Truth is Hidden

Brainhurt: The pain associated with observing severe cognitive dissonance.

Suffering massive brainhurt this weekend, and at the moment. It seems things just keep getting worse and no one seems to notice.

Media Blackout: The Armada in the Gulf

Gary North
LewRockwell.com
Thu, 04 Sep 2008

The most important news for the month of August was the fact that President Bush has quietly sent the largest armada into the Persian Gulf since the Iraq war began in 2003, when there were six carrier groups. This is a huge number of ships to be concentrated in one location in peacetime.

This story has been completely ignored by the news media all over the West. The only coverage is from special-interest websites. It was only on Saturday morning, August 23, that I learned what was going on.

No big right? After all - no one important is talking about it, so why should you care. Heck, there was a killer Eagles game yesterday (or whatever your local football team is), the MTV Video Music Awards, the Obama/Biden v McCain/Palin duel, and we just finished the Olympics in Beijing. Yeesh with all that fun stuff to pay attention to who gives a fuck about a huge armada being sent to the Middle East. Who cares if we might potentially be waging war against Iran in the near future? Who cares if Oil hits $400+ a barrel....

Now that you might want to care about. From the above article:

Given the high-risk situation that has been created by the failure of subprime mortgages in the United States, an oil shock that drives oil above $200 a barrel is likely to create bankruptcies in major banks all over the West. Depositors are already jumpy. If it appears that the Western economies are going to go into a simultaneous recession, because of a sharp increase in the price of oil that is likely to become permanent, the West's banking system, and surely its capital markets, will be at risk. The Iranians understand this. There is no reason why the rest of us should not understand this. Hence, there is a blackout on all information of the assembling of the armada all over the Western world.

But what's that mean for me, right? Let me illustrate: your job - gone, your ability to afford heating oil this winter - forget about it, food costs will skyrocket, and most importantly our sons and daughters will be sent to war because psychopaths with a microphone can manipulate more people then care to think for themselves. Fucking Zombies.

I read about how ring-wingers are likely followers because their brains are hardwired that way, how Alaskans, including her own mother-in-law, describe Sarah Palin as a racist, a vindictive angry woman with a temper. How she spent incredible amounts of money and left the town she mayor'd in 22 million in debt (and guess what, it was making a surplus when she took office - sound familiar?).

To top it all off, an Iraq Vet Against the War protested cleverly during McCain's speech @ the RNC - and what do the mindless droves of zombies do? They chant, USA! USA! USA! as if it somehow deflects the protest. Reminds me of the "LALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!!" we used to use as children. Speaks volumes really.

I guess I'm just suffering from a huge burden of 'impending doom' syndrome. I feel it, deep within my psyche - that our world is headed for colossal disaster, and I'm not talking Katrina or the Tsunami disaster, I'm talking billions of people dead or worse. What's scary is that no one seems to feel that way, no one pays attention to the signs except a handful of bloggers and internet writers. We're the ones paying attention to what's going on, trying to sound the alarm, but it's as if no one wants to hear it. No one wants to believe it, and that want is more powerful then their survival instincts.

If someone tried to wake you in the night, to warn that your house was on fire - how would you react?

Most Americans would prefer to burn in the comfort of their bed, apparently.

The film Lions for Lambs is an honest attempt to portray the spicy geopolitical climate in its raw, unedited and costly truth. The film takes place in three films, one between two brother's in arms, another between a student and his teacher and another between a journalist and a pathocratic senator. Each vignette offers an illuminating look at the reality of our situation, and I mean our because each one of us can somehow fit into the film itself.

The brother's in arms are interestingly, two previous students of the professor we're introduced to. We're shown their military adventure in Afghanistan as they attempt to fulfill a new strategy issued by the senator. Their characters are bold, courageous, and strong-willed. They have an incredible power of conscience, and a desire to do what is right. Their failing? They lack accurate psychological knowledge of the men who lead them. They are Lions for Lambs.

The pathocratic senator is played exceedingly well by Tom Cruise. I'd never thought I'd enjoy his performance as much as I did in this film. He shows a psychopathic ability to mix words, to tug on a normal man's emotions, to lie with the cunning conviction he is right, more then that - that he is righteous - because he possesses a pathological nature that prevents him from seeing, thinking or believing otherwise. The journalist who shares his entire vignette is played by Meryl Streep, and her desire to honestly do her job and do it right comes through strong. She is invited by the senator for an hour to discuss the 'new strategy' in Afghanistan, and to help relay it to the public. She does an excellent job of asking the questions anyone of conscience would ask, and we can see Cruises' character's pathology if we pay attention.

The last vignette is between Robert Redford, who plays a professor at an unnamed California University and a student of his that shows much promise. The student has potential, but feels as if he'd be happier with a 'normal life', keeping his head down, getting a good job, and making the best out of his life without trying to play a big role in world events. He makes a good argument, but is countered by experience, wisdom and an understanding which he cannot quite grasp due to his youth. For the greater part of the interaction we're not even sure if an impact is made, if his armor is dented, but there is hope reflected in the very last scene that makes the entire bit worth it.

The core of the film is a display of the reality of our situation here in America. Our politicians are self-serving, lying, pathological monsters who are irredeemable and incapable of change. The establishment that is Mainstream Media is saturated with people who are solely 'doing their job' or so they think, by reporting what they are told - propaganda or not. Some of them are damn good people, who have a strong conscience, but due to circumstance (mostly age and financial obligations) cannot change. Their potential to be something different has dried up.

Then we are shown the best and the brightest. Two out of three of which ended up believing their abilities would best be used serving this country in it's war effort. They had the conscience, the dedication and the will to do something new, bold and dramatic - but they didn't have the knowledge that would have allowed their effort to really make an impact, and the results are given to us dramatically.

The third student is a wild card, we're really not sure what he does by the end of the film, but we're given hope that he may attempt something great - to succeed or fail matters not, but that he may attempt it gives us hope. In my mind I saw all of us as that third student. Young, smart, definitely lazy and more interested in social life and girls then knowledge and wisdom which would allow him to fight to change the world. He is the future, the potential future, it exists only as a potential because it is possible, but extremely difficult to manifest. It can only happen with dedication, conscience, and knowledge - which are much more difficult to acquire then a video game, television show, sports event or event a really hot lay.

That is the core of the film, if we want to make an impact, to make positive changes to our world, to become our potential as individuals and as a society we have to want it, we have to try for it, and we have to make it a daily effort.