Open Thread - 10-25-24 - Campaigns of Fear
Wow! Can you believe the fear that's being ginned up in this election? Sure, fear is a big factor in every election but this one is over the top. Who, that are old enough to have lived through it, can forget the nuclear blast ad from the 1964 election. That visual may not be aired this election cycle, but it sure is implied.
Fear is the tool of the powerful, and those that covet power.
It resides in the amygdala, also known as the lizard brain. As a primal emotion its function is fight or flight, or to put it another way, a preservation device.
Fear has been used by the powerful probably since the advent of social cohesion, the main advantage of humans living in groups is safety, the prime motivation after food and water.
The fear today is palpable. From all political sides of the power spectrum. Civil war, nuclear war, violent riots, financial ruin, martial law, cancel culture, prison for misinformation, on and on. We are inundated with that which tickles the lizard brain. Have you noticed that folks are being lead around by their noses?
There are some powerful hands that stand to lose and other hands that stand to gain from their lose.
Fear has always been used by politicians, but this election, 2024, is like a steroid injection coursing through the veins of the American polity.
Who benefits from fear? Those that wish to rule over you. It's the same old playbook since the dawn of man.
There are military campaigns and there are political campaigns, sometimes they overlap and become indistinguishable. There is a war afoot, it's a war for your mind.
Why all the fear? It's about division. It's about dividing We The People, and it's working. Both parties seem unwilling to accept the results of the election. There are threats from both sides. People are losing their minds over this stuff. It's crazy.
We The People are being manipulated.
Oh, and don't forget this is the most important election in our lifetimes!
Comments
Good morning Free Rangers...
the fear may be palpable now but post election it may be far worse. Fear may be what's driving it, but greed and power is the cause, in my humble opinion.
I fear you are right
.
the divisive use of digital disinformation
shutting down minds left and right
~~
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thanks for the OT!
truth is considered foreign influence, world peace is a threat to national security
I have developed EDS...
Election Detachment Syndrome. I don't think it really matters much who gets elected, the downward trajectory is unstoppable at this point. This election is about which political tool decides who or what is to blame for the fall. As we all know, the finger wont be pointed at the real culprits, the greedheads.
Good morning...
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
And from Dune:
"I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
Fear is one method of control. TPTB have been hyping TDS for years now, and it has been an effective technique. Many people continue to be misinformed about Russiagate and still think Russia hacked our election...and may do so again....especially if Trump wins.
I hate these predictions of violence and chaos after the election. That narrative might be a set up for a false flag...much like the Jan 6 psyop. Meanwhile we've got WWIII brewing in the ME which TPTB should fear.
My Friday helper called in sick today, so I better get on with my chores.
Take care and thanks for the OT!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
I think...
that if Trump is selected he'll call for unity and kumbaya as all hell is unleashed in the Mideast. The Israel Firsters lining up behind him is a tell.
I also think that if Harris is selected she'll call for unity and kumbaya as all hell will be unleashed in Ukraine. The neocons lining up behind her is a tell.
It's a win-win for the MMC (military monied class), and a lose-lose for We The People.
Same as it ever was.
So 4 years ago Trump said he wanted to be Hitler
.
John Kelly said that 4 years ago or more, but the story is just breaking this week? And when many newspapers run the same headline…..
But you know who else was accused of being Hitler?
Thread reader where you can see tweets without being a member. Bush, McCain, Palin…..
And for gawd’s sake we’ve been stuck in McCarthyism for almost 10 years and it’s getting new legs. Today’s story is Is Elon Musk a Russian agent? Why? Because he talks with Putin…OMG a businessman whose company is in almost every country in the world talks to a foreign leader.
I’m close to figuring out something about the Kam. She often struggles to find an answer, but when she does she will do her cackle and then deliver a word salad.
See it here and maybe help me flesh this idea out.
Remember that if you want lower groceries you should vote for the Kam even though they went through the roof during her tenure….and if you can overlook a blatant, brutal genocide.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Good morning Johnny. Thanks for the OT. I was
going to post that "mantra" from Dune, but I see that Lookout beat me to it. It is very good advice. It is easy to say "I won't fear", or "do not be afraid", but fear is, as you note, fear is built in, an evolved survival reflex. The Dune "mantra" deals with that by acknowledging fear and telling us to face it down and get past it.
That is, perhaps, easier said than done, but it is easier in non-emergency situations when one can stand and ponder and analyze - what am I afraid of? What's the worst that can happen? What do I do afterwards if that happens? etc. Though the mind can conjure up many other, more extreme fears working with terrors designed and taught by those with a special interest in so doing, for most of us the default fear is the fear of dying. In The Book of Five Rings the great master, Musashi Miyamoto counsels that "A resolute acceptance of death" is a fundamental key to the way of the Samurai. Many accomplished in the attitudes of Taoism and en would counsel the same. Once one passes that hurdle, it is far easier to dealk with other fears, for, in the end, nobody gets out of here alive. As another great master, the illustrious Robert Zimmerman, once said "he not busy being born is busy dying", so it is simply part of the process of getting on with it.
In the US we have time to think and election dismissal syndrome is the only reasonable answer. There are no good guys. There is no lesser evil. Nobody has our best interests at thear, as individuals, as a class, or as a nation. Both sides claim that the other will do away with our civil rights and both are telling the truth. The ongoing attack on our civil rights is bipartisan and will continue under both side, which are equally fascist, so prepare, but don't fear, which is perhaps the key to any and every threat that our politicians and political system can barf up.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Yes
and we are fear nation now. Aside from politics just about everything has a tinge of fear. Can we afford a place to live if our circumstances change? Can we afford a vehicle and afford to maintain it? Will a medical emergency bankrupt us? Do we have enough money to afford lifesaving treatment? Heck, you downshift the choices in food you buy at the market, and then poof! they stop carrying what you've grown to depend on. Now you fear of missing out. We fear any change, it's rarely for the good. We can't rely on politicians for anything except some degree of neglect and exploitation, and just hope they leave us alone. If they help some of the 99%, it's only by taking away from the other 99%, damn the consequences. It's no skin off them.
Pure fear mongering BS
.
OMG! Trump is going to be a dictator on day one and he will throw all his enemies in prison!
Geezus! Remember last time it was Trump will not leave office on January 20, but then he did.
The doc who comments on naked capitalism said he’s seeing so many patients who have depression, can’t sleep or eat and other mental issues because they are so afraid of what Trump will do. All the things that he didn’t do last time he had the chance to do them. Democrats have willfully and happily made their base go batshitinsane and I don’t know how people can recover from it. Hell they got people liking people like Cheney, Bolton and the other war criminals that destroyed the Middle East, killed millions of civilians and caused the migrant crisis that every country is dealing with.
He was going to be Hitler last time too, but he forgot to do it…oops.
Look for another pussy hat brigade and the return of BLM if Trump wins.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Voted yesterday
.
absolutely painless. Only 5 props on the ballot.
The individual politicians voted for I know personally,
except Stein. Easy peasy. Once again, I asked for a receipt
of my vote. They offered me a "I voted" sticker instead.
Does it count?
truth is considered foreign influence, world peace is a threat to national security
Both parties
have nothing but FUD to offer.
It has been a long time since a Uniparty politician offered something positive, in exchange for our votes- as opposed to pure tribalism and IDpol. And the last time such a thing was done, the positive items were all lies, in any case.
I now believe that positivity is never again going to happen with the Uniparty. That die is cast. The stage is very much set for third parties to differentiate themselves from the constant, numbing FUD, just in case anyone was watching.
Makes me happy that I voted for Stein. Gotta start somewhere.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.