A simple psychological research test reveals a wealth of information about how our mind can play tricks on us, especially when it comes to money.

Participants were given a very monotonous meaningless task to perform and then given monetary incentive to lie to the next person that it was a very interesting task. Amazingly those least compensated actually came to believe their own lie, and most strongly defended the boring task. Transgression of integrity was the most easily denied by those who were paid the least, and ratiomalized by those who felt they had a solid financial reason to lie.

This gives us insight into why people believe whatever they’re told if the truth is too painful to admit. Focus on the real issues threatens the comfort of denial, and so we divert our eyes. As long as we’re asleep to the perilous state of democracy we prefer any petty distraction to doing our homework. And that plays right into the hands of destructive powers which exist only if we naively believe everything we hear on TV or read in the newspaper, without question.

Of course when we’re aware of how the mind works it’s much easier to catch ourselves. Unless of course our neural networks are completely anesthetized with fear, guilt, etc., then we’re susceptible and vulnerable, with no protection whatsoever from white-washing. It does happen, as we’ve seen during the events following Occupy Wall Street. We need to be fully awake don’t we, to detect the telling inconsistencies that constitute today’s methods of manipulation. (It seems Edgar Hoover’s soulless dynasty  has virtually cut out authentic Charlie Chaplin Hollywood; ever notice there’s no watchable new movies on iTunes lately, and where are all the real stars? Few and far between, and honestly I don’t see any who haven’t been compromised; Jim Carrey’s latest movie subvertly poking fun at Chaplin is the icing on the cake. I actually bought if for a minute, didn’t you? Although it’s interesting since posting this link on Twitter there’s a couple of Chaplin movies for rent without having to buy – rather obtuse but an improvement nonetheless.)

If video doesn’t appear then it’s been tampered with, and blog security has been breached.

Here’s an example from youtube, we can assess the validity of the information by analyzing discrepancies between Occupy protestors and impostors. If we observe the general demeanour of the three people in the video we see they are all the same, the sunglasses, the clothing, and they’re so accustomed to having their needs cared for they don”t realize they stand out In the crowd. Listen closely, their turn of phrase is more of a certain segment of American urbanite than Canadian. We don”t talk like that. And it’s certainly not characteristic of the group at Occupy Vancouver. How else can you tell if they’re ligit, or not? The police are lining up for their fancy pamphlets, and they’ve been well publicized by mainstream media.

However the kicker is the content of their message. They begin by setting the stage with a wishy washy pose they believe aligns with the peaceful milieu, except their exaggerated stance belies their intent. Each of the three pretenders has their own specialty, and this clues us in that they haven’t been randomly picked for the job. The real give-away is the third speaker who delivers the punch and divulges the agenda by introducing the concept of “privatization” as the economic future. This is in contrast to the interview by the award-winning journalist at Democracy Now where privatization of public domain is precisely identified as the cover by which our inalienable rights and freedoms are eroded. Rhetoric about how the 99% are suffering at the hands of inept government bureaucracy rounds out the package presumably making military takeover by security forces, worldwide, more socially acceptable.