How Deep?

As I’ve written previously, the Deep State pulls the strings of American Empire. Most rational people, motivated at least periodically by evidence, understand this simple fact. To claim the evidence is clear is a huge understatement. Even a corporate media outlet occasionally admits as much.

On the other hand, I doubt most people can even imagine how deep the Deep State goes. A couple of simple online searches demonstrate with ample evidence what few are willing to admit, even to themselves. For example, the CIA employed Gloria Steinem. The CIA turned Jackson Pollock into a household name. The Deep State has tentacles that penetrate nearly every aspect of life in the United States and therefore throughout the industrialized world. The Deep State has been intricately entangled with the corporate media for nearly a century. A reasonable overview finds that, “the CIA and the corporate mainstream media cannot be distinguished.”

You believe you and I are in control of anything that matters, beyond our personal, individual lives? Surely you jest.

I am not suggesting the Deep State is in control of everything. Much as they’d prefer otherwise, the folks pulling the strings of empire sometimes fail.

Given the evidence, why do so many humans live in denial? I have a hypothesis I’d like to share. First, though, a definition: A hypothesis, from the scientific perspective I’ll use here, is a candidate explanation. The pattern in this case is denial of abundant evidence. My hypothesis is a potential explanation for the pattern.

At some level, denial is undoubtedly locked into our DNA. I suspect that only by denying death was the first person able to exit the cave, traverse the raging river, cross the daunting mountain range, and generally expand the range of the tribe.

Does the pattern of denying evidence extend to knowledge that threatens the psyche as well as the body? How could it not?

The psyche being threatened by the notion of American Empire is the one of exceptional individualism. Most Americans hear daily, from birth, that America is the greatest country ever to exist, and also that Americans have a strong sense of individuality. The latter characteristic is said to contribute to the former one. According to this narrative, the collection of rugged individualists throughout history makes for a country of exceptional freedoms. People in the United States are told this nonsense so frequently they come to believe it! They also typically believe the United States is a democracy or a republic, rather than an oligarchy. They also believe their own president is in charge of important matters, rather than serving as a distraction for the easily and willingly distracted populace.

All this seems ridiculous to observers outside the United States of Entitlement. But only because it is ridiculous.

Change is difficult, especially the kind of change that involves one’s own identity. Learning is also difficult, in part because serious unlearning is required before anything of significance can be learned. When painted into a corner by evidence, forced to accept the uncomfortable truth, is it any wonder many people choose continued delusion instead? Is it any wonder people will depart the corner into which they’ve painted themselves, walk over the fresh paint, and then deny the footprints belong to them? Is it any wonder denial is preferred over facts, even when the facts are obvious?

If the Deep State exists, then Americans are culpable for the horrors of imperialism. As it turns out, the Deep State exists.

I doubt many people want to believe they wield the scythe of death. If only gawds can save us, then even some atheists might prefer delusion.