Guilt by association? When reading Tacitus regarding the Roman Empire at a time when dictatorial rulers came and went, around the time of Christ, Tacitus pulls no punches about the way in which ‘good men and true’ were either murdered or were drawn in as witnesses to the horrors which surrounded them. Not mute witnesses but made to applaud in public or be seen as an enemy of the State and suffer the consequences. A dreadful time in which to live.
Nothing much changes although the evil that men do at the highest levels of government usually remains hidden from public view. Bribery, compromise, self interest and threat remain the methods by which power is maintained and I’m not saying anything here which is new.
It used to take awhile for information to leak out until recently when the internet opened up channels unknown to previous generations. All the more important then to use propaganda, often now called fake news, to confuse or to at least provide doubt about subjects which would disturb the population.
I can’t underestimate the value of humour in these grim times. The wonderful John Clarke is sadly no longer with us. He was an Australian/New Zealander ‘gem’ who teamed up with Bryan Dawe to produce three minute productions which have stood the test of time.
An astute relative surprised me recently by being certain that the Federal Reserve was a government agency when a cursory search will reveal that all Central Banks are privately owned regardless of the curtain of misinformation surrounding them.
Clarke and Dawe do a wonderful piece on Quantitative Easing – printing money out of thin air – well worth the look. James Corbett does a serious expose on the Federal Reserve. Hopefully both pieces will be of interest and are placed below.