Necessary Illusions is a 1989 book by Noam Chomsky which I most likely read in 1990 or so, long before I was capable of grasping the message delivered by the book. It is subtitled “Thought Control in Democratic Societies.” I could see at that time that propaganda was a major industry, but thought we had escape chutes to exit, exist and think for ourselves. I had no idea of the degree, in 1990, of control that already existed. I would be fated to indulge in partisan politics, voting, and permitted exit chutes, Ralph Nader and Chomsky himself, for example.
I don’t have the book anymore, but won’t go looking for it. Wikipedia does a short blurb on it, comparing the phrase “necessary illusions,” which I understand to have originated with the Canadian cleric Reinhold Niebuhr, with the works of others: “noble lies” (Plato), “public relations” (Edward Bernays), and “myth making” (Machiavelli). All for our own good. We’re sheep, and need to be herded.
All of life, it seems at times, is an illusion, and I do not mean that we self-delude, but rather that our minds are filled with the thoughts of others, deliberately put there and allowed to grow on their own as if we were original thinkers. Bernays was blunt about it, knowing I suppose better than most the proclivity of ordinary people not to read. He was able to mask his contempt for ordinary people by hiding it in a book. Here’s what he said at the opening of his book, Propaganda:
The systematic study of mass psychology revealed to students the potentialities of invisible manipulation of motives which actuate man in the group. Trotter and Le Bon, who approached the subject in a scientific manner, and Graham Wallas, Walter Lippmann, and others who continued with searching study of the group mind, established that the group has mental characteristics distinct from those of the individual, and is motivated by impulses and emotions which cannot be explained on the basis of what we know of individual psychology. So the question naturally arose: If we understood the mechanism and motives of the group mind, is it not possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it? (My emphasis.)
This has been the primary mission of the public relations industry in the twentieth century, to enslave us without our knowledge, in fact allowing us to imagine we are free human beings even as our thoughts are controlled by overseers.
No serious sociologist any longer believes that the voice of the people expresses any divine or specially wise and lofty idea. The voice of the people expresses the mind of the people, and that mind is made up for it by group leaders in who it believes and by those persons who understand the manipulation of public opinion. It is composed of inherited prejudices and symbols and clichés and verbal formulas supplied to them by the leaders.
Hobgoblins, as Mencken called them – producing an endless series of them, keeping us off balance and frightened. Coronavirus is a hobgoblin, nothing more.
At times I am discouraged by what I see around me, as having broken the code for the Coronavirus hoax, I see that if such information is imparted on anyone around me, the reaction is anger, even hostility and ostracism. The inability to hear or even consider alternative explanations for our reality is a sign of deep indoctrination. The American public is deeply indoctrinated, and cannot be rescued. This is a situation where there is no hope, only escape and isolation. I have a sardonic view of people trying to “spread the word,” reach others, enlighten them, create a movement or rescue people. I do see movements about, such as Black Lives Matter, and intuitively know that such things are only allowed to exist because they were created above and then publicized by our enslaved media. When women assembled in protest after the selection of Trump, I know that leaders and provocateurs had long been put in place to organize them, even as every participant imagined she was doing something original and meaningful.
The important thing for the statesman of our age is not so much to know how to please the public, but how to sway the public. In theory, this education might be done by means of learned pamphlets explaining the intricacies of public question. In actual fact, it can be done only by meeting the conditions of the public mind, by creating circumstances which set up trains of thought, by dramatizing personalities, by establishing contact with the group leaders who control the opinions of their public.
Who are these leaders? It is very important for those of us who are isolating to see clearly that anyone appointed or anointed as a leader is most likely controlled opposition. This is why I no longer have Chomsky’s book, and why I have no regard for Ralph Nader. They were presented to me as an exit chute, but were in fact (in my opinion I should say) put there to corral those of us who had the brains and good sense to see through the normal system. We are taken out of our cell in block A and moved over to block B. Or C, D, E … there’s one for all of us. Imagine my naive shock to learn that Amy Goodman and Democracy Now! were controlled opposition. I had miles to go … and still do.
Are there original thinkers around? They are hard to find. Those who have indeed escaped are often enough set free of schooling (brainwashing) but have developed antisocial characteristics and habits, making them annoying. I’ve been reading the essays of Edward Abbey, who indeed took an escape chute, and ended up alone in the desert, drinking himself to death. While I admire his prose and excellent summaries of the issues of his day, I can tell in his writing when liquor is getting the best of him. He becomes overly fluent and descriptive, as if saying to himself “Man, can I write!” That’s annoying.
We have been given leaders in coming to grips with the Scamdemic – they are Kaufman and Cowen, RFK Jr., Peggy Hall and Pam Popper, Fuellmich, Lanka and others of lesser note. I want to take these people at face, but refer you back to Bernays, who (speaking to insiders) suggested that they create circumstances, dramatize personalities and engage in “contacting” group leaders. I would change “contacting” to “creating.” I tend to value these people in direct proportion to their degree of ostracism from the mainstream, but remember, the people who control our thoughts know about that too.
I am not suggesting that we become cynics, but rather that we do two things: Keep leaders at arm’s length, and try, as best as we are able, to think our own thoughts. It is hard work. We need to do this for our own sake, as no matter how deeply we come to understand the means and methods of the Scamdemic and the resulting stampede to the vaccine, we will not be reaching anyone else. It has to be its own reward. Dr. Kaufman, whom I want to trust somewhat, has suggested that it is pointless to reach out to others with our truths. Only if they come to us is there any point in trying to convince someone that they have been fooled.
That is what I notice most about the people around me – I had this conversation once with my late brother, the priest, who in his life had intimate dealings with thousands of people. He was skilled in human relations, and I am not. But I suggested to him that most people suffer from a grandiose self image, and he said yes, most people are walking in a cloud of self, my words though he used the word “cloud.” He was too smart to try and fix anyone, but merely offered counsel on questions and problems they brought to him. As a priest he was set in place to manage sheep. For this he was widely revered. If it were me in his shoes, I would be widely reviled.
The basic flaw in most people, the deepest illusion is “I cannot be fooled.” Point out to them that they have been fooled if you like, but who was it who said a man who tells the truth needs a fast horse?
By the way, the words above from Bernays were written in a book published in 1928. This has been going on now longer than we have been alive. Our overseers have a huge advantage and head start on us.
Piece of Mindful 
First of all, I want to praise your writing here. Your prose is usually workman-like (which is by no means a criticism), but occasionally, you rise to a level of unpretentious eloquence free of the self-glorifying preciousness that you dislike in Abbey. It’s nice.
I, too, have given up on trying to reach others with my perception of what’s going on. In other comments, I’ve celebrated getting my mother to see through the Coronavirus nonsense, and I believe she does… but she still got the so-called “vaccine,” still wears a mask when she goes out, still watched CNN with mostly uncritical eyes.
One thing I’ve come to realize is how deeply cognitive dissonance is ingrained into people’s minds. I see now that the flagrantly phony World Wide Wrestling spectacles and the format of “reality TV” were deliberately created for the purpose of fostering cognitive dissonance. When I was a theatre kid in high school and college,I recall drama teachers who described the willing suspension of disbelief as a contract. One teacher spoke of it as a sacred contract, which seemed a little too lofty to my young mind… but now I realize it is sacred. But so much television and Internet content deliberately makes a mockery of this contract. Reality TV lovers know their shows are not “real,” or that not all of it is “real,” but think they’re smart enough to pick out what’s real from what isn’t, and don’t even seem to notice or care that they simultaneously accept all of it as real. It is controlled, manufactured insanity. And I know I’m not immune to it. The maintenance of my own sanity is a full time job. Trying to manage the sanity of others is… well… insane.
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You have a broader grasp of the nature of our propaganda system than I do if you are able to incorporate WWW into it. I have not watched it but know people (a daughter) who delighted in it knowing full well it was fake. It is willing suspension of disbelief, entertainment is all I ever thought it to be. But then I remember that Trump was somehow involved.
Your words about my writing were in themselves eloquent, and I was touched. Thank you.
I started out this day by outwitting a squirrel. We have a squirrel-proof bird feeder, where a small platform hangs out, but if too much weight is placed on it, it closes access to feed. The squirrel first won out because the latch on the top was loose.He simply entered through the back. Squirrel 1, me 0. I fixed that. Then I learned that squirrel had adapted by placing himself under the small hanging platform, preventing it from moving and laying sideways while feeding away. This morning I took a metal strap and fastened it to that platform so that he can no longer squeeze himself under it. I watched in delight as he made his way up, examined it, and decided he could not defeat it.
I told my wife that I had outwitted a squirrel, and that the rest of this day had to be downhill from that. But you delivered a nice compliment, so the day got better,
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I don’t know why I brought WWW into it. I haven’t known anyone who watched it since I was in high school, and they were in high school too. They were guys, and not very bright, and they certainly did have the same cognitive dissonance about it that is common with reality TV fans… but I guess not all fans of it are like them. From my perspective, the whole thing is so silly that I can’t imagine why anyone would be willing to suspend disbelief for it. I can see how women would simply enjoy watching muscular half-dressed guys flail around and pound each other though. I don’t imagine that guys who watch female mud wrestling have any illusions about the reality of it all.
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I see your point, ScottRC. It’s like a semi-reveal: well, this “sport” is “entertainment”, and that “entertainment” is “sport”; one is honest, the other is fake. Mixes the two…
Now for the confession: back in the mid 90s, I got into whatever Monday night WWE event that was on because I watched it with two-three pals over some beers. The instigator host called it “soaps” for guys, which is right. The events have long-running story-lines, characters changing allegiances, the good-evil thing, all served up with a deadpan style that made it hilarious at times, though that might have been the pale ale doing its magic. Another pal who worked as a concierge got us comp tickets to a Tuesday event in Oakland, which was being filmed for Friday broadcast. I took one of the poster boards and a marker that they gave out at the door and made this sign: IT’S REALLY TUESDAY, which got a good response. The fans were actually very nice, all ages, sizes and shapes/colors, much nicer than folks at a football game or rock concert.
I broke the habit after a year or so. Today, though I would sooner what WWE than any “real” sport, which ain’t sayin’ much.
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Touche! Lovely finish.
Haaahhh! Haaah! Haaaahh! Too good …
It is awfully difficult trying to reason with friends and loved ones about William Casey’s ideology. To digress … nearly 20 yrs have passed and Joe Average still believes the BS about nine-eleven, notwithstanding that Mr Nobody has been found guilty of the deed/s in a criminal court of law. Therefore, it could mean that even the (international) legal fraternity are complicit. Fear of diminished fraternal status (or job loss) is ‘one’ thing, but conscious avoidance of facts is/are LIES by another name.
Is it any wonder that people like Edward Snowden and Julian Assange are persona non-grata?
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Edward Snowden and Julian Assange …
I don’t want to spoil your party, but those are scripted actors. The rabbit hole goes way deeper my friend. William Casey was not exagerating, everything is fake including most modern science.. DNA, Atoms, Genetic modification, space travel, AI, nano -bots, neurolink, history, 99% of events are staged and yes even the spinning ball.
Truth in movies, lies in the news.
They live
The matrix
The Truman show
The village
Watch some video’s about Jean Baudrillard on YT. To get a grasp of how our perception of reality is programmed.
All the world is a stage.
The bible said, strong delusions..
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Controlled manufactured insanity…
Beautiful!! That is our world in a nutshell!
Is why I love nature…it is healing. I just returned from 2000 mile road trip up through San Simeon and Big Sur Californis. The hills/mountains were in full bloom…yellow wild mustard everywhere. Springtime!!
Nature is not insane!! Demons infecting the population of humans are insane.
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Saw Paso Robles exit off the Hwy 1…just 30 miles inland. What a great place to call home!
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I think I’m coming around to Steve’s discussion on the wewataki (spelling). That is, the infection of the human race with literal insanity.
I’m really seeing it, Steve.
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RRR,
Yes, expanding/evolving human consciousness. We are co-creating our ecosystem present moment by present moment. Everyone is “in,” like it or not.
https://pieceofmindful.com/2021/02/19/wetiko-collective-psychosis-and-digital-slavery/#more-91762
Wetiko, or “(mass) totalitarian psychosis…”
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I believe the flock really does need shepherds – problem is how to get the good ones at the top who aren’t criminals [if indeed AI isn’t running the whole shit show now].
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Well done, Mark.
During the nineties, as I was awakening from religious doldrums, Chomsky was my hero. Razor-sharp, piercing the heart of all the sacred cows (or so I thought). I spent years reveling in the glory of his wisdom, until finally forced to grasp his role as a gatekeeper. Painful, but getting at the truth does have its rewards. Amy Goodman and Chomsky make a good pair (and are often seen together), don’t they?
From his book “Manufacturing Consent”, and speaking of the media, “are effective and powerful ideological institutions that carry out a system-supportive propaganda function, by reliance on market forces, internalized assumptions, and self-censorship, and without overt coercion”. Sounds good, until one comes to the realization that the non-overt coercion is actually subversive and complete, and Chomsky (and others) ultimately lead one down an easier, less painful path to follow.
I still have the book and film (Man. Consent)
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Perhaps it is necessary to get through Chomsky, as he was so good on so many topics. He had a Minime, David Barsamian, and when I lived in Billings, I talked to him (he ran a business selling cassette tapes of lectures from all over the left spectrum, which is how I learned that Alexander Cockburn, an excellent writer, was a lousy speaker. I bought a tape of a Cockburn talk from Barsamian. I don’t know why I was talking to him, but he offered to come to Billings to give a talk. I gave it a shot but there was no interest. Yes, if Chomsky would come to Billings, we could fill a small auditorium.But no one had heard of Barsamian. So I told David sorry, but not enough people know who you are. I sensed it hurt his feelings, but that was not my intent. I was just clumsy. My brother the priest would have handled it better.
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Edward Louis Bernays, November 22, 1891 − March 9, 1995. Numbers as spooky as they can be, and high age, especially for a male. This man is a front.
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I read an interview by a guy who went to his house, surprised he was still alive, and spend a few hours with him. He said he had an electric chair to his upstairs, but otherwise seemed OK. I don’t recall the guy being a fan, and that he was surprised to get an interview. He was on Letterman in 1985, age 95.
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By the way, Horst, I should add (I forgot to mention) that Bernays was a nephew of Sigmund Freud, and that during his time the subject of forming the “minds of men” was being addressed by Walter Lippman too. He was a contemporary of Bernays, as were Wilfred Trotter and Gustav LeBon, mentioned by Bernays, who each died in the 1930s. They were just getting a grip on the subject of psychology, crowds, and how people form opinions. Lippman published Public Opinion in 1922, while Bernays published Crystalizing Public Opinion in 1923 and Propaganda in 1928. These two men were on the same page. Trotter and LeBon were
youngermuch older men.[Bernays was also part of the Committee on Public Education, aka Creel Commission, that pioneered more sophisticated use of propaganda to get the American public to support entry into World War I. As history shows, it was wildly successful.]
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Plus I gotta ask … who purchased these books? Plumbers? Cops? This appears to be insiders writing for insiders.
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Proto-PR-flacks…
Bernays was the PR face of Pr itself. He promoted the fledgling PR industry over many decades through books, lectures, etc. And stimulated interest in the field among young first-generation college students. Probably taught somewhere himself or headed a department? Not sure, but I think he was involved in developing the field as a “profession,” a college major, and so on.
In its early days, most were former journalists who crossed over, seeing economic opportunity in all the big companies and institutional clients who needed “spin” and promotional services. Then the field became more formalized. Bernays was the main public face of the burgeoning field.
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I’ve long wondered about advertising, as we have a relative in the business, that’s its purpose is to undermine us, subtly pressuring us to change our behavior. That cannot be done with brute force. Every ad campaign is based on behavioral psychology, each ad crafted around a central “message” or “theme.”
For instance, and they deny anything like this, Bud Light (I have not watched a TV ad in ages) used to use juvenile humor in its ads, like a refrigerator that could be accessed through a wall by a neighbor … the appeal of the ad was to young kids, 10-15 years of age, not to get them to drink, but to brand them so that when they did start, they would choose St. Louis pisswater, I mean Bud Light. It’s very subversive. Where do they teach this stuff? I would imagine is is done inside the agencies, and kept a trade secret.
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Mark, what’s interesting to me is that, apparently, creatives and even high level executives in advertising and marketing may have “trade secrets” and understand how their craft benefits the companies they represent… but don’t see how the subtly manipulative tactics they use to sell products are used in the news. Is this true of your relative in the advertising business?
I know two people who have had enormous success in branches of PR–marketing and corporate communications. They both manipulate people for a living, but are as gullible as anyone when it comes to Covid or other propaganda… and their minds are closed to my way of seeing (or seeing through) things. It’s compartmentalization, I guess–which is another subversion of consciousness that is instilled in us and encouraged from a young age.
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Yes, it is true of him. He is clueless about news. That is a subject for a graduate paper.
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“I tend to value these people in direct proportion to their degree of ostracism from the mainstream, but remember, the people who control our thoughts know about that too.” I thought of Trump immediately.So much of his popularity was based on the fact that he was “hated” by the corporate press,Hollywood,BLM,etc.I had a friend tell me he thought the Trumpster was taking all this heat because he was “our first honest president since Kennedy”,a statement that rendered me speechless for about five minutes.
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1933 was the year when you know who took over you know what. 88 years later looks like similar changes are going to happen in the same country. I remember the day when the wall was opened which ended the cold war and the existence of the eastern block. I was shopping with friends on the same day and we had no idea something like that will ever happen. Some East-Germans were stuck in Hungary trying to go West that way, there were some protests here and there as usual but nothing pointed to what was going to happen in the late evening. And then practically within hours everything changed and the cold war which lasted for 30 years just ended. I think the same thing will happen with Corona. There is a change of perspective which already reached the point of no return. There are more people every day becoming conscious that this is unreal and none of this people will ever get back and start to believe in Covid again. The majority still does of course but that is not the point. Germany seems to play the most important part in this. We technically started it with the Drosten-test, we still have all the measures, we have major election in Autumn and there is lots of talk about bringing people back to democracy again. Like in ” if you don’t want Corona anymore elect the right people”. It’s just to bad, there are no right people visible yet. The “new” Basis Party is just as bad as the others. Some noses will be changed but the chairs are still heavily protected. I’m not falling for this. Corona will end because and when TPTB say so. Probably before the year ends.
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Always good to get the continental perspective. The harshness of the clampdown in other places, like Germany, Australia and Canada, makes me wonder why our little foothills area is basically unaffected except for we few who are not wearing masks and the many who are not vaxxing. (I walked out of the grocery store maskless as a woman walked in the same, and we automatically smiled at each other. There we were, two of us, sharing a small bond.
I do hope you’re right about it being over by year end. The degree of advance planning and details, controlling every outlet for information and shutting down all avenues of escape, told me that this was something meant to be permanent. But we are traveling to Montana and Wyoming in a few weeks, two lightly populated states, and neither state requires masks. Montana recently changed ruling parties, the liberal Democrats massively turned out to pasture by huge margins, a victory so large that the overseers must have opted to report honest results. And here I thought they don’t count votes. We went up the highway to a small town in a neighbor county to get hold of some organic soil for our planters, and the sign on the door of the hardware store said “masks are optional.” We were in one of 30 Colorado counties that have eased up and done away with masks. It is easy there to spot the dupes, as they wear them anyway.
Just a small thing, I was at the gym with my back to a wall looking across, where a woman was going about her business, when she stopped and looked at me. My mask says in large letters SHEEP, but that was not what she noticed. I cut a slit in it to allow breathing. People are usually put off by the word SHEEP and look no further, but she pointed her finger and drew a line across her mask, indicating she saw the slit. I was busted. I just smiled and shrugged (we can still see people smiling, as smiles are in the eyes.) She smiled back and gave me two thumbs up. That was refreshing.
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what you write confirms what I heard about USA. They fake deaths in India now but people are aware even there and there are many videos showing that is not true. The evidence of a hoax is available everywhere it only has to be used. As for now the highest courts around the world reject any evidence which demonstrates how “independent” jurisprudence really is. Some judges act independently though and create verdicts others can rely on. There is a distinction between the Roman law and the commercial law. From the last one comes the term passport which means a permission to pass a harbor. It is still valid. The Roman law allows civil death which means you can lose all your property and all your rights. That is the system we are being handled now. In the commercial law you can live independently of the grid if it pleases you or you can participate in merchandise and then your property is sacrosanct and cannot be stolen. So the question is which way will this tip over when it is over. Similar things happened many times in the past but now we have the Internet and the ability to share information around the world instantly. TPTB have very smart people in their think tanks and the experience of centuries of hoaxes. But in the past they made it very slowly so nobody noticed what was happening. Now they seem to be in a hurry and make mistakes. Time will tell.
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https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/30/health/back-to-normal-bias-wellness/index.html
Not the most reliable source of information but still …
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CNN makes me want to puke. 100% submissive to “experts”, telling us that there is mo such thing as a big lie. They are among the worst human beings alive, right alongside virologists. I cannot imagine living like that … it is like their minds have checked out and been snatched and replaced. They have no shame.
[Once upon a time people could comment at the end of their articles, tell them they are full of shit. They soon put the kibosh on that, as too many people were telling them they are fill of shit.]
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Its not just CNN that is clear about it that many of the changes forced upon us are permanent. Just like the climate change hoax this is not going to blow over and there will be no going back to normal. The PTB are going to milk this thing as long as they can.
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Climate change and Covid are the same animal, each junk science but with every country on the planet in on the game. The ultimate goals, population reduction, elimination of travel, fascism.
CO2 is an essential element in in life, more of it supporting more plant growth, better crops, more health and wealth. They know this. That’s why they demonized it. Carbon neutral, masks, no travel, distancing, all part of enslavement. Thank God I am 71, and not looking ahead to my whole life living under this regime. I had a good run, lived free, avoided Vietnam, managed to accumulate some wealth and a little slice of heaven for property. But they are coming for that. These are monsters.
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Thank you for publishing this article. This thinking would never occur to me on my own.
This peace revolution audio link was shared with me a few days ago
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/peacerevolution/episodes/2011-04-30T15_29_43-07_00
It is a reading of a text about communication mediums and I made a note of this line from the reading, which compares image-based communication with speech and text-based communication “pictures need to be recognized, words need to be understood”. The very mode of our communication itself facilitates, hides, validates and invalidates thought patterns in ways we’re not consciously aware of.
“the screen” have been promoting video over text content for many years and the rapid prevalence of video itself is inorganic (as well as the transition to 3D modeling for all games and children’s animated content.)
I think Matt (who I learned about from this site) would say that the answers we need for orienting ourselves are found within. As the screen reveals itself to be an illusion, orienting oneself in relation to it becomes impossible as “up” or “down” are no longer believable fixed values there. Our orientation can only possibly come from within.
And maybe the illusions that shape reality are never-ending and each illusion recursively begets the next so that the screen could not grant us the “truth” anyway because it does not possess it.
I hope this comment is not annoyingly abstract or long-winded –thank you for this article.
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Perhaps “the screen” is the purposeful distraction that keeps us from looking at our own reflection/projections in the mirror. We can never be what the screen suggests. We can, however, look at ourselves and “own” what we “see.” Scary, but real. We look a lot like the “others” we imagine to be lesser, or useless, or not worth our time and trouble. Looking away, walking away, separates us from the reality we all possess. Screw the great authors. Pogo had it right in a phrase. The “hard look” is all that’s needed to turn things around.
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Mark, I second the words of praise, this is an outstanding post. It touches on the urgency and pervasiveness of the moment, linking various strands. It is a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, topped by a maraschino cherry. But by looking at the elements, and the bold truths for those willing to see (“Bernays was blunt about it, knowing I suppose better than most the proclivity of ordinary people not to read. He was able to mask his contempt for ordinary people by hiding it in a book.” That last line floored me, LMAO…home run) “we” “know” they are lying because they endlessly write about it, show it on TV and films, have meat puppets (for now, soon made of insects) recite it as “news” bytes, even rub it in our faces as “comedy”…as you wrote, it is indicative of massive indoctrination beyond Goebbels’ wildest wet dreams. (as for Noam, check out Tarzie’s “Passing Noam on My Way Out” for comedic catharsis)
As to your advice re: trying to wake folks being dangerous, amen. I was invited to a happy hour at a home in an “exclusive” community on Friday. As usual for events involving my sister’s mid-50sish friends, it was heavily female, and big on “men are pigs” and the T-word. In fact, the one other man left after an hour, so it was poor lil me. As the day became night, the talk in the circle turned to the hostess’ plan to visit family in Europe, and the “need” for her kids to be jabbed beforehand. Though the kids are mid-20s, they are still kids, so I offered, almost sotto voce, “It hasn’t been approved for kids.” You would have thought I had said, “Their organs can be sold for good prices” based on her reaction, which was to sit on the armrest of my patio chair, smiling ever so-slightly as she placed her arm on my shoulder, and in a wild swing at sarcasm, asked, “Remember when you got polio? Oh wait, you didn’t, because others had found out how to stop it.”
Only by extreme exertion did my jaw not drop, yet I remained calm and just looked puzzled, as I was literally baffled at where I might begin to deconstruct this asinine example of brutal indoctrination. Luckily, the one woman there besides my wife and daughter who does not see all in shades of red and blue, innocently piped in, “You had polio?”, genuinely mystified at the hostess’ actions. I almost busted out laughing, but contained it, mouthing to her, “No” and shaking my head, smiling. 🙂
Yet, there was one more for the road a little later…the hostess’ mother fancies herself a witch, and decides to purify the attendees with sage. As the only toxic life-form present, I wondered as I waited whether I would be called, which I was, last. I walked up, as beatific as pure love personified, lifted my head and extended my arms at 45 degrees down, palms open, mouth closed. The main Trump-hater present, who is sitting next to where I am standing, gets triggered and shows her Mama Gaia gentle goddess goodness by forcing my arms down to my sides, hissing, “Like this!” as I am shrouded in smoke. Wasn’t that assault/battery? Unhinged violence? During a “spiritual” service presided over by a learned crone? Again…who’s the toxic one?
I salute you and many of the commenters here for helping me see the light, and showing me how to deal calmly with the crazies, because we are almost surrounded. But offering help will get you burned. Let others know you can help if they want it, but most don’t want it, and will react like the fanatics they are when confronted. But I remain hopeful that some 20-30% will hold out.
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That’s really interesting. You’re a better man than I … I would have blurted out about polio “Yeah, too bad the polio epidemic ended before the vaccine arrived.” I do not practice as I preach, always. Last night at a family gathering I was civil and silent, saying nothing about anything remotely related to the pandemic. I wore a mask with no insults on it as we entered the restaurant, just a black one. I did not want a fun evening spoiled or to create tensions. It was about the two mom’s that were there.
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“Wasn’t that assault/battery? Unhinged violence? During a “spiritual” service learned crone? presided over by a presided over by a learned crone? Again…who’s the toxic one?”
Another view:
Sounds like someone who willfully submitted and forgot his honor
in front of his wife and daughter, calling it “calmly dealing with crazies.”
We’ve done that for over a year now. Simply put, everytime we submit
we drain our battery, and energize “the crazies.” Modeling oneself as
“poor lil me” does not inspire confidence nor resistance in any context.
Standing confident and congruent seems better to impact any situation
and win the day for us all. We’re all practicing a new way of being, the
present is giving us that opportunity…
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Oh, so I was cucked, B1 old boy? I submitted? Do you know my family, perchance? My wife, bless her restraint, was behind me as it happened, ready for action; the crazy bitch in question is lucky she did not get her butt beaten immediately. It’s called emotional maturity and situational awareness. My point being not pity me, but to show the insanity of this cult, and that we endured this madness and showed the good-thinking morons we are above them, the moral and spiritual high ground if you will. Naturally, we will avoid all contact with these folks in the future, letting them stew in their venomous juices far from us. BTW, our batteries and energy are fully-charged, thanks, and we are now better prepared than before.
Keeping in mind this occurred at the home of a long-time family friend, what, pray tell would have been the correct response? (NB: my wife and daughter have both seen me in actual violent encounters; me and my SIL forcing two muggers to flee empty-handed on damaged motorcycles after she knocked their bikes over, one of the bums riding off minus a shoe after being kicked down by me, or the time I broke up a 2 vs. 1 street fight by tossing the 2nd clown into the road)
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No aspersions cast, appreciate your candor. Your additional info shows
we’re on the same team. Since we’re in a war of energies and ideas, we are
training in that arena, as well as the physical. Also, dis-engaging from the
types you mentioned seems the utilitarian choice…ty
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Cheers to you sir; it’s a multi-dimensional struggle for sure, thanks for the feedback.
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By the way, polio never went away. It is epidemic in India, where DDT is still legal, and now goes by the name “AFP”, or Acute Flaccid Paralysis.” Same symptoms, new label.
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well-noted! It was among the various tacks to the “polio” question…too many options. Had I offered more than a muted, “not approved for kids”, it would have gotten uglier; that crew can’t let their narrative be called into question at all or they lose control and start yelling and frothing.
Speaking of quotes, I offer this one from an “indie” film of dubious provenance,
“Of course, don’t ever tell anybody that they’re not free, ’cause then they’re gonna get real busy killin’ and maimin’ to prove to you that they are. Oh, yeah, they’re gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom. But they see a free individual, it’s gonna scare ’em.”
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Wow, had not heard that, but no surprise. Changing the labels is SOP to “cure” diseases, and credit the “miracle of modern science.”
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I figured out the reason for the polio “joke”; it is from a recent “comedy” sketch from Jimmy Kringe-all’s staff of geniuses. They use a rainbow of docs/nurses to tell people who don’t want gene therapy to “f-off”; one even flips off the camera. So funny! I’m sure that will get the doubters on-board! The comments on yt are about 85% negative.
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