One YouTuber was commenting on this is the context of the collapse of the west, and the U.S. specifically. It’s happening in real time, at an ever accelerating pace. It’s wild to me how pacified people are. They just let this cabal ride rough shod over them even up until the point their policies are killing them, actively. Still… largely nothing. Absolutely insane. Anyways, Happy New Years. I look forward to the next round of fucking we’re about to receive.
And yet you just hit the nail on the head right there. People can't be bothered with politics and yet it is politics which is screwing them over. Politics is the relationship between power and the rest of us, I am sorry to say.
Exactly, most people still live a life too cozy and nice to think about revolution (and the others are already too downtrodden - drugs, or too busy with 2-3 jobs and children and and and ...)!
Oh that is great! I love it. When my stepson says, at dinner next time, that he can't be bothered with politics as there is 'no point' and 'there is nothing you can do', I will respond with Chomsky's comment. And claim it as my own. He won't know. Win Win!
But an honest one. It’s comfortable living in a Western ‘democracy’; affluent, advanced economy, where one of the major issues confronting (young) people is, where will we go for a drink tonight, or what movie to watch, do these jeans fit, where’s a good vegan cafe……questions, questions, questions, flooding into the mind of the concerned young person today….. Not, ‘will I get through the day without being killed, or raped?’
"It’s wild to me how pacified people are." I think many people are shocked at the level of carnage taking place while the world lets it happen. Very few politicians dare to stick their neck out, and who can blame them. When Money, Money, and more Money is the sole arbitrator of our lives, money rules.
So what you’re saying is that a system based upon perverse incentives is going to produce perverse results? Listen, there’s no running from this. If you live in the U.S., you’re in it. And unless you’re the government or a VIP, no amount of bootlicking will save you from it. So your choices are obsequiousness or the other thing. The other thing isn’t pretty, but it’s better than slavery, I can assure you.
Brian... Had to look up "obsequiousness" but "The other thing" is just guessing that you may mean revolution? Yes, you have identified what I feel is the most pervasive imposition on our existence, slavery. If you depend on a job to keep a house over you, you are a slave to the empire, ever if you happen to own part of it. I'm still not sure if I understood the gist of all your comments, but in general what I'm suggesting is that we are all saves to money, and since the total lack of money puts your well-being in jeopardy from the rest of us, MONEY spells better survival odds, politicians included.
“The farmer was and remains the stumbling block to socialist experiments everywhere. Since he raises his own food and tends to live in his own house, he is less “controllable” than say, the urban dweller.” ― Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Leftism Revisited: from de Sade and Marx to Hitler and Pol Pot
"Thomas Jefferson thought the only free people were self-sufficient farmers." I agree!, most especially if they lived far enough outside the boundaries and spyglasses of authorities.
Interesting point!. I think that when a population is pushed hard enough, and for long enough, revolutions emerge. The problem with revolutions however is that if the reasons for evolutions are not addressed, they don't change very much. I think this is the present state of the entire planet as we speak. There have been thousands of revolutions in the past, and our species is minutes away from total annihilation.
He who creates monies deserves to rule those who demand to live by its use.
We have the choice but it is not an easy one.
“The farmer was and remains the stumbling block to socialist experiments everywhere. Since he raises his own food and tends to live in his own house, he is less “controllable” than say, the urban dweller.” ― Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Leftism Revisited: from de Sade and Marx to Hitler and Pol Pot
I am "less controllable" by choice. All I know see me as in a precarious and dangerous position. The opposite is true. All I know also envy my personal time, my stability and resources even as those same folks see me as one step from homelessness. I own my farm home and have for almost 40 years now.
Brian L, What is gobsmackingly insane to me is that the US public is complacent enough to accept a rogues gallery of oligarchs getting ready to rule over them!
Yeah… it took a significant degree of social engineering to pull off, but they’re well on their way of unraveling every democratic thread that still runs through the culture. They want us like all these other cultures that are groomed from birth to accept class systems and hierarchy. Horizontal power structures are anathema to them.
A fair observation. More than fair, really. But for demonstrative purposes, we have cultures like Japan which have deep hierarchal structures imbedded in their cultural zeitgeist. In the other end of the spectrum, most of Western Europe (and specifically Scandinavia) have recently enjoyed far greater civili and economic freedom. I’m defining economic freedom here as wealth equality and purchasing power as opposed to the more common absence of regulations.
Because they fantasize that one day they will be like them, even when the odds of that are low. They bootlick because they want to curry favor just like white women choose racism every time to curry favor with the men in their lives.
CJ>>"It almost never occurs to anyone to question how their worldview got into their heads in the first place; to most of us it just looks like truth and common sense."
Most of us have been indoctrinated from birth to "limit our questioning" within "acceptable paramaters". As kids, we are all very curious about EVERYTHING and keep asking WHY questions as a way to understand the world (and its ways better). Often, we are shut down - either because the people we are asking these questions to themselves don't know the answers OR they couldn't be bothered to find out the answers (for multiple, maybe even pragmatic reasons). Hence, a part of our innate curiosity starts waning at a very early age.
We reach adulthood and we are already indoctrinated (through years of conscious AND unconscious comformity) to fit-in and accept "common-sense" narratives and narratives "acceptable" by our society and environment. I feel that this LOSS OF CURIOSITY plays a big part in WHY we as adults don't question things enough (and this applies not just to power and authority and systems but ALSO to OUR OWN beliefs and values).
You got it Chang... I think it may have been Carlos Castanada who once quoted Don Juan Mateus by declaring that the hardest task in one's life is to rid oneself of the garbage that is stuffed into our head by know-it-alls from the moment of birth.
Which has turned all of us into 'know-it-alls' in turn filling others with garbage. If we each let go of everything we thought we knew and approached every issue without politics or particular 'knowledge' to contribute, how would that look?
"If we each let go of everything we thought we knew and approached every issue without politics or particular 'knowledge' to contribute, how would that look?" I would agree it would be a pretty good way to approach new thinking, but did you ever try to change someone's perception of religious dogma for instance?
There's also another viewpoint in that you don't want to 'throw away the baby with the bathwater', but you can certainly put the water through a filter and still have water to drink. meaning that trying to separate fact from fiction is a pretty good start...... For instance, is a God a Fact or Fiction?
It’s no sign of mental health to be well adjusted in a sick society. Krishnamurti
Resist much, obey little. Walt Whitman
Why have deaths from alcohol sky rocketed? People are profoundly upset by the direction of our society and are self medicating to excess as a result. Economic inequality has passed the guilded age. We’re moving in the direction of indentured servitude. Empire demands subservience. War is good for the economy as genocide Joe said. Profits over people! Whatever happened to that 60’s poster that said that war is not healthy for children or other living things? Revolution is necessary but people are so soft and occupied now compared to the 60’s when it was last attempted. People need to be hardened and desperate. Is that even possible?
Larry, There's a lot to what you write... I experienced the flower generation, (hippies) and more love than not was in the air... but then reality came roaring back when Money once again decided who would be comfortable, and who would be cast aside.
We have been living in a neo-feudal society since the oligarchs started hatching in about the '80s. It's now just the Medieval Ages with social media and drones.
Does anyone else feel that all this has gotten cartoonishly evil? Like, not even subtle and complex, but black and white? I feel like I am watching a kid's show.
It's like watching a movie where the villains continuously win and come out as victors! And their victory is celebrated as a good thing. it is bizarre that this is the reality we live in. It's like most of humanity has turned into pod people.
I can tell you exactly why our society is sick. It’s because we’ve become disconnected from the natural world. We’re not connected to where our food comes from (most people don’t know where or how it was produced), we’re not connected to the cycles of life ( everyone trying to eternally stay young and follow the latest trendy thing, instead of embracing the wisdom of old age), we’re not connected to natural weather patterns or the seasons (geoengineering and/or climate change has disrupted everything), and even in this age of being constantly “connected” through the internet, we’ve actually become disconnected from each other and our collective humanity. Bring back the old ways…
Excellent rumination, Caitlin. Dour pessimist "glass more than half empty" I wish that I could offer you and all here a "Happy..." in return, but I simply cannot. The new year's day and the 364 days to follow -- plus the future as far as I can envision it -- will not be "happy." Just ask any still-living Palestinian Christian or Muslim man, woman, or child.
The event that has made all this crystal clear to me is the assault on Gaza. I can understand that Israel wanted to punish Hamas for October 7th, but we are now WAY past retribution. And Democrats cannot seem to summon the courage to attempt to stop the genocide.
We live in the Age of Narcissus. Arrogant and conceited people are easy to propagandize. It's the fundamental lack of humility, in our time, that is destroying us.
Some us know that a climate catastrophe is upon us and the wars that are being fomented are speeding it up. More people every day know that we are being fed lies. We know that billionaires are empty sacks of skin. Now we have to work together to fight against all that is causing us harm.
Yes. Which is why the collapse that is surely imminent needs to come by some other means than nukes. My vote is for pandemic, since that could spare maybe everyone but humans--or via sheer inability of the overcomplex economic system to keep functioning. Any major collapse will involve massive human death, but the best case scenario is that the collapse come as soon as possible (so that there isn't a ninth billion of humans to suffer, and so that the accelerating damage is stopped sooner) but also gradual, so that survivors can adapt, figure out how to survive by farming, hunting and gathering, and by aggregating into tribes. Ideally the tribes act in solidarity with each other rather than competition--if that isn't too much to hope for. Here's what definitely IS too much to hope for--that we change all our policies such that we transition to a way of life that's sustainable, eliminating war and capitalism while maintaining a "modern" way of life It would require massive and immediate change in every realm, and it would be against the economic interests of sociopathic billionaires, who are only aware of economic interest.
hating human beings IS hating nature. we are part of nature and nature is part of us. a massive plague upon humanity will not fix the problem. reading Robin Wall Kimmerer's book Braiding Sweetgrass changed my view and I hope you'll give it a chance
I don't hate human beings--I'm saying some kind of collapse is inevitable because the way we're living in radically unsustainable, and given the power of corporations and sociopaths, I think a smooth transition, via policy change, to a better, more peaceful, sustainable future without billions of premature human deaths is about as likely as Jesus coming to save us. So if a massive collapse is inevitable, then the least bad scenario is economic unraveling; next least bad is pandemic since likely some humans would survive and most likely it would have little impact on (most) other species. Environmental unraveling would be worst, except for nuclear conflagration which could wipe out all multicellular life and leave the planet radioactive for a long time.
As for Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass, it influenced me too, and I think everyone should read it!
Nature is an interlinked, synergistic system of billions of components / organisms which act together and individually to develop and maintain a sustainable ecology.
Humans don't co-operate in that endeavour but rather, humans destroy sustainable ecologies. We might have been part of nature 20 or 30 thousand years ago, but we are no longer.
it's worth noting here that Neanderthals, with a larger brain than Homo Sapiens Sapiens, survived nearly 200,000 years without destroying the environment that sustained them.
Re: paragraph 3 it’s got nothing to do with our brain size.
Paragraph 3: I think it’s a mistake to lump all actions taken by humans and their institutions into one big verb and label it “humans destroy sustainable ecologies”. Capitalist logic destroys nature, including humans, for profit. The incentive is built into the system. People like us are probably doing all we can to sustain and rejuvenate nature. When you put us all in the same bucket it flattens and obscures the system responsible and the power dynamics that keep it in place. If the goal is to secure a future livable planet we must transition to a political economic system that prioritizes well-being over profit. That’s not capitalism.
I fully realise that some people understand our current situation and are attempting to change it, but when taking the macro view of an entire species as a collective whole, a broad brush is required. To assess the actions every individual member of H. Sapiens Sapiens would require typing 8.2 billion paragraphs, which I can't imagine anybody actually reading.
But modern humans began agriculture 14.5K ybp and in doing so, stepped outside of that synergistic system and began deliberately changing their environment.
As for the Neanderthal brain, there's no way of knowing what particular function that extra brain mass might have performed, but in evolution genetic changes only persist in a species if they are adaptive - that is they improve the chances of the species' survival. The logic of Natural Selection would suggest that, if the larger brain played no part in that survival, and you have to admit 200,000 yrs is a pretty good innings, then that adaptation would not have persisted.
But I definitely agree with you Lizzy that Capitalism, which I hold to be an unfortunate side effect of the agricultural revolution ( collateral damage if you will ) is now the main driver of our stampede towards annihilation.
It's not just ocean temps Patrick, it's also Ph levels and as they drop, the acidity of the oceans makes it harder for crustaceans to survive. Their calcium carbonate shells dissolve. And that is happening now.
For reference: Elizabeth Kolbert, 'Field Notes From A Catastrophe', and / or 'The Sixth Extinction'
But yeah, nuclear war would result in higher levels of radiation in the oceans, from fallout, nuclear weapon detonating underwater, nuclear powered vessel being destroyed or Fukushima?
That combined with higher temps and lower Ph would be a rerun of the End Permian Extinction.
So many of us are trying to figure out what's going on with young white men these days. Something is really getting to a lot of them, and turning them to the far right.
"This discontentment is currently being funneled by the powerful into faux populist movements designed to herd the public into supporting the status quo while allowing them to feel as though they are waging a brave revolution against the establishment."
>>"So many of us are trying to figure out what's going on with young white men these days. Something is really getting to a lot of them, and turning them to the far right."
It isn't just "White" and it isn't just "men". I've seen this happening to people from multiple countries, cultural races, and skin colors (including global South countries - for example: India and its Zionism-like Hindutva philosophies). Its happening in South America, Africa, all over the world. And this ALSO applies to WOMEN (and the men with such ideologies that they support).
That needed saying and people who still listen to the mainstream gossip on FB etc (even though they have given up the broadsheets) are too inclined to believe this "white" narrative and not see it as the all "races", all genders, ethno-cultural group it is - in short, a class, although almost no one is going to admit to that in the G7 these days. But when the "C" word is verboten, phrasing it as you did at least helps to loosen the hold of the MSM narrative and for that we must all be thankful.
I've noticed something about MAGA women, at least the ones who appear in photographs. Like 97% of them are blonde. Is this because the racism element makes them want to look Aryan (most are blonde-out-of-a-bottle)?
They're living in Moms basement. They can't buy a home or have a family. I see wishing for a higher standard of living for the common man as basic leftism.
There's no point in blaming the masses. You know how many progressive world leaders were killed within 5 to 10 years of Kennedy? The masses gave it their best shot. The american people ended the Vietnam War after about 7 years when it was obvious it was wrong. The government never forgave the masses through using their power to end the war. How many grassroots americam activists were murdered, put in prison, or had their minds poisoned by govt drug dealers? The government was afraid to do the draft after 11 September. Who knows? Maybe that's why they're so focused on drones because they've lost their ability to trust people to follow orders.
Absolutely. We didn't stop the war with protests, big as they were in those days when we still believed we could influence the government. No, what ended the Vietnam War was fragging--when officers couldn't turn their backs on their own men, they couldn't go on. So the Pentagon learned its lesson--no more drafted soldiers, rely on a combination of the poverty draft, proxy wars, and automated war. Not only did this eliminate the problem of fragging; once the numbers of American soldiers coming home from wars in boxes dwindled, and they made photographing the boxes illegal, opposition to the wars nearly disappeared. If they ever reinstate the draft, they'll quickly have big problems again--so they won't. Meanwhile they're moving to replace both soldiers and the domestic soldiers called police with robots so they can proceed no matter how obviously immoral the violence is.
Thank you, Caitlin, for that deeply insightful New Years message. It is, without doubt, the most perspicacious and honest message of this kind that I have ever heard or read.
I happen to be one of those who think that our society is profoundly sick mainly because humanity (well, most of it at any rate) is innately rotten. And, that there is too much (far too much) religion (not to mention nationalism and capitalism).
Thank you so much for your indefatigable and ongoing efforts to try to rectify this sickness in our society and to help humanity find a way towards a better future.
You and Tim both have my very best wishes for a better year in 2025 (despite, inter alia, the ascension of Trump to the Presidency and the possibility of Dutton becoming P.M. here.
Glad you agree you are an A Level sycophant bob, the jews must be shaking in their genocidal boots, lest you unleash your devastating insight upon them
With the greatest of respect Hus, I think that you would benefit mightily by attending a basic course in English Comprehension in order that you might (I emphasize might) be able to understand and interpret a post correctly when you read it.
I want to emphasize Hus that I make that suggestion in the friendliest possible way. I fully realize that apologists for the Israel/Zionist apartheid, genocidal state often struggle with much more than simple moral values. It is not my intention to cause such people any further damage.
Sycophantic comments are par for the course here , but thats an A level, quote “It is, without doubt, the most perspicacious and honest message of this kind that I have ever heard or read”
Thank you Hussein for your generous description of my quotes. But really Hus, my quotes are typically "A level" as you have so kindly observed.
In answer to your question about which comics do I normally read, well the ones published by the Israel/Zionist lobby are always good for a laugh. They are full of black humor. I am sure that when your substack gets going it will provide much dark entertainment as well.
Our job at this point in history is to try to steer this growing restlessness toward health and clarity. To help people understand where the real bad guys are, to highlight the manipulations and abusive systems at play here, to assure everyone that their growing sense that something is very wrong is absolutely correct, and to help them see exactly what’s causing it. That’s our work now , thanks Caitlin for all your excellent work in 2024.
"Our job at this point in history is to try to steer this growing restlessness toward health and clarity."
Amen to this! I think it's a good thing so many are feeling restless and are questioning the status quo. It shows that they're not completely pulled in by the oligarchs' propaganda machine. They're starting to see things as they really are, and they want to make changes for the better. This gives me a lot of hope that we will have peace in our time. Keep it up, folks!
One YouTuber was commenting on this is the context of the collapse of the west, and the U.S. specifically. It’s happening in real time, at an ever accelerating pace. It’s wild to me how pacified people are. They just let this cabal ride rough shod over them even up until the point their policies are killing them, actively. Still… largely nothing. Absolutely insane. Anyways, Happy New Years. I look forward to the next round of fucking we’re about to receive.
I think a lot of people are too consumed with barely surviving and therefore can't be bothered with politics.
And yet you just hit the nail on the head right there. People can't be bothered with politics and yet it is politics which is screwing them over. Politics is the relationship between power and the rest of us, I am sorry to say.
As pointed out by Noam Chomsky, poor people in Haiti are able to organize politically.
Exactly, most people still live a life too cozy and nice to think about revolution (and the others are already too downtrodden - drugs, or too busy with 2-3 jobs and children and and and ...)!
Oh that is great! I love it. When my stepson says, at dinner next time, that he can't be bothered with politics as there is 'no point' and 'there is nothing you can do', I will respond with Chomsky's comment. And claim it as my own. He won't know. Win Win!
Are the gangs still there?
This is NOT an excuse.
YOU Americans make war on other countries.
DO you imagine what it is like to be in a 'war torn' land?
YOU can still go shopping and eat in restaurants.
When are you going to get empathy USA?
YOU are complicit in genocide and I really do not care IF you are having a bad time. People are being killed in your name.
Your sons and your daughters are not fighting these wars. Instead the USA is using "terrorists' to fight these wars for YOU;
Imagine: IF the USA introduced the 'draft?'
Why do your Govt. NOT do this?
An impassioned response.
But an honest one. It’s comfortable living in a Western ‘democracy’; affluent, advanced economy, where one of the major issues confronting (young) people is, where will we go for a drink tonight, or what movie to watch, do these jeans fit, where’s a good vegan cafe……questions, questions, questions, flooding into the mind of the concerned young person today….. Not, ‘will I get through the day without being killed, or raped?’
America should have taken Ike advice and become an agricultural country
But they still know something is wrong.
"It’s wild to me how pacified people are." I think many people are shocked at the level of carnage taking place while the world lets it happen. Very few politicians dare to stick their neck out, and who can blame them. When Money, Money, and more Money is the sole arbitrator of our lives, money rules.
So what you’re saying is that a system based upon perverse incentives is going to produce perverse results? Listen, there’s no running from this. If you live in the U.S., you’re in it. And unless you’re the government or a VIP, no amount of bootlicking will save you from it. So your choices are obsequiousness or the other thing. The other thing isn’t pretty, but it’s better than slavery, I can assure you.
Well said!
Brian... Had to look up "obsequiousness" but "The other thing" is just guessing that you may mean revolution? Yes, you have identified what I feel is the most pervasive imposition on our existence, slavery. If you depend on a job to keep a house over you, you are a slave to the empire, ever if you happen to own part of it. I'm still not sure if I understood the gist of all your comments, but in general what I'm suggesting is that we are all saves to money, and since the total lack of money puts your well-being in jeopardy from the rest of us, MONEY spells better survival odds, politicians included.
Thomas Jefferson thought the only free people were self-sufficient farmers.
“The farmer was and remains the stumbling block to socialist experiments everywhere. Since he raises his own food and tends to live in his own house, he is less “controllable” than say, the urban dweller.” ― Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Leftism Revisited: from de Sade and Marx to Hitler and Pol Pot
He did not THINK it, he KNEW it!
"Thomas Jefferson thought the only free people were self-sufficient farmers." I agree!, most especially if they lived far enough outside the boundaries and spyglasses of authorities.
Like me. Hidden in plain sight.
You'll find I've been screaming "the other thing" for years now.
Why is it that the US is using 'terrorists' to fight these wars?
Imagine: The USA drafting young Americans to fight in wars who don't even know where this country is!
Draft these young Amerikans to fight in wars then see how the USA will change from being a begnin country?
"Draft these young Amerikans to fight in wars then see how the USA will change from being a begnin country?"
Not sure I understood... sorry!
I think that IF there was/is a draft in the USA then you might see the beginning of a revolution. Which is why it's not happening.
Interesting point!. I think that when a population is pushed hard enough, and for long enough, revolutions emerge. The problem with revolutions however is that if the reasons for evolutions are not addressed, they don't change very much. I think this is the present state of the entire planet as we speak. There have been thousands of revolutions in the past, and our species is minutes away from total annihilation.
A sentence from one of my friends here in France. "They didn't cut enough heads off!"
Pretty sure here e are building up for something especially since the EU seem intent on cutting our gas off from Russia. People are angry.
EU was a good idea but it grew too quickly, it got cumbersome and people do not vote for the main people in the EU.
Like you I feel we are sleep walking into a nightmare.
Those who create money rule. "The jew" creates monies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-SEvF5rNSU
He who creates monies deserves to rule those who demand to live by its use.
We have the choice but it is not an easy one.
“The farmer was and remains the stumbling block to socialist experiments everywhere. Since he raises his own food and tends to live in his own house, he is less “controllable” than say, the urban dweller.” ― Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Leftism Revisited: from de Sade and Marx to Hitler and Pol Pot
I am "less controllable" by choice. All I know see me as in a precarious and dangerous position. The opposite is true. All I know also envy my personal time, my stability and resources even as those same folks see me as one step from homelessness. I own my farm home and have for almost 40 years now.
Brian L, What is gobsmackingly insane to me is that the US public is complacent enough to accept a rogues gallery of oligarchs getting ready to rule over them!
They voted them into power!! Good luck getting them out again .....
Inasmuch as voting is a real thing in an oligarchy…
If Trump accepts an election. The constitution will not be a problem for him.
Hasn’t been much of a problem for any of them up until this point anyways. It’s largely just a talking point more than any real legal document.
Right. There is little power to enforce it. All manner of legal obstacles. It is sometimes possible though.
Yeah… it took a significant degree of social engineering to pull off, but they’re well on their way of unraveling every democratic thread that still runs through the culture. They want us like all these other cultures that are groomed from birth to accept class systems and hierarchy. Horizontal power structures are anathema to them.
"...the US public is complacent enough..." - as opposed to?
A fair observation. More than fair, really. But for demonstrative purposes, we have cultures like Japan which have deep hierarchal structures imbedded in their cultural zeitgeist. In the other end of the spectrum, most of Western Europe (and specifically Scandinavia) have recently enjoyed far greater civili and economic freedom. I’m defining economic freedom here as wealth equality and purchasing power as opposed to the more common absence of regulations.
Right. But both Japan and Scandinavia are in full grip of the US empire and ready - if not willing - to act on its behalf.
Sweden and Finland eagerly joined NATO exposing themselves to nuclear strikes. Japan has been avoiding peace resolution with Russia at the US' behest.
Despite cultures being very different they're equally belligerent towards Russia strictly on the US' orders. As Russia never threatened them per se.
Hello russian_bot, Happy New Year to you too!
Thank you, and you as well!
Here we are, in 2025. Numbers do change indeed. Human nature does not seem to.
Because they fantasize that one day they will be like them, even when the odds of that are low. They bootlick because they want to curry favor just like white women choose racism every time to curry favor with the men in their lives.
CJ>>"It almost never occurs to anyone to question how their worldview got into their heads in the first place; to most of us it just looks like truth and common sense."
Most of us have been indoctrinated from birth to "limit our questioning" within "acceptable paramaters". As kids, we are all very curious about EVERYTHING and keep asking WHY questions as a way to understand the world (and its ways better). Often, we are shut down - either because the people we are asking these questions to themselves don't know the answers OR they couldn't be bothered to find out the answers (for multiple, maybe even pragmatic reasons). Hence, a part of our innate curiosity starts waning at a very early age.
We reach adulthood and we are already indoctrinated (through years of conscious AND unconscious comformity) to fit-in and accept "common-sense" narratives and narratives "acceptable" by our society and environment. I feel that this LOSS OF CURIOSITY plays a big part in WHY we as adults don't question things enough (and this applies not just to power and authority and systems but ALSO to OUR OWN beliefs and values).
You got it Chang... I think it may have been Carlos Castanada who once quoted Don Juan Mateus by declaring that the hardest task in one's life is to rid oneself of the garbage that is stuffed into our head by know-it-alls from the moment of birth.
Which has turned all of us into 'know-it-alls' in turn filling others with garbage. If we each let go of everything we thought we knew and approached every issue without politics or particular 'knowledge' to contribute, how would that look?
"If we each let go of everything we thought we knew and approached every issue without politics or particular 'knowledge' to contribute, how would that look?" I would agree it would be a pretty good way to approach new thinking, but did you ever try to change someone's perception of religious dogma for instance?
There's also another viewpoint in that you don't want to 'throw away the baby with the bathwater', but you can certainly put the water through a filter and still have water to drink. meaning that trying to separate fact from fiction is a pretty good start...... For instance, is a God a Fact or Fiction?
Chang as always bring us down to earth!
I have been ashamed to be associated with the United Kingdom's Government since 9th OCTOBER 2023.
I am not wishing ANYONE A HAPPY NEW YEAR unless they stand against Israel and support the Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Syria
It’s no sign of mental health to be well adjusted in a sick society. Krishnamurti
Resist much, obey little. Walt Whitman
Why have deaths from alcohol sky rocketed? People are profoundly upset by the direction of our society and are self medicating to excess as a result. Economic inequality has passed the guilded age. We’re moving in the direction of indentured servitude. Empire demands subservience. War is good for the economy as genocide Joe said. Profits over people! Whatever happened to that 60’s poster that said that war is not healthy for children or other living things? Revolution is necessary but people are so soft and occupied now compared to the 60’s when it was last attempted. People need to be hardened and desperate. Is that even possible?
Larry, There's a lot to what you write... I experienced the flower generation, (hippies) and more love than not was in the air... but then reality came roaring back when Money once again decided who would be comfortable, and who would be cast aside.
We have been living in a neo-feudal society since the oligarchs started hatching in about the '80s. It's now just the Medieval Ages with social media and drones.
Education Amerika.
You've probably seen it, but Geogrge Carlin hit that particular nail on the head:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNXHSMmaq_s
I was visiting my wife's family in the US a few months before he died, and he was on breakfast TV...wow!
"The country is finished. We've been bought off with shiny toys, trinkets, and cell phones that flip pancakes and rub our balls!"
Brilliant. Out of the mouths of the jesters comes truth!
And of course, we're being farmed!
'Stare Into The Lights My Pretties'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5qJjNM2Kx0
Watched the Intro. Enough to hook me, I've saved the link. Thanks.
Remember Country Joe and the fish?
Indeed I do. Saw them many times, back in the day, and place.
Sure. Did you know Fixin To Die Rag is based on Muskrat Ramble?
Does anyone else feel that all this has gotten cartoonishly evil? Like, not even subtle and complex, but black and white? I feel like I am watching a kid's show.
It's like watching a movie where the villains continuously win and come out as victors! And their victory is celebrated as a good thing. it is bizarre that this is the reality we live in. It's like most of humanity has turned into pod people.
Yes, they stopped pretending as there's no longer a need. People have reached the state of well done.
I can tell you exactly why our society is sick. It’s because we’ve become disconnected from the natural world. We’re not connected to where our food comes from (most people don’t know where or how it was produced), we’re not connected to the cycles of life ( everyone trying to eternally stay young and follow the latest trendy thing, instead of embracing the wisdom of old age), we’re not connected to natural weather patterns or the seasons (geoengineering and/or climate change has disrupted everything), and even in this age of being constantly “connected” through the internet, we’ve actually become disconnected from each other and our collective humanity. Bring back the old ways…
Excellent rumination, Caitlin. Dour pessimist "glass more than half empty" I wish that I could offer you and all here a "Happy..." in return, but I simply cannot. The new year's day and the 364 days to follow -- plus the future as far as I can envision it -- will not be "happy." Just ask any still-living Palestinian Christian or Muslim man, woman, or child.
Can we/you not wish each other a better new year? And then work towards that? Surely, this much we can do.
NO.
Ill educated Amerikans don't even know who they are fighting!
Introduce the 'draft' for you Amerikans.
Why does the USA NOT do this?
USA can attack Soveriegn countries USING terrorists.
The minute the USA introduces the 'draft' and people come home in body bags the people will rebel. This is so obvious.
Yesss!
The event that has made all this crystal clear to me is the assault on Gaza. I can understand that Israel wanted to punish Hamas for October 7th, but we are now WAY past retribution. And Democrats cannot seem to summon the courage to attempt to stop the genocide.
"And Democrats cannot seem to summon the courage to attempt to stop the genocide." Maybe because they are paid well enough not to stop it ? .
We need campaign finance reform.
"We need campaign finance reform.".... Maybe having elected politicians isn't the best way to deal with our hang-ups.
kckitty
This comment is exactly what is happening. You have been brainwashed.
Read about Hamas/it's relationship with Israel and why they fight.
7 Oct was a MIHOP by Bibi and his Mossad boys. It was a set up, so they could go mow the lawn bigtime.
Here's a fascinating look behind the curtain:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/1gHC5exNDpKA
We live in the Age of Narcissus. Arrogant and conceited people are easy to propagandize. It's the fundamental lack of humility, in our time, that is destroying us.
What an apt description, "like a dementia patient with a urinary tract infection."
Some us know that a climate catastrophe is upon us and the wars that are being fomented are speeding it up. More people every day know that we are being fed lies. We know that billionaires are empty sacks of skin. Now we have to work together to fight against all that is causing us harm.
Yes Susan, and I think that while climate change might allow some species to survive, nuclear war will end just about all life on Earth.
Yes. Which is why the collapse that is surely imminent needs to come by some other means than nukes. My vote is for pandemic, since that could spare maybe everyone but humans--or via sheer inability of the overcomplex economic system to keep functioning. Any major collapse will involve massive human death, but the best case scenario is that the collapse come as soon as possible (so that there isn't a ninth billion of humans to suffer, and so that the accelerating damage is stopped sooner) but also gradual, so that survivors can adapt, figure out how to survive by farming, hunting and gathering, and by aggregating into tribes. Ideally the tribes act in solidarity with each other rather than competition--if that isn't too much to hope for. Here's what definitely IS too much to hope for--that we change all our policies such that we transition to a way of life that's sustainable, eliminating war and capitalism while maintaining a "modern" way of life It would require massive and immediate change in every realm, and it would be against the economic interests of sociopathic billionaires, who are only aware of economic interest.
hating human beings IS hating nature. we are part of nature and nature is part of us. a massive plague upon humanity will not fix the problem. reading Robin Wall Kimmerer's book Braiding Sweetgrass changed my view and I hope you'll give it a chance
I don't hate human beings--I'm saying some kind of collapse is inevitable because the way we're living in radically unsustainable, and given the power of corporations and sociopaths, I think a smooth transition, via policy change, to a better, more peaceful, sustainable future without billions of premature human deaths is about as likely as Jesus coming to save us. So if a massive collapse is inevitable, then the least bad scenario is economic unraveling; next least bad is pandemic since likely some humans would survive and most likely it would have little impact on (most) other species. Environmental unraveling would be worst, except for nuclear conflagration which could wipe out all multicellular life and leave the planet radioactive for a long time.
As for Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass, it influenced me too, and I think everyone should read it!
Nature is an interlinked, synergistic system of billions of components / organisms which act together and individually to develop and maintain a sustainable ecology.
Humans don't co-operate in that endeavour but rather, humans destroy sustainable ecologies. We might have been part of nature 20 or 30 thousand years ago, but we are no longer.
it's worth noting here that Neanderthals, with a larger brain than Homo Sapiens Sapiens, survived nearly 200,000 years without destroying the environment that sustained them.
good description of nature in paragraph 1.
Re: paragraph 3 it’s got nothing to do with our brain size.
Paragraph 3: I think it’s a mistake to lump all actions taken by humans and their institutions into one big verb and label it “humans destroy sustainable ecologies”. Capitalist logic destroys nature, including humans, for profit. The incentive is built into the system. People like us are probably doing all we can to sustain and rejuvenate nature. When you put us all in the same bucket it flattens and obscures the system responsible and the power dynamics that keep it in place. If the goal is to secure a future livable planet we must transition to a political economic system that prioritizes well-being over profit. That’s not capitalism.
I fully realise that some people understand our current situation and are attempting to change it, but when taking the macro view of an entire species as a collective whole, a broad brush is required. To assess the actions every individual member of H. Sapiens Sapiens would require typing 8.2 billion paragraphs, which I can't imagine anybody actually reading.
But modern humans began agriculture 14.5K ybp and in doing so, stepped outside of that synergistic system and began deliberately changing their environment.
As for the Neanderthal brain, there's no way of knowing what particular function that extra brain mass might have performed, but in evolution genetic changes only persist in a species if they are adaptive - that is they improve the chances of the species' survival. The logic of Natural Selection would suggest that, if the larger brain played no part in that survival, and you have to admit 200,000 yrs is a pretty good innings, then that adaptation would not have persisted.
But I definitely agree with you Lizzy that Capitalism, which I hold to be an unfortunate side effect of the agricultural revolution ( collateral damage if you will ) is now the main driver of our stampede towards annihilation.
Life would survive in the oceans after nuclear war. But boil those oceans and everything dies.
It's not just ocean temps Patrick, it's also Ph levels and as they drop, the acidity of the oceans makes it harder for crustaceans to survive. Their calcium carbonate shells dissolve. And that is happening now.
For reference: Elizabeth Kolbert, 'Field Notes From A Catastrophe', and / or 'The Sixth Extinction'
But yeah, nuclear war would result in higher levels of radiation in the oceans, from fallout, nuclear weapon detonating underwater, nuclear powered vessel being destroyed or Fukushima?
That combined with higher temps and lower Ph would be a rerun of the End Permian Extinction.
So many of us are trying to figure out what's going on with young white men these days. Something is really getting to a lot of them, and turning them to the far right.
"This discontentment is currently being funneled by the powerful into faux populist movements designed to herd the public into supporting the status quo while allowing them to feel as though they are waging a brave revolution against the establishment."
>>"So many of us are trying to figure out what's going on with young white men these days. Something is really getting to a lot of them, and turning them to the far right."
It isn't just "White" and it isn't just "men". I've seen this happening to people from multiple countries, cultural races, and skin colors (including global South countries - for example: India and its Zionism-like Hindutva philosophies). Its happening in South America, Africa, all over the world. And this ALSO applies to WOMEN (and the men with such ideologies that they support).
That needed saying and people who still listen to the mainstream gossip on FB etc (even though they have given up the broadsheets) are too inclined to believe this "white" narrative and not see it as the all "races", all genders, ethno-cultural group it is - in short, a class, although almost no one is going to admit to that in the G7 these days. But when the "C" word is verboten, phrasing it as you did at least helps to loosen the hold of the MSM narrative and for that we must all be thankful.
I believe you. Damn! How do we create and work towards a compelling vision that will bring these people along?
I've noticed something about MAGA women, at least the ones who appear in photographs. Like 97% of them are blonde. Is this because the racism element makes them want to look Aryan (most are blonde-out-of-a-bottle)?
They're living in Moms basement. They can't buy a home or have a family. I see wishing for a higher standard of living for the common man as basic leftism.
Pretty sad state of affairs. I'd like to see a higher standard of living for all people.
There's no point in blaming the masses. You know how many progressive world leaders were killed within 5 to 10 years of Kennedy? The masses gave it their best shot. The american people ended the Vietnam War after about 7 years when it was obvious it was wrong. The government never forgave the masses through using their power to end the war. How many grassroots americam activists were murdered, put in prison, or had their minds poisoned by govt drug dealers? The government was afraid to do the draft after 11 September. Who knows? Maybe that's why they're so focused on drones because they've lost their ability to trust people to follow orders.
Absolutely. We didn't stop the war with protests, big as they were in those days when we still believed we could influence the government. No, what ended the Vietnam War was fragging--when officers couldn't turn their backs on their own men, they couldn't go on. So the Pentagon learned its lesson--no more drafted soldiers, rely on a combination of the poverty draft, proxy wars, and automated war. Not only did this eliminate the problem of fragging; once the numbers of American soldiers coming home from wars in boxes dwindled, and they made photographing the boxes illegal, opposition to the wars nearly disappeared. If they ever reinstate the draft, they'll quickly have big problems again--so they won't. Meanwhile they're moving to replace both soldiers and the domestic soldiers called police with robots so they can proceed no matter how obviously immoral the violence is.
They did however register all young men for the draft recently.
The Govt is using terrorists to avoid having to use the 'draft.'
Thank you, Caitlin, for that deeply insightful New Years message. It is, without doubt, the most perspicacious and honest message of this kind that I have ever heard or read.
I happen to be one of those who think that our society is profoundly sick mainly because humanity (well, most of it at any rate) is innately rotten. And, that there is too much (far too much) religion (not to mention nationalism and capitalism).
Thank you so much for your indefatigable and ongoing efforts to try to rectify this sickness in our society and to help humanity find a way towards a better future.
You and Tim both have my very best wishes for a better year in 2025 (despite, inter alia, the ascension of Trump to the Presidency and the possibility of Dutton becoming P.M. here.
Glad you agree you are an A Level sycophant bob, the jews must be shaking in their genocidal boots, lest you unleash your devastating insight upon them
With the greatest of respect Hus, I think that you would benefit mightily by attending a basic course in English Comprehension in order that you might (I emphasize might) be able to understand and interpret a post correctly when you read it.
I want to emphasize Hus that I make that suggestion in the friendliest possible way. I fully realize that apologists for the Israel/Zionist apartheid, genocidal state often struggle with much more than simple moral values. It is not my intention to cause such people any further damage.
No interest in respect from sycophants , FOAD.
You're certainly a very friendly character, Hussy. It seems that you are Hussy by name and also by nature.
Now you have a happy new year, Hus.
Sycophantic comments are par for the course here , but thats an A level, quote “It is, without doubt, the most perspicacious and honest message of this kind that I have ever heard or read”
Which comics do you normally read?
Thank you Hussein for your generous description of my quotes. But really Hus, my quotes are typically "A level" as you have so kindly observed.
In answer to your question about which comics do I normally read, well the ones published by the Israel/Zionist lobby are always good for a laugh. They are full of black humor. I am sure that when your substack gets going it will provide much dark entertainment as well.
Cheers, Hus, and "Happy New Year" to you.
Our job at this point in history is to try to steer this growing restlessness toward health and clarity. To help people understand where the real bad guys are, to highlight the manipulations and abusive systems at play here, to assure everyone that their growing sense that something is very wrong is absolutely correct, and to help them see exactly what’s causing it. That’s our work now , thanks Caitlin for all your excellent work in 2024.
"Our job at this point in history is to try to steer this growing restlessness toward health and clarity."
Amen to this! I think it's a good thing so many are feeling restless and are questioning the status quo. It shows that they're not completely pulled in by the oligarchs' propaganda machine. They're starting to see things as they really are, and they want to make changes for the better. This gives me a lot of hope that we will have peace in our time. Keep it up, folks!