Galt's Gulch
10

How Totalitarians Force Confessions From Innocent People

Posted by $ Olduglycarl 5 years, 9 months ago to Philosophy
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I am looking at this article from the perspective of the left, the radical left.

We all say to ourselves...how could they believe the crap they sell, how could they possibly ignore history, the truth, the obvious results of their stead fast adherence to their ideology.

Well maybe, for them, Marx never lied, their professor would never lie to them, history has it wrong so in essence, they confess by doubling down, confessing to their gods, to marx, to stalin, to alinsky or even satan itself.

They unquestionably trust what they were taught, they were promised money, power, prestige and fame...so they continue without knowing what they do...they are bad, they are guilty, so somehow must live up to the promise.

It is hard to imagine that at one point in their lives, they had the opportunity to embrace the mind, a conscience, the good and honest way of life but were convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that the opposite way was the right path...surely, no one would lie to them about that.
SOURCE URL: https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/article/how-totalitarians-force-confessions-innocent-people

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  • Posted by mccannon01 5 years, 9 months ago
    "It is hard to imagine that at one point in their lives, they had the opportunity to embrace the mind, a conscience, the good and honest way of life but were convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that the opposite way was the right path...surely, no one would lie to them about that. "

    Literally or metaphorically... and Satan offered them all the kingdoms of the earth for a single act of fealty and they genuflected.

    Substitute "Neo Communists" for Satan and "free stuff" for kingdoms for a similar perspective.
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  • Posted by $ 25n56il4 5 years, 9 months ago
    OUC, I am convinced there are people, especially in law enforcement who prefer power over money! They worship power. I, fortunately was married to a man deeply into law enforcement who was something weird...an honest person...unfortunately he died and the bad guys are still in business in my area. I marvel at what they get away with! When I sell the house (pending), I am going to have a book published that will unravel a few high placed folks! I won't be here to see their reaction. I'll give you the title when I do it. Not my first book but it is on this subject. Tomorrow I am going for a FOIA thingy on $20K to see where it went. And $800,000K for a 'Disc Golf Course?' Really! Oh, it is lighted. Wonder who held the deed on the property?
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  • Posted by chad 5 years, 9 months ago
    It is difficult for me to understand the abject acquiescence of the vast majority of people to authority. I found myself in this same place when I was young, although I could see the conflict between morality and the demands of authority I still felt compelled to obey because they must know something I don't that resolves the conflict. I am amazed at how often others can see the conflict and believe that to resist authority that demands immoral behavior would create even worse havoc. It is this need for authority that makes man so vulnerable.
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    • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 5 years, 9 months ago
      That is why, "Authority" needs to be understood as: Demonstrable "Competence"...not just someone to tell what to do or not...it needs to be observed in their lives before they can earn respect.
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  • Posted by DrZarkov99 5 years, 9 months ago
    I was called to testify in a grand jury (the most evil piece of dung ever created by immoral lawyers). When the federal prosecutor tried to get me to commit perjury, I reported it to the judge, who then removed me from the witness list because, as she said my testimony "might shake the faith the jurors had in the federal justice system." No fooling!
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    • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 5 years, 9 months ago
      So, the prosecutor got away with encouraging perjury, is what you are telling us?
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      • Posted by DrZarkov99 5 years, 9 months ago
        Yes. The way federal prosecutors move up in the system is by their conviction record, and I have seen examples of not only squeezing witnesses to give "creative" testimony, but also falsified documents (taping a defendant's signature on a document, making a copy, and claiming the original was lost), complete forgeries of evidentiary documents, and testifying from the floor of the court themselves on hearsay evidence. It's worst in federal grand juries, where supposedly the decision on indictable grounds by a jury of laymen is superior to the judgement of a trained legal team. The grand jury is a prop for weak cases that would ordinarily be thrown out, and should be struck from the tools of the law enforcement profession.
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        • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 5 years, 9 months ago
          I always thought they were not quite human...vial creatures they are.
          kamila harris is one such creature...do the dems really want a vampire for pres...she'd eat them too!
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  • Posted by $ blarman 5 years, 9 months ago
    If part of what makes us as humans separate and distinct is our capacity to reason, I would argue that the most dangerous part of ideologies such as Marxism, Progressivism, et al, is their denigration of actual thought and reason. They enslave their followers into intentionally not thinking in the first place and thereby create a chattel race of servants bent to their whim. In a deeply ironic note, it is those who are constantly bleating about slavery who are most likely to be in actuality slave masters while those who seek freedom seek it for all.
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  • Posted by term2 5 years, 9 months ago
    Today, one must hide in plain sight to survive. Voting anonymously is about the only thing that one can do now without facing consequences. Even wearing a MAGA hat without even opening your mouth can have serious physical consequences.
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  • Posted by mminnick 5 years, 9 months ago
    Carl, Even in a leftist based society hard work and diligence payouff. It would not be easy to climb the ladder of success in that world. Most likely much harder than in a capitalist society. Everybody trained and dedicated to the obtaining of power and truly Machiavellian in temperament.
    It would not bother such individuals to hold other peoples familys in jepordy for the actions of the person you want to convict or supplant. As they say "Alls fair in love and war". A true leftist view of the world.
    And yes I know extreme rightists are the same. It appears that the extreme favor the more/most extreme measures to get what they want.
    +1
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    • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 5 years, 9 months ago
      I don't think I have Ever witnessed and extreme rightist...in my mind, that would mean, No Government at all...in other words, applied with Entropy: full left would be Max resistance and max right would be no resistance at all...one ceases up and stops and the other flies apart.
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 5 years, 9 months ago
    "As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote, totalitarian regimes force ordinary people “to participate in lies,” and Orwell shows just where that leads: the corruption of the human soul and eventual death."
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    • Posted by exceller 5 years, 9 months ago
      I was about to quote this sentence then I saw your post.

      I read Solzhenitsyn's book a long time ago. It is one of the classics portraying the Soviet totalitarian regime (although they all use the same methods).
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      • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 5 years, 9 months ago
        I was going to quote something in the very last paragraph but I disagree with the notion that there is no such thing as goodness in it's pure form...Yes there is, but it is a very rare thing...not because man's nature is bad, but perhaps because of the culture..it is just not popular to be that good.
        But it is not only culture that distracts us, not just the temptations of the brain but everything around us, the cycles of nature, the sun, the cosmos and our environment...there is a host of things that change us every day, in ways we might not imagine...for one not to be unknowingly influenced, one must have a strong sense of self, knowing the voice of self and a solid connection to one's mind...we just haven't evolved to that point quite yet.

        I do believe we can though...
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        • Posted by $ Abaco 5 years, 9 months ago
          When I became a parent and watched my children, and other children, enter this world I realized something. Children start out pure. We, for the lack of a better term, fuck them up. I now raise my kids to combat the pressures put on them from our society. It's an uphill battle. My kids still have good hearts. We aren't born sinners, as I was taught growing up in church. Quite the opposite. In my family, we've broken the chains, even though my wife was raised Catholic (some here will get the humor in that). Kid's SHOULD be raised with the idea that they've done nothing wrong, that they don't owe anybody anything. Many non-parents would be amazed at how tough that is these days.

          I think Ayn Rand was absent in this type of discussion because she didn't have kids. But, the principles really apply, still.
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        • Posted by exceller 5 years, 9 months ago
          I agree.

          What is your first reaction when you encounter goodness in its pure form? "Why is s/he doing it?" - is the first then you dismiss it as an accident. It can't be true.

          We are so used to evil and unfairness in our daily life that feel uncomfortable when seeing good.

          Why do you think it is not popular being good?

          Take countries, like Hungary, where the PM is determined to keep the country's Christian heritage alive and fights daily with Brussels to prevent it from being overrun by Muslim migrants. He is dubbed as a Nazi and a "populist". Being a populist is evil, according to the left. From Hussein through Clinton and the entire socialist left, populist is bad. Why? Because it puts the country and her people first. According to today's "standards" that is bad and must be killed by all means.

          That is why we feel uncomfortable when being around anything good. It is populist.
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