Blog Intro

Welcome! This blog will cover my main interests, which include alternative politics, psychology, philosophy and general enquiry about the nature and essence of people and the world. If that sounds a bit heavy, i will also be including lighter material about music, films, prose writing and perhaps some poetry and comedy entries. In essence, this blog has no particular rules.

The first thing to say is that change is in the air in 2013. All the talk last year was of 2012 being 'the year', but on a global basis it didn't quite happen. I'm sure that for many people however, 2012 was indeed the biggest year in their own lives for reasons totally unrelated to the end of an age, as the Mayans may have predicted, or the London Olympics or any other media-touted event that we are all expected to show an interest in. And 2013 is surely having a big significance for some in their journey through life, as well as for the world at large with the Snowden revelations and the ground-breaking decision not to invade Syria - though i think we need to wait to see how that one develops.

A word about alternative politics. This means a view of the world that recognises politics, as seen in the mainstream media, as a rigged game. It could alternatively be known as 'deep politics' or an examination of the 'deep state', defined by poet and English professor as 'the myriad processes behind the surface politics purveyed in the corporate-controlled media which really dictate what is actually happening at the surface level'. In short, what you see and read in the popular press is misleading and a mere fraction of what goes on in this world and how it is actually run. A conventional political discussion will invariably end up with mutual criticism and name-calling by rival political parties (called 'ad hominem') and some discussion of broad left and right, conservative and liberal viewpoints. An alternative view -or you might call it anti-politics- realises the limitations of this approach, which serves, either consciously or otherwise, to curb any real progress, and sees the need to tackle issues which are never touched in mainstream media for a myriad of reasons (i will touch later on 'media filters') related to special interests and the real rulers of this wonderful world we live in. In debating, the afore-mentioned 'ad hominem' is frowned upon because it appears to reveal that the person using it is not and can not be fully confident in the merit of their own argument so must resort to trying to discredit counter arguments. Think about this when you watch clips, or god forbid an entire broadcast!, of Parliamentary debates. And how would Fox News in the U.S. ever operate without the safety net of 'ad hominem' to fall back on? They are fortunate in that it can lead to lively and entertaining exchanges, which pleases the mindless as they can absorb it without ever having the inconvenience of critical thinking. Some of the views i will express in these posts will seem to the mainstream view to be 'negative' or 'cynical', but i can assure you that i am full of positivity and love for the human race and i see it as the ultimate positivity to want to get under the facade and seek the truth. (My later post 'Cynicism, Skepticism and Free Thought' expands on this.) 

Around 4 years ago i had what is now referred to in alternative circles as an 'awakening'. I wonder whether some people reading this will know exactly what i mean as they may have experienced something identical themselves. Roughly speaking, it was a realisation -through exposure to alternative information- that nearly everything important i thought i knew and which i'd been fed all my life was, what's the word...oh yes...bollocks. Note that i said everything important, not everything. It would be extremely difficult to feed people all total garbage, so what happens is that most of what we are told is probably accurate but is largely inconsequential. The real fundamentals are in a part a deception and it all fits into a general mindset which keeps things the same, perfect for those with the real power in this world. Before this starts to sound like the paranoia of a conspiracy theorist who thinks that a few people meet in smoky rooms to plan world destruction, let me assure you that i believe that the vast, vast majority of people in this world are decent citizens trying to get on with their lives the best way they can. My substantial travels have shown me that although having diversity of culture makes the world infinitely more colourful and rich, it masks the fact that we are all deep-down extremely similar. The problem is that the system, or more accurately a vast array of systems, is a well-oiled work of utter genius in the way that it operates. It appears not to work but in reality is working perfectly. Not only does it rule people, the 99.9%, but it also manipulates them into policing each other, like sheep with no need of a sheepdog.

In my 4-year odyssey, i have read approximately 40 books, listened to around 500 hours of podcasts and interviews and watched about 50 documentaries- some many times- on the general subject of 'how the world works', so though there are many things that i don't know and have yet to research fully, i'm also fairly confident in certain things that have started to become obvious and very apparent. People have got angry with me, ridiculed me and sometimes acknowledged me but as you may know, the truth goes through 3 stages...

The purpose of this blog is not to preach but rather to share ideas and encourage investigation and learning. On the other hand, it's a free forum so i will be expressing things as i see them while reserving the right to change my mind as new observations happen. This would make me a bad person to 'follow' and 'believe', and it is not my aim to attract this kind of attention. It's all about learning. I would like to suggest that if anyone is already thinking about making lifestyle changes and trying to investigate new perspectives, experimenting with boycotting television and mainstream news will allow a greater opportunity for critical thinking, and a bit of reading on media techniques will make it obvious that what you see on TV is an illusion, sometimes a malevolent one and sometimes just entertainment.

The crucial question is - do we want to know the truth? Are we happy? I can assure you that if you are not happy with the way things are, and you believe it could be so, so, much better, there are steps that can be taken that do not involve protest marches. Nowadays it is very easy to spread awareness and information and even just having dialogues with people while negotiating the time-consuming business of tackling modern life is a useful step. Finally, although the rabbit-hole is deep and the truth is often quite ugly, there's actually not much to fear for most people because most of the fear is irrational and of our own making. You need far less than you think and are capable of infinitely more than you think. 

That sounds like a positive start.

A slightly more expansive audio version of this post is available here

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJHwepa7LNQ3_y899sL5ZVewFEAUvZmvy