When RFK or other government officials initiate good policies, those community-minded Harris voters may fight him. BUT the government will no longer be paying off the media. The government will own the FCC and it can restrict broadcasts to stations that promote lies. Just as the media have been brought into line, they can be changed. Their business model has failed--viewers and listeners have left in droves--and without government support they are likely to crash and burn.
And people like us can decode the propaganda, and reframe what is being used to tar good policies.
And we can teach the people how to detect propaganda and not be swayed by it.
Over the last 40 years of living in Thailand, with a predominantly Buddhist culture, the difference in cultures between here and the US, have been too evident to ignore.
First, reading, writing and speaking Thai, I quickly learned that Thai language has no verb conjugation, and thus is a language of space, not time.
That one difference actually dominates all of the rest, as people--traditional people--are not in a hurry. They have a 6th sense to be grounded in the present, which I have to say, is delightful.
Second, there is a subtle attitude, that everything of the reality world, the material world, is impermanent. This is a huge difference, for the reason that because impermanence is somewhere in the foundation of Mind, living life in the moment, is more comfortable, more attractive and more readily available. Although, rushing is abundant in a minority--mostly young people--who are excessively anxious to make money and bring on the future.
Third, even though you are a foreigner, an expat, a different race, you are accepted. You can be a complete idiot-jerk, alcoholic, drug addict, Black, White, Obese; a very spiritual person, or an academic, and you are accepted. No judgement. Although, those who do show accentuated characteristics in appearance, are named by them, such as if someone has a big beer belly, or is bald, they are named: poom-pooy-big beer belly, or pom-laun-baldy.
Fourth, propaganda is completely embedded within Thai society, as an invention of the West. And why this is, is because the Buddhist ideal of everything of the material world is impermanent; of you are not here forever; of everything is a banana leaf, and can be tossed, is the foundation of the Thai Mind. That means people know that the politics will change, and because it will change it is not to be trusted as the Truth.
What is trusted, is People. . . . Thailand is a tribal society. Yes, there are cults. But these cults are offshoots of the Buddhist ideals, and very respectful--as Thai people generally are--of everyone else.
Also, foreigners who live here, have all left behind Western culture which has let them down, in some way. We are all misfits. And all being misfits, we find each other, most usually without bias, native cultural baggage, or convictions which get in the way of creating new roots in a strange land.
Thus, we are each a part of a culturally close nit but remote in distance community, of organic diversity, with our own personal need for freedom-from-insanity. That one common connection is huge in a world which is in such chaos and rebellion against differences. Political and nationalistic views are put aside to make room for the exceptional privilege of living here now.
You mentioned a few but the USS Liberty in on my mind because I listened to Candance Owens interview a survivor and I found out both McNamara and Lyndon Johnson were traitors and worse. General Tuttle lost his career and so many other things. I want to watch it again. Maybe sharing real testimony from real survivors might help open people's eyes. It was powerful. They are trying to organize a group of the last survivors to travel around and tell their story. Owens pledged $40,000 a year to https://ussliberty.org. Here's Candance's interview. Watch it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD5gtM1A990
I started to watch it, and will definitely go back and finish. Candace says at the beginning “this changed my life”…do you think learning the truth about USS Liberty is the reason for her split from Shapiro and the Daily Wire?
I think this interview by Candace has the power to change a great number of people's minds who don't have the age and experience of an older generation who does remember and which is why it'd be nice to be rid of that older generation with memories. Do as the indigenous do, protect your elders for their memories and wisdom. "They" rewrite history. I've seen it in books I've ordered and when I go online for the archived copy, the whole banana is revealed. You must know this goes on. The book I speak of is called The History of Central Banking and The Enslavement of Mankind; I ordered 4th edition not knowing how it had been redacted and can be found in original form. I looked all over the internet for a 1st or 2nd edition and can't find it anywhere. Make what you want of my story. But it is easily verified.
I can't answer that, but if more Americans knew the truth about the USS Liberty, they would have a more skeptical view of their government and that would be very good indeed.
I have suffered bellicose feelings that are justified from an "eye for an eye" perspective, but in those very-few times when I later gain the upper hand, I soften like butter in a microwave, mumble to myself about that sad, damaged soul, and walk away from "justice". Have any such offenders ever sought me out, and insisted on making it right? No. Once liberated from justice, most perps sneer at the fool who turned the page softly.
What matters most - but not exclusively - is durable, favorable change. Will everything be OK in the future if the perps and profiteers of Tonkin, 9/11, JF/ML/RF-K, COVID-19, MK-Ultra, etc. are exposed (or ignored), and not held accountable? Even in the "extreme" of only economic justice, how will beneficiaries of sociopathy be identified and economically humbled? Will heirs of guilty-papa be cast out of their super-yachts? How will the millions of resisters, and billions of duped victims be identified, and then divvy up the $2.31 left over after legal fees?
"Truth and reconciliation", alone, doesn't quite cut it, but neither is a lasting improvement likely from seeking even simple and partial justice, and much less so from strict justice or vengeance. Will the Trump regime sweep away the eminent gray plutocrats? A few. Maybe we will even see whatever archives remain unshredded of the above-listed crimes! It will be oh-so satisfying to see that the now-dead murderers exposed without a particle of accountability, right? Chances are overwhelming that (assuming we can avoid civil and/or world war) the rotting remains of American "democracy" will limp along, with plentitude borne of technology and existing accumulation keeping us from moving beyond grouchy blogs and ubiquitous brain candy. Go, 'Niners!
Well to me it is absolutely clear what the answer is - what it will take for the 80%, or whatever it is, to change direction in the way you describe.
They need to see that everyone else is changing direction.
That's it. The sheep pejorative is exactly correct on this. Most people have no conception of truth, reality, right, wrong. Even of what they want for themselves or their children. They get all of this from observation of what everyone around them says is true, real right, wrong. What they are supposed to want for them and their children.
And that's it.
So just consider a flock of sheep. They are collectively determining their direction - based on a herd notion of self interest. Its a complex thing at that level - even for sheep. But at some point the collective consciousness decides to change its direction (and its definitions of reality, truth etc). And then the herd changes direction.
All we have to do is continue and live our lives connected to *actual* reality and truth. At some point they will turn and follow us.
But more importantly than that - it is fundamental now to my idea of myself and my life that I am as independent as possible of the herd and its whims, insanity, cruelty. To me, all I can do is build that life as best I can.
Thank you Josh for your thought-provoking articles. In case it is helpful, I've observed a linchpin of sorts among my well-meaning family and friends of the majority-cult: a deeply ingrained (nearly religious) dedication to expert opinion. Any observation of the obvious is questioned with "Source?!".. as if a NY Times or AP link would constitute a sacred reference from our new bible, delivered directly from heaven. My words are considered blasphemous, even if the advice is to simply re-consider advice from your doctor. Folks are prejudiced with defenses against any hint of questioning authority. It is as if they are children placing palms against their ears and yelling "lalalalalalala." The programming is deep but I appreciate knowing others share my search for the antidote. "Science," wrote Feynman, "is the belief in the ignorance of experts." Thank you for allowing me to comment. All the best
I super agree on the “lalalalala” point — I’ve observed this many times. Further yet, some of the closest people in my life have ordered me to “never again” speak to them about 9/11 and/or COVID. Wow! “Never.” That’s potent; I consider it psychological trauma.
A friend’s Southern granny had a saying to encourage coming to Jesus: “See the light or feel the heat.”
All those relatives, coworkers, and friends who divorced us for not getting the shots or for voting for Trump or Kennedy are basically good people. Strangely enough, that’s why it’s difficult for them admit they were wrong.
Aside from the 3-5% of the population who are sociopaths, most people know that lying and cheating and killing people is wrong. That’s why, when faced with the temptation to harm someone, most people can almost instantly come up with an excuse for why it’s OK to snub them or lie to them.
Some popular rationalizations:
• "Low income people don’t have a good work ethic."
• “This or that ethnic group is subhuman."
• “Anyone who refuses the Covid shot doesn’t deserve medical care.”
The logical and tragic outcome of that prejudiced justification is that once I harm a person or a group of people, I MUST KEEP ON HARMING THOSE PEOPLE TO JUSTIFY ALL THE PRIOR HARM.
The one sure way to escape the compulsion is very hard to do: confess.
Look at 12-step programs – they understand the transformative power of admitting a mistake. From the depths of regret and guilt can arise the willingness to make amends (if possible), or at least to share the story, in case it helps others to not go down that same path.
Our culture teaches that it’s demeaning to admit a mistake. (And, of course, certain mistakes could lead to prosecution.)
Also, it's hard to admit that having been conned.
Nevertheless, if someone can’t admit a mistake, their human need for inner consistency forces them to stick with now disproven concepts like “Covid is dangerous for everyone” and “mRNA shots are safe and effective.”
So, as Josh has done, sharing one’s own experience of being gullible opens a door for others to set aside their pride and confess. (Isn't pride a form of ignorance?)
The silver lining of the tragic loss of life and ruination of health we recently went through is that going forward we'll ask more questions, and we'll resist group think and the smog of fear.
If we feel the heat of Covid and admit we were duped, we’ll be ready to see the light about Mpox, bird flu, and all the other levers of control.
My separation from "The Cult" essentially began as a child on 24 November 1963, the day Lee Harvey Oswald was murdered on live TV. Even though I did not speak about my feelings for many years, intuitively I knew something was really "fishy" about these events of late November, 1963.
Over the rest of the 20th century, I would take most things "with a grain of salt," and when reading newspaper or magazine articles, try to "read between the lines" (an idea we were taught in school but I did not quite grasp at the time). Some of the books I read in the 1990s included THE ASHES OF WACO, by Dick Reavis; INVENTING THE AIDS VIRUS, by Peter Duesberg (with foreword by Kary Mullis); and DAY OF DECEIT: THE TRUTH ABOUT FDR AND PEARL HARBOR, by Robert Stinnett.
On 11 September 2001, when everything "stopped" due to airplanes flying into buildings, again my intuition suggested that I not believe everything the media was promoting. I did listen to a radio news item where a man who had left the second tower after the first tower was hit said that he and others working on the upper floors had come down to about the 42nd or 43rd floor and had to switch elevators to continue down. He said a man was on that floor with a bullhorn telling people that "everything is OK - report back to work." During the interview, he asked, "Who was that guy? and what was he doing there?" I have never heard an answer to these questions.
Over the nest two months I quietly asked a few of my friends what their take on 11 September was. One got mad at me and never spoke to me again. Some of the rest shared that they had some doubts about the "official story," but were reluctant to speak out about it. Finally in November of 2001 I made contact with someone who saw things as I did, and he recommended some internet sites - two of which I still read today.
The so-called "COVID pandemic" also seemed pretty fishy to me. When I first saw a photo of a model wearing a mask in January, 2020, my reaction was: "How stupid is that? That won't stop any virus." Little did I know what was in store. When everything was "locked down" in March and April, I told my friends that I saw two sides to this: one was that we had a deadly pandemic that required extraordinary measures to protect people; the other side was that the whole thing was a fraud. My thoughts at the time were that the truth lay somewhere between these two extremes - but as time went on I gravitated more and more toward the "fraud" hypothesis.
Due to my "COVID" hesitancy, I have had a few friends no longer speak to me. One day in 2020 at the local farmers' market, I was walking around on a sunny day, and two older women from my church passed by. One of them asked in a stern way: "Where is your mask?" I told her it was in my pocket and walked away. Sadly, both of these women "died unexpectedly" in the years since, as have a lot of other people I knew.
A beautiful piece for peace, Josh. Thank you so much for clearly putting the words together to document these phenomena, and, providing compassionate guidance on how to navigate socially.
I like Buckminster Fuller’s idea of what he called the gestation period — basically a number of years it takes for people and industries to get on board with new ideas — which I believe applies to people coming to accept realities around events like Pearl Harbor, 9/11, and COVID. It takes time. It took me about 28 years in a way, and it’s a continual process. I’m 40 now. My first exposure to the ‘truth position’ was at roughly age 12 when, over dinner at a fishing club, a family friend informed us that the US was aware of Japan’s impending attack on Pearl Harbor. He would have known: he was a Morse code operator, if that’s the correct term for it.
More specifically, it took me about 16 years to see the deception in 9/11, and about 4 years to see the deception in COVID. (Well, that’s a good curve I guess…hopefully the next mass deception will be apparent to me in 1 year or less time 😰😂.)
My other thought is that it will be fascinating to see what happens at all the religious communities across the US. As people slowly “come to,” what and where will people lean?
For pastors of all sorts, hopefully they have at least a foggy understanding of the COVID deception, which would probably allow them to be much more understanding and helpful to others.
And what about health professionals? I sure hope they open their minds as well. I’m a clinician. I still hear about my therapy clients getting COVID vax’s. A lot of health professionals are still in the dark. They won’t even discuss it with their colleagues; the door is still basically closed for that, in my halls at least. It’s utterly bizarre to me.
Josh and others, my ideas keep forming on this. Here is another concise idea, more concise this time.
In psychedelic medicine, there are guides.
Why not do the same thing for this wild process of coming to the truth? 1:1 sessions or in small groups.
I’m not suggesting the actual use of psychedelics — it is likely not necessary here. The “medicine” here is basically human to human reconnection with a guide who was had their own experiences with coming to the truth.
Hi Josh, indeed your piece has seeded something for me, or for me, watered and fertilized the seed. Here are more ideas to your inquiry.
First up: Truth poetry, which both humans and AI can create.
I assume that poetry “lights up” different parts of the brain than do facts and reasoning.
Looks like there is a decent amount of existing research on this, for example, a 2017 paper titled “The emotional power of poetry: neural circuitry, psychophysiology and compositional principles” at https://academic.oup.com/scan/article/12/8/1229/3778354
(A psychological term relevant to this discussion is counterconditioning. For example, a 2019 paper titled “Behavioral and neural processes in counterconditioning: past and future directions” at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6983350/ )
I assume that algorithms (robots) were, and are, employed to help “wire up” and reinforce what appears to be massive and deliberate fear conditioning operations. For example, after successful (pardon the term) fear conditioning, the mere thought of a family member not being (“) vaccinated (“) for COVID now elicits powerful states like alarm, disgust, anger. (Were it not for the fear conditioning, such powerful reactions would simply not happen.)
I assume fear conditioning relies upon more parts of the brain than just the parts that handle declarative knowledge, but more so the lambic system and evolutionarily older parts of the brain that are not at all impressed by facts and reasoning.
Many people do know that AI has weaknesses, but nonetheless I assume that a huge number of people actually trust a computer far more than a “conspiracy theorist” or an “misinformation spreader.”
So, if the above assumptions are largely accurate, why not employ AI to poke holes in the conditioned fear responses? Poetry in general may reach more of the brain than any amount of facts and reasoning.
I tried it. I prompted AI: “Great! Now write a poem to convey the frustration, sadness, and alarm felt by a doctor who is aware of the harms that COVID “vaccination” often causes, but they face great resistance from their colleagues, media, and medical board.”
Meta’s “Lama 3.2” responded:
“In halls of healing, where hearts should be aglow,
A doctor's conscience wrestles, with a truth they dare not show, [??]
A secret kept, a warning unspoken, a danger unexposed,
The harm of COVID vaccines, that they've witnessed, and proposed.
Their eyes have seen the suffering, the injured, and the worn,
The lives forever altered, the families torn,
The silence is a heavy burden, the weight of which they cannot define,
A moral dilemma that haunts them, like a relentless, guilty shrine.
Colleagues turn away, in denial or disdain,
The media's narrative, a simplistic, misleading refrain,
The medical board's stern warning, a threat to their very name,
A doctor's duty, to heal and protect, now twisted, lost in the game.
Oh, the frustration that they feel, the sadness that they bear,
The alarm that grips their heart, as they witness the harm that's shared,
The desperation to speak out, to warn of the danger unseen,
But the fear of retribution, the risk of being silenced, or unclean.
In this dark night of the soul, they search for a glimmer of light,
A way to reconcile their duty, with the truth that they hold tight,
To find the courage to stand tall, to speak out against the tide,
To be a voice for the voiceless, and let their conscience be their guide.”
Next, the huge challenge is whether people will actually read or listen to any such poetry.
The goal is to “get” people to once again THINK, PLAY, ASK QUESTIONS, and LEARN. Indeed, “getting” people to be willing to even PLAY with ideas might be THE essential ingredient.
And another idea: for people to be able to watch videos of that ‘falling off the elliptical machine’ moment where it clicks — where there is a RECONNECTION between the body-brain-mind-intellect — that might be helpful. That’s what trauma is, right? Disconnection(s), or dissociations. I have pointed people to video clips where the controlled demolition explosions of the twin towers is super obvious but people STILL cannot see it: there’s been a disconnection somewhere.
Quite possible, btw, that physical movement of the body may very well be the “moving experience” that is needed to help heal these programmed deceptions (a form of trauma in my view).
More:
Activists can fully expect to be ignored, ridiculed, misunderstood, mocked, defamed, canceled, deleted, deplatformed, excluded, and rejected by your own peers/friends/colleagues. How interesting — these appear to be the very strategies used by those in power; well-intentioned but programmed/conditioned people, in my experience, apparently absorb and re-employ the same strategies without even being aware they are employing them. (Quite similar to how certain defense mechanisms are learned in one’s early childhood.) Perhaps here, re-humanization and re-inclusion into the group is needed to remedy this — right in line with your idea with using small group work.
Next thought: Meredith Miller and Jason Christoff each have an essay in Canary in a COVID World volume 2 that seem relevant to your inquiry.
To sum up, I think time, compassion, understanding, play & humor, re-humanization, and re-connection are probably all good ingredients in helping people learn new things and heal from these kinds of traumas.
You've hit on the perennial dilemma of how to change people's thinking so it conforms with the enlightened minority. Like you I have no obvious solution. I think it boils down to a left brain, right brain dilemma. Ian McGilchrist has some intriguing insights but I've yet to fully understand his thesis. The only hope I can see is for something like Rupert Sheldrake's morphic resonance permeating collective consciousness triggered by sufficient people waking up to the cult reality they are living in resulting in a cascade event of world wide awakening.
I was with you all the way up to the 'dominated by women' part. Sorry, but no. I am not interested in being part of the construction of a new hive mind.
So, MacGuffin, you don't think this is a good time for a turn about? For 5-6 thousand years we've tried the Men In Charge method. Has it worked? Why are there so many men in prison compared to women? The white collar version is why do so many CEOs (who are mostly male) rate high on sociopathy tests? Speaking as a female, I'm not saying we have any monopoly on wisdom, but sociological studies find that, on average, women have leadership skills that men lack, so maybe we'd be better off tapping into those more.
It is not about male vs female but splitting vs integration. Riane Eisler's idea of the partnership society is what we should strive for. Also Lakoff's model of the authoritarian father vs the nurturing parent.
If you can look at the events of the past five years and see a need for MORE pandering to female neuroses, then I am honestly at a loss for what to say to you. We need a lot more critical thinking.
An odd thing about the current moment is that this 'majority cult' I don't even think is the majority anymore. Viewership numbers indicate Rogan probably has more sway over the general public than any 'official' mainstream source. But while it may not be a true 'majority' it plays on in the papers and on TV and in American culture that is good enough. I have no solutions. I can't even talk to my wife or even toe the line about our dog getting vaccinated.
I do know this...RFK Jr seems to be getting in the ears of people of this 'majority cult' at least on the food front. Some desperate ideas I've had: I wonder if stunts like an MFM pet vaccine challenge with folks like Hotez and Offit could help? I wonder if Musk could run a fitness/health for future colonizers of Mars program to add some sciency heft to thinks. Of course he's already been removed from polite society himself. I wonder if simpler experiments people could do at home could be put together. Exley notes fish will die with aluminum in their water but can be spared if silicate is present. I don't love killing a ton of fish but then again one could imagine a viral stunt where every day x-amount are fish are killed next to fish spared until people begin to ask what is it this aluminum is doing in vaccines anyway. Things like that.
I'll end with a quote from an REM song, end of the world as we know it:
"This means no fear, cavalier, renegade and steering clear
A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies
Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I decline"
Excellent article, I agree and as you know have been struggling with the same issues. an article by RD Laing on Mystification, confusion and conflict, I read in a family therapy book in 1975, defines mystification as a plausible misrepresentation of reality in which forms of exploitation are presented as forms of benevolence and one would be mad or bad to think of rebellion. Demystification is necessary for enlightened action. Agree with Meryl we need to teach media literacy, how do you know when you have been lied to, how can you detect propaganda. Also not just take something away, ie vaccines, security, the illusion of protection, and replace it with something better, more plausible - like how to boost your immune system, shift from external to internal protection, passivity to agency. You mention a study that what works is not facts but showing people they have been deceived - inciting moral outrage. My slogan for a campaign I wish we could do is "Don't be a sucker!"
Dr. Perlman, depth therapist Fran Shure has written an excellent series of essays on this, using the 9/11 deception events as the springboard. Available on many websites including here: https://ic911.org/books-and-series/shure/
Take a look sometime and let me know what you think.
I think your approach of person-to-person encounters and perhaps some small groups is what is needed. I've heard it said that people go mad in groups and recover one by one; that seems to be what happens, as far as I've observed.
Next time I see Elon, I think I'm going to suggest he buy the New York Times.
When RFK or other government officials initiate good policies, those community-minded Harris voters may fight him. BUT the government will no longer be paying off the media. The government will own the FCC and it can restrict broadcasts to stations that promote lies. Just as the media have been brought into line, they can be changed. Their business model has failed--viewers and listeners have left in droves--and without government support they are likely to crash and burn.
And people like us can decode the propaganda, and reframe what is being used to tar good policies.
And we can teach the people how to detect propaganda and not be swayed by it.
There is so much possibility!
May it be so.
Thanks Josh. Very well done, and not overdone, because prescription-for-success at this point is premature.
Embracing friends and family in a comforting and supportive spirit is always right.
We can seek the truth, and give it as a kind gift when it is asked of us.
That's still as much as I've got.
Over the last 40 years of living in Thailand, with a predominantly Buddhist culture, the difference in cultures between here and the US, have been too evident to ignore.
First, reading, writing and speaking Thai, I quickly learned that Thai language has no verb conjugation, and thus is a language of space, not time.
That one difference actually dominates all of the rest, as people--traditional people--are not in a hurry. They have a 6th sense to be grounded in the present, which I have to say, is delightful.
Second, there is a subtle attitude, that everything of the reality world, the material world, is impermanent. This is a huge difference, for the reason that because impermanence is somewhere in the foundation of Mind, living life in the moment, is more comfortable, more attractive and more readily available. Although, rushing is abundant in a minority--mostly young people--who are excessively anxious to make money and bring on the future.
Third, even though you are a foreigner, an expat, a different race, you are accepted. You can be a complete idiot-jerk, alcoholic, drug addict, Black, White, Obese; a very spiritual person, or an academic, and you are accepted. No judgement. Although, those who do show accentuated characteristics in appearance, are named by them, such as if someone has a big beer belly, or is bald, they are named: poom-pooy-big beer belly, or pom-laun-baldy.
Fourth, propaganda is completely embedded within Thai society, as an invention of the West. And why this is, is because the Buddhist ideal of everything of the material world is impermanent; of you are not here forever; of everything is a banana leaf, and can be tossed, is the foundation of the Thai Mind. That means people know that the politics will change, and because it will change it is not to be trusted as the Truth.
What is trusted, is People. . . . Thailand is a tribal society. Yes, there are cults. But these cults are offshoots of the Buddhist ideals, and very respectful--as Thai people generally are--of everyone else.
Also, foreigners who live here, have all left behind Western culture which has let them down, in some way. We are all misfits. And all being misfits, we find each other, most usually without bias, native cultural baggage, or convictions which get in the way of creating new roots in a strange land.
Thus, we are each a part of a culturally close nit but remote in distance community, of organic diversity, with our own personal need for freedom-from-insanity. That one common connection is huge in a world which is in such chaos and rebellion against differences. Political and nationalistic views are put aside to make room for the exceptional privilege of living here now.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment, Josh.
You've convinced me. I want to move to Bangkok.
I suggest the islands!
You mentioned a few but the USS Liberty in on my mind because I listened to Candance Owens interview a survivor and I found out both McNamara and Lyndon Johnson were traitors and worse. General Tuttle lost his career and so many other things. I want to watch it again. Maybe sharing real testimony from real survivors might help open people's eyes. It was powerful. They are trying to organize a group of the last survivors to travel around and tell their story. Owens pledged $40,000 a year to https://ussliberty.org. Here's Candance's interview. Watch it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD5gtM1A990
I started to watch it, and will definitely go back and finish. Candace says at the beginning “this changed my life”…do you think learning the truth about USS Liberty is the reason for her split from Shapiro and the Daily Wire?
I think this interview by Candace has the power to change a great number of people's minds who don't have the age and experience of an older generation who does remember and which is why it'd be nice to be rid of that older generation with memories. Do as the indigenous do, protect your elders for their memories and wisdom. "They" rewrite history. I've seen it in books I've ordered and when I go online for the archived copy, the whole banana is revealed. You must know this goes on. The book I speak of is called The History of Central Banking and The Enslavement of Mankind; I ordered 4th edition not knowing how it had been redacted and can be found in original form. I looked all over the internet for a 1st or 2nd edition and can't find it anywhere. Make what you want of my story. But it is easily verified.
I can't answer that, but if more Americans knew the truth about the USS Liberty, they would have a more skeptical view of their government and that would be very good indeed.
I have suffered bellicose feelings that are justified from an "eye for an eye" perspective, but in those very-few times when I later gain the upper hand, I soften like butter in a microwave, mumble to myself about that sad, damaged soul, and walk away from "justice". Have any such offenders ever sought me out, and insisted on making it right? No. Once liberated from justice, most perps sneer at the fool who turned the page softly.
What matters most - but not exclusively - is durable, favorable change. Will everything be OK in the future if the perps and profiteers of Tonkin, 9/11, JF/ML/RF-K, COVID-19, MK-Ultra, etc. are exposed (or ignored), and not held accountable? Even in the "extreme" of only economic justice, how will beneficiaries of sociopathy be identified and economically humbled? Will heirs of guilty-papa be cast out of their super-yachts? How will the millions of resisters, and billions of duped victims be identified, and then divvy up the $2.31 left over after legal fees?
"Truth and reconciliation", alone, doesn't quite cut it, but neither is a lasting improvement likely from seeking even simple and partial justice, and much less so from strict justice or vengeance. Will the Trump regime sweep away the eminent gray plutocrats? A few. Maybe we will even see whatever archives remain unshredded of the above-listed crimes! It will be oh-so satisfying to see that the now-dead murderers exposed without a particle of accountability, right? Chances are overwhelming that (assuming we can avoid civil and/or world war) the rotting remains of American "democracy" will limp along, with plentitude borne of technology and existing accumulation keeping us from moving beyond grouchy blogs and ubiquitous brain candy. Go, 'Niners!
Well to me it is absolutely clear what the answer is - what it will take for the 80%, or whatever it is, to change direction in the way you describe.
They need to see that everyone else is changing direction.
That's it. The sheep pejorative is exactly correct on this. Most people have no conception of truth, reality, right, wrong. Even of what they want for themselves or their children. They get all of this from observation of what everyone around them says is true, real right, wrong. What they are supposed to want for them and their children.
And that's it.
So just consider a flock of sheep. They are collectively determining their direction - based on a herd notion of self interest. Its a complex thing at that level - even for sheep. But at some point the collective consciousness decides to change its direction (and its definitions of reality, truth etc). And then the herd changes direction.
All we have to do is continue and live our lives connected to *actual* reality and truth. At some point they will turn and follow us.
But more importantly than that - it is fundamental now to my idea of myself and my life that I am as independent as possible of the herd and its whims, insanity, cruelty. To me, all I can do is build that life as best I can.
Thank you Josh for your thought-provoking articles. In case it is helpful, I've observed a linchpin of sorts among my well-meaning family and friends of the majority-cult: a deeply ingrained (nearly religious) dedication to expert opinion. Any observation of the obvious is questioned with "Source?!".. as if a NY Times or AP link would constitute a sacred reference from our new bible, delivered directly from heaven. My words are considered blasphemous, even if the advice is to simply re-consider advice from your doctor. Folks are prejudiced with defenses against any hint of questioning authority. It is as if they are children placing palms against their ears and yelling "lalalalalalala." The programming is deep but I appreciate knowing others share my search for the antidote. "Science," wrote Feynman, "is the belief in the ignorance of experts." Thank you for allowing me to comment. All the best
I super agree on the “lalalalala” point — I’ve observed this many times. Further yet, some of the closest people in my life have ordered me to “never again” speak to them about 9/11 and/or COVID. Wow! “Never.” That’s potent; I consider it psychological trauma.
A friend’s Southern granny had a saying to encourage coming to Jesus: “See the light or feel the heat.”
All those relatives, coworkers, and friends who divorced us for not getting the shots or for voting for Trump or Kennedy are basically good people. Strangely enough, that’s why it’s difficult for them admit they were wrong.
Aside from the 3-5% of the population who are sociopaths, most people know that lying and cheating and killing people is wrong. That’s why, when faced with the temptation to harm someone, most people can almost instantly come up with an excuse for why it’s OK to snub them or lie to them.
Some popular rationalizations:
• "Low income people don’t have a good work ethic."
• “This or that ethnic group is subhuman."
• “Anyone who refuses the Covid shot doesn’t deserve medical care.”
The logical and tragic outcome of that prejudiced justification is that once I harm a person or a group of people, I MUST KEEP ON HARMING THOSE PEOPLE TO JUSTIFY ALL THE PRIOR HARM.
The one sure way to escape the compulsion is very hard to do: confess.
Look at 12-step programs – they understand the transformative power of admitting a mistake. From the depths of regret and guilt can arise the willingness to make amends (if possible), or at least to share the story, in case it helps others to not go down that same path.
Our culture teaches that it’s demeaning to admit a mistake. (And, of course, certain mistakes could lead to prosecution.)
Also, it's hard to admit that having been conned.
Nevertheless, if someone can’t admit a mistake, their human need for inner consistency forces them to stick with now disproven concepts like “Covid is dangerous for everyone” and “mRNA shots are safe and effective.”
So, as Josh has done, sharing one’s own experience of being gullible opens a door for others to set aside their pride and confess. (Isn't pride a form of ignorance?)
The silver lining of the tragic loss of life and ruination of health we recently went through is that going forward we'll ask more questions, and we'll resist group think and the smog of fear.
If we feel the heat of Covid and admit we were duped, we’ll be ready to see the light about Mpox, bird flu, and all the other levers of control.
My separation from "The Cult" essentially began as a child on 24 November 1963, the day Lee Harvey Oswald was murdered on live TV. Even though I did not speak about my feelings for many years, intuitively I knew something was really "fishy" about these events of late November, 1963.
Over the rest of the 20th century, I would take most things "with a grain of salt," and when reading newspaper or magazine articles, try to "read between the lines" (an idea we were taught in school but I did not quite grasp at the time). Some of the books I read in the 1990s included THE ASHES OF WACO, by Dick Reavis; INVENTING THE AIDS VIRUS, by Peter Duesberg (with foreword by Kary Mullis); and DAY OF DECEIT: THE TRUTH ABOUT FDR AND PEARL HARBOR, by Robert Stinnett.
On 11 September 2001, when everything "stopped" due to airplanes flying into buildings, again my intuition suggested that I not believe everything the media was promoting. I did listen to a radio news item where a man who had left the second tower after the first tower was hit said that he and others working on the upper floors had come down to about the 42nd or 43rd floor and had to switch elevators to continue down. He said a man was on that floor with a bullhorn telling people that "everything is OK - report back to work." During the interview, he asked, "Who was that guy? and what was he doing there?" I have never heard an answer to these questions.
Over the nest two months I quietly asked a few of my friends what their take on 11 September was. One got mad at me and never spoke to me again. Some of the rest shared that they had some doubts about the "official story," but were reluctant to speak out about it. Finally in November of 2001 I made contact with someone who saw things as I did, and he recommended some internet sites - two of which I still read today.
The so-called "COVID pandemic" also seemed pretty fishy to me. When I first saw a photo of a model wearing a mask in January, 2020, my reaction was: "How stupid is that? That won't stop any virus." Little did I know what was in store. When everything was "locked down" in March and April, I told my friends that I saw two sides to this: one was that we had a deadly pandemic that required extraordinary measures to protect people; the other side was that the whole thing was a fraud. My thoughts at the time were that the truth lay somewhere between these two extremes - but as time went on I gravitated more and more toward the "fraud" hypothesis.
Due to my "COVID" hesitancy, I have had a few friends no longer speak to me. One day in 2020 at the local farmers' market, I was walking around on a sunny day, and two older women from my church passed by. One of them asked in a stern way: "Where is your mask?" I told her it was in my pocket and walked away. Sadly, both of these women "died unexpectedly" in the years since, as have a lot of other people I knew.
A beautiful piece for peace, Josh. Thank you so much for clearly putting the words together to document these phenomena, and, providing compassionate guidance on how to navigate socially.
I like Buckminster Fuller’s idea of what he called the gestation period — basically a number of years it takes for people and industries to get on board with new ideas — which I believe applies to people coming to accept realities around events like Pearl Harbor, 9/11, and COVID. It takes time. It took me about 28 years in a way, and it’s a continual process. I’m 40 now. My first exposure to the ‘truth position’ was at roughly age 12 when, over dinner at a fishing club, a family friend informed us that the US was aware of Japan’s impending attack on Pearl Harbor. He would have known: he was a Morse code operator, if that’s the correct term for it.
More specifically, it took me about 16 years to see the deception in 9/11, and about 4 years to see the deception in COVID. (Well, that’s a good curve I guess…hopefully the next mass deception will be apparent to me in 1 year or less time 😰😂.)
My other thought is that it will be fascinating to see what happens at all the religious communities across the US. As people slowly “come to,” what and where will people lean?
For pastors of all sorts, hopefully they have at least a foggy understanding of the COVID deception, which would probably allow them to be much more understanding and helpful to others.
And what about health professionals? I sure hope they open their minds as well. I’m a clinician. I still hear about my therapy clients getting COVID vax’s. A lot of health professionals are still in the dark. They won’t even discuss it with their colleagues; the door is still basically closed for that, in my halls at least. It’s utterly bizarre to me.
Josh and others, my ideas keep forming on this. Here is another concise idea, more concise this time.
In psychedelic medicine, there are guides.
Why not do the same thing for this wild process of coming to the truth? 1:1 sessions or in small groups.
I’m not suggesting the actual use of psychedelics — it is likely not necessary here. The “medicine” here is basically human to human reconnection with a guide who was had their own experiences with coming to the truth.
Best,
Clark
You can offer red pills to people as they join the group.
Ha, yeah! That’s it. First they can sign a waiver. 😂
Hi Josh, indeed your piece has seeded something for me, or for me, watered and fertilized the seed. Here are more ideas to your inquiry.
First up: Truth poetry, which both humans and AI can create.
I assume that poetry “lights up” different parts of the brain than do facts and reasoning.
Looks like there is a decent amount of existing research on this, for example, a 2017 paper titled “The emotional power of poetry: neural circuitry, psychophysiology and compositional principles” at https://academic.oup.com/scan/article/12/8/1229/3778354
(A psychological term relevant to this discussion is counterconditioning. For example, a 2019 paper titled “Behavioral and neural processes in counterconditioning: past and future directions” at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6983350/ )
I assume that algorithms (robots) were, and are, employed to help “wire up” and reinforce what appears to be massive and deliberate fear conditioning operations. For example, after successful (pardon the term) fear conditioning, the mere thought of a family member not being (“) vaccinated (“) for COVID now elicits powerful states like alarm, disgust, anger. (Were it not for the fear conditioning, such powerful reactions would simply not happen.)
I assume fear conditioning relies upon more parts of the brain than just the parts that handle declarative knowledge, but more so the lambic system and evolutionarily older parts of the brain that are not at all impressed by facts and reasoning.
Many people do know that AI has weaknesses, but nonetheless I assume that a huge number of people actually trust a computer far more than a “conspiracy theorist” or an “misinformation spreader.”
So, if the above assumptions are largely accurate, why not employ AI to poke holes in the conditioned fear responses? Poetry in general may reach more of the brain than any amount of facts and reasoning.
I tried it. I prompted AI: “Great! Now write a poem to convey the frustration, sadness, and alarm felt by a doctor who is aware of the harms that COVID “vaccination” often causes, but they face great resistance from their colleagues, media, and medical board.”
Meta’s “Lama 3.2” responded:
“In halls of healing, where hearts should be aglow,
A doctor's conscience wrestles, with a truth they dare not show, [??]
A secret kept, a warning unspoken, a danger unexposed,
The harm of COVID vaccines, that they've witnessed, and proposed.
Their eyes have seen the suffering, the injured, and the worn,
The lives forever altered, the families torn,
The silence is a heavy burden, the weight of which they cannot define,
A moral dilemma that haunts them, like a relentless, guilty shrine.
Colleagues turn away, in denial or disdain,
The media's narrative, a simplistic, misleading refrain,
The medical board's stern warning, a threat to their very name,
A doctor's duty, to heal and protect, now twisted, lost in the game.
Oh, the frustration that they feel, the sadness that they bear,
The alarm that grips their heart, as they witness the harm that's shared,
The desperation to speak out, to warn of the danger unseen,
But the fear of retribution, the risk of being silenced, or unclean.
In this dark night of the soul, they search for a glimmer of light,
A way to reconcile their duty, with the truth that they hold tight,
To find the courage to stand tall, to speak out against the tide,
To be a voice for the voiceless, and let their conscience be their guide.”
Next, the huge challenge is whether people will actually read or listen to any such poetry.
The goal is to “get” people to once again THINK, PLAY, ASK QUESTIONS, and LEARN. Indeed, “getting” people to be willing to even PLAY with ideas might be THE essential ingredient.
And another idea: for people to be able to watch videos of that ‘falling off the elliptical machine’ moment where it clicks — where there is a RECONNECTION between the body-brain-mind-intellect — that might be helpful. That’s what trauma is, right? Disconnection(s), or dissociations. I have pointed people to video clips where the controlled demolition explosions of the twin towers is super obvious but people STILL cannot see it: there’s been a disconnection somewhere.
Quite possible, btw, that physical movement of the body may very well be the “moving experience” that is needed to help heal these programmed deceptions (a form of trauma in my view).
More:
Activists can fully expect to be ignored, ridiculed, misunderstood, mocked, defamed, canceled, deleted, deplatformed, excluded, and rejected by your own peers/friends/colleagues. How interesting — these appear to be the very strategies used by those in power; well-intentioned but programmed/conditioned people, in my experience, apparently absorb and re-employ the same strategies without even being aware they are employing them. (Quite similar to how certain defense mechanisms are learned in one’s early childhood.) Perhaps here, re-humanization and re-inclusion into the group is needed to remedy this — right in line with your idea with using small group work.
Next thought: Meredith Miller and Jason Christoff each have an essay in Canary in a COVID World volume 2 that seem relevant to your inquiry.
Admittedly, there are still questions to sort through, such as: does AI actually represent human collective (un)conscious? Or is it something else? It appears people are looking at this. For example: https://sacredgeometryacademy.com/course/ai-and-the-collective-conscious
To sum up, I think time, compassion, understanding, play & humor, re-humanization, and re-connection are probably all good ingredients in helping people learn new things and heal from these kinds of traumas.
Thanks!
You've hit on the perennial dilemma of how to change people's thinking so it conforms with the enlightened minority. Like you I have no obvious solution. I think it boils down to a left brain, right brain dilemma. Ian McGilchrist has some intriguing insights but I've yet to fully understand his thesis. The only hope I can see is for something like Rupert Sheldrake's morphic resonance permeating collective consciousness triggered by sufficient people waking up to the cult reality they are living in resulting in a cascade event of world wide awakening.
The conversation, first and foremost requires God. 🙏🏼
I was with you all the way up to the 'dominated by women' part. Sorry, but no. I am not interested in being part of the construction of a new hive mind.
I agree. The solution to cult thinking is the work of a mindset, not a gender.
So, MacGuffin, you don't think this is a good time for a turn about? For 5-6 thousand years we've tried the Men In Charge method. Has it worked? Why are there so many men in prison compared to women? The white collar version is why do so many CEOs (who are mostly male) rate high on sociopathy tests? Speaking as a female, I'm not saying we have any monopoly on wisdom, but sociological studies find that, on average, women have leadership skills that men lack, so maybe we'd be better off tapping into those more.
Let's not promote gender discrimination. It's not men vs. women, it's a battle of ideas.
It is not about male vs female but splitting vs integration. Riane Eisler's idea of the partnership society is what we should strive for. Also Lakoff's model of the authoritarian father vs the nurturing parent.
If you can look at the events of the past five years and see a need for MORE pandering to female neuroses, then I am honestly at a loss for what to say to you. We need a lot more critical thinking.
An odd thing about the current moment is that this 'majority cult' I don't even think is the majority anymore. Viewership numbers indicate Rogan probably has more sway over the general public than any 'official' mainstream source. But while it may not be a true 'majority' it plays on in the papers and on TV and in American culture that is good enough. I have no solutions. I can't even talk to my wife or even toe the line about our dog getting vaccinated.
I do know this...RFK Jr seems to be getting in the ears of people of this 'majority cult' at least on the food front. Some desperate ideas I've had: I wonder if stunts like an MFM pet vaccine challenge with folks like Hotez and Offit could help? I wonder if Musk could run a fitness/health for future colonizers of Mars program to add some sciency heft to thinks. Of course he's already been removed from polite society himself. I wonder if simpler experiments people could do at home could be put together. Exley notes fish will die with aluminum in their water but can be spared if silicate is present. I don't love killing a ton of fish but then again one could imagine a viral stunt where every day x-amount are fish are killed next to fish spared until people begin to ask what is it this aluminum is doing in vaccines anyway. Things like that.
I'll end with a quote from an REM song, end of the world as we know it:
"This means no fear, cavalier, renegade and steering clear
A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies
Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I decline"
Excellent article, I agree and as you know have been struggling with the same issues. an article by RD Laing on Mystification, confusion and conflict, I read in a family therapy book in 1975, defines mystification as a plausible misrepresentation of reality in which forms of exploitation are presented as forms of benevolence and one would be mad or bad to think of rebellion. Demystification is necessary for enlightened action. Agree with Meryl we need to teach media literacy, how do you know when you have been lied to, how can you detect propaganda. Also not just take something away, ie vaccines, security, the illusion of protection, and replace it with something better, more plausible - like how to boost your immune system, shift from external to internal protection, passivity to agency. You mention a study that what works is not facts but showing people they have been deceived - inciting moral outrage. My slogan for a campaign I wish we could do is "Don't be a sucker!"
Dr. Perlman, depth therapist Fran Shure has written an excellent series of essays on this, using the 9/11 deception events as the springboard. Available on many websites including here: https://ic911.org/books-and-series/shure/
Take a look sometime and let me know what you think.
Thanks so much for reminding me about her. Others have mentioned her to me.
I think your approach of person-to-person encounters and perhaps some small groups is what is needed. I've heard it said that people go mad in groups and recover one by one; that seems to be what happens, as far as I've observed.