The Human Race is Under Assault
The last decade of my life has been interesting. Not because I've spent the time traveling the world or accomplishing some level of greatness I set out to achieve. No, it's because my understanding of what we all perceive as reality has grown and morphed over the years. I've learned that if you pay enough attention to life you'll discover patterns that have existed since the dawn of humanity. Most people, however, are too busy racing through life chasing dreams and goals to even notice. Selfish ambition can operate as a virus, or better yet a parasite that's infected and taken over its host. Once taken over, the host loses self awareness and motor functions. I think it's imperative to avoid life's parasitic effects. But it's hard for people to do that because critical thinking is at an all-time low.
I've always been curious, questioning pretty much anything especially if it lacks coherence. A lot of things can sound good or even sensible, but that's until you add right thinking and don't allow your brain to coast. For example; there are people that claim there is no God because there's no evidence to support His existence. Well, that sounds good and even sensible, until you think a bit more critically about the claim. Who gets to define what God is? What classifies as evidence? What rules determine God must exist in any form palatable to humans? If God is invisible by nature, how can lack of visibility serve as evidence against His existence? Critical thinking has become an old past time like kids playing outside until the street lights came on. And as a parent I miss those days.
As I sat down to write this article I had to ask myself if there was an easy way to convey that you, the reader, happen to be stuck in a cacophony of ideas that are strung together to deliver the illusion of reality. And that resting in the false sense of intellectualism and bravery won't pull you out. This is a hard task but I think it can be done. Chiefly because I have faith in you, the reader, to discern some of what I want to share. The easiest way to approach this task -so I believe- is to just lay out a few concerns that will elucidate my point. All of what I'm going to share, effects you.
The human race is being poisoned
I started to realize something was not right here on earth back in 1997. I had been deployed to Kuwait while in the United States Air Force and fell ill after a few months. To be honest, it wasn't anything serious, just a bit of upset stomach, nausea and no desire to eat for days. The medical staff assumed I had food poisoning or potentially a parasite which was common while being deployed to the Middle East. I received some antibiotics to "make me better". Well, I went from not well to experiencing a completely wrecked gut biome over the next couple of decades thanks to the hard work of all the healthcare and nutrition "experts" under the banner of medical care. Today my health looks different as I'm healing, without the help of standard doctors or physicians I might add. Over the years of dealing with my health I learned humans don't know as much as we pretend to know, regardless of how many degrees and certificates we create for ourselves. My health is near optimum at this point and it was long road to get here. During my journey I came to realize just how many people are on this same journey...most.
In fact, according to a 2022 report, only 6.8% of Americans are metabolically healthy. Why is that? How could this happen in a country of great wealth and a health care industry worth over $4.3 trillion? If humans have always been on this trajectory then we would have died out thousands of years ago. This means, something is off. This is just common sense. Something has changed recently. See chart below.
A question we need to ask ourselves is, what caused obesity to take off like a rocket in 1980? I'll tell you. The 1980 institution of Dietary Guidelines. See, before 1980, going all the way back to the dawn of man, humans knew how and what to eat. We ate meat, fat and salt and lots of it. And contrary to popular belief there's evidence to back this up. As well as common sense. However, hubris and greed became the impetus for telling humans there was a "new way to eat" which enabled the food industry to create cheaper food with "fatter" margins.
Remember when I mentioned coherence? The Dietary Guidelines are proof of the lack thereof. It states to avoid eating too much sugar, yet encourages getting adequate starch, fiber and hey, you can also drink alcohol. It also encourages eating a variety of foods such as grains, enriched bread, beans, peas and fruit. You know, sugar. But hey, make sure you avoid too much sugar while stuffing your face with any and all carbohydrates. Apparently, people were eating too much fat and cholesterol rich foods and weren't obese enough so this needed to change. Remarkably, right around 1980 humans forgot how to eat properly and needed random stranger to re-educate them. The question we must ask ourselves, is what and who was behind this? And before you think this is an American problem, it's a global issue with the rise of diabetes and insulin resistance. However, according to a study in 2018, what is known as metabolic syndrome started in the Western world. Go America.
Now, I don't want to go too far down the rabbit hole on health. We'll get to all of this in upcoming articles. But know this, what you see isn't an accident.
The Government is corrupt
I remember years ago having a conversation with a co-worker who went ballistic after I told him the government isn't on his side. He couldn't wrap his brain around the idea that the government isn't really for him but instead, is for itself. For many well meaning citizens, this is a terrifying thought.
Every election cycle millions of people run to voting booths in an attempt to democratically alter the direction of the country in their favor. The very thought that perhaps, just perhaps, they're wasting their time is not something most people can mentally handle.
I often tell this story of my stint in the Air Force and the administration of the Anthrax vaccine to U.S. military personnel starting in 1998. The Department of Defense was worried about the potential increase of biological warfare so they mandated all military personnel to receive the vaccine. If you refused you could be court-martialed or even forced out of the military. By the time the vaccine rolled around to me I had less than one year left in the service so I could opt out of it. So I did. I could have taken it, but I had heard too many horror stories about the vaccine making people incredibly ill. In fact, when the vaccine program was initiated it was given as a single dose. But the side effects were so bad the vaccine had to be broken down into two separate shots and then again later until it reached a six dose shot. So in order to be "protected" it would take up to 18 months to ensure there was enough time between each dose to not render the recipient with a life-long illness.
What ensued was a lawsuit filed by six servicemen and civilian contractors against the government. Military members weren't on board with how the FDA ignored to follow some of its own policies relating to vaccine approvals as well as the fact the conducted study -a controlled trial- on efficacy was with a tiny sample size relating only to inhalation anthrax; 5 people to be exact. If you'd like to read more about this debauchery here's a good overview on what went down.
This is only one example. I won't get into COVID-19 vaccine controversy right now. However, let me be clear; the government isn't operating in your best interest.
You will be broke and own nothing
One of my favorite books is George Orwell's dystopian sci-fi, 1984. If you haven't picked up a copy, do yourself a favor and get his book. The story follows a character by the name, Winston Smith -who lives under a government that operates as Big Brother- seeing all things and controlling every aspect of its citizen's lives. While purely fictional, the book serves as a cautionary tale as to what can happen when a society allows its government to go unchecked. There are clear and obvious parallels in our day as people continue to slowly give away their privacy, rights and opportunities of ownership in lieu of utopian promises of a brighter tomorrow. Americans are increasingly growing more dependent on the government for things it has zero business dabbling in. And I understand why. Most people don't understand basic economics and the effects of bad economic policies. I myself had to learn this later in life because American school systems don't actually teach what's necessary for life and success. Instead, children are taught how to be cogs in a wheel to benefit the larger machine. But that's a story for another article.
You're undoubtedly familiar with the concept, "the American dream". Even foreigners are familiar with it as many seek to flock to this land of milk and honey every day. But if you're like me, you've learned that while opportunities are certainly plenty, it seems increasingly difficult to actually get ahead. The American dream is simply a dream that demands you sacrifice body and soul in order to obtain happiness.
For starters according to the latest study conducted by the Pew Research Center, only half of Americans are satisfied with their job.
Now, this isn't the fault of the government. I believe it is a result of a larger problem. American culture is wired to chase what it can't catch -the American dream.
According to the U.N. agency, International Labour Organization (ILO), Americans are overworked compared to Europeans. While Americans aren't the most overworked nation in the world, it's in the top 10 as of 2022. And the reality is, people are wising up to the fact that the proverbial carrot keeps moving further away and are now doing the bare minimum. And for all of the lies coming out of Washington about a strong economy, what you're most likely not hearing is that household debt is going through the roof. That's right, consumer debt is propping up the economy and that can only last for so long before the chickens come home to roost.
Are consumers spending more? Absolutely. They're going further into debt to do it. As of January 2023, over 1 in 3 Americans have more credit card debt than emergency savings.
Only 48% say they have enough money to cover 3 months of expenses and 1 in 3 Americans have zero savings for an emergency. Now, while there's certainly some blame that can be levied at those who are poor money managers, it doesn't help that our government -working with the Federal Reserve- continues to throw the economy into a death spiral by "stimulating" the economy into inflation hell. This, coupled with the amount of taxes American citizens must pay. This ruse is often ignored by politicians who instead gaslight citizens against capitalism to gain political points.Shall we name some? There's the federal income tax, state tax, social security tax, medicare tax, sales tax, property tax and capital gains tax. And just when you think you're going to pass from this plane into the afterlife without being touched by taxes, you get to pay the death tax -also known as the estate tax- in the event you leave behind significant assets. But don't panic. Most people won't really get to pay that one because of the stats I mentioned above.
We are paying to lose our minds
People are often shocked when I tell them the late Steve Jobs -the genius who made Apple Inc. what it is today- refused to keep the very same technology that he helped create in his own home. As someone who has spent over 20 years working in the tech industry, I fully understand why. The technology that we've built to increase connections with one another as well as create efficiency within a global society is changing the human mind. Not only is it reshaping our minds, it is reshaping society as a whole and not for the better. Those who've worked in the tech industry as long as I have are completely aware of this fact. Technology can be dangerous in the wrong hands -and the right ones- which is precisely why its reach is limited in my own home.
When Netflix released the documentary, The Social Dilemma, many people were surprised by how deceiving social media companies can be as it concerns consumer privacy. Viewers were taken aback by the idea that these companies have built what is called "digital profiles" of its users. These profiles are then manipulated into certain behaviors that benefit not only the social media company but its advertisers and anyone else with deep enough pockets to pull the purse strings of the company.
But the issue is deeper than this. While many people think its "only the social media" companies that build such profiles, they fail to realize its most companies that conduct business using the internet. In fact I'd wager it is all. Because without the ability to profile your existing or potential customer base it's much more difficult for a brand to market and sell their products. Many companies attempt to get ahead of its customer base by building deep profiles based off things such as shopping habits.
For example, back in 2012 the retailer Target Corporation, was called out for its extensive data mining practices which detected a teenage girl was pregnant before her own father knew. I'm writing this article in 2023. How much more sophisticated do you think the algorithms have become?
Many years ago in my tech career I was responsible for building social media applications as well as viral micro-sites for large brands. One of the chief goals for a builder of such applications is to make them "sticky", so users would either never leave the application or they would be drawn back to it. In order to do this you must build in what's commonly known as game mechanics -a simple reward system. It's the same type of system that's unfortunately been designed into toys for babies and young children. These include products that make obnoxious noises and deliver near epileptic lighting based on decisions the user makes. I won't go into detail here, but just know that this sort of trickery -which plays off of a natural human survival instinct- is a method of exploitation of how the brain works. This is why pornography as well as social media apps are addictive. The brain becomes rewired as it seeks a constant stream of reward high. This leads to problematic behavior ranging from mood swings, depression, anti-social behavior and apathy. If you don't think this is changing the way members of a given society relate to one another, I've got a bridge to sell you. Just take a stroll through a retail store, grocery store or restaurant and pay attention to the amount of people with their faces stuck in a piece of glass receiving their dopamine hit. Or even simpler, just hang out on Twitter -now called X- for a few minutes.
If this isn't jarring enough, a study was released in 2016 that showed prolonged used of smartphones negatively effects posture and respiratory function.
Yes, technology can and does have physical implications to the human body.
The world is lava
I tell my children the world isn't what they think it is all the time. It's my selfish attempt to jolt them out of their slumber. I've learned that in life there comes a time where you have to wake up. Failure to do so leaves you at the mercy of what I call the machine. What is the machine, you might ask? Simply put, it's the culmination of natural and supernatural processes that enable the world to operate as it does. Unfortunately, for most of us we are disillusioned as children in terms of how we believe the world works. To make matters worse, we take these disillusions and fantasies into our adulthood attempting to "make change" or create personal success. And at some point, the house of cards start falling part. Life just stops making sense and instead of living life, you may find yourself simply trying to stay alive. You realize life starts to look a lot like the Hunger Games movies.
I've only touched on a few things that make it apparent our world is messed up. I haven't mentioned things like the accumulation of wealth which is almost impossible to obtain within a system that is supposed to make it easy. Or the concern that instead of being united as a human race we've become more tribal and dogmatic. Politics have become weaponized and people are finally realizing that in America, our own government is more about self-preservation of its power than empowering the people it governs. In fact if you're really astute, you'll also notice that right now a massive transfer of wealth is taking place right under our noses with the advent of Bitcoin. But most people aren't even aware because they're being controlled by... the machine. And the machine has many parts which give it almost unfettered control over every area of our lives.
I know I've packed a lot within this article and to be honest there are many more concerns I could list. But I wanted you to get a small glimpse of what's actually against you in this world. The world isn't setup in such a way to help you succeed or even stay alive. It's really not much different than the wild which is all about apex predators taking down the weak -survival of the fittest. It's this disillusion I want to shake you free from. In order to understand how the world really works you'll need to be able to think critically, rationally and objectively. You'll need to be open to shedding the years of indoctrination you've been succumbed to since your childhood. It's the only way you'll recognize the cosmic patterns that have persisted since the dawn of man. And its these patterns that are leading humanity astray and towards destruction. Or put more simply, extinction.
It's us against the giants. And right now they're the apex predators.