Category Archives: Highlighted

Flash Crash – The Call Redux – A Fictional Look at the May 6, 2010 Market Crash (2011)

Three days after the Flash Crash of Thursday, May 6, 2010 I posted a fictional story on Zero Hedge describing what might have happened. To commemorate the anniversary I have rewritten, novelized and illustrated that posting and present it below for your reading pleasure. May I mention again that this is fiction just in case some readers are violently triggered?

Chapter One

Russell Senate Office Blg Rotunda

The honorable Senator Howard A. Lancaster, a rather unkempt but distinguished looking heavy set graying man in his early 60’s, has served for more than 20 years in both houses of Congress after a successful career building his law practice. The Senator is involved in a rather animated phone conversation as the others silently file in and take their seats for the meeting. In attendance is Sam Perkins, Howard’s chief of staff and long time confidant; Lois Evelyn Saunders, Howard’s personal assistant and office manager; Tabatha (Tab) Kowalski, the office stenographer and all around gopher and John M. Taylor, a lobbyist for the powerful banking interest group and the reason this meeting was convened in the first place.


As soon as everyone is seated Howard finishes his call with a verbal flourish of mock anger and disgust and then loudly slams the handset into its cradle. Howard just loves to be dramatic when he has an audience, even if it’s only his staff. The senior Senator always makes sure he conveys the impression that he’s diligently doing the people’s work. It would all be pretty funny if it weren’t so childishly pathetic to watch in person. The perpetually insecure can rarely recognize their own vulnerability when they are acting out and Howard is no exception. 

In a further petty display of power and spite Howard ignores the group as he shuffles some documents around his elegant 1820’s oak antique colonial desk. Like an insecure school yard bully the Senator feels the need to make sure Taylor knows who the boss is. He is not pleased he was pushed so hard to schedule this meeting on such short notice and he wants John to witness his displeasure. Only after Sam loudly clears his throat does Howard look up and after surveying the group arrayed in front of him begins addressing John directly.

“I’m a busy man John and I don’t appreciate being bulldozed in this manner. What’s so damn important that you insisted I clear my afternoon schedule to see you?”

John, a strikingly handsome man in his late 40’s with graying temples and an easy manner that quickly endears him to others, smiles to himself as he considers how to respond to Howard’s posturing. He decides it’s not worth it to confront him at this moment. The Senator will be paid back a hundred fold over the next hour so there is no sense upsetting him at this point. He waits a moment before answering to make sure he has the undivided attention of the room.

“Sir, before we start, would it be possible if we cleared the room and conducted a private conversation?” He glances down at his watch to see it is ten minutes before 2 PM. “We don’t have much time.”

This surprises Howard, particularly the claim that there isn’t much time. “Obviously we have all afternoon since you insisted I free it up. Regardless I’ll be happy to clear everyone except my chief of staff. Sam’s my eyes and ears on the Senate floor so I want him involved.” Howard learned long ago to always have a witness when delicate matters are discussed. There will be none of that ‘he said, she said” crap if he has anything to say about it.

After taking a moment to choose his words carefully, John continues. “Senator, what I’m about to discuss is extremely sensitive. All I’m asking for is the chance to talk privately. After we’re done if you still want to bring your chief of staff up to speed I’ll be happy to brief him with you. OK?”

Howard considers the request for a few seconds before signaling everyone to leave. Rising quickly to walk Sam to the door, he speaks to him quietly so as not to be overheard. After acknowledging the instructions with a nod of his head, Sam quickly follows the rest of the staff out the door. He will activate the hidden recording devices throughout the room as soon as he returns to his desk, assuring Howard there’s a complete record of whatever is said in the room.

I Spy

Not wanting to let John rush him nor allow him to take the lead, Howard strolls over to the wet bar in the far corner and pours himself a two finger Black Label. “You want something to drink? Whiskey? Scotch? A beer maybe?”

“Thanks Senator Lancaster, but I’m all set. It’s going to be a long afternoon and I want to remain sharp.” Time is growing short and John needs to press on. The time for pleasantries has passed.

A flash of movement just outside his field of vision catches Howard’s attention and he turns to the large flat screen TV hanging on the side wall to see what’s going on. The television has been tuned to the CNBC business channel since the market opened and it is muted so as not to disturb. Dropping since the open and with a few minutes to go before 2 PM the S&P 500 is down twenty points or nearly two percent. It looks like a good old fashioned sell off is in progress and with two hours to go before the markets close it might get downright ugly. Howard makes a mental note to move some money out of the market before the end of the trading day, then returns to his desk and drops his bulk into the chair.

“Since you claim you’re short on time let’s get down to business. What’s this all about?” Howard is still a bit irritated by how poorly he’s been treated. While Taylor has directed several large political contributions his way, he just burned all his good will by rushing Howard. “We’ve gone round and round this issue too many times and quite frankly I’m sick of it. How many times do I need to tell you that I won’t change the bill?”

John makes a mental note to check on Howard’s health. He’s a bit red in the face and his hands are noticeably shaking. “My clients have directed me to ask you to reconsider your position. Your political support is wavering and while some might think a Federal Reserve audit is a good idea we both know that’s just populist poppycock. There are many powerful people who would like to see this problem go away so you might want to think twice before pissing them off Howard.” Being too familiar with the Senator brings its own set of dangers, but the message needs to be delivered clearly. Howard must know the political and personal consequences of his actions.

“Aw, cut the crap John. You’re not talking to some wet behind the ears freshman from fly over Middle America. I’m fully aware who and what I’m up against and I’m not backing down. Your puppet masters have gone too far this time and while they might eventually gut me on this one I’m willing to take my chances.” Howard nearly always over states his case and this time is no exception. While flowery speeches, bravado and broad sweeping statements go hand in hand in politics, Howard often leads the pack in blowhard bullshit.

Unfortunately the Senator is playing the weak hand in this poker game and he knows it. In fact he’s been waiting for the big guns to come out and from the looks of things Taylor has brought the firing squad. Howard raises his voice, more to build his own courage than anything else. “There’s strong support in the House for Anderson’s version of my audit bill and while things are still up in the air here in the Senate I’m certain with midterm elections coming I can pull together a super majority to get this passed. Face it John, you’ve lost. Take that back to your people with love from me.” Howard slaps on a broad smile for the crowd, but he knows he’s in trouble.

John can’t help but admire the guts the Senator is displaying. Clearly he is a veteran of many political knife fights and doesn’t give up very easily. Or maybe he’s just so conditioned to throwing his weight around to get his way that it’s simply a reflex. Either way it’s a very impressive bluster despite the fact he’s holding a losing hand. John pushes on.

“These are serious people we’re talking about Howard. People who will stop at nothing to see their interests furthered. I cannot emphasize that enough. You’ve seen some of their handy work yourself; you know what I’m talking about. Why can’t you compromise on this one? I’m sure we can find some language that’ll satisfy everyone with no need for blood to be shed.” John regrets saying this as soon as it comes out, but by then it’s too late.

Howard explodes in anger and becomes livid, his face turning beat red and his blood pressure soaring through the roof. While this is pretty common for the Senator, to someone who doesn’t know him well it looks like he’s about to suffer a heart attack.

Livid

“Fuck you John. Fuck you and the horse you rode in on. Who the fuck do you think you are? First you demand to be seen immediately and then you come in here waving your dick around, threatening me with spilled blood. Fuck you!” Howard is seeing red he’s so angry and small specks of spittle are quickly gathering in the corners of his mouth. He knows he needs to calm down and quickly, but this is his chance to escape from John and he’s going to make the best of it.

“I’m deeply sorry Senator, I meant no disrespect.” John lowers his head and uses Howard’s title as an act of contrition and respect. “I wasn’t implying you’d be physically hurt, just that your political career could be ruined over this issue. Please, calm down so….” Howard quickly interrupts him.

“I won’t calm down. Who…who…who the fuck do you think you are? Get…get the hell out of my office. Now!” Howard is so incensed he’s nearly tongue tied. He simply cannot believe what he’s hearing from this stooge lobbyist who shows little respect for himself or the office.

The Senator heaves himself from his chair and nearly sprints the 10 paces to his private bathroom, slamming the door behind him in a fit of childish rage. While he would love to wallow in his self righteous anger and nurse his bruised ego, what he really needs to do is regain his composure and control his blood pressure or he’ll be in big trouble. If he can stall John for a while maybe he’ll get the message and leave on his own.

Howard yanks open the ornate medicine cabinet door and rummages around inside until he finds his blood pressure meds. His hands are shaking so badly he has trouble getting the cap off, but finally manages to pry it loose. Screw those child safety caps. The pharmacy isn’t supposed to use them with his prescriptions.

He fumbles out a tablet while dropping half a dozen more on the floor and places one under his tongue, the quickest way to get the nitro in his blood stream. Unsteady and a bit light headed he settles down into the chair in the corner of the bathroom and relaxes as he waits for the medicine to be absorbed into his system. His heart pounding and his face flushed Howard closes his eyes and puts his head back against the wall as he tries to relax. After a few minutes he feels his heart rate begin to slow and the blood drain from his face. That was close. Other than his doctor and his wife no one else knows how serious his heart condition really is.

Looking around the bathroom he wonders why he never thought to put a phone in here. He’s trapped in the can without even a cell phone to call Sam or anyone else for that matter. Obviously Sam isn’t listening to the office voice recording live or he would be here by now. Slumping further into the chair, Howard considers the political jam he’s backed himself into. While no doubt he played it for all it was worth, he was still quite surprised how blunt John was. Talking about spilled blood is pretty bold and not to be taken lightly considering who John works for or that he’s always diplomatic and deferential.

Resigned to the fact that he must leave the bathroom and feeling a bit better now that his pressure is down a bit, Howard recovers the spilled pills from the floor and then splashes some water on his face to freshen up. He straightens his clothes and then preens for a minute or so in front of the mirror before walking back out. Unfortunately he is immediately disappointed to see John still sitting right where he left him.

“I thought I told you to get the hell out of here.” Howard blurts out.

“Senator, before I go you need to listen to something. May I use your phone?” Without waiting for an answer John reaches across the desk and grabs Howard’s office phone, pulling it over to his side as he punches in a phone number.

Surprised once again by how brazen Taylor is, Howard is at a loss for words and says nothing. He notices the phone number John dials is well over 18 digits, indicating he’s accessing some kind of secure phone network. After he finishes punching in the codes John glances up at the TV while waiting for the first ring. Howard, following the shift in his attention, does the same. It’s now 2:14 PM and the Standard & Poor’s 500 is down twenty-six points, well over 2%. The CNBC reporters are looking a bit frantic and Howard feels a cold chill run down his spine.

“What’s going on here? Have you anything to do with this?” Howard asks as he points to the TV. He knows these people are powerful, but is John really doing what Howard suspects he’s doing?   


Hearing someone pick up on the other end John quickly speaks into the phone. “It’s me……..Yeah, I know I’m late. Howard was hiding in the bathroom. You ready? Can you still go or have you lost control? Ok, hold on a minute, I’m putting you on speaker.”

Antique Speakerphone

John punches the speaker button so Howard can hear the rest of the phone conversation, then returns the handset to the cradle. Turning back to look directly at Howard, who is looking even more disheveled than before, John pushes back into his own chair and relaxes. He’s in his element now and his confidence soars. It was touch and go there for about 10 minutes when Howard wouldn’t come out of the bathroom, but it looks like this might be salvageable after all. Regardless, now that he’s made the phone call there’s no turning back.

“My clients hoped you would be reasonable and it wouldn’t come down to this. But you’ve left them with no choice. They don’t believe you understand the gravity of the situation.” John pauses for effect as he slowly turns his head back towards the TV. He wants the cause and effect message to be unmistakable. “My clients are determined to stop this intrusive audit and they’re willing to go all the way to do so. So they’ve arranged a little demonstration to show you how far that is.”

Howard is very confused and even more frightened. He remembers those two weeks in September of 08 when the market plunged in reaction to the failed vote on the TARP bailout bill. Or at least that was the story the public was told. However, there were thinly veiled threats made back then and while he suspects the market drop was engineered he has never been able to confirm it. But it’s pretty clear what John is implying with his words and actions and Howard doesn’t want this to go any further. He decides to put a stop to this here and now. 

“I’m not sure what it is you think you’re doing here and I don’t want to know. Just hang up the phone and let’s talk this out.” Howard puffs up is chest and leans back in his chair as he feels his confidence returning.

Chuckling to himself over how predictable Howard is, John is pleased to see him taking the bait. This is just too easy. “I’m afraid that’s not going to happen. My clients believe that unless you see their capabilities first hand you’re not going to fully appreciate whom you’re dealing with.” John returns to using Howard’s first name now that it doesn’t matter anymore. From this point on the intent is to scare the hell out of him, not make him feel better or salvage his ego.

“With the help of some……umm……shall we say like minded parties, they’ve been burning down the market all day.”

John met some of these people at the meeting last week and he doesn’t doubt their capability in the least. Though it is still hard to internalize what they said they can and will do.

“Basically they’ve been preparing the markets all day for this demonstration. Your unwillingness to listen to reason, along with your escape to the bathroom…” John can’t help himself and throws in the snide remark “…has pushed this way past the point of no return. There’s no turning back now.”

Of course John’s last statement is a deliberate and manipulative lie. The plan was always to finish the demonstration regardless of what Howard said or did. It’s Howard who needs to be psychologically prepared and conditioned before the button is pushed. Psychological operations or psyops for short are always tuned to the personality type of the person or group they are directed towards.

In this case Howard is cursed with what one might call a care-giver personality, someone with a strong moral compass and a sense of responsibility for others, along with an ego big enough to believe they can do something about it. Success of this portion of the psyops depends upon John’s ability to transfer emotional responsibility to the Senator for the coming spectacle even though he could in no way be blamed for something he didn’t initiate or possibly control.

Lancaster is that rare Senator who actually believes he works for the people, rather surprising considering today’s corrupt corporate and political environment. While he can be a pompous and ego centric ass at times he ultimately feels his responsibility is to others. Thus he’s the easiest to manipulate once you have his full and undivided attention focused upon the disaster he’s being conditioned to believe he could and should have stopped. But just as important Senator Lancaster must be left with some hope for the future, otherwise he has no reason to play ball. He must be allowed to believe he still has some control; even if that control is just an illusion, especially if that control is just an illusion.

John turns his attention back to the speaker phone which has been silent since he turned it on. “Are you still there?” Bud should be on the other end, one of the operatives he met for the first time at last week’s meeting. At least that’s who they agreed would pick up when he called.

“Yup, still here and waiting on you.” Yeah, it sounds like Bud. John’s suddenly feeling a little nervous, edgy even, and speaks a little too loudly. “Is everything ready to go on your end?

Old school manipulation


Now it’s Bud’s turn to speak louder than necessary. Why is it that so many people raise their voice when using a speaker phone? “Yup, we’ve been walking the market down since the open. It’s now to the point where all the computer algorithms on the Street are primed and ready to trigger a cascade sell. But the situation is extremely unstable because of the delay on your end. So we need to go now or we might lose it.”

Howard is desperate to reassert control and quickly interrupts. “Hang up the phone. Do you hear me? Just hang up the phone. I don’t want you to do something stupid you might regret. Just hang up and let’s talk.”

There is little doubt anymore what John’s intention is and Howard is unsure what to do. He briefly considers calling for Sam or even the Capital police, but just as quickly realizes John could hang up at any time leaving Howard to try to explain…..what exactly? That John Taylor, lobbyist for the banking interests, was crashing the stock market by phone? He’d be a laughing stock even with the tapes from the conversation as ‘proof’. Besides, who knows what would happen to the market if these guys ran for the hills now. Howard is feeling thoroughly trapped and decides the best course of action for the moment is to do nothing.

Carefully studying the Senator’s face and body language for clues to his psychological state, it is clear to John that the Senator is distraught and very worried. In fact there’s panic in his eyes though he’s doing a good job hiding it. Good! Let the jerk stew in his juices for being such an ideological asshole and refusing to compromise.

“Senator, at this point it would be best if you remained quiet and just watched. Things were set in motion when I made the call, something you could have stopped if you hadn’t hidden from me in the bathroom. If this isn’t coordinated properly you’ll live to regret it. There’s no stopping it anymore, just controlling it.”

John turns back to the phone. “It’s me again. Let’s make sure everyone understands the plan. My clients want you to take it down quickly, but don’t trigger the stops. Worst case you kiss the bottom, then immediately recover nearly everything we’ve lost. They’re looking for some soiled panties, but no real damage. They do not want to close at the lows under any circumstances. You got that?”

“Yup, understood, dump and pump to send a message. Is that all?” Bud’s cool and collected. He’s done this before and it shows.

After hearing Bud’s calm tone of voice John relaxes a bit. While Bud’s casual demeanor is intended to sound nonchalant in order to frighten, it has the opposite effect on John, making him feel calmer. He suddenly realizes he’s getting caught up in his own psychological war game and involuntarily chuckles at himself. He’s such an amateur.

“Yeah, that’s it. When can you make it happen? It’s now 2:25 PM and it looks like you have the S&P down by thirty points.”

Bud laughs out loud and then catches himself. It sounds like he’s actually enjoying himself. “It’s somewhere around there. Just give me the word and it will happen pretty quickly. There’ll be a quick pop up to prime the algorithms, then we open the trap door and kick out support. Round trip in about 20 to 25 minutes unless we lose all control. But that’s not likely because no one will be trading near the bottom except those we let trade. Don’t worry, we’ve done this before and we know what we’re doing. But this assumes we go now, not in 5 minutes.”

“Ok, do it.” John is relieved this part is over. It’s one thing to conspire in secret, another for it to be happening in real time and witnessed as well.

John hangs up the phone and reaches over the desk to place it back on Howard’s side. He then grabs the TV remote from the edge of the desk and flips the mute off. The room suddenly fills with noise and John quickly lowers the volume to where they can hear what’s going on without it drowning out their conversation. He then turns his attention back to Howard while settling into the upholstered chair.

It was imperative that Howard listen to Taylor’s conversation with the operative in order to cement the psychological effect of the operation. He needed to hear the matter-of-fact explanation of what’s going to happen and then see it play out as described. There must be no doubt in Howard’s mind that his adversaries have the power to move heaven and earth. Interestingly John came up with the idea for this part of the psyops after a late night reading the bible. God always announced what he was going to do before doing so. Even the Lord wasn’t above using a little predictive programming and psychological manipulation to set the stage and drive his point home.

Turning his attention back to Howard, John continues to prime him. “You’ve been on Congressional finance committees for a long time so you understand how interconnected the world is today. No doubt you’ve seen the Senate national security summaries outlining how shaky the world’s economic system is right now.” He pauses to let that sink in as Howard’s eyes move up and to the left indicating he’s accessing his memory of those secret reports.

Inflection Point

“And of course you know most of what the government says about the economy, all that happy talk, is bullshit simply because you produce some of it yourself. There are serious problems here and in Europe and most of it is being buried. I could go on, but you know what I’m talking about.” John pauses to let Howard respond, but he is once again transfixed by what’s happening on CNBC.

“Regardless of how we got here, we are here now. The economic system is approaching an inflection point and any interference or unwanted second guessing by self righteous do-gooders who think they know what’s best is only going to cause serious problems for all of us, including your constituents. Regardless of the reasons for our current situation, we’re way past the point of no return and any meddling by you or your supporters will just push us all off the cliff.”

John prides himself on living in reality and not in the fantasy world we were conditioned to believe in starting well before grade school. So in many ways he’s speaking from the heart here. It doesn’t matter what did or did not happen or even should be happening, just what is happening now. At this point things are so bad that anyone who doesn’t go with the flow is a danger to himself and everyone else around him. The economic system is entirely dependent upon the faith and belief of the people within the system. Loose that faith and the entire system collapses.

While John is talking Howard is transfixed by what he’s seeing on TV. In fact he’s positively shocked, stunned even. No sooner had John hung up the phone but the S&P popped up five points in less than three minutes, paused, and then started back down again. Is this even possible? The US stock market is huge, the biggest market in the world with billions of shares traded every day. How could these people have this kind of control? While Sam briefed him last December on the power and reach of the too-big-to-fail banks, this is just incredible.

Hearing John pause Howard turns to confront him. “You just did that? How’d you do that? That’s impossible. Did you do that? You can’t move the market like it’s a toy.” He’s no longer thinking about stopping it as much as he’s trying to understand how it could even be possible.

A genuine smile crosses John’s face as he rises once again and walks over to the TV. He could get used to this feeling of power and control. “Well Senator…” John points to the television, “…you’d be surprised what my clients can do now that the major trading computers are physically connected directly to the various stock exchange servers. It all happens tens of thousands of times a second. And don’t forget that a lot of the competition has been squashed. The 2008 crash, which I’m told was also artificially created, was as much about the brokerages and banks that survived as the ones that failed.”

John continues to talk as he moves to a different seat at the other end of the desk, allowing to him to see both Howard and the TV without shifting back and forth.

“Not only was banking consolidated, but any significant resistance was eliminated. And the regulatory dogs don’t bite anymore now that national security considerations override everything else, including prosecutions of anyone other than the small guy. Why do you think Bernie Madoff was ignored all those years?”

While Howard has known since 2006 that the President and his intelligence czar could override the SEC and enable, even order, companies to cook their books, he hadn’t thought to what extent or how wide spread this practice was. He’s getting a taste of it now.

“While my clients readily admit they don’t have total control, they don’t need it in order to push the markets around in any direction they wish. And when they want spot control, if they have a few hours notice and the conditions are right, they can do exactly what they’re doing today.” Despite John’s cool exterior, his heart rate is elevated again and he’s perspiring heavily. Talk about playing with fire. What has he gotten himself into here?

Someone is yelling in the background and Howard shifts his attention back to the television. It is now 2:37 PM and the Dow has dropped almost four hundred points with the S&P down forty five. While John continues to talk about the financial reform bill and the banking industry’s proposed compromise, Howard hears very little. He is mesmerized by the stock market crash playing out in real time. It is all so surreal. John flips the channel over to Bloomberg because CNBC has switched to a grating personality he detests.

Grating personality

Over the next fifteen minutes Howard watches as the Dow plunges a thousand points, the S&P drops nearly a hundred and the NASDAQ dives over two hundred. Overall this is equal to a 10% drop or several hundred Billion dollars of market capitalization wiped out in less than an hour. Then, just as quickly, it all turns around and begins to rapidly recover. John is certain the market ticker on Bloomberg isn’t accurate because it’s jumping all over the place.

At one point John pulls out his cell phone and briefly talks to someone, then hangs up and sits back, quiet for now as he watches the mayhem on TV. Its total chaos with people talking over each other and background conversations heard because microphones are left open. John sees with satisfaction that the planned disinformation campaign has already swung into action. Bloomberg dutifully reports “news” that it appears there was a fat fingered trade that caused the plunge. This little gem was timed to be released just before the markets were turned back up.

Howard’s desk phone rings, but he just hits the do-not-disturb button without looking to see who it is. Ten seconds later Lois walks in without knocking. “Senator, Sam wanted me to make sure you’re aware of what’s going on in the markets and to see…….” Howard cuts her off with a wave of his hand.

“Yes, yes. Can’t you see I’m watching the TV? Now get the hell out. And no more phone calls.” Lois is startled and scurries out. Howard is rarely rude to his staff and Lois is clearly hurt by his outburst. Howard will need to deal with her later.

Switching the TV back to CNBC, John is just in time to watch as the producers switch to the floor of the New York stock exchange. It looks like CNBC has also been successfully fed the disinformation when a stressed Bob Pisani, their floor reporter, confidently explains that it was all just a trading error, going so far as to explain what a fat fingered trade is to the most savvy financial audience in the world. The market continues to rapidly regain lost ground, with the Dow ticker in the lower right hand corner jumping from -856 to -523 in one click.

John smiles to himself. Damn but those boys really are as good as they said they were at the meeting. He considers the money he just made, knowing he was promised a large buy at the bottom and a quick sale at the top of the planned rebound in some leveraged Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) as extra compensation for the risk of being involved in this conspiracy. It’s all over but the shouting by 2:58 PM, with the Dow now down only four hundred points and climbing. So John flips off the TV and throws the remote onto Howard’s desk. He knows the team will trade the market swings in the last hour to feed themselves with guaranteed profits. There’s nothing to see here so time to move on to the next phase.

“Now wasn’t that fun?” John is feeling pretty good at this point with no lingering fears or regrets. While he believed it was possible when he was told the plan, it was still scary as hell to see it actually happen. “Pretty unbelievable, isn’t it? It never ceases to amaze me what those boys can do with their computers. But hell I’m not a geek so I’m not sure exactly how they did it. But it’s pretty clear they did it, right Howard? Howard?”

Even though the TV is off Howard is still staring at the dark screen, not sure what to make of it all. This can’t be happening. While intellectually he knows he’s not responsible for this, he also understands that tens of billions of dollars were lost today solely to prove a point to him. He feels responsible because he didn’t take these people seriously enough to even listen to John, forcing him to make the call. But how could he have known what they were capable of? Who could have known?

Suddenly realizing that his mouth is hanging open Howard snaps it shut and turns his attention back to Taylor. His stomach is churning, his head hurts and he realizes his hands are shaking. He places them on the desk to steady them, then gathers his wits and speaks. “You fucking bastard. You’ll never get away with this. I’ll make sure there’s an investigation and the truth will come out.” Howard did his best to sound menacing, but his voice wavers and the effect is lost leaving him just another frightened old man who has run out of options.

Laughing involuntarily at the thought of an investigation John continues. “Yeah right, a Senate investigation. If ever there was a paper tiger, that’s it. My clients really don’t care what you’ll do about this. Their tracks are being covered as we speak and the SEC and the White House will accept the fat finger story or whatever else they come up with. What choice do they have? What do you think would happen if people realized the market could be tanked on purpose at any time? Public knowledge of that alone would crash the markets worldwide.”

Investigation

John is on a roll now. The last component of the psyops needs to be mercilessly applied before he can call it a day. “Nope, people will believe the cover story because they want to believe the cover story. The investigation will ultimately point to high frequency trading and some toothless regulations will be proposed and maybe even passed. It doesn’t matter what’s eventually found to be the cause because it won’t be the truth. The truth serves no one here so the truth will be whatever people want it to be. Nothing will result from this that my clients can’t handle. Wake up Howard, its over.”

Feeling exhausted and beaten, Howard just wants to lie down and take a nap. While he doesn’t want to back off, it’s now obvious even to him that he’s lost and lost big. Even with the tapes from this conversation he can’t do much more than fight these bastards at another time under more favorable conditions. That small comfort helps sooth his wounded ego. As much as doesn’t want to give up the fight Howard is a political animal and his years in Congress have taught him the golden rule. When you’re out gunned, scratch for what you can and live to fight another day.

Almost in a daze he walks over to the bar and pours himself another Black Label straight up and nearly to the brim, then returns to his seat. His voice still shaky Howard tries to save face and his bill by bargaining. “I still want some kind of audit of the Fed, even if it’s superficial. And I want someone’s head on a platter. If you’re going to get this to fly with the public, you’ll need to hand them someone to blame and hate. I’ll accept no less than that.”

Pulling a few sheets of folded paper and a memory stick from his suit pocket, John pushes them across the table to Howard. “My clients are way ahead of you. As you’ll see my client’s new proposed language for your bill still authorizes an audit that’s well beyond anything that’s been done in the past, so long as it doesn’t interfere with monetary policy. That’s all my clients have ever asked for. And they’ll release the names of the banks that were lent to. It doesn’t matter anymore anyway.”

That certainly appears to be true. For the most part the public has given up completely and has accepted the bank bailouts as old news. Or they are too frightened to do much about it anyway other than moan and groan about how they owe, they owe, so off to work they go. John is almost done here.

“While the disclosures will be embarrassing to them and the news might actually take out a few bank CEOs, the public has come to understand that they’re married to the banks whether they like it or not. One of those bank CEOs can even be that head on a platter you’re looking for. That’s your job. Your new co-sponsor is waiting for your call to work out the details. You know who I’m talking about.”

John looks around to make sure he’s left nothing behind. “Now if you’ll excuse me I have some things I must attend to. I’ll show myself out.”

Smiling in pity at Howard, John slowly stands and then walks a few steps towards the door before pausing. It almost looks like he’s forgotten something, but can’t remember what. Then he quickly brightens and turns around to face Howard, once again smiling broadly. One more dagger needs to be thrust into the corpse. John needs to drive home the point that resistance is futile.

“Oh, I almost forget. You’re going to find your office recording system has malfunctioned with nothing we’ve talked about saved. Instead of our conversation tucked away in memory you’ll find one of your rousing Senate floor speeches denouncing the evil bankers. Those wireless microphones you installed in here were a really bad idea. And your network’s been compromised as well. No real damage done, but you might want to get on it pronto. I suggest you fire your IT people once they’ve secured it again. I’ll be in touch Senator.”

Howard slumps into his chair in total defeat. He’s been masterfully played and he knows it. Trying to salvage what he can the Senator makes a political decision that signals a successful assimilation of the psyops. He quickly realizes he’d better make that call now and get ahead of this PR disaster by taking advantage of a news cycle that will be consumed by the market plunge.

But before he can pick up the phone an ugly realization comes over him. How many other Congressmen and women had visitors in their offices today providing the same lesson in the use and abuse of raw power? For the first time ever Howard’s thoughts turn to retirement.

Cognitive Dissonance - 05/06/2011

Exhaustion

End Game – Would US Police/Troops Fire Upon US Citizens? (2011)

I would wager that the vast majority of people reading this essay have already come to their own conclusion regarding the answer to the title’s query. Certainly you may have several qualifiers and stipulations with which you framed your answer and maybe even a few facts and proofs ready for quick rebuttal if challenged. But my own experience with explosive questions such as this is that there are few who have not already formed an opinion on the matter. If you have not you would be the exception to the rule.

And at this point in the meltdown it would be fair to say there are no correct or incorrect answers to be found, only supposition, assumption and what I expect will be full throated argument to follow in the comment section. May I suggest that whatever answer you’ve come up with wasn’t necessarily arrived at through careful deliberation or contemplation, but rather as an integral part of your overall belief system? And while you may consider all that you believe to be valid and fact based, for all people other than possibly the sociopaths walking among us this is far from the case.

Personally I find that sitting down and writing about a subject forces me to push through all the fuzzy logic and tenuous connections that make up my system of beliefs. For most of us what we think we know or believe is similar to a loosely connected debris field of facts, thoughts, myths, hopes and desires floating on the mind’s surface. Only in this case there really isn’t much mixing or removal of the thought debris by intellectual wave action, just a lifelong rearrangement of the floating deck chairs. When strong emotions are brought into the mix, it’s like a hurricane came through and made an even bigger mess of things.

Debris


Much of our belief system is firmly stuck in heavy mud by our late twenties, having been absorbed and adopted during our early years by way of our state mandated education, the popular press, corporate branding initiatives, consensus opinion, deliberately false public myth making and the always present and rarely subtle corporate and governmental propaganda machines. And what we call our mid life crisis is simply that period of time when we begin to call into question many of the basic and fundamental tenets that have guided us to that point. We usually get through this moment of clarity when the bills start piling up and the libido finally begins to fail care of our chemically treated foodstuffs.    

In practice what we believe is not a coherent jigsaw puzzle held together by reason and “facts”, but rather little islands of hope and belief that would contradict or outright cancel each other like matter and anti-matter if they ever came into contact with one other. I see this all the time not just here in The Hedge (both in the comment section and in various articles from multiple sources) but in newspapers, magazines, blogs, TV and radio; the list really is endless. Selective memory and a convoluted thought process isn’t just the domain of think tanks and the MSM. The alternative press and blogosphere are often just as guilty as well, it being one of the hazards of swimming in the same festering cesspool.

Read or listen to any person long enough and you eventually begin to detect errors in logical thought and fact as well as serious conflicts between a person’s articles, books, and lectures; even at times within a specific article or essay. I find this holds true for nearly everyone (including myself) regardless of our denial that it’s happening. Courage is required to challenge our own thinking and weed these discrepancies out. Sadly it’s so much easier to isolate and ignore these inconsistencies then to purge them and face the ugly truths left behind. We hide from ourselves long before we flee the boogie man. The masks we wear in public are crude imitations of the ones we carry within.

Masks

Judging from conversations I’ve had with many people from diverse backgrounds the majority of souls seem to come down into one of two camps. For the most part the responses I’ve gathered consist of either “No….but” and “Yes….but” with the clear winner the middle ground of qualified “buts”. When questioned more than superficially and asked to explain or justify their stance, many shamelessly switch back and forth between sides and arguments, proving to me that their opinion is based upon nothing more substantial than wishful thinking and hope. However, most do understand that there are huge variables involved anytime a gun is pointed and fired, regardless of whether the person fired upon is armed or not.

Obviously at this point in the great American unwind no police or military units are patrolling the streets gunning down all who are seen as threatening. And this wasn’t what I was suggesting would happen……at least not unless worse case scenarios are achieved. But the end of the American Empire is approaching, a process that will unravel over decades. And it would be hopelessly naïve or even terminally ignorant to believe that any high ranking “authority” in America has anyone’s interest first other than their own. We can love our slave masters all we want, but they love us only for any remaining productive worth we may offer and no more.

Any remaining belief in high ranking honorable “public servants” should have been thoroughly abandoned after witnessing the outrageous antics of the financial elite and politically connected over the last ten years and particularly the last five. We are all expendable cannon fodder and contrary to any official assurances from the professional propagandists that we are all loved and cared about, we have always been so. Denial of this basic fact is the only real roadblock to a fuller understanding of what’s being done in my name and yours.

False hope inevitably binds us to truly impossible situations and this has consistently been our Achilles Heel, a weakness ruthlessly exploited by the rich and powerful for millennium. The almost universally accepted Abrahamic religious redeemer complex is the ultimate (self) enslavement vehicle. In effect, it forgives those who dish out the punishment and glorifies the suffering of those who are being punished. Talk about your dysfunctional relationship, how are we to live in peace and harmony when the basic tenets of the majority of the world’s religions glorify those who grind our bones to make their bread?

Abrahamic Religions

First let’s take a look at who or what would be patrolling the streets under the guise of “keeping the peace”, “finding the terrorists” or whatever excuse the government manufactures in order to justify placing armed uniformed men and women in the population centers of America. And for the purpose of this essay there is the assumption that something has happened or was caused to happen that will be used by the powers that be to deploy police/troops in America under the cover of maintaining law and order.

BTW, we should clearly understand that the real reason the troops will be deployed is to maintain and possibly even consolidate the existing power structure of the powers that be. Or at a minimum to keep the lynch mobs and revenge seekers at bay long enough to make their escape. Is this truly that surprising? After all we have devolved into a banana republic and that’s the way all bananas are eventually peeled.

Initially there would be the local police, supposedly the first line of defense in maintaining the peace. And despite the obvious fact that over the last ten or so years they have been increasingly militarized, the police are for the most part trained to resolve conflict through non-violent means. Or at least that’s the official public myth. Only after you don’t agree with their non violent solution do they pull out their Tasar or Glock. If the first thing you experience is fear when you see flashing lights in the rearview mirror, I would ask you to reconsider the validity of their “non-violent” mission.

Just conduct a “police brutality” YouTube search if you’d like a video lesson on officially sanctioned violence in America. Between the images cruiser dashboard cams have documented and those candid camera videos various citizens have captured via camera phone it’s quite clear police violence isn’t just perpetrated by a few rogue cops on an occasional basis. Instead it appears to be a systemic problem that’s growing worse by the day. A Google word search using the same term will bring back tens of thousands of hits, more than enough to turn your stomach and send the meek and mind controlled scurrying back to the safety of their warm beds. The formerly carefully hidden police state is now coming into full view.

Rearview

The second line of defense would be the National Guard. If we were talking twenty years ago I might make a disparaging remark about weekend warriors more dangerous to themselves than to others. But eight years of rotations through Iraq and Afghanistan have turned the National Guard into something your father wouldn’t recognize. Without getting too deep into the merits of today’s Guard, better trained has its pluses and minuses as long as we understand what they have now been trained to do.

Then there is the military itself, most likely Army and possibly Special Forces units that will provide the actual boots on the ground. Ever since the creation of NORTHCON on October 1, 2002, supposedly as a direct result of 9/11, the political and financial elite have been overtly preparing for the inevitability of social unrest. Covert preparations extend back decades under cover of any available and plausible excuse in the book.

The military readily admits that it’s not properly trained to execute (no pun intended) domestic police actions and they agree they would be poorly suited to maintain order during any chaotic domestic uprising. And I agree. Home invasions by the military would be just as distasteful for Americans as they are for the Iraqis regardless of what it’s called and under whatever bullshit legal premise it has been authorized.

I can’t help but wonder if the UN Security Council will sanction an invasion of America by a “coalition of the willing” when our time comes around? Don’t laugh because I’m being deadly serious. Do not underestimate the measures the desperate will use to remain in power and don’t assume the rich and powerful are physically located only in the USA. It’s a global game and America has been the home field only for the last 70 or so years. It helps to remember that stock sectors aren’t the only thing that rotates. BTW notice that the eagle below covers all of North America, not just the USA.

Northcom

On a side note, I still find it amazing how many political/military actions were a direct result of 9/11 yet nobody wants to seriously discuss what really went down that day. Careful because you might not like the stench of whatever it is you dig up. We all complain about political and governmental secrecy, but the vast majority of Americans don’t want to know what’s going on and are happier when they are deceived. The big lie we gratefully participate in is that we are a free and self directed people. It’s so much better to let buried dogs lay undisturbed where they can quickly decompose out of sight and mind.

And let’s not forget the foreign troops that will be invited to conduct joint exercises on American soil. On February 14, 2008 Northcom and the Canada Command agreed to come to each other’s “aid” in the event of a civil crisis such as floods, forest fires, hurricanes, earthquakes and “the effects of a terrorist attack”. While this description comes from the PR propaganda on Northcom’s web site I would love to read the actual document. Naturally Congress wasn’t consulted and were actually sidestepped entirely. It didn’t matter anyway since they were too busy whoring for re-election contributions at the time, a time honored spring, summer, fall and winter Congressional/Corporate pornographic mating ritual.

Of course, the obvious inference here is that if American citizen soldiers are unable or unwilling to “police” their fellow US citizens, we can always call in the Canadians to help us out. Certainly our Canadian brothers and sisters will be subjected to plenty of official propaganda to prepare them for their friendly invasion. I’m sure the psyops division of both countries can come up with plenty of video of homeless Americans swimming across the Saint Lawrence River in search of Canadian food stamps and citizenship….or at least their version of the green card. There are many other “agreements” with NATO and other individual countries that have been less publicized than this one if that’s even remotely possible

Now for the sleeper “police” force very few seem willing to acknowledge or even aware enough of to intelligently discuss, but who will most certainly be invited to the nationwide block party. Naturally I’m talking about private military contractors of the Blackwater/Xe ilk, also known as privately paid (with taxpayer funds of course) and controlled mercenaries of the increasingly privatized and corporatized America. This isn’t new but rather just a recycling of an old tradition of the Federal Government using private entities to provide “security” and “crowd control”. Blackwater is just the latest.

Blackwater

While everyone was watching what Blackwater and others like them were (and still are) doing over in Iraq and Afghanistan (and in many other countries where they are used as embassy and corporate “security” forces) rarely do we hear about the untold billions they’re being paid for services rendered in the good old US of A. Their presence in New Orleans after Katrina was a primer on how things will be done in the future. The almighty buck is their master and it’s the only flag they salute. God bless Uncle Ben.

Last, but most assuredly not least, will be the alphabet soup of government intelligence agencies (domestic and foreign) as well as too numerous to count private “interests” pushing, prodding and provoking wherever they can to influence the outcome of the civil unrest. This will be done for any number of reasons that will most certainly be at cross purposes with the interests of the American people in general and the actual protestors in particular. This will include the FBI, CIA, DIA, Mossad, MI6, BND and dozens of other public, private and foreign “security” and intelligence organizations whose primary purpose will be the protection of the vested interests of powerful people, corporations and countries. Guess where that leaves you and me? 

So who will take to the streets? Ultimately this is impossible to say because the situation will be fluid and the variables unknown and in a constant state of flux. To be frank the time to push back was late in 2008 when the globalist’s financial agenda flipped from covert to overt and their plans were finally exposed for all to see who wished to look. But decades of conditioning and propaganda was sufficient to keep the American people trapped within their own minds and unable to muster the courage to begin the process of breaking free. And once TARP was rammed through without significant or sustained resistance, the financial elite knew it was game on and they’d better get it all while the getting was good.

And getting it all is precisely what they’ve done over the last 2 plus years as private debt was systematically bought by the Federal Reserve for 100 cents on each dollar in the name of “saving” the system. Now the next leg down has begun (I am not measuring economic legs by the stock market) and where it stops nobody really knows. But after 3 years of worsening economic conditions, carefully camouflaged by an artificially pumped stock market, more and more American citizens are waking up to the fact that they’ve been ripped off and to some extent they’ve let it happen. Or at the very least they barely said a word other than bitch and complain to each other about the highway robbery.

Highway Robbery

This is where the really destructive and ultimately self defeating rage will spring from. Obviously it will be acted out as simple righteous indignation over the repeated daylight robberies of the US treasury by public and private entities. But just like a women scorned, there is no anger quite like that enjoyed by the person who suddenly realizes he or she has been conned and the active ingredient was his or her own greed and willing participation. Facing this ugly self revelation, the ego has no choice but to push every emotional button it can find in a desperate attempt to keep the mind from recognizing that it is partially responsible for its own continuing enslavement.

What usually arises from this internal blame shifting and emotional thrashing about is mindless anger directed at the “responsible” con men whose motto is there will always be customers ready to purchase the lies and self deception they’re selling. Since we can’t possibly shoulder any blame for our dance with the devil no matter how small, this anger will eventually be directed towards any handy minority (group or individual, it doesn’t really matter) who happens to be in the wrong place at the right time.

Case in point is the very recent public services union bashing, themselves just another greedy patsy on a long list of willing participants in our own self destruction. Next up is unionized grocery baggers at the local Safeway followed by Meals-On-Wheels delivery drivers. There are no lows that will not be plumed by a population trying to escape responsibility and self examination and this too will be skillfully used against us.

There is one defining characteristic we Americans proudly boast of that is singularly unique in the entire world and it has nothing to do with our standard of living, GDP or total debt. “We The People” not only believed our leader’s lies about American exceptionalism, but we bought into those lies hook, line and sinker. And for several decades the lie worked magnificently thanks to the magic of a widely accepted reserve currency which enabled us to export most of the corrosive effects of our money printing (aka inflation) outside our borders and the military to enforce it when reluctance surfaced…..such as Iraq and Afghanistan to name just two. Good times were had by all, the punch bowl never ran dry and it was all due to our superior abilities. Until now that is.

This is in contrast to the citizens of various Middle East countries (or much of the developing world for that matter) who are always painfully aware of their real state of existence. Or even the Europeans, who have lived through several thousand years of regime changes, invasions and oppression and for the most part have a much better understanding of the magnitude and scope of the official lies and propaganda and how the dance plays out.

Ultimately this didn’t save the Europeans from their own greed and self interested pursuits, but at least they aren’t completely shocked that it’s all coming apart……..once again. The ice cold shower of awakening we Americans are about to experience will be unlike anything any nation has gone through since possibly WW2 Germany beginning around 1942 when civilian centers were deliberately targeted by Allied bombing and the German population began to really feel the sting of their own self deception and mass delusion. While I have no way of knowing exactly how America’s electro shock therapy will play out, it seems self evident it’s coming if for no other reason than because I can hear the electrical generators firing up in the background. Clear!

Wake up surprise

How this affects the American psyche as well as the various ways it could play out is well beyond the scope of this essay, but suffice to say it will not be pretty. For some of us escape will be had by digging ever deeper into denial. For others, especially those who become caught up in the vicious cycle of endless anger and fits of self pity and rage, the obvious targets of their self destructive outbursts will be any low level authority figure who stands up to them and that all time favorite among those who diligently practice slave mentality, their fellow slaves. Following our passive/aggressive conditioning, many of us will seek to punish those like us before we ever consider lifting a finger against our own masters.

While I expect cooler heads among the aggrieved will attempt to exert an influence over the angry mobs and demonstrators, we must not diminish the ugly truth that there will be plenty of domestic and foreign entities that will see the coming American domestic strife and unrest as an opportunity to foment violent demonstrations and even armed and violent insurrection. The use of infiltrated agents and agent provocateurs to incite violence and disrupt peaceful protest is a well known and time honored technique used by private parties, governments and even the resistance itself (to maintain plausible deniability for example) to further their own particular goals.

The very fact that spontaneous demonstrations are by their nature unorganized and at best loosely controlled works against the intent of the people demonstrating when those who wish to disrupt and discredit are familiar with and comfortable using any means necessary to maintain or regain control over the population. The worst that can happen to any group of people working to unseat an existing power base is their failure to imagine the lengths to which those in power will go to keep it. Those who don’t lie cheat and steal for a living won’t give proper weight and consideration to the tendency of those who do so to continue to do so, let alone their desire to accelerate their methods of operation.

Same ole same old

One would think that once the American people begin to wake up to the extent and breadth of official corruption and manipulation that they would at least be temporarily disabused of seeking additional flights of fantasy. Sadly this is not the case at all. The well worn path many newly awakened minds take is to substitute one form of self delusion with another. A conditioned mind that has been shocked into awareness will immediately begin to seek simple answers that help them rationalize away their own self deception and participation. This tendency will be repeatedly and skillfully exploited by foreign and domestic psyops campaigns. Out of the frying pan and into the fire is an apt description for how it works.

For those who may doubt the veracity of that last paragraph, consider the long and extremely painful path you have walked to get to where you are now in your awakening. How many times have you become demoralized and depressed along the way? How often did you backslide into denial with each new and shocking revelation? How many times did you try to bargain with the truth in order to forget only to fail miserably? How much easier was it for you to adapt to and then accept what you desperately wished to deny because the world remained relatively normal during your acclimation period.

Your awakening happened over a minimum of many months and most likely years and as much as you may have wished you could, it’s impossible to forget once you have been exposed to the previously unthinkable. Now consider what your state of mind would be like if all that you’ve experienced was compressed into a few short months or even several weeks. This is what the average Joe is facing at some point in the future. To have your sense of self identity and community ripped from you by the very people you’ve wanted to believe were your protectors is never easy to deal with under the best of circumstances. The easy road to awareness is behind us and it’s all downhill from here.

So while I can’t answer the title’s question for you I can offer my own opinion as to whether or not Americans will be fired upon. The short answer is that of course they will. Why would you think otherwise when US history offers up dozens of examples to choose from. The powers that be are ego maniacs, the elites have hundreds of years of experience controlling the masses and the masses are mostly living their lives in denial. I consider it inevitable that when the uprisings begin and they turn really ugly that those who are paid to protect the powerful and their assets will follow orders and do precisely that.

Hat Tip to William Banzai7 for the image below. 

 WB7's Kent State

Once again you can’t see this from your own point of view because you most likely won’t be the one holding the riot gear and facing the screaming mobs. While I’m certain some within the police, military and National Guard will follow their heart and refuse to fire or even follow orders if doing so means hurting their fellow citizens, in effect declaring conscientious objector status, they will for the most part be a small minority and will be quickly weeded out of the ranks by the second or third round of protests.

Considering the insanity the police and troops will be facing as well as the economic collapse that threatens them as well, the police/troops will rally around each other and protect their own closed community using whatever means necessary. Throw in the mercenaries, the agent provocateurs, the psyops campaigns, the meddling from the various intelligence agencies and the only question I have is not if but when and how much.

Someone in the comment section the other day said that since the military is now an all volunteer fighting force, the standard of conduct has been raised and no one in the military would ever fire on their fellow citizens. While I would love to believe this, I see it from a different point of view. Those in the military want(ed) to be in the military, thus they were more likely to buy into military groupthink and its attendant mind control and propaganda. Rest assured that long before any uniformed service person (police or military) is asked to confront their fellow citizens they will be subjected to a barrage of intensive conditioning and will be propagandized to the nth degree.

In my opinion, to believe that the various forces arrayed against the protesting public won’t fire on them is to continue to believe in American exceptionalism and more specifically in the desire of the rich and powerful to finally see the error of their ways and thus immediately cease and desist from further exploitation and pillage. If this is the case, if this is what you believe, then all I can say is that you live in a dream world Neo.

On a more positive note I do think something has changed and it’s still not being recognized for what it is and what it might mean. The interim resolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, while undoubtedly unsettled and tenuous at best, did not result in the massive loss of lives many people and governments thought could and would happen. Libya is playing out how many expected Egypt and Tunisia would, with the powers that be fighting to retain power with modern weapons and no mercy.

My question is this, why didn’t Egypt and Tunisia go up in flames? I have some thoughts on why this is the case and I saw WB7 made mention of this change in one of his posts as well. The people who said no more to the powers that be didn’t show up with broken bottles, rocks and other assorted weapons ready to fight. Instead they just said no in as peaceful a manner as they could and they were saying no to the global Ponzi, not just the local branch. Instead of joining a mindless mob, people were praying, talking, playing music and at times even laughing. This is a dramatic sea change in the herd mentality and one that I hope to examine more closely in the future.

 

03-01-2011

Cognitive Dissonance

The Science Delusion (2013)

If you are anywhere near a window or door why don’t you stop reading right now, get up, walk over and take five or ten seconds to look outside and absorb what you see. Hell, if that’s asking too much of you then just imagine what you would see if you were to look out your window. Go ahead and take a few seconds. I’ll wait.

Regardless of whether your (imagined) view outside was of lawn, woods, mountains, animals or other humans, homes or out buildings, a road or highway, tall office buildings or even skyscrapers, if I were to ask you to describe in detail what you (thought you) saw, what you (thought you) perceived, everyone would pretty much describe it using similar words, phrases, subtext and connotation.

This is because even though we all saw different things, we all employ pretty much the same basis of understanding or belief in how our natural world works and functions, of what ‘it’ is that we think we actually see. In short, we see, perceive and thereby ‘know’ through the (distorting) lens of our worldview and the individual/collective mindset that forms that point of view.

This in turn determines how we perceive, then interpret and finally describe what we see. Contrary to common belief we do not simply ‘see’ what is there. No one sees and perceives everything exactly the same way as anyone else and I’m not just talking about differences in visible color, clarity or contrast nor just through the distortion provided by a political or religious frame of reference.

Our mindset (selectively) interprets what our senses receive based upon our preconceived notions and beliefs. In short, all that we ‘see’ and perceive in every form is run through our worldview mindset for identification, interpretation and then integration. This means that there is great latitude for error when our mindset has been both created and distorted by prior beliefs, propaganda and bias.

If we don’t believe (in) what we ‘see’ or perceive, quite simply it is dismissed as unreal and nonsensical………if it is even ‘seen’ in the first place. For all intents and purposes from our perspective fully or partially accepted perception is reality, everything else is not. As I will outline below this is our deeply flawed personal and collective mindset and I contend that this is the basis for many, if not all, of our individual and global social problems.

Point of View

Our point of view determines much of what we perceive

Where we stand depends entirely upon where we sit. This wonderfully enlightening phrase works on both the micro and macro level because our basis of understanding and perception, our worldview, determines how we ‘see’ and perceive reality. Since all we know and all we think we know is right >here< in time and space, unless we make an honest, sincere and sustained effort to see beyond these artificial boundaries, to remove the self imposed limitations we all experience when we view everything through our worldview prism, we are personally and collectively condemned to a life of external and internal (self) manipulation and control.

In my opinion it is essential to understand that everything is a construct of our consciousness, so >here< is essentially non local, meaning even though for nearly all of us >here< is perceived as located between the ears, this is simply not the case. This perspective altering concept, that of non-local consciousness, is a wonderful example of our collective mindset since the vast majority will quickly and completely reject this notion simply because their present day belief system and worldview tells them otherwise. I will touch on this further down when I list some of the beliefs that form our collective worldview, but if just this one alternative view were widely embraced by the general population consider for a few moments how dramatically different the world we just viewed would seem to be.

If we fail to seek our inner knowing to effectively counterbalance the obviously subversive and manipulative external forces that are busily (re)constructing our ever changing, but still very narrow worldview, we become entirely dependent upon that external affirmation to confirm and inflame the internal dysfunction that results from our constant immersion within the insanity. Simply put we go mad, but still remain quite functional in an insane asylum sort of way. Just because I’m crazy doesn’t mean I’m stupid or unable to productively interact with others in our mad world.

This internal dysfunction, our inner insanity, aggravates and perpetuates the external manipulation by way of our collective actions in an endless positive feedback loop of escalating collective madness until finally it exhausts itself in a crescendo of war, starvation, deprivation and death. Our inner madness feeds the external madness which feeds the internal and so on.

We moan and groan about the obvious insanity of our increasingly psychotic world, about the financial, political and corporate corruption, the blatant greed and endless lies and manipulation, all while remaining comfortably blind to its inner source. Wash, rinse and repeat as needed generation after generation after generation. It simply does not need to be this way. But then again maybe it does since to accept that the source of our torment springs from within means not only that we are the problem, but that we are the solution. No one left to blame then.

A perfect example of a thoroughly dysfunctional social feedback loop is the closed society that is present day North Korea. While we do not know exactly what is happening inside that country we do understand that many if not all of its inhabitants do not receive much in the way of a ‘reality check’ to contrast what they are being told by their leadership. Their worldview mindset is horribly distorted by controlling external forces. While our egos might not like to hear this, we here in the West are under similar assault, though the techniques used are much more subtle and extremely effective. 

Our Worldview

Our entire cognitive spectrum is distorted by our worldview prism

On a micro mindset level our personal stand on gun control depends upon how we view guns, personal responsibility, local, state and federal government and so on. As well, our opinion of the stock markets’ relentless rise over the last four years depends upon our views and understanding (or not) of statistical manipulation, corporate and governmental corruption and self dealing, unlimited fiat creation and so on.

Expanding outward a bit more, on a personal level we believe that our (little patch of the) universe can be fully experienced and understood with just our oftentimes electronically leveraged five senses. Except for a few fuzzy undefined exceptions we believe that nothing further is required in order to fully understand and experience our world other than what we have not yet learned and experienced through our five senses. Man beheld what he cognitively created and it was good.

On a more macro mindset level how we view animals, plants, rocks, rivers and roads depends upon if we think of ‘them’ as sentient and conscious or dead and without awareness. For example, many believe that ‘feed’ animals should be ‘humanely’ raised and slaughtered (or at least they should be blissfully unaware of it when they are not) suggesting that we perceive animals as somewhat sentient. Perhaps this is because animals express emotions such as care and nurturing for their young and distress and panic when their young are threatened. Ask most cat and dog ‘owners’ if their animals are aware and emotional, human like in some respects, and the affirmative will come through loud and clear.

In other words we perceive (certain) animals as somewhat similar to humans principally because they show similar emotions and reactions, not because we have actually measured consciousness within them………or within humans for that matter. But we give little thought to ‘slaughtering’ woods, rivers and meadows, the very Earth itself, other than possibly holding some concern for the loss of the utility or esthetic value. I am, of course, speaking of the loss to us humans; not so much to those dumb, but still somewhat sentient animals……right?

Forget about seeing this as a moral judgment so much as just an irrefutable and near universal belief born of a decidedly narrow perceptional belief, or an iron clad fact some would say. In order for it to be a moral judgment all sides must at least be (carefully) considered, if only to be quickly discarded when it doesn’t square with that delicious steak on the table. It is one of those ‘Duh, that’s obvious’ moments where we roll our eyes and look at the questioner as if he just stepped in dog doo and is stinking up the joint. Humans are at the top of the food chain, alive and conscious. Animals are lower down and maybe conscious, depending on if our view squares with what’s for supper, while rocks and rivers are not at all. That’s just a fact Jack.

Our damned delusional unanimity

There is near universal agreement (among the ‘civilized’ world that is) that the fundamental basis for our worldview is essentially correct and quite obvious, though there are a few nagging details to be worked out here and there. So obvious in fact that rarely if ever do we talk about these concepts and even less often, either as a culture or as individuals, do we invest our time and/or money to study alternatives to these concepts, except maybe as <snicker snicker> career ending fringe science.

After all everyone knows that rocks are composed of dead inorganic material and are certainly not alive or conscious by any stretch of the imagination. This and other beliefs form our most basic assumptions about life and the world we live in and they are so firmly embedded within our way of life, within our worldview mindset, that we don’t even consider them to be assumptions at all, but rather as irrefutable and self evident facts.

And yet if these beliefs were to change, if our perception were to alter and evolve, how different would the world seem even though it did not change, only our prism. Then again, if this were to occur we could no longer be blissfully ignorant in our ravenous and insatiable consumption. It sounds to me like we are deeply conflicted and compromised sentient beings who really don’t wish to look too deep for fear of what we might see. Oops, did I just say sentient beings? I guess the answer to that would depend upon our worldview and perception. ‘We’, meaning the insane, never perceive ourselves to be anything other than sane, normal and very well adjusted to the insane asylum.

We are taught these most basic assumptions and beliefs first by our parents and primary caregivers, then by the state and corporate controlled primary and secondary education system, and finally by our corporate overlords. One is allowed, encouraged in fact, to examine the effects and intricacies of our material world in order to further ourselves personally and professionally as well as to contribute ‘economic value’ to the whole (meaning the overlords) as well as the self. After all I must march to the corporate machine because I owe, I owe, so off to work I go.

But one must never question the very basis of our worldview belief system unless one wishes to be declared a heretic and summarily expelled from the paternal patronage system of advancement and achievement. Only the wacko’s and crazies unnecessarily think so far out of the box that they must be declared permanently off reservation and dead to the academic and scientific world. You know, for their own good lest they rock the boat, spill the beans and hurt themselves and others. So we hitch up our pants, carefully adjust our blinders and then join the collective worldview of the hive mind.

Materials Science

All hail the mighty kings of material science

The modern day material sciences, the new global religion adored by nearly the entire world’s ‘civilized’ population, are thoroughly infiltrated and infused with carefully guarded dogma, blind beliefs, long held assumptions and blatantly obvious taboos. Obvious at least to anyone who steps outside the castle walls and gazes back with a clear and steady eye, not to those still deeply embedded within the meme.

The world’s declared religions must regard with envy and awe the degree of blind faith and revered belief the scientific community exhibits in service to the holy scientific grail, that of provable and repeatable scientific ‘truth’ and ‘fact’. Not to mention the degree of blind adoration we plebs exhibit in servitude to all things materially scientific, the ultimate effect of manufacturing consent.

If it can’t be measured and quantified using repeatable and verifiable experimentation, it just ain’t real folks. But since our measuring instruments are often limited by our own imagination to measuring only that which we are trained and conditioned to perceive, there is an obvious closed loop positive feedback cycle here very similar to a dog chasing its own tail. Good luck getting a government or corporate research grant to examine concepts that might just force us all to reexamine everything, then dismantle much of what we have built in order to preserve what little we still have left……our souls and self survival to name just two.

Since I was a young child I have always been a materials science geek so my love affair has not died, just switched from blind belief to critical thinker. For those of us who wish to look beyond the surface layer and ask the really tough questions that threaten to rock our socks off, these days of heightened awareness and self discovery are actually much more exciting than you might think. But only if one is willing to look beyond our pre-conditioned minds and discover a huge wealth of alternative science waiting to be (re)discovered and perused. In other words, only if we are ready and willing to question everything beginning with ourselves and what we ‘know’ to be true.

Arrogance

The agony of the arrogance

If I were limited to just one word to describe the ‘civilized’ western world (and rapidly the developing eastern world) it would have to be ‘arrogance’. We are so completely sure of our correctness, of our absolute certainty that the world, nay the universe, is pretty much constructed as, of and how we believe it to be because……..well, because our high priests of material science say it is so. See, it says so right here in our cleric approved indoctrination texts with all their pretty pictures, graphs and diagrams. No critical thinking needed since it has already been done for us. Just gaze at the flickering monitor and repeat after me.

With the benefit of hindsight we roll on the floor in delirious laugher at some of the obviously silly notions that were held as gospel decades, centuries, even millennium ago while rarely if ever considering that we presently labor under our own woefully wrong flat world perspectives so deeply engrained within our present day mindset that we are completely and utterly blind to how wrong we might be.

The amount of self absorbed naval gazing narcissistic hubris it takes to think that we are so much smarter, so much more enlightened than our mothers and fathers of just 20, 50 or 100 years ago is simply staggering to consider. In short we are afflicted with a severe and possibly fatal case of cranial rectal inversion and things don’t look good for a recovery anytime soon.

As Mrs. Cog and I continue our journey down the rabbit hole I can’t tell you how many times we have discovered books written fifty, a hundred, two hundred years ago that nail concepts (or just open the mind to other possibilities) that have all been summarily dismissed by the modern day material science priests as deluded and utterly wrongheaded. But after an open minded and thorough reading, we can often see that they clearly and creatively explain so much about the perplexities of our natural world. 

At the risk of insulting many of my readers I find little difference in motives and methods between the high priests of central banking & high finance and those so-called scientific authorities who are found in various in-house corporate think tanks and labs, government and corporate run research and development centers and the heart of the beast, glorious academia, with its deeply dug in keepers of the holy thought relics and rituals. For the most part true scientific advancement (rather than just ‘material’ science) only creeps forward when a few more of the old guard dies off and the discipline lurches another step or two ahead before the new crop at the top starts protecting turf while permanently closing their minds to non conforming thought.

Sadly our present day worldview is seemingly confirmed by so much of what material science gets right, at least when it comes to consumer products, electronic gadgets and fiat printing computers, that we can all safely ignore what it gets spectacularly wrong. Just as long as we can get Wi-Fi, or at least a decent cell signal, all is right in the world and we can remain blissfully asleep at the wheel. Even when it does get it wrong, it ain’t wrong for long thanks to a bucket full of scientific superstition, supposition and sensationalism as they announce the latest greatest wild ass guess disguised as scientific fact-theory, all designed to paper over their last wild ass guess gone horribly wrong.

One should rightfully ask a basic question at this point. What difference does it make if science gets a few things wrong here and there? The answer would be ‘not much’ if the errors were at the end of the scientific process rather than at the beginning where they compound over and over again. As anyone who has added, subtracted and multiplied a long stretch of numbers will tell you, while a mistake anywhere along the way will produce an error, mistakes made at the beginning send the resulting sum so far out of the ballpark as to worse than useless, but potentially dangerous. Especially if those errors in thinking and supposition are then used as the basis for other equations, which in turn form our worldview. The result is the insanity that is Earth 2013.

Ice Floes

 Bridging the ice floes

I have been writing about our disastrously distorted worldview for several years now, though never in detail and always as part of my ongoing theme of looking within for the answers we all seek. I rarely provide direct answers to specific questions (something that tends to infuriate my readers) because I wish the questioner to first ask better questions as part of their own search within, then to seek and find their own answers so that they may own them as their truth.

If I provide specific answers I am not much better than those who peddle snake oil, if for no other reason than I am expecting others to believe me, or at least believe that what I am saying is truth as I believe I know it. In my opinion it is much better for the questioner to seek out and find their own answers so that they may embody them as their own, leaving them better able to integrate that information within themselves. The ultimate authority is found within and the only way to break our dependence upon the external authority is to stop relying upon it for ‘answers’.

I feel the same way about recommending books, particularly books that claim to have answers. All writers, including myself, are ultimately propagandists since it is nearly impossible to write on a subject without holding an opinion on that subject. We wish to influence the reader to adopt our way of thinking and the conclusions that spring from it, thus we will present our best argument in favor of the position we are discussing even when we make a genuine effort to be impartial. This is why I prefer to ask open ended questions that appear to have multiple answers (or worse, only one answer) and then present my thinking.

However from time to time I will point in a specific book because it does present open ended questions or dramatically points to our cognitive dissonances, then it asks the hard ‘why’ questions while trying to fill in the blanks. Or I will recommend it because it pushes the cognitive boundaries well past the accepted norm. This time I seem to have found a book that does many of these, Rupert Sheldrake’s “Science Set Free: 10 Paths to New Discovery”. The UK edition is titled “The Science Delusion.

In his book Rupert Sheldrake discusses in great detail ten fundamentally flawed assumptions or dogma that have infiltrated the western world’s worldview. He then explores possible answers to his own questions. Below is Sheldrake’s summary of modern science’s materialist ideology which I transcribed from an interview of Sheldrake on Red Ice Radio.

Number one; there is the assumption that nature is mechanical or machine like. That everything in nature, plants, animals and humans are machine like. Or as Richard Dawkins famously said, we are just lumbering robots and our brains are like genetically programmed computers.

Number two; that matter is unconscious. The entire universe is made up of unconscious matter which includes everything in nature including our bodies, but strangely our minds are somehow conscious. This illustrates one of the biggest problems in materialist science, that consciousness should not exist at all and yet it does, but exclusively within humans and maybe some animals and possibly a few other species.

Number three; the laws of nature are fixed, that they are the same as they were at the big bang and they will be the same forever. This infers that the “constants” such as the speed of light or the gravitational constant never change or vary.

Number four; that the total amount of matter and energy has always and will always remain the same beginning with the big bang and extending forward into infinity.

Number five; that nature is purposeless, that there is no purpose in animals and plants or in life as a whole. The entire evolutionary process has no purpose; it has just come about by blind chance and the laws of nature.

Number six; biological inheritance is material, it is all genetic or epigenetic or possibly in cytoplasmic inheritance, but in any case material.

Number seven; memories are stored as material traces inside the brain. All your memories are inside your head in some way stored in nerve endings or phosphorylated proteins or some other way. No one knows how, but the assumption is that they are there.

Number eight; your mind is inside your head, that it is an aspect of the activity of your brain.

Number nine; psychic phenomenon such as telepathy is illusory. They appear to exist, but they are not real. That’s because the mind is inside the head and can’t have any effects at a distance.

Number ten; mechanistic medicine is the only kind that really works. Alternative and complementary therapies may appear to work, but that’s just because people would have got better anyway or it’s the placebo effect. That’s why governments, pharmaceutical companies, medical research organizations and universities funds only mechanistic medicine based upon the principal that the body is a machine working on chemistry and physics so it can only be treated by the same processes such as drugs or surgery. While that can be very effective up to a point, it’s just part of medicine.

 

Science Set Free

Please recognize that the purpose of my continuous exercise in cognitive discombobulation, of questioning everything beginning with myself, is not intended to form new conclusions or even to modify my present day belief system mindset. Rather the desired effect is to expand my perceptive capacity, to push my self constrained thought boundaries far beyond my well manicured cognitive back yard and deep into the wooded forest beyond.

In other words it is the journey, not the destination that matters. By challenging our core beliefs, by demanding of ourselves that we look where the emotional and intellectual pain lay, once we honestly begin to do so sweeping new vistas open up. I have no idea what you will find when you look, only that you will find what you are looking for if you are sincere and persistent in your search.

Please note that I have not thoroughly read this book, only skimmed, though it is on my must read list to be perused over time. However I have carefully listened to four of Sheldrake’s interviews and I was impressed with his originality and fearless thought process. While he is a classically trained scientist he seems to have found a way to bridge both ice floes, that of a contrarian and of a traditionalist. If nothing else you might want to take a closer look at this one. I most certainly will.

There is nothing more exciting, or frightening, than breaking from the herd and crawling way out onto the end of the limb. Provided I continue to seek the courage to maintain my own personal journey I suspect I shall find many of you out there where it all begins.

03-03-2013

 

Cognitive Dissonance

Out on a Limb