As IF Times

link; https://www.withinnigeria.com/news/2022/12/14/unvaccinated-people-more-likely-to-have-car-crash-study-shows/

There is an oft quoted statement by of all people, the infamous Karl Marx.  He postulated that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce. Like many other sage philosophers, he described precisely the human condition based on the predictability of human experience through the ages. Authors such as Ayn Rand and George Orwell have also well depicted the common frailties of people, frailties which transcend time.

Greed, fear, naivety and tribalism are hard wired into our psyche it seems and the really smart (or really diabolical) people of every generation capitalize on these traits during their lifetimes. The vast majority of people however are like flotsam on waves since only a small group of influential people set the big picture agendas and determine the flow of society.

In earlier times, ‘influential’ meant people with military capability, since those who had the swords, made the rules. In fact, that dynamic still exists today. Some of the more primitive cultures still use swords to enforce their worldview on captive citizens, since this continues to work quite well.  Some more advanced societies have upped their game to more sophisticated weapons and thus employ guns and prisons.

In even more civilized societies, such blatant use of force to coerce people into a viewpoint has largely been overtaken by the use of propaganda, with the use of traditional methods of persuasion only obliquely implied. In our modern times, the persuasion tool of choice is the use of interminable lawsuits.

Thus the use of media as the mechanism to control the thoughts and opinions of citizens is the default choice for the majority of the world’s nations.  As a means of propagating fear, weaponized media is vastly more effective than the threat of a few cuts or bruises.  Once you are able to tap into existential fears of a populace, one can enact all kinds of “solutions” to ameliorate, assuage and address their fears.  Studies on mob psychology by such as Zimbardo  and others prove this.

Coincidently, there is always a cost involved since the assuaging fears business can be expensive and thus, somebody always winds up benefitting from these campaigns. Naturally, those who propose the fixes receive consideration for their efforts as well.

In our lifetime, there have been many such industries which have preyed upon the natural fears of people to become permanent money making ventures. I remember a wise professor years ago who made the point that there were four industries that have a permanent monopoly on making money:  War, religion, drugs and insurance.  All of these business have to do with death.   Which is odd, because death is an eventuality for all of us. Nevertheless, if there’s a way to squeeze money from people because of their mortal fears, well there’s no shortage of entities that will do just that, including and especially of course, governments.

A recent entry into the top 4 industries is the Global warming business.  Still very young but voracious in its appetite and reach, this industry continues to bleed the naïve of both money and brain cells.  This industry could not have grown without a very active and persistent on-going media campaign.  The campaign has been brilliant because the lack of measurable statistical evidence of warming has necessitated the re-branding to Climate Change.   So they’re covered, rain or shine, snow or not.

As we all know, the drug industry has a new arrow in their quiver, namely vaccines, thanks to Covid-19.  Like Global warming, most any medical ailment can be attributable to either Covid 19 or the lack of vaccination against Covid-19.  So, they’re covered, sick or not.  Someone pointed out that this is the first time in history that those who weren’t ill were blamed for those being ill.

As the article above shows, the insurance industry could not possibly be left out of this new revenue stream and thus, the notion has been floated that people who are not vaccinated against the modern plague are more likely to be at risk for automobile accidents.  The linked article shows I am not making this up. This is not an isolated article; similar stories can be found from numerous sources worldwide. How they’ve managed to come to this conclusion is amusing….unless over the past 2 years, they’ve  been keeping statistics at accident scenes.  Perhaps there’s a box in the police report which is checked off.  That would have been very prescient on someone’s part years ago to have thought of this.

Or maybe this is just opportunity knocking and the media will back them up because it can be sold.  The pharma companies need to step up their game because treatments for acne, premature baldness, obesity, nail fungus, near-sightedness, bad breath and the misery of psoriasis caused by the non-vaccinated has yet to be exploited.  This has indeed become a farce.  It’s only a matter of time before someone links up the correlation of non vaxxers to climate change deniers, the new enemies of the state. As the author Orwell noted, it’s more effective to push a narrative if someone can be identified as a villain or scapegoat and thus, here we are.  The classic techniques still work.

For more shocking correlations that will keep you up at night, see here.

link: https://slaynews.com/news/elon-musk-tears-down-house-of-cards-if-this-isnt-a-violation-of-the-constitutions-first-amendment-what-is/

Back in the day, someone had the brilliant idea to create a vehicle by which news and information could be disseminated. This could only have come about when the inputs and opinions of the masses mattered, thus, the idea of having some kind of news vehicle came to fruition.

Before then, news, or more likely gossip, was spread by word of mouth, at drinking establishments, at churches or by travelers coming through a town.  Of course, before then, there was no news other than what the overlords decided that the peasants needed to know; and all  the peasants needed to know was to keep working to pay taxes to the rulers.  Thus, knowledge was either what the church or the rulers decided was knowledge.

As the phenomenon of education proliferated, so did the notion of critical thinking.  In order to think critically, you needed information, unbiased and provable. This made the imposition of news and information more problematic for those who were used to controlling knowledge to the masses.  As someone eloquently wrote, ‘knowledge is power’ and suddenly, the opinions of the masses mattered. Eventually, newspapers and journals became the default arbiters of legitimate news and their operators became very powerful.  It became a lot easier to determine when someone was untruthful, because the journals would be a credible check.

With the onset of the television age, the new unimpeachable source of information and knowledge became TV networks. I can still remember people stating that ‘if it was on TV, it must be true’. While a large swath of people still believe this, the credibility of heretofore unimpeachable sources has long since expired. The slogans of “The Paper Of Record” for the New York Times and “Democracy Dies In Darkness” for the Washington Post are comically ironic.  The days of Walter Cronkite invoking “ And that’s the way it is” as his sign off are also quaint relics of the past.  The currency of credibility of these outlets have long been spent.

Television was a very powerful medium because most people are easily manipulated by what they see as much as what they hear. It’s been widely accepted that if not for TV viewers watching a debate between a nervous looking Richard Nixon and a polished looking John Kennedy, that Nixon would have won the presidential election in 1960 on the issues alone.

Clearly some objective means of news and information was needed and in 2007, a new micro blogging site, Twitter was created.  The new social media phenomenon allowed anyone to post their thoughts and views with a 280 character maximum. As in all successful businesses in history, this service tapped into a monstrous pool of demand and soon, having a Twitter handle was as de rigueur as having a last name. Whether student or CEO, politician or dictator, famous or unknown, everyone wanted to have their say and most importantly, to hear what others thought.  Thus having ‘followers’ became the new currency of fame.  Unfortunately, Twitter is hardly the font of knowledge.  The most vapid attention whores can garner millions of acolytes and create financial empires for themselves.  Strangely, a platform which notionally allowed the democratization of news and information, became a receptacle for the most vapid in society whose opinions, not knowledge, were expressed.  Well, the first amendment also protects the stupid, so you get what you get.  What many don’t understand is that free speech allows people to say things that others may not want to hear….otherwise it ain’t free.

A great upheaval occurred recently as the platform was purchased by Elon Musk. Long regarded as a vehicle for left wing narratives and censoring of ‘unacceptable’ views, Musk revealed what many have known for years….Twitter was a corrupted platform which enabled propaganda favored by their operators.

It’s been great entertainment to watch ‘celebrities’ profess the validity of their views while at the same time wanting to censor those with views whom they oppose. Philosophically, this is like the monkey wanting to censor the organ grinder. We are treated to the deep intellectual insights of such as Alyssa Milano or of famous meathead Rob Reiner. Oddly, those that have always defended Twitter when it was their own platform are now condemning it for allowing just ‘anyone’ to speak on it and worst of all, with views opposing theirs.  Like a scene from the film Blazing Saddles, many have expressed threats to leave the platform and no longer treat the rest of us to their utterances.

Even more sinister however are the revelations by Musk of the collusion between Twitter and political operatives to sway elections and push detrimental policies. The light has been turned on in the kitchen at night and the cockroaches are scattering.

As in much earlier times, the opening up of Twitter to become a more truly free speech platform will hopefully enable real dialogue on real issues.  People will be more truthfully informed and those in power will need to pay attention.  The views of the dirty unwashed will matter. The time when certain overlords control the message may again be over.