The Ice shooting in Minnesota in just another example of how divided and limited in our capacity to critically think our nation has become. The issue is dominated by the narratives representing two ideologies guiding and controlling the American mind, with little room for any perspectives outside of this box. The so-called conservative right, who for whatever reason cannot seem to accept the idea that their president isn't who they thought, views this shooting as a legitimate act of self-defense. Perhaps it is, however, there are questions that we should all be asking. The typical argument is that Ice is legitimately enforcing immigration law. Fine, but the woman shot was not an illegal immigrant. She was a protestor. A protestor mind you, that in many ways, we have been programmed to hate because their values, beliefs and attitudes towards our country are so anti-thetical to our own. Conservative commentary on this issue is rife with references to blue-haired liberals and lesbians in an attempt to justify the death of this woman. Who in all reality, isn't all that different than any of us. She was, after all, an American citizen. The left, of course, has become enraged over this and are taking to the streets in their typical fashion to continue their agitprop tactics. This, undoubtedly, is also a part of the bigger problem. Ever since Obama, and probably earlier, we have witnessed the rise of the professional agitator. Well organized and funded protest movements designed to do little more than create chaos, confusion and discontent. The American patriot has grown very weary of this and have reached a point where violence is an acceptable answer. Very few people are stepping outside the bounds of these two perspectives and discussing this incident for what it is. Another useful distraction meant to keep us fighting among ourselves while the AI surveillance system they are ready to impose on all of us, steadily advances. People are looking for solutions to the many problems we face. The problem is that no one will accept what the bigger issue is. We are living in a system designed to give the illusion of choice and freedom. There is very little difference between the so-called right and left. The differences that do exist are contrived narratives designed to reinforce the existing beliefs of each respective party, while in the shadows, the same agenda advances. It doesn't matter if a democrat or republican is in office. The bombs continue to drop, the debt continues to increase, and our liberties continue to go away. Incidents like this shooting aid in that agenda as people become more willing to surrender their freedoms in the name of safety. “The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is [to the Eastern Establishment] a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, [they believe that] the two parties should be almost identical, so that [they can control the elections] … without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy” (Quigley, Tragedy and Hope, p. 1035). Doesn't that quote describe our system better than anything else? Do the political right and left really represent two opposing ideologies in a fight for the heart and soul of our country? Or are they selling cleverly contrived stories tapping into the beliefs of the electorate? I have said this numerous times, but it is worth repeating. Propaganda and persuasion work best when it reflects the pre-existing cognitive biases of the target audience. As long as the American people continue to allow ourselves to be divided by terms such as left or right, or, conservative and liberal, there won't be any real change. I am not necessarily arguing that the beliefs and opinions of people are not illegitimate. Not at all. Only that those beliefs are thoroughly understood by people highly skilled in crafting persuasive messages that are meant to keep our minds trapped in a particular frame. Cass Sunstein writes in his book Nudge, that people are mindless and passive in their decision making. By framing arguments in terms controlled within a certain “this or that” paradigm, people are forced to make choices within that paradigm. In cases such as the Ice shooting, the this or that paradigm is the political right or left. You are either on the side of government, or you are a deranged, blue-haired leftist. Another point worth repeating is that propaganda is meant to gain acceptance on issues that would otherwise be opposed. I hate to say this but conservatives, under both Trump administrations, have become very accepting of the growth of government power in the name of fighting the left. The entire premise of the conservative ideology has been flipped on its head as patriots have accepted ideas that they would have at one time, definitely opposed. Here is the point though, it all depends on the framing. For instance, there is little chance that the conservative movement would have accepted the idea of heavily armed and masked troops patrolling our streets thirty years ago. When the issue is framed as a way to deal with illegal immigration, it becomes accepted. People, and this is something else that Sunstein alluded to, cannot see the contradictions in their own thinking. Conservatives are usually the first to argue, in the face of any leftist expansion of power, that once government gains power, they rarely give it up. Why would this situation be any different? Why wouldn't they consider the possibility that the immigration issue is just an excuse to normalize the presence of armed federal troops? The answer to that question is very simple. The situation in our country, after eight years of Obama at the helm, and the prospects of a Hillary Clinton presidency, brought the American conservative to the point of hopelessness. In their moment of frustration and despair, they accepted anything that promised a return to normal. Any revolutionary change must be proceeded by a passive, affirmative, non-challenging attitude toward change among the mass of our people. They must feel so frustrated, so defeated, so lost, and so futureless in the prevailing system that they are willing to let go of the past and chance the future. This acceptance is the reformation essential to any revolution. (Alinsky, Rules for Radicals, p. xix) If there is to be any hope of preserving our country -- restoring it back to what was intended -- we have to stop accepting everything the government or media tells us. They are telling us what we want to hear with the understanding that propaganda works best when it reflects the cognitive biases of the intended audience. Both sides of the political aisle are working to keep us fighting amongst ourselves, so we don't notice them working together to advance the same, freedom killing agenda. Take it for what you will, but there is a reason they think we are gullible, and it isn't because of our robust skepticism.

The left's favorite playbook play, when all else fails, go profane

I have never really felt at a loss for words the way I do right now. I sit contemplating the reactions to Trump's attack on Venezuela, and I realize one disturbing truth. Either the conservative movement is so far gone, so easily distracted, so willing to accept anything this man does simply because they believe he isn't a liberal; or everything is a controlled narrative, and mass support for this is only a perception. A perception created by clever propaganda campaigns which reflect back to a confused and desperate audience a once popular belief that the administration is desperately clinging to, in the hopes of retaining any legitimacy. The belief that Trump is the greatest president ever, engaged in a brilliant game of four-dimensional chess in his efforts to save our country from the left. Some of the memes floating around on social media support this narrative by saying ridiculous things like -- And for my next trick I will make the democrats support a deranged narco terrorist. Memes like this have been used all throughout both of Trump's presidencies to reinforce the idea that the left suffers from what they like to call -- Trump Derangement Syndrome. The truth is that the conservative support for Trump becomes more unbreakable the more the left opposes what he is doing. Trump could kill a puppy on live TV, and his base wouldn't know what to think about it until they see the left's opposition, then they would make excuses for it. Just like they do with everything else. That is the true Trump Derangement Syndrome. Another example of the memes pushing this type of narrative compares Trump's military action to Bush's wars, suggesting that Trump is some type of strategic genius. This is ridiculous and shows -- presuming it is accepted by the conservative base -- just how detached we are from any ability to critically think. Therein lies the point, though. Throughout the pages of this website are numerous links, references and citations which show what is known about the human response to propaganda and persuasive messaging. The study of mass persuasion, which the book Propaganda and Persuasion compares to Psychological Warfare, has been undertaken by the fields of psychology, sociology, communications, rhetoric, philosophy and law. Yet, the majority of us have no clue as to how these techniques affect our perceptions, and our abilities to think freely -- outside of the constructed box that traps our thoughts in a this or that paradigm. For example, we either support Trump's actions and are on the right, or we oppose and are deranged leftists who support narco-terrorist dictators. The truth is that these messages are directed to audiences who are not expected to think at all, only follow along. We are living at a time where illiteracy rates are high, and people's opinions are formed and controlled by quick a minute headlines, memes, and stories that do little more than reinforce popular sentiment. There is a sad reality underlying all of it. We allowed this to happen to ourselves because we have become an entertainment addicted nation, fixated on quick satisfaction, shallow explanations that support our own beliefs, and easy answers which demand as a little of our own responsibility as possible. We are losing our country, our freedom and our own self-identity not because of left-wing authoritarianism or right-wing fascism, if there even is such a thing. But because we have opted to turn our brains off and accept comforting lies that make us feel safe. The conservative movement, for instance, as soon as Trump won the presidency -- both times -- did the same thing the liberals do when their guy wins. They went to sleep under the misguided notion that Trump was fighting for them. They sat back and accepted everything he did because the popular perception was that every move he made infuriated the left; therefore, it must be a great move. We became willing participants in a self-sustaining propaganda campaign which pushed state supported narratives under the guise of popular opinion. This is called participatory propaganda, and it is permeating social media. Every meme shared and every emoji icon clicked reinforces a narrative that protects state sovereignty and is often referred to as a do-it-yourself misinformation campaign. Propagandists have stated that the state can rely on its own citizenry to propagate the false information being fed to them on social media platforms like Facebook. The control of information then, becomes an environmental control that guides behaviors and attitudes in directions useful to the state. It is useful to any administration when people are sharing memes mocking those that question it, I suppose. “Participatory propaganda restores state sovereignty from within. It aims to build walls in the inner spaces of the subject (you) by shaping categories of perception of the environment. First, it constructs the object of a conflict that can potentially divide people. Second, relying on the design of social networks that combine information proliferation with personal interaction, as well as the mediated mobility of devices, it makes this conflict an omnipresent and integral part of everyday life.” (Asmolov, 2019) Our reactions to persuasive messaging and propaganda are under the microscope 24/7. They provide feedback into our abilities to critically evaluate and question what is going on around us. As far as the propagandists are concerned, we might as well all be elementary school students because as a society, we are showing them a willingness to just follow any narrative that tells us what we want we want to hear. When the government watches a large number of people -- for example -- go from demanding the release of the Epstein files, to supporting Trump's attack on Venezuela after heavily redacting them, and even telling people their support is no longer wanted if they believe the files even exist, it is a pretty safe bet they think you are stupid and see no reason to treat you like a thinking human being. The book, Psychology and Modern Warfare: Idea Management in Conflict and Competition says the same thing by describing the public as being very feminine in character, and devoid of sound reasoning logic able to differentiate between conflicting ideas. Rather, they view the public as children who are easily led from one idea to another. Gee, I wonder why. Again, this is a conclusion based on our own behavior and willingness to just accept everything we are told without question. We are doing this to ourselves every time we choose to share a meme, instead of reading an article that challenges our preconceived notions. We propagandize ourselves every time we get behind a narrative that reflects our cognitive biases instead of challenging them. We are telling the propagandists that we believe what we are being fed whenever we discard the idea that we are being lied to by our own party. Within the pages of this website are the links, citations and references to books and academic journals that prove one thing beyond any doubt. The study of propaganda and persuasion is a huge undertaking, and it is being done to better understand how to persuade large audiences into accepting the propagandist's point of view. Yet, the information I am sharing is discarded, and I have been mocked by a very large number of people who are tied to the Trump narrative, defending his every move. People that at this point, I just can no longer take seriously at all. These articles do not get shared by anyone, nor are they are picked up by any algorithm. They are largely ignored. Yet, people can't figure out what is going on around them. I am not arguing that I am correct in every conclusion I make, only that the science of persuasion and propaganda is an academic endeavor, and that messages are targeting audiences who are generally believed to be smart enough to understand them, but not smart enough to know why they need to be questioned. If we don't start asking some questions, we are going to be nothing more than willing participants in the creation of a system that tells us what the correct opinions, beliefs and attitudes are, while punishing those that hold alternative views. We are already willingly propagandizing ourselves every time we share a meme that says, and for my next trick I will make the democrats support a deranged narco-terrorist. Goodness gracious, it is no wonder the government thinks we are stupid.

Fifteen Democratic governors launched an alliance to take public health into their own hands by targeting pandemic preparedness and vaccine coordination. An HHS spokesperson warned that the same states whose COVID-19 policies eroded trust are now “trying to reinvent public health under the guise of ‘coordination.’”