Weekend Rebel Science Excursion - 18

Some of my best friends are germs

Of all the life forms that lived on the planet prior to humans, many have become extinct by way of five mass extinction events.

This post considers the Anthropogenic Sixth Mass Extinction underway now.

Scientists are beginning to learn that microbes and viruses are not biological enemies, as previously thought, rather they are essential for our survival.

Further, recently scientists are finding out that microbes and viruses also have a beneficial impact on the atmosphere and the oceans.

The atmosphere and oceans which we are severely damaging (see e.g. The Fog of Lore and New Continent Found - Garbage Gyre II - 5).

Those microbes and viruses even take part in the regulation ecosystems we depend upon for survival:

A major question in ecology has centered on the role of microbes in regulating ecosystem function. Now, in research published ahead of print in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Brajesh Singh of the University of Western Sydney, Australia, and collaborators show how changes in the populations of methanotrophic bacteria can have consequences for methane mitigation at ecosystem levels.
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The selection hypothesis states that a small number of key species, rather than all species present determine key functions in ecosystems.

(Microbial Changes Regulate Function of Ecosystems, emphasis added). This is important because it indicates that damage to a few key microbial species by the varied and prolific pollutions of human civilization can cause widespread damage to the Earth even when we are damaging only a few key tiny species.

Thus, the egregious and shameful damage to the atmosphere and to the oceans could be far more dangerous than petroleum man has even yet considered:

There are an estimated 10³¹ viruses on Earth. That is to say: there may be a hundred million times more viruses on Earth than there are stars in the universe. The majority of these viruses infect microbes, including bacteria, archaea, and microeukaryotes, all of which are vital players in the global fixation and cycling of key elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. These two facts combined—the sheer number of viruses and their intimate relationship with microbial life—suggest that viruses, too, play a critical role in the planet’s biosphere.
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Furthermore, researchers analyzing oceanic life have discovered many novel viruses that defy much of the conventional wisdom about what a virus is and what a virus does.

Among these discoveries are “giant” marine viruses, with capsid cross-sections that can exceed 500 nm, an order of magnitude larger than prototypical viruses. Giant viruses infect eukaryotic hosts, including the protist Cafeteria and unicellular green algae. These viruses also carry genomes larger than nearly all previously identified viral types, in some cases upwards of 1 million base pairs. In both marine and nonmarine contexts, researchers have even identified viruses that can infect giant viruses, the so-called virophages ...
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It is apparent that we still have much to learn about the rich and dynamic world of ocean microbes and viruses. For example, a liter of seawater collected in marine surface waters typically contains at least 10 billion microbes and 100 billion viruses—the vast majority of which remain unidentified and uncharacterized.

(An Ocean of Viruses, emphasis added). Clearly the Monsanto and Big Pharma wars against microbes and viruses have been murderously inept and ill advised (The Criminally Insane Epoch Arises).

Microbiologists recently have indicated that microbes, in virus format, may be a helpful part of our immune system (PNAS Paper: Bacteriophage Provide Immunity; Recorded Discussion: Are Viruses Part of Our Immune System?).

Microbes may even be essential to some brain activity as well (see Brain Microbial Populations and Microbial Languages: Rehabilitation of the Unseen).

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

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The index into the following video of Dr. Bonnie Bassler is here.

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When Indoctrination Is Enlightenment - 4

"Don't say that about Mommie"

On this date, in 2009, Dredd Blog began a series that deals with a blend or mixture of cultural amnesia with a cultural trance.

The subject matter of that series has not been neglected, rather, it has been placed in many other Dredd Blog System posts and series (see e.g. The Queens of Stalingrad, The Queens of Stalingrad - 2, and Viva Egypt - 2).

Today we revisit the subject matter of that series with the military NSA spying on America in mind:

Not enough relevant officials were aware of the size and depth of an unprecedented surveillance program started under President George W. Bush, let alone signed off on it, a team of federal inspectors general found.

The Bush White House pulled in a great quantity of information far beyond the warrantless wiretapping previously acknowledged, the IGs reported. They questioned the legal basis for the effort but shielded almost all details on grounds they're still too secret to reveal.

(When Indoctrination Is Enlightenment). That "Spying on America" issue was discussed here on Dredd Blog in this series which began four years ago --as shown by the quote above.

That illicit spying habit has only gotten worse (Spying on Brazil, Clarke on Hastings, Huffington Post on Hastings).

Not only that, the trance-like state induced by MOMCOM propaganda has been continually discussed in several Dredd Blog series:

The premise for this series is that propaganda from officialdom, whether from the international corporate epigovernment, or from federal and state governments, does damage to the minds of those who cannot resist it.

This series spans from Etiology of Social Dementia (9/18/09) through Etiology of Social Dementia - 8 (12/7/12).

The use of "etiology" in the title simply indicates that the series looks for indications of the source or origin of dementia.

(Etiology of Social Dementia - 9). It is quite natural and proper for every human being to want everything to be rosy, to think the best of others, and to want a Utopian existence (The Common Good - 2).

The problem is, among other things, that the Utopian Ideal is a result which must be produced by human thought and action, because it will not evolve in and of itself (The Evolution of Anthropogenic Extinction by Catastrophe).

When Simon & Garfunkel sang "they've all gone to look for America" they sang about an America worth looking for, not the monstrosity we see today (A Tale of Coup Cities - 4) which is the product of heinous witch doctor voodoo ideology (Deja Voodoo).

Much of our "social awareness" is actually nothing more than rank indoctrination (compare Exceptional American Propaganda Inspired NAZI Goebbels with The Ways of Bernays).

In other words MOMCOM's version of "American History" is a work of fiction that continues "breaking down the distance between right and wrong" (Bob Dylan) rather than increasing that distance (A History of Oil Addiction - 4).

Many of us have been impaired by that indoctrination (Stockholm Syndrome on Steroids? - 2) which has only served to increase ignorance among us:

Agnotology "is the study of culturally-induced ignorance or doubt ..."

(Agnotology: The Surge). The interesting dynamic pointed out in that post is that a culture of indoctrination, which is certainly the basis of American media, leads to a powerful situation that Sigmund Freud wrote about:

I would not say that such an attempt to apply psychoanalysis to civilized society would be fanciful or doomed to fruitlessness.
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"Don't say that about Momcom"

The diagnosis of collective neuroses, moreover, will be confronted by a special difficulty. In the neurosis of an individual we can use as a starting point the contrast presented to us between the patient and his environment which we assume to be normal. No such background as this would be available for any society similarly affected; it would have to be supplied in some other way. And with regard to any therapeutic application of our knowledge, what would be the use of the most acute analysis of social neuroses, since no one possesses power to compel the community to adopt the therapy? In spite of all these difficulties, we may expect that one day someone will venture upon this research into the pathology of civilized communities.

(Social Dementia Causes Heated Misunderestimations - 3, quoting Freud). The Freudian study of culture and civilization, in the sense of its sanity or lack thereof (The Peak of Sanity - 3) has not yet officially come about for some reason.

Nevertheless, the cultural amygdala (Hypothesis: The Cultural Amygdala) produced by our culture is collectively within all of us, so to moderate it we have to self medicate by resisting the constant attack from Bullshitistan.

Otherwise we will have to follow the MOMCOM Wartocracy down into the further doom of America, while crossing The Toxic Bridge To Everywhere (see also The Paranoia of the Superrich and Superpowerful).

The previous post in this series is here.

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MOMCOM? ... or America by Simon & Garfunkel:

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Deja Voodoo

On May 13, 2009, the Dredd Blog post "Voodoo Interrogations - Torture" took a look at the Voodoo ideology the Bush II regime.

Recent investigations and/or reports have soundly condemned those practices, as Dredd Blog has also pointed out (see On The Recent Condemnation of Torture and On The Recent Condemnation of Torture - 2).

The Obama regime has kept many of the Bush II officials, so the voodoo continues in the form of the greatest civil rights violations against the American people in the history of the United States of America.

Yesterday, we updated the information on the progress of the ACLU lawsuit taking place in the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York (ACLU vs. Clapper, Alexander, Hagel, Holder, and Mueller - 2, cf. ACLU vs. Clapper, Alexander, Hagel, Holder, and Mueller).

In the United States the military NSA is spying on all Americans, and has been spying on "every square inch" of the planet for over a decade:

If you made a phone call today or sent an e-mail to a friend, there's a good chance what you said or wrote was captured and screened by the country's largest intelligence agency. The top-secret Global Surveillance Network is called Echelon, and it's run by the National Security Agency and four English-speaking allies: Canada, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

The mission is to eavesdrop on enemies of the state: foreign countries, terrorist groups and drug cartels. But in the process, Echelon's computers capture virtually every electronic conversation around the world.

How does it work, and what happens to all the information that's gathered? A lot of people have begun to ask that question, and some suspect that the information is being used for more than just catching bad guys.

(Footage of satellite; person talking on cell phone; fax machine; ATM being used; telephone pole and wires; radio towers)

KROFT: (Voiceover) We can't see them, but the air around us is filled with invisible electronic signals, everything from cell phone conversations to fax transmissions to ATM transfers. What most people don't realize is that virtually every signal radiated across the electromagnetic spectrum is being collected and analyzed.

How much of the world is covered by them?

Mr. MIKE FROST (Former Spy): The entire world, the whole planet--covers everything. Echelon covers everything that's radiated worldwide at any given instant.

KROFT: Every square inch is covered.

Mr. FROST: Every square inch is covered.

(A Tale of Coup Cities - 4). There is no doubt that certain sections of the U.S. government, specifically the military, has lost its mind and gone over the edge into tyranny.

This was foretold by those who had watched tyranny grow, and who knew that allowing accountability to exit the realms of government would prove disastrous:

"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." - James Madison
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“Experience has shown that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.” – Thomas Jefferson

(see Dredd Blog "Quotes" page). And so here we are with a military that has pulled off a policy coup while the guardians (The Queens of Stalingrad - 2) take off their clothes (Is The Empress Taking Off Her Clothes?).

The militarization of the civilian police forces adds greatly to the danger:

Between about the early 1980s and today, American police forces have undergone some substantial changes. Most notable among these is the ascent of the SWAT team. Once limited to large cities and reserved for emergency situations like hostage takings, active shooters, or escaped

Military NSA Version 2.0

fugitives, SWAT teams today are primarily used to serve warrants on people suspected of nonviolent, consensual drug crimes.

The numbers are staggering. In the early 1980s, there were about 3,000 SWAT "call-outs" per year across the entire country. By 2005, there were an estimated 50,000. In New York City alone, there were 1,447 drug raids 1994. By 2002, eight years later, there were 5,117 -- a 350 percent increase. In 1984, about a fourth of towns between 25,000-50,000 people had a SWAT team. By 2005, it was 80 percent.

Today, the use of this sort of force is in too many jurisdictions the first option for serving search warrants instead of the last. SWAT teams today are used to break up poker games and massage parlors, for immigration enforcement, even to perform regulatory inspections.

Troubling as all of this is, the problem goes beyond SWAT teams. Too many police departments today are infused with a more general militaristic culture. Cops today are too often told that they're soldiers fighting a war, be it a war on crime, on drugs, on terrorism, or whatever other recent gremlin politicians have chosen as the enemy.

(Too Many Cops Are Soldiers Fighting a War, emphasis added). This voodoo domestic and foreign policy is just plain madness.

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ACLU vs. Clapper, Alexander, Hagel, Holder, and Mueller - 2

This series deals with the case where the ACLU is suing the military for spying on all Americans, including spying on the ACLU.

The Complaint is found in the first post (ACLU vs. Clapper, Alexander, Hagel, Holder, and Mueller).

After serving the defendants, and a lawyer appearing for them, the ACLU sent the following communication to the judge regarding a discussion at an upcoming conference.

The ACLU gives its reasons for applying for a preliminary injunction:

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Honorable William H. Pauley III
United States District Court for the
Southern District of New York
New York, NY 10007

Re: American Civil Liberties Union et at. v, Clapper et al.
Case No. 13-CV-03994 (WHP) (JLC)

Dear Judge Pauley:

On behalf of Plaintiffs, who challenge the lawfulness of the government's dragnet acquisition of "metadata" relating to every phone call made or received by residents of the United States, we write to request a premotion conference to discuss a motion for a preliminary injunction. Because the Court has already scheduled an initial conference for July 17, we respectfully request that the Court also conduct the premotion conference on that date.

By way of background, on June 5, 2013, The Guardian published a story reporting that the National Security Agency ("NSA") was "collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America's largest telecoms providers." Glenn Greenwald, NSA Collecting Phone Records of Millions of Verizon Customers Daily, Guardian, June 5, 2013, http://gu.com/p/3gc62/tw. The Guardian also published an order of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ("FISC") directing Verizon Business Network Services ("VBNS") to "produce to the [NSA] ... and continue production on an ongoing daily basis thereafter ... all call detail records or 'telephony metadata' created by Verizon for communications (i) between the United States and abroad; or (ii) wholly within the United States, including local telephone calls" over the three-month period ending on July 19, 2013.

The government has since authenticated the VBNS order. James R. Clapper, DNI Statement on Recent Unauthorized Disclosures of Classified Information (June 6, 2013), http://1.usa.gov/188X5LW. Senator Diane Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has disclosed that the VBNS order was part of a broader program that has been in place for seven years, and that similar orders have been served on all of the major telephone companies. Senator Feinstein: NSA Phone Call Data Collection in Place 'Since 2006,' Guardian, June 6,2013, http://bit.ly/13rfxdu.

As alleged in the Complaint, Plaintiffs are current and former VBNS subscribers. The VBNS order requires VBNS to turn over to the government, on an "ongoing daily basis," all metadata associated with Plaintiffs' phone calls. Under the VBNS order and predecessor orders, the government has collected detailed information about Plaintiffs' communications and stored that information in government databases. The government's past and ongoing collection of this information allows it to learn sensitive and privileged information about Plaintiffs' work and clients, and it is likely to have a chilling effect on whistIeblowers and others who might otherwise contact Plaintiffs for legal assistance.

The government's surveillance of Plaintiffs' communications is not authorized by Section 215 of the Patriot Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1861, the provision under which the VBNS order was issued, and it violates the First and Fourth Amendments. Plaintiffs have filed this suit to obtain a declaration that this surveillance is unlawful; to enjoin the government from continuing the surveillance under the VBNS order or any successor thereto; and to require the government to purge from its databases all of the call records related to Plaintiffs' communications collected pursuant to the VBNS order or any predecessor thereto.

Plaintiffs intend to file a motion for a preliminary injunction (i) directing the government to quarantine all of Plaintiffs' telephony metadata collected under the VBNS order or any predecessor or successor thereto; and (ii) barring the government from querying metadata obtained through the VBNS order using any phone number or other identifier associated with the Plaintiffs.

Preliminary relief is warranted here. The harm suffered by Plaintiffs is ongoing and irreparable. Plaintiffs are non-profit organizations engaged in public education, lobbying, and pro bono litigation concerning civil rights and civil liberties. The tracking and retention of their telephony metadata with respect to every call they make or receive is a direct and wide-ranging invasion of their constitutional right to privacy. This continuing invasion is, by itself, irreparable injury. See, e.g., Covino v. Patrissi, 967 F.2d 73, 77 (2d Cir. 1992). Equally irreparable, and equally substantial, is the injury to Plaintiffs' expressive and associational rights. See Brown v. Socialist Workers 74 Campaign Comm. (Ohio), 459 U.S. 87,96-98 (1982); Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347, 373 (1976).

Plaintiffs will also show a substantial likelihood of success on the merits. First, the surveillance under the VBNS order is not authorized by Section 215. That provision does not authorize the government to collect everything; it authorizes the collection of records that are "relevant" to authorized investigations. In addition, Section 215 authorizes the collection of "tangible things" already in existence; it does not authorize the government to order recipients to tum over records as they are generated. Indeed, as Plaintiffs will demonstrate, reading the provision to permit the latter kind of surveillance makes nonsense of the larger statutory scheme.

The surveillance under the VBNS order is also unconstitutional. The kind of information being collected by the government is highly sensitive, and its warrantless and suspicionless collection over long periods constitutes an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment. Cf United States v. Jones, 132 S. Ct. 945 (2012) (holding that tracking of location data for one individual over twenty-eight days constituted a search under the Fourth Amendment). It also violates the First Amendment by exposing private association to government scrutiny and by substantially burdening Plaintiffs' protected advocacy and expression. See Gibson v. Fla. Legis. Investigation Comm. 372 U.S. 539, 546 (1963); NAACP v. Ala. ex reI. Patterson, 357 U.S. 449, 460-61 (1958); McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Comm'n, 514 U.S. 334, 347 (1995).

Finally, the balance of hardships favors Plaintiffs' request for preliminary relief. The preliminary injunction sought by Plaintiffs would substantially mitigate the continuing violation of Plaintiffs' rights. At the same time, entry of the requested injunction would not prejudice any legitimate government interest. Should Plaintiffs not ultimately prevail, the government will be in the same position it would have been in had Plaintiffs' suit never been brought. Pending final judgment, the government can access Plaintiffs' telephony metadata, if necessary, under a proper demonstration of cause under other authorities. See, e.g., 50 U.S.c. § 1842 (authorizing pen registers in foreign intelligence investigations).

[The Judge, in response, hand printed the following order at the bottom of the letter:]

Application granted. The Court will hold a pre-motion conference in conjunction with the initial pre-trial conference, which has been rescheduled to July 25, 2013 at 12:00 P.M.

-signed: (William H. Pauley III, Judge)

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The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

On The Origin and Future of Nomads - 2

The Hope of Nomads

Regular readers know that Dredd Blog concerns itself with issues that are described as "the peak" of this and "the peak" of that.

For example, we cited to a book "The Peak of Everything" in a past post concerning some "the peak" issues.

These peak concepts spring from the reality that the size of the Earth is finite, that is, the Earth is limited in size, so that anything located on the Earth as a resource is limited, that is, it is also finite.

The Earth is not as big as Jupiter, Saturn, or the Sun, so the Earth does not have as much "stuff" as they do.

As was explained recently in a post here (The Peak of The Oil Lies - 6) civilization here on Earth is going to run out of oil because it is finite, like the Earth is finite, and when it is used up it is gone and done with.

A new thing to run out of is the subject of today's post:

Wells are drying up and underwater tables falling so fast in the Middle East and parts of India, China and the US that food supplies are seriously threatened, one of the world's leading resource analysts has warned.

In a major new essay Lester Brown, head of the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, claims that 18 countries, together containing half the world's people, are now overpumping their underground water tables to the point – known as "peak water" – where they are not replenishing and where harvests are getting smaller each year.

The situation is most serious in the Middle East. According to Brown: "Among the countries whose water supply has peaked and begun to decline are Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. By 2016 Saudi Arabia projects it will be importing some 15m tonnes of wheat, rice, corn and barley to feed its population of 30 million people. It is the first country to publicly project how aquifer depletion will shrink its grain harvest.

"The world is seeing the collision between population growth and water supply at the regional level. For the first time in history, grain production is dropping in a geographic region with nothing in sight to arrest the decline.

(Peak Water, emphasis added; cf. Global Warming & Potable Water). Everything that depends on water is, therefore, also in the same boat.

Remember the Dredd Blog posts about the things that peak (e.g. The Peak of Health And The Peak of Oil, The Peak of Sanity - 3, A Peek At The Peak Oil Catastrophe, The Peak Of The Oil Wars - 7).

Then think about the fact that we are either cosmic nomads, or we should think about becoming cosmic nomads (The Tenets of Ecocosmology).

The previous post in this series is here.

Etiology of Social Dementia - 9

"The Father of Spin"

The premise for this series is that propaganda from officialdom, whether from the international corporate epigovernment, or from federal and state governments, does damage to the minds of those who cannot resist it.

This series spans from Etiology of Social Dementia (9/18/09) through Etiology of Social Dementia - 8 (12/7/12).

The use of "etiology" in the title simply indicates that the series looks for indications of the source or origin of dementia.

In today's post let's look at a clinical, exact example so as to chronicle a robust look at the dynamics involved:

In the fall of 2007, pharmacies across the country had begun dispensing a new formulation of Eltroxin—the only thyroid hormone replacement drug approved and paid for by the government and used by tens of thousands of New Zealanders since 1973.

... the active ingredient in the drug, thyroxine, was exactly the same. Laboratory testing proved that the new formulation was bioequivalent to the old one. The only change was that the drugmaker, GlaxoSmithKline, had moved its manufacturing process from Canada to Germany, and in the process altered the drug’s inert qualities, including the tablets’ size, color, and markings.

(Worried Sick, The Scientist, emphasis added). Ok, the drug remained the same ("bioequivalent") so there should be no problems with any increased side effects, however:

Something strange was happening in New Zealand ... Within months, reports of side effects began trickling in to the government’s health-care monitoring agency. These included known side effects of the drug, such as lethargy, joint pain, and depression, as well as symptoms not normally associated with the drug or disease, including eye pain, itching, and nausea. Then, the following summer, the floodgates opened: in the 18 months following the release of the new tablets, the rate of Eltroxin adverse event reporting rose nearly 2,000-fold.

(ibid). Ok, no scientific reason for any side effects any different from before, so why the nearly "2,000 fold" increase in "side effects" then?

That is where the subject matter of this Dredd Blog series comes in:

In June, it turned out, newspapers and TV stations around the country had begun to directly attribute the reported adverse effects to the changes in the drug. Following widespread coverage of the issue, more and more patients reported adverse events to the government. And the areas of the country with the most intense media coverage had the highest rates of reported ill effects, suggesting that perhaps a little social persuasion was at play.

(ibid, emphasis added). It isn't kosher to say "propaganda" or "deceiving the public", so, note the phrase "social persuasion", used at the end of that quote (by those who just can't resist propaganda, a.k.a Blind Willie McTell News).

This Dredd Blog series has asserted that "something" which has been going strong for a century is the surprise reason people get psychologically sick --which "something" is that they are lied to, fed half-truths, and glaring untruths in quantities that do cognitive damage.

Earlier in this series Dredd Blog pointed out:

Some observers see this dementia originating in the early 20th century when government or those behind government perceived a need to control the people, but realized that they could not do it by physical means.

Thus they took to propaganda in an effort to control the minds rather than use physical control.

Eventually this led to a mega-industry of businesses whose function was to deceive the people into believing something other than the truth of events occurring around them.

(Etiology of Social Dementia). Those "some observers" have said this about propaganda:

One of the most important comments on deceit, I think, was made by Adam Smith. He pointed out that a major goal of business is to deceive and oppress the public.

And one of the striking features of the modern period is the institutionalization of that process, so that we now have huge industries deceiving the public — and they're very conscious about it, the public relations industry. Interestingly, this developed in the freest countries—in Britain and the US — roughly around time of WWI, when it was recognized that enough freedom had been won that people could no longer be controlled by force. So modes of deception and manipulation had to be developed in order to keep them under control" ...

(The Deceit Business). This Dredd Blog series has discovered the father of that business, a man who seemed to have a "what could go wrong" ideology about propaganda:

THE conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.

Our invisible governors are, in many cases, unaware of the identity of their fellow members in the inner cabinet.

They govern us by their qualities of natural leadership, their ability to supply needed ideas and by their key position in the social structure. Whatever attitude one chooses to take toward this condition, it remains a fact that in almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons — a trifling fraction of our hundred and twenty [now 320] million — who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind, who harness old social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world.
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It is the purpose of this book to explain the structure of the mechanism which controls the public mind, and to tell how it is manipulated by the special pleader who seeks to create public acceptance for a particular idea or commodity. It will attempt at the same time to find the due place in the modern democratic scheme for this new propaganda and to suggest its gradually evolving code of ethics and practice.

(A Closer Look At MOMCOM's DNA - 4, quoting Edward L. Bernays). I am sure those who have not heard about Edward L. Bernays are thinking "what a kook", he could never go anywhere with that kind of ideology.

Think again:

It is impossible to fundamentally grasp the social, political, economic and cultural developments of the past 100 years without some understanding of Bernays and his professional heirs in the public relations industry.

(The Father of Spin, a book review, PR Watch Magazine, Vol. 6 No. 2, p. 11, 1999; the book: The Father of Spin, by Larry Tye). Bernays was an American government official who inspired even the infamous NAZI propagandists (Exceptional American Propaganda Inspired NAZI Goebbels), and who is called "The Father of Spin" and of Public Relations (ibid).

He wrote the book "Propaganda", which is still used today, concerning how to deceive and/or condition the public into believing just about anything:

A group of US marketing researchers claim that brand owners can make their customers believe they had a better experience of a product or service than they really did by bombarding them with positive messages after the event. Advocates of the technique, known as "memory morphing", claim it can be used to improve customers' perceptions of products and encourage them to repeat their purchases and recommend brands to friends.

"When asked, many consumers insist that they rely primarily on their own first-hand experience with products – not advertising – in making purchasing decisions. Yet, clearly, advertising can strongly alter what consumers remember about their past, and thus influence their behaviours," he writes in his book, How Customers Think. He says that memories are malleable, changing every time they come to mind, and that brands can use this to their advantage. "What consumers recall about prior product or shopping experiences will differ from their actual experiences if marketers refer to those past experiences in positive ways," he continues.

(The Matriarch of the Matrix - 3). In politics, including political ideology, this is called "re-branding" or "changing the brand" of a politician or political party, so that the particular politician or party can be properly marketed --like a commodity.

In closing, remember that those who are trained in media dynamics today learn from the "more evolved" versions of Bernays' textbooks.

Thus, the people of New Zealand (mentioned at the beginning of this post, who got sick after they were in effect told they should be having increased side effects from taking the same drug they had always been taking) did their Pavlovian learned-behavior, and dutifully got sick.

They did so because they, like the majority of "consumers", are psychologically impaired to the point that they do not have effective control of all of their minds --thus this Dredd Blog series to help expose the dynamics about dementia imposed on the public by a little social persuasion propaganda.

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.