Consensus building through the medium of Popular Culture

(Archived article from 4th March 2022)

Last Sunday I watched the Carabao cup final between Liverpool and Chelsea.  I watched it from the start of the build up and had a feeling of what lay in store for me in the pre-match on field rituals.  Sure enough, there was the usual sight of certain players and staff incongruously wearing masks in the dugout, obviously at a far greater risk than the sportsmen on the pitch, engaged in actual physical contact with each other.  There was the  now seemingly permanent ritual of ‘Taking the knee’, an action which has long since lost its relevance and power and is now merely an exercise in virtue signaling.  Political messaging, by those of a cultural Marxist ideological persuasion, attempting to re-enforce, an ultimately divisive narrative (whether you agree or not) in our minds.  Of course, to raise any critique or display negative opinions towards this action, automatically raises questions of the possibility of you being a closet racist.  Disparaging remarks often follow the use of one’s cognitive faculties, in these strange times.

But what was most unsurprising of all, was the manner of the absolute unanimous, uniform approach towards the issue of the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine.  The conflict only days old, yet amazingly all in sundry, suddenly became experts on Russo-Ukrainian relations.  Sides taken, minds made up after being bombarded yet again by a laughably one-sided media campaign.  Blue and yellow flags were predictably paraded inside Wembley Stadium with messages of support to the Ukrainian people – who are innocent in all this (as too are Russian civilians who may also perish) and through no fault of their own face a grim and uncertain situation through the horror of war.  Pawns on a chessboard, sandwiched strategically (perhaps unfortunately) between two large and powerful blocs.  The European Union on one side and the rising eastern superpowers of Russia and China, on the other.  We should condemn war whenever and wherever it rears its ugly head as it is the most barbaric of all human activities, however reasoning and rationale are often completely lost in its fog.  As Churchill once said, “The first casualty of war is the truth”.  I recommend watching the Oliver Stone documentary ‘Ukraine on Fire’, to get a more balanced and informed view of the situation, which will not be presented or reflected in the emotionally charged mainstream narrative and to garner an understanding of the complexities inherent in this part of the world.  It’s preferable to the false virtue and outrage displayed on the morning couch, by the likes of the vacuous, hypocritical Philip Schofield and Holly Willibuy, who had that cringe-inducing, on-screen hug separated by a plastic screen, only to be snapped much closer, free from synthetic boundaries at Wimbledon not long after.  Paragons of truth and virtue for working and middle class housewives, who sadly rely on them for counsel on geo-political matters, it would seem.

Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel, laid a wreath each, in the colours of blue, representing the sky and yellow, representing the fields of wheat on the fertile land of Ukraine, which was once the breadbasket for the Soviet Union.  Home to the Kulaks, wealthy farmers, displaced, imprisoned and murdered by Joseph Stalin, who had covetous eyes on their bountiful fields. It is a region that has indeed known its fair share of suffering over the years. This is a highly sensitive issue, containing much nuance, circumstance and simply far more to the story - which would need a whole other article to cover – to be exploited politically at a football game, which should have the sole purpose of entertainment and the celebration of sporting prowess, is distasteful.

All this before a ball was even kicked!

I merely sat down to enjoy a football match, but in the preamble to the matters at hand, I also received a valuable lesson in morality.  Thank you so much Sky, my moral compass was so far off the mark prior to sitting in front of the TV, you provided me with a much needed calibration.  In the minutes leading up to kick-off I got a combination of ‘wear a mask/stay safe’, ‘Black Lives Matter’ and the latest ‘I stand with Ukraine’.  I got the feeling with the constant repetition that there was an attempt to manufacture my agreement.  I know it may be unpopular to share these views at present, but politics should be kept completely out of sports, in my view.  But here’s the thing.  It permeates not only football and other sports, but is embedded all across the entire spectrum of popular culture and is done so deliberately, for the purpose of agenda setting and narrative building.  It is not only presented in an emotional and often tacky way, but it is presented as the only way and the only opinion.  The right way to think.  Just look what happens to those who don’t think in the correct way and display any hint of cynicism.  They are treated as cranks and outsiders.  I doubt Matt Le Tissier will ever be invited back on Soccer Saturday a show he was once a stalwart on.  He was subjected to ridicule on Twitter, by the likes of Gary Lineker, for daring to engage in even the most basic level of critical thought, when he dared to link the new phenomenon of footballers collapsing on the pitch, to perhaps being one of the well documented ‘rare’ adverse effects of the Covid vaccine.  All he did was suggest there should be an investigation into it to determine the actual cause, as it was happening with a regularity never before seen.  Trevor Sinclair also mentioned this once or twice but has been on TV recently, so may since have been brought to heel.

Pat Cash and Novak Djokovic in the tennis world were treated with similar disdain amongst their peers, for expressing an opposing view.  Only one view for two years straight, was presented as the correct view and those who didn’t share it, were seen as dangerous.  Even a danger to ones physical health, which all the data has since proven to be a scientific nonsense and even a callous lie.  Personal reservations towards a previously untested treatment, was viewed as a serious danger to public health.  Actual health experts such as Dr. Peter McCullough, Dr. Robert Malone and countless others were censored and vilified for spreading ‘mis-information’, while a football manager like Jurgen Klopp was given an open platform to discuss his views on vaccination.  Stating he wouldn’t sign any unvaccinated players because it was an issue of ‘trust’ and not being vaccinated was like ‘not wearing a seatbelt’.  Is he more qualified than the numerous censored experts?  I ask this because that was so often a criticism levelled at those who, for whatever reason decided vaccination was not for them.  “Are you a medical expert now?”, was often a lazy quip banded about, the heretical charge brought to bear by those who enjoy high levels of celebrity and pop culture consumption.  They would fail to see the irony that the main pusher and funder of the vaccine program, Bill Gates, was himself not, in fact an expert.

The programming through the use of celebrities to sell the vaccine to people was extremely intense.  We had Jennifer Aniston saying she would no longer be friends with an unvaccinated person.  The now infamous one-sided spat between Neil Young and Joe Rogan is another incident which will live long in the memory.  ‘Rocking in the Free World’ strangely didn’t seem to value free speech as one of it’s virtues.  The legendary musician pulling his music from Spotify in a child like tantrum.  All because Rogan allowed the two aforementioned, censored experts on his show to give them an uncensored platform which had been denied to them.  Aided and abetted by his Canadian compatriot Joni Mitchell, followed predictably by Joni’s lovesick puppy, Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills & Nash – who never wastes an opportunity to remind us she was once his girlfriend and muse for his most famous hit ‘Our House’.  Young has since moved back to Spotify with far less fanfare.  All because this was deemed, in their minds, to be spreading misinformation.  Hypocrites who made entire careers out of freedom of expression.  It’s hard to listen to the great music these people created now, because the lyrics suddenly, feel hollow and insincere.

It’s also hard to forget the ridiculous, schmaltzy and downright embarrassing, vaccine song performed by James Corden and Arianna Grande, or the dancing syringes on the Stephen Colbert show.  The BBC’s go to charity expert and alleged comedian Lenny Henry, urging the black community to get vaccinated or the extremely dark, Jim Broadbent advertisement.  It was literally rammed down our throats, the list could go on and on and on.  The same could be said for the other championed causes of BLM and now the most recent ever increasing anti-Russian sentiment and dangerous rhetoric.  The media have picked their side and clearly want you to also.  They are banging the war drum with flagrant disregard for the repercussions.  Western politicians and celebrities, virtue signalling and grandstanding on the largest of scales, encouraged and emboldened by the reaction further down the social pyramid, Ukraine flags on profile pictures being the most obvious example.  A mere social experiment to fabricate consent and one that was seen a mile away in advance. 

 Diplomacy, I would have thought would be the more sensible approach when dealing with a nuclear power, but hey, call me old fashioned.  The new overly emotional, woke, virtue signaling society we now live in only deals in absolutes.  Good guys and bad guys, heroes and villains, an infantile, overly simplistic mindset which has been carefully fostered in them by Hollywood since anyone can remember.  There’s not a person living today who hasn’t had their psychology influenced by the silver screen of Tinseltown.  In our parents and grandparents day, it was cowboys and Indians.  The bad guys, ironically the ones defending their homeland on this occasion, highlighting the power the medium of the motion picture had in shaping opinion.  The erratic attitude on display from the public at present and more terrifyingly, that of western politicians might well stir up old tensions from the cold war era.  In the age of the internet, with all the propaganda and disinformation swirling around on both sides, there is lethal potential.  The doomsday clock could start ticking again, but with the speed in which the modern world moves, could reach midnight far far quicker.  Putin depicted as Hitler, or Darth Vader or a gun toting, handle-bar moustached spaghetti-western villain, is a stereotypical over simplification, the likes we have come to expect.

Agenda setting through the mass media is a very real thing. The two largest investment firms in the world, Blackrock and Vanguard own large stakes in almost every major media corporation across the globe.  These include, but are not limited to, Fox, CNN, CBS, MSNBC, ABC, Sky and Disney.  Blackrock’s co-founder Larry Fink was appointed to the World economic Forum’s board of trustees in 2019.  The same WEF of course, who tell us that by 2030, we will ‘own nothing and be happy’.  An organization who’s founder, Klaus Schwab, openly brags about ‘penetrating the cabinets’ of every western nation attempting to create a new model for the structure and organization of society.  Blurring the lines between corporate and political power, through public/private partnerships and creating ‘stakeholders’ in the new paradigm.  All the rest ‘global citizens’ to serve the new god-like billionaire class.  The almost completely ignored events in Canada are a beta test and example of how this brave new world might look.  With the freezing of assets of dissenters the most effective weapon of choice.

Groups like the Tavistock Institute, who specialise in ‘human relations’, have played a key role in the shaping of society through social engineering and the studying of human behaviour.  They were set up during World War II and heavily funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.  They were a major proponent for the work of Sigmund Freud and explored the inner workings of the human mind and more importantly how to control it.  Techniques later developed further by the public relations pioneer and father of propaganda, Edward Bernays, who was Freud’s nephew.  Fast forward to the present day and turn our attention to one of the staples of suburban life, Netflix.  One of the corporate entities that did particularly well from the lockdowns.  It’s co-founder Marc Bernays Randolph, who’s paternal great uncle is Bernays and in turn great-granduncle is Freud, I’m sure would have no use for any of the mind warping techniques his family were so famed for.

I recall during lockdown watching a show called You, about a psychopath who stalks women, falls in love and becomes obsessed, the usual traits.  By the third season the protagonist, Joe, had met his match and unbeknownst to himself fell for a female killer.  The two have a child together and in the playgroup, their child gets the measles.  One of the children wasn’t vaccinated against it and the child’s father was portrayed as a lunatic ‘anti-vaxxer’ and was given a severe beating with a blunt weapon, by the mother and Joe’s co-parent, Love.  It was portrayed in way that the man actually deserved it and she, an actual killer had some sort of moral superiority in that instance.  I remember watching at the time, immediately feeling uneasy.  Now I’m not suggesting for one moment that the writer of the show was part of this narrative enforcing, it may merely have been her opinion, but ultimately the executives have the final say in the editing process.  Ideas that are beneficial to big business associates such as say, the pharmaceutical industry, who would offer big money for advertisement and the placement of such a message, in a series, which suits their interests  – may well skip the queue to the final cut.

All of these, what may seem insignificant, tiny details, can add up and embed themselves in our subconscious without us even knowing.  Marketing and advertising work off this exact principle and technique.  Over time these isolated, seemingly unrelated nuggets of information, eventually become like tiles forming a mosaic, or threads in a tapestry and contribute to you reaching a consensus and world view with your peers who have likely been exposed to the same content.  These methods coupled with symbolism are extremely powerful and have a profound effect on our psyche.  This, along with peer pressure and the desire to fit in, all helps the process nicely along.  

Conformity of thought is the key ingredient for any group or individual looking to install a totalitarian structure or regime.  If the majority think the same way, a society becomes totalitarian by consent and by osmosis, without even realizing it.  If you own the entire mass media machine, this task becomes a piece of cake.

There has never been a more important time in history to become a maverick!