Posted on 08/24/2024 12:50:30 PM PDT by DoodleBob
It seems impossible to deny that powerful forces are conspiring to suppress basic freedoms and impose top-down control over American society. Intelligence agencies team up with Big Tech to censor information, governments are marking political dissidents as “terror threats,” and presidential candidates are hand-picked by party elites.
Looking around, I can’t help but feel that the American way of life is under attack. Yet at the same time, I know that research shows that successful people don’t believe that their lives are subject to control by distant powers.
Instead, they believe that effort is rewarded; they have an internal locus of control and think that their actions do affect the outcomes in their lives. How can I maintain this belief in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary?
It’s a challenge that’s had me puzzled for some time now. As a Czech-American born in the 1990s, I was lucky to have been raised in a golden age. My parents would not have even met if the Iron Curtain hadn’t crumbled a few short years before my birth. As it stands, hundreds of millions of people across Central and Eastern Europe made the transition from socialist dictatorship to constitutional government—and most did so peacefully.
Progress wasn’t confined to Europe. Throughout the 1990s, the world witnessed an incredible increase in freedom and prosperity as even countries like China liberalized. All told, about 1 billion people have escaped extreme poverty since I was born.
The 90s were a boom time closer to home, too. When I look back at the America of my youth, I remember an incredibly open society. While it’s true that Americans have never quite mastered the art of conversation—leading Linus from Peanuts to conclude that one should never talk about religion, politics, or the Great Pumpkin—the visceral hatred of today’s politics was unimaginable.
Fast forward to 2024, and the situation has undeniably changed. In the intervening years, the American government has gained vast powers under the guise of the War on Terror, and it now uses those powers against its domestic critics. In the place of a republic, America’s elites have erected an oligarchy that punishes dissenters even as it rewards those loyal to its decrees. Looking ahead, I worry that my children won’t enjoy the same rights and opportunities that I took for granted. I know I’m not alone.
Yet at the same time, I know that this isn’t a healthy way to think. After filling my head with all the calamities of a collapsing civilization, I lack the energy and optimism needed to be a good father and husband. Worse still, I find myself avoiding entire career paths for fear of discrimination. I love ideas and would like to complete a Ph.D., but I don’t want to risk my family’s future in an industry that is hostile toward conservatives—to say nothing of white men.
But wait—is that just an excuse?
My Czech uncle also wanted to complete a Ph.D. as a young man in the 1980s, but he wasn’t a member of the Communist Party. Without a clear way forward, he took a construction job building Prague’s metro system and attended classes at night. He eventually earned his doctorate under the socialist regime—and smuggled banned books into the country when he attended scientific conferences in the free world. Today, he’s the vice rector of the nation’s leading university, with dozens of patents to his name.
If you could travel back in time to 1980 to tell Czechoslovaks that they would have a free country before 10 years were up, no one would have believed you. Even dissidents thought the regime would take at least a century to topple. Yet they continued to speak out—and to hope beyond hope.
Instead of despairing, they founded their own underground schools and art associations to pursue excellence without political interference. When the Communist Party grew weak, they had the skills and the network needed to take advantage of the opportunity.
So while Americans need to know the realities facing the country, we need to avoid cynicism. No one knows what’s coming, but we need to be ready.
the “conspiracy theory” pejorative is meant to ridicule & dismiss the notion that the “conspiracy” could possibly be true. Gaslighting is the counterpart to the ridicule & dismissal. A more recent form of psyops is Crowd Stalking boasted by an executive at LMC IIRC — military grade social engineering & manipulation.
Remember when Britain’s “Minister of Speech” demanded the SM demonetization of Russell Brand, and only Rumble told her to FO? Her husband is a British Intelligence officer that specialize in psychological warfare aimed at “terrorism”
It’s not a conspiracy that fjb and kamalatoe tried to assinate President Trump!
You mean when I said we’ll win because we’ll defeat the cabal?
My stepbrother can tell you everything about what goes on at the highest levels in Texas, all of the secret conspiracies and even some of the conversations, somehow he has all this insider knowledge and informative contacts although he just sells firewood and sometimes does some cleanup or maintenance at a local bar.
I think we have all noticed this, if you want to know the secrets, ask the low level workmen helpers who come to your house, or the homeless, or visit the flea market and fish around to the guys selling their stuff to pay the bills, they know.
Part of the doom porn love fest that is a sub-dimension of conspiracy theories is attributable to “engagement.” That is, sensational and usually negative “news” gets clicks and attention and (ultimately) drives advertising revenue. Social media thrives on that mental hook. You can see it in FR - stories that are positive don’t get nearly as many posters as doom pr0n.
The other element at play is “alternative media” becoming more trusted by Deplorables simply because it’s alternative. Fair enough - we’ve been poked and punched and gaslighted bigly by the Authorities for a long time, most notably during the pandemic. But that “alternative media,” in general, sucks bigly. Gateway Pundit, Slay News, et al are chock full of reposted garbage void of facts.
Add to this mix that these Alternatives are also pushing engagement/fear.
The result is formerly rational Americans lapping up stupid stories, like everyone who’s been vaxxed will die in 3.4 years or Klaus Schwab said he will eat grandma to stop climate change.
But things like the JFK thing will never die.
Because they can’t handle the fact that a Commie did it, and not the right-winger that they just *knew* did it.
Because there are no precise definitions of “conspiracy theories” and “successful people” the statement alleging this relationship is NONSENSE! Wonder what grade of primary school marked the end of Adam De Gree’s formal education?
President Abraham Lincoln blamed the Jesuits for causing the Civil War.
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Doesn’t surprise me at all! That Order has been controlled by anti-Catholic atheists since 1773 when Pope Clement XIV suppressed the Society. Unfortunately for the Church and all Christianity, Pius VII made the mistake of restoring the Order in 1814. Consequently we’re now afflicted with Satan’s Pope who’s been doing everything he possibly can to destroy the RCC.
And I can't believe Trump has revived this nonsense.
Yes, of course the attempted assassination attempt on him needs investigation but why drag in this other nonsense?
The only reason to tell people not to think about conspiracies is so the conspirators can continue in their crimes.
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BINGO! Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!
That’s right.
Successful people make them happen.
But they do believe in facts. And that’s the problem. Trying to believe those that tell the story or those that try to say it isn’t real. One does it by observation and the other in self defence. And you’ve got to believe one of them until it bites you on the azz and you are no longer successful because of it. So do you trust the warning that might be misundertood, or the one that displays an agenda of possible deflection with no possibility of truth about it at all? Where’s ma’ coin.
wy69
OK thanks for being completely unwilling to learn.
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Credentials please?
People do tend to believe some silly things. Look at the number who think Joe Biden has been president all this time.
Just look at Klaus Schwab and Schwartz Gyorgy.
Wouldn’t be much of a conspiracy if public school janitors are just doing it as a hobby.
That’s how a lot of people become successful...through conspiracies! (See Machiavelli.)
You might be demoralized, but many patriots here on FR embrace efforts to stop the conspirators. I would rather have the conspiracies identified rather than pretend they don't exist.
Dude clearly didn’t get the memo.
They aren’t conspiracy theories anymore.
They’re spoilers.
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