Does anyone else experience the overwhelming urge to punch a spook right in the disposition matrix every time the “You don’t have all the information I do (because I classified it)” argument is dropped? C’mon, fed, “Just trust us” stopped working outside the beltway some time ago.
It’s like the sick, national-security-state equivalent of the theocracies ruled by those allegedly in possession of prophetic access to divine command.
Guy is an optimist. Why would perceptions ever be stable unless you aren’t paying attention? I think it’s people’s misplaced desire for stability and easy answers which allow them to gullibly accept implausibly simplistic explanations.
Wow. Amazing clip. Will definitely be looking for the whole program when I get off work. Sorry I don’t actually have anything to add, just wanted to say ‘Wow’. So, yeah, wow. Had the same feeling after seeing that clip that I had after reading Chris Hedges ‘Empire of Illusion’, a sort of clarity, like someone else had finally put the words in my mouth, had solidified into words something inchoate that I had been struggling to articulate.
I did not know that expression, so I looked it up. Turns out, it comes from 4chan and was the boasting response to a woman’s desperate plea for the doxxing to stop. Not the best provenance.
Glad you enjoyed it. Mostly the program is satire, that is by far the most serious part of the whole show, but it’s excellent viewing nonetheless. Charlie Brooker’s never made something I didn’t like. The Black Mirror ‘Christmas Special’ was also excellent (in a way that makes you feel very uncomfortable).
That quote is from Surkov himself. I agree that people desire simplicity and easy answers (whether this is misplaced or not is another matter). I think what he’s getting at is using deliberate confusing and obfuscation to muddy the waters of opinion.
An interestingly similar tactic is used by banks: Financial products are the only products that make more money when they are made harder to understand. Why does every high street bank have 8+ different current accounts with varying amounts of interest, and other ‘benefits’? Is this the bank trying to offer me the best product, or to turn me into the best product?
And the same FBI that was certain that Richard Jewell was behind the Olympic Park bombing and ruined his life with media leaks, until a few months later they decide he really wasn’t behind the bombing at all.
I think of banking, as with other forms of finance, not a matter of “product” but of manipulating symbols. Since money works as a symbolic representation of some “wealth”, the idea is that manipulating the symbols is “agreed to” (by those who choose to believe in such things) induce a corresponding change in it’s real-world wealth counterpart. The more audacious and unlikely this symbolic manipulation is, the more “successful” they can consider it to be.
It’s an entirely self-referential game they play, and I really don’t understand why anybody cares about it.
A lot of people care about it, and rightly so, because it’s not an entirely self-referential game. It’s a self-serving, greedy set of manipulations of the symbol we all use in certain exchanges with each other. And their manipulations almost brought the economy down in 2008 (remember?), caused untold suffering and “austerity measures” for which most of the rest of us still shoulder the burden, while none of them have gone to prison for their thievery, even though stealing as little as a loaf a bread can land a plebe in prison for years.
Surely you remember all of that, and actually do understand why people care about it?
The sale of complex financial products that packaged up and hid toxic debt were one of the things that kicked off the recession. Even if you manage to live life without a bank account, you can’t help but be affected by global economics.
Umm? Then use a different set of symbols that aren’t based upon bullshit? Otherwise you will naturally have a lot to complain about!
Use a different set of symbols for what? To buy things? Because no one would take them. Obviously.
What in the world are you even talking about?
I met Alex Krycek, the actor, several years ago in Southern California. I can assure you that he looks nothing like Comey! No make-up, very sweaty and just a guy that gave great hugs!
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