The War for Your Mind

Among those who love to think, it is common knowledge that there is a war on for your mind.
There are myriad forces at work in the world vying for control of human souls, for a loyal power base, or just for comrades. Most groups taking part in this global, eternal struggle for influence are interested in building for themselves a group of followers, to be treated as livestock, or as an army. They intend to use their followers as a tool to achieve their ultimate end, or, more commonly, as a herd of tax or tribute-paying livestock. The many types of entities fighting for access and control of your mind include governments, religions, huge corporations, and sinister organizations. This article will discuss the fight and the tactics used by these groups in trying to control you.

Independent thought is the antidote to indoctrination and propaganda.

States need your blind consent, and access to your wallet. They want more than just the resources they can extract from you, they want you to concede your rights to them, so the state can constantly expand. They want you to comply with their plans for outwards expansion as well, and for you not to question their motives, intents, or actions. This is why propaganda exists, and nearly always has. These days we see it in the forms of state influence on the media, the civil religion of patriotism, and the propagation of the idea that all problems should be solved through the state. The government also wants to create as many people who are completely dependent on the state, through the provision of welfare, veteran's benefits, and industry based subsidies, as they know these people will not bite the hand that feeds them. In general, the state is like a drug-addict on withdrawal. It will do anything it can to get it’s next fix; it will lie to you, divide the populace, unite the populace against a common enemy, whether real or fake, give you free stuff, punish you for victimless crimes, commit genocide abroad, and invite the world into its borders. It is the most dangerous entity in the world, and the majority of evils committed by other entities are committed in an attempt to use the power of the state to the advantage of another group.

World religions and what is often referred to as the “mainstream media” have played similar roles throughout history. From nearly the dawn of man to the present day, religions have been important in controlling mankind. It is true that some more “developed” religions do attempt to provide a system of objective morality, which is indeed useful for people not intelligent enough to have an objective system of morality without a superstition behind it. Atheism without objective an objective moral philosophy is worse than a superstition that leads to a consistent and accurate moral philosophy. Despite their utility in some cases, however, religion has been the perfect tool for psychopaths to gain devotees and to mislead them into committing their evil wills. Whether it be Islamic conquests of the past and terror today, insane suicide cults, or any of the countless leaders throughout history claiming a “mandate of heaven” in their right to rule, religion is co-opted by the power-greedy to justify great evils in the name of some higher good, and is used to bring people into submission. It is one of many, and indeed has been a particularly effective means to control people.

However, ever since around the mid-nineteenth century in the West, the way societies organized themselves began to change. The new abundance of wealth allowed states to grow exponentially into large bureaucratic monstrosities, which no longer needed a church to control their subjects, and whose growth was actually impeded by the moral laws valued by especially Christian churches in the West. As the church was somewhat independent of the state (though less so in Protestant realms), these new bureaucratic states wanted something more easy to control, a way of influencing their citizens more directly and quickly, and on specific issues. As literacy rates also increased greatly in this time, and methods for transferring information became far more effective, states realized that media was the way to go for controlling the minds of people. This has remained true through to the present day, though it is no longer newspapers, but largely television, and increasingly a variety of online media formats, which is the preferred method for imparting propaganda.

Additionally, with the departure of religion as the central organizing institution for most people, the introduction of public schools was designed as an alternative method to shape the minds of people from a young age, and to impart qualities desirable in a docile, unquestioning, mediocre, and dependent citizen. 12 mandatory years of state indoctrination is very frequently extremely effective in turning a potentially vibrant, creative, and independent person into a dull, unambitious person who always accepts the status quo. Public schooling is probably the most important indoctrination tool that the state has, and absolutely ought to be the most despised among those who desire liberty.

Though in principle, a business has no real way or incentive to act with malice or contempt for the populace, with the presence of a legal monopoly on force (the state), the temptation to abuse this power for personal gain is often far too much to resist. Large corporations love to use the state to regulate away their competition, through impositions of insurmountable barriers to entry. Once this is done, they love to fill the world with messages supporting mindless consumerism, which is admittedly not evil in itself. The worst of businesses are the media firms which endlessly trumpet the state’s desired narrative, and are complicit in the brainwashing of the public. No better are the large military and industrial firms who lobby for more war and military intervention, so they can produce useless and often unused weaponry and expensive machinery, all at immense cost to the taxpayers. When businesses can use the violence of the state to avoid having to compete in the marketplace, evil and parasitic relationships arise.

Organizations vying for influence over you are sometimes innocuous, such as honest charities, or interest groups who seek membership just to promote some peaceful hobby, skill, or, knowledge. However, because of the perceived good nature of many charitable organizations and interest groups, those who wish to do ill in the world, or gain for themselves by misleading those with good intentions, are attracted to the ability to influence people through an organization. Some people play off of the generosity of others by creating charities supposedly helping those in most need, perhaps victims of recent disasters, or those in extreme poverty, but then keeping the proceeds. Some support very dangerous ends but use enough flowery language and untruths to convince many people to support them, or get by with the support of governments and other powerful people with bad intentions, such as George Soros’ Open Society Foundation. The ease with which many will be charitable leads to people with evil desires and the need for support to prey upon those charitable but not sufficiently cognizant.

There are many disparate groups looking for your support, and your subservience to them, many with intentions opposite from others. Bad people most often need the support of innocent and unknowing good people to commit their crimes and get the power they desire. That is why there is a war on for your mind. The only way to make sure you don’t get caught by one of these groups is to make sure that you are informed about this war, that you know it’s many players, and can identify a bad deal, or something too good to be true, when you see it. Stay always informed, fight falsehoods and evils, and speak the truth to all in your life.

Certainly, voluntaryists are taking part in this competition for minds as well. However, there is one extremely important difference between voluntaryists and the majority of groups vying for influence. The reason these groups need influence is that they need you for their survival. Voluntaryists want to leave you free to pursue your own dreams, as they pursue their dreams. Voluntaryists want to be able to interact and trade with whom they want, they want to come honestly to conclusions based on truth, and to live in a society populated by people making honest, voluntary interactions. They do not want control over you. They do not want power over the minds of the masses. They want only freedom make the most of themselves, and they want that same freedom for you.