. . . and similar manipulative spin and mob-ocracy games masquerading as truth, news, knowledge/education, etc now clearly needs to be confronted — if we are to think straight and act soundly in good time to avoid going over the cliff as a civilisation:
Of Lemmings, marches of folly and cliffs of self-falsifying absurdity . . .
The Parable of Plato’s Cave (and the linked idea of the Overton Window):
. . . has much to teach us in a media-dominated age where manipulators keep trying to push/pull our window of acceptability through deceit, poison, accusation, polarising and more.
Especially if we ask ourselves: how does the shadow show come to be, and how is a community so manipulated that it loses contact with objective reality?
Acts 27 gives us a picture in miniature (once we realise that it was common knowledge that some seasons were dangerous for sailing in the Mediterranean basin of 2,000 years ago, but that many people can be induced to go along with those they look up to for leadership, power and expertise):
>>Ac 27:4 . . . putting out to sea from there [= Sidon] we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us.5 And when we had sailed across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia.6 There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy and put us on board.7 We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind did not allow us to go farther, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone.8 Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea.
9 Since much time had passed, and the voyage was now dangerous because even the Fast[a] was already over, Paul advised them,10 saying, “Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.”11 But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said.12 And because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there, on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing both southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.
The Storm at Sea
13 Now when the south wind blew gently, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to the shore.14 But soon a tempestuous wind, called the northeaster, struck down from the land.15 And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along.16 Running under the lee of a small island called Cauda,[b] we managed with difficulty to secure the ship’s boat.17 After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird [= frap] the ship. Then, fearing that they would run aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the gear,[c] and thus they were driven along.18 Since we were violently storm-tossed, they began the next day to jettison the cargo.19 And on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands.20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.
21 Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss.22 Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.23 For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship,24 and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’25 So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.26 But we must run aground on some island.”>>
Here, Mr Moneybags and his bought- and- paid- for technico manipulated the passengers and the Centurion into going along with a foolhardy voyage. That Jeremiah over there in chains with scars from three previous shipwrecks? Just ignore that half-mad idiot rejected by his own people. We are the experts and our consensus is, we can do it . . . it will only take an afternoon’s sail on a comfortable reach to go forty miles to a safe and commodious harbour. Of course, the predictable result of turning democracy into a manipulated de-mockracy, was shipwreck.
And, on many, many dimensions, that is exactly what we face today.
(BTW, I think we would all profit from reading and viewing this Melanie Philips article and video interview here.)
Our challenge is to de-spin the dominant agenda and its seven mountains/ commanding heights citadels, to come to a critical mass of prudence towards a sounder more sustainable alternative:
Oh yes, I doubt that it is a mere accident that the Limousine torched on Trump’s Inauguration day
. . . was rented for Wallnau, and that the bought and paid for “Anarchists” — a dead political movement if ever there was one — claimed to be “We the People.”
Where, it is worth the while to pause and unpack the old Soviet/Bolshevik term, agit prop.
Namely, it strictly/narrowly . . . per current dictionary definitions . . . speaks to twisting the theatre, arts, literature and the like into propaganda. However, on both the history and the inherent dynamics as work it readily extends to the mob-ocracy game, in which the streets and news media or institutions of intellectual leadership and education — notice the appeals to “consensus” on matters of controversy or where something is patently wrong with the dominant and too often domineering schools of thought . . . — are turned into a grand theatre projecting shadow shows confused for reality.
Often, such shadow shows are sponsored by governments, sometimes by powerful factions. And of course, such theatre too often becomes bloody, creating a horrific escalating spiral of chaos, confusion, retaliation and polarisation.
U/D, Feb 2 — it looks like live events are demonstrating my point:
Here is a girl being struck and pepper-sprayed at UC Berkeley for the thought crime of objecting to the riots:
(Ask yourself, what if she has a medical condition such as grand mal epilepsy or asthma or the like that could be triggered, sometimes with severe consequences? Do these rioters think or care about what fires they could be playing with?)
Likewise, people are being chased and struck to the ground by blackshirts (pardon language that pops up):
Here is some media coverage, in this case backgrounders leading up to a telephone interview with the proposed speaker whose speech event was shut down by the riot:
(I further understand her husband was beaten unconscious [which more or less implies concussion injuries] with several of his ribs being broken.)
U/D Feb 6th: The friend “pepper” sprayed during an interview also speaks out about the attack, indicating that it was the identification as My/Trump supporters that triggered the first and second attacks:
(And in case you think pepper spraying is minor, consider the implicit threat as something much more destructive up to a poison gas could easily have been used. BTW, why didn’t someone realise, assault with a potentially deadly weapon and tackle this suspect/perpetrator to the ground? ANS: People are not trained for that and by the time you observe, orient, decide and begin to react [cf. on John Boyd’s OODA Loop, here] it is over for good or ill; that is why trained security should have been right there, preferably law enforcement. It is also why a clear entry area protected by barriers with adequate separation should have been in place . . . another point of negligence by the authorities. Likewise consider how dazzling was used to initiate the second attack, which ended in mayhem: disorientation that could easily have prepared for anything from kidnapping to stabbing or shooting. If the pepper spray woman can be caught and interrogated, this would be important as she — it is likely to have been one individual — initiated the attack sequence. Given the hostile nature of the interview, perhaps it would be useful to interrogate the interviewer as possibly being complicit given what happened and what could all too easily have happened. Then, compare this sort of coverage with how the major media have treated the events at UCB last Wednesday evening, to see how street agitation and bully-boy tactics then feed into the theatre of narrative propaganda, spin tactics, gaslighting and outright brainwashing. Something truly ugly is going on.)
U/D Feb 5th: Meanwhile, we have a picture of police in riot gear inside the student union while riot-induced chaos was going on outside:
The poster of this very tellingly asks:
>>I was at UC Berkeley last night. Here is a pic I got after the speech cancellation of nearly 100 SWAT and campus police sitting inside the student union building doing NOTHING while people were getting beaten outside. WHO told them to stand down?>>
Further U/D Feb 5, pm: Notice — HT Zero Hedge, Feb 2nd — how the street theatre then gets projected by the media houses (CNN as an example, but take note of ZH’s own perspectives, too . . . ) to suit their particular agendas and narratives:
Under certain circumstances, agit prop becomes not just rioting but rebellion and guerrilla war — these days, 4th generation war [think of how the Palestinian Arab uprisings and declaratively genocidal terrorism campaigns have come to be viewed as “liberation” struggles by many across the world . . . ] — or even radical revolution.
I again point to the de-spinning framework I developed a decade ago:
Let us wake up to what is in front of us regarding not just design debates but ever so many issues and agendas across our civilisation. Plato’s grim warning from nearly 2360 years ago, is again all too apt:
>>
Ath [in The Laws, Bk X 2,350+ ya]. . . .[The avant garde philosophers and poets, c. 360 BC] say that fire and water, and earth and air [i.e the classical “material” elements of the cosmos], all exist by nature and chance, and none of them by art . . . [such that] all that is in the heaven, as well as animals and all plants, and all the seasons come from these elements, not by the action of mind, as they say, or of any God, or from art, but as I was saying, by nature and chance only [ –> that is, evolutionary materialism is ancient and would trace all things to blind chance and mechanical necessity] . . . .
[Thus, they hold] that the principles of justice have no existence at all in nature, but that mankind are always disputing about them and altering them; and that the alterations which are made by art and by law have no basis in nature, but are of authority for the moment and at the time at which they are made.-
[ –> Relativism, too, is not new; complete with its radical amorality rooted in a worldview that has no foundational IS that can ground OUGHT, leading to an effectively arbitrary foundation only for morality, ethics and law: accident of personal preference, the ebbs and flows of power politics, accidents of history and and the shifting sands of manipulated community opinion driven by “winds and waves of doctrine and the cunning craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming . . . ” cf a video on Plato’s parable of the cave; from the perspective of pondering who set up the manipulative shadow-shows, why.]
These, my friends, are the sayings of wise men, poets and prose writers, which find a way into the minds of youth. They are told by them that the highest right is might,
[ –> Evolutionary materialism — having no IS that can properly ground OUGHT — leads to the promotion of amorality on which the only basis for “OUGHT” is seen to be might (and manipulation: might in “spin”) . . . ]
and in this way the young fall into impieties, under the idea that the Gods are not such as the law bids them imagine; and hence arise factions [ –> Evolutionary materialism-motivated amorality “naturally” leads to continual contentions and power struggles influenced by that amorality at the hands of ruthless power hungry nihilistic agendas], these philosophers inviting them to lead a true life according to nature, that is,to live in real dominion over others [ –> such amoral and/or nihilistic factions, if they gain power, “naturally” tend towards ruthless abuse and arbitrariness . . . they have not learned the habits nor accepted the principles of mutual respect, justice, fairness and keeping the civil peace of justice, so they will want to deceive, manipulate and crush — as the consistent history of radical revolutions over the past 250 years so plainly shows again and again], and not in legal subjection to them [–> nihilistic will to power not the spirit of justice and lawfulness].
>>
To be forewarned is — if we are wise — to be forearmed. END
Comments
What has the mainstream media been reporting on this?
Protesters at Portland International Airport in Oregon attacked a Donald Trump supporter on Sunday, knocking him unconscious after repeatedly hitting him in the head.
http://freebeacon.com/culture/trump-supporter-unconscious-protesters/
I haven’t seen anything.
What would the coverage be if it was the other way around? (A Trump supporter attacking an anti-Trump protester). Is that what we mean by unbiased News reporting? Or, is it an example of a double standard?
Of course, maybe the MSM is just being careful-- double checking their sources. Yeah, right.john_a_designer
January 31, 2017
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SA, yup. Had a conversation recently that went down just that line. Years ago, you seemed to be talking outlandish things, but now I see and that makes a difference. KFkairosfocus
January 31, 2017
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The journey from the emptiness of atheism to the union of mind, heart and existence with God ... has to begin with sincerity, and with taking serious issues seriously.Silver Asiatic
January 31, 2017
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Looks like a drive-by troll strike meant to support gloating elsewhere.kairosfocus
January 31, 2017
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F/N: I decided to augment my above at 31:
(Mebbe, some are too busy at the airports etc sucker-clubbing those they mob . . . or loading a hidden wrench up the sleeve to crack the skull of who they sucker-punch [or . . . ], to be online playing at cyber-trolling and stalking, too. Or, maybe, too busy enabling the black-shirts. [BTW, all of these and worse are known or suspected street agitator tactics; the danger zone for an attacker with a possibly concealed arm’s-length body contact weapon like a knife or a club or knuckleduster or a length of metal pipe or a bottle is 20+ feet. Keep away from such blackshirts unless prepared to use lethal force on a 1/2 second response time, AND to back yourself up in Court from King’s Attorneys and false witnesses out for your neck or life’s savings or career. This is now low grade civil war. And, on what was done to people in Pizza Parlors and bake shops, do not speak to them off mike beyond a standard script. Advisable, I need to call my supervisor or the like. This is now deadly serious, why on God’s earth did the USA elect a trained “Community Organiser” as President, this is his legacy.])
A word to the wise; earned the hard way 30+ years ago when I dealt with commi agit-prop experts trained in Havana and Moscow.
KFkairosfocus
January 31, 2017
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what’s happened guys? This place has turned into almost a total echo chamber. Most of the comments on this post are by the author. Are there any active dissenting voices on UD? Must get boring huh?
I don't know what happened. But with KF maybe the dissent was more like hatred and obfuscation. And others, years ago thought this was an easy target. Spread some ridicule and walk away untouched. But it's not like that.
We might have lost some agitators on our side also.
It does get a little boring at times (for someone like me who likes encountering the opposition's view) - but that could be a good thing. Some very good work is being done pro-ID and it doesn't need to be a war-zone here for more of that to continue.Silver Asiatic
January 31, 2017
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Pindi,
the run-away is obvious and reveals by the co-ordinated cutoff that we were facing co-ordinated abusive trolling for YEARS.
(Mebbe, some are too busy at the airports etc sucker-clubbing those they mob . . . or loading a hidden wrench up the sleeve to crack the skull of who they sucker-punch [or . . . ], to be online playing at cyber-trolling and stalking, too. Or, maybe, too busy enabling the black-shirts. [BTW, all of these and worse are known or suspected street agitator tactics; the danger zone for an attacker with a possibly concealed arm's-length body contact weapon like a knife or a club or knuckleduster or a length of metal pipe or a bottle is 20+ feet. Keep away from such blackshirts unless prepared to use lethal force on a 1/2 second response time, AND to back yourself up in Court from King's Attorneys and false witnesses out for your neck or life's savings or career. This is now low grade civil war. And, on what was done to people in Pizza Parlors and bake shops, do not speak to them off mike beyond a standard script. Advisable, I need to call my supervisor or the like. This is now deadly serious, why on God's earth did the USA elect a trained "Community Organiser" as President, this is his legacy.])
Now, there is a positive and serious discussion in progress on a current and vital matter of interest.
Do you have something significant to say about agit-prop games?
The floor is yours to say something: ________________
(If you are here to troll and distract, that, too will be duly noted.)
KFkairosfocus
January 31, 2017
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Pindi,
You are free to offer an opinion about the content of the OP, if you didn't realize it yet.
Andrewasauber
January 31, 2017
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what's happened guys? This place has turned into almost a total echo chamber. Most of the comments on this post are by the author. Are there any active dissenting voices on UD? Must get boring huh?Pindi
January 31, 2017
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JaD, Trump had a manifesto/platform, which was voted into power by the longstanding terms of the US Constitution, however he is the 4th not to win a global popular majority, thanks to NY and CA (with questions on numbers of illegal votes swirling). Every step has been taken to create a perception of illegitimacy and of tyranny and/or irrationality. This has led to ugly, riotous agit prop street theatre and linked media narratives/spin. Those who are playing these games are pretending that they only can form a legitimate majority and so are undermining the civil peace and stability. Even more ugly, enabling of the ongoing slaughter of 800+ million unborn children is a part of this. Such need to take pause and ponder not only the precedents they are setting but the nature of a federation and why the president is selected by an electoral college, forcing fifty in-parallel elections rather than one grand overall one. The strategists behind these shadow shows clearly do not have the best interests of the American people (and the wider world) in heart. If there is not a wake-up now, there will be disastrous consequences soon. I suspect these want chaos and contention to set the platform for a new order but have misunderstood the real -- or at least the anticipated -- balance of forces. Bluntly, those who make government by laws and votes impossible force us back to Mao's dictum that in the end political power comes out of the barrel of a gun. They need to ask themselves where the balance of firepower lies, and just who are the rank and file of the police and armed services. KF
PS: It is not just propaganda but agitation working with it.kairosfocus
January 31, 2017
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The hysteria, fueled by the mainstream media, over Trump’s so-called “travel ban,” which temporarily inconveniences travelers entering the U.S. from seven radicalized Islamic countries, should give us pause, since it is complicit in fanning the radical demonstration we are seeing at our airports
As the following article points out Trump’s actions are both lawful (based on existing law) and constitutional. In the U.S. the President-- the executive branch-- are charged with enforcing the law.
Trump’s executive order is so modest that the foundation of it is essentially existing law. That law was passed unanimously by both bodies of Congress in 2002. In fact, it garnered the support of 16 Democrat senators and 57 Democrat House members who are still serving in their respective bodies!
Following 9/11, Congress passed the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act, which addressed many of the insecurities in our visa tracking system. The bill passed the House and Senate unanimously…
- See more at: https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2017/01/these-73-sitting-democrats-voted-to-ban-visas-from-some-muslim-countries-that-law-still-exists#sthash.KPjQ7nl2.dpuf
As a new President, Trump also has the right and power to change the policies of the previous administration. This is why we have elections! Trump clearly told the electorate what he intended to do, didn’t he?
This is all U.S. civics 101, something I learned in high school-- but that was before our education system was subverted by the left. Part of the problem is that these things are no longer being taught in our public schools. Ignorance is the main breeding ground of political extremism, both on the left and right.
It is the responsibility of the news media to objectively, accurately and honestly inform (and if need be, educate) people about how the government works. That tragically is no longer taking place in the U.S. What we have instead is advocacy journalism, which is blatantly pushing a secular progressive agenda. That is not news, it is propaganda.john_a_designer
January 31, 2017
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Havel, power of the powerless: http://www.vaclavhavel.cz/showtrans.php?cat=eseje&val=2_aj_eseje.html&typ=HTMLkairosfocus
January 31, 2017
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"Fools who march to win the right to justify their sins;
every nation that has fallen has fallen from within"
--> Was that Dylan or whoever?
--> Marches of folly predictably end in ruin
--> Primary ignorance can be corrected with a teachable spirit but secondary ignorance due to the follies of closed minded indoctrination will require a breaking.
--> Again, let us see what it took Germany to think again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5i9k7s9X_A
--> this is perhaps even more disturbing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2vLZqU_kIQ
--> do we really want to go down that road again? (And no, Trump is no Hitler; if you think that you have proved that you simply do not know what you are talking about while playing with very big matches. [I say that as someone who quite frankly does not like him -- and 501c3 Gestapo, that is a PERSONAL view, not endorsed by UD's management. For just one reference on why I say this, consider his grab them remark. I pray that God's grace will open his eyes, and many eyes.])
--> not, if we are sane.
--> but right now, that is in question.
KFkairosfocus
January 31, 2017
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I do what I can to inform and educate, and I've managed to at least get a couple of relatives to see some of the more blatant stuff; the problem is that people are often committed to their worldviews as being an intrinsic aspect of their identity. That's why the left is committed to identity politics. It relieves them of having to make a rational, evidenced-based case for their views and against any other view.
Virtue-signalling and PC conformity is literally all some people have to base their identity on. That's why they end up being "feminists" at marches orchestrated by Sharia-law advocates; they are virtue-signalled into marching even though they have no idea what they are marching for or who is organizing it or for what ultimate goal. They don't care, as long as they have fulfilled the required signal of virtue at the appointed time and place.William J Murray
January 31, 2017
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SA:
All too true:
Bible reading is an important aspect of culture that seems to be falling away
And of course in our smug and supercilious ignorance we disbelieve those who connect the dots to the consequences.
Consequences, that are all too evident all around.
KF
PS: Let me get very, very explicit, with a pivotal text:
Rom 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation [from His wrath and punishment] to everyone who believes [in Christ as Savior], to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith [disclosed in a way that awakens more faith]. As it is written and forever remains written, “The just and upright shall live by faith.”
Unbelief and Its Consequences
18 For [God does not overlook sin and] the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who in their wickedness suppress and stifle the truth, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them [in their inner consciousness], for God made it evident to them.
20 For ever since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through His workmanship [all His creation, the wonderful things that He has made], so that they [who fail to believe and trust in Him] are without excuse and without defense.
21 For even though [d]they knew God [as the Creator], they did not [e]honor Him as God or give thanks [for His wondrous creation]. On the contrary, they became worthless in their thinking [godless, with pointless reasonings, and silly speculations], and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory and majesty and excellence of the immortal God for [f]an image [worthless idols] in the shape of mortal man and birds and four-footed animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their own hearts to [sexual] impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them [abandoning them to the degrading power of sin], 25 because [by choice] they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading and vile passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural [a function contrary to nature], 27 and in the same way also the men turned away from the natural function of the woman and were consumed with their desire toward one another, men with men committing shameful acts and in return receiving in their own bodies the inevitable and appropriate penalty for their wrongdoing.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or consider Him worth knowing [as their Creator], God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do things which are improper and repulsive, 29 until they were filled (permeated, saturated) with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice and mean-spiritedness. They are gossips [spreading rumors], 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors [of new forms] of evil, disobedient and disrespectful to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful [without pity].
32 Although they know God’s righteous decree and His judgment, that those who do such things deserve death, yet they not only do them, but they even [enthusiastically] approve and tolerate others who practice them. [AMP]
--> Sounds familiar? It should, and this is no "obscure epistle by Paul," it is the cornerstone of Christian, gospel-based theology and has been on record since 57 AD.
PPS: This morning, I am just a bit giddy as I was just able to find and download Savylev's General Physics and Theoretical Physics at archive.orgkairosfocus
January 31, 2017
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Why modern, representational democracy depended on the rise of printing, the widely available Bible, increasing literacy, the reformation this triggered, the daily newspaper and revolutions fought out at great cost?
Bible reading is an important aspect of culture that seems to be falling away. A culture is formed around its sacred text and words -- and this provides the mental formation of the people. With the rise of printing, the same was probably true as today - a flood of various texts came in for people to absorb. But more popular fiction (Dickens, for example) was founded on Bible-principles.
Today it's not a flood of print but etexts of all sorts. Literacy is probably growing, but much of it is used for distractions and the fragmentation of news cycles and social media communication (even just texting by phone).
That's what tends to balkanize society - fracturing unity.Silver Asiatic
January 31, 2017
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F/N: I have cleaned up and slightly updated the OP on agit prop:
it is worth the while to pause and unpack the old Soviet/Bolshevik term, agit prop.
Namely, it strictly/narrowly . . . per current dictionary definitions . . . speaks to twisting the theatre, arts, literature and the like into propaganda. However, on both the history and the inherent dynamics as work it readily extends to the mob-ocracy game, in which the streets and news media or institutions of intellectual leadership and education — notice the appeals to “consensus” on matters of controversy or where something is patently wrong with the dominant and too often domineering schools of thought . . . — are turned into a grand theatre projecting shadow shows confused for reality.
Often, such shadow shows are sponsored by governments, sometimes by powerful factions. And of course, such theatre too often becomes bloody, creating a horrific escalating spiral of chaos, confusion, retaliation and polarisation.
Under certain circumstances, if becomes not just rioting but rebellion and guerilla war — these days, 4th generation war [think of how the Palestinian Arab uprisings and declaratively genocidal terrorism campaigns have come to be viewed as “liberation” struggles by many across the world . . . ] — or even radical revolution.
Characteristics such as decentralization and initiative carry over from the Third to the Fourth Generation, but in other respects the Fourth Generation marks the most radical change since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. In Fourth Generation war, the state loses its monopoly on war. All over the world, state militaries find themselves fighting non-state opponents such as al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the FARC. Almost everywhere, the state is losing.
Fourth Generation war is also marked by a return to a world of cultures, not merely states, in conflict. We now find ourselves facing the Christian West's oldest and most steadfast opponent, Islam. After about three centuries on the strategic defensive, following the failure of the second Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683, Islam has resumed the strategic offensive, expanding outward in every direction. In Third Generation war, invasion by immigration can be at least as dangerous as invasion by a state army.
Nor is Fourth Generation warfare merely something we import, as we did on 9/11. At its core lies a universal crisis of legitimacy of the state, and that crisis means many countries will evolve Fourth Generation war on their soil. America, with a closed political system (regardless of which party wins, the Establishment remains in power and nothing really changes) and a poisonous ideology of "multiculturalism," is a prime candidate for the home-grown variety of Fourth Generation war – which is by far the most dangerous kind.
Where does the war in Iraq fit in this framework?
I suggest that the war we have seen thus far is merely a powder train leading to the magazine. The magazine is Fourth Generation war by a wide variety of Islamic non-state actors, directed at America and Americans (and local governments friendly to America) everywhere. The longer America occupies Iraq, the greater the chance that the magazine will explode. If it does, God help us all.
Do we begin to understand the fire we are playing with?kairosfocus
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WJM:
Do people you deal with realise how many warning signs are in something like:
People are being triggered and pushed to action and near hysteria not be the facts of Trump’s executive order, but by the televised and reported reactions by figureheads and by actual instigators within these groups that push for reactive protests and other actions in an attempt to bully Trump (and the majority who agree with his E.O.), if not actually get someone to harm him, and undermine the legitimacy of his administration. They characterized the actions of Obama one way, in an acceptable manner, and reacted to it with support and agreement, while they characterize the exact same action by Trump as something racist, xenophobic, fascist and dangerous. People who do not do their homework do not even realize they are being triggered to react to X in a highly charged, emotional way not because of X itself, but because of how trigger words are used to characterize X by people using them for other goals.
Do we realise the fire we are playing with?
That vultures are already circling and more are coming?
KFkairosfocus
January 31, 2017
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WJM, do your interlocutors know what agit prop is, how it works, where it ends -- and what are the signs that point to it having been let loose? (Dismissive, mind-closing talking points are most ill-advised.) Have they taken time to carefully study Ac 19 and Ac 27 to see how fast things can spin out of control? Do they know the history of the Peloponnesian war and the collapse of Athenian democracy? Why modern, representational democracy depended on the rise of printing, the widely available Bible, increasing literacy, the reformation this triggered, the daily newspaper and revolutions fought out at great cost? (And yes, this means what we have is inherently unstable, has to be stabilised from the Judaeo-Christian tradition that so many are wont to sneeringly dismiss today, and so was not feasible until C17 - 18. We don't know the fire we are playing with.) KFkairosfocus
January 31, 2017
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WJM, I lived through a mini civil war in my native land. What I am seeing is all too familiar, all too chillingly familiar. The next level is, gun-play will come in and/or bombs -- perhaps Molotov cocktails. Just think, if a mob is chasing you down and hitting you with hard blunt objects, how do you defend yourself? A mob is attacking your vehicle and is breaking into it to seize you, what do you do -- knowing several cases of lynchings like this? Guns again, or gunning the car and knocking down people. The agit prop operators know this and want it as they want chaos. it is beginning to look like the BLM attacks on the police to passivate them in the face of mobs was a preliminary move. The agit prop media who will then use the street events to push a media narrative to the next level actually are enablers of what is beginning to happen. When that begins, I can see someone applying rule 303 and sniping reporters on the street who are enablers, live on camera. We are at the crumbling edge of a terrible cliff here. KF
PS: I begin to think the same mobs were being mobilised and organised in any case to be the storm troopers of the new order, to attack holdouts against the progressivist agenda. What happened is, the Midwest working classes voted down the programme. But the thing is, if this plays out further, people are going to learn the hard way why it is important for the USA to have a 2nd Amendment. And, disciplined police as well as national guard units. These urban mobsters forget that there are millions of veterans, hunters and present military (not to mention police), who are largely based in the zones that pushed Trump over the top to victory; someone has failed to correctly calibrate the correlation of forces and factors at work, and that includes the media who think the mike and cam and pen or keyboard are stronger than what their irresponsible behaviour may well finally let loose. Unfortunately, if things get really out of control, you may well get a much more authoritarian state in the end, when all of this comes out in the wash.
I STRONGLY ADVISE, STAND DOWN FROM THIS AGIT-PROP RUBBISH, IT WILL ONLY LEAD TO HORRORS THAT WE SCARCE DREAM OF IN OUR WORST NIGHTMARES.kairosfocus
January 31, 2017
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as to:
"they will only get more violent because that is their ultimate recourse to all opposition."
Humorously, most of the radical left shun owning guns whilst conservatives are fairly well armed.
As one commented noted,
"Seriously. Conservatives own 200+ million guns, 12 trillion rounds of ammo. If we were violent, you'd know it."
https://twitter.com/bob_owens/status/671150044784013312?lang=enbornagain77
January 31, 2017
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One of the problems I run into when talking to others about this is the quick dismissal of "conspiracy theories" by people that haven't taken the time to do the investigative work in uncovering the current and historical documentation that blatantly reveals the goals and methodology of those working to undermine Western civilization - bot from the socialist/progressive/communist front, and from the Islamic front.
Nobody wants to believe that the particular causes they identify with and are emotionally attached to are being used for an entirely different ultimate purpose. That's what makes it so hard to have a rational discussion about touchy subjects; these people have been trained to react emotionally to certain topics as if there is no room for debate or discussion. The have been equipped with memes that endorse these modes of thought (and behavior) by Academia, politicians and the media.
A rather large percentage of the population has been primed to take disruptive action instead of to discuss and debate. For example, there are several figures of authority, academia and media in the USA today (and in other countries) proliferating and endorsing the idea that assassinating Trump would be an acceptable act.
The same people and groups who now are protesting and threatening and having a meltdown over Trump's temp immigration and refugee ban from a few countries were utterly silent when Obama did exactly the same thing.
People are being triggered and pushed to action and near hysteria not be the facts of Trump's executive order, but by the televised and reported reactions by figureheads and by actual instigators within these groups that push for reactive protests and other actions in an attempt to bully Trump (and the majority who agree with his E.O.), if not actually get someone to harm him, and undermine the legitimacy of his administration. They characterized the actions of Obama one way, in an acceptable manner, and reacted to it with support and agreement, while they characterize the exact same action by Trump as something racist, xenophobic, fascist and dangerous. People who do not do their homework do not even realize they are being triggered to react to X in a highly charged, emotional way not because of X itself, but because of how trigger words are used to characterize X by people using them for other goals.
As KF points out, this is a dangerous situation being brought to a head, unfortunately, by the election of someone who simply will not capitulate to such threats and intimidation. As the progressive left and Islamist faction more fully realize that Trump will not back down no matter how much they lie, protest, manipulate, threaten and bully, they will only get more violent because that is their ultimate recourse to all opposition.William J Murray
January 31, 2017
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Looks like we need a reasonable definition of what Fascism is, here I clip from my discussion here:
>>FASCISM: At heart, it is the notion that in a day of "unprecedented" crisis that targets a large -- locally dominant or pivotally influential -- perceived victim group or class or religious or racial/national body, a super-man figure emerges to rescue the victims; one who is beyond ordinary human powers and limits (including those of morality and just law). A political messiah who stands as champion for the identity group to save it, defending it from the various scapegoated out-groups who are held to be to blame for the victimisation of the in-group. That super-man political messiah then seizes power and is widely recognised as a man of "destiny." In an atmosphere of hysteria, slander and propagandistic deception that is usually multiplied by chaos and violence or at least riotous assemblies in the streets baying for blood, the power blocs, political, legal, military, corporate, religious, etc then align with him, giving him effectively unlimited power in the face of a crisis. We have now reached the threshold of tyranny. And because of the perceived unprecedented crisis, that super-man "people's champion" figure is cheered on and supported in taking extraordinary measures; measures that sacrifice liberty and justice for the sake of the promised utopian order. And so reigns of terror and aggressive wars naturally emerge.>>
--> not that the mobs care to be accurate or fair -- part of the problem
KFkairosfocus
January 31, 2017
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Scott Adams -- Dilbert -- on the cognitive dissonance triggered by projecting Fascism and "next Hitler" etc to Trump:
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/156540315831/be-careful-what-you-wish-for-especially-if-it-is
>>As a trained persuader, I’m seeing a dangerous situation forming that I assume is invisible to most of you. The setup is that during the presidential campaign Trump’s critics accused him of being Hitler(ish) and they were sure other citizens would see it too, thus preventing this alleged monster from taking office.
They were wrong. The alleged monster took office.
Now you have literally millions of citizens in the United States who were either right about Trump being the next Hitler, and we will see that behavior emerge from him soon, or they are complete morons. That’s a trigger for cognitive dissonance. The science says these frightened folks will start interpreting all they see as Hitler behavior no matter how ridiculous it might seem to the objective observer. And sure enough, we are seeing that.
To be fair, Trump made it easy this week with his temporary immigration ban. If you assume Trump is Hitler, that fits with your hypothesis. But of course it also fits the hypothesis that he’s just doing his job. We’re all seeing what we expect to see.
But lately I get the feeling that Trump’s critics have evolved from expecting Trump to be Hitler to preferring it. Obviously they don’t prefer it in a conscious way. But the alternative to Trump becoming Hitler is that they have to live out the rest of their lives as confirmed morons. No one wants to be a confirmed moron. And certainly not after announcing their Trump opinions in public and demonstrating in the streets. It would be a total embarrassment for the anti-Trumpers to learn that Trump is just trying to do a good job for America. It’s a threat to their egos. A big one.
And this gets me to my point. When millions of Americans want the same thing, and they want it badly, the odds of it happening go way up.>>
--> the agit prop turnabout projection joined to street theatre violence and media projection and spin does in fact push authorities into clampdowns which are then readily perceived as "proving" the accusations
--> this is a hard challenge to answer, and this leads to a need to be very restrained and yet firm and just in dealing with disorderly and wrongful behaviour
--> as a case in point [and again, I am forced to use Infowars without approving Mr Jones et al, I am simply documenting a fact], consider this attack against a man (cf fuller video and telling blame the victim of a mob rush and attack comment discussion at infowars . . . ) on Sunday at an airport (during protests against the anti-terrorism country temporary travel ban) and punching -- or possibly clubbing -- him out cold:
The clip shows anti-Trump protesters pushing and shoving their way into the airport aggressively as they yell “peace! peace!”
A confrontation then quickly arises before one of the anti-Trump radicals punches a man from behind, knocking him out cold. The footage appears to show two anti-Trump protesters taking a swing at the same victim.
It subsequently emerged that the victim, 39-year-old Grant Chisholm, a member of the Bible Believers group, was hit with “something metallic”.
“They almost killed me tonight,” Chisholm told the Oregonian.
While some of the anti-Trump protesters appear shocked at the violence and denounce it, others are heard quite clearly celebrating the attack.
“That’s how you talk to a Nazi! That’s right!” screams one, before gloating, “Your boy got knocked out!”
“Don’t lose the propaganda war!” shouts another, presumably aware that the attack makes anti-Trump demonstrators look bad.
“Wooo! Hunt the Nazis!” screams another man in celebration of the vicious assault.
“That’s right Nazi boy! Where’s your f***ing fuhrer now bitch!” yells another.
To add insult to injury, the demonstrators then began chanting “peaceful protest!” as the victim lay prostrate on the floor of the airport.
It seems probable that the legitimization of the attack was fueled by the mainstream media’s veneration of the violent attack on alt-right leader RIchard Spencer, who was punched in the face during an unprovoked attack at the inauguration.
--> Oregon Live -- and note the difference in how the incident is reported:
One of the counter-demonstrators was assaulted just after 5 p.m., Port of Portland spokesman Steve Johnson said.
Grant Chisholm, 39 of Portland told The Oregonian/Oregonlive that he was at the airport with three other members of the group Bible Believers for a counter-protest when a Trump opponent hit him in the head three times with something metallic. Chisholm dropped and drifted in and out of unconsciousness, he said, while vomiting as other protesters kicked him in the head.
"They almost killed me tonight," Chisholm said.
A thee-minute video posted on a Facebook site called "Women for Trump Movement" shows a man falling to the ground inside the terminal after another man punches him in the head. People immediately circle the man on the ground and appear to keep the shouting crowd at bay. Police eventually arrive to control the throng. The man stirs and raises his hand for help as some people chant: "Peaceful protest."
--> likewise, consider the torching of Lance Wallnau's Limousine in Washington DC on the day of Mr Trump's inauguration
--> contrast the reality of what fascism and nazism were, with the reality on the ground and the rhetoric we are seeing
--> ask, just who are the street thugs?
--> observe the over-wrought, hysterical, angry, over-excited, polarised, violent behaviour we are seeing
--> we need to ask serious questions as to where we are going as a civilisation
KFkairosfocus
January 31, 2017
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Q, utopias -- as the name suggests -- do not and cannot exist. Where also, if one builds on lies, one is building on falsehood, error and fantasy, not reality. As Aristotle pointed out in Metaphysics 1011b, truth says of what is that it is; and of what is not, that it is not. Building on lies thus becomes unsustainable, in many ways and to try to sustain falsehood in the face of increasingly evident reality will require exertion of oppressive power which feeds chaos. The very act of institutionalising lies and backing them with power also corrodes the basis of communication and cooperation in an institution or community. Thus, building on utopian lies and demanding approval of lies ends in undermining society itself. Agit prop may help attain power and it may strengthen such power in the short term, but in the long term it is self defeating and ruinous, a march of folly. Unfortunately, it is increasingly evident that this sort of pattern is increasingly manifest in our civilisation. KFkairosfocus
January 30, 2017
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A lie spoken to advance a greater cause is still a lie, and a willingness to obscure the truth for an ideal contains the seeds of its destruction.
This is why Utopian movements quickly resort to the expediencies of coercion and force, and usually end in some form of genocidal catastrophe.
Can anyone think of any exceptions?
-QQuerius
January 30, 2017
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Recall: to lie is to speak with disregard to truth in hope that what is said or suggested will be taken as true. This raises serious questions about the whole ethos of agit prop. KF
PS: "Fascism" is being tossed around as a verbal grenade just now, and is implied often even when not directly stated. I suggest a look here as a start to balancing our view, including of the National Socialist German Labour Party. (And yes, strange as this seems to many, Hitler was a Socialist; also Mussolini was at one time a leading Italian Socialist and was involved with the Socialist International. He was later expelled, it seems over his national fervour as opposed to the socialist decision to be neutral relative to the first world war. Note, at about that time the Social Democrats of Germany voted to join the war effort, earning the Kaiser's praise. Mussolini founded fascism post WW I. We should realise that at that time, even many conservatives believed the socialists were essentially correct and that socialism was the future. )kairosfocus
January 30, 2017
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Lenin, in What is to be done (1902), regarding creating a central, regularly issued widely distributed party newspaper that serves as a tool of indoctrination, training and organisation -- directly echoed in the Struggle newspaper that I saw eight decades later in Jamaica:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/v.htm
>>Unless we train strong political organisations in the localities, even an excellently organised all-Russia newspaper will be of no avail. This is incontrovertible. But the whole point is that there is no other way of training strong political organisations except through the medium of an all-Russia newspaper. The author [of a critique] missed the most important statement Iskra made before it proceeded to set forth its “plan”: that it was necessary “to call for the formation of a revolutionary organisation, capable of uniting all forces and guiding the movement in actual practice and not in name alone, that is, an organisation ready at any time to support every protest and every outbreak and use it to build up and consolidate the fighting forces suitable for the decisive struggle” [--> notice the integration of street activism, protests and uprisings etc]. But now after the February and March events, everyone will agree with this in principle, continues Iskra. Yet what we need is not a solution of the question in principle, but its practical solution; we must immediately advance a definite constructive plan through which all may immediately set to work to build from every side. Now we are again being dragged away from the practical solution towards something which in principle is correct, indisputable, and great, but which is entirely inadequate and incomprehensible to the broad masses of workers, namely, “to rear strong political organisations”! This is not the point at issue, most worthy author. The point is how to go about the rearing and how to accomplish it.
It is not true to say that “we have been carrying on our work mainly among enlightened workers, while the masses have been engaged almost exclusively in the economic struggle”. Presented in such a form, the thesis reduces itself to Svoboda’s usual but fundamentally false contraposition of the enlightened workers to the “masses”. In recent years, even the enlightened workers have been “engaged almost exclusively in the economic struggle”. That is the first point. On the other hand, the masses will never learn to conduct the political struggle until we help to train leaders for this struggle, both from among the enlightened workers and from among the intellectuals. Such leaders can acquire training solely by systematically evaluating all the everyday aspects of our political life, all attempts at protest and struggle on the part of the various classes and on various grounds. Therefore, to talk of “rearing political organisations” and at the same time to contrast the “paper work” of a political newspaper to “live political work in the localities” is plainly ridiculous. Iskra has adapted its “plan” for a newspaper to the “plan” for creating a “militant preparedness” to support the unemployed movement [--> what is happening among say the 95 million not in the US workforce?], peasant revolts, discontent among, the Zemstvo people, “popular indignation against some tsarist bashi-bazouk on the rampage”, etc. Anyone who is at all acquainted with the movement knows full well that the vast majority of local organisations have never even dreamed of these things; that many of the prospects of “live political work” here indicated have never been realised by a single organisation; that the attempt, for example, to call attention to the growth of discontent and protest among the Zemstvo intelligentsia rouses feelings of consternation and perplexity in Nadezhdin (“Good Lord, is this newspaper intended for Zemstvo people?”—The Eve, p. 129), among the Economists (Letter to Iskra, No. 12), and among many practical workers. Under these circumstances, it is possible to “begin” only by inducing people to think about all these things, to summarise and generalise all the diverse signs of ferment and active struggle. In our time, when Social-Democratic tasks are being degraded, the only way “live political work” can be begun is with live political agitation, which is impossible unless we have an all-Russia newspaper, frequently issued and regularly distributed. [--> remember, this is one of the all-time most successful radical revolutionaries writing as he laid the basis for what would happen in 1917.]
Those who regard the Iskra “plan” as a manifestation of “bookishness” have totally failed to understand its substance and take for the goal that which is suggested as the most suitable means for the present time. These people have not taken the trouble to study the two comparisons that were drawn to present a clear illustration of the plan. Iskra wrote: The publication of an all-Russia political newspaper must be the main line by which we may unswervingly develop, deepen, and expand the organisation (viz., the revolutionary organisation that is ever ready to support every protest and every outbreak). Pray tell me, when bricklayers lay bricks in, various parts of an enormous, unprecedentedly large structure, is it “paper” work to use a line to help them find the correct place for the bricklaying; to indicate to them the ultimate goal of the common work; to enable them to use, not only every brick, but even every piece of brick which, cemented to the bricks laid before and after it, forms a finished, continuous line? And are we not now passing through precisely such a period in our Party life when we have bricks and bricklayers, but lack the guide line for all to see and follow? Let them shout that in stretching out the line, we want to command. Had we desired to command, gentlemen, we would have written on the title page, not “Iskra, No. 1”, but “Rabochaya Gazeta, No. 3”, as we were invited to do by certain comrades, and as we would have had a perfect right to do after the events described above. But we did not do that. We wished to have our hands free to wage an irreconcilable struggle against all pseudo-Social-Democrats; we wanted our line, if properly laid, to be respected because it was correct, and not because it had been laid by an official organ. >>
--> update the technologies and see if this is not still highly relevant.
--> BTW, this is more or less the birth of the notorious Pravda.
--> Bring to bear the agit prop strategy and much more swims into clear focus.
--> Battle for media, message dominance and for hearts and minds becomes clear.
--> The agit prop trains and ships came later and used audio-visual technologies to dazzle and reach semi-literate or illiterate peasants.
--> Again, the point here is that we need to understand the roots of what we face.
KFkairosfocus
January 30, 2017
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WJM, yes it speaks volumes. There is also video evidence of smug refusal to discuss the facts of Islamist oppression of women (not to mention the centuries-long apartheid-like oppression of dhimmis under Sharia), backed up by hostility and dismissive, loaded -- and ill-founded -- talking points. We are dealing with indoctrination, closed mindedness, polarisation and failure to discern a dire threat due to ideologically induced blindness and willful ignorance. KFkairosfocus
January 30, 2017
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I noticed that some of the leaders and speakers of the so-called "women's march" were Sharia law advocates. When self-identified "feminists" will allow Sharia law advocates as event leaders and sponsors but refuse pro-trump and pro-life women's groups the same, you know something is rotten.William J Murray
