02 April 2016

Psyops and State Idolatry

My wife and I are always struck by the security in places like Philadelphia and Washington DC. We remember these places in the 1990s and in many ways these cities have from our standpoint been all but ruined. Security now dominates every museum and historical monument. Streets are closed, buildings blocked and its all for naught.

The War on Terror is a complete farce. In September 2001 there were a few hundred men tucked into the Hindu Kush that were the backbone of al Qaeda. Supported by the miniscule government that was the Taliban and augmented by small numbers of operatives in Europe and America they pulled off an attack that was a stunning propaganda victory but did little to actually harm the US Empire in terms of its military, geopolitical or economic might. It was a dramatic guerilla attack that's still mired in a fog of questions and suppressed information that leave the official narrative in question.

The War on Terror has been a War of Terror. The United States has killed far more than al Qaeda ever has and has now generated war in multiple countries and with the wholesale destruction of societies it has effectively produced the very thing it ostensibly set out to destroy. Terrorism is far more prevalent today than it was in 2001 and this is a direct result of US policy. Washington and its allies are breeding terrorists faster than they can kill them. Like the phony War on Drugs the pseudo-fight has taken on a life of its own. The war itself is business and is a means to implement a wide array of corollary policies and objectives. The original goals if ever genuine to begin with have been completely obscured.

While not yet terrorised by weaponised drones, the American public has also been an object of terror. And yet very little of this has come from militant jihadis. Rather, the bulk of it has come directly from our own government through the suspension of the rule of law, basic rights, mass surveillance, and a climate of fear that has sometimes resulted in travel restriction, incarceration, torture and assassination.

While being subjected to large-scale and deep propaganda on the National Mall, Americans (and foreign tourists) are subjected to a host of faux security procedures. They are completely for show and lack any valid justification in terms of security for either the public or the structures which they purport to protect.

The lines which did not exist before 2001 are little more than bottlenecks which provide opportunities for attack rather than security.

The searches are arbitrary. At some venues bags go through x-ray machines, and at others they don't. The searches are cursory and laughable. Any skilled agent could easily defeat them.

Pockets are emptied but in many cases jewelry is not removed. Some people are 'wanded', some are not, even though their jewelry may have set off the metal detectors. Last time we visited one of the Smithsonian museums my 14 year old son had to get pulled aside and wanded. Oh yes, he was likely to blow up Abe Lincoln's hat.

Some venues require the removal of jackets, others don't. Often if you're not carrying a bag but wearing a jacket you're waved in even though you could be carrying an array of weapons underneath your coat or in its lining.

Like the airport fiasco, you are rushed and humiliated, forced to reveal what you carry, explain your possessions in the audience of both security officials and others in line. Women (like my wife) are forced to remove jackets which in some cases are part of their 'outfit'. It's a bit different than me merely removing a light jacket.

And yet it's clear that it's all for nothing. At one venue I accidently slipped a pocket knife inside and wasn't caught. I had used a backpack that I normally use for hiking and camping and had forgotten the knife was in a small pocket. It was caught at a later venue and yet after a quick explanation it was permitted as long as it stayed inside the bag.

It's all ridiculous and in the end it must be concluded that it exists for two primary reasons.

The first (and lesser) reason is that at this point there's an established bureaucracy. There's a budget, jobs, contracts and no one wants to upset the order. The number of people employed by this charade boggles the mind.

But more importantly this serves the larger government agenda of governance through fear and intimidation. We are being conditioned to humiliation and invasion. Even the items in our pockets are not private, including our body parts it would seem. New scanners and invasive searches are completely subjugating us. It's one big PSYOP (Psychological Operation).

I'm not a Right-winger who cries give me liberty of death or a Leftist who argues endlessly for civil liberties.

I'm a Christian who lives as a stranger and exile in a Bestial Empire, one largely championed by a false form of Christianity. I'm watching the historical progression and the implications of a regime that is struggling to deal with advancing technology. I'm watching a regime that abandoned its principles and the rule of law long ago and now lives in fear of that which it purports to uphold and promote... democracy. It fears the people and their access to information. It fears genuine grass roots organisation and activism.

As a Christian I don't really believe in democracy. It might in some circumstances be a preferable system to live under but it by no means represents a Christian position nor does it reflect some kind of godly political order. Quite the contrary. The reason we can show some favour toward it is in its promotion of social pluralism. As Christians we want societies that are socially pluralistic. As I've said many times before don't confuse this with theological pluralism nor should you listen to the Sacralist voices that insist the two go together. They do not.

As Roman and now American society abandon democratic and republican values and take on a more specifically Bestial role they begin to deny social pluralism. They can still embrace theological pluralism as long as it is under a statist umbrella. Worship Caesar first and then you can worship whatever you want. That's not a true pluralism.

We want the state to be silent with regard to our worship. This means we will live as pilgrims in a society that includes many other false religions and yet we're allowed freedom, just as they are. Neither the Christian Right nor forms of Secular American Nationalism believe in pluralism. The Christian Right gets this wrong both in their position and in their interpretation of American Secularism. Nationalism is a religion and if enforced we do not have a pluralistic society.

Returning to the security state, we are forced to conclude the Establishment is afraid and therefore it is determined to make the public subject to terror and psychological manipulation. The terrorists do not wish to attack America because we're free. Our freedom is limited and complicated but that's another issue. Muslim Terrorists are not sitting around slamming their fists into the ground furious that Americans vote, shop at Macy's and watch American Idol.

They are angry because their societies (and religion) have been manipulated by the West. Their countries have been bombed, dictators have been installed and backed that have tortured and killed their people. They are robbed and prevented any recourse and means of escape.

If the United States cancels its policies these people (in time) will leave the US alone.

However the US cannot stop. It long ago set itself on a course from which there is no stopping. It has fallen into the conqueror's trap. To stop means to die and in the case of the United States an imperial withdrawal, a retraction would quickly lead to an economic and social implosion. The American war machine is the economy.

Thus the public has to continue being led along this path of fear and manipulation. Like the War on Drugs, the security state is largely false. It's not really what it purports to be but instead represents a wielding of power, another type of mind-war against the public.

Like the Greek Democracies of antiquity, the US Establishment has realised that democracy in the end doesn't really work. It actually promotes instability. You cannot build an empire on democracy. Something has to give and in every case it is democracy that fails even if its trappings are maintained for a long time after.

The public is led to believe that these searches of their pockets and online information are keeping them safe from terror. They also believe that somehow this November they're going to 'decide' who runs the country and the course it is going to take.

At this point I think of an array of commentators who decry this type of cynicism who view as immoral this level of doubt concerning national institutions and their official proclamations with regard to history and current events. They think people like me suffer from a type of moral cancer.

Why answer fools? Why cast pearls before swine?

Of course these same characters also engage in their own versions of subversive interpretation and impose their own meta-narratives on history and current events. Their institutional fidelities are also conditional. What they don't appreciate is even their conditions challenge the narrative. All too often it would seem that adherence to truth is less of a concern than simply the wielding and legitimisation of power that comes with controlling the narrative. Power has no conscience and they'll find that out if they try to appeal to it. They want their consciences but no one else is allowed to have one if it questions their vision. In the end their moral concern is exposed as fraudulent and self-serving.

I expect lost people to make idols of their Pseudo-Eden's and Pseudo-Zion's but when I see Christian's who fall for the same I am reminded of Scripture's warnings concerning false prophets and teachers who will seek to make merchandise of God's people, who think godliness is wealth, power and gain, who have a form of godliness but deny its power and certainly its message. Beware the advocates of any theology that tell us not to live as strangers and pilgrims on this earth who tell us that godliness is to serve the world's idols of blood vengeance and exploitation, the Bestial state. Beware those who confuse the identity of the Church with the identity of a state, society or culture. Such confusions are de facto expressions of another gospel.

The powers that be serve a purpose in this age but we are not to join with them and we're certainly here to bear witness to the Truth which necessarily means exposing their lies and all spiritual strongholds that men build.