Politicians and the Bullshit of Power "Yeah, but the results of using this specific ability are what exactly? Becoming a powerful politician... Exactly, more bs. " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_warfare https://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Paper_Money https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_generation_warfare https://www.edge.org/response-detail/11783 https://psyarxiv.com/aru3f/ https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/14747049211000317 http://ruby.fgcu.edu/courses/twimberley/EnviroPhilo/bullshit.pdf http://www.professorsapp.com/cohen--further-into-bullshi.pdf https://static1.squarespace.com/static/592b5bbfd482e9898c67fd98/t/5cf95d58f9... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tall_tale https://charleseisenstein.org/essays/the-ubiquitous-matrix-of-lies/ http://ftp.iza.org/dp12282.pdf https://content.psychopathcode.com/preface.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning-Kruger_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_manipulation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_mongering https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_panic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_(book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO https://arxiv.org/abs/1608.06580 https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2014-08-17 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_manipulation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dystopia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7rd04KzLcg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsgWSPWX-6A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf0_nMaQ6tA https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cocktail-party-physics/dear-guardian-yo... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoot_(professional_wrestling) Wrestling discovered the unthinkable: its audience did not seem to require even a thin veneer of realism. Professional wrestling had come full circle to its honest origins by at last moving the responsibility for deception off of the shoulders of the performers and into the willing minds of the audience. -- Kayfabe “Whoo-oop! I'm the old original iron-jawed, brass-mounted, copper-bellied corpse-maker from the wilds of Arkansaw!—Look at me! I'm the man they call Sudden Death and General Desolation! Sired by a hurricane, dam'd by an earthquake, half-brother to the cholera, nearly related to the small-pox on the mother's side! Look at me! I take nineteen alligators and a bar'l of whiskey for breakfast when I'm in robust health, and a bushel of rattlesnakes and a dead body when I'm ailing! I split the everlasting rocks with my glance, and I squench the thunder when I speak! Whoo-oop! Stand back and give me room according to my strength! Blood's my natural drink, and the wails of the dying is music to my ear! Cast your eye on me, gentlemen!—and lay low and hold your breath, for I'm bout to turn myself loose!” ― Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi “All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable." REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE. "Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—" YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES. "So we can believe the big ones?" YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING. "They're not the same at all!" YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED. "Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—" MY POINT EXACTLY.” ― Terry Pratchett, Hogfather