No Shortage of Suspects for Austin Package Bomber-And Engineering Dissent and Suspicions

“Suspicion often creates what it suspects.”

-C.S. Lewis

From a Ted Kaczynski copy-cat Unabomber to another false-flag event perpetrated by the Deep State, including a possible hate crime or Islamic terrorist and new AntiFa campaign of violence, there’s no shortage of rumors in Austin, Texas, as to who the Package Bomber is. Consequently, some experts suggest this kind of suspicious-like hysteria is not only the result of a government’s almost paranoid reliance on secrecy for clandestine propaganda and intelligence gathering and pervasive surveillance, particularly post 9/11, but a mind manipulation campaign based on the engineering of dissent and suspicion.

Everyone and Everything Is Suspicious-And Suspect
Before discussing the suspicious suspect-or suspects-and conspiracies surrounding the Package Bomber and engineering of dissent, three related blasts have left two dead and another battling critical injuries. Evidently, the victims go out and find a package on their front porch. When they open the package a bomb explodes. Hundreds of residents have called 9-1-1, the police, or the bomb squad to report odd packages. Although the Austin Police Department said there was “no specific ideology or victimlogy,” rumors are still running rampant as to who or what might be behind the terror-like incidents.

For instance, some attribute the attacks to the Artificial Intelligence Startup Conference taking place in Austin or certain hate crimes. To be sure, there’s rumors that another anti-technology-like Unabomber is on the loose and wants to send a clear message about the dangers of AI and robots, specifically to Tesla’s CEO Elong Musk who spoke at the conference. Since Mayor Sadig Khan is also speaking at a South by Southwest festival in Austin, others moreover think it could be directed at him and Muslims in general. Meanwhile, there’s another pattern emerging: all of the victims have been minorities.

But the suspicions don’t end there. Indeed, the likes of Sean Hannity, who has a show on Fox News, Alex Jones of Infowars, and other right-wing pundits have resurrected the ghosts of AntiFa and William Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground and mentor to then President Barack Obama. They’ve all promoted the idea that the bombs were traditionally a left-wing method of terrorism. And then there’s those who blame the Deep State, claiming it’s another false-flag event to either block and bridge a hidden agenda or promote the need for more surveillance and less privacy.

Engineering Dissent and Fear
Whoever or whatever is responsible for the package bombs, experts warn that one thing is certain: most Americans have an any-thing goes mind-set. This is not only critical to the successful deployment of a propaganda technique called the engineering of dissent, but, and as the opposite of the engineering of consent, involves deliberately stirring up dissent in order to later discredit, degrade, diffuse, deny, dehumanize, disrupt, or destroy the real dissenters, whether individuals, groups, or governments. It’s also an excuse to militarize local police units even more, and leads to a “shoot first and ask questions later” mentality.

If this is the case, it’s no wonder that starting with the Occupy Wall Street Movement to Black Lives Matter-and many movements in between-protests have been demonized and labeled as a threat to national security. What’s more, it was obvious the protests against the One Percenters and police brutality against people of color were quickly crushed by an intimidating and overwhelming paramilitary police presence. In the meantime, other movements, like the Women’s March on Washington and even the current “Enough Is Enough!” national student walkout against guns, is being ridiculed by some in the media.

Since 9-11, experts have warned too that the primary goal of any authoritarian state is to arouse and manipulate emotions. Those who doubt the government would develop propaganda programs to deliberately arouse emotions and create a state of fear or terror should think twice. Fear, after all, is a key emotion. It can moreover be enhanced by agent provocateurs who-once again-use engineering of dissent propaganda to stir up dissent in order to crush it later, something that’s repeatedly happened in American history with Labor Movements and even Civil Rights.

Suspicions Does Fear’s Dirty Work
But another key emotion-just as important as fear-is suspicion. To be sure, suspicious thoughts are always built on mistrust, projected outwards at the Other. They can also cause deep divisions leading to the end of relationships, organizations and communities. Suspicions are far more usually wrong than right, creating what it suspects. In addition to being subjected to government manipulation, they can further ensure that citizens will spy on each other and report unusual behavior, such as the TIPS program. Suspicions can even imagine betrayal, turning decent citizens into mobs and the innocent into criminals.

As for the statement that there’s no shortage of suspects for the Austin package bomber and the engineering of dissent and suspicion, it might be time to remember what Eric Hoffer wrote: “The suspicious mind believes more than it doubts. It believes in a formidable and ineradicable evil lurking in every person.”

Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.WN.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and www.WN.com//dallasdarling