[Onebornfree commentary: this is a very good essay from 2002 by "anarcho-capitalist"Butler Shaffer on the extremely close, symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationship between the government and its wars, and media and other assorted government sycophants.
Shaffer dutifully mentions the historian Randolph Bourne, and his famous observation "War Is The Health of the State". I think that it is worth reminding you, dear reader, that that statement was not an "off the cuff" remark tossed out there by Bourne merely for outrageous effect, but a serious statement of truth [at least in my opinion] from a serious intellectual. War is literally the health of the state. War is the "business" [for want of a better term], of the state. If you have a government in the first place, you must have war[s]. The state depends on the fomentation of new wars for its very existence. Therefor, numerous planned events [i.e. "false flags"] such as 9/11, are constantly in demand, and always will be, as long as governments exist. These "false flag terror" events are simply the inevitable, unavoidable consequence of having a government in the first place.
Strangely enough [sadly?], as far as I am aware, despite his mentioning of the movie "Wag The Dog", to this day, Mr Shaffer, like most "anarcho-capitalists" it appears [but not yours truly :-)], seems entirely unaware of the groundbreaking work of Simon Shack, who has, as far as I'm concerned, proved "beyond a reasonable doubt" that the supposed "live" footage we were all shown on Sept.11th. 2001, was in actual fact all pre-manufactured, computer generated imagery. And so it goes :-) . Regards, onebornfree.]
Politics and War As Entertainment
If I were to offer a seminar on the nature of war, I believe that the first class session would include a showing of the film Wag the Dog. Those who wish to justify the obliteration of hundreds of thousands of total strangers in the name of "good" versus "evil," or "national honor," will likely find the movie discomforting. As the governments of India and Pakistan self-righteously, and in the name of "God," threaten one another with a nuclear war that could instantly kill anywhere from ten to twenty million people, it is time for decent, intelligent people to put down their flags and begin to see war for what the late General Smedley Butler rightly termed it: "a racket." This film offers a quick reality fix.
Randolph Bourne's observation "war is the health of the state" is familiar to most critics of militarism, but few have delved into why this is so. Statism is dependent upon mass thinking which, in turn, is essential to the creation of a collective, herd-oriented society. Such pack-like behavior is reflected in the intellectual and spiritual passivity of people whose mindsets are wrapped up more in images and appearances than in concrete reality.
Such a collapse of the mind produces a society dominated by entertainment — which places little burden on thinking — rather than critical inquiry, which helps to explain why there has long been a symbiotic relationship between the entertainment industry and political systems. Entertainment fosters a passive consciousness, a willingness to "suspend our disbelief." Its purpose is to generate amusement, a word that is synonymous with "diversion," meaning "to distract the attention of." The common reference to movies as a form of "escape" from reality, reflects this function. Government officials know what every magician knows, namely, that to carry out their illusions, they must divert the audience's attention from their hidden purposes.
Michel Foucault has shown how the state's efforts to regulate sexual behavior — whether through repressive or "liberating" legislation — serves as such a distraction, making it easier for the state to extend its control over our lives. It is instructive that, in the months preceding the World Trade Center attacks which, in turn, ushered in the greatest expansion of police powers in America since the Civil War, the news stories that dominated the media had to do with allegations of adulterous affairs by a sitting president and a congressman. It is not coincidence that both the entertainment industry and the government school systems have helped to foster preoccupations with sex.
The authority of the state is grounded in consensus-based definitions of reality, whose content the state insists on controlling. This is why so-called "public opinion polls," rather than factual analysis and reason, have become the modern epistemological standard, and why imagery — which the entertainment industry helps to foster — now takes priority over the substance of things.
Politics and entertainment each feed upon — and help to foster — public appetites for illusions and fantastic thinking. The success of such undertakings, in turn, depends upon unfocused and enervated minds, which helps to explain why motion picture and television performers, popular musicians, and athletes — whose efforts require little participation on the part of the viewer — have become the dominant voices in our politicized culture. It also helps to account for the attraction of so many entertainers throughout the world to visionary schemes such as state socialism, as well as the increasing significance of entertainment industry gossip and box-office revenues as major news stories.
The entertainment industry helps shape the content of our consciousness by generating institutionally desired moods, fears, and reactions, a role played throughout human history. Ancient Greek history is tied up in myths, fables, and other fictions, passed on by the entertainers of their day, the minstrels. We need to ask ourselves about the extent to which our understanding of American history and other human behavior has been fashioned by motion pictures, novels, and television drama. Through carefully scripted fictions and fantasies, others direct our experiences, channel our emotions, and shape our views of reality. The fantasies depicted are more often of conflict, not cooperation; of violence, not peace; of death, not the importance of life.
Nowhere is the interdependency of the political and entertainment worlds better demonstrated than in the war system, which speaks of "theaters" of operation, "acts" of war with battle "scenes," "staging" areas, and "dress rehearsals" for invasions. The pomp and circumstance of war is reflected in military uniforms that mimic stage costumes, all to the accompaniment of martial music that rivals grand opera. A Broadway play can become either a "bomb" or a "hit;" troops are "billeted" (a word derived from the French meaning of a "ticket"); while the premier of a movie is often accompanied, like a World War II bombing raid, by searchlights that scan the skies. Even the Cold War was framed by an "iron curtain." Is it only coincidence, devoid of any symbolic meaning, that at the end of the American Civil War - one of the bloodiest wars in human history - its chief protagonist was shot while attending the theater, and that his killer was an actor who, upon completing his deed, descended to the stage and exited?
Adolf Hitler understood, quite well, the interplay between political power and theater, a truth that continues to reveal itself in entertainers involving themselves so heavily in political campaigns, some even managing to get themselves elected to Congress or the presidency! Nor was it surprising that one of the first acts of the Bush Administration, following the announced "War on Terrorism," was to send a group of presidential advisers to Hollywood to enlist the entertainment industry's efforts to portray the war as desired by Washington! As with earlier wars, the "military/entertainment complex" will continue to write the scripts and define the characters that are required to assure the support of passive minds in the conduct of war.
Furthermore, because entertainment is often conducted in crowded settings (e.g., theaters, stadiums, auditoriums) there is a dynamic conducive to the generation of mass-mindedness. One need only recall the powerful harangues of Adolf Hitler that coalesced tens of thousands of individuals into a controllable mob, to understand the symbiotic relationship between entertainment and politics.
Entertainment is a part of what we call "recreation," which means to "re-create," in this case to give interpretations to events that are most favorable to one's national identity and critical of an opponent. In this connection, entertainers help to manipulate the "dark side" of our being which, once mobilized, can help to generate the most destructive and inhumane consequences. World War II movies portrayed Japanese kamikaze pilots who crashed their planes into Navy ships as "crazed zealots," while American pilots who did the same thing to Japanese ships or trains were represented as "heroes" willing to die to save their comrades. German and Japanese soldiers were presented as sneering sadists who delighted in the torture of the innocents, while the American soldiers only wanted to get the war over with so they could get back home to mom and her apple pie! How many of us, today, think of 19th century U.S. cavalrymen — as portrayed by the likes of John Wayne and Randolph Scott — as brave soldiers, while Indian warriors were "savages" for having forcibly resisted their own annihilation?
All of this leads me to ask whether the entertainment industry is an extension of the war system, or whether war is simply an extension of our need for entertainment? What should be clear to us is that entertainment is one of the principal means by which our thinking can be taken over and directed by others once we have chosen to make our minds passive, which we do when we are asked — whether by actors or politicians — to suspend our judgment about the reality of events we are witnessing. When we are content to be amused (i.e., to have our attention diverted from reality to fantasy), and to have our emotions exploited by those skilled in triggering unconscious forces, we set ourselves up to be manipulated by those producing the show.
Politics differs from traditional theater in one important respect, however: in the political arena, we do not call for the "author" at the end of a war! Most of us prefer not to know, for to discover the identities of those who have scripted such events might call into question our own gullibility!
May 29, 2002
Butler Shaffer [send him e-mail] teaches at the Southwestern University School of Law.
More about "Onebornfree" :
"Onebornfree", or "O.B.F". is the generic, 15+ year online business name for my internet persona and various entrepreneurial activities]: In no particular order, I am an alternative psychologist and alternative health/fitness consultant , a Personal Freedom Consultant, a Financial Safety Consultant, and a musician [singer/guitarist, mostly blues/jazz stylings] and published songwriter. See also: Onebornfree's Mythbusters and Freedom Network blog[various articles]
"Onebornfree" Radio interviews [ About 9/11]:
More About "Onebornfree":
"Onebornfree" is a personal freedom consultant , a problem solver, and a musician. He can be reached at: onebornfreeatyahoodotcom .
Music Info:
Onebornfree's [aka Fake-Eye D"] Music channel Home studio recording example "Somewhere Over The Rainbow Blues":Youtube link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2oS9iI2zWU
Live solo example [own composition "Dreams [Anarchist's Blues]:
Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0o-C1_LZzk Onebornfree Personal Freedom Blogsites: |
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Politics and War As Entertainment-Butler Shaffer
Monday, November 18, 2013
Onebornfree On Jason Herb's "Faux Capitalist" Radio Show 11/17/13
On November 17th I appeared for a full 2 hours on Jason Herb's "Faux Capitalist" radio show, to discuss my somewhat controversial views on the events of 9/11. You can listen to the archived show here:Faux Capitalist Radio Show Archive [with no ads or audio breaks]
Links to some of the various topics covered in my discussion with Jason:
Item: My last appearance [09/27/13] on Jim Fetzer's "Real Deal" radio show, and my resultant blog post[which Mr Fetzer did not take kindly to :-) ]
Item: Faked WTC1 live collapse footage with miracle CNN camera zooms/edits.
Item: Alleged Fl.175 passenger victim Louis Mariani
Item: 9/11's Faked Victims ["Vicsims"]
Item: The extremely low resolution of all of the original "live" MSM camera footage.
Item: Noam Chomsky article on US University "brainwashing" of media TV anchor persons etc..
Regards, onebornfree.
More about "Onebornfree" :
"Onebornfree", or "O.B.F". is the generic, 15+ year online business name for my internet persona and various entrepreneurial activities]:
In no particular order, I am an alternative psychologist and alternative health/fitness consultant ,
a Personal Freedom Consultant,
a Financial Safety Consultant,
and a musician [singer/guitarist, mostly blues/jazz stylings] and published songwriter.
See also: Onebornfree's Mythbusters and Freedom Network blog[various articles]
"Onebornfree", or "O.B.F". is the generic, 15+ year online business name for my internet persona and various entrepreneurial activities]:
In no particular order, I am an alternative psychologist and alternative health/fitness consultant ,
a Personal Freedom Consultant,
a Financial Safety Consultant,
and a musician [singer/guitarist, mostly blues/jazz stylings] and published songwriter.
See also: Onebornfree's Mythbusters and Freedom Network blog[various articles]
"Onebornfree" Radio interviews [ About 9/11]:
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Onebornfree On John Friends "Realist Report" Radio Show
On Wednesday October 30th I made an appearance on John Friends "Realist Report" radio show. We discussed 9/11 video fakery, seemingly mostly agreeing in our conclusions to date.
Our recorded interview can be heard here.
Regards, onebornfree.
**************************************************
More about "Onebornfree" :
"Onebornfree", or "O.B.F". is the generic, 15+ year online business name for my internet persona and various entrepreneurial activities]:
In no particular order, I am an alternative psychologist and alternative health/fitness consultant ,
a Personal Freedom Consultant,
a Financial Safety Consultant,
and a musician [singer/guitarist, mostly blues/jazz stylings] and published songwriter.
See also: Onebornfree's Mythbusters and Freedom Network blog
[various articles]
Other "Onebornfree" Radio interviews:
Jim Fetzer "Real Deal" interview 09/05/12 [discussing the scientific investigation methodology in relation to 9/11 investigations].
Jim Fetzer "Real Deal" interview 12/28/12 [discussing Richard Halls holographic plane image theory plus the scientific investigation methodology in relation to 9/11 investigations]:
Other [non- J. Fetzer ] radio show appearances on 9/11 and related :
AbIrato/Fakeologist Radio Show[1]
AbIrato/Fakeologist[2]
AbIratoFakeologist[3]
Faux Capitalist Radio Show w/ host Jason Erb[discussing Austrian economic theory]
More About "Onebornfree":
"Onebornfree" is a personal freedom consultant , a problem solver, and a musician. He can be reached at: onebornfreeatyahoodotcom .
Music Info:
Onebornfree's [aka Fake-Eye D"] Music channel
Home studio recording example "Somewhere Over The Rainbow Blues":Youtube link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2oS9iI2zWU
Live solo example [own composition "Dreams [Anarchist's Blues]:
Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0o-C1_LZzk
Onebornfree Personal Freedom Blogsites:
Sunday, November 10, 2013
911 Scams:Professor Jim "First Blush" Fetzer's Trashing of The Scientific Method
[Article update 01/19/14: the ideas/concepts discussed in this blog post were further discussed by me on live radio recently,12/28/13, here- obf]
Professor Jim Fetzer says:
"....Footage broadcast “LIVE” to the world about an event of this magnitude across all the networks has a prima facie claim to being taken as authentic.."
[Disclaimer: this article is not intended as a character assassination of Professor James Fetzer, who, after all, was gracious enough to invite me onto his popular show, despite him already being fully aware of my opinion regarding the events of September 11th 2001. An opinion that he had in fact already publicly derided as being "crackpot" :-) . However it IS to be freely construed as a direct attack, by this very same "crackpot"{myself}, on the revealed scientific methodology, or rather the consistent lack thereof, of Professor Fetzer with regard to his own published 911 research to date, and also on the revealed non-scientific investigative methods employed by other persons whose 911 research he has chosen to give his name and support to at this time, including Dr. Richard Hall, plus Don Fox, Jeff Prager and Ed Ward. ]
Onebornfree On Jim Fetzer's "Real Deal" Radio Show 27/09/13
On September 27th 2013 , I guested for the 3rd time on Professor Jim Fetzer's "Real Deal " radio show. Jim had asked me on to specifically discuss my claims that Simon Shacks 911 research had revealed that the original "live" MSM broadcast footage aired on 911 was, on close inspection, actually 100% fake, pre-fabricated, computer generated imagery, and that therefore, the alleged "live" MSM footage of flight 175 approaching/striking the WTC2 was also wholly faked footage, as were all of the various "live" broadcasts of the tower collapses [WTC1, 2 and 7] and associated buildings, and also that, last but not least, Mr Shack's other research [ with fellow researcher "Hoi Polloi"] had revealed that most, if not all, of the alleged 911 victims also appeared to be entirely fabricated, fake persons/identities. ]
My full, on air September 27th 2013 radio discussion with Professor Fetzer can be heard here.
Professor Jim Fetzer's Most Revealing , And Self Damaging, Quote to Date
During that broadcast I managed to bring up a quote made by Prof. Fetzer, addressed to this alleged "crackpot" [yours truly :-)] , in an exchange we had in the "Veterans Today" online comments section, back in May 2013.
Dr. Fetzer had said to me :
"This is just silly. You cite an article because you don’t know what you are talking about. I taught logic, critical thinking and scientific reasoning for 35 years. Footage broadcast “LIVE” to the world about an event of this magnitude across all the networks has a prima facie claim to being taken as authentic. Unless there is some good reason to question it, there IS no good reason to question it. So you can meet the burden of overcoming the presumption that it is authentic or not. But that burden is upon YOU, not the rest of us." [emphasis mine]
[Prof. Jim Fetzer to myself in May 2013 on my comment concerning the burden of proof. ].
Original "Veterans Today" source thread for Prof. Fetzer quote
[Prof Fetzer has also made similar statements [and various negative comments about myself] more recently here ].
In my opinion, this statement by Prof. Fetzer has to be just about the most revealing [and professionally self-damaging] statement that he has made in his exchanges with me to date [roughly from August 2012 , when I first appeared on his podcast, through- May 2013], which is why I tried to draw attention to it during my latest appearance on his radio show.
The Bad News: Hindsight Is 20/20!
Regretfully, at the time of my radio interview I still had not actually bothered to look up the dictionary definition of the latin phrase "prima facie", with which I was already vaguely familiar. In retrospect, if I had bothered to be a little more investigative, and a little less assuming , I could have been a lot more forceful in the interview regarding his oh so casual deployment of the term "prima facie", that's for sure . I guess as with 911 itself, "hindsight is 20/20" :-).
What The Term "Prima Facie" Actually Means
Prima facie ......is a Latin expression meaning on its first encounter, first blush, or at first sight. The literal translation would be "at first face" or "at first appearance"... [Wikipedia]
What Jim Fetzer's Blase Statement Actually Means Within the Context Used
First of all let's remind ourselves, Jim Fetzer claims a degree in the philosophy of science, as well as being someone who claims to have "taught logic, critical thinking and scientific reasoning for 35 years".
So this is not some random layperson with an "I don't know any better" type excuse, but a person supposedly fully accredited in the scientific methodology.
And yet, Prof. Fetzer is hereby claiming that because, according to him, the 9/11 MSM and alleged amateur "live" footage, ON INITIAL INSPECTION,"AT FIRST BLUSH", AT FIRST SIGHT, WITHOUT FURTHER INVESTIGATION, "appears" to be authentic, and that it therefore "looks O.K.", then a person schooled in the scientific methodology [such as himself] has no good reason to even attempt to pre-verify its authenticity before citing it/using it as bona fide reliable evidence!
An Outrageous, Egregious,Total Denial of Scientific Methodology!
This has to be about the most outrageous, egregious "in your face" denial of the scientific methodology that you are ever likely to encounter. And this, ironically, from a person claiming both an education in the philosophy of science, and of having "taught logic, critical thinking and scientific reasoning for 35 years", to boot! :-)
Prof. Fetzer's Accredited "Scientific" Opinion = "Joe Six-Pack's" Laymans Opinion!
The most alarming aspect of Prof. Fetzer's blase statement is that it is essentially no different from that of a person with absolutely no educational background in either logic, critical thinking, the burden of proof, nor in the standard scientific methodology!
Which makes this statement, so thoughtlessly tossed out there by Prof. Fetzer, a dramatic illustration of the complete lack of critical thinking ability of the average University "educated" American, let alone the average non- University educated individual.
After all, if fully credentialed scientists, professors of the philosophy of science, and teachers of logic and critical thinking are unashamedly, innocently [?] and routinely making this kind of "off the wall" statement, is it really any wonder that the broad mass of the population, indeed most of the world, believes in the exact same line of er... "reasoning"?
I think not!
So What's Really Going On Here - Why Is Dr. Fetzer Behaving In such An Egregiously Un-Scientific and Unprofessional Manner?
I can think of a number of reasons that might explain why Prof. Fetzer has consistently engaged in such an obviously anti-scientific "thinking" process:
1] A University "Education" Pre- Conditioning?[i.e. Brainwashing]
He really does not know any better- he's been thoroughly conditioned by the by university system whereby he earned his credentials. I say this after accidentally coming across an old essay by Noam Chomsky [someone I had previously avoided reading too much of , because what little I had read to date I had not liked]. The essay in question is titled "What Makes The Mainstream Media Mainstream" , and Chomsky does an admirable job of explaining/illustrating exactly how people within the media mainstream, such as news anchor persons etc. , are all successfully pre-condtioned via the University "education" system, before they ever even set foot in a news studio or get to be a news anchor person; so well conditioned, in fact , that typically they remain completely unaware of their pre-conditioning throughout their entire media careers.
While Prof. Fetzer is obviously not an MSM news anchor, he has apparently been through the exact same government-funded University"education" conditioning system, so it is highly likely that his fundamental pre-conditioning regarding the sanctity of the MSM with regard to 911 remains firmly in place, because of his own educational pre-conditioning.
2] Or, He's A Paid Disinfo Agent ?
It would be very easy for me to assume that this is indeed the case with Prof. Fetzer [ that his is deliberate behavior by a paid disinfo agent. ]
After all, he is a former "employee" of the US military [Navy]. Indeed many fans of Simon Shacks work, including, as far as I can tell, Mr Shack himself, assume that this is indeed the case [ that Fetzer is is a paid disinfo agent], which is probably why Mr Shack has rejected Prof. Fetzer's invitations to appear both on his show, and elsewhere. But for myself, right now I cannot prove this [Fetzer's an agent], and furthermore, ultimately I don't really care if he is or is not - it wouldn't change anything, as far as I can see.
As far as I'm concerned , the truth about the MSM's wholesale video fakery on 911 will eventually become fairly common knowledge, despite the "naysaying" and "smoke-screening/obfuscation" by alleged "scientific experts" such as Prof. Fetzer, deliberate or otherwise.
3] Or, He's Simply Trying To Make a Fast Buck Or Two [More] Off Of Continued 911 Controversy/Debate?
He realizes that the continual generation of ongoing controversy via a complete ignoring of actual, bona fide scientific methodology when investigating 911 events, coupled with a deliberate diversionary tactic of his promotion, of silly holographic plane image theories and equally ridiculous mini nuke theories [both of which "scientific" hypothesis' are totally dependent on the wholesale ignoring of the scientific investigative methodology], ensures/fuels continued endless 911 debates [ concerning, for example, exact demolition methodology], which for himself and his associates means more money in the bank in the long run, via a continual income stream generated for himself on the 911 "truth" circuit, the longer he can generate continued, seemingly unresolvable controversy.
Conclusion - His Own Reputation Suffers
Unlike some, I really do not care which of the three above possible explanations for Prof. Fetzers irrational thinking process regarding his conclusions to date about the events of 911 is actually true.[Maybe there is another explanation I have not thought of.] In the long run, it makes no difference, except maybe, in one area, to his own reputation.
Prof. Fetzers Book "The 911 Conspiracy-The Scamming Of America" was the first book that got me asking questions about the events of 911, and I thank him for that, and also for his generosity in asking me to appear on his radio show.
However, at this time, I am sorry to say that because of his ongoing complete refusal to even attempt to employ a run of the mill, standard scientific methodology regarding an examination of the events of 911 [which would necessitate the very close, frame by frame examination of all MSM and other video footage and photos, before any part of it could ever be considered to be reliable evidence of anything, plus the deep background checking of ALL alleged eyewitnesses to the events of 911 if their testimony is to be used/relied on]; for what little my opinion is worth, I have to say that for me personally, at this time his behavior to date leads me to seriously question the conclusions of any of his other, none 911 research to date [JFK, MLK, OKC, etc. etc.]
Regards, ["crackpot"] onebornfree.
*************************************************
More About "Onebornfree":
"Onebornfree" is a personal freedom consultant , a problem solver, and a musician. He can be reached at: onebornfreeatyahoodotcom .
Music Info:
Onebornfree's [aka Fake-Eye D"] Music channel
Home studio recording example "Somewhere Over The Rainbow Blues":Youtube link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2oS9iI2zWU
Live solo example [own composition "Dreams [Anarchist's Blues]:
Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0o-C1_LZzk
Onebornfree Personal Freedom Blogsites:
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