Is America spiraling into totalitarianism? All the signs are there, suggesting we’re well on our way. Naomi Wolf, a former adviser to the Clinton administration, has been warning us about this for well over a decade.

In May 2021, I interviewed her about the 10 steps of tyranny, described in her 2007 book, “The End of America.” While we’ve been inching our way toward tyranny for many years, Wolf warns we are now at Step 10. Soon, there will be no turning back — unless we break free, assert our rights starting with our freedom of speech, and put a stop to this transformation.

As noted by Benjamin Franklin, “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.” Similarly, Samuel Adams stated, “For true patriots to be silent, is dangerous.”¹

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In the video above, Yeonmi Park, a human rights activist and author of “In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom,” talks about the clear parallels she sees between the United States and North Korea, one of the most repressive countries in the world.

Although she’s been presented in a critical light by an Asia-Pacific owned publication,² I am a huge fan of Park as she is such an inspiration to warn us of what will happen if we neglect to preserve our hard-won freedoms. Please be sure and watch the much longer second video below. I suspect you too will be moved by what she and millions of others have suffered and are enduring in North Korea.

Park fortunately was able to defect from North Korea to China in 2007 at the age of 13, eventually settling in South Korea two years later, but only after first falling into the hands of human traffickers and being sold into sex slavery for less than $200. Her mother was sold for $65. Park and her mother were eventually able to escape to South Korea through Mongolia.

In 2016, she transferred from a South Korean university to Columbia University in New York. In a June 14, 2021, interview with Fox News,³ Park stated she believes “America’s future may be as bleak as North Korea,” adding that “even North Korea was not this nuts.”

I expected that I was paying this fortune, all this time and energy, to learn how to think. But they are forcing you to think the way they want you to think,” she told Fox News. “I realized, wow, this is insane. I thought America was different but I saw so many similarities to what I saw in North Korea that I started worrying.

Not Having Problems Is a Problem

In the video above, Park explains why she told her story to Fox News rather than a more mainstream media outlet. The answer? They were the only one that asked her to share her views.

While the Fox News interview went viral both in the U.S. and South Korea, not a single legacy news outlet picked up the story. This makes sense, considering corporate media are part of the tyrannical network responsible for the implementation of this brainwashing.

I would rather die a free person than live as a slave,” Park says at the end of her video. “You cannot even fathom what it’s like when you don’t have freedom … America is falling into tyranny … Let us stop this before it is too late

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za34H-dT8I0]

In the video above,⁴ Park is interviewed by Valuetainment host Patrick Bet-David. I know 90 minutes is a long video, but trust me, your life could change if you watch the entire video. If you don’t have time now, just watch it instead of some movie or TV series. I suspect very few of you have any idea that this type of tyrannical oppression and unethical human behavior is rampant in North Korea.

In this hour-and-a-half interview, she delves a lot deeper into what life is like in one of the most oppressive regimes in the world, and what it really means to lose your freedoms. Even certain words have been censored from the North Korean language.

There are no words for “depression” or “stress” for example. The absence of such emotions is further indoctrinated through the one and only available TV channel, where every program highlights the rightness, beauty and benefit of the socialist system, and how wrong capitalist Western systems are. Here are some other examples in real life:

Government tells you what clothes and colors you are allowed to wear

Government tells you what haircuts you are allowed to have, with choices being limited to fewer than 20

Government tells you what kind of makeup you are allowed to use

Government decides what kinds of songs you are allowed to sing and what music you can listen to

Government dictates what kind of dance moves are allowed

Government tells you what kind of movies you can watch

Your profession is dictated by the political class of your parents

Who you can marry is dictated by the political class you were born into

Public executions are routine and everyone in the neighborhood is required to attend, including children. Crimes punishable by death include watching banned movies, reading banned books and criticizing the regime

Every single thing about your life is dictated by the regime. You have no individuality. You have no “personal choices.” Guaranteed, you can say goodbye to gender pronoun preferences. That’s just being pushed right now to lure you into this false idea that the socialist system actually provides you with more of everything — including individuality and individual rights — rather than less.

But if you think about it logically, how can we create an “equitable” society unless all individuality is removed? How can you and I end up in the same place and be treated exactly the same unless everything that separates us — our individual characteristics — are eliminated? The end result is the oppression of everyone and the wasting of everyone’s natural talents.

Corruption is also guaranteed. Regardless of your profession, your salary will not be able to feed you, let alone pay for anything else. As a result, corruption is the norm. Food is also always scarce. Park routinely caught and ate grasshoppers. That was her primary source of protein growing up.

In fact, Park admits that it was hunger that drove her to risk death to escape North Korea with her mother. “I didn’t know I wasn’t free,” she says. “I didn’t know what freedom was. I risked my life for a bowl of rice.”

Reject the ‘New Normal’

The good news is, the would-be tyrants have not won. That said, we have no time to spare. Time is of the essence and we have no time to remain idle, hoping it will all just go back to normal on its own. I can confidently assure you it will not, and you will need to take action. I believe one of the answers is peaceful civil disobedience.

In the U.S., we do have the Second Amendment, which allows citizens to own and bear arms. That said, peaceful disobedience is still the primary and preferred strategy. We must also rally behind legislation that prevents the alteration of laws that safeguard our freedoms.

I believe that we will ultimately stop the globalists’ drive toward global tyranny. It’s not going to be easy. It may take years, and it may get far worse before it gets better.

The founders of the U.S. fled repressive societies or were children or grandchildren of those who did. They had to personally reckon with criminalized speech, arbitrary arrests and state sanctioned torture and even murder. The men who signed the Declaration of Independence knew that if they lost the war, they would be executed for treason.

The forefathers of the United States were radicals, fighting for liberty and personal freedoms. They had a vision of reality that was an absolute slap in the face of what the rest of the world tolerated. They were willing to sacrifice their lives to turn that vision into a reality.

Park discusses this in the featured video at the top of this article. How the story of our Founding Fathers — who cared enough about equality and human rights to sacrifice everything to achieve it — has been twisted.

It requires an illogical mindset to get our history so backwards. But each of us, individually, must also accept our share of the blame, for as Thomas Jefferson said, “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”⁵

We must also realize that the current cancel culture trend is not about tossing a dusty past into the trash bin and highlighting more pleasant aspects of our history. Far from it. As noted by The Most Important News:⁶

A huge national debate about our most important national symbols has erupted, and it is rapidly becoming one of our hottest political issues. But what most people don’t realize is that this isn’t really a debate about our past. Rather, it is a debate about what our future is going to look like. Those that are demonizing the American flag, the national anthem, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are not doing so for the purpose of winning a historical debate. Their true goal is to ‘cancel’ those symbols and replace them with new ones, because our existing national symbols represent values and principles that are diametrically opposed to the values and principles that they wish to impose upon society.If they ultimately get their way, the United States will eventually become an extremely repressive high tech dystopian society where absolutely no dissent is tolerated.

Focus on Taking Action Locally

Get involved in your child’s school, and make sure that what is being taught is in line with your values which, hopefully, if you’re reading this, this includes personal freedom, which is what the United States was indeed founded upon. Remember, the American system of governance places the bulk of the power at the local level, not at the federal level.

Government is currently fighting to centralize power at the top, but they can only do that if we let them. In the United States, local action can eventually have national impact, and that is how we peacefully take our power back and ensure our freedom. We’ve had this power all along. We may have just forgotten how to use it.

Copyright 2021- Mercola.com-All rights reserved.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBc8ZQQG85o]

Technology didn’t come about by accident, it’s a reflection of human will, or so claims the intriguing documentary, “Stare Into the Lights My Pretties.” Yet, with the rate of technological development continuing to grow exponentially, it’s unclear if anyone envisioned how society would become obsessed with staring at screens, such that our waking hours are dominated by them in one form or another.

In the beginning, there were only a few ways to get new technology funded, known as the ABCs. “A,” for armed forces, included ARPA, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, which commissioned the work that started the internet. “B,” for bureaucracy, refers to innovations such as government sites intended to deliver information and services, including online tax returns. “C,” or corporate power, made up the third arm, which drove the development of new products to draw in new markets.

According to Lelia Green, a professor and senior lecturer at the school of communications at Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia, who is featured in the film, “Google would offer many examples of corporate power driving development.”¹ Yet, social engagement is the new driver of technology that has taken off more so in recent years. Green notes that distributed collaborators and everyday innovators are now an important driver of technology.

“The acknowledgement of distributed networks of collaborators allows recognition of the creative power of ‘harnessing the hive;’ the community of people engaged in a shared activity,” she says. “We see these alliances of enthusiasts working creatively and productively in gaming contexts, in wikis and on fan fiction sites — to name but a few,” but what does all of this mean, and what will happen if this technological culture is left to continue unchecked?

Are Machines Running Our Lives?

At the foundation of the documentary is the unsettling question of who’s really in control: the machines or us? The film gives some unsettling statistics of how integrated technology has become in our 21st century lives:

• Over 3.8 billion people have access to the internet
• There are 2 billion active Facebook users every month
• The average adult spends more than eight hours a day with screens (more time than sleep)
• Within the first 15 minutes of waking up, 4 out of 5 smartphone users check their phones
• By the time the average person reaches 70, they will have spent the equivalent of 10 to 15 years of their life watching television, more than four years of which was just for the ads

What does this mean for your brain? “As a neuroscientist, I know that the human brain is changing. I know that it’s highly plastic … it’s very dynamic, it will adapt to the environment,” says Susan Greenfield in the film. But the environmental stimuli that come through screens may be keeping us permanently distracted. You read an article online, then see an instant message pop up or go to check an email.

Then you click on an advertisement, and suddenly are watching a video about an entirely unrelated topic. It’s easy to get swept away into the internet bubble, which can have both benefits and risks. Greenfield explained:

I’ve often spoken about the benefits of screen culture being one of agile processing, but how that mustn’t be confused with content … it could be linked to high IQ, because the skills that you rehearsed when you play video games are similar to the skills required to do well on an IQ test.

You don’t need a lot of facts or infrastructure … but you have to be very agile at looking at patterns and connections and getting to an answer in a very fast time frame … just because, as many claim, we’re seeing an increase in IQ scores in many societies, we’re not seeing an increase in empathy and understanding.

In a meta-analysis of 116 studies published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience,² for example, which set out to determine what effects gaming has on your brain, the evidence suggests that video games may benefit attention, and video game players show improvements in selective attention, divided attention and sustained attention, as well as areas of cognitive control and visuospatial skills.

The downside may be their effects on reward processing areas of your brain. Many such areas have been shown to be affected in people with video game addiction, “an impulse-control disorder with psychological consequences, not unlike other addictive disorders, especially nonsubstance addictions such as pathological gambling,” the study noted.³ “On the one hand, yes it’s very good for mental processing, fluid intelligence,” Greenfield said, “ … but that’s not the same as understanding. Information is not knowledge.”

Are Screens Leaving Us Incapable of Deep Thinking, Addicted to Constant Scrolling?

Nicholas Carr, author of the books, “The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains” and “Utopia Is Creepy,” has found that with rising use of digital devices, millennials are experiencing even greater problems with forgetfulness than seniors.⁴ This is the “dark side” of neurological plasticity that allows your brain to adapt to changes in your environment.

This type of plasticity is one way your brain recovers after a stroke has permanently damaged one area. However, the consequences to children growing up in the digital era could be devastating. Carr said in the film:

The human brain is particularly malleable when you’re young. If a person is brought up looking at screens … and being bombarded by information, then the question is will the brain circuitry necessary to do things like deep reading and deep thinking, will they ever come into being … or will they be wired for internet type of thinking?

I think the big fear is that we will end up with a generation of people who are very good at using the net and finding information very quickly but don’t really have a capacity for contemplativeness, concentration or deep engagement with information.

There are concerns about addiction as well, with 40 percent of the participants in one study admitting they had some level of an internet-related problem and acknowledging they spent too much time online.⁵ Participants reportedly spent an average of five hours each day on the internet and 20 percent spent over six hours a day. By far the most common reasons for engaging online were social media and shopping.

Yet, overall social media use, and especially nighttime use, has been associated with poorer sleep quality, lower self-esteem and higher levels of anxiety and depression among 12- to 18-year-olds, according to research presented at a British Psychological Society conference.⁶ Greater social media use among young adults (those aged 19 to 32 years) was also significantly associated with disturbed sleep in a Preventive Medicine study.⁷

Further, a study of more than 1,000 people in Denmark further revealed causal evidence that “Facebook affects our well-being negatively.”⁸ Facebook users who took a one-week break from the site reported significantly higher levels of life satisfaction and a significantly improved emotional life, the study revealed.

Is Technology Amplifying the Voice of Corporate Control?

While the internet is viewed as a way to bring the world to our fingertips, there are those who say it’s actually a tool for amplifying the voice of corporate control. We tend to think about the internet as this medium where we can connect to everything and anyone, but in actuality most of the information is flowing through a couple of major gatekeepers, such as Google.

You can customize and filter what you see, but how these things are architected actually may keep you in a carefully constructed bubble. By customizing and individualizing your feed, you won’t even know what’s being kept out. But what happens to our communities, our relationships and our culture if we’re all existing in this “filter bubble,” this world of screens, designed primarily to get people to click more and view more pages?

It’s important to understand that, online, you are the product and corporations are seeking to gain more views of their content. Facebook, for instance, isn’t content to have the average user spend “just” 50 minutes a day. They’d rather it become a platform that’s on all day to become basically a background for your life. As The New York Times reported:⁹

Facebook, naturally, is busy cooking up ways to get us to spend even more time on the platform. A crucial initiative is improving its News Feed, tailoring it more precisely to the needs and interests of its users, based on how long people spend reading particular posts

For people who demonstrate a preference for video, more video will appear near the top of their news feed. The more time people spend on Facebook, the more data they will generate about themselves, and the better the company will get at the task.

Facebook actually uses a sophisticated algorithm to track your interests, who you talk with and what you say, and includes information about your age, gender, income level and a phenomenal number of other specifics that allow advertisers to target exactly who they believe will click on their ads.¹⁰ In the case of smartphone devices, these companies are contributing to programing your actions, and how you think and feel.

This is how companies satisfy their advertisers, who are paying for the privilege of your eyes on their ads. Some programmers call this process “brain hacking,” as they incorporate more information from neuropsychology into the development of digital interfaces that increase your interaction with the program.

For instance, getting likes on Facebook and Instagram, the “streaks” on Snapchat or cute emojis on text messaging, are all designed to increase your engagement and desire to return. Technology companies are in the business of manipulating your behavior, and there are privacy concerns as well.

Rebecca MacKinnon of Global Voices Citizen Media Network said in the film, “Surveillance is much more present in our online than our offline lives, and I think most people in the United States … are not aware of that because when police officers come into your house … and go through your cabinets and desk, it’s obvious. If they do the equivalent in your email, your online storage systems or your Facebook … you don’t even know. So you’re not going to raise a fuss about it.”

The fact remains that people are putting intimate details of their lives online without regard for those who could be using that information negatively. The film also points out that personal details you share online — from religious affiliations to sexual preferences to information about your family — could one day be used against you or in a way that could bring you harm.

Screens Expose You to Blue Light

Another little talked about variable when it comes to exposure to screens is blue light. Exposure to LED-backlit computer screens or TVs at night significantly suppresses melatonin production and feelings of sleepiness. When your brain “sees” blue light at night, the mixed message can add up to serious health issues.

In 2011, for instance, researchers found that evening exposure to LED-backlit computer screens affect circadian physiology. Among 13 young men, exposure to five hours of an LED-lit screen at night significantly suppressed melatonin production along with sleepiness.¹¹

The issue extends far beyond sleep, however. LEDs have virtually no beneficial infrared light and an excess of blue light that generates reactive oxygen species (ROS), harming your vision and possibly leading to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which is the leading cause of blindness among the elderly in the U.S. LED lights may also exacerbate mitochondrial dysfunction leading to chronic conditions ranging from metabolic disorders to cancer.

If you view screens at night, it’s therefore essential to block your exposure to blue light while doing so. In the case of your computer, you can install a program to automatically lower the color temperature of your screen. Many use f.lux to do this, but I prefer Iris software for this purpose. In addition, when watching TV or other screens, be sure to wear blue-blocking glasses after sundown.

Are Machines More Important Than the Real World?

Ultimately, the documentary forces you to take a step back and think about the way technology has inevitably invaded your life. On the upside, it also offers the chance to make changes in how much it influences your daily activities. For some, taking a social media break may be the eye-opening change that’s needed, particularly if you find you feel worse after a browsing session.

You may also want to keep track of how much time you lose while getting distracted online — and devote that time to offline endeavors instead. If you find your life has become more focused on technology than relationships, now’s the time to make changes for the better, before it’s too late. As stated in the film, the risks can be steep:

Do you touch plastic or human flesh more often? How many machines do you have daily relationships with, compared to how many wild animals do you have relationships with? If you have relationships with machines, you can come to think that they’re more important than the real world.

Sources and References