COUNTERCOLUMN: All Your Bias Are Belong to Us

“A concentration camp is the complete obliteration of privacy…." - Milan Kundera

2017-08-12T11:58:00.002-04:00

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT TOMHARTMANN.COM.

“A concentration camp is the complete obliteration of privacy…." - Milan Kundera https://www.thomhartmann.com/forum/2016/03/“-concentration-camp-complete-obliteration-privacy…-milan-kundera

“A concentration camp is the complete obliteration of privacy…a world in which people live crammed together constantly, night and day. Brutality and violence are secondary, and not the least indispensable characteristics.”

–Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

One evening while streaming video on the internet I came across the film, The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), and decided to watch it again since it has been a number of years since my first viewing of the film. Sometimes there are story details missed in the first viewing, and subplots become clearer with a second viewing. Film versions of novels are notorious for short changing literary works and Czech writer Milan Kundera’s 1984 book, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, is a classic example.

The novel is not only about the love affair between the main characters, Tomas, a Czech surgeon and intellectual, and his wife, Tereza. There are other themes and one important element of the novel is its historical setting within the repressive government of Czechoslovakia in 1968 after the old Soviet Union invaded Prague. Milan Kundera is a Czech writer who went into exile in 1975 and later became a French citizen . He had been expelled from the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia twice for his political opinions. Consequently, Kundera has some knowledge of how a totalitarian society works. Kundera’s novel, Lightness of Being, was published in 1984, the same year as George Orwell’s famous dystopian novel title, Nineteen Eighty Four. The experience of living in the repressive Soviet Czechoslovakia finds its way into the novel in a greater way than in the film version.

While researching this aspect of the novel, I came across a 10-hour audiobook version of novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984) audiobook on Youtube. So I began listening to the audio version of the book and came across a particularly interesting chapter (starting at 5:35:00 to 6:13:00) describing the interrogation of Tomas by Czech agents concerning an anti-government letter he wrote to a weekly newspaper editor shortly before the Soviet invasion. Kundera’s description of the interrogation by a Czech government agent is very revealing of his experience and is worth listening to because Americans are currently under assault by a sophisticated security state propaganda campaign determined to invade the privacy of every American citizen even more than it already has in the recent past.

The power gained by the private-state intelligence agencies just by weakling citizen privacy is immense. Most Americans do not know how effective an interrogation can be. Those that believe, “I have nothing to fear, because I have done nothing wrong” are the best subjects to interrogate because they can be led deep down the interrogation path before they even realize they are in serious trouble. Some may think they can outsmart a trained interrogator, but even a person as intelligent as theoretical physicist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, fell victim to his FBI interrogators as they utterly destroyed him professionally and spiritually.

I recommend listening to the audiobook section referred to above, but here are some general observations about how a lack of privacy gives tremendous power to an interrogator within any government whether it is democratic or not.

Subtle threat to one’s employment and occupation is often used to create pressure on the interrogated to cooperate. Initial contact with the interrogated is sometimes through friends, coworkers, or employer to exert pressure to cooperate.

False promises may be made that any confession will be kept secret, and is merely a bureaucratic office issue. Any embarrassing information may not even be intended for use, but its coercive power comes from the interrogated person’s knowledge that private information could potentially be made public. Such persons then self censor out of fear.

Regardless of how you feel about others’ view of you, you are at the mercy of public opinion and this has profound consequences. You may not have as many friends as you once thought.

One form of punishment for not cooperating with interogators is underemployment. Tomas refused to cooperate and was demoted from surgeon, to general practitioner, and finally to window washer. He was given a chance to cooperate with each demotion until it did not matter. The same persons responsible for the demotions will flatter the interrogated, or present rationalizations for your behavior to offer a way out of the situation.

Every word in an interrogation could put persons you know in danger, and if you lie to protect them, you may just be putting a total stranger in danger. The interrogator may be more than eager to accept a surrogate dissident as a substitute sacrifice, or simply expand the investigation’s scope.

The ‘tell the truth’ moral imperative taught to us as children is continually used by the interrogator to invoke guilt, but the interrogator has no obligation to tell the interrogated the truth. You may not know what laws you are breaking if you lie in an interrogation, or simply was wrong about a fact by mistake. Attorney Harvey A. Silvergate wrote in his book, “Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent,” that the average American commits at least three felonies a day. Nobody really knows how many laws there are in the United States legal system. Attorneys have attempted to count all Federal Laws (not even including local municipal codes) and found there are about 10,000 to 300,000 regulations that carry the force of federal criminal law. Chances are you do not know all the relevant laws.

A statement, loyalty oath, or confession an interrogator himself authored to be signed will always be presented as the interrogated person’s statement, loyalty oath, or confession.

There are three functions of the secret police:

Intimidate citizens to control their behavior and make them afraid,
Report what people are saying,
Entrap persons in illegal activity to force collaboration and then set traps for others to create still more informants.

Many Americans are complacent and apathetic as the US intelligence security state works to weaken privacy laws and join forces with private corporations to track all Americans’ phone communications, social media activity, and internet financial activity. Some Americans are even in support such widespread surveillance, but they have no idea what they are getting into by opening this Pandora’s box of unlimited police power.

2015-01-14T00:50:00.001-05:00

2015-01-14T00:29:00.001-05:00

2014-01-25T18:37:00.001-05:00

Maryland Mall Shooting: CNN Panel To Draw More Broad Conclusions from Single Data Point ... 3 Dead in Shotgun Shooting: Biden Unavailable for Comment ... NRA Reminds Mass Shooters to Use Cold Weather Firearms Lubricant ... Obama Goes Golfing With Imaginary Son ... Developing ...

CounterColumn News Ticker...

2012-07-20T10:38:00.001-04:00

14 Killed in Colorado Shooting Hailed as 'Publicity Event of The Year ...

Spiderman Promoters Trumped ...

"Your Move, Paramount ..."

BLOOMBERG: "I blame those 24-ounce sodas at the snack bar ..."

NEA Approves Shooter's Grant Application ...

Florida DA Charges Victims With "2nd Degree Loitering" ...

DC Comics Spokesman: DC Is a Comic Company of Peace! There Is No Reason To Hold All DC Comics Fans Responsible for this Shooting ...

Obama Campaing Releases Ad Linking Bain Capital to Shooting..

Calls to Ban Gas Masks ...

CNN Reaffirms Colorado Springs Rating as Among America's "Best Places to Live ..."

Ratings Plummet ...

Napolitano Directs TSA to Strip-Search Child Victims ...

Dept. of the Interior C-130 Douses Scene with Fire Retardant ...

Developing ...

2012-06-06T11:56:00.000-04:00

"This is D-day", came the announcement over the British radio. The invasion has begun! According to the German news, British parachute troops have landed on the French coast. British landing craft are in battle with the German Navy, says the BBC. Great commotion in the 'Secret Annexe'! Would the long-awaited liberation that has been talked of so much but which still seems too wonderful, too much like a fairy-tale, ever come true? Could we be granted victory this year, 1944? We don't know yet, but hope is revived within us; it gives us fresh courage, and makes us strong again." --Anne Frank, Diary Entry, 6 June 1944.

More on Bullygate

2012-05-12T00:59:00.003-04:00

Mitt Romney shoudn't have cut that kid's hair. That's just awful. Unthinkable. He should have left him in a submerged car to drown to death. Then Democrats would love him!

Bullygate

2012-05-12T00:54:00.002-04:00

So, apparently, Mitt Romney was mean to a prissy, petite, hair-obsessed little panty-waist of a sissy boy who responded manfully by crying like a bitch. But enough about John Edwards.

Introducing MilitaryAuthority.com

2012-05-04T20:25:00.002-04:00

Well, I have hardly been posting in recent months, because I've been writing for a living, full-time. And the last thing I do when I knock off work is blog! But in case anyone is still reading, I am happy to announce I am a contributor to MilitaryAuthority.com, concentrating on military topics. My stuff is now going up on a regular basis. So I'll be posting links there from time to time. They're not giving me a byline, for some reason. But if you liked my financial planning and related posts before, you'll find many more of them at MilitaryAuthority.com! Here are some new ones: Roth TSP Brings Tax Planning Opportunity to Deployed Service Members Military Foreclosure Victims May Receive $116,785 http://www.militaryauthority.com/benefits/insurance/life-insurance-and-your-children.html Long Term Care Insurance Considerations for Military Families What's Missing from your Thrift Savings Plan? Portable Careers for Military Spouses Mobilizing! Financial Tips for Military Families There's more on the site, of course, and I'll link to new content as it goes up, as well. And we'll see how things go! Meanwhile, weigh in below, by clicking "Click here to enter the net." Tell me what you want to read about! What is going to help you in your life? Splash, out, Jason

Planned Parenthood vs. Susan G. Komen for the Cure

2012-02-03T18:46:00.000-05:00

In case you missed it, the there was a great big blowup recently in the women’s health charity world. The big breast cancer and fundraising organization, Susan G. Komen for the Cure – the marketing geniuses who came up with the pink ribbon idea for breast cancer awareness, and who engage in a lot of marketing and fundraising for causes related to breast cancer. Whatever they don’t need for operations and overhead, they dispense to hundreds of different breast-cancer related organizations, funding education and awareness activities, screenings, mammograms, and research toward preventing and curing the terrible disease.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure sparked a controversy when they announced they were pulling their $600,000 annual grant to Planned Parenthood, claiming that a new internal rule adopted by the Komen board stated they can’t fund organizations that are currently under a congressional investigation. Planned Parenthood was the only charity currently receiving funds that fell into that category, so they felt singled out and objected – claiming that the Komen foundation’s decision was politically motivated and that the real issue was – que’lle surprise! – abortion.

Hilarity ensued.

Planned Parenthood supporters furiously accused Susan G. Komen for the Cure of making a principled stand. Meanwhile, fueled by Facebook, Twitter, blogs, other social media, Komen’s fundraising more than doubled in the days following the announcement, in what the media described as a severe anti-Komen backlash.
At stake, of course, was more than 0.6 percent of Planned Parenthood’s budget for the year. Planned Parenthood executives announced that without this funding, either they would have to collect another $1.75 for every abortion performed, or women would be denied mammograms.
Naturally, they were leaning towards getting out of the mammogram business. Which – of course, it turned out they already were: A pro-life activist recently called up 30 different Planned Parenthood facilities around the country, recording the results. All 30 facilities informed her that Planned Parenthood didn’t do mammograms.

Not to worry: Planned Parenthood supporters rode to the rescue – led by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. As a billionaire himself, and founder of the Bloomberg media empire, Mayor Bloomberg – a ferocious 2nd amendment opponent and the man who thinks government should be free to dictate your choice in French fries, pledged to donate $250,000 to demonstrate his commitment to a woman’s right to choose.

For its part, Susan G. Komen for the Cure was stung by the allegation that its decision to withdraw funding from Planned Parenthood may have secretly been rooted in principle. So about 48 hours after making the announcement that they would no longer provide funding to Planned Parenthood, the female-dominated leadership at Susan G. Komen for the Cure announced that they had changed their mind.

The decision was reversed, and Komen announced its commitment to continuing their “treasured relationship” with Planned Parenthood. So Susan G. Komen donors, regardless of their feelings on abortion, will still send $600,000 per year to an organization that doesn’t even do mammograms.

Great Moments in Journalism History...

2012-01-04T01:32:00.000-05:00

From CNN:

According to the Pentagon, Atwater carries the rank of specialist first class and is based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. His service awards include the Bronze Star and the Army Commendation Medal.

Specialist first class???

Pepsi to Change Can Design

2011-12-19T16:07:00.000-05:00

A Florida Guard colleague and terrific soldier, SSG Rolando Martinez, made the media big leagues when he noticed something interesting about the Diet Pepsi can design in Iraq.

The backstory is this: There is a whole subversive element in Middle Eastern marketing and branding, where product designers will take very subtle digs at the West. Call them Muslim "dog whistles" if you will.

I've seen Iraqis openly selling gifts in their markets commemorating the 9/11 attacks. One example I saw was a cigarette lighter that contained a depiction of a jet flying into two office towers, and a red LED that lit up at the point of impact when you used the lighter. It was in cast metal. So somewhere someone had set up a small factory making these things.

I think there's room for plausible denial on this specific can. It's certainly not the only modernist depiction of a skyline. All that's missing is the "Atomic" symbol!

Now, here's my question for Pepsi: What? American design firms can't design your can? You went cheap and went for the foreign outsourcing.

But even assuming the best of the South African design firm, an American marketing agency likely would not have made a design so evocative of 9/11.

Hope you enjoyed the little bit of money you saved by sending the American job overseas.

Splash, out

Jason

Great Moments in CNN History

2011-10-21T11:33:00.000-04:00

All those layers of fact-checkers at work again!

Occupy Portland Protesters Deface War Memorial

2011-10-13T15:10:00.001-04:00

This memorial is in or adjacent to Occupy Portland camp site. The names are those of Oregon soldiers who were killed in the service of their country in the First World War. Here is what the protesters of Occupy Portland did.

The photo was taken on the morning of the 13th of October.

Don't you dare question their patriotism!

Splash, out

Jason

Countercolumn News Ticker

2011-09-29T17:10:00.000-04:00

Bullied Cult Members Commit Mass Suicide ...

Area Fire Department Chief Ordered To Lay Off 20 Percent of His Cousins ...

"Jews Should Be Sterilized," Says Sarah Grunfeld

2011-09-14T19:06:00.000-04:00

A direct quote.

The name's Bond.

2011-08-07T20:01:00.000-04:00

Where's Pelosi Galore?

Countercolumn News Ticker

2011-08-02T00:22:00.002-04:00

Chaos on House Floor as Progressives Attempt to Euthanize Rep. Giffords ...

Breaking ...

Countercolumn News Ticker

2011-07-23T14:01:00.000-04:00

Brooklyn Man Charged With 8 Year Old Hassidic Boy's Abduction, Murder, Yada Yada Yada ...

Architect of 900 Billion Stimulus, Universal Health Care and Chrystler Bailout Calls for Fiscal Responsibility ...

Amy Winehouse Passes Away Behind Schedule ...
Flowers From Society of Actuaries Arrived 2 Weeks Early ...

Oslo Killings Bring Merciful Early Relief From Norwegian Cuisine For 94 People ...

Hollywood Expresses Interest in Oslo Gunman ...

Rutger Hauer Sues Shooter For Trademark Infringement ...

ELCA, Missouri Synod Lutherans Blame Each Other For Deaths ...

NYT Editorial: Bachman Refuses To Denounce Lutheran Ties

Swedish Chef Breaks Silence: "Fyordni Hordni Hollni Fordni Bork BANG! BANG! BANG! ..."

World Sends Condolences, Giant Casserole ...

Despite All-Gay Softball League, GLBT Vows Not To Shut The Fuck Up About the Boy Scouts ...

Sexual Assaults Plummet As NFL Players Head Back To Work ...

Developing ...

Remembering...

2011-06-06T00:38:00.000-04:00

""This is D-day", came the announcement over the British radio. The invasion has begun! According to the German news, British parachute troops have landed on the French coast. British landing craft are in battle with the German Navy, says the BBC.

Great commotion in the 'Secret Annexe'! Would the long-awaited liberation that has been talked of so much but which still seems too wonderful, too much like a fairy-tale, ever come true? Could we be granted victory this year, 1944? We don't know yet, but hope is revived within us; it gives us fresh courage, and makes us strong again."

Anne Frank, diary entry, June 6, 1944.

Oiche Nollaig. Christmas Eve.

2010-12-24T19:47:00.001-05:00

By Maire Mhac an tSaoi.

Peace on earth, goodwill toward men.

Much love to all.

Splash, out

Jason

Liveblogging the SOTU

2010-01-27T21:10:00.019-05:00

9:18 Two minutes in and Biden has managed to shut up so far.

9:21 You cut taxes? No. You FAILED to raise the health care tax, thanks to the Republicans.

9:23 Biden's pretty distracting. He should have been coached to sit still.

9:23 He's doubling down on the Crapulus Bill?

9:24 Apparently he's still under the impression that government creates jobs rather than moves them around.

9:30 The business tax credit is a good idea. Where was this idea a year ago? Oh, that's right. No bandwidth for it. The Administration had to focus on a massive socialist takeover of the health care bill.

9:30 Calling for a focus on jobs in 2010? That should have been the focus since day one!!!!

9:30 "I do not accept second place for the United States of America." So why all the damn apologizing, Mr. "No Nation Can Or Should Dominate Another."

9:33 "I'm not interested in punishing banks." (cough) BULLSHIT (cough).

9:33 Now he's pitted his Administration against the lobbyists. Code word for banks. TOLD you it was bullshit!!!!!

9:36 New nuclear plants and offshore driling. Is it just me or is Nancy Pelosi visibly pained at those words.

9:36 PELOSI CLAPS LIKE A SEAL!!!!!! (DRINK)

9:38 The more exports we sell, the more jobs we will support at home. That's why I want to double our exports!!!!!
How? By spending so damn much the dollar will become worthless!!! Neat trick, huh? Who could compete with us?

9:41 "A high school diploma no longer guarantees a good job." Who was under the illusion that it ever did.

9:42 Let's give families 10,000 in tax credits for college, and increased pell grants. I see tuitions rising 10,000 very quickly.

9:42 Wow. Let's help students pay off student loans if they go into government service. That way,

9:43 I am not a homeowner. If Obama is deliberately working to raise home prices, he is going directly to work against me.

9:44" We still need health insurance reform." Slow learner, huh!

9:47 "I take my share of the blame for not explaining (health reform) to the American people." Christ, this guy's delusional. The more he explained it, and the more Americans understood it, the more we didn't want that shit.

9:48 "As temperatures cool, I want everyone to take a second look." HELL NO!!!!

9:49 He's throwing out the "bring down the deficit" strawman. There is no way that reform nightmare would have brought down the deficit long term. Only a pathological liar could possibly argue otherwise. This should be obvious to anyone with half a brain.

9:51 Blaming the prior administration. DRINK.

9:52 Obama criticized McCain for proposing a freeze. Said McCain wanted to use a hatchet, but he wanted to use a scalpel. Then he spent like a drunken sailor. Now he's pulling out the hatchet.

9:55 "That's how budgeting works." ROFL!!!!!!!! "Let me show you how it's done, son!!" FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART!!!!!!

9:56 "That's what we did for eight years." Blaming the previous administration. DRINK.

9:57 "To do our work openly." Like put the health care negotiations on C-SPAN?

9:58 "We've excluded lobbyists from policy-making jobs." HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!

9:58 What part of "Congress shall make no law" don't you understand Mr. President?

9:59 Obama just challenged Congress to put earmark requests on line prior to votes. Nancy Pelosi stood up and clapped like a seal again. (DRINK). She's got a huge majority. Think it'll happen? No. What a lying hypocrite she is. Hold her feet to the fire.

10:03 I love it when the Republican minority says "no" to Pelosi and Reid's policy initiatives. THAT'S leadership!!!

10:05 Will he mention victory?

10:06 We're plugging gaps discovered by the Christmas attack. But we still have the same incompetent Director of Homeland Security.

10:07 "We will have all our combat troops out of Iraq by the end of this August." Betcha we won't.

10:08 The new Montgomery GI bill is a lot better. I'll give them that. The VA has a long way to go.

10:09 Oooh. Good luck getting the Norks and Iranians to play along with the promised nuclear anti-proliferation protocols.

10:11. Good job. Stick to your guns on the Iranians. I hope it means something. The problem is, I don't think this president has much credibility in the Iranian halls of power. Bowing to Arabs doesn't help his stature among Persians.

10:12 "That's why we stand with the girl who yearns to go to school in Haiti." Heh. I thought he was going to say "the girl who urinates."

10:14 Taking aim at the prohibition on gays in the military. That's a 2nd term project, though. Not a first-term.

10:15 "Immigrants from every corner of the globe. Like me for instance. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!

10:21 That was it? That's the SOTU? Double exports and freeze spending? This is OBAMA???????? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

10:22 Is it just me? or did nearly every SOTU I've ever seen get more applause than this one? This seems anti-climatic. Like the home team lost the game and everyone's looking to leave the parking lot before the rush.

Arizona Mayo Clinic Dropping Medicare Patients

2010-01-02T10:26:00.003-05:00

Not surprising, but here it is:

The Mayo Clinic, praised by President Barack Obama as a national model for efficient health care, will stop accepting Medicare patients as of tomorrow at one of its primary-care clinics in Arizona, saying the U.S. government pays too little.

Health care providers have been squawking about low medicare reimbursement rates for years, and it's getting harder and harder for medicare patients to find providers. What was fascinating to me, though, is the sheer arrogance and denial coming from the White House and from their fellow leftist morons, the Urban Institute:

Reid Cherlin, a White House spokesman for health care, declined comment on Mayo’s decision to drop Medicare primary care patients at its Glendale clinic.

Funny, the White House was full of praise for their low-cost, high-quality, highly-efficient health care before. Cat got your tongue? Can't figure out why this might be happening?

Robert Berenson, a fellow at the Urban Institute’s Health Policy Center in Washington, D.C., said physicians’ claims of inadequate reimbursement are overstated.

No, libtard. They're not. If they were overstated, doctors would still be seeing these patients. It is patently obvious for anyone who's not dribble-down-his-chin, charter-member-of-the-smaller-bus-club stupid that reimbursement rates do not reflect what the market will bear.

Rather, the program faces a lack of medical providers because not enough new doctors are becoming family doctors, internists and pediatricians who oversee patients’ primary care.

And why might that be, genius? Could the fact that medicare and medicaid underpay our family care doctors, internists and pediatricians so that the fields are no longer attractive to our medical school students?

“Some primary care doctors don’t have to see Medicare patients because there is an unlimited demand for their services,” Berenson said. When patients with private insurance can be treated at 50 percent to 100 percent higher fees, “then Medicare does indeed look like a poor payer,” he said

.

Holy crap. The free market slaps this leftist twit right across the face to get his attention, and he still can't figure it out. He just said that Medicare underpayment was overstated - and then in the same article concedes that medicare pays only half the going rate.

This is the kind of USDA Prime-quality stupid we're up against, here. It's the think tankers at the Urban League who are coming up with these ideas and advising our dumbest members of Congress - liberals to a man - about how to structure health care reform.

It's already a disaster and they haven't even started yet.

Splash, out

Jason

So the White House Christmas Tree features ...

2009-12-23T10:31:00.002-05:00

Mao?!?!?!

Strange fruit, indeed.

Who in God's name are these people staffing the White House?

Splash, out

Jason

Let's see if we can write a story on Senator Nelson and his decisive health care vote ...

2009-12-23T10:22:00.003-05:00

...and not ONCE mention abortion!!!