Cognitive Dissonance

by Michael Snyder, Contributing Writer - This article first appeared here at the American Dream.

Do you think that you are free?  Most Americans would still probably answer “yes” to that question, but is that really the case?

In the film Edge of Darkness, Mel Gibson stated that “everything is illegal in Massachusetts”.  Well, the same could pretty much be said for the United States as a whole.

Our lives are governed by millions of laws, rules and regulations and more are being piled on all the time.  In fact, 40,000 new laws just went into effect in January.

Every single new law restricts your freedom just a little bit more.  The truth is that America has become a crazy control freak nation where virtually everything that we do is highly regulated.  You have probably broken multiple laws today that you don’t even know exist.

We have all become criminals and lawbreakers because almost everything is illegal at this point.  Our politicians are convinced that they are “making life better” by piling gigantic mountains of laws onto our backs, and law enforcement authorities are convinced that they are helping society by “cracking down on crime”, but the reality is that our liberties and our freedoms are being strangled by all of this government oppression. 

This is not the way that America is supposed to work.

Yes, every society needs laws.  But the laws should be short enough and simple enough that everybody can read them and understand them.

In America today, there is no possible way that any of us could ever read all of the laws that apply to us.  Most of us just live our daily lives and try to do the “right” thing.  But there is no guarantee that men with guns will not show up at your door one evening because of some obscure regulation that you have broken.

The following are 19 signs that America has become a crazy control freak nation where almost everything is illegal.

#1 One California town is actually considering making it illegal to smoke in your own backyard.

#2 In Louisiana, a church was recently ordered to stop giving out water because it did not have a permit to do so.

#3 In the United States it is illegal to operate a train that does not have an “F” painted on the front.  Apparently without that “F” we all might not know where the front of the train is.

#4 In many U.S. states is it now illegal to collect rain that falls from the sky on to your own property.

#5 In America today it is illegal to milk your cow and sell the milk to your neighbor.  If you do this, there is a good chance that federal agents will raid your home at the crack of dawn.

#6 In Washington D.C. it is illegal not to recycle cat litter.

#7 It is illegal to give a tour of the monuments in Washington D.C.without a license.

#8 In the United States it is illegal to sell natural cures for cancer – even if they work.

#9 In the state of Massachusetts it is illegal to deface a milk carton.

#10 In the state of Alabama, bear wrestling is completely illegal.

#11 In Fairbanks, Alaska it is illegal to give alcoholic beverages to a moose.

#12 In Lake Elmo, Minnesota it is illegal to sell pumpkins or Christmas trees that are grown outside city limits.

#13 There is a federal law that makes it illegal to be “annoying” on the Internet.

#14 If you register with a false name on MySpace or Facebook you could potentially “spend five years in federal prison“.

#15 In Hazelwood, Missouri it is illegal for little girls to sell girl scout cookies in the front yards of their own homes.

#16 All over the United States lemonade stands run by children are being shut down because they do not have the proper permits.

#17 In Florida, it is illegal to bring a plastic butter knife to school.

#18 In San Juan Capistrano, California it is illegal to hold a home Bible study without a “conditional use permit“.

#19 In the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania it is illegal to make even a single dollar from a blog unless you buy a $300 business license.

Sadly, this list of crazy laws and ridiculous regulations could be thousands long.

We are a nation run by a bunch of control freaks who do not care about our liberties and our freedoms.

Every once in a while, John Stossel does some really great reporting.  An example of this is posted below.  In this 40-minute video, Stossel goes into great detail about how almost everything is illegal in America today.  In particular, the first 20 minutes are absolutely excellent.  If you have not seen this yet, I highly encourage you to check it out.

I ran across this web site thru my usual ways. Kind of like rummaging thru an old box of papers and notes. 

One thing leads to another, and before you know it, the day is consumed with clicks and links. 

This is one of those “gold mines”, and I felt it needed to be passed along. A full study site. I love it. Something to bookmark to come back and pick up where you left off.

So here it is… a gift for you. 

TROM – The reality of ME ~ Click HERE  for Trom Web Site

“The TROM documentary is trying to present, in a simplistic way, the world in which we, human beings, live. The world discovered so far, not some idea or personal choice. Moreover we tried to present alternative solutions to current problems and took into account the future, which promises to be more than interesting. An informative documentary, perhaps shocking and disturbing to many, depending on how you digest the information.

The documentary is divided into chapters and sub-chapters due to documentary’s excessive length (13 hours). Also all the parts are connected.

The documentary and website are concentrated, so it is essential to read additional information which can be found in descriptions beside each section and the video player.”

(h) The Reality of Me (2011) Trailer from TROM documentary on Vimeo.

So wow.. I have always wanted to understand the deeper meaning and philosophy behind the narrative of the Matrix (Film). As with many, I shared the overwhelming and complex thought provoking quandary the film and its writers Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski set to task. What an outrageous composition, what a seriously deep and trippy dive into the true philosophers writings of old, made for this (our) generation. This one hour documentary covers all the bases. with commentary from the likes of;

Iokovos Vasilou, Ken Wilbur, Mark Rowland, John Searle, Christopher Grau, T.J. Mawson, David Chalmers, Colin McGinn, Cornel West, Donn Bowman, Michael McKenna, William Irwin, Richard Henley, Julia Driver, Rudy Rucker, John Shirley, Bruce Sterling, Peter Chung, Daniel Dennett, and Hubert Dryfus –

Each a professor of Philosophy, or a “high thinker” in the realms of consciousness, the documentary puts together the deeper meaning of Hyper-Reality and the Desert of the Mind. Sighting the philosophers of antiquity, and bringing us right up to date with where we are today. Seems we’ve been here – at this “moment” – over and over again (apparently 6 times) according to the Upanishads. 

A truly comprehensive study of the movie, our current cycle of reality and our search for deeper meaning in a meaningless world.

Drawing from the minds and works of some of the most extraordinary philosophers in the world, the Wachowski brothers pretty much shoved it ALL in that film, creating a whirl of interpretation to this very day. Reviewed, compared, and accliamed, by more than a handful of great minds, The Matrix (trilogy) was truly a film for our generation and something to be viewed (in its entirety – all three) as a study, rather than used for entertainment.

[Documentary Embedding disabled by request] Click HERE for full Documentary

For those of you who really love the sublime writers – here’s a list for some “light” reading HA!!

• Socrates and Plato – The Allegory of the Cave
• Rene Descartes – Meditations on First Philosophy
• George Berkely – To See is to Be Perceived
• Immanuel Kant – Transcendental Philosophy
• Friedrich Nietzsche – Will to Power, The Collective Hallucination
• Jean Baudrillard – Hyper Reality, The Desert of the Mind
• Robert Nozick – The Experience Machine
• Pierre-Simon Laplace – Causal Determinism
• David Hume – A Treatise of Human Nature
• Arthur Schopenhauer – The World as Will and Representation

Quote from Charles Eisenstein -

“This movement isn’t about the 99% defeating or toppling the 1%. You know the next chapter of that story, which is that the 99% create a new 1%. That’s not what it’s about. 

What we want to create is the more beautiful world our hearts tell us is possible. A sacred world. A world that works for everybody. A world that is healing. A world of peace. 

You can’t just say “We demand a world of peace. Demands have to be specific. Anything that people can articulate can only be articulated within the language of the current political discourse. And that entire political discourse is already too small. And that’s why making explicit demands reduces the movement, and takes the heart out of it. So it’s a real paradox, and I think the movement understands that. 

The system isn’t working for the 1% either. You know if you were a CEO, you would be making the same choices they do. The institutions have their own logic. Life is pretty bleak at the top too – and all the baubles of the rich are this phoney compensation for the loss of what’s really important. The loss of community, the loss of connection, the loss of intimacy. The loss of meaning. 

Everybody wants to live a life of meaning. And today, we live in a money economy where we don’t really depend on the gifts of anybody. But we buy everything. Therefore we don’t really need anybody, because whoever grew my food, or made my clothes, or built by house, well if they die, or if I alienate them, or if they don’t like me, that’s okay because I can just pay someone else to do it. 

And it’s really hard to create community if the underlying knowledge is “we don’t need each other.” So people kind of get together and act nice, or maybe they consume together. But joint consumption doesn’t create intimacy. Only joint creativity and gifts create intimacy and connection. 

You have such gifts, that are important. Just as every species has an important gift to give to an ecosystem, and the extinction of any species hurts everybody. The same is true of each person, that you have a necessary and important gift to give. 

And that for a long time our minds have told us that maybe we’re crazy, that maybe we’re imagining things, that’s its crazy to live according to what you want to give. But I think now, as more and more people wake up to the truth, that we’re here to give, and wake up to that desire, and wake up to the fact that other way isn’t working anyway – the more reinforcement we have from people around us that this isn’t crazy. This is makes sense. This is how to live. 

And as we get that reinforcement, then our minds and our logic no longer have to fight against the logic of the heart which wants us to be of service. This shift of consciousness that inspires such things is universal, 99% and the 1% and it’s awakening in different people in different ways. 

I think love is the felt experience of connection to another being. An economist says ‘more for you is less for me.’ But the lover knows that more of you is more for me too. If you love somebody their happiness is your happiness. Their pain is your pain. Your sense of self expands to include other beings.

That’s love, love is the expansion of the self to include the other. And that’s a different kind of revolution. There’s no one to fight. There’s no evil to fight. There’s no other in this revolution. 

Everybody has a unique calling and it’s really time to listen to that. That’s what the future is going to be. It’s time to get ready for it, and contribute to it, and help make it happen.

Below is a quote from one of Charles Eisenstein’s essays.

“Stumbling” upon his work has brought me some much needed mental rest, and a little distance from the feelings of hopelessness for a future… for myself (and many of you who have written in about these feelings). To be honest, I am almost numb with overwhelm and shock at the current state of the collective un-consciousness and the desire of the ‘majority’ to stay complacent and addicted to this world-reality. 

Eisenstein offers a collage of out-of-the-box ideas for a financial do-over, sustainable community wealth, and Living The Gift-Time Bank Currencies, a little good news amidst the deluge of doom and gloom.

Here are most of his links so you can read his essays, listen to his talks, and just do some general “de-schooling” as he calls it. 

The Ascent Of Humanity >Click Here<

Charles Eisensein Blog >Click Here<

Reality Sandwich >Click Here<

“We have been betrayed. After centuries of sacrifice on the altar of technological development, we harbor a deep disappointment and anger. We export that anger onto the Illuminati, or whoever it is that has robbed us of The Future. Surely this technological utopia exists – it has only been withheld from us, and the technologies of paradise turned toward nefarious ends. But the real problem is deeper than that. It is the paradigm of control itself that causes us to sacrifice everything in pursuit of a mirage.

The conspiracists agree with a defining precept of our civilization: that the world is fundamentally amenable to control. They think that this power to control has been turned toward evil, but do not dispute the technocratic doctrine that society and the material world can be endlessly improved through the methods of science: gathering information, making plans, eliminating variables, applying force, and so on. To believe that the NWO conspiracy is even possible is to conform to one of the primary motivating and justifying beliefs underlying totalitarianism. The NWO believers are not as radical as they think.

Conspiracy theories ascribe a degree of competence, foresight, and efficiency to the controlling organizations that is generally foreign to human institutions.  We live in a civilization built on control, on the idea that we can order the world through material and social technology and, once we perfect those technologies, win the war against nature, against disorder, against uncertainty. But in fact, the world is messy, chaotic, and unpredictable, and no matter how tightly we attempt to orchestrate events, control slips through our grasp like mud through a clenched fist. We are immersed in an ideology that says that with the next technological revolution, with next medical innovation, or the next set of comprehensive regulations, finally we will get all the messy variables under control and live in an orderly, secure world.

Are there really ultra-intelligent, ultra-competent people on top whose plans actually work and whose technologies actually succeed in molding the world to their plans? Or are the elites of our civilization as confused and scared as the rest of us, responding to events that, at every turn, take on a life of their own? The futility of control is written into the fabric of reality. Complex non-linear systems such as a body or a society are inherently unpredictable. Of course, those in power try to maintain control and often wreak awful damage in so doing, but generally speaking it is events that control them, and not the other way around.”