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Otak kiri-Otak kanan & “Whole Brain” (Part 1)

Mengenali otak manusia sebenarnya seperti kita membuka satu “motherboard” sebuah komputer yang akan menjelaskan bagaimanakah sistem komputer itu berkerja, kekuatan (kelajuan) komputer tersebut, kekuatan memorinya (RAM), kesesuaian pengunaan komputer tersebut (untuk kegunaan personal , kegunaan pejabat, penggunaan programmer dan seterusnya) dan sebagainya.

Begitu juga bagi otak, mengenali dan memahami susunan otak dan komponen/komposisi otak seakan memberitahu kita siapakah indivudu itu sebenarnya, kemampuannya dan bagaimana seseorang individu itu berinteriksi serta bertindakbalas dalam kehidupannya (Malahan sudah tentu lebih kompleks dari komputer).

otak-kirikanan.jpgOtak manusia terdiri dari belahan atau hemisfera otak kiri dan kanan (selain mempunyai 3 susunan lapisan- insya Allah nanti saya kongsikan bersama) :-

Otak kiri banyak dikaitkan dengan fungsi akademik yang terdiri dari kemampunan bercakap, kemampuan berbahasa, membaca tulisan, logik, angka, analisis, dan lain-lainnya. Biasanya ia diidentitikan dengan kecerdasan analitik atau intelek. Maksudnya otak kiri kita ini banyak berkait dengan kemampuan matematik, analisis dan kemampuan berfikir secara sistematik. Cara kerja otak ini sangat rapi, dan terstruktur/tersusun. Biasanya otak kiri ini sangat bermanfaat digunakan untuk memahami hal-hal yang kompleks dan perlu pemikiran yang mengkhusus. Individu yang biasanya lebih menggunakan otak kiri adalah seorang penganalisis, pengkaji, Ahli matematik atau saintis.

Sementara Otak kanan pula adalah tempat untuk perkembangan hal-hal yang bersifat artistik, kreativiti, perasaan, emosi, gaya bahasa, irama musik, imaginasi, fantasi, warna, pengenalan diri dan orang lain, hubungan sosial dan pengembangan keperibadian. Jika individu yang banyak yang mengatakan otak kiri dilabel sebagai pengendali IQ (Intelligence Quotient), otak kanan pula memegang peranan penting bagi perkembangan EQ (Emotional Ouotient). Fungsi dari otak kanan ini adalah untuk mengurus pola berpikir kreatif manusia, contohnya adalah kemampuan komunikasi (lingusitik). Cara kerja otak kanan ini biasanya tidak terstruktur, dan cenderung tidak memikirkan hal-hal yang terlalu khusus iaitu bertentangan dengan otak kiri. Contoh orang yang mengunakan otak kanan dibandingkan otak kirinya adalah seorang seniman, pelukis dan sebagainya.

Saya percaya anda tentu perasan bagaimana sesetengah individu akan mempunyai kelebihan pada nombor, lebih rasional atau logik hingga kelihatan sangat “terikat” dengan peraturan dan protokol yang menyebabkan ia boleh kelihatan seperti “robot”.

Sebaliknya , terdapat pula sesetengah individu yang sangat kreatif, berjiwa seni, sangat natural dan kerap kelihatan berada di dalam suasana yang semulajadi. Mereka seperti seorang artis, pelukis, pelakon, ahli muzik, pereka dan sebagainya.

Ini juga menjelaskan kita bagaimana individu terkenal seperti penyanyi M Nasir mempunyai kemampuan dalam kumpulan hemisfera otak yang sama (sebelah kanan) iaitu selain menyanyi, beliau juga berkemampuan dalam bidang gubahan dan penciptaan lagu, mengarah filem, pelukis, berkemampuan dalam bersajak. Begitu juga seperti SN Samad Said selain menulis novel, beliau juga adalah seorang pelukis.

Kenapa boleh jadi bergitu…….? Ini kerana “pemberat” dalam penggunaan belahan otak pada diri masing-masing.

Kerana itu, apabila anda telah mengetahui yang otak mempunyai dua belahan yang berfungsi mengikutkerja masing-masing, dan setiap hemisfera mempunyai kekuatan dan kekurangannya (saling melengkapi), anda sudah boleh menerangkan alasan yang munasabah dan saintifik terhadap perbezaaan yang terjadi di antara sesetengah individu.

Di dalam bidang sains minda, apa yang berlaku pada setiap inidvidu ini (malahan ada pada hampir setiap individu) dipanggil “Brain Lateralization”. Ramai juga pakar psikologis memanggil situasi tersebut sebagai “Brain Dominance” iaitu penggunaan yang tinggi pada belahan otak yang tertentu. Kajian ahli sains neurologi memikirkan situasi ini berlaku kerana gen seseorang individu (seperti penggunaan tangan kanan atau kidal). Tetapi sesetengah pakar kajian mengatakan oleh pengalaman pembesaran, pendidikan, pengaruh ibubapa dan juga situasi masyarakat sekeliling yang mempengaruhi penggunaan otak tersebut.

(Anda boleh melakukan ujian di sini dan di sini untuk mengetahui dimanakan hemisfera otak yang banyak anda gunakan)

Meskipun kebanyakan individu akan menggunakan satu hemisfera yang lebih berbanding yang satu lagi (selalunya kebanyakan kita menggunakan otak kiri secara berlebihan kesan dari pendidikan di sekolah) tetapi secara puratanya seseorang individu akan menggunakan kedua-dua belahan otaknya untuk aktiviti-aktiviti seharian.

Bagaimanapun, untuk mencapai kualiti kehidupan yang lebih baik dan untuk kita mengoptimakan serta membangkitkan kemampuan POTENSI DIRI seseorang individu, penggunaan kedua-dua hemisfera otak adalah sangat penting. Iaitu kita menggunakan kedua-dua hemisfera otak dengan seimbang. Malahan kemampuan dan kekuatan fungsi otak akan meningkat secara drastik apabila kita dapat mengoptimakan kedua-dua belah otak ini. Ini yang dipanggil “Whole Brain”. Iaitu penggunaan otak yang lebih menyeluruh.

Jika dahulu bidang pendidikan hanya menggunakan dan mengiktirafkan kecerdasan intelek iaitu penggunaan yang ketara pada otak kiri, ahli psikologis dan pakar pendidikan semakin memahami bahawa ia tidak mengoptimakan fungsi dan kekuatan otak dan mempunyai kelemahan pada kecerdasan emosi (EQ). Terbukti, dinegara-negara yang maju dimana terdapat terlalu ramai pelajarnya yang tinggi dalam IQ dan cemerlang dalam pelajaran, mereka menghadapi masalah EQ yang ketara. Banyak masalah sosial datang dari kelemahan di sebelah EQ.

Kerana itu sekarang wujud banyak institusi seperti SuperLearning Technologies, Accelerated learning, Montenssori Method, The Shichida Method dan sebagainya iaitu institusi yang menggubah pendekatan pembelajaran kepada konsep “whole brain learning” dengan mengoptimakan keseluruhan otak untuk mendapat kecermelangan dalam kehidupan.

Kita sambung lagi pada artikel akan datang….

Amar Mahmood

Trainer/Coach



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Cat Stevens : How I Came To Islam

By : Cat Stevens

Presented by : www.zaharuddin.net




Read about it

All I have to say is all what you know already, to confirm what you already know, the message of the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) as given by God - the Religion of Truth. As human beings we are given a consciousness and a duty that has placed us at the top of creation. Man is created to be God's deputy on earth, and it is important to realize the obligation to rid ourselves of all illusions and to make our lives a preparation for the next life. Anybody who misses this chance is not likely to be given another, to be brought back again and again, because it says in Qur'an Majeed that when man is brought to account, he will say, {O Lord, send us back and give us another chance} The Lord will say, {If I send you back you will do the same}

cat stevens

MY EARLY RELIGIOUS UPBRINGING

I was brought up in the modern world of all the luxury and the high life of show business. I was born in a Christian home, but we know that every child is born in his original nature - it is only his parents that turn him to this or that religion. I was given this religion (Christianity) and thought this way. I was taught that God exists, but there was no direct contact with God, so we had to make contact with Him through Jesus - he was in fact the door to God. This was more or less accepted by me, but I did not swallow it all.

I looked at some of the statues of Jesus; they were just stones with no life. And when they said that God is three, I was puzzled even more but could not argue. I more or less believed it, because I had to have respect for the faith of my parents.

pop star

POP STAR

Gradually I became alienated from this religious upbringing. I started making music. I wanted to be a big star. All those things I saw in the films and on the media took hold of me, and perhaps I thought this was my God, the goal of making money. I had an uncle who had a beautiful car. "Well," I said, "he has it made. He has a lot of money." The people around me influenced me to think that this was it; this world was their God.

I decided then that this was the life for me; to make a lot of money, have a 'great life.' Now my examples were the pop stars. I started making songs, but deep down I had a feeling for humanity, a feeling that if I became rich I would help the needy. (It says in the Qur'an, we make a promise, but when we make something, we want to hold onto it and become greedy.)

So what happened was that I became very famous. I was still a teenager, my name and photo were splashed in all the media. They made me larger than life, so I wanted to live larger than life and the only way to do that was to be intoxicated (with liquor and drugs).

with family

IN HOSPITAL

After a year of financial success and 'high' living, I became very ill, contracted TB and had to be hospitalized. It was then that I started to think: What was to happen to me? Was I just a body, and my goal in life was merely to satisfy this body? I realized now that this calamity was a blessing given to me by Allah, a chance to open my eyes - "Why am I here? Why am I in bed?" - and I started looking for some of the answers. At that time there was great interest in the Eastern mysticism. I began reading, and the first thing I began to become aware of was death, and that the soul moves on; it does not stop. I felt I was taking the road to bliss and high accomplishment. I started meditating and even became a vegetarian. I now believed in 'peace and flower power,' and this was the general trend. But what I did believe in particular was that I was not just a body. This awareness came to me at the hospital.

One day when I was walking and I was caught in the rain, I began running to the shelter and then I realized, 'Wait a minute, my body is getting wet, my body is telling me I am getting wet.' This made me think of a saying that the body is like a donkey, and it has to be trained where it has to go. Otherwise, the donkey will lead you where it wants to go.

Then I realized I had a will, a God-given gift: follow the will of God. I was fascinated by the new termino- logy I was learning in the Eastern religion. By now I was fed up with Christianity. I started making music again and this time I started reflecting my own thoughts. I remember the lyric of one of my songs. It goes like this: "I wish I knew, I wish I knew what makes the Heaven, what makes the Hell. Do I get to know You in my bed or some dusty cell while others reach the big hotel?" and I knew I was on the Path.

I also wrote another song, "The Way to Find God Out." I became even more famous in the world of music. I really had a difficult time because I was getting rich and famous, and at the same time, I was sincerely searching for the Truth. Then I came to a stage where I decided that Buddhism is all right and noble, but I was not ready to leave the world. I was too attached to the world and was not prepared to become a monk and to isolate myself from society.

I tried Zen and Ching, numerology, tarot cards and astrology. I tried to look back into the Bible and could not find anything. At this time I did not know anything about Islam, and then, what I regarded as a miracle occurred. My brother had visited the mosque in Jerusalem and was greatly impressed that while on the one hand it throbbed with life (unlike the churches and synagogues which were empty), on the other hand, an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity prevailed.

THE QUR'AN

When he came to London he brought back a translation of the Qur'an, which he gave to me. He did not become a Muslim, but he felt something in this religion, and thought I might find something in it also.

And when I received the book, a guidance that would explain everything to me - who I was; what was the purpose of life; what was the reality and what would be the reality; and where I came from - I realized that this was the true religion; religion not in the sense the West understands it, not the type for only your old age. In the West, whoever wishes to embrace a religion and make it his only way of life is deemed a fanatic. I was not a fanatic, I was at first confused between the body and the soul. Then I realized that the body and soul are not apart and you don't have to go to the mountain to be religious. We must follow the will of God. Then we can rise higher than the angels. The first thing I wanted to do now was to be a Muslim.

I realized that everything belongs to God, that slumber does not overtake Him. He created everything. At this point I began to lose the pride in me, because hereto I had thought the reason I was here was because of my own greatness. But I realized that I did not create myself, and the whole purpose of my being here was to submit to the teaching that has been perfected by the religion we know as Al-Islam. At this point I started discovering my faith. I felt I was a Muslim. On reading the Qur'an, I now realized that all the Prophets sent by God brought the same message. Why then were the Jews and Christians different? I know now how the Jews did not accept Jesus as the Messiah and that they had changed His Word. Even the Christians misunderstand God's Word and called Jesus the son of God. Everything made so much sense. This is the beauty of the Qur'an; it asks you to reflect and reason, and not to worship the sun or moon but the One Who has created everything. The Qur'an asks man to reflect upon the sun and moon and God's creation in general. Do you realize how different the sun is from the moon? They are at varying distances from the earth, yet appear the same size to us; at times one seems to overlap the other.

Even when many of the astronauts go to space, they see the insignificant size of the earth and vastness of space. They become very religious, because they have seen the Signs of Allah.

When I read the Qur'an further, it talked about prayer, kindness and charity. I was not a Muslim yet, but I felt that the only answer for me was the Qur'an, and God had sent it to me, and I kept it a secret. But the Qur'an also speaks on different l I began to understand it on anothlevel, where the Qur'an says, {Those who believe do not take disbelievers for friends and the believers are brothers} Thus at this point I wished to meet my Muslim brothers.

CONVERSION

Then I decided to journey to Jerusalem (as my brother had done). At Jerusalem, I went to the mosque and sat down. A man asked me what I wanted. I told him I was a Muslim. He asked what was my name. I told him, "Stevens." He was confused. I then joined the prayer, though not so successfully. Back in London, I met a sister called Nafisa. I told her I wanted to embrace Islam and she directed me to the New Regent Mosque. This was in 1977, about one and a half years after I received the Qur'an.

Now I realized that I must get rid of my pride, get rid of Iblis, and face one direction. So on a Friday, after Jumma' I went to the Imam and declared my faith (the Kalima) at this hands. You have before you someone who had achieved fame and fortune. But guidance was something that eluded me, no matter how hard I tried, until I was shown the Qur'an. Now I realize I can get in direct contact with God, unlike Christianity or any other religion. As one Hindu lady told me, "You don't understand the Hindus. We believe in one God; we use these objects (idols) to merely concentrate." What she was saying was that in order to reach God, one has to create associates, that are idols for the purpose. But Islam removes all these barriers. The only thing that moves the believers from the disbelievers is the salat. This is the process of purification.

Finally I wish to say that everything I do is for the pleasure of Allah and pray that you gain some inspirations from my experiences. Furthermore, I would like to stress that I did not come into contact with any

Muslim before I embraced Islam. I read the Qur'an first and realized that no person is perfect. Islam is perfect, and if we imitate the conduct of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) we will be successful. May Allah give us guidance to follow the path of the ummah of Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). Ameen

BELOW IS CAT STEVENS ( YUSOF ISLAM) BIOGRAPHY

SOURCE

The British singer-songwriter known as Cat Stevens has had many identities in his life: popstar, folk singer, and, most recently, Muslim activist. After a highly successful career in musicduring which he sold over 25 million albums, Stevens left public life in 1979 and took the name Yusuf Islam, becoming a devout Muslim active in cultural education causes in Britain.

Born in London in 1948 to a Swedish mother and a Greek Cypriot father, Stephen Demetri Georgiou was educated in Sweden, where he studied native songs and dances aswell as classical music. In the '60s he returned to London, where his father owned a restaurant, and entered Hammersmith College art school.Georgiou began performing guitar-based folk-pop under the name Cat Stevens, andbecame a regular in local pubs and coffeehouses. Stevens soon attracted the attention ofindependent record producer Mike Hurst, a former member of the folk-pop group the Springfields; in the summer of 1966 Stevens recorded a demo with Hurst, who shopped it around Britain and landed Stevens a deal with the new label Deram Records.

At 19 years of age Stevens released his debut album, Matthew And Son, a pop-rock record which became a hit in the U.K., the title single and "I Love My Dog"both charting in the Top 10. Stevens toured Britain as part of a bizarre package tour withJimi Hendrix and Engelbert Humperdink, and released his sophomore effort New Masters the following year. The 1967 album marked the start of Stevens' long-timecollaboration with singer/guitarist Alun Davies, but was a commercial failure. (A singlefrom New Masters, "The First Cut Is the Deepest," became a hit for Rod Stewartin the 1970s.)

Several years of wild living caught up with Stevens in 1969, when, near death,he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and spent a year in the hospital undergoing treatment.While recovering, Stevens underwent a spiritual crisis and began studying Eastern religions, practicing vegetarianism, and writing highly introspective songs. A changed man, Stevenssigned a new record deal with Island, who had just landed a U.S. distribution agreement withA&M, and began recording new material.

Stevens' first A&M release, 1970's Mona Bone Jakon, was a solid album that established Stevens' new image as a sensitive singer-songwriter. His next record, Tea for the Tillerman, was released later that same year to overwhelming success.With the hit singles "Wild World" and "Father and Son," the album became an instantfolk-pop classic and went to No. 1 in the U.S., earning gold status.

Before Tillerman Stevens had toured America several times, playing acoustic guitar as an opening act for rock bands like King Crimson and Seatrain; after TillermanStevens began headlining extravagant performances, replete with magicians and tigers, dancers and back-up singers. An unprecedented prime-time appearance on ABC's"In Concert" program cemented his status as a U.S. superstar.

1971's Teaser and the Firecat repeated Tillerman's success and contained theinternational anti-war hit "Peace Train." The album also spawned a children's book andshort film. 1972's Catch a Bull at Four was Stevens' first and only No. 1 album, and was followed the next year by the less-acclaimed The Foreigner, which wentto No. 3.

In 1973 Stevens' brother David visited Israel and, aware of his brother's fascination withreligion, returned with a copy of the Koran as a souvenir. Stevens was awed bythe book and began studying Islam. His next album, 1974's The Buddah and the Chocolate Box, reached No. 2 in the U.S. but marked the end of Stevens' most fertileperiod as a performer, his growing interest in Islam slowly eclipsing his songwriting.

1975's Numbers was an ill-fated concept album that was the first of Stevens'recordings to peak below the Top 10 in Britain. Sensing that the end was near, A&M issued a Greatest Hits collection that June.

In 1977 Stevens made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and released the pop album Izitso,a commercial album that was decried by long-time fans as a sellout. In December of thatyear Stevens formally converted to Islam at a London mosque, taking the new nameYusuf Islam. A&M released what was to be the last Cat Stevens album, Backto Earth, in early 1978; by 1979 Stevens/Islam had married and retired from pop music.

During the 1980s Islam settled in London with his wife and five children and became very involved in the local Muslim community, founding one of Britain's topIslamic schools. Meanwhile A&M released a second "greatest hits" package in 1984(entitled Footsteps in the Dark), which included previously unreleased songs Stevens recorded for the 1971 cult movie Harold and Maude.

Yusuf Islam had nearly faded from public consciousness when in 1989 he made the infamous announcement that he supported the Ayatollah Khomeini's death sentence for Satantic Verses author Salman Rushdie. American radio stations stopped playing Cat Steven songs in protest -- WNEW in New York even gave away free copies of The Satanic Verses to listeners who turned in their old Cat Stevens records.

In 1995 Islam released his first "record" since retiring from pop music, a two-CD set calledThe Life of the Last Prophet which features one disc of Muslim chanting andanother disc of Yusuf Islam reading a 66-minute biography of Muhammad. Though it was ignored in the West, the double-album reached No. 1 in Turkey and was a hit in most of the Muslim world, where it was lauded by critics.

In 1997 Yusuf Islam announced that he is working on an album of Bosnian songs and poems,including a new song Islam wrote about Muslim children killed in the Balkan wars.

Last update: 21-10-2007 18:29



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The waning power of truth




By Paul Craig Roberts

Online Journal Contributing Writer


Jun 22, 2009, 00:21

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David Ray Griffin, the nemesis of the collection of disinformation known as the 9/11 Commission Report, has taken up the question of Osama Bin Laden, dead or alive?

On the basis of the available evidence, Griffin concludes that bin Laden died in December 2001, most likely of kidney failure. He has been kept alive in the media by US government PSYOPS as a useful bogyman to justify America’s illegal wars of aggression. The messages received from bin Laden since his death appear to be conveniently timed fabrications designed to advance US government purposes.

Osama bin Laden is likely to become a mythical person, like the Georgia Tech student, George P. Burdell, who will be sighted from time to time over a period that exceeds the length of a human life.

It was less than one year ago that Americans were subjected to PSYOPS disinformation from their government concerning the Russia-Georgia conflict over South Ossetia.

Soviet ruler Joseph Stalin incorporated South Ossetia, formerly a part of Russia, into his home province of Georgia. When the Soviet Union broke up, Georgia became independent and retained South Ossetia. Secession movements arose in South Ossetia and in Abkhazia. These secession movements were the reason European members of NATO rejected the US government’s attempt to make Georgia a NATO member in order to extend the US/NATO military presence on Russia’s borders in contravention of previous US government agreements with Russia.

To terminate the secession movement and, thereby, remove the barrier to Georgia becoming a NATO member, the US, with Israel’s help, trained and equipped the Georgian military and gave the American puppet ruler, installed in the aftermath of one of the US-orchestrated “color revolutions,” the green light to attack South Ossetia.

Under mutual agreement, Russia and Georgia both provided peace-keeping troops in South Ossetia to prevent violence by secessionists. On the night of August 7-8, 2008, Georgian troops attacked South Ossetia, destroying a town and killing many Russian Ossetians and some Russian soldiers who were part of the peace-keeping force. Large numbers of South Ossetians fled across the border to Russia.

The US government, in its hubris, assumed that Russia would accept the ethnic cleansing of Russians from South Ossetia. Instead, Russian troops arrived and quickly destroyed the American-trained and equipped Georgian army and could easily have taken control of Georgia, but refrained.

Defeated in its aim, the US government unleashed a PSYOPS disinformation war against the Russian government, claiming falsely that Russia had initiated the conflict by attacking Georgia. The US government’s blatant and transparent lies were force-fed to the American public by the US media.

British disinformation services cooperated with their American masters, but the rest of the world blew the whistle. The real facts emerged, and an American disinformation campaign experienced a rare failure.

Now 10 months later, US “black ops” is at it again, pumping out disinformation about the “stolen” Iranian election. The US media is again serving the government’s disinformation campaign. This despite the fact that on May 23, 2007, Brian Ross and Richard Esposito reported on ABC News: “The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert ‘black’ operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell . . . ABC News.”

On May 27, 2007, the London Telegraph independently reported: “Mr. Bush has signed an official document endorsing CIA plans for a propaganda and disinformation campaign intended to destabilize, and eventually topple, the theocratic rule of the mullahs.”

A few days previously, the Telegraph reported on May 16, 2007, that Bush administration neocon warmonger John Bolton told the Telegraph that a US military attack on Iran would “be a ‘last option’ after economic sanctions and attempts to foment a popular revolution had failed.”

On June 29, 2008, Seymour Hersh reported in the New Yorker: “Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in a Presidential Finding signed by Bush, and are designed to destabilize the country’s religious leadership.”

The Iranian election protests, essentially led by the westernized youth of Tehran who wish to be free of Islamic moral codes, have the hallmarks of orchestration. The protesters are color-coded with green wristbands. Their protest signs are in English and are obviously directed at the Western media. Their chants are propagandistic and bear no relation to facts known by every Iranian.

And again, the US media and various experts, whose ambitions depend on government-related careers, are force-feeding the American public the disinformation designed to further isolate and weaken, if not overthrow, the Iranian government.

Until 1978 the US ruled Iran through the Shah. The US intends to again rule Iran through puppets. The only two remaining independent governments in the region are Iran and Syria. If the US doesn’t first bankrupt itself, both countries will fall to US black ops destabilization.

The limitless gullibility of the American people guarantees carte blanche to the US government’s schemes. Americans seemingly cannot put two and two together. They have already forgotten the lies about weapons of mass destruction that have resulted in the destruction of Iraq. They have forgotten Secretary of State Colin Powell’s publicly expressed remorse at the lies he told the UN. Americans blithely accept the conflation of Taliban with al Qaeda and terrorists and the new war that the Obama regime has started in Pakistan, a war that has already produced 2 million refugees.

It can fairly be said that there is not much difference between the American public and the fictional one under Big Brother in George Orwell’s 1984. The few independent voices that do exist are simply drowned out by the constant flow of disinformation.

The US government’s success in spinning 9/11 guaranteed the government’s success in pursuing a hegemonic agenda under a cloak of lies. Although a large percentage of the US population does not believe the government’s account and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of experts and informed and well-connected people have challenged the government’s tale, the US media have shown no interest despite the official account of 9/11 bearing every known hallmark of a cover-up.

High-ranking fire marshals have complained that legally required forensic procedures were not followed by authorities entrusted with investigation.

The testimony of more than 100 policemen, firemen, and maintenance personnel who were in the towers at the time and report hearing and experiencing a series of explosions was ignored and withheld from the public until the government got its story in place.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology studiously avoided testing for evidence of explosives. The severed steel beams were quickly collected and sold abroad as scrap.

As a number of observers have complained, the crime scene was destroyed, not investigated.

The government’s story of the destruction of the towers is based on computer simulations that produce results in keeping with the assumptions.

The collapse of the third building is not even mentioned in the 9/11 Commission Report.

No one abroad believes the US government’s story. Europeans have produced documentary films that laugh at the official explanation.

Recently, an international team of scientists reported on their two-year examination of dust samples from the debris. They report that they found nano-thermite in the samples. To my knowledge no mainstream US media reported the finding.

One would think that such a finding would lead to a real investigation. Instead, within the US the finding is dismissed by debunkers of “conspiracy theories” (except of course the government’s own conspiracy theory) with the charge that the dust samples have not been in controlled environments since collected and could have been contaminated by those who volunteered the samples. In other words, the nano-thermite, if actually in the samples, was planted.

One wonders how residents of lower Manhattan obtained nano-thermite with which to contaminate the dust. Indeed, who has access to nano-thermite other than government?

Why doesn’t the National Academy of Science choose a team to examine the samples? If the finding of nano-thermite is verified, the issue of contamination can be investigated. If it turns out that the people who volunteered the samples have no possible access to nano-thermite, the case for a real investigation is established.

There is little prospect of such a development in the US. American science and the careers of scientists are heavily dependent on US government funding. It would be a career-ending event for American scientists to get involved with this matter other than as a contributor to a cover-up. Professor Steven Jones, a physicist at BYU who first raised the issue of explosives being used to bring down the three WTC buildings, was terminated, despite his tenure, by BYU. Many believe Jones was terminated because of political threats to the university’s funding.

In the US truth is an ineffective means by which to hold government accountable. Consider, for example, the fate of whistleblowers. Daniel Ellsberg who leaked the Pentagon Papers was perhaps the last successful whistleblower and that was three decades ago. Since then the government has put in place many defenses against whistleblowers.

The American public has looked to government for its salvation since Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal. Government provides education, health care (Medicare, Medicaid), pensions (Social Security), food stamps, housing subsidies, child care and protects Americans from a long list of demonized villains ranging from spouse abusers and child molesters to terrorists. Americans see themselves and their government as the salt of the earth, an image supported by American generosity to other peoples who suffer natural calamities. Most Americans believe that their government does stupid things, but not evil things except perhaps by accident.

The right-wing believes that America was attacked on 9/11 because we are so good, hubris to which Bush successfully played with his statement that “they hate us for our freedom and democracy.”

The left wing finds emotional satisfaction in its belief that 9/11 was deserved blow-back from peoples oppressed by US foreign policy who rose up and struck back.

Truth is so impotent in America that the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty 42 years ago is still covered up by the US government despite the best efforts of Admiral Tom Moorer, who was Chief of Naval Operations and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and by decades of effort by the Liberty survivors.

This raises the question: Why do some people blow whistles? Why do those few write books and columns that challenge the lies and deceptions? There is probably more than one answer. For some, hope springs eternal. Others naively destroy their careers thinking that truth will be honored. Still others speak from a sense of responsibility to truth and not from a hope that anything will actually change.

In October 1987, John Stockwell, a former CIA cover operative who ran the CIA’s covert war in Angola, gave a lecture in which he said he abandoned his career when he realized that CIA covert operations resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people and were totally unconnected to any US national security interests. “I concluded that I just couldn’t see the point.”

Nothing has changed. What was the point of the US invasion of Iraq? Even President Bush eventually conceded that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

What was the point of the US invasion of Afghanistan and what is the point of Obama’s escalation of the war there? The Taliban is not al Qaeda and was totally focused on unifying Afghanistan under an Islamic government. The US was not on the Taliban’s radar screen.

What is the point of the war that the US has started in Pakistan?

What is the point of the destabilization of the Iranian government? After the stolen elections of the Karl Rove/Bush era, why does the US think it must overthrow the Iranian government because of allegations that Ahmadinejad stole an election?

If the answer is that these wars and interventions serve the interest of US hegemony, the obvious reply is that US hegemony is more likely to be lost from the massive red ink in the government’s budget that is likely to be monetized, thus destroying the dollar as reserve currency, the main source of US hegemony.

If the US wants to have an empire in the Middle East or elsewhere, the government should come out and say so. At least then Americans could revel in the glories of empire. As it is, the pleasure must be gained surreptitiously under the table, pretending that we are protecting the world from evildoers while we do evil ourselves.

Paul Craig Roberts [email him] was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during President Reagan’s first term. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal. He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He was awarded the Legion of Honor by French President Francois Mitterrand. He is the author of Supply-Side Revolution : An Insider’s Account of Policymaking in Washington; Alienation and the Soviet Economy and Meltdown: Inside the Soviet Economy, and is the co-author with Lawrence M. Stratton of The Tyranny of Good Intentions : How Prosecutors and Bureaucrats Are Trampling the Constitution in the Name of Justice. Click here for Peter Brimelow’s Forbes Magazine interview with Roberts about the recent epidemic of prosecutorial misconduct.

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