CAMDEN — Letter to the editor:
I often see news stories about official acts that seem irrational. Like the one about our government spending boatloads of our money trying to raise a “Moderate Islamic army” in Syria when anyone with half a brain should be able to realize that “Moderate Islamic” is an oxymoron, like “almost Christian,” or “nearly Jewish” would be.
The word “Islam” means submission. There is no ‘partial submission.’ One either submits totally to the will of Allah - as revealed in The Koran - and thus, is a Muslim; or one does not, and consequently is not, a Muslim.
Throughout history, however, the interpretations of what otherwise would be innocent spiritual doctrines by those with political agendas have led to more wars, witch burnings, genocides and exploitations than any political agenda could ever have accomplished by itself. Having examined the myths of many cultures, studied world religions extensively, and written about my findings, my understanding is that there is nothing “moderate” about wholesale societal brainwashing.
If one teaches a group of children a lie that contains damning consequences for disbelief, such as: “People who have true faith can fly and they, alone, are going to Heaven.” The ones with superior intellect will try flying once or twice cautiously - off the roof of the dog house, maybe - and then five up on flight. The lower-functioning kids - and those taught the lie when very young - will continue attempts at flight until they are so badly injured that further attempts are impossible.
This kind of teaching is common among peoples of many faiths, and it entails the organized and purposeful creation of a delusional psychosis. The victims of such brainwashing - like people who are hypnotized - are known to maintain and act upon irrational, and even ludicrous, beliefs - although they are proven false again and again.
If you allow, or worse force - bull-crap into an innocent mind, than all thoughts - and thus all analytic and evaluative thinking - that may arise in that mind will be stained indelibly with bull-crap. For that reason, such socially-accepted brainwashing is rarely recognized as what it is - particularly by those equally brainwashed with that, or similar mythology - and that includes most of the peoples of the world, including us.
Raise a generation or more of people on crap, and they become unable to recognize crap - in themselves, or in others who have been similarly hoodwinked.
Governments and political systems everywhere, and people in all periods of history, have very much appreciated brainwashed people - they can be made to do almost anything. They are so easy to control and to hoodwink into spending gobs of money on more crap.
Do you wonder why, as I once did?
Well, why would a farmer cultivate a herd of hogs that were absolutely and irrevocably convinced that the sausage machine was the door to paradise?
Why, indeed. Enough said.
(By Pete Welthy)