5 Ways the Government Exploits Ignorance and Lack of Critical Thinking
By: Adam Reuter
The local, state and federal governments want to keep the general population on a leash. Here are five different ways they do it.
1. Fear-Mongering and Manufactured Crises
Politicians in Towson love a good “emergency”. They hyped up the 2019 ransomware attack to bypass normal bidding rules for multi-million-dollar technology contracts. You demanded action because you were scared–exactly what they wanted. You gave up oversight to “protect the data” without seeing the full receipt for the $8 million ransom payment. You complied in 2020 to “protect the vulnerable” without questioning data manipulation or long-term costs. Governments hype threats like pandemics, terrorism, economic collapse or foreign enemies to push emergency powers.
2. Control and Bias in Public Education
The Baltimore County Board of Education shapes curriculum to prioritize obedience over real world lessons. They approve narratives that hide the gritty reality of local government failures. Graduates leave high school unable to read a County budget or spot a propaganda campaign. These kids become adults who trust authority and ignore what it’s doing because they never learned how power actually works in Towson. They accept authority without questioning because they were never taught how past regimes consolidated power.
Students who read The Baltimore Informer are the exception, obviously.
3. Propaganda via State-Aligned Media
The local media acts like a public relations (PR) firm for the County Executive. TV stations repeat simplified narratives about the “Safe Streets” program while suppressing data about rising crime in Hunt Valley and Perry Hall. Citizens consume the headlines and ignore the primary sources. Most people internalize the official story because the local news labels alternative coverage as a conspiracy. Governments partner with big media to repeat simplified narratives and suppress the details and counter-evidence.
When someone is arrested, for example, how often do they name the suspect but don’t ever bother interviewing the suspect? Instead, they just present the government’s side of a story, which goes against the number one journalism ethics rule: Seek Truth.
4. Obfuscated Laws and Regulations
The County Council buries dirty deals in bills that run longer than a CVS receipt. They write legislation in dense legalese so you won’t notice the hidden clauses that fund their crony developer friends. You pay your property taxes and lose your property rights without ever reading the fine print. Ignorance of the 365-page Master Plan 2030 lets the establishment pass it quietly. Legislation stays buried in massive bills that nobody reads.
5. Inflation as a Hidden Tax
The central bank prints money and devalues the cash you work hard to earn. Politicians in Annapolis and Washington, D.C. spend like it’s a game and blame greedy corporations for the price of milk. You cheer for a stimulus check while your purchasing power at the local grocery store vanishes. The economically illiterate never connect the dots between government spending, government policies/regulations and their shrinking bank accounts. Printing money devalues savings and wages while politicians blame corporations for rising prices.
Adam’s Bottom Line
These psychological tricks work because the County Council and Congress count on your exhaustion. They use fear and bad schools to turn you into a compliant taxpayer. It’s a system designed to keep you from checking the Baltimore County Auditor’s reports or asking why the DPW budget keeps ballooning–all while they ignore the crumbling infrastructure across the land.
You lose the value of the money you earn while the government prints more to fund their $4.9 billion budget. They bury the truth in their Master Plan 2030 to hide how they hand over your land to high-density developers. They want you to stay distracted by the TV news, YouTube or social media while they pick your pockets in the dark.
This is part one of a four-part series on government mind games. The Baltimore Informer is tearing down the curtain on how they manipulate your mind to keep their power and stay in office. Stay tuned for part two.
