The Doors of Perception:

[festergrump]

The Doors of Perception: Why Americans Will Believe Almost Anything- by Tim O'Shea

I came across this link which was originally posted by SWIM on another forum I frequent and thought many here might like to have a look at it, too:

http://thedoctorwithin.com/index_fr.php?page=articles/doors_of_perception.php

It's a good read and should provide some insight as to how the government has for so long (and will continue to try to) keep you out of the loop to be "good little sheeple"...

[nbk2000]

- flagrant errors of grammar and spelling rampant in advertising, which go unnoticed

- declining SAT scores and the arbitrary resetting of Average, which has occurred at least twice in the past 8 years, in order to cover up how dumb our kids are really getting
...
- increasing illiteracy of high school graduates, both written and spoken

- the unwritten policy requiring school teachers, especially math and English teachers, to pass students who have failing marks, especially if they're a certain race or other, so that the school won't "look bad"
...
- the downward spiral of the level of ordinary conversations, which are commonly just exercises in stringing together random clichés from the very finite stock of endlessly repeated homogeneous bytes. It's as though we're only allowed to have 50 thoughts, and most conversation is just linking these 50 programmed audio clips together in a different order
...


You see the results of this everyday in the "Beast" thread.

Fester, you posted about this sort of thing at that other Forum too. I like how they bitched about how the hated grammer patrol and their grammer teacher isn't around anymore to correct therm.

Yes.

And it shows in the shitty decline in literary skills on many boards.

Of course, this is just a symptom of a much larger disease, which is being perpetrated by the government and media.

Look at the last VP we had, Quayle. That idiot couldn't even spell 'Potato' correctly. And now we have a president who's even more stupid. :rolleyes:

Proles with short attention spans, flexible memories (We've always been at war with Eastasia), limited vocabularies (Duckspeak!), are just the kind of digits the Party needs to fight the War on Terror! OSAMA IS GOLDSTEIN! :mad:

I also tried finding my rant against television programming, but apparently it's one of those posts lost in the Crash of '02. I'll have to find it in my archives and re-post it. :)

[enhzflep]

Hell, even the president of you fine country is reputed to have said
"The vast majority of our imports come from overseas" WTF?!?

Questions are increasingly being ended with a full stop. In addition to this, the media are increasingly trying to 'coolify' themselves by using the mal-formed grammar of the masses. Well, I should say "are hopefully trying to coolify themselves". I guess the other possibility is that the too are losing the grammar and spelling fight in prefference of the addage that "They know what I mean, so being accurate and correct is no longer important." - "It'll do mate"

[festergrump]

NBK,

I saw that post some time back and liked it so much I archived it within my own records... Hope you don't mind me posting it here for you. I feel it does deserve to be read again by the masses...

----------------------------------------------------------------

The true nature of television by NBK2000

Tyranny is Freedom!

Thinking is Ignorance!

Watching is Living!

Television...cure for the tyranny of freedom...the soma of the masses.

Stupid fucks watch TV and think that they're learning something. It's a control device to desensitize your mind into passively accepting, without critical thinking, anything that gets feed into it. It's also the lazy way of amusing yourself since you don't have to do anything more physical than push a button. No picking up, carrying, opening, or turning of the pages of a book, let alone all that tedious thinking required by reading!

You can't sit and contemplate the 3 second soundbite with the 12 embedded subliminal stressor images when you've got a continuous barrage of this shit being forced into your eyes. The brain suffers information overload from the sensory assualt, zones out, and becomes a passive receptor with the disinformation bypassing your higher thought processes and going straight into the mammalian flight/fight reflex response center.

You become a passive sponge to absorb all the crap they throw at you from the screen. All thinking goes out the window while you're watching. It's only afterwards that you can think about it, but by then it's too late, because your memory will be distorted by the tricks of the trade into remembering what they want you to remember most.

Written text can be read, set aside to be thought about, then re-read to analyze it bit by bit and see just what the writer is trying to convey (or hide). Unless you sit with a DVR and progress through it frame-by-frame, and de-layer all the audio tracks, you can't do that kind of analysis of video. And, even then, you only see what they want to show you.

Remember, 80% of human sensory input is through the eyes, thus the majority of brain "CPU cycles" is devoted to processing this information. Because of the predatory nature of humans, and the need to rapidly respond to prey/threats to our survival, our brains process visual information without the usual lag that the other senses experience. In fact, our eyes have a "pre-processor" as a bundle of nerves behind the eye that does (something, forgot exactly) that increases our visual capacity over similarly "eyed" animals.

This makes us highly reactive to primary visual stimulus (movement/light-shadow/patterns), much more so than to any other sensory input.

Rapid jerky movements of alternating light/dark patterns can trigger spikes in blood pressure (stress) without concious awareness. Likely because of deeply programmed survival programs that equate such visual stimulus with snakes in the grass, stalking predators, etc. Byusing such patterns and associating it with a certain person or group, a TV "programmer" can instill unconcious fear of such a person/group in the target audience.

Even the language of the televison industry reflects its true purpose.

A "Programmer" is the person who decides what is going to be shown. And what do "programmers" do? Make "programs". What is a program? A set of instructions to be ran by a computer. What is a computer? A machine that does only what it is told to do in a set of instructions called a program. Therefore, you are an unthinking machine that does only what the programmer tells you to do.

"Channels" are what you watch. "Channel" also means to guide or focus. To guide or focus something, you must first control it. If you control something, then you are channeling it. Therefore, if you are watching a channel, it's because the programmer has succeeded in writing a program that controls your attention sufficently to prevent you from changing it or *gasp!* turning it off.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote:
A television programmer desires to channel a target audience to his programs.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

How many control words are in that sentence?

"Programmer" = Person who controls a machine

"Channel" = To control or guide

"Target" = synonym for victim or prey

"Audience" = passive viewer or receiver, NOT "Performer" or actor. One who is acted upon, not acting upon others.

"Programs" = Set of instructions by which non-thinking machines are controlled.

You know how much TV the great minds of the last 50 years usually watched? ZERO. Einstein didn't watch it (or radio), nor does Hawkings. Does Ruttan, the man who made his own plane to fly non-stop around the world or his latest sub-orbital plane watch TV. No.

Did the man who built the V-2 for the Nazis, and the Saturn-V for the moon landings watch TV? No. Neither does Gates or Jobs and they're the richest men in the world.

If you ask the great thinkers, scientists (think the Newtons and Kepplers of our time, not the corporate hacks), and explorers how much TV they watch, I'll bet on them saying ZERO (or close to it).

How many losers go home and veg out in front of the TV every day for hours on end? Countless legions...all living vicarious lives through the multi-media whores calling themselves "artists" that are nothing more than silicone scultped dolls with their strings being pulled by corporate puppet masters with their psychologists-demographers-focus groups-et al telling them how best to rape your mind...while all the while not living their own lives beyond that needed to earn enough to buy the latest car/shoe/razor-blade that'll make them cooler/hipper/sexier than their neighbors/friends/co-workers.

TV industry execs don't watch TV. They know better. Just like smart drug dealers know better than to use their own product.

To (sort of) quote RATM:

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote:
Turn on the televison
Naw, fuck it, turn it off!

Fear is your only God on the televison.
Naw, fuck it, turn it off!

Your savior
My guillotine

Flex your cerebellum
Fire!
-------------------------------------------------------------------

What race watches the most TV in the US in every catagory of age, education, and income? Niggers. Which watch the least? Asians. Of the two, who does the best in education and income, adjusted for population? Hmmm...tough guess, huh? Fluke luck? Doubtful!

What race dominates the TV industry (execs/programmers, not the talking heads in front of the camera)? Whites. (over 90%)

What race watches the most TV? Blacks.

Who were the Masters and who were the slaves?

Who are still the Masters? And who are still the slaves?

We've simply replaced the whips and chains of the previous slave era with the Gangsta' Rap and Nikes of the modern slave era. The slaves no longer seek freedom now that their chains are so entertaining and exciting.


Why should a slave live its own life with all the attendant struggles and hardship when it can pick from so many ready-made lives that are much more entertaining and stimulating with no difficulties that can't be solved within half an hour?

Freedom is Slavery!

Very well put, NBK! Right along the very same lines as what Mr. O'Shea also presented, only you went on to speak truths which Mr. O'Shea felt not like delving into so boldly.

------------------------------------

I cannot ever look at news media in any form without laughing as to the blatancy of the lies, anyway, or even look at the attempted mask of sincerity a major politician tries to cover his face with...

Not to bash Dubya (hell, I voted for him, or rather against Kerry), only to point out something I noticed... Doesn't he always appear to be laughing inside as he speaks his lies? I don't think I could do any better, myself. I'd probably be rolling on the floor laughing while I know the average sheeple are swallowing my festering load without question... :)

"Mmmmm, YUMMY!", the sheeple all say, while PR media cohorts gently rub the mindlessly attuned sheeple's throats to make sure it all goes down without problem.

[Pb1]

What race watches the most TV in the US in every catagory of age, education, and income? Niggers. Which watch the least? Asians. Of the two, who does the best in education and income, adjusted for population? Hmmm...tough guess, huh? Fluke luck? Doubtful!

Correlation, not causation. In my opinion the differences in TV viewing and success are caused by different cultures rather than one being caused by the other.

I know a lot of Asians and they seem to be pushed by their parents to succeed, not watching TV is a part of this. I know one whose parents don't push him and he's not doing so well. He spends all day playing games instead of studying. I guess that games have the same basic effect as TV.

I don't know any Negroes, but I'm guessing they don't have this driving force.


About that site in the first post. There are a couple of examples they use that I don't agree with.


>Pharmaceuticals restore health
Pharmaceuticals are designed for this purpose, so I assume at least some work. We've all heard about the effectiveness of penicillin in the old days.

>Milk is a good source of calcium.
At 30% DV per cup, I'd call that a reasonably good source.

>Vitamin C is ascorbic acid.
A chemical fact, i think.

>HIV is the cause of AIDS.
I thought this was a medical fact.

>pretending like programs favoring "minorities" are not just another form of racism
If affirmative action helps the minorities over whites, I would call that favoring.

I've got some other thoughts on this matter, but I should be going to sleep. 3 AM already.

[Alexires]

Think about it this way. Pharmaceuticals are made by a company. The purpose of this company is to make money. If the pharmaceutical fixed the problem permanently, then the company would be soon out of business. I wouldn't be suprised if pharmaceutical companies looked for a solution to illness that caused side effects to sell more products.

I always understood racism to be discrimination against a race. (Def. To discriminate socially is to make a distinction between people on the basis of class or category without regard to individual merit.) Regardless of the type of discrimination (whether it is good or bad), it is still racism, as you are discriminating based upon their skin colour.


Not to sure about the milk one, it seems like a good source to me, but how much of it is available calcium, and compared to other sources, is it really that good?

I couldn't give a flying fuck about whether milk is a good source of calcium, so you can research that if it takes your fancy.

[nocturnal shadow]

Even if this article has some errors, even lies, in it how would that make it any different to the rest of the shit that’s rammed down our throats. At least it might have some truth behind it for a change. Personally I would like to believe that the government, media etc weren’t lying to/controlling us, just like I would like to believe in god but its impossible to even try to believe what they tell you these days. The lies are just becoming to frequent and obvious.
USE
Reading this article made me think. If there are so many obvious lies, what aren’t we picking up. Personally I think I’m a fairly convincing liar but I never tell lies that are obviously untrue hence people don’t suspect anything. What if the media does this too? If no one picks up my lies why should I pick up theirs?
PARAGRAPH
This may be obvious to the rest of you but it never occurred to me, I always knew the government/media were lying to us but I figured I could generally pick their lies. But this article made me realise if these people are anywhere near as intelligent as me (which isn’t that intelligent) I would never be able to pick up their lies. And why shouldn’t they lie? We all do, how could we believe that they wouldn’t too.
BREAKS
Also the topic of us kids getting dumber, I’ve found that in Australia although most people can still read and write well enough, the emphasis has gone from actually learning something, to just knowing enough to go well in the HSC (high school certificate). This is especially true in the sciences, in my chemistry class people frequently go off at me for asking the teacher to go into something in more depth than the syllabus requires us to. They don’t actually want to learn chemistry they just want to get a good UAI (universities admissions index) at the end of the year.

[Alexires]

Nocturnal Shadow, even if the article had some lies in it, I believe that since it led you to think about what is true and what is false, it has accomplished its task.

I have found for one to see a lie, one needs to know/suspect/have a gut feeling of what the truth is. The power of the media lies therein. Everyone expects the government to lie, but if the so called "unbiased" media supports the governments lie, then it must be true!

The most effective lies are the ones with a grain of truth in them. People tend to believe anything that is written, so all the media needs to do is have something written from a "respectable" source, which lends weight to the view of the media and in translation, something is lost and suddenly everyone believes it as the truth even if the government said it in the first place. Ever wonder why the paper comes out at the beginning of the day?

Before I go on, ponder the difference between reality and actuality (or the difference of what is real and what people percieve to be real). In truth, there is no difference, and once someone has a firm grasp on their "truth" it is difficult to sway them. Those that can be swayed easily can just as easily be swayed back.


You are certainly correct in saying that students only care about what they HAVE to learn instead of what they could learn. Its a sad fact now that those who seek knowledge for knowledges sake don't often get very far.

Maybe its an Australian problem, Nocturnal Shadow. I find the very same thing in SA.

[knowledgehungry]

IMHO this article is a little out there, especially the section entitled "Conventional Wisdom". Many of the things mentioned are true. The author seems to have an anti-medicine bend and he bases things on that rather than fact. He did not disprove any of the statements regarding medicine, rather he used the trick of making it appear so obviously false that it didn't need to be explained away at all.

Another something I noticed, almost all of his sources(at least the ones dealing with the most questionable information) are from books with authors who share O'Shea's opinion.

The rise in "ADD" and "ADHD" may very well be caused by TV and other electronic stimulation. Children's games, television programs and the like are all based on trying to keep a child interested for a long period of time(that's why mothers park their kids in front of a screen, they want some undisturbed "me" time). Producers of children's TV shows are well aware of the fact that young children(especially boys) have a short attention span and will soon grow bored of a slow moving plot or long story, so they make TV shows such as Sesame Street that have a 30 second clip using singing and flashing pictures to keep the child entertained then switch it to a different themed set of pictures and flashing lights. Even when there are parts of a children's TV show with plots or a story they are kept short and simple. Every point or plot point in the story is spelled out at least twice rather than forcing a child to learn to pay attention to what people say the first time and figure things out themselves.

Computer and video games do the same for older children. Instead of children riding bikes, and then learning how to fix them when their bikes break, they play a game where you don't have to work hard or think hard to achieve a goal. Instead of going fishing and learning how to use logic and scientific reasoning skills to find out what kind of lure to use where, on what kind of day to catch a certain kind of fish( a process which can take a lot of patience and focus), they catch a fish on their computer game by pressing a button fast enough. I could make up more examples but I think you get the picture.

Instead of forcing a child to learn to pay attention or follow through with something, our multimedia culture caters to laziness and instant gratification. Most TV and Video games are enemies of our children that should be fought, not friends we pay to babysit our kids.