The Uptight Citizens Brigade

Talking with a friend of mine who believes he is a statistician's magician, I learned about new ways to measure demographic changes.  My friend took unemployment data from a select number of countries, computed trends of the types of people getting fired or laid off, compared that to the types of people getting hired, plotted estimates out 1, 2, 5, 10 and 25 years from now and showed me the results.

Wow!

Let me say that again.  Wow!

I'm all about comic timing but these charts...wooie!  Makes me want to take a walk up Mt. Everest without an iPod and GPS device.

Makes no sense?  Exactly.  The demographic changes in those charts were a willy-nilly, moxnix, Rauschenberg collage.  Age.  Weight.  Shoe size.  Eye colour.  Religious preference.  Political affiliation.  Think of a way to classify yourself or your body parts and you could probably find yourself in the plotted data points and extrapolation lines like a person who believes that biorhythms determine which latte and scone to buy every morning.

Instead of demographic comparisons, I looked at the data points in relation to numbers of persons employed/unemployed and then pulled out some old statistics books that compared political upheavals - revolutions, civilisation collapses, that sort of thing - to the general state of the population in situ and rival populations wanting to take over prime territory/treasures.

Just the sort of thing that all the so-called brain trusts are supposed to be doing, providing expensive consulting services to kings, queens, presidents, and triumvirates.

What did I discover?  Well, you historical hysteria buffs already know the answer.  Citizen unrest and effective political change are correlated to direct control of military forces and propaganda machines.  The actual demographic composition is a neutral effect because propagandists always use opposing demographic differences to sway public opinion - it doesn't matter what the demographics show as long as those who want to cause change can make up some cockamamie story why the differences matter.  The greater the stress, duress and [perceived] economic slump, the easier it is to convince one demographic group or set of groups to set up opposing camps and start making each other out to be enemies.  Successful propagandists create new, imaginary demographic differences in order to attract the largest number of followers.  Obvious to most of you yet you still let yourself be swayed by these simple political tactics.

Which takes me to my next observation.  A follower of mine, who wants to gain access to my information channels, asked me what she should do to get "connected."  She assumed there was some horrifying, debilitating, demeaning, hazing-type ritual that she had to submit her body to join the "club."

When someone asks you a question like that, do you realize the power you could create, using sadistic methods for controlling others?  Or, like me, do you smile and remember the moment you decided you wanted to be part of the "it" crowd that's not part of any "it" crowd because you're really a solo operative in a network of solo operatives?  That's your decision to make, of course.  I know plenty of solo operatives who pretend to control large organisations which require years of gruesome tasks and assignments before novices can graduate up to apprentice status and then decades later become professionals.

I'm not a sadist.  I don't have a control freak mentality.  I prefer the loose network of trust that those who work with me have established instantly.  You're either in or you're out.  You don't have to erase your personality in order to take on a set of bogus beliefs.  You can believe whatever you want to believe.  If you're a masochist, then we'll help you hook up with sadists, if that's your thing, but it has no bearing on your "membership."

So, to answer the follower's inquiry, I don't want followers.  I don't want leaders.  I want associates who pass along information at appropriate moments but may have to take a positive or negative stance against one another in public situations.  If you want to be in, you're in.  That's all there is to it.  Wear your same old clothes and keep your same old friends.  I don't care.  It's information we're after, not ideology.

For years, my associates and I have used a wide variety of communications methods.  Messages inserted in mass mailings.  Patterns carefully carved in the dust on the side of motor vehicles.  A particular set of foundation plantings next to one's house or business (a devil's backbone in Arizona may be the same as a lotus in India or palm tree in Ireland).  Teleprompters with incongruous text.  The progress of general technology use has added more methods such as popup ads on the Internet, email spam, silly kitten videos and other annoying ways of turning off the public while we invisibly keep in touch with each other.  You look at the funk, we look at the noise.  You see people trying to rip you off, we see advantages to slip in and pass data back and forth.

So go ahead and get yourself branded or tattooed or dunked in ice water or whatever makes you feel important in other organisations.  We don't care.  But keep in mind that once you join us, you're always in.  There's no getting out.  There's no pay, no retirement, no official/unofficial recognition.  You're still as incognito or famous as you ever were.

One small detail before I zip up my lip on this subject.  We're a bunch of practical jokers who like to pull pranks while we're doing whatever it is we do (you don't get to find out our real motivations until after you join).  At the same time, if you join and are found to be intentionally passing false or misleading information for your personal gain or the gain of someone not associated with us...  What can I say here that I haven't hinted at in previous blog entries?  We're not thugs - you won't find yourself wearing cement shoes at the bottom of the ocean or end up in an "accident."  No, we're much more subtle in our methods of keeping each other in line.  Hmm...well...let's, you and I, make sure we're always on the up-and-up with one another.  Pranksters are punny, when they want to be, and more cruel than I ever thought possible.  I'm an easygoing, funny guy who likes sunny days and quiet walks in the woods.  Some of us are not.  The only thing that matters is what we're working toward.

I've said enough for now.  You have to make the decision to join on your own, without anyone to tell it to.  Some of you will require training to better understand your body's capabilities but the training has no instruction manual or obvious teacher.  You'll learn about all that after you join.  It's a weighty decision, not to be taken lightly.  Those who thought they could join and quit whenever they wanted have fallen by the wayside.  Think about it.  Look around you, observing people, places, things and ideas (e.g., is Apolo Anton Ohno wearing a bandana or showing his gang affiliation?).  Do you see what you think you see or do you know that your trained perception is the haphazard result of those who have no collective purpose or understanding of how the universe works?

More later.  I need to move on to something else.  I have a bad habit of running my mouth too much.