We read it. Dan Brown is beyond description as a creator of worlds
within worlds. I don't recall off hand the titles, but I believe
we've read everything he's written...at least so far as BARD is
concerned. I hope he has at least a dozen more stories in him, and I
have time enough left to read them all.
Carl Jarvis
On 1/19/19, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
So there's this deliscious book on BARD called Origin by Dan Brown. It's
basically a suspense novel. But Dan Brown, if you remember, wrote The
DaVincci Code. In order to enjoy this book, just sit back and allow a stream
of knowledge about art, science, religion, artificial intelligence, all
mingle in a wonderful mish mash and choose the parts you like.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2019 10:57 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Narrative Control Firm Targeting Alternative
Media
To All My Manipulated Sisters and Brothers.
We react negatively to emotion laden words like, "manipulated", but isn't
that a big part of how we Humans interact, both on a personal basis as well
as our interaction between government and governed?
What caused Cathy and me to decide on buying a Toyota Tacoma? Why do I lean
toward Progressive Propaganda? What caused me to proclaim myself to be an
Agnostic...but not an Atheist or a Buddhist or a Christian?
Interwoven throughout that which we call, "information", are deliberate
efforts to manipulate our decisions.
The thing we should do, but do very little of, is to learn how to
reason...how to think...how to process what is going on around us. We send
our children to school to be "Educated". Some of us can afford to send our
youngsters to Church schools, or to Private schools that teach the young to
believe exactly as we do. Very little of what we call education is teaching
our children how to reason and how to question.
How we adults handle the manipulation that goes on constantly around us,
depends on how we've trained ourselves to reason. Because we have few
"teachers" to teach us how to reason, we mostly must teach ourselves. For
most of us it is a life long process. It's far easier to lock in, as
Mostafa does, and declare that we have found "Truth Everlasting", and look
down our learned noses at the rest of the world.
Actually, I rather like the "Trial and Error" method. But then I always did
like flea markets, secondhand shops and the Salvation Army stores. Life is
like walking into that huge Salvation Army store and beholding row after row
of interesting castoffs. By picking and choosing, mixing and matching,
picking up this or that and setting aside an earlier item, we come to the
checkout counter with an array of stuff we would never have discovered if
we'd not entered the front door. Think of all those people who never enter.
What dull lives they must live. They head for the latest glitzy shop
peddling useless bobbles, never questioning, never looking behind the
Wizard's Curtain, never wondering where such a shop came from. Just willing
to accept what it offers, until told that it no longer is fashionable, and a
new Flashy Shop springs up.
In my opinion, through all of those Forces that have Manipulated me, I find
the Salvation Army approach to be far more interesting than if I accepted
going from one glitzy shop to the next, without question.
Those who mix and match, are far more apt to leave Life in better shape than
they found it.
Finally, I like to think of myself as a river rather than as a big rock.
The rock is heavy and secured to one spot. It goes on generation after
generation, solid, unmoving and unchanging. But the river is never still.
It moves. It passes through forests, meadows, villages, and through canyons
on its way to the Sea. The river certainly has a far more interesting
existence than the Rock, and is far more likely to make life joyful and
tolerable for those among whom it passes, than the contribution of the
Rock.
Well, I notice the open Sea just around the next bend, so I'll need to be on
my way.
Carl Jarvis
On 1/19/19, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
There is an incredible amount of manipulation and lying going on in
relation to social media. It's a world that Carl and I have no direct
experience with, but it is extremely important today for most people
around the world in particular with political discourse. All kinds of
things have been happening with Facebook which don't necessarily get
reported accurately in mainstream media, when they are reported. And
most people don't know that they're being manipulated.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2019 9:29 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Narrative Control Firm Targeting
Alternative Media
It makes sense that the Ruling Class spins their Fairy Tales to
confuse and lure Working Class Americans down a Primrose path. But
are we really so gullible as to fall for it again and again and again?
And by the way, if Donald Trump is the poster boy for success, then
give me a grass hut and a Ukalalie.
Carl Jarvis
On 1/18/19, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Narrative Control Firm Targeting Alternative Media January 18, 2019
NewsGuard is led by some of the most virulently pro-imperialist
individuals in America and its agenda to shore up narrative control
for the ruling power establishment is clear, writes Caitlin Johnstone.
By Caitlin Johnstone
CaitlinJohnstone.com
The frenzied, hysterical Russia narrative being promoted day in and
day out by Western mass media has had two of its major stories ripped
to shreds in the last three days.
A report seeded throughout the mainstream media by anonymous
intelligence officials back in September claimed that U.S. government
workers in Cuba had suffered concussion-like brain damage after
hearing strange noises in homes and hotels with the most likely
culprit being "sophisticated microwaves or another type of
electromagnetic weapon" from Russia. A recording of one such highly
sophisticated attack was analyzed by scientists and turned out to be
the mating call of the male indies short-tailed cricket. Neurologists
and other brain specialists have challenged the claim that any U.S.
government workers suffered any neurological damage of any kind,
saying test results on the alleged victims were misinterpreted. The
actual story, when stripped of hyperventilating Russia panic, is that
some government workers heard some crickets in Cuba.
Another report which dominated news for a day recently claimed that
former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort (the same Paul Manafort
who the Guardian falsely claimed met with Julian Assange in the
Ecuadorian embassy) had shared polling data with a Russian associate
and asked him to pass it along to Oleg Deripaska, who is often
labeled a "Russian oligarch" by western media. The polling data was
mostly public already, and the rest was just more polling information
shared in the spring of 2016, but Deripaska's involvement had
Russiagaters burning the midnight oil with breathless excitement.
Talking Points Memo's Josh Marshall went so far as to publish an
article titled "The 'Collusion' Debate Ended Last Night,"
substantiating his click-generating headline with the claim that
"What's crystal clear is that the transfer to Kilimnik came with
explicit instructions to give the information to Deripaska. And that's
enough."
Except Manafort didn't give any explicit instructions to share the
polling data with Deripaska, but with two Ukrainian oligarchs (who
are denying it).
The New York Times was forced to print this embarrassing correction
to the story it broke, adding in the process that Manafort's
motivation was likely not collusion, but money.
These are just the latest debacles as reporters eager to demonstrate
their fealty to the U.S.-centralized empire fall all over themselves
to report any story that makes Russia look bad without practicing due
diligence. The only voices who have been questioning the
establishment Russia narrative that is being fed to mass media
outlets by secretive government agencies have been those which the
mass media refuses to platform. Alternative media outlets are the
only major platforms for dissent from the authorized narratives of
the plutocrat-owned political/media class.
Imagine, then, how disastrous it would be if these last strongholds
of skepticism and holding power to account were removed from the
media landscape. Well, that's exactly what a shady organization
called NewsGuard is trying to do, with some success already.
A report by journalist Whitney Webb for MintPress News details how
NewsGuard is working to hide and demonetize alternative media outlets
like MintPress, marketing itself directly to tech companies, social
media platforms, libraries and schools. NewsGuard is led by some of
the most virulently pro-imperialist individuals in America, and its
agenda to shore up narrative control for the ruling power
establishment is clear.
The product that NewsGuard markets to the general public is a browser
plugin which advises online media consumers whether a news media
outlet is trustworthy or untrustworthy based on a formula with a very
pro-establishment bias which sees outlets like Fox News and the U.S.
propaganda outlet Voice of America getting trustworthy ratings while
outlets like RT get very low ratings for trustworthiness. This plugin
dominates the bulk of what comes up when you start researching
NewsGuard, but circulating a plugin that individual internet users
can voluntarily download to help their rulers control their minds is
not one of the more nefarious agendas being pursued by this company.
The full MintPress article gives a thorough breakdown of NewsGuard's
activities, but here's a summary of five of its more disturbing
revelations:
No. 1 The company has created a service called BrandGuard, billed as
a "brand safety tool aimed at helping advertisers keep their brands
off of unreliable news and information sites while giving them the
assurance they need to support thousands of Green-rated [i.e.,
Newsguard-approved] news and information sites, big and small."
Popularizing the use of this service will attack the advertising
revenue of unapproved alternative media outlets which run ads.
NewsGuard is aggressively marketing this service to "ad tech firms,
leading agencies, and major advertisers".
No. 2 NewsGuard's advisory board reads like the fellowships list of a
neocon think tank, and indeed one of its CEOs, Louis Gordon Crovitz,
is a Council on Foreign Relations member who has worked with the
American Enterprise Institute and Heritage Foundation. Members of the
advisory board include George W Bush's Secretary of Homeland Security
Tom Ridge, deep intelligence community insider Michael Hayden, and
the Obama administration's Richard Stengel, who once publicly
supported propaganda in the U.S. (see the Tweet below for a direct
quote.) All of these men have appeared in influential think tanks
geared toward putting a public smiley face on sociopathic warmongering
agendas.
No. 3 Despite one of its criteria for trustworthy sources being
whether or not they are transparent about their funding, the
specifics of NewsGuard's financing is kept secret.
No. 4 NewsGuard is also planning to get its news-ranking system
integrated into social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter,
pursuing a partnership which will make pro-establishment media
consumption a part of your experience at those sites regardless of
whether or not you download a NewsGuard app or plugin.
No. 5 NewsGuard markets itself to state governments in order to get
its plugin installed in all of that state's public schools and
libraries to keep internet users from consuming unauthorized
narratives. It has already succeeded in accomplishing this in the
state of Hawaii, with all of its library branches now running the
NewsGuard plugin.
We may be certain that NewsGuard will continue giving a positive,
trustworthy ranking to the New York Times no matter how many
spectacular flubs it makes in its coverage of the establishment
Russia narrative, because the agenda to popularize anti-Russia
narratives lines up perfectly with the neoconservative, government
agency-serving agendas of the powers behind NewsGuard. Any attempt to
advance the hegemony of the U.S.-centralized power establishment will
be rewarded by its lackeys, and any skepticism of it will be punished.
We need to use every inch of our ability to communicate with each
other to make these manipulations clearly understood.
Caitlin Johnstone is a rogue journalist, poet, and utopia prepper who
publishes regularly at Medium. Follow her work on Facebook, Twitter,
or her website. She has a podcast and a new book "Woke: A Field Guide
for Utopia Preppers." This article was re-published with permission.