OT: Random Notes

I don't get into "Who Shot Kennedy?" and 9/11 Conspiracy Theories and whatnot for a very simple reason: While the speculation is all very interesting, it is pure and unresolvable speculation in my view, argument, in essence, for it's own sake, that cannot lead us forward, back, or anywhere at all. I enjoy the speculation -- for its own sake -- but I don't believe the arguments put forth are the answer or even necessarily true.

For example, almost immediately after the 9/11 attacks, websites went up -- I remember one in particular in France -- that proposed that what we were being told was not what really happened at all (yes, well, that's fairly obvious, isn't it?) and that this conspiracy website had the real story. I immediately suspected a Black Op from one of the shadowy Black Budget operations our government (and other governments) so eagerly fund to... obscure the Truth, if there is any, and spread lies and propaganda all the while. Soon enough, all kinds of conspiratorial cornpone arose over the question of "What Really Happened" (including a website called WhatReallyHappened.org) on 9/11 and at every other time the inexplicable transpires. Truth? Well, there's probably some in there... yup. Sure. But we have a tough enough time decoding our Pravdas on the Potomac and on the Hudson (let alone wading through the contemptuous vomit and shit of the teevee "news") to pick out bits and fragments of Truth that show up on Conspiracy Day "news" sites.

As for 9/11, I know what I saw with my own eyes on the teevee and within the Federal employee working environment I was part of then. I know what I saw, felt, and did. Beyond that? Not a lot. I know I don't believe the Official Story, but who in their right mind would? The question is not whether the Government lies -- of course they do -- it's a question of whether there even is a Real Truth, beyond the lies, that is discoverable by you or by me. Maybe there is. But more than likely, you and I are just going down a Rabbit Hole. If that's your bliss, by all means, be my guest. Please report back! But don't expect me to go with you.

Conspiratism -- is that what it's called? -- reminds me a little bit of the British passion for such esoterica as "Ley Lines" on the landscape of Britian and the apparent geometric alignments of various things on Mars and other exotic places. The best known aspect of this sometimes obsessive interest in that which is not understood is the Face on Mars, about which a number of people were able to make lucrative careers for years.

Back in the day, one of the early websites I put up, even before Blogger came on the scene, was about Mars, and it included extensive speculation by scientists and laypeople about what might be transpiring there now, and what sort of history might have occurred in the past.

The Face figured, but not prominently. My interest lay more in the whole area around the Face, and in the nature of the landscape and Martian geology itself. Acidalia Planitia is not like anyplace you would find on Earth, and it was my position, regardless of the Face, that it should be explored and explained for its own sake.

Unfortunately, that has never happened to any great extent. I am little better informed about the nature of the landscape and highly evocative and curious geology of Acidalia Planitia on Mars today than I was 30 years ago. The obsessive interest in the Face and the various associated Cities and Forts and Alignments and whatnot and what they were and what weren't -- but not so much in what they are -- is part of the reason why.

In other words, these obsessions are distractions -- sometimes deliberately put before us, sometimes not -- that serve to obscure the truth.

Apparently the Distraction Formula is being applied with a vengeance with regard to the numerous uprisings and revolts taking place in North Africa and the Middle East as well as the Middle West of our own country, right along with all sorts of Conspiracy Theories. It really does seem to be a Formula for Dismissal of Popular Protest that every authoritarian/autocratic government and its minions engage in.

We saw it in stark operation in Egypt, during its recent revolt against the Mubarak Regime. And we see the same sort of denial and distraction and assertions of Conspiracies of All Kinds in Libya today.

But we also see it in Scott Walker's Wisconsin. He's distracting and asserting Conspiracies Most Foul by Outside Agitators, just like Mubarak and Gaddafi have done. The parallels are remarkable. That's why I say it is a Formula. But then, Walker's opponents have adopted some of the same Formula in attributing so much power over events in Wisconsin to the Koch Brothers -- Who Are Most Foul and Evil.

Almost immediately, we fall into a situation where there is no resolution because we are caught up almost entirely in minutiae. It isn't really about Scott Walker or the Koch Brothers, it's about what kind of nation we want and what we have to do to get there.

It's not about them in other words, it's about us.

All right, I've said my piece about that. Carry on.

The Rabbit Hole Paradox -- The Pervasiveness of Propaganda (2)

Tom Tomorrow has an excellent cartoon over at Salon that describes some of the problem of "Knowing and Not Knowing" in our political and social context these days. Here's a corner of it; go over there to see the whole thing.



There are multiple layers in this observation: People know what they know because of who/what told them, not because of their own individual, critical ability to independently ferret out Truth or to sort fact from opinion. People don't want to know -- and will often vehemently reject -- any information from "taboo" sources without bothering to assess it for Truth or insight because they don't want to know whatever it is the "taboo" source has to say. In many cases today, knowing what one knows and refusing to let any contradictory information (especially from "taboo" sources) enter one's thinking is standard on all sides of the political and social spectrum. One adopts a rigid -- and essentially unalterable -- viewpoint against which no alternative or contradiction can be allowed to penetrate.

This is how propaganda works. It destroys one's ability to think critically and assess contradictory information honestly on the one hand, and it provides a safe and comforting justification for one's ignorance and inability to think critically on the other.

We saw how the process works on spectacular display during the roll-out and run-up to the Iraq invasion, when Bush Regime propaganda was pervasive, and any contradictory information at all -- and any protest against the looming catastrophe of the Iraq invasion -- was simply "disappeared," much like the successful disappearance of the protests at the Bush installation. The ruling faction and its war-loving propagandists essentially blanketed every information outlet with blizzards of falsehoods, fabrications, and lies and asserted them as "what everyone knows." A Global Truth. Any contradiction whatever, and any protest, was made to go away. They simply were not allowed to be (widely) considered. They were, of course, considered on the fringes, but only there.

Another aspect of the pervasiveness of propaganda during that period was the largely successful effort by the Busheviks to control opposition and determine what was and what was not "appropriate" opposition, where and when it could be expressed, by whom, and under what conditions. The caged "free speech zones" for the fringe opposition was one aspect. But more importantly, the Busheviks actively carried out a campaign to discourage (and even, in the case of Scott Ritter among others, prevent) the mainstream expression of dissent about the Iraq invasion and occupation especially by people who knew the truth.

The Truth was intolerable and had to be suppressed. It was suppressed in the mainstream, though how much of that suppression was "voluntary" remains somewhat mysterious, given that the mainstream mass media has long been, for all intents and purposes, an arm and branch of the Government -- or at least of a faction thereof.

Among the suppressive techniques successfully employed was endless mockery and derision of anyone who questioned or challenged the propaganda. One popular technique was for Bush officials to declare they ignored questions and challenges of "that kind." Or that they "didn't know" who was questioning them, and so would not respond. Another was declaring, usually falsely, that dissenters and opponents numbered only a few malcontents and bitter-enders. Another was misstating and misrepresenting the evidence and arguments presented by dissenters and opponents. There were still other tactics: implying "political" motives to dissenters and opponents as their sole reason for objecting to the course of events leading to the Iraq invasion and occupation. Falsely accusing dissenters and opponents of being 1) paid by Saddam to oppose the invasion; 2) falsely accusing dissenters and opponents of supporting dictators in general; 3) falsely accusing dissenters and opponents of being Communists bent on the destruction of America, and so on, from a whole catalog of false accusations.

These propaganda techniques for suppressing dissent and opposition are successful -- at least temporarily -- because most people simply have no ability, or in many cases, inclination, to find the facts and the truth on their own. It's so much easier to believe what one is told, and as importantly, to disbelieve what one is told by "taboo" sources. Every successful propagandist, no matter what side of the political and social spectrum they are on, understands that.

Repetition is a key to propagandists' success. Repeated lies become the Truth; and it works. For a while.

These techniques and many more are still being employed relentlessly, by Rightist Reactionaries in office (spend some time listening to Congressional Republicans... or don't), by the White House and its many flacks (and the surprisingly extensive media propaganda support they receive), by television and radio personalities, particularly on the right, but sometimes on the purported "left" as well (try listening carefully to Randi Rhodes sometime ...yeek!) and extensively by bloggers, right, left, center, libertarian and counter-libertarian.

There is no escaping the pervasiveness of propaganda in the American political and social context today. It's everywhere, and practically everyone with a public platform employs it. Almost none admit it. Propaganda is the New Normal.

That's what happens when a whole society falls down the Rabbit Hole. At bottom there is a cacophony of chaotic voices all screaming Their Truth as the Only One, demanding that you accept their Only Truth or "off with your head!" But as the Cheshire Cat noted to Alice, they're all mad.

Yup.

But the paradox is that at the bottom of the Rabbit Hole, Fact is Opinion, Truth is False, Sanity is Absurd, Ignorance is Strength, and everything is Arbitrary. And despite all efforts to bring reason and rationality to the fore, in the Madhouse, Madness rules.

The Rabbit Hole Paradox -- The Pervasiveness of Propaganda

This post is something of a continuation of the two posts I've done this year on the absence of critical thinking skills among huge numbers of Americans, even among some who might once have had such skills.

The relentlessness of propaganda, especially since the lawless installation of the Bush Regime following the 2000 election*, has done a remarkable job on ordinary Americans' ability to tell fact from opinion and to rationally consider options.

[Note: *For those who really can't tell, my use of the term "lawless installation" is an opinion, an informed opinion to be sure, but it is not a fact, in that there was allusion to the 14th Amendment in the SCOTUS ruling that put Bush in the presidency. That "one time only" clause, you know. However, I'm well aware that I use the phrase "lawless installation" as a propagandist would, deliberately obscuring the line between fact and opinion.]

Since the 2000 election and the dispute over the results, the pervasiveness of propaganda -- much of it simply false, but a good deal of it "kinda sorta true, if you look at the question from the proper perspective" -- has increased to the point of practically overwhelming even the most basic rational facts.

We saw it during the recount, when the "sides" argued their case in the public square, doing what lawyers do -- which is to advocate the interests of their clients -- whether on the assumption the public knew what tactics lawyers use or not is unknown.

But then there was the "disappearing protest" at Bush's inauguration. Tens of thousands of people gathered in Washington to protest the usurpation* and managed to stop Bush's motorcade briefly, but there was essentially no news coverage of this protest at all that day. Most Americans had -- and have -- no idea there even was a protest. That's Propaganda by Omission, something our major -- and some of the minor -- media has become expert at.

Propaganda surrounded the installation of Bush to the point where it was not even permitted to discuss the disgust many Americans had for what was happening. Online, especially, almost all discussion that involved arguing against the installation was shut out of the mainstream media. Where it was allowed, on the fringes, made the issue "irrelevant." As we were ordered to celebrate the "peaceful transition of power."

In fact, celebrations of all things Bush were the command of the day, every day, in most of America's media. We would have huge tax cuts, responsible budgeting, extraordinary economic growth. Paradise would ensue. Anyone who expressed doubt was just a bitter whiner who needed to get over it. Some were traitors.

Down the Rabbit Hole?

Absolutely. This was the state of affairs in the Public Square right up to the attacks on Sept. 11, when all the previous propaganda efforts went into sheer hyperdrive.

It hasn't stopped to this day, and in fact, the pervasiveness of propaganda has expanded, very much in line with the famous "2+2=5" signs in Orwell's 1984 (which, FWIW, are based on real signs in Moscow during the first -- or second -- 5 Year Plan, the import being that Soviet Comrades could accomplish the goals of the 5 Year Plan in four, if they really put their backs to it.)

This is a very dangerous and ultimately unsustainable path, but one we can't seem to get off of.