- 2,119 repliesmarye
Joined:Since the existing threads along this line are more archival than current, here's a new one for discussing events in the outside world. In a civil and respectful manner please. There's a lot going on out there. Stay safe, look out for each other
- CCRider3659
Joined:MenticideLike you I had never heard this term until today-thank you. I instinctively avoided any and all social media including X. As my career progressed and I started collaborating with quite high level computer scientists I noticed that the vast majority did not use social media because they understood exactly how it works. Much of my family embraced it despite my caution and down the rabbit hole they went-mostly MAGA. Pure menticide J6 is a perfect example-it was simple tourism and the capitol police let them in.
- Oroboros
Joined:MenticideI was not familiar with this term when I came across it today. As I read more, I now see how horribly pervasive this is in our culture, subculture, and in numerous personal practices. I was surprised I had not run across the term menticide in my exploration of the psychological damage from cults eg. MAGA, and similar related topics like brainwashing, deprogramming, examination of those committed to conspiracy 'rabbit holes', numerous studies on different features/aspects of personal bias, the erosion of critical thinking skills, etc.)
So I performed a search on this topic on my computer so I will share select quotes from several Menticide article sources. I did sense a theme in all of them, which certainly comports with some my own observations and experiences.
The term menticide was coined by Joost Meerloo in The Rape of the Mind, a seminal work on mind control written 70 years ago. Meerloo, who studied Nazi interrogations and later Korean War brainwashing cases, described menticide as the systematic killing of independent, rational thought. It does not always require a prison cell or physical beatings, though despotic regimes certainly deploy such tactics.
The mechanism at work is not merely skepticism. It is a dark process of psychological breakdown and reprogramming called menticide - the killing of the mind.
In a free society, menticide operates by confusing the target audience, degrading anyone who questions that confusion, demanding the rejection of contrary evidence along with the cultivation of perpetual doubt. The goal is to render the victim complicit in the surrender of their rational mind.
On platforms like X, this process unfolds through prominent voices that seize on peripheral details and spin them into sweeping alternative theories. Social media has blown all this into another dimension. Online 'investigators' and certain podcasters function as the new commissars of doubt. The result is confirmation bias. New information cannot be processed on its merits, it must go through the filter of a predetermined narrative. This is classic menticidal technique - keep the subject constantly confused in the early stages, then make them complicit in their own psychological degradation.
Menticide and Its Role in Social Media
Menticide is a term used to describe the systematic, intentional undermining of a person’s or group’s mental independence, often through psychological manipulation that erodes autonomy, critical thinking, and consent
While related to “brainwashing,” menticide is framed as a deliberate, large-scale act — not just individual persuasion — often carried out by corporate or state-aligned media systems.
How Social Media Enables Menticide
Social media platforms have become a primary vector for menticide due to their design and governance:
Algorithmic manipulation: Platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube use AI-driven algorithms to deliver content that reinforces existing beliefs, creating echo chambers and filter bubbles This limits exposure to diverse perspectives and deepens cognitive rigidity.
Sensationalism and outrage culture: Short-form, emotionally charged content (e.g., “rage bait”) is optimized for engagement, encouraging compulsive scrolling and reducing capacity for nuanced thought mediarevolution.org.AI narrative farms and synthetic media: Organized groups run multiple AI accounts to seed, steer, and swamp-like comment sections with coordinated messages, often to manufacture consensus or chaos
Echo chambers and polarization: Social media amplifies divisive narratives, framing “us vs. them” rhetoric that bypasses logic and fosters tribalism.
Censorship and suppression: Platforms may suppress contrarian views or flag dissenting content, reinforcing conformity to dominant narratives
Influencer and cultural manipulation: Celebrities and influencers set norms for beauty, success, and morality, while “cancel culture” instills fear of ostracization, leading to self-censorship
Examples in Modern Context
Propaganda and disinformation: Governments and corporations use coordinated messaging to control narratives, suppress dissent, or manipulate public opinion thrivewithmartin.com+1.Psychological warfare: In extreme cases, extremist groups or authoritarian regimes use isolation, emotional manipulation, and repetition to condition followers
Global scale: Oxford Internet Institute research found organized social media manipulation in 81 countries, with professionalized “cyber troops” running AI accounts to influence public discourse
Why it matters:
Menticide in social media is not accidental — it is by design in many cases. It can lead to:
Reduced critical thinking and problem-solving ability
Increased polarization and distrust
Erosion of personal autonomy and free expression
Manipulation of public opinion for political, commercial, or ideological gainIn short: Social media’s algorithmic, emotional, and networked nature makes it a powerful tool for menticide, enabling large-scale, covert manipulation of thought and belief at an industrial scale
Let me close with a quote from a practitioner/victim of menticide, when I questioned that person's sourcing, their unwillingness to examine the topic critically, or any effort to assist this person to identify (not even challenge) their confirmation bias. The person looked me dead in the eyes and said, "They said you would say that.""It ain't what I don't know that gets me into trouble, it's what I know for sure, that ain't so."
- Mark Twain - strat-wolf-bean
Joined:(Almost) Completely Concur, BlueCrowThat cadre made sure the knife stayed in and was twisted around in America's back following their callow U-turn/s ...
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One minor point of difference though - I don't believe it was the majority of the American populace who thought Jan. 6 was OK, and were who changed those guys' minds > It was the majority of the "Republican Party" that believed the J6 white-washing effort. And specifically, it was the most radical end of that (formerly not good but nearly so bad as at present) party who were the ones who would be showing up in primary, and general, elections.
.
At the time that (as an estimate) equated +/- to 80% of the 45% who termed themselves Republicans >> meaning about 36% of the country. The other 20% percent of them who didn't go along with the election denial BS were promptly run out of town. Independents have since dropped off of that bandwagon at a 2 to 1 margin and renounced Trump (mainly due to the economy and tariffs). But unfortunately that group remained swayed just long enough - as you said, due in large part to the machinations of the likes of McConnell and Graham - to vote him into office again in 2024.
.
Damn! I can't wait to be rid of the rest of these jokers / looters / evil, greedy & incompetent idiots !! - Crow Told Me
Joined:I'll never forgive those guysLynsey and Mitch, that is, for their U-turn after Jan 6. Having had to run for their lives from a MAGA-crazed mob, they rightly condemned Trump and his white supremacist thugs in the days that followed. Then when the poll numbers started showing that a majority of Republicans still bought into the lies about a stolen election and thought the Jan 6 rioters (who, let's remembered, murdered a capital police officer, beating him to death with a fire extinguisher) were heroes and patriots.
What should have happened in the days that followed Jan 6 is that Trump should've been impeached and convicted and banned from holding any government office. That could've happened if Mitch and Lynsey had shown some backbone.
But it didn't, and here we are. - simonrob
Joined:Dropping like fliesThe old guard are shuffling off at a reassuring rate. Lindsey Graham has gone, Mitch McConnell may have gone or may simply have been miraculously transformed into a zombie. Who else is really, really old and unlikely to be viable for much longer? Obviously the orange turd is high up on this list and is likely in pole position.

Lower prescription costs for people on Medicare or medicade?....
....gone. With a stroke of a sharpie.
His base aren't exactly poster children of health, so....
Another edit. Sorry. Meta on Facebook automatically makes you like/follow trump and vance and blocked #democrat and #dnc on Instagram.
Things are moving fast.
2 + 2 = 5
Treason is Patriotic
Ignorance is Wisdom
Neglect is Nurturing
Betrayal is Loyalty
Sickness is Health
Science is Witchcraft
America the WTF
🥹
But my groceries are too expensive: (
Sigh
Here we are, the day many thought would never come.
A convicted felon as president of the good ole US of A.
It is utterly heartbreaking and just plain wrong.
But, this now being like a decade of this nonsense, I've come to realize that my outrage and discontent mean absolutely nothing.
Nothing.
It just doesn't matter when we are up against such a ridiculously large swath of the American electorate that wants to praise and honor immorality and being as awful a human being as possible, simply "because we can."
The fact that this is the direction of the needle of the American mindset compass is repugnant to the highest degree. And the fact that so many appear to embrace this and want it to go further and further is probably one of the most off-putting characteristics of being an American living on this soil I can think of.
I will never, and I mean NEVER, EVER prescribe to this nor associate myself with it and I will endeavor to teach my children the exact opposite of whatever is happening now and will continue to happen until this scourge has relieved itself in our time.
Four years is a long time, but this too, shall pass.
Strength is in Goodness and honesty, and just being a good human.
Group Hug for those That Need it.
Or leave it, if you dare.
Please Be Well, People.
Sixtus
Hoping...
...it will only take two years of this crap before the independents see this won't work and we take back the house and senate making the king a lame duck, which he is already technically. Some of his edicts cannot possibly come to fruition as it would take 37 states to ratify a change to the constitution. And he is already pissing off his own party who can't agree on anything even now. Hope works for me.
Cheers
Pardons
How about those preemptive pardons that Biden issued to several of his family members - we don't even know what the crime is that he is pardoning them for, but whatever they did, they get a pass at the federal level. Good thing that they won't be subject to the same kind of lawfare unleased on Trump and his family and associates over the last few years. Pretty groundbreaking stuff, preemptive pardons are not the norm, and everyone's heads exploded at the very possibility that Trump would have issued preemptive pardons in 2020, but he didn't. But Biden did, even after all of the media proclaimed him a hero for respecting the system so much that he wasn't going to pardon his own son Hunter after he was convicted. Of course, he did pardon Hunter, so it seems all the credit for Biden's deep respect of the system and judicious use of pardons was a little off the mark. And January 6 was a riot, not an insurrection, the only person killed was a woman who was a Trump supporter who was shot by capitol police, but it was treated quite a bit different than the riots that took over a number of cities in 2020 and caused a number of deaths and a record setting amount of property destruction and damage and yet virtually none of the rioters were tracked down and charged with anything. Looked like an unequal application of the law to me.
It's a self admitted "revenge tour"....
....i would have probably done the same thing. Donny's pissed.
60 years
15 Trips around the moon
15 suggestions
11/11/67
2/15/69
9/19/70
11/19/72
2/9/73
5/18/77
12/1/79
9/26/80
12/28/80
9/26/81
10/15/81
3/24/86
10/20/89
9/26/91
3/24/93
Pardons
Pointing out earlier presidents errors doesn't make Trump's any more palatable. Biden looked like a man who should have retired years ago, to me. Had he done so, maybe this current tragedy would never have happened.
Before yesterday, you used to be able to....
....view the Constitution on white house dot gov.
Key words. Used to.
Breaking News!!....
....before Monday, you also used to be able to read the White House website in Spanish.
Guess what!!
Pardons & Jan 6
Whoever Biden pardoned was on Trump's list of folks Trump was planning on going after.
Plain and simple, January 6 was an attempt at insurrection, what were they doing there, breaking down doors shouting hang Mike Pence? They were trying to overturn the election, prompted by Trump who still keeps whining about a steal that never happened. It's regrettable that people had to die that day, but it's all on Trump and his Proud Boys, Oath Keepers
and assorted fascist supporters.
Your groceries may get more expensive, as migrants are deported; who do you think pick up your produce?
Another note, his inaugural speech was by far the worst I've seen, all hate, lies and vitriol; kinda' like his presidential portrait, which really reflects his personality.
Tariffs.
Import tariffs are paid by American importers, not foreign exporters. The importers will then pass the costs on to the American consumers. It will also fuel inflation. A lose-lose situation. Does America import groceries?
aanndd
you put the costs put the costs right on me
Nice Band Referene
RIP Garth.. Take a load off.
What next
Hopefully a culture of dissent will emerge. A modern equivalent of "Turn on, Tune In etc" wouldn't go amiss.
What Next
I would say something more akin to the spirit of 1968 is required
Every new report on the B.B.C. paints a bleaker picture
But whatever happens, doing nothing is not an option
"Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. "
Next....?
What's next is a great question!
Sadly, there seems to be no one, and I mean NO ONE from the opposing side who is able/willing/inspiring enough/universally likeable enough to create a firm opposition to what has happened here. I mean, this has now been going on since 2015 - almost an entire decade (!) - and we appear to be completely incapable of offering up any kind of alternative who is able to unify people with true charisma and likability on all sides.
Politics in the US of A has completely eroded and diminished to one side just wanting to stick it to the other side, while the other side tries to establish some kind of moral high ground that just isn't sticking at this point. There are too many people invested in the mindset of "hey' let's just be dicks to everyone because we CAN, and because we're totally emulating our Our Dear leader, who also is a complete dickhead to anyone and everyone".
How do you overcome that? Its like the US of A is overrun with assholes who just want to burn it all down because they are so brainwashed by their party leader that this type of behavior now seems more of the norm than not.
My biggest takeaway and disappointment with this entire situation is exactly what I just described: the allowance of Americans to just be assholes to everyone, wherein true, honest decency truly no longer exists.
I mean, those qualities are real, innate, human qualities, that should come naturally to any human.
The fact that now, so many USA humans have completely shed these qualities in favor of being a total dickhead is what really makes it hurt.
Before all of this BS, I used to always give strangers the benefit of the doubt, until they proved to me otherwise that they don't deserve it. Since this BS took over, my entire world view has shifted and I no longer offer that benefit of doubt out of my own kindness because I've been shown that it does no good, and it certainly wont be returned in favor. It's really, really sad.
The world thinks we are all a bunch of assholes now. I hate hate HATE being lumped into that classification but I do feel there is so little I can do about it at this point.
I just want the snake to eat its tail.
Where is Ouroboros!?!?!?
Be Well People!
Sixtus
Preach, Brother Sixtus
Preach
The sharpie from hell....
....remember the 1965 Equal Employment Opportunity Act? Well. Better take a picture, it will last longer.
Preaching to the choir...
Thanks to Bishop Mariann Budde who spoke truth to power yesterday, too bad the con man convict didn't like it, he just rebuilt his militia while undermining the entire effort of the DoJ. Keep pestering your representatives to call out shameful destruction of rights and constitution. Remember the playbook is to intimidate and threaten people into submission, withdrawing from critical participation.
🤡
Wavy Gravy for President.
For such a Christian....
....saying that a bishop was a nasty woman doesn't track right. Maybe it's just me.
Thinnest. Skin. Ever. Alpha male my ass.
Trump and Christianity
The way he talks and acts suggests he hasn't the faintest idea what it means. The Bible in his hands is just a prop.
Three things
-How long will it take for the uninformed and/or lazy who got duped by dumpy to realize they been had?
-How will they feel about that, and what will they do then! (though so many folks are so stubborn now they’d rather get screwed than admit an error)
-And will it be too late by then?
It’ll be interesting to watch it all unfold, if we don’t end up dead or worse.
I truly hope I’m wrong, but…
Sure there’ll always be a certain percentage of radical loyalist, but what about the possible majority of republicans, more of the trad ones, Rhinos etc, who held their noses while they voted, only because their long time republicans and/or because their wasn’t any real good choice?( ahem, just one way more dangerous than the other)
Wonder if any of them have had the lighbulb go off yet? If not, how far will things have to get, and will it be too late? And all these kids who say, “just let it all blow up”, yeah then what, remember how fun it was trying to get anything during the pandemic? Multiply logarithmically. Have you seen what life is currently like in Gaza, just wait! And you think shits expensive now…you ain’t seen nothing yet! In fact, recent studies have shown eggs cost more now, groceries?…much more of our food is imported than many realize…so that’s gonna cost way more with tariffs too.
It’s like get rid of the goalie, get rid of the goalie (or quaterback)! he sucks. Well, yeah he does so you get rid of him, but then what, there’s a reason it’s not so easy to just get a better new one. Meaning, you need some kind of plan.
Just blowing everything up is not the answer.
So I’m trying to be optimistic that we’re all just being paranoid and that things will get better, but after over six decades of legalized government stealing and all around fuckery, not feeling it. Hey, I may be dumb but I’m not stoopid.
I don’t dislike or hate these folks who just (for whatever reason) thought they were doing the right thing. We’re all supposed to be on the same team!
Much of my family is like that, don’t like him, what’s going on, but just HAD to vote republican. Many of my former coworkers the same. If you put politics back where it belongs and was BITD, instead of the mandatory politicizing of everything (by design of the evil power elite) I think people would find we all still have more in common, than not.
But unfortunately that’s gone, just like they wanted it, and now we’re all divided, instead of united, which was our only power against all this. There’s almost 330 million Americans, which makes the top half of one percent about 16 million or so. Sounds like a lot but not compared to the other 314,000,000!
But when they divide and concur (the true meaning not the twisted version they use) we the people become we the chumps! United we stand, divided we fall…” I say forgive them lord they know not what they done”
I’ve never been so full of fear and loathing in my life….
Golden years?…golden years my ass.
Guy. I can't keep up....
....things are looking bleaker by the hour. Got some days off the rest of the week. Thinking about a long hike. Fear and loathing indeed Oro.
Yay. Weed!
And again
In trying to defend his decision to issue pardons to the rioters, Trump again stated that they were acting in response to the idea that the election concerned had been rigged.
In talking about the Los Angeles fire he announced that some of the rich and powerful had been badly affected. As though they are of more value than other people. In his world...they are.
American music has sustained me all my life. To me, it was the greatest of the 20th century. Thinking also of the films and books that were created in that timespan. Trump and his values have nothing to do with any of that. In trying to promote America as "great" he seems oblivious as to what might have made it so.
“Get Up, Stand up…
Don’t give up the fight”
Like DMCVT said…
Don’t give up!
They want everyone to quit, or not care, or be too scared, just like Germany!
We need to stop whining and bitching and start doing something, like pester the living hell outta not only your representatives, but any that still seem to posses any sense of decency, if they have an important issue ongoing or up for vote.
And lead by example, even if your the outcast.
Try to respectfully inform those who aren’t closed minded but are uninformed etc, and for god sake VOTE! Lot of folks didn’t this time for lame reasons…
And/or put your head between your legs and kiss your sweet ass goodbye…
“Goodnight Irene, Goodnight Irene, I’ll see you in my dreams”
I heard some song lyrics recently
"everyone's down for the struggle
until it begins"
It has begun.
I will do my part
The walking fecal remnant apparently has threatened to withhold aid to LA fires/California unless they "change their water policy."
What a scumbag.
I found a cool hike to some hot springs by Lake Mead....
....loading up the fam and dogs. 60 degrees outside. Perfect. Chin will be up.
Alltrails is a neat app.
But, before we go, some tunnel light. A Reagan appointed Federal judge in Seattle blocked the assholes order regarding birthright citizenship, calling it "blatantly unconstitutional." Heres to more judges like that. 🍻
Way to go PF! Your judge rules.
Nevada also ruled against it.
First
I am the one and only non believer in my family. He spent his first term dividing families and naturally he is now moving onto dividing religions. Having lived now in NYC for well over 30 yrs I am so sick and tired of this clown. When you are ok with driving wedges between family members I think you are unfit to be classified as a human being.
Preach on, Brother JJC
Y'all be cool
Dave's Picks
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I don't think anyone would have any trouble with that commencing. It's after it starts that the trouble begins with that one.
Division
JCC - division can be destructive internationally and personally as well. If countries and their people are regarded as of lesser importance than the one we happen to be living in then we are potentially in big trouble.
As Samuel Johnson wrote; "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."
If we become divided within ourselves then we could go on to suffer mental health problems. Which does not mean that we cannot live with contradictions.
the point
Cruelty is the point. The whole of his appointees lack empathy and compassion and have one goal-- continuing the movement of the monies to the top 1%. He divides us because that is what his base of voters want-- he hates the same people they do and he vocalizes their hatred. Gay people, black/brown people, liberals, non-religious, people who live in big cities. This is why they voted for him, not because of the price of eggs/inflation.
I have been saying for years that the FOX and right wing radio media environment created the opportunity for a guy like Trump to come in and take power. After years of complaining about the mainstream media being liberal, the mainstream media fell for the ruse and with goal of unbiased journalism, they started platforming and mainstreaming the far-right voices. Instead of calling a fact a fact, we got two competing visions of facts.
What the media and non-MAGA people need to do is keep their eye on the ball. Every day he will say and/or Lie Social something outrageous. But the media needs to keep its focus on what they are doing that is hurting Americans and the world. We all know that everything he says is a lie, so stop focusing on that and point out the cruelty, broken promises and how his ideas are F-ing up the world.
Wait, what?
Now he wants to get rid of FEMA.
We can't spend money on people in need.
That's not what government is for.
Good luck folks
The non religious
Trump hates the non religious not realising he is among their number. The people who try to gain the most traction from their faith rarely have any.
So-called Christians
Those who call themselves Christian and support you-know-who: you-know-who is about as un-Christian as you can be.
Read the Gospels and then compare that narrative to you-know-who....polar opposite messages.
just read another headline about the POS POTUS
Ending Dr. Fuaci's security detail and feeling no responsibility if any harm befalls said Dr. Fauci.
Evil. Pure evil.
Devolution
Its A Thing.
It really feels like that's what's happening here.
The triumph of being a solid and caring human is being lost on some unknown exact swath of minds, but the truth is that the Not Caring and enveloping the world in cruelty sure feels like a throwback.
To somewhere, some time when cruelty was how people survived.
Thing is, we've learned as humanity to survive WITHOUT cruelty and hatred, and I like to believe we've learned that much more good and positivity and advancement is possible than if it were the reverse.
The times we live in are the times that have been, as one may say.
Going backwards.
This place is not going to resemble what it once was, and it's really reaally sad.
Be Well People,
Sixtus
ICE arrived at a Chicago elementary school....
....and were not allowed in. Imagine a response like that if there was a school shooting.
Take note that so far, the raids are all in blue states. Figures. Welcome to the Divided States of America.
Are we great yet assholes?
Taking a break from nausea...
We can see what's going down and yes, no one is safe. But we have to maintain sanity and music is my go-to.
So I'm just interjecting here to see if anyone has a thought on the 2025 box. Said to be "commensurate" with the occasion, which is the 60th of the original five this December, IIRC.
The term "commensurate" kinda bothers me. The 50th brought an 80-CD box that was, as a unit, ridiculously expensive. I was interested in 66-75, so I shared the cost with someone just to get copies of those years. Back to reality, right now, I'm cutting costs because we have no idea what's going to happen to the economy and our own finances. (Think: linking crypto to our financial system so billionaires can bet big, and we pick up the tab.)
So it would seem absurd to put out a box for north of $250 and I hope they don't. We don't need another $400+ box. Just keep it $200 and under and make it a box about the band's founding and early years. Please.
Otherwise, my greetings to all. I think the fascists at Project 2025 gave the sociopath a big box of stupid **** to say and do up front to freak us all out. Think: disgust and dismay. It's working, if we let it. And we should be freaked. But not frightened. The Harder They Come, the Harder They Fall. One and all...
HF
Mexico refused a plane landing....
....and THAT is how camps begin. So stupid.
References to Tuskegee Airmen
and WASPs
Scrubbed from air force training.
Memory holes.
As Vguy sez, if you know, you know
Raid on schools and churches
to round up CHILDREN.
DESPICIBLE.
It doesn't just lean toward fascism; it IS fascism.
No exaggeration to see parallels to Nazi Germany.
Proudfoot
his father was very much ensconced in the Yorkville neighborhood here in manhattan which at the time was populated by the German American bund. Chip off the old block.
The trump administration....
.....effectively ended all aid to Ukraine.
Putin won.
Sucks that the title on dead net posts capitalizes all words. It's trump.
It's trump
Rump more like. And that's being polite.
Silenced the CDC
No communication between CDC and WHO
really....WTF
truly unbelievable.
America....you really fucked up.
Beyond all comprehension.