Knowledge Filters and Belief Systems

Truth is all in how you perceive things to be, when you change your perceptions your truths will change as well. Everybody has a unfaltering belief in something and that belief clouds your perception of truth.
And you will find for that every belief system in place on Earth, there is another belief system that is completely opposite. These people become your enemy, their belief system held up for ridicule. What they don't see is that their own belief system is just as ridiculous.
One inherent problem with this that in order to hold one's beliefs, one must accept lies as truth and truth as lies. Every belief system is protected by a knowledge filter, some thing I read about in an article entitled "Forbidden Archaeology" by Michael A. Cremo. In his article (and book of the same name) he discusses how human skeletal remains found embedded in rock formations millions of years old have been hidden away, all because their existence prove Darwin wrong, and the Darwinists can't accept that fact.
Fact. That's what it comes down to, fact. Johnny shot Billy. His motives may be in question, the evidence lacking, but that's a hard fact. Not a statistic, fact.
You can quote a percentage of murders that go unsolved. Doesn't change a thing.
Jesus died for your sins. That's an opinion. Since I don't believe in sin, just bad decisions, I haven't "sinned" so Jesus did nothing for me. Sin is a label given to natural human urges by the church to keep the "sinners" coming with their tithings every week.
Of course I pick on the Christians because their knowledge filter is the most wackiest thing! Christians who were indignant when President Clinton lied about a blow job were heard to say: "It's not what he did, it's that he lied about it." Now their guy George W Bush is caught telling the biggest lie and .......well, we'll get back to you because unlike the Monica Lewinsky thing, the Downing Street Memo has been ignored by the Mainstream Media.
All belief systems are based on fear in one form or another. To pick on them Christians again, their beliefs are held in place by the fear of going to Hell. Racists fear those different from them. The Mainstream Media acts as a knowledge filter while simultaneously feeding those fears. Any belief system that contradicts the accepted belief systems are held up for ridicule. Any statement of fact not acceptable within accepted belief systems is written off as conspiracy theory. Any story that feeds our deepest darkest fears in an acceptable way is the big news story of the day.The "War On Terror" is an example. The Government and the Mainstream Media use it to keep us fearful that those people with unacceptable belief systems may attack us at any moment. The unbrainwashed realize this is just a farce, a tool used to prop political approval ratings up around election time, as well as an excuse to to do just about anything we damn well please because we're the only Super Power left and no one can stop us. But to the masses, propped in front of their television sets with their duct tape and plastic sheeting, the terror level is a real thing. Millions of Americans still believe Saddam had ties to al-Queida. Of course, these are the same people who believe there's a "secret code" in the bible, it just goes to show you how their knowledge filter supports their belief system.
Some belief systems and knowledge filters co-exist to support each other. Some people's Christianity can be plugged in to their political beliefs, even if the two appear to be opposed. I'm sure as many Republicans as Democrats claim to be Christians. And, they would have you believe that there is a difference between the two, when in fact the third unseen knowledge filter prevents them from seeing the truth, they are one and the same. Most candidates exist to siphon votes from those candidates not owned by the people who control the knowledge filters, or to hedge the bets of those in control. When a bill passes Congress, such as NAFTA or the Patriot Act, with a large majority, one only needs to trace who benefits to find who owns our Congress. That our Congress works for Americans, that there is difference between the major parties, these are untruths held in place by knowledge filters.
There is no Grand Conspiracy at work, most people who act in behalf of a belief system have no knowledge of the hidden agenda they are pushing. They truly believe in what they say, just as those with the same belief systems believe they are being told the truth.
And ultimately, is this supposed age of information, our media filters stories as well. The whole Downing Street Memo was kept out of the American Media until bloggers began pushing the story. Actually, the list of filtered stories would be enough to fill several blogs.
Eventually, the knowledge filters reinforce the belief system to the point that one can't understand why every one doesn't see it that way, and we begin forcing our belief systems on others. Animal rights activists, for instance, have no idea that their belief system was created by Anton LeVey, who also founded the First Church of Satan. They may believe it's cruel to test on animals, but the truth is, it's pointless. Toxins to humans may not be toxins to animals. Rather than focus on that aspect, that testing on animals is wrong because they have different DNA, they focus on the cruelty aspect. These same people, who detest cruelty to animals, also disdain hunting, even though hunting deer, for instance, thins out the herd so that food is plentiful and no deer has to die a long painful death from starvation. Most hunters hunt to put food on the table for their families, not for the enjoyment of inflicting cruelty on animals.
Gun rights are another issue where both sides employ knowledge filters to reinforce their beliefs. Pro-gun advocates feel that every one should own a gun to protect themselves. Unfortunately, there is a large population who should never own guns; it's just too bad that most of them don't know it. I, for one, have enough sense to know that with my short fuse and irrational anger, a gun is the last thing I need to put my hands on. Anti-gun advocates feeling that outlawing guns would reduce crime but think about this. For years, I was a pot smoker. Everyday, I would fire one up, even though I knew it was illegal. Never stopped me, because for me the desire to get high over rode my desire to obey the law. Now, if someone with criminalistic tendencies wishes to own a gun, do you really think that outlawing them will make one give them up? Like the NRA says, when guns are out lawed, only outlaws will have guns. In an ideal world, sure, we wouldn't need guns, but this is not an ideal world. It's too overpopulated with people who use their knowledge filters to reinforce their belief systems.