We all know the idea of the art of distraction and deception. Events used to draw our attention and focus upon while the real tricks play out of sight. When we turn back and the rabbit comes out of the hat, magic has happened. For large tricks, the magicians assistant is a play maker, the stereotypical pretty girl that draws the discerning eye momentarily away from the mechanics of what will later appear to be pulled from thin air.
My last post about taking and missing opportunity drew a comment from @fknmayhem:
If you always miss out, do you know you’re missing out?
No. you don't but this doesn't mean things stop happening does it? When we do not see the trick, when we do not understand the mechanics of a situation that influences us, it happens to us and we are largely powerless to act. We become victims of circumstance.
But are we victims or just ignorant?
Much of the world suffers from all kinds of ailments yet when pressed about their knowledge of its cause, very few truly have anywhere close to a deep enough understanding of the mechanics. We may laugh at the meme'd footage of Americans who are unable to put their finger on a map of countries they are at war with but, how different are we when it comes to the influencing effects on our lives.
Economic and financial knowledge is not common knowledge by far. People do not understand the banking system, debt cycles, inflation, interest rates and where and how money is created. These things definitely have an effect on life though don't they?
What this means is that without the understanding, when these things do what they do and affect what they affect, we are unable to pinpoint the cause and adjust or take advantage. Instead as the victims, we look for the perpetrators of the crimes against us, we look for someone to lay blame or, someone to save us.
There are plenty to blame of course but without understanding how things work, we don't know what is appropriate, necessary or, what is the greed in the system designed to oppress. So, we lose our objectivity and in our victim frame, blame all that have more than we do.
We also look for others to save us, change the system, break the status quo but again, without understanding we look to the powerful, those with more than us and the resources to create change but, we are unable to differentiate the good from the bad, those who have our interests at heart and those who are looking to take advantage.
It is a cycle of self-inflicted victimization that we have no way out of unless we are willing to take the time to learn and understand the mechanics of the influencing factors. Running is not an option unless running means escaping completely from all systems out of our control. What chance does anyone have?
This world is complex, intertwined and some parts are more difficult to understand than others. But more importantly than that there is an attention economy but that is the sleight of hand move deployed. It is not an attention economy at all, it is a distraction economy.
Anything and everything is thrown into our eye line to draw us away from investing and spending time learning about the very things that affect us, hold us back, oppress us. We sit in the audience unable to look away and see that the wool has been pulled over our eyes and we have become sheep.
Slaves to unseen masters under the spell of the magician's assistant.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
I look around me at people my age and it angers me to see how ignorant they can be. No idea about what's going on in the world and it's not like we're kids, you know, they should really care more.
But then, I look around at people older than me and I see them walking with blankets over their eyes and I think...how can I expect more from a 20-year-old? When I see grown, well-read people gladly do the ignorant sheep...
It is a chain of succession perhaps. Maybe your upbringing has led you to a realisation that others have yet to reach. Ignorance is contagious through the ages.
I don't know, man,'cause they seem all good and smart if you talk to them about other things. I was actually really disappointed 'cause I liked this guy who was really well-read and smart and stuff but then, I heard him talking about some of our current political problems and I couldn't believe he was falling for that....huge disappointment :/
But hey, it's popular to go with the herd...
There is a difference between encouraging well-read and being wise. People focus on what thy think will get them something (generally money) while things of importance they ignore which generally takes away their chances at getting what they want (generally money). People complain about governments but don't understand their own tax liabilities and opportunities. They complain about inflation and then buy on credit. They know about the world yet are blind to why they suffer in it.
But it seems like such a lack in judgement. I mean if you know there are things that are wrong and you have the intellectual capability of understanding what's wrong, why be blind? :/
I think it is the 'hedonist life'. YOLO you know. Facing problems is not comfortable and made even more so when there is an unwillingness in incapacity to do anything about them. Ignorance is bliss in the moment only though and those who spend too much life avoiding the problems they face will see their ability increasingly diminished.
You know, I saw this movie about Harvey Milk (the one with Sean Penn) when I was a kid and hin that, he said something about how if you hide a problem in a drawer, it just grows until it becomes immense. If you stare at it out in the open, you see you can beat it. And that's stayed with me for like...10 years.
I wish more people thought that way, but they don't. You're right, it sucks facing problems and unpleasant truths, so they just let someone else deal with them. But nobody will and those problems will grow way out of proportion and swallow us whole.
Same story here. You just beat me to it.
Life is complex but can we know it all? The more you know the harder it becomes but better than been ignorance..
The complexity of life no one can know it all.
No one can know it all but most people don't even bother to get to know the basics that have an effect on their daily lives.
The social manipulators know this fully well, and keep using it to their advantage
Absolutely. Engineered environments designed to mine our potential.
What a curious coincidence that you have written an article on this topic @tarazkp. Because I also just wrote and published one that has a lot to do with this subject. I suspect you'd like to take a look at it. Click here and take advantage now that being a weekend you may have better and more free time to absorb it. :)
Cheers!!
What are weekends? :D
Hahaha yes, in your case I'm afraid that none. :p
But I pray that in mid-November you will find one that knocks you down by fulminant knockout in Kraków. :)
I have not really watched TV during the last 15 years. I read news sources that are mostly outside of my country. I slowly see that the people around me are thinking in a way that I don't. I sometimes ask myself: have they gone mad, or is it just me?
I used to watch a lot of series but stopped about 2 years ago. I stopped gaming abut 6 years ago. I started writing when I joined Steem almost 2 years ago. Turn off the nonsense, find creativity.
The brink of enlightenment, so I have heard.
They use the tricks to show us what they want us to see and we call it magic.
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Upvoted.
This is precisely why the media and commercialization of what we consume is all product and service driven. We visually get enticed every day to continue buying stuff which is the fundamental distraction of our consumerism. This then makes us be in a financial position that does not allow us to understand it’s implications.