Saturday, March 17, 2007

"300" as Propaganda by Louis Evan Palmer


Is it pure coincidence that of all the movies that could have been made, based on either fictional or historical stories or that often perplexing mixture of both, that we are now served up a cartoon-based version of the Battle of Thermopylae?


Can there be any doubt that by whatever various dark circuitous routes, the psych-ops folks of the American military and intelligence cyclops have managed to serve up a mass-market propaganda movie that helps prepare the American and world public for a war on Iran?

One of the effects of the world becoming a smaller place is that it is more difficult to get away with the subterfuge, claims or "stories" that you may have formerly gotten away with or to confine the "message" to its target audience.

The movie in question is "300" which is a visually-riveting portrayal of the Battle of Thermopylae and particularly the 300 Spartans of King Leonides' bodyguard. They, the only Spartans at the Battle, are treated as the real Greeks (and men) and the Persians are shown as a monstrous invading horde. For Americans, who are notoriously ignorant of both geography and history, perhaps this is as good as it gets. If so, then America and the entire world is in even more trouble than previously thought.

Military historians like the father/son Dupuy duo state that Xerxes' army entering Greece was approximately 200,000 strong. The movie claims a million or more Persians attacked - allowing numbers from ancient sources to stand when it suits their one-dimensional characters & objectives - in this case, depicting the Persians as a terrfying horde and magnifying the heroic stance of the outnumbered Greeks.

The Persian army consisted of loyal troops from the 20 provinces of its empire and included Greek soldiers & mercenaries from Asia Minor. The Greek army at Thermopylae comprised 7,000 hoplites and archers including Leonides' bodyguard.

"300" strives to glorify war in a typically fascist manner - sacrifice, submission, military values and valour are in the service of the state, in this case, Sparta. A state out of step with the rest of Greece and where the majority of its populace was enslaved; when not engrossed in a military campaign, Sparta lived in constant fear of a slave (i.e. helot) revolt.

Is it also a coincidence that this propaganda piece was released on the eve of the Persian New Year? Probably, it's doubtful the propagandists even knew there was a Persian New Year.

It would interesting to follow at the deepest levels all the money trails for this movie and the decision-making involved in seeing it produced and distributed. This research should go beyond the first line of companies and follow them to their "owners". It must see past the "fronts" and "shells" and discern the hidden hands in helping it get into the mass market. The timing is too attuned to the imperialistic agenda to have just happened. It follows in the mould of the Lord of the Rings and its war-worship but is more specific and harder to treat as an allegory.

Another more ominous purpose in this "message" is in indoctrinating the masses to the idea of "300" as in the "Committee of 300" or the "300" world ruling families. Be on the look-out for more advertising for the "300" as saviours and heroes, a bulwark against the hordes, worthy recipients of dictatorial powers and the like.

300 as Propaganda, The Way It Can Be, Louis Evan Palmer, http://twicb.blogspot.com
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Copyright 2007 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have been published in numerous publications.


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Friday, March 16, 2007

Why did Germany attack the USSR on June 22, 1941? by Louis Evan Palmer


As has been said many times before, history is written by the victors; and, in those histories, some things will never get recorded while others will be recorded in a biased, often distorted, way.

In the post-war realm of courtrooms and the world stage, it is rare to see prosecutions of the victors for doing the same actions that see the losers jailed and/or hung. The crimes and indiscretions of the victors will likely stay secret for a long time. The new truths being delayed long enough so that all attendant benefits have been gained by various interested parties.

For example, many existing histories of the second World War make no mention of the breaking of the Enigma code and its immense role in the waging of the Allied western campaign. Its revelation is fairly recent. It is easy to assume that many other actions and records remain hidden? There's no doubt that there will be numerous other revisions to the historical record but because each set of “facts” and attendant myths have their beneficiaries, there is always resistance to any substantive change to the historical record. Potentially, this is one such change.

On June 22, 1941, the German Reich launched a massive attack into the Soviet Union; within a short time, this became known in the West as the infamous “Eastern Front”.

There have been assertions as to why Germany would launch such an invasion at that time but they ring false given that Hitler and his General Staff were acutely aware of the dangers of a two-front war. Why with Britian & her colonies still resisting, and America leaning their way, would Germany engage another much more dangerous adversary? To try to pin the entire rationale for this stupendous decision on the meglomania of Hitler and his demand for “living space” at that particular moment seems to stretch our credulity to the breaking point.

Another aspect of the attack that causes one to wonder is the fact that German forces were not prepared for winter. To have expected the eastern war to have concluded before winter does not make any sense. The completeness and efficiency of the German staff would not have normally countenanced this lack of preparedness.

What does make sense, however, is that there was an over-bearing reason for Germany to attack at that time and no later. The attack date had already been delayed several times. The logical reason for the Reich's invasion is that the Soviet Union was manouevering itself into an attack position and Germany could not allow that to occur. The longer the Reich delayed, the greater the danger became.

In fact, an expatriate Russian intelligence officer with access to Soviet era archives makes this very claim. In his book “Icebreaker” (and other books), Victor Suvorov states that Stalin had put the USSR onto a war footing in 1939 with plans to be ready to launch a Soviet invasion in 1941. Suvorov claims that the USSR was set to invade Germany and the rest of Europe a mere two weeks after Germany launched her own surprise attack. American historian Professor Stolfi in “Hitler's Panzers East” also contends that Stalin amassed troops on his western border in preparation for a Soviet invasion planned for later that summer. Professor Albert Weeks in his book “Stalin's Other War” makes the same point.

Evidence that Suvorov gives of the offensive nature of Stalin's preparations include secret positioning of troops and munitions in forward bases near the border. The large number of paratroopers that were trained with gliders ready. The large number of fast attack tanks that were similarly ready and in forward positions. The Soviets also had produced more submarines than any other country. All of these developments and deployments were suited to an offensive operation.

These circumstances explain clearly and powerfully why the Germans launched their invasion when they did. They had to pre-empt the Soviet attack or face rapid and certain defeat. In fact, all of Europe would have been quickly rolled up. It also explains why the German advances were so startling and deep – the Soviets were positioned for offensive operations and could not switch to defense in time. Millions of Soviet soldiers were captured or killed. Soviet supplies and equipment were used by the Germans to continue their advance into Russia.

This scenario also fits in with Communist doctrine of the time – eventual world domination, using capitalism to defeat itself economically and through inevitable internal conflicts, using war to advance the revolution of the proletariet.

Time will tell if this version of this part of history gets validated. These events as with others have become heavily politicized and propagandized and mythologized to the extent that certain “facts” and interpretations are considered dogma and others heresy. It may be that another sixty plus years may be needed to gain an adequate distance for dispassionate and impartial investigations.

But, it is not surprising that two dictators would want to take over surrounding territories and would be willing to wage war to get them. It is not surprising since they shared common borders that they would eventually go to war with each other - each vying for the element of surprise. After all, by that date, the USSR had taken over the three Baltic nations and half of Poland, tried to conquer Finland and murdered millions of its own citizens. As with many things, the real question is in the timing.
Why did Germany attack the USSR on June 22, 1941?, The Way It Can Be, Louis Evan Palmer, http://twicb.blogspot.com

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Copyright 2007 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have been published in numerous publications.


Tuesday, March 13, 2007

How To Make a Universe by Louis Evan Palmer

It's completely undefined and open. There is no thing. No time. No space. No existence. What is your starting point? Only the original being exists. The original will. The original intention which can manifest itself as you desire and purposefully think it.


You, as a co-creator, want to make a glorious creation. You want "creatures" in it. They will not only be "of" the original being but they will "be" the original being because everything anyone creates is made from and continues to be the original being. The original being has "free will" and therefore all creatures have it. This over time also makes them co-creators - they also make "creations" which can only exist of and from the original source, the ground of all being.

You as co-creator want your realm to be believeable for your creations, its inhabitants. You want your creations to be enraptured and enthralled by it. It might be good if the creations give thanks to their creator; but, it is redundant after all.

Some of the co-creators might be very powerful entities. They may "create" or "cause" vast realms of their "own" filled with every kind of creation. Works of Sublime High Art. Maybe this universe we find ourselves in.

The ideal situation in these realms is where the "creatures" are not aware that there is a creation, or not aware of its boundaries, or its true origin. To these circumscribed creatures, it just "is".

But a realm such as this is more than just creations and creatures that are visible. Its framework is more than what's visible or tactile or sensate in any way by any creature. A realm like this needs underlying laws and deep structure. It needs things like space and energy and time and fundamental forces and constants and a fabric. It needs information about itself in the form of codes and recordings and memories of every kind.

How do you as an immensely powerful co-creator involve your creatures in your creation? How does your realm become everything?

One of the best tools you discover to achieve this blinding, as it were, is causality. Causality is the apparent relation between one thing or action or force and another. It will underpin everything. It will conjure up "time" as a plane where "things" play out. It will conjure up "space". It will be the most powerful of convincers and binders.

Your realm, this realm, will use marvelous stagecraft on a scale far beyond any petty creature's imagination. Its magic will completely master misdirection on a galactic platform. It will be a magical architecture of the gods. It will feed delusions and nurture wrong conclusions. Here all assumptions, facts, correlations and deductions will be invalid. They will seem very right but they will in fact be utterly wrong.

To make the illusion of your realm seamless and as effortless as a vortex, you will intensify the experience of your creatures and creations. How? As much as possible, you will keep their focus narrow and short. You will speed their perception and existence up. You will raise the stakes for them to cloud their realm minds further. A barrage of details and facts and feelings and thoughts will help to anchor them firmly in your realm. There will be inducements to believe and accept. There will be a worship of form and ritual and symbols. The creatures of your co-creation realm will be aware of and mindful of the reactions of others and of themself. Continuity in this causal realm will become critical. Memories of this realm will become dear and will be preserved through further memories and actions.

Your co-creation realm cannot extinguish free will or choice but it can try to appropriate them and discount them. You will provide numerous possibilities for discovery and mystification and reward - this will entrance "your" co-creations (not really "your" creations). You will give them pain and pleasure. You will give them feelings and emotions. You will give them forbidden actions and things to tie them down more tightly. You will bind them further with horror and injustice. You will blind their inner truth with heaven and hell and demons and angels.

But your best encumbrance will be the worship of you as the "one" because of your magnificence and that of "your" co-creation realm. This will be so incapacitating that almost no-one will see past it.

The Way It Can Be, Louis Evan Palmer, How To Make a Universe, http://twicb.blogspot.com
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Copyright 2007 Louis Evan Palmer lives in Ontario Canada. His short stories have been published in numerous publications.


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