Sticks and Stones

Remember that old saying, “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me?” That’s what millions of American kids were raised to believe so they would learn to ignore verbal taunts and bullying on the playground. While the idea sounds really nice and the intentions are surely pure, is it actually true? The answer is a resounding, if not unfortunate, ‘no.’

In reality, words and language can be used against us in all manner of ways to manipulate, frighten, control, guilt, shame, deceive, gaslight, divide, distract, and steer us toward a desired point of view, behavior, or outcome. Given our experience of the past two years, one would be safe in concluding that words have indeed been weaponized against us - quite successfully.

We’ve been bombarded with messages that nudge and cajole us into ways of thinking, desired behaviors, and ways of relating. We commonly employ a new vocabulary that was entirely foreign to us before the lockdown crisis. People now casually bandy about terms such as Ro, fomites, droplets, case fatality rate, and more.

How did this happen, and how did it happen so quickly? As uncomfortable as it might be to digest, highly sophisticated techniques were deployed by the federal and state governments, the media, and big tech in a brazen effort to control the public.

Methods of Manipulation

An array of proven but simple techniques ranging from purveying fear through a constant running ticker tape of cases, hospitalizations and deaths to cement the sense of danger; to the repetition of key phrases such as ‘15 days to stop the spread,’ ‘we’re all in this together,’ and ‘It’s a small ask, wear a mask’ to elicit compliance with the new state of living; to canceling and shaming as anti-vaxxers, anti-science, science deniers, and conspiracy theorists anyone who dared to challenge the mainstream narrative dispensed by those who control the narrative.

The scenarios through which these methods are utilized normally conform to the Hegelian Dialectic, or, in common parlance - problem, reaction, solution. The concept goes something like this: those in power have a desired outcome in mind so a crisis either occurs or is engineered; as expected, the public reacts to the crisis and demands that those in power do something; at which point those in power deliver the predetermined solution they had intended all along.

Hegelian Dialect at Work

The acclaimed journal, National Geographic, published an issue with the cover title, “The War On Science.” While some of us might flinch at that title, most will reflexively react with the innocent wish that somebody do something to defend science. Most are hoping some authority will implement some mechanism which will ensure truth - such as fact checkers, the Trusted News Initiative, or a Disinformation Governance Board so they can return to their lives, safe under the illusion that they don’t have to flex a muscle to ascertain the veracity of information.

But the seed has been planted and the message is clear: science is under attack so we must stop people from questioning or challenging officialdom. And the answer proffered by those in power are the misnomered “fact checkers” and “truth initiatives” funded by Bill Gates and Big Tech in recent years – and now even government - to justify silencing and demonizing anyone who posts or speaks about research and data at odds with the predominant storyline peddled by government and its minions.

Despite the glaring illogic, dissent must be arrested, lest science be destroyed.

Unfortunately for anyone who cares about truth, liberty, and self-determination, there are countless other examples:

• The tragic events of 911 terrified Americans into accepting reduced freedom, warrantless search and surveillance, and other intrusions into our private lives – all in the name of security.

• COVID led us to sacrifice more freedom, autonomy, and privacy in service to perceived safety from a disease.

• Fear of future anticipated health threats has already spurred the WHO to contract with the private sector to deliver digital vaccine passports with a unique QR code-connected digital ID for all – a plan in development for several years before the COVID crisis.

• Alleged virus-laden physical currency may prompt an unwitting public into accepting a central bank-backed digital currency – for our own protection.

To be clear, I’m not suggesting that government manufactured all these crises (although at this point, I’m also not immune to this possibility), nevertheless it appears those in power leveraged the situations in pursuit of an agenda long in the works, in homage to Winston Churchill’s famous quote, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”

Propaganda as a Tool

Another device of manipulation is the use of propaganda, a method pioneered in the US by Sigmund Freud’s nephew, Edward Bernays. Inspired by Freud’s research, Bernays sought to turn propaganda into a more acceptable concept, namely public relations. His objective was to deliver the reins of power to leaders so that they could “control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing about it.”

In his opus, Propaganda, Bernays wrote,

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, and our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of…. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind.”

Bernays successfully sold war to Americans, cigarettes to women, and disposable Dixie cups to all. He developed the use of interest groups to engineer the perception that a group of people were concerned about an issue and that perhaps you should be concerned too. His techniques were so effective Joseph Goebbels deployed them to hone the image of Adolph Hitler.

Bernays was undoubtedly very successful at selling products and ideas to a naïve public, but the beguiling, slick, and scripted manipulation and influencing tools at the core of his toolbox, were far from innocuous. His methods did elicit the desired response. But who amongst us does not take umbrage at being manipulated?

Legalizing Propaganda in America

Having explored the reasons for and methods behind the weaponization of words in service to an agenda, we turn now to legislative changes in the US which served this master.

Though banned for decades in America, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 legalized the dissemination of information in the US whether the information is true, partly true, or completely false.

Surprising as it may be, what you read in the newspaper, watch on the television, hear on the radio, or find on the internet may, in fact, be propaganda – “the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person,” according to the Merriam Webster dictionary.

This uncomfortable revelation may explain, in part, why public health agencies persist with their studied talking points about the dangers of COVID, the high number of deaths, the lack of treatments, and the success of the COVID injections despite scores of doctors and scientists trumpeting the exact opposite – based on published peer-reviewed science and data.

In Britain, the government formed a “Nudge Unit” to frighten the public into yielding to its wishes – locking down, allowing loved ones to languish in nursing homes or perish alone in hospitals, submitting to the experimental COVID jabs, and other hitherto unthinkable measures. If government must weaponize behavioral science against the populace to coerce them to surrender their lives, livelihoods, freedoms, and way of life to a so-called new normal – count me out.

We inhabit confusing and frightening times - a situation worsened by our ignorance of the methods being deployed against us by those attempting to control us. The solution is to understand the tactics of manipulation as once they are seen, one is liberated from their shackles.

Awakening to the truth that we are being deceived and controlled is imperative in order that we understand how we surrender our power so we can instead make conscious choices and live rooted in reality.

As Confucius said, "Above all it is essential to refer to things by their correct names. If things are not referred to by their correct names, then our language will not reflect reality. If our language does not reflect reality, then our actions will not reflect reality, and will be exercises in futility." [Confucius, 551-479 BC]

(The Analects of Confucius, Chapter 13, Verse 3 [Rectification of Names], Translation source article)

Not only is the truth required to live in reality, the truth is essential if we are to remain sane during these times. While ignorance may be bliss for some, awareness of the true nature of our world and lives, is essential to living an honest and conscious life.

I invite you to peruse the list that follows so you too might see many of the ways these nefarious control methods have been used against you in the past couple of years.

Weaponization of Language and Tactics of Control:

1) Gaslighting/Contradictory/oxymoronic terms:
• Life insurance – death insurance
• Patriot Act – not patriotic
• PREP Act – not to prepare but to shield corporations
• Too big to fail – too important to the rich and powerful
• Social security – nothing social about it and it’s not secure
• Department of Defense – Department of War
• Disinformation Governance Board – Censorship of truth that conflicts with government/official narrative
• Pravda – truth
• Third Reich’s Ministry for Public Enlightenment
• Fact checkers – Censorship of truth that conflicts with government/official narrative
• Misinformation, Disinformation, Mal-information – anything that conflicts with government/official narrative
• Contact tracing keeps us safe
• Cases – people with a positive test even if not sick
• Asymptomatic – healthy people
• Breakthrough cases – vaccine failure
• Adverse events - side effects
• Herd immunity – only individuals can be immune but shifts focus to group
• Social Distancing – physical distancing
• Lockdown for your safety – home imprisonment
• Universal Basic Income – government handouts
• Underserved – no need of service
• Woke – not awake at all
• New normal
• Stakeholder – those with vested interest

2) Change in Definitions of common words:

Pandemic:
• WHO definition April 2009: “several, simultaneous epidemics worldwide with enormous numbers of deaths and illness.”
• WHO definition May 1, 2009: “community outbreaks in humans in at least 2 WHO regions” (removed severity and high mortality)

Vaccine:
• Merriam Webster before COVID injections: a preparation of killed microorganisms, living attenuated organisms, or living fully virulent organisms that are administered to produce or artificially increase immunity to a particular disease.
• Merriam Webster after COVID injections: A preparation that is administered (as by injection) to stimulate the body’s immune response against a specific infectious disease (now also includes gene therapies like COVID injections.) (Source)

Vaccination:
• CDC before change September 1, 2021: “the act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce immunity to a specific disease.”
• CDC definition from September 1, 2021: “The act of introducing a vaccine into the body to produce protection from a specific disease.” (Source)

Herd Immunity:
• WHO June 2020: “Herd immunity is the indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection.”
• WHO October 2020: “’Herd immunity’, also known as ‘population immunity’, is a concept used for vaccination, in which a population can be protected from a certain virus if a threshold of vaccination is reached. Herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus, not by exposing them to it.” (Note: until this change, herd immunity had always been known to be a natural phenomenon occurring after natural infection. Vaccinators borrowed the concept from real world, natural experience.) (Source, Source)

3) Cancel Culture/Shaming /Dehumanizing:
Anti-vaxxer, Anti-science, Follow the science, Climate Deniers, Science Deniers, Conspiracy theorist

4) Guilting:
Trust the science, 15 days to slow the curve, Do your part, We’re all in this together; It’s a small ask, wear a mask; Be kind, wear a mask; Stay home, Save Lives; Don’t be selfish, New normal, Protect others, Protect our hospitals/frontline workers, Protect grandma

5) Omissions:
What are the media not saying, covering, or reporting about injuries & deaths following the jabs, about the failures of the injections, about the true death rate, about the failure of jabs in other countries, about fraud and malfeasance revealed in the Pfizer clinical trial documents?

6) Distraction:
News releases, events on same days of bad news: Supreme Court leak on Roe v. Wade same day as Pfizer documents released – no reporting on Pfizer documents.

7) Limited hangout:
Touch on truth briefly but keep the official narrative alive, bury truth at end of article, video and written text in an article conflict.

8) Use fear, shock, and awe to frighten:
Reduces cognitive function, installs trauma pattern, citizens defer to authority.
Examples: virus lives on surfaces, paper money, China lockdown so we must too.

9) Repetition:
Stop the Spread, Build Back Better, Vaccines Save Lives, asymptomatic case (healthy), ticker of cases and deaths on TV, follow the science, trust the science, contact tracing keeps us safe, new normal; if you are not fully vaccinated, you must wear a mask.

10) Division:
Use words like ‘justice,’ Social justice, Racial justice, Climate justice
White Privilege, all white people are racist
Diversity/Equity/Inclusion – if you don’t buy in, you’re a bad person
Gender, Racist, Woke, Non-Binary
Progressive/Liberal = good, kind, caring, Conservative = bad, far right, selfish, fringe

11) Hidden meanings:
COVID-19 – Corona vaccine ID 2019
BioNTech – Biology and Technology
Moderna – Modified Endogenous RNA
Omicron – Moronic
Brain waves as ‘variant’ names: alpha, beta, delta, gamma, etc.

To reiterate, awareness of psychological operations and control tactics, such as the weaponization of language, is just the first step towards liberation from them. The next step is willfully choosing to unplug from media, technology, and government outlets which utilize these methods against us so that we may reduce their impact upon us. Then, unclouded by their influence, we are free to consciously forge the path of OUR choosing toward a life of freedom, integrity, honesty, balance, joy, respect, decency, love, and justice – for all.

Never has this last step been more important than it is today.