Welcome to Planet Salem

"There are three forces, the only three forces capable of conquering and
enslaving forever the conscience of these weak rebels in the interests of
their own happiness. They are: the miracle, the mystery and authority."

~F. Dostoyevsky The Brothers Karam

What you describe as "witchcraft" is how a cult works.
I submit that your society is more cult than it is culture.

This is especially obvious in America, where we don’t
actually have a culture. Emerson said that we travel
in order to pick up pieces of different cultures because
we don't really have one of our own. The Greeks did
the some thing, so did the Romans, and so did all
the empires throughout history.

I would like to comment on Emerson’s statement,
“Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the
manhood of every one of its members.“ In other words,
in order to be a part of something (society), man has lost
his individual identity. Thus, concludes Emerson, man is
dependent on others for his own identity. I feel that Emerson
made an accurate observation. It has become easier for us to
become one member in a group, cult/culture, than it is for us to
be one member, singly, and distinct from all others.

To put Emerson in my own words, "A cult is any society that is in
conspiracy against the true authority of every one of its members."
Emerson was saying this conspiracy against the "manhood of men"
was all about seeking validation. conformity and uniformity. Society
strives for mass agreement when in fact, inside every man hides a
unique view and opinion afraid to be outspoken in fear of rejection
and ridicule.

Therefore I see a need for anonymity, not just to place a healthy
boundary on the police state (false authority) but also to help
the individual to grow spiritually (find their true authority).

The Dalai Lama said it right, "The ultimate authority must always
rest with the individual's own reason and critical analysis." Thus,
I would argue any so-called "authority" outside one's own conscience
is by definition a False Authority. Moreover, those who would strip you
of your anonymity (against your will) are the ultimate False Authority.

False Authority is the basis of thought reform, and thought reform
is the fundamental principle behind every cult. However, cults are
cleaver in how they present their False Authority and they trick
True Believers (as Eric Hoffer called them) into giving up their
anonymity. They do this so they can blackmail the devotee with
a fear or hell, satan or simply a return to their old live where God
will oppose them, they use secret "sins" against them, and as
you correctly point out, this is a form of witchcraft.

Cults are groups using thought reform to recruit and control members,
by employing the following:

False Miracles - ideology imputing miraculous power to leaders and/or activities.
False Mystery - secrecy, occulting, and obscuring actual beliefs and practices.
False Authority - claims on members' time, talents, bodies, or property to meet group needs.

Thought reform is a hyper-efficient indoctrination achieved when
secrecy impairs indoctrinees' awareness of what is happening to
them and what they are becoming - thus, there is no full, informed
consent. Brainwashing or mind control are popular terms for
thought reform.

Dostoyevsky's novel The Brothers Karamozov includes a chapter entitled
"The Grand Inquisitor" that presents an image of mass psychological enslavement.
This chapter contains a "poem" wherein Jesus returns during the Spanish Inquisition
and is jailed by the Grand Inquisitor. The Inquisitor informs Jesus that mankind has
been unable to tolerate freedom, thus freedom is now "ended and over for good"
so that men may be "happy." …Today, people are more persuaded than ever that
they have perfect freedom, yet they have brought their freedom to us and laid it humbly
at our feet. The "mystery" is that the Inquisitor and his company are secretly atheists
with no interest in miracle at all. The Inquisition will burn Jesus too, and no one will
protest, so great is its false authority. Many writers have commented on this chapter,
which has been published independently of the novel. They see it as an uncanny
prophecy of the totalitarianism of the 20th century and America today.

"Seek not the favor of the multitude; it is seldom got by honest and lawful means.
But seek the testimony of few; and number not voices, but weigh them."
~Immanuel Kant

Originally posted by Bybyots

That's the answer: we flush this stupid idea of anonymity. There has never been any such thing.

You might want to tell people that what you're talking about, the illusion of anonymity isn't a "stupid idea".........
It's only useful when you fear for your life, otherwise.........
It's a form of delusion...........
It's an open secret that keeps them distanced from maturity............
It's a fantasy world where if you don't tell people what you're about, shhh, they'll never know..........
And that they're nothing special.........
THAT PERSONAL TRAITS ARE UNIVERSAL so anonymity is redundant.............
If they don't hide anything, people can't find anything.............

But be gentle when you tell them. Treat them like the virgins to reality that they are. Brute force will only hurt them. Be gentle with your words and ease it in. They've been living this way for so long they see no viable alternative. And be patient.

I'd tell them myself but I have to go make money. If you have any questions, consult my signature and remember that a PM is just a click away.

Brilliant post thankyou. I have to admit it made me stop and think about the skeletons a janglin in my closet and I have to admit to not having the cojones to release them

reply to post by Bybyots


Excellent OP; I agree with everything except the one-sided definition of witchcraft. I believe ALL types of spellcasting are witchcraft, which can be used for good OR evil. ALL teaching, preaching, speech-making, literature, music, visual art and performances in theatre and cinema are, or amount to, spellcasting, therefore witchcraft. We should ALSO never go on any kind of witch hunt by believing a witch is ONLY bad.

Excellent post.

"...and the Truth shall set you Free."

I have had a number of paranormal events in my life...

Enough, and experienced in fully conscious ways, that the existence of a spiritual life beyond our corporeal bodies is no longer a question for me, but a confirmed reality...

It has been my perception, that this stated form of existence, is like a flower in full bloom...
No longer hidden within the protective shell of the seed...
And all that has made you who you are, is like unto the floral scent that wafts upon the breeze for all to smell...

There is no "hidden" in that Garden...

If there is a secret cancer within your seed...cut it out...and let the healing powers of Compassion bring you to your fruition within the Garden...

Let Love heal you....Let the light of Truth guide you... And may the Courage to face these challenges and overcome them be your constant companion in our trek through the Dark Secrets of Forever...

reply to post by Bybyots


when i discovered that hemp oil cures all forms of cancer (which is a devious
catch-all name they use to spread their barbaric poison, slash and burn 'treatments'
on new generations of unsuspecting innocents, that was it for me. i knew exactly
how deep the hole was we were in.

i recently confronted a local concil water engineer to why he was slowly poisoning
my child with the flouride HE puts in the water and he told me in a guilty way to my face
that he knew he was poisoning my child (0.4mg to 0.7mg flouride compund per litre
water) but he had to do it because it was lthe law and the government told him he to!

elements within every government of every nation of the world know that 9/11 was
an inside job. (and moreover know that it was mired in fakery, with a belgian politician
recently remarking (on the record on camera and in parliament) that 9/11 was 'made up'-
which it was, with fake video, witnesses, reporting, victims etc. (there are 1,200 bodies
completely unaccounted for from the twin towers rubble - consider they were not there
in the first place - consider also all the concurrent drills and exercises that day
to carry the illusion).
the fact that none have spoken out on this and simply allowed American and Britain (and others)
their middle eastern rampage speaks volume about the levels of control the world as a
whole is really under (the auspices of the Roman Empire).

(a thought just struck: what if the official 9/11 story (and all it's details) are simply
the played out 9/11 war-game scenario and not-real-world exercises final report or
outcome or fantasy assessment of this fantasy scenario that so many were engaged
in? it would be our mistake to take it as representing reality (remember there is no
legal obligation on the newsmedia (which they own) to report the truth).
if this was the case then you can be sure (they do rely on their legalese which
allows them to keep everything above board and in accordance with common or
natural law) that all the necessary paperwork detailing what is exactly the
real situation is in place and recorded and understood at the appropriate locations
and at the appropriate levels.
i believe private and legal arrangements were put in place seperately to take down
the towers efficiently, safely and without injury - all the victims were created or
generated identities for the purposes of the 9/11 war-game exercise).

'now everythings a little upside down
as a matter of fact thye wheel has stopped.
what's good is bad, what's bad is good
you find out when you reached the top-
you're on the bottom'.

[[this version is not great version (i do a better one myself methinks)
but have a look at the video, if you will. i believe dylan was replaced
numerous times and an eye that wasn't very familar with dylan
will be unbiased and see the differences maybe more easily.
blood on the tracks dylan (and the current one) 1974 is not the same
as blonde on blonde dylan (1965). paul mccartney was also replaced
along with many other switches and fake deaths]].

our lives are one big social engineering project. we are all guinea pigs.

wake up to the nature of the deception, disown your strawman (www.yourstrawman.com) - the ficticious 'you'
created with your birth certificate that the ficticious corporate governments deal with)
and take back personal sovereignty.

above all, as gabby giffords (another psy-op) says;

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

(sorry for the rambling nature, but their net of deceit is just so large and i am not capable
of compacting everything neatly at this time).

One way to beat the beast is to not be disappointed in or condemning of anyone's secret and show no shame when discovered.

The Beast simply will not function when you remove the heart.

Ironic they call it e-motion.
and most of those e-motions come from false belief systems(MEMEs) handed down generation after generation.

I like that saying-
Its not my goal in life to appear normal by a sick society.



Can ya imagine if Bill Clinton instead of saying "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" said...Yes I did have sexual relations with that woman and that's not all....She dressed up as Yassir Arafat and I dressed up as Janet Reno

reply to post by Bybyots


F#$k that. Tell you what, instead why not expose our secret selves and continue to be who we are? I never understood why society has to have a say in how I should feel about the vices I have. We all have vices. Why are mine any worse then any other. That's not to say there aren't bad vices, but if those people were honest about those incredibly bad vices (we're talking like pedophilia bad) then maybe they could get the help/treatment necessary to overcome those vices. The rest of the vices. Well let um be. You like to watch weird porn. Who cares? You like to do a certain kind of drug? Do you want/need help to get off of it or can you go on enjoying your life with the drug being a part of your life without society jumping down your threat. Let people be.

I'd be down with that if society would back off a little on the judgement and just let me like what I like without so many dam negative consequences.

Although since that's not possible it would seem, I don't know why the hell people can't just mind their own dam business. I don't follow the lives of celebrities either. I don't care. Let them live their lives and let me live mine.

reply to post by randyvs


Hey Randy,

I have not responded because I have really just been waiting to hear what you thought? I was so pleased that you found something fun to read in the OP.

Originally posted by Bybyots
reply to post by randyvs

 

Hey Randy,

I have not responded because I have really just been waiting to hear what you thought? I was so pleased that you found something fun to read in the OP.

I like you, believe witchcraft is a force in this world.
What an excellent reference the Hopi, even all
the NAI clans make. They hardly knew what a
lie was before the whites came. So it's easy to
believe their older words and stories are great truth's.

Obviously the observations made in the OP are
an unwelcome truth for all, because the truth hurts.

Great post mon !

I just read a movie review of "The Lone Ranger" which I think
relates to this thread.

"...viewers who can unhitch mentally from the rollicking fun will find the movie is freighted with political and spiritual baggage. It largely glorifies Native American cultures while Christianity and Western culture take a beating."

--www.worldmag.com...

One could say that about movies like "Dances With Wolves" as well, but what is different about the "Lone Ranger" is the use of the mask. What does this symbolize? To me it is a symbol of how Western Culture (following a Christian tradition) is quick to set-up the false authority of a hierarchical control over others (like the American Indians).

The Wild Wild West is a symbol of the WWW (world wide web). It is called a "web" and a "net" for a reason, because DARPA created it to help the government "catch" people. The CIA financed the private company Google because it was a NSA project, the goal was to read the minds of the populace, so see behind their collective "mask" and know them better than they know themselves. It is a tool of State-Craft (read: witch-craft) to help the political system maintain it's false authority over people.

So then, let's hypothesize about the Lone Ranger, and ask what does this masking of one man's persona mean? What does it symbolize?

The movie review (referenced above) has this to say: "a preacher runs Tonto out of town hatefully calling him a heathen Christianity is presented as a religion of greed and ignorance. (...) As evil white men betray all decency, when the Lone Ranger finally dons his mask, it symbolizes his rejection of Western culture."

Okay, that is one take, but I have a different view.

We live in a society where we prefer secrecy and hiding over being who we say we are and having nothing to hide. We then want to be able to turn around and leverage the fact that we know that others are hiding something, so that we have the option of digging up dirt on them so that we can turn it in to actionable information that can be used to 'get' them. In the science of anthropology, that is commonly referred to as witchcraft...

...and that is what the DARPA creation, "The Internet" has realized in a way
that far exceeds the NSA's wildest dreams.

Everyone knows, without being told, that a great deal of hardware and software development comes from the demand of people wanting to not be 'seen' while they are indulging in vice. And to a great extent, this has become the basis for what most people experience as the World Wide Web. We want to keep it that way because we are not willing to give up what we perceive...

...to be the freedom of being anonymous--but deep inside we know this mask we hide behind is an illusion. Still, even this delusion of being "anonymous" gives us a thrill because we know there is a risk our secret life could be exposed (and that only fuels the addictive process).

We insist on this secret space so that our secret selves have a place from which to operate, and to perpetrate on others a digital version of what we have perpetrated on one another for millenia.

With all this talk about NSA spying, we have forgotten the true meaning of Witchcraft.

Witchcraft is about fear and control. It's about a very, very personalized assault on someone's being, using the most personal articles and information attainable from and about that person.

It is all about blackmail, that's how witchcraft (and cults) work.
In this climate, we see computer hackers and whistle-blowers
(Lone Rangers) fighting back.

While the John Depp film might suck (the critics hated it) it does
give us some symbol to work with. Like the movie The Matrix
there is no end to how we can interpret these metaphors and
that is what is so powerful about symbolic language. Whether
it be a B movie or the Bible, everything is a metaphor but not
every metaphor has our name on it.

The mask has a dual meaning. It can be a symbol of a person
who is self-righteous, in either a good or bad way. Have you
ever seen the movie "Serpico"? Well, Francesco Serpico is a
is for me a symbol of a good form of self-righteousness. This
movie is both a true story and a cautionary tale about what
happens when you play the role of Lone Ranger in the real
world. As a cop in New York City, Serpico is famous for testifying
against police corruption in 1971. He got shot in the face for
his trouble--that was the price he paid for being honest. It is
also a good leason for any would-be whitleblower who thinks
they can work within the system to change things.

The second meaning of the mask is to hide our vice, and this
goes hand in had with being self-righteous. People who live
secret lives are very often the most self-righteous. These
are the "People of the Lie" that M Scott Peck called evil.
These people love false authority--that is their mask.

Originally posted by GrimReaper86
reply to post by Bybyots

 

F#$k that. Tell you what, instead why not expose our secret selves and continue to be who we are? I never understood why society has to have a say in how I should feel about the vices I have. We all have vices. Why are mine any worse then any other. The rest of the vices. Well let um be. You like to watch weird porn. Who cares? You like to do a certain kind of drug? Do you want/need help to get off of it or can you go on enjoying your life with the drug being a part of your life without society jumping down your threat. Let people be.

I'd be down with that if society would back off a little on the judgement and just let me like what I like without so many dam negative consequences.

Although since that's not possible it would seem, I don't know why the hell people can't just mind their own dam business. I don't follow the lives of celebrities either. I don't care. Let them live their lives and let me live mine.

edit on 5-7-2013 by GrimReaper86 because: (no reason given)

Agree with you Grim.
The premise that I'm getting from the OP is one of guilt and fear, and I can't say that I agree with it.
(anyone please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).

What I'm reading is that we should be afraid of our vices, regardless of severity, out of fear that someone will find out, and use that information as a form of magic against us.
Should we have past vices that we have moved beyond, we should be an open book to any person who enters our lives should that person, once again, find out about our past.

On both of these accounts I can not agree.
For one, everyone has vices. Whether it's occasionally smoking, having a few drinks, or drinking excessively. Whether it's being promiscuous, to having an occasional fling, to just being a really big flirt. Everyone has their thing; however, as long as you don't feel guilty over what you do to yourself, than no one should making you feel guilty for how you live your life as long as you aren't hurting anyone.

As far as full disclosure of ones past, it depends.
I'm the type of person who tries to live in the moment. I know the person who I am today will not be the person I am in a year from now, or who I was 5 years ago. All of my interactions I want to be based on the person who I am now. So, yes, if there is something from my past that is no longer part of who I am now, than there is no reason not to leave that skeleton in the closet. That information is no ones right but your own. And in the event that a persons past were to come to light, the easiest solution would be to fess up to it while maintaining that you are not the person you are then.

If they can't accept that, then they don't deserve the person you are now.

reply to post by Bybyots


Humans are creatures that seek to dominate one another. There's nothing magical about it. There's really not even anything mysterious about it - It's an extremely common mammalian trait and I'm sure anyone fairly intimate with the different lobes of the brain could give you a detailed explanation as to when and why we evolved such a trait. There is no "unknowable force" acting us to behave like animals - we ARE animals. Society is a relatively new invention. It's flawed, and the protection it offers the individual, despite our convictions to feel otherwise, is extremely limited.

I guess what I'm saying is, attacking one another for things we find deviate is a natural thing. We're not perfect, it's silly and delusional to say that we are. Therefore I think it's harmful to blame something on an outside force rather than take responsibility for the negativity and choose to be more responsible for our words and actions as individuals. Doing otherwise, in my opinion, distracts us from our own real problems by giving us a false one to focus on. It makes us look for problems in places they don't exist. If you waste all of your time and energy on this "unknowable force" then you're never going to know anything... And not because you're focusing on something unknowable, but because you're focusing on something that only exists in your head - and no - the fact that it exists in your head doesn't make it tangible, worthwhile, or real in any way.

Edit: I'm asking purely out of curiosity... How does this thread, which is kind of a rant, have almost 70 flags with only 2 pages of responses? Perhaps there's some "black magic" at play?

As to whether or not anonymity is "good" or "acceptable" is purely subjective, and that question cannot be answered objectively.

reply to post by xEphon


You summarized my feelings well, couldn't agree with you more.
Wish everyone else had the same attitude.

Very soon, you will have to be yourself, backed by credentials, to operate on computer networks. That means that somewhere, your credentials will need to be hosted and hashed so that when you go to buy or sell, the server will return your data and make it possible for you to operate (read: live).

Everyone is presently focused on the Snowden leaks, and they are digesting the horror of it all; pointing their fingers in rage at the obvious perpetrators of the data-nightmare.

Meanwhile, HaXor The Clown is skimming your mom's debit-card numbers, your grandma is being social-engineered out of your inheritance for the third time, and someone has hacked your Yahoo contacts again and is spamming your family, but that's okay, "That happens all the time."

This thread is about all of us taking responsibility for ourselves while operating on computer networks. Network security includes our own hearts and minds, as well as the hearts and minds of our loved ones. We must take an active role in providing a solution to what this means. A family "Network Dude" is now as valuable as a "doctor in the family" has ever been.

Stunningly, the solution to all of our network woes is simply to be who we are, backed by those hashed credentials. There is no other solution, computing is subject to Moore's Law and information security is chasing it; it will never win. The OP was meant to imply the ramifications of what we will have to go through to get through this under our own steam.

Some say they do not want a nanny state, yet they have no plan for securing their data from the real threat, which is the same old crooked-minded element of our society it has ever been: scumbags that won't think twice about imitating some poor old woman's grandson to engineer a few thousand dollars out of her.

If we don't do it, someone is going to come along and do it for us. I hate to get in to the Hegelian Dialectic thing, but it is going to go to a much worse place than finding out how capable we all are of forgiveness, unless we become aware of how we are all jacking with each other. It's got to stop. Then we can be who we are, secure in our data.

Whatever the secret-life stuff may mean to a person on the back-end of that is entirely their business. I entirely agree with Grim, and I think that is the sentiment of most people reading this thread.

Remember, I was the first guy to say this...

I'm totally not up for that; how about you?

...and neither was John Proctor.

Originally posted by Bybyots

This thread is about all of us taking responsibility for ourselves while operating on computer networks. Network security includes our own hearts and minds, as well as the hearts and minds of our loved ones.

I have to admit, you talk a good game. But you have to admit there are too may people too far down into the paranoia rabbit hole to ever do what you're suggesting. They're the one's reading this saying "This guy can't be serious". The same one's who are also flagging this thread without responding. They wish they could be that open, but they're not there yet. On behalf of those people, I have two questions for you:

1. Is that you in your avatar? ( If it's someone famous, sorry, the face escapes me).

2. Does anyone IRL know you as Bybybots? If so, why did you tell them who you are here? Can't you talk about your viewpoints to your friends, neighbors, co-workers or family?

If you could, you wouldn't need this forum.

In other words, do you practice what you preach?

That's a rhetorical question BTW. Very few people here on ATS are known both IRL and here. Like Grim said, too many people are still too concerned about others' vices and/or viewpoints and take to them like so many pigs to a trough. It's ridiculous, but that's the world we live in. There are only a handful of people who actually have the guts to expose themselves for what they are to the general population. The one's who can take the heat and keep doing what they're doing..........they're good. They're damn good, because they need a rock solid constitution and a genuine lack of caring what people think. "Witchcraft", or whatever you want to call it, doesn't phase them.

As it stands though, the vast majority are still going to judge and ridicule people for having the same vices and viewpoints as them. They get away with it because they keep it close to the vest, or extremely anonymous online with the latest and greatest security tools, and keep telling themselves that no one else knows.

They're weird. Plain and simple.

And the minority will continue to look down on them, will continue on with being the open secret for being known both online an off, and feel sorry for them while stress, anxiety and guilt become more and more foreign to the chosen few. Like Don Henly said, "I don't know why fortune smiles on some, and lets the rest go free".

www.youtube.com...

Watcha gonna do though? Stress it? Screw that, have a beer, get a good woman and don't sweat the small stuff.

reply to post by 3n19m470

You know, I'm not one to volunteer everything, but I'll give ya an honest answer if you ask. Of course, if I think it's none of your business I'll tell ya, "It's none of your business". If you have a problem with something about me, guess what, that's your problem. I don't understand why we (people, cities, states. country's) can't just mind our own business. It just amazes me how greed and power are the motivation driven by fear of losing both. Fear is what is used to aquire both. Ironic?

reply to post by Taupin Desciple

I have to admit, you talk a good game.

No, I don't. This is not my first incarnation on ATS. It has been a broad educational process for me and I have learned a great deal from reflecting on the stuff that I used to post when I was an 'actual' 'newb'.

The most I have learned, however, has been primarily from my collaboration with a single ATS member that must go nameless. The next most I learned was from the weird, spontaneous think-tanks that I became involved in at ATS, and the things that we would focus on. If you could see all of the threads I have ever produced together, you would see a focus there. I brought my own focus to these groups and we worked together like that by bringing our different point of focus together; it still happens sometimes. They have always been small, and informal; often like elevator meetings at 9 in the morning when you are trying to get to work after a hard night of partying on a full Moon.

Anyway, it's all ATS baby, even you were there at times when the stink got thick. Remember? That means that everything that went in to the thought behind this thread, albeit primarily from the minds of my best writing partner and I, is pure ATS goodness. It's us trying to figure out what's going on out there, from right here. As I have said, they built it, and we came.

So, it's not me, in fact, the part that is most me is my butchering of a good chance to make a very clear pitch, at least, towards a sociological definition of witchcraft. I hammed it. So, my vector may be emotion, but the message is the message; do you know how hard it is to try to get that kind of complexity in to the box and have about 450 characters left?

But you have to admit there are too may people too far down into the paranoia rabbit hole to ever do what you're suggesting. They're the one's reading this saying "This guy can't be serious". The same one's who are also flagging this thread without responding. They wish they could be that open, but they're not there yet. On behalf of those people, I have two questions for you:

You now what? Why the hell isn't anyone asking me how we are going to overcome the paradox presented by the fact that security is useless yet we must use security? Why!!!!!??????????

1. Is that you in your avatar? ( If it's someone famous, sorry, the face escapes me).

No, it's Daniel Day-Lewis as John Proctor from the play mentioned in the OP

2. Does anyone IRL know you as Bybybots? If so, why did you tell them who you are here? Can't you talk about your viewpoints to your friends, neighbors, co-workers or family?

I will volley the question: What makes you think what I have suggested in the OP will bring the end of using 'handles' and avatars in a web forum?

In other words, do you practice what you preach?

I hope that the first part of my response to your post have helped to make this question irrelevant. I am in the same deep water as everyone else. What I can tell you is I feel as though I am hyper-sensitive to the times that I deliver one of those million cuts, I like to think that it reduces the times that I commit to them and makes me less of a danger to myself and those around me.

Thanks for being here to post, TD, your being here has made the thread special.

Okay,

So, I get that this thread may as well have been in the Philosophy and Metaphysics forum, or the Deconstructing Disinfo forum, and yes, maybe even the Rant forum. My original thought was to put it in D-Disinfo, but I wanted it to be in the same forum connected to Skeptic Overlord's thread to which the OP is meant to be a reply.

If you like, let's pretend it was in the Deconstructing Disinfo forum. I know that a couple of members, at least, have mentioned the idea of bottling this stuff and using it against us in a weaponized form. So here is some food for thought. It comes again from that place where there were many of us networked, trying to solve a common problem, which was...

Do we live in an era of 5th generational warfare warfare? And should we get all worried about it?

The term was first used in 1989 by a team of United States analysts, including William S. Lind, to describe warfare's return to a decentralized form.

Lind also posited that there was a 5th generation of warfare that is essentially information warfare that is characterized by crawling up inside the cultural narratives of different populations so that their emotions could be assaulted via context and perception.

Between my partner and I we believe that the military paid Lind to re-discover witchcraft.

So our answer would be "not really" to #1, and, "not any more than we ever should have" to #2.

Originally posted by Bybyots

You now what? Why the hell isn't anyone asking me how we are going to overcome the paradox presented by the fact that security is useless, yet we must use security? Why!!!!!??????????

Because they already know the answer. We're not. You are in the vast minority who feel that security is useless. By and large, you're right. But when I do my online banking, I like to know that the pages are encrypted. As do you, I'm sure.

What you're basically asking is, how do we change the world, and you're using paradoxes to justify that the question is a valid one . By one person at time, that's how. If people don't individually change their mindset though, how the hell do you expect them to do it collectively? It won't happen that way. I hate to tell you this, but most people out there feel that this life has kicked their a** and left them for dead. They have no strength left to try and change the way things are after working 40 hours a week to make ends meet. What little they do,that is. I'm sure many have the desire to, but basically what it takes is to opt out of the system altogether. And most people are in too deep for that to be a realistic option. I'm sure you understand.

The good one's are waiting for something positive to happen. They don't know what exactly, but they're just waiting for the opportunity to be able to leave all this negativity behind. The bad one's lost hope a long time ago. Those are the one's I referred to in my previous post and have no patience for at all.

Thanks for being here to post, TD, your being here has made the thread special.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing.