This piece is going to be different than what’s normally covered.
The above meme is of Yuri Bezmenov, a Soviet defector. He became famous decades ago for his talks on subversion and demoralization. Even when presented with hard evidence, demoralized people can be unable to see reality. Videos are widely available online.
A criticism that often comes up here is that it’s unproductive to expose a problem without proposing an alternative to it. At some point, trying to wake up a group of people devolves into depression and demoralization, where there’s no obvious solution to anything. Even when alternatives exist on paper, they seem completely impractical to implement.
Another comparison may be between “red-pilling” v.s. “black-pilling”.
A common instance where this comes up is with the problem-reaction-solution scenarios, or the Hegelian Dialectic. This is when it seems that the outcomes are prearranged, and to a degree, they are. It’s challenging to accept answers if it looks planned in advance.
What issues are important? Take a look around this site, and see what things are addressed.
There is a valid point to the notion that harsh doses of reality are needed. In order to come to sensible conclusions, it’s important to know just how bad a problem is. Sugar coating the depth of an issue does nothing to properly correct it. Is there any obligation to offer an alternative, or is pointing out the truth enough on its own?
But the flip side is that completely destroying people’s spirits by showing the depth of a situation may not be that helpful. Outlining in vivid detail how hopeless a situation is will be soul crushing. What’s the point of demonstrating the ugly truth if everyone feels powerless to fix it? Doesn’t draining the will to fight effectively lead to their defeat?
Reality and hopium cannot exist separately. At some point, we need both.
So, where do we draw the line?
I don’t have a clear answer to this, and don’t know if anyone does. Being a truther means going down all kinds of rabbit holes, and discovering incredible things. However, there are undeniable consequences for people who get into this. Constantly being suspicious of everything and everyone gets very tiring. It’s extremely time consuming and not a good way to live.
Anyhow, these are just some random thoughts on the subject.
As always, feedback is appreciated.
Really enjoy your thoughts when you go off your normal research.
In my 10 years, it’s clear you can’t go to far either way before you lose people.
Like a mouse, you can only feed a few crumbs and let them follow you.
When they stop eating, let them retreat until they come back.
Many likely won’t.
following…
There is very definitely a doable solution — but first we need a large portion of the people to wake up to the reality of our collective situation and most importantly, to stop thinking that running to politicians and lawyers is going to ‘save’ us.