Forum Post: The Lying Game

“The Lying Game” By James Weston It is somewhat ironic how many films have been recently released depicting zombies, a giant army of mindless cannibals that feed on the living attempting to destroy humanity. A classic example of art imitating life. In this model, the powerful corporations act as the disease. A majority of people, very easily controlled, are the Zombies. Finally, you have a small percent of people, who have found out the truth, and they are the hunted.
It is overwhelmingly obvious to anyone seeking actual information on events happening throughout this nation and the world in general, can find a disconnection from reality in the mainstream media. Spin and opinion based articles are scattered across the pages of the largest news sources. Headlines from television news broadcasting companies can be grossly devoid of facts. Political parties run entire campaigns on “catch phrases” and image enhancement by public relations firms. All of this propaganda is churned out and packaged, intended to confuse and divide the people of the United States of America. This model has worked wonders for the ones in charge the past few decades. We the People are fish on a line, and Big Business is having a feast.
All of that began to change with the inclusion of the Internet, a free source of knowledge for all. Technology has been playing a major role in the ability for groups of people to connect, to gather facts and ideas, and to speak out about injustices. So far in 2011, there have been widespread protests that span the globe. Mass marches against injustice have been possible, fueled by different websites. The world stood and watched as Egyptians took to the streets to attempt to win back their rights from a government that they felt, did not have their best interests at heart. They were successful. And here we sat in the U.S. surfing channels of “reality TV” and un-biased opinion based news programs. I think it is safe to say that the majority of Americans are unhappy with the way our government in recent years. From policy, to bailouts, to private lobbyists infecting the ears of those whose job it is to listen to us and act on our behalf, we have become disillusioned. Occupy Wall Street has brought to attention some glaring flaws in our system, and our society. Peaceful protests in cities around the country have flared up. It is not surprising at all that most of the mainstream media outlets have condemned these protests, and have tried to deface them in any way possible. This opinion based journalisms objective is to confuse, incite, and separate us. How can this be allowed to happen, we ask ourselves. They won’t answer us. Courses of Intellectual Self Defense, a phrase coined by Noam Chomsky, explains how actual change can occur. “(It) means you have to develop an independent mind, and work on it. Now that’s extremely hard to do alone. The beauty of our system is that it isolates everybody. Each person is sitting alone in front of the tube. It’s very hard to have ideas or thoughts under those kinds of circumstances. You can’t fight the world alone.” Noam Chomsky goes on to say, “The way to do it is through organization. So, courses of intellectual self-defense will have to be in the context of political, and other organizations.” What he is talking about is now possible to realize as an average, everyday American. We must use the Internet to search for truth, watch videos and documentaries, and most importantly, talk to other people. It is easy to get lethargic and glossed over, we have so many distractions. That is the way our society is controlled. Keep the sheep blind, deaf, and dumb is the motto of Washington.
Yet hope still exists for the betterment of humanity. This is the question we must ask ourselves. And, just as in the film “The Matrix”, we must each one decide which pill to take. Will you choose the blue pill or the red pill? Will you decide for yourself or have the 1% tell you what to decide? Will you wake up or stay in bed? The alarm is ringing. Don’t ignore it. A new dawn rises in this once great country, time for the people to get back to work.