Controlling the masses

Someone posted stating government and religion were the same. I say nay, but are methods of controlling the masses to do your bidding. Here we need to identify methods of controlling the masses, and figure out what exactly how to govern ourselves to ensure the survival of humanity, keep our cultures intact, and allow for us to simply be human and enjoy life.

I don't expect this to be easy.

my first thoughts are....
Few easily identifiable methods currently exist to control a population and get them to do your bidding. These are basics, lets break them down, and build our own.

Religion – an effort to brainwash the populous into a similar belief and creating a bond between members of said religion to unify and stabilize the population. The more 'dedicated' followers are, the less they care about what freedoms and ownership they possess. It is much easier to get a brainwashed religious fanatic to kill someone then a freethinking Atheist. All you have to do is tell the religious guy the other guys are evil and oppose you, and the only, 'unfortunate' way to fix this is to kill them.

Financial – keeping people poor is an excellent way to control a population. Even intelligent individuals are easy to keep in check when they are forced into a heavy class system that prevents power from falling into unwanted hands, aka the wealthiest.

Government – this is the most difficult to keep many in check, as the more power the government demands requires the use of fear and force. Similar to the current administrations attempt to control the nation. Ensuring complete control, or making the popular media centers bias is a key tactic as they will say outright lies so long as it supports said officials. Controlling elections in Republics needs only control who counts the system of electing/ placing power in lower officials. This also presents the illusion of choice.

As a society, it is difficult to counter these. Allowing yourself to stand up and be morally strong against influential religions is difficult, as well as following the crowd into beliefs. Despotism is also hard to combat, as it needs the people to actively keep the economy flowing as well as keeping the wealthy in check.

As for government, well that is simple corruption. As humans we seem to desire power and wealth and are easily corruptible. It shouldn't be uncommon for people to step up and down from power should they fail. Lesions need to be learned and heeded from the past, as well as progressing ourselves to ensure humanity survives the future.

You talk like you want to create that.

I say you have simply described what already exist.

Religion(s) were the original government(s) and that is why they appear similar.

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but what is a conscience if it is not something molded by the morality of the social engineering of people in power to control people en mass. I mean religion is just an old fashioned word for government in my opinion and it is religious teachings, government legislation and media influence that molds what essentially is in your conscience of right and wrong in the first place.

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Booky I'm wondering if it was this post of mine you were referring to at the beginning of this thread when you said government and religion weren't the same thing. Aren't you controdicting yourself when you say at the end

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Religion(s) were the original government(s) and that is why they appear similar.

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Religion – an effort to brainwash the populous into a similar belief and creating a bond between members of said religion to unify and stabilize the population.

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Yes, religious beliefs does help to forms common ground such that tribes formed via common ancestry tend to form a common religious belief system but does it make religious belief evil? Any more than patriarchal & matriarchal are evil?

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The more 'dedicated' followers are, the less they care about what freedoms and ownership they possess. It is much easier to get a brainwashed religious fanatic to kill someone then a freethinking Atheist. All you have to do is tell the religious guy the other guys are evil and oppose you, and the only, 'unfortunate' way to fix this is to kill them.

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Ya, right . . . fantics are fanatical about their beliefs , , religious or otherwise.Great generalization typically used by those desiring to control others actions or beliefs (brainwashing technique).

I would say that gov and religion are essentially the same thing, BUT we live in a world of lies and people claim untruthfully that we have a separation of Church from State (gov) and it just is not true nor real.

The gov is a fancy modern replacement for religion and gov is a type of religion in itself.

So the controdiction is not my own, but I did fall into it.

I would say based in that gov / religion deception - that when the USA leaves both Afganistan and Iraq then those people will quickly get rid of the puppet governments created by the USA and they will replace them with a religious Theocracy gov based on Islam at the first chance they get.

The American deception as I understand it is that the USA gov is a "Christian" Country but the separation of Church and State means we are to pretend it is not a Christian gov when it really is.

So I believe I fell into the controdiction which our society promotes but I did not create it.

I think both Booky & Allimar are right. Essentially, governement and religion are systems of control. We, as human beings, need to push them in the right direction. If we don't, our species probably isn't going to exist much longer.

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Essentially, governement and religion are systems of control. We, as human beings, need to push them in the right direction.

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My suggestion and my plan is to promote and vote for Barack Obama to change the world.

http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

It is not perfect but it is a plan.

As much as i dislike religion and government, i honestly believe that its impossible for humans to exist without one or the other. Its simply against human nature to not have an order to things as good as it does sound. There will always be power hungry people who would take advantage of a utopia. it's just part of who we to get ahead. Also to exist with only one at least as far as i know would be disastrous. From what history shows, and also what can be seen in present day America, one with out the other to create a balance is impossible. Just take a look at Europe back when the Catholic church took advantage of people and the inferior government, or a modern example look to the middle East. On the other side if Government dominates religion, we're in some serious trouble, because as we loose morals, laws in a democracy become loose at best, and what was immoral becomes a grey area, and finally accepted aka abortion. So without religion we loose the accountability to a higher power and people can do anything they want. i think that you can see how that affect our government today, as they are becoming bigger and making more laws and bordering on socialism and controlling our lives because we don't have accountability. I wish we were free to do of both but unfortunately its to late to turn it around

Well said.
My next question is had Hitler won WWII, the world would have been nearly united. As well as we would most certainly be far more technologically advanced as a species then we are today. No doubt whatever the leaders would have wanted they would have been completed at whatever the cost.
My question is...
What should we do?
Are we all, as a species ready to give up silly beliefs and work together? Or do we have to be slaughtered and forced to do so?