“The nature of the universe is such that ends can never justify the means, on the contrary, the means always determine the end.”- Aldous Huxley
All across the globe television news stations flash images across the screen. Images of people taking to the streets to voice their supposed anger and frustration at a system that doesn’t “support” them, indoctrination at 60 frames a second.
Articles on websites talk of righteous and rebellious youth and how they will no longer stand idly by and allow their world to be dictated and destroyed by an out-dated system, ran by an out-dated generation (while still voting, upholding, and serving the old antiquated politicians and systems they claim they’re against). Yet, when did true revolution and spontaneous activism have corporate sponsorship and widespread backing from government officials that “supposedly” serve the very institutions that created the scenario they oppose?
Do you really believe the idea that all the most popular actors and figureheads come together out of true belief? That your favorite musical artists just happened to write the soundtrack that so clearly voiced your cause?
Or, is it their managers and labels, more than likely owned by a corporation with a vested interest in said “turmoil”, that see dollar signs from the built in market created by a so-called “movement”.
While you may understand that attempts to manipulate your thoughts through marketing and propaganda are happening, you have to think your feelings clearly are your own.
There’s no way I am being treated like a wind-up toy full cranked and sent in a predetermined direction? This is genuine, it’s not manufactured? This simply can’t be, is it truly just CASH FOR RAGE?
“Fear is the parent of cruelty”- James Anthony Fraude
Corporations claim they want young people who think outside the box, but only so far as they’re confined to a larger box that works to the advantage of the free market. Which means the free market economy that is based on competition, based on economic rather than human considerations, ends up controlling the system.
Today many assume antisocial and violent behavior by the youth is a natural phenomenon and not the failure of modern schooling by a failing system that gives context to an important concept of behaviorists.
They called it Frustration/Aggression hypothesis and was an attempt by behaviorists at Yale to combine their own science of behavior with that of Freudians, or as it was stated “when people perceive they are being prevented from their ‘just’ rewards, their frustrations are likely turned to aggression.”
A study by behaviorist Orval Hobart Mowrer showed when rats could not achieve their expected reward they took their frustrations out on each other.
In a 1941 experiment, toys were placed behind a wire screen where children could see but not interact with them. When they eventually gained access, their interaction with the toys was considerably more destructive.
While human beings are not rats, armed with the necessary information we can come to the logical conclusion on who’s to blame for our life and rightly or wrongly we often point the finger at ourselves. In the hands of politicians and demagogues, Frustration/Aggression is a powerful tool for placing anger on scapegoats.
Scapegoating, or the act of deflecting anger. Anger that could be directed towards the system. By deflecting this anger towards other people the system will save itself, and nowhere is Frustration/Aggression more apparent then in military training.
In a study on Japanese atrocities in China, Iris Chang observed that Japanese troops were subjected to particularly severe abuse. Prior to deployment, they were slapped and humiliated in front of their peers, reduced to a state of impotent rage, then at this point they were given a bayonet and instructed to attack the enemy, an enemy that was portrayed as a sub-human animal.
In America, the same tactics would be used but with less emphasis on physical abuse and more on verbal.
One of the most effective ways of controlling a population is by directing a person’s rage towards selected minorities or perceived outside enemies. By doing this, the true cause of an individual’s frustration can be effectively diverted.
In many ways, the theory is a symptom of something deeper, to engender real hatred against a particular group, that group must first be feared. It is in this realm of fear that behaviorism made it’s most disturbing contribution.
Orval Hobart Mowrer would be called a neo-behaviorist and trained at the Yale Institute of Human Relations. First experimenting with shock treatment to create an atmosphere of pervasive fear, anxiety, or as Mowrer put it “Dread and Terror”. He said this atmosphere could be “ratcheted up” progressively. The more the experiment continued and the more random the shocks became, the more the shock was received as pleasure from the subject, as a release from anxiety, as a release from fear. He called it a “Nervous Breakdown” or what he described in an article- “The ultimate demoralization of behavior”.
What was extracted from this experiment was the idea that there was such a thing as a coercive stimulus that could be used to create an environment of dread, terror, and anxiety from a low to high level. Mowrer suggested that a new behavior pattern could be created through this technique. Like turning a volume knob on a stereo, they can decide how intense of an atmosphere there will be. Needless to say, a creature in a highly fearful environment will be eager to escape to a new one.
So as you continue to turn on your televisions and smartphones, literally charging the atmosphere. They will continue to deliver images and stories that initiate a “shock” and feed you a diet of fear and frustration, to manufacture reality and shift the narrative to harness your rage. A rage they will direct to the next corporate sponsored outrage. Where there will be awaiting you all new products for your purchase. Corporate consumption disguised as a counter-culture identity.
