“We were wildly off-base on our articles — and here’s why.” Had The Havok Journal done that, they would have done a great service — to themselves, the veterans their site serves, perhaps the country and even the world.
I came across this outfit when I found the following post. At first, they were far more reasonable than most — but it’s a pretty low bar.
They sounded like people willing to listen, but like most of America — they don’t know jack on this issue. Since I wrote and produced the most exhaustive documentary ever done on Iraq WMD, I would know:
Funny thing about information
It can seem incoherent when you don’t take any of it into account.
If I did cartwheels on TikTok to tell this story — you’d take issue with my form. We’ve created a culture that gripes over “flashy graphics” while worshipping liars in the images. Constant complaining has become a virtue — where everything of value is gain you get in the moment:
And easy is all the rage!
Trillion Dollar Tube
On that clip alone
To anyone with a bone of intellectual integrity in your body, it’s over: Right here, right now.
But I’d hope you’d want the whole story — and here it is:
Anyone entering this discussion with sincerity — would come away realizing that there is no debate, and there never was.
They just made it up
CIA is not the all knowing God of the Bible. The CIA could do everything 100% correct but still not know everything.
— Tweeter tapping the typical
There’s another reason why they wouldn’t know everything: Nuclear scientists don’t work there — they work at the Department of Energy.
And that — is what this is all about
You’d know that had you watched Trillion Dollar Tube instead of trying to educate me on things you know nothing about.
I point you to a 7-part, 2 hours and 40 minutes doc — that distills a story that demanded a massive amount of effort, thought, research, and writing:
And you tap a Tweet with a talking point or two — thinking you can inform me.
Would you browse a textbook then blame the teacher for your failure to understand the material? If you’re not gonna watch clips at the crux of the story, what’s the point?
That the decline of America over the last 30 years in the Gutter Games of Government — doesn’t unfold for standard scrolling with ease, is not a flaw in my argument and array of illustrations:
It’s a flaw in your willingness to work through it — absorbing each building block of information your brain is well-equipped to handle.
Or at least it used to be before information became so funneled in a fashion to your liking — you don’t even know what to do with anything that isn’t. It astounds me that wading through unfamiliar territory on this site is somehow seen as complicated as quantum physics.
I assure you
What it took to acquire this information was infinitely more demanding than anything you face here — let alone the complexities in exposing systematic deception at the core of our country’s ills.
What I do takes work — time and effort to think it through.
This — is entertainment
And unlike the hero-worship horseshit in the kiss-ass communities above:
I don’t have situational rules
To claim that Iraq WMD wasn’t a lie should be like saying we didn’t land on the moon. In denying that reality, half the country helped create a culture where denying reality is now the norm:
Things get a bit more complicated when you have principles instead of pretending to.
In fairness to The Havok Journal — at least they could handle that I was addressing the behavior around both issues above. That’s a helluva lot better than a nation that behaves as if hypocrisy were a virtue.
Like I said — it’s a pretty low bar.
When I wrote to them, I was just hoping they’d take a look at my doc and spread the word. To my surprise, they offered me an opportunity to write a follow-up to their piece and publish it on their site.
As I’ve been treated with nothing but contempt for 20 years on this topic, this was potentially a huge opportunity for the truth to finally see the light of day.
From the get-go, my instincts were telling me something was off — but I didn’t listen. The last time someone took an interest, they wanted to interview me for their podcast. It sounded great — but just one problem: It struck me as strange that he didn’t watch the doc (or even clips) in preparation for the interview.
If you don’t even understand the most baseline arguments behind the story — why are you interviewing me in the first place? I’d like to think you’d have some questions prepared, but that’s me. He had other ideas:
It was about content — not truth
“There is no skimming over the surface of a subject with [Hamilton]. He must sink to the bottom to see what foundation it rests on.”
— Major William Pierce (Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton)
Wouldn’t it be absurd to share that quote if my clip contained nothing but trite talking points? Some circles are not burdened by squaring their walk with their talk. They seem to think that advertising virtue equates to embodying it.
Case in point
People who talk glibly about “intelligence failure” act as if intelligence agencies that are doing their job right would know everything.
— Professional Know-It-All (PKIA for short)
D.O.E’s standard is to spin a tube at 20% above 90,000 RPM before failure — so 48,000 short is a pretty loose definition of “rough indication.”
And since the entire point of testing should be to replicate the conditions of centrifuges, one would think that the full-blown testing would be performed before the N.I.E. was completed.
— Richard W. Memmer: Act II
Between PKIA’s words and mine
Which ones strike you as glib?
That guy’s podcast is entirely dedicated to promoting the “brilliance” of that Professional Know-It-All. “The brilliance of PKIA” is that this fraud got followers to beleive he’s not only a genius — but some kind of saint-like Sherlock Holmes to boot.
Never mind his a habit of toeing the party line. All of which flies in the face of the principles he peddles.
What does it to say to you that I had to come up with an alias for the figure in question — just so his crowd will consider his claims in isolation from his immaculate image?
Just as that cartoon captures what words cannot — so too does the implication behind the alias. What would you call someone who shoots their mouth off without addressing the evidence — but banks on their fabricated reputation to create the impression that they did?
If I came into this cold — I’d know on the doc image alone that PKIA has no chance. If you don’t know that by now, I don’t know what to tell ya.
You think that poppycock of PKIA’s gets better from here? Trust me, I’m just warming up. And by the way — I suggest you start putting some faith in people who have integrity instead of buying it from those who sell it.
And lo and behold
The Havok Journal was after content too — as it sure as hell wasn’t the truth (not as their primary purpose, anyway). How else would you explain people who crank out an article without any research on an issue of world-altering magnitude — then not even bother to watch a 7-part doc that puts their work to shame?
who cares if it does?
After all — didn’t ya write it because you had concerns about what happened? Wouldn’t it be a great learning opportunity for you and your audience if you said:
We had no idea of the depths of dishonesty involved here — we highly recommend you watch his documentary in full
Imagine!
But no — it’s only been 20 years, why don’t we waste some more time educating this guy on our standards (the ones without any research by people running a blog without even understanding the fundamental features available to them).
It’s one thing if you’re unaware of how things work — but if someone’s talking about something you don’t understand, just ask.
Failing to do so creates totally unncessary confusion — and even after I politely offered my assistance, they seemed too timid to take it. That bears on this issue is because it shows a habit of seeing things in a very limited light — robotically following a path adopted by what you know:
Not what you can learn by going in another direction.
They’re hardly alone on that:
And this racket of expressing concerns then miserably failing to act on them when given a golden opportunity to do so.
What would you call untold millions marching to a Twitter-rage parade on WMD — dishing on the deaths of Rumsfeld and Powell (and whatever anniversary marks the moment):
But too lazy to take the time to look at what we can do about it.
Of course, that would require holding their own accountable as well:
So there’s that
On my doc links alone, 6 weeks ago we could have kicked off a conversation this country’s never had. Instead, they had me dickin’ around conforming to their ideal delivery model.
If you think you can use words alone to better capture what’s in these images below — I invite you to try.
If I came across someone so clearly in command of this material — I wouldn’t give a f#$k about format. I don’t need somebody to babysit me with the just the right formula for me to carefully consider something. I’m happy to put some time and effort in to work it out on my own.
And for anything requiring clarification — I’d ask questions. I’m old-fashioned that way.
One picture is worth a thousand words
When you don’t want the pictures — and you don’t want the words: What would you have me do?
And once I did it — we both know your next move . . .
Oh, I’m sorry . . .
Is that too “disorienting” for you to grasp? You’re in luck then — you can just watch the doc and I’ll talk you through it.
Wait, you want me to watch something now? I just wanna scan through your site and find things to criticize you about — I don’t actually care about any truth that doesn’t immediately serve my interests.
That’s the truth — and it always has been.
Somehow there’s this magic formula in the minds of America: That if only the material were properly aligned to your style-guide standards, then you’d abide by the principles you preach.
The people you worship — they found the formula to your liking long ago. They dumb it all down into Happy Meal morsels to munch on: Soothing you into submission while they put a wrench to your brain to remove it from the equation.
Nice work!
Any 60 seconds of my doc is more substantative than what almost all of America knows on the entire WMD debacle. But instead of just listening and learning for change — let’s waste precious time fashioning just the right bio and intro into each segment.
I was on board at first (but with that nagging feeling all along that something wasn’t right). In fairness, they were very helpful for a while — but at some point, enough is enough.
I guess it got to me that people who didn’t do one bit of research — are nitpicking my “failure” to conform to their format.
Without me finding that post — their efforts are worthless (like all the others who offer absolutely nothing to the debate). I’m the only person on the planet who told this story in full, but instead of doing some work on your own for a change — let’s f#$k with the guy who did all for you.
And right on cue
They bailed when I refused to play along anymore. Rather than cowboy the f#$k up and just post the links and get down to business (ya know — in the interest of the veterans they supposedly care about), they went out with a whimper.
You can’t possibly fathom how pathetic that is in my eyes — that you can’t take a hit and suck it up to do what’s right:
Not what feels good to pamper your fragile ego.
A lot of that goin’ around
One Voice Became Two 