Apparatchik, it is the opposite of being a skeptic. The majority of our modern so-called skeptics since 1972 have been trained as apparatchiks, not skeptics. They are not simply ignorant agents, rather agents of ignorance. A class of fake skeptic which is smart enough to follow a lesson plan, but stupid enough to be insensitive to the plight of others, and to fail to observe the game of manipulation in which they have been used as pawn.
I was working with a hospital client in Ohio in 2007, just before the first official college football BCS National Championship game ever played, January 8, 2007. A group of us working in a conference room included several justifiably proud Ohio State football fans, wherein I was plied with the question, “What’s your prediction for the upcoming BCS championship game TES?” I stopped for just a moment and then said “A rude awakening.” Florida of course went on to thrash the heavily media-favored Ohio State in that game 41 to 7 (although a mercy touchdown at the end made the final score 41 to 14). This lack of power ranking awareness on the part of many Ohio State fans and sportswriters that year elicits a foundational term inside ethical skepticism called anosognosia. Anosognosia is a deficit of self awareness that renders a subject vulnerable to being misled by propaganda and/or into becoming an apparatus of such propaganda in the first place. The anosognosiac bears the irony that they possess a greater degree of ignorance than do the very people they accuse of residing in the same state. Therefore, anosognosia is is not congruent with simply cluelessness. Anosognosia combines cluelessness, with the desire to condemn others, along with a mind bereft of its own manipulation/vulnerability. This constitutes a class of fake skeptic which is smart enough to follow a lesson plan, but not caring enough to observe the plight of others, nor their own role in contributing to harm. For instance:
Blathering incessantly about the dangers of ‘supplements’ despite the fact that the term bears no specific meaning; all the while ignoring a National Crisis in Opioid Abuse which has raged and caused the deaths of millions of our citizens – at the hands of the major pharmaceutical giants.
Obsessing about Gwyneth Paltrow’s Advocacy on lipstick or defending agricultural food pesticide proliferation, all the while remaining silent on the priority fact that sperm counts continue their extinction event drop in Western men (Sperm Counts Drop 52% in 40 Years in Western Men).
A person who refuses to read the Overwhelming Science Linking Brain Injury, Early Frequent Immune Activation and Injected Contaminants – and declares anyone who does to be a ‘baby killer’ or ‘anti-vaxx’ – as opposed to the reality that they are simply asking for science and safety – not an elimination of vaccines. Instead they simply spout imperious propaganda, straw man and name calling.
These are not ignorant agents (the noun), rather agents of ignorance (the verb). It is not simply stupidity, but stupidity as contagion. These are persons who maintain an obdurate hatred of their fellow men – and cover it with deceptive personas of correctness, misleading others and themselves.
Anosognosia
/psychology : self awareness : errors/ : a deficit of self awareness. A vulnerability to a sales pitch involving the ‘stupid’ versus us, on the part of those who see themselves as superior minded. This relates to the complex intricacies involving intelligence and rationality; a perception spun on the part of social skeptics which is wielded to seek compliance and social enforcement of their goals.
The principal actor inside a social club critical mass of anosognosia is a special form of pro-active cluelessness player, called an apparatchik. An apparatchik is a person who is smart enough to follow an instructed method and set of pre-prepared talking points, yet not smart enough to detect a condition of being manipulated, nor bearing skill in detecting any real or important alternative priorities. This is the opposite of a skeptic, and ironically constitutes the majority of people who call themselves ‘skeptics’ today.
Apparatchik
/politics : propaganda : lackey/ : the opposite of being a skeptic. A blindly devoted official, follower, or organization member, of a corporation, club or political party. One who either ignorantly or obdurately lacks any concern or circumspection ability which might prompt them to examine the harm their position may serve to cause.
An apparatchik will almost always call themselves a ‘skeptic’.
Twenty Apparatchik Signals
1. Possesses few or no ideas of his or her own crafting
2. Is an expert or issues ‘Twelve Reasons Why’ styled arguments on an unreasonably large array of subjects in which they could not possibly hold expertise (or on one in which you hold extensive expertise and detect deception/laziness on their part – see Margold’s Law)
3. Quickly or habitually slips into rhetoric in an effort to win an argument, rather than conducting further research
4. Appeals to the authority of their club or argument ad populum
5. Talks down to you, not with you
6. Can relate few or no instances where they actually conducted hard or extensive investigative field work
7. Seldom regards direct or extensive experience as sufficient qualification to argue with them
8. Focuses first on the ‘facts’ or circumstantial aspects or informal fallacy around an argument – as opposed to its coherence, soundness and logical calculus
9. Enjoys condemning people through ‘raising the specter of doubt’ (wink-wink, nudge-nudge)
10. Subconsciously treats science as a social ranking and popularity endeavor
11. Patrols social media seeking to embarrass targeted people
12. Tends to adopt a cause célèbre or correctness personas/religious stances at a young age and with excessive vigor
13. Resorts to familiar catch phrases in response to novel information
14. Seeks visibility, club reinforcement and celebrity at every chance
15. Is insensitive to risk, suffering or the plight of anyone different than themself
16. Finds fault more easily in others than in themself
17. Not really all that clever once you get past the tag lines
18. Steers every line of reason into an inference which serves to insult or ‘anti______’ bucket-condemn persons they engage/argue with
19. Will draw a conclusion based upon skepticism alone
20. Their quality of life/success/achievement, does not seem to be compatible with the rigor by which they hold others accountable
The apparatchik is a pretender. A child-mind, motivated by the Ten Pillars of Social Skepticism. It behooves the ethical skeptic to avoid such persons – as they only seek to engage with you as a means to continue their propaganda masquerade. Spend your quality intellectual pursuit time inside research of ideas which will reduce the risk and suffering born by your citizen peers – not in fighting useless fights with people who hold their position, precisely because they could not discern the core arguments of its issues in the first place.
The Ethical Skeptic, “The Opposite of Skeptic: Apparatchik” The Ethical Skeptic, WordPress, 4 March 2018, Web; https://wp.me/p17q0e-7hb
It is my contention that the crisis in the skepticism community today, derives its potency from one single issue. The internet is forcing hard questions upon skeptics. Not questions of scientific conclusivity (which is part and parcel to the fantasy they maintain); rather questions of ethic and philosophical merit. Media is no longer a one-way street. Questions are being asked back, in the face of the old proclamations of certainty. Have you really examined this issue? Do you perceive that you might be conducting advocacy for answers which are mere ego fodder, are profit-fueled or might be causing harm to the innocent? Have you really asked a scientific question? Have we really tested this product to deductively, not inductively, prove safety? Are we brushing off clear and robust epidemic trends, with clever apothegms? Are you sure that all your hullabaloo has been about ‘knowledge’?
