offguardian--2020-08-27--OffGuardian is not “in denial”

OffGuardian is not “in denial”

Eric Zuesse , our erstwhile contributor , recently wrote an article published on Strategic Culture titled “ those in denial about coronavirus ” .
Throughout he refers to a “ prominent libertarian site ” and the editor he was communicating with .
It suits him to be coy and keep it anonymous , but I don ’ t see that need .
OffGuardian is the “ libertarian ” site in question , and I am the editor with whom he was exchanging e-mails .
Needless to say , we reject his casting of us in these terms , and refute @ @ @ @ @ @ @ denial ” or “ populist ” or that our position on the coronavirus “ crisis ” is in any way ideological .
Eric did not tell me , until the day before publication , that he intended to use our correspondence as the basis for an article , nor did he ask my permission to do so .
While I do object to this unprofessional approach , I did not request he not publish but instead asked him to make three amendments : • Include my refutation of the “ libertarian ” label @ @ @ @ @ @ @ apology in its proper context – ie .
a response to his accusing us of “ deceiving our readers ” .
• Most importantly , publish my entire response rather than quote-mining .
Sadly Eric made none of these changes and did not include the full un-edited correspondence in his piece .
So , by way of a response , here is the actual chain of emails : I appreciate your willingness to engage on this topic , but your choice of source is poor .
The logic is bad , and whole @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , comparing Sweden only to Denmark and Norway is absurd .
Sweden imposed no lockdown , yet fared far better than many countries which did so ( Belgium , Netherlands , UK , Spain and Italy ) .
This alone is a perfectly strong argument that lockdowns are totally ineffective for their stated aims .
Secondly , it at no point talks about deaths caused by lockdowns , which is a huge factor ( accounting for nearly half the excess deaths in the UK ) .
Thirdly , it mentions GDP but doesn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ MORE than that .
A suffering economy is not about money or finance , it is about well-being for the working class .
Good wages , affordable rent and the freedom to run your own small business .
All of which have been destroyed by the lockdown policy , which Sweden shows was ( at best ) pointless .
The Belgian policy-response was unclear , unfocused , and such a mess that nothing has even been generally been reported regarding their contact-tracing ( which is such a crucial aspect of effective policy-response to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ countries with good results have achieved them via an expectation of ‘ herd immunity ’ .
No country is anywhere near the 70 % -infection-rate that produces herd-immunity .
It ’ s a myth ; it ’ s a lie .
For example , though the imperialistic libertarian country United States warns travelers that the coronavirus risk is exceptionally high in Uganda , Uganda is actually one of the world ’ s lowest-risk coronavirus countries , and they acheived it by stringent policies , which is exactly what you reject .
Whereas U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Uganda has 47 .
The country that has a 373 times higher percentage of its population infected , warns its suckers to stay away from the country that has 1/373rd of the risk .
Why is off-guardian feeding into this deception of its readers , instead of exposing it to them ?
Have you switched to being pro-imperialistic ( pro-neoconservative , which is a variety of neoliberal or “ libertarian ” ) ?
All of a sudden , the neoliberal countries , such as U.S. , Brazil , and India , which are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worst on coronavirus-performance , are the ones to emulate ?
Why ?
Or else : which countries ARE the ones to emulate on this ?
Say it .
Prove it .
The statistical data by now are certainly sufficient to do this .
Why don ’ t you do it , instead of deceive readers ?
Why do you deceive readers so that they would support , instead of condemn , the imperialistic U.S. Government ’ s alleging that Uganda is more coronavirus-dangerous than the U.S. itself is ?
It ’ s a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be able to know this ?
I don ’ t get it .
You seem stuck in your existing false beliefs .
Please explain so that I will become able to understand .
Right now , I don ’ t .
For starters : We have never expressed any support for the US or its Imperial policies in any way , shape or form .
Second , you seem to be suggesting that neo-conservatives and libertarians are the same , when they are totally different .
We are not , and have never @ @ @ @ @ @ @ generally shun such hard-and-fast labelling ) , but I can see and agree with some libertarian stances on some issues .
I see nothing wrong with this .
Third , the statistics speak for themselves – the virus is harmless to the vast majority of people , and in no way justifies any of the draconian or authoritarian laws being imposed opportunistically in many countries around the world ( including the United States ) .
A fatality rate of less than 1 % ( much less , according to some studies ) , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this particular virus is not dangerous .
We have also noted , thanks to diligent scientific research ( by us , and our contributing authors ) , that the lab work on this virus is suspect , the tests incredibly unreliable and the official statistics woefully inaccurate .
In short , there is enough evidence to suggest the entire covid narrative is a minor disease being exaggerated to seize power on an almost global scale .
This is not an ideological position , but an opinion crafted from careful research and thorough analysis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the site , time and time again .
It seems you are so invested in opposing the united states ( and those you deem “ right wing ” or “ libertarian ” or other unhelpful labels ) that you are allowing yourself to be deceived .
You are talking as if OffGuardian has changed , but we are where we have always been : speaking truth to power .
We oppose authoritarianism , most especially when it ’ s backed by lies spread by the media .
You are currently agreeing with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , CNN and the BBC .
Does this not give you pause ?
If you are truly supporting constant surveillance ( contact tracing ) , mass house arrest ( lockdown ) , government enforced limitations on what you can wear ( mandatory masks ) , and the plunging of millions into poverty , then it is you who has changed positions .
Not us .
We have never reported anything about Uganda , and I have no idea why you keep mentioning it .
And we have NEVER “ deceived ” anyone , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ appreciate it if you would retract that comment and apologise .
You are behaving astonishingly unprofessionally .
You never once asked my permission to publish our private emails , nor did you inform me you intended to use them as the basis for an article .
I would be well within my rights to insist you do not publish this article , as it is a flagrant invasion of my privacy .
However , as I consider myself an honest broker with nothing to hide I will not do so .
If you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ someone who , until recently , considered you a friend and colleague , then have the decency not to quote mine or take words out of context .
I did not ask you to apologise for accusing us of backing US imperialism , I asked you to apologise for saying we ’ re deceiving our readers .
An accusation we take very seriously , and which has no fair basis .
Your article is also inaccurate to the point of dishonesty .
You reference us as a “ libertarian site ” and repeatedly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , yet you have at your fingertips an email in which I repeatedly deny we are any such thing .
If you accuse somebody of something , it is basic journalistic practice to publish their response .
To call us libertarians , then refuse to publish our denial of that label is incredibly bad journalism .
I will repeat , since you apparently either did not see or did not understand it the first time : OffGuardian is not a libertarian site , and its editors do not follow a libertarian ideology – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a long and proud history of defending left wing leaders , and left wing policies , all around the world .
But we will also always oppose authoritarianism in all its forms , whether it comes from the left or right .
We agree with the side that talks the most sense , and take up a position guided by the facts on a case-by-case basis .
This is not about ideology , this is about reason .
Our position on the covid19 “ pandemic ” is a reasoned one , not an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my permission , but I will grant it anyway .
On the understanding you publish my entire response , including this follow up , rather than removing my words from their proper context .
If you do not do so , I will be publishing this entire e-mail exchange in full on our site .
I will consider all future correspondence between us to be 100 % private , unless I give my express permission otherwise .
We consider this response , and the refutation of the “ libertarian ” label , very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ case , but in all the disagreements we have had with many alt-news personalities who seek to use labels in place of arguments .
This is not to say that “ libertarianism ” is an amoral position , or even an insult in an of itself , in fact there are many reasonable and worthy positions from that school of thought .
But it is tiresome to be repeatedly misrepresented , especially when it is being done cynically as a rhetorical ploy to discredit your arguments without engaging in an actual debate .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ not change .
But the world is changing around it , and many who should know better have decided that makes us the problem .
We respectfully disagree .

Kit Knightly
Eric Zuesse, our erstwhile contributor, recently wrote an article published on Strategic Culture titled “those in denial about coronavirus”. Throughout he refers to a “prominent libertarian site” and the editor he was communicating with. It suits him to be coy and keep it anonymous, but I don’t see that need.
OffGuardian is the “libertarian” site in question, and I am the editor with whom he was exchanging e-mails.
Needless to say, we reject his casting of us in these terms, and refute entirely the idea we are “in denial” or “populist” or that our position on the coronavirus “crisis” is in any way ideological.
Eric did not tell me, until the day before publication, that he intended to use our correspondence as the basis for an article, nor did he ask my permission to do so. While I do object to this unprofessional approach, I did not request he not publish but instead asked him to make three amendments:
Include my refutation of the “libertarian” label. Put my request for an apology in its proper context – ie. a response to his accusing us of “deceiving our readers”. Most importantly, publish my entire response rather than quote-mining.
Sadly Eric made none of these changes and did not include the full un-edited correspondence in his piece. So, by way of a response, here is the actual chain of emails:
From: Eric Zuesse
Date: 22/08/2020 Does this cause you to question your view of coronavirus-policy? https://www.newscientist.com/article/2251615-is-swedens-coronavirus-strategy-a-cautionary-tale-or-a-success-story/
From: Kit Knightly
Date: 22/08/2020 Eric, I appreciate your willingness to engage on this topic, but your choice of source is poor. The logic is bad, and whole areas of policy are ignored. Firstly, comparing Sweden only to Denmark and Norway is absurd. Sweden imposed no lockdown, yet fared far better than many countries which did so (Belgium, Netherlands, UK, Spain and Italy). This alone is a perfectly strong argument that lockdowns are totally ineffective for their stated aims. Secondly, it at no point talks about deaths caused by lockdowns, which is a huge factor (accounting for nearly half the excess deaths in the UK). Thirdly, it mentions GDP but doesn’t discuss that the economy is MORE than that. A suffering economy is not about money or finance, it is about well-being for the working class. Good wages, affordable rent and the freedom to run your own small business. All of which have been destroyed by the lockdown policy, which Sweden shows was (at best) pointless.
From: Eric Zuesse
Date: 22/08/2020 The Belgian policy-response was unclear, unfocused, and such a mess that nothing has even been generally been reported regarding their contact-tracing (which is such a crucial aspect of effective policy-response to the virus). None of the countries with good results have achieved them via an expectation of ‘herd immunity’. No country is anywhere near the 70%-infection-rate that produces herd-immunity. It’s a myth; it’s a lie. For example, though the imperialistic libertarian country United States warns travelers that the coronavirus risk is exceptionally high in Uganda, Uganda is actually one of the world’s lowest-risk coronavirus countries, and they acheived it by stringent policies, which is exactly what you reject. Whereas U.S. now has 17,549 cases per million, Uganda has 47. The country that has a 373 times higher percentage of its population infected, warns its suckers to stay away from the country that has 1/373rd of the risk. Why is off-guardian feeding into this deception of its readers, instead of exposing it to them? Have you switched to being pro-imperialistic (pro-neoconservative, which is a variety of neoliberal or “libertarian”)? All of a sudden, the neoliberal countries, such as U.S., Brazil, and India, which are or have been the world’s worst on coronavirus-performance, are the ones to emulate? Why? Or else: which countries ARE the ones to emulate on this? Say it. Prove it. The statistical data by now are certainly sufficient to do this. Why don’t you do it, instead of deceive readers? Why do you deceive readers so that they would support, instead of condemn, the imperialistic U.S. Government’s alleging that Uganda is more coronavirus-dangerous than the U.S. itself is? It’s a lie, but how would your readers be able to know this? I don’t get it. You seem stuck in your existing false beliefs. Please explain so that I will become able to understand. Right now, I don’t.
From: Kit Knightly
Date: 23/08/2020 Eric, For starters: We have never expressed any support for the US or its Imperial policies in any way, shape or form. Second, you seem to be suggesting that neo-conservatives and libertarians are the same, when they are totally different. We are not, and have never claimed to be, libertarians (we generally shun such hard-and-fast labelling), but I can see and agree with some libertarian stances on some issues. I see nothing wrong with this. Third, the statistics speak for themselves – the virus is harmless to the vast majority of people, and in no way justifies any of the draconian or authoritarian laws being imposed opportunistically in many countries around the world (including the United States). A fatality rate of less than 1% (much less, according to some studies), and huge numbers of asymptomatic infections means this particular virus is not dangerous. We have also noted, thanks to diligent scientific research (by us, and our contributing authors), that the lab work on this virus is suspect, the tests incredibly unreliable and the official statistics woefully inaccurate. In short, there is enough evidence to suggest the entire covid narrative is a minor disease being exaggerated to seize power on an almost global scale. This is not an ideological position, but an opinion crafted from careful research and thorough analysis. We have posted all the evidence in the site, time and time again. It seems you are so invested in opposing the united states (and those you deem “right wing” or “libertarian” or other unhelpful labels) that you are allowing yourself to be deceived. You are talking as if OffGuardian has changed, but we are where we have always been: speaking truth to power. We oppose authoritarianism, most especially when it’s backed by lies spread by the media. You are currently agreeing with the Guardian, the New York Post, CNN and the BBC. Does this not give you pause? If you are truly supporting constant surveillance (contact tracing), mass house arrest (lockdown), government enforced limitations on what you can wear (mandatory masks), and the plunging of millions into poverty, then it is you who has changed positions. Not us. We have never reported anything about Uganda, and I have no idea why you keep mentioning it. And we have NEVER “deceived” anyone, most especially our readers. I would appreciate it if you would retract that comment and apologise. All the best
Kit
From: Eric Zuesse
Date: 23/08/2020 Kit, I don’t think that you intentionally mislead readers, but that you are doing it by your selections of articles that support a now-disproven libertarian (i.e., laissez faire) approach to the coronavirus crisis. Here is the revised version of my article (which will be published at Strategic Culture tomorrow): [He included the full text of the article which you can read here.]
From: Kit Knightly
Date: 24/08/2020 Eric, You are behaving astonishingly unprofessionally. You never once asked my permission to publish our private emails, nor did you inform me you intended to use them as the basis for an article. I would be well within my rights to insist you do not publish this article, as it is a flagrant invasion of my privacy. However, as I consider myself an honest broker with nothing to hide I will not do so. If you do insist on publishing private correspondence from someone who, until recently, considered you a friend and colleague, then have the decency not to quote mine or take words out of context. I did not ask you to apologise for accusing us of backing US imperialism, I asked you to apologise for saying we’re deceiving our readers. An accusation we take very seriously, and which has no fair basis. Your article is also inaccurate to the point of dishonesty. You reference us as a “libertarian site” and repeatedly refer to our “libertarian ideology”, yet you have at your fingertips an email in which I repeatedly deny we are any such thing. If you accuse somebody of something, it is basic journalistic practice to publish their response. To call us libertarians, then refuse to publish our denial of that label is incredibly bad journalism. I will repeat, since you apparently either did not see or did not understand it the first time: OffGuardian is not a libertarian site, and its editors do not follow a libertarian ideology – or indeed any ideology. We have a long and proud history of defending left wing leaders, and left wing policies, all around the world. But we will also always oppose authoritarianism in all its forms, whether it comes from the left or right. We agree with the side that talks the most sense, and take up a position guided by the facts on a case-by-case basis. This is not about ideology, this is about reason. Our position on the covid19 “pandemic” is a reasoned one, not an ideological one. You did not ask my permission, but I will grant it anyway. On the understanding you publish my entire response, including this follow up, rather than removing my words from their proper context. If you do not do so, I will be publishing this entire e-mail exchange in full on our site. I will consider all future correspondence between us to be 100% private, unless I give my express permission otherwise. Thank you
Kit
We consider this response, and the refutation of the “libertarian” label, very important. Not just in this specific case, but in all the disagreements we have had with many alt-news personalities who seek to use labels in place of arguments.
This is not to say that “libertarianism” is an amoral position, or even an insult in an of itself, in fact there are many reasonable and worthy positions from that school of thought.
But it is tiresome to be repeatedly misrepresented, especially when it is being done cynically as a rhetorical ploy to discredit your arguments without engaging in an actual debate.
OffGuardian has not changed, and will not change. But the world is changing around it, and many who should know better have decided that makes us the problem. We respectfully disagree.


offguardian--2020-08-27--WATCH: French Professor says there is no second wave

WATCH : French Professor says there is no second wave In a recent interview on French television Prof. Jean-François Toussaint of the Université Paris-Descartes has said that hysteria over a “ second wave ” in France is based on the widespread misinterpretation of data .
His main points are as follows : • Deaths in France ( and all across Europe ) have fallen to almost zero .
• These cases are almost all young , healthy people exhibiting no symptoms • Politicians are being irresponsible and scaring people for unnecessarily • Scientists on the “ Science Council ” don @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re prescribing and happily break their own rules .
Prof. Toussaint caps it all with this quote : Before repeating ( as we have said ourselves and which Dr Luis de Benito of Madrid stated last week ) that we no longer talk about deaths , but instead talk about second waves and new cases , because the death figures have dropped to almost zero .
We no longer talk about deaths , because they ’ re averaging less than 10 per day – for three weeks less than 10 per day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some future fear…next week , next month , next spring… He is right about this , across Europe excess mortality is now either average or below average .
The danger , if indeed there ever was much , has apparently passed .
Our thanks to the people who sent this video to us on social media , and YouTuber Ivor Cummins for uploading and translating it .

WATCH: French Professor says there is no second wave
In a recent interview on French television Prof. Jean-François Toussaint of the Université Paris-Descartes has said that hysteria over a “second wave” in France is based on the widespread misinterpretation of data. His main points are as follows:
Deaths in France (and all across Europe) have fallen to almost zero. “Second Wave” headlines are counting “new cases”, not deaths These cases are almost all young, healthy people exhibiting no symptoms Politicians are being irresponsible and scaring people for unnecessarily Scientists on the “Science Council” don’t believe in the measures they’re prescribing and happily break their own rules.
Prof. Toussaint caps it all with this quote:
There is not, at this time, any scientific argument that attests to the usefulness of masks”
Before repeating (as we have said ourselves and which Dr Luis de Benito of Madrid stated last week) that we no longer talk about deaths, but instead talk about second waves and new cases, because the death figures have dropped to almost zero.
We no longer talk about deaths, because they’re averaging less than 10 per day – for three weeks less than 10 per day – so now we have passed to some future fear…next week, next month, next spring…
He is right about this, across Europe excess mortality is now either average or below average. The danger, if indeed there ever was much, has apparently passed.
Our thanks to the people who sent this video to us on social media, and YouTuber Ivor Cummins for uploading and translating it.


offguardian--2020-08-26--BREAKING: Germany Bans Coronavirus Protest

The Berlin government has banned a planned protest against measures put in place to ( allegedly ) contain the coronavirus “ pandemic ” .
The event , scheduled for the 29th of August and coinciding with protests in other countries , including the UK , France and Canada , has been shut down by the Berlin Senate over fears the crowd would “ violate the current infection protection laws ” .
If you ’ re concerned about this being an attack on political freedoms , don ’ t worry Andreas Geisel ( Berlin ’ s Interior Senator ) , is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emphasis ] : Although his claims this was not a political decision were somewhat undermined , when he added : A similar protest at the beginning of this month drew tens of thousands of people .
It was depicted as “ right wing ” and “ antisemitic ” in the press .
The coronavirus has a patchy , if not outright selective , record when it comes to protest movements .
The anti-government protests in Belarus , for example , are exempt from being “ dangerous ” .
As are the A level @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the US , and around the world , Black Lives Matter protests – far from being considered possible serious contamination risks – were applauded by health care workers , and even given special dispensation for violating lockdown measures in many countries ( including Germany ) .
An open letter from 1200 health care workers called racism “ a public health issue ” , and said that it was too important to stop the protests in the name of not spreading the disease .
It seems if the right people deem your protest “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of spreading covid19 .
This coronavirus is a politcally savvy operator , allowing governments to be very picky about which protests are dangerous , and which are necessary .
Will other countries follow Germany ’ s example ?

The Berlin government has banned a planned protest against measures put in place to (allegedly) contain the coronavirus “pandemic”.
The event, scheduled for the 29th of August and coinciding with protests in other countries, including the UK, France and Canada, has been shut down by the Berlin Senate over fears the crowd would “violate the current infection protection laws”.
If you’re concerned about this being an attack on political freedoms, don’t worry Andreas Geisel (Berlin’s Interior Senator), is here to reassure us all [our emphasis]:
This is not a decision against freedom of assembly, but a decision in favour of infection protection.”
Although his claims this was not a political decision were somewhat undermined, when he added:
[Berlin will not be] misused as a stage for corona deniers…and right-wing extremists.”
A similar protest at the beginning of this month drew tens of thousands of people. It was depicted as “right wing” and “antisemitic” in the press.
The coronavirus has a patchy, if not outright selective, record when it comes to protest movements. The anti-government protests in Belarus, for example, are exempt from being “dangerous”. As are the A level results protests in the UK.
In the US, and around the world, Black Lives Matter protests – far from being considered possible serious contamination risks – were applauded by health care workers, and even given special dispensation for violating lockdown measures in many countries (including Germany).
An open letter from 1200 health care workers called racism “a public health issue”, and said that it was too important to stop the protests in the name of not spreading the disease.
It seems if the right people deem your protest “important”, it removes all risk of spreading covid19. This coronavirus is a politcally savvy operator, allowing governments to be very picky about which protests are dangerous, and which are necessary.
Will other countries follow Germany’s example?


offguardian--2020-08-26--The Fatal Attraction of Techno-Fascism

The Fatal Attraction of Techno-Fascism

The enduring beauty of fascism is that it requires so little from us… so little independent thought ; just our basic belief and adherence to a limited set of popularly-shared directives and narratives that once fully accepted , relieve us of the need to address stubborn questions or to fret over subtle differences of opinion and feeling .
Propaganda reassures us that we are complete , that we know all there is to know , that we are rational , pragmatic and pure , that the science has been settled and that we are a part of something special .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ across all classes and income brackets .
Neither the most educated nor the least uneducated retain any special advantage in the face of powerful consensus-shaping propaganda .
PROPAGANDA is , of course , the life-blood of fascist control .
Maintaining the economic , governmental and scientific frameworks of a technocratic-fascist “ operating system ” is unthinkable without propaganda and disinformation .
When truth is seen as a liability to power , it must always be disallowed , and all instances of it effectively penalized .
Radio and television and their constant enabler , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as their own religions , reliant for their success upon the devotion of the masses .
As McLuhan told us , the experience of electronic media is always more powerful than the specific messaging it contains .
The currency that we use to pay for the electronic spectacle is our attention , and in such hyper-mediated times as these , the charges mount up exponentially , until we find ourselves saddled with soul-crushing denial and disconnection .
Three defining historical moments ( among many ) have defined the confluence of fascism , propaganda @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of propaganda were first defined 100 years ago by Edward Bernays , often referred to as the father of public relations .
• Joseph Goebbels served as Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 .
The stunning successful lessons of his Nazi propaganda programs were not lost on the world ’ s political and economic leaders in the post-war era , and in the time since then .
• The Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) was founded in 1947 , for the expressed purpose of conducting secret intelligence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the same time they generated huge and untraceable profits .
The extent of the CIA ’ s illegal enterprises necessitated the creation and maintenance of a permanent ministry of disinformation , managed by our own taxpayer-funded “ Shadow Government ” and “ Deep State.
” In retrospect then , it is clear that these propaganda campaigns have proven SO successful , that even today , few of us ever realize how ongoing , vast and wide-spread they are .
Propaganda ’ s efficacy is so indisputable , that it is commonly the case @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that they are NOT among the propagandized , are in fact its most overt victims .
Corporate media focuses on those stories they are paid to propagate , i.e.
, those which support the financial and ideological agendas of their owners , who themselves are all , without exception , central parts of the larger global ruling oligarchy .
A key part of the propagandist ’ s handbook is to simply leave unexplored stories that they are NOT given approval to manage and control ; stories which , we might assume , do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Such calculated sins of omission are essential to keeping the mass of believers unperturbed by the vagaries of complexity in the delivery of their daily dogmas .
If an individual were to insist upon learning more about any of these less-discussed stories , they would soon arrive at the realization that while an abundance of relevant facts can easily be found , and often hidden in plain sight , the truth is that most people simply do not WANT to know , think or talk about any such truths that differ from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whom cognitive dissonance causes such literal pain and disorientation , as to keep them docile and compliant to the dictates of the media .
Perhaps , the grandest illusion of all , and which must be maintained at all costs , is that both the world and the stories we tell of it , must be made to appear as though they are generated randomly .
It must always appear that the media ’ s coverage and the comments of experts are entirely free from any preconceived manipulation .
In the terminology of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Breaking !
” – even though in reality , we know the news more closely resembles a cooking show , where ingredients are chopped and sliced before-hand , after which they are mixed and served up live on camera in ways that keep the public hooked on happy hash-slinging and enticingly-scripted recipes .
Technocratic-Fascism , the advanced fusion of the multinational technology-dominated corporatocracy with the authoritarian global and surveillance state , allows its initiates to believe they are a part of something bigger than themselves .
Witness the magical left ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Donald Trump , or the magical right ’ s equally lockstep belief in Trump as a self-sacrificing national hero .
Clearly both parties to the constant heist of human freedom need each other to better manage their greed for consumer profit and civilian control .
Such mental assaults secondarily require that all truthful motives remain hidden and obfuscated in a fog of weaponized storytelling .
This accounts of course for the abiding value of bullshit , does it not ?
Bullshit effectively misleads without upsetting the natural order of things , without irreversibly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Nothing can stand in the way of the constant flow of messaging , profit and growth , which are after all , the primary justifications for all this deceptive disorder .
This is another aspect of what makes technocratic-fascism so irresistible ; in realizing how effective it is at knowing us better than we know ourselves .
The assumption is that if we were to know ourselves better than the stories we are told , we would not be seduced by such obvious lies .
Since we don ’ t , our “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but to keep up the constant barrage of lies , at least until our thinking eventually locks up and we capitulate and collapse , like a stack of wooden blocks .
If for example , we did not always obey or give our attention to propaganda , we would soon grow alarmed by the many contradictions that we are told exist , say between the Covid monster and the daily vaporous disease statistics , or between maskers and non-maskers , between vaxxers and anti-vaxxers , between crushing economic destruction and the mewling need @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the lunatic right , between black and whites , between males and females… between one piece of orthogonal bullshit and another equally opposing piece of bullshit .
ALL of these dichotomies , of course , are at some fundamental level FALSE… every last one of them , each constructed by skilled media professionals and put in place to overwhelm our critical thinking and that of millions of others from seeing what ’ s really going on in the limitless background .
In this remarkably cost-efficient way , human energy and intelligence are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ task of turning us into helplessly confused and easily-controllable “ lab rats , ” forcibly cut off from each other , lest we experience ourselves as intelligent and sovereign beings .
If something like that were to happen , the driving agendas of big business and global governance to keep us marching in lockstep towards a more divided and disempowered fate , would soon disintegrate .
It is in such a state of debilitating surrender that we are divided one subset “ targeted ” demographic against another ; all herded into a wicked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thing , while the other side thinks something else – such that half of us hate the other and the other half hate the other right back .
At this point , and after so many years of unqualified victories for the industries supported by the propaganda industry , the pathetic truth is that propaganda doesn ’ t even NEED to be that entertaining anymore .
Knowing they have the situation in tow , the purveyors of propaganda can save a ton of money by just being sensational , confrontational and redundant in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the singular Frank Zappa : Once we have learned to carry on absent the need for verifiable truth , or without the need to discern authentic and honest voices from deceitful and manipulative ones , we gradually lose our interest in so-called “ truth , ” preferring instead to keep splashing about in unsubstantiated speculation , pompous judgments and opinionated fluff .
Let ’ s be honest…the only people who might actually CARE what any of us think about the blaring big topics of the day ( masks or vaccines or climate change @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) are other equally thin-skinned victims of propaganda , who much like the majority of us , still believe that the government cares about them and that the mainstream media is telling them the truth .
That is why a growing number of people have given up on the media ’ s crudely fictional depiction of reality , and are instead trying to figure out how to thrive and to reconnect energetically with others – and with truths that can only exist OUTSIDE the reach of the propaganda ‘ spectacle.
” The media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ surveillance tracking tools knows full well when there is an uptick in negative reactions to their toxic narratives , but since it is also aware that it is after all pushing nothing but sugar water bullshit , it is left with little choice but to double-down and turn the levels up even higher… thus ramming even more bullshit at us .
Whacky Joe Biden , Greedy Green Greta , Covid , Aunt Jemima Race Wars and endless offenses… all come at us so fast and so hard as to leave us bent and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , as we stumble around like headless chickens desperately trying to win the approval of our friends by looking like we are at least doing the only “ acceptable ” thing .
Arriving at his frenzied point of screwball hyper-polarization , is the essential endgame of Propaganda… locking us into its agenda , at the same time it demands that we think we are making these choices of our own FREE WILL !
To get us to that point though , they must keep us constantly preoccupied ; agitated , offended , attacking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ threats , both real and imagined .
The more they can get us ensnared in mind-numbing opinions and outrages , the less energy and attention will be left to notice the deeper more manipulative agendas of techno-fascism .
Mid 20th Century fascism was woefully limited in its capacities and in what it could extract from its victims… and yet still it worked !
The new technocratic-fascism is here to mine the population for all the bio-capital commodification it can .
Those who can invent the most efficient and ingenious means of converting human @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into impact markets will quickly take their place among the prior generations ’ titans of technology .
Once you step back far enough though to experience the sheer SCALE of this ongoing and unlimited propaganda WAR on us , it grows a bit easier to see why so few are able to escape the media ’ s influence .
Oh , for a while perhaps , you can rise above it… but eventually , you will get pulled back down into the muck .
Even if you kill your TV , unplug yourself @ @ @ @ @ @ @ off the Wi-Fi , each of us , at some point , will relapse and fall off the wagon .
This is because propaganda is not just about what ’ s in the news or in the media .
It ’ s even more importantly about the broadly consensual layers of social hallucination that are created and shared across all of society , which make it difficult for any of us to function socially , absent those commonly shared reference points and signals that we have convinced ourselves are required in order to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all of which are primary raisons d ’ etres for propaganda in the first place .
I wish there was one simple way to break propaganda ’ s voodoo spell .
There isn ’ t .
I ’ m not even sure how to do that for myself , or how I can avoid falling prey to it again , just as I and most of us have done for the great majority of our lives .
What seems obvious to me now is that propaganda in the service of a transhumanist-centered technology @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , that in many ways , our thinking has ceased to be entirely our own , and that the portion of our soul that remains recognizable as uniquely us , is shrinking fast .
The effect of all this leaves our spirits infected , and easily convertible into compliant puppets under the top-down control of truly diabolically puppet masters , who in order to keep us subservient to their untruths , and to doing whatever we are told , have become masterful at pretending to be something they are not .
This is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gates , who working with his Bain and Co. handlers and account managers , ( who previously managed the Iraq War for Dick Cheney ) have constructed these elaborate biopharma/ biocapital/ vaccine public health/fear narratives and investment pyramids that are then fed to the media and Wall Street , who reheat and serve them to the public , generating criminal profits while making such that Mr. Gates is always portrayed as an altruistic philanthropist and protector of the public… when any fool can see he is nothing of the sort .
NOT seeing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have become in this one-size fits all era , leaves us painfully vulnerable and ready to be further subsumed by more of the same .
The complexity of today ’ s master plans for disinformation are unparalleled compared to the past .
Looking back to the 1950 ’ s and 60 ’ s , when all the above long-term plans for centralized and technocratic control were slowly being tested , being part of America ’ s growing middle-class was actually a pretty sweet deal .
It is in a return to more bucolic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that we pin our nostalgic hopes , by the media but especially by politicians .
Looking at our world , we can see that the reach and authority of the transnational global capitalists who run the world ’ s nation-sized casinos has been cemented .
All systems are now in place , up and running LIVE on that criminal syndicate ’ s vast web of networks .
Each one of us has by now been targeted by them for some form of surveillance and financialization – just as “ nature ” has , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just as “ social justice ” has , just as everything will eventually .
The “ A.I .
control grids ” are all active and expanding .
The technocratic agendas are now fully ready for prime-time .
We have been gradually “ shepherded ” by propaganda and psychological torture techniques , just as we have also been physically compromised by toxins in the geo-engineered air and water , by disruptive electromagnetic frequency radiation , by weaponized technologies that include the release of nano-particulates inside our bodies ( either by way of inhalation or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ oxygen-absorbing 5G which at the higher millimeter wave frequency , will bring remote alteration of our very DNA under the “ persistent ” control of A.I.
, which will guide the process of transmuting us into commodities , into plunderable assets , into digitally-regulated and genetically modified “ livestock.
” Sadly , this is where decades of constant acquiescence to propaganda and institutional hypnosis has brought us…bent over , staring at our shoes and bracing for the “ BIG ONE.
” I remember in my own youth , being convinced that the evil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ transformed the mass of decent German people into BEASTS , possessed by demons , as if in a dark fairy tale… into something less than human .
We know that once we begin to regard others as LESS than us…as something OTHER than us , it is only a short step to unleashing our hate upon them , even to the point of becoming violent and criminal .
Needless to say , these very same psychological imperatives are everywhere apparent today ; in how we are instructed by propaganda to regard the Chinese @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trumpers , deluded depraved liberals , defective racists , misogynist sexists and quivering face-ists ( with their acute disdain for anyone who questions the dogma of e-mask-ulation . )
Same as it ever was , you might say , but as we approach the much-touted singularity with its accompanying convergence of man and machine , how will the media respond in the face of that Huxleyan “ solution ?
” In that light , how might propaganda shift its focus ?
I expect it will change-up the pitch and tell us that THIS @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This time won ’ t be like last time .
No , this time , things will have changed , so that we will no longer be “ brainwashed ” by the media as we were before .
No , when the coming big change happens to us , it will not be like that .
We will rather be transformed into advanced independent humans augmented by perfectly blended combinations of technology , science and engineering .
Our DNA will be carefully crafted by brilliant doctors and scientists to enhance only the “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and under their wise direction , we will gladly do as we are told .
For so great a future , we will willingly offer our support and so grow accustomed to our new life , lest we become like those poor unfortunate souls , so lost in their unreason , that they can not fully appreciate the wisdom that derives from enthusiastically embracing PROGRESS .
In our leaders inspired and time-tested plans , we will of course have every convenience at our fingertips , such that doors will magically open when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to download all manner of rich media and data with the blink of an eye .
We will be as supermen .
Our definitions of what is valuable and what is not , will fluidly shift to suit changing circumstances .
We will see ourselves as the very picture of modernity , and the envy of the world…just as we have always been .
We will be as American as our multi-racial forefathers , even though they lived in unenlightened times…long before today ’ s great social justice transformation allowed us , their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into this glistening new world .
In such a world , when we ask ourselves what we might be grateful for , we will no longer need to struggle for an answer .
We will know exactly what is good , true and beautiful and we will commit ourselves to those lofty ideals each and every day .
Therein too , and most mercilessly , resides the fatal beauty of technocratic-fascism .

Mark Petrakis
“Those who are serious in ridiculous matters will be ridiculous in serious matters.”
Cato the Elder
The enduring beauty of fascism is that it requires so little from us… so little independent thought; just our basic belief and adherence to a limited set of popularly-shared directives and narratives that once fully accepted, relieve us of the need to address stubborn questions or to fret over subtle differences of opinion and feeling.
Propaganda reassures us that we are complete, that we know all there is to know, that we are rational, pragmatic and pure, that the science has been settled and that we are a part of something special.
Such a surrender to reductionist narratives cuts across all classes and income brackets. Neither the most educated nor the least uneducated retain any special advantage in the face of powerful consensus-shaping propaganda.
PROPAGANDA is, of course, the life-blood of fascist control. Maintaining the economic, governmental and scientific frameworks of a technocratic-fascist “operating system” is unthinkable without propaganda and disinformation. When truth is seen as a liability to power, it must always be disallowed, and all instances of it effectively penalized.
Radio and television and their constant enabler, popular “science” – operate today as their own religions, reliant for their success upon the devotion of the masses. As McLuhan told us, the experience of electronic media is always more powerful than the specific messaging it contains.
The currency that we use to pay for the electronic spectacle is our attention, and in such hyper-mediated times as these, the charges mount up exponentially, until we find ourselves saddled with soul-crushing denial and disconnection.
Three defining historical moments (among many) have defined the confluence of fascism, propaganda and technology.
The fundamental principles of propaganda were first defined 100 years ago by Edward Bernays, often referred to as the father of public relations. Joseph Goebbels served as Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. The stunning successful lessons of his Nazi propaganda programs were not lost on the world’s political and economic leaders in the post-war era, and in the time since then. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was founded in 1947, for the expressed purpose of conducting secret intelligence operations that could serve political aims at the same time they generated huge and untraceable profits. The extent of the CIA’s illegal enterprises necessitated the creation and maintenance of a permanent ministry of disinformation, managed by our own taxpayer-funded “Shadow Government” and “Deep State.”
In retrospect then, it is clear that these propaganda campaigns have proven SO successful, that even today, few of us ever realize how ongoing, vast and wide-spread they are.
Propaganda’s efficacy is so indisputable, that it is commonly the case that those who are the most certain that they are NOT among the propagandized, are in fact its most overt victims.
Corporate media focuses on those stories they are paid to propagate, i.e., those which support the financial and ideological
agendas of their owners, who themselves are all, without exception, central parts of the larger global ruling oligarchy.
A key part of the propagandist’s handbook is to simply leave unexplored stories that they are NOT given approval to manage and control; stories which, we might assume, do not generate sufficient advantage for the owners. Such calculated sins of omission are essential to keeping the mass of believers unperturbed by the vagaries of complexity in the delivery of their daily dogmas.
If an individual were to insist upon learning more about any of these less-discussed stories, they would soon arrive at the realization that while an abundance of relevant facts can easily be found, and often hidden in plain sight, the truth is that most people simply do not WANT to know, think or talk about any such truths that differ from those accepted by their peers, for whom cognitive dissonance causes such literal pain and disorientation, as to keep them docile and compliant to the dictates of the media.
As McLuhan said:
Only the small secrets need to be protected. The large ones are kept secret by public incredulity.”
Perhaps, the grandest illusion of all, and which must be maintained at all costs, is that both the world and the stories we tell of it, must be made to appear as though they are generated randomly. It must always appear that the media’s coverage and the comments of experts are entirely free from any preconceived manipulation.
In the terminology of the media, news must always be “Breaking!” – even though in reality, we know the news more closely resembles a cooking show, where ingredients are chopped and sliced before-hand, after which they are mixed and served up live on camera in ways that keep the public hooked on happy hash-slinging and enticingly-scripted recipes.
Technocratic-Fascism, the advanced fusion of the multinational technology-dominated corporatocracy with the authoritarian global and surveillance state, allows its initiates to believe they are a part of something bigger than themselves. Witness the magical left’s lockstep belief in the pure villainy of Donald Trump, or the magical right’s equally lockstep belief in Trump as a self-sacrificing national hero.
Clearly both parties to the constant heist of human freedom need each other to better manage their greed for consumer profit and civilian control. Such mental assaults secondarily require that all truthful motives remain hidden and obfuscated in a fog of weaponized storytelling.
This accounts of course for the abiding value of bullshit, does it not? Bullshit effectively misleads without upsetting the natural order of things, without irreversibly tearing apart the fabric of credibility. Nothing can stand in the way of the constant flow of messaging, profit and growth, which are after all, the primary justifications for all this deceptive disorder.
This is another aspect of what makes technocratic-fascism so irresistible; in realizing how effective it is at knowing us better than we know ourselves. The assumption is that if we were to know ourselves better than the stories we are told, we would not be seduced by such obvious lies. Since we don’t, our “betters” are left with no choice but to keep up the constant barrage of lies, at least until our thinking eventually locks up and we capitulate and collapse, like a stack of wooden blocks.
If for example, we did not always obey or give our attention to propaganda, we would soon grow alarmed by the many contradictions that we are told exist, say between the Covid monster and the daily vaporous disease statistics, or between maskers and non-maskers, between vaxxers and anti-vaxxers, between crushing economic destruction and the mewling need for safety, between the lunatic left and the lunatic right, between black and whites, between males and females… between one piece of orthogonal bullshit and another equally opposing piece of bullshit.
ALL of these dichotomies, of course, are at some fundamental level FALSE… every last one of them, each constructed by skilled media professionals and put in place to overwhelm our critical thinking and that of millions of others from seeing what’s really going on in the limitless background.
In this remarkably cost-efficient way, human energy and intelligence are siphoned off, and directed towards the task of turning us into helplessly confused and easily-controllable “lab rats,” forcibly cut off from each other, lest we experience ourselves as intelligent and sovereign beings. If something like that were to happen, the driving agendas of big business and global governance to keep us marching in lockstep towards a more divided and disempowered fate, would soon disintegrate.
It is in such a state of debilitating surrender that we are divided one subset “targeted” demographic against another; all herded into a wicked mental trap with one side thinking one thing, while the other side thinks something else – such that half of us hate the other and the other half hate the other right back.
At this point, and after so many years of unqualified victories for the industries supported by the propaganda industry, the pathetic truth is that propaganda doesn’t even NEED to be that entertaining anymore. Knowing they have the situation in tow, the purveyors of propaganda can save a ton of money by just being sensational, confrontational and redundant in their narratives.
Recall this quote from the singular Frank Zappa:
The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.”
Once we have learned to carry on absent the need for verifiable truth, or without the need to discern authentic and honest voices from deceitful and manipulative ones, we gradually lose our interest in so-called “truth,” preferring instead to keep splashing about in unsubstantiated speculation, pompous judgments and opinionated fluff.
Let’s be honest…the only people who might actually CARE what any of us think about the blaring big topics of the day (masks or vaccines or climate change or Black Lives Matter, etc.) are other equally thin-skinned victims of propaganda, who much like the majority of us, still believe that the government cares about them and that the mainstream media is telling them the truth.
That is why a growing number of people have given up on the media’s crudely fictional depiction of reality, and are instead trying to figure out how to thrive and to reconnect energetically with others – and with truths that can only exist OUTSIDE the reach of the propaganda ‘spectacle.”
The media, of course, with their sophisticated surveillance tracking tools knows full well when there is an uptick in negative reactions to their toxic narratives, but since it is also aware that it is after all pushing nothing but sugar water bullshit, it is left with little choice but to double-down and turn the levels up even higher… thus ramming even more bullshit at us.
Whacky Joe Biden, Greedy Green Greta, Covid, Aunt Jemima Race Wars and endless offenses… all come at us so fast and so hard as to leave us bent and broke under the weight of it all, as we stumble around like headless chickens desperately trying to win the approval of our friends by looking like we are at least doing the only “acceptable” thing.
Arriving at his frenzied point of screwball hyper-polarization, is the essential endgame of Propaganda… locking us into its agenda, at the same time it demands that we think we are making these choices of our own FREE WILL!
To get us to that point though, they must keep us constantly preoccupied; agitated, offended, attacking each other and defending ourselves against all threats, both real and imagined. The more they can get us ensnared in mind-numbing opinions and outrages, the less energy and attention will be left to notice the deeper more manipulative agendas of techno-fascism.
Mid 20th Century fascism was woefully limited in its capacities and in what it could extract from its victims… and yet still it worked! The new technocratic-fascism is here to mine the population for all the bio-capital commodification it can. Those who can invent the most efficient and ingenious means of converting human confusion, poverty, crime and illness into impact markets will quickly take their place among the prior generations’ titans of technology.
Once you step back far enough though to experience the sheer SCALE of this ongoing and unlimited propaganda WAR on us, it grows a bit easier to see why so few are able to escape the media’s influence. Oh, for a while perhaps, you can rise above it… but eventually, you will get pulled back down into the muck. Even if you kill your TV, unplug yourself from your media feeds, and turn off the Wi-Fi, each of us, at some point, will relapse and fall off the wagon.
This is because propaganda is not just about what’s in the news or in the media. It’s even more importantly about the broadly consensual layers of social hallucination that are created and shared across all of society, which make it difficult for any of us to function socially, absent those commonly shared reference points and signals that we have convinced ourselves are required in order to allay our anxiety, confusion and isolation… all of which are primary raisons d’etres for propaganda in the first place.
I wish there was one simple way to break propaganda’s voodoo spell. There isn’t. I’m not even sure how to do that for myself, or how I can avoid falling prey to it again, just as I and most of us have done for the great majority of our lives.
What seems obvious to me now is that propaganda in the service of a transhumanist-centered technology has become so pervasive and insidiously forceful, that in many ways, our thinking has ceased to be entirely our own, and that the portion of our soul that remains recognizable as uniquely us, is shrinking fast.
The effect of all this leaves our spirits infected, and easily convertible into compliant puppets under the top-down control of truly diabolically puppet masters, who in order to keep us subservient to their untruths, and to doing whatever we are told, have become masterful at pretending to be something they are not.
This is perfectly exemplified in the character of Bill Gates, who working with his Bain and Co. handlers and account managers, (who previously managed the Iraq War for Dick Cheney) have constructed these elaborate biopharma/ biocapital/ vaccine public health/fear narratives and investment pyramids that are then fed to the media and Wall Street, who reheat and serve them to the public, generating criminal profits while making such that Mr. Gates is always portrayed as an altruistic philanthropist and protector of the public… when any fool can see he is nothing of the sort.
NOT seeing just how obvious and laughable propaganda campaigns have become in this one-size fits all era, leaves us painfully vulnerable and ready to be further subsumed by more of the same.
The complexity of today’s master plans for disinformation are unparalleled compared to the past. Looking back to the 1950’s and 60’s, when all the above long-term plans for centralized and technocratic control were slowly being tested, being part of America’s growing middle-class was actually a pretty sweet deal. It is in a return to more bucolic and “normal” times as these that we pin our nostalgic hopes, by the media but especially by politicians.
Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in, can hope to escape.”
William S. Burroughs
*
Looking at our world, we can see that the reach and authority of the transnational global capitalists who run the world’s nation-sized casinos has been cemented. All systems are now in place, up and running LIVE on that criminal syndicate’s vast web of networks. Each one of us has by now been targeted by them for some form of surveillance and financialization – just as “nature” has, just as “disease” has, just as “social justice” has, just as everything will eventually.
The “A.I. control grids” are all active and expanding. The technocratic agendas are now fully ready for prime-time. We have been gradually “shepherded” by propaganda and psychological torture techniques, just as we have also been physically compromised by toxins in the geo-engineered air and water, by disruptive electromagnetic frequency radiation, by weaponized technologies that include the release of nano-particulates inside our bodies (either by way of inhalation or injection) which are then governed by oxygen-absorbing 5G which at the higher millimeter wave frequency, will bring remote alteration of our very DNA under the “persistent” control of A.I., which will guide the process of transmuting us into commodities, into plunderable assets, into digitally-regulated and genetically modified “livestock.”
Sadly, this is where decades of constant acquiescence to propaganda and institutional hypnosis has brought us…bent over, staring at our shoes and bracing for the “BIG ONE.”
I remember in my own youth, being convinced that the evil genius of Hitler and Nazism had somehow transformed the mass of decent German people into BEASTS, possessed by demons, as if in a dark fairy tale… into something less than human.
We know that once we begin to regard others as LESS than us…as something OTHER than us, it is only a short step to unleashing our hate upon them, even to the point of becoming violent and criminal.
Needless to say, these very same psychological imperatives are everywhere apparent today; in how we are instructed by propaganda to regard the Chinese, Russians, Muslims, white supremacist Trumpers, deluded depraved liberals, defective racists, misogynist sexists and quivering face-ists (with their acute disdain for anyone who questions the dogma of e-mask-ulation.)
Same as it ever was, you might say, but as we approach the much-touted singularity with its accompanying convergence of man and machine, how will the media respond in the face of that Huxleyan “solution?” In that light, how might propaganda shift its focus?
I expect it will change-up the pitch and tell us that THIS time, things will be different. This time won’t be like last time. No, this time, things will have changed, so that we will no longer be “brainwashed” by the media as we were before. No, when the coming big change happens to us, it will not be like that. We will rather be transformed into advanced independent humans augmented by perfectly blended combinations of technology, science and engineering.
Our DNA will be carefully crafted by brilliant doctors and scientists to enhance only the “preferred” qualities in their human subjects, and under their wise direction, we will gladly do as we are told. For so great a future, we will willingly offer our support and so grow accustomed to our new life, lest we become like those poor unfortunate souls, so lost in their unreason, that they cannot fully appreciate the wisdom that derives from enthusiastically embracing PROGRESS.
In our leaders inspired and time-tested plans, we will of course have every convenience at our fingertips, such that doors will magically open when we approach. We will be able to download all manner of rich media and data with the blink of an eye. We will be as supermen.
Our definitions of what is valuable and what is not, will fluidly shift to suit changing circumstances. We will see ourselves as the very picture of modernity, and the envy of the world…just as we have always been. We will be as American as our multi-racial forefathers, even though they lived in unenlightened times…long before today’s great social justice transformation allowed us, their proud descendants, to wake each day into this glistening new world.
In such a world, when we ask ourselves what we might be grateful for, we will no longer need to struggle for an answer. We will know exactly what is good, true and beautiful and we will commit ourselves to those lofty ideals each and every day.
Therein too, and most mercilessly, resides the fatal beauty of technocratic-fascism.