[deleted]

So true. Even if you only stick to Reddit, you can make a huge impact. 1 submission could educate thousands of people.

If you're no good at making titles, you can simply go to subs like TIL and do a keyword search for whatever topic. Copy/paste any titles which have over 500 or so upvotes, and resubmit the link with that title.

The thing about spreading this kind of info will usually get you downvoted to hell and back if its on other subreddits, Dunno how many posts ive done on other subs and gotten a SHITTON of downvotes and smack talk, even when im just trying to 'tell what we as a unit is thinking about the event', not "you guys are sheep, wtf wake up!".

Its sad really, we're getting ostracized for not believing everything we hear and being critical about stuff. Conspiracy has become a foul word used by others to void ones opinion invalid... No longer is it tied to the watergate scandal, or the gulf of pigs event, or any other confirmed "conspiracy" that actually was true. No, its tied to ridicule and jokes, i've even stopped calling myself a theorist cause i know that any and all discussion i enter on subjects will instantly become void with the words "You're a conspiracy theorist, arent you?".

I just like information, and i like to think, i dont have much to do in my spare time so i read a lot, some of it useless info (like a cat purring might actually help itself heal from wounds or when its scared to comfort itself, which i find super cute for some reason).. But all of this info gathering and reading is just a joke to some.. And i hate that :/

That's ok, it was always this way. The truth was never popular. You keep planting those seeds. Yea, it's a thankless job, and most of the time you are not even able to feel good about reaching someone. But know that you are still making an impact, even if you aren't able to see it.

Keep the head up mate.

Gotta resist. If you are complacent, it only makes things easier. Spread information, wake people up, drop hints here and there to friends and family to slowly ease the truth into them. You can't go full blast at people, it takes time. Being aware on your own is in itself a huge benefit because you are able to critically think about everything. Enlighten your fellow human, and they will keep doing the same to other people. This is how it starts.

Nothing will change until the majority know what we know.

As an individual looking out for your own best interests in the face of Big Brother, you can only minimize your presence in the system -

• Ditch the cell phone
• Ditch you car and take the bus
• Ditch the mortgage and insurance industry; rent
• Ditch the health care quagmire by staying out of their clutches with good health
• Ditch the banking system and go with a credit union
• Ditch your teevee
• Pay cash for as many purposes as possible to prevent account tracking

That covers a lot of ground. In the US today, it's just about the best you can do to minimize your footprint.

If you wish to take an active part in protesting the system, that will only raise your profile in the surveillance index. Stay away from organized protest activities. It's too late now.

Know your neighbors, cultivate local relationships. Be a friend and deal with people familiar to you. Avoid corporations as much as possible.

Maintain a low profile, reduce your electronic trackability, transact in cash wherever possible.

This is how we live. Minimizing the footprint.

good points.

Get rid of Facebook at least?

Living in an off-grid community, you're naive. This is a society, and one of closeness and trust that doesn't exist in the urban areas.

Are you going to fight a revolution through facebook? Get real.

Get real, clean food and water. Get real economy. Have REAL WEALTH.

Thanks. All very good points.

Ditch the cell phone

Okay. My life is now about 20% less convenient.

Ditch you car and take the bus

Well I live in a semi-rural area and the closest bus stop is five miles away but fine, I'll get up two hours earlier and just walk there.

Ditch the mortgage and insurance industry; rent

Oh, ditch the mortgage! Didn't realise that was an option! Let me call my bank on my mo... FUCK

Ditch the health care quagmire by staying out of their clutches with good health

So the solution to keeping in good health is... keeping in good health. Man, you give amazing advice!

Ditch the banking system and go with a credit union

Fair enough.

Ditch your teevee

After you made me throw my phone away this is a piece of cake. But I'm still gonna watch GoT online.

Pay cash for as many purposes as possible to prevent account tracking

Fuck you FBI! You'll never know how I paid for these carrots!

Suit yourself my friend. Live any way you want. I was just addressing the OP.

Can you be a bit more specific about how one goes about "ditching" a mortgage without being immediately saddled with an even more crippling debt?

Sell your house.

What if your house has lost value between the time you mortgaged it and the time you sell it?

Then I guess you are trapped as a debt slave for the rest of your life.

So in other words I was correct to question the wisdom of the advice?

The wisdom is in the suggestion that you attempt to disengage from the system as much as you are able.

Ditch the cell phone

Okay. My life is now about 20% less convenient.

Selfishness and narcissism are a huge part of the problem we face as Americans. Cell phones play a huge role in that (think selfies)

Because we all know selfies are the only reason we use mobile phones.

They are a cancer to society for more ways then selfies. Look around you and see how many people can't unplug from their phones, and ask yourself if that "convenience" is really worth the decay it's causing on society.

Okay, I'm just saying not having one it would make my job next to impossible and meeting up with friends a chore. So about 20% of a convenience reduction still sounds about right.

But if you're unemployed and friendless I guess it wouldn't bother you much

So you didn't have friends before you got a cell phone?

Stay aware and keep watching.

Spread knowledge, especially when it's controversial.

Learn to grow food, and plant seeds everywhere.

The very best thing you can do is talk to others. It's said that at the beginning of the American Revolution, only about 3% of the population backed the war effort.

Vote with your dollars, as much as you can. Buy from local producers and shops; ditch the big box stores. Learn to grow food. Learn to cook and bake. Learn to use tools and build things. Learn to sew and repair your clothes. Buy secondhand or get stuff for free.

These are the skills that are being drained away - don't be dependent on the system. It's easier to eat at restaurants, buy another piece of clothing, contribute to this capitalist system of production and materialism. Reclaim your power with creativity.

Use your voice to peaceably communicate knowledge, morality, reason, logic, and love.

Copy pasta from another one of my posts:

1. Get rid of cable
2. pay off your debts
3. Stop shopping at super markets (You have, that's good)
4. You do not need the latest and greatest devices, if you cancel cable, you wont upgrade your TV, you will also not rent movies.
5. buy land, grow your own food (preferably where you can well for water).
6. Hunt/fish
7. If you smoke, roll your own. Do not buy packs. It'll save you money, and is healthier.
8. If you drink, brew your own, or make your own wine/cider.
9. reduce your travel, buy a bike (or even dirtbike), work from home. If you have kids, homes school.
10. invest in solar panels, have a wood stove for cooking and for heat.
11. Use candles, instead of lamps. You can make your own candles/wicks for far cheaper than spending that money on electricity, every month.

but i am on the grid, and plan to stay there.

Why? Fuck them. Try your best to get off it.

I understand the perks of ditching society, but i am more concerned with what steps i could take to make America right.

Lol, America is Rome, there is no saving it. Expect a balkanization of the US.

I am not naive

You sound pretty fucking naive, just saying..

i am not suggesting that i could by myself topple the corporate oligarchy and all that jazz

We can't, that's the fucking problem. But, you can disassociate from the system.

but i can't believe that we are just doomed to this.

Yea, we are. We are Rome, why people see this as shock, baffles me. There is no American exceptionalism. We are people and nations fall.

It seems from what other commenters are saying that spreading information is the only hope we have in the face of these monstrous enemies... I guess it is worth a try.

Spread all the info you want, doesn't mean we aren't fucked. See my comment about Rome. :) Cheers, I'm not fun at parties, I like to get high and talk about shit, not drink and put a lamp shade around my head and say I'm super shade.

That's reasonable. Staying on the grid sometimes allows you to do more and inform the other people around you. Staying off the grid just makes you vanish and not many people will even know. Be smart and diplomatic.

If you smoke, roll your own. Do not buy packs. It'll save you money, and is healthier.

This will in fact save you money. But it's not any healthier.

Way to pick out one thing I've said, /user/cryvape, sounds and awful lot like /user/flytape, seen you around ;). Regardless, rolling natural tobacco is healthier than the rat, saw dust, and chemical infused tobacco on the floor of factories, people smoke. If you smoke and do not know this, than now you do. There is a difference between Marlboro cigs and natural Native American tobacco.

Way to totally swallow the marketing.

I picked that one thing you said because I smoke. I smoke RYOs exclusively. The fact is there is no research that suggests loose tobacco is in any way better for your health than pre-rolled cigarettes.

It does taste better, a pack does last longer, it is far more economical but if you think you're doing your health a favour by switching you're kidding yourself.

Edit:

Unfortunately for the (usually poorer) people who tend to smoke rollies, they are both less natural and more harmful. In factory-made cigarettes, the additives make up about half-a-per cent of the dry weight of the tobacco. But in the rollies, the additives are about 18 per cent of the dry weight. In other words, rollies have about 38 times more additives than factory-made ciggies.

These additives include sweeteners, such as honey, sugar or dextrose. Maybe it's just a coincidence that these sweeteners make rollies smoother for new smokers, such as children. But some of the other additives include chemicals with less-than-wholesome names such as propylene glycol, trans-benzaldehyde, phenylcarbinol and ethyl butyrate. Another factor in the health risk of rollies is that they are usually thinner, so that you have to suck harder, which increases how much tar lands in your airways.

We're not too sure why, but a Norwegian study of 26,000 smokers showed that rollies were associated with higher, not lower, risks of lung cancer. And other studies consistently show a two-to-three times increased risk of cancers of the oesophagus, mouth, pharynx and larynx directly linked to rollies.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2014/07/22/4050221.htm

It all depends on the brand homie. Most RYO brands are pipe tobacco, which have additives (that's why it's so cheap! It's not labeled as cig tobacco). But you can find natural tobacco without preservatives and shit. You need to seek those brands. Smoking pipe tobacco via a cig is bad, but when you find the natural brand, it is far more healthy. Granted, smoking anything is bad for you, there are far less chemicals and additives in natural tobacco. It's hard, I suppose, because people may not live in the region. Smoking anything is bad, but smoking natural tobacco is healthier than say Camels or Newports.

Big tobacco has been busted for putting all sorts of shit in pack cigarettes, from extra nicotine to agents increasing nicotine uptake and addictiveness. But the most unhealthy may be the shit that keeps them burning...

If you want to quit the first step should be rolling your own with good tobacco and papers.

I agree. The main thing is FSC in commercial cigs. They want to prevent fires, while they put chemical retardation in cigs. It's bad. I'm not saying people should smoke, and I agree, people should stop (I'm on my way). But, if you want a better option, roll your own. I smoke less, since I have and saved a shit tonne of money. I plan on stopping, and am on my way.

It can be much healthier, actually. Look in to the cigarettes you smoke, the chemicals in the paper, the additives in the tobacco, or anything else you smoke or papers you buy. You can buy much healthier tobacco than the major brands offer you.

Here are just a few of the hundreds of additives in most over the counter cigarettes…

Ammonia: Household cleaner

Angelica root extract: Known to cause cancer in animals

Arsenic: Used in rat poisons

Benzene: Used in making dyes, synthetic rubber

Butane: Gas; used in lighter fluid

Carbon monoxide: Poisonous gas

Cadmium: Used in batteries

Cyanide: Deadly poison

DDT: A banned insecticide

Ethyl Furoate: Causes liver damage in animals

Lead: Poisonous in high doses

Formaldehiyde: Used to preserve dead specimens

Methoprene: Insecticide

Megastigmatrienone: Chemical naturally found in grapefruit juice

Maltitol: Sweetener for diabetics

Napthalene: Ingredient in mothballs

Methyl isocyanate: Its accidental release killed 2000 people in Bhopal, India in 1984

Polonium: Cancer-causing radioactive element

I think you'll find a lot of those are actually byproducts of burning any tobacco, whether it has additives or not. Unless you think tobacco companies are literally adding arsenic and cyanide to their products.

Some of them you listed, like butane and carbon monoxide, are impossible to "add" to a cigarette. Before you light it, anyway.

I was quick to find a list. I have seen others than may be more factual and the number of additives is truly overwhelming. Just google it for a bit. It is shocking what they add to most major brand cigarettes. Scary, actually.

Wiki: 599 additives in cigarettes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_additives_in_cigarettes

I am pretty sure the natives didn't add anything to their tobacco. Can we get some data on the mortality rate of native americans regarding lung or throat cancer?

The only thing I can think to do is take back control of your consciousness. Learn to meditate, eat non-processed food that you know is free of poisons and GMOs (look up "nourishing traditions"), participate in your community at the local level, turn off corporate media (it's mostly disinfo, propaganda and fear), practice a loving, forgiving and service to others lifestyle.

The above YOU can control. It will make you happier and more able to decipher what's your truth.

And always remember: you cannot wake other people up by telling them what you see. You can only wake yourself up. At first, you feel alone, but don't worry...there are a lot of us already awake (and more are waking up every day). Don't let the negativity get to you. We're all headed for a very positive resolution to all this mess...

Here's my question though: what can we do?

Unfortunately, the oligarchy is usually a few steps ahead of the masses. We used to have the power of the vote, but that has been eliminated with campaign contributions. They've also used QE and the "free trade" farce to significantly reduce the economic clout of the lower classes, while profiting from the process. The mass surveillance/police state that we see now exists for one reason only: To prevent any organized dissent. Add in the fact that employers can fire and blacklist you for any arrest, and anybody with something to lose is now terrified of any police interaction.

We are long past the point of an "electoral revolution" and the elite know this. This is why the US military is drilling for domestic unrest and the endless call for the revocation of the 2nd Amendment. Once they seize the guns, they will be free to dispense with the illusion of democracy.

The key to change isn't to destroy the old, its to focus all your energy on building the new.

• Socrates

Cognoscent is spelt cognizant.

I don't agree with everything i read on here, but I think we can all agree that our government is fucked.

You are 100% right. No one agrees with 100% nor should they. This is a board for open debate, discussion, and fact finding. So welcome and enjoy!

Here's my question though: what can we do?

We can band together, organize and arm ourselves, and remove the power elite peacefully, or (far more likely if they resist) by force. Those in power stand absolutely no chance against even a fraction of the population if we are organized and willing to go all the way.

What can I do personally as a single person?

Too that end there is a LOT we as individuals can do to help bring this about, but first a word of caution: don't expect to see change overnight or even in your lifetime. The elite didn't take over in a day, or a month, or a year. They do things slowly, over generations, because they learned long ago that if you do things quickly, you risk revolt. That is one of their many, many forms of control. So we will likely end up in the same boat, fighting an almost endless class war for a long time prior to seeing the desired results. That is not to say it's hopeless or we might not see results, but that it is very likely to be a long uphill struggle.

Ok, with that out of the way here is what you can do. Arm yourself, and train. Be reasonably prepared (don't go prepper crazy, just be reasonable). Get in shape, eat right, DON'T put a single dollar into their hands if you can help it. Educate yourself. Start reading Zinn, Chomsky, Piketty, Dale Scott, and so on.

Most importantly, once the personal stuff is out of the way start to organize those around you. Start with family and friends. Don't be a pushy jerk or a zealot, just present your points when appropriate and try and get them to see the truth over time. Join local groups, or start them. Host movie nights for friends and coworkers to watch subversive films (9/11 the new pearl harbor, food inc, etc.) and discuss them. Start a book club that meets once a month or something and read some of the authors above, and discuss them. Take people to the local range and teach them to shoot, or sign up for Appleseed classes as a group. As the group grows, consider linking up with larger groups and taking direct action.

I'd like to think on a smaller level, encouraging creativity would be something of help. I'm a very musically inclined person and into writing/reading and the people I see around me (when I was in high school not long ago and in college now) is the creative people seem to be the ones more likely to think outside of the box.

Most young kids are naturally creative and full of imagination and I think encouraging them to stick with that would be better than trying to mold them into a grey box. At least locally, it seems parents favour kids learning Math and science so much that they're willing to sacrifice any create things schools teach.

Just my 2 cents as a younger person with a lot of dislike towards our educational system.

Spread the word as best as you can, don't stress too much. We are all in this together. Much respect.

You are doing what you can do already and it is helping. Your questions are encouraging. You are engaging in the conversation. There is a lot of good advice here in this thread. It doesn't matter if people look at you as if you are crazy for seeking the truth and wanting to educate others. The truth these days is a frightening thing and a difficult reality to accept.

Our country is in this current state because of the spread of disinformation and outright lies on a massive level. We can only fight the lies with the truth. The more people that wake up, the closer we are to bringing about change. Thanks for sharing, thanks for participating.

Find the archon. Break it. Find the wizard. Kill it.

This is the best advice. This is the only real conspiracy, and the vast majority of people wilfully participate.

Sell your house.

This is the best advice. This is the only real conspiracy, and the vast majority of people wilfully participate.

I think you'll find a lot of those are actually byproducts of burning any tobacco, whether it has additives or not. Unless you think tobacco companies are literally adding arsenic and cyanide to their products.

Some of them you listed, like butane and carbon monoxide, are impossible to "add" to a cigarette. Before you light it, anyway.