So there I am enjoying a coffee whilst browsing through the social media forums – as many people do nowadays. One particular Tweet from Chris Choi, Consumer Editor at ITV, made me guffaw as I sipped my drink – I nearly bloody choked!
I suppose it wasn’t that funny really but at the time, it just appealed to my often cynical and satirical mind. That kind of mind that often finds humour in irony… It read; “Every Time I Google “flood” I get stories about Romanians coming to Britain!”
This particular minutia of electronic social exchange struck an often used chord in my brain’s irony channel. So much so it also prompted me to announce my mirth to the world via Twitter. This inadvertent and uncontrollable spraying of coffee across the room might make a follower or two smile? We all take life too seriously sometimes and what harm a little light relief?. 🙂
As with many insignificant (and hopefully innocuous) exchanges in Social Media, one small comment can often result in heated debate, opinion and sometimes, maybe even some caustic or acidic debate.
I have my Twitter account connected with my Facebook account. It allows me firstly to update both from one secondly, it cuts down on how social media impacts upon my time and thirdly, it allows me to communicate with a greater audience than a single platform allows. It’s also a useful feature for a lazy arse!
And so one of those (mostly unexpected) debates unfolded as my brother, often like me, he chose to leap onto his soapbox and offer me his particular ha‘porth of ‘enlightened’ opinion…
History Lesson: every time a government wishes to distract attention from their own failures they use fear of immigrants, or whatever story they can create at the time… Fact last time they used these stories it turned out to be a total fabrication with POLISH people ACTUALLY leaving in their droves, behind the STORIES the then government were privately creating the situation while publicly saying they were trying to stop it as always they LIE it’s their JOB (Tim A Hasney)
The article and attached chart, which he kindly pointed me in the direction of (see here), was designed to highlight his opinion. Sadly again, it’s actually an opinion that is being evidenced as fact on ever-increasing scales, thanks in many respects to the powers of social media. The piece starts by saying; “Democracy is dependent upon an electorate that is accurately informed.” That’s wholly correct but unfortunately (often) not the case. It is a major reason behind internet control in countries like China (see here), and more recently Turkey (see here). Unliked controlling regimes can’t afford to let their people possess any great levels of information after all – “Information is Power” – isn’t it?
The exchange with my brother continued…
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Me: My guffaw was merely a mirthful acknowledgment of the irony!
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Him: Psycho social feedback loops rely on just that to work the “hypnotic submodallities that CONtrol the Mindless Masses” ~Milton Ericson
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Me: So now I’m mindless and should subscribe to your ethos that says all our lives are controlled by a few for their gain? So be it, I’ll acknowledge I’m merely an engineered clone of the self-interest of politically engineered commercialism! There you go I’ve ‘opened’ my mind, can I now have a small slice of your Nirvana please?
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Him: The subtleties of the big picture are not that easy to portray in words & no offence was intended, I again say the power of social media is rarely if ever the host but more the silent masses who read but rarely comment the tipping point of mass change is here as everyday more & more awaken from the intentional and deliberate hypnotic slumber that has been their reality, eagerly searching for the information to understand that wich has been hidden in plain sight for all who wish to see….
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Me: Perhaps and surprisingly in a way, we’re actually in total agreement on many aspects? Merely, we choose to express our opinion in different formats. The ‘awakening’ we’re both experiencing will however be worthless without society as a whole changing its methods born out of greed…can’t see it coming to fruition some how…can you?
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Him: Patterns of a society are created just like anything else they can be changed once an understanding of how they were created is in the public domain … Greed is a creation of the propaganda of the few who control most forms of media … The social awakening is gaining momentum the radically new social model is in its latter stages though MSM would not entertain that possibility of its existence, preferring to air celebrity B$ as NEW$… everyday more and more people ask questions people who were calling me crazy several yrs ago now openly ask questions i was only trying to understand back then…
Surprisingly it only actual takes a small number in any society (the square root of 1%) to create major change ~Malcom Gladwell (The Tipping Point)
Sometimes I find it a little difficult to grasp the actual point my brother is trying to make, apart from highlighting the presence of social engineering in the governance of today’s society. But worse still, much of that social engineering is actually covertly driven by western commercial interests and often, via political puppets. It’s the darker side of Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and, like much of this ‘Mumbo Jumbo’ type of stuff, it found the majority of it’s roots in the USA.
NLP, is an approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy that was created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in California during the 1970s. Its creators claim, much to the delight of ‘believers’ that; a connection between the neurological (‘neuro’) processes, language (‘linguistic’) and behavioral patterns learned through experience (“programming”), can be changed to achieve specific goals in life.
Many also believe it actually has the (disputed) power to change all the wants, desires, thoughts and beliefs of others. NLP has been characterized as a ‘New Age’ pseudoscience and described by many in psychology as a “cult” activity with “little scientific credibility.” It is however inextricably linked or connected with not only Social Engineering but also, Media Manipulation, Propaganda and Psycological Warfare.
Irrespective of any NLP values to individuals searching for self-worth, the greater issue in all this ‘conspiracy of state’ theory is; they (Governments and/or Commerce) will continue to get away with all this simply because – far too many people actually don’t/won’t to think about what they hear or see.
They are happy with the Status Quo, just so long as their particular ‘lot’ remains unaffected. Perhaps now, mostly due to the fact many more people are enduring hardships, that were mostly previously unknown (at least from a personal perspective).
Interestingly, one respondent to the original article posted by my brother asked; “Is it plausible that the media we consume plays a part in this sort of skewed perception?” The answer has to be a resounding Yes! Often our ‘skewed perceptions’ actually result from blind acceptance of what we here/see, especially when it comes from a ‘reputable’ source. I’m sad to say it but; many of those so-called ‘reputable’ sources are actually no more reliable than drug induced figments of our imagination.
To top it all, these ‘reliable’ sources also have politically and/or commercially motivated agendas of their own. When they’re also drip-fed information manipulated by public bodies and corporations, it compounds the issue. All that before we even start to consider the mischievous behaviour of many journalists to get a scoop! The covert but now well-known facts around fudging of Crime Statistics is just one such example!
The power of deeply-held and deeply-vested belief is awesome. If a belief is bolstered with an organized system of supporting fabricated material or if a belief is important to one’s feeling of security, the mind will do whatever is necessary to maintain the belief, hallucinating, if necessary. Belief can lift one to heroics or cause one to destroy oneself…(see note below)
Any educated person should be able to see all the connections here however; irrespective of which train of thought you subscribe to (or think is correct), it’s certainly a factor worthy of careful consideration when (and if) you ever wonder or question…why we think the way we do?
If nothing else comes of today’s debate at least I gained a new follower on Twitter which is a good result… Welcome aboard to @SarcasmLeague 🙂
Note: The quote above was sourced from – Chap5: The Pathology of Belief – The Origin of Social Dysfunction: The Pathology of Cultural Delusion. Everett E. Allie 1999 accessed 07Feb2014
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