The symbol of the ‘Red Pill’ is a popular meme in our Society. It represents an easy way to begin the path to awareness. It has an unfortunate appeal to many in this ‘fast food’ world we live in.

But, as you know there is no ‘Red Pill’ path to awareness… it take hard work, study, and the willingness to stand alone in the Real World while most people sleep, oblivious to the forces keeping them drowsy and numb. Try to force others to wake up, and you will most likely be met with angry reactions, name calling and eventually you'll be ostracized.

I grew up as a child of the Sixties… the Counter Culture was in full swing, and all through High School in the Seventies, the ‘hippies’ still had a strong influence on my classmates. I heard phrases like “Power to the People” and “Down with the Man!” expressed many times. So, of course I thought that was a noble cause… Forty-five years later, I realize they were nothing more than phrases and had no more lasting power than flowered bell-bottom trousers. Honestly, those that learned to Turn on, and Tune out also learned to Shape up and fly right. In the end most of the ‘hippies’ became the Man.

As far as me taking the ‘Red Pill’ and awakening? I was at least an observer and mental recorder of things I saw in popular culture and on the News(?) back in the day. I noticed that occasionally I would hear a tidbit of reported news, something reported just once, and then I’d never hear another word about it. I found that odd, this was before the Internet, so I couldn’t research that tidbit. Since then I’ve noticed the MSM is far more cohesive, or controlled now than it was back then. Probably, since the Big Six media corporations replaced the fifty, or so media outlets that were still around in the Nineties, and news became more homogenized. The little tidbits of real info are no longer allowed out in the wild.

So, how did I become more aware back then? I had to order books from my local bookstore that I heard about on TV, generally PBS.

And, since then I got my first computer about fifteen years ago, and I’ve been on a search ever since. It also helped that I went to college, at an advanced age and learned how to conduct a proper internet search.

The other thing that helped was taking a series of Public Relations courses. There I learned about Edward Bernays, the father of modern PR, and also the nephew of Sigmund Freud. Learning about Bernays set me on the path to studying Propaganda, and I’ve been searching through everything I can find about propaganda since then.

Of particular interest to me right now is the roots of propaganda… i.e. who were the pioneers, when did and how was propaganda applied to Western societies? From what my research is showing, propaganda has been a part of the American psyche for just over one hundred years. That’s three, maybe four generations that are propagandized. That means my great-grandparents, my grandparents and my parents all received a steady diet of propaganda. The question then becomes, how do parents that have lived under the influence of propaganda and swallowed a fair amount of it, teach their children how to avoid the lies of this world? And, don’t think just because your family didn’t listen to the radio and TV, or go to movies that they weren’t influenced by propaganda. Is there any way to escape propaganda when all your neighbors and everyone you come in contact with consume a daily dose?

One last thing, this recent phenomena of people claiming to be ‘Woke’ is just a fad, in my opinion. No one wants to admit they are asleep, and yet those that are claiming to be ‘Woke’ don’t even know what they are woke too… just being anti-Trump, or anti Hilary is not being ‘Woke’. Just knowing that the MSM is lying and then turning to social media for news, is not ‘Woke’. Being ‘Woke’ is not viewing the world with a handheld device, perusing Facebook and Twitter, whining about the Outrage Porn of the day. Being aware of the machinations of our Leaders and HOW it affects our lives, is one of the first steps to becoming awake.