Brainwashed Brainwashers

I would love to say that I'm no longer brainwashed. But every time I do, my nose gets rubbed in my own hubris. I recently made an offhand comment about the failure of Soviet-style central planning but, fortunately, I was corrected by friends who shed a light on the issue where I never really looked before. 

Being brainwashed is forgiveable I suppose. After all, seventy plus years of Cold War propaganda has left me - and everyone I know - with a lot of unquestioned bad habits of thought. Most people can't see it. They refuse to even entertain the question and, in fact, they double down on denial of government/media brainwashing when challenged. It just sounds too crazy to them. They think it's impossible that all their friends, family and neighbors could be deluded. They can't imagine that their elected representatives or their trusted news sources could be similarly deluded. Or worse, be in on the brainwashing. Then they look at those promoting contrary narratives - the Trumpers or the Freedom Truckers or the Putin apologists - and that settles the issue for them. Only deplorables doubt official narratives.

They know they're not brainwashed because their corporate news sources reassure them that they're not. It doesn't occur to them to wonder about how much influence governments have over the media - directly and indirectly. Maybe they don't know how much the media, especially newspapers in Canada, depend on govenment subsidies, not to mention access to critical information. 

The fact is everything is stacked against individuals questioning propaganda that is supported by overwhelming consensus. Attached to this post, are a couple of the most important documents released lately on this issue. They provide details and insight on revelations coming from Twitter executives about how the social media company was pressured by american government agents and politicians to help manufacture Russiagate in order to demonize both Donald Trump and Russia. If you don't know that the FBI investigation into Russian collusion with the Trump campaign cleared them both, it's because that news was largely hidden from you. These articles tell the story, if only you'll give them a chance. (And don't you dare dismiss me as a Trump supporter; I'm not.)

But that's my point with this post; there is a lot of reading required - and reflection - that goes against what brainwashed people think they know. And it doesn't stop there; if officials and journalists will misrepresent one story, there are likely many more like them.

The cognitive dissonance is personally formidable; it's so much easier to just accept what everyone else accepts as true. But the social dissonance is even worse. If you change your mind because you've learned something new, you will risk the same kind of shaming and alienation that you have heaped on the believers of 'fake news' yourself. It's hard to imagine the courage required on top of all the hard work. 

The final barrier to questioning your brainwashing is the embarrassment of admitting that you've been wrong for so long. Fortunately, you're in good company; almost everyone has been fooled including the brainwashed brainwashers who have invested their careers in sharing unquestioned delusions with their vast audiences. It will be even harder for them to find the humility to consider that the truth is more important than their personal esteem.

Well, so much for thinking 'Brainwashed Brainwashers' was original. As I learned from this article by Andrew Bacevich, the idea originated with Hannah Arendt. At least I'm in most excellent company trying to reason through the psychology of propaganda and brainwashing. 

The question either phrase poses to us - especially for journalists - is why don't we give counter arguments more weight before imposing official narratives on trusting audiences? 

There are sound scientific reasons and research that provide answers. Unfortunately, they're not easy reading unless, like me, you're fascinated by such things. And that, in itself, is part of the issue. Research is not easy for most people, especially when findings counter what you already know - or think you know. Worse, in the back of our minds when confronted with challenging new information, we suspect that if we are convinced by it, the new information will become an onerous burden; we will be forced to admit we were fooled in the first place and now have to change our mind. 

Is that easy to do when we have already showered our beliefs on friends and family? Of course not. We will feel like a fool. Worse, we will be shamed and ostracized by those around us just as we shamed and ostracized others who doubted our beliefs. The thought of sounding like a Trump deplorable or a Freedom Trucker is just too much for most people. So they refuse to even consider contrary information and retreat into the safety of consensus reality espoused by the Brainwashed Brainwashers of corporate media.

Imagine how much harder it is for so-called journalists who have made a career of avoiding the truth and whose paycheck depends on not questioning the positions of their employers or understanding the truth.

At the bottom of this is another question: who is feeding the BBs and self-deceived deceivers with the false narratives in the first place? There must be a select few at the top of the food chain who are crafting the lies and expecting the BBs to sell them to audiences without questioning - no matter how ridiculous.

The workings of our minds are so ephemeral and slippery it's hard to really know, even if we're talking about ourself. The one person we lie to more than any other is our self.

Read the story at the Boston Globe website: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/03/13/opinion/self-deceived-deceivers-war/

From video presented on TV news of the January 6, 2021 Washington Capitol protest/riot, we were given the impression that there was a violent insurrection underway. If, however, you saw all of the video shot that day - not just the video cherry-picked to emphasize violence and ignore the obvious complicity of the police - you would not get the same impression.

Tucker Carlson of Fox News was provided with all of the video and he used it to make exactly this point on his show. TV network news producers, in league with anti-Trump politicians and bureaucrats, conspired to destroy the credibility of the former president's support base by feeding the public with an incriminating but fake video narrative.

In this half-hour clip from the Jimmy Dore Show, Jimmy and Max Blumenthal of the GrayZone review Carlson's exposé. The discussion offers insights of critical media analysis and generally provides a wonderful education on the duplicitous mainstream media that about half of our country still trusts for the truth.

Watch the analysis of Jimmy Dore and Max Blumenthal at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4cB5DVOc-c

Perhaps the one news story that most incriminates american political manipulation is the blowing up of the Nord Stream Two pipeline. Esteemed journalist Seymour Hersh revealed details of how american navy divers planted the bombs and how Norwegian agents later triggered it.

Most citizens in the West never saw this reporting in their TV and radio news or newspapers. They never heard or saw any discussion of what it means when an ally destroys another allie's critical infrastructure in order to force compliance with the american Deep State war agenda.

Sadly, citizens simply accept this news void as a sign that it's not important. If they thought about it for even a moment, they would realize their opinions and beliefs are being manipulated.

Read the full story at FAIR, the journal of the national media watch group.