Nov 23, 2023Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
70 something with a BSc (1976) and MSc (2016) in mathematics. Retired a couple of years ago after a successful career in IT and other related fields. I voted for Brexit and declined the jab. I must be a fool.
I’m a firm believer in democracy. Firstly, anyone under the age of 25 doesn’t have enough experience to know the consequences of voting, do they should be banned.
Anyone who has been vaccinated more than twice should be sectioned and banned from voting as well.
The only reason I say that is because I know a few people who refused the boosters after I kidnapped their children and ate their pets.
I’m a firm believer in democracy? You must be hallucinating. It's nothing more than Mob rule, especially considering that the system is controlled by the Party in power.
I wasn't being rude, but factual. I am for completely limited Government and direct representation with citizens consulted by referendum and not decree.
The whole "Party" system is nothing more than a collective gang. In fact system who is captured by the "Gang" who claims to represent the majority of voters. NB, not the majority of residents and people who live in the country only those who have consented to be bullied by a gang of thieves who infest a building called a "Parliament" like fleas infest a dog every 4 or 5 years. An “elective dictatorship” is what we have that we perceive as the illusion called a democracy. That is what it is an Illusion and apparition a dream of some sort of UTOPIA. We end up with the “tyranny of the majority” - dictatorship of the 51%.
I would even look more favourable at no Government at all. Government have no interest in the people, only in the preservation of power for themselves at any cost.
The whole democracy system is a scam. It goes back to monarchy, when monarchy was falling out of favour, they developed democracy to trick the people into thinking that they had a say in who rules them, but always controlling the outcome of the election." Etienne de la Boetie² (Art of Liberty). He elaborates further. "What we got is an organized crime problem. It goes on for decades, if not centuries. I use the term inter-generational organized crime because that's the most specific. The system is run by a mafia type org that controls Government, Media & Academia who support the Elite Oligarchs
You’ll have to reconsider your first line “… you must be hallucinating…” as that is nothing but rude. You can disagree with me, that’s fine, but that was unacceptable.
To deal with your preferred method of no government or by referendum, it’s unworkable.
If you give Switzerland as an example because of the element of direct representation then it works for them for a number of reasons. One being the fact that the country is 1/6th the size of the UK and only has 5.4 million voters. In the Uk there are 48 million. The logistics are wildly different.
And then what? You get a 51/49 split as in our own EU referendum and those who don’t like the result kick off.
The point that you mostly miss is that somebody has to make decisions, you can’t stand back with your hands in your pockets and whine when things don’t go your way.
At least with an elected government you have someone making decisions on a daily basis. They may not be right and you may not like them but there is no viable alternative in a country of this size and complexity. If you don’t like the government you get to change it.
Yes, it would work at a tribal level but that’s all.
Let me give you sn example where, on the face of it, a referendum could be a viable option: HS2.
Massive infrastructure project that only benefits a few. Put it to a referendum and you can guarantee that it wouldn’t have been approved. That’s human nature and that’s something else you’re ignoring in your utopian world.
I’m not saying that HS2 was a good or bad idea, it’s just a single issue that could have been put to a vote.
If it had gone country wide there would be a lot of people in the north and south voting against it because it’s of no benefit to them so do you restrict the voting to those both affected by it and those benefiting from it? If you do that, those excluded would complain that the whole country is paying for it.
Your utopian world rapidly descends into a dystopian one.
My husband and I both have masters degrees. We don’t come from money but we managed to make it to the 1% before either of us turned 40. We voted for Trump in 2020 (and will again if he’s the nominee). My husband did in 2016 (I voted Gary). We both refused to get the jab, kept our kids in school in person full time at a private conservative Christian school. We also traveled often with them domestically and internationally (Jamaica only shut down a brief bit).
If we lived in the UK we would have vote leave and said so at the time.
The friend’s of ours with the most similar political views are also the most well off - for the vast majority it’s of their own making. The only exception on the well off are about half our trust fund baby friends. Of the trust fund baby friends, the unemployed are 100% woke. The actually working/ building more wealth ones are 100% conservative (granted that’s only about a dozen true trust fund baby friends we are close with).
These “studies” are as replicated in the real world as Neil Ferguson’s epidemic models.
Nov 23, 2023Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
The studies’ results are not surprising - the goal of education has been for some time to « format » people into compliant citizens, rather than encourage critical thinking which discourages compliance. The more educated, the more formatted, the more narrative embracing.
Also the more educated/ formatted / narrative embracing the more likely to go up the corporate hierarchy - if you ve been relatively successful, you have no reason to question your government who has delivered for you : you have a nice job, house etc why would you question the system that got you there? But if you ve been screwed over , if the system has failed you , you never even had a chance at education, you are much more likely to question the system ...
In my experience those most likely to question narrative are either not university educated - not been formatted and can observe- or are highly educated (phds) and have been taught to deconstruct and question (and in fact I believe the vaccine hesitancy study showed just that : non university educated AND phds were the most likely to be hesitant- one s relying on instincts / practical intelligence , the other on analysis (let’s face it - narrative doesn t add up whether in theory or practice !)).
I say this as someone with a first class honour degree, a masters degree, a good job, a nice house etc . Whilst I never bought into the narrative , didn t touch the vaccine etc I ve never felt able to discuss my viewpoints with my « socio economic » circle. . The only people in my « socio-economic » circle who question the narrative all have one thing in common : they come from countries where the regime was oppressive, don t trust govt , and can recognise totalitarianism. I think there are some in higher socio economic circles who see the issues but arrogantly think it will not impact them , that they ll be spared because they « complied » , that all the troubles coming will only impact « the stupid people ».
Lastly , a number of people in my « socio economic circle » have commented that my viewpoints may or may not be correct but they made me « unhappy / distrustful/ suspicious » and it was far « happier / smoother / less anxiety causing » to buy into the narrative, in other words, it was more comfortable to bury one s head in the sand .... it may be so, but if deep down people actually know they are being bullshitted, might explain all the depression, stress and neuroticism - they just can t quite put their finger on what it is that’s causing this...
Hmm, I didn’t go to university because my father refused to support me. That was almost 50 years ago. My mother was dying, he was forced to retire early and needed me to work.
I’m glad I didn’t waste my time going to university. However, as a result of circumstances, I was able to kickstart my own life. I only ever had one job that I left in 1981 and have had long and varied careers, all of which were my choice, massively gaining skills in many directions that have served me extremely well.
I’m still working, I have written novels and a screenplay for my first one.
I was set free and am blessed with a high enough intellect to understand that all actions have consequences and they may not all be apparent at the time decisions are made.
Life is a game of chess where you have to think 5 or 6 moves ahead at least. If you don’t, you will simply follow decisions made by others.
Nov 23, 2023Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
I have a masters degree in educational administration and taught for 6 years. I am also a skilled tradesman and that's how I made my living most of my life. It takes far more smarts and reasoning ability to be a tradesman than to be a teacher.
Nov 23, 2023Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
The evidence they’re gathering are more consistent with “education = brainwashing” than how they’re interpreting the data.
I don’t think they’re any less tolerant now, whatever the change in conditions. Instead, rage bait is the primary catalyst in an attention economy. The more they can emotionally charge the discussion, the more attention they receive. The more attention they receive, the more funding they get. Rinse and repeat.
Early 2021, there was an infographic going around that showed “vaccine hesitancy” (known as intelligence in these here parts) was roughly equal among the least and most educated, while the college graduates were the most compliant. Which brings me to the “compliance” research by Chaldini and others that is being weaponized. And I think that’s one of the dangerous things about publicizing these kinds of so called studies - they’re pulling the levers to try and engineer greater compliance. It’s not that elitism and snobbery is new. It’s that the conversation itself is designed to steer, not to inform, convince, argue, etc.
Aaron Eckhart’s character in Thank You for Smoking said it best, when he tells his son that the words he chooses isn’t for the individual he’s talking to, but to manipulate the audience and bystanders that might hear his words.
Nov 24, 2023Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
I’m in a weird position. Despite a rigorous education, and a lifetime of 99th percentile scores on standardized tests, despite winning medals for math team when I was in high school, working in IT as an adult, and being able to read novels in 3 different languages, I’m dealing with people treating me like an imbecile when I express doubt about the safety and efficacy of the recently-pushed injections. I’m an idiot dumb-dumb now; guess I ought to embrace it.
Nov 23, 2023Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
I'll hold the idiot ball. Three days of kindergarten and two years of high school. I hold the belief that my government is NOT here to help me (I'm Canadian ).
Oddly, I know some highly educated folk here who hold the same opinion.
It must be something else that made us so perverse :)
Nov 23, 2023Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
An interesting study in this context would be to determine to what extent does formal education determine the ability of diverse and critical thinking. Does the pointy end of the academic create a less divergent thinking environment? What I’ve also noticed anecdotally, is that many in my Inner circles and associates that are more critical thinkers have had some sort of trauma incident experience.
Nov 24, 2023Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
Like others, I saw the curve. The least compliant were the High school graduates (or less) and the PhD. the most compliant were some collect, while the top of compliance were master's degrees.
I have a master's degree.
What makes me different that I remain jab free?
Well, my master's was in a field that studied media and propaganda, so I like to think it gave me a lifelong skepticism to what i was being told with information systems.
But also, I've always been used to being on my own. The one not picked for sports teams. The one who ate lunch by himself. The one who had rumors told about him behind his back.
So I don't give a damn about joining the clique of the "beautiful people."
So yeah, call that a trauma incident if you want.
I was telling my daughter about this last week, when I was coaching her on how to resist peer group pressure in her years. I told her my reasons against the vaccine. (Rushed to market. Untested technology, new to humans. To be immune to an illness that was generally survivable). And then I told her the method my mother tried to use to coerce me to get it. "The rest of your family is, why aren't you?"
It was kind of funny to retort the "If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you?" line to my own parents.
I have noticed that ardent progressive Elite’s biggest fear is being ostracized from the ‘in-crowd’ (read popular opinion). So they employ these scare tactics believing they will coerce critical thinkers to fall in line completely failing to grasp that most critical thinkers are lone wolves by their very nature!
Nov 23, 2023Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
NE Good words here: "When dissent is pathologised, the societal urge to understand and empathise with different perspectives diminishes. This leads to polarisation, where the middle ground is lost, and dialogue is replaced with diatribe."
Its a perfect set up for civil unrest leading to civil war.... but what is interesting is its not the right or the conservative audience that is demonstrating civil unrest, but the left is being agitated on towards action. Its exactly parallel to the Hitler regime when he stoked the flames towards the West when he gave this speech on war on January 30, 1939:
". . . In the course of my life I have very often been a prophet, and have usually been ridiculed for it. During the time of my struggle for power it was in the first instance the Jewish race which only received my prophecies with laughter when I said that I would one day take over the leadership of the State, and . . . that I would then among many other things settle the Jewish problem. . . . Today I will once more be a prophet: If the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevization of the earth, and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!
Nov 24, 2023Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
On the COVID vax issue, at least, there was also (in one study, at least) a disproportionate amount of people with "Ph. D' s or equivalent" in the dissenting group. There seems to be an optimal amount of education for getting people to buy into "the narrative." If you have no post-secondary education, you probably haven't been brainwashed. If you have a Ph. D or equivalent, you may be smart enough (and a savvy enough consumer of research findings) to doubt the mainstream narrative for your own reasons. In the middle, there seems to be a whole lot of Dunning-Kruger going on.
Nov 23, 2023Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
Thinkin' by the time dust clears, and it IS going to clear, "academia" will be considered the portal to brainwashing and immediately be suspended until such time when TRUE educators are employed, using REAL methods of teaching, such as critical thinking skills, learning that questions are not your enemy, and that you too can have an opinion.
Until such time, this unedumacted, experience learnin,' critical eye ballin' and deep thinkin' straight pureblood middle of nowhere female "dumbass" will continue the journey of The Righteous Path searching for Truths, Facts and Freedom.
Nov 23, 2023Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
i would say this has always been true and there have always been a bazillion gazillion ways of framing one's opponent or adversary as an intellectual midget or missing a few folds of the gray matter. we notice certain ways of framing a little more quickly these days because we needn't wait for the papyrus scroll to arrive to tell us what our betters are thinking and how much time we've got to hop on board the sledge before we risk being obliterated.
it's like the guys telling me that christianity is obviously true because CS lewis wrote lotsa lotsa books proving so! and here I am with my hs education saying nah....
i can remember from reading history that it had been upper class to belong to the church of rome until it was a mark of wretched poverty and ignorance to be a rural irish catholic. so it goes.
"you're too stupid to understand" is kind of a mantra of morons everywhere. in fact we often understand far too well.
Nov 24, 2023Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
These dismissive geniuses are skilled at name calling. Many with dissenting views have tried to have a public debate with them, but no takers. Steve Kirsch has even thrown money into the ring to sweeten the debate deal, but no takers. Now why wouldn't the egotistical elite jump at the chance to once and for all show their intellectual prowess and superiority by public debate? Recall the interview on The Highwire between Del Bigtree and Neil deGrasse Tyson, Episode 314. Tyson kept raising the flag for Consensus as the End All for science, when nothing could be farther from the truth.
Do you recall Tyson's response to Del's offer of a beer? He suggested that such a thing might not be appropriate on the screen, then, in touching it, remarked on its extreme low temperature, before holding it with both hands to take a drink.
This looks like Tyson may have been suffering from the sort of neuropathy which can result from the covid shot.
Here's the thing: Much of the elites -- governmental, educational, corporate -- absolutely HATE debate.
They hate it with the heat of a thousand suns.
We're told it's part of Science, but that's only in the first session of a High School science class where they pretend to care about Scientific Method.
They have all sorts of tricks and systems to SUPPRESS debate.
Such as this:
Q: "Why are we having Drag Queens with a history of pedophilia read books to toddlers in libraries?"
A: "What? What are you some kind of bigoted homophobe?"
Here's another:
Q: "Why are we supposed to believe Joe Biden won, when the lawsuits were dismissed on procedural grounds? Why not have one large, fair lawsuit where both sides can bring evidence after discovery? If the Dems are right, and Republicans really have "no evidence of fraud" then they should win this case easily, right? Televise it, have a neutral judge and jury, and broadcast it so the argument will be over once and for all! That's why we have trials, right?"
A: "What? You Trumpers are a threat to our Democracy!"
And the same, of course, with Covid.
Q: "Since when do masks stop a virus that can pass through air holes? Why are we destroying the world for a virus that is 99.7% survivable for most demographics?"
A: "What? You want to kill grandma?"
And then they'll make "Studies" to prove you are "stupid" for not following the herd.
Thank you for the links. NDT is a game show host and member of the my side is always right so you have to be wrong. His argument that consensus among bureaucrats who’s jobs rely on accepting the consensus is the essence of the self serving corruption that must vilify those who disagree. They have done it with racism, sexism, plandemic, mRNA, Trump, climate change, trans, bribery/lobbying, gender affirmation, etc.. The pattern of these consensuses has consistently proven they are wrong. To define consensus as one specific group of beholden participants is a fraud which is only perpetuated by refusing to let those who disagree engage in debate.
Nov 23, 2023Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
At some point all the mainstream narratives will be known as “drinking the koolaid”. When that happens all the gaslighting will cease to work. The truth has never lost a war.
In this war it will have lost many battles in a very protracted conflict. But the eventual outcome should not be in doubt.
Nov 24, 2023Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
This is a deep question. I recall Allan Bloom's characterization of the perception of many "educated" in America as being a "gray web of abstractions". Bloom had been recommending that the American mind become more "closed" -- speaking of this problem's depth. The question is deep because I used to see keen pairs of birdwatchers looking through binoculars -- alone with each other in the ocean air -- wearing masks. Presumably, they were really watching birds and not simply tallying species. In the health food store, I see ragged mountain men, who would appear to live by their wits, wearing dirty masks over long, unkempt beards. There was a good article in the Brownstone Institute website about this turnaround in the counterculture; I thank NE for introducing me to their work.
After I left hospital work -- having refused the shot which was obviously dangerous, and the cause of admission for many patients in our unit -- I can observe with some satisfaction the relative brightness of many of my coworkers in the supermarket, most of whom are in high school or have have recently graduated. And the strange correlation between the most outspoken Trump-haters, mask wearers, &c. (elderly and of long service) with low IQ.
70 something with a BSc (1976) and MSc (2016) in mathematics. Retired a couple of years ago after a successful career in IT and other related fields. I voted for Brexit and declined the jab. I must be a fool.
You should be banned from voting
I’m a firm believer in democracy. Firstly, anyone under the age of 25 doesn’t have enough experience to know the consequences of voting, do they should be banned.
Anyone who has been vaccinated more than twice should be sectioned and banned from voting as well.
The only reason I say that is because I know a few people who refused the boosters after I kidnapped their children and ate their pets.
I’m a firm believer in democracy? You must be hallucinating. It's nothing more than Mob rule, especially considering that the system is controlled by the Party in power.
Without being as rude as you, given that you clearly don’t like the idea of any form of democracy… what’s your preferred method of government?
I wasn't being rude, but factual. I am for completely limited Government and direct representation with citizens consulted by referendum and not decree.
The whole "Party" system is nothing more than a collective gang. In fact system who is captured by the "Gang" who claims to represent the majority of voters. NB, not the majority of residents and people who live in the country only those who have consented to be bullied by a gang of thieves who infest a building called a "Parliament" like fleas infest a dog every 4 or 5 years. An “elective dictatorship” is what we have that we perceive as the illusion called a democracy. That is what it is an Illusion and apparition a dream of some sort of UTOPIA. We end up with the “tyranny of the majority” - dictatorship of the 51%.
I would even look more favourable at no Government at all. Government have no interest in the people, only in the preservation of power for themselves at any cost.
The whole democracy system is a scam. It goes back to monarchy, when monarchy was falling out of favour, they developed democracy to trick the people into thinking that they had a say in who rules them, but always controlling the outcome of the election." Etienne de la Boetie² (Art of Liberty). He elaborates further. "What we got is an organized crime problem. It goes on for decades, if not centuries. I use the term inter-generational organized crime because that's the most specific. The system is run by a mafia type org that controls Government, Media & Academia who support the Elite Oligarchs
You’ll have to reconsider your first line “… you must be hallucinating…” as that is nothing but rude. You can disagree with me, that’s fine, but that was unacceptable.
To deal with your preferred method of no government or by referendum, it’s unworkable.
If you give Switzerland as an example because of the element of direct representation then it works for them for a number of reasons. One being the fact that the country is 1/6th the size of the UK and only has 5.4 million voters. In the Uk there are 48 million. The logistics are wildly different.
And then what? You get a 51/49 split as in our own EU referendum and those who don’t like the result kick off.
The point that you mostly miss is that somebody has to make decisions, you can’t stand back with your hands in your pockets and whine when things don’t go your way.
At least with an elected government you have someone making decisions on a daily basis. They may not be right and you may not like them but there is no viable alternative in a country of this size and complexity. If you don’t like the government you get to change it.
Yes, it would work at a tribal level but that’s all.
Let me give you sn example where, on the face of it, a referendum could be a viable option: HS2.
Massive infrastructure project that only benefits a few. Put it to a referendum and you can guarantee that it wouldn’t have been approved. That’s human nature and that’s something else you’re ignoring in your utopian world.
I’m not saying that HS2 was a good or bad idea, it’s just a single issue that could have been put to a vote.
If it had gone country wide there would be a lot of people in the north and south voting against it because it’s of no benefit to them so do you restrict the voting to those both affected by it and those benefiting from it? If you do that, those excluded would complain that the whole country is paying for it.
Your utopian world rapidly descends into a dystopian one.
As I said above, it’s unworkable.
My husband and I both have masters degrees. We don’t come from money but we managed to make it to the 1% before either of us turned 40. We voted for Trump in 2020 (and will again if he’s the nominee). My husband did in 2016 (I voted Gary). We both refused to get the jab, kept our kids in school in person full time at a private conservative Christian school. We also traveled often with them domestically and internationally (Jamaica only shut down a brief bit).
If we lived in the UK we would have vote leave and said so at the time.
The friend’s of ours with the most similar political views are also the most well off - for the vast majority it’s of their own making. The only exception on the well off are about half our trust fund baby friends. Of the trust fund baby friends, the unemployed are 100% woke. The actually working/ building more wealth ones are 100% conservative (granted that’s only about a dozen true trust fund baby friends we are close with).
These “studies” are as replicated in the real world as Neil Ferguson’s epidemic models.
The studies’ results are not surprising - the goal of education has been for some time to « format » people into compliant citizens, rather than encourage critical thinking which discourages compliance. The more educated, the more formatted, the more narrative embracing.
Also the more educated/ formatted / narrative embracing the more likely to go up the corporate hierarchy - if you ve been relatively successful, you have no reason to question your government who has delivered for you : you have a nice job, house etc why would you question the system that got you there? But if you ve been screwed over , if the system has failed you , you never even had a chance at education, you are much more likely to question the system ...
In my experience those most likely to question narrative are either not university educated - not been formatted and can observe- or are highly educated (phds) and have been taught to deconstruct and question (and in fact I believe the vaccine hesitancy study showed just that : non university educated AND phds were the most likely to be hesitant- one s relying on instincts / practical intelligence , the other on analysis (let’s face it - narrative doesn t add up whether in theory or practice !)).
I say this as someone with a first class honour degree, a masters degree, a good job, a nice house etc . Whilst I never bought into the narrative , didn t touch the vaccine etc I ve never felt able to discuss my viewpoints with my « socio economic » circle. . The only people in my « socio-economic » circle who question the narrative all have one thing in common : they come from countries where the regime was oppressive, don t trust govt , and can recognise totalitarianism. I think there are some in higher socio economic circles who see the issues but arrogantly think it will not impact them , that they ll be spared because they « complied » , that all the troubles coming will only impact « the stupid people ».
Lastly , a number of people in my « socio economic circle » have commented that my viewpoints may or may not be correct but they made me « unhappy / distrustful/ suspicious » and it was far « happier / smoother / less anxiety causing » to buy into the narrative, in other words, it was more comfortable to bury one s head in the sand .... it may be so, but if deep down people actually know they are being bullshitted, might explain all the depression, stress and neuroticism - they just can t quite put their finger on what it is that’s causing this...
Hmm, I didn’t go to university because my father refused to support me. That was almost 50 years ago. My mother was dying, he was forced to retire early and needed me to work.
I’m glad I didn’t waste my time going to university. However, as a result of circumstances, I was able to kickstart my own life. I only ever had one job that I left in 1981 and have had long and varied careers, all of which were my choice, massively gaining skills in many directions that have served me extremely well.
I’m still working, I have written novels and a screenplay for my first one.
I was set free and am blessed with a high enough intellect to understand that all actions have consequences and they may not all be apparent at the time decisions are made.
Life is a game of chess where you have to think 5 or 6 moves ahead at least. If you don’t, you will simply follow decisions made by others.
High school grad here! Top 5% in the country financially I think. Never once thought I should go near the jab. Common sense ain’t so common anymore.
Precisely this! ❤️
Well said. Thanks for sharing.
I really don’t have a problem with thinking smart people can believe in stupid things. In fact I’ve assumed that all along.
I’ve known plenty of supposedly intelligent people who believe stupid things.
Education doesn't equate with common sense. Especially the indoctrination version of education.
I have a masters degree in educational administration and taught for 6 years. I am also a skilled tradesman and that's how I made my living most of my life. It takes far more smarts and reasoning ability to be a tradesman than to be a teacher.
The evidence they’re gathering are more consistent with “education = brainwashing” than how they’re interpreting the data.
I don’t think they’re any less tolerant now, whatever the change in conditions. Instead, rage bait is the primary catalyst in an attention economy. The more they can emotionally charge the discussion, the more attention they receive. The more attention they receive, the more funding they get. Rinse and repeat.
Early 2021, there was an infographic going around that showed “vaccine hesitancy” (known as intelligence in these here parts) was roughly equal among the least and most educated, while the college graduates were the most compliant. Which brings me to the “compliance” research by Chaldini and others that is being weaponized. And I think that’s one of the dangerous things about publicizing these kinds of so called studies - they’re pulling the levers to try and engineer greater compliance. It’s not that elitism and snobbery is new. It’s that the conversation itself is designed to steer, not to inform, convince, argue, etc.
Aaron Eckhart’s character in Thank You for Smoking said it best, when he tells his son that the words he chooses isn’t for the individual he’s talking to, but to manipulate the audience and bystanders that might hear his words.
I’m in a weird position. Despite a rigorous education, and a lifetime of 99th percentile scores on standardized tests, despite winning medals for math team when I was in high school, working in IT as an adult, and being able to read novels in 3 different languages, I’m dealing with people treating me like an imbecile when I express doubt about the safety and efficacy of the recently-pushed injections. I’m an idiot dumb-dumb now; guess I ought to embrace it.
Join the club
I'll hold the idiot ball. Three days of kindergarten and two years of high school. I hold the belief that my government is NOT here to help me (I'm Canadian ).
Oddly, I know some highly educated folk here who hold the same opinion.
It must be something else that made us so perverse :)
An interesting study in this context would be to determine to what extent does formal education determine the ability of diverse and critical thinking. Does the pointy end of the academic create a less divergent thinking environment? What I’ve also noticed anecdotally, is that many in my Inner circles and associates that are more critical thinkers have had some sort of trauma incident experience.
Like others, I saw the curve. The least compliant were the High school graduates (or less) and the PhD. the most compliant were some collect, while the top of compliance were master's degrees.
I have a master's degree.
What makes me different that I remain jab free?
Well, my master's was in a field that studied media and propaganda, so I like to think it gave me a lifelong skepticism to what i was being told with information systems.
But also, I've always been used to being on my own. The one not picked for sports teams. The one who ate lunch by himself. The one who had rumors told about him behind his back.
So I don't give a damn about joining the clique of the "beautiful people."
So yeah, call that a trauma incident if you want.
I was telling my daughter about this last week, when I was coaching her on how to resist peer group pressure in her years. I told her my reasons against the vaccine. (Rushed to market. Untested technology, new to humans. To be immune to an illness that was generally survivable). And then I told her the method my mother tried to use to coerce me to get it. "The rest of your family is, why aren't you?"
It was kind of funny to retort the "If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you?" line to my own parents.
I have noticed that ardent progressive Elite’s biggest fear is being ostracized from the ‘in-crowd’ (read popular opinion). So they employ these scare tactics believing they will coerce critical thinkers to fall in line completely failing to grasp that most critical thinkers are lone wolves by their very nature!
Yes, I've never been part of a 'crowd' or team either. I've got my family, a few close friends and my music
Interesting
NE Good words here: "When dissent is pathologised, the societal urge to understand and empathise with different perspectives diminishes. This leads to polarisation, where the middle ground is lost, and dialogue is replaced with diatribe."
Its a perfect set up for civil unrest leading to civil war.... but what is interesting is its not the right or the conservative audience that is demonstrating civil unrest, but the left is being agitated on towards action. Its exactly parallel to the Hitler regime when he stoked the flames towards the West when he gave this speech on war on January 30, 1939:
". . . In the course of my life I have very often been a prophet, and have usually been ridiculed for it. During the time of my struggle for power it was in the first instance the Jewish race which only received my prophecies with laughter when I said that I would one day take over the leadership of the State, and . . . that I would then among many other things settle the Jewish problem. . . . Today I will once more be a prophet: If the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevization of the earth, and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!
On the COVID vax issue, at least, there was also (in one study, at least) a disproportionate amount of people with "Ph. D' s or equivalent" in the dissenting group. There seems to be an optimal amount of education for getting people to buy into "the narrative." If you have no post-secondary education, you probably haven't been brainwashed. If you have a Ph. D or equivalent, you may be smart enough (and a savvy enough consumer of research findings) to doubt the mainstream narrative for your own reasons. In the middle, there seems to be a whole lot of Dunning-Kruger going on.
Thinkin' by the time dust clears, and it IS going to clear, "academia" will be considered the portal to brainwashing and immediately be suspended until such time when TRUE educators are employed, using REAL methods of teaching, such as critical thinking skills, learning that questions are not your enemy, and that you too can have an opinion.
Until such time, this unedumacted, experience learnin,' critical eye ballin' and deep thinkin' straight pureblood middle of nowhere female "dumbass" will continue the journey of The Righteous Path searching for Truths, Facts and Freedom.
Great article NE!!
*Tips hat
Much Love
i would say this has always been true and there have always been a bazillion gazillion ways of framing one's opponent or adversary as an intellectual midget or missing a few folds of the gray matter. we notice certain ways of framing a little more quickly these days because we needn't wait for the papyrus scroll to arrive to tell us what our betters are thinking and how much time we've got to hop on board the sledge before we risk being obliterated.
it's like the guys telling me that christianity is obviously true because CS lewis wrote lotsa lotsa books proving so! and here I am with my hs education saying nah....
i can remember from reading history that it had been upper class to belong to the church of rome until it was a mark of wretched poverty and ignorance to be a rural irish catholic. so it goes.
"you're too stupid to understand" is kind of a mantra of morons everywhere. in fact we often understand far too well.
These dismissive geniuses are skilled at name calling. Many with dissenting views have tried to have a public debate with them, but no takers. Steve Kirsch has even thrown money into the ring to sweeten the debate deal, but no takers. Now why wouldn't the egotistical elite jump at the chance to once and for all show their intellectual prowess and superiority by public debate? Recall the interview on The Highwire between Del Bigtree and Neil deGrasse Tyson, Episode 314. Tyson kept raising the flag for Consensus as the End All for science, when nothing could be farther from the truth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC9sYKRtpNY
Recall the sentence by Tyson, 'I'm not interested in medical pedigree. I'm interested in medical consensus.' Wha? I say What? https://thehighwire.com/ark-videos/when-two-universes-collide/ Scroll to 2:26:35 for this geniuses' utterances.
Do you recall Tyson's response to Del's offer of a beer? He suggested that such a thing might not be appropriate on the screen, then, in touching it, remarked on its extreme low temperature, before holding it with both hands to take a drink.
This looks like Tyson may have been suffering from the sort of neuropathy which can result from the covid shot.
Here's the thing: Much of the elites -- governmental, educational, corporate -- absolutely HATE debate.
They hate it with the heat of a thousand suns.
We're told it's part of Science, but that's only in the first session of a High School science class where they pretend to care about Scientific Method.
They have all sorts of tricks and systems to SUPPRESS debate.
Such as this:
Q: "Why are we having Drag Queens with a history of pedophilia read books to toddlers in libraries?"
A: "What? What are you some kind of bigoted homophobe?"
Here's another:
Q: "Why are we supposed to believe Joe Biden won, when the lawsuits were dismissed on procedural grounds? Why not have one large, fair lawsuit where both sides can bring evidence after discovery? If the Dems are right, and Republicans really have "no evidence of fraud" then they should win this case easily, right? Televise it, have a neutral judge and jury, and broadcast it so the argument will be over once and for all! That's why we have trials, right?"
A: "What? You Trumpers are a threat to our Democracy!"
And the same, of course, with Covid.
Q: "Since when do masks stop a virus that can pass through air holes? Why are we destroying the world for a virus that is 99.7% survivable for most demographics?"
A: "What? You want to kill grandma?"
And then they'll make "Studies" to prove you are "stupid" for not following the herd.
Sometimes I really hate this world.
I may have the answer to this one. If you debate Kirsch or any of us, really, that means he's worth your time, he's a legitimate opponent.
If you do it, you can no longer say he's some fruitloop antivaxxer that nobody should listen to. And we can’t have that, can we?
This inspires me to write a fairy tale story about the Peasant who beat the King in a debate.
The King then adopted a new law that no one of royal blood shall ever again debate a peasant.
Thank you for the links. NDT is a game show host and member of the my side is always right so you have to be wrong. His argument that consensus among bureaucrats who’s jobs rely on accepting the consensus is the essence of the self serving corruption that must vilify those who disagree. They have done it with racism, sexism, plandemic, mRNA, Trump, climate change, trans, bribery/lobbying, gender affirmation, etc.. The pattern of these consensuses has consistently proven they are wrong. To define consensus as one specific group of beholden participants is a fraud which is only perpetuated by refusing to let those who disagree engage in debate.
At some point all the mainstream narratives will be known as “drinking the koolaid”. When that happens all the gaslighting will cease to work. The truth has never lost a war.
In this war it will have lost many battles in a very protracted conflict. But the eventual outcome should not be in doubt.
This is a deep question. I recall Allan Bloom's characterization of the perception of many "educated" in America as being a "gray web of abstractions". Bloom had been recommending that the American mind become more "closed" -- speaking of this problem's depth. The question is deep because I used to see keen pairs of birdwatchers looking through binoculars -- alone with each other in the ocean air -- wearing masks. Presumably, they were really watching birds and not simply tallying species. In the health food store, I see ragged mountain men, who would appear to live by their wits, wearing dirty masks over long, unkempt beards. There was a good article in the Brownstone Institute website about this turnaround in the counterculture; I thank NE for introducing me to their work.
After I left hospital work -- having refused the shot which was obviously dangerous, and the cause of admission for many patients in our unit -- I can observe with some satisfaction the relative brightness of many of my coworkers in the supermarket, most of whom are in high school or have have recently graduated. And the strange correlation between the most outspoken Trump-haters, mask wearers, &c. (elderly and of long service) with low IQ.