American Strategic Deception Bureau

　Then, the market economy of modern capitalist society, after the emergence of overproduction, is actually an economy of confidence. Once people lose confidence in the future, capital flight, economic collapse, soaring unemployment and crime rates, social unrest, and so on will follow.

　In this way, the deterioration of the social environment and the political and economic turmoil in European countries will inevitably be accompanied by the advent of a spiritual crisis, further stimulating the confusion of people's thoughts. All kinds of strange thoughts and new religions will come into being in this troubled times. Folk scientists and various weirdos will also appear on the stage and perform their own absurd performances, making this era more and more full of bizarre and magical colors.

　Because when old ideas, social consensus and ideology suddenly collapse, and new social consensus has not yet been established, all kinds of non-mainstream ideas will take advantage of the situation and try to occupy people's minds and gain power and benefits.

　Various cults, as non-mainstream, established and vibrant social groups, often stand out from the crowd amidst this chaos.

　Whenever troubled times come, all kinds of mystical carnivals will inevitably break out on the ruins filled with smoke!

　——After all, in many cases, all kinds of ignorant and superstitious habits are not as far away from us as we imagine.

　Even in the 20th century, the dazzling light of science seemed to have successfully dispelled ignorance and superstition in Europe, at least allowing most Europeans at the height of civilization to basically bid farewell to the rational era of theocracy.

　Just like pre-WWII Germany, with its drastic social transformation and ideological clashes, not only did the red KPD and the brown Nazis wrestle with each other, but also the rise of supernatural groups and occult organizations. For example, the "Veli Society," which attempted to communicate with the "Aldebaran" aliens through psychic magic; the "Thule," which built UFOs in the Czech Republic to explore the secrets of the Arctic; and the "Ancestor Heritage Foundation," which sent people to the Himalayas in search of "Shangri-La." A host of other groups dedicated to the supernatural emerged during that turbulent period.

　In addition to Germany, there was also the famous black magic master Crowley in Britain at the time. He relied on the spiritualism and various mysterious sacrificial rituals inherited from the Middle Ages, packaging them as fashionable "emerging science", and became a guest of honor for high-ranking government officials and wealthy celebrities.

　France's Golden Dawn Society also secretly held seances and incantation rituals in Paris, attempting to manipulate reality through magic.

　The country people in Eastern European countries generally believed that if there was any unfortunate omen in the family, or if a child suffered from a strange fever, the family grave should be dug up, the blood of the most recently deceased should be taken from the body, and distributed to the family members for consumption - which led to the spread of vampire legends.

　The British intelligence agency simply hired witches and wizards to use wooden sticks and pendants to predict the location of German submarines and answer the Prime Minister's questions.

　There's no way around it. When rationally constructed social systems completely fail and doomsday catastrophe looms, humanity instinctively reverts to the magical thinking of the Age of Barbarism. These aforementioned demonic behaviors are, in essence, new survival strategies—merely disguised as mystical.

　Although the wheel of history has rolled on for over thirty years, the fundamental conditions of society remain unchanged; Europeans remain the same. Once the tide of events shifts, the people of this land, the birthplace of the Enlightenment and rationalism, will collectively embrace crystal balls, tarot cards, and astrology, brewing mysticism into a steaming potion of cognitive magic, turning Europe once again into the world's most absurd "occult experiment."

　"Did you know? Hundreds of groups claiming to possess supernatural powers have emerged in Europe today, stirring up unrest among the people of various countries—from the 'Volcano Coven' in Reykjavik, Iceland, to the 'Neo-Orphic Cult' on the ruins of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. The fascination and pursuit of supernatural powers is sweeping across half of Europe west of the Iron Curtain at a plague-like pace! It's even seeping across the Iron Curtain!"

　In the rippling bathtub, Fili was drinking wine wrapped in a towel, and while slightly tipsy, he complained to Marita about the explosive news he had collected through the information network among believers and the "Ham Tribe" private radio "group chat".

　It has to be said that when it comes to cults, whether the purpose is to make money, get women or gain power, Europe is the authentic old hands - whether it is the traditional mysterious route, the crazy route, or the mixed and hilarious route, they are much more professional than Firi, a cult follower who changed his career halfway.

　"On the German-French border, the remaining bunkers of the Maginot Line and the Siegfried Line were nominally converted into anti-nuclear war bunkers.

　The underground sanctuary, once a sacred place, was transformed into a cryptic shrine and gathering place by various religious orders. German black wizards practiced necromancy there, claiming to be able to communicate with Hitler's spirit; French witches, however, contacted the spirit of Joan of Arc and claimed to have received divine instructions for the restoration of the French monarchy.

　Two months ago, fishermen in Trapani, Sicily, Italy, discovered several ancient stone tablets on the beach, engraved with geometric patterns, mysterious star maps, and ancient Roman numerals. Since then, the town has inexplicably become the headquarters of the "Galactic Federation Earth Embassy." The mayor's office has been converted into an interstellar communication station, and residents, with metal antennas inserted into their heads and mumbling incoherently, use toy trebuchets to launch model rockets tied with olive branches into the Mediterranean.

　There is also a group of believers in the "Interstellar Nirvana Cult" who built scaffolding around a dilapidated yacht on the beach in Trapani, trying to reinforce the broken yacht and transform it into a sealed "Doomsday Ark". They claimed that they would collectively board the ark on the winter solstice and use the solar wind to jump to the Pleiades star cluster.

　In Rotterdam, the Netherlands, a "Happy Bubble Cult" emerged. Its leader, an acrobat named "Bubble Billy," claimed that soap bubbles held secrets about the Cold War. He instructed his followers to use fire hydrants to create giant soap films, then repeatedly blow bubbles and record the direction of their bursts.

　Dozens of "quantum mechanics channeling ceremonies" have recently been held outside the Louvre in Paris. A large group of eccentrics, including three Nobel Prize nominees, donned metal foil robes, held hands, and gathered around a television, trying to receive the so-called "relativistic soul wave signals."

　In Frankfurt, a city devastated by a nuclear bomb, a number of mediums have recently emerged, claiming to help survivors communicate with loved ones killed in the explosion. A man named "Radioactive Hans" has formed the Uranium Light Brotherhood, whose communion consists of radioactive dust mixed with mayonnaise. This is because Hans claims to have received a revelation while facing a mushroom cloud: "Swallowing three grams of radioactive dust daily will allow the soul to enter a state of chain-reaction immortality." They even held a funeral for Schrödinger's cat, burying a stuffed cat in the church cemetery, stuffed with clock parts, with the inscription "Here lies the rest of possibility."

　The Federal German government in Bonn even introduced a new profession called "paranormal consultant," legalizing both witches and mediums.

　A group of Swedes and Danes, dressed in ancient Viking attire, formed the "Yggdrasil Cult." Following a few so-called priestesses, they arrived at the ruins of the Uppsala Temple, claiming they intended to plant a "world tree" there to communicate with the Norse gods of Valhalla. It would have been fine if they simply planted trees, but they went so far as to perform blood sacrifices and bury human bodies beneath the saplings as fertilizer.

　Listening to Fili's story of "The Encyclopedia of Human Behavior," even though Marita had been with him for so many years and had seen so many incredible and bizarre things, she couldn't help but feel her head spinning.

　"I never thought there would be so many strange societies popping up in Europe these days. It seems like they're all things I've never heard of."

　Marita stretched out her hand and scratched her hair. "And their behavior is more bizarre than the other. But, dear, you told me about so many strange groups, but what is their relationship with us?"

　"Well, how should I put it? Actually, many of these bizarre new cults and paranormal research groups were founded by me, the followers of the Dark Sun Cult's Prince of Lies, to deceive the Europeans. His Highness the Dark Sun's ministry is lies, and deceiving the world is our duty.

　However, it is not easy to successfully and long-term deceive people on a large scale. Moreover, the risks of falsifying accounts and being a fraudster are also very high, and it is easy to be caught and imprisoned. However, those charlatans who talk nonsense can become respectable people despite doing the same deceptive things.

　So, I had a brilliant idea: Why not let each of the Prince of Lies' followers form their own cult or supernatural group? Let's see how effective their deception skills are and how many followers they can swindle? The more people they can deceive, the happier our Lord will be!

　So, I funded some of the Cyric priests who had already acquired divine powers to go to Europe to develop their sect - not the real sect of Cyric, the Prince of Lies, but a fake cult organization and supernatural enthusiast group that they made up themselves.

　A considerable portion of these group's doctrines and mottos. Especially the most bizarre ones, they were all guidance materials written by me!"

　Fili chuckled, "Well, it makes me want to burst out laughing and scratch my head, right?"

　Marita: ???

　As a follower of an evil god, instead of thinking about how to serve the true God, you let every believer create a fake cult to deceive people?

　Are you afraid that there aren't enough cults, occult groups, and paranormal worship organizations in the world?

　You, such a funny guy, have gone crazy with evil, right?

　No matter what religion it is, it is a set of idealistic lies that paralyze people's hearts.

　After all, no matter what religion is created, generally speaking, the "prophet" and "master" who founded it have to invent one or a group of non-existent gods, or package a deceased or living historical figure as a god, and then persuade others to worship these gods and donate their property and faith.

　So, according to this logic, the highest level of deception on earth is definitely to create a religion with hundreds of millions of followers and lasting forever.

　When it comes to the most high-level liars in the history of human civilization on Earth, the founders of major religions are naturally the best!

　They clearly cheated people, but they still wanted those who were cheated to worship them and offer incense to them for generations!

　Sakyamuni of Buddhism, Jesus of Christianity, and Muhammad of Islam are all the greatest liars in human history!

　——So, as the follower of the Prince of Lies, Xirik, and the director of the U.S. Strategic Deception Bureau, if Firi wants to truly become a qualified "Great Conman of the Universe, Commander of All Deceptions on Earth", he naturally has to let his subordinates commit more deceptions and develop a large number of strange and bizarre cults to please his master!

　Otherwise, how could a lazy man like him be the Patriarch of the Earth Diocese?

　What? Organizing people to worship some nonexistent "false gods" would displease the true God, Cyric?

　Come on, if it was any other good or evil god, then it would be fine, but what is the purpose of Cyric, the Prince of Lies? He is the god of all liars!

　Believing in a God does not depend on whether you worship before His statue every day, but on whether you practice His morality.

　If you remain chaste, then even if you kneel daily in worship of the goddess of love, Suna, you won't please this amorous goddess of romance. Similarly, whether the Prince of Lies, Cyric, can gain sufficient faith on Earth isn't determined by how many people kneel before his statue. Rather, it's determined by how many people in this world, under the guidance of Cyric's followers, lie or believe the lies. Only then are they practicing Cyric's teachings! This is what it means to be a true believer!

　So, isn't deceiving a bunch of ignorant fools into worshipping a non-existent God one of the most high-end scams?

　Anyway, the fabricated false gods, aliens and supernatural beings will never come true - it would be shameful for the followers of the Prince of Lies to tell the truth!

　Taking a step back, if these fabricated false gods were to become real, that wouldn't be a bad thing—for the gods, fanatics who become devout believers are merely expendable. True believers and true believers, justified by righteousness, are the cornerstone of their expanding influence. To ordinary believers, the gods are authoritarian patriarchs. To true believers, they are mentors who guide the way forward. To true believers, they are partners in their grand undertaking.

　If Xirik's followers really rely on nonsense and bluffing to create a bunch of subordinate gods for Xirik on Earth, or even develop new logically self-consistent doctrines to expand the power of the gods, then a new pantheon will eventually be born, allowing Xirik to truly become the God of the Earth!

　In fact, the cult that Firi sent people to set up in Europe has been very restrained. The Xirik believers and low-level priests who were guided by Firi's oracles in dreams to set up cults in the United States are even more outrageous and imaginative - so outrageous that they have opened up the psychedelic era.

　For example, the Cyric believers in Colorado set up an organic vegetable commune with the slogan: Carrots are rockets to Sirius!

　In a Colorado alfalfa field, three hundred barefoot believers performed a rain dance before a giant carrot sculpture, chanting, "Pesticides are the evil potion of capitalism." Tom, a former NASA engineer and current cult leader known as the "Vegetable Saint," held aloft a moldy copy of Silent Spring each day, declaring that eating twenty-seven raw root vegetables would allow communication with inner Earth civilizations. Later, members of the commune attempted to anoint a Minuteman missile silo with cabbage juice, claiming to "purify the toxins of the Cold War with organic power," only to collapse in the parking lot from diarrhea, transforming into Splatoons.

　In Seattle, Washington, a studio has invented the Disco Ouija Ball, claiming that the flashing lights are a channel for contact of the third kind.

　The current head of the studio, a middle-aged DJ from a nightclub

　"Flashing Jesus" claimed to have decoded the code of an alien disco, then modified twelve mirror balls, claiming that when they reached 133 rpm, they would open an interstellar portal. Finally, "Flashing Jesus"'s studio organized a group of one hundred followers to wear silver jumpsuits and collectively twitch for seven hours, attempting to summon a flying saucer using their dance moves. They were ultimately hospitalized due to dehydration.

　But even in the hospital, "Flash Jesus" was still chanting "Use rock music to break down the Berlin Wall and use flash lights to open up a parallel universe."

　Local police claimed that this was a group of psychedelic pioneers who misunderstood the effects of anesthetics as oracles and attempted to reshape the human cognitive system with disco rhythms.

　In the Arizona desert, the Brotherhood of Psychic Tractor Drivers held a rally.

　Three hundred believers, dressed in white robes, drove tractors to form a crop circle and then prayed to the sky. The leader, St. John Deere, holding a corn staff, announced, "When the diesel engine reaches 666 rpm, you will be able to communicate with aliens through psychic power!"

　He also sold his followers "enlightened spark plugs" worth $999 and "subconscious respirators" made from gas masks.

　As a result, because their clothing was too similar to that of the KKK, they were ambushed and beaten by a local black gang on their way back from the rally.

　In Miami, Florida, a Cuban-Chinese "spiritual master" registered the "Cosmic Fart Therapy Association," claiming, "If you practice reverse abdominal breathing with onion juice every day, your farts will open up your Ren and Du meridians." He teaches students how to practice farting daily. He also offers a "Third Eye Opening Package," which includes crystal pyramid underwear and psychedelic mushrooms packaged with a copy of the Tao Te Ching.

　But the result was that no one mastered the magical skill, and instead seventeen students suffered retinal detachment from practicing "telekinesis".

　Similarly, at a Miami nude beach, there's a group of illegal immigrants from Latin America. Even under the deception of a sorcerer, they founded the "Dolphin Shaktism," a Hindu sect that even Indians would shake their heads at. Its 42-year-old leader, "The Wandering Fairy" Marlene Headey, is the owner of a beachfront nudist camp. She claims to maintain eternal youth through "spiritual cultivation" with dolphins. A reporter witnessed followers of the sect collectively soaking in a deep pool, swimming naked with dolphins. What happened next is so unsettling that no news media dared to describe it in detail.

　In Chinatown in Washington, D.C., an FBI special operations team raided the headquarters of "Yuanqi Wall Street," a company that claimed to be able to eliminate credit card debts with qigong. However, they only seized eight boxes of "Foundation-Building Pills" laced with cat urine and 3000 copies of "How to Use Mind Power to Make Your Ex-wife Change Her Mind."

　San Francisco hippies were tricked into doing a group handstand meditation on the Golden Gate Bridge, causing a traffic jam, and then retreating to a "Cosmic Zen Hall" planted with hemp and psychedelic mushrooms. Manhattan's high-level psychics, dressed in purple Taoist robes, used telekinesis to help Wall Street elites predict the Dow Jones Index.

　In Brooklyn, New York, a "Radio Brotherhood" held a tinfoil hat rally. Following a tip, New York police found a basement in Brooklyn. They found over 30 elderly men in tinfoil hats huddled around a radio that emitted a green light, collectively convulsing.

　Housewives on Long Island have formed an "Interstellar Baking Cult," claiming, "Microwave ovens are alien stations! The burn marks on apple pie are the rudiments of alien writing!" They offer food sacrifices to the microwaves daily, using the burn marks to predict their fate. When reporters infiltrated their meeting place, they found thirty modified microwave ovens flashing in Morse code, and a map of the Milky Way drawn in jam on the wall.

　After investigating several similar groups, David Halberstam, a famous war correspondent for The New York Times, published a sharp commentary in the newspaper:

　Some unspeakable lunatic is using absurd behavior that is more eye-catching than a red sofa to press the mental nuclear explosion button for the Beat Generation! "

　In addition, he also said in a TV interview that after returning from Vietnam for a few years, the United States had become something he no longer recognized.

　As the mastermind behind the scenes, Firi, after smashing all the jars and cans in the office, said very modestly, "This is just the beginning."

　Regardless of how many eye-catching performances the Cyric priests and followers he inspired in this plane may have created, at least they haven't officially defined over a hundred genders for humans, letting Americans choose whether they're an attack helicopter or a Walmart shopping bag. Nor have they allowed 7% of American teenagers to choose sex reassignment surgery, leading to the recruitment of 15,000 transgender soldiers for the US military...

　Well, come to think of it, even when the eunuchs were at their most powerful in Chinese history, did the "clean army" composed of eunuchs ever reach 15000 people?

　In short, after watching Fili tell his wife all kinds of interesting and bizarre things as if he was showing off his treasures, Marita, the daughter of a Nazi submarine commander, or the "Sea Wolf Girl", felt that Fili had gone too crazy recently. It seemed that after giving birth to the world's largest nudist camp in the United States, he was about to turn the United States into the world's largest mental hospital.

　But Firi said that the deception has not yet succeeded and the believers are still working hard in vain.

　If the Church of the Prince of Lies is to take root in this fertile land of social turmoil and cultural diversity, and in this hegemonic country that currently occupies the heights of human civilization, it is necessary to make people's minds and hearts increasingly confused, and constantly shatter their three views before it can penetrate their hearts.

　Eventually, each of the deceitful masters of the Xirik Church had their own cult groups, and each of them became a powerful leader in their own area...

　Believers mean votes, and votes mean power!

　Some big capitalists and political elites often believe that as long as they have money, connections, and public opinion, they can control everything. But this is based on the premise that the vast majority of citizens are "normal people"—of course, this is based on the standards of "normal people" in modern capitalist society.

　On the other hand, if we undermine the foundation of voter politics at the grassroots level, subjecting the entire United States to a high degree of mental pollution, resulting in a country with very few normal people and a majority of "abnormal people," then things will be difficult to predict...."

　As we all know, since the birth of human civilization, there have been two main types of people at the top of the social power structure:

　One is a strong man with a sword, such as a hero in mythology, and the other is a coward with a pen, mainly a priest who records myths.

　In the long ancient times, strong men with swords were responsible for killing, while cowards with pens were responsible for deceiving.

　Generally speaking, at the end of any civilized society's development, it is usually the cowards with pens who successfully fool the strong men with swords.

　Otherwise, why are modern societies largely governed by civilians? Why is a military government, where military officials rule, generally considered a bad thing?

　But how can a person gain power by deceiving others?

　Generally speaking, bureaucrats deceive the powerful and take the high-level line; charlatans deceive the people and take the mass line.

　At first glance, the latter may seem a bit like the relationship between entertainment stars and their fans, but there are actually some subtle differences.

　For example, many Hollywood actresses and top singers often think that they have many fans who are infatuated with them and that everything they say is followed by thousands of people. So when it comes to the election, as long as they make a little appeal, their one vote can be worth ten thousand votes - but in fact, their one vote is just one vote.

　Because the stickiness of fan clubs is not that strong, and it is impossible for fans to obey their idol stars in everything.

　Movie and music fans are indeed willing to watch their movies and listen to their songs, but that doesn't mean they will vote according to their instructions.

　After all, box office appeal and political appeal are basically two unrelated things.

　Entertainment is entertainment, politics is politics. Americans are generally quite divided on this point. There are those fanboys and girlboys who are so fanatical that they'll just do whatever their idol says. They do exist, but their numbers aren't very high in the US.

　In comparison, followers of cults are generally much more devout, and rarely disobey their leaders, at least in small matters like voting.

　In short, how candidates win votes in US elections is a very complex and delicate task, and it is not something that can be accomplished simply by having money.

　Just like if someone wants to become an internet celebrity, they need certain resources, capital and luck. Even if they work hard, the success rate is like mystery.

　During the Cold War, the Soviets attacked the United States as a "gold-power empire," as if Wall Street tycoons could easily decide all American affairs. But things are actually more complicated. In the American elite, money and power are intertwined, and factors like family background, religion, and race also come into play.

　Neither politicians nor financiers can decide everything, because the military also has its own interests to consider, and no one can completely control the violent organs.

　If we want to talk about the real plutocracy, we have to go back to the post-war Japan of the same period. During the decades when the Liberal Democratic Party was the only dominant party, the "plutocracy" created by the famous Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka mainly used political donations, interest transfers, power-for-money transactions and other means to form a community of interests between enterprises and politicians, creating a political ecology in which political power and financial interests were closely integrated, and also allowing the central and local governments to achieve interest bundling.

　Otherwise, according to the loose American-style local self-government system in post-war Japan, the Prime Minister would most likely not be able to issue orders outside Nagatacho.

　During Kakuei Tanaka's time in power, Japanese society was indeed dominated by the tycoons and riddled with collusion between officials and businessmen. However, the country was also rapidly developing and developing, and the government possessed a powerful executive power that theoretically shouldn't have existed, enabling central economic bureaucrats to implement various policies.

　Since ancient times, Japan has been plagued by a long history of feudal separatism and local self-government, lacking a tradition of centralization. However, after World War II, the United States forced upon Japan a decentralized and highly autonomous American-style federal system. However, Japan has been able to continue to ensure smooth implementation of government orders, allowing Tokyo's will to be exercised across the country. Mega projects such as the Shinkansen, nuclear power plants, highways, land reclamation, and cross-sea tunnels have all been successfully implemented, unlike the shogunate era, when feudal states were divided and looked upon each other for their misfortunes, or like India, where states were dragging their feet and fighting each other, making it impossible for any large-scale infrastructure projects to be completed.

　Kakuei Tanaka’s creation of the “money politics” corruption model of collusion between officials and businessmen is actually a great contribution!

　If we say that the old Japanese Empire before World War II relied on the military and the emperor to maintain national unity, a "national system" was formed in the war.

　So, modern Japan after World War II, after the army was disbanded, the emperor was devalued, and the entire country was torn apart, could only rely on the not-so-decent "money politics" and collusion between officials and businessmen to form a new "national system" and implement economic policies to revive the country.

　——Some people think that it is a bit outrageous to attribute the creation of the corrupt model of "plutocracy" to Kakuei Tanaka.

　Little do people know that behind every outrageous decision, there is often an even more outrageous fact!

　The outrageous fact is that after the war

　To a certain extent, Japan's economic boom is actually driven by corruption!

　Just like some computer programs rely on bugs to run.

　However, the reason why this Japanese-style money politics can operate effectively is based on the Liberal Democratic Party's long-term rule and its de facto one-party dictatorship.

　Therefore, after the Liberal Democratic Party's first fall from power in the 1990s, this system of plutocracy began to stall and malfunction. In the new century, with the successive appointment of non-LDP prime ministers and the general decline of LDP politicians, plutocracy has become paralyzed.

　In the Reiwa era in Japan, businessmen don't know who to bribe with money, and politicians don't know how to do things after receiving money, and in the end they can only lie down together.