4. Barriers to Acknowledging Fact and Reason
I have spent a large portion of my life pondering the how and whys that reason and the basic and obvious requirements for peaceful coexistence in civilization do not seem so obvious or compelling to those I have tried and failed to convince. The conclusion is that it is not a problem with the facts, reasoning or communication ability, but a combination of many factors, including that people are just too terrified of the behavioral implications to admit they are convinced and choose accordingly. For the most part, people are in denial of the truth of the decay of our civilization and dismal prospects for the future.
I do not share the stated opinion (lie) of the Powers That Be (PTB´s), that mankind is inherently irrational and incapable of rational behavior. The past accomplishments of mankind, in the areas of law, international agreements and limits on organized power (which are currently being destroyed) argue otherwise. There are simple, provable causes of why people do not make rational choices and stand up for what is right, or even their own personal survival:
- People are overly taxed, directly and indirectly by the time and energy it takes to survive and deal with pervasive government and law to achieve anything, resulting in little time or energy to consider the larger picture of their own lives or where trends are leading.
- People have been wrongly convinced that their personal opinion is irrelevant and critical issues pertaining to survival and their own lives are therefore best left to self-proclaimed "experts", who claim, but are unable to prove that they know best as evidenced by the results of their enforced opinions being social/economic failure and war.
- People have been wrongly convinced that they have no control in their own lives, let alone the direction of their societies.
- People have been wrongly convinced (manipulated and mis-educated) that "something from nothing" and therefore "causeless effects" are possible and that "shit happens" or "Gods will - predestination" is a valid explanation for what is not understood. It is believed that some things in the real world have no factual, rational explanation and it is pointless to try to understand. This was the whole point of the Renaissance (birth of western civilization), the rejection of mysticism and those who used it as a pretext for slavery. The Renaissance was social and legal acceptance of the fact that proven fact, knowledge and thus objective reality are supreme and will prevail, independent of contrary opinions. The truth is that everything that happens in the real world, including human actions, can be rationally explained in terms of causes and provable relationships to observed effects.
- People have been mis-educated to believe that large events such as war are a indivisible thing rather than the large sum of many small, easily addressed causes. As a consequence, solving such problems is assumed to require blunt force as opposed to intelligently addressing the causes.
- To accept and live according to fact and reason is a difficult path, resulting in conflict with those who believe you are judging them, when, in reality, you are defending yourself from others imposing their opinions on you or trying to bully, use and manipulate you.
- Because we cannot read each others minds and life appears so complex, confusing and overwhelming, people are not sure what is right or wrong. Taking a position on issues leads to disagreement which has the potential of conflict requiring time and energy to deal with, detracting from life. To be left alone in peace (basic human need) is believed to require following the herd and conformance, since the alternative is taking a position and engaging in conflict with all who claim to disagree, including those who claim the right to exercise force in support of their position and do not acknowledge fact, reason or law.
- If you choose to live according to fact and reason, you will inevitably be proven wrong on some points. You must possess enough humility to admit this and the ability to adapt your entire reality and belief system to accommodate the newly proven facts. In other words, you must be adaptable enough to handle life´s changes and not seek boring comfort and security, since it is an illusionary trap, leading to stagnation.
- People are trapped in the perceptual paradigm of their functionand social class ( environment) and are unable to see or acknowledge the possibility of other realities or the validity of other opinions from other environments.
- People have been subverted into believing that the problems of the human condition are intractable and are caused by inherent flaws in humanity, requiring coercive force to be exerted by those who claim moral superiority or control the apparatus of state.
- People have been mis-educated to believe that mankind and civilization is not a part of the natural order of things and therefore, we are special, not subject to the immutable laws of action and consequence, as enforced by the laws of nature. Neglecting the role of those who have subverted education, this requires people to be stupid enough to not question their education and the opinion of the "experts". It also requires people to be stupid enough to continue trusting these expert opinions, despite overwhelming contrary evidence. We therefore believe we are immune to facing the consequences of our actions or that government or the law will protect us. They cannot and thus will not, for the simple reason that they are also subject to the laws of nature. Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans has shown the folly of this. Government was actually an impediment to those who tried to help.
- As a consequence of the arbitrary exercise of force, unchecked by objective law or democratic will by states and other organized powers, the best personal survival strategy is assumed to be to keep a low profile and hope you are not noticed or targeted. This strategy may be able to delay when you are targeted, but will not change the fact you are on the target list. The more you have to take or the more you interfere with power´s whims and methodology, the higher you are on the list. Those who insist that the equality provisions of the "rule of law" be honored and manage to have an effect on social awareness, such as Martin Luther King Jr. are at the top of the list.
- Knowledge regarding mankind appears to have been destroyed (not really, just made to appear ineffective) by those who exercise power enforcing different relationships between action and consequence than natural forces and un-coerced people would choose. This results in people being unwilling to choose, since to act according to the knowledge of objective reality is invariably in conflict with what those in power demand (your servitude). If people make a firm choice, on the one hand the laws of nature will dictate consequences and on the other organized force will dictate different consequences. The obvious rational choice under these contradictory conditions is to not or appear not to make any choice, or to make choices which are consistent with both the laws of nature and the will of our self proclaimed masters. The laws of nature say you should make pro-survival choices, the will of our masters says you should make choices consistent with their short term survival agenda under penalty of non-survival should you fail to comply. The result is that people are in contradictory environments, constantly trying to balance between the contradictory demands of power and personal survival. It is psychological warfare against the people, placing them in artificially created environments where correct choices are dangerous to immediate survival at the hands of arbitrary power. In other words, people are terrified of the fact that acknowledging and acting according to fact and reason puts them on a direct collision course with very dangerous powers who do not acknowledge any fact, knowledge or reason, only the circular logic of their claimed right to keep people in servitude and to possess and use the wealth and power of nature and civilization for purposes of their own.