Did Charles Barkley say, “Exit the Machine”?

A case of the media manipulating you; then Charles Barkley calls out "divide and conquer" tactics.

Before we get to Charles Barkley, let’s analyze some recent media coverage. Were you being manipulated?

Why did the media extensively and for days memorialize one Capitol Police officer?

Earlier this month, the national media gave extensive coverage to the death of one U.S. Capitol Hill policeman.

This tragic loss of life resulted from a random act of senseless violence by an unstable person. But let’s be clear: It had nothing to teach us about politics, philosophy, or the meaning of life. It was one more sad passing among many thousands during the same week.

So why the focus on this individual? Did the members of the Conflict Machine want to keep your mind focused on your rulers and on politics as if all your thoughts and all of your neighbor’s thoughts should revolve around those subjects?

Consider CNN’s coverage of the one-man April 2 rampage. Anchors and commentators focused on the notion that this event was somehow connected to the Capitol insurgency on January 6. While MSNBC and other sources reported that the attacker was an unstable individual with zero ties to the January 6 insurgents, CNN persisted for nearly two-and-a-half hours longer with their January 6 narrative. They didn’t stop it until the start of Erin Burnett’s show that evening.

Was their news operation unaware of what their competitors had already uncovered? Either they were incompetent or they were agenda setting. Neither speaks well of them.

This tragic death matters to the people who personally cared about this officer. But what about the other deaths that week? Did not others care about them as well? Are the other people who also died that same week less important?

And did any member of the regime media really care as much about this officer as they somberly indicated on air? Did they, for example, pay respects at the funeral or send gifts in his memory? Chances are, they were using his memory for their political narrative.

The way media agenda setting works, there are likely millions of Americans who still believe that the U.S. Capitol vehicle attack of April 2 and the invasion of the U.S. Capitol on January 6 are somehow tied together. There’s a two-billion-dollar proposal on the table. The plan is to barricade and harden the Capitol — even reduce access to your so-called “representatives.” Certainly, that’s one interest that will be served by this narrative.

But what if Americans refused to participate in this “agenda-setting?” What if we turned off the so-called news and focused instead on friendship, our families, and self-improvement.

What if we came to view politics as a thing of ill repute, where majorities impose their preferences on unwilling minorities.

And what if we exited the Conflict Machine, refusing to be in a constant political war with our neighbors?

What if, instead, we replaced politics with the Philosophy of Human Respect? Then, we could have more happiness and solve more problems through social harmony and cooperation than were ever solved by political conflict.

The media would have less power.

The politicians would have less power.

How can we Exit the Machine? Charles Barkley shows us how…

Charles Barkley

Sir Charles explains that “divide and conquer” is The Rule

Basketball Hall of Famer and media commentator, Charles Barkley, provided a shining example of exiting the Conflict Machine.

Heck, he practically explained the Conflict Machine!

Of course, he didn’t use the words “Conflict Machine.” It’s OUR job (yours and mine) to get this term into popular circulation.

Barkley’s remarks occurred during the NCAA Final Four coverage on national TV. The event itself was in Indianapolis. Sports Illustrated reported that, immediately before Charles Barkley’s remarks, the network played a clip of Robert Kennedy talking to a crowd gathered in support of his campaign for president.

The date was April 4, 1968. Kennedy and the crowd were in Indianapolis. He broke the news of Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination to them. Kennedy urged against retaliation.

When the video ended, the network returned to the broadcast set for each of the commentators to share reflections on the footage they’d just seen. Barkley went a slightly different direction.

Here’s the video, but we’ll share his words right here because they’re an excellent proxy for the Conflict Machine.

Transcribing Barkley

“Man, I think most white people and black people are great people. I really believe that in my heart, but I think our system is set up where our politicians, whether they’re Republicans or Democrats, are designed to make us not like each other so they can keep their grasp of money and power. They divide and conquer.”

Divide and conquer — that’s the Conflict Machine alright! Barkley continued…

“I truly believe in my heart most white people and black people are awesome people, but we’re so stupid following our politicians, whether they’re Republicans or Democrats, and their only job is, ‘Hey, let’s make these people not like each other. We don’t live in their neighborhoods, we all got money, let’s make the whites and blacks not like each other, let’s make rich people and poor people not like each other, let’s scramble the middle class.’ I truly believe that in my heart.”

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Jim Babka is the host of The Exit Network. Please subscribe.