Some Thoughts from the Front Lines

By

Casey Stengel

Editor - One of the ways we avoid catastrophe fatigue and protect our denial is to avoid knowing the details, the day to day trials and tribulations of those directly affected by whatever disaster, natural or man-made, is unfolding before our eyes. We maintain our standard of living and its accompanying point of view, deliberately entangled and mutually dependent, by expressing empathy when convenient or necessary to defend our emotional and physical status quo.

Essentially we ignore what is inconvenient or painful to ponder. Like a complex pattern made out of dominoes, once one is unsettled, all are eventually disturbed. To deeply and honestly consider the plight of faraway refugees in Greece, Turkey or wherever they flee ultimately leads to direct acknowledgement of the deliberate and unconscionable political meddling and war making foreign policy of the United States, enthusiastically supported by both political parties, and its compliant allies.

From there, it’s just a short leap directly to you and me. And that’s just a little too close to home, isn’t it? So why even go there? It’s so much easier, and emotionally safer, to swallow whole without chewing the comforting pabulum served up by the US Government and its propaganda arm, the mainstream media. We like our truth carefully filtered and pleasantly intoxicating.  

By accident of birth I was born a US citizen, therefore ‘entitled’ to various rights and opportunities which, while under direct and sustained assault from all quarters, still greatly exceeds those afforded the majority of people on our planet. I do not possess the courage to wade directly into that ocean of misery and despair, but Mr. and Mrs. Stengel, friends of ours for several years now, have and do. The following was written by Casey Stengel (and lightly edited by me) during a particularly difficult time in his work when he was struggling to find the proper mix of empathy, constructive assistance and inner peace. – Cognitive Dissonance

Mrs. Stengel and I are working with refugees from the Middle East (ME) and Africa. Not because we especially want to, but we sensed that little voice within saying we should do this. Several years ago, in the wake of the financial coup d’état of 2008-09, Mrs. Stengel and I made great strides in our awakening to the reality of the corrupt central bank warfare model the US lives under and propagates on a global basis.

We began to ask ourselves what our role was going forward and we both came to the same conclusion: we should live our lives in such a way that others will benefit from the blessings we enjoy. We endeavored in our hearts not to waste the years between 60 and 70 solely on selfish pursuits, but to use those years to make the world a better place for at least a few people. Continue reading Some Thoughts from the Front Lines →

Propaganda, Human Consciousness, And The Future Of Civilization

By Caitlin Johnstone

As Originally Posted on Medium.com on August 21, 2017

While researching the subject of propaganda for an article I will eventually write, I stumbled upon this little gem by Caitlin Johnstone on Medium.com. I have been following Caitlin for several months now, but this article predates my awareness of her. It's a short but powerful read. When you are finished, I strongly urge you to pop over to her website and sign up to be notified of her future articles. She's a keeper. - Cognitive Dissonance

A duck floats past two fish, looks down and says “Morning boys! How’s the water?” The fish swim on for a bit, then one of them turns to the other and says, “What the fuck is water?”

Corporatist propaganda is to western civilization what water is to fish. Our culture is saturated in it; it informs so many levels of our worldview and most of us never even examine any of them. It informs all aspects of culture, from our beliefs about what’s going on in the world to our understanding of history to what issues we think we’re supposed to care about on a given day to what opinions we think we’re allowed to choose from. People think they know what’s going on in their society, why their country fought this or that war, how their nation’s government and economy operate, when really they don’t know any of those things. All their most basic assumptions about their world, their culture, and even who they are as individuals is fully pervaded by mass media propaganda narratives. Continue reading Propaganda, Human Consciousness, And The Future Of Civilization →