|
click
for
click for Teaching Materials For
It is quite possible that you did not find the last release at all
surprising or offensive. In fact you might have found it totally obvious! If
this is the case, then I hope you obtained value from the release because it
should have clarified your thoughts and feelings concerning religion. Also, it
was an excellent example of how the con-artists use the weapons to extract
values from you under false pretences.
This month, I want to cover a further class of con-artists - the
media.
Why have I singled-out the media for attention? It is because we live in
an 'information society'. We are surrounded and bombarded with media output,
daily, nightly, continuously. Our only relief from this outpouring is when we go
to sleep - and it's getting worse.
By 'media' I mean radio, television, newspapers, magazines, films,
billboard advertising, books and junk mail; to mention only a few. We truly do
live in an environment in which information is power, which means that
information is also money. A great
many companies are now dedicated purely to accumulating, processing and selling
information, and this situation is increasing almost exponentially. The more
channels there are available for the distribution of information (cable TV,
satellite TV, video, new FM radio channels, etc. etc.) then the more companies
proliferate to exploit the desire of the sheep for all this information. The
companies gather it, and sell it to the sheep. It's that simple. I am not
talking about advertising here.
The operators of the media scam attempt to con values from you under
false pretences. The values they seek are primarily money, and secondarily
influence (= power) over the masses. They are con-artists because they are often
not 'up front' about their motives. Instead, the media masquerade as
altruistic champions of the people, fighting the corner for their
readers/viewers and facing every danger selflessly to bring the latest important
news story from far-flung corners of the globe.
The pay-off for the media is money, power and influence. The pay-off for
the sheep is the rather sad and pathetic belief that they actually know what is
going on around the world - when they don't; and a feeling that, because they
understand the 'latest issues', they have personal power - which they don't.
The media operate by selectively presenting you with edited snippets of
world news. These snippets are the pieces which they believe you will be
most interested in. And most of the time, they are selected purely for their
degree of sensationalism.
Using these 'news' items, the media attempt to manipulate your emotions
in order to get you to feel what they
think you should feel. They also offer opinions which they attempt to get
you to subscribe to. Even up-market newspapers present an extremely narrow
cross-section of current world news. A few stories are selected from thousands
of possible stories by the editor. His or her job is to present
you with a version of reality which he or she thinks you will find most
acceptable. By ‘acceptable’ I mean that you will be willing to pay good
money to purchase this particular version of reality.
The sheep then scramble to purchase the particular fantasy which most
concurs with their own fantasy.
The first thing you must realise is that newspapers exist to make
lots and lots of money for their
owners. That’s it. This is the
only reason they exist. Dismiss from your mind any notion that newspapers exist
as any kind of public-spirited information service which altruistically keeps
the citizens informed of the latest world events!
How do newspapers make their money? They make their money through selling
advertising space in the newspaper.
They also make money on the ‘cover price’ of the paper or magazine.
Television makes money through selling
advertising space. This is their prime concern - how to sell as much
top-priced advertising as possible.
From this, it follows that the bigger the circulation of your
newspaper/magazine, or the more people who watch your TV program (and hence the
adverts during the commercial breaks), the more you can charge for advertising.
Indeed, this is exactly the case. The amount you pay for advertising is directly
related to the number of potential punters you are going to reach. This means
that the publications are forever striving to increase their circulation.
How do you increase your circulation? Certainly not by printing hard
facts about various global events! They sell more copies by using one of the
eight weapons to manipulate you into parting with your cash. Headlines like: Naked Vicar in Royal Sex Romp Shock sells far more papers than: UK Car Production Efficiency up by 11.76% although the latter news item is likely to have far more effect on the
reader’s life than the former.
What are the main weapons used by the media? Fear
(Weapon #2)
This weapon is much loved by the media. The trick here is to make the
masses afraid of something, and then sit back and wait for them to scramble over
themselves to pay money for details of the impending doom! Consider these
typical headlines:
One in Ten Britons Will Die of Aids - Top Doctor
Warns
Fears Grow as Butter Found to Cause Cancer
Mad Cow Disease Could Infect Children’s Brains
Women at Risk From Video Nasties, Claims Psychiatrist
Iraq Now Has Nuclear Weapons - Shock Revelation And so on. They all have the common element of fear.
Fear is a very big trigger in normal people. They are full of fear. They
fear being mugged, raped or murdered. They fear being poor. They fear a whole
spectrum of diseases and health problems. They fear travel. They fear other
countries and other races. The list is endless. People are particularly afraid
for their children. Headlines like: British Children Show Lowest Literacy Rate in Europe will have concerned parents flocking to part with their cash.
Another huge fear the sheep have is that their cosy lifestyle will
change. This fear is seized upon gleefully by the newspapers and is usually
woven into the political affiliations of the newspaper. Great tracts of
editorial are devoted to 'slamming' the opposition party by raising the spectres
of fear. For example:
Income
Tax Set to Rise to 50% Under Labour Tories Plan to Close 200 Hospitals
All these headlines are intended to make you afraid. Afraid that your
world will change from the comfortable one you know and love, into some horribly
different world. Of course, these headlines not only sell papers; they also help
to reinforce your voting habits!
Most newspapers have a heavy political bias in one particular direction
(mainly to the right). The proprietors of these publications not only make large
sums of money from selling advertising, but they also gain power, because
millions of people are being influenced by their publication. Remember that
power is all about having influence over other people. This is what newspapers
seek.
Fear and powerlessness form a vicious circle. As an Inner
Circle member, you are expected to break out of this cycle. Normal people
are afraid which in turn makes them
powerless and weak.
The Inner Circle initiate has
reversed this circle. His power makes
him unafraid - and his lack of fear makes him
powerful. I hope you understand the crucial difference. GUILT
(Weapon #2)
Many newspapers will give high profile to stories which play upon your
feelings of guilt.
Pictures of starving babies tearfully staring out at you from the front
page, are sure-fire ways of getting you to reach for your wallet. Other great
stories include: 1. The one about lorry loads of animals starving
to death due to a transport strike. 2. The one about
homeless people freezing to death in cardboard boxes. 3. The one about the slashing and burning of vast acres of rain forest.
All are designed to make you feel guilty. Guilty that you are not doing
enough. Guilty that you are well, and others are ill. Guilty that you have so
much when others have so little.
Now I want to make a very important point. Notice that normal people
rarely do anything about the situation which makes them feel guilty. Their
guilt never makes them go out and give
all of their money to the starving, or help the homeless, or support
Greenpeace. They just wallow in feeling wicked, sinful and guilty; in other
words, they allow themselves to feel temporarily
miserable.
This soon passes and they quickly forget the current disaster story -
which is just as well, because tomorrow there will be a new one! After all,
there's a new edition of the paper to sell!
The Inner Circle initiate has
completely eradicated guilt from his or her life. They simply never feel guilty
about anything because guilt is a wholly
useless emotion. It has no value whatsoever,
and you must remove it from your life. If an Inner Circle initiate saw a newspaper headline designed to provoke
guilt he would react in one of two ways: 1. He might decide to do something about it. This is
unlikely for reasons I have stated elsewhere, but if he did become involved, his
huge personal Power would ensure that something was actually done. 2. He would look at the story and realise:
a)
It had been selected for his consumption out of countless thousands
of similar stories, all just as bad, but none of which he will see.
b)
He would realise that this story was no more worthy than the
thousands of other ‘ghost’ stories which the media have decided not to
print.
c)
He decides that he is not going to take any action, and so he
completely ignores the story. He does not feel miserable or upset by the story.
The sheep, in contrast, act as follows: 1. They read the story and actually believe it! 2. They are largely unaware of the thousands of similar
‘ghost’ stories which go unprinted. They are also largely unaware that the
newspaper is using the weapon of guilt to manipulate
them into parting with their money. 3. They buy the paper. They discuss, pontificate and
debate the story (“ain’t it awful...”)
with their friends in the belief
that they actually know something
about the facts of the story - which they don’t. 4. They waste a certain amount of precious life moments
feeling guilty or bad about the story. 5. They do
absolutely nothing at all about the problem which is central to the story. 6. They forget all about it, and wait with bated breath
the next edition of the paper.
This is the end of the free preview
of this part of Freedom Factor. Excerpts taken from all the other chapters
are available using the links in the table below - or alternatively, you can
have instant access to the complete material by clicking the button:
|
