I read, Matt Drudge’s remarks in regards to facebook, twitter, corporate media in general. I agree with most of what he says. I’ve written before about how facebook and google are sucking up all the creative content, marginalizing sites like mine.
Most of us are also aware of facebook (or whoever) experimenting on the herd. They withhold “likes” from people or they omit some things from their feed, but not others.
It does not surprise me that people are easily manipulated with techniques like this but I am not so sure that people will prove to be as easy to control, once certain lines are crossed.
I’ve been alive long enough to see plenty of people and things rise and fall. If you want and example of something falling now, how about cable TV. They can’t give it away.
Uranus in Aries has been tied to Pluto for a number of years. We’ve all been tethered and control by the powers that be. But what will happen when freedom-loving Uranus moves ahead and operates independently? Will people break free?
What do you think? Are you going to strap on an apparatus so you can be tracked? Get an implant? Or might you come to want some kind of new beginning?
“Are you going to strap on an apparatus so you can be tracked?”
People already have, with cell phones.
I understand. I was thinking about the apple watch when I wrote that. Things able to take your body temp for example. Probes, lol.
This is how I interpreted what you said,Elsa. Biological??
Well that’s another angle, thanks for bringing it up.
We voluntarily take a lot of pills. People are more depressed than ever…and it’s sold as if there is no alternative.
I think there’s currently a dearth – a sad lack – of words to describe depressed-ish feelings. Oh, the words are there. Only, they surprise people who hear, e.g., “No, what I am is discouraged (or weary, or.. whatever else).”
Some of the time, there isn’t much one can do, to “address” (erase) the causes of such discouragement… not when one has signed on (figuratively, yet, really) to a situation in which the causes were likely to reoccur. What I know now is, make time, take the times, to engage in what feeds feelings of mattering, as oneself: an individual, no matter circumstances, nor commitments.
(I honoured commitments, in these times where that’s not fashionable. And now I’m riding a wave: Uranus in Aries. As a native Taurus Sun, this is foreign territory to me.)
Back on topic: scared, and hoping to be brave – that’s another synonym that can be mistaken for “depressed”. 🙂
Also, crowd control via hormones. All these people can’t work…and work and health are tied!! Virgo / 6th house
‘Crowd control via hormones’? Whoa! Tell me, how is this achieved?
I can’t wait for Uranus to move a little further away from it’s square to Pluto. FREEDOM all the way. When Uranus conjuncts my Venus in Aries 24°, I just know I’m going to break free. Somehow , someway. Maybe can’t see a way yet, but its bound to happen. Pluto in Cap has been so fear inducing…ugh.
PS. About social media; the other day I had to list every single person on my fb friends list as “close friend”. Because I was only seeing a handful of people show up on my wall.
This made me chuckle. I felt the same way about breaking free “somehow, someway” quite a few years ago as Uranus approached my natal Venus in Aquarius. Obviously for both of us the astrological picture is more complex than this one transit but when Uranus transited my natal Venus I fell pregnant. Forewarned is forearmed but the Uranian “sudden & unexpected” signature probably means that the only thing you can count on is the shake-up coming from a quarter you hadn’t even considered.
Interesting. May be a sign. I’ve been having dreams about being pregnant. The last time I got pregnant, I dreamed it, too. I wouldn’t count that possibility out. My husband may be the one getting a surprise. ?
Google has really messed up the way we find things. For example, I’ve been looking for a therapist in my area and when I try to search for one, I have to comb through ads for all sorts of coaching, products, and other things that are not what I’m looking for. Things that are not in my area, things that are in another state but in a town that has the same name as mine.
I miss the phone book. It used to be you could just look in the yellow pages and there would be some ads, but otherwise it was an orderly list of possibilities. It was more efficient than Google. Now, people don’t list themselves in the phone book any more, because people don’t use phone books anymore, because they use Google instead. Same with the free weekly newspaper. There used to be a page where therapists advertised. Now there isn’t, because it’s not worth it to advertise in the paper, because less people read the paper, because they’re all on the internet…
I’m actually a librarian and a good part of my job is trying to create order out of the chaos of the internet, so people can find good information. It’s a Sisyphean task. No wonder the younger generation uses social media to find answers and solve problems (even though it’s an easy way to get misinformed).
You type in “aries moon” and you will get google’s interpretation of it, culled from sites like mine…they call up the info that people like I have offered all these years.
The thing is, if you rely on google for info, you’re only going to see what google wants you to see.
It’s communism.
Yes. Literally. As, George Orwell defined it in his book, Animal Farm: all pigs (people) are created equal, but some are more “equal” than others. (Added emphasis is mine: he didn’t put quotes… however, his whole book emphasized that.)
I also wrote this because I have been around people like this…talked to them. They do think people can be herded and exploited. That’s exactly what they think.
But it’s not just Uranus separating from Pluto. Saturn is in Sagittarius and people will learn, they are not God.
If you happen to already know that, you’re probably looking pretty good right now, lol. 🙂
Sagittarius will point out the herding and Pluto will provide the proof in Capi. 🙂
I feel this, but am not perceptive enough to understand it. I liked that my Facebook showed news stories that weren’t on CNN or WNYC. I can be herded and exploited because I’m not that perceptive. I don’t like the yellow pages. I do like that when I look up teaspoon conversions google just pulls something up.
” I do like that when I look up teaspoon conversions google just pulls something up.”
I get it. But when they start manipulating reality by putting up false information, you’re going to buy it. And this is already going on, of course.
They had a nice slogan, ‘Don’t be evil.” This is right before they drove by everyone’s house, grabbing data.
And they’ll have a spin on this that will make you think how nice they are to give you what you want, quickly. But in reality, you’re slowly being brain-washed. What’s real is what google says is real.
But I do know people are getting sick of it, slowly. I have a website here and duck,duck, go is on the rise.
I’m too a point where I don’t care what google says. They’re wrong all the time.
Those are not the store’s real hours! Those are not the words people are saying on the video.
And then what do you do when they turn off your brain? Seriously. What do you do when they take out the grid?
I’m so stupid. The poet Thomas sayers Ellis talks about this stuff all the time. I can’t wrap my brain around it, the control of things.
Where to read about this stuff or keep tabs on it?
How did you learn about these things to come to these conclusions?
It’s a process. You can do it. Once you see there is a “group mind” thing going, you’ll be able to pick it out. Eventually, you’ll see it a mile away.
My husband was sent to clean up the bodies of the Jim Jones cult suicide. Once you see, up close, the effects of brainwashing, you’re not going to want to join in.
I have to cook dinner. I will think about the “how”.
Your husband worked on cleaning up the bodies after the murders/suicides in Guyana? That is freaky! I have read about Jim Jones and his cult and have seen photos of the bodies. There was a lot of them. Brainwashed and wanting acceptance by a mad man. Reminds me of Charles Manson and what he had his followers do was horrendous. How can anyone follow another so blindly? That is insane!
It is like a crowd that gets started attacking others like Ferguson and everyone joins in. It is truly scary.
some people really do have the power/energy in them to manipulate, bend people’s will to them. it’s so weird how they manage to do that. it’s like a gift given to them and they cruelly mis-used it. so i guess that is why people can easily follow others blindly. they also know that deep down these people need guidance, help. and the misuse of power is what happens.
When my daughter was a baby (20 years ago), someone told me I should homeschool her. I thought they were a whack job. I consider this option to be insane. What about socialization? What about diversity? What about life skills? I would not have considered it in a million years.
Now I admire those people. And they were right. And I was wrong.
I just read today, the school system in Colorado is about to lose accreditation, they are so bad. Seriously. 50% drop out rate. 2 of 10 go to college (who knows how they fare). Only 1 of ten goes to college and does not need remedial classes.
And guess what? It’s not necessarily the teacher’s fault. Half the kids don’t speak English. How the hell are they supposed to deal with that? In real life, this is?
Meanwhile, I’m on a plane with a man who got married at 20, and had five kids. They were all homeschooled, he’s still married, all five kids went (or have gone) to college…most of them paying next to nothing,,,not only that, his son, sitting across the aisle from us, has the highest gpa in the university!
When you see you’ve got it wrong, for God sakes, shift your thinking.
I don’t think I could have done it, but I understand it completely now, too. My son has all that Aquarius so he was always kind of resisting, anyway, making up his own mind. But that brainwashing is out there and it has an effect. You can see where many obedient kids- who are praised for not rocking the boat- can be molded into anything. It’s very scary.
I do have a cell phone…a smart phone. But the gps is disabled and I am not signed into google.
It pisses google off when you are not signed in. They tell you to sign in every 3-5 minutes (really).
Now if you do sign in, you can’t sign out. Seriously, you can’t try it.
To sign out, you have to delete your entire account…which is no problem since the minute you want to sign in, all your info is right there.
Now if you’re using your phone to navigate all the time, that’s one thing. But most people know where they’re going.
I’m sure it’s easier to do without these conveniences if you grew up before they existed. But that doesn’t mean a younger person is going to be able to coexist with their phone, indefinitely.
For example, my husband would go various places, you can’t enter until you hand over your cell phone. So I think the tide can turn here.
Ben Carson says he operates on people’s brains, which is what makes them who they are (as opposed to their skin color).
If he’s right, then your brain is pretty freaking important. So how much of your (brain) power should belong to google.
I am talking about crossing a line where what you get from something is not worth the price you pay.
This happens in life, over time.
Muahhhh! Elsa, I love you!
You’re the only person online in the astrological arena I know who talks straight out about the herd mentality, and the implications of what you’ve disseminated here.
I know someone who thinks they can herd and exploit people. He couldn’t pull the wool over either my eyes or my husbands’. I can’t wait until Saturn feels his collar, for surely that will happen.
I also feel a fomentation of stirring and breaking free within the human spirit.
I was never popular in school so there are lots of things I don’t need to worry about. 🙂
This thread reminds me that there is a Canadian show I really like called Continuum that raises so many of these concerns regarding technology, the invasion of privacy and/or the deterioration thereof and how people blindly give up their freedom.
It’s a comfort to even see a dialogue like this happening. I teach freshman writing, and I can tell you, ‘google is god’ for many students. They can’t appreciate the whole idea of having to go to a library, pull out a card catalog to look up a book or find a bound periodical. That is just a waste of time in their world, where you can just google it. Certainly, technological advancements do make things easier in some ways. I’m grateful I never had to write a research paper on a type-writer, which one of my older friends made me aware of recently. But I do think something important is lost in the education process for students who look to the internet for all the answers. Their critical thinking skills lack muscle. I think the process of looking for information and trying to find it made us more aware of where information actually comes–how it is filtered or not filtered. Whereas now there is so much information coming at us all the time, unless you learn to have discernment, it seems that information gets digested and regurgitated with very little questioning. Oh, how I could rant on.
Thanks for weighing in. I used to preach like a son of a bitch but have just…well, I got sick. In reality, I just got too sick to battle people all day.
I saw that baby, recently, absorbed in an iphone. 2 years old and completely tuned out to his surroundings.
Anyway, I caught on to google about five or six years ago. I used to read their news until the political slant because so obvious. I just don’t want to eat creamed wheat, breakfast, lunch and dinner, because someone thinks that’s what’s good to feed me.
I hope people read what Drudge wrote. Every word! He’s a mega Scorp by the way. His profile is on this blog.
I follow Drudge and yes, I lean to the right. I do not agree with the liberal agenda.
Also, most of them lack physical muscle, stamina and a work ethic. However, I’m sure they’ll acquire these skills when they are made into slaves. That or die.
There are no classes on discernment. There is no way of entering into learning about the credibility of sources other than journalism. My school supposedly taught critical thinking. The first taste of that I got was learning programming. And its a muscle to exercise
try blue, I really understand that reluctance to look things up on paper. I sat with my son and a few of his friends, when they did a homework assignment – in grade 3 – to look up, and copy, definitions for five words. Oh the pain! 😀 But they were lucky, learning to do so at 8 & 9 years old. As “they” say (those weird theys) what isn’t learned earlier, needs learning later.
Google also sells the idea it’s going to get smarter, but I don’t see how, when people are getting dumber all the time.
And as the old content is washed out, no longer fresh, it will be replaced by the state media, basically. And that’s all you’re going to get. Gruel for the mind.
Yum. Yum. Should have gone outside your comfort zone while you had the chance!
It’s going to get smarter . . . when people are getting dumber all the time. You make me laugh.
Along these same lines Windows 10 is a complete nightmare of privacy invasion. It turns on your microphone, your camera and has a keylogger (which sends them everything you type). All of this is automatic. You have to go in and turn it all off. If you do decide to update, go to youtube and type in “windows 10 privacy.” There are videos which show you how to reclaim your privacy in windows 10. I just went through the process. It’s a bit painful, but can be done fairly easily if you just follow along with the video.
I’ll have to look into that. My husband had his computer updated to Windows 10 the minute they offered it free. He believes privacy is an illusion, anyway. Now he’s giving me that computer and using one that works better for him. Sigh. It’ll be a mixed blessing.
Thank you. That’s useful information. Thanks for saying it in detail.
I stay as far away as I can from the group-think mentality. I never signed up for Facebook, but somehow I ended up with an account and had them nudging me for more information. I go on once and awhile, but I have an empty profile.
I had a flip phone for a long time and would still have one, but my tech job insisted I have a smartphone. I put no information in it. I refuse to have an electronic leash and have my life infiltrated by the PTBs that want to use that information. I think it all is an extreme invasion of privacy, yet you can’t do much about it.
I don’t like what they teach in schools today. They are pushing a liberal agenda and pure BS in some ways. I don’t have kids, but if I did, I’d be home schooling them today. I used to think people that did that were “fringe” characters, but yeah, they are doing the right thing.
I love Drudge and read it every day. Its one of the only real news sources of the truth.
Google’s motto used to be “Don’t be evil” and yet they are. They are working with our government to make sure that their search results support what the government wants us to see and the rest be damned. You have to dig deeper to find alternate views today and its sad that the PTBs are trying to change the US from “we the people” into “we the sheeple”.
Uranian groups tend towards turning into totalitarian..
I don’t know why, but, history shows this. (My experience does, too.)
I can’t really tell who is or isn’t in the herd. Maybe I am in the herd? Or not? Also, those who are barking at the herd — who’s right? Who’s wrong? And do they just want control? Is this a Saturn-Neptune thing?
Thanks Elsa for reflecting on Drudge’s quotes.
I agree. This herd-y-ness is real and I feel it too. The Internet is weirdly…. hyper-liked and always uber-trending, and all the personal touches of my old bookmarks seem gone forever.
Having a conversation is about presence and we’re so stingy with it now with the people and random people around us. Happenstance is magical. Because we only see and interact with what is pre-selected, we don’t see differing opinions as much, and maybe don’t know how to respond to conflict productively. Also, what differing opinions we do see may be the most extreme and isolated expressions and opinions because that’s what is trending. We may think that thinking extreme things is normal….. which may lead some people to think that doing extreme things is normal…. 🙁
Something interesting that I’m self-reflecting on…. When I read Drudge’s quotes from the link, I actually felt uncomfortable. I couldn’t read through it for some reason–harsh? Quotes are out of context? Maybe I’ve been on the liberal-ish side of politics too long to understand and parse out info by someone who disagrees with me, or doesn’t like someone I might like? Not sure. Sometimes I feel like anyone who says strong statements about anything can’t be fully trusted now, haha, so maybe it’s my own knee jerk reaction to what news is like today. Not trusting leaders or anyone completely who thinks they’ve got it down 100% or got a person judged 100%. Sigh. We’re all human. I just hope to heaven that we get through this, recognize each other, and learn something real and good along the way.
Anyone who expresses strong ideas has been out of favor, mood-wise, publicly, for many years (Pluto in Sagittarius, made that mark – “we are the Borg, you will comply” – & Uranus was lurking as an influence in that). We all need to remember, we’re living in a new day, each time we wake up. And we, each & all, evey one, have free will.
When the veil drops and we find out, unequivocally, that there is an absolute truth, it will not matter if we are Republican, Democrat, black, white, or purple. It will not matter of what religion, race or economic demographic you belong to. Everyone, in an instant, will no where they stand with one another. It will be back to Square #2.
That’s right. Square #2.
As in, the first step out of the Garden. Only, in this case, the “nakedness” will not be because of Spiritual Separation, but, one bourne out of Intellectual Arrogance.
“…know where they stand…”
((apologies))
::obviously::
Are you my sister’s husband? You sound like him. If it’s something you just picked up, please drop it where you found it. Not very becoming. And nothing to be proud of. Telling me “::obviously::” does not add to the topic but merely point out the fact that you are rude and insulting. At some point you’re going to have to figure out that you’re no longer a 10 year old know-it-all girl.
Your own comment is also rude & insulting, in tone. I think you are projecting quite a bit onto her extraordinarily brief one-word comment.
woodland, this is yet another occation of condescending attitude by Poppy towards me. In this case I am tired of it. And, have decided to do something about it.
You lack depth and understanding of experience to post to something you know nothing about.
Please, keep your limited knowledge and opinions to yourself.
Thank you, in advance.
Nope nope nope…I’m not easily controlled. I’m a lone wolf. Ask my SO of ten years. He used to try to control me but gave up a long time ago. Lol. I don’t have Facebook, and I don’t stick around in places for too long if I don’t feel right about it. I’d much rather be a loner than to go along with the hive mind. But it still shocks me how far some people are willing to go just to be liked or popular.
Most of the people I know can see what’s going on and they do their own thinking, but feel helpless as to any solutions. They feel things (the international political situation) are beyond their control or influence and they feel helpless.
Absolutely not! I don’t even own a cell phone. I will never take any chip or any tracking device. Uranus has pushed people to rebel, but I think Pluto is much stronger. I think the government could crack the whip and clamp down on the out of control population at any time it so wishes.
Fight to the death against the NWO.
“The Internet. Where you get none of the story.”
Amen to that, Poppy. Animal farm is exactly where we are. I don’t want to be on the farm, l see a hole in the fence and l’m bustin’ out.
I’ve had people tell me all my life to “go with the flow”. I hate that term because I know what it means.
I hate that one too.What a stupid expression.Conform and comply….
Recently I’ve had people either tell me that, or imply that. I hate being viewed as a control freak, but that’s how others seem to view me since Pluto went into Capricorn. Gotta live being a Cardinal sun. >:/
Meant to say “gotta love”. Oops.
I just left facebook, again, a few weeks ago. I have so many thoughts on these topics, but too tired to share right now…. Great to see this discussion though. We are indeed in a Brave New World, that is for sure….
Fight the #NWO!
I find this topic interesting. If Google was indeed controlling all information, then why is Google extremely restricted in China. China is a very good example of information control to the masses. Their government controls ALL information that goes out to Chinese citizens. And this is well documented.
I did not claim that google was controlling all the information.
This is interesting – http://nypost.com/2015/10/11/our-double-lives-dark-realities-behind-perfect-online-profiles/
Just goes to show that you can’t believe everything you see. The internet, where you can pretend to be anything you want to be.
I’ve downloaded a few books and book samples from Amazon to my Kindle app. The other day I received an email from Amazon saying I added a certain book to my wish list and here are others that might be of interest to me. Crazy, because I DID NOT add that book and had never even heard of it. It was a novel that seemed in a similar genre as the self-help books I added. That kind of pissed me off. What a ploy….
Matt Drudge tweets, more and more people opting out of smart phones.
#notsurprised
i am not fond of the ways in which our narratives are being driven, for some reasons. others i am very hopeful about.
i think a lot of the effects are simply emergent results of the constraints of the system. that while these mega corps have a lot of power, they don’t understand how to use it. how to drive the currents, so to speak. which is probably a good thing. on the flip side, people power is pretty dangerous too. the speed at which a twitter lynch mob (for example) can arise is pretty terrifying to me. people literally have moved out of their homes and slept on friends couches for months after getting death threats phoned and physically mailed to them after some of those…
There’s an interview with Julian Assange and it made an impression on me- he talked about how it is so easy to rewrite history and take away a person’s ability to think when there is such reliance on internet information. Scrub a source from the internet and where’s your proof? If the person who controls it edits or deletes it, where are you? He said that at least with books you had a copy of someone’s thoughts or an account of an event or way of thinking. Digital information is different. The other day I checked some links to articles and discovered the website no longer exists. If I had copied it, I’d still have it. For me, it’s now gone.
Like Elsa was saying, if you grew up without all the smartphone and internet “help”, you have a more real concept of what self-sufficiency is, and free thinking. Maybe it’s hard for younger people to see the contrast? 100 years ago people could sail a ship by the stars. Now people think, what’s the point, we have a satellite that can steer us around. But the brainwork, the training, gets lost. And people wait for what, someone smarter? to connect dots for them.
“…But what will happen when freedom-loving Uranus moves ahead and operates independently? Will people break free?”
Although it’s existed for a long while, I think Uranus in Aries really propelled social media to its narcissistic hilt. All these young people in this “look at me, me, me” (Aries) generation uploading shameless photos of themselves and living digitally. I truly hope with Uranus in Taurus that people step away from these artifices and become more involved in the real world. Taurus is the salt of the earth.
Hey, one can hope! ?