Leveraging the Big Lie
That is never mentioned.
I subscribe to quite a few articles and newsletters from various platforms, Substack, Medium and others from journalists like Chris Hedges, Matt Taibbi, the Grayzone, Caitlin Johnstone, the various voices choosing journalism over propaganda. I like them because they will often at least note that the class struggle is vertical rather than horizontal. Others are much more imbedded in the horizontal binary political struggle. One of them is called The Lever. It is a newsletter from David Sirota that claims to be “a nonpartisan, reader-supported investigative news outlet that holds accountable the people and corporations manipulating the levers of power.” However, they all studiously avoid mentioning what I call the Big Lie.
Like them I intend NOT to mention it in this article either, perhaps it will improve my reach. I was inspired to write this piece by a couple articles I saw today in The Lever that are examples of what I am talking about. One was titled Pharma’s Dems Are Doing Trump’s Dirty Work On Drug Prices. You can tell that despite the claim it is a Democrat rag by the dig at Trump, as if he really had anything to do with drug prices. It mentions the product of the issue to which I refer 6 times, but not once of the system that produces it, and which controls public policy. In another article, very informative about one of the banks big profit streams, titled Banks Want To Protect Their Junkiest Junk Fee it mentions the product of the issue to which I refer 7 times, but again no mention of where it comes from, how, and at what cost to society? Most often articles focus on what I call the symptoms of the disease and never mention the disease, the issue I am most concerned with. I have even been invited to interviews to discuss the issue specifically only to have the host dominate the conversation with tangential concerns at best and never really unpacking the issue at all.
I don’t have near enough time to read or listen to all these programs which often produce very good and informative journalism. I just monitor them looking for any mention of the issue I am most interested in, one that is key to human success on this planet with peace and prosperity, which I’ve learned over the years seems to be carefully avoided as it is rarely discussed or even mentioned directly. I used to call it “the third rail in an economists’ career because that is where the power is,” and it seems to be true of journalists as well. If I mention the issue, there is a good chance your brain will simply turn off and be unable to think about what I am saying because you have no neurological pathways developed for thinking about it. To build such pathways requires an intentional effort to learn something new to your consciousness. Our society is so well trained in schools and mass media with sophisticated psychological engineering to narrow and limit our view of the world that we don’t see it. Americans are taught to never question authority or the lies in the dominant narrative and if you do you risk being considered crazy, anti-social or a “deplorable” and rejected by “polite society,” a euphemism for a society of unthinking automatons. While I recognize such generalizations are never completely true, as there are always exceptions to the rule, I think they may be so small as to be statistically irrelevant.
What is “The Big Lie?” Marshall McLuhan said “Only the small secrets need to be protected. The big ones are kept secret by public incredulity.” That is true of “The Big Lie” I refer too, it is a secret that is in our face almost every day, we are all wholly dependent on it, it empowers those who direct the economic development of our nation and we pay tribute to it every time we buy something and yet we don’t know where it comes from and we don’t care simply because we are unable to think about it. There is also a lot of well-funded initiatives to intentionally mislead you about it, building neural pathway detours that take you around it and off into the weeds of illusion. Many know there is something to know but don’t know what it is. One of my favorite shows is the Jimmy Dore Show, a successful comedian video podcaster who operates out of his garage between gigs on the road. He is funny and informative, but my fandom is tempered with the fact that he never mentions the important issue that the Big Lie is about despite my efforts to communicate that to him. Instead, he has people on who just leave him as confused as before. No one is paid to describe the issue accurately to anyone.
I find it hard to believe that some of these journalists don’t know about the issue, they are very intelligent people so they must just choose not to mention it. I know people who have approached Chris Hedges at public events and asked him about it only to be snubbed because he doesn’t want to talk about it. If it were something he didn’t know about he would have been curious. So, what is it when there is an issue that affects all our lives, and we can’t talk about it? It was no surprise to me that in discovery for the Missouri v Biden case it was revealed to be one of the issues that is officially censored. I guess they want to avoid making material available with which to build those neural pathways.
I would be remiss, however, if I did not mention the journalists and other professionals who do not shy away from the issue. They have lived throughout history as they do today. To mention them would fully reveal the issue that I want you to think about, but I think you should have a pretty good idea of what it is by now, and I hope that will make you think. I would also be remiss to not mention that there are others like me who are trying to talk to people about this issue, many are members of whole organizations dedicated to educating people about the issue, in fact there are some 30 groups around the world trying to break this issue out of its cognitive cage. I write about this issue almost exclusively, showing how it is hidden behind all the other issues people care about. Despite that people don’t seem to care about it, or perhaps they think it is too big for them to think about or too complicated. Complexity is often used to claim sophistication and hide simple truths.
This big lie is to protect and hide the big issue that the powerful interests who benefit from the system that produces it don’t want discussed. In fact, exposing any of the lies the system doesn’t want discussed can end you up in trouble, ask any real whistleblower, but this one can get you doubly ignored so if you are a journalist or documentary filmmaker I understand why you will not address this issue despite the fact that left unchecked it will continue to devour the Earth and the ability of human life to survive on it despite efforts to do so by enslaving everyone to force them to do their bidding. Problem is that the system has them believing they are doing what’s best for the world. It reminds me of the movie “Don’t Look Up” where a giant asteroid was on a collision path with Earth that on impact would kill everyone on the planet. Those who knew about it tried to tell people, but none wanted to believe it or think about it, preferring the false science that gave them false comfort instead until it was too late. I realize many people have deep seated beliefs about how the world works but as John Trudell pointed out we should be careful about that word believe “because it has a lie in the middle of it” and said he “would be much more comfortable if people would think more instead.” I agree and I hope you will too.