Trump assassination attempt: the limits of the propaganda model. Excerpt:
'It is hard to ignore: the indoctrination and propaganda model is creaking and groaning at all its seams. The Veil of Appearances that is meant to hide all dirty laundry from the public eye is tearing left and right. And that's why the step toward terror is increasingly being taken. One can see something frightening in it, but it also heralds the beginning of the end of the propaganda model. No one knows exactly how long the endgame will last, but it is certain that the system is in deep crisis. From the fact that the Democrats ran with someone like Biden and then had to force him out in this amateurish and transparent manner, we can only conclude one thing with certainty: the desperation must be enormous.' Read the full article here: https://words.mattiasdesmet.org/the-trump-assassination-attempt--the-limits-of-the-propaganda-model

@MattiasDesmet

My two cents’ worth opinion: Trump for president and RFK for vice president. And in four years RFK for president.

@MattiasDesmet

Another one of Aldous Huxley. Excessive will-to-order (alluding to the Will-to-power of Nietzsche) is one of the driving forces behind totalitarianism:
‘It is in the social sphere, in the realm of politics and economics, that the Will to Order becomes really dangerous. Here the theoretical reduction of unmanageable multiplicity to comprehensible
unity becomes the practical reduction of human diversity to subhuman uniformity, of freedom to servitude. In politics the equivalent of a fully developed scientific theory or philosophical system is a totalitarian dictatorship. In economics, the equivalent of a
beautifully composed work of art is the smoothly running factory in which the workers are perfectly adjusted to the machines. The Will to Order can make tyrants out of those who merely aspire to clear up a mess. The beauty of tidiness is used as a justification for despotism.
Organization is indispensable; for liberty arises and has meaning only within a self-regulating community of freely cooperating individuals. But, though indispensable, organization can also be fatal. Too much organization transforms men and women into automata, suffocates the creative spirit and abolishes the very possibility of freedom. As usual, the only safe course is in the middle, between the extremes of laissez-faire at one end of the scale and of total control at the other’.

@MattiasDesmet

Beste vrienden,
volgende week starten in Nederland nieuwe reeksen workshops over Vrijmoedig Spreken. In een maatschappij die ziek is aan propaganda, die versmacht onder een zich steeds verder uitspinnend vlies van schijn, voelen veel mensen aan dat oprechtheid van essentieel belang is voor het menselijke wezen. In de workshops gaan we enerzijds een theorie presenteren over de psychologie van het spreken; anderzijds gaan we elke lesdag praktisch oefenen.
Dit is de fascinerende wetmatigheid die we in workshops gaan exploreren: de act van het oprechte spreken transformeert wanverhoudingen tot verhoudingen - de verhouding van de mens tot de medemens, de verhouding van de mens tot zijn eigen lichaam, de verhouding van de mens tot zijn seksuele drift, de verhouding van de mens tot de natuur. In twee reeksen (regio Rotterdam en Groningen) die volgende week vrijdag en zaterdag beginnen is er nog plaats vrij. Wie er graag bij wil zijn, graag een mailtje naar [email protected]
hopelijk tot volgende week!

@MattiasDesmet

Here you go (credits to Annelies Van Belle for bringing this quote to my attention).

@MattiasDesmet

Dear friends,
yesterday I arrived in Iceland, for a lecture about my book on totalitarianism. I am often abroad for that reason, but Iceland is one of a kind.
This morning the window of my hotelroom showed me the scenery below. The quiet of this frozen, volcanic world is a liberation for the soul. And the warmth of the people here is a blessing for it.
From time to time I wonder, like most of you, I guess: why am I doing all this? And from time to time life sends me a little piece of the answer, through a sincere sign of gratitude of someone who read my book, or through the warm glow in the voice of someone who exchanges some words with me after a lecture.
We speak because we are humans in relationship to other humans, we speak to harmonise disharmonious relationships - disharmonious relationships with other human beings, with nature, with ourselves …
Here in Iceland, I find a piece of the answer to the question as to why I speak. And in this way, I share it a little bit with you.

@MattiasDesmet

@MattiasDesmet

Can you believe someone wrote this 70 years ago?
'By means of ever more effective methods of mind manipulation, the democracies will change their nature; the quaint old forms - elections, parliaments, supreme courts, and all the rest - will remain.
The underlying substance will be a new kind of totalitarianism. All the traditional names, all the hallowed slogans will remain exactly what they were in the good old days. Democracy and freedom will be the theme of every broadcast and editorial. Meanwhile the ruling oligarchy and its highly trained soldiers, policemen, thought-manufacturers and mind-manipulators will quietly run the shows as they see fit'. (Aldoes Huxley in Brave New World Revisited - credits to Steven Desanghere for bringing this quote to my attention).

@MattiasDesmet

Last Monday, I had the honor of being invited by US Senator Ron Johnson to engage in a panel discussion held at the US Senate, titled 'Federal Health Agencies and the COVID Cartel: What Are They Hiding?'. You can find my speech here: https://words.mattiasdesmet.org/p/my-speech-at-the-us-senate

@MattiasDesmet

words.mattiasdesmet.org

My Speech at the U.S. Senate

Last Monday, I had the honor of being invited by US Senator Ron Johnson to engage in a panel discussion held at the American Senate, titled 'Federal Health Agencies and the COVID Cartel: What Are They Hiding?'. Enclosed is the transcript of the brief address…

As I observe the media's reactions to Tucker's interview with Putin, I rarely witness such widespread panic when someone is finally granted the right to speak. I would say: don’t forget to listen.

@MattiasDesmet