ace captain in recorded history. Whether by hallucination or epiphany, Huxley sought to remove all controls, all filters, all cultural conditioning from his perceptions and to confront Nature or the World or Reality first-hand - in its unpasteurized, unedited, unretouched, infinite rawness.

Those bonds are much harder to break today, half a century later. We are the most conditioned, programmed beings the world has ever known. Not only are our thoughts and attitudes continually being shaped and molded; our very awareness of the whole design seems like it is being subtly and inexorably erased. The doors of our perception are carefully and precisely regulated. Who cares, right?

It is an exhausting and endless task to keep explaining to people how most issues of conventional wisdom are scientifically implanted in the public consciousness by a thousand media clips per day. In an effort to save time, I would like to provide just a little background on the handling of information in this country. Once the basic principles are illustrated about how our current system of media control arose historically, the reader might be more apt to question any given story in today's news.

If everybody believes something, it's probably wrong. We call that Conventional Wisdom.

In America, conventional wisdom that has mass acceptance is usually contrived: somebody paid for it. Examples:

*Pharmaceuticals restore health

*Vaccination brings immunity

*The cure for cancer is just around the corner

*Menopause is a disease condition

*When a child is sick, he needs immediate antibiotics

*When a child has a fever he needs Tylenol

*Hospitals are safe and clean.

*America has the best health care in the world.

*Americans have the best health in the world.

*Milk is a good source of calcium.

*You never outgrow your need for milk.

*Vitamin C is ascorbic acid.

*Aspirin prevents heart attacks.

*Heart drugs improve the heart.

*Back and neck pain are the only reasons for spinal adjustment.

*No child can get into school without being vaccinated.

*The FDA thoroughly tests all drugs before they go on the market.

*Pregnancy is a serious medical condition

*Chemotherapy and radiation are effective cures for cancer

*When your child is diagnosed with an ear infection, antibiotics should be given immediately 'just in case'

*Ear tubes are for the good of the child.

*Estrogen drugs prevent osteoporosis after menopause.

*Pediatricians are the most highly trained of all medical specialists.

*The purpose of the health care industry is health.

*HIV is the cause of AIDS.

*AZT is the cure.

*Without vaccines, infectious diseases will return

*Fluoride in the city water protects your teeth

*Flu shots prevent the flu.

*Vaccines are thoroughly tested before being placed on the Mandated Schedule.

*Doctors are certain that the benefits of vaccines far outweigh any possible risks.

*There is a terrorist threat of smallpox.

*The NASDAQ is a natural market controlled only by supply and demand.

*Chronic pain is a natural consequence of aging.

*Soy is your healthiest source of protein.

*Insulin shots cure diabetes.

*After we take out your gall bladder you can eat anything you want

*Allergy medicine will cure allergies.

*An airliner can be flown into a 100-storey building and can cause that building to collapse on its own footprint. Twice.

This is a list of illusions, that have cost billions to conjure up. Did you ever wonder why most people in this country think generally the same about most of the above issues? Or why you never see the President speaking publicly unless he is reading?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------