From: Ant McWatt (antmcwatt@hotmail.co.uk)
Date: Fri Jul 29 2005 - 14:08:31 BST
Ian Glendinning stated July 29th:
So Platt, Ant,
So, Liberal or Conservative (or any colour you like) the common problem is
clearly the theistic religion. QED.
Ant McWatt comments:
Good one, Ian!
Platt Holden stated July 28th:
>P.S. It’s strange to think that charlatanism and fraud thrives to the
>detriment of the truth in two fields which often go hand-in-hand:
>Fundamentalist "Christianity" and conservatism. Quite a coincidence –
>maybe Platt can provide an explanation for why this is the case?
For the same reason they thrive in liberal Catholicism and Judaism I'd
say. :-)
Ant McWatt comments:
Platt, glad to see you’re still awake!
I’ll have a crack at answering my own question though. Derren Brown – the
hypnotist I mentioned previously who is interested in religious frauds has
probably uncovered an important point to keep in mind, namely that many of
our social and intellectual values are absorbed unconsciously from an early
age (via parents and schooling) and when we are adults through the media.
For example, in another TV program/me “Mind Control” originally broadcast in
2001 by Channel 4, Brown played with the heads of two London advertising
executives (Bill Hick’s favorite people – I love them as well – especially
boiled…). This was done by him deciding a theme for the executives of an
animal sanctuary he predicted the exact campaign that two advertising
executives would produce for this theme. This was done by Brown and his
team by placing certain pictures and phrases on shop windows, pedestrians
wearing T-shirts, and even pub signs that the executives would see
fleetingly on their route to the office. The executives were unconscious of
the information provided by the pictures and phrases that they had absorbed
on their journey, and therefore provided pictures and phrases very similar
to those that Brown had given to them beforehand in a sealed brown envelope.
Now the executives were amazed at Brown’s supposed prediction skills when
they opend the envelope after their journey but they shouldn’t have been
because that’s what their industry does to people’s minds every day.
One of Brown’s typical tricks is to make people mysteriously fall asleep in
public phone boxes. Now read carefully how he does this in connection with
how politicians work:
“Have they fallen prey to a disease or am I carrying out some trick of the
mind on the other end of the line? There are two factors at work here.
First, the group of people subjected to the stunt are particularly
suggestible. I know this simply because they chose to answer a public phone
that happened to be ringing as they walked past. Most people would ignore
it, assuming it was nothing to do with them.”
“Secondly, once the person answers, I immediately bombard them with a rapid
set of confusing instructions and facts. I do this for several minutes
without giving give them a break, then follow it by telling them to fall
asleep. As seen on the shows, this works.”
“Public speakers often capitalise on the same response. Have you ever
listened to a politician giving rapid-fire statistics so fast that the
audience can't possibly take them in, only to end the speech with a simple,
memorable phrase? The soundbite comes as such a relief after all those facts
and figures that this is all the listeners remember.”
(http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/M/mindcontrol/trick/phone.html)
Ant McWatt comments:
Keep in mind Brown’s last point the next time you hear Bush Junior read out
one of his scripted speeches. After an hour, what do you actually remember
from what he said?
Though it didn’t have an immediate effect, the critical analysis of politics
and capitalist society provided from my education studying sociology, did
eventually have the affect of making me more sensitive/aware of how
politicians, religious organizations and the media surreptitiously works.
In other words – as long as you also turn your critical faculties to what
you learn from sociologists - you learn to be critical of everything, what
you read in the paper, see on the TV, the adverts in the local shops and
what other people say to you i.e. you eventually free your mind.
Unfortunately, only a minority of people are fortunate enough to study
sociology at university level and many more people are brought up in a
typical conservative upbringing where – unless something radical happens in
their life – maybe unemployment, a civil war or a severely disabling
accident (for example), they remain unconsciously trapped in their comfort
zone. Now this is why I go on about being critical with the mainstream
media and recommend the value of critical texts such as those written by
Chomsky and Pilger. It doesn’t mean that the latter don’t have their own
agenda and biases (I know they do!) but they can help (as with even a
two-bit hypnotist) to analyse what really is going on in this planet of
ours.
Best wishes,
Anthony.
.
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