Trigger warning!?! Conspiracy theory???
No. Just making the case for healthy skepticism.
An opinion piece by Bernard J. Polster
- Three Of The Biggest, Most Common Lies Ever Told! Part 1 of 2
- Three Of The Biggest, Most Common Lies Ever Told! Part 2 of 2
The Big Lie Number 2 – “I am from the government, and I am here to help you”.
Even just typing the above line makes me laugh. Because, no. Just, no.
There is no way on that on God’s Green Earth that this statement can be one-hundred percent true. At least certainly not upon first hearing the phrase being uttered.
By the way, these days it seems like we can add “big tech”, “big media”, and “big foundations” to this saying. Lying about “helping us” is no longer limited to our governments. The liars know who they are. (Looking at you Klaus).
Everyone, every company, every group, every association, or foundation, anywhere that people are involved, there will be a preferred influence and direction created. Directed outcomes are inevitable. Agendas (“The Message”, “Narratives”, anyone?) exist for all of us. An entities agenda may match our personal agenda, or it may not. The question becomes, how do you know and what are you going to do about it?
Since we all have our own agendas and preferences, there will be disagreements and even clashes with others and with larger organizations. Let’s face it, there are times that we do not even agree with the people that are closest to us.
Of course, for the sake of our personal relationships and for society to function, grow and move onward and upward, compromises must be made. As is often said for married men, you can be right, or you can be happy. In order to get along with others, we must be able to see the “other side’s” point of view and make some adjustments to our own agenda. We need to be able to come to a compromise.
This should, of course, extend to our dealings with larger groups of people. And so, in a functional society, the chances of any one agenda superseding all other agendas are relatively small. Well, at least, that is the hope. There needs to be a meet in the middle.
So, when the big organizations, government, tech, or media, claim that they are here to help us, we must inherently know that as sweet, benign, and as compassionate as they may claim to be, they are not. Not completely, anyway.
It is possible that they mostly are, but there will always be an amount of their intent that, like each one of us has, is based on their desire for self-preservation. There will always be, no matter what, their own agenda.
You cannot fault them or anyone else, for that matter, for having “their own” agenda. The point is to see what the agenda is, figure out if it is something that is not hurtful to you or those around you, and then to decide if you want to go along with the agenda, yourself.
But it behooves every one of us to try to figure out what the agenda may be and, if it is harmful, to try to do positive and productive things to change or at least adjust the agenda.
I will admit that it is possible that the government and the big organizations are doing their best to help us, but we should also want to see their actions and the results. Words that are not backed by actions and good results are useless.
Recent History Proves The Point
In the last two-plus years we have heard many words, or, more to the point, the same few words repeated over and over by the people that are supposed to be looking out for us. Something about science and seeing where it leads us, I think, for example. These repeated words, especially since they are repeated over and over by the same types of people and organizations, should be giant red-flags that should be triggering our healthy skepticism.
There are very few, if any at all, all encompassing solutions. Life is not ever fully a one size fits all solution. Order garments from AliExpress, and you will see.
To these one size fits all words, our response needs to be, share all of the facts. Share all of the information and let us make up our own mind. You cannot ask me or anyone else, for that matter, to believe something about science, without backing up the claims with actual hard evidence. It is that simple.
Bad checks are nothing compared to covered up and hidden information. This is where healthy skepticism is most needed. When “The Big Things” and “The Big People” start pushing their agenda without nuance or variation on ALL of us without taking into consideration someone’s own situation, this is exactly and especially the time that we all need to ask the questions and get the real answers as best as we can.
The healthy skeptic will take the time listen, but then they will ask questions. Not to cause trouble, not to stir the waters, not to create storms in teacups, or not to be a provocateur, but to know and better understand the information that is being presented. And with as much as possible information made available, only then, an informed choice can then be made.
These days, it is crucial that real questions be asked and, more importantly, that true answers be given.
If you want me to be on your team, then you need to prove to me why I would be better off playing with you on your team as opposed to another.
Big Bad World!
The world is a dangerous place. In order to survive we need to pay attention to what is going on around us. We need to be able to survive not only, in the present moment, right now, but as well as to be able to survive in the foreseeable future.
The only way that we can survive is to keep our eyes and ears open, to pay attention to what is gong on around us and react and plan accordingly. Immediate threats need be addressed immediately. With not so immediate threats, we may have some “luxury” time to be able to review and assess the impact of the threat. But, and in any case, we need to be awake, vigilant, and aware. Being aware along with having some healthy skepticism can keep one alive.
So, when someone says to you, “I am from the Government and I am here to help you”, skeptically listen, ask questions, and expect answers. For your own survival do not ever take what they say at face value. Especially if what they are saying is good for you and for all of the other people at the same time.
Do not ever take what anyone says at face value!
You owe it to yourself to dig deeper.
Conclusion
The purpose of this post is to make the following points:
Simple, really…
Question everything.
Even and maybe especially if the noise is coming
from “your side”.
Do not believe all that you see, hear, or read. There is always a bias, and it is on you to figure out if the bias is of benefit to you and to the people in your circle, or not. You should care about more than just you and your immediate circle, of course, but starting with you and your own is a good place to start.
And, most of all,
Ask good questions.
Expect good answers.
If you don’t get good answers, then that is an answer itself and all the more reason to continue to be skeptical and demanding good answers.
As Rudyard Kipling once said,
“I keep six honest serving men (They taught me all I knew)’ Their names are What and Why, and When and How and Where and Who. “
Rudyard Kipling
As well, from one of my favorite TV Shows:
“Trust no one”
“The truth is out there”
The X-Files
The X-Files: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_X-Files#:~:text=The%20sequence%20ends%20with%20the,are%20relevant%20to%20that%20episode.
It is on each one of us, individually, to figure “it” out.
It is on each one of us to be asking the right questions.
It is on each one of us to be expecting answers.
In short, always be and continue to be a healthy skeptic.
End of Part 2 and this article.
BAM!!! Be A Man! Do The Right Thing.
Be the DtRTy Guy!