Investigative journalist Luke Rudkowski shows us how to talk to power and challenge the status quo.


photo by: Luke Rudkowski

I don’t like Las Vegas very much.  Too many grueling COMDEX computer trade shows burned into my memory I suppose. But a few years ago, my wife and I were on our way to the mountains to celebrate our wedding anniversary when we passed a sign outside of Barstow, California telling us Las Vegas was about the same distance away as the Mammoth mountains we were heading toward. I looked at my wife, she looked at me, and soon were heading into the desert.

On the way, I started calling for reservations. “Sure,” I was told, plenty of rooms at the Bellagio. In fact, how about a complementary room upgrade and dinner reservation at their exclusive, new restaurant. It was all “no problem,” I was told. They seemed very eager to have us.

Then again, it was Friday, September 14, 2001. Three days after those planes flew into those buildings in New York. No one was going to Vegas for the weekend.

In retrospect, our care-free weekend at a time when so many were suffering sounds callous, and insensitive. But the truth is, I didn’t feel very connected to the events of 9/11. In fact, I didn’t feel very connected to world events, local events, or much of anything other than what was going on in my little personal bubble. I had constructed a worldview that made me feel okay, and part of it involved accepting this “scientific” idea that I was separate from the people and events around me.

My Skeptiko interviews with some of the world’s leading consciousness researchers and thinkers gradually changed my opinion about how interconnected we really are; and over the years my interest in investigating the craziness of science-as-we-know-it and the absurdity of big picture science led me to re-examine other beliefs. I took a fresh look at what the mainstream media had told me about geo-politics and compared it what I was learning about the “deep state.” The lies, cover-ups and disinformation I discovered went way beyond what I ever imagined. And while the learning process was painful, it also came with an unexpected silver lining — the discovery of  a brave, highly-creative group of do-it-yourself investigative journalists who had found a way to talk to power like no one before.

Today on Skeptiko we’re going to find out why this act of talking to power and challenging authority is not only the answer to moving toward a better and more just political system, but also the ONLY way to unmask the nitwits who’ve crippled science-as-we-know-it with a ridiculous soul crushing materialism we talk so much about on this show:

Alex Tsakiris: In one of your videos you talk about the despair people face when they do challenge their beliefs; when they do open their eyes and challenge their core beliefs.  They think the world works [a certain way] and suddenly, they look at some of your videos, they dig into them and they go, oh my god, maybe the world isn’t what I thought it was. And I thought you did a great job of talking about that, but I don’t think it’s an issue that the alternative media, the ‘truth movement’ media, talks about enough and that is–it’s hard to change these beliefs, it’s hard to face some of the information that’s out there isn’t it?

Luke Rudkowski: It definitely is. It’s a huge obstacle. It’s a huge step that you have to go through personally and it’s a very personal journey. So it’s very hard to not only describe and divulge but also help other people get there because they need to get there themselves independently. I look at it like we have a choice in this life. We can either live life like a robot and just do things 9-to-5. Schedule everything. Planned. Just set up for you. Doing nothing new. Just repeating the old. Or, you can live life like a dream and you can make it up as you go along. You can do all of these incredible things and understand the true potential that we have in ourselves by understanding the greater concept that nothing is impossible and that we can achieve everything that we could ever conceive of. In the last few years I’ve been through a lot of personal journeys. It obviously took me going from rock bottom–it took me from going to the lowest, unhappiest, saddest, egotistical, prideful, low vibration energy of myself … it took me to hit rock bottom to face myself; look at my inner demons, look at all the horrible things that I was creating in my own life just with the thought process that I was stuck in that is so inundated with daily life … that is just sent to you every single day, telling you that this is okay; telling you that this is normal when it’s not.

Click here for forum discussion

Click here for Luke Rudkowski’s Website

Read Excerpts:

Alex Tsakiris: Hold on a second, Luke. Part of the darkness comes from the very act of opening your eyes too, right? So you’ve reported on the 9-11 situation and you’ve done excellent [work]. We go back years and years of reporting. But some of that is still going to be extremely unsettling to people and as they dive into that, they are going to reach some other depths and some other darkness associated with, oh my god, who is really running the world? What role do I really play? Who is telling me the truth? That can lead to a lot of darkness as well.

Luke Rudkowski: Of course it can–perpetuating that cycle of fear, of death, of negativity and not stepping outside and looking at the bigger picture. The bigger picture’s the most important one: understanding the true concepts of how this is happening, why this is happening…but most importantly, that it is happening and what we can do to fix it. A lot of people just concentrate on exposing a lot of the horribleness that is happening in our day-to-day lives. But not many people step outside and [say] okay, this is the problem, let’s step outside and actually look towards a solution. Let’s look at what could help this situation. Let’s look towards fixing it and making it better. A lot of people are overcome by that huge rush of negativity and get trapped in that whole cycle where they just keep repeating all the horrible things instead of focusing on bigger things to fix it. You see that cycle inundate people because it’s so overwhelming to face. When you start learning about how the world really works…when you start learning about all the secrets and all the darkness and all the horrible things that are perpetrated with your own tax dollars, you start being really overwhelmed, not only with emotion but just with the concept of holy cow, everything is not like we’re told it is in any way shape or form.

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Alex Tsakiris: You had a really interesting line in one of your videos that I wanted you to expound on a little bit and that is, they want you to be depressed. They want you to be angry. They’d love for you to be asleep completely, but if you’re not asleep, to be angry and then ultimately depressed is a nice way to control you as well, right?

Luke Rudkowski: Of course because you’re just stuck giving them all of the power with your energy. You’re focusing on what they want you to focus on. It works out in their benefit to scare the living crap out of you because that’s the only thing they ever have. The only thing that these so-called “elites”; these so-called powerful brokers; these people who are in charge that are in control of a lot of things behind the scenes…the only thing that they really do have is fear. Once they inundate you with that, they also control you because you’re feeding into them instead of just saying, hold on, you’re doing this let’s go fix it. Let’s create another possibility. Let’s understand the true potential we have within ourselves to actually change the circumstances; to change the situation; to be a part of something better and greater that doesn’t have to involve being in this cycle that you created. So that is a major component that a lot of people, especially in the alternative media, fail to realize. And there’s no judgment here. We all have our processes. We all go through different things. I went through my processes as a young kid–I started doing this when I was 16. I’m 29 now. It’s been 13 years of being involved in this. So being involved in this — there’s a natural progression. There’s a natural evolution where you just get sick and tired of being in that negative cycle and you look for something new. You look for something better and that’s what I’m always trying to focus on.

Alex Tsakiris: But that becomes problematic as well, right? Because sometimes I worry–you do a fantastic job and you’re an incredibly brave journalist. For those not familiar with Luke’s work, you have to see what he does and you probably can’t appreciate [it]. In a small way I can appreciate because I come from people on this show–I confront science types on this show all the time. You have to appreciate how hard that is. It’s just hard to do and people probably think you’re a really confrontational guy and I get the sense that you’re not. You’re just forced to do your job the way you know it has to be done. But here’s my question: do you ever worry that you’re maybe feeding the beast a little bit? This idea of more stimulation, more excitement, keep everything going. Your videos are great but they’re also stimulating people in that way that does prevent you a little bit from going within and searching for the deeper process that might leads people forward in terms of personal transformation. Do you have any thoughts on that?

Luke Rudkowski: That’s a very good question. I think explaining some of the ways I go about things would help [clarify] that. If not, feel free to ask the question. But the way I view things–we have all of these so-called powerful elite like Henry Kissinger, David Rockefeller, Rothschild, Tony Blair, Bill Clinton…I confronted and faced all of them and I looked them in the eye. And what I hope to do in my videos is to show you that these people have no official power. These people get their butt kissed every single minute of their lives. They have people grooming them. They have people worshipping them. They have people bowing down to them, cowering around them. And the perception, especially in alternative media, is these people are so powerful. They’re so scary. We can’t do anything. What I hope to show in my videos…these people are just normal human beings like me and you. Look what happens when you look them in the eye and face them like a true man or woman. When you look at them human-to-human, eye-to-eye, these people cower. These people are afraid of you just like confronting the fact of what they personally did themselves. So I want to show people that they actually don’t have all the power…that they’re not as powerful as people conceive of them to be. And we as individuals, even regular day-to-day people, WE have the power just as they do. So that’s what I hope to show in my videos. That’s why I don’t think I’m perpetrating that in that way. I’m trying to show the opposite way, that other avenue that hasn’t really been highlighted.

Alex Tsakiris: Awesome. I think there’s a definite truth to that because how else can we unmask these people? And I would also draw people’s attention to your unmasking of the media figures…of the John Stewarts. Even with just a little bit of the conversation, you see the whole mask fall away and you get a little glimpse of who that real person is … or Anderson Cooper, or Wolf Blitzer, or any of these people … there’s a real service that you do in confronting them, in unmasking them, and I think that the only way to reveal that truth is through that kind of confrontation so you’re to be commended for that.

 

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