Pay Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain
It really should not come as a surprise that a lot of "spontaneous" events recently have really be very well-funded and highly choreographed political theater. For people who have been paying attention, it should also not be surprising who the man behind the curtain pulling the levers is, either. Investor's Business Daily has an editorial on George Soros.
Democracy: George Soros is known for funding groups such as MoveOn.org that seek to manipulate public opinion. So why is the billionaire's backing of what he believes in problematic? In a word: transparency.
How many people, for instance, know that James Hansen, a man billed as a lonely "NASA whistleblower" standing up to the mighty U.S. government, was really funded by Soros' Open Society Institute , which gave him "legal and media advice"?
That's right, Hansen was packaged for the media by Soros' flagship "philanthropy," by as much as $720,000, most likely under the OSI's "politicization of science" program.
That may have meant that Hansen had media flacks help him get on the evening news to push his agenda and lawyers pressuring officials to let him spout his supposedly "censored" spiel for weeks in the name of advancing the global warming agenda.
Hansen even succeeded, with public pressure from his nightly news performances, in forcing NASA to change its media policies to his advantage. Had Hansen's OSI-funding been known, the public might have viewed the whole production differently. The outcome could have been different.
That's not the only case. Didn't the mainstream media report that 2006's vast immigration rallies across the country began as a spontaneous uprising of 2 million angry Mexican-flag waving illegal immigrants demanding U.S. citizenship in Los Angeles, egged on only by a local Spanish-language radio announcer?
Turns out that wasn't what happened, either. Soros' OSI had money-muscle there, too, through its $17 million Justice Fund. The fund lists 19 projects in 2006. One was vaguely described involvement in the immigration rallies. Another project funded illegal immigrant activist groups for subsequent court cases.
So what looked like a wildfire grassroots movement really was a manipulation from OSI's glassy Manhattan offices. The public had no way of knowing until the release of OSI's 2006 annual report.
There is more - you really need to read it all, it is that important. So how much effect has this all had? The Anchoress has looked at that:
Once upon a time you could say, “who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes,” with a wry smirk and appreciate the irony. It’s not so ironic, anymore. Now we are in the third act of Hamlet, the King - his conscience pricked - is crying out and the castle is in uproar and Hamlet declares, “believe none of this,” which is good advice. Maybe all of history has been a staged production, but I don’t believe that. Sadly in American politics, circa 2007, very little is real, very few are motivated by selfless love of country, and illusionists are everywhere.
Whoever can manipulate the images, whoever can best misdirect your attention, whoever can mesmerize you with their illusions…that is who will win this election, because too many of us buy into everything we see and hear. Unless we stop falling for it all - for the large-scale productions and the small sound bites. How do we do that? I can only hazard a guess, myself:
Remember that half of what you see is an illusion and the rest of what you see is a passing fashion, and you’ll fret a good deal less, no matter what the issue.
Perhaps the other half of that good advice is to watch less news and television, read fewer papers, spend less time on political forums feeding your rage and paranoia and spend some time - every single day - being quiet and contemplative. I think that’s the only way to counter all of this frenetic noise that leaves you neither time nor room to think and which completely cuts you off from your guts and your instincts. Your guts are there for a reason. Don’t stop using them.
Remember, even the internet - particularly the political forums - contribute to the illusions:
Pay attention to the man behind the curtain. Pay attention.
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Blue Crab Boulevard » The Smear Campaigns — Saturday, 29 September , 2007 @ 8:17 am
By mockinbird, Wednesday, 26 September , 2007 @ 3:26 pm
Thank you, Mr. Crab.
All three, The Anchoress, IBD, and you, Blue Crab, are focusing on something I’ve been pondering for some time.
My father, back in 1972, discussed with me concerning very wealthy people and how they may be very contrary to liberty, private property and opportunity for all of us Americans.
Later, in my Economics courses, my professors explained much further and named names, as well as
pointed out techniques extremely wealthy persons use to tear down our society for their own reasons.
It is very sad, and I don’t have any sure solutions
to offer up other than consider voting for traditional
conservative candidates, and like you say, turn off the noise and spend some quality time in contemplation.
Mockinbird out.