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Tuesday, April 9, 2013

PERCEPTION IS REALITY............guest post by SL


This phrase is attributed to Lee Atwater (Google is your friend) though there are many variations of it that occurred before him.  This phrase, as simple as it is, sums up the latest chapter in John McAfee's life, and also in parallel, Belize.  Many perceptions of the past were perceived to be reality and have since been dis-proven with facts, ie:  "the world is flat".

Whenever I hear this phrase, it's usually in response to me saying something like "that's not true".  Whole volumes have been dedicated to perception, reality and truth.  While I understand all the nuances and varying thoughts and theories, I like facts.  Quantifiable, verifiable, not opinion ......facts.  Once you have all the available facts you can then form your own opinion. Knowing the difference between the two seems to be something lacking in today's society.  I grew up in a different time, a time when reporters reported facts, and if they interjected opinion (because as humans we can't help ourselves), they stated it as an opinion, and not fact.  Perception is a functional reality, but it is not reality.

Which brings us to John McAfee.  We picked up the story when our hero had been named as a "person of interest" by the Belize police in connection with the murder of his neighbor, Greg Faull.  This is indeed a fact.  The man was murdered by a single gunshot to the head, and he was a neighbor of JM.  Fact.  Depending on where you first heard the news from (I read it on Huffington Post), you either heard that he was a person of interest, or he was wanted for murder.  Jeff Wise of Gizmodo reported ~ interestingly before the official release ~ that JM was wanted for the murder of his neighbor, and that he was on the lam from police.  They even got one of their graphic designers to mock up a wanted poster for the story.  I read this too, and it was not true.  Other news organizations, hungry for the scoop, cited this article in their stories.  Later that day, many of them had either posted new stories, or replaced the original ones with revised ones which more accurately reported JM as a person of interest......but the damage was done.  For everyone who read the initial story and then moved on to the next one, John McAfee will forever be guilty of murder.

Is he guilty?  In my opinion absolutely not.  The facts that are available support that.  They also support reasonable doubt that he, or someone he knew may be guilty.  Our troll had said that "means, motive and opportunity" are the three tests.  He had already come to his conclusion, so it was easy to bend the facts to match his 'perception'.  On the other hand, a critical thinker would look at that and realize it was all based on perception and go out to dig up more facts.  The means and opportunity were available to too many people for these to be significant.  One thing we do not know, and no one has asked (as far as I know) is......did Greg Faull have a gun?  See how that one piece of information could change everything?  Another question is:  what happened to the laptop and cell phone?  The initial reports mentioned them, but once the world was fixated on McAfee, these became trivial.  Since it was reported that nothing else was missing ~allegedly~ and the home had not been ransacked, I would say this is a significant fact.

Belize is the 6th worst country in the world for murders.  This is a statistical fact.  When calculating murders per capita, a small country like Belize can end up looking pretty bad, so you can look deeper to form your own opinions.  Greg Faull had told his family that Belize was one of the safest Central American countries, even though the US has a travel warning for Belize due to the high crime rate.  Perception, meet Reality.  If you think a place is safe, you will not take precautions you may otherwise take.  JM was aware of the dangers, some say paranoid.  Again, one man's precautions can be perceived as paranoid behavior by others.

I have said many times that the other expats are on an extended vacation, and Mr. McAfee was immersing himself in the culture.  So there then existed two different Belizes' in parallel.  This continues to this day with the Belize that it's citizens live in and the Belize that was created for the tourists.  In 'tourist' Belize, the people are happy, the streets are clean and the water pure, there is no poverty and the streets are safe.  By contrast, in the 'real' Belize crime is high.  Here's a Belizean's view of the REAL situation. The police, GSU, and other armed organizations are abusing their authority, and not doing the job they were entrusted to do.  Being in police custody usually means at the very least, you're safe.  In Belize it can be a death sentence.  Many of the 'in custody' deaths are never reported, and the abuses by authorities, while sometimes reported on locally, never make it to the World press.  Until the John McAfee saga, Belize was just another tourist destination.  A cruise ship port.....the tourist Belize.  Some people have said that if JM had not been Greg Faulls neighbor, he would still be alive.  I say that if John McAfee was not GF's neighbor, his murder would have been reported locally in Florida, maybe even a paragraph put out on the AP wire and used as filler, but not the media firestorm that it was.  It would be another unsolved murder, to go with the many other unsolved murders in Belize.  The people in power would continue with their abuse and corruption and the world would have barely blinked.

John McAfee kept the conversation and the media attention alive for several months.  Was it all just a mind-fuck as he says, or was it a masterful way of insuring that he and his friends stayed alive, and at least for a moment, the world shone a flashlight on Belize as the roaches scurried for cover?  Perception, meet Reality.......

What was your first perception of John McAfee?  How did it change over time, as more details came out and the conversation advanced? What was your perception of Belize, before and after this?  Has this event helped you view the media with a more critical eye, questioning what you read, and doing a little more digging to find facts?  We invite you to share  your thoughts.

SL


13 comments:

  1. Great post SL,
    In fact, it's so great that the troll has decided to use Perception and Reality as his new post title. LMAO...... apparently originality isn't one of his strong suits, either. Or, we could look at it with McAfee glasses on, meaning any publicity is good, and he has just flattered you. (although his warped mind still believes JM wrote it) LOL

    The points about GF were thought provoking. What did happen to the laptop and the cell phone? Why has that never been mentioned since the first (and only) time it was reported? Why have we heard nothing from his family demanding answers be released...........where are the forensics reports? The only logical conclusion I can come up with is that they have been convinced (by way of the GOB) that JM is the guilty party.

    My perception? For too long the authorities in Belize have done a piss poor job of investigation, and it's been accepted as the norm. For the first time since digging into Belize, I sense a change is around the corner. In just the last week the articles I've found are sounding like the people are FINALLY fed up with the status quo, and maybe, just maybe, the time is near. I think Barrow can sense his demise is coming, as almost everything he has done (or proposed) lately has been met with a flurry of arguments. My perception? John McAfee started a conversation that won't go away until his revelations are addressed and the injustices rectified.

    The reality remains to be seen.

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  2. “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
    Albert Einstein

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  3. Only one comment so far?

    Yes, I should be flattered that the troll thinks I am JM. I am, instead, just annoyed by it. It is, ironically, just another example of someone's perception becoming their reality. I wonder if he thinks that every old man with a bigger nose, or loud German tourist, is JM stalking him. (Read the blog post on whoismcafee.com about his disguises)

    The troll appears to be back. It appears as though a twitter bot got him rolling again. I like things to make sense and his behavior makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. He acts like someone who has had a psychotic break and therefore his perceptions are skewed. He has posted so many lies, I don't think that even he can keep them straight any more. But what is his end game? What does he hope to gain from all this and what kind of payoff is he getting now?

    Hopefully more people will comment. We are trying to continue on the conversation. I am not as charismatic, or intelligent and eloquent, as John McAfee... but come on in, have a seat and let's talk ;)

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  4. STUPIDITY ABOUNDS.

    Yes, the Troll is back........at least in his own little world he is. I would imagine living in that mind must be hell. Should I change my thought process where he is concerned? Feel immense remorse for the horrors he claims to have endured? Hope that he gets the much needed psychiatric counselling imperative to his well being? Normally, there would be no need to consider 'changing' anything......I would already feel that and more for someone with the litany of problems he's allegedly had.

    But the REALITY is that his mental instability has done nothing to endear this asshole to anyone. He has thrived on alienation, insults, lies, and word manipulation all in an effort to get attention..... which makes compassion for him difficult to say the least. It is beyond sad, and now, painfully evident that his delusions have finally gotten the better of him.

    For the sake of his mental health, we here at wimawiw took actions to remove all the comments that he had spewed all over our pages, and the replies to them. We wanted to do the right thing. Obviously, our attempt at kindness has been ignored, and he has returned........although, not here (yet). First, he copies from us, pretending he was the originator. Next, he made a ridiculous attempt at ???? (don't comprehend insanity) by falsifying a gmail screen shot (poorly I might add), and adding yet another innocent person to the list of recipients of his psychosis. Now, he is presuming he knows where JM is (he doesn't, his inference is wrong........... but I do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ), and attaching a web of misguided speculation to his assumption.

    The problem with speculation (especially) in a delusional mind is first and foremost the inability to grasp the facts right in front of them, but to gravitate instead to absurd misnomers and flat out lies that fuel the raging fire inside. An excellent example of that is his outright failure to comprehend that each one of us here is an individual, not John McAfee in disguise. Attempts to suck us into the vortex of venom swirling around him have, and will continue to fail.......we laugh at such a feeble showing. Further lies, and false images however, will be met with a different course of action (please don't think for one second that's a threat of any sort...it isn't). And when that happens, he will finally have to realize that we are not one person (JM), but are in fact who we say we are.......... of course, by then, it will be too late.

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    1. Again you've made it simple. How long does one trade on the fact that they were mistreated, abused and failed by others? Well, I think times up for this young man.

      Empathy has an expiration date: 4/10/13

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  5. There are many who have opinions regarding this situation, they run around daily voicing them. The result of this type of activity is others form opinions based on the "Facts" they have been told or read in the MSM.

    To me reality is R-E-A-L-I-T-Y, I don't believe it, unless I see it with my own two eyes!

    Show me the evidence or STFU!

    So many intelligent people are duped into believing a good investment is a great one, or even a bad one is a good one! Then there are those so skeptical that they miss out on the "Factual" opportunity.

    There are three types of people in this world; those that watch things happen, those that make things happen and last but not least those that wonder WTF just happened?

    At the present as well as in the most recent past, many including the Belize Gov't officials, the "TROLL", and all whom were duped into believing that John McAfee was a murder, were watching what was happening.

    They are all now wondering, WTF just happened! ROFLMAO

    Mr. McAfee was making things happen at such a rapid fire pace and in such an unorthodox manner, that it created the ~~~~~~ STORM~~~~~~ which shielded him from prosecution. From that action he has shed tremendous light on the subject matter (Belize Corruption).

    For this reason, amongst many others, I respect the man, until proven beyond a reasonable doubt he is GUILTY of anything...
    Those that have any other opinion are not FAIR to themselves or others and will continue to act in such a manner, no matter what is said or shown to prove JM’s innocence.

    Drive on SOLDIER drive on!

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    1. Soldier......One Tin Soldier........Billy Jack. Suddenly the image of JM in the black hat traveling across the country last December flashed in my head, with that music playing in the background. Not sure why, I've never seen him drop kick anyone bare-footed, but it did.
      Just thought I'd share that reality. . . ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

      Oh, and Welcome back, Kotter.......... gimme a couple more comments, and I'll call you Greg again.
      . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ヘ( ^o^)ノ\(^_^ ). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .LOL

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    2. Well said Greg.

      Another thing I like to bring up is, cite your source...and it better not be another blog or article or WIKIPEDIA. I know a man who used to teach classes. If any of his students cited wikipedia for their facts, he would go into wikipedia and change the facts. Then he would point it out to them, the their source didn't support their argument. Then he would show them how to use the history to see what had changed and that anyone can edit these articles so they are not necessarily true.

      A good example fo the is John McAfee's ex-girlfriend Jennifer Irwin. There is also an actress with the same name but they are not the same person. Wikipedia says they are. They cite a Gizmodo article as the source.

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  6. OK, My source is my brain. TY God for giving me a brain and a Grandfather who sat me down at a very young age and told me about three types of people. I'm prepared to argue the F-A-C-T-S at the drop of a hat.

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  7. Replies
    1. ***goes deep** Bonjour Greg
      ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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    2. I thought you were a John McAfee sockpuppet. Way to shatter my delusion...

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  8. When the doors of perception are cleansed things will appear as they truly are.

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