Cognitive dissonance is created when you are faced with information that contradicts what you believe (or think you know). Reading about World War II and the Third Reich I noticed that much of what I “knew” of these issues was not history but Allied propaganda that I had absorbed through various sources. When I read a quote from a German officer who was at Nuremberg during the trials who said he was amazed at how little Americans knew about German society and policy under the Third Reich; then I read that out of over 13,000 pages of Hitler’s speeches, less than thirty were about Lebensraum or the Jewish question; yet, I was told, this is what they were ALL about – the very cornerstones of Nazi belief. Patton made similar observations about how shallow American propaganda and understanding were in his letters and diary. Like the American officers I was not just ignorant, but grossly misinformed by our own propaganda. To bring resolution to the cognitive dissonance, I wanted to find out what things I knew were “real” and what was actually the result of propaganda that has been perpetuated (including some that I found on Wikipedia that is still masquerading as fact).

To do this I turned to the book Propaganda by Edward Bernays written in 1928, Selling Hitler, Propaganda & the Nazi Brand by Nicholas O’Shaughnessy, 2016, National Socialism; It’s Principles and Philosophy by Carlos Videla, 2020, A New Nobility of Blood and Soil by R. Walther Darre’, Germany 1930, Hitler, Beyond Evil and Tyranny by Col. R.H.S. Stolfi, The Naked Communist; Exposing Communism and Restoring Freedom by W. Cleon Skousen. and so many other sources of philosophy, history, and propaganda both today and from the past that to list them would turn this post into a bibliography.

Suffice it to say, I didn’t realize the full extent of the “rabbit hole” I was digging into or the depths of the question. When I first began looking into it. I mistakenly thought that I could study a few carefully selected books and have the information I wanted. But I found this mystery tied into many more things, including today’s misinformation and censorship than I ever suspected. It took some time to get to the truth of the matter.

Perhaps it was my intelligence analysis training that finds value in synthesizing truth from disparate sources which has been the process of acquiring knowledge for thousands of years by scholars, scientists, and philosophers. In the coming weeks, I will sort out some of these observations and share with you what I found out about what we are experiencing today and how current sources of propaganda and information continue to manipulate us. When finished it will help us understand what is happening in the world today and how it affects our lives.

Although it is somewhat disturbing to know that I, when I thought I was well educated and enlightened, had been formed by lies and misinformation that had become more “comfortable” to me than the truth. It also became clear to me how the communist propaganda and influences that even today spread Neo-Marxist philosophies have contaminated and warped our society bringing us to the brink of destruction (as they were designed to do). I also discovered why I keep hearing people ask “Why don’t they listen to facts” or “Why do they just attack”? The answers are simple, clear, and obvious, yet practically none of the pop commentators of social media nor the billionaire-owned and directed corporate media (85% of our media is primarily owned by 5 corporations,) that controls – or attempts to control what we see and hear. In America, we have regularly believed that the truth will “win out” but for it to win it needs to have citizens who seek it. For the last 40 years youth and adults have continuously faced greater and greater propaganda influences that stem from communist ideas that thoroughly infiltrated our society and educational system during and after the Cold War. The educational system, whether by design or incompetence, has failed at producing a citizenry that is capable of thinking and assimilation of disparate ideas that were envisioned by the founding fathers. While many people today would scoff at the idea that they are spouting communist ideas it is because they have no idea where their ideas come from or how that thinking developed. They would do well to read The Naked Communist, America Betrayed, and the Decline of the West (in 2 Volumes) with an open mind.

There are many other books that I could list, (some of them are on the Must Read list above https://sabersedge.online/must-read) but I don’t expect most people to read the scores of books that I have studied on the topic. While my readers are a cut above the average and will seek the truth with me (even if it is uncomfortable,) I don’t expect them to have the obsessive desire, time, or analysis in investigation or intelligence to dig for the truth themselves. Some people have a life other than reading all of these sources and assimilating them. Therefore, I will continue to provide summary knowledge on my blog and they can delve into those sources that most intrigue them. To use a colloquial phrase

“I have read them so you don’t have to.”

And I will help you discern the truth to the best of my ability. I will cut through the techno- and psycho-babble that so dominates pop history and pop-psychology sites that proliferate today and too often provide superficial and shallow answers to complex questions.

It is part of my nature that when I detect an untruth or a partial truth I double down and burrow into the facts (like a tick – as my wife says,) digging up the facts of the matter and refusing to let go until I uncover the truth from the disinformation or mal-information that are prevalent in our society; (Some would call me obsessive in this matter,) as I don’t abandon an issue until I can restore a balance to the cognitive dissonance created by my studies – if not an answer one way or another then to reach a stable balance of opposing truths.

Similarly, I do the same thing with news and popular messaging that I hear today through media when I detect untrue or only partial truths. When I detect untruth or partial truth, or a mystery in the offing, I want to know 1) what the unspoken truth is; and, 2) why it was withheld in the first place; 3) who benefits from the mis or mal-information; and 4) why it has become prevalent.

That is why I so appreciate you Freedom Troopers who explore these questions with me. Like me, they don’t accept the “comfortable falsehood” just because it is the party line but strive for the underlying truth that does exist behind all of the misinformation. Unfortunately, not everyone is like you, my dear reader. And this is why I appreciate you all so much. You are our society’s thinkers and truth seekers who are not afraid of questions. When darkness lies before you, you, like me, grab a torch, draw your saber, and press ahead into the darkness because you need an answer. We find the unknown a challenge to overcome and not something to be avoided as too dangerous or scary. But all too many people today seem to respond with anger when their “truth” is challenged, or when anything creates cognitive dissonance for them. The coward’s response is to simply fall back into “comfortable” error rather than strive to find a new or deeper understanding. I do not understand why anyone would prefer to live in falsehood rather than discover the truth. They would prefer the comfort generated by clinging to their “normalcy bias” and misinformation. I do not. Perhaps, as a soldier and investigator, I know that what I don’t know could kill me, my family, and my comrades. This is part of what made me an excellent scout, agent, investigator, and interrogator – but not always a good husband – as I found it difficult to “leave my work at home” as my mind worked on solving a mystery whether I was at “work” or not.

Unfortunately, it has also made for some long blog posts as the study branched off into multiple areas. In the coming weeks, I will try posting shorter posts more often to communicate the answers to these questions and share the knowledge that I have discovered in smaller bytes (pun intended) focusing more directly on single questions. This is a challenge because so many of these topics are very complex and have many moving parts. But we can do it, and we will do it. After this series, I will look at matters again and the comments I have received to determine if we continue with the new format, return to the old; or come up with a new idea. See you tomorrow with a discussion of the book Propaganda by Edward Bernays and how this book sheds light on what’s happening today.