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Evil Doesn’t Become You…
I’m glad to find out that I’m not the only one lately who seems to be feeling the “pinch” that endless exposure to conspiracy and alternative news sources can sometimes bring (see this recent post). In the past 24 hours, I’ve happened across two other totally worthwhile articles by people feeling this backlash in their own lives and wanting to move past it into something better.
The first article comes from the SF Gate’s columnist, Mark Morford, and is entitled Evil is so damned boring! Even better than that though is a post by Lyra on the blog section of Noble Realms: Alternative “News” Sites, or, How to herd a very large group of people onto the worst probable future timeline. This whole article is 100% worth reading if you’re the type of person who’s spent endless hours searching for the “truth” about what’s really going on in books and arcane websites, and who at some point has hit a wall with all of it.
How many of us does this passage describe down to a “t”?
At some point, I avidly followed all of the above mentioned sites, as well as a few others. It was after I began my intense “awakening” period, starting in 2001, and was reading everything and anything I could get my hands on which pertained to the truth. In all fairness, I was never totally asleep to begin with, always living on the outside looking in, never fully buying into the program, living my life in strange and unusual ways that did not conform to the mainstream. But like many people, sometime during 2000 – 2001, things happened to catalyze me into moving to the next level of research and awareness. And so I did, with gusto. Every day I was visiting the alternative news media headlines pages, absorbing all the conspiracy headline stories. My bookshelves filled with the new books I was buying on all these subjects. I had binders filled with all the articles I’d printed out. My mind was like a sponge, and I couldn’t get enough.
The negative aspect of it all didn’t register right away. The Rense site was by far the worst for me, always packing a huge punch in the gut with stories I could do nothing about. Injustice to people and innocent animals, environmental destruction and annihilation, happening all around the world, every day. More corrupt politicians, lying. More of the illusion, going up in flames right in front of our faces. Each travesty would generate an intense emotional reaction within me from where I sat in front of my computer, helpless to stop any of it. But at least I was being informed. I was aware of the truth. I was not the blissfully ignorant mass public in the sheep pen. . . and ultimately, that’s all that mattered, right? Never mind the negativity!
And this is such a nicely phrased variation on what I was saying a couple days ago (and ended up taking a lot of flak for):
For some people though, they never know when to quit. They’re currently having their mental breakdown with this material. . . but keep going with it, and going, and going and going. They post on message boards, full of anger and rage about this country’s situation, and the way the world is going up in flames. Everything is wrong and ugly to them, everybody is corrupt, we’re all going to hell in a hand basket. There’s no hope. We see it in the writings of some very famous conspiracy / alternative news authors on the web, who only rant on and on about all that is wrong and ugly, but never offer solutions. In fact, you can almost say they don’t seem to be interested in solutions. We see it in the alternative headlines pages which usually, as in the case of Rense, make sure to focus on stuff you can do nothing about, things happening half a world away. . . things that took place last week, last month, and are already over, so all you can do is read about the bloodbath carnage aftermath of epic proportions, while mentally writhing in anguish, spewing loosh and feeding the feeders. . . which is actually part of the purpose of these sites. Whether they know they’re being used for this or not. These sites act as loosh generators, no different from their “enemies”, the mainstream media. One is supposedly feeding us lies, and one is supposedly giving us the truth, but when they’re both intensely negative and serve the same loosh generating, fear-frequency purpose, then really, what’s the difference? […]
When you’re reading this stuff, what eventually happens?
You begin to absorb that covert message just outlined above, the one about being a powerless, helpless victim at the mercy of everything bigger than you. And more importantly, you begin to envision these scenarios as your future. In fact, you spend an awful lot of time envisioning this particular doomsday scenario NWO take-over, half the world decimated by Bird Flu H5N1 / human flu / SARS / West Nile Virus / epidemic of the moment fill in the blank, future that these websites keep feeding us. Every day you’re reading it, and in doing so, you’re programming your mind to accept this as reality. . . the only reality. . . that lies in store for us. These websites constantly churn out the same horrific doomsday scenario future headlines day after day after day after day, under the guise of revealing the truth, getting us informed, etc. . . . but what they’re also covertly accomplishing is a form of mind control programming. The very thing they rail against, ironically enough. Kind of poetic when you think about it.
Again, I can’t recommend this article enough. It’s got some astonishingly good insights into a problem that more and more people are facing today - many without even being consciously aware of it. Also, while you’re there, stop on over at the Noble Realms Forum for some very good discussions.
November 9th, 2005 at 7:10 pm
i preach on about turning off newsmedia as a form of mental health exercise, and so as a way to test my hypothesis on myself, after many months of not reading a paper or watching news on t.v., i read through the toronto sun form cover to cover yesterday. it was worse than i remembered. everything from child molesting teachers to corrupt politicians to horrible accidents to homicidal children. and that was the local news. i was ten pages in and already having strong emotional reactions that would last through the morning. i can`t believe that people choose to start thier day with shit like this. it bludgeons centers in the psyche that we need for interaction on a human level. to choose to wade through the utter despair of human tragedy looking for some “truth” is spiritual suicide. it is no wonder those criticising the criticism of this kind of material react strongly. it is difficult to realise the damage that this stuff is doing to one`s system while on a daily diet of cnn and usa today. after being off the dose for over a year i found the taste of it more than i could handle.
i`m not even going to comment on jeff rense.
November 9th, 2005 at 7:30 pm
awesome article on the noble realms site, but what’s “loosh”?
oh, i see:
http://noblerealms.org/wiki/index.php?...of-Body_Cosmology_of_Robert_A._Monroe
November 9th, 2005 at 7:38 pm
feel the burn, baby!
You’re an American, you can do something about it, and if you don’t want to or if you aren’t contracting stomach ulcers with the shit we’re in as a people then you suck.
-tc
syseng@msn.com
November 9th, 2005 at 7:50 pm
wtf is that supposed to mean? what ‘people’?
are you really contracting stomach ulcers because of the ’shit we’re in as a people’? that’s kind of sad, isn’t it?
November 9th, 2005 at 8:31 pm
Thomans, uhh, that was almost as constructive as most of my comments. But dumber.
Tim, thanks for posting this. It’s been going through my head a lot over the past year or two.
Something hit me the other week while watching the Korean flic Oldboy and really stuck in a much more abstract, subjective way, in a way that I think applies to the above, too. And “alone” can apply to a whole subculture or psychographiv, in my opinion:—
Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone.
November 9th, 2005 at 9:26 pm
This all reminds me of the guy who decides to become a jerk to women, instead of being ‘nice’. They always say the same thing: “Now that I’m a jerk to women, they flock to me by the dozens! Forget about being a nice guy!” To which I reply: “Yeah, because you never were a nice guy to begin with. Now that you have embraced your jerkiness, you are free to be yourself, and that’s what the women are responding to.”
Likewise, people who are tired of CT were never cut out for it in the first place. And I say, “Good for you” because your heart was never in it. Now that you are truly “aware”, you can let others continue to mine endless amusement out of it without any interference. It’s the thinning of the paranoid herd, I guess.
Also reminds me of David Horowitz– not the “Fight Back” guy, but the former Communist who now makes cash as a neo-con. He realized finally that he really wasn’t a pinko and started cashing in. But what’s funny about people like Horowitz is this: will there ever be a time when they realize that the other extreme is just as tepid?
SO what fills the void now, instead of trying to find out who REALLY rules the world? UFOs? Ghosts? Archons?
November 9th, 2005 at 9:50 pm
I like the focus on being oneself, as you made good analogy of. Seems the wisest move to me.
:)
November 9th, 2005 at 10:50 pm
I find that kind of funny because for me, UFOs (the whole aliens, reptillian agendas, etc) and Archons (that and gnostic models of thought) were the things that dragged me into conspiracy theories.
Something I read on many of the conspiracy sites (Rense, PrisonPlanet, WhatReallyHappened, David Icke), still sticks with me today. And that is a quote by a member of Bush’s advisors (I think), and it goes something like this…
I find that to be a powerful expression of what’s wrong with conspiracy theories, sites, and communities. It’s just studying and analyzing. Hell, some of us put on our logical caps and our science coats, and try to predict what will happen next, like it’s some scatterplot to be predicted with a regression line. But almost none of them actually try to DOOOOOOOO something about it. The very few times they do (i.e. Hate Bill Legislation), it’s only to protect their butts and keep themselves online or on the air. So it’s great to analyze (like analyzing a pitcher), but you can only “analyze” so much before it’s time to step up to the plate and take a swing at some of his pitches.
So the next thing to do, to “fill the void”, is to step on stage and start acting. If these things spur an emotional reaction, then fine, go with that reaction, and follow through with it. ACT OUT! If that isn’t for you, then turn to “being oneself”, like Fell said, and focus on bettering yourself, sharpening your sword, shining your light.
Nevertheless, the whole point is that we need to stop sitting on our arses, soaking up all the rhetoric, brainwashing ourselves back into the black iron prison, and ACT, either outwardly or inwardly.
November 9th, 2005 at 10:56 pm
Well said, Ktulu. I’ve been thinking about that Suskind quote a lot over the past few days.
What does that really mean? I’ve been thinking a lot about magickal uses of narrative; what if that Bush aid was coming right out and saying that the Bushies are shaping the world in their image, simply because they’ve got the balls to do so? And by studying what they’re doing, we just fall deeper into their trap.
It seems to me the antidote is to create a better reality. It sounds a bit crazy but hey, if they’re doing it, so can we.
November 9th, 2005 at 11:24 pm
or charge the water cannons and break a starbucks front window.
it`s perfectly obvious who rules the world. the same people who have always ruled the world.
alexander the great.
hitler(nearly).
george bush.
not you.
the only solution for any individual to deal with this is to have a meaningful life involved in the community where they live. the desperate hegelian dialectic presented by david icke,jeff rense and the like merely terrorises us into further despair. especially when you fork out $50 bucks for the dvd. i listened to an interview that david icke did with a woman who was apparently close to the bush family and she swore that he turned into a seven foot tall lizard!
whenever statements like this are made without any proof whatsoever it is questionable at best and at it`s worst is a plot of it`s own to defame the president.
the ct community has been conditioned for years by the likes of jeff rense, david icke and alex jones and after 9/11 there was a literal explosion of products available on websites with the new proof for whatever hairbrained ct plot someone could come up with in a coffee shop and formulate into a documentary. that fat fuck michael moore has become a multi-millionaire by distorting facts and editing sound and audio files so that people can crowd into movie theaters to be “informed”. people watch that movie as if it`s live news and then qoute it as fact.
now, i will say that i don`t know the answers to the horror of 9/11 either, but that shit isn`t helping. the one common thing among people who support conspiracy theories regarding 9/11 tend to be socialist in thier politics. they were hate bush, bush and reagan long before 9/11.
i initally went to rense for the ufo stuff but got bogged down in the hate bush rhetoric to the point where i deleted his site from my favorites. jim marrs. same thing. i found david icke interesting with his journey to south america and his spiritual awakening but now he`s another hate bush boy. what will they do when the dems take office again?
November 10th, 2005 at 1:08 am
James, I love that insight. Totally awesome. That’s what I’m trying to do, is simply be myself, and see where that takes me. It’s taking me to places that it hasn’t previously. Your question about what fills the void is an entirely apt one as well. That’s one I’m figuring out. Everyone’s welcome to join me as I figure that out.
November 10th, 2005 at 1:13 am
Wow, great article. . .reminds me of a site I’ve visited frequently in the past few years, Cassiopaea.org. Their ‘Signs of the Times’ article, updated daily, is a constant reminder of how just how messed up things are in this world. It’s hopelessly depressing but at the same time I’m glad it exists because I’m being informed, you know? And maybe just by being informed, we’re not completely hopelessly in eventually changing these things. I mean, at least this way. . we know about them. As for what we can do about them? Haven’t quite figured that out yet. Perhaps sticking it to the man by writing a passionate email to ones elected officials? That’ll teach ‘em!
November 10th, 2005 at 1:29 am
Was that tongue-in-cheek or serious?
November 10th, 2005 at 2:27 am
kylark, whenever anyone acts they create thier own reality. it is when we don`t act that we kill ourselves and it makes it easier for the shit stuff to go on. as much as i disagree with political demonstrations, i do have to admire the initiative of people who riot etc. based on thier beliefs. it`s a form of actualisation that is moving the individual forward. for my taste that level of evocation could be better utilised in manifesting a positive creative outcome by doing something less destructive, but it`s a reflection of the belief of thier own place in the world. we do tend to act on our beliefs. the amount of energy that goes into staging some of the demonstrations that go on in our cities could have directly helped in all sorts of positive ways. but that`s not where some of these people`s heads are at. for them it`s much sexier to get hammered by water cannons and stood on by riot police and arrested than to qiuetly go and deliver meals to senior citizens or coach kids soccer. each behavior is supported by learned discourse and legal representation. it`s up to the individual. free will at work.
November 10th, 2005 at 3:45 am
Unless it’s urgent or incredibly important, I’m seldom serious. That was very tongue-in-cheek. I just had to offer SOME suggestion, despite the fact of how pointless/sarcastic it was. Didn’t wanna end the rant on a total downer.
November 10th, 2005 at 11:15 am
Reality exists. Life is not a dream. 3D existence is not an illusion. You do not “create you own reality.”
That’s what’s so appealing, addictive, and ultimately dangerous about sites like Rense.com and Cassiopaea.org - they “taste like the truth.” That’s very powerful for us humans, esp. since we were born into The Matrix; the machines/archons’ simulation is like fast food - tastes great, less filling.
Lyra hit the nail on the head: “we’re all going to get chipped” or “you create your own reality” aren’t the only 2 options. The 3rd option is creating something better, but you have to do it in objective reality.
I’m grateful to those sites, because I learned so much from them (and that’s what’s so maddening about not being able to get through to them about how unnecessarily negative and defeatist they’re being); but then you have to move on to the next stage of your journey.
November 10th, 2005 at 12:25 pm
sorry to disagree so vehemently but if we didn`t create our own reality we would have to live someone else`s. it may seem facile to any romantic, paradoxical thinker that it could be that easy that we (merely) make the choice to begin thinking for ourselves and in so doing carve out a reality tunnel through the pre-programmed shite that we appear to be suspended in mostly. it is only a map after all, and a simplified one. the work comes in putting the details in. one breath at a time. one desire. one goal. even choosing to disagree with the choice model of reality creates a tunnel in the shite. by default.
the third option IS to build something better……but objective reality? you will have to do better than that.
November 10th, 2005 at 1:40 pm
This thread has some really good replies. I found that apparent quote from the Bush advisor, “We’re an empire now…”, is really awesome. I can see how they have the power to shape the context of the myth as it’s being played out, but it’s a little cocky too as there are other empires with similar sorts of contextual power: China, Islam, the internet. Some of these “empires” we’re born into (unto?), some we choose. Subcultures can be viewed via the hierarchy of the reactions within, reactions to the empire. But without the empire to begin with, the subsequent smaller empires — subcultures — would not have a context by which to exist themselves.
In this case, without the American Empire, there would be no counterculture, ultraculture, or conspiracy theorists. Sure, the empire moved from Europe, and they had similar reactionaries over there, but you’d be hard-pressed to find such an ardent network of conspiracy theorists in Asia, as far as I know. The movie Suicide Club is a great portrayal of how the Japanese see themselves and their interaction with their media empire and the “language” of their pop culture.
The neat thing is this, and it’s simple: You only belong to the empire if you want to. The majority of the members of any “empire” are not conscious members, they belong out of necessity or birth or laziness to explore outside of their social context. The empire’s power comes from that laziness. Really, think about it: empire is founded on laziness.
Early adopters are constantly shifting, moving, trying new things out — culturally, artistically, technologically, theologically, et cetera. As they adopt new things that are deemed beneficial, it trickles down into the more mundane members of the so-called empire.
Back in the day, an esoteric few managed to carve out empires for themselves. I think that’s fucking awesome, but I can see where all the conspiracy theorists paranoia arises from. The problem is that they do not take it upon themselves to understand the nature of empire and become victims of the empire themselves, reactionaries to the fact it exists.
Choose to belong to what contexts you so desire, at whatever given moment, and the entire notion of empire becomes frivolous. I choose some elements of the American Empire, and some I see as silly. I make the conscious decision to choose. Things like the dollar and what not, if it’s not working for you, then leave. You can. It’s not advertised, obviously, but others have done it for thousands of years, so it’s not impossible. It’s up to you.
Or how about instead, make an enemy of the empire? Sure, you can do that. But let’s look at the driving forces behind this decision of yours… Reptiles? Your own lack of power over yourself? Or maybe just to fight the good fight against “evil”?
Evil does not exist. They do not exist. The empire exists because of you. Come to terms with that and only then will you be able to play the trickster from both within and out, and enjoy the paradox of both sustaining and crumbling the status quo simultaneously. They do indeed write history as they go along, but so can you. It doesn’t have to be on a global scale yet, just try mastering the subjective and interpersonal scales first.
I’d join up and work with the Puppet Masters in a heartbeat. It’s the equivalent of being asked to work Steven Spielberg on a movie, or Steve Jobs on a new Apple design, or Mick Jagger. These are also men who have shaped empires. And in their glory I am, admittedly, a bit humbled. But not enough to be their bitch; but an honour to also play with them and check out their little slice of empire heaven. In the end, my Kingdom lies within, and that is mine.
Remember, envy is a sin.
November 10th, 2005 at 1:41 pm
Hello,
Regarding Lyra’s article: I too was at one time addicted to the Rense site. I still look at it, because much of the stuff there eventually ends up being true, even acknowledged by mainstream media at a *much later date.*
The relentless negativity, fearmongering, and misanthropy that informs the site–and Rense himself, if you’ve ever listened to the program–is soul-killing, and I could easily believe that this is the intended result. Not to mention the uncritical acceptance of anything said by Nazis and other haters as sober truth…
Rense is really the mirror image of “mainstream” outlets such as Fox News, and I suspect there is some overlap in audience, and that it is no accident.
One more thing: I have yet to meet a real, honest-t0-God activist who even knows that the Rense site exists. The lesson: people who really try to make a difference in the world–people who count– don’t spend their spare time huddled in front of their computer in fear of aliens, Zionists, Angry Arabs, MS13 members with machetes, or whatever.
November 11th, 2005 at 11:54 am
We create certain layers of our own reality, but there are also unalterable layers, and some that are hard but shapable by intelligent hard work over time.
One of the unalterable features of reality is that hubris always brings nemesis. To say that we need not study reality because we have the power to create our own is hubris of the highest order.
November 11th, 2005 at 12:05 pm
Or as Meatloaf sang, “you gotta do what you can and let Mother Nature do the rest”.
November 11th, 2005 at 5:09 pm
On a seemingly unrelated note: MIT reserachers have found that tinfoil hats might actually amplify mind contro, rays!
http://www.nbr.co.nz/home/column_artic...=13461&cid=3&cname=Technology
Is it April 1st already?
November 11th, 2005 at 6:16 pm
I must have missed this the first time around:
“I’d join up and work with the Puppet Masters in a heartbeat. It’s the equivalent of being asked to work Steven Spielberg on a movie, or Steve Jobs on a new Apple design, or Mick Jagger. These are also men who have shaped empires. And in their glory I am, admittedly, a bit humbled. But not enough to be their bitch; but an honour to also play with them and check out their little slice of empire heaven…”
No, working for Steven Spielberg or Mick Jagger is a dream come true. Working for the likes of Saddam Hussein or Dick Cheney is selling your soul. And it’s pretty naive and presumptuous to think that the Puppet Masters would want you for anything other than the role of “bitch”. Puppet Masters don’t become powerful string-pullers by letting unknowns “check out their little slice of empire heaven”…
A co-worker of mine is working for Sir Paul McCartney tonight out in Long Beach. I asked him if he would fellate him if Macca so much as asked, and he said “Yes” in a heartbeat. Why? “Because he’s a Beatle” he said. I doubt my friend thinks Paul is going to start up Wings again with him on keyboards. Buty I also doubt he’d want to blow George W. Bush if asked to work at the White House for whatever reason.
Certain people deserve our respect and others don’t. Puppet Masters don’t deserve my respect, but people who write songs like “Yesterday” or direct movies like “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” certainly do.