State Mandated Stupidity
Trust in Authority
We are ever moving towards a totalitarian superstate that exercises power and control over our lives, as envisaged by both George Orwell and Aldus Huxley. Authoritarianism shrouds our society and the transition towards a dystopian world happens from the moment you are born. The recent threat in 2016 to tax sugar was an attempt to punish behaviours by an authoritarian government with a history of poor health advice. Claims made about sugar in regard to both obesity and health are backed up by what is labeled as weak evidence (i.e. not evidence).
As Orwell stated, “ignorance becomes strength” and via the mainstream media, our educational system, we slip into either learned helplessness in which we feel powerless to oppose, or we become ignorant/oblivious to alternatives. As a political tool controlling dissent and critical thought give power or indeed, authority.
As Huxley suggested, social control and ignorance has been introduced via the methods of pleasure and distraction. A world obsessed with celebrity, happily watching reality shows while eschewing actual reality. Chasing identities sold to us by the media sources that we freely trust without question. Allowing industry to freely show us what commodities are necessary to conform be it in social standing or even in the role of sick patient.
Critical thinking is dead, and if I am honest I think it is squeezed out of us the moment childhood ends and education begins. From the very moment we dampen the inquisitive nature of our children and begin to focus them on curriculum criteria, we begin to kill the possibility freethinking. Daring to oppose the mainstream (group think) risks being ostracised from jobs, educational settings and risks your ability to tick the boxes needed to move forward in society.
By the time we become adults we have often lost the ability to ask "why?". Oppression via distractions, diversions and the illusion the authority needs to be respected. Yet we soak it up and shirk at the thought of being asked to stand on our own two feet, to think for ourself and draw our own conclusions away from the vile contrived opinions fed to us by media outlets and think tanks. From sugar hating right through to the deadly C, we happily read and fall inline with all that we are told without question.
Often by the time I meet a client they are swimming in a pool of learned helplessness unable to stop themselves from drowning despite being told the water isn't deep, and that via simple instruction to stand up they can save themselves. Time and time again I throw out pubmed studies and suggest people confront their physician with their own evidence, to be hit back with "my doctor didn't want to discuss it", or "I don't want to upset them".
From a young age we constantly ask our parents “why?” and at times it can be frustrating to constantly receive the same question to every little thing that pops in their inquisitive minds. However, you are empowering them more than any education they will ever receive, by simply engaging in the question. Help them look for real answers. Encourage the why, standby them if they challenge authority and above all, question everything. For it is a dire state to be in when someone is no longer interested in standing up and challenging authority. Do the same yourself, be a kid and question everything.
[originally posted on billycraig.co.uk 24-03-2016]
