“If a speech falls freely in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, is it still free speech?” – Swami Beyondananda

In 1974, the satirical troupe, Firesign Theatre, put out a comedy record, Everything You Know Is Wrong.

Now, 50 years later …looks like they were right.

When we think of censorship, we think of overt repression of views, like book banning, or even book-burning. But in these times, where so much of what we think we “know” comes from digital sources, the censorship is so silent and stealthy that we haven’t a clue how the information we receive has already been filtered and focused by someone unknown to us. And how we are convinced we are “thinking our own thoughts” but are in fact parroting planted narratives.

On this episode of Front and Center, Michael and I review and unpack an eye-opening interview with psychologist and journalist Dr. Robert Epstein, on what he calls the Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME). Epstein, a former editor of Psychology Today, has ...

“It’s not vicious lies they are looking to censor.
It’s those vicious truths they’re worried about.”
– Swami Beyondananda

Last week I wrote a post suggesting that free speech censorship was the gravest existential threat to democracy. I was heartened by the positive response, although I found something very curious about the few pushback emails I got. Not one of them objected to any of my points about free speech, or even addressed them. All of the negative feedback boiled down to: “Donald Trump is worse!”

That’s the problem with “lesser evil-ism.” We accentuate and amplify the evil on the other side (in this week’s podcast you can view the contrast between what mainstream media said that Trump said and what he actually said), while refusing to acknowledge the lies and contradictions on our own side.

That’s how evil prevails.

So I want to try a thought experiment.

Imagine there’s no Donald Trump.

(Imagine there’s no Donald …
It’s easy if you try …
No red-hat wearing MAGA’s
The red team runs another guy ...

“The best way to overgrow the ‘deep state’ is by cultivating a deeper state.”
-- Swami Beyondananda

Here is the oxymoronic political contradiction of our times. We seem more polarized than ever, and yet the vast majority of us long to work together for mutual benefit. Perhaps the resolution of this seemingly impossible “shituation” can be found in the “real” American dream of our founders: individual freedom AND collective wellbeing.

The accentuated polarization of our times has put these two universal aspirations in conflict with one another. But what if they need to co-evolve together? Is there a way to transform these dueling dualities into dynamic-duo dance partners?

Our guest this week on Front and Center, Foster Gamble (www.freetothrive.com), has spent his adult lifetime seeking what he calls a “universal morality” that is not imposed from the top down, but realized from the individual on up. Growing up in privilege – he’s a Gamble as in Proctor & Gamble – ...

An Interview With Pioneering Black Journalist Glen Ford

“It’s time to move past identity issues and focus on the IDENTICAL issues we all face – clean air, clean water, clean food, and clean government.”
-- Swami Beyondananda

Bamboozlement. Isn’t that a great word?

According to Wiki Politiki guest Glen Ford, pioneering black journalist, that was a term Malcolm X used to describe how the power structure has used race politics – most recently the #BlackLivesMatter movement -- to keep folks from poking around the real issues.

The son of famed disc jockey Rudy “The Deuce” Rutherford, who was the first Black man to host a non-gospel television show in the Deep South – Columbus, Georgia, 1958 – Glen was reading newswire copy on-the-air at age eleven. Glen’s first full-time broadcast news job was at James Brown’s Augusta, Georgia radio station WRDW, in 1970 – where ‘The Godfather of Soul” shortened Glen’s surname to “Ford.”

Sadly, Mr. Ford passed away this ...

“There are no sides, only angles. And when we see it from the right angle, we’re all on the same side.”
-- Swami Beyondananda

Part 2 of 2

Here is an “irony supplement” to munch on.

America is in the midst of the most politically polarizing times since the Civil War … and yet, a 2018 Pew Research Center poll found that nearly 80 percent of Americans in each party believe it’s important for Republicans and Democrats to work together on issues.

Huh? How could that be?

Are we that schizophrenic … or, is there a deep longing to find our sane and sacred center at the heart and soul of who we are?

On August 25, 2020 Wiki Politiki interviewed family therapist and author Bill Doherty, co-founder of Braver Angels, an organization dedicated to bringing the polarized sides together to find a new angle – where instead of dehumanizing the other side, we re-humanize the other.

In December 2016, Braver Angels co-founders David Blankenhorn, Bill Doherty, and David Lapp brought ...

“When you find yourself on a vicious cycle, for goodness sake, stop pedaling and get off.”
-- Swami Beyondananda

From Steve Bhaerman:

One of the biggest challenges for me in the wake of the election results has been speaking into the field of grief, anger, profound disappointment, hopelessness and despair so many of my progressive co-hearts have been experiencing.

And …I’ve been watching this slow-motion train wreck for nearly four years, so I was not surprised.

I began this election day by taking my own advice and following my conscience. I abstained from voting for President. My choice was neither of the above. My prayer was for the American people to make the wisest choice possible – and I let it be with that.

I went about my business peacefully, spent time in nature, watched inspiring, entertaining and educational programs Tuesday night and went to bed without following the “hearse-race.”

In sharp contrast to my rage and horror when it happened in 2016, I...

“They’ve taken the Bill of Rights and boiled it down to just one.
You have the right to remain silent.”
– Swami Beyondananda

In December 2008, Bruce Lipton and I were writing the final chapter of Spontaneous Evolution.  Barack Obama had just been elected President, and I had just returned from a trip to Washington, D.C. – where people were literally dancing in the streets.

And why not?

We were done with Bush and Cheney, the Iraq War, and the neocon con.  It was time for hope and change.

So in this last chapter, A Whole New Story, Bruce and I proclaimed that Obama’s election was a sign that “evolution” was at hand.  Made sense to us.  We were, however, completely surprised – shocked actually – when one of Bruce’s colleagues told us that it was a mistake, that we were limiting our audience by taking a political side.  

We looked at each other incredulous.  That woman – she must be … a REPUBLICAN!

Although we softened the ...

“To make things simpler, they have taken the Bill of Rights and boiled it down to just one – you have the right to remain silent.”
– Swami Beyondananda

Join Steve and Mike as they discuss Mike’s recent trip to Washington, D.C. to be part of the Rescue the Republic rally, an independent political gathering convened by Bret Weinstein, and including luminaries like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, Matt Taibbi, Jimmy Dore and many others. Says Mike, “I could never in good conscience ask anyone to vote for Donald Trump – but I can ask them to vote for the only chance we have to end egregious government censorship, put an end to forever wars … and make America healthy again.”

Independent journalist Matt Taibbi, who helped release the Twitter files on government-sponsored online censorship adds, “Trump is such a blinding figure for people, just not able to see past the trees of Donald Trump to see the forest that lays behind it. It’s a shame because we are on this continuum of ...