The Barometer of Islamic Society

Source: blog.islamiconlineuniversity.com

By: Abdul-Baseer

In many countries, a yearly address is given to highlight the current status of society such as the State of the Union address delivered annually by the President of the USA.  These addresses tend to focus on economics as economics is the largest factor in voting and politics, as though money is not a measure of happiness in life, it correlates with political satisfaction.  Yet, as Muslims striving in the cause of Allah , we should have our own criterion to determine if our society is in a positive state or in a decline.  We should not depend on rulers or mass media which are not always honest or may be under coercive measures and far from independent, to avoid bias or false perceptions.

10 Inside Jobs That Governments Blamed On Enemies

Source: listverse.com

By: S. Grant

In a false flag operation, the government or another group stages an event to look like it was carried out by someone besides the real perpetrators. The deceivers use this tactic to discredit another group and start wars, enact severe laws, overthrow political opponents, gain alliances, or otherwise get an advantage. As we will see, those carrying out the acts are all too willing to sacrifice lives or promote fear and violence to solidify their ruses. Some of these events are proven to be false flags, while others are simply suspected.

The French Connection – False Flags and the Charlie Hebdo Incident

Source: wakeup-world.com

By: Jay Dyer

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

A new year brings resolutions, and for the establishment, their resolutions are quite clear: more of the same! More false flags, more mediacircus and staged news, ad infinitum, ad nauseam.

Last week, we all awoke to news the Onion-like French satire publication Charlie Hebdo had been attacked by terrorists, with Al Qaeda taking responsibility for the murder of several media figures. While it is tempting to get bogged down in “fluid” situation details, we must always recall similar patterns of such events in the recent past which will serve to inform the greater context of this new event in the never-ending “war on terror”.

The Xmas – Never Forgot! Yusuf Estes & John Fontain meet Santa (Video)

 Harsh realities, people from different faiths losing belief due to the lies of false fairy tales.

Documentary: TechKnow – Smoking out the truth (Video)

 Are health claims for the new generation of e-cigarettes true, or are they a smokescreen?
More documentaries…

Top 5 Conspiracy Theories That Are True! (Video)

 Abby Martin speaks with BTS producer Manuel Rapalo about a few of the most shocking US government conspiracies that turned out to be true.

PunditFact ‘scorecards’ show false statements on Fox News, NBC/MSNBC

PunditFact, a spinoff of the popular PolitiFact, last week launched a batch of “scorecards” that rate news channels on truth.

Source: washingtonpost.com

By: Erik Wemple

To sum up the bad side of things: In a post on the scorecards, PunditFact combined ratings of “Mostly False,” “False” or “Pants on Fire.” Sixty percent of Fox News statements examined by PunditFact fell on this dark side, as did 46 percent of NBC/MSNBC statements and 18 percent of CNN statements.

Fake God: An earthquake took off its head & fingers!

What kind of God is that which cannot even defend itself?

Say: ‘Shall I tell you of a reward with Allah far worse than that: that of those whom Allah has cursed and with whom He is angry–turning some of them into monkeys and into pigs–and who worshiped false gods? Such people are in a worse situation and further from the right way.’ (Quran 5:60)

Consume, Consume, Consume With The False Promise Of Happiness!

By: Andrew Martin

Source: http://themindunleashed.org/2014/07/consume-consume-consume-false-promise-happiness.html

Victor Lebow an economist, retail analyst and author, wrote a very pertinent account of modern consumerism in his 1955 paper, “Price Competition in 1955,” which was published in the Spring issue of the “Journal of Retailing.”

“Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfactions, our ego satisfactions, in consumption. The measure of social status, of social acceptance, of prestige, is now to be found in our consumptive patterns. The very meaning and significance of our lives today expressed in consumptive terms. The greater the pressures upon the individual to conform to safe and accepted social standards, the more does he tend to express his aspirations and his individuality in terms of what he wears, drives, eats, his home, his car, his pattern of food serving, his hobbies.

These commodities and services must be offered to the consumer with a special urgency. We require not only “forced draft” consumption, but “expensive” consumption as well. We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever increasing pace. We need to have people eat, drink, dress, ride, live, with ever more complicated and, therefore, constantly more expensive consumption. The home power tools and the whole “do-it-yourself” movement are excellent examples of “expensive” consumption.”

CONSUMERISM IS NOT SUSTAINABLE

We have let ourselves to be led down the path of consumption, we have been manipulated into a society of ‘battery hen humans’ where governments, marketers, corporations and interest groups have been feeding us a steady diet of consumerism, laced with deceit, false hopes and non-sustainability.

It all started after the Second World War when economies and much of the Western population were in a state of stability and there were abundant energy resources in the form of coal and oil. What better way to control the masses to promote growth and prosperity than to condition consumers, voters and citizens to consume, consume, consume, everything else is irrelevant.

People talk about ‘the economy’ as if it were a living being. Interest groups such as the financial services sector, government, corporations and politicians discuss confidence, growth, investment, demand, spending, stimulus and consumption as a means to satisfying and appeasing the manic depressive economy. Slowly we are starting to see fragments of change. We have let ourselves become attached to something that offers little real evidence of being able to truly make us happy in the long term. In Buddhism, attachment is one of the key hindrances that causes suffering among humans. The Buddha taught that attachment generates craving, wanting and insecurity. Attachment is the wanting to hold onto and keep a permanent state and not be separated from a thing or person. The general principle behind non-attachment is to cultivate a mind of detachment. Once we do this we can then move towards a mind of oneness which involves compassion, an understanding of impermanence and seeing experiences for what they are.