Most of us read magazines and newspapers. We watch TV. We listen to the radio. We access websites on the internet. We get lots of information.
The information we receive does not appear by magic. It is very carefully provided to lead us to think, speak, and act in a desired way. People who sell diet pills and programs want us to think that obesity is a bigger problem than it is. Those selling solar panels and windmills want us to think we need to buy more of them. Such Imaginary Problems make people feel intelligent while separating them from their money.
This is pretty obvious, but rarely kept in mind by those of us who want to be able to impress others with how much we know. “Did you know that entire species of plants and animals are being wiped out by Global Warming?”, someone who wants to be thought of as an “intellectual” will repeat, sometimes breathlessly, overcome with his recent enthusiasm for passing on the dire warning. No matter what he or she is warning us about, it is always an example of how Imaginary Problems make people feel intelligent.
We see how shallow and transient such thoughts are when remembering that the Global Freezing/Warming scams have been going on for nearly a century. Each time the latest manifestation of the Global Freezing/Warming Imaginary Problem reappears, it is chronicled by the National Geographic, the back issues of which are a catalog of Imaginary Problems from a magazine whose controllers know as well as anyone that Imaginary Problems make people feel intelligent.
All Imaginary Problems are brought into existence to get money. Some, like diet pills, get money directly. Other Imaginary Problems are used to generate funding, often for departments with thousands, even millions, of employees. These Imaginary Problems, with huge staffs of shills and PR professionals behind them, are focused only on “very serious issues” that are often said to involve “national security.” People taking such problems seriously not only feel they are intelligent, but also believe that they are “doing good”.
Usually, people who focus on Imaginary Problems aren’t as bright as those who solve real problems. Still, they think they deserve to make as much money, and many of them do.
