The Next Great Con

[claire_58]

The on going multi-ring circus that portrays the world events and fills our lives with fear, passion, and distraction, is sometimes so all pervasive that we take it as reality. The stories are usually baed on something real but they are manipulated to promote specific ideas and beliefs. Various lenses are on offer to shape those belief in ways that serve a variety of ends that are not explicit. The numerous rings  are filled with spectacles like the war in Ukraine or the Mid east or variously flavoured crises political, social, or environmental. Whatever we may choose to believe about what is being portrayed, we take this ongoing spectacle as real and rarely think about the circus masters who arrange it for us.

 

On some occasions there are events and spectacles where the masks slip, or the scenery of the circle is shoddy, or the story that is told is such an outrageous mismatch of what we are actually experiencing that it’s shocking. But there are lots of rings and even if we see the scam and point to it we find that the rest of the audience is still mesmerized by some other spectacle in some other ring and can spare very little attention to the slippage. 

 

Sometimes if we are watching we can see the whole show in a circle being shut down and another show being hastily erected to take its place. We get a rare glimpse behind the scenes and we see that the circus masters are not monolithic. The conflicting views of world events are stories that are stirred up and supported by different factions. Now is one of those times. 

 

Look carefully and you can see the show called “Climate Change” being dismantled and moved out to be replaced by the one called “The AI Future.”

 

Climate Change, specifically anthropogenic climate change, has been consistently portrayed as an imminent danger that requires sacrifice by the masses and increased power and social control for the political classes. Climate change theatre has involved massive international conferences that accomplished nothing. The action has been largely performative and is typically aimed at amping up the fear factor, forcing restrictions on ordinary people, and leaving the wealthy to enjoy their private jets and luxury yachts. 

 

The climate change story passed its pull date as the hypocrisy of the ruling class became more and more apparent. Competing voices have questioned and reexamined everything from the foundational science to the proposed responses. Many people lost interest but more importantly there's another faction of the ruling classes taking over. 

 

Watch closely and you can see the globalists and the Professional Management Class (PMC) who used climate change as an opportunity to gallivant around the world and show off at international events for the last 30 years losing their grip on power. Between climate change hypocrisy and Covid19 the globalists fumbled their pitch for totalitarian control. They are on the defensive. The multi-billion dollar gaslighting campaign about mass migration, gender-bending, and yes, climate change, are all being rejected by the mass of ordinary people. 

 

A competing class of tech billionaires are using the rising tide of populism to gain control. The tech bros want AI and space travel and all the science fantasy things they were promised as geeky kids immersed in the space fiction worlds that have been the main themes of futurism for a few generations now. The idea that we should reduce fuel consumption in order to reduce atmospheric pollution is not compatible with their goals. The AI future, mining the astroid belt, and going to the Mars, requires massive amounts of power. Climate Change is out.

 

The left has been played. Some of the “true believers” will cling to their ideological articles of faith until their dying days. But  great mass of ordinary people are done, done, done. How badly the unholy manipulation of empathy will rebound on gays, black and brown people, and environmentalists remains to be seen. How many people are able to actually see what happened and what is happening is another open question. 

 

The spectre of global totalitarianism seems to have faded but has it? There’s a new show on. A new reason to take control. Are you ready for the next great con?

 

 

 

Comments

where have all the flowers gone?

[kallianeira]

I hate that song, but on first exposure at about age 12 it seemed to say something worthwhile. About cycles. Futility. Evanescent values.

At 18/19 I was finding out about climate change, and it wasn't only left, it was left of field. It felt like secret fringe knowledge that must be evangelised to the world. And I think that aspect created greater emotional attachment to the cause.
After 30 years one did begin to find counterarguments, but not by staying on the same political field.

New science fantasy topics don't contain that secret knowledge angle, but I imagine they likewise have a certain emotional hook for the susceptible.

"How many people are able to actually see what happened and what is happening"?
I hope you have a more sanguine view of this than I.

It feels relevant that yesterday I was having coffee with a septuagenarian friend who told a few stories about the food bank where she volunteers throwing out customers perceived as troublemakers. This food bank is meant to be a secular charity activity and the cases mentioned did not involve violence or verbal abuse by customers. In one case the trigger was one of the volunteers doing something perilously close to sexual harassment (he was a former engineer, if it helps explain the mindset) and when the customer complained *she* was banned!
The worst to my mind was the time in 2020 when a guy entered without a face mask and declined to don one. The same retired engineer and another man literally took him by the arms and carried him outside. Somehow this was perceived as funny, or heroic, or something else more positive than I can conceive. There was *NO* recognition that there are people who have valid reason not to wear a mask. When I mentioned that the narrative went on as though I had said nothing.

You want people to see through manipulation?
Gods help us all.

Re: where have all the flowers gone?

[claire_58]

Kallianeira,
I've never understood that song. It seems to be a lament about the thoughtless way people do the things people have always done. Is there an implied suggestion that they've been manipulated? Maybe.

I don't expect many to see the manipulations but I'm calling it out anyway. Seeing beyond the distraction and fear porn, beyond the spectacle, is the first step to -- well, to all the other things I want to write about: responding to the predicaments that shape our lives in useful healthy ways; reclaiming our power; co-create our own reality; building a future worth having . . .

I've been resisting doing this work for a long time because the insanity you describe at the food bank is so so common; because I don't really believe anyone will hear, notice, or pay attention; because calling out the BS is dangerous. Being ignored is the least of my worries. It's being exposed for "wrong-think" I find frightening.

Re: where have all the flowers gone?

[kallianeira]

The caution is prudent.

It is important work though: I see it as a trade between assisting others who wish to be more aware but lack facts and yes, risking (inviting?) one's own censure. Then, I think that, as in Orwell, one can be wrongfully exposed (set up, scapegoated) as well. Might as well have good reason if it happens. (Say I boldly. Let's see if I can walk my own talk.)