I can step away from the destraction and escapism to a large extent. What I am finding very difficult to absorb right now is that those stupid idiots, those greedy capitalist pigs, those people who cannot see past their bank accounts are now gloating over all the money they can make from war and more war. In Europe, Ukrainians who have left to avoid being soldiers, are being abducted from the streets of cities such as Berlin and sent back to fight in Ukraine. They are forcing people to fight. Men and women. This is what "distracts" me. This is what scares me. This is what I am afraid is going to be the lives for my grandchildren and their friends. I don't consent to this crap now and I have never consented to it. We are all being bullied and made afraid. This is not mere "distraction".
we're all trapped in a cosmic abusive relationship with no way out. I didn't sign up for any of the cruelty and destruction yet I'm dragged into the vortex . . .
" Ukrainians who have left to avoid being soldiers, are being abducted from the streets of cities such as Berlin and sent back to fight in Ukraine." A search turns up no sign of this. It would be news.
I read a passage where Engels described how a Manchester bourgeois listened patiently to his description of the horrific conditions of the working class and who said, when he finished, " and yet, there is plenty of money to be made here! Good day, sir!"
That reminds me of overhearing an old business executive telling a younger one : " just make money and have fun."
"Empire psychosis keeps us in a constant state of distraction and escapism, always scrambling to avoid the here and now like we’re trying to climb out of our own skins."
It absolutely baffles me how so many are addicted to this mindlessness. Oddly, it appears that those who spend the most time on the internet are the most mindless., and their getting worse. I still refuse to own a cell phone. I still buy older vehicles and and try to avoid most modern electronics. My monthly trips to town show a shocking degradation of our society, which if you see it every day, may be un noticeable to most. The depravity that people are bombarded with on these devices is de sensitizing people to the great evil that is taking over. I am very apprehensive on where it will lead.
It seems to me that everywhere I go lately you can smell the odor of pot in the air. The homeless population is growing in leaps and bounds. I see the people in the grocery stores having to put items back on the shelves as they can no longer afford them. I see small children running rampant while parents seem unable to control their screaming kids as they fear the government may take them away if they dare to discipline them. Do I need to continue?
She might also be describing a botched attempt to pour an unguent on the inevitable writhings and inflammation of the human condition, but we get her hyperbole....
Thes saddest part, is seeing small children out to play being neglected by their Parent's, who are staring into a phone like Zombies rather than interacting, playing, bonding,and teaching their Children .
That is sad--forgetting who is important in your life, your children. I thought I'd seen it all, but yesterday I saw a young person riding their bike down the street while texting on their cell phone. We can't even enjoy simple pleasures and be safe bikers and walkers anymore.
I see that also , l look around and just see People on their phones , in the Park the Dog doesn't get walked it just sits waiting , Children get ignored at the Beach or Playground by Parent's , Couples and Families having a meal or Coffee don't even bother to talk to each other etc etc , it's sad .
Not only "parents who are staring into their phones like Zombies"
In a train suburban carriage last week there were 42 passengers. 31 were mesmerised by their phones, 2 were asleep and 4 were talking.
Trudy.
I do admit that the four talking were all on about their current football finals. Normal practice as I could hear them clearly. Normal in this country.
So the 2 that were asleep (and I was one of them) got off the train with some chance of being refreshed, free from the mundane data on a phone and who were not subject to constant advertising brainwashing or political propaganda such as 'Trump said this' and 'Trump said that' and all the other distractions mentioned by Tim and Caitlin today.
I recommend sleep. Other than stimulating conversation, it beats them all.
But my sleep was good because I also dreamt about a better world, one I used to know ....before there were 750 US military bases around the globe, when the USA was a respected country and my country was not filling the role of a bag-carrying puppet to the likes of an ignorant and dangerous Trump (Republican) or an Israeli stooge / assassin like Biden (Democrat), both parties with the same 2026 American values.
Neither conducive to good sleep , .....on a train or in bed.
“I recommend sleep. Other than stimulating conversation, it beats them all.”
Sleep is good. Many times after catching up with the latest stupid shit thats happened all I want to do is curl up under the covers of my bed.
Stimulating conversation seems to be a thing of the past….all I hear about are the latest vacation plans, the latest home remodeling project, the latest sports blah blah, the latest thing that had to be bought on Amazon because it’s convenient, the latest tv show. The latest stupid shit someone bought in order to not pay attention to what’s going on. The latest restaurant we need to check out. Ugh.
I came across a college professor tech a course on friendship this fall. He started it because all the students tend to sit on their phones rather than communicate with each other. It seems interesting and like a great idea considering where we’re at with things but it seems so wrong and sad that we need a college course to learn how to be friends.
I think it would be much more useful for the college to make Advertising/Marketing a prerequisite for all students---- rather than a pro-business perspective--a life skills(beware of the tricks/effects)perspective. Academia should be held accountable for teaching balance, rather than unfettered consent.
I barely use my phone at all l refuse to. l allow an allocated time to read emails, any news of interest , friend's notations etc ,then it's put away for the day.I grew up in an era when Phones where attached to a Wall Socket in a Home .I refuse to be addicted nor mind controlled . l'd rather read a book ,Garden , Cook ,do tasks, take the Dog for a Walk, be creative ,go out into the World somewhere .
It's possible to escape all this. I rarely see ads. I have an adblocker on my laptop, I don't use social media. I don't use AI if I can help it. I avoid Amazon and Google. But some of my privileged lifestyle is due to my age (70) and being a hippie, who went back to the land in '76 and have been homesteading ever since; with very low expenses I'm quite comfortable on a slightly-below-the-poverty-line income. It's harder for young people now to opt out of the rat race, buy land in a place where they can build their own house so it's affordable (no building codes and permissions) and energy-efficient, in a place where you can grow some or most of your food.
I think some of this is that everyone has cellphones now, which makes the addictive scrolling too handy. We've had a landline, but just got notice that the phone company is discontinuing copper lines, so it looks like we'll have to get a cellphone for a hotspot to run the phone as well as the internet. I also think it likely that before long we will be on a trajectory of power blackouts that come more frequently and last longer, until a regular and reliable power source and internet connection become luxuries for the rich--and so it's best not to be too dependent on them.
You can build a wind mill out of a steel shaft, a couple of bearings, two plastic barrels and an old alternator hooked to a battery bank which in turn hooks to an inverter. You cut the barrels in half lengthwise and bolt them to a cross piece. with a bearing in the centre.
I am sure you can figure the rest out for yourself.
Not me--I'm a mechanical moron. My husband could figure it out, but it would do little good as there is not enough wind around here. We do already have an off-grid solar power system which works just fine, but it won't last forever, may well be stolen when the SHTF, and can't be replaced by available old parts--solar cells require a lot of power and precision work.
Oh darling! Never allow yourself to believe you can't do something! This is called apathy. It is your enemy. You can supplement your wind power with an old bicycle or, if you have a creek, build a paddle wheel. If you don't believe in yourself no one will believe in you.
But Peter--why would we build a wind power thing when there is not enough wind here, and we already have a solar system functioning fine--and we're on the ridge so nope on the water power idea.
It’s definitely the cell phone. That, and a lack of awareness and media literacy. If one understands the addictive nature of consumer capitalism, there is no need for an ad blocker, because one has a literal video/audio delete button in the brain whenever an ad appears. We had a hard land line as an internet backup, but as you say, they are going the way of the dodo.
This is all, as has been noted by many, an attempt to digitally enslave us further into the capitalist matrix. Next on the list is the elimination of cash in route to the total digital currency and surveillance paradigm.
I don't believe one can truly tune out an ad. There is mental pollution that happens even if you are consciously ignoring it, plus it's taking up time and perhaps paid minutes. As for your theory about them next eliminating cash in order to further hook us into the matrix, that seems very plausible to me.
I’m a sports junkie, so I watch more television than many do (plus streaming, most of which is ad free), and do agree about ads being pollution, but disagree about the tune out factor. An analogy - I can walk by the dog hair tumbleweeds on the floor countless times before I pick up the broom/vacuum to clean up. Yes, I see the pollution (ad/tumbleweed) but don’t alter behavior (tune out) because of it. That’s where the media literacy/capitalism awareness comes into play.
There's probably a direct relationship between the prevalence of bright little portable phones and absolutely zero freedom to go hippie or even mildly epicurean in the bread and water sense, without suffering from feelings of isolation or anxiety at the nature of the ocean we've been cast adrift on...
"We do not have to keep suffering from their man-made madness."
Amen to that! Admitting that we have an addiction to this man-made empire "bread & circuses" and that we can wean ourselves off their pablum and return to reality is the first step. Put down the phone and take a walk in nature. You'll like it.
I don’t have an IPhone, and sometimes I don’t hear the notification tone on my cell phone which I silent at night. I rarely watch TV, but I do have an IPad which lets me know how many hours a day I’m on. There are certain journalist, writers whose word I trust. Anything else is deleted. I do what I can to be a good human being, but I also take care of myself in this dire time. We all should!
Re: "That we’re not beautiful enough, not stylish enough, not successful enough, not abundant enough." Don't forget... the germs and the smells that we have to buy products to "protect ourselves from" - even when they are undetectable. "Nose blind" being at the pinnacle of BS marketing.
And re: "Something went wrong. Humanity went off course." It's called capitalism.
I'm old enough to remember a time before Thatcher, and before the internet. Yes, there was racism, bigotry, and wars - and the Telegraph, Mail & Express - back then. But there was also a belief we could make things better. Let's call it "hope". And let's not be conned into believing the Labour Party is offering that. It's a BS marketing slogan for their conference.
I do not believe, but I KNOW, that the satanic Jews and satanic goyim, and also the so-called goyimic cattle (you are one of them) can never understand and recognize anything - until their imminent global and eternal annihilation.
I glanced at the article. Typical Anglosphere Empire propaganda suggesting there is a "Jewish conspiracy" when it has always been an Anglo Christian Empire project. The call for the colonization of Palestine by Anglo Christians predates the creation of the sister nations (the 5 ongoing expressions of British Empire settler-colonialism that make up the "Other" members of the UNs Western Europe and Other Group.
The US celebrates one of these groups, the Pilgrims, each year during US Thanksgiving.
United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel. These are all Anglo Christian settler-colonial projects.
Contrary to performative progressives and "Liberals" who actually make the ludicrous claim that the 1776 declaration of Independence was a decokonial act, or that CANZUS (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United States) Westphalian institutions aren't Christian.
ALL empires are psychotic. Why? Because they falsely believe that they are really empires. There never were and never are. It's an illusion. None have survived in perpetuity.
أحسنت النشر والقول – سلام غزة و القدس عليكم - العزة والنصر حليف محورالمقاومة وحلفاءها والذلة والعار لمحور الشر وجماعة أبستين (امريكا و بريطانيا وفرنسا وتركيا والسعودية وقطر والامارات و دول الناتو والنازية الجديدة والماسونية والصهيونية و أسرائيل) وحلفاءه
This would have been a much stronger article if the word "capitalist" had been left out. I really worry that the fixation on that term, one of the Eurocentric, Anthropocentric, Androcentric economic systems, will mean the Empire will never fall as far too many people fixate on a minor detail.
I can step away from the destraction and escapism to a large extent. What I am finding very difficult to absorb right now is that those stupid idiots, those greedy capitalist pigs, those people who cannot see past their bank accounts are now gloating over all the money they can make from war and more war. In Europe, Ukrainians who have left to avoid being soldiers, are being abducted from the streets of cities such as Berlin and sent back to fight in Ukraine. They are forcing people to fight. Men and women. This is what "distracts" me. This is what scares me. This is what I am afraid is going to be the lives for my grandchildren and their friends. I don't consent to this crap now and I have never consented to it. We are all being bullied and made afraid. This is not mere "distraction".
we're all trapped in a cosmic abusive relationship with no way out. I didn't sign up for any of the cruelty and destruction yet I'm dragged into the vortex . . .
" Ukrainians who have left to avoid being soldiers, are being abducted from the streets of cities such as Berlin and sent back to fight in Ukraine." A search turns up no sign of this. It would be news.
It is news......seen it for at least 6 months.
https://www.facebook.com/Blackxcellencee/videos/a-ukrainian-man-was-reportedly-taken-against-his-will-by-men-accused-of-carrying/1499878358524611/
I read a passage where Engels described how a Manchester bourgeois listened patiently to his description of the horrific conditions of the working class and who said, when he finished, " and yet, there is plenty of money to be made here! Good day, sir!"
That reminds me of overhearing an old business executive telling a younger one : " just make money and have fun."
Life is full of profound and beautiful meaning.
"Empire psychosis keeps us in a constant state of distraction and escapism, always scrambling to avoid the here and now like we’re trying to climb out of our own skins."
You kill me, Caitlin.
Please keep it up.
It absolutely baffles me how so many are addicted to this mindlessness. Oddly, it appears that those who spend the most time on the internet are the most mindless., and their getting worse. I still refuse to own a cell phone. I still buy older vehicles and and try to avoid most modern electronics. My monthly trips to town show a shocking degradation of our society, which if you see it every day, may be un noticeable to most. The depravity that people are bombarded with on these devices is de sensitizing people to the great evil that is taking over. I am very apprehensive on where it will lead.
If you care to, please describe in some way the degradation that can visibly be seen. I agree with you that it is a harbinger of the big takeover.
It seems to me that everywhere I go lately you can smell the odor of pot in the air. The homeless population is growing in leaps and bounds. I see the people in the grocery stores having to put items back on the shelves as they can no longer afford them. I see small children running rampant while parents seem unable to control their screaming kids as they fear the government may take them away if they dare to discipline them. Do I need to continue?
She might also be describing a botched attempt to pour an unguent on the inevitable writhings and inflammation of the human condition, but we get her hyperbole....
I’ll just check in to see what condition my condition is in.
This is just conditional.
Thes saddest part, is seeing small children out to play being neglected by their Parent's, who are staring into a phone like Zombies rather than interacting, playing, bonding,and teaching their Children .
That is sad--forgetting who is important in your life, your children. I thought I'd seen it all, but yesterday I saw a young person riding their bike down the street while texting on their cell phone. We can't even enjoy simple pleasures and be safe bikers and walkers anymore.
I see that also , l look around and just see People on their phones , in the Park the Dog doesn't get walked it just sits waiting , Children get ignored at the Beach or Playground by Parent's , Couples and Families having a meal or Coffee don't even bother to talk to each other etc etc , it's sad .
They don't realise how short that time with their Children is and the memories lost.
Not only "parents who are staring into their phones like Zombies"
In a train suburban carriage last week there were 42 passengers. 31 were mesmerised by their phones, 2 were asleep and 4 were talking.
Trudy.
I do admit that the four talking were all on about their current football finals. Normal practice as I could hear them clearly. Normal in this country.
So the 2 that were asleep (and I was one of them) got off the train with some chance of being refreshed, free from the mundane data on a phone and who were not subject to constant advertising brainwashing or political propaganda such as 'Trump said this' and 'Trump said that' and all the other distractions mentioned by Tim and Caitlin today.
I recommend sleep. Other than stimulating conversation, it beats them all.
But my sleep was good because I also dreamt about a better world, one I used to know ....before there were 750 US military bases around the globe, when the USA was a respected country and my country was not filling the role of a bag-carrying puppet to the likes of an ignorant and dangerous Trump (Republican) or an Israeli stooge / assassin like Biden (Democrat), both parties with the same 2026 American values.
Neither conducive to good sleep , .....on a train or in bed.
“I recommend sleep. Other than stimulating conversation, it beats them all.”
Sleep is good. Many times after catching up with the latest stupid shit thats happened all I want to do is curl up under the covers of my bed.
Stimulating conversation seems to be a thing of the past….all I hear about are the latest vacation plans, the latest home remodeling project, the latest sports blah blah, the latest thing that had to be bought on Amazon because it’s convenient, the latest tv show. The latest stupid shit someone bought in order to not pay attention to what’s going on. The latest restaurant we need to check out. Ugh.
I came across a college professor tech a course on friendship this fall. He started it because all the students tend to sit on their phones rather than communicate with each other. It seems interesting and like a great idea considering where we’re at with things but it seems so wrong and sad that we need a college course to learn how to be friends.
I think it would be much more useful for the college to make Advertising/Marketing a prerequisite for all students---- rather than a pro-business perspective--a life skills(beware of the tricks/effects)perspective. Academia should be held accountable for teaching balance, rather than unfettered consent.
fair point
I barely use my phone at all l refuse to. l allow an allocated time to read emails, any news of interest , friend's notations etc ,then it's put away for the day.I grew up in an era when Phones where attached to a Wall Socket in a Home .I refuse to be addicted nor mind controlled . l'd rather read a book ,Garden , Cook ,do tasks, take the Dog for a Walk, be creative ,go out into the World somewhere .
I have been noticing the parents that give a phone to their kids to keep them busy on the metro or the bus.
I see families in restaurants each on their phone. Teenagers in parks, same.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.
.
~Christina Rossetti
Great book Well worth a re read.
My mother used to sing that to me when I was a child. Do mothers sing to their children anymore? I really have to wonder.
There's sn app for that.
App = A pitiful pretense.
It's possible to escape all this. I rarely see ads. I have an adblocker on my laptop, I don't use social media. I don't use AI if I can help it. I avoid Amazon and Google. But some of my privileged lifestyle is due to my age (70) and being a hippie, who went back to the land in '76 and have been homesteading ever since; with very low expenses I'm quite comfortable on a slightly-below-the-poverty-line income. It's harder for young people now to opt out of the rat race, buy land in a place where they can build their own house so it's affordable (no building codes and permissions) and energy-efficient, in a place where you can grow some or most of your food.
I think some of this is that everyone has cellphones now, which makes the addictive scrolling too handy. We've had a landline, but just got notice that the phone company is discontinuing copper lines, so it looks like we'll have to get a cellphone for a hotspot to run the phone as well as the internet. I also think it likely that before long we will be on a trajectory of power blackouts that come more frequently and last longer, until a regular and reliable power source and internet connection become luxuries for the rich--and so it's best not to be too dependent on them.
You can build a wind mill out of a steel shaft, a couple of bearings, two plastic barrels and an old alternator hooked to a battery bank which in turn hooks to an inverter. You cut the barrels in half lengthwise and bolt them to a cross piece. with a bearing in the centre.
I am sure you can figure the rest out for yourself.
Not me--I'm a mechanical moron. My husband could figure it out, but it would do little good as there is not enough wind around here. We do already have an off-grid solar power system which works just fine, but it won't last forever, may well be stolen when the SHTF, and can't be replaced by available old parts--solar cells require a lot of power and precision work.
Oh darling! Never allow yourself to believe you can't do something! This is called apathy. It is your enemy. You can supplement your wind power with an old bicycle or, if you have a creek, build a paddle wheel. If you don't believe in yourself no one will believe in you.
But Peter--why would we build a wind power thing when there is not enough wind here, and we already have a solar system functioning fine--and we're on the ridge so nope on the water power idea.
It’s definitely the cell phone. That, and a lack of awareness and media literacy. If one understands the addictive nature of consumer capitalism, there is no need for an ad blocker, because one has a literal video/audio delete button in the brain whenever an ad appears. We had a hard land line as an internet backup, but as you say, they are going the way of the dodo.
This is all, as has been noted by many, an attempt to digitally enslave us further into the capitalist matrix. Next on the list is the elimination of cash in route to the total digital currency and surveillance paradigm.
I don't believe one can truly tune out an ad. There is mental pollution that happens even if you are consciously ignoring it, plus it's taking up time and perhaps paid minutes. As for your theory about them next eliminating cash in order to further hook us into the matrix, that seems very plausible to me.
I’m a sports junkie, so I watch more television than many do (plus streaming, most of which is ad free), and do agree about ads being pollution, but disagree about the tune out factor. An analogy - I can walk by the dog hair tumbleweeds on the floor countless times before I pick up the broom/vacuum to clean up. Yes, I see the pollution (ad/tumbleweed) but don’t alter behavior (tune out) because of it. That’s where the media literacy/capitalism awareness comes into play.
There's probably a direct relationship between the prevalence of bright little portable phones and absolutely zero freedom to go hippie or even mildly epicurean in the bread and water sense, without suffering from feelings of isolation or anxiety at the nature of the ocean we've been cast adrift on...
"We do not have to keep suffering from their man-made madness."
Amen to that! Admitting that we have an addiction to this man-made empire "bread & circuses" and that we can wean ourselves off their pablum and return to reality is the first step. Put down the phone and take a walk in nature. You'll like it.
I don’t have an IPhone, and sometimes I don’t hear the notification tone on my cell phone which I silent at night. I rarely watch TV, but I do have an IPad which lets me know how many hours a day I’m on. There are certain journalist, writers whose word I trust. Anything else is deleted. I do what I can to be a good human being, but I also take care of myself in this dire time. We all should!
Great post. Thank you, Caitlin.
Re: "That we’re not beautiful enough, not stylish enough, not successful enough, not abundant enough." Don't forget... the germs and the smells that we have to buy products to "protect ourselves from" - even when they are undetectable. "Nose blind" being at the pinnacle of BS marketing.
And re: "Something went wrong. Humanity went off course." It's called capitalism.
I'm old enough to remember a time before Thatcher, and before the internet. Yes, there was racism, bigotry, and wars - and the Telegraph, Mail & Express - back then. But there was also a belief we could make things better. Let's call it "hope". And let's not be conned into believing the Labour Party is offering that. It's a BS marketing slogan for their conference.
#VoteGreen
Capitalism annihilates life.
The final END of the Very Last EMPIRE, this jewish-satanic Empire! - And with it, of this World, too. https://mile7bar.substack.com/p/the-end-of-the-very-last-empire
Do you believe the United States and Canada are part of a "jewish-satanic Empire"?
While the unrelated word "Socialism" regularly gets thrown around with respect to somehow ending Empire, how is Judaism related in any way?
https://r.flora.ca/p/zionism
I do not believe, but I KNOW, that the satanic Jews and satanic goyim, and also the so-called goyimic cattle (you are one of them) can never understand and recognize anything - until their imminent global and eternal annihilation.
You mean like I KNOW that "The Doctors" is a Time Lord?
You are repeating Anglo Empire propaganda...
I glanced at the article. Typical Anglosphere Empire propaganda suggesting there is a "Jewish conspiracy" when it has always been an Anglo Christian Empire project. The call for the colonization of Palestine by Anglo Christians predates the creation of the sister nations (the 5 ongoing expressions of British Empire settler-colonialism that make up the "Other" members of the UNs Western Europe and Other Group.
The US celebrates one of these groups, the Pilgrims, each year during US Thanksgiving.
United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel. These are all Anglo Christian settler-colonial projects.
Contrary to performative progressives and "Liberals" who actually make the ludicrous claim that the 1776 declaration of Independence was a decokonial act, or that CANZUS (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United States) Westphalian institutions aren't Christian.
ALL empires are psychotic. Why? Because they falsely believe that they are really empires. There never were and never are. It's an illusion. None have survived in perpetuity.
أحسنت النشر والقول – سلام غزة و القدس عليكم - العزة والنصر حليف محورالمقاومة وحلفاءها والذلة والعار لمحور الشر وجماعة أبستين (امريكا و بريطانيا وفرنسا وتركيا والسعودية وقطر والامارات و دول الناتو والنازية الجديدة والماسونية والصهيونية و أسرائيل) وحلفاءه
Thank You Caitlin
& Tim
This would have been a much stronger article if the word "capitalist" had been left out. I really worry that the fixation on that term, one of the Eurocentric, Anthropocentric, Androcentric economic systems, will mean the Empire will never fall as far too many people fixate on a minor detail.
Thank you Caitlin and Tim for keeping us alert.
" The old world is dying; the new world struggles to be born;
Now is the time of monsters".
Antonio Gramsci.