-Caveat Lector- -[cont]- "Government" is Kept in Place by Brainwashing My book Wake Up America! The Dynamics of Human Power (available from Terra Libra) includes a chapter titled "Are our Schools Concentration Campuses for Mind Destruction?" in which I describe "education" in some detail. Ayn Rand's The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution, contains a chapter, "The Comprachicos." Comprachico is a Spanish word meaning "child-buyer." The comprachicos were a nomadic association, notorious in the seventeenth century. They bought and sold children - special children, children turned into deformed freaks, used in freak shows to amuse the public. At an early age they placed a young child in a porcelain pot with a grotesque form. As the child's body grew, it had to assume the shape of the pot. The result was a deformed freak for people to laugh at. Rand uses the practice of the comprachicos as an analogy to describe American "education." She refers to our "educators" as "the comprachicos of the mind." Children's minds are forced to assume the shape of a grotesque "intellectual pot." Rand describes the result: "The students' development is arrested, their minds are set to respond to slogans, as animals respond to a trainer's whistle, their brains are embalmed in the syrup of altruism as an automatic substitute for self-esteem... They would obey anyone, they need a master, they need to be told what to do. They are ready now to be used as cannon fodder - to attack, to bomb, to burn, to murder, to fight in the streets and die in the gutters. They are a trained pack of miserably impotent freaks, ready to be unleashed against anyone." [emphasis added] In every part of the world, the monsters who masquerade as "government," do their utmost to achieve monopoly control of the so-called "education system" - they try to make it compulsory so all children will be subjected to government brainwashing. The result is that practically every victim is degraded into an unthinking follower... or unthinking rebel. "Government" is Kept in Place by Mass Hallucination My Webster's definition of hallucination includes the following: Perception of objects with no reality; A completely unfounded or mistaken impression or notion. We could also describe hallucination as "seeing" or "perceiving" what's not there - or "seeing" or "perceiving" more than exists in reality. Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) could be described as the science of representational systems. In our brains we have "neural patterns" or "models" that attempt to represent reality. For example, in my brain I have a "picture" of a table. If someone asks me to draw a picture of a table, I access the "picture" or "model" in my head, from which I then draw a table. These "pictures," "models," or "neural patterns" are called representational systems. They include intellectual, emotional, visual, auditory, and other sensory data. Our representational systems are more or less "useful." To the extent that we use them to predict accurately and produce desirable results, we regard them as useful. NLP people have identified three major ways in which our representational systems differ from reality: Generalization - e.g., the representational system called "furniture" - or the "intellectual" neural pattern: "all women are the same." Distortion - e.g., "the color of my car is blue" - the physicist tells us this is a distortion; it's more accurate to say that my car's outer surface reflects light with the wavelength we call "blue," while absorbing light with other wavelengths. Deletion - e.g., "Tom is a wonderful, generous, happy, healthy individual" - Tom has many other attributes, some of which have been ignored or "deleted" from my representational system. I've identified a very important fourth way in which our representational systems differ from reality: Addition - e.g., "John-the-stranger is a King, therefore he has special powers; and the words that come out of his mouth are special and therefore are the law which must be obeyed." John is really an ordinary man. By representing him as a "King" in our representational systems, we have added something to what exists in reality. Similarly, John's words are ordinary like those of the rest of us, and when we represent some of his words as "the law" in our representational systems, we have added something to what occurs in reality. The essence of hallucination is "seeing" or "perceiving" what doesn't really exist or occur. The phenomenon of addition, as described above, is simply hallucination. To have a neural patterns or mental models that say "the government runs the country," "government makes law," "Slick Willy is President of the U.S.A.," all constitute hallucination. It's these forms of hallucination that keep "government" in place. Because practically all humans suffer from similar political hallucinations, they tend to all agree with each other about certain fundamental political concepts and notions - such as "government," "state," "country," "nation," "constitution," "king," "president," "law," etc. If anybody questions or challenges these concepts or nations, they tend to think he's crazy. The phenomenon is mass hallucination. Here is one of my favorite sentences: "The notion of "law" (so-called) is an hallawcinotion" - it sounds even better in French: "La notion de la "loi" (soi-disant) est une halloicinotion." How's that for self-referencing?! "Government" is Kept in Place by Terror and by Violence Ultimately, political power comes from the barrel of the gun - as Mao said. The last resort of the monsters who masquerade as "government" is terror and violence. That's why they need the IRS, the ATF, the FBI, the CIA, etc. They have to threaten, terrorize, punish, and kill to retain their coercive power. Make examples out of those who question, threaten, or challenge their so-called "authority." That's why it's appropriate to call them "territorial gangsters" or "territorial criminals" or "terrocrats" - monsters who use fraud, coercion, and violence to claim "jurisdiction" over a certain area, and the people who happen to be in that area. The monsters do so in order to control and dominate, and to live like parasites or cannibals off the values created by their victims. The foregoing is another very useful definition of "government!" The Man Who Helped Me Open My Eyes About 14 years ago I visited a Luxembourg bank to deposit some paper money and buy gold coins. I had to wait in line. I started talking to the man behind me in the line. After a while he told me he was a libertarian. After we'd concluded our business we met in a nearby café for coffee. I told him that I was also a libertarian. "Libertarian!" he snorted, "practically all so-called libertarians are still so conditioned and so far from the truth, they don't know the first thing about liberty." I looked at him in surprise. I considered libertarians to be the leading edge of human evolution. There followed a sometimes heated discussion about many aspects and principles of libertarianism. Time and time again this most extreme radical questioned even the words I used, for example: When I asked, "What about the laws of a country?" my new friend responded: "Haw, haw, haw," laughing almost hysterically. I thought he would fall off his chair. Several people in the café looked at him in bemusement. "What about the barking of copulating baboons in the zoo?" he said. I was bewildered: "What's so funny?" "My friend," he said, "like most so-called libertarians, you don't have the foggiest notion of what exists and what doesn't. You believe in magical "law" like a spiritualist believes in supernatural "ghosts"... except... except that your belief is possibly even more absurd than that of the spiritualist. You see, I've heard of people who claim that they have seen "ghosts"; there are even purported photographs of "ghosts." But I've never heard of anyone who claims that he has seen a so-called "law," never mind photographed it." "Anyway," I said, "what does all this have to do with liberty?" "My aspirant-libertarian friend," he replied, "When you free your mind from the false concepts and misconceptions that fixate your thinking within the mental grooves fashioned by those who seek to enslave you, then you will discover what liberty really is, then you will be able to live free. Most so-called libertarians are like pigs hopelessly floundering in a cesspool of statist concepts. Just as it is almost impossible for a fish to imagine life on land, so it is very difficult, if at all possible, for an aspirant-libertarian locked into statist concepts, to conceive of life outside his self-created cesspool..." For a while we were both silent. Then he continued, "In actuality, the whole world is libertarian. Individuals are supreme, whether they know it or not. We all have virtually unlimited choice all the time - we may assume notions and beliefs that limit our choice, we may also get ourselves into situations where choice is limited... but those are also choices... objectively, there are no so-called "states," "governments," "kings," "queens," etc.; there never have been and there n ever will be - I have asked many people to show me a "government" and to tell me what it looks like. Nobody has been able to do that. Of course, there are hucksters and humbuggers who call themselves "government," "king," or "president"... just as there are suckers who believe them - who blindly obey them - who blindly oppose them." "One needs to live one's life in accordance with actuality: what is, what exists, what occurs. So I live my life out of a context of liberty, a libertarian enclave, an anarcho-libertarian enclave. I carry it with me like an aura. I have abilities: the ability called life, the ability to own property, the ability to produce, the ability to exchange, the ability to communicate. And my abilities do not depend on the agreement of others. I am supreme. I am responsible for every aspect of my life. My self-esteem, my power, and my liberty can only be curbed by my own limitations. There are of course those who think otherwise, who would seek to violate my abilities - what you might call "rights." When making choices, I take that into consideration." As we parted he gave me a poem he'd written... It really made me think. The Enemy Within Why do you fear his "parliament," This all oppressive "government," When darker things lurk deep inside Your mind; crawling, scuttling, they hide. Worse by far than "police-state law," More corrupt than any "legislature," Taxing far above the progressive rate; A self-made ghost does, your soul subjugate. For the "rulers of men" are naught but dust They rise, dictate, but fall they must. Though out of sight, not out of mind, see? The "ghost in the machine" saying - you're not free. Oh deeply wounding psychoplasm. Why hauntest thou in the mind's chasm? Why crippleth thee what gives thee home, Why soil thy nest like a common gnome? Out, out damn spook, begone I say! For I have resolved, myself, this day, That I stand free in body and soul, Not hindered by chains nor ghoul. The Thinking Skill Called "Reframing" Reframing is basically the ability to see things in a different way. In his booklet Open to Change, Vincent Nolan wrote: "Reframing means looking at a familiar phenomenon from a new angle. Any situation can be looked at in a wide variety of different frameworks, and each one is capable of throwing a new light on the subject... the ability and willingness to set aside the conventional framework (temporarily) is one of the key skills of invention and discovery... these pigeon holes into which we classify things and situations, events and people, are themselves arbitrary and artificial: convenient and useful for some purposes - but one, not the only way to view the world. The pigeon holes can be suspended (temporarily) and new ones brought to bear, without cost and with profit. There is another important dimension to reframing. Once we accept that the same thing can be viewed in many different ways, all of them potentially useful, it is no longer necessary to impose our view of things on other people, we can accept theirs as alternative viewpoints, valid for themselves, and potentially enriching our understanding of the situation." Statist Fraud-Words Have Stupefying and Debilitating Effects In Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal Ayn Rand discusses what she calls "anti-concepts." As far as I'm concerned, concepts make it easier for us to understand and deal with reality; while anti-concepts cause us to misunderstand and fail to deal with reality. According to Rand: "The purpose of "anti-concepts" is to obliterate certain concepts without public discussion; and, as a means to that end, to induce the same disintegration in the mind of any man who accepts them, rendering him incapable of clear thinking or rational judgment. No mind is better than the precision of its concepts." I contend that the statist fraud-concepts are all anti-concepts. They misrepresent reality. They have a stupefying and debilitating effect on those who accept them as valid. This is one of the main reasons for the slow results produced so far by most freedom advocates. In his book The Ideas of Ayn Rand, Ronald E. Merrill discusses Rand's essay "The Nature of Government" (from her book The Virtue of Selfishness). Rand did not question anti-concepts like "state," "government," "society," etc. - did she blindly accept them, like a trained animal? Merrill makes the following points: Rand claimed that the use of physical force - even retaliatory force - couldn't be left to the discretion of individuals; only government should have the exclusive power to enforce. Rand dodged the issue of the source or origin of government. Rand said that 'society' should provide organized protection against force, but she never explained who this "society" was and how it would be decided what "geographical area" her government would police. "Society" is just the sort of floating abstraction [what is the referent?] Rand attacked so vigorously in her other work. Rand proposed a stamp tax to finance government. Rand claimed that "only a government" could enforce contracts. The above raise some questions: Did Rand think that because certain humans called themselves "government," or organized themselves into a structure called "government," therefore these humans acquired magical powers to do things other humans couldn't do? Did Rand perpetrate vile acts of self-abasement in respect of fixed political ideas? Was Rand stupefied by blindly accepting and clinging to statist fraud-concepts? Statist fraud-concepts like "government," "state," "law," etc. tend to have a debilitating effect. People who cling to these concepts often feel helpless and impotent because they see themselves as small and insignificant compared to the enormous monolithic monster they call "government" or "state" - collectivist thinking. On the other hand, when you ditch the statist fraud-concepts, you think in terms of individuals. You are almost never faced with a "huge unbeatable enemy"; instead you are faced with individuals - individual bureaucrats (including police) with much of their behavior fairly predictable - making it relatively easy to organize your life and affairs so they are least likely to bother you - individualistic thinking. You'll be amazed by how much more powerful you'll become when you ditch statist fraud-concepts and think individualistically. You'll be amazed at the additional options that become available to you. So take off your blinkers and ditch the statist fraud-concepts! How to Test Concepts Against Reality A concept is something we use to represent an aspect of reality. It is a kind of "mind picture," or "mental image," or "set of associations." A concept is expressed and communicated as a word. For example, the concept/word "table" usually represents an object with a flat surface and four legs. The object is called the referent of the concept/word. The concept/word is the map (or menu) and the object is the territory (or meal). In those cases where the referent of the concept is a physical object there are generally no problems. Nobody has a problem with the concept "table." However, when we enter the domain of concepts that have no physical referents we find ourselves in a different territory. Concepts can be used to misrepresent reality, to control and dominate others. For example, a mother might tell her child, "Son, if you're naughty you'll go to hell where you'll burn forever." A precocious son would respond, "Mother, you use the word "hell" - can you show me its referent?" Mother, "What?!" Son, "Sorry mother. I think "hell" is a fraud- concept. It has no referent. It is simply used to manipulate the young, innocent, and gullible!" Deception is a very powerful survival mechanism. Among more primitive creatures deception (or camouflage) is often used as a disguise to prevent being eaten by a predator; e.g., insects disguised to look like leaves or twigs. And predators often use deception (or camouflage) to lure prey into their vicinity so they can be snatched and eaten; eg, the crocodile that looks like a dead branch floating on the water, and the squid whose tentacle looks like a worm. The fisherman uses bait to lure the fish onto his hook. Much of "modern" human culture is based on similar deception (and camouflage). Most parents use fraud-concepts to control and dominate their children. Some preachers use fraud-concepts to obtain "tithes" from their prey - in return for a promise of "paradise in the hereafter." Most politicians use fraud-concepts to obtain "taxes" from their prey - in return for promises of "running the country," "defending the weak," "feeding the hungry," "healing the sick," "paying the poor," "caring for the old,""building houses for the homeless," "teaching the young," "controlling inflation," "creating jobs," "preventing pollution," "fighting drugs," etc. The difference between the primitive predator and the human predator is that the latter is somewhat more sophisticated. The human predator doesn't usually eat the human prey or victim (except where cannibalism is still practiced). Instead, the human predator uses deception and camouflage to obtain values produced by the prey or victim. The human predator lives by consuming the values produced by his or her victims, giving little more than promises in return. The victims are allowed to live so they can continue to produce values for the predator to usurp and consume. It is a more sophisticated form of cannibalism. In order to dupe their victims into parting with their values, human predators use fraud-concepts like "king," "queen," "emperor," "pope," "government," "state," "country," "constitution," "law," etc. The fraud-concepts are the primary tool they use to subjugate their victims. The secondary tools they use are fear and terror: "Bow down, kiss my feet, and call me king - or your head will be chopped off!"; "Pay 25% of your income to the IRS - or they'll take your house, your furniture, your car, and all the money in your bank account, and put you in jail!" To ensure that everyone will be brainwashed and indoctrinated with such fraud-concepts, children are forced into so-called "schools" where they "learn" to recite the "pledge of allegiance" like parrots, "respect the sacred flag" like idol-worshippers, and stand up for the "national anthem" like puppets - where they will "learn" that if you don't believe, conform, and obey you will be punished. In order to become more conscious you need to throw away most of what you "learned" from your parents, preachers, teachers, politicians, bureaucrats, and lawyers. You need to personally test as much as possible against observable reality. There are a series of tests you can subject any concept to, in order to determine if it is a fraud-concept or not: Can the concept be used to manipulate and control people? Does my acceptance of the concept place me at a disadvantage? Can somebody gain an advantage by using the concept if it isn't challenged? Does the concept have a referent? If so, is there a better concept/word to describe the same referent? Note that the fact that practically everyone you know agrees with a concept is not part of the test. Let us subject the concept/word "pope" to the above tests: Can the concept "pope" be used to manipulate and control people? Yes, because the so-called "pope" claims to be the "personal representative of god," therefore believers will obey him and pay so-called "tithes" to him. Also, he claims to enjoy "papal infallibility," which means it is impossible for him to make a mistake - therefore everything he says is true. Does my acceptance of the concept "pope" place me at a disadvantage? Yes, I have to pay for the "privilege" of obeying whatever absurdities flow from the "infallible" mouth and pen of the "divine pope." Can somebody gain an advantage by using the concept if it isn't challenged? Definitely, the supposed "pope" can live in splendor off the values created by his victims. And so can numerous "papal" employees. Does the concept "pope" have a referent? Yes, the referent is a man. If so, is there a better concept/word to describe the same referent? Yes, "man"; or "a man who lives by deception, misrepresentation, and fraud"; or "criminal." Now let's put "government" (as most people use the concept) to the test: Can the concept "government" be used to manipulate and control people? Yes, "The government is the authority we must obey." Does my acceptance of the concept place me at a disadvantage? Yes, I have to pay for the "privilege" of obeying the people who call themselves "government." Can somebody gain an advantage by using the concept if it isn't challenged? Definitely, the people who call themselves "government" enjoy the status of being masters financed by their "subjects" or slaves. Does the concept have a referent? Just what the referents are is not clear. They could include: people, guns, bombs, buildings, systems, pieces of paper, etc. If so, are there better concepts/words to describe the same referents? Yes, territorial gangsters, guns, bombs, buildings, systems, pieces of paper, etc. To discover the extent to which some concepts are bogus, it may be necessary to dig into history (particularly revisionist history). For example, in the case of the so-called "US Constitution" we find that the 70 odd people who signed it as "We the people of the United States of America" signed it on their own behalf and made no attempt or even suggestion that it would apply to any descendants of people then living. The people who pretend to "govern" in the name of the so-called "US Constitution" are liars and impostors. The people who kill in the name of the so-called "US Constitution" are terrorists and murderers. The people who tax in the name of the so-called "US Constitution" are thieves and robbers. Similar considerations apply to other political systems around the world. The concepts and words we use have consequences. Concepts can be "locks" that lock us into automatic unworkable thinking and behavior. Most humans cannot question their concepts. Some advanced humans can and do. The consequences of fraud-concepts, such as "country," "constitution," "government," "law," "nation," etc., include war, poverty, crime, pollution, and a host of other apparently intractable problems. Most humans cannot see this. So their "solution" is to "change the government," or to advocate "new laws," or to "smash the state." They remain stuck in the same old conceptual framework that is at the root of the problems. The results they have produced so far have been meager, to say the least. It remains to be seen whether a sufficient number of humans can break through the conceptual frameworks of current primitive human culture, in order to create new civilizations completely outside our current abominations. Terra Libra is such an attempt. The Tenuous Power of Territorial Criminals "Tenuous" means thin, slender, flimsy, having little substance, easily dislodged. Mahatma Gandhi defeated the armed might of the British Empire without firing a shot. This was possible because of the nature of power. The Berlin Wall couldn't be kept standing by the East German armed might bolstered by several hundred thousand Russian troops. This was because of the nature of power. Suddenly one day the Soviets woke up to find that they had lost their power and that their empire had collapsed. This was because of the nature of power. The power of territorial criminals is based on lies and victims believing those lies. Their power is also based on power relinquished to them by naive victims. Expose the lies and wake up the victims, and the power of the territorial criminals collapses. When victims wake up and become sufficiently dissatisfied, they become more powerful and cease to relinquish their power. By questioning and challenging the statist fraud-concepts - by exposing the territorial criminals as fraudulent impostors and liars and by ridiculing them, instead of taking them seriously - you withdraw power from the territorial criminals. This is advanced freedom strategy. The power of our territorial criminals is tenuous - thin, slender, flimsy, has little substance, and is easily dislodged. This subject is covered more fully in Report #TL06: Discourse on Voluntary Servitude. Implications of the Nature of "Government" The words we use and the way we use them produce consequences. "Government" is one of the biggest lies conceivable - the bigger the lie, the easier it is to sell, and the more difficult it is to question and challenge. The power of the territorial criminals depend largely on their victims accepting statist fraud-concepts without question - primarily, "government," "constitution," and "law." When you use statist fraud-concepts as if valid, you fail to expose the "government" scam; in fact, you perpetuate and reinforce it. Many people have not yet developed the thinking skills to question concepts like "government," "constitution," "law," etc. If you try to communicate with these people in a manner that demonstrates your questioning of statist fraudulent concepts, they'll only think you're crazy. So you have to be careful and selective in how you communicate. There is an "intermediate method" of communication. Instead of "state," or "government," you use terms like "territorial criminals" or "territorial gangsters" ("TGs"). You're not directly challenging others' concepts, while at the same time you don't reinforce the "government" scam. You could also use the term "terrocrat" - short for "terrorist bureaucrat." When you explain to people why you use these terms, some will understand and follow suit. This could eventually become a powerful tactic. Imagine what would happen if a few hundred libertarian and patriot communicators were to use these terms over the airwaves and in print! Some leading freedom advocates are bound to denounce this article viciously - because they will see it as very threatening to their statist fraud-concepts and their freedom strategies. To the extent that freedom activists cling to their statist fraud- concepts, they remain statists at the conceptual level. Was this the case with Ayn Rand? As long as significant numbers of people cling to the old statist fraud-concepts, there will continue to be huckster exploiters who organize themselves into structures called "government," in order to perpetuate master-slave relationships. Even if current political and/or financial structures were to collapse, as long as so many people cling to their statist fraud- concepts, they will simply recreate new master-slave structures. In order to achieve widespread long-term freedom, critical numbers of people will have to cleanse statist fraud-concepts from their brains. As human consciousness evolves to higher levels, the rate at which people cleanse statist fraud-concepts from their brains is likely to accelerate. It's quite conceivable that as political disillusionment increases, more and more people will become open to ideas such as those in this article. The Benefits of Understanding the Nature of "Government" What benefits do you receive from questioning your concepts, smashing the destructive ones, increasing your understanding of the nature of "government," and taking personal responsibility for your own freedom? First, you'll drop hopeless, self-sacrificial, unprofitable freedom strategies like "writing to congress," "financing political parties," etc. - based on collectivist thinking. Second, you'll experience greater freedom of mind and creativity. Through your freer mind you'll be able to see more options, more choices for achieving the results you want. The wider range of options available to you will increase your probability of success. Third, you'll become more conscious. Your mind-power will increase - as a result of questioning what practically everyone else takes for granted, and through individualistic thinking. Whatever personal problems you run into, chances are you'll be more capable of resolving them. Fourth, your greater freedom of mind, creativity, and increasing level of consciousness will enable you to reverse the general tendency of accumulating more and more mental garbage and eventually becoming senile. Instead, your mental alertness and intelligence will increase day by day. Fifth, you'll find ingenious and very satisfying ways to greatly reduce the risk of being coerced by territorial gangsters (Tgs). You no longer think in terms of some huge overwhelming monolithic monster called "government" or "state" attacking you - collectivist thinking. Instead, you think in terms of the risk of being attacked by individual TGs, what you have to do to minimize such risk, and how you can defend yourself if attacked - individualistic thinking. Sixth, you'll be able to earn more money and put more of it in your own pocket. You'll waste less time on unprofitable activities. Seventh, you'll find exciting ways to convert your far greater knowledge and understanding of freedom and political systems into profits. If you want to, you'll learn to sell freedom for profit. Eighth, you'll open up powerful freedom strategies - instead of fighting tyranny, you'll learn to build freedom for yourself and others. You could make a fortune in the process. Ninth, ditching statist fraud-concepts is like taking off your blinkers. Individualistic thinking is much more powerful than collectivist thinking. Understanding the more fundamental nature of "government" will help you become more optimistic and enthusiastic about the future. Getting your freedom under your own control is very satisfying. All these factors are very empowering. Finally, you'll be able to conceive bigger and more exciting challenges to tackle. You'll experience greater achievements suddenly becoming within reach... [Home] [Report Directory] <http://www.buildfreedom.com/> Not copyrighted; public domain. Please copy, translate, publish, and distribute widely. Please include following reference: Originally published by TERRA LIBRA in October, 1994. 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