Two divergent worlds have been created in this nation, and they seem to be diverging further by the day.
One is comprised of individuals with a left-leaning worldview/perspective. Speaking broadly, this group is prizes traditional educational structures, receives its informational inputs from the mainstream press, and is heavily involved in professions involving Tech, Law, Media and Academia, and service in the Federal gov’t.
The other is comprised of those with a right-leaning worldview/perspective. Again speaking broadly, this group prizes intelligence expressed as common sense and problem solving ability over traditional education and educational structures, which many on the right are beginning to lose faith in. They often seek out ‘alternative’ media sources for their information, believing their points of view to be ignored or misrepresented by the mainstream, and tend to prize hard work and personal responsibility. They tend to be overrepresented in positions such as Farming and Energy production, Construction, Military service, but also make up a sizeable majority of Surgeons and Entrepreneurs.
These groups have always eyed one another across a great divide, often misunderstanding one another, and in many cases not making the effort to attempt to understand one another. There’s always been a level of friction, largely arising out of this misunderstanding, but also out of legitimate and foundational differences with regards to the best path forward for our nation. It might be argued there are real benefits to this constant tension, if kept in check by our traditions of justice, civility, nobility of discourse and tone. After all, without disagreement and discord, ideas and policies aren’t submitted to a trial by fire, and wouldn’t be heavily scrutinized and skeptically examined, to assure our time and energies and monies were put to the most efficient and effective use.
However. . .
Over the past year or so, we’ve entered unprecedented territory. These two worlds have sprinted down their opposite paths to such an extent that they’re hardly able to see one another anymore, let alone hear one another, or having meaningful and heartfelt discussion. While the causes for this are numerous and complex, there’s a singular force that stands out as the culprit of all culprits, a force seemingly intent on stoking these flames and furthering this divide, no matter the cost. A force far more powerful than any President or elected official, and in fact until very recently possessing the power to help make or break politicians with relative ease. A force more powerful even than money and high finance, and in fact capable of helping influence the rules and regulations and general structure of just how money interacts with individuals and nations and the world at large.
In short, everything is downstream from this singular force. The reason? This force shapes our minds. It not only provides us with the norms by which we determine what is right or wrong, normal or abnormal, healthy or unhealthy, and thus serves to essentially dictate the cultural narrative, but it can also shape what we think, how we think, and what we think about. There is no other force that rivals the amount of true power wielded, all things being considered considered, by our mainstream press.
There was a time in our nation when our major news organizations were focused on informing the public. News was their business, and if they were trying to influence and manipulate in a powerful manner, they were rank amateurs, as any broadcast from the earliest eras of the television will quickly prove. Very quickly, however, certain vested interests realized the immense potential behind such a direct (and trusted) connection to the average individual at home, and in the decades since, our major news networks have fallen into the hands of men with motives, or, failing this, men seeking financial gain and thus fully willing to serve other men with motives to attain their final aims. Google ‘Operation Mockingbird’, if you don’t recognize the term, and realize almost every intelligence agency operation goes dark and proceeds to operate in the shadows via our ‘black budget’ the moment it obtains real success.
The tactics used to guide and herd the population into acceptance or rejection of a given idea or cultural narrative have been honed to an absolute science, over the decades. Refined to such an extent, in fact, that even the most astute and on-guard viewer often won’t notice many of them. Outright and obviously disprovable lies have no place in the mainstream press, and are the tools of simpletons and tinpot dictators who don’t know how to play the game. The human mind has an immediate and intense aversion to such things, and is capable of recognizing and rejecting them with relative ease. The mind control (and there is no better word here) employed by the modern press is far more masterful, subtle. To give an example: A knowledge of psychology leads to the realization that when trying to convince, you musn’t reveal your own opinion, as this immediately places the listener on the defensive, and causes them to filter your words due to their potential bias, and leaves them wanting to hear the other side of the debate. Instead, why not convene a ‘panel’ which seems to represent several points of view? Instead of them telling you what they think, or how to think, what if they each dropped several subtle hints, but allowed you to connect the dots, allowing a listener to walk away with the feeling that not only have they heard both sides, but that they’ve come to your own conclusions accordingly? Always maintain a facade of professionalism, intelligence, strict formality of tone/speech/bearing, and use doublespeak as often and efficiently as possible (ex: If you’re seeking to convince the listener of the need for an additional military adventure, frame the aggression as ‘defense’, the war as ‘peace keeping’ activity, the death and devastation it’ll inevitably cause as for ‘humanitarian purposes’). This is vital, as our brains are wired to pay more attention to the way in which words are said, than in the words themselves, and ones ability to lie and get away with it is in direct correlation to their ability to stay composed, confident, and appear as reasonable, intelligent, thoughtful.
For decades, the mainstream press was the undisputed king of our hearts and minds, the shepherd at the helm, always pointing out what to focus on, and subsequently interpreting this object of focus for us, in a professionally produced and remarkably persuasive manner. A large segment of the American population had been feeling increasingly skeptical and uneasy about the general tone of their coverage and the narratives they’d craft, but this was all simmering below the surface, with seemingly no outlet or effective means of expression. Then, suddenly, everything changed. . . in strode one of the most unprecedented individuals in modern American history, a New York construction tycoon who seemed to be part celebrity, part negotiator, part informal goofball and part steely eyed killer. Donald Trump was the bull in the china shop that nobody, anywhere, expected. . . and a man nobody had a playbook on how to handle or control.
And this moment, right here, is when these two groups began their all-out sprint away from one another, with nary a single glance backwards as they ran. A seismic shift had begun even during the primary runoffs, though it wasn’t recognized until much later, that’d serve to change this nation forever.
Initially, he was treated as a joke. Smugness and condescension was rampant, in media circles, as they spoke of the man in the most mocking and dismissive tone imaginable, as did a good portion of the nation. After it became obvious that he’d seem to have struck some type of chord with tens of millions, and especially middle America, the tone began to shift, and they were forced to treat him more seriously. They began a more organized and well-organized assault, to which Trump responded in kind, both with more soundbyte fodder for the late night news, as well as barbed and aggressive retorts against the media themselves, to a degree not seen before. Apparently, the idea on both sides was to double down, and this became the underlying premise behind the combative relationship as it evolved over time.
Flash forward to present: The mainstream press in this nation hates Donald J. Trump, with the fire of ten-thousand suns. I use this word considerately, purposefully, and not for shock effect. . its a generalization, of course, but a ‘just’ one, and true to an unprecedented extent. Regardless of your feelings about the man, and even many of his supporters often cringe at his crude or simplistic informal manner of speaking, I think most Americans can now recognize and agree with this. What we’re witnessing at present is abject hatred, barely restrained, and even then only for public consumption. Trump represents everything they hate. He is white, male, of a Christian background, believes in borders and national sovereignty and has expressed distaste with our seemingly never-ending cycle of military adventures abroad. He also knows how corruption works, and how destructive it can be to a business, or a nation. In short, he is the single greatest threat to represent the DC applecart that this nation has seen in most of our lifetimes, but any objective standard.
He’s immediately set to work changing laws governing term limits, lobbyists and lobbying, campaign finance, and threatens to look into issues such as voting irregularities and the type of pay-to-play behavior our nation has stumbled into with gusto. Nearly his every action threatens the ‘deep state’ of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats and those who have made a killing during our push towards globalism and a unipolar structure of political and economic governance. He has, essentially declared war on the old way of doing things, and the power brokers of the status quo.
These power brokers refuse to go gently into that good night. The mainstream press is their rage, manifested and weaponized. We currently live in a world in which you can simply purchase a megaphone, such as a New York Times or Washington Post, if you’ve made enough money to do so. With the stroke of a pen, you have the ability to influence and shape countless millions. Even if you’re not their direct informational input, you’re guaranteed to be an indirect input, through discussions and debates between friends, family members, co-workers, or strangers online. It’s my contention that this power is being grossly misused in a number of ways in the modern age, one of the most nefarious of which is an attempt to overturn our democratic process via the creation of smoke, 24–7 over a period of several months, and then gesticulating wildly and histrionically towards said smoke, hinting that surely there must be fire. And this Russophobic narrative, so reminiscent of the ‘weapons of mass destruction’ narrative that brought us into the Iraq war, is not merely geared to impeach a president. Rest assured, the main aim here is a hot war with Russia, according to nearly all high level thinktank policy papers, and the prevailing tone of the discussions between those who even still have the real power in this nation. Russia is predominantly Orthodox Christian, Russia is steadfastly anti-Globalist, Russia quickly got wise to the Oligarchs shameless looting of her ever last resource, and was able to step in and stop them before they bled the nation dry. Putin refuses to play ball. . . and thus Russia, as we currently know her, must be destroyed. Those who have benefited from windfall profits in every recent military adventure have trillions at stake, here.
Our modern press has become a weapon, and remains far and away the most powerful weapon in the modern world. Previously, its been capable of beating down and destroying all challengers, and even making it look easy, in the process. Create a scandal, pile on, patiently await a tearful or contrite press conference and a bowing out from the fray. Can’t find a scandal that gains traction? Find 10,000 instances to exaggerate or mischaracterize into potential mini-scandals. Is there no truth to any of them? Never fear. . just keep asking questions about them that you know can’t be answered. . suspicion alone, even without a shred of factual basis to stand on, is almost always enough to marginalize and diminish your foe. The mainstream press of today is the ‘advertising’ front for the deep state in the western world, similar to how a commercial attaches positive associations and diminishes negative associations with a ‘brand’, our MSM dutifully carries out its task of paving the way for its ideological allies and fellow travelers, and maligning and defaming its foes, assuring that their voices are either not heard, or heard in a shrewdly manipulated way, designed to blunt or prevent any momentum or inertia.
The hateful tone has dragged a large portion of the left-leaning population with it. Many of whom are good people, with America’s best interests at heart, have felt emboldened fighting against a man who is portrayed as Satan himself. Many on the left believe they have history on their side, as well as the noble high ground. After a year of round the clock exaggeration and mischaracterization to a degree unprecedented in modern history, its difficult to blame them. In the current era one has to treat all informational inputs as a detective, examining potential motive-force of the author or presenter, and few have the time or inclination to do this any longer. The logical and intuitive assumption would naturally be that if you’re universally scorned across nearly every major cultural megaphone in the nation, you simply must be a horrible person. . and this logic is difficult to argue with, on its face. If one accepts this logical, naturally the only thing a decent human being could do in such a case is resist such evil aggressively, by any means necessary. If Trump is Satan, we must remove this threat to our existence, immediately.
Meanwhile, the right has dug in further, and grown further enraged. Many of those who don’t recognize the intellectual dishonesty in a direct and transparent way can instead sense or feel it, on some deeper level, and recognize something seems very wrong, very unjust. This creates a rabid devotion to the President, and an intense skepticism to any criticism thereof, even when justified. Finally, and sadly, its beginning to create an equal and opposite hatred, the flames of which are stoked still further with each passing hour of CNN or MSNBC, with each turn of the page of WaPo or NYT.
We have battle lines drawn, and are seeing an increase in violence and threats of violence, every day. We see the ‘other’ as less intelligent, less reasonable, and far more importantly less human. Whether these feelings are allowed to snowball to an inevitable end, or whether our healthier instincts as human beings allows us to stand up and embrace all that is good and noble in one another, remains to be seen.
I’m going to close with this extremely important note. . our way of life at present is not a ‘given’. It’s not some organic happening, inevitable with technological progress and the passage of time. We take for granted that we live in a civilized and orderly world, for the most part, governed by a sense of innate justice, law and order, an environment safe and secure enough to allow for us to dream and create and build and progress. Without this firm foundation, life is essentially chaos. . and these energies we’re currently able to devote creating and dreaming are then, by necessity, devoted to staying alive, protecting ourselves or friends or family. . subsistence existence. We’ve lived in this current sort of world for so long that the alternative is scarcely imaginable. . comfort and security are all we really know. To the great credit of our ancestors, we now lack any other reference points.
What I’m sensing in the air at present is something entirely new. . there’s a whiff of the law of the jungle, in the air.
It only takes a single spark to ignite a wildfire, with conditions so primed.
If you feel the individual across the isle has the betterment of the nation at heart, embrace them for this, even if the details differ, knowing that there are many (especially in positions of power) that aren’t of this caliber. If we’re capable of redrawing these factions not on partisan lines, but on genuineness, goodness and nobility of spirit versus greed, bitterness and parasitism, we can pull out of this tailspin, and usher in an immeasurably better world.
If we can’t, we’ll be charting a course directly into uncharted waters, and potentially ushering in a modern dark-age. . and suffering to an extent quite literally unimaginable to most Americans currently living in unprecedented comfort and convenience.
Which way, western man?
“I love the valiant; but it is not enough to wield broadsword, one must know against whom. And often there is more valor when one refrains and passes by, in order to save oneself for the worthier enemy”
— Friedrich Nietzsche
(reprinted from my article at Minds.com, the last bastion of truly free speech on the internet)
