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User's avatar
AJF's avatar

How you manage to put into words my very thoughts on a daily basis is proof that these are truths. We MUST keep TRUTH ALIVE!

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American Zoetroper's avatar

This is a good piece. And it's indeed truthful. But I'm not sure if the last sentence does not sound irresponsibly optimistic. Sadly, it's not the only possibility. Or to put it in lyrical terms:

with all the inconveniences

gone to a memory hole

with all the fears known

so they can catch you if you fall

no need to see through walls

instead just make them screens

and war is entertainment

missions humanitaires, not screams

or a holiday trip to spice up your dreams

slavery is freedom

war is peace

ignorance is strength

ignorance is bliss

sit up stand down

don’t think yourself into trouble

think once think twice

then make it double

it’s here where you make your call

it’s either nothing

or not for all

long live the king

god save the queen

welcome my son

welcome to the machine

looking in the mirror

through the shades with a smile

the latest design, Oceania style

the most needful thing

you wouldn’t trade for life

because this little magic

turns two and two into five

on weekends, on weekdays

it’s properly seven

occasionally – six, and

once was nine/eleven

it makes a butcher handsome,

but a victim is still boring

come on, quick, grab a clicker

before we’re all snoring 

slavery is freedom

war is peace

ignorance is strength

ignorance is bliss

sit up stand down

don’t think yourself into trouble

think once think twice

then make it double

it’s here where you make your call

it’s either nothing

or not for all

every remaining doubt

cut clean by guillotine

welcome my son

welcome to the machine

who would write across

if given ruled paper?

it’s worse yet still nice here

in this one big fat caper

but the real is there

there's no way to escape it

and viene la tormenta

a storm is coming in

our coda, no-nu-nor-

clear judgement day

and a brand-new-

brave-new-world-order

where we all forget

our Snakes and Ladders

we all take to the bottle

at the Chestnut Tree Cafe

but, for now, while it’s still fun

when your mind is still

don’t bother to cast

any pebbles around

and simply keep opting

for the blue pill

with this kind of stuff

who would need drinking

stealing is hip

killing is kinky

heat's going up

until paper burns

and just few simple things here

are all we’re left to learn

slavery is freedom

war is peace

ignorance is strength

ignorance is bliss

it’s really easy

no need to frown

just follow this

sit up stand down

sit up stand down

don’t think yourself into trouble

think once think twice

then make it double

sit up stand down

the simplest routine

welcome my son

welcome to the machine

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Feral Finster's avatar

Moral clarity is Caity's greatest gift.

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Contrarian 33's avatar

Yes, Feral. She has the knack of hitting the nerves.

But to most of all, to probably all of us, she is preaching to the converted. How one is able to penetrate through to the majority is the question.

When white, Christian governments from North to South can preach to the masses their need to support a sadistic state like Israel, because "it has the right to defend itself" against a virtually unarmed nation being cut to ribbons, where children are dying in the thousands and where if it wasn't Gaza in 2024, it was Afghanistan, then Iraq, then Syria, then Yemen, then Libya, then Vietnam and finally Korea plus literally hundreds of less serious dalliances in between.

The USA, as the supporter of the world's worst crimes, now a shadow of its former self , sixty years ago, with values in the gutter and a record of 107 military dalliances and wars to its credit.

What a pairing these two make, Israel, "God's chosen people" and "exceptional America", one equally as bad as the other, with the undoubted end result of both being hoisted on their own petard.

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Blucey's avatar

Brilliant 👏👏👏

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Longtrail's avatar

You conveyed my mood nicely. For the most part other commenters feel you too. Trying to talk to those in my area is like talking to a wall.

Your ghost town is populated by zombies infected with the manufactured mental disorders Russophobia, Sinophobia and Islamophobia. They've been indoctrinated and conditioned by our rulers.

We are the antidote. You and others in your network saved me by vaccinating me with the truth.

All I can do while wearing my 'Free Assange' tee shirts I got from you is fight for his freedom by contacting my representative, donating to the cause and praying. We've already lost Gonzalo Lira.

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Richard's avatar

Brilliant.

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Peter Barus's avatar

You nail it again, and this time with something extra. It can be difficult to see what's right there, when the words for it aren't. I thank you for having those words within your reach, and using them! You may sometimes think you are stating the obvious. Obvious to you, maybe, but that kind of obviousness is vital and necessary cause it brings light and clarity and DON"T STOP FOR ANYTHING!

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Indu Abeysekara's avatar

Brilliant! Thank you Caitlin. Simple yet profound. I felt an inkling of what Caitlin is saying here when Taylor Swift mania hit Australia and people were queuing for tickets for hours, while Gaza was getting pulverised and thousands were getting killed by Israel. Another kind of mania. The ugliest possible.

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Longtrail's avatar

Ghosts.

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Gigi Schendler's avatar

Yes to your extraordinary daily insights and passion. Have you any suggestions as to a personal course of action? No one in a position of power seems to be listening or to care. The horror persists!

Thank you for your courage!

Gigi

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Mar 25, 2024
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Indu Abeysekara's avatar

Gene, your twisted logic is beyond comprehension. Have the Gazans lives got better with Zionist bombs?!

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Longtrail's avatar

Gene is afflicted with the manufactured mental disorders Russophobia, Sinophobia and Islamophobia. I hope he sticks around. Maybe he'll learn enough to change his outlook. I was once just like Gene.

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karl pomeroy's avatar

If you changed, there's hope.

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Mar 27, 2024
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Longtrail's avatar

Ya know? It's kind of funny. Thinking on terms of "Left Wing" and "Right Wing" is how our rulers who want total control manipulate us. You're enthralled by Infotainment provided by them and that's where you get your "facts". Those facts are half truths, propaganda and lies. They feed you this shit through network "news", Facebook and Google and you eat it up. I bet you have a TV and watch AFOX.Enthralled means to be enslaved.

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Longtrail's avatar

FOX. Not AFOX.

By the way, left wingers think I'm right wing and right wingers think I'm left wing.

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Longtrail's avatar

Who's name calling? You do in your comment. You never presented facts but proved your lack of knowledge of history.

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Mar 25, 2024
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martin's avatar

in 1948 israelis knew damn well there would be retaliation for the nakba lest they at least tried to make amends. plenty of opportunities and time to go the other way, instead they chose the path that is also instilled in you by the same nurtured attitudes, imo.

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Mar 27, 2024
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martin's avatar

well that would have been a feat under occupation. it's pretty much like reproaching the indigenous colonized tribes or an enslaved population that they don't thrive.

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Pertinent Chatter's avatar

They have not had an election since 2006. There has been a blockade there since 2006 limiting food and supplies. There is a generation of children that's grown up in an open-air prison. Palestinians have no vote and no rights. They are summarily raped, robbed, and murdered in Gaza and the West Bank by the IDF and have no recourse because Israel, under the protection of the gangster empire called America, can get away with anything, even if sanctioned by the ICJ. You are a narrow-minded and brainwashed zionist here to troll and lack basic knowledge of recent events and revelations.

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Chang Chokaski's avatar

Well said Jay Antani!

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Mar 25, 2024Edited
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Pertinent Chatter's avatar

Then maybe you zionists should pressure your govt to stop funding Hamas.

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Mikhael's avatar

Me thinks you're losing ground here, Geno. You might want to split and cut your losses instead of wasting cyberspace. Just say'n.

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martin's avatar

i don't think the un lists hamas as a terrorist group. that is a designation from the 'our pliable rules based order'. under israeli occupation the lives of palestinians have not gotten better, hence the desperate move.

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Mar 25, 2024
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martin's avatar

who is your gold standard for integrity or rationality?

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Mar 26, 2024
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martin's avatar

does it surprise you that your opinions and attitude are quasi (almost cartoonishly) in line with certain political groups and pundits?

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karl pomeroy's avatar

Under Israeli occupation their lives have certainly NOT gotten better!

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Mar 25, 2024
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narjis of many camels's avatar

Palestinians have the right to defend themselves.

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Pertinent Chatter's avatar

HAMAS is just a scapegoat, a distraction, a misdirection. It is, in fact, a zionist creation, funded and abetted by the Israeli right-wing.

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Mar 25, 2024Edited
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Ohio Barbarian's avatar

Facts are stubborn things.

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jamenta's avatar

“Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are pliable.”

― Mark Twain

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Ohio Barbarian's avatar

Mark Twain is my hero.

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jamenta's avatar

Good sandwich at subway!

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George Hazim's avatar

Outstanding. Self-indulgent ignorant and oblivious - they epitomise the failings of humanity.

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Starry Gordon's avatar

I think a lot of people know that something is seriously wrong, but they don't know what to do about it, at least not that doesn't come at a higher price then they are willing or able to pay, like burning yourself to death or going off to the woods and living on roots and acorns. Many of them have tried voting, leafleting, writing to the editor or their congressperson, contributing to the cause, volunteering at the co-op, whatever: nothing works. As the archabomination Biden said, "Nothing fundamental will change."

But I suppose a lot of people are thinking about it. Some of them are going to be pretty focused. After all, "If they can do it to them, they can do it to you." The enemy is in the field; he may be momentarily triumphant, but he's also visible.

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art guerrilla's avatar

parasitic poem post coming at you...

8^)

.

their web of lies is all connected

why the smallest must be protected

one small lie exposed and then unwound

leads to a nest of lies to be found

.

all the interlocking deceptions

resist any serious questions

can’t make a case that’s open and shut

we can not figure out who owns what

.

shell corporations with changing names

defy us for placing the blame

they use purposeful non-disclosure

to minimize their own exposure

.

as our government becomes opaque

we can’t see the liberties they take

and when we are not fully informed

our democracy becomes deformed

.

no disinfectant like the sunshine

blocking truth’s light is all by design

elites rule by their lies and secrets

their acts unseen lead to our regrets

.

The Worlds Most Dangerous Poet

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Clare Delahunt's avatar

and in its shallow layers the strain of fear is deafening, one that they can't hear that is their own.

Brilliant, as usual Caitlin.

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Susan T's avatar

Once you stop running from yourself, you may need some help. Music, art, movement. People are hiding from the truth and running from themselves.

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bill wolfe's avatar

Joni gets it:

"In a highway service station

Over the month of June

Was a photograph of the earth

Taken coming back from the moon

And you couldn't see a city

On that marbled bowling ball

Or a forest or a highway

Or me here, least of all

You couldn't see these cold water restrooms

Or this baggage overload

Westbound and rolling, taking refuge in the roads

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfLH0xJByiI

"I pulled into the Cactus Tree Motel

To shower off the dust

And I slept on strange pillows of my wanderlust

I dreamed of 747s

Over geometric farms

Dreams Amelia, dreams and false alarms

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcTDoi9JQiY

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chris leeds's avatar

it's true - Israel has turned us all into zombies

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Gregory T's avatar

Does that also make us 'The chosen ones' ?

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@smokygirl2006's avatar

Great and truthful article, Caitlin. All eyes need to be on Gaza. 😢🇵🇸☮️

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Sam Parker°'s avatar

It's a terrible thing and I have no idea how I can help in a meaningful way.

Most of us who are lucky enough to have the time and safe space to be able to read and comment on this, probably feel the same way.

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Joy in HK fiFP's avatar

Here are a few things you can do and give yourself some quiet time to think of some others.

There must be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Pope Francis has said what is needed, now he must do what is needed by going to Gaza and standing for peace, justice and freedom.

Please sign the petition and share widely.

https://chng.it/CRQ7qw4Gzn

Code pink

https://www.codepink.org/cnngaza?utm_campaign=12_15_pali_update_alert_3&utm_medium=email&utm_source=codepink

Let us also support UNRWA. If our governments won’t act in accordance with humanity, then we will. https://www.unrwausa.org/donate Let us do it to honor Aaron Bushnell, or in memory of Hind Rajab.

Let us call for a No Fly-Zone over Gaza!

These are a few small things we can do. If we can do more, let us do more.

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