But how am I supposed to know what’s true?
A dear friend posed this question to me recently and I thought that you might find our discussion helpful in your own day to day as we all navigate together these insane times.
The other day my friend rung me up to catch up on the events of the day and he asked me if I had heard the latest about some late breaking news item about Ukraine or Brandon or the CDC or, or…
When I told him that I was only vaguely familiar with what he was talking about his tone betrayed the questions running through his head:
“How could he be so uninformed?”
“How could he not have an opinion?”
“How could he not be concerned?
When I explained to him that I did not normally follow the ‘news’ closely, he became even more surprised. “How can you not follow the news?!” he asked. “We’re on the brink of World War 3 and you’re not staying informed!?”
Now, it may come as a surprise to some of you that, as someone who has stepped onto Freedom’s battlefield with the BreathEasy app (in testing now) I do not track the ‘news’ or try to stay ‘informed’ about the latest outrages that bombard us everyday.
I explained that if news organizations are known fabricators and agenda-driven as we've learned in recent years, then why would I listen to literally any of it?
Now, my friend is no dummy. He readily accepted my point that the news was driven by their own agendas and that it was riddled with lies.
However he countered that even if the news stories are largely untrue, they have ‘nuggets’ of truth within them.
‘Nuggets of truth?’ What am I supposed to do? Spend my hours sifting through lies in search of some mythical truth nugget?
Brother, I got shit to do...
It was at that point in our chat that an image formed in my mind of a lonely water well in the middle of a dry and dusty desert; the only source of water and you are on death’s door from thirst.
So I asked him,
“If you knew the only well for miles was poisoned, would you still drink from it?”
I learned a while ago, as we all have, that the ‘news’ was lying to us. But in spite of this knowledge, it wasn’t until the last 10 years or so did I begin to contemplate the true depths of their lies and the lengths they would go to reinforce them. Of course, if the ‘news’ is not meant to inform the people then what is its purpose?
That answer is plain: Control.
I’ve quoted him before, but William Randolph Hearst summed up the media’s role when he (reportedly) said,
“I can’t tell them what to think,
but I can tell them what to think about”
We learn from Hearst’s own words that he saw his role to be an engineer of control through propaganda and lies.
The only difference between the 1920’s and the 2020’s is that we now live in the Information Age where narratives, counter-narratives and outright lies are all easily vetted, researched and revealed. We are going through the growing pains of a maturing civilization passing from a status quo of subtle and overt control to a new and unknown future.
So, my answer to my friend was simple: “I will not drink from a poisoned well.”
Now, I fully accept that this choice is a very personal one. Some (myself included) will refuse to participate outright while others may dip their toe into the poisoned waters of info-tainment and take their chances. In point of fact, I respect both arguments!
The BreathEasy app is my own personal expression of a refusal to participate in the lies that manipulate us, bit within the realm of commerce.
I will find those businesses that are in the fight with me and I will only conduct business with only them and spread the word about these latter day revolutionaries (go to www.breathez.org to learn more).
Thinking a little deeper, I'd say that my conversation with my friend revealed a hidden addiction common in our culture that bears addressing.
We in the west have an inherent need (I say ‘addiction’) that we be “knowledgeable and informed” about the world around us. But why?
Is it possible that the poison merchants within the MSM have convinced us that we must drink their poisoned water and that, if we don’t, we are somehow ‘less than?’
Now don’t misunderstand! I am not arguing for the ignoramuses of the world to unite behind the fluttering Che Guevara banner of the Ignoramus King!
I am merely putting out the idea that you can observe the lies thrown at you without emotionally responding to them in the manner our rulers intend.
I would much rather be ignorant of the lies being told on a daily basis since my earliest childhood than to be emotionally manipulated into war, globalism or to inject unknown substances into my body (but I repeat myself).
Instead, I try to simply observe the information presented but refuse to allow it to manipulate my thoughts or emotions; it washes over me like poisoned water off a duck’s ass.
As a result, my mind is calm and my vision is clear.
Yes, I am aware of what the world is talking about...
No, I am not required to emotionally respond to literally any of it...
“But how am I supposed to know who to believe or what’s going on?”
My only answer for this is that we must collectively let go of our need to be ‘informed’ by lies and stop drinking from a poisoned well!
Put another way:
Does a fish who swallows a worm on a hook consider himself fed?
Or is he just dinner?
Yours in the Fight
R. Altomare
Founder of the BreathEasy App, coming soon
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