Blog

  • Reality versus Propaganda and Propaganda is Winning

    An Article by
    John Cox, M.A. C/M

    “We live in a period, of communication, when “Branding”, or the concept of a “Commercialized Identity”, is used dishonestly. But how does it affect us, since we are within the categorical framework of “The General Public.” We are manipulated daily by the media.  It is then, we are referenced as “The General Public”, or becoming nothing more than a statistic – a demographic (i.e. a continued assault upon personal identity, and they are winning — We have to obtain the “Truth” ourselves, yet we accept their version only — $$$$ over humanity). 

    Evidence?  How many times have we seen the politician, or the corporate Administrator, or hunting, trapping, and ranching people state, (as they continue the obvious destruction by them, of our environment and wildlife, Wolves & Wild Horses among others, daily and unnecessarily), or make believe, I should say, it is beneficial and tell us, “It is humane, because it makes the State $-Billions’ of dollars a year, and we feed the World.” Yup, they want us to believe their less than 1% of Public Lands Beef Sales, compared to the overall Commercialized beef industry percentage of 98.7%, yearly in sales, is feeding the World.

    Which, their statement is a lie, and after years of feeding the General Public disinformation from all-out propaganda campaigns, laughingly obvious.  More troubling is their embellished, statistical pie-charts here, and there, and ultimately the bigger pie-chart; as if the smaller pie-charts less truthful, and the largest pie-chart supposed to be more truthful than all those small, troublesome pie-charts —  and their comments, or pie-charts and statistics, never supported with credible evidence.

    Communication today has evolved into an agenda of powerful-propaganda-campaigns, disguised as advertising (yet another systematic approach to the individuals identity theft) is all attributes, to sell to the public, not products, directly anyway, but the people or company involved in manufacturing products or services.  Obviously, the communication conflict arises when the people, the producer or manufacturer of a product, or, the sport we discuss, are in conflict with Truth. 

    How does this “truth” become so wayward.  How is it we accept toxic chemicals as beneficial, and yet, many more people make fun of those who demand healthier products, and make threats, hatefully, toward those who are asking honest questions about obvious toxic and poison products; or, pointing out skinning an animal, like a Mink while still alive, to be abusive and inhumane?

    Or baiting wildlife only to shoot them?  Yet, the sport of hunting & trapping is accepted by many, and of course accepted by the family & friends, or else!  As those who do not accept it, trouble right around the corner (especially when living in small towns, and social politics in play) they will be disdained, lose friends, and even face brutality, or worse, death?  Where does such a gap become reality, and why & how did the truth simply disappear?  Should we be concerned about this . . .  Much more information available, with evidence, which this above is only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.

    “The identity of the individual was long ago subsumed by the Spectre of the public.” — Soren Kierkegaard, M.A. Philosophy

    We can explore this phenomenon that describes the erosion of selfhood through mass attention.  As the boundary between private individual, and the public gaze, dissolves.  People become, essentially what they are not, but images of what the public accepts (i.e. often from the latest motion picture, or the current musician or . . .); whereas, some folks take the movie or television program as reality. . .

    The same with groups, well, they become the images of a past, whether it be heritage, or myth, or formal disinformation centered around themselves, changing history entirely – Academically, we refer to it as “historical revisionism or historical negationism”.  Others simply refer to it as a “deliberate distortion or falsification” of history.  

    Heavy-Adventure programs, especially westerns, are evidence of how history is changed, in today’s “Escapist Environment.”  And nobody the wiser, or even curious, as the dramatic elements of the storyline, soothing at times, or an adventure we would never, in reality, come close to, and yet, there we were taking part, mentally, within it all.

    We then become the “Targets” (yup, The General Public), so to speak, of “industrial-commercialization” as well as “Identity-Theft” and “Identity Politics” (as one does not function without the other) for fear of being disliked, or hated, by our group of peers; whereas, the “Product” of the Disinformation (i.e. an altered history of disinformation, or, both assimilated into what they want us to believe, and ultimately the statistics show us — becomes the ultimate truth).

    Yes, Advertising, then, becomes a reality. Implications toward several levels of psychology apply here.  The fact is, a “truthful” individual has no chance of survival.  The General Public is taught, via Propaganda (i.e. Advertising), that what was, in truth, a miscommunicated-rendition of life, yet given to the public to exploit a false rendition of heritage or history, turns into a ‘Truth”.  This is where, for some, the “mythologized public images” first seen, often  manipulated to sell a product, yes, but subliminally (a vast history of this situation exists) to develop hatred toward those who would disagree.  The basis, or premise established, simply for sales-origination, ultimately for high-level incomes. 

    We can intermix the commercialized versions, and place them into the false-reality category, as well, within a group format – i.e. hunting, trapping, ranching, et al. This is the process where the formation of groups to maintain their dishonest appeal, making what they are doing (skinning animals alive, killing wildlife unnecessarily, slaughtering predators, shooting wild horses, et al.) and making it all appear acceptable; thereby, at times, needed (e.g. the false statements of Population Controls, where the outright falsehood, becomes an acceptable “Truth”).

    This becomes the opposition, and the mis-use of terminology takes place – Yet, in good propaganda, our attention is re-directed toward the oppositional challenge; whereas, death becomes a tool — yet, we can disconnect from the reality, and keep our proper-distance where we maintain the thought, it is needed for the betterment of the social-majority = Sacrificed for the good of . . .

    1. Harvesting Wildlife rather than use of the term Kill, Murder, or Slaughter;
    2. Fallacies when debating or arguing or twisting meanings;
    3. Equivocation is using the same word with different meanings;
    4. False Equivalency used often today, in politics and hate-speech, draws incorrect parallels between two vastly different situations;
    5. False
    Dilemma is framing an issue with only two extreme options, when indeed, many other possibilities exist;
    6. Ignoring Facts and Credible Science & Statistics.

    Today we see Destructive Commercialization taking place, forced upon our Public Lands.  Those involved wrap themselves in what they refer to as Heritage, or Historical Value (until we research the myth, the lies, and used only to subordinate, disenfranchise the public, or to spread fear). 

    We no longer even bother ourselves to Evolve with, or alongside Nature. i.e. Ranching, Hunting, Trapping, Corporate Greed, Mining, and other elements of Special Interests, and how they evolved into a status of non-compliance, many seem to avoid, or do not care enough to be concerned – as the destruction out of site, because the commercialized news only generates news of dramatic forms – to sell products, in accord with the Demographics from the General Public. Neglect of Regulatory Measures to safeguard the General Public, simply does not exist.

    What is troubling to many one week, is forgotten by the next week, if no form of updates given on a regular basis — What the News is supposed to give us, but do not do so.

    This statement, “The identity of the individual was long ago subsumed by the Spectre of the public.” — Soren Kierkegaard, M.A. Philosophy, captures how the privatization of experience and the policing of digital or institutional conformity often eclipse personal heritage. It reflects modern struggles with hyper-visibility, where unique, lived realities are swallowed by broad, performative public personas or a “cancel” culture.

    This concept touches on how a person’s authentic inner self is often eclipsed by the expectations and scrutiny of society. When an individual becomes a public figure or spectacle, or a Group becomes extremely large (monetarily wholesome, and pays vast advertising dollars), their private life gets replaced by a societal “Spectre”—a constructed identity that is consumed and defined by the masses rather than the person themselves.

    When a group runs into a problematic negative feedback, from their situations, i.e. Pro-Slaughter Groups or Experimental Pesticide Groups experimenting on our Nation’s Wild Horses with toxic chemicals while calling it “fertilization control”, and it becomes obviously a lie — they simply change the name of the Group. A new form of proaghanda / advertising takes place.

    This dynamic is widely explored across literature, history, and psychoanalysis.  We indulge ourselves into the realms of escape, but do not provide room for Our Endeavors beyond personal satisfaction, comfort, of what we can do comfortably, and without much thought or effort, at times.  To many, Nature and wildlife exist only within a zoo, or the local park, and when wanting to feel really wild, perhaps walk the dog near at dog park. 

    Many assume keeping the squirrels out of their hot dogs, or the Raccoons out of the Vienna Sausage cans, they just opened and set near the picnic table, to be enough inter-action with wildlife for the next few months.  And killing Deer, or Bear, or Cougar, when they see it on a television program, and advertised as a Manly Adventure, becomes their reality of Nature, and Man’s quest to Survive the Elements – after all, it is presented within a dramatic outline! A storyline, displaced by adventure and intensity from the drama, the music, all building to its crescendo, and to the ultimate-needed needed commercial.

    Now we are looking at AI!  It is devastating our landscapes, and only a few more healthy landscapes exists.  Soon, if allowed to build more, our landscape will be denuded of water, forests, and wildlife in total. 

    This is not a story in the movies or on television.  It is Reality.  Are we really prepared for a future of more and more lies, faked-heritage as well as faked-history, as a tool for Wilderness and Wildlife Management? “  — John Cox, M.A. C/M

  • Exploiters & Bottom Feeders – A Cultural Anomaly

    Written and Research
    by
    John Cox, M.A. C/M

    Throughout history, the existence of people who profit from the misfortunes or vulnerabilities of others is a near-universal sociological constant. Someone who uses other people’s troubles, defenseless beings i.e. humans or animals alike, exploitation of ignorant people, entire groups of conditioned-people via propaganda / advertising, weakness, disinformation campaigns, etc., as an opportunity to make money.  Indeed “bottom-feeders” create chaos by reducing clarity, preventing growth (except for their growth, and stirring things up causing others to compete for resources.

    Anthropologists and historians suggest that as social hierarchies and wealth emerge, opportunistic individuals inevitably find ways to exploit structural weaknesses for personal gain. 

    In the past, just as today (tremendous amounts of examples do exist), the “patterns throughout history”, and within reality, still exist.  Public Lands here in America, for example, the Wild Horses, wildlife, waterways and rivers, to name just a few, and administered through exploitation by use of previous cultural heritage exploitation methodology in communication.  The dynamics of Wilderness has changed, to exploit rather than enrich our Society and Cultural Development positively.

    A look at the ubiquity of exploiters across different eras:

    • Classical & Feudal Eras: Elites, warlords, and nobility often extracted disproportionate wealth by monopolizing land and leveraging taxes against impoverished agrarian classes.
    • Colonial & Expansionist Periods: Profiteers frequently built fortunes on forced labor, the displacement of Indigenous populations, and uneven, extractive resource trade.
    • Slavery & Human Trafficking:  Yes, a blight in our World History, and almost every country has developed this, in one way or another throughout history, within many types of exploitation – even today.
    • Modern Markets: Contemporary equivalents persist through predatory lending, insider trading, and corporate practices that prioritize short-term profit over fair labor practices or environmental sustainability.
    • Global Plunder:  Throughout history, imperial powers have enriched themselves by extracting minerals, labor, wildlife sacrificed, lands sacrificed, for the few, from territories meant for the general public, wilderness, and preservation of Natural Resources, and for social elitists to enforce the legitimacy of it all, even though morally and ethically questionable.

    You and I can also discuss Global Supply Chains and transportation, as well as Market Opportunism, but rather, in this discussion, I have covered and exposed the Exploitative as well as “Bottom Feeder Mentality”, and the extreme lengths they will go to, for favorable monetary outcomes.  Taking advantage of people, animals, and circumstances abusively, which indeed, has been a cultural travesty, and remains troubling within many societies. 

    The Greedy Win – The Honest Lose, which is a contradiction to almost every ethical and moral, as well as religious standard, we humans like to assume we live our life in harmony with . . .

    The alternative term I use here, also applicable, “Bottom Feeder” within this context an idiom, describes people who are scavengers, or prey upon the base, unwholesome, or unfortunate aspects of society.  Profiteering from Slaughter of Wildlife (i.e. Wild Horses, Bear, Wolves, Cougar, et al.) or the Overpopulating / Overkill ratios of Livestock, legal or illegal, within an unnecessary capacity, or overabundance, lack moral or ethical characteristics.  While the specific mechanisms and legalities have evolved over time, human nature and economic incentives have continually created environments where these dynamics thrive.

    These historical developmental aspects remain troubling, and one has got to be concerned about how Evolution can assist us, into something far better than exploitation of humans, and the destruction of our Natural World & Resources, we all live upon and within. The necessity is to make it a better place for all, not just a few.

    Left “as is” becomes troubling.  We seem to be evolving, as a “culture” into a deeply intertwined development of coercion, violence, and the unchecked-exploitation of power. 

    While societies continuously develop laws, labor standards, and other regulatory frameworks to mitigate these problems, the desire and drive by the wealthy, to exploit any and all circumstances of our life, remains pertinent, and a recurring element from the negative-side of Darkness, or what we call the human-condition and experience.” – John Cox, M.A. C/M