77 Comments
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Melody Wright's avatar

Excellent piece and could not agree more. Our dial-a-conspiracy daily existence is meant to keep us lost. Focus on actions and outcomes and fade the noise.

Mr Smith's avatar

I’ve been living by watch what they ( the org or person) actually physically does and not what they say. Usually the results are wildly different.

When we in the US actually get what Trump or any other pol promised, repeal federal taxes, tariff rebate, cutting federal programs and spending I might be on board with these conflicts.

But all we get are less freedom and higher taxes with higher cost of living. Been that way since 1913.

Sarah S's avatar

In his Uncle Eric book series, Richard Maybury writes about the importance of forming logical mental models and how to develop the correct models of how the world works. Once you have the correct models, you can immediately see the falsity or contradictions in the presented narratives or propaganda. When you combine logical models with the principles of Higher Law, there’s no longer any need to entertain 99% of the narratives because it’s so evident what’s true vs false, good vs bad, legal vs illegal, etc

Matt Smith @ Crisis Investing's avatar

Those books were part of our homeschool curriculum. Great books.

Erik Groomer's avatar

Richard Maybury would be a great guest to interview. We also used those books for homeschooling.

Sarah S's avatar

Same here. Like Mike says, explain it to me like I’m five years old, and the Uncle Eric series does this…simple but profound and fundamental to critical thinking skills and understanding government’s behavior.

Voice of Reason's avatar

What’s higher law? Is it to do with religion? If so, just another narrative.

Matt Smith @ Crisis Investing's avatar

Yes, I'd call that narrative.

Voice of Reason's avatar

One of the strongest narratives in fact.

I’m not religious but have nothing against it, at least when it’s not harming others. It’s relatively harmless in the West these days. Unfortunately, it still affects our lives via certain regions of the world.

Sarah S's avatar

Not necessarily religious, it’s referring to the idea that there is a Higher Authority than any human authority and a Higher Law than any human / governmental law. Different creeds use different names when discussing this Higher Authority (God, Nature, the Universe, Brahman, Jehovah, Allah, etc). Higher Law is the laws of morality, discoverable by scientific observation and logic. This Higher Law precedes all institutions of human society and of government. In practicality, we can look at someone like Trump’s (or any other politician’s) actions and quickly see that much of it violates Higher Law, regardless of your religious beliefs, so there’s no need to entertain various narratives…if it’s in violation of Higher Law, it’s wrong and should be opposed in spirit and in action, if possible.

Voice of Reason's avatar

If you believe there’s some kind of “higher authority” then that’s just religion whether you wanna call it spirituality or something else. It’s faith. It’s believing in something that there’s no evidence for. Some would call it a narrative.

As for morality, I’m not one of those “morals are relative” people but our morals are very much made up by we humans and there’s nothing outside of us that decides what’s moral and what isn’t. Science doesn’t care about morality. I’m not saying it’s not important but I don’t subscribe to that higher authority/law way of thinking. Just seems a bit too naive to me. Of course we should oppose “immoral” things and fight them when possible.

Curt Anderson's avatar

Very insightful article Matt,thank you. As much as I like the idea of MAGA, one thing I can't seem to shake is the fact that in spite of all the incontrovertible stat's on the ongoing effects of the C19 injections, Mr. Trump continues to double down on how they saved millions of lives. This fact alone has shattered any illusions I may have had as to any altruistic tendencies in Mr. Trump, never mind his ability to rationally assess a situation like we have today,or his real motivation for bringing us to this point in history. When we disabuse ourselves of any sort of narrative (yes, it is difficult) we find ourselves in a rather dark place,IMO.

The Light's avatar

It's so easy for the rulers to use this technique in conjunction with cult of personality and political ideology.

Because even following the logic of cause and effect, when confronted with the self-evident truth, that Trump/the U.S. is purposely causing worldwide economic destruction, the believer needs a narrative that solves the cognitive dissonance caused by such a realisation.

When none is forthcoming, the logic and evidence are thrown out in favour of the previously-held narrative.

Emotion trumps evidence every time, which makes us so easy to manipulate; only those who know they have believed convincing lies in the past can defend against it.

Great stuff, restacked :-)

Vince Wagner's avatar

I sure know 1 thing: the Epstein story has been relegated to the back burner as a result of the US & Israeli instigated war. That’s not a narrative. That’s a fact

SirYogiPhD's avatar

In Buddhism it is known as "Clinging". We cling on to our views, opinion and beliefs which can lead to suffering. We need to hold our views lightly and not "Cling" on to them. Learning to let go has helped reduce my own personal sufferings. Let go!

Voice of Reason's avatar

I don’t know about most people but my suffering’s got nothing to do with my views. Plus my views are logical and I’ll only let go if I’m proven otherwise.

Matt Smith @ Crisis Investing's avatar

Well, that's the trick. Strongly held views can cause narrative blindness. The right answer is to consider one's views a hypothesis which you actively seek to disprove. Perhaps you have one, and despite all your efforts, you can't find a way to disprove it, but you keep trying. And then that's fine.

But holding a view, a narrative in mind, and trying to only prove that it's valid is a mistake, in my opinion.

Noam Wolfson's avatar

Great lesson here Mat

Voice of Reason's avatar

Yeah, the scientific method. I haven’t had much reason so far to believe my beliefs my false but I’ll always keep confirmation bias in mind.

Greg's avatar

I regularly chop and change narratives so it’s like sitting down to a meal with several courses

The hardest thing to do is say “ I don’t know”

Thanks for the article Matt. It’s a bit like that Buddhist concept of “ thirst”. My mind jumps to an “answer” that never satisfies completely. What you are saying is really hard to do but I will try LOL

Michael Sullivan's avatar

Great article Matt. Being the watcher of my mind is quite challenging. I am at the effect of my cause. The mirror of learning.

Mario Furtado's avatar

Excellent analysis. Thank you for your insights!

Deb's avatar
Apr 15Edited

Mental models assuming a closed system

Larry Peckham's avatar

Insightful… thx

dp755's avatar

' By now, most of us recognize that all media is a battle space in the information war. We see competing narratives and grab on to the one that feels like the truth. But in recent years, our media feeds have been flooded with narrative — so much so that it’s very hard to even know what’s real. And that’s the point. Something has changed. Rather than fight for narrative control, all narratives have been weaponized. Narrative itself is a form of control. '

" Sun Tzu's famous principles, 'the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting,' 'know your enemy and know yourself,' 'all warfare is based on deception', assume a context in which war has rules, the goal is advantage rather than annihilation, and both sides share an interest in preserving the basic system. '

Sound familiar ???

Know your enemy - The hades eLite, be they the city of london/wall street or their minions like; the magic media, academentia or hollow-wood etc. ...... because it isn't Persia per se.

This may be the most important time in history of the last few thousand years !

Donahoe Chas's avatar

Thank You! Great work

miforest's avatar

great one matt. Here's one for you and your readers.

this is a blow by blow with receipts on the us narrative and plan in the middle east and iran. https://thedemocracydefender.substack.com/p/iran-war-part-3-the-real-reason-behind?r=112qq

Ilona Boyce's avatar

Well done!