"I Was A Patsie" Said Lee Harvey Oswald (To A Nation Of Patsies)

"What characterizes our era? Cults, quacks, gurus, irrational panics, moral confusion and an epidemic of mumbo-jumbo, that's what. In How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World, Francis Wheen brilliantly laments the extraordinary rise of superstition, relativism and emotional hysteria. From Middle Eastern fundamentalism to the rise of lotteries, astrology to mysticism, poststructuralism to the Third Way, Wheen shows that there has been a pervasive erosion of Enlightenment values, which have been displaced by nonsense. And no country has a more vivid parade of the bogus and bizarre than the one founded to embody Enlightenment values: the USA. In turn comic, indignant, outraged, and just plain baffled by the idiocy of it all, How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World is a masterful depiction of the absurdity of our times and a plea that we might just think a little more and believe a little less." (2004)

 

 

"[The Clintons have] an eerie, unattractive ability to get liberals to keep their mouths shut"

CNN repeats smear of Obama supporters as “creepy” and “cult-like”

"That's why I got out of the Democratic Party, for sure, because that is one giant cult"

 

 "They think it's a messaging issue, but messaging is not the problem: reality is the problem"

The Democrat Party's open embrace of the NewAge movement vs. reality. It's a nightmare. And a long-running one: if America is so sufficiently educated that our government warned quackery was an $84 billion scandal by 1984, how were the people so brain dead that Oprah - by the early 2000s - could establish Dr. Oz as "America's Doctor"? Why wasn't there an immediate government intervention, plus a groundswell of public indignation, at Winfrey and television executives, after her (remember: educated) audience immediately recognized she was promoting a fraud over U.S. airwaves? 

 Because nobody saw a goddamn thing, that's why.

Blinded by the light, revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night

By the year 2000, Bill Clinton (who had been playing around in the NewAge movement for decades) was already on a tear to legitimize the concept of evidence being malleable (and, apparently, he's still a huge fan). But his job was to protect America from fraud like that. And now, we're over two decades into this thing, and everything's falling apart, because so little can be nailed down. Hardly anything can reach resolution. And anyone, paying attention, should be able to recognize, part of the reason for that is, the Democrat Party's relationship to evidence has A) gotten very slippery, and B) expanded beyond the parameters of alternative medicine. 

Two recent examples being the successful, 5 year-long, Hillary Clinton-inspired Russia hoax - featuring no evidence whatsoever - that was fully supported as fact by Democrats across the nation. And now, the massive amount of evidence against the Biden family that, somehow, the Democrat Party, just as miraculously, cannot see. For them, evidence - as a concept - has become twisted and strange.

   

 Kind of like "Homeopathic Iron Man" 

   

You may not think NewAge spirituality and American politics are logically connected at first, but, like Oprah looking good while totally fucking you over, they are. (As logical as the notion that, if everything NewAge is "harmless," then the website dedicated to its many mistakes will be called "What's the harm?") Oprah is now a Washington lobbyist, with at least three of her accolades and "spiritual advisers" now vying for political power in their own right. And, when the Vice President of the United States is someone gullible, or cynical enough to have dated Montel talking-to-the-dead Williams, then it's undeniable.

Clearly, the NewAge movement now has the power to turn fellow Democrats into unquestioning idiots - even those who'd never go near Oprah - babbling any conspiracy theory they're told to run with. But what's important is, once again, our educated public doesn't catch it. Time to say it again:

         

 "Propaganda only works when you do not have a well-informed population"

One of the few things I am 100% sure of is that we have a population that's "well-informed" enough to keep psychics in business. They all know their star signs and any details about them. They keep psychics, chiropractors, and homeopaths doing a brisk business. They're collectively going vegan. They are also collectively practicing yoga (though Indians, mostly, do not). Most Democrat voters can imagine no higher calling than attempting to be blissfully "happy" at all times, even if it's totally manufactured, and especially if they can do it in a group. In other words, the next generations of Americans are being groomed as a NewAge cult. A nation of Burning Men.

Primed to believe just about anything.

 

Oprah Winfrey's Living Her Best Life (By Giving America Her Worst Discoveries)

Dr. Oz, Please, Keep Me Out Of The Workplace (I'm Just Not Religious Enough)

When people are weird at work, but can't see they're being weird, how do you reason with them? I've been dealing with this question, offline and on, for years:

What’s noteworthy here isn’t that everything said in the meeting is negative...but that, from the top down, the entire company takes it for granted its employees are in mourning over the results of the election. The subtext of all of this is clearly that the wrong person won and everyone is right to be anxious and upset. Google turns out to be exactly the narrow, progressive club that former engineer James Damore said they were last year.

It’s a bit difficult to see how a company which is such a partisan monoculture could possibly take care not to abuse its power to step on the people (about half of the country) who it thinks are wrong and possibly even dangerous. The tone of this meeting is that of mourning but the underlying stance is adversarial. Is it really possible this doesn’t have any real-world outcomes in Google’s work?

You can't get any peace. You're more likely to find Pat Robertson and a Christian prophetess are both making demands of the same hurricane, in a single week, than that. Which is a pretty remarkable occurrence for a pretty remarkable power. 

But not as remarkable as celebrities thinking they get credibility back by talking to disgraced physicians. I don't know how that supposedly works. It doesn't add up. None of this stuff adds up now, except for the part where you look down and think:

Asking The Big Guy

Tell me something good. Well? What do we have here? Looks educational:

New findings from researchers at UC Berkeley suggest that feedback, rather than hard evidence, boosts people’s sense of certainty when learning new things or trying to tell right from wrong.

These are "new findings," huh? So what exactly is "feedback"?

Developmental psychologists have found that people’s beliefs are more likely to be reinforced by the positive or negative reactions they receive in response to an opinion, task or interaction, than by logic, reasoning and scientific data.

They're saying, once the NewAge established a culture of saying "Don't Judge", elements - dangerous to that culture - were then free to flourish, because DUH.

Fucking "Ancient teachings" are more helpful to us at this point.

Look, it's easy: Stop pushing yoga and meditation (we've got P.E., thanks) and the paranormal (not because it's not real, but, because it's not real, and causes problems) start arresting frauds (people who make/sell bad products) con artists (like psychics) and quacks (and any others screwing up the medical field). And then, start openly questioning why celebrities are so into promoting them. These are almost all cult tactics and groups. Anyone can see what they're up to now - but can you think of a more sinister way to get and keep an audience - if that's what they think they're doing, at that point? The point of exploiting who loves you?

They're calling Africa Bambaataa a cult leader now. Madonna's one, and so are Gwyneth Paltrow and Oprah. Arianna Huffington, Shirley MacLaine. Dr. Oz - I've got tags for all of them, below. The Democrats got it goin' on! Hell, if you're not aware of who's in the NewAge cult, it's enough to make you wonder:

Are you? And who isn't? (Isn't it?)

The Mystery That Only Deepens

All the first quotes are from Lisa Oz's Wikipedia page:

"Lisa Oz is an American producer, and frequent co-host of The Dr. Oz Show on the Oprah and Friends XM radio telecasts...."

BUT

[Oprah] may be the most powerful crank enabler on the planet.

- Vox, 2018

"[Lisa Oz] is a Reiki master..."

BUT

Reiki is a pseudoscience.

- Wikipedia

"[Lisa Oz] is co-producer of the Dr. Oz Show and credited with the idea for the television show as a way 'practicing preventive medicine on a grand scale'..."

BUT

Scientists tallied up all the advice on Dr. Oz's show. Half of it was baseless or wrong.

- Vox, 2014

"In 2011-2012 She collaborated...in narrating the documentary film Genetic Roulette—The Gamble of Our Lives asserting health risks from GMO foods...."

BUT

Are you anti-GMO? Then you’re anti-science, too.

- The Washington Post, 2018

AND

"According to the New York Times, Lisa Oz's mother 'believed fervently in New Age approaches like homeopathic remedies and meditation' and also introduced her husband to 'alternative medicine and Eastern mysticism' which he now integrates into his advice programs."

BUT

Cancer patients who use alternative medicine die sooner

- Edzard Ernst MD, PhD, FMedSci, FRSB, FRCP, FRCPEd, 2013

But - Even After A Congressional Inquiry - No One Can Figure Out Why Dr. Oz Is A Quack!!!

The Trump Curse Meets The Oprah Effect (For Lunch)

"Oz came to general prominence with appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show beginning in 2004,,..."

Wikipedia

"What exactly will Ms. Winfrey do for [Obama]?"

The NYT, 2007

Scientists tallied up all the advice on Dr. Oz's show. Half of it was baseless or wrong.

Vox, 2014

"When Donald Trump discusses his health with Dr. Oz, let's not forget that Winfrey herself came under fire for supporting someone who had to be investigated by Congress for making inaccurate medical claims."

Bustle, 2016

Trump appointing Dr. Oz to his sport, fitness and nutrition council

CNN, 2018

Obama's Chief Science Advisor Tears Apart Trump's Dangerous Disregard For Science

Science As Fact, 2018

Ben Carson & Dr. Oz R 4 Entertainment Purposes Only

Thank you, Republicans: I love popcorn,...

A Black Man Killed Some Cops: Let's Go Get Ice Cream

The cops need a new slogan beyond "don't resist" - it's so old

“The idea that citizens can’t criticize police—that free speech excludes scrutiny of state violence—is disturbing.” 

Whites are particularly clueless now - actually, they always were

Unless you don't think about it, too much, having been black's permanent condition in this place. You don't have to think on much of anything, too-much, anymore. Not necessary. Nobody cares. Haven't you heard? They're building a "colorblind" dystopian NewAge with no past. The best of Left/Right thinking. I watch the movies.

Assassinate Bill Kristol has a nice ring to it

"I think [Rogen] would have had a lot more trouble if this film was about assassinating Chris Christie.”

Free range, completely organic, and obviously yours.

Think again. Along with the financial crisis, we also got a new, massive, deficit of imagination, so deep even Hollywood can't think no mo: America's "promise" is now limited to the hope that a Dr. Oz could become a beloved celebrity, peddling “baseless or wrong” medical advice to your momma. (Like "I'll only put the tip in," a boy can still dream,...) 

The American Dream - is white criminals getting away

Strange, that hardly anybody could catch on to Oz - even when he was on television internationally (it was a British study that revealed him - not us) and there were people already calling him a quack online, TMR included. As Oz paraded across our TV screens each day, he proved - to me at least - the nature of law enforcement is "none." American education? Doesn't exist. Crime? A title reserved for black guys. Ethics? Come on. Whatever safeguards we imagine are in place - against anything? Non-existent. Whether or not, on a mass scale, anyone's using logic at all? The evidence clearly says "no." The Secret said you drew to us whatever you imagined and - wow - was that ugly.

Listening to ignoramuses is intelligence squared and can't be stopped

All of this occurred to me while trying to “boost my immune system” preparing for “competitive yoga.”

Just keep repeating "It's not about race" and, I swear, race will go away

Yep, surrounded by stupid, and have been for a long, long time. I live in a place consumed with staying on the wrong course. History says that’s just how they roll, and history doesn't guarantee happy endings. It explains they consider idiocy brave and/or patriotic:

Everything has a connection to slavery - even you

  “After five decades of zero major policy changes and zero progress toward the stated objective of freeing Cuba from the Castros, our political class is issuing a bold call to give things a bit more time. Just like in Iraq, real results from our Cuba policy have always been just around the corner, except that predictions of the Castro regime’s imminent collapse stretch back decades.”

We can change this

The trick is to getting these deplorable assholes, we actually have to live with as they "make up their minds," to admit they’re wrong. It’s not easy - and especially not without them losing their fucking minds. For instance, you can say “Justice shouldn’t warrant an apology,” but whenever that simple right - which blacks are still fighting for after centuries of South Africa-style treatment - is trivialized as “playing the victim,” well, that’s when you know you’re getting a special taste of America’s particular madness. If anybody's the problem, it’s Obama. Riiiight. Blacks were always the ones “making progress” with his election - not whites. They’re fine. Always been fine. Will always be fine, and they don’t know what your problem is.

Stay in the shade and you won't burn - everybody knows that

”Twitter Buries Pathetic Diversity Numbers Behind Facebook News“ 

"You can get it if you really want but you must try, try and tryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy"

Well, for one, the propensity to hide things - like the history needed to judge your present actions. It's deliberate, and dishonest, to repeatedly put Rudy Giuliani on TV and not a historian. It doesn’t build trust. It's the spreading of lies and ignorance - just like Dr. Oz. We need to be on the stoop, out in the open. 

This is normal, and so much better

”When the elected mayor of my city arrived at the hospital, the police officers who presumably serve at the public's leisure turned away in a display that should chill the blood of any interested citizen.”

Chilled but not shaken

Yes, this weekend in New York, something happened that blacks have predicted for centuries, and whites are more upset than normal. On behalf of my peoples, we're sorry trying to live white's lie isn't more fun. This struggle, forced on us, isn't either. 

This is abnormal, and getting so much worse

But - in case you haven't noticed - this propensity for solipsism will be no replacement for justice,... 
 

Bill Cosby's Helping To Destroy Respectability Politics

“Bill Cosby raped me. Why did it take 30 years for people to believe my story?”

Screw facts - you've got to fit everyone's believability profile: smile and be positive

Barbara Bowman's question moved me, not least because no one's fully believed my story (of my wife killing three people) for almost a decade, either - and even after it was discovered to be true.

Waiting for anyone to call us,...sane

It's a funny ha-ha question, too, since it originated in (what the rest of the planet calls) "The New World," a culture - started in The Enlightenment - where the most educated people would rather believe psychics on The Montel Williams Show, and the quackery of Dr. Oz, than approach anything close to actual research.

What you may look like after being raped a second time in the public eye

What Ms. Bowman's really asking is why society willingly chose her to be part of it's wreckage?

These three are as "happy" as the rapist, Thomas Jefferson, said they should strive for

I've railed about that here, for quite a while, as well. Mrs. Bowman's story gained credibility only because Hannibal Burris was complaining about Cosby's campaign of respectability politics - a campaign that whites have repeatedly endorsed, and tried to force on blacks, despite all the evidence proving it's a harmful lie. Whites haven't cared about that. They've liked the way the lie sounds too much to care about the truth or who gets hurt by it. That's also how they feel about The Cos, too.

These two aren't protecting or serving but no matter

Wisconsin's repeated support for Scott Walker's campaign is as fine an example of how this mentality "works" as I can find:

Whites stay happy? No problem

As long as someone's smiling, or trying to protect someone smiling, they can do no wrong - even as they're doing wrong.

Few are allowed to speak up - or taken seriously - when they want to talk about what's wrong

Almost the entire history of the west, and it's ideals, has worked this way - and some Americans will still kill you for not going along with it. Honesty is a huge problem in America: we build giant cathedrals to a crock and let the innocent starve because they didn't contribute to it.

There are few "good options" left beyond the truth

That, Ms. Bowman, is simply how Americans are,....