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,