Dear Friends,
It seems to me, unfortunately, many of us are unable to be skeptical of government, no matter how many times we have caught them in a lie. Like Lincoln’s old adage, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time…” for that you need social media’s censorship. Many people today can be fooled all the time. Mostly because they are willing to be deluded. I wonder if some people even have a nihilistic, inner self destructive urge, inculcated by the public education system. Regardless of why some lack skepticism, that lack allows them to be manipulated, and thereby push popular opinion away from self interested skepticism… and to a blind obedience to known swindlers. To our mutual injury.
Skepticism is a healthy attitude, especially when we have caught someone lying to us before. There is an entire school of philosophy called skepticism. That idea was invented by Descartes and was made famous by his adage, “I think therefore I am.” Under skepticism, the skeptic questions everything. The only thing the Cartesian knows for certain, is that he or she exists, because of their subjective reality. The skeptic is less likely to fall for a swindle, because they question everything… especially things too good to be true. Moreover, the rational skeptic has a sliding scale of skepticism depending on the reliability of the speaker. A proven liar will be met with absolute skepticism where a truth teller will have a lower bar to meet. Nevertheless, even a truth teller’s statements must be examined.
Everyone wants to be able to trust the government implicitly, but the reality is, we cannot… and the elite have proven we cannot. We have been taught to trust the government in school, because we “elect” the leaders and they rule at our “suffrage.” Clearly, since the 2020 open and obvious election fraud, we now know that to be a lie. We are told the bureaucracy is filled with experts who have the best interests of the nation in mind, yet their actions prove the opposite. If they are working in our best interests, why have they regulated the railroads to stop bringing fertilizer to farmers in the critical spring planting season? Why have they shut off Diesel additive shipments as well? When anyone with half a brain, let alone an expert, would know that such actions will result in famine?
I don’t know for certain the percentage of the population that lacks skepticism but I bet they land in a Pareto distribution. (Also called the 80/20 rule). Some people, 20% of the whole probably, will believe anything the elite say and fight to the death to defend it. In Germany in the late 1930s, only about 20% of the German people were card carrying Nazis, yet the Nazis ruled with an iron fist. What this tells us is that all it takes is a small minority of zealots to destroy a nation. Sadly, that is where we are today. Some, (20%) are so stupid, they believe even the most absurd things without a speck of cognitive dissonance. Things that are not only clearly crazy but evil incarnate. Those of us with a brain, can bend to the will of the insane, else we can stand up, and call out them out as inane.
Manipulators will manipulate… but they need moldable minds. Their access to weak minds can be cut off with an effective education system, ending social media censorship and adopting a healthy skepticism towards known liars. Absurdity needs silence else it is exposed and evaporates. Those of us who willingly self censor, because the crazies have a perverted sense of morality, are blind zealots and are openly violent. Even engaging in stochastic terrorism against truth tellers, like “Libs of ticktock” for example. We can change the paradigm by teaching those around us to be skeptical of the elite, the media and the government. Skepticism is the cure for the disease of trusting pathological liars. The 80% of us that are sane, need to control the 20% who are not… with the scalding light of skepticism.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
