Twelfth Bough

i run my own damn think tank

Archive for category Psychology

Speaking of Psychopaths

Feb 25

Posted by Marlena in Media, Psychology | 1 Comment

It’s the topic that pops up like a perennial noxious weed, the trouble with psychopaths. Kenny’s Sideshow has a tidy recap of the 9/11 conspiracies (official and real), along with a nice long list of coconspirators (original source is whodidit.org).

It’s been a long time now since 9/11. Long enough, I suppose, for some people who have clung to the official story to form at least a few little nagging doubts. Long enough for most people to have encountered people who question the official story, and see that they still function normally in the world as opposed to being, you know, crazy. On top of that, it becomes pretty damn clear to practically everybody that we’ve got a very serious corruption problem on our hands, just in general, with government, banks and corporations. So let’s say a window of opportunity has opened. And as the breeze blows through, it’s a good time to revisit the trouble with psychopaths.

Psychopaths are predators. Normal people are not predators. Unless you’ve had a close encounter with a predator over a period of time, you may not fully appreciate just how ruthless they can be. And they know this well, and they have special skills honed to precision just for the purpose of keeping their ruthless natures well hidden. Consequently, normal people find it hard to believe that “anybody could do such a thing,” whatever the thing may be. To wit:

Why Kill Your Own People?

This is the toughest part for the uninitiated to understand. The people who planned and executed the treasonous, heinous crimes of 9-11 are largely drawn from a handful of people known as NeoCons. Many of these are current or former members of PNAC (Project for the New American Century). Many are disciples of Leo Strauss, a German-born, fascistic, political philosopher who taught at the University of Chicago. Strauss thought that the average person was too stupid to decide what is in their best interest and that a ruling elite should govern all of humanity.

Taking a long-term perspective, 9-11 was conceived as a “stepping stone” to eventually enable the creation of a New World Order (NWO), the ultimate goal of the ruling elite — one global, fascistic, police state in perpetual war against an unseen enemy… terrorism.

There were also several short-term objectives of 9-11: to push the USA Patriot Act through a compliant and complicit Congress; to declare war on Afghanistan and Iraq; to create a “siege mentality” in the USA and around the world; to eliminate the Constitution and in doing so eliminate Constitutional Rights and civil liberties; to dramatically increase military and “security” spending; to further divide the country; to rapidly militarize local police; to set the stage for the next “9-11”; and, ultimately, to prepare for martial law.

If this were a checklist, and it is, they’re just about finished. They will fail in the end, but they got this far in part because so many people refuse to believe that members of our own government, military, and of course Our Very Best Friends the Israelis!, would murder thousands of Americans in premeditated murder to further a NWO agenda. The Fallacy of Insufficient Cynicism kicks in.

But it actually has gotten somewhat easier to believe over time, due to the nature of lies and the nature of truth. Especially over the last two years, the fog has cleared for a lot of people. The amount of brutally honest writing one can find online moves the goalposts back toward where they belong, correcting for the artificial frames that pervade corporate media and keep people locked in their mind prisons. Once people grasp the true nature of psychopaths and other -paths, it becomes easier to spot them in the halls of power and everywhere you go. And once you do that, you can escape the CIA frame and actually think your own thoughts about what happened on 9/11 and why, what happened in the financial markets and why, what happened in Israel and why, etc. That’s a beautiful thing. When your mind escapes from their attempts at mind-control, then you’re free. The more of you who become free, the better off we’re all going to be, always bearing in mind that normal people vastly outnumber psychopaths. They need us. We don’t need them.

Bibi will be in charge

Feb 22

Posted by Marlena in Israel, Psychology | 4 Comments



AP (color) image of Bibi, looking delightful as usual. Left half of the face completely vacant and devoid of emotion, the right half clenched and ready to spit nails. Oh, and he was whining that he doesn’t want anyone to twist his arm. Contrast to b&w pic with left side of face sort of “seductive” (if you like creeps) and right side of face “thoughtful,” (if you consider plotting for world domination thoughtful). Just saying. Obviously the older shot is posed, and the newer is, um, candid. I’m going with candid.

Bibi has six weeks to form a new government, Tzipi being the main problem. He’s damned if he includes her, and he’s damned if he doesn’t. Have fun negotiating with that shrew, a worthy opponent for sure. I’m almost rooting for her.

But he has the support of that twit Joe Lieberman, who actually said this:

“Our enemies, unfortunately, are as common as the values and the interests that have united us for all these years. I have no doubt that with Netanyahu’s government here we will have good and positive relations.”

Moron.

Update: SOTT focus on Netanyahu. (Links removed, click through for links.) Read about Bibi’s meteoric rise to power and curious past. He’s nothing but a psychopathic creep spook intent on destroying us all. And He Will FAIL, by the way.

It seems that every leader who comes to Israel, goes to see Netanyahu. It is not a normal thing in politics to have a meeting with the opposition leader every time someone makes a diplomatic visit. So who really calls the shots and runs things behind the curtain?All the while, the warmongering rhetoric ramps up, with the continued propaganda campaign from both Israel and the U.S. over Iran’s non-existent nuclear weapons program (Saddam Hussein’s WMD’s, anyone?). Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter predicts that some kind of attack on Iran is a “virtual guarantee”. The description of Iran as the world’s “worst Hitlerite nightmare”, does not bode well, when we consider the psychopath’s penchant for projecting their own qualities onto their intended victim.

The future? - It looks that Netanyahu’s rise to power will be the final step before the total collapse. Because he is a full blown unashamed psychopath. And just like a true psychopath, he cannot see that his action will lead to his own doom - and to everyone else’s doom.

“The following question thus suggests itself: what happens if the network of understandings among psychopaths achieves power in leadership positions with international exposure? This can happen, especially during the later phases of the phenomenon. Goaded by their character, such people thirst for just that even though it would conflict with their own life interest… They do not understand that a catastrophe would ensue. Germs are not aware that they will be burned alive or buried deep in the ground along with the human body whose death they are causing.“from ‘Political Ponerology’ by Andrew Lobaczewski

Take one hit, next thing you know you’re a thought crime addict

Feb 10

Posted by Marlena in Israel, Psychology, Religion, Unreality | 8 Comments

First, a short story from some nice Catholic guy:

As the 9/11 attack was happening, it occurred to me that the attack had to do with what was happening in the Middle East and it was time to learn what was happening there. I was behooved to work through my conditioned barrier of not wanting to look into the matter because it was much too complex to understand and find out for myself what was going on.I learned that the Palestinians were being kicked off their land so that Jews from anywhere in the world could live there. I attended a Middle East committee meeting and said that I didn’t think this was fair, that it didn’t matter what happened in the past to the Jews, that two wrongs don’t make a right, etc. After that meeting, I was considered anti-Semitic by the experts that apply the label: the Jews that attended that meeting. Thereafter I was treated coolly by everyone associated with the parent anti-war organization. Word had gotten around.

Holy cow! I never would’ve imagined myself being considered anti-Semitic: [growing up] an altruistic Catholic boy who defended little kids every day on the playground from older bullies, the exemplary server boy, the choir boy, the kid that the nuns and teachers considered a role model for others.

But there I was. An anti-Semitic, for being concerned for justice and equal rights for the Palestinians. Little did I know that being labeled anti-Semitic was so easy. It is so easy. In fact here’s the formula: You become aware that Jews are responsible for doing something unfair, like kicking Palestinians off their land so that Jews from anywhere in the world can live there and, boom, you’re instantly anti-Semitic! You don’t even have to complain about it. The labelers just have to know you know about it. It is that easy.

Yes. And lest you think this can only happen to some regular guy with a regular job, who quickly goes from being Joe the Landscaper to that asshole anti-Semite at the bar, let me tell you this can happen to anyone! No family is immune from the scourge of thought crime. Just a few minutes on the internet and you can be lost forever to this merciless drug called Free Thought. Just Say NO, dammit!

According to World Jewish leaders, who are the self-appointed authorities on such matters, we are experiencing a world epidemic of thought crimes. This drug is destroying everything in its path. Though it’s not clear exactly who asked World Jewish leaders to fight the scourge of thought crimes, they have selflessly taken on the thankless job. For one of their first sorties in the War on Free Thought, it looks like they will make an example of that disgusting addict, Bishop Williamson, by executing his career and reputation. Hopefully this will deter others from his sad fate.

World Jewish leaders told Vatican officials that denying the Holocaust was “not an opinion but a crime” when they met on Monday to discuss a bishop they accuse of being anti-Semitic. The meetings, the first since the controversy over Bishop Richard Williamson, who denies the extent of the Holocaust, began last month, took place three days before Pope Benedict is due to address a group of American Jewish leaders.

Williamson told Swedish television in an interview broadcast in January: “I believe there were no gas chambers.” He said no more than 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, rather than the 6 million accepted by most historians

You see? Any deviation what-so-ever from the officially sanctioned Holocaust narrative is a thought crime. Bishop Richard Williamson’s mealy-mouthed excuse that he didn’t actually inhale does not cut the mustard. He’s an addict, and everybody knows it. He smoked the Thought Pipe.

“Today we strongly reaffirmed that the denial of the Shoah is not an opinion, but a crime,” said Richard Prasquier, president of the French Jewish umbrella organization CRIF, using the Hebrew word for Holocaust.

Such a disgrace.

Prasquier and Maram Stern, deputy secretary of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), held talks with Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Vatican office that handles religious relations with Jews.

“We want the Vatican to realize that by accommodating anti-Semites like Williamson, the achievements of four decades of Catholic-Jewish dialogue … will be put into doubt,” WJC President Ronald Lauder said in a statement.

And now Bishop Williamson has been transformed into an anti-Semite. Just like that. He has lost all respectability. Do you see that this one gentleman has single-handedly unraveled four decades of achievements with his foolish experimenting? This drug is very, very powerful. What a shame. He looked to have a promising career, but not anymore.

“We now believe that our message has been understood. The controversial debate of the past three weeks has had a positive impact,” said Lauder, who did not attend the meetings.

Catholic-Jewish relations have been extremely tense since January 24, when Benedict lifted excommunications of four renegade traditionalist bishops, including Williamson, in an attempt to heal a schism that began in 1988 when they were ordained without Vatican permission.

Among those who have condemned Williamson and the pope’s decision are Holocaust survivors, progressive Catholics, U.S. legislators, Israeli leaders, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Jewish writer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel.

Here are the people who understand the dangers posed by this drug. Holocaust survivors. Progressive Catholics. US legislators. Israeli leaders. German Chancellor Angela Merkel. And Elie Wiesel. You won’t find these people in some Truth Crack House, conducting research on the interwebs like some filthy junkies.

A Church source said Israel’s Chief Rabbinate, which had pulled out of dialogue, has decided to resume talks and will come to the Vatican either in late February or mid-March.

The Vatican has ordered Williamson to publicly recant his position. Over the weekend, traditionalist leaders said he had been removed as head of a seminary in Argentina.

Germany’s Spiegel magazine on Saturday quoted Williamson as saying he first had to review historical evidence on the Holocaust before considering an apology to Jews.

“I ask everyone to believe me that I did not deliberately say something false. I was, on the basis of my research in the 1980s, convinced of the accuracy of my comments. Now I must examine everything again and look at the evidence,” he said.

Williamson failed in a bid on Monday to get an injunction from a German court on the broadcasting of his views on television and the internet.

“There are no valid infringements of his rights,” said the Nuremberg-Fuerth court in southern Germany.

Williamson is part of the ultra-traditionalist Society of St Pius X (SSPX), which does not accept all the teachings of the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council. It repudiated the concept of collective Jewish guilt for Christ’s death and urged dialogue with other religions.

The Vatican has said the SSPX must accept all Council teachings before they can be fully re-admitted into the Church.

He got what he deserved. Let that be a lesson to you.

From the Department of the Obvious

Feb 1

Posted by Marlena in Israel, Psychology | 6 Comments

Not to be snippy, but I know several people who would have told them this for free.

A pioneering research study dealing with Israeli Jews’ memory of the conflict with the Arabs, from its inception to the present, came into the world together with the war in Gaza. The sweeping support for Operation Cast Lead confirmed the main diagnosis that arises from the study, conducted by Daniel Bar-Tal, one of the world’s leading political psychologists, and Rafi Nets-Zehngut, a doctoral student: Israeli Jews’ consciousness is characterized by a sense of victimization, a siege mentality, blind patriotism, belligerence, self-righteousness, dehumanization of the Palestinians and insensitivity to their suffering. The fighting in Gaza dashed the little hope Bar-Tal had left - that this public would exchange the drums of war for the cooing of doves.

That’s not even the worst part of this. The worst part is how the people who do know the facts, namely Israeli leaders, actively work to nurture mental illness in their own society for the simple fact that it makes their goals easier to achieve.

Bar-Tal emphasizes that the Israeli awareness of reality was also forged in the context of Palestinian violence against Israeli citizens, but relies primarily on prolonged indoctrination that is based on ignorance and even nurtures it. In his opinion, an analysis of the present situation indicates that with the exception of a small minority, which is capable of looking at the past with an open mind, the general public is not interested in knowing what Israel did in Gaza for many years; how the disengagement was carried out and why, or what its outcome was for the Palestinians; why Hamas came to power in democratic elections; how many people were killed in Gaza from the disengagement until the start of the recent war; and whether it was possible to extend the recent cease-fire or even who violated it first. …Bar-Tal claims that this distortion of memory is no coincidence. He says that the details of the plan do not appear in any textbook, and this is a deliberate omission. “Knowledge of how the land was divided could arouse questions regarding the reason why the Arabs rejected the plan and make it possible to question the simplistic version: We accepted the partition plan, they didn’t.”

People don’t want to know. They don’t want to be confused with facts, especially facts that make them look bad. The official structures of Israel society — the government, the education system, the media — accommodate Israeli popular culture, which can be described in one word: victimhood.

Zionism is an incurable disease of the mind.

The Israelis really crossed the line, however, when they insisted on bringing this mental illness into the United States of America. As an American, I do not appreciate that two percent of our population wields power out of all proportion to their numbers. From print media to television to radio to movies, the Jewish point of view has been amplified to a deafening roar. Just imagine if you woke up one morning to find every prominent Jewish American replaced with a Native American — a different 2%. You would find Native Americans all throughout our government, from the president’s chief of staff and senior adviser, to many top positions in the economic and financial world, to various important diplomatic and foreign policy positions. You could not open a newspaper or turn on a talking-head show without the Native American viewpoint being amply represented. NPR would be Native American Public Radio. Seriously. (Have you heard Terry Gross trying to talk about the Israeli war crimes in Gaza? She sounds personally stricken.) If you think that would be a little weird, then why is it not weird to have the Jewish perspective taking up this much room in American life?

Well, that’s the way it is, and that’s the way it has been, and here were are. The discourse about Israel has been so twisted that most Americans would not even know where to begin to untangle it. But it’s actually not so complicated: the Israelis are the aggressors. That is a Conspiracy Fact, like it or not. Justice is not going to come out of this situation until people begin to acknowledge the facts, and the facts cannot be acknowledged until people begin to talk about them, and people will not begin to talk about them until they begin to see that our entire discourse is being managed to avoid this very topic.

h/t Sis

Having an Epiphany

Dec 26

Posted by Marlena in Psychology, Religion | 4 Comments

Doesn’t it all get so depressing sometimes? We’ve all been there. Once you get that burning curiosity and start digging around on the web, you soon find out things that plunge you directly into despair. From then on it’s a process of confirming, sorting, picking your jaw up off your lap, walking away in disgust, looking at your children with your heart in your throat, etc. etc. etc. Then you sit back down and do it all again. Some days you will laugh, and other days you will cry; but always you know this will surely end in prison camps for somebody.

To greatly oversimplify deeply convoluted things, the people causing the NWO problems worship dark forces. They participate in occult rituals. Evil really exists, and these people tap into it. These forces are unseen, yet they can be accessed and used by willing human beings. If you doubt this, please do some research. These people are not atheists. They believe in the unseen world and actively work against God. They despise the name of Jesus Christ and do everything possible to turn people away from him. And look what they’ve accomplished. What does that tell you?

Yes, God exists. Is he weak? No. It is we who are weak. It is we who deprive ourselves of his power and hand our wills over to the absolutely wrong people, even when we don’t mean to. That is what happens when we succumb to despair. We literally play into their hands. Despair feeds into the very thing we struggle against. They want us to be afraid. They want us to be in despair. They want us to wallow in negativity and hopelessness. That’s how they win. That’s how they crush our spirits. Like everything else about the NWO, their main goal is to convince people to destroy and enslave and imprison themselves! Because certainly, they could never outnumber us.

This is an unseen battle of wits and will and faith. The resistance begins within. It begins when people stop thinking We’re doomed. It begins when you get to the point where you say, in not so many words, eff these people. Who the hell do they think they are?

No. I do not accept this corruption. I do not accept their dominion. It is a lie. We deserve better. I believe that these corrupt people will fail. They will destroy each other, and then they will go to prison, where they surely belong. We will have peace on earth. I believe that good will prevail over evil.

And with that act of will, you have thrown your shoulder behind the unseen force of good. Notice that you don’t have to figure out how, exactly, this will happen. You only need to believe that it will happen and do your own small part, whatever that may be.

What if…..

Oct 30

Posted by Marlena in McCain/Palin, Obama/Biden, Psychology | No Comments

More curious statements from Joe Biden:

BIDEN: “First of all, we’re no where near there. We have 8 days to go. This is the most important election in the public’s life. They are looking at these races very closely. I think this is going to be much closer than everyone thinks it is. Second, with regard to the Democratic Party, this is a new Democratic Party not the party of the 70s and 80s. This is a party that has adjusted to the realities of a new world order.” He went on to say, “I think there is going to be a collaborative effort to make the 21st century an American century.”

Now what does that mean? Predictably, it will be ignored in corporate media while the internet buzzes with the worst-case interpretation: Zionist-controlled Obama/Biden tools ready to implement NWO agenda while corporate media slavishly protects Obama.

Now this could be true. A good case can be made for that. But in following this line of reasoning for months now, I have to say, I don’t trust it. I don’t trust the provenance of this argument. I’m not convinced that it’s not psyops intended to peel away the highly engaged people who do independent research, making them distrust Obama. As anecdotal support, look at the juicy question given to ‘Joe the Plumber’ by a Jewish McCain supporter, Stan Chapman, the other day:

The Ohio plumber, who has no license and is actually named Samuel Wurzelbacher, spoke at a McCain campaign event in Columbus Monday. A McCain supporter asked if “a vote for Obama is a vote for the death of Israel.” JTP hardly batted an eye.

“I’ll go ahead and agree with you on that,” Wurzelbacher said.

So who really fears Obama? Israel-firsters and fake ‘Joe the Plumber.’ I have nothing in common with these people, so why should I be afraid of Obama? As a matter of fact, it becomes harder and harder to deny that just about everyone in the world prefers Obama except some ignorant, pro-war, racist Americans and Israelis. In other words, except for the people who by all rights should be harshly marginalized — all things being equal, which they aren’t, and that’s the problem.

Here’s where the whole fear Obama thing falls apart in my mind. We know about ponerology and psychopaths. We know that the vast majority of people in the world are not psychopaths, but the psychopaths have ascended to positions of power due to their lack of conscience and their ability to lie without remorse. Due to their ’success,’ the psychopaths have ordered the entire system to run on lies and corruption, because that’s the game they excel at. We are all adversely affected.

Are all politicians thus forced to lie? Yes, I would say so. But that does not mean everyone likes it. That does not mean everyone accepts it. The system has been arranged to benefit people who have no consciences. These people, by their nature, cannot appreciate how utterly appalling their system appears to people with consciences. If you were an idealistic, conscienctious young person going into politics or corporate America, for instance, you would eventually either 1) be eaten alive and drop out or 2) become enured and succeed at the game. If 2), you might long for the day when you could dump these psychopathic bastards out with the garbage for making you compromise your integrity and hurting so many people along the way. But perhaps you stay in the game because you find ways to still accomplish some good. Why cede all power to the assholes? Maybe you are stubborn and tenacious. Maybe you have some faith.

Is Obama one of those people? I don’t know. Maybe he is, and maybe he isn’t. I know this comes down to a numbers game. I know that the people who keep trying to throw him under the bus are frequently the very same people who have supported psychopaths in the past. I know that if he is as dirty as they say, he’s the best faker I’ve ever seen because he sure looks good on the top layers. I know if he’s really as good as I hope, he’s the best faker I’ve ever seen because he has taken some really bad positions. Nobody really knows what Obama might do, though we’re pretty sure what McCain would do (start WW III, die, leave us with that crazy shrew). Do I hold this mystery against Obama? How could I? He didn’t make the system, he’s just working it like a master. That does not prove he’s a psychopath.

As a matter of fact, you can look at Biden’s comment this way:

“…this is a new Democratic Party not the party of the 70s and 80s. This is a party that has adjusted to the realities of a new world order.“

Perhaps he’s simply saying that this is a party that has experienced 1) and now does 2). It does not follow that everyone is happy about the NWO. It does not follow that everyone accepts it and wants it and can be bought off to make it happen. In order to believe that, you have to believe that everyone in politics has no conscience. The work on ponerology does not support that conclusion. Look at the numbers. Some of them must be compromised, but with conscience, and therefore seeking justice. Psychopaths would be deathly afraid of such people. That’s what I’m seeing.

Surviving the Exorcism

Oct 24

Posted by Marlena in Citizenship, Psychology, Religion | No Comments

While wrestling our current situation into a brown paper bag to give as a take-home for a dear friend, it just occurs to me why this is such a difficult thing to do. You see, how can it be any other way when we battle in the world of ideas? The epic struggle only partially manifests in the walking around world…so far…but it has raged in full-blown color across the internet for years. This is essentially the battle for truth. Meanwhile, the enemy, deathly afraid of being exposed, fills the internet with one thousand million lies to obscure the truth. Only with perseverance does one eventually thread the needle and say, WTF? Well, at least this is how I experience it.

So to be engaged in this battle before it breaks fully out into the open is a certain type of calling. That nagging desire to know the truth, to dig and dig and sort through all sorts of ideas, from absolute garbage to slick and glittering disinformation, and everything in between, in order to find the choice bits and sew them together into some crazy quilt of truth…if only Dr. Seuss were still here. It’s all so unbelievable and fantastical and yet, there’s a real moral to the story. A solid, simple truth really does exist, and it boils down to this:

No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. Matthew 6:24

That’s it. Every crazy thing happening in the world can be traced back to the sad fact that some people really hate God and love money. And when I say God, I’m not talking about this religion or that religion, because obviously, a lot of people use religions as yet another clever way to hate God and love money. I’m talking about the all-powerful God, who utterly transcends our puny abilities to apprehend him. Either you hate God or you love him. And if you love God, you will not be revolving your life around money.

It’s really very, very simple. Money should rightfully be a means to an end — serving God, rather than an end in and of itself — amassing piles of money and screaming maniacally as you fling handfuls of gold coins over your head, “I’m RICH!! I Rule the WORLD!! Bwa ha ha ha ha!!” And I think it has become painfully obvious to everyone concerned, and that would be everyone, that some people really have turned into cartoonish and demented evil-doers worshiping money, and as an aside, we should pray for them to have some sort of near-death experience or whatever it takes to smarten them up before they die and rot in hell for eternity. But I digress…

So the battle of ideas has been engaged for some time, and now it has begun to really spill out onto the streets via the financial sector. Does this not seem totally appropriate? How could it be any other way? The good news is this: since they have forced everyone to play their sick little game where the winners and losers get determined by $, everyone will now pay attention. That’s the risk to their end game — that we pissed-off losers pay attention as we lose ‘big time,’ and the winners become fully exposed as the cheaters and liars they are before they’ve had enough time to consolidate and secure their control over us poor losers.

So what can we expect now?

In M. Scott Peck’s book People of the Lie: The hope for healing human evil, he discusses two exorcisms he attended. To greatly oversimplify, first he describes how the pretense must be broken. After great turmoil comes the expulsion, followed by lots of threats.

Many skills were required in each of these battles with the demonic: analytic detachment, compassionate involvement, intellectual formulation, intuitive insight, spiritual discernment, deep understanding of theology, thorough knowledge of psychiatry, great experience with prayer, and others. No one person can possess all these skills…a true team approach was absolutely necessary. I also had a sense in both exorcisms that our weaknesses and mistakes were being used as well. (199)

We fast approach the breaking of the pretense, the dropping of the mask in public. When that happens, events will proceed very quickly. Thank God the work of exposing evil has been well underway for years on the internet, otherwise we might not survive the exorcism. But I believe we will.

The healing of evil - scientifically or otherwise - can be accomplished only by the love of individuals. A willing sacrifice is required. The individual healer must allow his or her own soul to become the battleground. He or she must sacrificially absorb the evil….I know that good people can deliberately allow themselves to be pierced by the evil of others - to be broken thereby yet somehow not broken - to even be killed in some sense and yet still survive and not succumb. Whenever this happens there is a slight shift in the balance of power in the world. (269)

I have begged people to please pay attention, to wake up, to look at pictures and read the painful evidence of evil. This is why. We must make certain sacrifices of our own comfort. Not just our physical comfort, though that is coming. We must sacrifice our intellectual comfort, our emotional comfort, and especially our pride if we will ever overcome evil on this earth. If you haven’t shed bitter tears yet for the innocent children of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Palestine — children killed with our money — you have not yet taken the spear of evil into your heart and absorbed your share. It’s time. It’s time to love God and forget about money.

When a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards. - CS Lewis

We are living through a hinge of history

Oct 20

Posted by Marlena in Citizenship, Corruption & Crime, McCain/Palin, Media, Politics, Psychology | No Comments

It’s hard to know what to say right now. Certainly there’s plenty to read, but understanding and integrating it all gives me intellectual indigestion. On top of that, certain dogs have not been barking lately, and that has to be factored in the calculus somewhere, too.

My overall impression — 100,000′ view — is that the forces of good are prevailing. However, I do not expect this to be obvious for some time. Something very important must happen first: the filthy infection of greed, selfishness, ignorance and the love of lies and liars must be radically expunged from our nation. Denial must end. Truth must be faced. People must feel shame, remorse, and contrition for what we have allowed to take place in our names. Some of us already feel this, but many still have that smug quality developed from years of professional scapegoating.

Yes, we have been lied to, stolen from, poisoned and abused, but we have also been complacent and greedy. And all our wounds, which we nurse and lick in misery, we’ve inflicted on innocent people around the world. Our country will continue to suffer until massive numbers (ie: 95%) of Americans face these facts and experience remorse.

Given the widespread inability to think and reason, the massive addiction to corporate media propaganda, and the rich veins of racism and anger currently being strip mined by McCain/Palin in particular; we’re nowhere near turning this thing around. But it has begun, and that is something; and it cannot be stopped. We will suffer until we have suffered enough, until the last ignorant asshole in America finally realizes that this country no longer caters to ignorant assholes. It’s going to take awhile, and it’s going to really suck; but this will be worth it.

A Teaching Moment

Sep 19

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, McCain/Palin, Psychology, Stupidity | No Comments

Regarding Sarah Palin, we have all seen and read much. Yes she has become an enormous distraction, but this is a teaching moment for the American people.We have been here before, eight years ago, and this time one can only hope (please, please God have mercy on your people) that we have learned something in the intervening period of pure misery. Why do we still find this all so shocking?!?

Someone at DKos parses the curious tale of how Sarah Palin reacted when John McCain asked her to be his VP.

This is something I can’t let pass–not without taking notice. Sarah Palin has just made her most blatant lie yet. It’s one that the average television viewer can catch. And most tellingly, it’s a lie that exposes not just mendacity, but a compulsion to lie.

In a transparent attempt to shore up her feminist appeal, she’s changed her story on how she accepted the offer to run for vice-president.

Which one is it, Sarah? The problem with lying isn’t so much putting the lies out there. It’s in sticking to them.

She has now given two completely different answers to explain/describe her reaction to the VP nod. In the one to Gibson, she bragged about not even blinking. Now she says she consulted with her family and they even voted. Oh sure. How democratic is that?
So which one is it? What has happened here?

Her answer to Charlie Gibson was the real answer. She is in all likelihood a psychopath, as I wrote here. I noticed that Charlie also said, in asking his question, that it might belie some hubris for her to accept the job, but she glided right past that little remark and nobody else seems to have mentioned it either. There’s a great deal of focus on her not knowing about the Bush Doctrine, and so forth. Be that as it may. But from a purely emotional level, her performance made it completely plain — if you have eyes to see — that she is ruthless and cutthroat, completely devoid of introspection or even a tiny shred of humility. This is not a nice person. I don’t care what she looks like on the outside.

Psychopaths do not experience normal human emotions, and they try to fake it. But sometimes they just get it wrong. Her no blinking answer was a clashing gong to many thinking, feeling Americans; and now she has to redo that answer by having a new answer, the answer that a normal human would have. The fact that it contradicts her previous answer is of no concern to her. You have to understand that’s how these people operate. Haven’t we seen this over and over again with Bush/Cheney and the GOP? Reality is what they say it is. They actually believe that. They do not understand why we get all hung up on consistency and principles because they have no principles.

As for the comparisons to Cheney, I think they are accurate and justified. The main difference being that Cheney has been inside Washington for what, 30 years?, giving him plenty of time to learn how to spin his lies. Also, he spends so much time behind the scenes where he doesn’t have to bother with all this pesky PR stuff. Sarah is a neophyte in comparison, but that does not mean that she is any less despicable. And if we’re stupid enough to find out, well heaven help us.

Bonus: Additional information from Alaska about her ruthless behavior toward Monegan.

She can blink, but she don’t think

Sep 12

Posted by Marlena in McCain/Palin, Media, Psychology | No Comments

Sarah, Sarah, Sarah…

I’m sure the Society of American Sociopaths will be duly impressed. You have conveyed the secret meanings to them. They know you are one of the tribe. Normal people, of course, will be horrified. But that’s the fun of it, no? To horrify the normal people, those saps every one of them, who have such silly expectations, who persist in earnest effort against the pitiless tide of corruption? Aha. It must be so entertaining for you to play the role of American folk hero alongside the American war hero.

Charlie Gibson asks Sarah if she has the experience to be Vice President, and perhaps, heaven forfend, President of the United States.

Palin says she immediately accepted the VP offer from Sen. McCain, despite misgivings Gibson suggested she might have. “I didn’t hesitate,” she said. “I answered him yes because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can’t blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we’re on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can’t blink. So I didn’t blink then even when asked to run as his running mate.”

In true psychopathic fashion, Sarah admits to being ‘wired’ in such a way that self-reflection has no role in such important, monumental decisions. Why would she stop for one nanosecond? To consider whether this might be good for her family? To consider whether she deserves to represent the American people in this way? To consider whether she can do this job?

Are you kidding me? This is like the Best Job Offer EVAH!! Why would Sarah Palin hesitate? She is no fool. This will make her rich and famous. Who gives a crap about all that other stuff? This is the opportunity of a lifetime, and thus she didn’t blink, and she didn’t think. That kind of reflective bullshit is for conscientious people, also known as saps. When you have no conscience, you have no problem taking on jobs and responsibilities above your pay grade. As a matter of fact, this is the preferred method for psychopaths to fill the upper echelons of business and government with other psychopaths, greatly facilitatating massive corruption.

The ‘mission’ she speaks of? To ‘reform the country’ and secure ‘victory in the war’? If only Charlie had pushed her to define those platitudes, perhaps she could have given even more secret dog whistles to the religious right.

But wait there’s more!!

Charlie pressed Sarah about whether it was acceptable for the US to violate Pakistan’s sovereignty. He asked the question several times.

PALIN: “In order to stop Islamic extremists, those terrorists who would seek to destroy America and our allies, we must do whatever it takes and we must not blink, Charlie, in making those tough decisions in where we go and even who we target.”

GIBSON: “And let me finish with this. I just, I got lost in a blizzard of words there. Was that a yes? You think we have the right to go across the border, with or without the approval of the Pakistani government, to go after terrorists… ?”

PALIN: “I believe that America has to exercise all options in order to stop the terrorists who are hell bent on destroying America and our allies. We have got to have all options out there on the table.”

Yes, Charlie. YES YES YES. She is ok with murdering Muslims, who hate us for our freedoms, and she does not have to ‘think’ about that either. No conscience required. Tough tough tough. All options on the table. Have to protect our ‘allies.’

But would you look at her? She is so pretty. She is so charming. She’s a mom, and a ‘Christian,’ so we have nothing to worry about.

It should be emphasized that psychopaths are quite often interesting - even exciting! They exude a captivating energy that keeps their listeners on the edge of their seats. Even if some part of the normal person is shocked or repelled by what the psychopath says, they are like the mouse hypnotized by the torturing cat. Even if they have the chance to run away, they don’t. Many Psychopaths “make their living” by using charm, deceit, and manipulation to gain the confidence of their victims. Many of them can be found in white collar professions where they are aided in their evil by the fact that most people expect certain classes of people to be trustworthy because of their social or professional credentials. Lawyers, doctors, teachers, politicians, psychiatrists and psychologists, generally do not have to earn our trust because they have it by virtue of their positions. But the fact is: psychopaths are found in such lofty spheres also!

At the same time, psychopaths are good impostors. They have absolutely no hesitation about forging and brazenly using impressive credentials to adopt professional roles that bring prestige and power. They pick professions in which the requisite skills are easy to fake, the jargon is easy to learn, and the credentials are unlikely to be thoroughly checked. Psychopaths find it extremely easy to pose as financial consultants, ministers, psychological counselors and psychologists. And that’s a scary thought.

Psychopaths make their way by conning people into doing things for them; obtaining money for them, prestige, power, or even standing up for them when others try to expose them. But that is their claim to fame. That’s what they do. And they do it very well. What’s more, the job is very easy because most people are gullible with an unshakable belief in the inherent goodness of man which, I should add, has been programmed into normal people by psychopaths.