Every moment of every day our minds are bombarded with words and thoughts and images that enter into our constant ongoing self and other-self inner conversation, that not-so-silent interior discussion assessing and evaluating all things surrounding us, affecting us, resulting in a greater awareness in some form or fashion. Our inherent desire for awareness comes from a greater desire to control one’s life or to have some semblance of feeling in control of our lives, to gain a satisfactory sense of stability and security. We cling to ideas that appeal to our conceptions of what is the better good for one’s self and family, one’s community, and for the entire population of the planet. Or do we?

Seems that we are a blighted society after all. Seems we have alienated and isolated ourselves so distantly from true nature of things that we live by the power of manipulative suggestions, misinformed thoughts, simulated experiences, perverted images, and deliberate campaigns of demented rhetoric. Seems our perceptions of things has gone awry when compared to the reality and truth. Seems we believe society saves us from corruption, yet it is a corrupt society that forms the lens through which we make value judgments.

Seems we think the truth should be communicated, yet communication of the essential is controlled by those with the means to supply information. Seems we’ve become hypocritical automatons, believing what we think is the truth because someone persuasive enough has taken advantage of our obliviousness, when if we were to use our critical skills, methodically, logically, and intellectually, we would be as intelligent as we falsely believe we are.

The power of suggestion, be it through words, sounds, or images, has never been more abundant than it is today. Persuasive rhetoric overwhelms our classrooms, our places of worship, what we see on television, what we hear on the radio, and what we read in newspapers and magazines. These appeals persuade not through the give-and-take of argument and debate, but through the manipulation of symbols and of our most basic human emotions. For better or worse, ours is an age of false consciousness. Or not?

So, how does it happen? Why do we ‘buy the myths?’ Why are we often not entirely dissuaded by evidence pointing to the contrary? Because the evidence pointing to the contrary is not entirely dissuasive? What happens when simplistic, emotional appeals are endlessly repeated? In our society, simple syllogisms are substituted for analysis, things are known by their labels, and our heart's desire dictates what we shall see. We know that no agent or agency has jurisdiction over the truth, yet finding the truth seems a futile impossibility. Are we really hypocritical automatons believing we are smart when in fact we are false consciousness sponges? I am beginning to understand that the majority of this society fits this description. Or am I seeing what I want to see because I am too cynical? Which of the following is more true: 1) Most people seek to control life's events in order to secure a more positive, productive, and free existence?; or, 2) Most people can barely manage to control their own self-centered, myopic existence?; or 3) Neither is true at all?

It is within this self-centered, myopic existence that false consciousness flourishes. Those in power need to identify with the public, and the public needs to identify with the cause--again, the hegemony of dominance. For the better good of all, we need to assess and evaluate the information provided to us instinctively. We need to unravel the messages being sent, critically and comprehensively. We need to get “there” from “here” and it needs to start sooner rather than later.

All questions, comments and criticisms are welcome.

Micheal, We aren't taught how to think, we are told what to think, you described how that transpires, filtered through technology etc etc...As is obviious around here there are those that never know what it means to think for onesself, you most definitly wouldn't want to ascribe to a religon its narrows your perspective and you become rigid and afraid always waiting for the next bad thing to happen, But as always micheal your posts are so well delivered , I find the idea of false conciousness interesting, go into that more namaste Sheri

Interesting heartfelt thoughts.
I want to see how this thread develops before posting more on the subject.
Great topic!

As you already know, Sheri, this is a primary topic that I integrate into almost every course that I teach. And, you already know that more than anything else, I teach my students how to learn, how to teach themselves, and how to teach each other: I have a completely decentered classroom.
I strive to instill critical awareness in them. I think it's great that some of my undergraduates have a good idea of what they want to do with their education and life skills, but just as important is that all of my undergraduates actually assess and evaluate their world--all of it, or as much as possible--and realize that the information they gather has been manipulated and framed so as to create a false consciousness.
Number one false consciousness topic: Sex (in the US). Britney, Jessica, Christina, Paris, et al, are "marked as the Other" because they express their sexuality. We can go back to Madonna, to Marilyn, to flippin' Betty Grable... and the message remains the same. Why? Lack of critical awareness + hypocritical American "family" values = False Consciousness.

#2: Religion. Public schools find it "slippery" to include World Religions as a basic core curriculum course. Ironically, it is during those prime socialization years, elementary and secondary school-age, that educating young minds about diversity in religion would do the most good.

#3: Race. (see Religion)

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“The world is my idea,” exclaims Arthur Schopenhauer, the philosopher of disillusion, in The World as Will and Idea, and he could not have been any more poignantly correct. What he means is that although each of us perceives a similar, familiar, and common world but not one which is exactly the same for each individual. Today, there is no such thing as Reality, only our singular perceptions of what we call reality that has been manipulated and modified.

Jean Baudrillard, in Simulacra and Simulation, argues this very point, and moreover, that reality is a constant construct either constructed for you or by you. Combining the assertions of these two profound observers, we arrive at a disturbing conclusion: the sublime nature, the sublime truth of reality does not exist. For, we cannot observe something without changing it. This is the primary logic behind Simulation and Simulacra. Consider the many filters and augmentations words, beliefs, and images go through before they are observed or divulged. It’s all contrived production. By the time it arrives at the eye or the ear, authorities, producers, directors, editors, reporters, rabbis, priests, ministers, politicians, "advocates" and the like have altered, consciously or unconsciously, the Actuality to Hyperreality.

For how many years have we been force-fed simulations of fabricated history?--but as William Hearst said, “never let a good story get in the way of the truth.” I was taught that Columbus discovered America, that “all men are created equal,” that we live in a democracy, that History is a factual reality; when, to the contrary, it's all been a deliberate manipulation to create the false consciousness.

*And, here I must agree with you, Sheri: It is a construct that is built upon Fear.*