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🡸 View the Keys ROTA: Mindgames Lessons in Reality Alpha Edition 14 June 2025 |
Lessons in Reality (2003)
Contents
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Warning!
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Addiction and habit make behavior predictable. If you know someone's addictions, you know what he or she will do. If you mass-addict people in specific ways, you know how a culture will behave.
You can learn a lot about a society by examining which addictions it values, and which addictions it fears. You might even learn who the true rulers of the culture are.
Addictive Substances
Addictive substances are basically a question of money, and how people see themselves.
Sugar
Sugar is a survival factor. We’re programmed to like the sweet and dislike the sour and bitter — it helped us distinguish between beneficial and unripe or harmful plants. Then we had a few million years to use sweet plants to improve the taste of boring plants. When sweets were treats, we couldn’t get too much. Then we learned how to extract sugar, refine sugar, and lower the cost. When everything is dripping with sugar, we get fat, we slow down, we get diabetes, and we die — and the sugar industry and the diet industry and the diabetes supplies industry1 and the healthcare provider industry and the mortuary industry all benefit.
Glycated (sugar coated) hemoglobin means your blood can carry less oxygen.
Take a candy making class. You’ll find that the more sugar you dissolve in water, the thicker and stickier the candy gets — syrup, molasses, and honey are concentrated forms of sugar water. You can even get sugar to precipitate out as rock candy — the same rock candy garden that children play with.
People used to think that if you put sugar into the fuel tank of an internal combustion engine, the sugar sludges up the fluids, clogs nozzles and injectors, and leaves carbon deposits everywhere. The carbon gets red-hot and causes knocking and pinging by exploding the fuel at the wrong time. This puts massive strain on the engine and often results in premature failure.
It isn't true. Sugar doesn't disolve in gasoline. The sugar just accumulates in the bottom of the gas tank. But many people still believe it does all that damage.
On the other hand, if you put too much sugar into the fuel tank of the human body, it sludges up the fluids, clogs valves and capillaries, and leaves deposits of free radicals everywhere. Free radicals put massive strain on the body and damage the organs. Free radicals cause premature aging.
Eat less sugar. Learn more self control. Don’t just substitute artificial sweetners for all of the sugar. Sugar is the toughest of all addictions to control because it’s built in, and because it hides inside other things. If you can learn to control sugar addiction, you can learn to control all the other addictions.
- The razor blade principle applies. Build a better blood sugar monitor that uses proprietary disposable test strips, give away the monitor and sell the test strips at high profit.
Nicotine/Tobacco
Nicotine is extremely physically addictive. Smoking tobacco kills one-third of its users. There is no effective government control. The legal gangsters who run the tobacco companies contribute greatly to the profits of the advertising industry, the health industry, the insurance industries, the mortuary industry, the government industry and the basic dishonesty and disintegrity of the political process.
The owners of the tobacco companies profit personally and directly from the sickness and death of your parents and your children.
The politicians who take bribes or campaign contributions from the tobacco industry profit personally and directly from the sickness and death of your parents and your children.
Both the stockholders of the tobacco industry who refuse to take responsibility for the company’s deadly products, and the politicians who take industry bribes and campaign contributions are just as guilty as the officers and the Board of Directors. The tobacco companies, their owners, and their owned politicians are all Worshipers at the Alter of the Great God Greed.
Alcohol and Marijuana
“. . .In the United States, there are an estimated 30 million people who grow up in alcoholic households. Yes, about 10 percent of our total population. . .”
GoAskAlice.Columbia.Edu
Child of an Alcoholic
Columbia University, 1998.
Most people think alcohol is only addictive to a small number of people. Those people, and their families, number in the tens of millions in the United States alone.
Why People Drink
- Alcohol creates an altered mental state some people find euphoric.
- Alcohol is a socially acceptable method of lowering inhibition. The use of alcohol allows sex or other interactions that are frightening or prohibited under other circumstances.
- Alcohol is used by many people for the “condom” effect. Alcohol is a Central Nervous System (CNS) depressant. In sufficient doses, alcohol creates a barrier between the self and reality. Alcohol blunts the full emotional impact of daily events. Alcohol blunts the full emotional impact of life experiences. Alcohol shuts off the mind.
Of course, there are problems associated with alcohol:
- As a CNS depressant, alcohol may make sex or other physical activity impossible.
- Driving under the influence of alcohol accounts for about 40% of traffic fatalities, usually to someone other than the drunk driver. Alcohol makes people reckless and slows reaction time significantly.
- Alcohol is frequently associated with violent behavior. Alcohol makes people stupid and disables the controls against violence.
- Alcohol is damaging to the mind of users. In high dosage it kills brain cells, then the drinker.
- Alcohol is particularly damaging to the mind of a fetus. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome generally results in sociopathic behavior because the alcohol damages the part of the mind that understands time and consequences.
- Alcohol is conveniently packaged in amounts that are deadly when consumed by one person. Some people who consume too much alcohol will become violently sick and vomit to rid their systems of as yet unabsorbed alcohol. Others who have already absorbed too much alcohol will die.
- Alcohol is addictive to about 15% of its users.
- Over 10% of the total population grows up in alcoholic households. Spouses and children are subject to beatings, neglect, and other collateral damage. The victims are also more likely to use the “condom” effect as an escape mechanism and become addicted to alcohol themselves.
Why People Smoke Pot
- Marijuana creates an altered mental state some people find euphoric.
- Marijuana is a socially acceptable method of lowering inhibition. The use of marijuana allows sex or other interactions that are frightening or prohibited under other circumstances.
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Marijuana is used by many people for the “condom” effect.
Marijuana creates a barrier between the self and reality.
Marijuana blunts the full emotional impact of daily events.
Marijuana blunts the full emotional impact of life experiences.
Marijuana shunts the mind in a different direction.
Marijuana is a tranquilizer and mood elevator. - Marijuana makes sex better for most users.1
- Marijuana makes sex possible or enjoyable for many older persons.
- Marijuana has significant medical uses.
- Marijuana is not an aphrodisiac; that is, it does not make you want sex. Marijuana makes everything more sensual, including sex and eating.
Of course, there are problems associated with marijuana:
- How high you can get depends on the strain you are using. Taking more won’t make you any higher. You can’t use marijuana to totally block out reality. You can’t use marijuana to kill yourself. For these purposes, alcohol works better.
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Marijuana tends to accentuate what’s already there. If you are creative, it makes you more creative. If you are talented, it boosts your talent. If you are Mrs. Clean, it makes you Mrs. Cleaner. If you are lazy, it makes you lazier. If you are suspicious, it makes you paranoid. If you are stupid, it makes you stupider. Some people benefit greatly, some people suffer greatly.
Caution! Marijuana tends to accentuate what’s already there. If you are creative, it makes you more creative. If you are talented, it boosts your talent. If you are Mrs. Clean, it makes you Mrs. Cleaner. If you are lazy, it makes you lazier. If you are suspicious, it makes you paranoid. If you are stupid, it makes you stupider. Some people benefit greatly, some people suffer greatly.
Warning! If you have been diagnosed with mental illness or emotional disorder, marijuana may make your problems worse and/or interfere with therapy. It also may help. The effects vary widely with individuals. Some people benefit greatly, some people suffer greatly. Please consult your mental health professional.
- Driving under the influence of marijuana may account for some traffic fatalities. Marijuana slows mental processing and makes driving or any “fast” activity terrifying. Marijuana slows reaction time significantly, but not as much as alcohol. As compensation, stoned persons are less likely to drive, and less foolish on the road. The apparent increased speed at which things seem to happen makes stoned drivers behave in ways that minimize risk.
- Marijuana is psychologically addictive to a small percentage of the population.
- Some varieties of marijuana (heavy indicas) have an amotivational effect on a small percentage of users who are already suffering from a general sense of failure — they sit around talking about things or dreaming about things, or falling asleep instead of doing things. They often neglect things that are necessary for survival such as personal hygiene and habitat sanitation. This is probably more related to the severity of the underlying psychological depression than to the soporific effect of the marijuana. In this case, the use of marijuana may delay the seeking of proper treatment for clinical depression.
- Some varieties of marijuana (sativas) may have a jittery or trippy high and can create a sense of paranoia.
- New users may suffer muscular coordination problems, dizziness, difficulty concentrating, confusion, difficulty walking, dry mouth, giggles, and the munchies (sugar craving).
- Marijuana smoke has far more burning plant matter than tobacco smoke. Some people may be allergic to the burning plant matter. However, lung cancer does not seem to be associated with marijuana smoking. Marijuana does not contain nicotine. The nicotine in tobacco breaks down into a cancer causing chemical (N Nitrosamine). Marijuana is a bronchial-dilator that opens up your lungs and makes it easier to expel foreign particles. Nicotine is a bronchial-constrictor that closes down your lungs and makes it harder to expel foreign particles.
At this time, marijuana is generally considered safe. Further research may indicate that smoking marijuana causes other chronic pulmonary diseases. In that event, don’t smoke it! The psychoactive chemicals are soluble in alcohols and fats and are easily used in the form of almost any food, drink, patch, pill, cream, or inhalant. If you insist on smoking it, easy to make water-pipes and vaporizers avoid most or all of the burning plant material.
What Difference Does It Make?
Alcohol is legal in most societies while marijuana is illegal. How do they compare in social consequences?
“Addictive behavior patterns occur rarely, even with heavy use of marijuana. Likewise, dangerous physical reactions are uncommon; the main physiologic effects of marijuana are increased appetite and a faster heartbeat, which is likely to be problem only for persons with cardiovascular disease. However, the drug's possible psychological effects such as amotivational syndromes as well as known psychomotor effects on driving ability still raise considerable concern.”
National Institute on Drug Abuse
www.drugabuse.gov
2002.
“. . .Around 50,000 people die each year from alcohol poisoning. Similarly, more than 400,000 deaths each year are attributed to tobacco smoking. By comparison, marijuana is nontoxic and cannot cause death by overdose. According to the prestigious European medical journal, The Lancet, ‘The smoking of cannabis, even long-term, is not harmful to health. ... It would be reasonable to judge cannabis as less of a threat ... than alcohol or tobacco.’”
The National Organization for
the Reform of Marijuana Laws
www.NORML.org
There are more than 60 chemicals in marijuana that may have medical uses.1 Most of these chemicals are soluble in fats and/or alcohols. Some of these chemicals would be useful drugs for multiple sclerosis (autoimmune disease), cancer treatment side-effects (nausea), AIDS treatment side effects (nausea and loss of appetite), glaucoma (excessive pressure inside the eye), depression, epilepsy, migraine headaches, asthma (bronchial-dilator), itching, and severe pain — generally anything that effects the nervous system can be moderated by marijuana. Other uses include lowering blood sugar, lowering blood pressure, and relief of arthritis pain.
- Many of them do have medical uses where it is not illegal. The pharmaceutical industry is working to correct this situation.
Variety — Pick Your Effect
There are two major (intoxicant) varieties of marijuana and countless hybrids:
- Indicas have a heavy, body high that inhibits physical activity and seems to drain energy. Some users sit around talking about things or dreaming about things instead of doing things.
- Sativas have an up, motivating, cerebral high. Rarely, a pure sativa variation is jittery or trippy and can cause paranoia.
- Most marijuana is a hybrid of one form or another. Commercially grown intoxicant hybrids range from 90% sativa to 90% indica. Even at the same percentages, individual strains have significant differences in effect. Each of the 60 psychoactive chemicals in marijuana smoke contributes to the total effect. By varying the concentration of each chemical, specific effects can be obtained and specific “brand names” associated with those effects.
But, OH WOW, Why is the Alcohol Industry so Afraid?
One joint of really good shit will last all evening. You aren’t going to sit around a bar and buy drink after drink. (Most marijuana users don’t do alcohol at all.) The more people who prefer pot as their recreational drug of choice, the less people who buy alcohol. Up until now, the alcohol industry has had no legal competition as a recreational drug. Another legal intoxicant would cut industry revenue significantly. There is no possible way that the alcohol industry could either boost prices or increase consumption enough to maintain current revenue streams and profitability.
And, OH WOW, Why is the Restaurant Industry so Afraid?
One joint of really good shit will last all evening. You aren’t going to sit around a restaurant and buy drink after drink. (Most marijuana users don’t do alcohol at all.) Marijuana makes most things taste better, so even mediocre home cooking tastes good. The more people who prefer pot as their recreational drug of choice, the fewer people who patronize restaurants, and the greater the loss of alcohol revenues. A legal intoxicant that patrons won’t buy from restaurants would cut industry revenue significantly.1
- Alcohol is the major moneymaker for most restaurants that serve it. Alcohol has a much higher profit margin and subsidizes the food.
And, OH WOW, Why is the Pharmaceutical Industry so Afraid?
Marijuana can be anything from a soporific sedative (heavy indica) to a mild tranquillizer, to a hypnotic, to a stimulant (heavy sativa). It replaces hundreds of prescription drugs that are less effective and less safe. The pharmaceutical industry will lose a significant portion of their sales. It is an effective treatment for most forms of nausea. Even over-the-counter remedies will lose significant sales. Marijuana works better for headaches, depression, and arthritis than almost anything else available.
The pharmaceutical industry is the most profitable industry in the world. The pharmaceutical industry provides the most incentives (to everyone it can) to keep competitors off the market. Marijuana could force the pharmaceutical industry to much lower profits. The pharmaceutical industry cannot raise the price of prescription drugs enough to compensate for revenue lost to marijuana without causing a groundswell revolt that the politicians will have no choice but to follow.
On the other hand, the health insurance industry would be delighted to get an over-the-counter remedy (not covered) that is more effective than many expensive prescriptions (covered). It could lower the cost of health insurance — for the insurers, not for you.
And, OH WOW, Why is the Tobacco Industry so Afraid?
The tobacco industry is afraid of truth. Tobacco kills people.1 The government allows this murder for profit so politicians can collect the taxes, campaign contributions, and bribes. The tobacco industry doesn’t want to be in the spotlight.
Now any reasonable person would ask: “Why doesn’t the tobacco industry just become the marijuana industry?” Most people who know anything about it would answer: “Because you can grow marijuana at home, without much effort, and without paying taxes.” That makes it a lot cheaper than cigarettes and a lot easier than growing tobacco.
Most marijuana users don’t do tobacco at all. It makes them cough.
- "Tobacco kills one smoker in two", New Scientist, 10/15/1994.
And, OH WOW, Why is the Law Enforcement Industry
so Afraid?
In two words:
budget cuts.
Not bloody likely, ever.
In eight words:
Go after dangerous criminals instead of senior citizens.1
Check the news for 2002. Learn all about the Nursing Home Raids. The Feds go after California’s senior citizens.
In twenty words or less:
Some members of the Law Enforcement industry feel it would be a good thing if marijuana were legalized. Some don’t.
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Condensed from:
“War on Medical Pot a War Against Reason,” by Ethan Nadelmann, The San Francisco Chronicle, Tuesday, September 24, 2002.
“Early this month, DEA agents armed with automatic weapons raided a hospice on the outskirts of Santa Cruz because it grew and used marijuana for its patients, most of them terminally ill. The founder and director, Valerie Corral, who uses marijuana to control debilitating seizures as a result of head trauma following a 1973 car accident, was taken away in her pajamas. Suzanne Pfeil, a paraplegic patient suffering from postpolio syndrome, was told to stand up and then handcuffed in bed when she could not. All the plants were destroyed.
“Of all the medical marijuana clubs, this was the one most true to the hospice spirit. It was a collective, run on a nonprofit basis. Corral and her husband had created a place that brought peace, love and some measure of freedom from pain to those who came. Like the Brompton Cocktails found in British hospices, which can contain heroin or morphine, cocaine, alcohol and other pharmaceutical ingredients, the medicine was unconventional but effective.
“Corral's hospice was legal under California law, a product of Proposition 215, the 1996 ballot initiative in which 56 percent of voters endorsed the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes. She was and is a member of California Attorney General Bill Lockyer's 1999 medical marijuana policy task force. Her hospice was run openly with cooperation from state and local authorities.”
And, OH WOW, Why is the Political Industry so Afraid?
The political industry is afraid of truth. You’ve probably figured out by now that the government lies to you about sex, about music, about tobacco, about alcohol, about psyllocybin, about marijuana,1 and about almost everything else.
The government lies because it cannot allow the true nature of addiction and its commercial uses to be known to the public. General knowledge of the commercial uses of addiction would undermine the infrastructure of capitalistic society.
The government doesn’t want you to lose trust and make it harder for politicians to benefit from taxes, campaign contributions, and bribes. Stupidity and misinformation are the major weapons in the arsenal of the political industry.
- Drugs, sex, and rock ‘n’ roll.
And, OH WOW, Why is the Illegal Drug Industry so Afraid?
The illegal drug industry exerts every influence it can on politicians to keep marijuana illegal. If marijuana became legal, the prices would drop and the taxes would rise. The illegal drug industry would lose a multi-billion dollar market lmost overnight to legal commercial competition. South American governments would fall. Teenagers might begin to believe the government had a reality-based drug policy and avoid other more dangerous drugs. The illegal marijuana industry would be reduced to the level of interstate cigarette smugglers avoiding local taxes. Big loss of income, big loss of face.
I Don’t Know About You, . . .
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Better sex.
A nice, sativa-indica hybrid makes dancing in the dark much more fun. Try out different brands until you find the one you like best for dancing. -
Better fantasy.
A nice, mostly sativa hybrid makes reading this book much more fun. Try out different brands until you find the one you like best for reading. -
No hangover.
A mostly sativa hybrid won’t give you a hangover. On the other hand, a mostly indica hybrid will give you a mild hangover, but not as bad as the mildest alcoholic hangover. -
No obnoxious drunks.
You can avoid most of the danger of being around drunks by not hanging out in alcohol bars and not serving alcohol where you do hang out. Potheads are almost always non-violent.1 -
Lower cost.
You can grow it yourself very easily. It costs far less than tobacco. It’s easier, and more fool proof than brewing your own wine or beer. It’s very similar to growing a potted bonsai house plant. -
The condom effect.
While you can’t totally blot out reality with marijuana the way you can with alcohol, you can limit some of the major emotional and physical effects. It’s generally antidepressant and analgesic.
- Marijuana acts as a tranquilizer unless some street dirty-dealer has added PCP or another dangerous chemical to make it more exciting and expensive. PCP is frequently associated with violence, spazmatic body motions, and total loss of control.
How it Could Happen
Marijuana has a great deal of commercial potential. Some varieties of the plant have excellent fiber for making cloth, other varieties for making paper. Oil can be extracted from the seeds and used to power standard diesel engines.
As a food crop, hemp (marijuana) seed won’t get you high at all (no THC) and has higher quality protein than soybeans (but not as much). It is very easy to digest, and can be used by people who have trouble digesting food. Hemp is the only seed that contains fatty acids necessary for human nutrition with almost no saturated fat. A handful of seeds a day provides sufficient protein and fatty acids for an adult.
The hemp plant requires little fertilizer, and grows well almost everywhere. It aids in soil erosion control, resists common agricultural pests, and recycles nutrient minerals and nitrogen to the soil. A little less fertilizer and a little less pesticide would be a good thing to everybody except the fertilizer industry, the pesticide industry, and the chemical warfare industry.1
As an intoxicant, marijuana can be easily branded for specific effects over a wide range. Similarly, as a medicine, marijuana can be easily branded for specific effects. Fat and alcohol solubility allow delivery for either recreational or medical use through a wide variety of media including pills, foods, beverages, inhalants, and trans-dermal patches or creams.
It’s all a matter of who gets the profits, taxes, campaign contributions, and bribes.
- If things change, existing industries will suffer, and currently rich and powerful people will become less rich and less powerful.
- If things change, different or new industries will prosper and new entrepreneurs will become richer and more powerful.
- Change is never appreciated by the existing power structure.
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If the new entrepreneurs convince the public that the old politicians only care about preserving the status quo of the rich and the powerful (including the old politicians), then:
- New politicians will replace the old politicians.
- The new politicians will be helped on their way up, and then owned by the new entrepreneurs.
- There will be a very large tax on recreational marijuana, and a very high price for “FDA Approved, consistent dosage” medical marijuana from the pharmaceutical industry.
- There will be major government-sponsored scare campaigns against un-refined and therefore un-taxed marijuana, with lots of contrived reasons why marijuana is unsafe if not certified and taxed.2
In short, you need to change the government so that it serves the people instead of serving the rich and the powerful and the corporations.
Fortunately, marijuana is so easy to grow at home that you can sabotage all of the WAGGGs by doing it yourself.
- It makes it difficult to disguise a chemical weapons plant as a pesticide plant.
- Remember the paraquat scare? Paraquat was used as a herbicide by the government to kill marijuana. Paraquat is very toxic by inhalation, ingestion and if absorbed through the skin. It is a possible mutagen and a possible carcinogen. It is very destructive of mucous membranes and causes burns. Evidence suggests that long-term, heavy smoking of marijuana contaminated with paraquat may cause lung scarring. Paraquat has been banned in eleven countries. Paraquat is applied to bananas, cocoa, coffee, cotton, palm oil, pineapple, rubber, and sugar cane. The government gave wide publicity to the dangers of marijuana sprayed with paraquat. The government didn’t mention bananas, cocoa, coffee, cotton, palm oil, pineapple, rubber, and sugar cane. That’s how the government informs its own citizens so that they can protect their own health.
Hallucinogens/LSD/Psyllocybin/
Magic Mushrooms
Most hallucinogens aren’t dangerous in controlled circumstances. In uncontrolled situations there are some problems:1
- Some hallucinogens can make you very sick or kill you if you overdose. Other hallucinogens won’t kill you no matter how much you take. You need to know which is which. You can expect your friendly neighborhood drug dealer to insist that whatever he’s selling is safe. It isn’t.
- Some first-time users may believe their hallucinations are real and take dangerous actions. Always take your first trip with an experienced guide.
- The most serious problem with non-poisonous hallucinogens is that they may create a sense of alienation. Frequently the world looks “drab,” humdrum, and worthless when coming down from a trip. Because of the rapid tolerance problem, you can’t stay high continuously. Coming back from a sparkling hallucinogenic world to the drab world of everyday life may be depressing, and may be a contributing factor to some suicides.
- The most serious problem with poisonous hallucinogens is unintended suicide. (Homicide if you gave them to somebody else.)
Hallucinogens are very useful as psychological warfare weapons (induced fear), as instruments of interrogation (truth drugs), and as religious conversion or transcendence aids. Hallucinogens boost suggestivity and can help others convince you that illusions are truth.2
Occasionally, hallucinations are frightening and may recur years later.
Most hallucinogens are not physically addicting. Rapid tolerance makes it impractical to use them more than about once a week. They won’t work well two days in a row, no matter how much more you take.
Hallucinogens may be psychologically addicting to people with low perceived self worth.
Hallucinogens of any sort are frightening to parents. Parents are afraid of harm to their children. Parents are afraid of the deadly mushrooms and the dirty dealers. Parents are afraid their children will commit suicide. Parents are (justifiably) afraid their children aren’t bright enough to learn what is safe and what is not.
Psyllocybin Cubensis mushrooms are extremely easy (and very illegal most places) to grow at home. Psyllocybin Cubensis can’t kill you in any dose;3 it doesn’t leave a hangover; and is usually far pleasanter than alcohol. Individual results will vary. The experience isn’t always pleasant, and Psyllocybin mushrooms taste terrible — the taste makes some people really sick even though the mushrooms aren’t deadly.4
Once a week use, without physical addiction, isn’t enough to make selling hallucinogens a large enough market to the major Worshipers at the Alter of the Great God Greed. Only the law enforcement industry and the illegal drug industry benefit from this class of drugs. It’s small change, but it’s another place the government lies to you.
- Hallucinogens are mostly bitter tasting alkaloids — to warn you they may be deadly.
- Truth drugs work by making you suggestible. The interrogator helps you hallucinate being somewhere safe with someone you can talk to. Then it’s just a matter of eavesdropping. LSD has also been used to induce terror without actual physical torture. The problem isn’t the drugs. The problem is not being able to trust the people around you when they’re drugging you.
- Of course the gray powder you bought in the unmarked envelope might not be the Psyllocybin Cubensis you asked for. It could mushroom into a life or death situation.
- There may be sensitive individuals who are violently allergic. Psyllocybin Cubensis isn’t widely enough used for there to be any statistics available.
Depressants/Opium/Morphine/Heroin/Oxycodon
Painkillers.1 They shut off all feeling. People don’t take painkillers to get high; they take painkillers to escape the pain of living. Escaping the pain of living is eventually fatal.2 Painkillers are extremely addictive because you hurt when you stop taking them. All of them are deadly in overdose.
This market is a little too obvious for the ordinary capitalist gang,3 so it has been taken over by the criminal capitalist gang.4 The law enforcement industry the illegal drug industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the emergency medical industry, the detoxification industry, and the mortuary industry benefit from this class of drugs. This is the big-time.
- Painkillers are mostly bitter tasting alkaloids — to warn you they are deadly.
- Painkillers are a one-way ticket on the express train to Hell. The problem is that if you need the painkillers, you may welcome the ticket. You need to know that this one is for real and you can get caught on the tracks. Don’t go there if you’re planning on ever coming back.
- Who don’t want to be accused of killing one-another’s children.
- Who don’t want to be accused of leaving their rivals or their rivals’ children alive.
Stimulants/Cocaine/Amphetamines/Speed/Crack
Overloads.1 They overwhelm the mind. People don’t take overloads to get high; they take overloads to escape the pain of living. Escaping the pain of living is eventually fatal.2 Overloads are extremely psychologically addictive because you can’t cope with life when you stop taking them. Some of them overload you physically to death.
This market is a little too obvious for the ordinary capitalist gang,3 so it has been taken over by the criminal capitalist gang.4 The law enforcement industry the illegal drug industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the emergency medical industry, the detoxification industry, and the mortuary industry benefit from this class of drugs. This is the big-time.
- Overloads are mostly bitter tasting alkaloids — to warn you they are deadly.
- Another one-way ticket on the express train to Hell. The problem is that if you need the overloads, you may welcome the ticket. You need to know that this one is for real and you can get caught on the tracks. Don’t go there if you’re planning on ever coming back.
- Who don’t want to be accused of killing one-another’s children.
- Who don’t want to be accused of leaving their rivals or their rivals’ children alive.
Designer Drugs D’Jour
The big guys keep trying to lock the little guy out of the market. Selling designer drugs is one of the ways the upwardly mobile drug-lord/entrepreneur carves out a market niche.
The real problem is: what’s in the pill? You can’t tell until you take it. Do you trust your criminal drug dealer with your life? Do you trust the geek in the lab with your life? Will they trust you to pay tomorrow? Do they accept credit cards and actually return them?
Some originally pharmaceutical drugs such as MDMA [3-4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine, “XTC”] and the date-rape drugs (Rohypnol [flunitrazepam], GHB [gamma-hydroxybutyrate] and others) turn people into zombies with little or no will of their own. These drugs are not always taken voluntarily. They are sometimes deadly. They are mostly tasteless and odorless and slipped into your drink when you aren’t looking.
Another originally pharmaceutical drug, PCP [phencyclidine, “Angel Dust,” “Embalming Fluid”] causes agitation, delusions, irrational behavior, and violence. High doses of PCP can also cause seizures, coma, and death. (Death usually results from accidental injury or suicide during PCP intoxication). PCP has a reputation as a drug that causes bad reactions. Most people avoid using PCP a second time. It keeps resurfacing in the illegal drug trade under new names because it is addictive to some people, and because teenagers are stupid enough to buy it just because it is illegal. It is sometimes added to marijuana to boost the price.
Ketamine [2-(2-chlorophenyl1)-(methylamino)-cyclohexanone hydrochloride, “Special K”] is a veterinary and medical anesthetic. It is a relative of PCP, but not quite as dangerous for most people because it causes paralysis rather than violence. It causes dissociation (mind and body separation). Like the date rape drugs, the primary problem is that somebody can be raping your body while your mind is off somewhere else, doing something else. Unlike the date rape drugs, you’ll probably remember being raped. If being awake and paralyzed frightens you, or if you become frightened by what someone else is doing to you, you will have a very bad trip.
The law enforcement industry, the criminal drug industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the emergency medical industry, the mortuary industry, and the health-food supplement industry benefit from this class of drugs.1
- Never trust a drug dealer.
What’ll the Kids Think of Next?
There are always some kids who want to get high and are too stupid to do it safely or worry about the consequences. This is where glue sniffing, inhaling from spray cans, and sniffing industrial solvents came from. They all cause lung or brain damage. They’re all deadly in the short run.
It is the Community’s business to educate children about drugs to the extent that the children can protect themselves. If your parents didn’t tell you, it’s their fault. If they did tell you, and you didn’t believe them, it’s your fault. Do you really care who’s fault it is if you’re dead?
It is not the Community’s business to protect you from your own stupidity. It’s to the community’s advantage if stupid people eliminate themselves from the gene pool.
Addiction to Substances
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Warning!
To keep your people-suit in good repair, you need to understand the reasons and the attitude, and not the specifics, because the specifics will change over time and place.1 |
- This is a work of fiction. Don’t believe everything you read here. I may lie as much as the government does. Do your own research.
A Parental Predicament
If you are a parent, ask yourself these questions:
When tobacco and alcohol, two of the most deadly drugs known are completely legal, how can I convince my child that drugs are bad (other than by dying of lung cancer or cirrhosis of the liver)?
When the drug companies are busy advertising both prescription and over-the-counter pills for everything in life that isn’t perfect, how can I convince my child that drugs are bad? If I believe in Snake Oil, why shouldn’t my kids believe in drugs?
If I take tranquilizers or pain pills every day, how can I convince my child that drugs are bad?
Then ask yourself this question:
If I did as my parents did, instead of doing as my parents said, why should I expect my children do as I say, instead of doing as I do?
A junkie is a junkie is a junkie.1
- And pigeons on the grass are pigeons on the grass, alas. Alas, pigeons on the grass. No matter what politically correct euphemism you put on drug addiction, a pill-head is a pill-head is a pill-head. The name doesn’t change the nature of the beast. Things are what they are. Some people are vitamin-pill junkies.
Addictive Activities
For an addiction (or any habitual behavior) to exist, there must be a reward or payoff. When you are unaware of the payoff, it is usually part of the hidden agenda.
Almost any activity can be addicting. The activity needs to be reasonably repetitive and have a payoff associated with the repeated behavior.1 The payoff does not have to be beneficial, only desired. When someone learns to associate pain with caregivers, the nature of the payoff should not be a surprise. Or maybe, it’s just a matter of an infant doing whatever it took to please some adult or to avoid violent attention. The nature of this payoff is not a surprise either.
But there is never just one payoff. There are hundreds of repetitive activities. Each activity is based on part of the infant’s relationship with any self-propelled entity consistently present in its environment. There is an activity for each of the ways the relationship is acted out. Several of these payoffs will usually be combined in any activity undertaken by any adult.
The common activity addictions are divided into the following general categories for commercial simplification and exploitation:
- Repetitive enough, in either activity or methodology, so that it can be done on auto-pilot without the necessity of frequently examining the addiction on a conscious level. This leaves the mind free to enjoy whatever the payoff is.
Addiction to Sex
Having the time and the testosterone causes addiction to sex. Every conceivable method has been tried both to suppress addiction to sex and to exploit addiction to sex. Every conceivable accessory, toy, media fantasy, and worthless gadget, cream, and pill is available at nominal extra cost.
The sex-industry marketing people just have another way to manipulate you into buying more.
Addiction to Work
- Some people enjoy stimulation provided by repetitive application of a complex methodology. They find work a mental challenge, by which a non-trivial result is achieved. Examples: detectives, scientists, archaeologists, arbitrage traders, bank robbers. Some aspect of the job is exciting.
- Some people enjoy the “condom” effect created by repetitive application of a simple methodology. They find work a stimulus barrier that provides a certain anesthesia to their own lives.
- Some people find the work environment less threatening and are addicted to the social aspects of the workplace.
- Some people begin by pretending to be addicted to work so they don’t have to go home — alone, or to others they’d rather avoid.
Any or all of the above. The electronic-appointment-book-with-gadgets-industry marketing people just have another way to manipulate you into buying more.
Addiction to Sleep
Addiction to sleep is generally indicative of depression. Your inner child has decided to express itself by withdrawing from the world. This is not convenient for any of the usual marketing people.
The antidepressant-drug-industry and the private-clinic-industry marketing people direct advertising to your relatives so your relatives can buy products and services to drug you back into the marketplace.
Of course, if you’re withdrawing from the world to get away from your relatives. . .
Addiction to Shopping
Addiction to shopping may start with taking children shopping. Children want everything in the store. Adults often bribe the children to behave. Adults often chastise the children to behave by threatening or acting-out punishment. Some adults reward and punish on the same trip; which certainly sends a mixed message. Some adults have learned to avoid taking children shopping.
The payoff for those addicted to shopping is the pleasure of an adult bribe to yourself for good behavior somewhere else in your life — unless the payoff is the pain of an adult punishment to yourself for not behaving somewhere else in your life.
Or both of the above. Or neither of the above.
So you go shopping to reward yourself or to punish yourself for what’s happening in your life as interpreted by your inner child. The self-indulgence-industry marketing people just have another way to manipulate you into buying more.
Addiction to Collecting
Addiction to collecting may start with souvenir hunting.
- In some cultures, whenever mommy or daddy (or another immediate family member) goes away, they bring back a souvenir to prove to the stay-at-homes that the traveler really was where he or she was supposed to be.
- In some cultures, whenever mommy or daddy (or another immediate family member) goes away, they bring back a souvenir to share the experience with the stay-at-homes.
The souvenirs are usually in the form of gifts for the younger family members. Anticipation of “travel gifts” is an adult bribe to behave while someone is away.
If there are several gifts to be provided, the problem becomes: what to get for whom? If you know what kind of things each likes, it’s easiest to just get the same kind of thing each time. This puts the younger family members on the collection addiction path. Athena collects owls and Thor collects hammers.
Some adults encourage children to collect things of a similar kind:
- The adult knows what to bring home as a bribe for behaving while the adult is away.
- The adult knows how to share the experience with the child by telling about the “discovery” of the souvenir or about the souvenir itself.
- The adult is playing Sesame Street and trying to teach the child “Which of these objects go together? Which of these objects doesn’t belong?”
- The adult is teaching the child to collect natural objects, either for food, or as toys to keep busy with and out of adult hair.1
The payoff is the pleasure of having a bigger, more complete collection, or the pain and frustration of having an incomplete collection. Or Both. Or Neither. The collectibles-industry marketing people just have another way to manipulate you into buying more.
- Being able to group edible items together was probably a survival trait in a hunter/gatherer tribal society. Now it is exploited commercially by toy collections — instead of selling one toy, sell the whole collection, one-at-a-time. It is also exploited commercially by the purchase premium industry. Catalog redemption and airline miles are examples of this “collect-points & buy-more” sales tool. So are all “trading cards.”
Addiction to Sports
An addict ion to sports is an expression of xenophobia. It’s the old Us against Them game in male (geo-political) mind space. Sports are a far safer outlet for this form of aggression than war. Soccer balls may be as useful as food and shelter in some developing situations.
The exhibition-industry, memorabilia-industry, and sports-equipment-industry marketing people just have another way to manipulate you into buying more.
Addiction to Socialization
An addiction to socialization is an expression of xenophobia. It’s the old Us against Them game in female (interaction) mind space. The men protect the physical space of the tribe and the women protect the emotional space of the tribe. Socialization is a defense mechanism that builds a wall against outsiders. Soap operas may be as useful as food or soccer balls or shelter in some developing situations.
The romance-industry marketing people just have another way to manipulate you into buying more.
Addiction to Interactive Entertainment (Web Head)
An addiction to interactive entertainment is an expression of xenophobia. It’s the old Us against Them game moved into cyberspace. Virtual communities based on common interests establish unity through games, or message boards, or chat rooms, or newsgroups.
Addiction to interactive entertainment is a way of being a member of some tribe without regard to geography. It is a way of finding your own, personal tribe when you feel abandoned by all others.
The communications-industry marketing people just have another way to manipulate you into buying more.
Addiction to Eating
Animal trainers have learned an amazing thing. Most animals learn faster and better with emotional rewards than they do with food rewards.
Most fat people have learned that eating brings an emotional reward. Parents bribe children with food. Parents act pleased when children clean their plates. But some people do it to themselves.
Sometimes eating isn’t the reward, but a way of hiding. They won’t pick me/notice me if I’m fat. It’s safer not to stand out. It’s safer not to be attractive. The emotional reward is being safe.
Sometimes it’s a matter of role models, disguised as genetics: All of the men/women in my family are heavy. I don’t identify with thin. The reward is fitting in — being just like mommy or daddy.
Sometimes it is genetics.
The reward-food-industry and the diet-industry marketing people just have another way to manipulate you into buying more.
Addiction to Passive Entertainment (Couch Potato)
To hold your attention, dramatic and comedic entertainment use stereotyped characters in a limited number of categories. This allows you (the passive spectator) to find a character with whom you identify, or to find a character who reminds you of somebody you care about. This “identification,” or placement of yourself in the scene with the characters, allows you to share vicarious emotions with them. When you become interested in, and care about, the characters, you will tune in for the next thrilling/hilarious episode. And during frequent intermissions: “Here’s what we’re offering for people just like you!”
I enjoyed Miami Vice. It was a fun, action show. I have no doubt at all that Miami Vice glamorized the criminal life style in a way that made the less violent, white-collar criminals, (who thought they were smarter than drug dealers), want to find their own paths to wealth, power, and luxury. Collateral damage of criminal glorification — unfortunate side effect.1 In retrospect, some things that seem obvious to me will be explained as coincidences by others. Neither explanation can ever be proved or disproved.
The prime-time marketing people just have another way to manipulate you into buying more.
This is the birthplace of modern demographics. They find a way to classify you (a demographic), aim a show at your particular demographic, include advertisements and product placements whose style is designed to appeal to your demographic, and sell products specifically designed for your demographic.2
This is the big one. Everything depends on you being predictable. If you’re predictable, you have a demographic. If you become unpredictable, they don’t know how to sell to you! It works like this:
- You can tell who the fantasy is aimed at by the age and sex of the actors, the subject or plot, and by the sophistication of the script, the sets, the costumes, the makeup, the props, and the music.
- When you see the fantasy where you fit in and feel comfortable, you are at your motivational level. Here’s what we’re offering for people just like you!
That’s how to find the car that suits you. That’s how to find the mass-media entertainment program that suits you. That’s how to find the pornography that suits you. That’s how to find the vacation that suits you.
- If you think that you think for yourself, you might be more interested in quality and bang for the buck. There’s a category for that too, but it’s not called a demographic. That category comes complete with shows and commercials aimed just that way.
- But there is no solution for the person who really thinks for himself or herself and decides that they don’t need useless products, let alone your product, no matter what mistruth you tell. Those must be the people who like themselves instead of living in fear of social rejection. Those must be the people who believe in themselves.
The find-your-own-level principle applies to advertising, to selection of sexual and life partners, to entertainment, and to employment. This is how we read the hidden advertising of others without being aware that we have done it. This is how we send out advertising to others without being aware that we have done it.
Thinking for yourself makes advertising and salesmanship much more expensive and much less effective. It also lets you get backstage, in the wings of the theater, behind reality, in the land where they pull the levers and push the buttons and dream up the dreams.
- So go sue Marshal McLuhan.
- Compare the commercials for a “young person’s first car” and for “the successful executive’s luxury toy.” Compare the shows during which these commercials appear.
Addiction to Religion
Religious addictions are for those who always wanted mommy or daddy to take care of them. But somehow, they could never figure out exactly how to entice or compel mommy or daddy to do this care-taking-thing exactly the right way.
Religious addictions are for those who always wanted the world to make sense.1
A religious addiction is an appeal to a Higher Authority. (It’s bigger than both of us!)
The payoff is certainty in an uncertain world.
The word of [substitute your favorite god’s name here] has told us how we must:
- <behave>
- <deal with this situation>
- <try to survive bad sanitation>
- <train our children>
- <discriminate against others>
- <etc., etc., etc.>
All according to principles that were valid and useful in [substitute your favorite god’s name here]’s time and place.
It’s nice to have certainty in your life. If [substitute your favorite god’s name here] made a mistake, or didn’t think far enough into the future to see this latest coming disaster, you’re royally screwed — which is another kind of payoff. Some people like to suffer for their religion.
Many people have an incumbent belief system. That means the current belief system is subject to change if another belief system is found that is more attractive or more convenient — or has a higher payoff.
Will there be One Favorite God; or a god d’jour? Religious addiction doesn’t have much to do with the belief system — it has to do with the emotional payoff of believing in it.
The religious-artifact-industry and the revival-televangelist-industry marketing people just have another way to manipulate you into buying more.2
- Present company included.
- Speaking of the religious-relics-industry, there are no holy relics of ROTA. ROTA is a fiction, a Mindgame; the relics are all imaginary. Don’t get suckered in by a Holy Icon Artist.
Addiction to Gambling
Some people believe in magic. They think they can influence the roll of the dice or make a deal with Lady Luck. Most governments encourage this belief. Most governments use the numbers racket (lottery) and the gambling industry as a way to raise revenues. Most lawyers encourage this belief, by comparing the predicted outcome of class actions suits as similar to winning the lottery.
The casino-industry and government-lottery-industry marketing people just have another way to manipulate you into losing more. The class-action-law-industry marketing people just have another way to manipulate you into making them richer for pittance compensation.
Remember, it’s not the Community’s business to protect you from your own stupidity. It’s to the community’s advantage if stupid people eliminate themselves from the gene pool.
Addiction to Power
It’s not about right.
It’s not about wrong.
It’s about power.
Paraphrased from
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Season 7, Episode 1
Power is about doing what you want to do when you want to do it. Power is about controlling others so that they do your bidding. There is little difference between an abusive spouse and an abusive dictator — the abusive dictator is just smarter, has more delusions of grandiosity, and needs a bigger audience than the abusive spouse. They’re both bullies at heart. They are no different from the playground bully, just older, bigger, and meaner. Let’s face it: a bully is a bully is a bully. We ought to stop them while they’re young. We ought to name them what they are: an extortionist is an extortionist is an extortionist.
Religion, politics, business, entertainment — they are only paths to power. It’s not about right; it’s about divine right conferred on the priest. It’s not about right; it’s about the rights of the people conferred on the politician. It’s not about right; it’s about the rights of the wealthy conferred on the corporate officers. It’s not about right; it’s about the power of charisma to influence others.
The problem lies in the idea of hierarchy. If you start with “god,” “the leader,” “the CEO,” or “the A-list” at the top of the pyramid, then everybody wants to be closer to the top or higher up in the hierarchy — it makes them superior so they can claim that their family jewels are bigger and better than the family jewels of all those lower. It gives them the right to bully others. It’s just the playground bully translated to different venues. It’s just a different form of extortion.
The gilded-codpiece-industry marketing people just have another way to manipulate you into buying more.
Addiction to Activities
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Warning!
To keep your people-suit in good repair, you need to understand the reasons and the attitude, and not the specifics, because the specifics will change over time and place.1 |
- This is a work of fiction. Don’t believe everything you read here. I may lie as much as the government does. Do your own research.
Community Values
Now consider which of these (and other) addictions are positively valued (legal), and which of these are negatively valued (illegal). Consider who profits. That will tell you a lot about the hidden agenda of your community.
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Tune in, turn on, and shell out. |
The Forbidden Addiction
Thinking for yourself.
It throws a monkey wrench into the works.
It makes you unpredictable.