Fake Experience, Fake Reality (Part Two)

in #anarchy6 years ago (edited)

Part One of this series (https://steemit.com/anarchy/@larkenrose/fake-experience-fake-reality-part-one) explained how, when it comes to “foreign policy,” Americans’ perceptions of what is going on in the rest of the world comes from drastically limited, biased and controlled reports, which they nonetheless perceive as “experiences,” whether they come in the form of “entertainment” (such as movies), or “news” (state-approved propaganda pieces). This, however, shouldn’t be too surprising, and is even somewhat understandable, given the fact that very few Americans have any direct way to know what is happening around the world, or what the U.S. military is actually doing. They just don’t know any better, and don’t usually have an easy way to know any better, without going to the other side of the world themselves.

However, even when they should know better—even when they do have direct, personal evidence of the real world—most Americans still believe fake “experiences” more often than they believe their own eyes. As one glaring example, there are still many millions of Americans who think and say things like this:

The police are brave protectors who constantly put themselves in harm’s way to keep us safe! If you haven’t done anything wrong, you have nothing to fear from them, and if they are arresting you, you must have done something bad!

How often do Americans personally witness anything in real life that supports such a viewpoint? Damn near never. So why do they see the world that way? Because they are constantly barraged and bombarded with the “brave protector cop” stereotype in movies and television shows, and because watching those things registers in their brains as if they were actual experiences, instead of registering as what they actually are: fabrications and falsehoods.

So many people have positive opinions of “law enforcement” that are based entirely on how they see pretend cops behaving in fictional scenarios.

In the real world, however, what most people actually see the police doing is systematically robbing lots and lots of people for stupid, technical, victimless “crimes,” like not having the right sticker on their car. They see that all-too-familiar sight along the highway of the doughnut-eater casually swaggering up to the window of his latest extortion victim, to condescendingly ask, “Do you know why I stopped you?” And yes, most of us do know why he stopped the person: because the cop gets paid to look for any excuse to steal money from productive people (via issuing “tickets”) in order to give it to politicians. That is what the majority of cops actually do, day in and day out, in the real world. There is nothing brave, heroic or righteous about it. They are nothing more than professional road pirates.

On a video I made quite a while ago (titled “Cops are Cowards”), I asked how many viewers had ever actually seen anyone in “law enforcement” do anything genuinely brave. There were two or three half-hearted attempts at examples—which were just examples of good things (helping someone with something), but not at all brave things. At the same time, dozens of people piled on with stories from their own lives where they witnessed “law enforcers” being power-happy, abusive cowards and assholes.

Even among those who proudly declare how much they support those “brave men and women in blue,” few can actually point to any real-world examples of the badge-wearers behaving like brave protectors. And yet many millions still believe that stereotype, and still spread it. Why? Because they really and truly think they have experienced that reality, even though that “experience” consisted entirely of watching make-believe stories on television.

Of course, in this day and age, someone doesn’t need to rely solely on his own personal experience while trying to figure out what the real world is like. Thanks to cameras everywhere, there is no shortage of second-hand but genuine evidence to be found to show what “law enforcers” are actually like in real life. In fact, feel free to do a little experiment of your own: go to YouTube and try whatever word searches you can think of to try to find videos of cops doing brave, “righteous protector” type things. Then do a search for “police abuse,” and watch a few of those—or a few dozen—or as many as you can stomach before becoming enraged or depressed.

Then, of course, there is the line about “a few bad apples,” and how most cops are really fine, upstanding and valiant public servants. Funny how cameras only ever seem to be present when the “bad apples” are around. And what a coincidence that when the supposed “bad apples” are violently abusing or murdering people, none of the “good apples” looking on ever seem surprised or shocked by it. (It’s worth noting that the original saying about “bad apples” was that “one bad apple spoils the whole barrel.”) Of course, in real life, as experienced by real people, the true rarity is the decent human being who wears a badge and is not perpetually on a power trip, fishing for reasons to fine, harass or kidnap non-violent people.

Oddly, some will even cite their own lack of experience as proof of something, by saying things like, “Well, I’ve never had a bad experience with the police!” To reach some general conclusion from that makes about as much sense as arguing, “Well I’ve never been bitten by a rattlesnake, and therefore rattlesnakes are perfectly harmless!

I can only imagine what it must sound like to some young black kid in some poor inner city neighborhood, where it’s pretty damn obvious what the “thin blue line” really is (the most obnoxious, sadistic, violent street gang around) to hear some middle class white woman out in the suburbs talking about how she never has problems with the cops, and how they’re always very polite to her. No shit, lady. Because if the thugs in blue get all sadistic and abusive at you, they at least might actually get in trouble for it.

Notwithstanding Godwin’s Law, it’s also worth mentioning that even in Nazi Germany, most upstanding law-abiding citizens never had a problem with the SS. If you’re an obedient, meek subject under any regime, however tyrannical it may be, there’s statistically a fairly good chance that the goons of state won’t get around to beating you to death in your own home. That does not mean that they are noble protectors who only hurt despicable villains.

A lot of the time, the people who wear badges are mentally imbalanced, sadistic, insecure, malicious power-happy assholes, who routinely lie, commit theft and assault, and occasionally commit murder. A lot of real people, in real life, have learned that the hard way, through real experiences. And no amount of television fairy tales can erase the real pain and real suffering that thugs of the state have inflicted upon them.

On television, wild animals are nice (and can sometimes talk), good guys are inexplicably bullet-proof, no matter how scary things are everything will turn out fine in the end, and law enforcers are brilliant and brave heroes who always save the day. But those aren’t real experiences. Those aren’t real life. And it’s high time that at least most grown-ups came to understand that.

Coming up in Part Three we will consider a few more ways in which people believe statist mythology and related fake “experiences” more than they believe their own eyes.

PART THREE: https://steemit.com/anarchy/@larkenrose/fake-experience-fake-reality-part-three

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

(Larken Rose is a speaker, author and activist, having advocated the principles of non-aggression, self-ownership and a stateless, voluntary society for over twenty years. Donations to help support his articles, videos and other projects can be made by PayPal to "[email protected]" or by Bitcoin to 13xVLRidonzTHeJCUPZDaFH6dar3UTx5js.)

Sort:  

Congratulations @larkenrose, this post is the second most rewarded post (based on pending payouts) in the last 12 hours written by a Superuser account holder (accounts that hold between 1 and 10 Mega Vests). The total number of posts by Superuser account holders during this period was 1432 and the total pending payments to posts in this category was $11938.99. To see the full list of highest paid posts across all accounts categories, click here.

If you do not wish to receive these messages in future, please reply stop to this comment.

I personally think one major issue in the present age is that a lot of people have been sold dreams on a flat screen, dreams that are worth nothing in the reality.

Our generation needs to wake up and understand that TV is not real life and the assumed sense of freedom and security that majority of humans feel after being policed by other humans is only there for being sake.

A problem with that is that our brains interpret the TV as actual interactions with real people. It takes someone who's kinda broken, socially, as I am, to be able to not be hypnotized into cultural affinity with fictional persons and culture on TV programs.

Only some people are even capable of that. You seem to be one.

Sorry about your luck. ;)

Here comes Susie snowflake!

I have had several encounters with law enforcement (in person) and all have been very positive. I am afraid you may be mentally ill and trying to spread your illness to others. You should really try and get some help.

I was a policeman and I can assure you that there are a lot of honest people in those ranks who do their job in a professional manner.

Really? Show me some proof. I know several cops personally, and they all have an "above the law" mentality. Show me the cop who blew the whistle on corruption in the force? THAT is what honest people do. Cops? NEVER.

I'm really sorry if you had a bad experience with cops, it's really awful I was a policeman and with property I tell you not everyone has the bad intentions I'm a family man and I love God .. I can ask you what the world would be like if Policemen did not exist?

The world did not have cops until late in the 19th century. Why did it take 10,000 years after cities started? Clue: It wasn't public demand. It was for public control and protection of an elite at taxpayer's expense. Cops started out with a bad reputation but thru govt. ed and the media that was changed by propaganda. Radio Pictures/RKO made my favorite movies because of real dialogue and scripts that showed it like it was, e.g., the cops in "Maltese Falcon".

The world did not have cops until late in the 19th century.

This is factually incorrect as the first modern police force was created in London in 1829. 1829 is not late in the 19th Century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police?oldformat=true#In_London

Why did it take 10,000 years after cities started?

There are examples of people doing many of the same things as modern police forces. For example, in ancient Athens publicly owned slaves were used for crowd control; Roman vigiles apprehended thieves, runaway slaves and were supported by Urban Cohorts which were heavy anti-riot troops; you had the British constables and Santa Hermandades in Spain during Medieval Europe; Paris created a police force in 1667.

In summation, your claim that there were no cops before the late 19th century is factually wrong on its date for modern police force and factually wrong on the existence of such offices prior the late 19th Century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police?oldformat=true

It wasn't public demand.

Then explain the voluntary policing organizations such as vigilantes and night-watchmen.

Edit: I use a Chrome extension that reformats Wikipedia into a reader friendly format. It is called Wikiwand. However, as not everyone has Wikiwand I wanted to change a source from Wikiwand to Wikipedia.

I stand corrected. Sorry, I misremembered. Put in context, how important is this compared to the 10 millennia I cited?

It doesn't really affect your argument except for that one part which wasn't the main thesis.

Well, around here it would be like JACK YANTIS WOULD STILL BE ALIVE. The lady in New Meadows would not have been raped. That is just in the past couple years AND THIS IS A TINY COUNTY.
Self governance is how we ALL function every day. It is a sign of the arrogant delusional state MOST cops live in that you think the rest of us are good people because of laws and cops. We are good people because we are good people...

You cannot make claims such as person X would still be alive or person Y would not have been raped if cops didn't exist. They may be alive and unraped or someone else may have killed them or raped them.

COPS would not have raped or killed them if there were no cops.

Cops would not have but that is no guarantee that they would not have been murdered or raped by someone else or even by the same people.

I have had several encounters with poisonous snakes, and all of them have been very positive. But I'm not silly enough to therefore conclude that poisonous snakes are harmless. And if citing real-world examples of real-world violence, injustice, and outright murder, make me "mentally ill," then I'd rather be "mentally ill" than whatever you are.

He didn't read the part about searching YouTube videos ... or was too afraid or busy to check.

It is more likely that a video of negative police activity will be posted to youtube than videos of law enforcement doing the good they do every day. Negativity gets more views and is more newsworthy especially in our current media culture which is largely trying to demonize law enforcement, to what end I don't know. I agree that the power of the state is increasing beyond acceptable levels. I am not sure a 100% lawless society is better than what we have today. Today some law enforcement officials are doing bad things but not the majority. If we lived in a lawless society would there be more peace and safety from the threats of violence from others than we currently have?

This is really worth reading people need to become more aware. Can't wait for part three.

Very intresting read. I completely agree with you, americans are being massively brainwashed and they are probably one of the most brainwashed nations in the world.
Most other places(even a lit of americans I would say)despice the government, but they are brainwashed to think "well, we can't live without it. If only everyone had that "click" in their head. The realisation that the government is a huge mafia of the masses is so close, yet so far.

Can you provide an example of a anarchist society in the modern world that has existed for over two centuries?

Great article. Except using a white middle class lady as example. Its same concept which I agree with of TV heroes being cops so we buy it and don't question its validity because its been sold slowly to us throughtout our generation. I'm obviously a white female. I could give you stories of when I was poor and harrassed by an angry black Memphis cop and then as a upper middle class woman disregarded by cops after assaults multiple times. They literally refused to put a name on someone who publicly assaulted me in front of a NY bar. His friend was charged but not him. Why? He was a Puerto Rican gang banger informant etc & part of their club.

I could tell other stories but the only difference is they pull you over less cause you have a nice car, you probably have insurance. I had a female who worked for Police dept once tell me "I knew you didn't have insurance, look at what your driving" which says volumes about how the departments think.

Its great to see such insight but go see how many middle class whites or business owners got their property seized never to be returned again, even when they don't charge them. They get treated no different in jail. I try to be observant, sensitive and fair so its harder and harder to see the whites have it better. No people with titles & elites do.

When a white woman calls the cops cause her partner just beat her do you think she's recieved better? A white abused child? The trouble may be its so unfathomable to those who've heard whites have it better all their lives that trying to even say look its a myth, ask the little hungry abused white kids in Missisippi, SF (maybe even under the Getty just saying) or anywhere for that matter is not ok.

Even opening up the conversation is seen as war, racism or uh oh Nazi. Its not so I hope we will evolve because racial divides are always beneficial for deep states but never good for the community.

Have you heard of Jack Yantis? That is my little county. I dragged my voluntaryist ass back into the political arena and tried to get a new Sheriff elected. The locals love their local boy, even if he is criminally negligent. If they had just read the Attorney General's report, it was PAINFULLY obvious that the Sheriff colluded with Jack's murderers, for over an hour in the back of a squad car before the State Patrol arrived and separated everyone. People ought to have gone to jail, but no. Deputies not on the force any more, but the Sheriff who hired them (and our local deputy rapist, "Poke'm Yokum") is still in charge, still hiring incompetent thugs and still protecting them when they rape and kill locals. RE- ELECTED. Gawd bless Uhmurka!

You are pointing at the Hegelian Dialectic at work in our community. There is a simply blueprint the hivemind uses to control its slaves. It is a blueprint for mind control. It permeates our schools, gov't, workplaces, and relationships. The key to liberation is awareness. Recognize the signs of control. https://steemit.com/mindcontrol/@jamestrue/a-simple-blueprint-for-mind-control Keep writing friend! Many are still asleep.

This is a very true statement: "very few Americans have any direct way to know what is happening around the world"
Your’s is very deliberate post. Hats off...
But true in your post, "No shit",
I saw part 1 and 3 also.
APPRECIATE YOU
"Computer monitors and TV screens, and listening to radio broadcasts and “news reports.”
I saw part 1 and 3 also.
APPRECIATE YOU
"Computer monitors and TV screens, and listening to radio broadcasts and “news reports.”
“Kicking the Dragon,” good keep it up
GUTS TO BE APPRECIATED.

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.36
TRX 0.12
JST 0.040
BTC 70846.59
ETH 3567.69
USDT 1.00
SBD 4.79