Code Breakers (Part 3 of 3)

Start here.

Welcome to Part 3, The Series Finale. 

Part 1 and Part 2 did surely go by quickly. 

Time flies when sorting through the lies.

Where were we? 

That's right! The subject was cheat codes, and the linguistic fuckery that is more than prevalent in MSM, so much so that Hunter's Laptop was "Russian Disinformation" only until the crime boss could begin pretending to lead the United States. In less upright sectors of the legal profession, it is called "terms of art." The lies we have uncovered (together) are too numerous to review. Their deceptions create dragons, imagined and real, munching mushroom clouds on the world stage. Their stratospheric falsehoods wear legal trappings, sheepskin garbed, traps to hypnotize, pervert, and enslave our sad, opiated, and most of all, unthinking fellow human beings.

I have no doubt that you folks, you, the rational, and the rest who cannot care less about political agendas, have long disspelled the notion that legacy mass communication contain a shred of reliable or actionable information. Simple truths are outstanding mental floss. Try them.

No mature adult needs a Tik Tok account. 

Instagram is a bonfire of vanity. 

Facebook is an abandoned DARPA project. 

It's simple.

Thanks, internet. 

Yes, you are a force for human liberation. But with great Freedom comes great Responsibility. No "RIGHTS" at law can be recognized as valid or enforceable without corresponding "DUTIES." Simplistic aphorisms resonate as applicable truths because they are expressly derived from natural existence, and common experience, not from some synthetic form of hubris. This explains why a semester of introductory economics can be compressed into the saying, "There is no such thing as a free lunch." Or more succinctly, "Know Supply and Demand." I would add, "Do the Math."

For those of us seeking to establish some baseline for determining the validity of news reports through analysis of data sets, here is one, graphically represented in Cartesian coordinates, expressing degrees of thought and expressions of information and descriptions of events, plotted along the XY quadrant of a multi-variable function. 

Oh, and thanks, Trigonometry.

One look at that chart, and you know, here comes trouble. 

This week, I will simply add to our roster of linguistic cheat codes, the ones that slip by so easily amidst the booming buzzing noise of daily life, permeating our consciousness and sub-consciousness. These are the programmed phrases, playing on Repeat, leading future generations to a Never Never Land of snowflake nirvana, where accuracy in reporting is sacrificed at the Altar of the Unthinking, and zombie-like trance of shit posts, dumb tweets, cowardly commentary, and unbeareable hypocrisy. This is the final highlight reel of well-used weasel words that boomers should find particularly irritating, if not outright malevolent.

OK, Boomers.

 "Long story short." -- [translation: "Forget the details."]  Making a long story short is a great time saver, and it is also a way to hide the devil, who as we know hides in details. Or was it god who hides in the details? Oh well, long story short, watch out if someone is communicating to you, yet finds they really don't have the time to share important or unimportant details of the narrative. Real, lasting content is in fact comprised of long stories. They are called epics. Be epic.

"Thoughts and prayers." -- [translation: "I'm online and I really am a good person."] This phrase has become recognized as the epitome, and early expression of "virtue signaling." So prevalent in the world of online social media, "thoughts and prayers" is a sad by-product of our digitally induced shallowness, whose insincerity is soon to be surpassed by the currency devaluation of the phrase "Thank you for your service."

"Social Justice" -- [actual meaning: "collective retribution"] Justice is experienced on an individual level. The concept of "Social" Justice is mob justice, a shakedown, and a money-grabbing ruse for the race-baiter industry. It is one the biggest frauds out there, and an insult to the proposition that we are judged not by the color of our skin, but by the content of our character. If you are a "social justice warrior," leave me out of the guilt-tripping 21st Century revenge fantasy against my counttry. YOU are the real racists. Period. Dot. Fin.

"Follow the Science" --  [actual meaning: "It is immoral to disagree with me."] We decoded this one in a previous post. The realm of science is the least capable discipline to determine social policy. It is the least capable to form precepts to guide benevolent human conduct. "Follow the Science" is the reason we needed the Nuremberg Code. In fact, the classical origin of being "scientific," means being a skeptic, not a sheep.

"Trope" -- [???] I am seeing the increased usage of the word "trope" as a shiny debate tool growing in popularity among the internet generation. A trope was a figure of speech, a metaphor, when the writer employs a word that is used in a non-literal manner, e.g., through irony, hyperbole, liltote (opposite of hyperbole), metonymy, or synecdoche. It is particularly fascinating as, perhaps, the word "trope" is not so much a linguistic cheat, as much as it is a definitional error, and its rise in usage (to dismiss potentially valid propostions before examining the proposition) supports my favorite trope generator: Wittgensteinian analytical philosophy.  Put simply, he says that regarding language, Usage trumps Definitions, and not only that, Usage creates Meaning. Humans play Language Games. As I have seen it, some folks think an idea can discredited by calling it mere "trope." Actually,  when someone says, "Oh, that's just a trope," they probably intended to dismiss your idea as cliché, and that could be a valid point.  But by no means should a concept (or policy preference, for that matter) be dismissed merely because it was expressed creatively. Enough on the difference between "trope" and "cliché." I rant.

In closing, as an homage to being a North Carolinian for 28 years, here is one of my favorite linguistic decodes, courtesy of comedian Jon Reep. If you have lived in the South, you already know this.

Peace. Out. 

 © 2022 by Roy Santonil

Fascism, False Flags, and Freedom

Do you hear Sopranos?

Start here.

Do you see part of the image above circled in red? 

What the heck are those?

Why are they hovering above the chamber of the House? 

Apparently, they live.

As you and I keep calm and cope with corporate media dialectics, staying the Babylonian money magic stream of lies pitting:

• left against right,
• conservatives versus liberals 
• male versus female
• black versus white 
• and of course, the currently popular diametric Russia versus Ukraine,

that old imperial strategy seems destined for failure. It is time for the causes of our national malaise to fail, and to fail in catastrophic ways. 

"Choose a side," they implored us.

"Don't worry," they assured us. "We can fix this. Yes, we can." 

Well, sorry, Your Highnesses, but that divide and conquer strategy is old and worn. It is dead. It started to die at Runnymeade. It got worse for you in Trenton. Your destiny was sealed in the fields of Normandy and the streets of Moscow. The kids watched you from the living room TV, as you lied and killed your way through the jungles of Vietnam and Nicaragua, sacrificing youth and energy in the deserts and mountains of Iraq and Afghanistan. But you are done. We have devolved, and our constitution is being restored.

Sure, you have made futile attempts, temporarily derailing humanity's quest. Your litany of falsehoods includeds last-gasp efforts over the millennia -- sinking the Lusitania, followed by the Titanic and more.

But we have long since connected the dots . . . between FDR's foreknowledge of Pearl Harbor ... JFK's monetary agenda ... the fake news from the Gulf of Tonkin ... the dark history of Bush family ... 9-11 truthers ... and now ... the plandemic Covid-19 (better known as the Biden election strategy.)  

Many youthful researchers doubt the seriousness of your Georgia "Guidestones," dismissing them as an obscure art project by some wealthy nut job. The kids may be right, but try asking the people of Hiroshima or Nagasaki whether there exists a certain faction of world powers and principalities having an express, and very clear, depopulation agenda. 

With eyes wide open, to them it's no joke.

But it just won't work. They are destined to fail.

Sure, ordo ab chao was a nice, catchy motto back in the days of Manifest Destiny, when you could opiate the masses and conjure hellscape visions with technological spell-casting, hypnotic images of horror broadcast to make us afraid. You have harvested natural Caution to exploit irrational Fear. Your lust for the blood of innocence inflamed your hatred for Truth and the Beauty.

Little Lambs became Terrible Tigers, burning bright in the forests of flyover America. And our people perish for lack of knowledge. But now, we know. We know your methods, we know your goals and we have learned your ways. Your time has come, you pinkie-sucking, narcissistic, silk-tie wearing monsters. Your days are numbered.

Don't dream. It's over.

This week I commend to you an article from The City Journal, a literary organ of the Manhattan Institute. 

The piece was written in 2014 by Eugene Kontorovich. At the time, Kontorovich was Professor of International Law and Constitutional Law at Northwestern University Law School.

I had no idea that this symbol, used by Mussolini's fascist regime in Italy, is now plastered all over the architecture of many Federal office buildings in Washington, D.C. 

Fascinating.

The fasces symbol may be less notorious than the swastika, but I find it no less detestable. It's meaning and symbolism elicit, in my view, the precise opposite of American ideals, especially the Emersonian ideal of self-reliance, not to mention the concepts of inalienable rights and natural law.

Let me explain. As Professor Kontorovich put it: 

"In republican Rome, the chief magistrates were protected in public by lictors: bodyguards who each carried a fasces, a bundle of 12 rods tied together and surrounding outward-facing axes. The lictors used this unwieldy-looking scepter to chastise wrongdoers, and it came to symbolize the coercive power of the consul."

The symbol of the fasces represented magisterial and priestly authority  in ancient Rome, symbolizing "strength in unity," the way a bundle of sticks is harder to break than one single stick. The strong implication is that the state power is a derivative from corporal power, the power of physical punishment, and the authority is based in a collective, bound together to (unthinkingly) enforce the will of the ruling class, its media, and entertainment outlets. Essentially, the fasces is a weapon, in Latin, a "bundle," that represents the imposition of authority . . . just because . . . well . . . uh, let's see . . . because a large mob of people say so?

That coercive aspect offends me. Coercion, done by goons, hired by effete elitists. It is what makes fascism so repellant to American sensibilities, yet it is so similar to current events, namely, greater central bank control through militarization of local police.

And yes, the Founding Fathers did have admiration for the ancient Roman Republic. One of the first official acts of Congress was to adopt the fasces as the emblem of the Sergeant at Arms.

The Professor again:

"Fasces were part of the standard visual vocabulary of classicism. Like the lamp and the scales, they represented a particular attribute of the classical view of justice: physical power or the ability to impose order."

"When he came to power in Italy in 1922, Mussolini resurrected the symbol and employed it to represent the strength and unity of the Italian state. Political fascism made physical power and the ability to impose order central to its ideology, and so the term “fascism” quickly became synonymous with authoritarian regimes. Mussolini made the fasces symbol almost as common in Italy as the Nazi swastika became in Hitler’s Germany. If people associate the fasces with fascism less than they associate the swastika with Nazism, it may simply be because Il Duce’s historical infamy pales beside Hitler’s [and our WWII ally, Stalin]. 

Kontorovich's piece is titled "When Fasces Aren't Fascist. The Strange History of  America's Federal Buildings." As I read it, he is rationalizing the existence of fasces in the halls of the U.S. Congress.

Kontorovich is attempting to render palatable the disturbing prevalence of that symbol as merely a cultural speed bump, an almost quirky artistic preference. He says the fasces symbol "had no nefarious connotation before Mussolini." 

I beg to differ. The swastika had no nefarious connotation before Hitler either, but we don't see it emblazoned anywhere except those flags hanging on basement walls of shaven headed kook jobs. 

Or Buddhist tombstones.

Symbols are powerful. Symbols will be their downfall.

Indeed, the Founding Fathers adopted elements of a republican form of government when they formed the United States of America. However, the idea that governmental power should be dispersed between three branches, and that man's utter depravity and corruptible greed necessitated a de-centralized form of government is a basic American precept that FLIES ON THE FACE of opposing ideals expressed by the symbolism of the fasces. The Sergeant at Arm's actual job is to enforce the rules of the House, so in a small way, the image of the fasces was an appropriate emblem in 1789. 

However, the Office of the Sergeant at Arms is NOT the government of, by, or for the People. 

The use of the fasces as a symbol in American public architecture did not become prevalent until Mussolini made it so in the 1920's. Fascism was seen as something "cool" in the period of time between the so-called World Wars. Mussolini was admired for getting Italy back on its feet, just as Hitler was admired and promoted by financial interests which included the Bush family, The New York Times, and yes, the Vatican. The fasces symbol, and the philosophy it represented, became so trendy during that period of history that architect Cass Gilbert, and his disciples, imported the "gospel of fasces" into American public life. 

It is sad to see how far we have strayed from our Founders vision. That symbol of collective authoritarianism (OK, dictatorship through corporal punishment), expresses ideals antithetical to our foundational precepts. Do I need to repeat the first three words of the preamble again? 

OK, Boomer. Let's leave it at that. 

I have a medical appointment to deal with some knee pain.

Stay tuned. Same Bat-Time. Same Bat-Channel.

 

 © 2022 by Roy Santonil

Code Breakers (Part 2 of 3)

Start here. 

Part One of this series adds context to my deep concern about what I call "linguistic cheat codes." 

Picking up where we left off, I present to you my Top 5 language cheats as part of a new drinking game. How many cheats can you catch while listening and watching the globalist spin doctors and sociopathic corporate lawyers battle for control over our hearts and minds? 

Listen for these:

1. "Honestly," --- [translation: "I'm lying."] This cheat word slips by listeners so often, and so subliminally that, honestly, speakers will drop it when they are making an especially weak and invalid point. Honestly, if you hear it, just know the speaker is scraping for words to convince you of something, but unfortunately, the absence of merit in their argument and speaker's lack of veracity suggests they are not being forthright. They know you are not buying what they are selling, and (honestly) you shouldn't buy it.

2. "The American people" -- [translation: "my sponsors and contributors"] This cheat code is particularly loathsome. Alarm bells should go off in your mind -- letting you know that before you is speaking a pitiful politician, on full display, confidently engorged, spewing tripe. The level of arrogance and condescension required for a speaker who deigns to know the policy preferences of a heterogenous nation like "the American people" is staggering. They use the phrase -- "the American people." When you break the code, you know that they really mean -- "all those suckers who give me money."

3. "At the end of the day." -- [translation: "stop thinking and obey."] "At the end of the day" is a time warp code. It suggests you do not have the time or the mental capacity to fully consider the speaker's point, thus your independent critical thoughts must be put aside . . . because . . . it is the end of the day. The speaker is suggesting you have no further alternatives; therefore, you must accept the argument, i.e., your time for deliberation has expired. Using the phrase "at the end of the day" is intellectually lazy, an appeal to convenience, and at the end of the day, just another linguistic cheat code.

4. That being said," -- [translation: what I just said is irrelevant] When you hear this phrase, the speaker has just negated every preceding statement. "That being said," means the speaker is ready to make a point directly contradictory to "that being said," and now they are making their actual point. Everything before the phrase "that being said," is an effort to lull your critical thinking skills to sleep. The validity, the merit, even the truth, of the opposing point, "being said," is now rendered meaningless. "That being said," when used properly, should emphasize the strength of the point to follow, which in this case is that corporate and mainstream messaging is likely a form of deception on demand. 

Finally, we have the weasel word that has become one of the most prevalent in recent times:

5. "Misinformation." [translation: "LYING"] Rather than address the merits of an opponent's reason or assess the evidence presented, word weasels and spin doctors dismiss it as misinformation. Misinformation is close cousin of "conspiracy theory," in that it attacks the veracity of the opposition arguments. These are Langley-level cheat codes because it deflects critical thought from the consideration that persons making the accusations are themselves hiding the truth. It's spooky. Rather than making a direct accusation (i.e, "you are lying!"), and allowing a detached listener to determine for themselves who carries more credibility, word weasels call it "misinformation." It softens the accusation, making seem as if you are gently correcting. Nice touch, however, adults say what they mean, and what they really mean is "lying."

There you have it. Those my Top 5 cheat codes for talking heads. 

 

Come on, Barbie! Let's go party!

I dare you to play this new drinking game, with or without friends. The Next time you are plopped in front the TV watching or streaming some representational eggheads bleating propaganda, have a slug every time you hear those cheating word weasels use one of these codes. I dare you. 

From the bimbos at Fox News to your favorite podcaster, to your favorite echo chamber, and even your best friend, whatever your information source . . . everyone is doing it! 

There will be blood.

Have a nice hangover.

  © 2022 by Roy Santonil