Israel and Palestine: Media manipulation of equal rights & responsibilities and being held to the same standards.

Israel and Palestine: Media manipulation of equal rights & responsibilities and being held to the same standards.

Greg Krasovsky
December 5, 2023
 
Watch the video reel (see link at the end of this post) and then ask yourself the following question:

 Which ball is bigger, the blue ball or the red ball?

 Or are the blue & red balls equal?

This is how easily humans can be manipulated...!

Forget about comparing balls or circles -- why can we humans be so easily manipulated into believing that people are not equal just because of the color of their skin, religion, ethnicity or citizenship?

 

So let's perform a test on an issue as serious as cancer - the current state of Israeli-Palestinian relations - and see if we have been manipulated to reject basic universal tenets of modern democracy:
   
If you believe yourself to be  

A. a supporter of

- liberty,
- equality, and
- universal brotherhood

- freedom,
- democracy, and
- justice, 

across all races, ethnicities, religions and socioeconomic groups.

B. a member of Judaism, Islam, Christianity, the Druze or Bahai faiths who believes in good, opposes evil, leads a moral life and aims toward spiritual enlightenment.

C. a defender of human rights, especially for children, women and the elderly.
 
D. a staunch and unwavering opponent of 

- human rights violations,
   
- war crimes,
 
- crimes against humanity,
 
  -- terrorism,
  -- ethnic cleansing and
  -- genocide,

then, regardless of whether you "support" Israel, Palestine, Jews or Arabs (incl. Palestinians), ask yourself the following questions and come up with honest and objective answers:  
   
1. Do Palestinians have the same right to statehood as Israelis, their own ethno-state with
 
  - political, economic and military independence,
  - secure borders,
  - fully functioning executive, legislative and judicial branches
  - its own currency and central bank, and
  - its own law enforcement, security, intelligence and military forces
 
2. Do Palestinians have the same human & legal rights as Israelis?

2.1. freedom & liberty

- freedom of speech,
- freedom religion,
- right to bear arms,
- right to travel abroad,
- right of association,

2.2. democracy 

- right to elect its own politicians on all levels and branches of government (executive, legislative and judicial),

- freedom from foreign interference in domestic political affairs,

2.3. security & safety

- equal protection & treatment under the law,
- protection from police brutality & excessive use of force
- protection from selective prosecution, unlawful arrest and detention

2.4. economic well-being

- equal rights to own land & real estate
- equal rights to import & export goods & equipment
- equal rights to engage in a any lawful business activity through companies, corporations or as sole proprietors / entrepreneurs

3. Do Palestinian women and children deserve the same rights to protection as Israeli women & children from

- discrimination,
- persecution,
- selective prosecution,
- false imprisonment,
- terrorism,
- ethnic cleansing,
- genocide,
- violence,
- torture,
- rape,
- kidnapping,
- manslaughter, and
- murder?

 

4. Does a Palestinian state (autonomy) have the same right to self-defense and self-protection as the Israeli state?
 
5. Does the Palestinian state (autonomy) have the same responsibilities as the Israeli State (Israel) to prevent, execute and prosecute all those who conspire, attempt or have already committed

- serious crimes listed above, including crimes of violence,
     
- hate crimes (based on ethnicity, religion, race, nationality),
     -- vandalism & destruction of property,
     -- environmental sabotage,
     -- ethnic intimidation & harassment,
     -- ethnic cleansing
     -- genocide

- crimes against humanity, and

- war crimes?

6. Does the Israeli state (Israel), including its law enforcement, military, security and intelligence agencies, have the same duties & responsibilities -- including before the International Community of States and Peoples -- as the Palestinian state (autonomy) to protect its civilians (citizens, residents, foreign visitors) from harm, including becoming "collateral damage" during

- police & security operations,
- anti-terrorist operations,
- limited military operations, and even
- open warfare with other states,

by

- evacuating civilians ahead of such operations

   -- with proper temporary shelter, food & water, medical care, communications, education for children

- refraining from using naval forces, aviation, artillery and armored vehicles, including using missiles, bombs, mortars and mines, in areas with concentrations of civilians who are likely to be hurt or killed  (become "collateral damage")

- refraining from using "collective responsibility" measures (i.e. war crimes) to punish & intimidate (a) criminals, terrorists, insurgents, militants, and separatists and (b) local populations from supporting them), such as by deprivation and/or destruction of
 

  -- food & water
 
  -- medical care, pharmaceuticals and medical supplies,
 
  -- fuel (gas, oil, coal), electricity and sewage services
 
  -- adequate shelter (by destruction of permanent & temporary housing)
 
  -- safe transportation (personal & public sea, air and land transport)
 
  -- reliable communications (landline, cellular, satellite & internet)

  -- travel, including the ability to leave areas of conflict and operations (even leaving the state altogether, temporarily or permanently), generally called voluntary evacuation,

  -- access to humanitarian aid (domestic or foreign),

 -- access to education ( by  blocking, targeting & destroying educational facilities for children and adults),

  -- access to religious services (by blocking, targeting or destroying houses of worship), and

  -- access to cultural institutions (museums, galleries & historical heritage sites (by blocking, targeting or destroying them).

 
7. Should Palestinian members (personnel and volunteers) of certain professions and organizations vital to the health, safety and well-being of society, enjoy the same rights and protections as their Israeli counterparts, especially in zones of anti-terrorist and military operations where their emergency services are needed?

  - medics (physicians, nurses, paramedics),

  - emergency services (fire, rescue, police, coast guard),

  - disaster relief organizations (e.g. Red Cross / Red Crescent societies),

  - utility service organizations (electricity, heating/cooling, oil-gas- coal-based fuels, water, sewage)
 
  - public transportation and communications services
 
  - organizations & groups for emergency / humanitarian delivery of food, water, medical supplies and other necessities,
 
- human rights organizations (e.g. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, etc.)
 
- journalists (TV, Radio, Newspaper, internet publications, blogs and social media platforms)

 This includes the right to

  - have free access to affected areas and individuals,
  - evacuate affected individuals,
  - set up and maintain temporary shelter,
  - restore and maintain provision of vital services,

without the fear of being detained, beaten, kidnapped, targeted, or killed, either intentionally (e.g. by snipers) or as "collateral damage" from bombs, missiles, artillery shells, mortars or grenades.
 
8. Do the followers of Islam (Muslims) have the same rights and responsibilities as the followers of Judaism (Jews) on the territory of both the Israeli state and the Palestinian state (autonomy) to the state's protection of and non-interference in their

  - faith,
  - holy texts,
  - religious figures and leaders (prophets & etc.)

  - religious rituals (circumcisions, bar/bat mitzvah, wedding, etc.)
  - religious celebrations,
  - religious traditions (incl. clothing),

  - religious organizations,
  - houses of worship, and
  - religious (holy) sites, including archeological sites,

from discrimination, harassment, unequal treatment under the law, persecution, attack, vandalism, desecration and destruction?
 
CONCLUSION:
 
If you don't believe that Israelis and Palestinians, including their governments, politicians, religious leaders and various organizations, should be held to the same standards or have the same rights and responsibilities, including those listed above, then please explain

- why different standards should be applied on the basis of race, ethnicity, citizenship status or religion,

- why you consider yourself to be a

    -- supporter of democracy and freedom,

    -- morally righteous person,

    -- a religiously pious person whose faith advocates serving G-d through support, love, compassion and mercy for your fellow man.

 Regardless, please look at the memes below and think about

See Greg's original post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greg.krasovsky/posts/pfbid0UWPaJkYJ4ssUcBPWTeaHxuGuyvdybKUEJVsSggUJxAGesbFa1JLrQHA1H6hNdke3l

 
***

Nancy Simpson is in Southern California.
November 30, 2023 at 9:33 PM
 
#truthrepost

Did you know🧐 Everything that we tell ourselves becomes our reality😱
.
If you’re told the lie enough times it becomes part of your reality.”‼️👁️🌍
.
What was your initial thought, red or blue !? 👀🔴🔵
.
.Whether we think we can do something, or not do something, either way we’re always right.
.
Whether we think something is true or we think it’s false, either way we’re right.
.
This👉👉👉👉The power of thought is beyond measure ⚡️

#thoughtsareenergy #thoughtsbecomethings

https://www.facebook.com/reel/365236432665520

***

  

 

 

 

 

 

Israel, Palestine, Forgiveness, Compassion, Peace, Freedom, Democracy, Politicians, Totalitarianism, Propaganda and Evil: What would Hannah Arendt say?

Israel, Palestine, Forgiveness, Compassion, Peace, Freedom, Democracy, Politicians, Totalitarianism, Propaganda and Evil: What would Hannah Arendt say? 

Greg Krasovsky

October 16, 2023

"Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom."

   "No punishment has ever possessed enough power of deterrence to prevent the commission of crimes.
     On the contrary, whatever the punishment, once a specific crime has appeared for the first time, its reappearance is more likely than its initial emergence could ever have been."
 
   "The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil."

These quotes of Hannah Arendt, as well as many other quotes that you'll find below, are very relevant today, as we watch and analyze
 
1. Hamas' "military incursion" into Israel on 10/7/23 and its actions afterwards:
 
     - horrific and unjustifiable crimes against humanity and terrorist acts against ordinary Israeli civilians (including the elderly, women & children), including cold-blood murder by execution;
    - war crimes against Israeli soldiers and police who should have been taken prisoner and treated humanely instead of being tortured and executed when no longer armed or a credible threat to Hamas militants;
   - indiscriminate launch of unguided (imprecise, albeit deadly) missiles into Israel's civilian population centers, causing unjustified and criminal deaths of civilians (non-combatants);
   
  - Hamas' iron grip over the Gaza Strip since 2005 and continuous indoctrination of its population and especially Palestinian children to hate Zionists, Israelis and all Jews to such an extent that

  -- the expulsion of all Jews from greater Palestine is warranted,
  -- the Existence of Israel as a legitimate state must be terminated and
  -- the murder of women, children and the elderly becomes acceptable, desirable and almost mandatory

 to ensure the freedom and prosperity of the Palestinian People and their future independent country-state.

2.  Israel's current war crimes from 10/8/23 to present in the Gaza Strip:

   - massive bombing, missile attacks and artillery strikes in Gaza that have killed innocent Palestinian civilians,

   - failure to organize and ensure the evacuation of civilians (non-combatants),

   - using the deprivation of electricity and water as collective punishment and part of a "siege"   

   And I'm not even going to touch human right violations in the treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza by the Israeli government, its armed forces, the police, state security and intelligence agencies from 1948 to the present.
 
P.S. On 10/7/23 Hamas confirmed that it is a terrorist organization which constitutes a clear and present danger to Israeli national security and must be dealt with accordingly -- ruthlessly, thoroughly but legally.

Whether you like it or not, countries, their governments, law enforcement and security agencies and armed forces are always held to higher standards (rule of law) than terrorist organizations (even those with any degree of government support & control, which means all terrorist organizations).

As such, Palestinian civilians (non-combatants) in Gaza and the West Bank, even those who voted for  & support Hamas, including relatives of Hamas terrorists and war criminals, are entitled to legal protections afforded them by all applicable domestic and international law, including binding U.N. resolutions, Geneva Conventions and other conventions & treaties outlawing the use of certain weaponry, munitions and war tactics.  

What do you think?

 
***
 
Hannah Arendt Quotes:
 
   The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.

   Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core.

   No punishment has ever possessed enough power of deterrence to prevent the commission of crimes. On the contrary, whatever the punishment, once a specific crime has appeared for the first time, its reappearance is more likely than its initial emergence could ever have been.

   No cause is left but the most ancient of all, the one, in fact, that from the beginning of our history has determined the very existence of politics, the cause of freedom versus tyranny.

   Power and violence are opposites; where the one rules absolutely, the other is absent. Violence appears where power is in jeopardy, but left to its own course it ends in power's disappearance.

   The more dubious and uncertain an instrument violence has become in international relations, the more it has gained in reputation and appeal in domestic affairs, specifically in the matter of revolution.

   Only the mob and the elite can be attracted by the momentum of totalitarianism itself. The masses have to be won by propaganda.
 
  The chief qualification of a mass leader has become unending infallibility; he can never admit an error.

  Under conditions of tyranny it is far easier to act than to think.

  Revolutionaries do not make revolutions. The revolutionaries are those who know when power is lying in the street and then they can pick it up

  The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative the day after the revolution.
 
  War has become a luxury that only small nations can afford.

     Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.

Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/hannah-arendt-quotes

***

“Good can be radical; evil can never be radical, it can only be extreme, for it possesses neither depth nor any demonic dimension yet--and this is its horror--it can spread like a fungus over the surface of the earth and lay waste the entire world. Evil comes from a failure to think.”
― Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil

   “In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true.
      ... Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow.
     The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.”

― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.”
― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
tags: communism, nazism, post-factual, totalitarianism

   “Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it.”
― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

   “When all are guilty, no one is; confessions of collective guilt are the best possible safeguard against the discovery of culprits, and the very magnitude of the crime the best excuse for doing nothing. ”
― Hannah Arendt

   “The aim of totalitarian education has never been to instill convictions but to destroy the capacity to form any.”
― Hannah Arendt

   “And the distinction between violent and non-violent action is that the former is exclusively bent upon the destruction of the old, and the latter is chiefly concerned with the establishment of something new.”
― Hannah Arendt

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/12806.Hannah_Arendt

***

 Evil thrives on apathy and cannot exist without it.
- Hannah Arendt
 
 Politically, the weakness of the argument has always been that those who choose the lesser evil forget very quickly that they chose evil.
- Hannah Arendt

 This inability to think created the possibility for many ordinary men to commit evil deeds on a gigantic scale, the like of which had never been seen before. The manifestation of the wind of thought is not knowledge but the ability to tell right from wrong, beautiful from ugly. And I hope that thinking gives people the strength to prevent catastrophes in these rare moments when the chips are down.
- Hannah Arendt

The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
Hannah Arendt

 The result of a consistent and total substitution of lies for factual truth is not that the lie will now be accepted as truth, and truth be defamed as lie, but that the sense by which we take our bearings in the real world - and the category of truth versus falsehood is among the mental means to this end - is being destroyed.
- Hannah Arendt

 The aim of totalitarian education has never been to instill convictions but to destroy the capacity to form any.
- Hannah Arendt

 Politically speaking, tribal nationalism [patriotism] always insists that its own people are surrounded by 'a world of enemies' - 'one against all' - and that a fundamental difference exists between this people and all others.
    It claims its people to be unique, individual, incompatible with all others, and denies theoretically the very possibility of a common mankind long before it is used to destroy the humanity of man.
- Hannah Arendt

 Violence is an expression of impotence.
- Hannah Arendt

   The greater the bureaucratization of public life, the greater will be the attraction of violence. In a fully developed bureaucracy there is nobody left with whom one can argue, to whom one can represent grievances, on whom the pressures of power can be exerted.
    Bureaucracy is the form of government in which everybody is deprived of political freedom, of the power to act; for the rule by Nobody is not no-rule, and where all are equally powerless we have a tyranny without a tyrant.
- Hannah Arendt

 Truthfulness has never been counted among the political virtues, and lies have always been regarded as justifiable tools in political dealings.
- Hannah Arendt

   Political questions are far too serious to be left to the politicians.
- Hannah Arendt

https://www.azquotes.com/author/511-Hannah_Arendt

***

    "No government exclusively based on the means of violence has ever existed.
    Even the totalitarian ruler, whose chief instrument of rule is torture, needs a power basis—the secret police and its net of informers.
    Only the development of robot soldiers, which, as previously mentioned, would eliminate the human factor completely and, conceivably, permit one man with a push button to destroy whomever he pleased, could change this fundamental ascendancy of power over violence."
—Hannah Arendt, “On Violence.”

    “And even if Jews were to win the war...[t]he ‘victorious’ Jews would live surrounded by an entirely hostile Arab population, secluded inside ever-threatened borders, absorbed with physical self-defense to a degree that would submerge all other interests and activities.”
-Hannah Arendt, The Jewish Writings, eds. Jerome Kohn and Ron Feldman, New York: Schocken Books, 2007, p.396

   "Violence can destroy power; it is utterly incapable of creating it."
-Hannah Arendt, On Violence

   "The end of rebellion is liberation, while the end of revolution is the foundation of freedom."
  -Hannah Arendt, On Revolution

   "If this practice [of totalitarianism] is compared with that of tyranny, it seems as if a way had been found to set the desert itself in motion, to let loose a sand storm that could cover all parts of the inhabited earth. The conditions under which we exist today in the field of politics are indeed threatened by these devastating sand storms."
-Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

   "Until now the totalitarian belief that everything is possible seems to have proved only that everything can be destroyed.
     Yet, in their effort to prove that everything is possible, totalitarian regimes have discovered without knowing it   that there are crimes which men can neither punish nor forgive.
    When the impossible was made possible it became the unpunishable, unforgivable absolute evil which could no longer be understood and explained by the evil motives of self-interest, greed, covetousness, resentment, lust for power, and cowardice;
     and which therefore anger could not revenge, love could not endure, friendship could not forgive.
     Just as the victims in the death factories or the holes of oblivion are no longer "human" in the eyes of their executioners, so this newest species of criminals is beyond the pale even of solidarity in human sinfulness."
-Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

   "Whatever the source of moral knowledge might be—divine commandments or moral reason—every sane man, it was assumed, carried within himself a voice that tells him what is right and what is wrong, and this regardless of the law of the land and regardless of the voices of his fellowmen."
-Hannah Arendt, Some Questions of Moral Philosophy, in Responsibility and Judgment, p. 61.

     "The alternative to forgiveness, but by no means its opposite, is punishment, and both have in common that they attempt to put an end to something that without interference could go on endlessly.
    It is therefore quite significant, a structural element in the realm of human affairs, that men are unable to forgive what they cannot punish and that they are unable to punish what has turned out to be unforgivable."
- Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition

   “The highest laws of the land (America) are not only the constitution and constitutional laws, but also contracts.”
-Hannah Arendt, Denktagebuch, p. 131

  "It can be dangerous to tell the truth: “There will always be One against All, one person against all others. [This is so] not because One is terribly wise and All are terribly foolish, but because the process of thinking and researching, which finally yields truth, can only be accomplished by an individual person. In its singularity or duality, one human being seeks and finds – not the truth (Lessing) –, but some truth.”
-Hannah Arendt, Denktagebuch, Book XXIV, No. 21

https://hac.bard.edu/amor-mundi/quote-of-the-week-2011-11-14
 
***

   "In a head-on clash between violence and power, the outcome is hardly in doubt.
     Nowhere is the self-defeating factor in the victory of violence over power more evident than in the use of terror to maintain domination, about whose weird successes and eventual failures we know perhaps more than any generation before us. Violence can destroy power; it is utterly incapable of creating it."
     - On the subject violence and power. Source: On Violence, published in 1970. As quoted by Scroll Staff (December 04, 2017): Ideas in literature: Ten things Hannah Arendt said that are eerily relevant in today’s political times. In: Scroll.in. Archived from the original on October 1, 2019.

   "The moment we no longer have a free press, anything can happen.
    What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed; how can you have an opinion if you are not informed?
    If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer.
    This is because lies, by their very nature, have to be changed, and a lying government has constantly to rewrite its own history.
    On the receiving end you get not only one lie — a lie which you could go on for the rest of your days — but you get a great number of lies, depending on how the political wind blows.
   And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge.
   And with such a people you can then do what you please."
        On the subject freedom of press. Source: Interview with French writer Roger Errera, 1974. New York Review of Books. As quoted by Scroll Staff (December 04, 2017): Ideas in literature: Ten things Hannah Arendt said that are eerily relevant in today’s political times. In: Scroll.in. Archived from the original on October 1, 2019.
 
   "Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it."
        On the subject “alternate facts”. Source: The Origins of Totalitarianism, published in 1951. As quoted by Scroll Staff (December 04, 2017): Ideas in literature: Ten things Hannah Arendt said that are eerily relevant in today’s political times. In: Scroll.in. Archived from the original on October 1, 2019.

The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951):

   "Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it"
      On the subject “alternate facts”. Source: The Origins of Totalitarianism, published in 1951. As quoted by Scroll Staff (December 04, 2017): Ideas in literature: Ten things Hannah Arendt said that are eerily relevant in today’s political times. In: Scroll.in. Archived from the original on October 1, 2019.

    "A mixture of gullibility and cynicism had been an outstanding characteristic of mob mentality before it became an everyday phenomenon of masses.
    In an ever-changing, incomprehensible, world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything is possible and that nothing was true.
    The mixture in itself was remarkable enough, because it spelled the end of the illusion that gullibility was a weakness of unsuspecting primitive souls and cynism the vice of superior and refined minds.
     Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow.
     The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.
        Part 3, Ch. 2 The Totalitarian Movement, page 80
        On the subject lies and mass propaganda. Source: The Origins of Totalitarianism, published in 1951. As quoted by Scroll Staff (December 04, 2017): Ideas in literature: Ten things Hannah Arendt said that are eerily relevant in today’s political times. In: Scroll.in. Archived from the original on October 1, 2019.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt

***

    “In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true.
     ... Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow.
    The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism;
     instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.”
― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7662360-in-an-ever-changing-incomprehensible-world-the-masses-had-reached-the

***

    This inability to think created the possibility for many ordinary men to commit evil deeds on a gigantic scale, the like of which had never been seen before.
     The manifestation of the wind of thought is not knowledge but the ability to tell right from wrong, beautiful from ugly.
     And I hope that thinking gives people the strength to prevent catastrophes in these rare moments when the chips are down.
- Hannah Arendt

https://www.azquotes.com/author/511-Hannah_Arendt

***

Hannah Arendt

By Wikipedia

 

Hannah Arendt (/ˈɛərənt, ˈɑːr-/,[12][13] US also /əˈrɛnt/,[14] German: [ˌhana ˈaːʁənt] ⓘ;[15] born Johanna Arendt; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a German-born American historian and political philosopher. 

She was one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century.[16][17][18]

Her works cover a broad range of topics, but she is best known for those dealing with the nature of power and evil, as well as politics, direct democracy, authority, and totalitarianism.

In the popular mind she is best remembered for the controversy surrounding the trial of Adolf Eichmann, her attempt to explain how ordinary people become actors in totalitarian systems, which was considered by some an apologia, and for the phrase "the banality of evil."

She is commemorated by institutions and journals devoted to her thinking, the Hannah Arendt Prize for political thinking, and on stamps, street names and schools, amongst other things.

Arendt was born to a Jewish family in Linden (now a district of Hanover) in 1906.

When she was three, her family moved to the East Prussian capital of Königsberg for her father's health care. 

Paul Arendt had contracted syphilis in his youth, but was thought to be in remission when Arendt was born. He died when she was seven.

Arendt was raised in a politically progressive, secular family, her mother being an ardent Social Democrat.

After completing secondary education in Berlin, Arendt studied at the University of Marburg under Martin Heidegger, with whom she had a four-year affair.[19]

She obtained her doctorate in philosophy at the University of Heidelberg in 1929.

Her dissertation was entitled Love and Saint Augustine and her supervisor was the existentialist philosopher Karl Jaspers.

Hannah Arendt married Günther Stern in 1929, but soon began to encounter increasing antisemitism in 1930s Nazi Germany. In 1933, the year Adolf Hitler came to power, Arendt was arrested and briefly imprisoned by the Gestapo for performing illegal research into antisemitism.

On release, she fled Germany, living in Czechoslovakia and Switzerland before settling in Paris. There she worked for Youth Aliyah, assisting young Jews to emigrate to the British Mandate of Palestine.

She was stripped of her German citizenship in 1937. Divorcing Stern that year, she then married Heinrich Blücher in 1940.

When Germany invaded France that year she was detained by the French as an alien.

She escaped and made her way to the United States in 1941 via Portugal. She settled in New York, which remained her principal residence for the rest of her life.

She became a writer and editor and worked for the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, becoming an American citizen in 1950.

With the publication of The Origins of Totalitarianism in 1951, her reputation as a thinker and writer was established and a series of works followed.

These included the books The Human Condition in 1958, as well as Eichmann in Jerusalem and On Revolution in 1963.

She taught at many American universities, while declining tenure-track appointments.

She died suddenly of a heart attack in 1975, at the age of 69, leaving her last work, The Life of the Mind, unfinished.

Please read the rest at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt

***
 
[Google Translation]

The Granite of Science

Facebook
October 14, 2023 at 12:57 PM

One of the few female philosophers of the 20th century whose works are recognized as classics of political thought, the founder of the theory of totalitarianism and the author of the expression “banality of evil”

 👤Hannah Arendt is a German-American philosopher and journalist of Jewish origin, political theorist, historian and public figure.  

      She was educated at the Universities of Marburg, Freiburg and Heidelberg, and studied with Martin Heidegger and Karl Jaspers.

 ▪️She was one of the first to talk about the true nature of evil and comprehensively studied this phenomenon, which, in her opinion, is not always hidden in a person’s desire to do something terrible, but is much more often associated with the refusal of thought and one’s own responsibility for one’s choice.  

      Arendt's legacy includes more than 450 works, diverse in issues, but united by the idea of ​​​​comprehension of modernity (“thinking about what we are doing”).

 ▪️She introduced the concept of “banality of evil,” by which she meant thoughtless submission to laws that were not just inhumane, but directed against the very foundations of life.

 Her theses, formulated in reports from Jerusalem from the trial of Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann, and then in a separately published book, influenced the course of the entire post-war discussion about the Holocaust and the role of the individual in the most terrible crime committed against humanity.

 ▪️The essence of these theses is that evil is committed by ordinary people who accept the order established in society as the norm and conscientiously fulfill the obligations prescribed to them by the current law.

 The term “banality of evil” has become one of the cornerstones in modern philosophy, and passions around Hannah Arendt’s controversial theses have not yet subsided.

 Hannah Arendt believed that there is only one way to resist universal evil: we must learn to think critically.

 🔻Today [October 14th] is the birthday of this extraordinary personality, a female philosopher.

 👉 Granite Science

 #personalitiesinscience #historyofscience

https://www.facebook.com/granit.nayki/posts/pfbid02b8zqVLKXG8vEaxKHeFqawHJk7qDFftRkQXi2vU8mMtgCraxo3bnNo3V8CaCyvYGzl
 
*** 

 

No "society" wants you to become wise? No "society" wants people to be free?

No "society" wants you to become wise? No "society" wants people to be free?

Greg Krasovsky 

July 29, 2023

Who wants knowledgeable, educated, enlightened, wise and independent

- citizens
- voters
- tax payers
- consumers?

How about

- soldiers
- state security & foreign intelligence personnel
- diplomats
- law enforcement personnel
- prosecutors
- judges
- prison guards, probation & parole officers?

Certainly not "The Man" / "The Establishment" -- i.e. those who own & control "The System" (Big Business & Government)

Why?

Because people like that (wise & in the know)

- are hard to exploit, manipulate, fool, brainwash (through private & public media) and control.

- could get some ideas about

-- true democracy,

-- true freedom of speech & a free press

-- true government for the people & by the people

-- true nature of evil*

---

* Evil is when you do something that brings you pleasure and/or benefit ("power," material gain, financial, political, legal etc.) despite the fact (while disregarding) that your actions cause another living being(s) pain, suffering, loss (material, legal, spiritual), injury and even death.

Evil is pure egoism.

Examples:

1. A Rapist rapes because it brings him pleasure while disregarding the fact that his act causes the victim pain and suffering and loss of freedom.

2. A Robber or a thief robs & steals because it brings him material benefit 9and sometimes pleasure & sense of power) while disregarding the fact that his act causes the victim(s) pain and suffering and loss of freedom.

3. A corrupt businessman or a group of wealthy businessmen (e.g. billionaires) -- hereinafter "Wealthy Controllers" -- who "legally" buy, control or illegally bribe / corrupt

- political parties,
- politicians,
- elected & appointed government officials, and/or
- senior civil servants

- law enforcement,
- prosecutors,
- judges
- intelligence personnel
- diplomats

- other key personnel in all three branches of government (executive, legislative and judicial)

- journalists, managers and stakeholders of media companies
-- news media
-- social media
-- entertainment media (TV, Movies, Radio, Music, Theater, etc.)

in order to

- have the government give them preferential treatment
-- government contracts,
-- government subsidies,

-- government protection & promotion in foreign markets,

-- favorable laws & regulations,

- prevent government regulators, law enforcement and prosecutors from investigating such arrangements (conspiracies?)

-- turning a blind eye on wrongdoing (civil or criminal)
-- giving them only a slap on the wrist when caught

- keep the public unaware or misinformed of the arrangement through

-- favorable media coverage,
-- media misinformation, fake news and etc.
-- media censorship,

while disregarding the fact that their arrangement causes

1. losses to tax payers through

- higher taxes: someone has to pay for all that
-- government debt,
-- government programs,
-- tax breaks & government subsidies
that favor the Wealthy Controllers.

- less or lower quality government services: more spent on programs that favor the Wealthy controllers = less money left in the government budget for other programs.

- potential forced sale of government assets to fund budget deficits or repay government debt.

2. takes away from voters true value of their votes

- the ability to elect officials
-- based on unbiased (objective), and comprehensive independent media coverage of the candidate
-- who will be accountable to and will serve for the benefit of their voters (the electorate), nit their Wealthy Controllers.

3. deprives citizens of true control over their government and democracy

- when political parties, politicians, government branches & agencies and government officials act in the best interest of their Wealthy Controllers and NOT the ordinary people, the citizens who elected them.

4. deprives citizens of having a free press and freedom of speech (from media censorship)

- when Wealthy Controllers manipulate the media resources that they own / control to steer media content & coverage in order to protect & promote the Controllers' interests (financial, legal, political, etc.)

5. Subjects citizens & military personnel to risk of injury and death

- When governments, acting in the interests of Wealthy Controllers, promote, organize, facilitate, manage or conduct in foreign countries through

-- interference in the foreign country's domestic politics and elections,

-- regime change operations,

-- civil unrest and civil wars,

-- ethnic, racial and/or religious conflicts, persecution and even cleansing,

-- material support to groups (opposition, pro-government, paramilitary) that engage in extremism or terrorism,

-- political and military conflicts with neighboring countries, involving

i. War crimes,
ii. Crimes against humanity,
-- Promotion of xenophobia, racism and religious persecution.
iii. Prohibited weapons of war, such as conventional weapons (like mines, cluster and incendiary munitions)
iv. Weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, chemical, biological and climate)

resulting in military conflicts in which U.S. citizens (civilian & military) can get injured, kidnapped or killed, not to mention the civilians of country(ies) in question, including vulnerable women, children and the elderly.

Now, if that's not evil, then I don't know what evil is.

And the first step in fighting such evil is exposing it to the people who are knowledgeable and wise enough to understand it -- so that they can make a stand against it before it's too late: 

before it has done irreparable harm to America and has irreversibly morphed / corrupted a declared democracy into a corporate oligarchy or a corporate-controlled authoritarian / fascist state.

What do you think?

What are you willing to do about?

If you want to KNOW MORE, then please don't forget to follow read The Ukrainian-Russian-American Observer at:

Blog: https://ura-observer.blogspot.com/

Telegram: https://t.me/URA_Observer_2022

Twitter: https://twitter.com/URA_Observer

***

Osho - No Society wants You to become Wise!

TikTok video: https://www.tiktok.com/@themindhub/video/7019379603026251010

Facebook video: https://www.facebook.com/reel/293138713104391

Instagram video: https://www.instagram.com/p/CtxjLzBO-TI/

***

No society wants people to be free.

Discourses
Excerpts
July 9, 2020

Osho states, “In fact, a wise man is afire, alive, aflame. He would like rather to die than to be enslaved.”

Osho discourse

No society wants you to become wise: it is against the investment of all societies.

If people are wise they cannot be exploited.

If they are intelligent they cannot be subjugated, they cannot be forced into a mechanical life, to live like robots.

They will assert themselves – they will assert their individuality.

They will have the fragrance of rebellion around them; they will want to live in freedom.

Freedom comes with wisdom, intrinsically. They are inseparable, and no society wants people to be free.

The communist society, the fascist society, the capitalist society, the Hindu, the Mohammedan, the Christian

– no society likes people to use their own intelligence because the moment they start using their intelligence they become dangerous -

dangerous to the establishment,
dangerous to the people who are in power,
dangerous to the “haves”;
dangerous to all kinds of oppression, exploitation, suppression;
dangerous to the churches,
dangerous to the states,
dangerous to the nations.

In fact, a wise man is afire, alive, aflame.

He would like rather to die than to be enslaved.

Death will not matter much to him, but he cannot sell his life to all kinds of stupidities, to all kinds of stupid people.

He cannot serve them. Hence, the societies down the ages have been supplying you with false knowing.

That’s the very function of your schools, colleges, universities.

They don’t serve you, remember, they serve the past, they serve the vested interests.

Of course, they go on puffing your ego up bigger and bigger, they go on giving you more and more degrees.

Your name becomes longer and longer, but only the name – you go on becoming shorter and shorter.

A point comes where there are only certificates and the man has disappeared.

First the man carries the certificates, then the certificates carry the man.

The man is long dead.

Osho, The Goose Is Out, Ch 6, Q 1 (excerpt)

https://www.oshonews.com/2020/07/09/no-society-wants-people-to-be-free/

***

Osho: No Society Wants you to Become Wise

Posted by Enrique Raul Suarez
March 6, 2017 at 4:46

Source: Under the Blue Door

“No society wants you to become wise: it is against the investment of all societies.

If people are wise they cannot be exploited.

If they are intelligent they cannot be subjugated, they cannot be forced in a mechanical life, to live like robots.

They will assert their individuality.

They will have the fragrance of rebellion around them.

They will like to live in freedom.

Freedom comes with wisdom, intrinsically.

They are inseparable, and no society wants people to be free.

The communist society, the fascist society, the capitalist society, the Hindu, the Mohammedan, the Christian — no society 

— would like people to use their own intelligence because the moment they start using their intelligence they become dangerous —

    dangerous to the establishment,
    dangerous to the people who are in power,
    dangerous to the ‘haves’;
    dangerous to all kinds of oppression, exploitation, suppression;
    dangerous to the churches,
    dangerous to the states,
    dangerous to the nations.

In fact, a wise man is afire, alive, aflame.

But he cannot sell his life, he cannot serve them.

He would like rather to die than to be enslaved.”

~Osho

https://globalriskcommunity.com/profiles/blogs/osho-no-society-wants-you-to-become-wise

***

OSHO English Library

The Goose Is Out - by Osho

[Chapter] 6. I exalt the Ordinary

The first question:

"Osho, I have got all the degrees that a university can offer.
Why am I still ignorant?"

Knowledge has no capacity to dispel ignorance.

Knowledge is a false phenomenon; it is not wisdom at all, it is just the opposite of wisdom.

Knowledge is borrowed; wisdom is the flowering of your innermost being. 

You can borrow a plastic flower, but if you want real roses then you will have to grow them in your innermost being.

No university can offer it, no scripture can offer it, no scholarship is capable of doing it.

They are all impotent efforts, but they have been deceiving millions of people for thousands of years.

Yes, they can make you knowledgeable.

To be knowledgeable is one thing, and to know is totally different.

A blind man can be knowledgeable about light, but he knows nothing of light; he has not experienced it.

He can collect all kinds of information about light, he can argue, philosophize, systematize;

he can write great treatises on light, but he has not tasted the joy of light – he has not seen even a single ray of light.

He has not seen the rainbow, the colors of the flowers, the wings of a butterfly.

He has not seen the green trees, he has not seen the stars, the sun, the moon. He has missed all that.

And what he has accumulated is simply rubbish.

It is better to be ignorant and have eyes than to be very knowledgeable about light and be blind.

The universities exist for that purpose specifically. 

No society wants you to become wise – it is against the investment of all societies.

If people are wise they cannot be exploited. If they are intelligent they cannot be subjugated; they cannot be forced into a mechanical life, to live like a robot.

They will assert themselves – they will assert their individuality.

They will have the fragrance of rebellion around them; they would like to live in freedom.

Freedom comes with wisdom, intrinsically – they are inseparable – and no society wants people to be free.

The communist society, the fascist society, the capitalist society, the Hindu, the Mohammedan, the Christian

– no society would like people to use their own intelligence because the moment they start using their intelligence they become dangerous,

    dangerous to the establishment,
    dangerous to the people who are in power,
    dangerous to the “haves,”
    dangerous to all kinds of oppression, exploitation, suppression;
    dangerous to the churches,
    dangerous to the states,
    dangerous to the nations.

In fact, a wise man is afire, alive, aflame. He would prefer to die than to be enslaved.

Death will not matter much, but he cannot sell his life to any kind of stupidity, to any kind of stupid people.

He cannot serve them. Hence, societies down the ages have been supplying you with false knowing.

That’s the very function of your schools, colleges, universities.

https://www.osho.com/osho-online-library/osho-talks/wisdom-innermost-inseparable-7dd37805-b4f?p=d49cb628babf03e33b6391a6ce77ed62

***

Thoughts of Osho on Why no society wants you to become wise.

"No society likes people to use their own intelligence because the moment they start using their intelligence they become dangerous.

Freedom comes with wisdom, intrinsically.

They are inseparable, and no society wants people to be free.

And true intelligence arises from Wisdom.

"Wisdom and intelligence are against the investment of all societies" - Osho

Wisdom and intelligence are against the investment of all societies. If people are wise, they cannot be exploited.

If they are intelligent, they cannot be subjugated, they cannot be forced into a mechanical life, to live like robots.

They will assert themselves – they will assert their individuality.

They will have the fragrance of rebellion around them;

they will want to live in freedom."

...

Osho (born Chandra Mohan Jain; 1931 –1990), also known as Acharya Rajneesh, was an Indian godman, mystic, and founder of the Rajneesh movement.

During his lifetime, he was viewed as a controversial new religious movement leader and a mystic guru.

He rejected institutional religions.

Rajneesh emphasized the importance of free thought, meditation, mindfulness, love, celebration, courage, creativity, and humor

— qualities that he viewed as being suppressed by adherence to static belief systems, religious dogmas, and societal traditions.

https://stevenmonahan.com/thoughts-of-osho-on-why-no-society-wants-you-to-become-wise/

***

VOTE EARLY! VOTE OFTEN! VOTE FOR DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM, PEACE AND PROSPERITY!

VOTE EARLY! VOTE OFTEN! VOTE FOR DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM, PEACE AND PROSPERITY!
 
Greg Krasovsky

November 8, 2022
 
To all my American readers, on today's Election Day please read this post and think about the quotes listed below before and/or after you vote!

FYI, since I turned 18 in 1986 in Philadelphia, I considered myself a Southern Democrat.

After coming back to Philadelphia from Moscow, Russia in 2004 -- I lived & worked there from 1993 to 2004 -- I realized that the Republican and Democratic Parties were just the left and right wing on one bird, the American Eagle.  

When one wing swung stronger as the dominant one, our Bald Eagle flew more in its direction. For a time...

Having lived and worked in Wild-West Russia of the 1990s and come back to the U.S. after Al Gore's loss to George Bush in 2000, the "Al-Qaeda" terrorist attacks on  9/11/2001, the subsequent U.S. invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2033, I learned some things along the way that I'd like to share with you to help you become a better voter:
  
1. Once wealthy people / families / groups accumulate enough wealth (Billions & Trillions of Dollars, EUROs, etc.), they start to own Financial-Industrial Groups (FIGs) that have cross-holdings domestically and internationally.
 
2. These FIGs (which include many Fortune 500 companies) are owned by either very rich families, trusts or investments funds. Regardless, these FIGs are controlled by a small group of people either directly or indirectly.  

3. The FIGs' wealthy owners & decision-makers know from the beginning that the only power big enough to take away their wealth & power or to safeguard them is the government with its tax agencies, regulators (securities, monopoly, labor, environmental, intellectual property, etc.) prosecutors, courts, law enforcement, security/intelligence agencies and military.
 
So these wealthy folks make sure that the government is on their side -- i.e. under their direction & control!
 
4. As such, the vast majority of governments, elected government officials and their political appointees, senior government officials who rose up the ranks of civil service, politicians and political parties are  owned, controlled and directed by certain FIGs, some just domestic, others transnational (global in reach, i.e. globalist)
 
This includes control over the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.
 
5. This includes control over non-government / non-profit and even community organizations ranging in size from behemoths like the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund to small NGOs on a local level.
    
6. This is includes control over think tanks and consulting groups that draw-up both corporate and government strategy & tactics (policies) and help implement them as well as major government contractors, including in the Intelligence-Military-Industrial Complex.
    
7. This includes control over the 4th estate - Mass / Main-Stream Media (MSM) that are either owned by FIGs or funded/controlled by the government.

Once you control Mass / Main-Stream Media (MSM), you control the narrative and gave great propaganda tools at your disposal. This is even more than corporate Public Relations on Steroids!
 
Now, the public will see, hear and read -- on TV, Radio, printed press and internet!

8. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the reach of government & corporate propaganda has extended beyond MSM to
 
   - Internet Search Engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yandex, Mail.ru)
 
   - Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, etc.)
 
   - Instant Messengers (Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram, Signal IM, Lime)
 
through control of search results, censorship, banning, shadow-banning and etc.  

The control of MSM, Search Engines, Social Media and Instant Messengers allows FIGs to hide their control over governments from the public, many of who still naively believe that they live in a genuine democracy where they get to vote (without any outside influence) for independent candidates of their choice who will be beholden only to their electorate and while in public  office will serve their electorate and country with integrity, competence, honesty and loyalty.

9. This includes control over Entertainment Media - Movies, TV, Music, Performing arts, Literature and etc..
 
10. This includes control over organized religion, which is extremely important since religious fundamentalists (in any faith) represent a potential threat to egoistic and often atheistic capitalists that own & run FIGs.
 
11. This includes control over Education -- through government funding & regulations as well as ownership, grants and tenure of leading educational institutions, include those of higher learning (both civil and military), like the Ivy League and Military Academies.
   
12. Aside from controlling governments, media and other important institutions, FIGs control key industries that are vital to modern life, such as

   - Water, Food & Agriculture

          -- Clean & plentiful water sources for human consumption, agriculture & industry

          -- Arable land (good soil)

          -- Fertilizers & Pesticides

   - Medicine:
        -- Medical Treatment & Research Centers, publications, boards & organizations
        -- Pharmaceuticals, Medical Devices & Vaccines

   - Transportation (Air, Sea, Land)

   - Communications (Air, Sea, Land, Space)

   - IT Equipment

   - Energy (Oil, Gas, Electrical, Hydro, Nuclear, Solar, Wind & etc.)

   - Construction supplies & Construction

   - Waste Management & recycling 

   - Consumer Finance (mortgages, consumer loans, credit cards, student loans, credit bureaus & ratings)

   - Private Security Industry

   - Private Prisons & control of those on pre-trial release, probation and parole
 
If necessary, any of the above industries can be used for political purposes (including controlling populations) by controlling supply & demand through pricing and access.

Do you see the potential for abuse if there is not independent, competent and effective government regulation & oversight?

But how can there be any "effective government regulation & oversight" if the government regulators are also controlled by the same FIGs that own the industrial giants which need to be regulated?  
 
13. On top of all this in today's world ALL of the following organizations of any substantial size & power (domestic and international) are controlled by at least one country's law enforcement, security/intelligence agencies or specialized government regulators (either directly or indirectly through FIGs):
 
a. Terrorist Organizations;
 
b. Sellers and traffickers of Weaponry & other military supplies;
 
c. Major organizations that grow, manufacture, transport and distribute illegal "Street" drugs, legal prescription & even legal alcohol;
   
d. Major Prostitution, Human Trafficking and Pedophile rings;
 
e. Major cyber-hackers, including groups that specialize in ransom-ware, extortion-ware, theft and resale of card, bank & payments system information, theft of cyber-currency and other personal information that's sold to identity thieves.
 
f. Major hate organizations (based on ethnicity, nationality (citizenship), race, religion or other socioeconomic status.
 
g. Poaching rings that hunt & sell endangered animals.
   
14. So please remember: in today's world, at least since the end of World War II in 1945, there have been NO large (meaningful) organizations on either the domestic or international level that were independent of state/government control with all ensuing moral and legal ramifications.
 
So all the horrific evil acts evil that you have seen done in our world  since 1945 by any and all of the above types of organizations, including

   a. wars (civil & foreign),

   b. Ethnic/religious cleansing, persecution and discrimination  

   c. Major terrorist acts,

   d. War crimes,

   e. Crimes against humanity, and

   f. Other large-scale human rights violations,
        -- e.g. testing (experimentation) & use of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons,
 
have been planned, organized and/or committed not just by the above criminal groups but also by state/government controllers and allied FIGs for what they consider rational & justifiable reasons:

   a. profit

   b. national security interests 

        - political interests
        - economic interests
        - military interests
        - social & cultural agendas   

   c. control of criminal groups for (a) & (b) above.

   d. control of local, ethnic, racial, nationalist, religious groups for (a) & (b) above.
 
14. With all this in mind, do you think that the president, senators, congressmen, heads of federal departments & agencies and even federal judges (all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court) are moral & independent actors who're in office to help the American people -- the 99% of regular Americans living paycheck to paycheck (unless unemployed)?
 
Is it any different on the state, county or city/municipal level?
 
Do you think that it's any different in the United  Nations or the European Union's Commission?
 
15. Sure, elected, appointed & promoted government officials get some leeway -- but only on non-critical issues, such as some social issues.

But when it comes to BIG money (we're talking about millions on local level and billions on federal & international levels), any and every official WILL obey the party line. 

 
BIG Money includes activities listed in sections 1 to 14 above, especially

   - War,
   - Energy,
   - Weapons sales,
   - Medicine / Pharmaceuticals,
   - Food & Agriculture,
   - Transportation,
   - Communications, and
   - Other large-scale billion-dollar government contracts
 

So here's what happens to you mess with BIG money without the FIGs express prior permission:

   - kicked out of office, fired, 

   - demonized, reputation destroyed, 

   - blacklisted,

   - sued, 

   - impoverished, bankrupted,

   - prosecuted (selective prosecution), 

   - incarcerated (taxes evasion & bank fraud are easy to establish), 

   - dies of heart attack, stroke, rapid & rare cancer, etc.

   - street crime victim, 

   - death from a car/airplane/boat accident or 

   - death by suicide 

        -- if necessary, suicide only after killing your own family and/or shooting yourself in the head twice (just to be sure).

 
16. After accepting all the premises listed above (what a lucky number!), in 2005 i chose to become an independent voter, although independent candidates generally don't win, especially on the national level.
 
So in most municipal, state and federal elections, I get to chose the "lesser of two evils" among Democratic and Republican candidates.

17. Once you understand and accept all the premises list above -- basically take the RED pill in our current political matrix -- then you will have a choice on whether to participate in the ordinary law-abiding, tax-paying, church-going people's struggle to regain control of their governments and countries from the current FIG-controlled oligarchy.
  

But before you make that choice, you'll need to ask some questions and get some honest & accurate answers:

Why do we need to regain control of our governments in order to restore genuine democracy?

Why do we need to limit the participation of FIGs & big business in the political process, including by prohibiting any funding of political parties, candidates, PACs and political advertising by legal entities (companies, corporations, partnerships, trusts, non-profits [funded by business] and business associations)?

Why do we need to limit & tightly control the ownership of MSM, Social Media and other key industries in order to protect our freedoms and a people's democracy?

Why do we need to limit the influence of our Intelligence-Military-Industrial Complex (defense & intelligence contractors) in our political process to prevent our involvement in wars and military conflicts abroad, including in Ukraine?

Why do we need to tightly control the influence of FIGs and Big Pharma in our government medical policies, including containment, treatment and prevention of pathogens that cause pandemics like COVID-19?

Why do we need to limit the influence of FIGS and their involvement in government regulation of our water and food supplies?

Why do we need to limit the influence of FIGS and their involvement in government regulation of our children's education?

18. Who's the lesser of two evils in these mid-term elections - Democratic or Republican candidates?
 
Honestly, I don't know long term, but short term -- after the last two years of Biden's presidency and Democratic control of congress -- I'm leaning toward the Republican Party.
 
Why?
 
That's another story for another article.
 
So stay tuned.

But in the meantime, please don't forget to vote based on your own research, on independent alternative press articles, based on your conscience and ONLY AFTER READING & UNDERSTANDING ALL OF THE QUOTES AND ARTICLES LISTED BELOW!
 
***
 
Vote early and vote often! [1]
― Al Capone[?]
 
I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this—who will count the votes, and how. [2]
― Joseph Stalin 1879–1953, Soviet dictator, said in 1923

 
“To permit irresponsible authority is to sell disaster.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers

“Voting the wrong ones to rule and expecting the incredible and fertile outcome, shows idiocy and wrong choice.”
― Ehsan Sehgal
 
 “People will say with a straight face that having one choice for dear leader is tyranny – but having two is freedom.”
― Michael Malice, The Anarchist Handbook
 
“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”
― Winston S. Churchill

“Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.”
― H.L. Mencken

“Presidents are selected, not elected.”
― Franklin Delano Roosevelt

“_They_ believe that the Ballot will rob them of their Power and Privileges, whereas _I_ am sure that, by the exercise of even such little Prudence and Cunning as parsimonious Nature has endowed them with, they can with ease maintain themselves in their present pre-eminence.
This being so, let the Rabble amuse itself by voting.
An Election is no more than a gratuitous Punch and Judy Show, offered by the Rulers in order to distract the attention of the Ruled.”
― Aldous Huxley, After Many a Summer Dies the Swan

***
 
“Capitalism is the means by which the elite rule.

Democracy is the charade that pretends the people are in charge.

The people are so dumb they don’t understand that to apply rich man’s capitalism to non-rich-man’s democracy is a category error.

There is no democracy in capitalism.

How many capitalist businesses are run as democracies?

If democracy is so great, why haven’t all capitalists adopted it ... rather than making sure it makes no appearance at all in the corridors of capitalist power?

Capitalists never subject their capital to public scrutiny.

They never require public approval.

They never make themselves accountable to the people.

They never subject themselves to the vote, to election.

Yet they all proclaim themselves the champions of Freedom and Democracy (aka Freedumb and Dumbocracy).

They are the Pinocchio Class, with the longest noses you could ever conceive.”

― Ranty McRanterson, Planet Stupid: How Earth Got Dumber and Dumber
 
***

“The Republican and Democratic parties both feed out of the same bag provided by the monied system, and where the list frequently differs the same interests are represented.”
― George Seldes
 
“General Motors, General Mills, General Foods, general ignorance, general apathy, and general cussedness elect presidents and Congressmen and maintain them in power.”
― Herbert M Shelton

“Representative government is artifice, a political myth, designed to conceal from the masses the dominance of a self-selected, self-perpetuating, and self-serving traditional ruling class.”
― Giuseppe Prezzolini
 
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, I’m a moron. Fool me three or more times consecutively, and I’m a VOTER. Not even ducks are that dumb.”
― Jarod Kintz, Music is fluid, and my saxophone overflows when my ducks slosh in the sounds I make in elevators.
 
“Pops added,"you know, they say if you don't vote, you get the government you deserve."
"And if you do, you never get the results you expected," (Katherine) replied.”
― E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly,
 
“You know your vote doesn't count, but you go through the motions, because it's been drummed into your head that you might be the one person who makes a difference.”
― Marshall Karp, The Rabbit Factory
 
18. "If you don’t vote, you lose the right to complain.” George Carlin, American Comedian
 
32. "If we don’t vote, we are ignoring history and giving away the future." Pat Michell, American Businesswoman

“I would rather be ruled by people who think they're going to fry in Hell forever if they rule me poorly, than by people for whom I'm merely a convenient economic siphon who can be milked like a cow.”
― Charles A. Coulombe
 
33. "Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting." Franklin D. Roosevelt, Former U.S. President

34. "Elections belong to the people.” Abraham Lincoln, Former U.S. President

“Elections aren't a matter of who wins. They are about who best represent our values. Voting is not only about exercising our democratic right and expressing the will of the people but also a way of demanding for the services that we deserve from those that we can trust”
― Njau Kihia
   
“Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.”
― Franklin D. Roosevelt
 
“The job facing American voters… in the days and years to come is to determine which hearts, minds and souls command those qualities best suited to unify a country rather than further divide it, to heal the wounds of a nation as opposed to aggravate its injuries, and to secure for the next generation a legacy of choices based on informed awareness rather than one of reactions based on unknowing fear.”
― Aberjhani, Illuminated Corners: Collected Essays and Articles Volume I.

“Some people vote for the party, some for the candidate, while there are some that vote for their belief or believing in the ideology. They all believe these are different choices, and that they have chosen wisely.”
― Ashutosh Joshi

“The preacher who casts a vote for conscience' sake, runs the risk of starving.”
― Mark Twain, Autobiography of Mark Twain: Volume 1, Reader's Edition
 
“The American Negro saw, in the land from which he had been snatched and thrown into slavery, a great pageant of political progress. He realized that just thirty years ago there were only three independent nations in the whole of Africa. He knew that by 1963 more than thirty-four African nations had risen from colonial bondage. The Negro saw black statesmen voting on vital issues in the United Nations—and knew that in many cities of his own land he was not permitted to take that significant walk to the ballot box. He saw black kings and potentates ruling from palaces—and knew he had been condemned to move from small ghettos to larger ones. Witnessing the drama of Negro progress elsewhere in the world, witnessing a level of conspicuous consumption at home exceeding anything in our history, it was natural that by 1963 Negroes would rise with resolution and demand a share of governing power, and living conditions measured by American standards rather than by the standards of colonial impoverishment.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Why We Can't Wait
 
“are you not slaves to the money power as much as were the black slaves to the Southern slaveholders? Then we ask you again: What are you going to do about it? You had the ballot then. Could you have voted away black slavery? You know you could not because the slaveholders would not hear of such a thing for the same reason you can’t vote yourselves out of wage-slavery.”
― Lucy Parsons

“the only true vote we have (and have retained for the entirety of modern American history) is spending power. The almighty dollar is still more influential than speeches and campaigns.”
― Jessica Marie Baumgartner
 

“The business of voting your conscience is: Do you really care just about how you feel? or, Do you care about what happens to the world? If you care about what you feel you don't have any conscience, you're not a moral agent at all, so stop talking about conscience, you don't have any.”
― Noam Chomsky, Global Discontents: Conversations on the Rising Threats to Democracy

Lesser evil voting should be simply called elementary rationality and elementary morality.”
― Noam Chomsky, Global Discontents: Conversations on the Rising Threats to Democracy

***
 
Selected Quotes by James Thomas Kesterson Jr:
 
“Voting for a politician in a corrupted political system is no different than giving a set of keys to your home to a criminal just because everyone says that if you don't do it then you can't complain about crime.”
― James Thomas Kesterson Jr
 
“America has ceased to be a democracy as early as 1913.”
― James Thomas Kesterson Jr

“If voting made a difference then how come America is no better off today than is was 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago and will not be any better off 5 years from today?”
― James Thomas Kesterson Jr

“Voting today makes about as much sense as choosing which poison you'd rather drink. The wise choice, is not to make any choice.”
― James Thomas Kesterson Jr

“I would never be allowed to become president of the United States of America because I'm patriotic, I love my country, I hate government, I hate secret societies, I believe in family values, education, and equality for everyone. All these beliefs are a threat to the establishment and anyone who opposes their beliefs will not be allowed to become a leader in this country.”
― James Thomas Kesterson Jr

“The president has absolutely no choice in who he has in his cabinet. Those choices are made by the same people who chose him to become president.”
― James Thomas Kesterson Jr

“Throughout history, the majority of the population has been wrong..”
― James Thomas Kesterson Jr

“Democrats versus Republicans is a huge scam designed to make you angry towards other Americans, specifically, your family, friends, and co-workers.”
― James Thomas Kesterson Jr

“The founding fathers of America, if alive today, would be thrown in prison and be charged as domestic terrorist by todays government.”
― James Thomas Kesterson Jr

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/voting?page=5
 
***
 
Sources for quotes:
 
https://parade.com/1084647/stephanieosmanski/election-voting-quotes/

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/voting

***

[1] Vote early and vote often!

Vote early and vote often is a generally tongue-in-cheek phrase used in relation to elections and the voting process.

Though rarely considered a serious suggestion, the phrase theoretically encourages corrupt electoral activity, but is used mostly to suggest the occurrence of such corruption.[1]

The phrase had its origins in the United States in the mid-19th century, and had an early appearance in Britain when a newspaper reprinted correspondence from an American solicitor.

The phrase, however, did not find widespread use until the early 1900s when it was used in relation to the activities of organized crime figures in Chicago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vote_early_and_vote_often

***

[2] Stalin Quotes:

"I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this—who will count the votes, and how. [2]"

― Joseph Stalin 1879–1953, Soviet dictator, said in 1923; Boris Bazhanov The Memoirs of Stalin's Former Secretary (1992); 

 https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191843730.001.0001/q-oro-ed5-00010383

...

Says Joseph Stalin said, "It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything."

No, Joseph Stalin didn't say this statement about elections!

By Ciara O'Rourke
March 27, 2019

"Many things that are attributed to Stalin are false," he said. "I would not attribute this to him."
 
But Mark Kramer, director of the Cold War studies program at Harvard University, pointed us to something close.

In memoirs written after his retirement, Boris Bazhanov, Stalin’s former personal secretary, claimed that Stalin said:

"Я считаю, что совершенно неважно, кто и как будет в партии голосовать; но вот что чрезвычайно важно, это кто и как будет считать голоса."

It translates to: "I regard it as completely unimportant who in the party will vote and how, but it is extremely important who will count the votes and how."

Bazhanov said Stalin was talking about the voting procedures for higher organs of the Communist Party, according to Kramer.

"There is no way to know for sure whether he is accurately recounting Stalin’s words, if Stalin in fact said such a thing," Kramer said.

"Hence, I regard this as a statement attributed to Stalin by his former secretary Boris Bazhanov."

David Brandenberger, an associate history professor at the University of Richmond, said Bazhanov fled the Soviet Union in 1928 and then published his "rather unreliable muckraking memoir in 1930."

"Most experts consider Bazhanov’s Stalin quotation to be apocryphal," he said.

Another version of this so-called Stalin quote, as Brandenberger called it, is: "In the bourgeois countries, it is not important how they vote, but how they do the counting."

Some say Stalin was quoting Napoleon III, Brandenberger said, but there’s no authentic record showing this.

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/mar/27/viral-image/no-joseph-stalin-didnt-say-statement-about-electio/

***

Are people who vote healthier than those who don’t?
Better individual and community health may be related to voting habits, UCLA study shows

 Elaiza Torralba | September 17, 2020

A new policy brief by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research shows that California adults who in are good health with little psychological distress are more likely to consistently vote in local, state and national elections than those with physical or psychological health issues.

https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/connection-between-voting-and-health

***

 

Voting Rights Milestones in America: A Timeline
Through the decades, the right to vote in U.S. elections has seen massive change and expansion.

    Lesley Kennedy
    Apr 19, 2021

Since America’s founding days, when voting was limited to white male property owners, to the transformative Voting Rights Act of 1965, to sweeping voting process reform introduced in the early 2000s, the right to vote in U.S. elections has seen massive change.

https://www.history.com/news/voting-rights-timeline

***

Timeline of voting rights in the United States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_voting_rights_in_the_United_States

***

Voting rights in the United States

Voting rights in the United States, specifically the enfranchisement and disenfranchisement of different groups, has been a moral and political issue throughout United States history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_rights_in_the_United_States
 
***

Voter suppression in the United States

Voter suppression in the United States is various legal and illegal efforts to prevent eligible voters from exercising their right to vote. Where found, such voter suppression efforts vary by state, local government, precinct, and election. Voter suppression has historically been used for racial, economic, gender, age and disability discrimination.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_suppression_in_the_United_States

***

Voting Rights Act of 1965

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting.[7][8] 

It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movement on August 6, 1965, and Congress later amended the Act five times to expand its protections.[7]

Designed to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the Act sought to secure the right to vote for racial minorities throughout the country, especially in the South. 

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Act is considered to be the most effective piece of federal civil rights legislation ever enacted in the country.[9] 

It is also "one of the most far-reaching pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history."[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act_of_1965

***