Meaningless Data

1. On Information Manipulation: a Warning

The importance paid informational access is over stressed in relation to the actual ability to digests its significance. Data, taken out of context, lacks meaning and leads to erroneous assumptions regarding absolutes. Machine algorithms do not think. The computer has been marketed as the savior of the technological society. Instead, the computer skews balance by encouraging blind acceptance of the mountains of often meaningless data, disgorged by electronic media and absorbed by consumers. An opportunist would be ill-advised not to exploit those so limited as to believe being buried alive means freedom. Public education stresses operation over enabling students to actually question validity. Questions are kept to facts. Intuition is a threat. Idiots are allowed free reign. This situation progressively worsens by increased reliance of computers in the classroom. Interpersonal skills and intellectual ability are compromised by the lack of human interaction in understaffed schools. A computer cannot think, or respond creatively. However, computers are cheaper and less demanding than real teachers. A computer does not strike, or require medical benefits. Computers are easier to discard and replace. Meanwhile, the wealthy mostly send their children to private schools, which actually educate. Public high schools have become adolescent daycare centers. Rote memorization is no substitute for actually learning and stimulating thought. One must know the right questions. The educated elites generally understand the situation, but few have motivation or wish their positions compromised to upset the status quo. The system provides nicely for those people. Why bite the hand that feeds? Informed decisions prevent one from becoming a tool. Instincts can be valuable, but sometimes logically flawed. True education and life experience enable one to tell reality from fallacy. One must understand self-motivation and knowledge to successfully combat emotional manipulation. This could be considered the antitheses of docility. The chains that bind are made of bits and bytes of meaningless data. One must know more than just to question. Blind questioning is the providence of rebels. A rebel is only a slave with delusions of freedom. Rebellion might offer fertile ground for independent thought, but most rebels are mere tools to those they despise. Rebels have always made effective examples. Their nullification keeps the herd in line. Effort must be expended beyond revolt. Thought is required for true progression. One must consider the practical. Idealism is the dead-end prevention of substantive change. Fluidity does not come easily to a society made rigid by the dictates of herd-morality.
An old cliche states "truth is subjective." Those truths applicable to oneself must be determined, along with those greater. The definitions may be supplied externally. The individual must learn and acknowledge those greater truths, thereby determining their own place in its scheme. Powerlessness must be seen and dealt with accordingly. Most just turn a blind eye. Lacking context, information may be manipulated to ensnare those unwilling or unable to determine its uses. Gains and loses must be appropriately assessed for accurate conclusions regarding content. Forced reliance upon interpreters must be resisted on every level. Corporate media is a mouthpiece for capital interests, and will always reflect this stance. Sounding educated does not make one intelligent. Discourse is often the path to truth. Its divisive effect is uncontrolled and therefore discouraged by those with something to lose. An objectionable or even repugnant notion may stimulate far greater than the comfortable or agreeable. Of course, this should not be confused with agitation techniques employed by propaganda. One must question oneself, or be content with fear and ignorance. Unfortunately, academia is among the worst places to look for guidance. Cloistered, pretentious and even parasitic, academia is dogmatic to the extreme of stupidity. Doctorates are all products. Generalization is frowned upon and esteemed less than compartmentalized specialization. Linkages remain unseen or are ignored, resulting in incorrect or incomplete conclusions. Big money has invaded academic circles, thereby directing its course and encouraging ignorance beyond the unprofitable. The arrogance is also sickening: academia digs its own grave. Their increasing irrelevance is amusing.
Knowledge is valuable when utilized alongside wisdom and insight for properly understanding its significance. Misplaced information leads to a poorly substituted refuge of lies and egotistical projections. Limits are created where none exist, such as the political spectrum and laws. Blind adoption binds one in chains. Exploitation is easy. The fleeting false path is best left untrodden. The enemies of self-determination will eventually begin to believe their own lies, and wither by their power. The battle may be won without lifting a finger. The self will overcome the dictates of herd and authority by discovering its own truths. Morality rarely has the best interests of anything beyond the herd. Passivity over independence; equality over individuality; acceptance over thought; stagnation over advancement; indeed, death over life are its dictates. These abominations may be resisted easily by an act of will, then vanquished. Freedom is thinking: let that be your light through the darkness. The dawn will reveal little substance, for most power derives from instilled belief with little basis. The desperate remainder, failing this task, will be easily dealt with one way or another, by those who have seen night fall and the day break.

2. Technology dulls the intellect and facilitates the lowest common denominator by several means. First, the species is isolated from the base physical world. The anti-natural has superceded the natural by its allure of security and comfort. The weak survive. This state may not always be maintained, and could lead to unpleasant consequences for those unable to cope with anything else. Second, the playing field is leveled. The exceptional are made equal with the mediocre. Striving has become equivalent with surviving. Both are weakened in this process, by confusing the aims and goals. Third, technology provides a medium for dissemination stimuli with little or negative value. A million theatrical deaths discount the reality, thereby making it both palatable and potable. Anything may be reduced to its market value. The above three arguments may be only slightly restated, regarding politics or Christianity. Both have been the subject of past wars. Will technology be the scapegoat for future conflicts? Perverted by the anti-natural, warfare is the process of natural selection among the human herd animal by ensuring the strong will always weaken and thereby eventually become superceded. Removing causes would not end war. New justifications would arise or be created. In mass, humans are cyclically violent. Of course, the elimination of the herd might be an entirely different matter. We really like killing each other, but the instincts regarding war might be lessened in scale (if not intensity). Feuding is less nauseating. Physically killing someone is far more personal than collateral damage. One must have the courage to face, even embrace, their own destructive drives. The herd mentality would have no influence over such individuals. Heroes are no longer needed, only created for propaganda purposes. The genuine article needs returning in every thinking individual, rather than servile machines. Extinction is a deserved potential for those failing this task.
Refuse to be a lemming!

3. Pity those who speak with another's voice; feel sorrow for those heads filled only with the thoughts of influence; mourn for wasted potential; never trust. These types are dangerous tools, not unlike a spinning saw blade. Their reasoning abilities have been discarded, and may be manipulated even against self-interest and preservation. In fact, numbers should be exploited for maximum advantage: six of one, half dozen of another. Their choice has been the herd, but the ends can differ. Their conditioning is fertile ground for those possessing proper means and methods. Those seizing upon populist notions have an inkling of the technique. Greater success requires more contempt. The individual must learn the skills for resisting and even employing propaganda. Social conditioning is just another term for long range propaganda susceptibility; a preconditioning for the actual goals. Any image must mirror the original for greatest acceptance. New notions or fads may be required to overcome inertia. Familiarity will receive less critical attention, and may be unconsciously absorbed. Cosmetics and semantics are crucial. Short attention spans will increase the likelihood. The idea will be regarded eternal. A seed of doubt may be planted to weaken both state and herd. Popular ideals can be vivisected in the same manner the opposition was refuted. Glass may prove more valuable whole than smashing it. Destruction can be satisfying!
Similar approaches have largely failed by becoming co-opted by selling out to big money interests. A new trend will simply be bought. The old will not be considered worthy of such attention, only existing in its background niche. The highest bid is not always the best. Capitalism provides avenues for which Soviet dissidents would have bartered their souls. One must understand promotion and saturation for maximum advantage in all things.

4. Computers can be an important and useful tool. Care must be taken to avoid seeing more than a binary sequence of 1s and 0s. The motivations and gains expected by the programmers warrants questioning. Their failings are another important consideration. Even the best simulations are incomplete. Besides mathematics (usually unapplied), computer literacy curriculums emphasize only operation and programming languages. Understanding is crucial, but the question seems forgotten. The computer should be regarded akin to a hammer. Use both wisely.

5. Officially sponsored rebellion is the market response to unsanctioned rebellious impulses. Profit may be gained by this approach. Art students are employed. Musicians are kept busy. Otherwise, official rebellion accomplish little. Unfortunately, unapproved rebellion serves to create new trends. Opposed to mere defilement, true power is refusing to acknowledge imposed constraints and limitations. A law is made to be ignored, not broken. This notion may prove unsettling for some. Authoritarian sentiments operate both ways: some people crave domination. As an example, mainstream environmentalism views the planet as a series of loses and gains. Dissatisfied with lukewarm moderation, monkeywrench environmentalism seeks the further step, such as destroying logging equipment and torching research facilities, thereby making these operations unprofitable. Despite its charms, such actions generally lead nowhere. The perpetrators are arrested and criminally portrayed. Their crimes are made examples, and their damage is covered by insurance. A false conclusion is promulgated: the opposite of criminals must be supported, lest anarchy prevail. False cognition is rampant. Instead, let the car rust on its own while building with stone. Inaction destroys. The planet will survive humanity. Conservation and other delaying actions only encourage the same old consumptive patterns. Aluminum cans will not disappear from landfills. Some future enterprise will mine the trash. Altering the old will only prolong the inevitable. The mechanisms for shaping events are only useful for combat, not peaceful change, and their uses have already been determined. Forging new tools will only make the job harder. The path of least resistance is taken for optimal effect. Either way, passive or active destruction will strike those who deserve it.

6. On linear thinking:

For any system, the sum of its parts is different from the whole, not merely greater. Fallacies adopted by linear thinking result in failure to comprehend complex systems. Linear (or very simple non-linear) systems exist almost exclusively on paper. The remainder are special instances of a more general case. Except for very simple cases, mathematically, a system with more than two interacting bodies has no exact solution. Values are always approximate and dependant upon method. Larger systems produce perturbations. Superposition will only simplify linear cases. Conspiracies rarely succeed for this same reason. A maxim for power: events must be reacted to appropriately and exploited for maximum advantage. However, the illusion of conspiracy can serve a useful mask for inadequacies and portrayal of greater power. It's simple to claim responsibility after the fact. An image has been promoted equivalent to reality. The territory is not the map. One may exploit those failing to see otherwise, which is basic advertising principle. Linear thinking sells by reduction. Acceptance is a learned response become automatic. This cornerstone may be undermined. The population will not be educated. Most do not wish to listen. Simply use that which has been provided to different ends. Carpe Diem.
One might choose following general trends to their obvious conclusion, then insert its undoing or undermining. Be mindful. The longer lasting trends are most entrenched and difficult to influence. Random variables may intercede. One may see the proverbial forest, but the details may prove elusive. At this time, too few possess breadth. The whole is lost. Larger trends, including deficiencies in one’s opponents tools, should serve as a guide for effective action. Victory is always dependant upon resources. Rigidity must be avoided, while celebrating uncertainty. Delusions are for tools. Manipulation is easy. Even a simpleton can create propaganda. The system is vulnerable and can be brought down. The fall can be directed. The ease may prove laughable.

7. A Short Lesson:

The map is not the place; the place is not the map. Fluidity in thought and opinion are important, but only when worthwhile. Symbolism can obscure truth. The image has been promoted over substance: so be it.

8. Crackdowns are the result of policy decisions and past indecision, which often betrays weakness. Panic becomes bureaucratically manifested. Once the media spotlight has been lifted, remaining repression may prove a useful indicator of the extent the power elite are teetering. Too stupid, the upper classes are unable to determine cause. Only recognizing effect, these sort blindly stumble about a dark room. Their own beliefs are so often affirmed, by those paid to do so, that reality is obscured. Euphemisms, statistics, lies and delusions are employed to ease impact. The first gulf war was an “operation”. Their media shows no peace demonstrations, therefore acceptance is universal. The unemployment rate is real. War is sanitary. Deaths are only theatrical. Arabs have no reason to hate the United States. The 9-11 hijackers were Iraqi. Ordinary Iraqi love the U.S. It’s not about oil. The U.S. could easily beat the North Koreans. The economy is “in a jobless recovery.” We live in a democracy. “My ass is too fat,” rather than “I’m a parasite.” Everything else is fluffy and warm. The present is eternal.
The corporate-government propaganda machine always play to their numbers. Since, in a capitalist society, everything boils down to money, then everything else boils down to figures. This fundamental error is among the greatest flaws in modern thought (or what passes for it). Never before has unity been so diffuse, nor mentalities so grossly similar in self-interested mediocrity. The players are too caught up in self absorption. The actors are now living their roles. The world is a prop. The curtain will fall.
9. Never permit or allow the trains to arrive on time. Efficiency is the enemy of personal empowerment. Singapore anyone?

10a. On Military Propaganda and Civilian Order:

Televised warfare makes the remote horrors of war accessible, though surreal. Killing is trivialized by transforming three-dimensional life into a two dimensional image. Still, cameras do have an impact for the opposition by bringing the war home. Perhaps the audience may still relate to those familiar components. Military censors have learned to limit graphic content on a personal scale (unless highlighting a supposed enemy atrocity), while emphasizing bombing runs (which appear like advanced video games). Only indoctrinated reporters are allowed full access. The corporate media colludes to present the desired image. The aftermath is further limited to enemy surrenders and toppling monuments to megalomaniac. Positive photo opportunities measure success. The corporate media never shows footage of American troops gunning down civilians. The domestic civilian population becomes desensitized to official brutality on all levels by bulk exposure of limited content. Reading is required to dig deeper. The over-worked do not have the time. Many products of public education do not access or have the skills to discern credibility. One dead enemy soldier is pretty much like another. Eventually, even dead Americans cease to matter. Direct experience is lacking. Cops are supposed to beat prisoners. Unity is promoted by lowest common denominator jingoistic drumbeats and everyone can feel good about killing. Techniques are constantly improving. The propaganda mill learns from past mistakes. Vietnam will be the last public relations disaster. In addition to being handed the 9-11 attacks, the “War on Terrorism” is much more sophisticated. This campaign reflects fear. The Iraq War, a separate sub-campaigns, is vulnerable because it made tangible promises, like Iraqi glee and massive stockpiles of banned weapons. The financial cost was not admitted. Political propaganda is always second-rate compared to the propaganda of the machine. In this age, politicians do not create lasting verbal worlds. They like the sound of their own voice too much. Victories must be quick and limited to appear decisive. The first Gulf War was the result of an efficient war machine. The second gulf war is the anti-thesis of efficient. The regimes handling of Iraq is laughable. Politicians cannot do the job of technicians. In a technological society, political supremacy is an indicator of systemic breakdown. Cultural turbulence is spawned by the stupidity of leaders. As a class, leaders are best negated by their own actions. Propaganda specifically facilitates control, and extends beyond immediate uses. It influences, but does not create.

10b. After the Vietnam war, the military finally regained acceptance by being blurred with the increasingly militarized police. They became police while being trained for the ultimate war. The War on Drugs is fought with actual troops. (We all can agree how successful that has been.) Mass Murderers are hunted down by the military. The ruling elite miss the good old days of the cold war. Finally, like mana from heaven, the tragic deaths of September 11 were exploited to maximum advantage in all things. A light martial law decree was enacted with the USA PATRIOT Act, which allows the government to spy on civilians and detain American citizens without trial except by military tribunal. Immigrants from Muslim countries are being detained just like the Japanese during World War II. Never again has come again. Few member of congress even bother to read fascistic legislation before casting their votes. The U.S. Congress has abdicated, and weakened the federal courts and the states in the process. Drunk with power, the regime took a big step towards outright fascism. The Oklahoma City Bombing was an opportunity, but the World Trade Centers were a bonanza. A society dulled by diversionary stimuli may be easily traumatized by media saturation. Too many tuned into the nightmare. Too few turned it off. The frightened more readily accept the police state. Many simply enjoy being dominated. Policy had already been crafted to exploit the inevitable. A foreign group was eventually going to attack the U.S. mainland. The population only cares about itself. The same methods developed and employed during the cold war have been turned to other, more immediate uses. Propaganda is freedom! Stalin's KGB would be proud, even while superceded. The secret police are unnecessary in the streets. A wounded population stays indoors. In 2002, people on the west coast believed themselves in danger from the actions of the Washington D.C. sniper. Meanwhile, the opposition only squabbles over its piece of the greater lie. Nothing concrete exists to rise above, only ideals and economics. The likes of Robert Oppenheimer will never be seen again, only unfairly accused dupes like Leonard Peltier. Status above and beyond the childish whining of privileged children will not be found in a decadent society. Those sorts deserve a bullet, but their position ensures the opposite. Meanwhile, the rest rot. Control is easy to maintain without significant opposing leadership. Figureheads make good target practice. The best and worst are made equal when nothing exists for which to fight. Pre-packaged superficialities only deserve a tired yawn. The underlying support structure is another matter. One must see under the shiny veneer. The satisfaction alone is worth the trouble. Empty alternatives mean nothing. The party line is only so much tinsel. The sublime path is following ones own destiny, not cheering celebrations of slaughter. The enemy’s propaganda is worth ignoring, thereby putting its purveyors out of work. Their kind deserves and requires obsolescence, just like their jack-booted forbearers.

1995-1997, 2003