"It will become clearly apparent from innumerable examples to what great instability human affairs are subject, not unlike a sea stirred by the winds. And it will be seen how destructive, almost always to themselves but always to the people, are the poorly considered counsels of rulers when, bearing only in mind either vain errors or current greed, they do not remember the frequent changes of fortune, and, turning to the harm of others the power granted them for the common welfare, make themselves the authors of new commotions either from insufficient prudence or excessive ambition." - Francesco Guicciardini, from "The Balance of Power in Italy," an excerpt from his major work called "History of Italy," that appears in the Portable Renaissance Reader.What Rove said was true, the empire creates its own reality, but the Bush administration was too caught up in their power, and forgot that there are "frequent changes of fortune," in the world of politics as Guicciardini said. And it isn't surprising that the arrogance and conceit of the Bush administration trickled down to the Obama administration, who are desperately trying to influence the public perception of the Iraq war, falsely believing that the reality on the ground will change just because Obama declared the war over. But that's not possible. The people no longer listen to, or trust their leaders. So the empire can create new realities, but it doesn't mean that people will blindly accept them. That was the past. A lot has changed since 9/11.
"We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors ... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do." - A Bush aide (widely attributed to the half pig/half demon Karl Rove) from Ron Suskind's 2004 article, "Faith, Certainty and the Presidency of George W. Bush."
In their 2003 book, An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror, neocon crazies Richard Perle and David Frum wrote, "There is no middle way for Americans: it is either victory or holocaust." This "us against them; victory or defeat" mindset is prevalent among the extremist hell-raisers in both America, and Israel. And you can add Iran to that list too. What they're all missing is something larger than historical perspective, or compassion, or human sympathy, or common sense, it has to do with their brains, and it is not easy to grasp, is it psychopathy? I don't know what causes their psychopathic behaviour, and I don't want to speculate. Can it just be their lust for power, and control? Whatever it is, the point is that these extremist individuals within government, think tanks, big banks, war corporations, and the highest levels of the military are wreaking havoc in our global society. Their warped discourse that grows out of their evil motives should not dictate how we view the manufactured crisis of terrorism, and how we view the prospects for peace in the Middle East.
For nine years the twisted ideas of neocons and war hawks about terrorism, and the Middle East, have went uncontested in mainstream discussions in any serious way, and that needs to end, because there is a war for the mind of the West - and the victors will remake this century according to their own interests, while the losers will suffer through the harsh reality that they are powerless, and don't matter in the grand scheme of things. Neocons, and other imperialists stand on one side of the war, their main weapons at their disposal are government propaganda, state secrecy, and media deception. If the people of America, and the Western world get wise to their trickery, then I think we can defeat these criminals and state gangsters because truth, transparency, and knowledge are much more powerful weapons. There is a reason why billions of dollars are spent every year on war propaganda, and why official secrecy is expanding: they know that the truth is a force to be reckoned with. As Alex Jones says; "We're on the march, the empire is on the run." The truth can't be gagged forever, and certainly not in the information age.
In my last post, "9/11: State of Emergency - Win The War on Terror By Ending The "Strategy of Tension" I wrote that the War on Terror cannot be won through military means because it is a false war, based on false premises, and outright lies. Many people know this. Unless the governments of America, Israel, and Britain terminate the "strategy of tension," the War on Terror will go on indefinitely, destroying precious lives, wasting trillions of dollars, and consuming the energies of our nations. And as long the chief concern in our societies is security, which cannot come from our current governments as they are the greatest terrorists in the modern world, then the majority of mindless people will be ready to give up their conscience, common sense, and good judgment, and all for "security."
The Difference Between Conspiracy Theories and State Crimes Against Democracy
Lance deHaven Smith, a professor in the Reubin Askew School of Public Administration and Policy at Floriday State University in Tallahassee, defines state crimes against democracy as, "concerted actions or inactions by government insiders intended to manipulate democratic processes and undermine popular sovereignty." In his paper, "Beyond Conspiracy Theory: Patterns of High Crime in American Government" that was published in February 2010 by American Behavioral Scientist, Smith says that the "concept of SCADs was developed, in part, to replace the term conspiracy theory," (1). Smith then expands on the term conspiracy theory, and reflects on how it is used to silence/discredit political dissidents. Smith:
"Still, a conspiracy theory is not simply a theory about a government plot. No one considers the (now) accepted accounts of the Watergate scandal or Iran-Contra affair as conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories in the pejorative sense of the term are always countertheories: that is, they are always posed in opposition to official accounts of suspicious events. Today’s most popular conspiracy theories involve the assassinations of John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King; the October Surprise of 1980; the defense failures on 9/11; and the anthrax mailings in 2001. Conspiracy theorists argue that official accounts of these events ignore important evidence, contain anomalies and inconsistencies, and are tendentious in their exoneration of public officials.
Thus, the conspiracy theory label, as it is applied in public discourse, does not disparage conspiratorial thinking or analysis in general, even though this is what the term suggests. Rather, the broad-brush “conspiracy theory” disparages inquiry and questioning that challenge official accounts of troubling political events in which public officials themselves may have had a hand. Deployed in public discourse to discredit and silence those who express suspicions of elite criminality, the label functions, rhetorically, to shield political elites from public interrogation," (2).
Smith's contribution to the growing research on 9/11, and state crimes of a similar nature, adds to our knowledge, and further puts the deniers of 9/11 truth to shame. They refuse to think independently, courageously, and Socratically; they refuse to think new thoughts, and new ideas; they refuse to learn about the world all over again; they refuse to wonder. "Wonder" wrote Vico in his book New Science, "is the daughter of ignorance and the mother of knowledge," (3). Arthur Silber wrote; "If I had to select just a single word to express my deepest feeling about the world, and about humankind, it would be that one: wonder. I consider it a measure of how unevolved we are that so many people appear to be capable of that feeling only when they contemplate an imaginary, supernatural plane." I encourage everyone to wonder about what really happened on 9/11. That is the first and most important step. It gets easier after that. Once you find out that there is so much evidence that reveals a huge government cover-up, you will not regret questioning the official story that was given to the American people less than twenty four hours after the attacks happened. It stinks to high heaven! The claim that Al Qaeda destroyed the three World Trade Center buildings is to real life what the television show 24 is to real life.
Not everybody is going to accept the ugly reality that 9/11 facts reveal. And that is natural, because until now most human beings have accepted the word of authority automatically, whether religious or political, regardless of the evidence behind their claims. There is a lot of truth to the concept of the common herd, and it is understandable why elites believe that it is natural for them to govern states, and only them, after all, this has been the natural order of things for thousands of years, save a few revolutions here and there, which did not improve the hierarchy of society but merely replaced old players with new players. So, despite the scientific evidence that explosives were used to bring down the two towers and building 7, along with the accounts of numerous eyewitnesses who said that they heard loud explosions that did not sound anything like a plane hitting a building, it is likely that a third of the people will believe in the official story for the rest of their lives. They are hopeless. "There are three kinds of mind," said Machiavelli, "the first grasps things unaided; the second when they are explained; the third never understands at all," (4).
Socrates was wise because he admitted his own ignorance. "I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance," he declared." Ignorance is bad, but failing to see one's own ignorance is much worse. It is tragic. As Kierkegaard said in 'The Sickness Unto Death':
"To regard as comic someone who is actually ignorant of something is a very low form of the comic and is unworthy of irony. That people at one time thought theIn this paragraph Kierkegaard touched on a truth that is relevant to our lives today, and that is that human evolution is a constant process. Every era contributes to the wisdom, and welfare of a future era. In our age we are becoming aware of the inner workings of the political and financial world, an area that the mass of mankind in the modern world has remained largely ignorant of, and for far too long. The consequences of this ignorance are apocalyptic, but there is a mass awakening happening, so perpetual ignorance is not the people's fate anymore.
earth stands still--and they did not know any better--has nothing particularly comic about it. Our age will probably look the same to an age having more knowledge about the physical world," (5).
The political truths of our time are just as paradigm-shifting as the astrological, and physical truths of earlier eras in human existence. We are finding out the knowledge that was lost for generations - the knowledge that powerful international financiers rule our Western governments through their control of national currencies, issuance of credit, and ownage of government debt. The people work like dogs, and then pay their taxes, a sizeable amount of which goes directly into the pockets of private bankers. That's the way the current international monetary system works - it is a giant Ponzi scheme, a century in the making. A global class of financial parasites steal from productive citizens from all areas of economic life, rich and poor alike. They're not a capitalist class. They are anti-capitalist, anti-competition. And they live like kings without governing like kings, because they don't consider the people as their property as a king does. They view the planet as their property, and the people as useless eaters who are to be discarded.
In part two of this article I will follow-up on the fraud of the private Federal Reserve System, and the international banking cartel. If you're wondering about a solution: public banking.
Notes:
1. Smith, L.D. (February 2010). Beyond Conspiracy Theory: Patterns of High Crime in American Government. American Behavioral Scientist, 53(6), pg. 795-825. Pg. 797.
2. Ibid. Pg. 297-298.
3. Vico, G. New Science. Penguin Books: New York, USA. Pg. 146.
4. Machiavelli, N. The Prince. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK. Pg. 80.
5. Kierkegaard, S. The Essential Kierkegaard. Princeton University Press: New Jersey, USA. Pg. 367.
