The dissident voice, or truther community, has always been heavily scrutinized, ridiculed, and considered to be the lesser, ignorant, extremist element of society, where fringe believers of a vast sea of conspiracy theories, and seemingly outrageous claims about our reality gravitate toward and propagate. And because of a persistent smear campaign — meticulously maintained across all mass, centralized media sources since time immemorial — that keeps these curious, questioning, researching, investigative minds segmented and ostracized from the mainstream narrative, it’s only too easy to cast anything and anyone who dares to challenge orthodoxy, doctrine, and established paradigm into the same bin.
I believe it may be of great benefit to us all if we pause and have a good look over there, once in a while. In the modern age, you’d be surprised at the impressive quality of people hanging out on this side of the debate — especially if you’ve been polarized by lifelong, systemic indoctrination, programs, and conditioning that have all but suppressed your capacity for independent, critical thinking.
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
~ Aristotle
Rightfully so, it is absolutely essential to scrutinize and objectively examine wild and untested claims of those who have the loudest voices and the largest platforms, but it must be approached with equanimity, and without prejudice, challenging both the corporate, centralized, long-established powers-that-be of our famed, coveted, praised, trusted institutions — as well as the so-called crazies.
Somewhere in the middle, amongst the tattered egos and shattered illusions, we may discover the truth of all this.
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
~ Mark Twain
Unfortunately, what we have today is an egregious abuse and persistent overreach of power from governments and the chosen few who own, dominate and operate with extreme prejudice the trusted, vaunted, massively populated forums, wherein we clumsily attempt to explore the many challenging, confusing, misunderstood aspects of the concerns of the world. In these chaotic, adolescent, free-for-all arenas, where proof of identity is optional and anonymity is preferred, nothing of consequence or substance is ever achieved. What’s worse, the blatant use of algorithms, automated bot accounts, disinformation, and misinformation campaigns and advertising further sullies the sensemaking capabilities of the audience, and the utility of the medium of choice.
The exodus to alternative services only divides the populace further (and observe how the industry behemoths are reining in and squashing those smaller competitors), as echo-chambers and choir-preaching efforts serve only to steel biased arguments, while polarizing hearts and minds, supplanting reason and rationality for tribalism and emotionality.
It’s a lose-lose scenario, and we must dare to be more alert and aware than we are primal, fearful, and reactive in this transitional era; the rules of divide and conquer always favor the controllers and manipulators. Do we really want them to continue writing and rewriting history on our behalf?
“Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work.”
~ Adrienne Rich
Eyes open. Educate yourself on a broad array of topics, especially those which are pressing, relevant, or drawing you toward them in the world right now. While it isn’t necessary to go deeply into any particular rabbit hole, it is only respectful to life that we come to grips with that which exists beyond the curated, controlled narratives of our time.
Solvitur ambulando