Tag: armistice

Are There Any Heroes Left?

This Is Your Quest - Author Joanne Reed
Are there any heroes left? Photo by Creative art via freepik.com

On the 11th of November, the world commemorates Armistice Day and honors the brave men and women who have died in the line of duty since the First World War. The armistice between the Allies and Germany was signed in November 1918, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. The armistice brought an end to four years of fighting; on this day the world pays homage to our fallen heroes, but today I am asking myself are there any heroes left?

World War I & World War II cost the lives of millions of men and women who fought bravely to combat tyranny. Heroes are admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or their noble qualities. Heroes may be exhausted, but they persevere. They may be fearful, but they face danger courageously; still, they do not quail in the face of countless obstacles and danger. Heroes are undeterred by profoundly insurmountable difficulties and most of all they don’t allow themselves to be intimidated by dangerously potent antagonists and destructive forces that cross their paths.

History is full of admirable heroes who fought against tyranny but in the modern era are there any heroes left?

Are there any heroes left? Photo by Creative art via freepik.com

No one battlefield look alike, they come in all shapes and form. We have a tendency to portray battlefields with imagery of soldiers being stuck in trenches firing at each other or imagery of civilians having to hunker down the basement whilst bombs are being dropped from the sky; some battlefields are not so obvious to spot, but they are there, nonetheless. Whether you realize it or not life is a battlefield you are living in a world where psychological warfare, information warfare, financial warfare, spiritual warfare is common occurrence.

The American Revolution was all about overthrowing what the Americans considered to be a tyrannous British Government. In 1787, in Philadelphia George Washington, James Madison, George Mason, William Paterson, and some others sat down to draft the Constitution of the United States to give to the American people the Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Recognizing that tyranny could come from a single powerful ruler or from “mob rule” the founders wrote into the Constitution mechanisms to prevent tyranny and promote the rule of law. They separated the powers of government into three equal branches of government: The executive (the President), the legislative (Congress), and the judicial (the Supreme Court). Each branch can check the other to prevent corruption or tyranny.

Fast forward to the second World War, Winston Churchill fully deserves his place in history, he was a phenomenal leader who famously called upon his people to stand up and fight against tyranny and what he had to offer to those who would join him in this fight was nothing but blood, toil, tears, and sweat. Despite this blunt and dire warning, many young brave men signed up to fight for their country and against tyranny, knowing full well that they may never return to their families. True heroes.

“You ask, what is our policy? I will say: it is to wage war, by sea, land, and air, with all our might and with all our strength that God can give us, to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark lamentable catalog of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, What is our aim? I can answer with one word: Victory-victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival. Laws just or unjust may govern men’s actions. Tyrannies may restrain or regulate their words. The machinery of propaganda may pack their minds with falsehood and deny them truth for many generations of time. But the soul of man thus held in trance or frozen in a long night can be awakened by a spark coming from god knows where and, in a moment, the whole structure of lies and oppression is on trial for its life.”

Winston Churchill

Fast forward to today, where have all the heroes gone? It is very difficult to recognize a George Washington or a Winston Churchill in politics today. Politicians these days look like bad actors in a B-movie. They are misleading their audience who came to the movie theater to watch a good adventure movie full of heroes doing good deeds for the people, but instead, the audience is left puzzled by what they are seeing on screen because what they are watching instead is a schmuck-clown show.

If you lived in a tyranny, would you know it? And if you did, are there any heroes left to fight against this foe?

Are there any heroes left? Photo by Creative art via freepik.com

Yuri Bezmenov (1939-1993) is a name that few people seem familiar with today. He was a soviet informant and KGB operative who defected to the United States in the early 70s. In 1984, he was interviewed by G. Edward Griffin (Author of The Creature from Jekyll Island). He said during this interview that deception was his job, and he explained what the 4 stages of ideological subversion are.

I will let Yuri Bezmenov take over the rest of this article.

Most of the American politicians, media, and educational systems think that they are living during peacetime. False. The United States is in a state of war, undeclared war. It is a total war against the basic value principles and foundation of American society. The ultimate aim of the Marxist ideology was to deconstruct American values, destabilize their economy and provoke crises in order to Sovietize the free world. The highest art of warfare is not to fight at all, but to subvert anything of value in the country of your enemy, until such a time that the perception of reality of your enemy is screwed up to such an extent that he does not perceive you as an enemy.

Ideological subversion is a process that is legitimate and open, it has nothing to do with espionage. In the USSR, only 15% of the time, money, and manpower are spent on espionage, the other 85% is spent on a slow process called ideological subversion. This process will change the perception of reality of every American and despite the abundance of information, no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country.

It is a great brainwashing process that goes very slow and is divided into 4 steps:

1. First stage – demoralization. During this stage young people are influenced to question the integrity of their country’s morals and values; this is done through media propaganda and academia. Perception takes center stage and facts become meaningless. It takes 15 to 20 years to demoralize a nation. Why so many years? Because this is the minimum number of years required to educate one generation of students in the country of your enemy. In other words, Marxist ideology is being pumped into the soft heads of at least 3 generations of American students.

Those people are contaminated and programmed to react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern. You cannot change their mind even if you expose them to authentic information, even if you prove to them that white is white and black is black. Demoralization is important because it robs the targeted population of its ability to process valid information. Even when demoralization targets are showered with authentic proof of contrary positions, they simply refuse to believe it.

Another powerful tool in the demoralization arsenal is guilt. Targeted audiences are pushed through media propaganda to feel guilty about their society and national history. For those people the process of demoralization is complete. To rid society of these people, you need another 15 to 20 years to educate a new generation in the art of patriotism, rationality, and critical thinking.

2.Second stage – destabilization. In this stage, the fundamentals of the targeted population’s economy, political system, and culture would be attacked, while the demoralized population could not mount much of a defense. Demoralized people lose faith in their nation, history, and ideals. They argue against individual liberty, sovereign rights even the rule of law. In essence, a demoralized population becomes willing to believe the worst criticism of its own society while learning to see defenders of that society as their enemies.

3.Third stage – Crisis. Once a society has been destabilized, the time is ripe to create a crisis. A crisis has the obvious benefit of panicking destabilized people into abandoning their legal protections and constitutional rights. Those who control the organs of public communication have the power to emphasize and exaggerate the danger of the crisis to create more fear and panic among the population. A crisis is essential for terrorizing the middle class into accepting a political agenda that is hostile to its interest, which leads to the 4th stage of subversion: the offer to make the pain and fear go away by accepting a political and tyrannical agenda.

4.Fourth State – Normalization. After a crisis, which caused a violent change of the power structure and the economy, you have what is cynically called a period of normalization which can last indefinitely.

If you live in a tyranny; would you know it? And if you did, are there any heroes left to fight against it? It is not a good idea to expect a white knight (disguised as a government official) to come on his white horse to save you. Save yourself. I believe that there is a new breed of heroes that are emerging. They are difficult to spot because they don’t wear a cape and a mask, they don’t jump from building to building, they don’t ride a white horse; they are hiding in plain sight, amongst us hidden by their familiarity, they are hiding in you and me. Today’s heroes are you and me and anybody who has the courage to stand up when the demoralized people are kneeling in submission.

And this, my dear friend, is Your Quest.

Personal Note

DDI Chat – Personal Growth – One-to-one Chat with Joanne Reed

In addition to publishing my articles on my website, I have also been publishing on Medium. I have been working closely for the past months with Data-Driven Investor (DDI) Publication.  DDI has recently launched a new marketplace/platform where people can book a paid one-to-one session with an expert of their choice.  DDI asked me to join their panel of advisors/experts in the Leadership, Coaching, and Personal Growth category.  Here is my profile. If you wish to book a one-to-one chat with me you can do so on this platform.

For more on this subject you can purchase my book This is Your Quest online at BookLocker, from Amazon or from Barnes & Noble.  The Ebook version is available on Amazon (Kindle), Barnes & Noble (Nook), Apple (iBooks) & Kobo. Check out my Amazon Author Page here or my listing on Booksradar.com

What Does it Take to be a Hero?

Heroes, Legends, Champions - Why Heroism matters

What does it take to be a hero?

Today, the 11th November, is the day when the world commemorates Armistice day and honors the brave men and women who have died in the line of duty since the First World War. The armistice between the Allies and Germany was signed in November 1918, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. The armistice brought an end to four years of fighting; today the world pays homage to our fallen heroes.

Armistice Day – Remembering our fallen heroes

World War I & World War II cost the lives of millions of men and women who fought bravely to combat tyranny. Heroes are admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or their noble qualities. They may be exhausted, but they persevere. They may be fearful, but they face danger courageously; still they do not quail in the face of countless obstacles and danger. Heroes are undeterred by profoundly insurmountable difficulties and most of all they don’t allow themselves to be intimidated by dangerously potent antagonists and destructive forces that cross their paths.

Don’t want to be a hero? Become a demi-hero

Andrew Bernstein explains in his book ‘Heroes, Legends, Champions – Heroism matters‘ that the majority of us lack the motivation or ability to become a hero. But, just as mythology is populated by almighty gods but also by less powerful demi-gods, it is perfectly feasible to contemplate the concept of a demi-hero.  A demi-hero may lack the courage to dodge a hail of bullets but can cultivate a value system and commit to staying on course even when the obstacles that confront them are immense.

To be or not to be a hero?

As Bernstein explains in his book, we all want to be good, but being good or doing good is not an easy undertaking.  Those on this Quest will be slowed by obstacles and impediments, but by keeping strong and struggling courageously, they increase the chance of defeating the opposition. Such actions are undoubtedly heroic.

If you have the capabilities and willingness to become a hero, become one. If you lack the abilities to become a fully-fledged hero, not all is lost, become a demi-hero.

True story of real-life war heroes.

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. We often associate bravery with some physical accomplishment but sometimes brain-power and the use of proper intelligence can save lives. British Intelligence did just that during the second world war, they defeated the Luftwaffe thanks partly to the ‘Carrot Myth.‘

To be or not to be a hero? The Carrots Myth

According to conventional wisdom eating lots of carrots will enhance your vision. There is a little bit of truth in this, but British Intelligence Service stretched that concept to the extreme by starting a campaign (unbeknown by the enemy) of disinformation using carrot as the main actor in the subterfuge.

During the 1940 Blitzkrieg , the Luftwaffe often struck and bombarded London under the cover of darkness. At night time, the British Government issued city-wide blackouts in order to make it more difficult for the German planes to hit targets. The Royal Air Force (RAF) was able to repel German fighters in part because of the development of a new secret radar technology. The on-board Airborne Interception Radar (AI) was invented and first used by the RAF in 1939 and had the ability to pinpoint enemy bombers before they reached the English Channel. To protect their secret weapon, British Intelligence invented a propaganda campaign that claimed that British pilots could see in the dark because they ate a lot of carrots!

There is no denying the fact that carrots are good for your eyes by virtue of their heavy dose of vitamin A; but this truth was stretched to a great extent by the Brits by granting carrots the “superpower” of improving British pilots night vision giving them the ability to spot enemy planes in the dark! The truth is that eating carrots does not help you see better in the dark any more than eating blueberries will turn you blue. That said, the carrot campaign of subterfuge helped hide a new technology that was critical to the success of the Battle of Britain against Hitler, a major campaign fought entirely by air forces.

Information and Disinformation can make you a hero or a villain.

Where does human behavior come from? Behavior comes from our perception of an event or a situation. Where does perception come from? Perception comes from information received, be it from personal experience, newspaper or media.

Controlling human perception can therefore become a weapon used to control what people think. The best way to do this would be to filter or censor the type of information that the public receive, or by using deceptive tactics such as subterfuge, propaganda or misinformation to make the public believe something that is not true.

We are constantly bombarded by streams of information (and sometimes disinformation), making it very difficult to know what and who to believe. Hoaxes, hysterias, misinformation and scams have been around a long time. Con men and Ponzi schemes are in every corner of recorded history. You might think that our access to vast oceans of information on the internet would change that, but it hasn’t. In fact, humans are just as gullible and easily led as ever. Skepticism is just as rare as any other time, and most people are willing to believe something they read on the internet, heard second or third hand, without subjecting their curiosities to even the most basic fact-checking.

It is important to remain skeptical. Some people may dismiss you as a cynical, but that’s likely to be the person who’s actively trying to influence you. There are no awards for coming to a conclusion the fastest, so take your time, and don’t form an opinion based on emotion. Here are some quick ways to keep yourself in check:

  • Check your sources
  • Understand the difference between opinion and fact
  • Beware of anecdotal evidence
  • Ask a lot of questions
  • Question your beliefs
  • Turn to history for clues

Skepticism is healthy. Be discerning about the information you receive and the medium through which it is transmitted, they are skills worth developing and those skills or lack of it can make you a hero or a villain and determine whether you will find yourself on the right side of history.

And this, my Dear Companion, is Your Quest!

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Celebrating Remembrance Day – 11 November

author Joanne Reed This Is Your Quest Celebrating Remembrance Day - 11th November

Today, 11th November, we are celebrating Remembrance Day, it is a day of commemoration and the occasion to remember the 8.5 million soldiers who died across the world during the 1914-18 war as well as those who lost their lives in the conflicts that followed.

Poppy Memorial – Remembrance Day – 11 November

Poppies are used to remember those who have given their lives in battle, because they are the flowers which grew on the battlefields after World War I ended. This is described in the famous World War One poem ‘In Flanders Fields” by Dr John McCrae. Ever since then, they have come to be a symbol of remembering not just those who gave their lives in World War One, but all those who have died on behalf of their country.

Poppies – Remembrance of the fallen soldiers

A Poem for Celebrating Remembrance Day – The Inquisitive Mind of A child 

Why are they selling poppies, Mummy?  
Selling poppies in town today.  
The poppies, child, are flowers of love. 
For the men who marched away. 
 
But why have they chosen a poppy, Mummy?
Why not a beautiful rose?
Because my child, men fought and died
In the fields where the poppies grow.

But why are the poppies so red, Mummy?
Why are the poppies so red? 
Red is the color of blood, my child, 
The blood that our soldiers shed.

 The heart of the poppy is black, Mummy? 
 Why does it have to be black? 
 Black my child, is the symbol of grief, 
 For the men who never came back.
 
 But why, Mummy are you crying so? 
 Your tears are giving you pain. 
 My tears are my fears for you my child, 
 For the world is forgetting again.

 Author Unknown

At 11 am on the 11th Day of the 11th Month Germany and the Allies sign the Armistice that will bring an end to 4 years of horrific fighting and the loss of millions of lives. The reaction all around the world was one of mixed emotions: relief, celebration, disbelief and a profound sense of loss.

For this occasion, I would like to invite my readers to get re-acquainted with an article I wrote a while ago titled: Information and Disinformation – How Carrots Helped Win World War II.

Information and Disinformation – How Carrots Helped Win World War II


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For more on this subject you can purchase my book This is Your Quest online at BookLocker, from Amazon or from Barnes & Noble.  The Ebook version is available on Amazon (Kindle), Barnes & Noble (Nook), Apple (iBooks) & Kobo. Check out my Amazon Author Page here or my listing on Booksradar.com.