by William Skink
I think it’s more productive to look at the outcomes than it is to examine events like the Chattanooga shooting. Why? Because Chattanooga is another rabbit hole in the crisis actor genre that sees these events as staged, and the American public is no where near being able to handle that possibility.
Some people may be inclined to wonder how one of the victims of the shooting looks exactly like Lance Cpl. Larry L. Wells, who was reported by the Washington Post to have been killed August 6th in an attack in Najaf, but most won’t.
Instead, look at the outcomes: ramping up fear over ISIS as a domestic threat, providing a reason to arm personnel at recruiting centers, and giving Wesley Clark an opportunity to say this (Zerohedge):
If these people are radicalized and don’t support the United States, and they’re disloyal to the United States, as a matter of principal that’s fine, that’s their right. It’s our right and our obligation to segregate them from the normal community for the duration of the conflict.
Just let the weight of that quote settle in for a bit.
If that’s a little too heavy for a Sunday morning, there is a very bizarre story coming out of LA worth reading about.
Here’s the basic outline of what’s being reported: A mysterious guy who claims to work for clandestine government agencies dies in his car, and his fiancé decides to leave him in his car outside his house because she believes his handlers will come and get the body, but they don’t and he sits rotting in his car for 2 weeks. When his death finally is reported, authorities find 1,500 guns, other weapons, and 230,000 dollars in cash in his home.
Oh, and his fiancé also thinks her guy is an alien-human hybrid sent to save the human race.
Have a nice Sunday.
JC
As I wrote to another at the time of the Boston Marathon bombing It takes a lot more than visual similarity of facial features to provide evidence of anything other than coincidence. That is especially true with formal military photos, where dress, grooming and expression are officially mandated. Otherwise, one could use the same argument that sculptures in Budapest are faked from American actors.
http://imgur.com/gallery/ZLsGyGA
That Gen. Clark’s response is completely out-of-bounds is hardly open to question. But to say that the shootings were a fake, a black op, in order for him to remark his odious opinion is confusing causation with correlation.
Then again, I’m likely just a sheeple needing a wake up as I am completely devoid of skepticism.
this is what the poisoned well of conspiracy does to the conversation. we can both agree Clark’s response is disturbing, but that gets lost in the polarization that occurs when seemingly outrageous “what ifs” are referenced.
I have found over the years that photographic evidence is the lowest level of evidence, and should always be regarded with skepticism. Even in the 1960’s they could monkey with it, though it was a highly specialized skill. In addition, the mind’s eye (and suggestions by authority figures*) is in control of perceptions. It is painfully obvious, for instance, that the Jeff Bauman who rose from the dead to be wheeled off the stage in Boston was not the same guy later making public appearances, but people cannot see it … Power of suggestion squelches the differences, and the resulting mental discomfort, cognitive dissonance, comes out in the form of ridicule. (Fear of the implications resides just beneath the ridicule.)
I’ve deliberaly avoided Charlotte, but note that whether it is that or any other major event of our time, the debates go on sans evidence and center on healthy skepticism versus ridged adherence to official truth. In our country, belief in authority figures, even in the face of contrary evidence, is viewed as virtuous and intelligent, while healthy skepticism is seen as a mental defect. Mutual assurance among the credulous is the greatest reinforcement we have, though strict one-sided reporting on the TV is also important.
________
*Example: Charlie Hebdo, we have no clue, none!, about the identity of the men under those masks, but there is no doubt in public spheres or among the credulous that they are the brothers Kouachi. Shame!
Woody’s stoned again.
Go fishing with your family and enjoy life. Those opportunities go by so fast.
not only can I chew gum and walk at the same time, I’ve also managed keep up on current events, like every good citizen should, while spending quality time with the family. thank you for the concern regarding how I spend my free time.
If I may be so bold as to synopsize Craig’s words, he is saying “Believe. Obey.”
Mark, as usual you are so wrong. No point to restating the obvious. If I knew how I would post some fish pictures in a comment. As is often said about a picture being worth a 1000 words.
We can fish, do physical labor, make stuff, cook, exercise, hike in the woods … We can also read, develop our brains. We are amazing creatures.
Fishing … used to do it as a kid. I now find it utterly frightfully like slowing pounding a nail into my forehead, like listening to an economist speak.
So you have evolved to finding fulfillment in sesquipedalianism?
The ability to generate ideas and place them in coherent sentences is possessed of most people to some degree, but reading is regarded as work, and people don’t like to do it. So they skim, skip over, jump around, but are most easily moved by images. Even the spoken word has little effect on them. The question then becomes how do you motivate them to do as you wish? Manipulation of symbols and images is te most common way, for instance: The Boston Marathon bombing, Jeff Bauman being carted off in a wheel chair by a cowboy flying a flag was a well-planned image, deliberately staged. It is also understood, in blogs and newspapers, magazines and books, that people will skim skip and jump
to the last sentence, as you just did.