By David Weeks, Information Developer, Tampa, Florida December 29th, 2017.
Violence is a common part of our troubles in life. The parts we cause, the parts that are caused upon us. We think we recognize and understand violence, but if that is the case, why is it so pervasive? And it is very very pervasive—more than you likely realize. We’re swimming (drowning) in it. This article forewarns you against the unacknowledged violence in society, and being forewarned, you will soon be on your guard against it, peaceably so.
Carl von Clausewitz is known for saying: “War is the continuation of politics by other means.” Spot on. He is correct so far as he goes in saying that, but I’ll now complete the point:
“Violence is the means of politics, and politics is always about doing the wrong thing, by means of deception, manipulation and when all else fails—physical harm.”
The lesson of this article is that deception and manipulation are violence. Deception and manipulation are often more harmful than physical violence. When deceiving or manipulating, you are committing violence against another, or even yourself, as evident by the fact that you get a “yes or no” when you would otherwise get a “no or yes.”
Physical violence is well recognized and fairly well understood. We can discern the difference between robbery and work, or sports. We respond harshly, most of the time, to robberies, and favorably, most of the time, to work and sports. Robbery is harmful, exploitive, unjust. Work is productive, healthy and safe. Sports are play violence, celebrating our physical prowess and violent competitiveness without really hurting anyone, most of the time. Getting back to Clausewitz, war too is where one group of innocent men attack another group of innocent men, at the behest of the political orders of a few evil men, or even one evil man. Organized physical violence. It kills the innocent, by the innocent, by evil’s subversion of the people (willful incompetence) for political purpose. The people being corruptible.
Politics is always about doing what is wrong. You do not need “spin” or politics to do what is right, you just do it. Politics is used to prevent people from doing what is right, but not to enable them to do what is right.
Politics is about deception and manipulation. About “Physical violent repression,” the persecution of the innocent, and persecution of all competing criminals. The most dangerous manifestations of violence are deception and manipulation. They are more dangerous precisely because we’ve been brainwashed not to see deception and manipulation as acts of violence. We’ve been brainwashed to mostly accept deception and manipulation as “cool” or just an ordinary part of life. No big deal.
Well the little things are the big things, precisely because they get past our guard and our sanity. Sneaky like. That and our own decision to use deception and manipulation as a means of getting what we don’t have coming to us. Whatever the reason(s), our tolerance of these acts of violence, deception and manipulation, we need to reject them categorically. We need to respond with clarity, unity and action; clarity, unity and action being the antithesis of violence. They are the antithesis of deception and violence because they present real information, from experience, rather than a spun fiction crafted to trick people.
Common to our lives are the “legal” robbers. False advertisers, the political and legal classes. And the “illegal” robbers, robbers who are honest about taking your stuff, because they want it. These thiefs hurt us, they treat us like their food. But which do you suppose hurts us most? The “legal” robbers. Crooks are crooks, but false advertisers, politicians and lawyers/judges are so greedy then even attack the honest criminals, that compete with their own crimes against humanity. A crook will take your stuff, and be plain about it. A politician will take your stuff, while telling you about how much this is helping you. A legal practitioner will take your stuff, while telling you they’ve decided it is only fair. All three take your stuff, two are lying about it, and it’s not the “honest” crook. Oh, and an American rejects all of these, all the time, loyal to reality and their own abilities to get things done.
A little disclosure here, I can only share my experience and understanding from my experience and understanding, I was a child thief. A child con. I embraced these to survive, but never the less, I’d steal your stuff, and I’d be honest about it. What that means is that if I got caught, I’d admit it. This is a valuable insight I could not get any other way. Stealing is not an “idea” for me, but something I was quite good at.
“Why work for something when we can just take it and have it?”
Pretty obvious isn’t it? It was easier to get forgiveness than permission. A very evil harbinger, by the way. Stealing is stealing, no matter any pretentious language put on it. I do not steal anymore because I harmed the one from whom I took, which is violence, which is why I produce instead of steal.
I learned that as a young child, my being harmed by pervasive deception, manipulation and physical damages, I did not want to be someone who hurt others, as others had hurt me. I hated them that much. (and still do) Stealing IS the taking of something against the will of the owner, as in they say no, and you take it anyway. And physical—strong arm robbery—is just one of many ways to steal.
Passive aggression is still aggression. Deception is the most practiced violence. Society, unfortunately, is routinely deceptive, often proudly so. Proudly because of the fore-mentioned brainwashing in which deception is NOT equated to violence. But deception is violence just the same, because it is used to get yes when the owner would otherwise say no.
Passive aggression is still aggression. Yes, I repeated that on purpose. Manipulation is the second most practiced violence. Manipulation takes work and smarts, I won’t deny that. There is considerable gamemanship and craft involved in manipulation, and many people gain by manipulation things they can more easily get by simple competence. They do so for the sport of it. I loved the shit out of conning people as a child. Gave me a sense of control and mastery. What it was actually doing though, was betraying those who would befriend me. But at that point in my life, a survivor of abuse, possible child rape and certain neglect, life was a choice of being prey or predator, and I choose predator. Still a small child, I learned to use that harmfully so. To this day I cannot say without doubt that I actually trust anyone or anything. I can say without hesitation that I have always cared. Sharing this I provide my insight into the causes and logistics of manipulative behavior. Been there, done that.
Manipulation, like deception, is violence, used to take from someone when they would otherwise say no. Deception is the start of manipulation, and often for sporting purposes, lightly used. Manipulation can be (is) addictive. For some, true psychopaths, it is normal. And because deception lends itself to art and mastery, this violence is the most harmful of all violences, the means by which all other violences survive and are practiced.
Its most recognizable quality is willful incompetence, where manipulation is used in place of just doing what is competent even when competence is easier. A practical cause for willful incompetence is to maintain the fiction cult built around the practitioner’s life. Deception is destroyed by the recognition of truth, of reality. Manipulation cannot exist without deception, so these violences live in fear of sanity like vampires fear daylight. The mere acknowledgement of reality destroys fiction cults, and indeed, a strong objective in writing this article is to provide clarity on the violences of deception and manipulation, to destroy fiction cults. I challenge any fictions you hold in your own life, but leave it to you to sort them out. Most of what I write here and elsewhere are helpful aids in doing that.
With this understanding of violence, recognizing deception and manipulation as vile acts of violence, we now see that we are not so civil after all. I’m going to put one more twist on Clausewitz’s famous quote:
“War is politics by other means, and far less destructive than the violent willfully incompetent deception and manipulation of politics.“
Violence is violence, and deception and manipulation are especially violent because we are socially programmed to accept deception and manipulation. See now that there is far more violence than commonly acknowledged. When used to get yes, when the other person would otherwise say no, deception and manipulation is unmistakably wrong. Unmistakably violent. Much of society lives by doing exactly that, all the time. Call it when you see it, or you’ll just have yourself to blame. Do not go along to get along. Own it, and confront these violences when and where you can. Power is fun.
When confronting deception and manipulation with truth, with reality, you are the one with power because fictions cannot survive them. Never fear fiction or the people who live by fiction culture. But do be prepared to fight, because when their violence of deception and manipulation stop working, they’ll resort to plain old physical harm, the third type of violence, and their last “hope” of protecting their lies. When you beat them, invite them into competence, and where they accept, help them find it, if you can. Its the American thing to do.
David Weeks
