Philosophy Now Forum

Alexis Jacobi wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2023 1:58 pmI suggest that we notice how the present unfolding events in Israel seem to tie up the package with a neat bow. All Israeli opposition to their government, and as well to the underlying issues that all extend from the Zionist project, have been resolved in the blink of an eye. It is wise to at least consider the possibility that what has recently unfolded -- a similar intelligence breach comparable to the failure of intelligence during 9/11 (hmmmm! why does this have a similar look and feel to it?) -- is part of an operation, conducted by extremely serious people, who are acutely aware of the stakes, and are launching a mass-propaganda campaign with very specific ends in view.

promethean75 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2023 11:52 am That man has a very small penis but the testicles are perfectly formed albeit unnaturally positioned.

Fun fact: one testicle hangs lower than the other to further reduce temperature for sperm production.

Alexis Jacobi wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2023 1:58 pm That is, *they* had to displace Donald Trump, didn't they?

Walker wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2023 9:49 pm

mickthinks wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2023 7:48 pm They are beheading babies.

So we are led to believe by reports from Israel's military. Horrible if true.

That's another way of saying there is no proof ...

US President Joe Biden appeared to confirm that [that babies and toddlers had been decapitated]. In a roundtable with Jewish community leaders on Wednesday, he said: “I have been doing this a long time, I never really thought that I would see… have confirmed pictures of terrorist beheading children.”

A US administration official later clarified Biden’s remarks, telling CNN that neither Biden nor his aides had seen pictures or had received confirmed reports of children or infants having been beheaded by Hamas. The official clarified that Biden was referring to public comments from media outlets and Israeli officials. [My emphasis]

Atla wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2023 5:07 pm Yes *they* had to displace Trump, but for a rather novel reason. I watched that unrepeatable tragicomedy unfold for years.

Some presidents actively work with *them*, some presidents begrudgingly cooperate with them, some try to oppose them. Those are the "sane" options, and that's how it worked for maybe over a century. And then suddenly there was Trump, who was too nuts to even notice and comprehend this whole system in place. And even if he had understood it, he was simply too narcissistic to pay any attention to it, he simply lacked the capacity to even take *them* seriously.

So *they* were like, what the hell do we do with this guy now? We're stuck. We should just have him killed, but on second tought, that doesn't bode well in the 21st century, right? But then what?

I think they settled on getting rid of him at the end of his term. Maybe try to "steer" him towards certain things, until then.

American society has changed dramatically since A Culture of Conspiracy was first published in 2001. In this revised and expanded edition, Michael Barkun delves deeper into America's conspiracy sub-culture, exploring the rise of 9/11 conspiracy theories, the "birther" controversy surrounding Barack Obama's American citizenship, and how the conspiracy landscape has changed with the rise of the Internet and other new media.

What do UFO believers, Christian millennialists, and right-wing conspiracy theorists have in common? According to Michael Barkun in this fascinating yet disturbing book, quite a lot. It is well known that some Americans are obsessed with conspiracies. The Kennedy assassination, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the 2001 terrorist attacks have all generated elaborate stories of hidden plots. What is far less known is the extent to which conspiracist worldviews have recently become linked in strange and unpredictable ways with other "fringe" notions such as a belief in UFOs, Nostradamus, and the Illuminati. Unraveling the extraordinary genealogies and permutations of these increasingly widespread ideas, Barkun shows how this web of urban legends has spread among subcultures on the Internet and through mass media, how a new style of conspiracy thinking has recently arisen, and how this phenomenon relates to larger changes in American culture. This book, written by a leading expert on the subject, is the most comprehensive and authoritative examination of contemporary American conspiracism to date.

Barkun discusses a range of material-involving inner-earth caves, government black helicopters, alien abductions, secret New World Order cabals, and much more-that few realize exists in our culture. Looking closely at the manifestations of these ideas in a wide range of literature and source material from religious and political literature, to New Age and UFO publications, to popular culture phenomena such as The X-Files, and to websites, radio programs, and more, Barkun finds that America is in the throes of an unrivaled period of millenarian activity. His book underscores the importance of understanding why this phenomenon is now spreading into more mainstream segments of American culture.

vegetariantaxidermy wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2023 8:55 pm Has anyone else noticed that none of the wonkers on here have come up with an actual argument?

Sculptor wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2023 4:37 pm https://www.facebook.com/reel/214664208133464

mickthinks wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2023 7:48 pm

The Israeli military admitted Wednesday that it had shot and killed a Palestinian toddler in the occupied West Bank by mistake earlier this month ...

Rights groups contend the Israeli military does too little to investigate and punish its soldiers for the killing of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, creating a pattern of impunity. From here

vegetariantaxidermy wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2023 8:22 pmThat's exactly the same as systematically beheading children.

mickthinks wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2023 9:09 pm

mickthinks wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2023 7:48 pm

The Israeli military admitted Wednesday that it had shot and killed a Palestinian toddler in the occupied West Bank by mistake earlier this month ...

Rights groups contend the Israeli military does too little to investigate and punish its soldiers for the killing of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, creating a pattern of impunity. From here

vegetariantaxidermy wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2023 8:22 pmThat's exactly the same as systematically beheading children.

No, shooting infants and beheading them (systematically or otherwise0 are not exactly the same thing. That's the whole point of the exaggeration. All these killings are bad. If some seem to be worse than others, those whose job it is to generate public outrage can be expected to exploit that difference by false reporting.

I think it's important to know that and to share it.

vegetariantaxidermy wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2023 9:11 pmFunny how you have never once commented on all the atrocities your country has done and continues to do in the Middle East.

Alexis Jacobi wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2023 8:50 pm Those are some worthy observations. I struggle to image what or who *they* are. For those who are so far outside of the operations of the *system* we can only rely on third-party accounts. And then what we expose ourselves to -- for interpretation -- often seems to depend on our inner orientation. Once the speculation and imagination machine gets cranked up it is capable of coming to really strange conclusions.

There is an interesting book I read awhile back: A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America [2003, University of California] by Michael Barkun. The blurb is worth quoting:

American society has changed dramatically since A Culture of Conspiracy was first published in 2001. In this revised and expanded edition, Michael Barkun delves deeper into America's conspiracy sub-culture, exploring the rise of 9/11 conspiracy theories, the "birther" controversy surrounding Barack Obama's American citizenship, and how the conspiracy landscape has changed with the rise of the Internet and other new media.

What do UFO believers, Christian millennialists, and right-wing conspiracy theorists have in common? According to Michael Barkun in this fascinating yet disturbing book, quite a lot. It is well known that some Americans are obsessed with conspiracies. The Kennedy assassination, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the 2001 terrorist attacks have all generated elaborate stories of hidden plots. What is far less known is the extent to which conspiracist worldviews have recently become linked in strange and unpredictable ways with other "fringe" notions such as a belief in UFOs, Nostradamus, and the Illuminati. Unraveling the extraordinary genealogies and permutations of these increasingly widespread ideas, Barkun shows how this web of urban legends has spread among subcultures on the Internet and through mass media, how a new style of conspiracy thinking has recently arisen, and how this phenomenon relates to larger changes in American culture. This book, written by a leading expert on the subject, is the most comprehensive and authoritative examination of contemporary American conspiracism to date.

Barkun discusses a range of material-involving inner-earth caves, government black helicopters, alien abductions, secret New World Order cabals, and much more-that few realize exists in our culture. Looking closely at the manifestations of these ideas in a wide range of literature and source material from religious and political literature, to New Age and UFO publications, to popular culture phenomena such as The X-Files, and to websites, radio programs, and more, Barkun finds that America is in the throes of an unrivaled period of millenarian activity. His book underscores the importance of understanding why this phenomenon is now spreading into more mainstream segments of American culture.

What all this makes me think is, as I say, that we see through *darkened glass* but also that we color things with the colors of our own minds.

Here is a fun one. Not sure if you or others are aware of James Corbett but here is his 9/11 in 5 minutes.