They are on a path

Moral panic is control.

I’ve had a lot of interactions with people who are angry at the media, politics, and how everybody seems to be full of paranoia and fear about the future. The US system has stretched the truth to the point of being ridiculous to anyone who can see through the fear porn. For many, the system is exposing itself as something between incompetent and sinister. For many more, the system is feeding and exploiting the fear to control them. We live in interesting times.

If you are more skeptical of the situation at hand, you’ll be tempted with a moral panic of your own. This is a danger. Giving into fear will prevent you from seeing clearly. Stop attributing motive to the people who spread ridiculous ideas. They are on a path and the propaganda is for them, not for you.

Any mouthpiece for the system is a mark for it. The words they say only work on those who already follow blindly. Don’t let these people make you angry. Don’t be afraid of them. They are controlled, but this makes them predictable. A predictable foe creates a lot of cover for freedom. You know all their arguments, fears, and insecurities.

Fear is the control mechanism and this is as true for the sheep as it is the skeptics. Fear grants access to the part of your brain that isn’t adapted at sense-making.

For the conspiracy theorist, there is a danger to living in fear. If I was inclined to be a manipulative tyrant and I wanted to control someone (for whatever end), I would figure out these fears and frame everything in such a way to feed this fear.

If, say, I was an FBI agent and I was tasked with finding domestic terrorists, I would look for the people with the most fear. I would feed this fear and encourage violent actions and go as far as to sell them fake bombs. This is a scenario that has occurred. This happens. This is the danger of being in the world of conspiracy theories. It is just as easy to control terrified skeptics as it is terrified sheep. Don’t be a mark.

What people need is an antidote to fear. For the skeptics, this is a matter of loving those that spread lies and fear. This is all they know. They are too scared to question the lies. It isn’t the lies that need to be corrected, it is the fear that needs to be alleviated. The lies are a function of the fear.

Be an example of someone not living in fear. Laugh at the oppressors and call out fear porn when you see it. There are likely people in your life that will respond positively to this. They have invested a lot of fear into the lies, make their investment worthless so they don’t lose face while they realize that the world is not what it seems.

-D

Another element just as difficult to break is one accepting they were never consuming truth. They were in fact manipulated by a large propaganda machine that was leading them to the gates of hell. The machine used money to buy and influence, it used financial threats, censorship, imprisonment, violence to include murder. It has always been the real pandemic. The viral weapon was just a tool they used.

a reply to: Stupidsecrets

Truth is always for sale. What works is what makes money and what works is how reality is defined.

If you throw a ball up in the air, it will come back down. If you pay someone to peddle fear, they will think that their work is truth as they can see the direct benefit of it. It is flawed logic, but it seems to be a standard way humans rationalize things. Money is a temporary antidote to fear and people will flock to it to alleviate that fear, but like a drug it only makes you more scared now that you have more to lose.

As for never consuming truth, this is something to be aware of as it is a trap for the skeptic. There is no promised land or forgotten golden age. There is only now and this is what those that exploit the system understand. Your future is a hostage if you give it to these people. Take it for yourself and live your life. For me, it is very difficult as I have been the classic pessimistic skeptic for most of my life. There is too much at stake to paralyze myself with fear and I have found success and happiness in rejecting fear and showing love to those that embrace it.

If you don’t have insecurities to exploit, you’re basically invisible to these people. They are not in control as much as they think they are but you have to step out of the moral panic to see this. Don’t step out of one panic into another one. This is the tragedy of the skeptic.

-D

“Fear is the mind-killer.”

a reply to: DINSTAAR
I must remonstrate with you on the continued use of the word TRUTH. It aint truth they are peddling, it's half truths and outright lies. THAT is why people are angry with the MSM and the government because even an idiot can see through the lies and because they are completely ham strung, they know that they can do damn all about the shenanigans.

a reply to: crayzeed

Truth is compromised. The concept of a self-evident ideal exists but truth as a word is a psychological short circuit to belief.

Don’t get stuck in the weeds.