RE: How to be an InformationWar Activist, Part Three: Is the Information War Winnable?
Well done!!! I believe that the only way to win the information war is through the free flow of information. By that I mean information devoid of propaganda. It's fine to think and to express your thoughts, in fact it's critical. But it's equally important to elucidate that "this is what I think" or "this is what I believe to be true," rather than "This IS true." Ideas must be allowed to flourish (or sink) on their own merits. As you so amply stated critical thought is a necessity as is the necessity for teaching it. And here in lies the rub (I think Shakespeare said that). We live in a culture with a badly broken educational system. Many people (including young people) are beginning to see it. Without critical thought, the information war is lost...a factor not lost upon the "enemy." All thought, even wrong thought, is important as lo0ng as it is honest. The free marketplace will decide.
perfect example - I used to be a neocon; I referred to those that had libertarian/conspiracy views as "black helicopter freaks", or "ron paultards". (g*d help me, I still laugh at this second one ;> )
It turned out that THEY were right far more often than I was; and while there are still certain conspiratorial assertions that I do not think are right, the FACT that they were right in far more of their allegations than I turned out to be has taught me to be less certain of things I do not have full data on.
A good time to link The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, and to remind myself to include the influence of educational systems to the information war concept.
Thanks Rich!
Glad to help! In one of my Tavistock articles I intend to address the dumbing down of America. I've already written about Tavistock's influence on the NEA in my last post. I had a history of the NEA all the way back to John Dewey but can't access the discs. There's a great book called Homeschooling the Right Choice...If I wasn't so lazy, I'd get off my ass and go to the library (4 blocks away) lol.
you'd be surprised at how much you can pull off the web!
but for older items , you can also look to https://archive.org
I was a Ron Paultard. We'd sometimes call ourselves that. If people want to mock us for following a smart guy with a proven integrity and consistency, then so be it.
Now one thing I want you to know, and you likely do. Many of those Ron Paultards were exactly like you, before they started supporting Ron Paul.
I distinctly remember seeing Ron Paul stuff early on and him saying "We need to get rid of this, we need to get rid of that"... and I thought "this guy is nuts", yet even back then I'd gotten into the habit of doing my own research. So I researched these nutty things. Eventually I realize he wasn't nuts at all. It was just very different from what we'd been fed to believe by propaganda and the education/indoctrination system.
I kept watching him. He was consistent even when attacked. He did not flip flop or try to appease his attackers like virtually every other politician I knew out there.
I consider Ron Paul as one of the people that kicked the door open to my mind.
He freed my mind. I don't agree with all of his ideas now, but I still consider him brave, heroic, and a person of the highest integrity. I am a fan and unless he suddenly changes I likely always will be.
He gave me the ability to ask questions, and not feel guilty about challenging the authority of the status quo.
So the difference between you and Ron Paultards. The Ron Paultards simply encountered him before you did "called him nuts", realized he wasn't, and then became supporters.
You actually did the same thing... just a bit later. ;)
I am definitely an Anarchist/Voluntaryist now with a leaning towards Anarcho Capitalism. Though I am fluid in my beliefs, rather than locking them as something rigid and unwavering like religion.
I though he had excellent ideas domestically (the Fed ought be triple audited, and then audited again), and was "nutty" when it came to foreign involvement.
Going back to this post, https://steemit.com/politics/@stevescoins/i-was-once-a-neocon-why-neoconservatism-failed-and-why-it-will-always-fail , there are still some of the underlying beliefs I hold
I though Ron Paul was naive in his assumptions bout the level of danger from outside the US; BUT he certainly turned out to be right about the corruption of the globalists