Groupthink vs. The Individual
Why have a brain if you are not going to use it?
Huffington Post: Debacle Over House Speaker Election May Raise National Security Concerns
Yet, in truth, the speakership battle was ALL about improving the system (i.e., making it more representative). That is, enhancing the power of various member-representatives in congress and thereby moving power away from the speaker. Isn’t that a good thing? I thought people didn’t like dictators. I sure don’t. I am not a subject, I am a free person.
Eventually ...
Washington Post: House elects McCarthy as speaker after days of defeats and concessions, or
Time: McCarthy Finally Elected House Speaker After Giving Away ‘Kitchen Sink’
Atlantic: How Kevin McCarthy Won – Having at long last put down a rebellion from within his party, Kevin McCarthy is now House speaker.
Rebellion?? Geez. That’s hyperbolic.
And this is what the American voter received in return:
- As has been reported, it will only take a single congressperson, acting in what is known as a Jeffersonian Motion, to move to remove the Speaker if he or she goes back on their word or policy agenda.
- A “Church” style committee will be convened to look into the weaponization of the FBI and other government organizations (presumably the CIA, the subject of the original Church Committee) against the American people.
- Term limits will be put up for a vote.
- Bills presented to Congress will be a single subject, not omnibus, with all the attendant earmarks, and there will be a 72-hour minimum period to read them.
- The Texas Border Plan will be put before Congress. From The Hill: “The four-pronged plan aims to ‘Complete Physical Border Infrastructure,’ ‘Fix Border Enforcement Policies,’ ‘Enforce our Laws in the Interior,’ and ‘Target Cartels & Criminal Organizations.’”
- COVID mandates will be ended as well as all funding for them, including so-called “emergency funding.”
- Budget bills would stop the endless increases in the debt ceiling and hold the Senate accountable for the same.
- * * *
Why have representatives if they are not going to represent us? True, the bulleted items above disempower the speaker, but this result is a desirable result for free-thinking people. Heretofore, the individual has a little more say on how the government operates. So God bless these idealistic and determined republicans. More, please …
The dangerous risk of groupthink
Nevertheless, some Americans irrationally accept the propaganda fed to them by the “ruling system.” It takes a conscious effort by the people to challenge the lies the government (the ruling elite) tell them.
Were you aware that most people can be entirely programmed by others? Consider this video:
The hypnotist in the above video asked the woman, under hypnosis, to forget the number 2. Amazingly, she does (temporarily). The subsequent interaction is comical and entertaining. But the implications are also very serious. What if large groups of people could have their minds manipulated in this way?
The human mind is, in fact, trivially manipulated.
Hypnosis is very real. All that stands in the way of third-party mind control of an individual is the individual’s consciousness. Humans function primarily with habit. Yet, this can be a problem since consciousness primarily and passively “observes” habit execution. Moreover, consciousness trails habit by approximately .3 seconds. A famous neuroscientist, Benjamin Libet, established this fact in his groundbreaking work on consciousness (I love this guy’s work). Your consciousness is thus enabled only to halt habit. Specifically, it has .2 seconds to do so before the habitual action or thought occurs. Benjamin Libet called this “halting act” human free won’t. You might also be surprised to know that free won’t is your single act of free will. After the momentary cessation of habit, and if you are so inclined, your consciousness proceeds to reason. The process of reason is structured to seek understanding and not to drive bodily action. That is, there is no free-will decision opportunity in the process of understanding. Free won’t IS your singular act of free will.
Thus, the hypnotist halts human consciousness during the process of hypnosis. He does this in almost the exact way he is able to get the woman to forget the number two above. The only difference is he must get the woman’s consciousness to agree to disable her consciousness. After that, nearly anything is possible with sometimes entertaining results.
Hypnosis as an essential evolutionary skill (and vulnerability)
There was a time when this third-party programming capacity was a good thing. That was when humans were hunter-gatherers in small tribes. There, the “human programmer,” or the tribal leader, was accountable. Now, with immense civilizations, this mind vulnerability creates temptations for misuse. Also, our educational system, by not understanding the mind, takes shortcuts in development. They use this human programmability to produce automatons.
Nevertheless, we do have a defense (free won’t). We must use it and always have our psychic shields up. The shields keep us free. However, in freedom, humans must take responsibility for themselves. Politicians must represent and never rule. Likewise, speakers should speak for AND NEVER COMMAND.