But first, some things that might initially seem to have nothing to with nothing. In the book, “On Killing, The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society”, author Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman points out the Milgram Experiment. Sigmund Freud supposedly said to never underestimate the need to obey. The Milgram experiment involved a “researcher” in a lab coat (an authority figure) ordering test subjects to give electric shocks to actors. The test subjects did not know that their victims were actors, and genuinely believed they were giving them electric shocks. 65% of the test subjects were willing to give their “victims” the full 450 volt charge which they were told was potentially lethal. The need to obey was heavy. Many of the test subjects were reluctant to do it, but only did so when repeatedly ordered to by the researcher in the lab coat.
The military learned from this. Most troops were very reluctant to shoot another human being in order to kill them. The military found that a senior respected authority figure ordering them to do so assuaged their guilt. It was almost like they were saying, “I didn’t want to do it, but my Sargent ordered me to. It wasn’t my fault, I had to obey.”
Studies have also shown that taller men out earn shorter men. Taller men are regarded as more masculine by women. One theory as to why this is has to do with the fact that when we are small children, we are always looking up at authority figures whether Mom, Dad, teacher, grandmother etc… The act of having to tip your head back to look up might subconsciously trigger an impulse that we are talking to an authority.
Now, take Ray Epps (whose real name may or may not be James Ray Epps). He’s a tall man at 6’4″. He goes to the Capitol building dressed in desert fatigues. Many of the protesters there on January 6th were military veterans. For example, Ashli Babbitt was an Air Force veteran. A tall man with a booming voice in military garb saying repeatedly on video that the protesters needed to breach the Capitol Building. How strange.
Despite Epps being initially on the FBI’s most wanted list in the wake of the protest, with no reason given, Epps’s name was removed. Now, the New York Times and organizations like 60 Minutes appear to be running cover for him. Epps has become a victim! We all must respect victims because all victims are saints due to their victimhood (sarcasm).
The really interesting one to me was Project Veritas’s undercover video of Matthew Rosenberg. The conservative media made a big deal out of Rosenberg’s downplaying of the danger at the protest. What I find more interesting was what a national security reporter from the New York Times was doing there in the first place. In fact, the New York Times had a whole crew of people at the Capitol that day. If they could see what was coming far enough in advance to get a crew there, why couldn’t the FBI?
Rosenberg actually brags that “we were the ones who actually went and uncovered the fact that like, there were a ton of FBI informants among the people who attacked the Capitol.” (See first video above).
But, here’s the really interesting part, the buried lead that should have been the headliner. Rosenberg goes on to say, “You need sources from within to dig into those places [intelligence agencies]. Especially, over at the CIA and NSA, if you work there, you get polygraphed, and you’re asked if you’ve spoken to a reporter. If your answer is anything but no, you are in deep trouble. So, I’ve been talking to former people who are talking to people who are still in [CIA/NSA].”
So, when Epps says that he hasn’t been talking to the FBI, he may be telling the truth. However, the FBI ain’t the only ones out there. What about the CIA, the NSA, maybe even the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI). Epps was in the Marines after all, and his daughter (if it is his daughter) has said that he’s dumb enough to obey a command if it’s sold to him as being a good Marine.
Now, of course, 60 Minutes did a very sympathetic interview of Epps. It seems more like it was meant to cover for him than pose real questions about him. After all, as Tucker points out, initially, the New York Times was going after Epps as one of the conspirators who made the invasion of the Capitol possible. Why did they suddenly reverse themselves?
More importantly, did Operation Mockingbird ever end?
20 year veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol. Author of "East into the Sunset: Memories of patrolling in the Rio Grande Valley at the turn of the century".
Master's Degree in Justice, Law and Society from American University.
Grew up partly in Europe.
