Desensitization and Conspiracy Rabbit Holes
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James takes a moment to ponder two problems inherent in the independent media space: conspiracy rabbit holes leading truth seekers astray and desensitization to dark subject matter. What do you think? Corbett Report members are encouraged to leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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“The News†is a Social Construct. It is Used to Program You.
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Hey James,
This is a timely & well thought out description of what’s been transpiring in the independent news community, ever since many jumped on the Trump train, so to speak.
I clicked the link that you provided to the reddit post, read some replies, then went to the homepage of the subreddit, labeled r/conspiracy; where a poster who agreed with you, suggested that you partake in another AMA there, to flesh out & further address your points—I believe this is an excellent idea, & will place the hyperlink to the aforementioned post, below.
https://old.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/bth26z/i_believe_we_need_to_have_corbett_report_come_in/
At the conspiracy feast
You are what you eat
or
You eat what you are
?
As for solutions
in this multi-tiered global “chess game” complete with illusory lighting effects thrown onto the boards from falsified historical perspectives,
truly compelling, inspiring solutions are difficult to identify as they may require total change in life paradigm impacting those baffled and beloved “normies” amongst family and friends…
Hope to revisit this debate as soon as professional imperatives have been met.
Or, to paraphrase Frank Zappa, “You are what you viz and you viz what you are.”
just vizzed this:
The exorcist from Laurel Canyon
who loved to zappa devil
Frankly turnin’ tables and turn tables
“…devil, who you jiving with that cosmik debris? Don’t waste yer time on me ’cause… I’m a simple person, ya know, I have very small desires in life, (om shanti, om shanti, om shanti, shanti) …”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp6LT2MdaPI
(spare the faint hearted the mammeries and mousse video)
uh, mammaries. my mistake.
and beer. not mousse.
…haven’t even had any…
> …haven’t even had any…
Beer? Mousse?
Or mammaries???
😉
all 4!
don’t try to confuse me.
You brought up a good point about people being interested in conspiracies and shocking information just for the mere stimulation it gives their brains. The embodiment of conspira-tainment is Alex Jones. I don’t closely follow his work, but you can tell he is all about the view count, no matter if what he says is true or not. I think he is a good example of what you don’t want to ever become. A sellout.
The idea that we are being manipulated to fall down these rabbit holes is itself quite a rabbit hole. I don’t want to tell thoughts on all what horrible manipulations they might be doing for fear of giving them ideas.
We can identify that this rabbithole-baiting is a potential problem, but that doesn’t do much if we can’t distinguish it from legitimate paths of thought. And that I think is the more interesting question. What the Corbett Report audience takes for granted, other would see as outlandish rabbitholes.
These social systems are just so incredibly complicated and difficult to study and poorly studied, and once you realize that there are intelligent, powerful adversaries deliberately trying to deceive you, it becomes so much more complicated to figure out.
But I think you are doing a great job of tackling these problems in face of the challenges, James!
Only idiots believe that history is only a collection of “stuff that happens by accident”.
And only naive idiots believe the official narratives.
Of course there is some form of “management” going on behind the scenes.
That’s why much money is being spent on PR companies, spin doctors, “community organizers”, “social influencers” and so on.
This is nothing new in history as there have always been “advisers” but for the modern variant you can thank Edward Bernays: They not only advise – the also execute.
But make no mistake: Us “awoke people” are also often falling into traps.
The problem is that there are literally minefields out there consisting of buckets of deliberately false information, more often than not constructed by the letter agencies and other organizations to cover their tracks and keep the public misinformed.
Just for reference: The CIA faked the “escape” of Fabrice Lumumba in 1960s Congo for several weeks including fake radio transmits even though they themselves organized his murder (they wanted to conceal where he was murdered and buried).
With JFK it’s probably worse. We don’t know how many book authors and “investigative journalists” were either directly bought or influenced by “leaks” to put out their more or less grotesque theories how JFK was executed in public. If we add all those potential JFK killers we’d have probably more than 200 suspects and three or four nations behind it…
The personnel in the agencies earn their money by *planning* this shit and creating false leads. Today they have flow charts with blocks like “manipulate media”, “leak info” etc.
Of course this costs money but with the budgets of US (secret) agencies we shouldn’t wonder at all. And if it gets too dirty they have their hidden slush funds etc. that nobody asks about.
Its funny because I see more and more people questioning the norm anymore however half of the things they are looking into have no value beyond the initial point.
The latest thing that comes to mind is the recent Creepy Uncle Joe Biden. People will look that up then, as you mention in the video, say “Yea, every politician is awful, welp” and stop there, though the issue is far more complicated.
Their only “solution” becomes to vote…even though it has made no difference..
The “School of Thoughtâ€, a non-profit dedicated to spreading critical thinking wrote an article which describes 24 of the key biases that warp our sense of reality, providing useful examples along the way.
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/24-cognitive-biases-warping-reality/
A very valuable post. Thank-you.
Hi James,
These are serious times which call for a focused strategy. I believe that PDJT has mapped this out with his Plan (‘trust the plan’) as supported by the US MI comms channel for the public called ‘Q’, assisted by others (e.g. @TrueEyeTheSpy). As a major Spygate declas is now imminent, it seems to me that we could all focus on the beast that Trump et al are trying to take down, taking our cues from him/them. I understand that many online voices are wary of Q, because he/it/they potentially take eyeballs off you guys. However, WWG1WGA … there is strength in numbers. The GOOD people of this world need to stand together now. You are certainly one of the best, so I know you do. I would love to hear you talk a little about Trump/Q/etc updated … e.g. what has the guy done re human/child trafficking … I think it’s huge, and I think it’s just getting started. How about covering the declas, next IG report, start of military tribunals, etc? Yes, they are coming. Anyway, you asked, so I provided ;o)
Cheers
P.S. Loved your WW1 series + extras incl. ‘History is written by the Winners’, fantastic stuff. I’m tying it together with Makow’s Illuminati: The Cult that Hijacked the World (i.e. Rothschild = Sabbatean). One heck of a tale, BUT … please don’t cover AH until/unless you’ve read Mein Kampf … v. important book imo. The whole truth about the 20th century is … haaard.
Research into the world has been part of the investigation of my own life which after the strange and terrible flashbacks basically had two competing explanations. The first that I was defective, or in medical language mad, and the other that my life and the world are completely different to how I thought they were. After now five years of evaluation I have found out that I am not mad or defective, and that the world and my life are completely different to how I thought. This has entailed various traumas on top of the original traumatisation which turned out to be real. There has been a lot of truth trauma, social estrangement and isolation from friends and family, and the discovery that many people are harmful.
During the Reece Committee investigations Anthony C. Sutton sent a researcher to go through the minutes of the meetings of the Carnegie Foundation. The poor lady couldn’t cope with what she learned and eventually lost her mind.
Studying contemporary life is psychologically damaging and I am hoping that the problems we have can be ridden out or dealt with as an internal matter without the people who are just getting on with their lives having to know all the gory details.
I have never gone looking for graphic material, as it can be very unsettling, and enough of the horrific has found its way to my in box on its own over time. The last warring in Ukraine was particularly egregious. That said I can see some personality types getting hooked on this type of material, violence porn. Those addicted will need their ‘fix.’ For these people desensitization will take place and therefore the need for images of greater shock value will take place. Unless there is some major re-balancing force in these peoples lives they will be negatively affected.
General rabbit holes are endless and no doubt are created in some workshop to keep those addicted to conspiracy theories, often of a more bizarre nature, busy chasing down the latest and for other less obvious data collecting. For the rest of us I think it is enough to identify the latest false event for what it is without having to analyze the script for ‘the gotcha’ moment because, really, we haven’t got anyone. After the 9/11/2001 event, Sandy Hook, events in Europe/Britain/New Zealand and the ever so obvious ‘pissed on clues’ meant to be found (often a passport left at the scene or other leavings or complete inconsistencies with any normal reality by the script writers) is it not enough to identify the latest event and its psychological play for what it is and move on by keeping our collective eyes on the true agenda. Agenda such as the top manager for the BIS recently calling in a speech for an end to cash over the medium term. Medium term to the BIS means one to six years, or 2025. 2025 is becoming more of a date to be reckoned with as more and more agenda gets affixed to this date.
Time is getting short as an inflection point of many a global front coming together seems to be in the offing over the next decade. Remember eye…ball…do not be distracted.
In the book “Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare” by Michael A. Hoffman, published in *June of 2001, Mr. Hoffman makes the point that society-changing events like the JFK, MLK, RFK… assassinations, [*9/11] etc., etc., coupled with our now frantic dismantling and dissemination of the truth behind these conspiracies, should not be looked at as just a desensitization, but a real structural reorientation; in other words a psychological process, weaponized to alter the way we think of our human society. Our collective hopes, beliefs and spirits deadened, bit by bit, by the helplessness of our correct conclusions -years after the fact. No one punished and no one ever held accountable, except of course the innocent sacrificial patsy or culture!
It was Hoffman’s belief that there would always be enough crumbs deliberately left behind any major event, to enable the best of us to unearth and bring to light “THEIR” truly evil “so called achievements”, while the righteous uncovering and dissemination of the these “truths” was also a DESIRED integral part of these incessant psy-ops. The final objective being of course, to embed and embrue our collective consciousness with the helplessness and hopelessness of darkness and death. Truly the intent of pure Evil…
I can now better understand (but don’t approve of) why some people just don’t want to KNOW when we try to tell them, I imagine we seem to them covered in darkness with only a small pathetic flashlight in our hands.
Vee
PS… Thanks James for having a much bigger flashlight than I have.
Thank you James.
In my humble opinion:
This is a critical juncture in one’s life. One chooses to be the problem. Or chooses to be the solution.
But it seems usually the choice is to be the problem. Hence the looking at other problems just as entertainment… regardless of the fained repulsion. They are looking at the problem somewhat as looking in the mirror… seeing another problem… seeing themselves vicariously.
People leading their lives as problem solvers spend very little time absorbing the “problem” as stimulation/entertainment but rather as opportunities to find ways to dismantle the problem. Problem solvers look for (and usually find) the weak points in the problem’s support structure so as to reduce the likelihood of such problem’s recurrence.
So, you James, are a problem solver… as clearly demonstrated in this particular video. You’ve shown this fact of humans quite clearly here. Problem people look for problems for the stimulation (re-stimulation?) of themselves.
Problem solvers look only to look for the ways to make it so such problems are less likely to proliferate (usually looking only because they feel somewhat “forced to”).
Thank you James.
Chris D.
We are all to a lesser or greater extent susceptible to manipulation. Those of us who search out new information motivated by a rational belief that their reality is being manipulated have already proved harder to influence than others.
That said I return to my original point what is the soft underbelly of OUR susceptibility? Certainly self identifying dangerous core beliefs or beliefs instilled in us from a young age are hard to do, that is self identifying a belief that “snow is blackâ€.
Beyond this though … If the architect of deception was to create an alternative “reality matrix” for those of us that have already broken free from the first one what would it look like and how would he create it? Perhaps it would be easier to just identify us (done) separate us from the herd (done) and pop us in a box somewhere, metaphorically or actually.
On the question of maintaining ones sanity, not becoming desensitised to objectionable material and so forth. I believe we need reference points, friends or family outside our sphere of interest who haven’t gone down the rabbit hole with us and every now and then we need to detox, we must exit the rabbit hole and take in some fresh air and sunshine for a while, we could for example take some time for a walk in a park in the sunny clim’s of western Japan.
Whereas the thoughtful solutions to the challenges of our times are useful exercises, I wonder how often they are theoretically useful but not practically?….history shows us Empires rise and fall eerily in similar ways…that these rhythms in history are to be observed, recognized and appreciated…perhaps indeed the best we can each do is sort through information and if we are lucky being able to judge the salient from the ‘noise’– to be able to navigate our lives as fruitfully as possible..Ahab in Moby Dick was a powerful example that evil (and the whale) cannot be disappeared…only if lucky recognized, maybe even called out….the Iranians have a wise adage…’there is no fruit that is not bitter before it is ripe…then it decays, the seed goes in the ground and the process repeats…
This subject is, for me, the epicentre of understanding the complexities of the information/disinformation era in which we live. Critical reasoning and objectivity are imperative…subjectivity is also extremely important when cognitive bias and perspective are also understood. Unfortunately there is a dearth of all these.
One point I’d like to make…when James describes sexual acts as ‘disgusting’ (a word that provokes a highly emotional response) I would use the word ‘irresponsible’ AND at the same time propose that being ‘irresponsible’ is a highly immoral and unethical way to behave. It’s more than semantics, for codes of behaviour and morality are deeply imbued in language.
Moving on to a more subjective experience regarding the subject of awareness…to something that both alerted and disturbed me into my own awakening to the world not being constructed as I had been taught to believe. Back in the early 90’s I was talking with a course adviser at a well established university in Australia about enrolling for a Psychology degree. The adviser proudly informed me how the top 20% (?) of students were noted before they had completed their degree and were ‘creamed off’ with lucrative offers (six figure salaries) even before they had graduated, by….the corporate sector and the government/political sector. In short, the best of our understanding about human behaviour and emotions was not being used to help individuals and society, but rather, to steer and govern the minds and behaviours of the general public.
Another jolt to my senses occurred around the same time…the legal recognition of a corporation as an entity. The big sell was that it made the company more responsible and accountable….the downplayed subject being that it also gave the company the same rights as an individual…a massive empowerment in legal terms.
I mention these two points in the context of the subject of information and conspiracy because, I believe amongst all the noise and ignorance that appears to prevail …there is a rational mind in each of us also ..and… that, given the right information, a good balance between objective and subjective can….even will eventually prevail. History does tend to suggest this to be the case…though it requires long term thinking rather than just short term, immediate reasoning.
True enough if given the given.
Massive if.
I think this will not be. Not pessimistic, just thinking not gonna happen.
“… that, given the right information, a good balance between objective and subjective can….even will eventually prevail”
Thoughtful reply inanna… especially the use of “irresponsible” as opposed to the emotional “discusting”. I get it.
Your reply was easy to read. Thanks.
I’m very interested in solutions and it’s easy to put forward the problems but very hard to get anything done about them. I could write a very long piece about efforts to get solutions put in place which went nowhere. I watch independent media to try and get to the truth about what is happening and what has happened in the past. All you can do is look at available evidence and use your instinct to decide what makes sense and what doesn’t and yes we do get led astray at times because we all have our biases and things we want or don’t want to believe.
I do think it’s wise to avoid anything too graphic because desensitisation is a danger but a lot of people seem drawn to it. Any post with warnings attached about graphic material I don’t watch but they do always seem to have very high viewing figures. It can be entertaining to indulge in historical conspiracies which are long enough ago not to really affect us just for the sheer pleasure of exploration and I don’t think it matters then if we get dragged down the wrong rabbit hole.
I have a long time friend (about 20 years) who has always shared with me a deep suspicion for politicians, news media, history, and the like. We both agreed on numerous topics like 9/11 conspiracies, false flag events, climate change skepticism, and so on. But he always had some weird beliefs about aliens, ancient giant humans, UFOs, etc. that I simply could not take seriously. I generally ignored those topics and tried to focus on things we agreed on.
The problem is, in recent years he has turned into a mega Flat-earther. When he started sending me videos about it last summer and asking for my opinion, I was completely baffled by the fact that anyone could watch these videos and conclude that this was a real thing. Being that he is a friend of mine, I reluctantly decided I should point out to him what is wrong with some of these monumental claims.
When I dismantled one of the videos and pointed out all of the ways it’s claims were wrong, his response to me was: “that’s an interesting theory”.
Without really trying to discuss it, he moved on to other topics about things like gravity not existing, or how you can see clouds behind the sun, or how the all the airline companies know the earth is flat but are hiding it. He brought up numerous things he’d seen on youtube or heard on podcasts in rapid succession. Some of those were very easy to debunk immediately, but it didn’t matter. He had what seemed like an endless supply of “evidence” that supports this theory.
A really strange thing he said to me after a long while of discussing this, and clearly getting frustrated that I wasn’t convinced by his evidence… He said ” I don’t even care if it’s not true.”….. Wait what? He then started going on a rant about his religious beliefs and how in the end God is going to reveal the truth to all of us so it doesn’t matter if he’s wrong about it right now.
What just happened? I was so confused by his behavior that I didn’t know what to say or do. He seemed almost lethargic and tired at this point so I told him my goal as his friend is to help him sort out any bad arguments so he can be closer to finding the truth. He seemed to appreciate that and I advised him he should put his own theories to the same level of scrutiny that he does with those that he disagrees with.
The very sad thing about this is that even after I had this conversation with him last year, he has continued his relentless consumption of Flat-earth theory and it seems, unfortunately, that he is even more aggressive in social situations to bring it up to other people – even when I’m present.
I guess this is what it looks like when someone falls down a rabbit hole for at least 2 decades. It’s hideous.
Finally I’ll just stick this link (that I’d stuck onto the holiday thread) here as it seems vaguely relevant;
“anti-vaxxers†and “climate denialists†are sacrificed using the “flat-earthers†blade at the altar of hive-minded reason and feel-good pseudo-tolerance for a full 15 minutes of articulate hypocrisy
under the pretext of answering the following provocative question;
“Why do we believe things that aren’t true…?â€
(what was the true purpose of this tedx video I wonder?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jobYTQTgeUE
Why do we believe things that aren’t true?
CapheSuada’s provided compelling answers to that question with the link detailing cognitive biases above.
You’ve noted a very real and valid point, James. Shock-info is typically fabricated along the click bait lines to entice searchers to follow whatever sensationalism can be whipped up about whatever subject is on the slab that day. It is difficult to find alternative, thoughtful information from those who are dedicated to dissecting the MS lie machine with intelligence but do not bait the searcher. There are hundreds of shock sites that are both obvious and not so obvious. As you know, they produce links that go on forever.
Searchers for truth are forced to develop and exercise something which is in short supply these days–wisdom. We all must look for real information without falling into the click-baiters’ shock trap–that hole in the sidewalk. Personally, I can say that in the beginning of my search, this was no small feat. With the passage of time many seekers learn to identify and avoid typical shock subjects.
I would think (and hope) there are thousands of Newbies awakening and leaving Normieville to become truth seekers each day. As travelers through lies they must make their own way over the “shock valley of the shadow of death” so-to-speak in their transition to become. They must experience the death of the old self. It comes with a price–the death of the protective bubble around them. These seekers experience large obstacles–one of them is shock info’s misdirection and possible addiction. Some stumble, finding themselves in the dark ditch of that addiction for a time. During their journey seeker babes can become quite annoying but some do finally make it across. And good for them.
James, you are doing a momentous job of assisting these seekers through the stages of their development which leads to wisdom. This video helped them. Good work.
Gosh! That was very well expressed NES!
And you’re right: “death of the old self”…or at least change in the old self…
The search for truth in the outside world goes hand in hand with one helluva dive into your own soul!
…and I’m afraid that if it doesn’t, then it’s a search that’ll end with aimless, fruitless and otherwise futile wandering through the labyrinthian halls of the library of Babel…
I don’t know anything about any particular searches like are referred to in that post. But I have gone down some deep dark rabbit holes when studying different topics. For instance, when I was studying the scandal surrounding Boys Town and Larry King with the abduction and abuse of boys. That research lead to depths of depravity that I have not been able to go back to. I had to shut off several videos I tried to show people because I just couldn’t handle going into that darkness again. Not to say I wouldn’t if I felt there was more there to learn. So, for me, I don’t see a need to avoid anything in an attempt to understand truth. I believe people who are actually searching for truth will use the information in that manner and move on. If some other people have an issue that causes them to use this information in a way akin to porn then the problem lies with them. They need to address why they are getting off on someone else’s suffering. It comes down to self evaluation and understanding your purpose in looking at this stuff that can be immensely dark at times. To me, the purpose is to see the horror and understand the solutions. That might point to your statistics on who watches the solution videos. Maybe most people are just getting off on this stuff and much fewer are trying to understand so they can do something about it. Even if it’s just for their own protection. Which is about all we can do about in most cases. For me that’s enough. Knowing the truth to protect myself and my family. Anything else is a bonus.
I think there is a sense of not entirely addiction to alternative media, but, the shifting eye of focus towards it.
For example; someone walks into your room with a chocolate cake. Most people know that the chocolate cake tastes good though is bad for them. When your sitting in the room with the chocolate cake, you focus more than you usually would on what your consuming because your aware the cake is present.
In a sense this is my take on alternative verses mainstream media. I know the MSM is there, and I know it has millions of eyes on it. It’s very easy with entanglement to want to “be a part” of the general consensus on issues. To want to “eat that cake” even though you know its bad for you.
In doing this, it becomes very easy to over consume those apples sitting next to you whilst your trying to avoid the cake. You may normally eat 2 apples, but instead you end up eating 6 because you know so many other people are gorging to death on the cake and your trying your hardest to avoid that entanglement within the species. It affects you, what others do. Whether we approve or not, parasympathetic nervous system and entanglement does exist. Whether its just sitting down for a meal with a bunch of friends and being able to have a normal discussion about the taste of the cake. Or the example of when they yawn, you yawn in terms of the parasympathic’ness within the species. Its appealing, to be “one of us”. But more than appealing, sometimes its a physical response to survive…
To maintain that separation involves having an “educatorial” level of knowledge about apples, not just a few bites, you need to have eaten half a dozen to understand it well enough to explain it at the dinner table. So you end up consuming more, and there isnt a line to draw. Between “how much” you need to know to satisfy their curiousity, as the MSM will have avoided all information on it. Or, to quell the arguments that may ensue at telling them that in this chosen topic their chocolate cake has made them fat and lazy. I guess in continuing the example, the convo might be… how much is too much MSM? IS there too much conspiratorial knowledge acquisition, which leads you too far down the rabbit hole as discussed in the story?
I dunno… its an interesting thought.
interesting thought, Yes, it is.
Yesterday I noticed that some people have eaten so much chocolate cake that they are physically disgusted at the mere idea of apples. They shake their heads and roll their eyes in vehement rejection at just the sight of an apple and are greatly repulsed by the person who offered them.
Thanks for reminding me of the apples in my fridge that need to become pie! 😎