From Foreword:
The times when a battle was fought around the world and yielded zero side effects to the world’s order are over. Most people in civilized society are sheltered from the horrors and crimes that occur every day. As you read this, somebody has been forcefully removed from their home, tortured in heinous ways, and assassinated. This is happening, and most people would not understand the suffering that is being inflicted onto other people. This book will help you put in context the realities that occur around the world – and how these might be affecting you right now. Even if by proxy.

From Introduction
There are events right now which are peppered with propaganda. Turn on the TV, look at the internet, open a search engine. Chances are that a lot of the content you read is either an advertisement, or it has some sort of message that is designed to influence your decision making, or to exploit a bias. Granted that some of those are designed to sell you something, but the same techniques can be utilized by the propagandists to deprive you of something much more important than money, your actions and undivided attention.

From CHAPTER 1
Distractions and lack of understanding of procedures are the chief way we are watched and potentially manipulated. I know, it is uncomfortable to even think about it, and frustrating to even imagine that small groups of people are essentially taking most of the world population for useful fools. That is why there will always be so many different options to keep the masses distracted. If you are distracted, then you are not paying attention. If you pay attention, you might realize where the math is not adding up. Breaking free from manipulation is a very simple concept, but it is highly complex in execution.

From CHAPTER 2
Why am I starting from this micro-level puppet master? Simple, because people who might be raised in this environment are more susceptible to being controlled. I have spoken in my other books about toxic leadership and the fact that bad habits get normalized after somebody put in charge has been able to get away with doing things that would be otherwise unacceptable in a different context outside their small boundaries.

From CHAPTER 3
This is one of the reasons why politics and religion tend to become taboo topics in several arenas. For example, in many western professional organization politics and religion views are to be kept internalized so as to not create what could be considered a “catalyst for dissent” among the people in those groups. Why? Because politics and religion tend to be very emotionally charged topics. There are people who will either end friendships, shun family members, or even disavow loved ones because of dissenting opinions on these topics. Hence the reason why these discussions tend to be generally taboo.

From CHAPTER 4
Authoritarianism thrives in this projection and that can very well include cults of personality. The authoritarian will be so “grand” and “benevolent” – although stern and implacable against definitive enemies of their cause – which can include any former obedient followers who got out from the circle of trust. Again, it does not matter what the cause is, whatever is it they are “defending.” There will be an archnemesis who is very strong – but also weak – and can only be defeated by this group alone.

From CHAPTER 5
It is easy to look away, and the truth is that it is hard to figure out what exactly are the topics that we should be focusing upon. Entertainment is not necessarily a willful deceitful factor in this equation of diverting our attention from what really matters. But it can indeed be an exploitable factor if somebody has an agenda and wants to keep us looking away from important issues. And the fact is that this approach works very well because the less attention we pay to our surroundings and live inside these lenses of entertainment, the less we will be able to understand patterns that might affect us negatively.

From CHAPTER 6
As you can imagine, some of those uses can afford nefarious intent and actions. Particularly on political enemies or any other dissenting actors. The difference between the regimes we spoke of in the past in this chapter and the one in modern times is technology. Also, and paradoxically because of this technology, there is a sense of complacency and lowering our guards. In other words, a lot of people overshare information in social media, or in any other medium they have available. Do you think this information is safe from scrutiny by a nefarious actor? It is not, anything you say could or will be recorded somehow and by somebody if there is any way to collect such information. Especially if this information is transmitted via the internet.

From CHAPTER 7
The human mind is not static, it is a dynamic environment. And critical thinking requires training our minds in order to separate facts from unsubstantiated opinions. For some people it will be quite easy, and for some it will take a longer time. But remember what I said before – critical thinking without intellectual honesty is not going to work very well. Some people who have critical thinking but lack intellectual honesty can become actual victims of their own biases. Their own cynicism will blind them from actual reality, because getting outside those boundaries will feel as though they are defying their very logic.

From CHAPTER 8
Let us use the case of suicide bombers as an example. To them, this type of martyrdom was viewed as an occasion to serve, not only their society in what they considered a worthy cause, but also for rewards in the afterlife. In many cases, these levels of indoctrination started incredibly early in life. Children as young as they can start speaking and believing in their dogmas are conditioned to carry these acts of “martyrdom” as though they are the chosen ones for their cause. It is macabrely cynical, especially when you come to realize that the higher echelons of leadership do not do the suicidal martyrdom themselves. I know, right? Surprisingly, the people in charge do zero sacrificial dying themselves, huh? Why do you think that is? Isn’t this supposed to be the greatest honor? Afterall, they conditioned and convinced this poor soul to believe that it was an honor by bombing themselves and their targets.

From CHAPTER 9
As the people started to manifest that visceral feeling, then an enemy – a scapegoat, a sacrificial lamb was needed to direct that newfound fury. And sparking this fury was not an extremely hard task. People throughout history have been frustrated about something or someone in their environment. Usually whomever is in charge of making decisions at the time of discontent. Then somebody who poses as a viable solution for change comes around. But the change occurs for the worse. The rhetoric was inciting action that would only be beneficial to the very top of that food chain.