Corbett Report: Andrew Demeter Gives the Teen Take on the News

(Originally posted on August 3rd, 2015 at The Corbett Report's Youtube channel.)

Quote: Today James talks to Andrew Demeter of the Teen Take YouTube channel about his work as a teenager in the alt media. They discuss how and why Andrew came to start his channel, whether his youth is an advantage or a disadvantage in his work, and how persistence and perspiration are the key elements to success in media production.

Comment: Corbett makes a point that it is wise for people in his position--a successful alt-media one-man operation--to use that position to seek, locate, and elevate other quality operators in order to bring them to the attention that their value deserves. Good on him to do that.

Gnostic Media Podcast #232: Dr. Hans Utter - “Music, Mind Control, and Psychobiology, Pt. 1”

Quote: Episode 232 is an interview with Dr. Hans Utter, titled: “Music, Mind Control, and Psychobiology”. This episode is being released Sunday, June 21, 2015, and was recorded June 17.

Dr. Hans Utter returns for his 2nd time.

Hans Utter is an exponent of the prominent Imdad Khan gharana, an unbroken line of seven generations which has made significant contributions to the development of classical Indian music. As a disciple of Ustad Shujaat Khan, son of the illustrious sitarist Ustad Vilayat Khan, Hans has trained intensively in India for nearly two decades. Hans’ unique musical background combines professional experience in diverse styles including jazz, Western classical, electro-acoustic music, and composition. He performs regularly in the United States, India, and Europe, and is the recipient of sixteen national and international awards and grants, and has worked with artists such as Dizzy Gillespie, John Abercrombie, Ustad Shujaat Khan, Ustad Hidayat Khan, Steve Gorn and Chuck D.

He holds a Doctorate degree in Ethnomusicology from The Ohio State University. He has taught at the Ohio State University, Capital University and the Indira Ghandi National Open University. He is the author of Trance, Ritual and Rhythm (2010), and has three books currently in press.

He lectures frequently around the world on various topics including Sufism, Indian music and Music & culture of Central Asia. Hans has been imparting music lessons (both in person and online), master class/workshop/lecturer demonstrations in North Indian classical sitar & guitar, and Western jazz & blues in guitar around the world.

Currently, he works as a professional musician, composer and producer. He is a Teaching Artist/Artist in Residence, Ohio Arts Council, USA and Research fellow for the Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing (AIRS) project, University of Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Note: Citations and links to relevant past episodes are found at either the linked YouTube video entry or at the Gnostic Media site.

Gnostic Media Podcast #230: Nonviolent Communication, Pt. 2 “From the Fabians, thru MKULTRA, to Today.” w/ Bill Joslin

Quote: "Episode 230 is an interview with Bill Joslin, his seventh appearance, titled: “Nonviolent Communication, Pt. 2 “From the Fabians, thru MKULTRA, to Today.”. This episode is being released Saturday, May 29, 2015, and was recorded May 18.

Bill Joslin at an early age developed a fascination with mind and awareness. Subsequently he spent 16 years studying Bonpo, Nyingma Buddhist and Taoist practices. He spent a year in Asia interviewing Buddhist monks in Laos, Cambodia, Nepal; Taoist practitioners in Indonesia, and Bonpo priests in Northwest Nepal, comparing practices as taught in the west with the original monasteries and traditions from which the teachings originated. Nine years ago, Bill was asked by a number of people to counsel them with mediation practices they were having difficulty with and not finding aid from their current teachers. From a sense of responsibility Bill then went through a process of questioning every aspect of meditative knowledge he had gained over those years, essentially applying critical thinking to spiritual practices. In short order the illusion of meditation, spiritual teachers, and philosophical frameworks dissolved and a concise, non-mystical view of mind, self and world emerged with simple clarity. Meditation and spiritual guru-ship is an ancient form of control, the residue of which we live with today.

Professional Protesters make their way into legitimate causes by providing organization and training to sincere people. Once installed into the cause they then high jack the activities - marginalize or radicalise the participants. NVC is a core subject in activist training."

Gnostic Media Podcast #229: Nonviolent Communication, Pt. 1 "Is NVC Consistent with the Trivium Method?" w/ Bill Joslin

Quote by Jan Irvin:

"Episode 229 is an interview with Bill Joslin, part #6, titled: Nonviolent Communication, Pt. 1 "Is NVC Consistent with the Trivium Method?”. This episode is being released Sunday, May 24, 2015, and was recorded May 18.

Bill Joslin at an early age developed a fascination with mind and awareness. Subsequently he spent 16 years studying Bonpo, Nyingma Buddhist and Taoist practices. He spent a year in Asia interviewing Buddhist monks in Laos, Cambodia, Nepal; Taoist practitioners in Indonesia, and Bonpo priests in Northwest Nepal, comparing practices as taught in the west with the original monasteries and traditions from which the teachings originated. Nine years ago, Bill was asked by a number of people to counsel them with mediation practices they were having difficulty with and not finding aid from their current teachers. From a sense of responsibility Bill then went through a process of questioning every aspect of meditative knowledge he had gained over those years, essentially applying critical thinking to spiritual practices. In short order the illusion of meditation, spiritual teachers, and philosophical frameworks dissolved and a concise, non-mystical view of mind, self and world emerged with simple clarity. Meditation and spiritual guru-ship is an ancient form of control, the residue of which we live with today."

The YouTube Page for this video has additional (relevant) information, such as how this applies to the infiltration of social and political groups and movements using techniques such as this Non-Violent Communication cultish crap, which includes further links that I encourage you to follow.

The Gnostic Media Podcast #212: 9/11 & Cyclical, Fear-Based Mind Control in the Media w/ Lenon Honor

Recorded on the 10th of this past week, I am embedding this interview because it does a great deal of good about explaining what is going on with the psychology behind the inside job that was 9/11 and how this technique for mind control (especially via opinion control) works in practice. Do watch, and sub to both Lenon and Jan's respective YouTube channels.

What is Mind Control? by Jan Irvin - Paranoia Conference, 2014

Gnostic Media: Kristov Atlas, pt2 : Anonymous Bitcoin, Cryptography and Online Safety - #204

Their Description:"This episode is part 2 about Bitcoin, cryptography and online security and safety and is called Anonymous Bitcoin, Cryptography and Online Safety: It's being released on Wednesday, July 2, 2014, and was recorded yesterday on Tuesday, July 1, 2014.

Kristov Atlas is a network security and privacy researcher who studies crypto-currencies. He is the author of Anonymous Bitcoin: How to Keep Your Ƀ All to Yourself, a practical guide to maximizing financial privacy with Bitcoin. Kristov is also a correspondent for the World Crypto Network, appearing regularly on the the weekly roundtable show "The Bitcoin Group", and host of "Dark News", a show about un-censorship technologies"

Gnostic Media #203: An Interview w/ Kristov Atlas on Anonymous Bitcoin, Cryptography and Online Safety

Gnostic Media #202: Interview w/ Bill Joslin, "Meditation: Deconstructing Nonsense"

Gnostic Media: Psychedelic Intelligence - The CIA and the Counterculture

Recorded for the Corbett Report as Interview #672 on June 2-3, 2013.

The Gnostic Media Podcast #198: Dave McGowan, "The CIA and the Music of Laurel Canyon - The Magic Carpet Ride"

Jan Irvin puts it thusly: "Today Dave McGowan rejoins the Gnostic Media podcast for part 2 to discuss "The CIA and the Music of Laurel Canyon -- The Magic Carpet Ride". This episode is being released on Tuesday, April 8, 2014, and was recorded April 3, 2014.
David McGowan was born and raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California, where he still resides. After graduating from UCLA in 1983 with an unused degree in psychology, he went to work in construction and now works as a general contractor. He is the proud father of three daughters and is a lifelong music fan."

The Gnostic Media Podcast #186: Dave McGowan, the CIA & the Magic of Laurel Canyon - Covert Ops & the Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream

Jan Irvin describes this episode thusly: "This episode is an interview with Dave McGowan, titled "The CIA and the "Magic" of Laurel Canyon -- Covert Ops & the Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream" and is being released on Sunday, December 01, 2013. This interview with Dave was recorded today.
David McGowan was born and raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California, where he still resides. After graduating from UCLA in 1983 with an unused degree in psychology, he went to work in construction and now works as a general contractor. He is the proud father of three daughters and is a lifelong music fan."

Still Report # 232 - NSA Technical Director Confirms Snowden

Gnostic Media - Will Pangman - "A Trivium Case Study: Bitcoin" - #196

Jan Irvin is back: "Will Pangman is a freelance business developer, marketer, and entrepreneur interested in building the human networks around new technology. Will is Founder and Organizer of Bitcoin Milwaukee, a 125+ volunteer community advocacy and education organization that promotes and facilitates bitcoin adoption among businesses, consumers, and nonprofits in Southeastern Wisconsin. As a member of the Bitcoin Foundation's Education Committee, Business Integration Specialist for BitPay, and Chief Communications Officer for Tapeke.com, Will excels at explaining the complexities of bitcoin to people of diverse backgrounds and affiliations in palatable and understandable terms."

Gnostic Media: Michael Dean & Derrick Slopey -- "NameCoin and Meowbit -- Fighting Internet Censorship" -- #195

As Jan put it: Today Michael Dean and Derrick Slopey join the Gnostic Media podcast to discuss "NameCoin and Meowbit -- Fighting Internet Censorship". This episode is being released on Wednesday, March 19, 2014, and was recorded yesterday.
Michael Dean: Michael is a tech writer, first adopter, documentary filmmaker, musician, and libertarian talk radio host on The Freedom Feens and Michael Dean After Dark. Many years ago he was in a band on Warner Brothers called Bomb. He lives in Wyoming and loves cats. Michael was on the team that released FreeSpeechMe, the first-ever user-friendly software for viewing Dot-Bit websites.
Derrick Slopey: Derrick runs Alienseed Software and developed the Silver Calculator App for Windows Phone."

Gnostic Media: An Interview with Thomas Hunt - "Mad Bitcoins" - #192

Jan Irvin's Gnostic Media podcast recorded the embedded video below on March 6th.

Here's what he uses to describe it: "What's with all the mainstream media hype lately over Bitcoin? What is Bitcoin? What is Mt. Gox? Is Mt. Gox the same as Bitcoin? Or is that equivalent to saying Enron, or Bernie Madoff, or Al Capone, is the dollar? Is Bitcoin really only used by drug smugglers and pornographers? Is it really a government conspiracy for a global digital currency? A Ponzi scheme? Is it really unbacked by anything? Is it something we should fear because it's not supported by the Government, which brought us the dollar that's lost most of its value through usury and inflation? (Note: This is the same government that bailed out the banks in 2008 - the failed banks. The same government that prints the money and then takes 1/3rd of it back each year.)

You've probably heard most, if not all, of these exaggerations.

What if, instead of believing and spreading propaganda and fear, we got informed on what Bitcoin really is? I've personally done over 6 months research in preparation for doing some shows on this topic.

Today Thomas Hunt joins us from Mad Bitcoins. Mad Bitcoins is a daily YouTube news show covering the exciting world of cryptocurrency. Watch and Subscribe at YouTube. Host Thomas Hunt also moderates a more serious weekly Bitcoin panel discussion entitled "The Bitcoin Group" available at TheBitcoinGroup.com and is hard at work on the new WorldCryptoNetwork.com."

Gnostic Media Podcast #189: Prof. Jay Fikes Interview - "MK-ULTRA Continued... The Carlos Castaneda Deception

In this latest episode, Jan Irvin interviews Professor Jay Fikes about their research and findings into the history of MK ULTRA and the many tendrils of shadowy influence and corruption that's gone on for generations before and since, with a focus on the New Age Movement and its links to the Intelligence Community.

Randy Mabe Interview - "Astrotheology: Fact or Fiction?" - #188

Jan Irvin brings us another (very long; you won't be watching TV for an evening) episode of the Gnostic Media podcast. (Jan's description of what's in this episode is immediately below.) For those wondering if Astrotheology is a thing, and if it's legit, make yourself comfortable because this one is for you.

Description: "Randy Mabe joins us for this episode, titled "Astrotheology: Fact or Fiction?". This episode is being released on Sunday, January 05, 2014, and was recorded December 27, 2013.

Randy Mabe has been a Real Estate Appraiser for over 20 years.
He has a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Real Estate. He also has 2 Associates Degrees one in Accounting and the other in Computer Science.
Recently, Randy has gone back to school and has taken the following classes:

Mythology

World Religions

The New Testament

Ancient Egypt

Astronomy

After watching Part 1 of the Movie Zeitgeist, Randy began an intense study of Religion and Astrotheology.

This study includes watching/listing to nearly 4 hours of documentaries every working day. Basically, by working out of the home and as he types real estate appraisals he listens to documentaries on YouTube.

One night while sitting in a hot tub, Randy noticed something in the stars, it was a cross. Shortly after that Randy made a connection between the quatrains of Nostradamus and Astrotheology.

So, after 4 years of taking college classes, reading books and watching documentaries Randy is here on Gnostic Media to present the following theory:

That Nostradamus did not predict Hitler, Napoleon or any future events. What Nostradamus is really trying to tell us is that the Astronomy of 2012 is the astronomy for the greatest story ever told, or the bible narratives."

Of course, I'm embedding the video for your benefit. Get your notepad and grab yourself a cup, because you want to give this your full attention.

Online Resources: Trivium Education

The people who founded and continue to run the Tragedy & Hope community have, over its brief history, spun off a lot of things into associated entities or resources for the benefit of Mankind. The Peace Revolution, Gnostic Media, School Sucks and Corbett Report podcasts are all tied into Tragedy & Hope in such a manner. There are others. One of these offshoots is a free resource known as Trivium Education.

This is a curated collection of found materials and podcast archives that address this long-established and proven method for transforming the mind of a child into a fully-actualized adult capable of critical thinking, and therefore of swiftly assimilating and mastering any knowledge that he pursues- and this does include the discovery of entirely new knowledge. The study materials alone are of great value; the curators went to some effort to find free online versions of the documents often referred to, and then (for those wanting to pay for copies) linked to other outlets (chiefly Amazon) for those capable and willing to put down some money on their improvement. As the capacity for critical analysis, skeptical inquiry and effective communication is a vital skillset for any serious endeavor, I'm linking to it today as something I recommend for you and yours in your own efforts towards freedom and autonomy in the most fundamental way: towards a free and independent mind, armed and armored against Empire and its forked, silvered and poisoned tongue.

However, the best resource offered is that many podcasts--audio and video versions where available--focused on the matter of the Trivium and Quadrivium are collected and readily available for a user's benefit. This makes up much of the site's content, which is a fantastic thing in itself; instead of hunting and searching through the contributing podcasts, websites, articles, etc. it's all there arranged by the curators to ensure that you can use it to your best benefit. The definitions, while seemingly obvious and even trite, are very likely to be the first time that you've ever seen them; even if you have some experience with some of the offered knowledge, you haven't seen it put into its proper historical and ontological context before. This is the nail that your inner kingdom, your true state of which you alone are sovereign, has long been in want of; take it, use it, and never again fear losing it.

How to Deal With a Non-Standard Claim of Knowledge

Good morning!

Today we're going to weave some threads together, as an example of how to arrive at a non-standard claim of knowledge and why these things are so damned difficult.

By now you should have finished Mark Passio's presentation, posted two days ago. If you haven't, go catch up now; you need to grok what he's talking about for this post to do you a damn bit of good. You also should have read my post about non-standard knowledge claims; back up and read that if you haven't. This post will be here when you're done.

The key problem with non-standard claims of knowledge is that the source for the claim is internal to the claimant, so the audience cannot readily seek out that source and verify independently that the claimant's statement is correct. That does not mean that the audience cannot investigate the claim, but rather that the claimant must understand what the nature of the process for his claim of knowledge actually is and how this process works before relying upon such things when making an argument. Using a recent example, I shall illustrate what's going on.

Why am I insisting upon your familiarity with Passio's presentation? Because the points that he makes in his presentation are going to be thrust before you in the video embedded below, and they're going to come at you hard and fast because the video is less than five minutes long from start to finish, so you need to pay close attention when you watch it- and you will watch it.

Now, the meat of this matter:

• Non-Linear Expressions of Ideas: The use of the Fine Arts, as extensions of the Liberal Arts, allows competent users to efficiently communicate very complex ideas with very little effort. We acknowledge this as true through the saying "A picture is worth a thousand words." Each medium of Fine Art has particular and unique qualities--strengths and weaknesses--that favor some forms of expression over others, such that the same subject matter can communicate significantly different complex ideas merely by changing the medium wherein that subject matter is used. When used in concert, the synergy between them is so powerful that ideas that otherwise take years to communicate by way of standard academic practices can be had in minutes. The mechanics for this phenomenon stems in the ability to think in non-linear ways, taking otherwise disconnected thoughts and thought patterns and weave them together into a cohesive and coherent whole. This is what "great art", of any kind, is meant--and intended--to do.
  
• Emotionally-Powered Cognition: The mechanics of non-linear cognition comes from intuition, and intuition roots itself in emotion. It is the melding of Thinking and Feeling, each informing and guiding the other, covering each other's gaps and reinforcing each other's strengths. Non-standard knowledge claims, therefore, have a root in the emotions of the claimant at the time of discovery and are therefore specific to the individual that has such a claim. This does not make the claim false, or disallow transmission. What it does do is require that the recepient experience the same emotional state that the claimant had, or--in other words--the former individual must replicate the experience wherein that non-linear expression event occurred. This is, by the way, is what an Initiation Rite--properly comprehended and executed--is and does; by extension, we are talking about claims of knowledge that stem from an individual's ecstatic encounters with the vast portion of the universe that is beyond Mankind's sense-perception.
  
• Symbolism as Shortcut: The mechanics of this method for claiming knowledge rely greatly on symbolism for its efficiency. This is not just the visual symbol, but also the symbolism found in sound--music especially--as well as in the means of their use by the transmitter. For example, the video embedded below uses clips from a variety of recent major motion pictures over which one tune from one soundtrack plays. The transmitter--in this example, the individual that arranged the clips and matched them to the music--chosen with great care and deliberation what clips to use, when to use them in the sequence and how to match them to the time of the music employed. That not only transforms the components--symbols themselves, all of them--into something with different (sometimes very different) symbolic representations than originally presented, but also allows the creation of an entirely new symbol in the aggregate.
  
• Culture as Language: It is no accident that a vast array of Man's literature rests upon the narratives of individuals (themselves symbols) who undergo initiatory rites in pursuit of some goal, however great or small, and are transformed into what they must become to achieve those objectives. This is the basis for the formation and transference of culture across generations, of the assimilation of cultures when encountered, and adjustment of cultures as they adapt to pressures put upon them by other forces. It is also no accident that the decline of a culture coincides with the abandonment or usurpation of initiatory rites and the disdain of their power for discovery and transmission of knowledge by those now unfamiliar with them. Whatever else may be said of Joseph Campbell, this element--the power of myth as a means of initiation--and his recognition of its power as an element of Natural Law (for it is not created by Man; Man merely discovered it, and it is both universal and immutable) is sufficient to put him up as a great hero for generations to come- and he got from here to there through experiencing that initiation himself via his studies.
  
  The effect of this method for non-standard knowledge claims increases as the culture connecting transmitter to recipient strengthens. Even a period of short-term preparation, as I have ask of you above, can greatly increase the efficiency of the process. By using multiple media, and multiple events, a transmitter can prepare the recipient for the ecstatic experience that the transmitter encountered previously; the recipient already comprehends the component symbols in the experience, becomes familiar with the circumstances wherein the encounter occurs (vital to achieving the emotional state that is necessary for successful transmission), and therefore has the vocabulary necessary to properly comprehend the experience. This is why preservation of a nation's--a people's culture--is something worth fighting for, literally so, and if necessary worth killing and dying for.
  
• And This Relates How?: Long before the academic world arose and imposed the now-standard criteria for claims of knowledge, this is the way it was done. Your elders, your teachers, etc. guided you through a process of preparation leading to a culmination that was an initiatory rite, past which you were expected to take on a new role and become a wholly different individual within the community. We still have remnants in the Western of this in our marriage traditions, but other elements that together comprised a very efficient system that guided newborns through the process that would create young adults have steadily been snatched out of our hands or cut away altogether- and we've suffered for it. This is Empire in action, abusing lawful systems where it can and cutting off access (but not destroying them; Empire cannot circumvent Natural Law anymore than Mankind can) where it can't; we see this in a more comprehensible manner through religious and political cults of all sorts, through the practices of culture-shaping seen in totalitarian regimes of all sorts, and in the influence of centralized media over the population.
  
  We need to make use of this method once more, and if we don't know how to deal with it then we can't--and won't--benefit from sources of knowledge that don't come from centralized institutions that are easily corralled by powerful interests (Thralls of Empire) and suborned to their will. Part of what we have to do to save ourselves is to learn how to directly discover knowledge by way of encountering it directly, and then transmitting it through the means we once took as standard practice. This is not to discount critical thought; that way lies cults and all the madness therein. Rather, what I'm saying is that we must reclaim this as a valid basis for knowledge to be used as a full and equal partner to the externally-focused standards of academia- and that includes full and equal subjectivity to interrogation by means of the Trivium and Quadrivium. Logic and Intuition are partners, not enemies, and should be treated as such.

So, now that you've spent 15-20 minutes reading all of that, take another five to watch this music video. Can you see how it efficiently communicates all of Passio's points in a fraction of the time, but only if you already have the language to comprehend what's been said here? If so, then you grok what non-standard knowledge claims are, how they work, and why they are not inherently invalid- but instead fully and equally valid ways to knowing the universe. With this dimension restored, making Empire fall will come much faster.