive cycle?"...
No more fairy tales for kids. We teach our kids to believe in these fictional things since the very young age. They grow up believing in fake stories and character. Time to stop this practice – say no to fairies, goblins, witches, Santa Claus, Cinderella, taking animals and gods!
That's funny. Either I, my wife, certain family members, or certain aquaintances, have met every single one of these types of entities that you have listed (except cinderella & santa claus, which are literary characters). I think we are entering into a new "exploratory" era, where we will be exploring the earth in its' TOTALITY. There are many mysteries still to be uncovered about "our" earth. I think we'll find that "the earth" consists of MANY "frequency domains" (like the different electron shells of differing energy values, surrounding the nucleus), with MANY different "earth creatures" living within them, upon "our" earth. We will probably find a "central earth", or middle earth, consisting of our own, familiar "frequency domain" (because our sensory experiences are "centered" in this "frequency" that we call "reality"). We'll probably find an "upper earth", and a "lower earth" of higher and lower frequencies, with vastly different "earth creatures" living therein. Also, we'll probably find other, utterly different, life within our own frequency, BUT "out-of-phase" with our familiar earth life (eg. giants and elves living in "lands-to-the-west" which the folktales were probably refering to life that is "90 degrees-out-of-phase,lagging" with us, or "lands-to-the-east", which is actually "90 degrees-out-of-phase,leading" with us, or "mirror worlds" which is "180 degrees-out-of-phase" with us, feet-to-feet). We'll probably find that those "UFO" creatures are "earth beings", as are we, only living on earth "out-of-phase" with us, & probably possessed of very advanced technology, & exploring "their earth", as we shall soon do. What very exciting times we are entering!We just, first, have to get through this unpleasant "global bankster syndicate" episode that is trying desperately ot hold the darkness in place over us(perhaps at the behest of "out-of-phase" entities not friendly to humans).The REAL enlightenment is just around the corner.
Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that those little children can probably TELL YOU the truth about entities that exist, NOT of our own phase, or frequency domain. They are so flexible, & NOT just physically, but also ENERGETICLY. They are NOT held so firmly in our own frequency & phase domain, as are we. They are new to it, & probably CAME from one of these other phase, or frequency domains, & "pass thru the door" MUCH more easily, than do we.
This is an excellent article and it outlines the crux of the problem facing humanity. Rigid beliefs whether based on religion, politics, worldview, or whatever are the main force behind humanity's rush toward the cliff of self-destruction. I don't know what a sane answer is to the situation. People seem to believe lies so easily, it's breathtaking. It seems to me that only a minority can see through the b.s. of propaganda and destuctive beliefs. At the rate we're going, humanity will destroy much or all of its own habitat before this process ends. If some humans survive, maybe a more flexible species will emerge out of the rubble, or maybe not.
Personally, I would love for humanity to survive. Amidst all the insanity, the human potential is so very beautiful. To see what is always here at the heart of our being is a wonder.
"What is the circuit breaker in this delusive cycle?"...
It's going to sound glib, but travel is broadening. What is the media, after all? Its our new 'environment', electronically available to us 24/7. When we ask, 'whats going on today?', we turn on the TV. When we ask, 'hows the weather?', we consult the internet.
Travel, real travel, is the placement of you as a human being outside, where your real environment still lives. You may find yourself stripped of your usual entertainments, and have to improvise. Walking, smiling at people, trying to decode signs, these are all healthy ways of observing your true environment and taking cues from it. You may first be irritated by a TV that suddenly refuses to be comprehensible. You will later marvel at how this forced you outside to see how the locals lived, or what formed the local topography. You answer the question 'hows the weather?' by being in it, and 'what's going on?' is irrelevant, since you are going on. This is tremendously liberating, and breaks the cycle of authority the media seeks to maintain over us.
The most stubbornly ignorant minds in America are the least travelled. They've never been forced outside their comfort zone to see the world as it is, to see human beings as they are. And they are ripe for propaganda telling them a lie about how it is, and how their fellow humans are.
Its a crime how little vacation time Americans are given, with which to reacquaint themselves with the world as it is.
A slight aside, the author mentions the, "'Clockwork Orange' theory that says blatantly propagandistic repetition is the best way to pound concepts into the human brain...." This would be the "Ludovico Technique" mentioned within the book "Clockwork Orange". Yet Anthony Burgess and his in-book avatar use the phrase to posit that a human is not a biological machine that can be predictably programmed with a set of inputs, a person is not a clockwork orange. To use the phrase, "Clockwork Orange theory", is to imply that the book pushed humanity as mechanical beings, when his input is the opposite. This is emphasized by the last chapter (originally banned in the US) where the main character chooses to go a better path due to free will, and the urge to create that had been suppressed by so much of modern culture.
I haven't seen the film yet, but I feel that the author is ignoring that the bubble only exists because of the constant repetition. On TV both news and fiction, in movies both nonfiction and fiction, it the way people are expected to work and think: IT IS the constant repetition that forms the bubble. Because opposing thoughts are always seen as propaganda, scary, or just incomprehensible. We all know that the top 1% own all the major means of communication; not just the news, but also the self-righteousness of police shows where violence is always the answer, the idea on the Cosby show that education is meant not for self improvement but for finding a job, and both TV dads and public figures (public servants, CEOs, and journalists) tell us that not having a job makes you as great a villain as a murderer. Back in the days of the Cosby show it was more subtle, but it was still everywhere, and it isn't subtle anymore. The most respected TV journalists say right wing propaganda that sounds like it came from the 60's south or the 30's CEOs. What about Glen Beck is subtle? In the end it is the repetition, and more so the control. The fact that only the occasional Rachel Maddow gets through to create the illusion of impartiality (No Naomi Kline shows). We are so bombarded by right wing messages that most Americans can't even comprehend left wing ideas. They can't imagine national health care even though it thrives in other countries, and in the same breath they damn it they bitch about how much they pay in medical bills. They want relief, but they have been so conditioned that they only see the status quo. Even progressive have problems seeing past the inescapable bubble. How many progressives do you know who judge people on welfare or disability? How many times have you had a day dream of a gun fight to pass a boring moment? It's not whether something sounds like propaganda. A factual report does not sound like propaganda. The right wing bubble has formed Americans neural connections from what they learn in school (all war, no labor movement) to what they see on TV (GI Joe to Cop Shows). It's not just facts that are pushed, but a way of thinking. Homosexuals embrace eugenics to change minds, but they are trying to change minds only run by emotion, and fall into the trap that Corporations will someday spring. Worst of all, there is nothing harder than admitting that everything you know and believe in is wrong, especially when those beliefs are all you have to give you hope or self esteem. You may be poor and week, but you live in the freest country in the world, and the strongest country; with an army that could kick any other country's ass. If these are the only beliefs that give you comfort it is very hard to give them up; especially if you give them up to face the police in bloody protests, and to be put on NO FLY lists.
How do we beat this culture of repetition so strong it not only creates a belief in idiotic ideas, but forms the way people think? We must create our own culture not just a news media, but a left wing entertainment culture. Not slightly less right wing movies we're happy to see exist, truly progressive entertainment, even if it's low budget. More important we must create shadow communities; Where we help one another not just in protest, but in life. People can't imagine another way to live even though they crave it. We must show them it can work even if it is only the limited effectiveness of communal community groups. This repetitive culture has created a mind set where the past is forgotten; only the present exists ("the end of history" is real in the minds of most Americans). Unless they experience the reality of progressive governance it means nothing to them (seeing it in Europe they will only see what they want to see). Capitalism is what they experience everyday; their minds are programmed to deal with it. In their minds there was never a time Corporations didn't exist. Unless they experience another way they will not be able to conceive of another way; nor will they stop fearing another way.
Absolutely correct. I've always been fairly Liberal, and it took 20 ~years~ of life outside the US to make me even begin to touch the threshold of 'Everything You Know Is Wrong.'
Maybe some younger folks are able to attain that moment more easily now _ I should hope so.
You mention alternative community groups, where people live an example of something different _ I'm not sure how things are going in Eugene, Oregon's Whiteaker neighborhood, but at one point that was altogether encouraging. I've seen a few other and looser examples of communities based on what we may call 'Leftist' values _ I'd just call it 'decency,' but then I'm biased _ and they're alive, thriving. It is certainly true that experiencing such a place can make one believe in it.
Amen on the entertainment industry. Those of us who grew up in the era of films such as 'M*A*S*H' and even 'The Graduate' know what you mean. We see more explicit sex in films in modern day America, and hear more references to excrement on TV, but that doesn't mean our media environment is more 'Liberal.' There's a ghastly, subtle, secular Puritanism in there. We need artists with the balls of Robert Altman and Norman Lear. Authors like Hunter S.
Rave on.
"" In the movie's tale of corporate espionage, we are asked to ponder this moment's most disturbing epistemological questions: Namely, how are ideas deposited in people's minds, and how incurable are those ideas when they are wrong?""
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The answer is in the phrase 'mainstream media'. It is the crucible that has been around for so damn long with its whooping and wailing and fantastic representations of all sorts of fantasy to ingratiate that large part of the people whom like a hungry baby keeps returning to the tit for more and more, asks the question: how do you break this conditioned behavior? It has all the hallmarks of instincts, but it also includes the inevitable path to a life of morass which is what we see today, which has so adroitly been worked by the elite. Gives me understanding of how higher intelligence works for those who when they use it for ill so easily overcome and overwhelm those not bothered by intelligence and being educated by choice or by being duped.
One way would be to search for the very beginnings of ideological thinking and how it was used and how it is being used now. Obviously something those hooked on the tit of mainstream media(I call them the dumbstream) are incapable of doing without the use of some traumatic event, such as the end of fuel for driving and heating, no power for air conditioning, the closing of all wal-mart stores or the government actually turning and acting like a monarchy that would treat them like the nazis did in the run up to WWII.
Otherwise, I fear nothing short of doing what so many did about 350 years ago did when they decided that they would risk their lives for our future to rid the yoke of imperial oppression by a twisted, corrupted, secretive and hostile aristocratic monarchy. And to come around to about full circle, because of the full addiction to consumerism and the the tit of the msm's warm space cadet glow, that the probable 70% who comprise the dumbstream, will like cows, hogs and chickens blindly go on to their slaughter. But those animals are not like those who unselfishly sacrificed or put themselves in harms way for our future. They have no intention of doing what may be necessary to secure a future for their descendents.