Iron Sharpens Iron Essay #39 The Power of Words Series – The Fruits of Standard Protocols: Ponzi Schemes, Media Manipulation, Fiat Currency, Petrodollars, and the Loss of Critical Thinking

• Are we healthier?
• Are we smarter?
• Do we have better living standards?
• Are our families stronger?
• Are our communities thriving?

• Chronic disease, mental health crises, and loneliness are at record highs.
• Family formation and birth rates are declining in high-GDP nations.
• Inequality has grown dramatically in many countries even as overall GDP rose.
• Environmental destruction is often counted as positive GDP growth.

• “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) and DOGE
  The message was simple: restore prosperity, security, and freedom for all Americans.
  Yesterday many people loved the idea. Today, because of relentless media framing, the same words trigger rage in millions.
• “All Lives Matter” vs “Black Lives Matter”
  The statement “All Lives Matter” is self-evidently true and inclusive.
  Yet the media and standard protocols turned it into a symbol of opposition and hate.
• The Most Absurd Example: “What is a Woman?”
  In public hearings, politicians, professors, and judges cannot or will not define what a woman is.
  This is the ultimate fruit of standard protocols: the deliberate destruction of basic reality and critical thinking.

We have lost the ability to think critically because the protocols trained us not to.

• Removal of the Gold and Silver Standard
  For most of human history, sound money was backed by gold and silver — tangible, scarce, and difficult to manipulate.
  In 1933, the U.S. government confiscated private gold and ended the domestic gold standard.
  In 1971, President Nixon fully closed the gold window, ending the last link between the U.S. dollar and gold.
  This created pure fiat currency — money that has value only because the government says it does.
  The language used was “modernization” and “flexibility.”
  The result: unlimited money printing, inflation that quietly steals wealth from the people, and a system where the dollar’s value is based on trust in the issuing government rather than on real substance.
• The Petrodollar System
  In the 1970s, the U.S. struck a deal with Saudi Arabia and OPEC: oil would be sold exclusively in U.S. dollars.
  In return, the U.S. provided military protection and political support.
  This created the petrodollar — the standard protocol that forced the entire world to need U.S. dollars to buy oil.
  The language was framed as “stability” and “global trade.”
  The real effect: the U.S. could print dollars endlessly because the world had to hold them to buy energy. This gave the U.S. government and central banks extraordinary power to export inflation and maintain dominance.

We were created to be childlike — innocent, trusting, and free.
Instead, from the birth certificate to the grave, the system reprograms us with protocols that feed ego, laziness, pornography, self-righteousness, selfishness, and radical agendas.