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Posts Tagged ‘Freedom’

Freedom Week: Fear And Manipulation Are The Greatest Prison Guards

by Flyovercountry ( 189 Comments › )
Filed under Communism, Democratic Party, Fascism, Progressives at April 14th, 2014 - 5:11 pm

In honor of Passover starting this evening, with Tuesday being the first full day, I thought I’d go in a slightly different direction. A completely non religious discussion inspired by a religious event or celebration. Passover, for my non-Jewish friends is at its core, a celebration of freedom. More specifically, it means to those of us who are Jewish, our deliverance from bondage, (enslavement,) by God, and as a consequence of that deliverance, the agreement that we would live our lives according to the laws of the Torah, (the first Five Books of Moses found in the Old Testament of the Bible.) So, for this week, my topics will be a celebration of that spirit of freedom, what it means, how do we achieve it, keep it, and prevent the usurpers of such from gaining a foothold on ideology within our societal thought.

There are two conditions required in order for an entire population to be subjugated. One of those conditions is that there must be a group of elites or a ruling class that wishes to do the subjugating. The second condition that needs met is that the population in question must, for the entire duration of that subjugation, be incapable of doing anything about it. Those doing the subjugating will always live in constant fear of losing their upper hand. For them, Life itself will always be a paradox. Having a population that is totally and forever subordinated, and at the same time, constantly a threat if awakened to the possibility of revolt.

That is why slavers will institute certain precautions among their chattel. Education will be disallowed, most specifically, Slaves will not be allowed to learn the art of reading and writing. Disarmament is a must, as in complete gun control. Fear must be instilled, but a deeper and more subtle fear than what you might believe. Yes, making chattel fearful of immediate reprisal for breaking the rules is a necessary tool, but it is not the complete picture. Even more useful is making the subordinate population fearful for their very existence, thus convincing them to become complicit in their own bondage. Even more insidious, convincing the enslaved that they are not a permanent servant class, and controlling their behavior through mass manipulation techniques taught in every Group Dynamics Class on college campuses across our Fruited Plains.

Let’s explore those last two items in a more focused context. How do potential overlords achieve these ends? How do you convince an entire segment of the human population that without your protection from some perceived boogeyman or collection of unseen dangers, they would perish? How do you get them to be afraid of those boogeymen in the first place, meaning initiate the perception necessary to establish the ruse?

Fear, contrary to what you may believe is not a human failing. It is an evolutionary defense mechanism, which in the past helped us, as a species, to survive. When I managed Woolworth Stores in some of America’s crappiest neighborhoods, I happened upon an alcoholic named Norm. One day Norm came up to me and said, “you should try being an alcoholic John, it gets rid of your inhibitions.” I told Norm that I liked my inhibitions just fine, and that inhibited behavior was in fact what kept mankind alive for from his first appearance on Planet Earth. When you think to yourself, “should I play in traffic, in front of that oncoming tractor trailer?,” it is your inhibitions that say, “probably not a good idea.” It is the fear of falling from great heights that convinces your natural curiosity to not test the laws of physics by throwing yourself off of tall buildings to determine if you might indeed be able to fly. Fear and inhibitions were those very things that made early man not pull the tails of lions, poke bear while sleeping, or tug on Superman’s cape. What makes us different as species, is our ability to temporarily control those hardwired pieces of our natural design. The entire point I’m trying to make here is that those pimping fear in order to control everyone have a distinct advantage to begin with, and that advantage is that we are, all of us, genetically predisposed to be fearful pretty much most of the time.

Being a follower, is also hardwired into most of us. I know that this one hurts to read, and more specifically, most people actually see themselves as leaders. The truth is however, that this is not so. From the beginning of our first steps upright as people, when Simian Chromosomes 2 and 13 fused, forming our Human Chromosome number 2, with its two centromeres and three telomeres, our survival has been enhanced by living in collective groups, rather than individually. For any such social structure, leaders and followers are always established, with genetics playing a particular role in determining alphas and betas, (leaders and followers.) After the Nuremberg Trials, in which the world at large refused to accept officially any defense in which the betas of Germany professed that they were merely followers, a pretty smart guy named Stanley Milgram decided to test if it were possible after all that people in general would really be willing to simply follow a maniacal leader to commit genocide. What he found was to say the least, chilling.

Of Milgram’s original 40 test subjects, 4 were removed from the study due to a breakdown of the control conditions, (the actors involved failed to convince the test subjects of the ruse,) 35 deliberately killed off their victims, and 1 person refused. The single failure by the way was a Catholic Priest, scoring one for those of you with faith. Our humanity really is connected to our faith in a higher power. Also of note, Milgram eventually lost his job at Yale due to the fall out from this experiment, as many of those tested over the course of this study needed psychological counseling due to their realization that they were indeed willing to commit murder simply because a person in authority ordered them to do so. If WWII proved one thing, it is that human beings are predisposed to be followers, and that we are capable of being manipulated in mass, even if that manipulation leads us to do terrible things. For those of you who say it could never happen again, I would simply point to Josef Stalin’s mass murder in the Soviet Union, and Pol Pot’s mass murder in Cambodia, both of which happened after WWII. Both were instances of subordinates being ordered to exterminate millions of people based on ideological or racial grounds, and following those orders without question or failure.

I’m sure that many who read this will be those precious few alphas who are leaders and not followers, but the vast majority will be followers who view themselves as leaders. In Milgram’s experiment, each of the subjects was interviewed prior to the testing, and each one of them professed their belief that they were strong enough to stand out from the crowd and were essentially non-conformist in nature. My personal belief is that the first step in controlling these parts of our nature, genetically coded into us through millennia of natural selection, is recognition of the existence of this truth. Only by recognizing that we are being led against our will, or fearful for possibly irrational reasons, can we overcome the effects of those realities.

Always question the premise for which information is presented to you. Don’t allow for others to frame the debates of the day, dictating terms upon which decisions are made. We, as people with inalienable rights granted by our creator have a say so in matters pertaining to our existence as well, meaning, self determination. As a small lad who was a member of BBYO, (for you Christians out there, think church youth group,) I participated in a leadership weekend. There was some hippie present who taught us a class in Group Dynamics, doubtless based on his work at some leftist corner of what ever institution of higher learning was providing him protection from the consequences of living in the real world. We glossed over the basics of recognizing that when collected together as a group, people will begin to act in concert in certain respects, without recognizing the phenomenon. This behavior will begin to take on a life of its own, and will do so in every instance of any group’s formation. Even today, and in the most unlikeliest of places, I can see evidence of this in motion. Not only can this group behavior be noticed, but it can be manipulated, and most of the members of the group will follow suit. There probably will be a few dissident influences, but there is a methodology of dealing with those as well. The means of dealing with those dissident influences is easier for leaders who are organized, and looking out for them specifically. The success of the dissidents, similarly depends upon the ability to organize, but that success can be accomplished. For what makes groups easy to manipulate, is also the thing that the manipulators fear the most, and that is the recognition of the manipulation. People are generally not pleased to learn that they’ve been conned. They’re downright mad beyond belief if they feel that they’ve been led to a bad end.

Milgram’s test subjects did not just go away after his experiments were done. They contacted the University in New Haven, Connecticut demanding his head upon the realization that he had played with their emotions, consciousness, and pointed out how easily they could be led into tossing aside their humanity. The people of Germany held war crimes trials for decades after the original Nuremberg Trials had ceased, hunting people for prosecution deemed to low on the totem pole to be considered war criminals by the International Court. Truth and knowledge are the tools which will make combating the weapons of the left possible.

Cross Posted from Musings of a Mad Conservative.

America Truly Is The Greatest Country In The World

by Bunk Five Hawks X ( 53 Comments › )
Filed under Christianity, Elections, Elections 2012, Free Speech, Healthcare, History, Holocaust, Military, Nazism, Open thread, Patriotism, Politics, Progressives, Second Amendment, Socialism, World War II at July 4th, 2012 - 9:00 am

Kitty Werthmann was born in Austria and witnessed the effects of Hitler’s policies first hand. The article below dates to at least 1996 -I found it in the July 2012 issue of Military. As we approach another Independence Day it seems entirely appropriate for recirculation, especially in this election year.

Commentors on the websites where the article appears generally consider it to be historically accurate, with the exception of her description of the Austrian election which was a contrived fraud. Others corroborate her story. Left-leaning blogs dismiss Werthmann due to her religion, her position on the 2nd Amendment, her age, and especially because she’s a popular speaker at TEA Party rallies. One website even described her article as pure propaganda.

Regardless of the criticisms, it’s a must-read, IMO. -Bunk X
_______________________________________________________________

America Truly Is The Greatest Country In The World.

By: Kitty Werthmann

What I am about to tell you is something you’ve probably never heard or will ever read in history books. I believe that I am an eyewitness to history. I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history. We elected him by a landslide – 98% of the vote. I’ve never read that in any American publications. Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.

In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our workforce was unemployed. We had 25% inflation and 25% bank loan interest rates.

Farmers and business people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from house to house begging for food. Not that they didn’t want to work; there simply weren’t any jobs. My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping people in need. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people – about 30 daily.

The Communist Party and the National Socialist Party were fighting each other. Blocks and blocks of cities like Vienna, Linz, and Graz were destroyed. The people became desperate and petitioned the government to let them decide what kind of government they wanted.

We looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany, where Hitler had been in power since 1933. We had been told that they didn’t have unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living. Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group—Jewish or otherwise. We were led to believe that everyone was happy. We wanted the same way of life in Austria. We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back. Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler.

We were overjoyed, and, for three days, we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades. The new government opened up big field kitchens and everyone was fed. (more…)

La Libertad

by Bunk Five Hawks X ( 57 Comments › )
Filed under Art, OOT, Open thread at June 25th, 2012 - 9:30 pm

This edition of the OOT is dedicated to Aaron Worthing.

Bruno Bozetto‘s short animations have been around for years, and this one is very appropriate in view of current events, both online and in meatworld. Presenting one minute and eleven seconds of pure concise brilliance, here on
The Overnight Open Thread.

Update: Robert Stacy McCain has more on Aaron Worthing’s SWATting.

Older than dirt!

by 1389AD ( 62 Comments › )
Filed under Food and Drink, History, Humor, Open thread, Regulation at March 15th, 2012 - 11:00 pm

Storehouse of data
How well do you remember life before the digital age?

Zombie: New Rules for Old Farts

Zombie never fails to entertain. Read Zombie’s article and the comments that follow, and see how much of it applies to you!

How Did We Make It this Far?

This list has been making the rounds on the Internet, at least since 2002, and probably before.

How much more freedom have we lost since then?

Somehow we survived!!!

Looking back, it’s hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have…

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to mention hitchhiking to town as a young kid!)

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times we learned to solve the problem.

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day.

No cell phones. Unthinkable.

We played dodgeball and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth and there were no law suits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame but us. Remember accidents?

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.

We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda but we were never overweight … we were always outside playing.

We shared one grape soda with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this?

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X Boxes, video games at all, 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cellular phones, Personal Computers, internet chat rooms, … we had friends. We went outside and found them.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s home and knocked on the door, or rung the bell or just walked in and talked to them.

Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world! Without a guardian. How did we do it?

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.

We ate penny candy, swallowed bubblegum -and our intestines did not stick together because of it.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment.

Some students weren’t as smart as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade … Horrors. Tests were not adjusted for any reason.

Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No one to hide behind. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law, imagine that!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years has been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility,! and we learned how to deal with it all. And you’re one of them. Congratulations!

Please pass this on to others that have had the luck to grow up as kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good?

Not.