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#Post#: 3598--------------------------------------------------
Chaos Merchants
By: Kerry Date: January 10, 2016, 12:58 am
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The term "chaos merchant" is one I picked up from Scientology.
Googling things, I found they have a course about it online
called, Merchants of Chaos
HTML http://www.scientologyhandbook.org/solutions/sh12_2.htm.
They
start off talking about newspapers. I think there are several
things L. Ron Hubbard got right; and his idea about the
merchants of chaos is right. Newspapers and the other news
media are almost unrelentingly negative and depressing,
presenting a picture to the consumers of their products that the
world is a very threatening place and you need the news media to
keep you informed about the latest threats.
There is a good reason these merchants of chaos churn out their
negativity. If you listen to them, odds are you will do what
they want you to do. Their goal is to control people.
It is no accident, the article at that site says, when a
government takes a criminal, puts in him an environment in
prison that makes him even more antisocial, even more dangerous,
when they let him loose again. The more crime there is and the
more outrageous the crimes are, the more the police will be
"needed" and of course, the more prosecutors and jails and all
the rest of the judicial system will be "needed."
In a way then, the recent attacks on police by mentally
disturbed people works to the advantage of the police and the
rest of the government. They can now justify moving towards a
police state. If most people see things as that dangerous,
they'll support granting more power to the police and
government. We saw that shortly after 9/11 when the American
government passed laws that the American people wouldn't have
tolerated before. Liberty was removed from them; but people
thought it best to give up liberty since there were terrorists
that the government needed to find. We cannot deny that 9/11
moved the United States towards being more of a police state
with fewer liberties.
You also often find the elements of pure laziness and greed in
the merchants of chaos. I seldom trust people in professions
whose main product is words. They give you words and more
words and want your money in return. It's a con job since words
and ideas are free and don't cost anything to make.
What do politicians do? Well, they talk. And they get elected
often enough by telling the voters how evil and threatening this
group or that is. If a politician is in a Republican district,
he'll tell the voters there how bad the Democrats are and how
dangerous they are; and odds are he can get elected using the
fears of voters to convince them they "need" to elect him. Of
course, if was in a Democratic district, he'd say something
else. This is one reason politicians flip-flop so often.
Yes, there are often other reasons for changing your mind; but
with politicians, this saying what they think will get them
elected is often the reason.
When it comes to getting anything done, naturally, politicians
seldom deliver. First they wouldn't know how to do anything
since they are used to talking about things, not actually doing
anything. Secondly, if they solved the problems that got them
elected, what would they do next election?
Then we see lawyers making a living with words. Surely there is
a big overlap between politicians and lawyers with so many
politicians being lawyers. No doubt, there is a real need
for lawyers in some cases; but what we see now is a legal system
so hopelessly complicated that the average person can't
understand what's going on. Much of the time, the laws are so
complicated, people don't know if what they're doing is lawful
or not.
Religion is another place where you find people raking in the
money and having power in return for their words. One way to
spread fear is to preach about hell and other things that
frighten people. If you can scare people with religious ideas,
you have them trapped. They'll give you money and do what you
want.
Today religious leaders are now using current events to scare
people. Gay marriage was used by many prominent figures.
Then all of a sudden, that changed. Gay marriage was legal, and
God didn't rain down fire and brimstone as these people
threatened; but events in Europe could be used to frighten
people about Muslims. A few months ago, gays were about to
take down civilization; and now it's the Muslims.
History is fascinating -- religious leaders will use almost
anything to frighten people. Years ago, when there was a
famine in Ireland and lots of Irish people came to America, the
Irish Catholics were a threat. The Pope would take over the
US! Today we can see how crazy this fear was.
We see the chaos merchants survive and thrive by spreading fear.
They can get rich by producing nothing except words that
frighten people. They divide people and conquer. They
contribute nothing of any real value.
I'd say this is an area where Christianity has the right ideas
but many people don't believe it. Jesus taught about the
foolishness of following the wrong kind of leaders; but alas,
we see many people still willing to follow some of the worst
sorts of leaders. They'll give them money and do what they say
to do; and all they get in return is more fear and words that
inspire more fear. It's a scam, pure and simple, a scam that
affects almost the whole world. It is, in fact, one of
mankind's most important spiritual problems that must be solved
before there is "peace on earth."
#Post#: 3600--------------------------------------------------
Re: Chaos Merchants
By: bradley Date: January 10, 2016, 11:12 am
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I totally agree. The media and both political parties are
inciting fear in the public regardless of the nature of the
threat. It is why instilling courage and trust in God into
believers and people in general is so important. Evil thrives
on fear, its what makes it strong in this world.
#Post#: 3603--------------------------------------------------
Re: Chaos Merchants
By: Piper Date: January 12, 2016, 11:30 am
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[font=trebuchet ms]I get the Washington Post on my Kindle. It
was free for a year. It's a nice tablet app, but I do lots of
skimming. The news IS often so depressing, leaving you with a
rather helpless feeling. And I see where much of it might be
geared to influence and control people. "Merchants of chaos" is
an apt and clever term.[/font]
#Post#: 3612--------------------------------------------------
Re: Chaos Merchants
By: Kerry Date: January 13, 2016, 7:06 am
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[quote author=Piper link=topic=409.msg3603#msg3603
date=1452619820]
I get the Washington Post on my Kindle. It was free for a year.
It's a nice tablet app, but I do lots of skimming. The news IS
often so depressing, leaving you with a rather helpless feeling.
[/quote]Almost all of it is depressing, presenting a slanted
view of the world. Hubbard said once most people could improve
their mood by avoiding reading the news for a week or so.
Most of the news is irrelevant to our lives anyway; and you
can't do anything about most of it anyway. Reading the news
does tend to make people feel helpless, that the world is so
completely evil and threatening, there's nothing anyone can do
about it. Okay, I agree the world is a pretty evil and
threatening place; but there are also kind and friendly people
too. Not everyone we meet is a rapist, serial killer or
something like that. Indeed most people are okay, speaking in
a general way. They have their flaws, but most people are just
like me, I think, struggling along trying to be as happy as they
can.
[quote]And I see where much of it might be geared to influence
and control people. "Merchants of chaos" is an apt and clever
term.[/quote]A trick I picked up years ago from someone I knew
is to listen to both sides. I was with him in his car and he
had Rush Limbaugh on. I was surprised and he said, yes, he
listened to Limbaugh but he also listened to NPR to hear the
other side. It is sometimes amazing to see how different
media people can take the same piece of information and put such
completely different spins on it.
I often laugh when I hear what Fox News says about itself, "Fair
and balanced." Can it be both, really? And why do they keep
telling me this? Are they trying to brainwash me into believing
it? Are there two sides to every story? Why not report
facts? Why give us opinions about the facts and then claim
you've given us a "balanced" story by telling us conflicting
opinions? And Fox doesn't do that anyway. They seldom give
liberals' opinions much air.
A lot of "reporting" today comes from the government who tells
reporters things. The reporters don't do much if any
investigating. They just report what the government said.
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