Exposing the Mechanisms Used to Manipulate Your Thoughts, Actions and Beliefs.

“...films, football, beer and above all, gambling filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult.” George Orwell, " 1984 " I have to admit, I am totally into people turning off professional football. Sure, I do not like it when players use a pre-game platform to kneel during the National Anthem as a form of protest.   However, my hopes would be that we could return sports to something less corporate in nature, and if the public’s reaction against this new controversy helps in that process then all the better.  Today professional sports have turned into something bigger than life for many people, and it is not just Americans and football – just look to people across the pond and their obsession with soccer. And this is nothing new really: look at how the gladiator games captivated audiences and were used by the ruling Roman elite not just to unify the population but also distract them from what was taking place in the empir...

"There is a club and you ain’t in it." George Carlin Many a young child of the working class has had a parent say, “I want you to grow up and have more than your parents had.” We all want a better life for our offspring; part of the American dream is that our offspring will have more than us, live better and enjoy more leisure time.   Yet in recent years people have become frustrated that everything from “globalization” to “automation” may make that dream far harder to achieve.   And this is the reality that underlies the growing division between the haves and have-nots, or the red states v. the blue ones, or even certain professions feeling superior to others not in their position. Class division has existed since humans started building cities and having a division of labor.  Has this existed since we developed division of labor?   Probably. If we look at Sumer, Egypt and (fast forward) the various Asian and European monarchies lasting u...