| Horrifying read, kudos to the author for getting it all down there. I can't help but think that similar yet broader tactics are in play with the way we are governed. * Our reality is mediated for us by screens and education. These determine what we can conceive of. For our parents and peers too. This is under control of government+corporations. * We defer to experts, are not 'discouraged' from individual opinions or from exercising free speech. Dissenting from acceptable opinion will mean being downvoted, de-platformed, labelled anti-vax, pro-putin, etc. * Collectivised behaviour is encouraged, individuality, independent thinking is discouraged except in narrow bands - eg developing some software solution for a corporation, or art to help sell a product. * Money is God. * Personal verification of knowledge is pfff, impossible! so individuals have to accept the provided belief system, with experts mediating everything health, diet, even morality (ethics committees). Unverified and unverifiable science is our religion. * Its acceptable to have corporations and governments owning your private data. * This all perfectly normal. * Etc Anyway, I'm pretty sure we are all living in a cult - what we experience is not naturally unfolding. I also think we all know this too, but are in various stages of denial about the scope - it is far more comforting not to engage. Don't look within, don't try to know for oneself, heaven forbid. |