Activity – Scarmoge – The Giza Forum (Legacy)

Scarmoge posted an update 4 years, 8 months ago

Well, well, well … Lets try this post again …
… a few days ago I responded to a post by Dana.

Dana wrote:
The star system is dead and the televised sport system is dying. Mr. Global has long vampirized energy from these circuits or events, and for some reason is having second thoughts. I’ll elaborate in a future vidchat question.

I wrote in reply:
… not soon enough (for the sports system) and like Donald Rumsfeld, Good Riddance. In all of the history of humanity one would be challenged to come up with a greater example of time, money, and energy wasted (let us not forget to include here the media expenditures on sports). But, after all, isn’t that the point?

I’m beginning to wonder if the number of posts on Giza as a result of “following” the so called discussion(s) concerning “our most recent unpleasantness” is, like sports and politics, a siphoning off of money, time, and energy. Once again prompting the question: But after all, isn’t that the point?

In light of recent Forum activity it might be appropriate to revisit a few thoughts I expressed in a vid chat a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away …

A question to consider … What might contribute to the observed phenomenon that the majority of communication seemingly appears in the form of rumours and rumours of rumours? (As an aside – Is this an attempt to once again create a “confusion of tongues”?) … and now, almost 3 years later, I would add a question concerning the possibility of there being created a “confusion of interpretation” through the confounding variable of Worldview(s).
• … is it the case that education has been in such an awful state long enough that the point has been reached where a majority no longer has the skills (particularly in the usage of language) to communicate clearly (either with themselves or others)? … and now I would ask the question: Has education created a situation where a majority no longer has the ability to be aware of their independent initiation of non-mediated interaction with the world?
• … are we no longer able to clearly interpret the world? If so, Why? Is it simply information saturation, or something along the line of Toffler’s “problem of overchoice” (FOMO – fear of missing out)?
• … is it the effect of living under both increasing levels of surveillance and intensity of surveillance?
• … is it problematic that the premisses (it is interesting to note here that spell check tried to correct the spelling of premisses, imagine that the computer is ignorant of the history of logic, but apparently knowledgeable concerning listings of real estate and pronouncements of truth about biomedical science) from which we (attempt to) reason about the world are given (forced choices) to us by our propatainment media? Is this simply the “analog” attempt at a solution to the epistemological problems posed by each individual (Hmmm. That there appears to be an epistemological problem of that sort serve as possible evidence of “individuals”?) who are, in the words of Walker Percy, “symbol mongers”? Is the implementation of Virtual Reality the “digital” attempt at a solution (the lockdown being a lockdown on the acquisition of symbols) for the same problem?

I am quite confident that the Giza Community could expand this list of contributors to the rumour form of communication. Is there some sense by the consumption of so much “information” we now rumour ourselves, so no mediation of rumor is required? We know for the most part, and have for some time, more or less, what contributed to and is now contributing to this phenomenon.

We have the understanding … we should now move on to acting on the conclusions based on our understanding. There appears to be contentment among many to continue the debate concerning our “Panama” while ignoring its actual occupation. (No political comment or moral judgment of any kind about T. Roosevelt intended here.)

I continually return to, and as time goes on, am becoming more deeply haunted by, this quote from Neil Postman, “How often does it occur that information provided you on morning radio or television, or in the morning newspaper, causes you to alter your plans for the day, or to take some action you would not otherwise have taken, or provides insight into some problem you are required to solve? For most of us, news of the weather will sometimes have consequences; for investors, news of the stock market; perhaps an occasional story about crime will do it, if by chance it occurred near where you live or involved someone you know. But most of our daily news is inert, consisting of information that gives us something to talk about but cannot lead to any meaningful action…You may get a sense of what this means by asking yourself another series of questions: What steps do you plan to take to reduce the conflict in the Middle East? Or the rates of inflation, crime and unemployment? What are your plans for preserving the environment or reducing the risk of nuclear war? What do you plan to do about NATO, OPEC, the CIA, affirmative action, and the monstrous treatment of the Baha’is in Iran? I shall take the liberty of answering for you: You plan to do nothing about them. You may, of course, cast a ballot for someone who claims to have some plans, as well as the power to act. But this you can do only once every two or four years by giving one hour of your time, hardly a satisfying means of expressing the broad range of opinions you hold. Voting, we might even say, is the next to last refuge of the politically impotent. The last refuge is, of course, giving your opinion to a pollster, who will get a version of it through a desiccated question, and then will submerge it in a Niagara of similar opinions, and convert them into—what else?—another piece of news. Thus, we have here a great loop of impotence: The news elicits from you a variety of opinions about which you can do nothing except to offer them as more news, about which you can do nothing.”
…or possibly, as we have been admonished to do so before, we can simply go shopping (recall that George Bush asked us to do so after our “not so recent unpleasantness”.

Take a listen to Warren Zevon’s Down in the Mall from his album Transverse City (inspired interestingly enough by Zevon’s reading of William Gibson’s Neuromancer). “Gibson’s story might be trying to show that by changing how we intake information, we effectively change what can be considered reality, the world around us, and our relationship to it.” (From a blog commentary on Neuromancer – not original to me, but I think it a thought in the right direction). Could we be living not in either a Huxleyian or Orwellian world but instead in an emergent world, quickly concretizing, comprised of some combination of William Gibson’s Neuromancer and B. F. Skinner’s Walden Two?

To paraphrase Henry II, “Won’t someone rid us of these meddlesome “priests?”
- blakecosmos replied 4 years, 8 months ago
  Given the penetrating nature of Scarmoge’s multiple loops around Harvey’s Barn, which require of those who will consume it, a not insignificant amount of formalized logical ability… as well as at least a rudimentary grasp on a vast sweep of disciplines and the literature that ultimately describe these disciplines and thus lead to Scarmoge’s analysis… I trust that he will not find it impertinent of me to serve as a more direct foil to his elaborate and fascinating analysis of the phenomena he is describing., and thus allow me take a stab at adding an inquiry of my own into the mix, and to do so as directly as possible, so here goes nothing!
  
  Is the direction this forum has taken, and the overall direction of the larger “alternative research community been commandeered as an extension of the effort and imperative of those who shape society, who have subsequently, reshaped it into a subtly weaponized connection to those who still dare to think? a weaponization whose express purpose is the furtherance of, and the intensification of the process of gaslighting those who consume these materials? Put another way, do those who orchestrate such things, clearly grasp that their traditional media outlets have been fully abandoned by the sorts of audiences that watch the “Alternative Research Community” and have allowed that community to continue to exists expressly because it is in fact, furthering their ends by inducing a state of both mimetic engulfment, and by doing so, driving this group into the abyss of despair?
  
  I think Dana is spot on in noticing that even Sports is being targeted, because in my view, misery, confusion, and despair are the orders of the day.
  
  There’s my nickel, feel free to toss it in the toll booth as you see fit.
- blakecosmos replied 4 years, 8 months ago
  Given the penetrating nature of Scarmoge’s multiple loops around Harvey’s Barn, which require of those who will consume it, a not insignificant amount of formalized logical ability… as well as at least a rudimentary grasp on a vast sweep of disciplines and the literature that ultimately describe these disciplines and thus lead to Scarmoge’s analysis… I trust that he will not find it impertinent of me to serve as a more direct foil to his elaborate and fascinating analysis of the phenomena he is describing., and thus allow me take a stab at adding an inquiry of my own into the mix, and to do so as directly as possible, so here goes nothing!
  
  Is the direction this forum has taken, and the overall direction of the larger “alternative research community been commandeered as an extension of the effort and imperative of those who shape society, who have subsequently, reshaped it into a subtly weaponized connection to those who still dare to think? a weaponization whose express purpose is the furtherance of, and the intensification of the process of gaslighting those who consume these materials? Put another way, do those who orchestrate such things, clearly grasp that their traditional media outlets have been fully abandoned by the sorts of audiences that watch the “Alternative Research Community” and have allowed that community to continue to exists expressly because it is in fact, furthering their ends by inducing a state of both mimetic engulfment, and by doing so, driving this group into the abyss of despair?
  - Wu Wu replied 4 years, 8 months ago
    The MSM has, perhaps, regrettably already turned forthly into the MSA( MainStream Altmedia), where belief or even faith supplies hope/despair, rather than what rightly ought to be helpful towards an experiential transcendence in the immanent. A question therefore might be posed as to, is this/ how to awaken from this blatant hypnosis of the self-styled woke, and would mere college-level training in, for example, hermeneutics suffice. Perhaps some encouragement towards a deeper reflection on the phenomenology of the very being and existence of Man, and the devotion of an allotted portion of one’s time to this pursuit( rather than that of what, after all, is ephemeral/coïncidental “happiness”, which only means that stuff is happening). This of course leads directly into the questions,
    a) Is what one perceives a function of attention( and/ or focus/cognition), and
    thusly
    b) Are we all merely living in our very own “echo chamber” or bubble
    and,
    c) does “information( so-called knowledge/ lies) overload”( deliberately put upon us) lead to a significant dearth of perspectival change, rather than any clear vista of new possibilities?
    and
    d) is it perhaps even not the lack of the reasoning ability( reasonability) alone, or even the “critical-judgment” faculty, but also, and perhaps foremostly, the lack of positive affection towards that which is perceived as the ever-looming threat of “Other” that is hindering true progress,
    and
    e) considering the state of, for example, dictionaries today, should we be content with definitions as they are, or actively be inquiring into more formal and encompassing definitions from first principles
    and
    f) are the required actions even now to be discussing or seeking out just what those first principles may be, and whether we take on already agreed-upon formulae, or start from scratch
    and
    g) what sort of world would we therefrom conceptualise, and what would indeed be the constitutionality thereof
    and
    h) can social/virtual connectors, or what is termed communication be any substitute for communion?
    Could we then, simply by turning our concentration towards the sublime rather than the mundane, effect a new earth more conformal to, say, the will of the divine? And this without sacrificing the necessary temporal references that give further meaning and form to that/ those which already is/ are, and yet can be so much more.
  - FiatLux replied 4 years, 8 months ago
    Has “the larger ‘alternative research’ community been commandeered as an extension of the effort and imperative of those who shape society, who have subsequently, reshaped it into a subtly weaponized connection to those who still dare to think”?
    
    In a word: yes.
  - Michael replied 4 years, 8 months ago
    Lumping groups together cetainly seems to be their specialty. Ode to Thomas Paine!
- FiatLux replied 4 years, 8 months ago
  That merits a doff of the hat.
  
  > What might contribute to the phenomenon that the majority of communication appears in the form of rumors of rumors (of rumors…)?
  (1) Poor, corrupted, or absent education — notably in language, logic, critical thinking, and basic principles of research.
  (2) The evaporation of journalism, especially investigative journalism, exacerbated by the internet paradigm whereby “curating” (repeating or linking to) information passes for journalism.
  (3) The legacy of Edward Bernays. That is, the near perfection of propaganda and mind control, including refinements in targeting, tailoring, and delivering it.
  
  > Has education created a situation where a majority no longer has the ability to be aware of their independent initiation of non-mediated interaction with the world?
  (1) A majority no longer has non-mediated interaction with the world.
  (2) This is mostly the fault of technology, rather than education or lack thereof.
  
  What is to be done? That’s a tough one. There are, no doubt, many answers, depending on the person and place. I like CAF’s idea of starting a university as well as the idea of a dispersed “underground” education system, outside the public system. I think it helps to keep reminding ourselves not to take the shriek-o-meter too seriously. And the model presented by Peter in his vidchat is a superb one.
  
  Most human discussion, digital or otherwise, will inevitably contain an element of the interlocutors’ emotions. When things are bad, there’s no point in pretending they’re rosy; equally, there’s no point in getting mired in whining, anger, or despair. In my opinion, the realistic thing one might expect, or hope for or work toward, is to strike an imbalance between (a) the natural human tendency toward expressing emotion about a bad situation, and (b) the ability to propose and enact solutions, such that (b) significantly outweighs (a).
  
  In summary: Acknowledge bad things, think good thoughts, then go plant your apple tree.