Why Weren't We Trapped?

Fluoride in the water, chemicals in the food, Phony Vaccines and cures for that ails us, Daily indoctrination via media mantra preached every night to tired folks after a hard days work who are more susceptible to auto suggestion when tired etc. etc.

We are like the virus that mutates and builds up resistance to the drug used to suppress it. I stopped drinking fluoride water years ago, try to eat relatively clean, stay away from medical doctors and big pharma drugs as much as possible etc.

I have always been a rebel since I was a kid always questioned everything had to turn everything inside out and upside down before I considered accepting it. Teachers hated that when I was a kid. I was the kid who refused to accept that I had lost the monopoly game and would get mad and throw the board before I would accept defeat LOL.

The rest just are not mentally tough enough to challenge the status quo as long as they are comfortable they are relatively content. When they experience enough pain they will look for answers and alternatives. Until then we are largely stuck with the society they have created and sustain with thier apathy unfortunately.

This is a great subject! I, too, have had a feeling that what we see and feel is not the truth. At a very young age I began to question what was real. As I grew older, I began to fit into the box and ignored those feelings of uneasiness. Then, at about age 44 I had an experience that pushed me out of the box, where I have stayed. It has become so much easier to spot the lies and agendas that drive politics and government and I am astonished at how everyone else eats it up like candy. When I point out the inconsistencies in what we are being told, people ignore it. Not just about politics and government but religion and life itself!

There is no "right" side to be on anymore if you can see through the smoke! Sometimes it just makes you sad. It's like a huge tight ball of fish swimming in ever diminishing circles, each following the other and unaware of the net about to scoop them up. And here I am watching and if I try to warn them...all I can do is blow bubbles!

I don't think that the general population is ignorant at all. They just aren't buying the various flavors of Kool Aid that some here drink down on a regular basis. There are some topics on this site which to me are truly laughable but others take very seriously. There are others that I am adamant about that others here laugh off. It's not that one person is more ignorant than another - it has more to do with each individual's life experiences and how they shaped their views of the world. It's the same with every person in the world. Their eyes are open to the things that are important to them, which may not be the same as what is important to members of ATS.

That’s a difficult question that perhaps could be as spiritual as it is intellectual.

One thing is for certain are that people are a product of their individual sum total of experiences. The greater the depth and breadth of experiences a person has especially in their formative learning years is going to more or less either make and fit into the mold that society and institutionalized learning and religion employs as a default and preferred preset, or break that mold and create an out of the box thinker.

As someone who started reading history and conspiracies at a very young age (six) and discussing them with adults (65-80 years in age) who had a lifetime of experiences to provide context to the things I was reading, I am not sure and neither really is anyone who knows me sure I was ever in the box.

Regardless by the time I was thirteen the State and I were on a collision course as far as what it deemed appropriate for me to publicly espouse in the way of politics and perspectives to the peers in my age range.

They were truly alarmed and not at all pleased when I started openly but politely challenging my social studies teacher on history and socioeconomics and politics she was trying to teach to my eighth grade class.

I openly questioned and challenged the dogmas and distortions and went so far as to denounce it as blatant propaganda at times.

This led to me being declared uncontrollable and being made a ward of the State.

In my particular case the State would choose to employ literally everything in its arsenal to conform me to its dogmas and doctrines from incentivized forms of persuasion, loss of liberty, deprivations and physical forms of torture.

Anyone else might have likely given in and the State and the professionals it employed had every reasonable expectation that I could be made to submit.

After all I certainly was bringing a heap of misery and hardship on myself by staying the out of the box thinker course.

Yet for some reason I just didn’t have it in me to buckle under and submit, not to make things easier on me, not to be able to get to be ‘normal’ not even for all the tea in China.

So I developed a passive aggressive peaceful approach to my would be oppressors and fought back using stealth and proxies while remaining infuriatingly defiant.
It was a process that required me running the entire gambit of every program, institution and modality and remedy the state could employ.

This though proved to be highly costly and very embarrassing to the State when none of them worked.

So a little into my 14th year the State’s solution was to offer by way of contract an agreement where the State would not force an education upon me if I did not demand one from it.

So by the ripe old age of 14 I was not only out of the box, but barred and banished from the box as to not upset the apple cart.

The truth is most people would have conformed and most would have in fact never broken from the herd. The Family, the Churches, the Schools, the Politicians and the Media all conspire to create the box and teach and impose accepted norms and to utilize a highly developed peer pressure network to keep just about everyone firmly rooted in the Matrix they created.

They put a lot of thought and effort into limiting people’s choices through limiting and controlling the things people are taught and are exposed too.

While it might be untrue what you don’t know can’t hurt you, what you don’t know certainly can’t hurt the State or any of its related institutions and their hegemony over forming perspectives.

As to why I didn’t buckle and still haven’t after all these crazy years, some would say that fate is just the weight of circumstances. Youthful naivety combined with an eternal sense of optimism and the imagination of a true dreamer ended up adding up to be greater than the combined weight of the circumstances that I faced.

To conform or not to conform, That is the question.

I'll answer this question by suggesting that

1. Many of us who think that we've escaped the web of lies are mistaken. I would suggest that none of us have access to the full truth and as such are still subject to the grand deception. Those who orchestrated this great deception think that it is just wonderful that so many of us think that we are free, because "the best slave is the one who thinks that he is free". As such it is incumbent upon us all to continue seeking the truth indefinitely and without fail.

2. Those very few who have escaped the grand deception, those who are TRULY enlightened are so few as to be of no consequence to the orchestrators of the grand deception.

These seemingly negative statements aside, I have hope that the shadow of lies that define us may still be illuminated.

kind regards
Tamale

"Why have people such as ourselves on this site, those who are free thinkers, who question our so called reality and the world around us..why have we slipped through the net- so to say- of the lies and controls while the mass majority have become caught up in it?"

The combination of genetics, perspective and conditioning is unique to all individuals. Regardless of the effort being made to turn everyone into the same brainless twit, in some, individuality has a way of winning out over conformity. With others, conforming to the system is the best they can muster.

[edit on 16-3-2010 by SphinxMontreal]

i think we are free. i believe that if you feel a sense of freedom, or of freeing yourself from the mental shackles of this harsh enviroment then you are free. and like has been mentioned it takes a certain kind of strength that some do not have the will to achieve.. it is much easier being ignorant for most. some of us believe however that if the situation is not good enough change needs to be made and this becomes a life long goal. So we are free to the extent that we can feel it but are still bound by the oppressive force of the ignorant. we are trapped in our own little corner. Intellignce is dangerous without discipline, it can be your worst enemy.

reply to post by Full_Vision


I'm 63. I had the same questions when I was little, and growing up. Don't worry about it. The answers sort of come later on. At 63, I'm looking back now, knowing way more than I thought I would ever know. It's an exclusive club for free thinking individuals. You'll get answers later on in life. Just go enjoy yourself and live.

It's very much an illusion. People don't agree with something and they find themselves taking the only opposite stance available. I believe any subject that only has two positions has been engineered that way, because they know there's always going to be detractors and prepare an opposite stance to trap them in. It just doesn't make sense for there to only be two stances on so many issues naturally.

It's similar to how 'alternative' fashion styles give the person the feeling they're unique and nonconformist, but in actuality they're just conforming to a group like anyone else. People who want to be rebels can find the appropriate clothes in the rebel section of their local wal mart or hot topic.

I too have always been skeptical of teachers and the status quo, particularly in the subjects of science, history and politics, since I can remember. I remember before Kindergarten, I was actually thinking about objects on a sub-atomic level and I came to the conclusion that the atoms in my hand don't actually bump up against the atoms in my toy (without knowing that they were actually atoms or even subatomic particles). I always knew that there would have to be space in between the two, no matter how small it may be. I don't know how or why I knew that but it wasn't until much later in life that I learned through science class that this view is actually accepted scientific knowledge. I also would think about gravity, force and the dynamics of flames or fire and what they consisted of. This was in my very early years, before even going to school. Sort of the same thing with history. I just automatically figured that people would try and distort a story [history] to suit their own needs and I was always skeptical about the history taught in school, even before I got into politics or saw that things were amiss. It makes me wonder if we are all born with certain knowledge that gets lost as our minds start to focus on more materialistic things or as we become indoctrinated to our accepted surroundings. Are we born with certain knowledge but our brains can't quite connect the dots or express this knowledge in our youthful years? Do the people who go about life, completely ignorant to the path set before them by the elite and blindly following them without question, somehow lose all of this knowledge while the people more attuned to there surroundings are capable of at least retaining a little of what we are born with? I can only assume that it is a combination of DNA and environment variables.

As far as politics are concerned, I didn't start to ask serious questions or the questions that need to be asked until my experiences in the Army. My experiences in the Army led me to the conclusion that all is not what it seems in the realm of politics. It became clear to me that there are forces in and out of our government that the people are not aware of. 9/11 is what lead me to actually do independent research to try and answer some of the questions that I had. The more I dug, the more I unearthed and the more questions I would have. Of course I'm still digging and the more I find, the more open-minded I am becoming.

When it comes to politics and whether people are awake, I would assume that it only takes one question that they may have. It could be 9/11, it could be TARP or maybe even Vietnam. When they "dig" to answer this question, they start to unearth many more questions until it becomes obvious just how deep our rabbit hole actually is. This is why I think tactics such as the "deception dollar" are so effective because it just plants a seed in the mind of the recipient, without trying to force a theory on them. They may brush the "deception dollar" off when they first get it but when they have nothing to do one day, they just might decide to take a look. If we bombard them with theories, of course they are going to blow us off or go into the trained skepticism that they have been indoctrinated to have, but if you let them answer the question for themselves, then they are more likely to believe it and that just opens the door. They will then begin their long journey of truth, even about other things that may not be as it seems. I use 9/11 because I personally feel that this is the most obvious, a chip in the armor if you will, if people would only stop to look. Also, 9/11 is what awoke me or provoked me to dig for the answers that I already had. My thinking is pretty mainstream as far as science but I am very much aware of the deception that our ruling class has cast over us.


[edit on 16-3-2010 by airspoon]

Very interesting question I have actually thought about this many times. The answer I come up with is this. I believe that we are all one, and when i say one i mean that our consciousness is a smaller part of one whole entity if you will and with all our thoughts/souls we create one being. Take a look around you in nature any living thing knows when it is in danger especially if that danger is self inflicted thats why "lesser" animals/living things don't usually harm themselves unless for a extremely good reason or they are in some type of abnormal situation which humanity has probably put them in. Now looking at this we or this oneness that i speak of (entity from now on) is realizing that it is hurting itself on a fast track to self destruction and I believe subconsciously people have this feeling of "somethings not right, don't know what or why it is just isn't" at a young age because its kind of programed in us by the entity. Think of it like this imagine that you are a computer (I know this is really simplifying things but just bare with me) when you have a computer for very long and even with the best and latest spyware and virus protection programs the computer somehow manages to f*** up or at best it becomes obsolete and you need an upgrade or to format your computer. Think of this as our reformat or upgrade same computer just new software and cleaning up the problems (if that makes sense). I believe that this "somethings not right feeling" is subconsciously in the majority of the population and through the power of thought we are bringing about changes and people who have this feeling and are researching what it is that is wrong without even knowing it example the question of this thread. I believe that we are the people that are an ever evolving virus protection program preparing the system to reformat itself. Thanks for barring with me through this explanation and hope it made sense. peace!

Yeah great question. The possible answers come to mind.

1. Humans are herding animals. No doubt, at least at this time and for whatever reason. That means the herd looks for leadership. A dominant leader. People will walk off the cliff for the right leader. The marketing of fake leadership is common in business, in movie leads, in the cop come up and pretending to be dominant and authoritative, in the Judges, in the politicians that get the limelight. As there are natural followers, there must be some natural leaders. Perhaps the people on ATS are natural leaders and therefore endowed with a greater sense of independent thought and judgment?

2. Some of us, didn't pay much attention and even missed a lot of school. Particularly kindergarten, and grade school that means less indoctrination.

3. The spiritual state and consciousness is different in each individual. Perhaps the previous incarnation or incarnations where such that we are more in the know of how things are working. The state of consciousness as well may facilitate thinking independently. Old souls have seen it all before and have something of a healthy natural aversion towards the world. Ultimately the cloak is matter obstructing a clear view. Some of us may have a clearer view, less obstructed and therefore discriminate better and more objectively.

4. Some of us have a "Punk Mentality" from childhood situations that makes us very leery of "Authority" and independent.

5. Last, but not least, Spiritual "Guides", Protectors may also be assisting us with understanding. Receiving a higher impulse from a higher being can provide very profound support.

One or more of these in combination would help.

I think it's the result of a variety of factors and variables that are probably at least a little bit different from one person to the next. I also think what we question, and what we believe in differs based on those differing variables. For instance, I'm on ATS because I'm a pacifist, spiritual, agnostic skeptic who values empathy over almost anything, on the extreme fringes of the political spectrum i.e. I have political opinions but don't vote because I don't even feel comfortable taking part in the existing system or choosing the "lesser of evils," and I don't even think currency or economic value as a concept should exist. That's a very, very particular breed of ATSer. We're all here for very, very different reasons, so I doubt we can come up with a formula for why we are the way we are.

That said, in my case, it's because of my upbringing and a few specific moments in my life, at least in my assesment.

I was raised on the one hand by an ex-green beret who never missed a chance to question the establishment and who at one point had even tried going to college to become a parapsychologist (he ended up getting his master's in psychology instead.)

On the other, I was raised by a woman who was a true flower child of the 60s, so she was almost automatically anti-establishment. To add to that, she was deeply spiritual (not religious per se) and spoke frequently about sensing the "life force" in all things.

I grew up in a very poor neighborhood in the inner city which was extremely multicultural to say the least. I was engendered from a very, very early age with a sort of "fight the power" mentality.

This may sound silly, but I think I owe a lot of my beliefs to Star Trek lol. I dream of a day when we enter into a post-scarcity society with a high social minimum for all humans who live here. I doubt I'll live to see it, but I can dream.

I can pick out three specific events in my life apart from those preconditions and circumstances.

1) During the Rodney King riots, I found my teacher (who was black) one day sitting alone in her office after class when I was about nine years old, crying. I asked what was wrong, and she looked at me and said, "I don't want to die, and I don't want any of you to die, just because of the color of our skin." That affected me deeply and resonates within me to this day. It's why I have never seen people as races or ethnicities but merely as people. I respect people's individual heritages, but strongly hope for a time when our shared human heritage will take true precedence over them. From that seed grew my opposition to wars and nationalism as well, I imagine.

2) I had a friend during adolescence who to this day is still the closest friend I've ever had (I'm 28 now.) From the moment we met, I felt as though I already knew him. It was very strange. He was across the school yard, and the moment I saw him, I just somehow KNEW I knew this person. There was not a single doubt in my mind. He was staring at me, too. It was the strangest experience I've ever had. We became extremely close friends, and shared a powerful, intuitive bond. He was killed when I was 15, and I chose not to dishonor his memory by hating or holding anger or a desire for vengence toward his killer. I realized after that that there was no way I could, or reason that I should, think of anyone else any differently; that if I could forgive him, I could forgive anyone.

3) I read the diary of Anne Frank when I was about 17. Whether you believe it to be authentic or not (I personally believe it to be authentic based on the evidence I've researched as a lay person but always remain open minded to the possibility that I am incorrect,) the idea of someone who could be confronted with so much death, destruction, bigotry, and hatred, yet still hold the belief that people are ultimately "good at heart" really moved and inspired me.

I strongly believe that these were the primary formative experiences of my life, and why I'm the sort of person today that would visit a site like ATS.

Wow, this thread is awesome. I can identify with almost all of you here. I was also that child who asked "WHY". And a lot of times, to my own detriment. I was that class clown who finished his school work quickly and spent the rest of the time distracting the others and getting myself in all kinds of trouble.
Can you believe that the Public School System in Texas in the 70's thought that I was so disruptive that I was put in suspended isolation,(a room where I spent all the day by myself with only lunch brought to me). And this in 4th & 5th grade. Spending up to 6 weeks at a time grounded to my room because my conduct grade was an "F", and obviously wasn't better the next 6 weeks so off we went again.
Trying my mother's and grandmother's patience so hard that they would send me to live with relatives out of state who essentially indentured me and yes more continued isolation in my room.
Yes, I became a varocious reader also, what else was left?? Came across authors such as Edger Rice Burroughs who created whole cultures and explanations for them that also applied to our human condition,(John Carter Borsom of Mars).
As a matter of default due to all this time in solitude developing my own mindset and beliefs as to how things were and are, thus becoming even more independent and against the status quo dictating that I should get along and not ruffle any feathers and go with the stream and be compliant.
As you also know this only pushed me further to rebel and fight against the society as it is and was, and to subject myself to even more ridicule and punishment.
Yall can aslo imagine that all the time spent isolated from living, that a person will eventually break out and say screw it, I will do what I want to do when I want to do it. Of course there are some things that are "not allowed", and will get you incarcerated.
I never did anything that would have infringed on another persons natural rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happines, just activities that were largely self destructive in nature.
So after a year of criminal university I wised up and realised that by following the rules and praticing a more peaceful form of non-compliance,(Just Say No), and changing my location to Europe,(which I found out was even more controlled and indoctrinated then the States), I could continue to disagree and still keep a certain comfort level for my wife and children, who do depend on me to help, support, and nurture them.
It was through this realisation a number of years back and exposure to Zeitgeist that I really started to understand my ever persistant need to know "WHY", and that all my natural inclinations are for a reason.
So having been awakened or having my feelings and ideas affirmed I started to notice that this is also a bit constraining in of itself. To know something is not right and to continue to fight against it is also very labor intensive and debilitating to say the least. And it can feel almost as isolated as incarceration.
But like I always teach my children, always ask "WHY", and don't take the answers given without research, and much thought and scepticism. Make the most informed decision possible, and realise the need to take responsibilty and ownership of your opinions and deductions. Trust your feelings and be inquisitive.
My wife always offers the argument that it does no good to fight things and be uncomfortable and stressed. But I do have a hard time with injustice and tyranny, and would fight against it even with my life if neccessary.
Our lives are to live and love, and not to slave away for others with the promise of a reward in the afterlife. This I believe with my entire being and fibre of my body.

S+F to this wonderful thread's OP

Peace

Whilst most of us here are aware that things aren't always as they seem,

I think part of the trap is being caught up in political drama, and ego related 'I must always be right' issues.

That is a large part of the problem and by no means are we free of that here.

It's just different topics, with the same egocentric debate and execution you would find anywhere else.

I've always had different opinions sense a young age. First of I asked myself why we are all just excepting what they tell us to do and following it out in grade school without question. What made them boss? was always my thought.

I guess I'm in the minority here because I haven't always felt this way at all. I used to believe in political solutions. I used to believe what our leaders said. I used to believe this country worked in my best interest. Then I experienced the lies first hand. I saw how Ross Perot's Reform Party was infiltrated and destroyed. I heard them promise seat belt laws would never be used as an excuse to pull people over for searches. I saw how they used any excuse to start never-ending wars against an undefined enemy (drugs, terror, whatever.) So when someone tells me to sign up for a tea party and vote for change, or how virtual strip search machines will never be abused, or how a war on obesity is a good idea, all I can think is, "Oh no, not that one again." I've already fallen for all their lies once (or twice or maybe even three times), I'm not falling for the same lies again.

We're all products of our environment. If you don't know what's wrong with kids today then the answer is probably you. There's no hooligan or criminal gene.



[edit on 16-3-2010 by Crito]

I think someone should come up with a questionnaire for this.
I'd be very interested to see just how much everyone has in common, even if their opinions on topics differ.

Missed a lot of school
(I did , but still passed all the tests)

Always felt out of place
( I even went as far as constantly asking my parents if I was adopted)

Questioned things
(Why, not how, things happen)

Read Sci Fi, Comics
(Looking for an alternate view of reality. I identified with the heroes being outcasts as well.)

Went into things like martial arts at an early age
(I'm old so martial arts back in the day had a lot of mind power attached. Not really sure how it is now)

Listened to music no one else cared about
(I hated top 40 and stayed more with things like Alan Parsons Project, Yes, Pink Floyd, ELP and even more obscure)

Stayed away from organized sports, groups etc
(No football, baseball, Scouts etc)

Stayed away from organized religions
(I was a member of about 4 different churches looking for one that had the "Truth" until I gave up on all of them)

Was interested in paranormal, UFOs etc at a very early age.

Maybe I'm just defining my specific brand of mental illness here...LOL..but I'd bet we have more in common than we think.

Oh yeah, and when I saw the first Matrix film I said " I KNEW it!"

reply to post by Full_Vision


Good question.

I agree with ProTrav's earlier post on this thread, that your questioning TPTB regarding their statements and attempts to mislead is indeed a spiritual matter. It is refered to as Discernment. A few in today's world have it, most unfortunately don't.

Regarding discernment, the Bible says "...try those things to see if they be Godly." One could insert the word truthful for Godly if they wished, without changing the meaning.

I have always wanted "proof" of anything presented before buying in, and even then, kept my options open for change should I uncover additional valuable info in the future. This is the right way to proceed through life, IMO.

I'll say "sorry" ahead of time if this turns out to be a rambling rather than a response.

So many people seem to be into things that feed the senses. They "watch" tv, "listen" to music (but rarely hear the words), "taste" fast food, etc. They want to feed their senses, and that gives them pleasure. They also have an addiction to buying things to feed these senses. So there begins the "work...make money...buy things" cycle.

Others want to feed their minds. But there are no commercials for products supporting this. Besides positive uses of the internet (ATS, etc.), radio and books...there is little anymore to feed your head.

I would make a guess here that many (maybe most? who knows) ATSers prefer to feed their head than feed their senses. I would, therefore also assume that if not currently...in the past...many have experimented with some form of recreational drug.

Every field...the written word, music, etc. is littered with opposites that feed the senses rather than feed the mind. "Zoo radio" vs "Coast to Coast", "Porn sites" vs "ATS", "Teen magazines" vs "good books", etc. It is so much easier to accept the "trash" because all you do is sit there and suck it in...while the others force you to consider...to think.

I read a brief article somewhere recently that said the human brain has shrunk 20% from long, long ago (sorry...no link). Maybe we are just becoming addicted to sucking on fast food trash, and becoming dumber.

I don't know. But I believe that if you don't have the interest in feeding your head...you feed your body...and then you become weak, dumb and easily controlled. Maybe that is the goal?

So I guess my response to why some of us are enlightened and others aren't is that we are hungry for brain-food, rather than sense-food. Just genetics.