Just before the introduction of Digital IDs and Social Credit Systems - disguised as so-called Smart Cities - are about to change our lives forever, it is time to shed some light on the media-made mechanisms of how easily "truth" can be twisted. If you think that Social Scoring like in China is not going to be possible in the West, you might be surprised to read that it already has arrived.
One World - One Dream that was the slogan of the Olympic Games in Beijing back in the year 2008. What the majority of the world didn’t know was the fact that in Mandarin the Slogan actually meant The Same World – The Same Dream. (同一个世界，同一个梦想). A small difference with a huge impact of significance. 15 years later when I read about the World Health Organization's (WHO) project One Health I had a déjà-vu, I couldn’t help myself to think that there might be much more to it than an appealing Slogan, so I started to dig into it.
The WHO is currently drafting an international, legally binding instrument for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPPR). This treaty is going to play a major role at the international level in uniformly spelling out the One Health approach for the community of states. At first sight the approach of One Health looks very noble and holistic. Initially it started out protecting humans and animals, later food, agriculture and recently ecosystems were included as well. Every possible threat to public health caused by one of these sectors would empower the WHO - an assembly of unelected people - to be in charge of its response on a global scale.
By implementing One Health, the introduction of mandatory Immunisation Passports will be one of the first measures, promoted as a necessary protection like we had witnessed it during the pandemic. These passports will be the driving forces to establish and justify Digital IDs which consequently will come along with a significant loss of personal freedom. A new normal that is not far away from the current Chinese way of life.
When China launched its mandatory Social Credit System in the year 2020 we hardly didn’t notice because the world was busy fighting a virus. But ever since then the quality of life for 1.3 billion Chinese nationals depends on whether their score is high or low. The citizens with high scores are rewarded by getting credits and travel visas, better matches on flirting apps and access to better schools, while those privileges are unattainable for people with lower scores. Not only that, one can easily be shamed publicly for being a traffic offender.
(left) Total control through face recognition, (right) public shaming of traffic offender, (picture anonymised by me)
If you think that mass surveillance like in China is not going to be applicable in the West, you might be surprised to read that it already has arrived. It is spelled Smart Citizen Wallet but it is read Social Credit and it already exists in Bologna, Italy. Although in Bologna so far, the system has only been used for gratifications of its citizens, but we all can imagine that once a system is in place, its abuse is not far either. Besides Bologna, Austria is planning to introduce its ID Austria on December, 5 2023 and the Ukraine has already started to combine Universal Basic Income, a Digital Identity and a Immunisation Passport in their App called Diia, you just haven’t read about it, because this kind of news don’t find their ways to the headlines anymore. This is called Agenda Setting.
THE MEDIA MADE "TRUTH"
By setting issues on their agenda the mass media establishes a hierarchy of news. Some issues are given more weight and presence. The media filters information to the public, they are like gate-keepers who decide what event is news-worthy. From all the happenings that could reach the news, only a really small number (approx. 2%) of the events worldwide become actual news. So our reality is massively influenced by what the mass media or their sponsors consider to be important.
In order to define what is worth to be news, there are several criteria, called News Values such as: impact, actuality, proximity, negativity, conflict, oddity, controversy, continuity… etc. an event that has a major impact on your life, because of its proximity, something which is negative, odd, controversial including a celebrity that could cause a series of events has a very high probability to become news.
Picture: Galtung-Institut
On top of that media consolidation in the last decades has confronted us with a new share of media control in the West: 37 years ago 50 companies were in charge of the media in the United States: Now 90% of the American media is controlled by six corporations (AT&T, CBS, Comcast, Disney, Newscorp and Viacom).
ILLUSORY TRUTH EFFECT AND COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
Another worth mentioning phenomenon is called the Illusory Truth Effect – aka the Illusion Of Truth. It describes how we tend to believe false information if it is repeated again and again. For example that everybody who speaks out against the main stream narratives must be a conspiracy theorist or worse.
What has happened during the pandemic by means of the Illusory Truth Effect, is the same kind of mechanism the whole advertising business is built on. Basically we know that companies lie in their commercials, but we still keep buying their products because their ads are tempting and most of all omnipresent. Even if we find out that something we used to believe turns out to be wrong, our first reaction is denial, because the shock of the revealing news is painful. It is called Cognitive Dissonance. As much as it flatters us to be right, we have a hard time to admit, when our belief system is challenged. We are prone to believe that only others are victims of propaganda.
SCIENCE & TRUTH
The pandemic is a good example to investigate how "truth" easily can be twisted: The only promoted truth spread by mass media had to be based on science. But awkwardly skeptical questioning and different opinions were not allowed to be part of the scientific process anymore. Lots of discussions were harshly ended by the verdict of a fact-checker.
“(…) Science is more than a body of knowledge. It’s a way of thinking, a way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of human fallibility.
If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us that something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then, we are up for grabs for the next charlatan, political or religious, who comes rambling along.”
Carl Sagan, Astronomer
Almost over night these fact-checkers have become the new truth tellers. Only a minority of people questioned who they are and who funds them. The thing is: As a trustworthy fact-checker you must get certified by The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), based at the Poynter Institute - a private non-profit-organisation in Florida, USA. This certificate is vital in order to obtain lucrative contracts from Meta or Google. The certification body of the IFCN is financed among others by Luminate an Omidyar Network Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, George Soros' Open Society Foundation, Google News Initiative, Meta and the NED (National Endowment for Democracy). The first two mentioned foundations above are also notable forces of pushing and financing the implementation of digital IDs projects such as ID4D and ID2020 and all of them are listed as donors of the ICFJ - International Center for Journalism - a network of 70'000 journalists from 160 countries. So in case you ever asked yourself if it is possible to buy the public opinion, I would say following the money is a good way to find out.
Source: ICFJ - International Centre for Journalisms, Impact report (2020)
HOW DO YOU BREAK THROUGH THE NOISE IN A WORLD FULL OF CLICKBAIT, FACT-CHECKERS AND SKEWED NEWS?
If nowadays you want to reach the masses on a large scale in the merciless fight of peoples attention you need some serious budget to do so. Same with the fact checkers: Everybody who ever has worked in the media business knows the high amounts of money it takes to keep a newspaper or TV channel running. But when all these fact-checkers became so popular during the pandemic, nobody really asked publicly who has the budget to sponsor all the resources it takes to fact-check all the information in the world wide web. Who could afford an army of researchers that deal with the overwhelming flood of information generated day by day?
SUBJECTIVE VS. ULTIMATE TRUTH
After having written all that, you might be wondering: What is the truth about the truth? From my point of view this question can only be answered from a spiritual point of view:
The ultimate truth - valid for all of us - is not accessible as long as we are still caught up in the duality of life. Only when we’ll unite with the universal consciousness, we’ll be able to access the ONE truth. Till then being incarnated on the Earth plane means we might be able to catch some glimpse of this Oneness, but only when our souls leave our bodies to return “home” we’ll be able to see the big picture again.
So the next time we'll find ourselves in a situation when different versions of the "truth" collide, I suggest to remember that the probability that no one speaks the divine truth is pretty high. If we are irritated by the opinion of others, we rather find out why it triggers us than wasting our energy by insisting on being right. This way of self-reflexion will bring us closer to OUR truth because it mirrors a part of us that asks for attention. It might be an experience or trauma that has not been digested and offers us a chance to be resolved, basically it invites us a way to grow.
If you are a true truth seeker you probably must have found it out already, if not you might assume it:
“Truth is not to be found outside. No teacher, no scripture can give it to you.
It is inside you and if you wish to attain it, seek your own company. Be with yourself."
Osho
The ultimate goal is not the truth itself, but rather the path of reaching it - I am talking about the truth that only YOU can reach. The mantra Sat Nam can help you on that path. It refers to your true identity and therefore helps you to connect yourself with your souls mission in this life. SAT NAM!
If you want to work on your patterns/trauma or need some assistance establishing a nourishing yoga routine, I am very happy to assist and find a yogic solution tailored to your needs and situation. I am offering a 20min. coaching call for free in order to evaluate your needs. After that you'll decide if you want to proceed. <3
