Thursday, July 9, 2009

GMO – Depopulation and Macro-social evil


“Control oil and you control the nations; control food and you control the people...”
Henry Kissinger


Coming from a farming background with generation after generation involved in growing plants and in the last few generations specifically being involved in small seed companies, I found it hard to not buy F. William Engdahl’s book from 2007 Seeds of destruction – The Hidden agenda of Genetic Manipulation. Admittedly it was lying on the shelf for close to a year, before it reached top priority on the reading list, but it actually deserved to be read much earlier. It is an excellent and well researched book that leaves little doubt to the devastating effects of GM foods and of having the worlds food production concentrated in the hands of 3 to 4 mega corporations. Corporations that again and again have shown to have little regard for humanity, though they outwardly profess otherwise.

Engdahl shows how the people behind it have had a long term strategy and through the revolving door between the US government and the corporate world, have been able to dictate US policies for decades. The aim as Engdahl has documented it, is one of world domination and population reduction of those considered by the elite to be “useless eaters.” One of the examples given in the book for population control is Brazil, where after 14 years of the Kissinger plan for population control (NSSM 200), 44% of Brazilian women between 14 and 55 had been sterilized.

Food was seen as a way to control people and thereby the world and as a consequence of a concerted effort by the elite, we have today 4 megacorporations who control the main seeds of the worlds agriculture. 8 million farmers worldwide use GMO seeds, which in developing countries is at 90%. One could easily be attempted to think that the reason for its spread is because it is as good as the GM giants claim. But unfortunately, that is far from the truth as the book plainly lays out. As Stephen Lendman writes in his review of the book:

Complicit government agencies and clever marketing schemes aid the "Gene Revolution" through "lies and damn lies" that GMO crops have higher yields and can solve world hunger problems. The evidence proves otherwise. In addition, resistant "superweeds" develop over time, crop yields drop, farmers must use greater amounts of herbicides, they're locked into high user fees, and they end up losing money. Bottom line - the case for "genetically engineered seeds for agriculture had been based on a citadel of scientific fraud and corporate lies." This information is hidden from the public, and it's too late once unwary farmers learn they've been had.


It should be noted that the GM giants have gained their market share with the help of the WTO, the IMF, the World bank, the “free trade” agreement and the US administrations, who have all been pro GM food. Engdahl details how this is done and for further reading the book by Naomi Klein called “The Shock Doctrine” can be recommended.

So instead of being free farmers, they end up becoming debts slaves, locked into legal agreements to the GM giants and the social consequences are catastrophic. As this article from March 2008 in the Guardian describes it:
In India millions are driven to despair by their inability to pay off loans of a few hundred pounds. Figures show that more than 166,000 farmers have killed themselves since 1997 - a death almost every half an hour. The farm sector is a key part of the economy, employing two-thirds of India's 1.1 billion population.


It goes without saying that suicides on such scale has large repercussions affecting all those left behind, wives, children, the extended families and the villages in which they live. In other words the whole social fabric is severely damaged. It is a true Macro-social evil.

Before going on to describe what is meant by macro-social evil and its causes, I wish to address another question that is often raised, especially in farming communities. Namely what is the evidence for the ill effects of GM, given that the GM giants say that there are none. Below are a few examples:

1. Cows ate GM maize died. The case of German farmer Gottfried Glockner's experience with GM corn as related in this recent article:
Glockner planted Bt176 event of Syngenta essentially as feed for his cows. Being a scientist, he started with 10% GM feed and gradually increased the proportion, carefully noting milk yield and any side effects. Nothing much happened in the first three years but when he increased the feed to 100% GM feed, his animals "were having gluey-white feaces and violent diarrhea" and "milk contained blood." Eventually all his seventy cows died. Prof Angelika Hilbeck of Swiss Federal Institute of Technology found from Glockner's Bt 176 corn samples Bt toxins were present "in active form and extremely stable." The cows died of high dose of toxins.

A full description can be found in the book by Engdahl.

2. A November 2004 report from the Network of Concerned Farmers in Australia concluded with respect to GM plantings of Canola that:
…there is no evidence that GMO canola crops yield more, but there is evidence they yield less. Although Monsanto claim a 40% yield increase with Roundup Ready, their best on their website for Australian trials reveal yields are 17% less than our national average. BayerCropScience trial yields are also not comparing well against non-GMO varieties. (Quote from the book by Engdahl: Seeds of destruction.)

Added to the 17% less in yields is the extra premium of about 15% that has to be paid for the GM seeds as reported in this article from January 2009

3. The case of third generation Canadian farmer, Percy Schmeiser and his battle with Monsanto:
A seed saver and seed researcher, Percy Schmeiser lost close to 50 years of his seed research as Monsanto GM seeds from neighbouring farms infected his crops. Not only did this contaminate and ruin his research and own varieties, Monsanto demanded that he pay the technology fee for having GMO seeds in his fields. Schmeiser fought back and in the ensuing legal battle, he won in the end, though his research was destroyed.

4. World class scientist looses his job after showing negative impact of GMO

This is the story of how Dr. Pusztai from the Rowett Institute in Scotland lost his job after doing a major 3 year study with regard to the effects on rats living on GM potatoes. The results were to Dr. Pusztai’s surprise not only negative, but alarming. As he presented his findings, the 68 year old researcher got a surprise of his own: He was effectively fired, forbidden to talk to members of his research team under threat of legal action, not allowed to ever speak to the press again, his papers were seized and placed under lock. This story is shocking and shows the power of the GM giants.

Looking at the internet, I discovered that the Rockefeller founded and sponsored GM organization, CGIAR, mentions the case along with other ‘anomalous’cases on their website. They actively debunk all the cases and says that the lessons for scientists is to be more responsible when speaking out. That is obviously meant to be in regard to speaking out about the negative effects of GMO as farmers are routinely exposed to GMO propaganda telling the vastly exaggerated virtues of GMO, only to discover later that it was all based on lies. Link to Pusztai’s own site is here

The information is overwhelming, regarding the negative impacts of GMO and the mafia style tactics of the GM giants. For those interested for more information , one only needs to go to one of these sites (link, link, link)and use the search function provided there.

What is not mentioned or addressed in the book by Engdahl, is the question of macro-social evil and how people who runs the corporations operate, people who deliberately set out to enrich themselves at the expense of large amounts of people with very detrimental effects. Acts which often show a complete lack of conscience. The interesting thing is that studies done in psychiatry and psychology show that there are people who are born without the faculty known as conscience. These people are known as psychopaths, but unlike common belief the majority are not in prisons, but often gravitates to positions in our society of power and authority.

It is estimated that somewhere in the order of 4-6% are psychopaths, a truly staggering number, and yet it explains the state of affairs that we find ourselves in. As Martha Stout writes:

Imagine - if you can - not having a conscience, none at all, no feelings of guilt or remorse no matter what you do, no limiting sense of concern for the well-being of strangers, friends, or even family members. Imagine no struggles with shame, not a single one in your whole life, no matter what kind of selfish, lazy, harmful, or immoral action you had taken.

And pretend that the concept of responsibility is unknown to you, except as a burden others seem to accept without question, like gullible fools.

Now add to this strange fantasy the ability to conceal from other people that your psychological makeup is radically different from theirs. Since everyone simply assumes that conscience is universal among human beings, hiding the fact that you are conscience-free is nearly effortless.

You are not held back from any of your desires by guilt or shame, and you are never confronted by others for your cold-bloodedness. The ice water in your veins is so bizarre, so completely outside of their personal experience, that they seldom even guess at your condition.

In other words, you are completely free of internal restraints, and your unhampered liberty to do just as you please, with no pangs of conscience, is conveniently invisible to the world.

You can do anything at all, and still your strange advantage over the majority of people, who are kept in line by their consciences will most likely remain undiscovered.

How will you live your life?

What will you do with your huge and secret advantage, and with the corresponding handicap of other people (conscience)?

The answer will depend largely on just what your desires happen to be, because people are not all the same. Even the profoundly unscrupulous are not all the same. Some people - whether they have a conscience or not - favor the ease of inertia, while others are filled with dreams and wild ambitions. Some human beings are brilliant and talented, some are dull-witted, and most, conscience or not, are somewhere in between. There are violent people and nonviolent ones, individuals who are motivated by blood lust and those who have no such appetites. [...]

Provided you are not forcibly stopped, you can do anything at all.

If you are born at the right time, with some access to family fortune, and you have a special talent for whipping up other people's hatred and sense of deprivation, you can arrange to kill large numbers of unsuspecting people. With enough money, you can accomplish this from far away, and you can sit back safely and watch in satisfaction. [...]

Crazy and frightening - and real, in about 4 percent of the population....(from her book: The Sociopath next door)


Given the ability to present a mask of sanity, these people will often in our society end up on top of the heap and will feel drawn to places of power and authority. The corporation presents an appealing job for the person with no conscience, yet the corporation does not exist in a vacuum. The corporation can exist because institutions and places of authority have been taken over by people with psychopathic traits. If the corporation would be given a psychological evaluation similar to those given to people, the character profile of the corporation would be that of a psychopath (see the Canadian documentary The Corporation).And as several researchers on psychopathy such as Dr. Robert Hare (author of “Without Conscience: The disturbing world of the psychopaths among us, and co-author of Snakes in Suits: When psychopaths go to work) and Hervey Checkley (Author of “The Mask of Sanity”) have discovered, one does not become a psychopath, but is rather born that way. In other words it is not a disease that can be cured by drugs or therapy, but where knowledge of their existence and characteristics is the best antidote.

A book that more than any other describes this process of takeover of a society AND how to recover it again is the book called Political Ponerology by Dr. Andrew Lobaczewski. It is also from that book that the term macro-social evil is borrowed. The world ponerology comes from the the greek word poneros meaning evil and thus ponerology is the study of evil. From the site where the book is on sale is written:
Political Ponerology was forged in the crucible of the very subject it studies. Scientists living under an oppressive regime decide to study it clinically, to study the founders and supporters of an evil regime to determine what common factor is at play in the rise and propagation of man's inhumanity to man.
Shocking in its clinically spare descriptions of the true nature of evil, poignant in the more literary passages where the author reveals the suffering experienced by the researchers who were contaminated or destroyed by the disease they were studying, this is a book that should be required reading by every citizen of every country that claims a moral or humanistic foundation. For it is a certainty that morality and humanism cannot long withstand the predations of Evil. Knowledge of its nature, how it creates its networks and spreads, how insidious is its guileful approach, is the only antidote.


As the author Dr. Lobaczewski, who himself suffered in communist Poland describes:
When bad times arrive and people are overwhelmed by an excess of evil, they must gather all their physical and mental strength to fight for existence and protect human reason. The search for some way out of difficulties and dangers rekindles long-buried powers or discretion. Such people have the initial tendency to rely on force in order to counteract the threat; they may, for instance, become “trigger happy” or dependent upon armies. Slowly and laboriously, however, they discover the advantages conferred by mental effort; improved understanding of psychological situations in particular, better differentiation of human characters and personalities, and finally, comprehension of one’s adversaries. During such times, virtues which former generations relegated to literary motifs regain their real and useful substance and become prized for their value. A wise person capable of furnishing sound advice is highly respected.
It seems that there have been many such “bad times” in the course of human history, and it was during such times that the great systems of ethics were developed. Unfortunately, during “good times,” nobody wants to hear about it. They want to “enjoy” things, to have pleasure and pleasant experiences, and so any literature that relates to such times is lost, forgotten, suppressed, or otherwise ignored. This leads to further debasing of the intellectual currency and opens the gap for bad times to come once again.
If a collection were to be made of all the books that describe the horrors of wars, the cruelties of revolutions, and the bloody deeds of political leaders and systems, most people would avoid such a library. In such a library, ancient works would be found alongside books by contemporary historians and reporters. The documentary evidence on German extermination and concentration camps, complete with dry statistical data, describing the well-organized “labor” of the destruction of human life, would be seen to use a properly calm language, and would provide the basis for acknowledging the nature of Evil.
The autobiography of Rudolf Hess, the commander of camps in Osweicim (Auschwitz) and Brzezinka, (Birkenau) is a classic example of how an intelligent psychopath thinks and feels.
Our library of death would include works on philosophy discussing the social and moral aspects of the genesis of Evil, while using history to partially justify the blood-drenched “solutions”.
The library would show to the alert reader a sort of evolution from primitive attitudes, that it is alright to enslave and murder vanquished peoples, to the present day moralizing which declares that such behavior is barbaric and worthy of condemnation.
However, such a library would be missing one crucial tome: there would not be a single work offering a sufficient explanation of the causes and processes whereby such historical dramas originate, of how and why human beings periodically degenerate into bloodthirsty madness.
The old questions would remain unanswered: what made this happen? Does everyone carry the seeds of crime within, or only some of us? No matter how faithful to the events, nor how psychologically accurate the books that are available may be, they cannot answer those questions nor can they fully explain the origin of Evil.
Thus, humanity is at a great disadvantage because without a fully scientific explanation of the origins of Evil, there is no possibility of the development of sufficiently effective principles for counteracting Evil.
The best literary description of a disease cannot produce an understanding of its essential etiology, and can thus furnish no principles for treatment. In the same way, descriptions of historical tragedies are incapable of elaborating effective measures for counteracting the genesis, existence, or spread of Evil.
In using natural language to discuss psychological, social and moral concepts, we find that we can only produce an approximation, which leads to a nagging suspicion of helplessness.
Our ordinary system of concepts are not invested with the necessary factual content - scientific observations about Evil - which would permit comprehension of the quality of the many factors (particularly the psychological ones) which are active before and during the birth of inhumanly cruel times.
Nevertheless, the authors of some of the books that we would find in our Library of Evil took great care to infuse their words with the proper precision as though they were hoping that someone, at some time, would use their records to explain what they, themselves, could not explain even in the best literary language.
Most human beings are horrified by such literature. Hedonistic societies have the strong tendency to encourage escape into ignorance or naive doctrines. Some people even feel contempt for the suffering of others.
It is true that, in tracking the behavioral mechanisms of the genesis of Evil, one must keep both abhorrence and fear under control, submit to a passion for science, and develop the calm outlook needed in natural history.
This book aims to take the reader by the hand into a world beyond the concepts and imaginings he has trusted and used since childhood. This is necessary due to the problems our world presently faces, things we can no longer ignore, or ignore only at the peril of all humanity. We must realize that we cannot possibly distinguish the path to nuclear catastrophe from the path to creative dedication unless we step beyond the subjective world of well-known concepts, and we must also realize that this subjective world was chosen for us by powerful forces against which our nostalgia for homey, human ideas about warmth and safety is no match.
Moral evil and psychobiological evil are interlinked via so many causal relationships and mutual influences that they can only be separated by means of abstraction. However, the ability to distinguish them qualitatively protects us from moralizing interpretations that so easily can poison the human mind in an insidious way.
Macro-social phenomena of Evil, which constitute the most important object of this book, appear to be subjected to the same laws of nature operating within human beings on individual or small-group levels. The role of persons with various psychological defects and anomalies of a clinically low level appear to be a perennial characteristic of such phenomena.
In the macro-social phenomenon where Evil runs rampant, “Pathocracy,” a certain hereditary anomaly isolated as “essential psychopathy” is catalytically and causatively essential for the genesis and survival of such a State.[…]


That our society has been taken over by the corporations and is governed by a pathocracy is obvious for anyone with eyes to see or rather willing to see and as Lobaczewski wrote as qouted in the blog from where the above was extracted:

We can only conquer this huge, contagious social cancer if we comprehend its essence and its etiological causes.

The book Political Ponerology is a great companion book to William Engdahl’s book Seeds of Destruction.

A fuller review that is done in three parts by Stephen Lendman of the book Seeds of Destruction can be found here 1, 2, 3.