[quote=davefairtex]ao-
not my go-to-guy
Something about the "do I care" statement seems strangely akin to Hillary's "what does it matter" statement. Given that you're a highly intelligent fellow, this post evokes my "spidey sense".
Ok, I'm not your go-to guy. And I am beginning to recognize that spidey sense. It appears to be common to a group of people. From what I gather, I am disturbing to this group because I write well and appear to be intelligent, rational, mostly calm, and I put up with a lot of silly stuff. This makes me
even more likely to be part of the conspiracy. Why would someone put up with such a large ration of crap for so long without going completely nuts?!
From my point of view, you guys are taking exactly the wrong approach. I'm an expert about me. When you accuse me of being a bad guy, you (may) forget that I know the truth. Consider for a moment the possibility that I'm just someone who disagrees with you and in a really modest way. What must I think? Well I'll tell you: from my perspective, each time you jump to conclusions about who I am and my motivations, your credibility about
everything else just drains away. If you are this willing to jump to conclusions about a subject (namely me) that you know little about, and you are this wrong about me, how likely is it that you have used that same research methodology on your conspiracy subject matter?
The really funny thing is, I'm pre-disposed to believe in these conspiracies. Perhaps its reading too much fantasy as a teenager, but I tend to see them everywhere too. I could go through the list, but I'm probably on board (at a "true more likely than not" level) with about 50-60% of the standard conspiracy storyline.
The difference is, I don't put my energy behind into the effort, nor do I feel that my opinions have the force of Truth behind them. I have other fish I want to fry. If the gold market is completely controlled, and the price drops - or there simply aren't any buyers, and the price drops, what then is the difference? The price has dropped. Let's focus on that, avoid being angry and/or scapegoating and pointing fingers and other energy-sapping and self-distracting emotional outbursts, and learn to take advantage of it. It turns out, price movements often happen in recognizeable patterns. What does it matter to us, the small fish, if its a Deus Ex Machina or it has some other explanation? It Simply Is.
I'm not trying to distract the masses and keep them asleep. I just recognize the limits to my own power.
If I were in the DOJ, or SEC, or the CFTC, or some other organization where my efforts and energy would lead to possibly useful outcomes, I'd act differently. But that's not where I am.
It sounds a bit like heresy I suspect. I leave it to someone else to sort out those issues. You, for instance. But I have chosen the battleground for my own revolution, and it is intensely personal - internal, rather than external. Even the current US government cannot find anything seditious in getting out of debt, becoming more resilient, physical fitness, taking personal responsibility for one's situation, and attempts at spiritual advancement. Time and energy spent being angry at "the manipulators" (who most definitely exist in their various forms) is energy taken from more important parts of my life.
There will come a time when they will fall. To all things there comes a time. Until that time arrives, I will stick to my knitting. That's not everyone's path, or even the right path. But it is the one I've chosen.
Lastly, I want to agree with you regarding the flaws you noticed in my boss's duck story. And yet even with those flaws, I still find valuable insight. The next time you and I are together, and we watch a duck crossing a lake, you can explain how you know that it is paddling, or going with the current, or whatever. I still haven't been able to figure it out - although I must confess, I haven't really put the effort into solving the mystery. I am more focused on the duck's speed and direction than on the mechanism of travel.
Which I think was the point of the story.
PS. I don't judge Martin Armstrong (or Nelson Mandela) for his prison experience. I judge him by the consistency of the story he tells, and how well it seems to explain the world. Some stuff Armstrong says is ... a bit out there. But other stuff makes a great deal of sense. So I take the stuff that makes sense, and I put question marks around the rest and leave it at that.
[/quote]
Bringing this thread back to the original subject matter, there is so much about this post that is illuminating. As a consequence, I think it bears further discussion and scrutiny.
“Ok, I'm not your go-to guy. And I am beginning to recognize that spidey sense. It appears to be common to a group of people. From what I gather, I am disturbing to this group because I write well and appear to be intelligent, rational, mostly calm, and I put up with a lot of silly stuff. This makes me even more likely to be part of the conspiracy. Why would someone put up with such a large ration of crap for so long without going completely nuts?!”
You discuss here “a group of people” to whom you are disturbing. Your statement would seem to include me in this “group”. Maybe being away from here for a while, I missed this but who is this “group” comprised of? And why would the fact that you write well and appear to be “intelligent, rational”, and “mostly calm” be disturbing to them? Those conditions shouldn't be disturbing to anyone. It's not particular disturbing to me but your language and presentation is reminiscent of a style that has been used by others to achieve particular effects. Perhaps that is what is disturbing to them. For me personally, it's about pattern recognition and there is a pattern here which, whether you are aware of it or not, is usually associated with a particular intent. And could you explain the last sentence above? Are you saying you are going “completely nuts” about this issue or are you implying that others are? From what I see, no one is going “completely nuts”. This statement seems like a rather emotionally laden one that is not based in fact.
“From my point of view, you guys are taking exactly the wrong approach. I'm an expert about me. When you accuse me of being a bad guy, you (may) forget that I know the truth. Consider for a moment the possibility that I'm just someone who disagrees with you and in a really modest way. What must I think? Well I'll tell you: from my perspective, each time you jump to conclusions about who I am and my motivations, your credibility about everything else just drains away. If you are this willing to jump to conclusions about a subject (namely me) that you know little about, and you are this wrong about me, how likely is it that you have used that same research methodology on your conspiracy subject matter?”
Who is the “you guys” who are taking the wrong approach? Is there some type of collusion here that I am not aware of because, for me personally, I'm not acting in concert with anyone else. And who “accused (you) of being a bad guy”? Could you show me where I made that statement? You say you're an expert about you but I would wager large sums of money, you are not. From 35 years of working with people's minds and bodies, most individuals are very self unaware. They don't understand how their bodies work or how they react to different kinds of food, different environmental factors, different thoughts, different emotions, etc. Because of their “I”-centeredness, their external perspective of themselves is limited. Also, what kind of conclusions are “we” jumping to about who you are and what you motivations are? As far as I know, I made no statements to that effect. There is a presumption on your part about this issue as about other issues that is not grounded in fact. In terms of credibility draining away, whether you know it or not, your statement follows the model of classical Ericksonian (non-trance) hypnosis to create a blanket dismissal of all that has been previously said. Do you understand that statements such as this are known as induction statements?
“The really funny thing is, I'm pre-disposed to believe in these conspiracies. Perhaps its reading too much fantasy as a teenager, but I tend to see them everywhere too. I could go through the list, but I'm probably on board (at a "true more likely than not" level) with about 50-60% of the standard conspiracy storyline.”
You say here, you tend to see them everywhere too. Did anyone say they saw conspiracies “everywhere”? Please show me that statement. In truth, by the strict definition of what a conspiracy is, they are indeed very common. Also, the word “conspiracy” has been trans-associated to imply falsehood or mistakenness when, in fact, that perception is an incorrect one.
“The difference is, I don't put my energy behind into the effort, nor do I feel that my opinions have the force of Truth behind them. I have other fish I want to fry. If the gold market is completely controlled, and the price drops - or there simply aren't any buyers, and the price drops, what then is the difference? The price has dropped. Let's focus on that, avoid being angry and/or scapegoating and pointing fingers and other energy-sapping and self-distracting emotional outbursts, and learn to take advantage of it. It turns out, price movements often happen in recognizeable patterns. What does it matter to us, the small fish, if its a Deus Ex Machina or it has some other explanation? It Simply Is.”
You refer a lot to not wasting energy and avoiding energy-sapping activities, yet you yourself, in contradiction to that, put a considerable amount of energy into writing these posts which, as far as I know, shouldn't provide any direct benefit to you. You also mentioned “emotional outbursts” but never responded to my previous request to please show me, in my discussion with you, where I displayed an emotional outburst. In truth, there was no emotional outburst. Whether you are aware of it or not, painting oneself as calm while painting one of differing ideology as emotional is a common ploy used to discredit the other. I'm not passing judgement here on whether or not this is your intent. I'm simply making an observation. Also, you used the word, “scapegoating”. It is interesting to me that since the onset of this financial crisis, in my personal experience with certain Wall Street types, the use of the words “scapegoating” or “scapegoat” have been almost exclusively by those individuals or parties who wish to be perceiving as being wrongfully accused and maligned when they were, in fact, rightfully accused and recognized as the perpetrators of certain malevolent actions. I'm not making this accusation of you, per se, but this is another pattern I've repeatedly observed.
“I'm not trying to distract the masses and keep them asleep. I just recognize the limits to my own power.”
Actually Dave, you have tremendous power. We all do. The question is, do we relinquish it or do we utilize it. Why make statements that disempower the masses? We have the power. We've just bought the illusion that we don't.
“If I were in the DOJ, or SEC, or the CFTC, or some other organization where my efforts and energy would lead to possibly useful outcomes, I'd act differently. But that's not where I am.”
Looking at the reality of the situation, none of the organizations you mention have acted in any substantive and genuine way to bring about useful outcomes, nor are they likely to do so in the future.
“It sounds a bit like heresy I suspect. I leave it to someone else to sort out those issues. You, for instance. But I have chosen the battleground for my own revolution, and it is intensely personal - internal, rather than external. Even the current US government cannot find anything seditious in getting out of debt, becoming more resilient, physical fitness, taking personal responsibility for one's situation, and attempts at spiritual advancement. Time and energy spent being angry at "the manipulators" (who most definitely exist in their various forms) is energy taken from more important parts of my life.”
It is interesting that you use the terms “battleground” and “revolution”. As such, you imply a war. In your recollection of history, can you recall any significant war that was won by taking the defensive rather than the offensive? I can't. And yet, by restricting yourself to internal action alone (and I agree that internal action is needed), aren't you ceding victory to the enemy? In terms of your erroneous statements about seditious activity, I think I addressed that situation very clearly elsewhere.
“There will come a time when they will fall. To all things there comes a time. Until that time arrives, I will stick to my knitting. That's not everyone's path, or even the right path. But it is the one I've chosen.”
There will indeed come a time when they will fall. It strikes me as add though that you would invest all this energy here and then just “stick to (your) knitting”. This reclusive action seems incongruous.
“Lastly, I want to agree with you regarding the flaws you noticed in my boss's duck story. And yet even with those flaws, I still find valuable insight. The next time you and I are together, and we watch a duck crossing a lake, you can explain how you know that it is paddling, or going with the current, or whatever. I still haven't been able to figure it out - although I must confess, I haven't really put the effort into solving the mystery. I am more focused on the duck's speed and direction than on the mechanism of travel.”
I think understanding the mechanism is key. If not, we think the sun is a glowing ball that rises in the east and sinks in the west and we don't have a clue that the earth is spinning. But to each their own. If you're happy with understanding only the “effect” part of “cause-and-effect”, so be it. I'd rather seek the bigger picture. And when you use purposely demeaning phrases like the“Big Bad Cabal”, the intimation is not appreciated.
“Which I think was the point of the story.
PS. I don't judge Martin Armstrong (or Nelson Mandela) for his prison experience. I judge him by the consistency of the story he tells, and how well it seems to explain the world. Some stuff Armstrong says is ... a bit out there. But other stuff makes a great deal of sense. So I take the stuff that makes sense, and I put question marks around the rest and leave it at that.”
First of all, it's somewhat disingenuous to lump Armstrong in with Mandela. How do we know he shouldn't be lumped in with a less virtuous character? Believe it or not, I've followed Armstrong for years and have found him to be very informative. I also think he was railroaded. But I don't find him totally without fault. For example, representing yourself in court is having a fool for a client. Being obstinate in court is another unwise choice. So I question the wisdom of his judgement.
You seem to contradict yourself here though. You say you judge him by the consistency of the story he tells, yet in the next breath, you say some of his stuff is “a bit out there” while other stuff “makes a great deal of sense. That doesn't sound consistent to me.
Dave, whether you know it or not, if you were so inclined, you would have a future as an NLP/Ericksonian trainer. I don't think it's your intent but that's what comes across. Milton Erickson hardly realized he did these things (he did them naturally as an excellent communicator and "convincer") but it took Bandler and Grinder to recognize and codify them. So if and when the NWO of your Big Bad Cabal comes to pass, you have another skill you can fall back on, lol. We should all be so fortunate.
Getting back to ducks, what's more revealing to me than where the duck is going is the duckiness of the duck. And when it look, acts, swims, and quacks like a duck, it's usually not a platypus. Such is the reason for my world view. I can't see internally (except for glimpses of what leaks out) nor perceive motivations but I can see actions, results, and outcomes. By their fruit, you will know them.
Enjoyed the discussion.