The Century of the Self

Watch this film. If you haven’t seen it you owe it to yourself. It shows the history of the American consumer society and how elites have used psychology to get the masses to do what they want. It does a great job of explaining how they manage to sell irrational ideas, like Global Warming...or even the War on Drugs or the War on Terror, to the masses.

Now you might say: “The war on terror isn’t irrational!” The way its being handled is. The way we’re watching our freedoms being whittled away to “protect us” against terrorists. When you consider that you have better odds of winning the lottery than being killed by a terrorist, the way they have got Americans to agree to the indignities the TSA heap on us, or the destruction of our privacy and the willingness to accept spy cams everywhere. Society has agreed to a lot of things that aren’t in its best interest. It’s worth looking at this film to get an idea how they play us.

Now, the film maker, Adam Curtis, also created the Power of Nightmares which another documentary worth watching. The film maker’s views are left leaning like most documentarians. But the overall arguments of his films are very solid and apolitical.

As I’ve said before and I’ll say it again: Both sides lie to us. It’s in your best interest to learn how to see through them. Each side has wha they think are good intentions. But you know what they said about the road to hell being paved with…

Curtis’ series, The Trap, is how we are becoming less free in our fight for freedom. How politicians have boxed themselves in to where they almost have to make our society over managed because of the way they have sold us this fear. I haven’t watched the whole thing yet, but I agree with the premise. With the combination of our over lawyered society and the monstrous bureaucracy Bush created in Homeland Security, we’re facing a bleak future for liberty with all the security measures replicating like mad.

Bush may have created Homeland security with the right intentions. But history shows time and again that bureaucracies always get too big and out of hand. This one has way to much power. It will only get bigger and more extreme. Unless policies take some radical changes,

I’m all for fighting terrorists. But not at the expense of our civil liberties. And that is something we have to be very concerned about. 

First I gotta say I think it’s hilarious that you are advocating for these movies ... you DO realise that they were made by the “big bad” BBC, right?!  Anyway ...

“… It does a great job of explaining how they manage to sell irrational ideas… “
Yes, it’s amazing how the big industry can pour money into bogus “research” going directly against everything that the rest of the established scientificworld thinks on a given subject - and doing it buy telling the people on the street, that “GW is a scam designed to take away your freedom”. It’s fearpsycology 101 - and obviously working on some people.

Funny ...

Posted by  on  09/30  at  02:50 PM

I don’t hate everything the BBC does. They do some good work. But they do have a history of one sided positions on things. What you fail to understand is by accepting GW propaganda you’re playing right into the hands of those elites who are using fear to manipulate you.

The problem with you Bob is you fail to see what’[s being done to your head. That’s why you have to rush to mock me rather than think it through. Mocking me is your form of denial.

Posted by  on  09/30  at  03:06 PM

What you fail to understand is by accepting ANTI-GW propaganda you’re playing right into the hands of those elites who are using fear to manipulate you.

The problem with you, James, is you fail to see what’s being done to your head. That’s why you have to rush to blog here rather than think it through. Blogging here is your form of denial.

Posted by  on  10/01  at  01:15 AM

Oh, look. A Parrot.

Posted by  on  10/01  at  07:51 AM

I don’t get it. The REAL science is there. It holds up.  The “man-caused” global warming science NEVER holds up. Seems a pretty simple call. Yet, we see people hanging onto the “man-caused” global warming junk science like it’s a religion. Ooops. Guess that’s my answer right there. Ya can’t disagree with someone’s religious beliefs because religion isn’t based on science, it’s based on faith without proof.

Posted by  on  10/01  at  09:01 AM

Junk science and ideology is the religion for some secularists. The GW believers are acting just ike a religious cult. And of course, they think all non believers are the crazy ones, Of course.

Posted by James Hudnall  on  10/01  at  09:16 AM

I just had an lecture on archeology. It seems that a whole culture disappeared on the Balkans
in 4200 BC and there were no signs for any civilization for a thousand years. Research shows that the weather was so hot that a society that existed on agriculture just couldn’t survive. It was much hotter than now.
But hey, its not what Al Gore says, so it can’t
be true.

Posted by  on  10/01  at  10:32 AM

Reality is too advanced for GW people. They belong in Geico* commercials. After all, they wants us to return to living in caves.

(* Vash: Geico commercials feature cavemen)

Posted by James Hudnall  on  10/01  at  10:46 AM

It’s really, really funny to see how some simpleminded people keep denying things because they can’t pick it up and smell it, like they use to out in the barn.

There seem to be a couple of misconceptions going on here ...

First of all, you seem to think that the general consensus is that we are all going to die if we don’t stop GW. It’s not a judgement day cult. The world is not going to end, and we won’t all die. We will “just” have to make mayor changes in our lives. It’ll get warmer in some regions - colder in others. But what is really going to be fun is the extreme weather we will be experiencing. Summers will be warmer - tropical storms will be multiplied aso. Draught will occur more often in places already dry aso.

Second thing you seem to have misunderstood, Al Gore is not an elected president or spokesperson for GW! Personally I think he’s a dickhead who is doing the cause more damage than good with his weak movie. Sure, it has raised the awareness for many many people, but the claims he is making are not scientific bulletproof ... that’s what happens when you put en (ex?) politician in charge of anything. The movie should have been made by someone with a more scientific background.

Thirdly, you seem to believe that because someone says that one of the “theories” of GW isn’t real or true, that that is right. You can always find someone who will say anything that you want - and if you can’t FIND someone, you can ALWAYS pay him, and then he’ll say the moon is made of green cheese. It’s sort of like Senator Jim Inhofe ... the guy is being paid millions by the oile and gas industry, and he say whatever they want him to. Don’t hear to much about him here, huh?
You say that junk science and ideology is a religion ... yeah, I see that here on this blog!!! For Gods sake men ... look at what you are talking about. All the mayor research facilities, from universities to the national academic societies from ALL OVER the world are in agreement that GW is happening right now - and that something should be done about it. It’s true that there is not a 100% acceptance that it is man made - but according to the latest FN report it’s a 90% certainty. That means that there is still 10% chance that man has nothing to do with it ... but are you really prepared to put all your eggs in that small a basket?! Think.

And tell me - what precious rights is it that you are so affraid to loose???

Posted by  on  10/01  at  02:29 PM

Bob, your religious fervor is very quaint; your blatant misinformation is laughable; and your ridiculous assertion about Inhofe is a hoot. You really have drank the Kool-Aid; you make yourself look like a standard unthinking AGW groupie - uninformed, misinformed, naïve and frightened. Good for a laugh, but not an intelligent discussion.

FYI, it is the AGW establishment that does “research” for money - billions of dollars a year - not the real scientists.

Posted by  on  10/01  at  02:56 PM

Bob,

Not only do you completely misread and misunderstand my positions, all your arguments about the GW skeptics is more true of the pro-GW clowns. But you are so unwilling to see that. This is why YOU come off as the ideologue. Your best response to facts is to either run away or say “you’re wrong”, which is not an argument.

I send you links, when I don’t haver to and you say “I don’t have time to rea all that”.

No wonder you believe in lies.

Posted by  on  10/01  at  03:20 PM

Oh for fucks sake, you guys do the exact same thing ... you are just too high up on your pedestal to actually understand what the fuck you are saying! *sigh*

You are ridiculous in your unawareness and your hiding from the truths because of your *WHAA-WHAA* “they want to take away my freedom!”.

But I DO realise that YOU will never ever understand this.
It’s a shame - but you just have to let go of some people, I suppose.

And og what’s that about Inhofe?
This is a (public) list of some of the people who is telling him what to say, and how much they pay him:
The top industries supporting James M. Inhofe are:
1 Oil & Gas $311,208
2 Electric Utilities $180,907
3 Retired $145,771
4 General Contractors $116,611
5 Leadership PACs $100,347
6 Lobbyists $99,741
7 Lawyers/Law Firms $95,372
8 Commercial Banks $79,925
9 Health Professionals $77,550
10 Building Materials & Equipment $75,267
11 Air Transport $75,069
12 Insurance $72,171
13 Automotive $63,250
14 Misc Finance $61,500
15 Defense Aerospace $60,500
16 Real Estate $58,555
17 Business Services $53,766
18 Mining $52,600
19 Pro-Israel $49,300
20 Chemical & Related Manufacturing $47,010

Posted by  on  10/01  at  04:16 PM

Everything you’re saying, Bob, is a cliche and an evasion. You fail to grasp that the GW crowd bases their stuff on computer models and utter lies, which they are often called out on. The other leg of their argument is massive Logical Fallacies.

Yet, you think a politician taking donations from some energy industries is proof that everything he says is a lie. Then you take the word of people like James Hansen, who takes in massive donations from George Soros, at face value. 

You run away from any facts we throw at you, and then cut and past some bogus crap from some ideologue website like Think Progress as if that amounts to anything other than spin.

As you said about Gore, Inhofe isn’t the president of GW skeptics. He’s just onw of many voices out there. He just happens to be a politician, like Gore.

All you do is come on here and accuse me or others of acting like you. Sorry. We actually bother to talk to you without being too snide about it. You can’t hide your disdain of us. But that disdain is the mark of your insecurity. You come here because you’re trying to prove to yourself you aren’t a sucker.

And you fail every time.

Posted by  on  10/01  at  04:29 PM

Yeah, you’re right ... I’m a sucker.

But you are a disillusioned ignorant who’s afraid of the world - and you prove THAT time and time again.

Posted by  on  10/01  at  05:15 PM

Look in a mirror, Bob.

You are nothing more or less tahn a laughing-stock, a sad, pathetic laughing-stock. The way you project your brain-washed fear is very sad, but kind of funny, in a tradgi-comedy way.

Posted by  on  10/01  at  06:08 PM

Bob,

You’ve been a borderline troll, but not so bad that I would ban you. But now that you’re getting all personal I have to warn you to quit insulting people. If you can’t abide by my opinions, then don’t come around.

All I’ve tried to do is make you think that maybe you are buying into lies. Maybe you should examine that. But all you’ve done is push back with impotent rage. And that suggests that your fear is large. A fear of thinking for yourself. You would rather wrap yourself in the warm blanket of ideology, rather than research for answers outside the limited box you sit in.

Your insults only hurt yourself. Because that’s who you’re really talking about.

Posted by  on  10/01  at  08:31 PM

“If a man resists truths that are all too evident, in opposing him it is not easy to find an argument by which one may cause him to change his opinion. The reason for this is neither the man’s ability nor the teacher’s weakness; nay, when a man who has been trapped in an argument hardens to stone, how shall one any longer deal with him by argument?”
--The Discourses of Epictetus, Book 1.5

Posted by  on  10/01  at  10:25 PM

Okay, maybe this will be my last post here (before I get banned), and then I’ll leave you to play with yourself ... but I just have to address these last three posts.

1: @terrence : Yeah, yeah ... I get it. You think I’m brainwashed because I don’t agree with you. I also understand that you will never accept the possibility that it might be YOU who are the brainwashed one - it’s not pleasant to think about a concept like that, therefor it’s easier to just say it’s the other guy that’s wrong. I get it - it’s human nature.

2: @james : Yeah, yeah ... I get it. I’m the bad guy here, because I don’t agree with you. I have been ridiculed here since day one, but because I lower myself to your own terminology (not just yours, James, but all your little sheep) I’m the troll. That’s okay - it’s you blog, and maybe I should pay more respect to that. I suppose I just got caught up in that slogan you have going on the top of this page, with the “free thinker"-thing ... my bad. I recognise it for what it is now. I have said some bad thinks in the heat of debate - but so have you. Please don’t forget that.

You say that I’m buying into lies. That’s a fair statement, and I don’t disagree with you that that’s a possibility. Of course it’s possible - I’m not a scientist, I can only go on what I’m given to read and watch. But for the life of me I don’t understand why YOU don’t get that too!!! You are not a scientist either ... you base your opinion on what the media is feeding you. You have just decided to believe what the anti-gw-wing is telling you. As long as none of us are actual scientist who are out there getting “our hands dirty” in our own research (and surfing the internet for reports that fit our perception of the world is NOT to be considered “research”!!!), we really can’t be sure of anything - can we?! Right now it’s a matter of belief. Agree?

3: @toren : lovely quote, and I agree full hearted. But of course we obviously have different opinions on who it’s talking about. But that’s okay, too.

Posted by  on  10/02  at  03:13 AM

Bob,

All you do is repeat what I say or others say and claim its true of them. You are unbelievably hard-headed and obstinate because you dismiss every argument you don’t agree with with ridicule. Whereas I and others on here can actually back up our positions with real science. See, you keep saying I dismiss science. But you give no cites of your own. I do. Over and over again.

Any ridicule you’ve received has been in response to your ridicule of us. If you were more polite, people would have been more polite to you.

How a person treats others is a reflection of what they think of themselves. All you’ve done since you came here is be snide and call everyone stupid.

The way you just dismissed everyone on here as being followers is again, you talking about yourself. You need to wake up. You really are the follower. You follow the establishment cant. We don’t. That makes us, not you, the free thinkers.

Posted by  on  10/02  at  07:03 AM

Bob, it is inceasingly sad to read your rants. Are you really THAT close-minded? Please take a deep breath and read what you write here, and TRY to see how it ALL applies to YOU.

Posted by  on  10/02  at  08:58 AM

You want polite ... sure, but does it go both ways?

James and Terrence, please tell me, point by point, how my latest “rant” is wrong and close-minded.

I’m asking you this because I don’t think you understand what I’m writing… I was actually pretty carefull that I made it very clear that I’m not “hard-headed and obstinate”.
For a moment please forget everything we have talked about earlier, if thats possible, and just focus on my latest post.

Posted by  on  10/02  at  09:48 AM

Bob,

I don’t hate you at all. And I have never insulted you or called you names. If you think calling you a sucker is calling you a name, then I’m sorry if you took it that way. I call that an observation. 

But the fact is, your first posting on here started off with “ha ha ha! You right wing stooges...”

You started off on the wrong foot from the start. And you always seem to find a way to insult people, especially me.

If you try to listen instead of attack, we might get somewhere. I am not trying to convince you or anyone I am right. All I am doing here is offering my views on things and giving my reasons or analysis. If you disagree, fine. But if you can’t provide anything better than insults and sarcasm, you’re just inciting arguments. That’s what trolls do.  You’ve come awfully close to doing that on many occasions.

The worst thing you do in my opinion is tell people what you think they are, when you obviously don’t take the time to really get to know them. If you really knew what I was like, you would never have said most of the negative things you’ve said to me.

I can’t speak for others, but I don’t insult people unless they ask for it. So be nice and so will I.

Posted by  on  10/02  at  11:07 AM

“I don’t hate you at all.”
Did I ever say anything like that???

“But the fact is, your first posting on here started off with “ha ha ha! You right wing stooges...””
I have never ever in my life used the word “stooges” !!!

And I feel you are evading what I asked in my previous post, so I’ll post it again:

James and Terrence, please tell me, point by point, how my latest “rant” is wrong and close-minded.
I’m asking you this because I don’t think you understand what I’m writing… I was actually pretty carefull that I made it very clear that I’m not “hard-headed and obstinate”.

Posted by  on  10/02  at  01:19 PM

Bob, I don’t time to keep dragging out this conversation. If you can’t even tell what you’re doing, my advice is to ask questions if you don’t understand something someone says and quit deriding people you disagree with. Manners goes a long way and maybe you don’t feel the need to get defensive.

Posted by  on  10/02  at  05:11 PM

Your unwillingness to answer my very, very simple question speaks volume.

Posted by  on  10/02  at  05:19 PM
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