Prey

Greetings good citizen, most are at least tangentially aware they are being manipulated by the media they choose to give their attention (and often their 'allegiance') to but the stakes are higher than your feeble mind can grasp.

The pleasurable effect depends, in part, on the intensity of the signal that dopamine produces after release into the synapses. In neurons as in life, first impressions matter. People keep on doing what their brains tell them is highly rewarding, often past the point where it is still pleasurable or beneficial. Addicts want something after they have ceased liking it, even if they realize its harmful effects. “I hate this shit,” a Swedish heroin addict told his doctor, “and it doesn’t give me much of a high. It is just that somehow, it seems I can’t be without it.”

Researchers identified common risk factors. Genetic variations and life circumstances—stress, social defeat, neglect or abuse during critical periods of brain development—make some people more susceptible to addiction than others. They feel uncomfortable or depressed until they discover that alcohol, drugs, sugar, gambling, computer games or some other thrilling behavior temporarily banishes their blues. Frequent resort to these substances and behaviors further damages their neural control systems and, often, other parts of their brains. What the Victorians called vice really is a vicious circle. Self-destructive habits are constitutionally linked, downwardly spiraling, and socially expansive. “Addiction is a memory, it’s a reflex,” summed up the American psychiatrist Charles P. O’Brien. “It’s training your brain in something which is harmful to yourself.”

Or having your brain trained. The deeper truth is that we live in a world nominally dedicated to progress, health, and longevity but in fact geared toward getting us to consume in ways that are unprogressive, unhealthful and often deadly. Understanding this paradox—the burden of my new book—requires going beyond neuroscience, beyond disordered neurons and defective genes. It requires understanding the history of novel pleasures, commercial vices, mass addiction and limbic capitalism’s ever-growing power to shape our habits and desires.

Humans are predisposed to certain kinds of behavior and you can bet your boots there has been more than just a casual dissection of what makes a 'superfan/patriot'. Not only is there a certain 'type' that is more receptive to hyperbole but the feckless undoubtedly know just which buttons to push to stimulate those feelings of fierce loyalty triggered when an individual's patriotism is 'questioned'...(don't make us question yours!)

What makes the wealthy rich?

YOU do. They 'take' your labor and sell it for far more than you are paid and they do this with hundreds of employees so it's not 'personal' when in fact it IS!

Nobody likes the idea of being preyed upon but that is exactly what the capitalist does, he pins you down and eats your productivity...and if that falls below a certain level he gets rid of you and replaces you with a fresh victim.

Words are things of power and you need to start thinking in terms of absolutes.

Employment is turning your competitors into 'prey'. [Where is the system where you work for you because capitalism ain't it!] (the answer is ASP which substitutes management for OWNERSHIP...no more SLAVES!)

What's the global race to the bottom all about? [It's about controlling the 'value' of Money...which is ever and always ZERO to the OWNER!]

YOUR 'inability' to recognize you are being PLAYED is born of your 'learned ignorance', you have been raised and schooled to simply 'accept' money for whatever they are willing to give you for it and it is this shrinking return that makes the feckless howl with laughter because they are swindling you! You know their paper is worthless yet you have no choice but to accept it.

And THAT, (oh feeble one) is what CONTROL is all about.

Worse, do you KNOW what POWER is? [When reduced to the binary...]

Money is an 'attribute' of power, accept the money and keep your questions to yourself. Reduced to its binary form, power is live or die.

The State holds the monopoly on power because the State can kill you [for the 'public good' of course but also to avoid prosecution, personal if the situation presents itself.] (Did I mention our society is run by criminals...do I need to?)

It's only a short step that provides money with 'value'. Accept the money and we won't kill you (now.)

Remember why these litanies end when they do, time to put your 'thinking cap' on, Head!

Until next time,

Gegner