This should be in psychology but it has nothing to do with trading, more to do with beliefs... Falling into the ‘freedom’ movement ... and getting out By Rachael Dexter and Simone Fox Koob February 13, 2022 https://www.smh.com.au/national/vic...movement-and-getting-out-20220104-p59lsl.html At the height of Melbourne’s anti-lockdown protests, Ash Jackson was a familiar face. Front and centre of screaming crowds, she dutifully waved flags, clashed with police and was arrested several times. For almost a year she was totally consumed as a follower of the ‘freedom’ movement – entire days were spent online, reading and watching anti-government videos and posts on encrypted social media apps, becoming increasingly paranoid, angry and obsessed. Jackson turned up on the news more than once after being arrested and was shunned by family and friends. Former “freedom fighter” Ash Jackson.Credit:Eddie Jim But now she’s out. About eight months after leaving the movement, she still can’t believe the grip it had on her life. Jackson says if you had asked her a year ago where she might be in 2022, she would have said in a concentration camp for the unvaccinated or engaged in an insurrection after a communist takeover. “I was thinking by this time ... that we’d have an underground movement with weaponry,” says the 48-year-old. In her small Melbourne apartment, Jackson brings up a YouTube video on her television. It’s a Channel 7 report from February 20, 2021, the day hundreds of protesters marched to the Shrine of Remembrance and ended up being corralled by police at Fawkner Park, where dozens were arrested. Former 'freedom' protester watches herself on the news Ash Jackson, a 48-year-old Melbourne woman has extracted herself from the anti-vaccine, anti-government protest movement. She shows The Age and Sydney Morning Herald footage of her former self after being arrested in 2021. Amid the angry mobs, Jackson points to herself. That day, while attending the protest, she was arrested after marching up to a group of police to conduct a “citizen’s arrest” of the officers for “crimes against humanity”. “I was so brainwashed,” she says as she watches the chaotic scenes, shaking her head. The ‘freedom’ movement, initially centred around anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine sentiment, saw protesters take to the streets, particularly in Melbourne, every weekend for almost two years to reject COVID health measures. Last year, as lockdowns lifted, the movement’s leaders shifted their attention to vaccine mandates. This year protesters have descended on Canberra, including on Saturday, talking about everything from the dangers of vaccination to QAnon-adjacent theories about paedophiles within the Australian government. ‘Convoy to Canberra’ protesters marching towards the parliamentary triangle in Canberra on Saturday.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen At the extreme edges are those who claim they are willing, as “sovereign citizens”, to launch a full government takeover – violent or otherwise. In his latest annual threat assessment, delivered this week, the boss of Australia’s counter-espionage agency ASIO, Mike Burgess, highlights growing concern about online radicalisation during the pandemic, noting vaccine mandates and lockdowns had fuelled extremism that is not “specifically left or right-wing”. “More time in those online environments — without some of the circuit breakers of everyday life, like family and community engagement, school and work — created more extremists,” he wrote. The federal government this month announced it would commit more than $60 million to countering violent extremism amid an increase in conspiracy theories during the pandemic and concerns about MPs’ safety, and on Wednesday the Victorian Greens secured a parliamentary inquiry into the growing threat and influence of far-right extremism in Victoria for the same reasons. But another complex problem has been left in the pandemic’s wake: the path back for thousands of individuals whose lives, livelihoods and personal relationships are in tatters after going down the rabbit hole of these conspiracy theories. While the path is different for each person, experts and former conspiracy theorists say we urgently need to better understand why and how this descent happens. Falling in Just before the emergence of COVID-19 in early 2020, Jackson was working part-time as a musician; composing music for productions, gigging around Melbourne’s suburbs in cover bands and teaching guitar. Victoria’s initial six-week lockdown drove her out of work. She had no real social interaction for more than two months. At home, scrolling on her phone, she found anti-lockdown groups starting to call out what they saw as overly harsh measures from an increasingly dangerous police state. “I stumbled across some things on the internet, and I was like ‘oh this makes sense, I don’t want to be locked down’,” she says. She can’t remember the specific video or post that first touched her conspiracy nerve, but she became a big fan of influencers such as Monica Smit of Reignite Democracy Australia – a lobby group backing Craig Kelly and the United Australia Party – Smit’s partner, podcaster Morgan Jonas, and Avi Yemini from Canada-based right-wing commentary website Rebel News. “I was slowly finding myself getting brainwashed,” Jackson says. “I kept looking into conspiracy theories, including QAnon. I started rooting for Donald Trump, which was ridiculous. Being trans … he’s not very favourable to us.” Once a born again Christian, Jackson had left her faith over a decade earlier, ousted from her church for coming out as transgender. It was a deeply wounding experience she still has trouble talking about. ......continues.....
People are sheeple, always will be. Cannot think for themselves. She didn't realize she had the freedom to choose to NOT participate in the madness.
Makes you wonder what sheep call any member of the flock who is a bit of a non conformist or free thinker - presumably a “peep” due to their human like independent nature. That’s probably one of the things they spend all their time baaing about. Well that and the quality of the grass they’re eating or how likely they are to end up in s tasty casserole.
The thing is, we can't hold onto the things in this world. If we have come into a relationship with God, through repentance and trusting Jesus as our Substitute who endured the wrath of God against our sin, so that we have come to have peace with God through His blood, then we have Him through the good times and bad times in this life, and for all eternity. I came across this prayer request and family update from a Christian in Ukraine who has made this public. For the safety of the family I removed references that might give away the city and place they are staying within the city. Christians go through the same terrible circumstances as other people. But we know the faithfulness of God...we know His promises to be with us and also, He Himself is a comfort to us through difficult times. You can see this in what was written....seeing that they feel they are directed by God. @themickey often seems to portray Christians as being dumb sheeple led by wicked tyrants, but the truth is, for a true believer, God makes Himself known to us and we are led by God. Our faith is in God, not people. Even though most who read this, if any do, will attribute this "faith" to psychological reasons rather than a real relationship with the living God, I hope everyone who reads this will see that at the very least, there is much comfort and peace for believers who trust the Lord in life and in death and in everything in between.
My thoughts and prayers. Aaaaaahhhh that feels better, now I've done my bit to help out. And if I pray gibberish (praying in tongues) it becomes even more effective. Now where was I, oh yes, spending the day reading the bible.