Why The Trivium Method Is The Answer

During a segment on Morning Joe last February, a discussion took place between Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and their guest, Yamiche Alcindor from the New York Times regarding Donald Trump's relentless criticism of the mainstream media in which the co-host Mika Brzezinski stated:

"Well, I think that the dangerous, you know, edges here are that he is trying to undermine the media and trying to make up his own facts. And it could be that while unemployment and the economy worsens he could have undermined the messaging so much that he can actually control exactly what people think. And that, that is our job."(1)

Nearly a year after she made this comment her assumptions have been proven categorically false - the economy is trending upwards, and unemployment is at record lows. In August of 2017 the Labor Department reported the creation of over one million new jobs since Trump's inauguration, and despite the forecasts of doom and gloom, the American economy has been rejuvenated under Trump's deregulation policies, evidenced both in present record highs of the Dow Jones industrial average and it's drastic increase of over 5, 000 points since January 20, 2017.

In October of 2016, as the race for the presidency was entering its final month,

Wikileaks released incriminating emails involving Hillary Clinton that showed she was illegally transferring classified material across her unclassified server - something that she denied under House Select Committee questioning - and CNN journalist Chris Cuomo, who is an unabashed Clinton apologist, attempted to deflect criticism of her actions by stating on live television that it was illegal for the general public to possess these emails, stating:

"Also interesting is remember, it's illegal to possess, uh, the stolen documents, it's different for the media. So everything you're learning about this, you're learning from us."(2)

And while both Cuomo and Brzezinki later took to twitter to publicly backtrack from their misguided claims, they remain as undeniable evidence of how the mainstream media has entered a delusional world of undeserving entitlement; and these are merely two examples of many that indicate the level of ownership the media believe they hold over public opinion. This sense of entitlement in fact permeates mass communication to such a degree that the entire industry has been corrupted. No matter what mainstream channel you're on, they all repeat the same stories, often times, even using the exact same headlines, narratives and descriptors. And perhaps this ethical violation of the journalistic code that seems to be rampant within mainstream journalism wouldn't be such a big deal if the general public were actually aware of what was happening. Yet, disturbingly, their ignorance continues; large swaths of the American population, because of their addiction to the mainstream news, unknowingly play the role of naive, gullible enablers; allowing the media to make egregious claims and sensational allegations with little to no evidence at all. And, in the humble opinion of the author, if the public were able to see through such demonstrably fallacious claims they would simply put an end to all of this propaganda by turning off their television. If there was only a way in which the general public could defend themselves against such malevolence we could then begin to rebuild the fourth estate in the image of its original intention. If there was only some kind of method that could empower the amorphous mass towards immutable truth. If there was only a technique or method of finding the truth that would enable the public to transcend a dishonest world and arrive at justice. Well, we do; and we have had it for over 2600 years. It is known as the Trivium Method.

From the latin; (tri + via), meaning the convergence of three roads; those roads being grammar, logic and rhetoric. The Trivium Method forms the basis of a classical education that first appeared in the ancient dialogues of Plato. The Trivium, when combined with the Quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy), form the seven aspects of a Master's of liberal arts degree offered at Ivy League universities. But, with the onset of the digital age, we no longer have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to obtain this knowledge, it is now free, at our fingertips. We have within our grasp an ancient method of knowledge that has routinely been obfuscated by the elites of society throughout history because of its power to awaken the imagination, individuality and consciousness of the populace. Armed with this knowledge the general public render the playing field level. No longer does the public fall victim to games of semantics, double-speak and illogical fallacy. The Trivium Method is the great equalizer of hegemonic disparity between the rulers and those being ruled. It is from a true understanding of the knowledge within The Trivium Method that one begins their journey towards wisdom and self-empowerment; and while its contents cannot be detailed to any significance within the pages of this article I encourage everyone to search this very important book out and read it. For now, I offer an overview.

Grammar, as it is explained in Sister Mirriam Joseph's version of The Trivium, is concerned with the-thing-as-it-is-symbolized;

Logic, is concerned with the-thing-as-it-is-known; and

Rhetoric, is concerned with the-thing-as-it-is-communicated.

Simply put:

Phonetics prescribes how to combine sounds so as to form spoken words correctly.

Spelling prescribes how to combine letters so as to form written words correctly.

Grammar prescribes how to combine words or symbols (the combination of letters and numbers etc) together so as to form sentences in a coherent, easily communicable manner.

Rhetoric prescribes how to combine sentences into paragraphs and paragraphs into a whole composition having unity and the desired emphasis, as well as clarity, force and beauty.

Logic prescribes how to combine concepts into judgments and judgments into syllogisms and chains of reasoning so as to achieve immutable truth.

Along with gaining the invaluable knowledge of the above mentioned aspects, the Trivium Method also offers several other important tools that can be used to uncover the truth; and when put together, and used in the correct way, they lead directly to a well developed, educated individual - the greatest antidote to a tyrannical mainstream media. Two of the most important of these tools being the syllogism; and the logical and illogical fallacies.

The syllogism:

The syllogism is a way in which we can test a conclusion in order to verify its validity. It's a way to eliminate contradictions because contradictions are evidence of lies. If one eliminates all of the inaccuracy, all of the misinformation, all the ignorance of fact, the only thing left is the distilled, pure Truth. The syllogism does take some time to fully understand but is an incredibly useful way of testing conclusions being made on the nightly new broadcasts. The syllogism follows a set of rules that allow a person to, in a somewhat mathematical way, determine whether a particular statement, claim, allegation or hypothesis is valid or invalid. One of the more simplistic and well-known examples being:

A bat is a mammal.

No bird is a mammal.

Therefore, a bat is not a bird.

Most wouldn't require the syllogism to know this conclusion to be valid; a bat cannot be considered a bird simply because it is not classified as one. Bats are members of the mammalia group while birds are contained within the family of aves. But, in regards to the syllogism, this conclusion - a bat is not a bird - and any other conclusion for that matter can be verified through the syllogistic process. The premises and conclusion are valid simply because it does not violate any of the ten rules of the syllogism, see below. And it's actual structure (minor and major terms, middle term, conclusion) doesn't violate any rules of form, figure or mood. What this allows us to do is to eliminate any doubt as to the legitimacy of any premise or claim through a systematic, empirically validated process. This knowledge proves to be invaluable especially when listening to the claims made by the mainstream news or more specifically, the opinions of your friends or family. And perhaps most importantly of all - as personal accountability is the most important aspect of a well rounded individual - the syllogism can be employed in order to determine whether your own conclusions are well thought out and accurate. The following quote is from Johann Gottlieb Fichte, the leader of the Prussian Reformation who's education model was adopted and instituted into North America in the mid 1800's by early American education reformers like Edward Everett. Horace Grant and William Torrey Harris.

"free will in the pupil is the first mistake of the old system and the cleat confession of its impotence and futility...the new education must consist in essentially this, that it completely destroys freedom of will in the soil which it undertakes to cultivate, and produces on the contrary strict necessity in the decision of the will, the opposite being impossible. Such a will can henceforth be relied on with confidence and certainty."(3)

In chapter 9 of Sister Merriam Joseph's version, she covers perhaps the most important part of the book - the logical and illogical fallacies. The logical and illogical fallacies remain something that a large percentage of the population remain unaware, while a small percentage, having heard them being used occasionally within the context of a political debate on the television would be familiar with terms like red herring, strawman, or the non-sequitur. Perhaps the most well known of the fallacies - at least the most widely used - would be the ad hominem fallacy; short form veriant of the latin term, argumentum ad hominem - meaning "argument against the person". This is a strategy whereby an argument is rebutted by attacking the character, motive, or other attributes of the person rather than attacking their actual argument. This last desperate act is usually an indication that the person debating has no argument. And, when one turns on the television or opens a newspaper, we are quickly made aware to the extent with which the main networks use fallacy to perpetuate false narratives and bold face lies.

Another important fallacy to be aware of when sitting in front of the television is the reductio ad absurdum, or the reductio ad ridiculum. An illogical fallacy, the reductio ad absurdum, translates from the latin meaning "reduction to the absurd", or is more commonly known in public parlance as the appeal to ridicule fallacy. This is enacted when one deems an opponents argument not worthy of further consideration or rebuttal simply because it sounds ridiculous or absurd without offering substantial evidence to disprove it. It only becomes a legitimate rhetorical tool when the laughter is accompanied by empirical proof that successfully invalidates their opponents claim; otherwise it is always - as all logical and illogical fallacies are - a distraction technique.

Constructive criticism [of our leaders] is far better than false flattery. John Milton

So, while the mainstream media continue to believe that they represent us, and continue to perpetuate this belief that they are the authority for the truth, they continue to prove unworthy of such an honour. The romantic notion of the Fourth Estate as our protectors from government and corporate malpractice died long ago - if it even existed at all - and the corporate news conglomerates continue to prove, through their willingness to play semantic games within the definition of terms, that they are far more interested in maintaining the trust of their owners, sponsors and advertisers than they are in maintaining the trust of the average American viewer. This conflict of interest, acting as a barrier between the truth and the viewer, is something that Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman so succinctly illustrated in the 1970s, with their Propaganda Model.

In fact, from the very beginning, the main objective of the news outlets was never to tell the truth; the origins of the media was never predicated on such a noble cause. Mass communication companies were merely an avenue to sell products. A fine example being when one inspects the formative days of Columbia Broadcasting Systems. In 1927, when William S. Paley took over a small fledgling network of radio broadcasting companies in Philadelphia, it was with the specific intent of using it as an advertising mechanism for his family's La Palina cigar company. It was never his intent to uphold the myth of journalistic integrity or the ethical dissemination of truth; Paley's connections to the Rockefeller funded Princeton Radio Research Project is enough to disprove any protestations to the contrary. And, had the people been educated on the Trivium Method, Paley and his ilk would have never been able to get away with such dishonesty; people would have known long ago that television networks only offer entertaining programming as a way to advertise and sell commodities for their sponsors. A massive conflict of interest at the expense of the American public's trust. Instead, a great portion of the population naively believe that CBS, and all the others mainstream networks, are honest news outlets with the most benevolent of intentions - to inform the masses of corporate or government corruption. This is a myth.

In the year 2018, the mainstream media continues to underestimate the intelligence of the public; the media pretentiously assumes that things will never change because they never have, for decades they have invested heavily in the status quo and to them there remains no choice but to double-down on their uncertain future. Unfortunately for them, things are already changing, millions of people have turned off their televisions, many have grown disillusioned with the mainstream media and have invested in media outlets independent of corporate influence, political bias and stereotypes. People have discovered viewer funded news outlets, and because these news outlets answer singularly to the viewer, reader, and listener, they are encouraged to partake in responsible, ethical journalism - free from the meddling filters of sponsorship and advertisers like that shown above.

And, in collaboration with the knowledge found within the Trivium Method, people can finally empower themselves to become true pursuers of the truth by eliminating the mainstream middle man and acquire the facts and evidence for themselves. Just as George H. Sabine explained in The media conglomerates are going the way of the dinosaur and the quicker we can move away from it the better. They have kept the public locked up in the dark and if we have any hope of ever seeing the Truth again we must - as Socrates explain in The Allegory of the Cave - drag the ignorant up the steep and rugged ascent into the light of the Truth". Indeed, the popularization of the Trivium Method will be the final death blow to a corrupted, corporate monolith, and the less the mainstream news media can promise you the truth, the smaller it's audience will become.

A free and open society's basic principle was the right and also the duty of every intelligent man as a rational being, to know the grounds and take responsibility for his beliefs and actions." George H. Sabine.

You can follow the author on Twitter, Minds.com, and Bitchute @TriviumMethod; and on Youtube, Steemit and Facebook at Duane Hayes.

Footnotes:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ9ce-yMEfc

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRBppdC1h_Y

3. Addresses to the German Nation. pg 20, Second Address.