Tiny points of light are not cause for hope

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you’re always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

We better stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down

Those words from the song For What It’s Worth were supposedly penned by Stephen Stills. I say supposedly because authorship of rock songs is like fatherhood, always subject to doubt. The song, said to be the “anthem” of the 1960s, was, according to Dave McGowan (fake death 11/22/15), in his book Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon, written about kids protesting closure of a night club. Says McGowan (page 161):

The [Buffalo] Springfield’s second single, recorded and mixed on December 5, 1966, and written just a couple of weeks earlier, was released locally in December 1966 and nationally in early January 1967. It was the group’s only hit single and it is remembered today as the quintessential protest song of the 1960s. That song, of course, is For What It’s Worth, the opening lines of which kicked off this book. As a protest song, however, it doesn’t quite measure up. Despite what is commonly believed today, the song was not a commentary on anti-war demonstrations. Far from it. The event under consideration was the so-called Riot on the Sunset Strip, which involved about 1,000 kids who were demonstrating against the imposition of the curfew and the announcement that a popular club (Pandora’s box, at 8118 Sunset Boulevard) was slated to be closed.

The reason I doubt Stills’ authorship is that the song is so poignant, both then and now, so that his ability to come up with such profound messaging at a mere teen-age demonstration does not read well. But who knows. Stills was said (by McGowan) to be one of the few Laurel Canyon musicians of that time to actually possess musical chops. Maybe he could write songs as well. I just can’t quite go there.

I think of the song often these days as I see perhaps 98% of us now in masks. We hike frequently in nearby natural areas, and note that when people see our unmasked faces, they leave the trail to let us pass. It is rare to encounter anyone with bare faces. Social distancing, plainly a herd management tool, has injected everyone with a measure of fear. It is agitprop writ large.

Here is a quote from a book chapter called How to Analyze Propaganda, which I am not going to link.  Fair use might apply, but I am not taking chances. You’ll have to find it on your own. Every page carries warnings not to reproduce any part of it.

“Agitation propaganda seeks to arouse people to participate in or support a cause. It attempts to arouse people from apathy by giving them feasible actions to carry out. [An obscure person that I found no links to] said that agitation consists of stimulating mass action by hammering home one salient feature of the situation that is threatening, iniquitous, or outrageous.”

A virus is that one salient feature. “Feasible actions” are masks and distancing. Even were there a  virus, such actions would be laughably ineffective. They are tools of mass persuasion designed to convince all of us that there really is a virus.

Agitation propaganda is a dangerous and damaging weapon, not just to social order, but to individuals. We are now in day 68 of this “pandemic,” and the propaganda has been relentless. People are in a constant state of fear. This will destroy minds, and what little the American public had to begin with of rational thought processes. It is meant to be generational, that is, to last twenty years with booster shots now and then. It is utterly contemptible and meant to do real and lasting harm. It is a monstrous crime against humanity.

The nameless book I cited above has a section on identification of the propagandist. The people behind this have concealed their identity. “COVID-19” is only a symbol used to achieve far-reaching ends, so it is safe to say this is not a medical enterprise, so that WHO and CDC, governments and health agencies are only puppets. Every voice we hear, every “official” who issues orders, is carrying out commands. Only the president of Tanzania has shown any moral courage. What order of mankind has assembled such power? Who are these monsters?

By my calculations (as of 5/9/20), 71% of the world was under lockdown. The power behind this hoax is simply astonishing. I cannot begin to grasp an organism of such might. Josef Goebbels is said to have said that there is no fundamental method to propaganda, only purpose – the conquest of mankind. It has succeeded. There are but a few of us able to see through it, and we’ll be dealt with in due time. Talking to regular people, afraid and unable to think, is as if they speak English, and I am from Jupiter.

We now and then encounter people like us, unafraid and unmasked, willing to chat on the trail and exchange pleasantries. We met seven such people this past week. You might say that is hope. I do not say that. I say that these are points of light, but that there are not enough to constitute hope. The vast majority of Americans have subsumed, lost touch with reality, and are in a state of fear that will occupy their brains for the rest of their lives. The generation born in the interim (hopefully leaving the birth canal unmasked), will not be as traumatized as their parents are. In 20 years or so, they will have their own event.

That is how the planet is managed.

I was not aware that propaganda, obviously taught and studied and passed on as with all settled science, had its own publicly advertised textbooks. I don’t have $1,250 to spare right now, and won’t until we get our stimulus payment. But do check out this web page.

20 thoughts on “Tiny points of light are not cause for hope”

  1. From “Notes on Journalism” (1926)

    “No one in this world, so far as I know… has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.”

    -H. L. Mencken

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    1. I had heard (probably faulty memory) that FDR said a politician will never go broke betting on the gullibility of the American people. It makes far more sense to have come from Mencken. Thanks.

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  2. Have a look on Germany. We had only a soft lockdown, allowed to go outside any time. Anyhow, there are huge demonstrations in progress, accompanied by a transparent media campaign framing everyone sceptical as a “Verschwörungstheoretiker”, a conspiracy theorist. It’s a cheap dog and pony show. My guess, they will bring in the false light soon.
    Exhibit, picture from a recent demonstration. The organizer of that demonstration, a vegan chef, in white. The representative of the old times, an entertainment clown with years of screen time, all in black.

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  4. There is a propaganda technique I have seen in use elsewhere, as with climate change, and certainly with germ theory and vaccinations. I would like give it a name and place it alongside other logical fallacies like ad hominem, post hoc ergo propter hoc, appeal to authority, etc. I think of it as smug arrogance.

    It is the technique of argumentation where the proponent of an idea assumes himself right on all matters and therefore immune from criticism. He snidely dismisses criticism, censors opponents, and attach to them such epithets as “conspiracy theorist” or “denier.” He places himself at the center of any issue as a member of a group that has found the truth, and who can never be questioned or doubted. It is anti-scientific in the extreme, as a true scientist suggests a theory, and then attempts to disprove that theory. It is inability to disprove that moves a theory into the “settled science” realm, even as it is understood that science is never settled. The smug arrogant is anti-science in that he does not allow any attempts to disprove his theories, moving them to settled science by group consensus.

    It is meant to be intimidation, not argumentation. I have decided to call it the argumentum ego sum deus fallacy, or I am right because I am God. Anyone got something better?

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        1. No, I really meant that I like the concept…it’s worthy of a whole post. My Grimes thing is a little similar, the way conspiracy theory is so easily dismissed.

          But I love your idea of giving this kind of argument a specific name. The name you proposed is already excellent…”because I am God”. Just meant to say that it’s a good idea and worthy of a whole post of its own.

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    2. Wow, great observation… This is the most common argument I experience, in person, on facebook, anywhere, is just this unshakeable sense of being on the right side, because aligned with whatever human deity most famously espouses it. Thus ridicule, ad hominem, condescension, are all justifiable, because you are telling them that Mars is made of Cheetos or something.
      I do sometimes manage to shake them up a little bit though, by being inured to those tactics, and so I don’t get emotionally riled up (usually!) And can then lead them into some problems with their belief system, with a socratic question or two.
      That might be the best counter— take them at their word as god-like authorities, and slyly ask them questions that their expertise can “no doubt” handle…

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      1. We are the 21st century version of outcasts. I honestly cannot think of anyone lower on the social totem pole. Most minority groups actually get huge social backing these days, but if you out yourself as a conspiracy theorist you are seen as the lowest of the low. Crazy by definition. Intel has done an excellent job laying the groundwork for to ostracize all conspiracy theorists. The typical “asleep” person immediately connect conspiracy theorist with insanity. They are taught to not listen for the very reason that it comes from a conspiracy theorist. Content of argument is irrelevant.

        It is something we typically must hide from our employers, family, friends. It is the 21st century version of being a leper.

        So yeah, when people debate us, they do not actually view it as a debate. They view us with such disdain that anything out of our mouths is automatically what they know is NOT correct, simply because it is what we believe. For Mark’s purpose, I am not sure it should be called “because I am God” as much as something like “because you are a nonperson”. We would need minime for the Latin on that one.

        Otherwise, I like:
        Argumentum ab omnipotentia – Argument from omnipotence
        Argumentum non requiratur – Argument not required
        Argumentum ab superbus surditas – Argument from arrogant deafness

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        1. OR instead of referring to this as a kind of argument fallacy…it is really more of a condition unto itself. You might call it “surditas de plebe”…deafness of the commons. An acquired deafness from a position among the common man.

          Cognitiva somno acquiritur surditas – Cognitive sleep acquired deafness

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    3. I think I’ve got the term for this phenomenon:

      “surditatem ex inexperrectus”

      The deafness of the unawakened. Might need someone more familiar with Latin to make sure it makes sense.

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  5. Here in Alabama (Birmingham, a relatively blue dot in a red state), it’s more encouraging on the ground than what you describe. On parks and trails at least, the masked are a small minority. In stores they’re more frequent — some stores actually post “sentries” at the door, bc the city proper “mandated” wearing masks. It depends a lot on the demographic of the store’s customers too. An upscale Fresh Market I went to a couple weeks ago had almost full compliance from its dutiful professional class shoppers. An Academy Sports I went to yesterday (in a neighboring suburb/city, more regular joe clientele) had the masked in a minority.

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  6. Interesting discussion from Jay Dyer on the “conspiracy of gentlemen”:

    https://jaysanalysis.com/2020/05/15/dictatorship-of-gentlemen-jay-dyer-charles-moscowitz/

    Not smoke-filled rooms, they say, but like-minded intellectuals who all share the same technocratic end-goals, with only some dispute over how to arrive there. These gentlemen allegedly true believers and disciples of evolution theory, eugenics, transhumanism, etc. Believers in a revolutionary programme to make man into god, to enact Plato’s ancient dream of rule by philosopher kings… a conglomeration of all the usual suspects, Tavistock, CFR, military-industrial complex, etc, etc… with the scientists the shadowy designers of the plan, and the visible bureaucrats just carrying it out? is what they seemed to say. Sort of makes sense, except the part where all these intellectuals agree, as well as maintain the original plan of previous generations of elites, at least in loose outline. And also, are they REALLY true believers in evolution, say— which even many pro-evolution scientists concede has major shortcomings, and has been torn to shreds in critical books— or is that just a front for more self-interested goals, to achieve their class aims.

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    1. From a commoner’s perspective, I cannot disagree. However, there is a hierarchy of global elite.

      The fasces symbol of authority and justice dates back to Etruscan times (800BCE to 200 BCE). Romans adapted it for themselves using the same bundle of rods tied together with an axe head in the center, which symbolized god-like executive power; the ultimate power to decide life and death.

      I do not see that much has changed. The Etruscans held power over a wide area of Italy, founding powerful city-states in northern Italy — one of the “hot spots” in the current global power scam/grab. The Crown, located in the City of London, serves as the global power center today, but with similar objectives and symbols that date back millennia.

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  7. I made my whole mask-approving family watch this movie and this scene yesterday and you can bet I was full of glee the entire time.

    “When the 12th largest company in the world controls the most awesome goddamned propaganda force in the whole godless world, who knows what shit will be peddled for truth on this network!!”

    “You’re beginning to BELIEVE the illusions we’re spinning here. You’re beginning to think that the tube is reality, and that your own lives are unreal!”

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  8. I dub thee, Frisco, “The City of Cowardly Compliance”. Doubt that will catch on like “The City of Brotherly Love” did for Philly, but compliance in the Mecca of American Libtardia is suffocating- literally.
    Here’s the breakdow, based on my bleary eyed observations, by skin tone and gender regarding the wearing of masks:
    The Asian peoples very much comply, especially the adults and elderly. That is no surprise as Asian cultures tend to be monolithic and authoritah is unquestioned.
    White males alone, like me, generally drop the mask unless indoors where you don’t get service otherwise. (Wearing masks to get on the bus is mandatory as the drivers- largely Asian/ almost completely non-white in total- will bark loud and long until you cover up)
    White couples do generally wear the mask, especially older couples. Young white women with unmasked white men unmask themselves I suppose as a gesture of togetherness. (I suspect there hasn’t been a lot of decoupling over this particular issue. Now is not the time to split up resources)
    Single women, especially young college age women in groups, of which there are an abundance in my neck of the woods, are suprisingly unmasked for the most part. Strength/defiance in numbers? Haven’t a clue as most people literally walk into the street when I approach, unmasked. There is so little verbal communication going on in public, as if eye contact and voaclizing will exacerbate the spread of this non-existant bug.
    Latino males were the last to comply but are largely masked, now that the pressure is on, perhaps not wishing to be outed as illegal; there are, in this burgh, legions of the undocumented.
    Rich white people are all masked. They didn’t get rich being radical.
    There are so few black people left in The City that it’s hard to gage their attitude. The one’s I’ve seen are usually working “essentials” and therefore comply.
    Assessing anything via race or gender in this town is a major thought crime, but without any verbal communication, there isn’t much in the way of parameters to understand why some groups comply more than others. In the main, it appears that wearing the mask is a minor inconvenience to keep from actually thinking through what is happening here. The locals have been living in a dream world for so long they absolutely refuse to wake up. If anyone still entertains ideas of San Francisco being a lightning rod of defiance and freedom, please do wake up.

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  9. This brings more perspective to the overwhelming number of ridiculous “school shootings” that induced parents into a hyper fear of their kids being at school. I talked to a teacher friend yesterday and asked her if she thought they would start on time for next year and she told me about how she’s basically still teaching/instructing the kids via online with course work. If that sort of thing is the future then the absurd amount of “school shootings” out of nowhere makes sense.

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