We explore real-life reformation here in this informed, online community.
During World War I, Edward L. Bernays had worked with the Committee on Public Information to “sell” the war to the public. In 1928, he published his book Propaganda, in which we can read this statement on the subject:
"Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute
an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our
country."
The systematic psychological manipulation of society, begun with the evils of the Great War, has continued non-stop, and it has escalated to the point that we are now subject to full spectrum, continuous psychological operations.
Eighty-one years after the publication of Bernays’ book, Chris Hedges wrote the following:
"A public that can no longer distinguish between truth and fiction is
left to interpret reality through illusion. Random facts or obscure
bits of data and trivia are used either to bolster illusion and give
it credibility, or discarded if they interfere with the message . . .
When opinions cannot be distinguished from facts, when there
is no universal standard to determine truth in law, in science,
in scholarship, or in reporting the events of the day, when the
most valued skill is the ability to entertain, the world becomes
a place where lies become true, where people can believe what
they want to believe. This is the real danger of pseudo-events and
pseudo-events are far more pernicious than stereotypes. They
do not explain reality, as stereotypes attempt to, but replace
reality. Pseudo-events redefine reality by the parameters set
by their creators. These creators, who make massive profits
selling illusions, have a vested interest in maintaining the power
structures they control."
David Webb
This week, the US President gave an apparently delusional update of the Iran conflict. Iran's military is decimated, and it's President is asking for a cease fire, he reported.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman immediately rejected that. State broadcaster IRIB quoted Esmail Baghaei as saying Trump's statements were false and unfounded.
Trump attributed the request for a ceasefire to Iran's "New Regime President."
On the same day, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian criticized the US war against his country in an open letter to the people of the United States on Wednesday, calling it an absurd operation that is costly for their nation.
Within hours of Mr. Trump's analysis of a destroyed Iranian military, Iran fired more missiles at Israel and Gulf Arab states, demonstrating Tehran’s continued ability to attack even as US President Donald Trump claimed the threat from the country was nearly eliminated and predicted the war would end soon.
In Mr. Trump's speech to the nation, Paul...
Today's assymetrical warfare: Iran's cheap munitions are taking out American's most expensive aircraft.
One internet observer:
"Iran, still using their pawns, while Israel and the US out there, with only their King n Queen left. Who will fall first?
"5 pawns and a king versus a king and queen in a chess end game, the side with the 8 pawns always wins. 5 pawns is enough. That’s standard.
"In a way, you could call it asymmetrical warfare."
Well, it's not "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius."
It's $400,000 Bentley automobiles. A lot of them. Of all the dealerships in Europe, the one in Kiev is in third place for sheer volume.
Take note of this tragic truth:
"Foreign aid is a mechanism by which poor people in rich countries are taxed to support the lifestyles of rich people in poor countries. The aid primarily serves three Ms—: munitions, monuments, and Mercedes for leaders and cronies."
--- Peter Thomas Bauer, a Hungarian-born British development economist:
