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Pit | Us and Them: Part Four
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Pit | Us and Them: Part Four

Understanding the "Us vs. Them" Mentality

The Duty to Speak Up

  • The speaker emphasizes that their advocacy is not for individuals but rather a moral obligation, stating they are never on anyone's side, only on the right side.

Defining "Them"

  • Clarification of who "them" refers to; it includes all people in the West regardless of race or class, not just elites or specific groups.

Cultural and Systemic Issues

  • The speaker discusses how societal dysfunction affects everyone in the West, indicating that issues are systemic and cultural rather than limited to certain demographics.

The Impact of Western Culture

Psychological Effects

  • The speaker argues that Western culture has warped individual perceptions and priorities, affecting how people see themselves and others.

Generational Indoctrination

  • A metaphorical comparison is made between living in a narrow pit versus having a broader perspective of reality, highlighting generational indoctrination through myths and propaganda.

Indoctrination Explained

Definition of Indoctrination

  • Indoctrination is described as accepting a false picture of reality as truth, leading to distorted worldviews among individuals.

Mechanisms of Control

  • The effectiveness of American indoctrination is attributed to its resources and technology used over generations to shape public perception.

Media Manipulation

Concentration of Media Ownership

  • Only six corporations control 90% of American media content, which shapes public discourse according to their interests rather than those of the general populace.

Role of Advertisers

  • Advertisers are identified as the real customers in media; consumers' attention is sold rather than products being sold directly to them.

Education as Indoctrination

Mythology in Education

  • The education system perpetuates an idealized version of American history that obscures atrocities committed throughout history under the guise of heroism.

Historical Fabrications

  • Examples include romanticizing figures like George Washington while glossing over historical injustices such as slavery and genocide against indigenous peoples.

Consequences of Distorted History

Understanding Identity Through History

  • The speaker draws parallels between cosmetic surgery altering appearance and historical narratives distorting collective identity; both obscure true origins.

Patterns Over Time

  • A consistent pattern emerges from America's history characterized by cruelty and greed despite claims that negative actions were anomalies.

Reflections on Society's Conditioning

Self-Awareness Challenges

  • Individuals are encouraged to scrutinize their reflexive defensive responses when confronted with uncomfortable truths about society’s past actions.

Call for Recognition

  • Emphasis on recognizing how societal conditioning has shaped personal identities; understanding this can lead towards genuine self-awareness and growth.
Playlists: Us and Them
Video description

In Part Four of Us and Them, Shahid Bolsen makes one thing absolutely clear before going further: when he says "them," he means everyone in Western society. Not just the elites. Not just those in power. Not just white people. Everyone. Rich, poor, black, white, brown — everyone submerged in that culture has been shaped by it, and no one gets to claim exemption by pointing to their position in the hierarchy. Then Bolsen turns to the mechanism. Six corporations control approximately ninety percent of what three hundred million people consume as information. In 1983 it was fifty. The education system installs the mythology from birth — Johnny Appleseed was a land speculator; the founding fathers were slaveholders writing declarations of freedom; every atrocity is an anomaly until the anomalies become the unbroken pattern. This is not metaphor. This is not rhetoric. This is a deliberate, inter-generational, institutionally enforced project to produce human beings incapable of thinking outside a pre-approved set of conclusions. You know your history is a lie. What you haven't reckoned with is what that means — that your cultural genetics are what they are, and no amount of Disneyfication changes what will reproduce. You have been catfished by your entire civilization. You were looking at a picture of White Jesus and thought it was a mirror.