Fear is virtually always the vulnerability that bullies and parasites use to manipulate us to do their will. One of their key methods is propaganda. The word is thrown around in political debate so often that it barely even registers anymore. It’s just another word for “lie.” People in power lie to stay in power. So what? That’s not a surprise. It’s become background noise. We ignore it and get on with our lives.
And if we are really caught up in some giant scheme or “matrix” to enslave us and force us to subsidize the bullies and parasites above us—as this book alleges—wouldn’t that be obvious? Really obvious?
Nope. It’s not obvious. That’s the point. Propaganda does work.
When our lives are ruled by bullies and parasites, it is often well-crafted lies that hold us in our place. Propaganda is cheaper than violence.
If you believe you’re in an inescapable prison, guards are hardly needed. If you don’t even know it’s a prison, even less so. So let’s see why propaganda works…
In some countries, baby elephants in captivity are chained by one leg and prodded with a sharp metal rod—and taught unrelentingly to do the bidding of their human trainers. As adults, they are used to haul heavy loads, transport people or goods, or perform for entertainment.
Elephants are highly intelligent—they have five times more neurons than humans—and can learn many complex skills for work or for show. Yet in adulthood, they obey the tiny humans who trained them, because since birth, they believe humans are more powerful. So the elephants remain compliant. They remain bound by the very same chain from childhood. They could snap it easily—but they believe it still holds them.
We humans are no wiser than elephants here. We could snap the chains and walk free—out of the doorless prisons we thought held us—if we stopped believing the lies that keep us in our place.