Since I returned from a two-week journey of contemplation, I've thinking about what I call now "narrative matrix" (and what I used to call "mind-made prison" and watching people who seem to be trapped in such a narrative matrix, or to be more precise, narrative matrices, and seem unaware of this very fact.
The most problematic kind of narrative matrix must be the self-narrative matrix, that is, what we think we are. Since our childhood we are tricked not only by our respective individual ego but also by the collective ego of the society where we live into believing what we think we are.
Another narrative matrix I've been giving much thought about is the political narrative matrix in general and its specific subtype in particular.
I started to realize that I had been trappped in this specific subtype of the political narrative last March when two broadcasting stations I had been recommended to follow were closed. Then I started to look for alternative massmedia outlets in the same language. First I tried what looked similar to these two, then just by chance I also checked those in the same language with the opposite view.
In parallel I started to follow investigative journalists on the following five alternative media outlets:
Having read and heard about analyses by about 20 such courageous investigative journalists, mainly from the US and other Western countries, I've realized to my great surprise that the narrative by two above mentioned two stations fundamentally contradicts these analyses and the one by other broadcasting stations in the same language with the opposite view match these analyses.
I have to make a special mention of one journalist in Australia named Caitlin Johnstone (website / Substack / Twitter). She is exceptionaly good even among all the amazing investigative journalists I've been following. I'd like to recommend the following four articles by her in particilar:
- Propaganda Isn't Something That Only Happens to Others (2022-12-22)
- Awakening from the Narrative Matrix (2022-12-30)
- Psychological Tyranny Is Still Tyranny (2023-01-07)
- A Prison Where the Prisoners Don't Know They're in Prison (2023-01-15)
I wish I were wrong, but it seems to me now that the above mentioned two broadcasting stations in the country I've come to love even more ended up, knowingly or unknowingly, serving as propaganda tools of one country and its allies that have been trying to demonize this country. I was tricked into their political narrative matrix.
Since I woke up from this narrative matrix, I've totally lost my trust in the mainstream media outlets of these countries as they are nothing but propaganda tools of their governments. Since then I've also been experiencing a serious problem with people who are trapped in this political narrative matrix. In the meanwhile I've found a sure sign for identifying such people, and if I see this sign in someone, I make a conscious effort not to be dragged into political arguments with them for my mental sanity.