To your excellent analysis of these techniques, I'd add an overarching attitude that drives these narrative distortions of reality. That attitude is a fundamental disdain by the elites of the capabilities and value of us proles. Nonstop manipulative lying seems to me to require that disdainful posture. Also, based on my experience with a security clearance, I'd supplement Assange's observations on government secrecy by noting that most of the classified docs I reviewed and edited were terribly boring and mundane having little to do with "national security". Yet every time, I interacted with the crap, I felt the threat-pressure of the Espionage Act hanging over my head like a boulder ready to drop. A product of that aforementioned disdain is the desire to generate fear as a primary goal.
Your sec clearance refs are illuminating. I've always felt the various levels were created to trap people playing to their vanity and/or the job "requirements". The actual value of that material can be highly questionable. Yet the "privileged" people are now on the hook.
"That attitude is a fundamental disdain by the elites of the capabilities and value of us proles."
Indeed, after deluging us with decades of propaganda, and mal-educating us in schools designed to create factory fodder and service industry drones, they presume we're going to fall in line with their agenda because we're just a bunch of sheep. BIG mistake. Social media activism continues to expose the corporate fascists who now own virtually the entire planet, and our numbers are legion.
Yup. The tsunami of redactions in the Mueller report represents another facet of censorship. The self-censorship under your rubric of hiding inconvenient info. They had nothing worth talking about in my opinion and the redactions were a clumsy attempt to make it look like there was something there. A country which classifies a petabyte of dross a month. You only had to look at the hangdog expression on Mueller’s face, to imagine some kind of forced coprophagia, rather like Colin Powell after he realized he had delivered lies to the UN about WMDs.
That speculation aside, the sorry spectacle of a country caught spying on all its own citizens, all world leaders, all allies and their leaders, having the nerve to crap on the Russians for hacking a membership roll redefines absurdity.
Ask any American what they were told to protect themselves from the evil cybersecurity Russian menace, so dangerous one had to whisper about it? They were told nothing! Because there was nothing. In retrospect, it was a false flagette variant, a pretext and justification for adventures in Ukraine.
How many people and how much cost to hide lies and crimes?. Isn’t it easier to tell the truth? And spend that money on health care for example?
How crazy is the classification of that much material? Mueller has to be seen in that lunatic context.
Furthermore, by law, information may not be classified merely because it would be embarrassing or to cover illegal activity; information may be classified only to protect national security objectives. This law must be flouted every day. Has anyone ever been prosecuted for overclassifying? Or for covering illegal activity? Not that I can find.
I don't want the federal government to spend it on health care, either. That's how we get the Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services preventing early treatment and recommending toxic drugs like Remdesevir and executions via ventilator. I prefer distributed control. Nothing in the Constitution gives the federal government power to regulate drugs or medical care. The tenth amendment should apply. https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/
Health care does not = crap drugs. The longevity of Americans has just been passed by the Chinese, having been already left in the dust by Cuba and Panama etc.
> Babbling thought stories dominate our experience of reality
I am in a Heidegger+Arendt reading group and we just learned the difference between "Gerede" (idle talk) and "Rede" (discourse). Caitlin Johnstone's projects continues to liberate humanity's minds, I think Hannah Arendt would be a huge fan of Caitlin. Arendt died writing "Life of the Mind" and I think a lot about Julian Assange and Barrett Brown and how America's imperial core has destroyed so many revolutionary minds and continues to send chills down the spine of any community that could become revolutionary.
Also I love how you elegantly reduced the Imperial Narrative into 5 bullet points, aka a Pentagon, very clever 🤣.
Anyways I am probably babbling at this point, I just wanted to comment for The Algorithm and try to engage more with your content on substack and twitter, since we are in a battle for the mind. Keep up the fantastic work! 💚💙💛
When I first saw this today, Jamenta, I had a quiet chuckle to myself. Then I though on it and became depressed, because as Winston Smith said in 1984, (last words) “he loved Big Brother”.
But in today’s world, 38 years after 1984, who and where is 2022’s Big Brother?
Perhaps hiding under a rock with his / her algorithms and facial recognition applications in Silicon Valley…or blackmailing the current feeble US President over some past misdemeanour in Washington or Ukraine…or a kibbutz-trained Israeli masquerading as a loyal US Neocon citizen pulling the strings as AIPAC signs off on US foreign policy….or more than likely, a BlackRock impresario, keeping a low profile by quietly masquerading as a junior clerk in charge of the petty cash, but always looking for clever investment opportunities to further own America….in conjunction with Vanguard and State Street, currently 50% of those United States….and rising.
One thing for sure, it is not Zelensky, Clown Prince of Ukraine, cunningly cultivating fake friendships for his massive collection of US made weaponry from all the US / NATO tame stooges.
If you know who Big Brother is, please advise. Personally, I hope he is Venezuelan. That would certainly put paid, once and for all to Biden’s war plans for the ownership and control of Venezuelan's 1700 year reserves of oil.
Unlike Mr. Orwell’s book, we badly need a happy ending with blustering Biden’s battleships now sailing heroically into the Pacific, searching for the Chinese.
Hello Contrarian 33, Little Brother. You ask an interesting question: Who is Big Brother? Admittedly, it has been many years since I read Mr. Orwell's dystopian novel; or seen one of the many film adaptations. I recall the image of Big Brother's Big Eye overlooking the controlled citizens of 1984, yes. And now looking at Wikipedia (yet another media outlet controlled by a mysterious "Big Brother") I see George Orwell uncannily predicted my life today. In his story 1984, war ravaged the world like it does today - and one must admit, the world is now closer to a nuclear conflagration than ever before, while nation states, like Oceania, spend billions and (some) trillions each year on more weapons, more soldiers, more drones and bombs to destroy and kill human populations. And like Big Brother in 1984, we are subject to "Thought Police", disguised now under private corporations like YouTube, or Twitter, or Wikipedia - who stamp out and ban anyone who does not "conform" to "The Party" ideology (Ingsoc) - mainly that being economic subjugation of the masses, and continuous wars for profit and greed.
But who is Big Brother? O'Brien a Thought Police Agent in "1984", tells the imprisoned (soon to be re-educated) Winston Smith - that he will never know if the Brotherhood exists, or who "The Party" members really are. As Winston is tortured (much like Julian Assange today) O'Brien reveals the Party "seeks power for its own sake."
And much like Winston Smith, the ordinary faceless citizen finds themselves helpless to fight "The Party" - as any resistance can be met with one becoming an unperson or even disappeared, such as a Jeffrey Epstein or a Seth Rich or a John Kennedy.
Perhaps Big Brother is not one person or even a few multi-billionaire sociopaths who have bought our Western politicians (cheaply it appears) and have even bought the esteemed US Supreme Court. Maybe Big Brother instead, lurks as a psychological phenomena of the ordinary human psyche. Where rooted in an existential belief that reality is just a random event, and one is spit out unto the universe to only exist for a flashbulb moment, and then be put away forever - only power and subjugation becomes a meaningful end to those lucky enough to find their way to the gruesome top of the heap. And like Shelley's Frankenstein, there is no moral compass left when one finds oneself outcast in a hideous temporary body of random existence.
Or as John Milton once asked in Paradise Lost: "Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay to mould me man? Did I solicit thee from Darkness to promote me?"
what about it...I'm an old geezer...never got any shots...never got tested...never got sick...this so called virus is no different than the flu...everyone they claimed that supposedly died of the so called virus had other co morbidities...diabetes...heart disease...obesity...etc...the vaxxines are killing more people than the virus...https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/covid-vaccine-injuries-vaers-cdc-safety-signals/?itm_term=home
Which is why Covid needs to be controlled and contained so it won’t especially kill people with health problems, but keep spouting your insane “anti-vaccine/medicine” nonsense.
As far as fighting algorithm manipulation goes, I recommend the following. Some of it might be obvious, but just in case it isn't:
1. Turn off autoplay on YouTube. In the past, that's spared me getting exposed to stuff like Colbert's most recent "apple-polishing" (as Matt Taibbi's put it) for the powerful. Or, if you feel like putting it less politely, substitute "balls" for "apple", and substitute "licking" for "polishing". Either way, I'm glad I didn't have to hear even a second of it.
2. If the algorithm suppresses people worth listening to, use word of mouth or retweets. Even before YouTube changed its algorithm, even before the "adpocalypse" years ago, I actually never had any shows I watch or once watched recommended to me by the algorithm. Even with Rising on The Hill, I actually first found out about it because Niko House tweeted about it positively, back in the days when Krystal & Saagar were more well-regarded on the left.
3. Don't just search for a particular topic if you don't want to hear whatever mainstream bullshit is being churned out. Instead of searching for "Ukraine" search for, say, "Ukraine" and "Max Blumenthal". Or whoever you trust to give you the straight dope. For the same reason, if you do happen to look at whatever the top stories are on Google or YouTube or whatever, make sure to remember why you're not getting your news from whichever outlets they're recommending in the first place and to search for the opinion of someone trustworthy on it. For example, one of the first things I saw when I looked at the top stories right now was about Justin Trudeau virtue signaling over Roe v. Wade, wringing his hands about how awful the Supreme Court decision was. Not that Trudeau is wrong *this* time IMHO, but if you read enough stories like that--ones which make him out to be a heroic defender of women's rights--then you might start to forget that he froze peaceful protestors' bank accounts, imprisoned others, that "In 2020, the Canadian government, citing COVID, proposed legislation 'to make it an offence to knowingly spread misinformation that could harm people.'" (via Greenwald), etc.
I don't know whether any of that is helpful to anyone who reads this, but hopefully it will be.
I was totally with you until I got to the part about Trudeau. Although I am not a fan of his, I (and many, many other Canadians) wanted him to freeze the bank accounts and imprison and in fact do whatever was necessary to put down the rebellion centred in Ottawa. Most of us were also happy about the job the federal government did regarding Covid. I assume you are not Canadian?
It was a lot of honking and blocking roads, it was not a dangerous rebellion or anything.
And while I admit that if I were living in a city with blocked roads and honking that I would probably hate it, it would be overkill to fucking FREEZE PEOPLE'S BANK ACCOUNTS AND ARREST THEM FOR IT. That was tyrannical by the Trudeau government, and no, I don't want to reconsider my words there. "Tyrannical" fits nicely.
I'm a dual citizen of the US and Canada, living in Canada btw.
"It was a lot of honking and blocking roads," - that's what I understood it was. And though from the point of view of the govt it was ok to squash it by whatever means (let's not kid ourselves with all that "western democracy" shit) it's illustrative how the freedom-loving Canadians ran to support those measures.
You are happy about COVID response in Canada? While I bought it at first, the manipulation of the Canadian psyche from 19 to omnichron proves Caitlens point. When the head doctor Tambot recommends glory holes to prevent the spread, Canadians have lost their minds. I wont even bother to go down the list of purposely done destructions of freedoms. The CBC is the very organization that Caitlen speaks about. CTV are turds in a punchbowl. They choose the liberals to protect their telecom monopoly. The big 5 banks are in it as well. My plans include a safe run to another country, something I would never have considered 10 years ago.
In addition to all of that, nobody should be happy at all about there being actual laws on the books saying that you can be arrested and maybe imprisoned if I talk about how the vaccines can cause myocarditis or whatever truths are being labeled "misinformation" by the government.
I used to think Canada was almost a Utopia, but now I understand that "most of you" don't even see the chains that bind you. There was no "rebellion." The truckers were very peaceful.
Yeah, when Covid started I was watching the US and thinking "Damn, I'm glad I don't live down there!" And then ol' Justin decided to prove to the world that he could be just as authoritarian as Biden. At which point I thought "Well, so much for Canada being better..."
Okay you and Rob Brown sound like Libertarian a-holes, I give you this quote:
“Libertarians claim to be a radical philosophers but are really as bourgeoisie as they can get. Ultimately, all libertarians are really interested in is defending their petty, white, middle class interests.
Most Libertarians begin life as a spoiled upper-middle class and very white teen who fails to comprehend that not everyone else in the world is a spoiled upper-middle class white teen.
At first, the young libertardian-to-be has only a vague dissatisfaction. He begins to ask himself questions like:
"What political philosophy can I both bastardize and miss the point of, so that I can justify being an even more selfish prick than I am now?"
"How can I reconcile that I hate those who I deem aren't productive, with the fact that I don't need a job because daddy gives me a generous allowance?"
"Why do we even need government? Surely almost seven billion people can all police themselves, right?"
The answer comes to them in two little words. Ayn Rand. With sixth-grade level vocabulary, and fourth-grade level philosophy, Rand's book have all the emotional depth of a two-year old's temper tantrum. "MINE!!!" Rand is their holy prophet. She speaks the words so perfectly, the words they want to hear.
"You don't lack compassion! You just want people to get by on their own merits!", She says. "You're not a selfish asshole! You just have a sense of rational self-interest!", She affirms. "You have no obligation to the society in which you live! Governments are only there to lift up those not as good as you!", She declares.
And lo, it was good. Because if there is one thing that makes financially comfortable white people feel good about themselves, it is that they earned the benefits of being financially comfortable, clearly by their own merits.
It wasn't daddy's money that bought you your head start in life. It wasn't the better schools, the better nutrition, the better neighborhoods. It wasn't the country you were born in, or the system of laws that protected and to this day protects you. It wasn't the various government agencies making sure you have licensed doctors, clean drinking water, or safety standards for vehicles.
No, my young privileged white boy, you did it all. You, and only you, are responsible for all your success. And anyone who isn't as well off just didn't work as hard. And the government can only take from a productive member of society like you to give to the leeches. And there should be no laws. And even though there are laws, they don't really apply to you, because you're special. Be as selfish as you want. It's all you.
Don't ASSume you know my thoughts. You don't. You're a marionette in chains. Trudeau, a representative of the corporate elitist Klaus Schwab yanks your strings and you are too blind to see it. Strange that you should show up on Caitlin's substack, because you are obviously too stupid to learn anything from her. She's telling you about the strings and the narratives (like WSWS's nonsense that the truckers are right wingers and not workers). Tell me, why does WSWS say Omicron is worse than any previous wave? Vaccine acceptance in Canada is very high. I would have thought Covid would be stamped out in Canada by now. Why are infection and death rates in Africa so low?
Yes, I support the Bill of Right and the Charter of Canadian Rights and Freedoms, as well as a US Constitutional Amendment to deny those natural rights to corporations, which currently control both governments, the very definition of fascism. You are a totalitarian lunatic, as are all communists and fascists.
WSWS actually says Omicron was worse than Delta or the original?
In addition to perpetuating the myth that everybody who has reservations about the vaccine is "right-wing"?
I'm glad I never bothered reading it like I used to read The Intercept.
Finally, one doesn't have to be "libertarian" to support a protest. Protests are, by design, meant to inconvenience people. If you had a protest which everybody could easily ignore, everybody would ignore it and nothing would change. Maybe you think this isn't something that was worth protesting, "Mamaluigi7", but you'd be singing a different tune if you'd been injured by the vaccine as many people have by now. And FFS, last year the Ontario government actually came out and said that Moderna was too risky for people aged 18-24...after they'd already injected tons of 18-24 year-olds with it. https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/ontario-recommends-people-aged-18-to-24-take-pfizer-over-moderna-1.5605442
P.S. "Privileged" huh? You know what real privilege is? Real privilege is saying to yourself on election day "Sure, I'll vote for the Liberals (if in Canada) or for the Democrats (if in the US) because my life has always been perfectly fine and none of their decisions have fucked up my life at all." THAT is your privilege, bitch. You never got locked up because of the Crime Bill, you never lost your business or your job because of lockdowns or because of trade deals, you never had your bank account frozen, you never had the government build a pipeline on your land, and you sure as hell don't seem to care about the fact that both Trudeau and Biden are killing Yemenis and Palestinians by proxy with their support of Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Get yourself a conscience and maybe you'll stop voting for these fascists who harm so many, who harm as many people as Trump or Harper ever did. It doesn't matter if their policies don't negatively affect YOU. You should care about those people their policies DO negatively affect. Or are you going to call the First Nations people in Canada and Native Americans in the States "privileged"? Are you going to call the large percentage of African-Americans who quite understandably don't trust the government "privileged"?
Maternity/Paternity leave (What do you mean, America is the only developed country in the world not to have paid maternity leave? They're all commies!)
Overtime pay
Minimum wage
Electricity
Clean water
Clean air
State and national parks, playgrounds, Fish and Game Wildlife Services (We should be able to kill all the cute critters in the forest if we want to! ESPECIALLY the endangered ones!)
Roads and infrastructure
Postal service
Safe workplaces, OSHA
Health inspectors, all federal workers (see "postal service")
Welfare, unemployment benefits
Public schools
Seat belts and airbags
Cops (protection rackets and the mafia are far more libertarian)
Fire stations (ESPECIALLY volunteer firefighters)
Taxes (even if they don't pay 'em because they have no job and live in their parents' basement)
“This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US Department of Energy.
I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility. Then, I brushed my teeth with that water, filtered to standards set by the EPA and my state.
After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I watched this while eating my breakfast of US Department of Agriculture inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the Food and Drug Administration.
At the appropriate time as regulated by the US Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the US Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration approved automobile and set out to work on the roads built by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank and printed by the Federal Bureau of Engraving and Printing. On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the US Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.
I park my car on the street, paved and maintained by the Department of Transportation, and put quarters issued by the United States Mint into the parking meter.
Then, after spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, I drive back to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and the fire marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.
I then log onto the Internet which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration and post on freerepublic and fox news forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right. Keep government out of my Medicare!”
She does, however, speak against "propaganda," "censorship" and the elite narrative. You apparently love all three since you defend Trudeau. I never claimed Caitlin is a libertarian. I don't think she understands there's such a thing as a left-libertarian, who understands there is a difference between individual human beings and corporate entities.
In one of your posts you extolled the great benefits of government-regulated monopolies. Defending private monopolies is quite reactionary. Governments should own monopolies, with any profits accruing to government to fund anticipated expansion or otherwise returned as rebates to rate payer.
Labels are a convenient way to try to pigeon-hole people. To the extent Caitlin falls for it and refuses to listen to certain points of view, I criticize her. I don't agree with her all the time, but probably much more often than you. She is not an authoritarian and believes people should think for themselves. You spout nothing but authoritarian talking points; not an original thought in your pea brain.
I am Canadian - and you have stated that "Most of Us were happy about the job the Canadian government did...." How do you claim to speak for Most of Us? What you have stated is false & misleading. I do NOT agree with the Governments Mandates & I DO Support the Freedom Convoy. I think you are actually unaware what Trudeau is up to - & it has nothing to do with keeping the Canadian Population Safe. For Example, why was the Emergencies Act used? No One in the Federal Government can provide a reason. WE have been betrayed and once again our supposedly guaranteed Charter of Rights & Freedoms have been trampled on to excuse the various levels of governments mismanagement of Everything including Covid. SWJW
What an absurd comment - the Freedom Convoy was the most peaceful, non-aggressive & perfect example of democratic action. Only shut down by our Lying/Cheating & Useless "Leaders". A Shameful Display. SWJW.
You'd wish they'd teach these five concepts in journalism school. They could inoculate the new journos from becoming mindless government-operated mainstream media drones. Until we learn to recognize the manipulation ourselves, we'll need all the honest journalists we can get.
Caitlin has accurately described the "cultural hegemony" of the "power elite," including the oppressor, controlling "wealthy media-owning class." The oppressor class is not all whites, nor all cis-gendered heterosexuals, nor all males, though those are the narratives the "wealthy media-owning class" wants us to believe via CRT, radical feminism and queer ideology. Oh, and it's really perfectly fine with cis-gendered, heterosexual whites blaming POC, queers and women for all their problems. The "power elite" says it opposes such divisiveness, but actually does all it can to "stir the pot." It keeps the vast oppressed class divided and fighting each other, whites vs POC, males vs females, straight vs queer, Republican vs Democrat, "conservative" vs "liberal" etc.
"Authoritative sources" don't just lie to us about war. They lie to us about everything of importance to the "wealthy media-owning class" and anything that might unite us, like the so-called "red-brown alliance."
A critical analysis of Putin and Russia must be put forth and examined outside of the mainstream narrative. Parts of the mainstream narrative are true, but like all propaganda, truth is mixed with lies and presented in a such a manner as to persuade those at whom it is directed to draw false conclusions.
I think you're right..I personally believe a critical analysis of Putin and Russia starts with Aleksander Dugin (aka "Putin's brain" in the media). I'm seeing a trend lately of Dugin engaging directly with American Orthodox Christian youtube channels, and on the other side there is a trend of Slavoj Zizek engaging more with disillusioned left channels, and they are sparring with each other in oblique ways over the future of Eurasia and America, within their own Overton window of sorts. I recognize more and more lately that there's an enormous battle for the human mind taking place all over the world, with the American Imperial Narrative becoming more desperate to prioritize spectacles of unrest and violence over raising consciousness.
Probably one area of this that is often overlooked are the special operations that take place in comments sections. Lots of games being played. The goal it seems is to sow confusion.
and big pharma is a trillion dollar conglomerate that bribes congress...sells toxic vaxxines and pills...and keeps natural treatments hidden from view...now go get your 15th COVID booster
Gone are the days where you had one vaccine and the problem is solved. Now we are at four shots and the effectiveness of the vaccines are questionable at best.
Big Pharma is a big problem just as big anything is, but supplements and those who get rich off of them are not the answer. It's just more Big Pharma. THINK.
****One can imagine that some pharmaceutical drug makers might fume over this situation. After all, while they take on the serious and costly work of running intensive drug trials and conducting post-market surveillance, dietary supplement makers can just grind up a few plants, put them in a bottle and then forgo responsibility. Except for one thing: the reality is that even though the regulations on pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals are as different as night and day, the companies creating them are not.
“Increasingly, Big Pharma and Big Herba are indistinguishable,” claims Parramore. “The very same mega-companies with gigantic chemical labs that make drugs are cooking up vitamin and herbal supplements labeled with sunny terms like ‘natural’ and ‘wholesome.’ Pfizer, Unilever, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and other big pharmaceutical firms make or sell supplements.” While she does acknowledge there are a few small companies still in the mix, Parramore says they represent a tiny amount of the total sales in the $23 billion-a-year supplement business.
Many of these pharma companies have made the foray into supplements because it plays to their strengths while being far, far cheaper than drug development. Meanwhile, though, there are other large companies coming at it from a different direction. Nestlé has established a subsidiary, Nestlé Health Science, which, according to STAT, “employs 3,000 people globally and brings in annual revenue of about $2 billion. The big drivers: high-protein nutritional shakes sold under the Boost brand, and shakes and soups marketed under the Meritene brand as reducing ‘tiredness and fatigue,’ among other benefits.”****
you blew your cover as a troll when you claimed to know Mercola's net worth...his wife doesnt even know his net worth...now go work on another straw man argument
Another great article but maybe it's an octagon not a pentagon.
#6 EDUCATING AGAINST THINKING
- controlling schooling so it's homogenized pro-empire, psychologically parochial, training citizens to be good selfish anodyne consumers, crushing real curiosity replacing it with obsessive compulsive ephemera, stigmatize wrongthink (like socialism, dissent, disloyalyy) early and often so the individual's reaction when triggered is felt, never reasoned out
#7 EMBEDDING THE WE
- groupthink is best when it's unconscious. unconscious means path of least resistance. path of least resistance means feeling natural, objectively correct, in the right, included. self and national identity blended into "we" by mythologizing the past while obfuscating real history, conditioning pride in empire and personal 'felt' association with its outcomes
#8 INSTILL LOVE/NEED FOR A CARCERAL LIFE
- empire wants the citizen productive, exploited, responsive to direction, committed to internalized small scale ambition, terrified of unknowns and uncertainties, naive and rooted by faith in the goodness of the homeland. turn fear of authority into love of authority, faith in authority, unconscious ties to place and prescription. All that kind of lasagne...
The powerful, with all their think tanks and perpetually increasing surveillance technology have known for a long time that a point would arrive when the deprived, oppressed populaces would rebel, one way or another, and have provided for that event. They use and have used all forms of
media to brain wash in the idea that we live in the best of all possible worlds, the panglossian view
that has been extremely successful - to the point of inducing guilt in the large numbers of people who "fail" in the system, are not clever or callous enough to use others to advance themselves.
Many of these people see themselves as losers, once the reality sets in, and they know their lives and that of their families will not improve. This attitude is not normal but studiously imposed on society by elites. We have to think our way out of it and demand socialism, or to be treated as human beings with natural rights, not a novel idea in itself, but manipulated and distorted to the point where deprivation \is forwarded as a form of "freedom" and therefore, a "right". From that insane starting point they can foist anything they choose onto us, with no fear of reprisal.
To your excellent analysis of these techniques, I'd add an overarching attitude that drives these narrative distortions of reality. That attitude is a fundamental disdain by the elites of the capabilities and value of us proles. Nonstop manipulative lying seems to me to require that disdainful posture. Also, based on my experience with a security clearance, I'd supplement Assange's observations on government secrecy by noting that most of the classified docs I reviewed and edited were terribly boring and mundane having little to do with "national security". Yet every time, I interacted with the crap, I felt the threat-pressure of the Espionage Act hanging over my head like a boulder ready to drop. A product of that aforementioned disdain is the desire to generate fear as a primary goal.
Your sec clearance refs are illuminating. I've always felt the various levels were created to trap people playing to their vanity and/or the job "requirements". The actual value of that material can be highly questionable. Yet the "privileged" people are now on the hook.
Your "trap" allusion is quite accurate.
"That attitude is a fundamental disdain by the elites of the capabilities and value of us proles."
Indeed, after deluging us with decades of propaganda, and mal-educating us in schools designed to create factory fodder and service industry drones, they presume we're going to fall in line with their agenda because we're just a bunch of sheep. BIG mistake. Social media activism continues to expose the corporate fascists who now own virtually the entire planet, and our numbers are legion.
I am not sure how there is anything in this piece that is remotely controversial to anyone other than a muppet.
Make sure you have room to display the number of those.
Yup. The tsunami of redactions in the Mueller report represents another facet of censorship. The self-censorship under your rubric of hiding inconvenient info. They had nothing worth talking about in my opinion and the redactions were a clumsy attempt to make it look like there was something there. A country which classifies a petabyte of dross a month. You only had to look at the hangdog expression on Mueller’s face, to imagine some kind of forced coprophagia, rather like Colin Powell after he realized he had delivered lies to the UN about WMDs.
That speculation aside, the sorry spectacle of a country caught spying on all its own citizens, all world leaders, all allies and their leaders, having the nerve to crap on the Russians for hacking a membership roll redefines absurdity.
Ask any American what they were told to protect themselves from the evil cybersecurity Russian menace, so dangerous one had to whisper about it? They were told nothing! Because there was nothing. In retrospect, it was a false flagette variant, a pretext and justification for adventures in Ukraine.
Just for context May I add the following:
One petabyte of data is equivalent to 13.3 years of high-definition video, or all of the content in the U.S. Library of Congress — by its own claim the largest library in the world — MULTIPLIED BY 50! https://fcw.com/security/2019/08/how-petabytes-are-crushing-the-security-classification-system/211000/
How many people and how much cost to hide lies and crimes?. Isn’t it easier to tell the truth? And spend that money on health care for example?
How crazy is the classification of that much material? Mueller has to be seen in that lunatic context.
Furthermore, by law, information may not be classified merely because it would be embarrassing or to cover illegal activity; information may be classified only to protect national security objectives. This law must be flouted every day. Has anyone ever been prosecuted for overclassifying? Or for covering illegal activity? Not that I can find.
File under Postgraduate Hypocrisy.
Finally, Mueller who honorably resigned after presenting the Russiagate report, was immediately belittled by those who wanted a free ticket for railroading Trump and excuses to engage in proxy war with the Russians e.g. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/robert-mueller-anatomy-failed-public-performance-rob-morhaim
I don't want the federal government to spend it on health care, either. That's how we get the Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services preventing early treatment and recommending toxic drugs like Remdesevir and executions via ventilator. I prefer distributed control. Nothing in the Constitution gives the federal government power to regulate drugs or medical care. The tenth amendment should apply. https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/
Health care does not = crap drugs. The longevity of Americans has just been passed by the Chinese, having been already left in the dust by Cuba and Panama etc.
> Babbling thought stories dominate our experience of reality
I am in a Heidegger+Arendt reading group and we just learned the difference between "Gerede" (idle talk) and "Rede" (discourse). Caitlin Johnstone's projects continues to liberate humanity's minds, I think Hannah Arendt would be a huge fan of Caitlin. Arendt died writing "Life of the Mind" and I think a lot about Julian Assange and Barrett Brown and how America's imperial core has destroyed so many revolutionary minds and continues to send chills down the spine of any community that could become revolutionary.
Also I love how you elegantly reduced the Imperial Narrative into 5 bullet points, aka a Pentagon, very clever 🤣.
Anyways I am probably babbling at this point, I just wanted to comment for The Algorithm and try to engage more with your content on substack and twitter, since we are in a battle for the mind. Keep up the fantastic work! 💚💙💛
Dear Librarians,
Time to move George Orwell's "1984" into the Non-Fiction section.
When I first saw this today, Jamenta, I had a quiet chuckle to myself. Then I though on it and became depressed, because as Winston Smith said in 1984, (last words) “he loved Big Brother”.
But in today’s world, 38 years after 1984, who and where is 2022’s Big Brother?
Perhaps hiding under a rock with his / her algorithms and facial recognition applications in Silicon Valley…or blackmailing the current feeble US President over some past misdemeanour in Washington or Ukraine…or a kibbutz-trained Israeli masquerading as a loyal US Neocon citizen pulling the strings as AIPAC signs off on US foreign policy….or more than likely, a BlackRock impresario, keeping a low profile by quietly masquerading as a junior clerk in charge of the petty cash, but always looking for clever investment opportunities to further own America….in conjunction with Vanguard and State Street, currently 50% of those United States….and rising.
One thing for sure, it is not Zelensky, Clown Prince of Ukraine, cunningly cultivating fake friendships for his massive collection of US made weaponry from all the US / NATO tame stooges.
If you know who Big Brother is, please advise. Personally, I hope he is Venezuelan. That would certainly put paid, once and for all to Biden’s war plans for the ownership and control of Venezuelan's 1700 year reserves of oil.
Unlike Mr. Orwell’s book, we badly need a happy ending with blustering Biden’s battleships now sailing heroically into the Pacific, searching for the Chinese.
Hello Contrarian 33, Little Brother. You ask an interesting question: Who is Big Brother? Admittedly, it has been many years since I read Mr. Orwell's dystopian novel; or seen one of the many film adaptations. I recall the image of Big Brother's Big Eye overlooking the controlled citizens of 1984, yes. And now looking at Wikipedia (yet another media outlet controlled by a mysterious "Big Brother") I see George Orwell uncannily predicted my life today. In his story 1984, war ravaged the world like it does today - and one must admit, the world is now closer to a nuclear conflagration than ever before, while nation states, like Oceania, spend billions and (some) trillions each year on more weapons, more soldiers, more drones and bombs to destroy and kill human populations. And like Big Brother in 1984, we are subject to "Thought Police", disguised now under private corporations like YouTube, or Twitter, or Wikipedia - who stamp out and ban anyone who does not "conform" to "The Party" ideology (Ingsoc) - mainly that being economic subjugation of the masses, and continuous wars for profit and greed.
But who is Big Brother? O'Brien a Thought Police Agent in "1984", tells the imprisoned (soon to be re-educated) Winston Smith - that he will never know if the Brotherhood exists, or who "The Party" members really are. As Winston is tortured (much like Julian Assange today) O'Brien reveals the Party "seeks power for its own sake."
And much like Winston Smith, the ordinary faceless citizen finds themselves helpless to fight "The Party" - as any resistance can be met with one becoming an unperson or even disappeared, such as a Jeffrey Epstein or a Seth Rich or a John Kennedy.
Perhaps Big Brother is not one person or even a few multi-billionaire sociopaths who have bought our Western politicians (cheaply it appears) and have even bought the esteemed US Supreme Court. Maybe Big Brother instead, lurks as a psychological phenomena of the ordinary human psyche. Where rooted in an existential belief that reality is just a random event, and one is spit out unto the universe to only exist for a flashbulb moment, and then be put away forever - only power and subjugation becomes a meaningful end to those lucky enough to find their way to the gruesome top of the heap. And like Shelley's Frankenstein, there is no moral compass left when one finds oneself outcast in a hideous temporary body of random existence.
Or as John Milton once asked in Paradise Lost: "Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay to mould me man? Did I solicit thee from Darkness to promote me?"
they are also censoring the truth about COVID and the clot shots
What about Covid?
what about it...I'm an old geezer...never got any shots...never got tested...never got sick...this so called virus is no different than the flu...everyone they claimed that supposedly died of the so called virus had other co morbidities...diabetes...heart disease...obesity...etc...the vaxxines are killing more people than the virus...https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/covid-vaccine-injuries-vaers-cdc-safety-signals/?itm_term=home
Which is why Covid needs to be controlled and contained so it won’t especially kill people with health problems, but keep spouting your insane “anti-vaccine/medicine” nonsense.
big pharma troll alert
As far as fighting algorithm manipulation goes, I recommend the following. Some of it might be obvious, but just in case it isn't:
1. Turn off autoplay on YouTube. In the past, that's spared me getting exposed to stuff like Colbert's most recent "apple-polishing" (as Matt Taibbi's put it) for the powerful. Or, if you feel like putting it less politely, substitute "balls" for "apple", and substitute "licking" for "polishing". Either way, I'm glad I didn't have to hear even a second of it.
2. If the algorithm suppresses people worth listening to, use word of mouth or retweets. Even before YouTube changed its algorithm, even before the "adpocalypse" years ago, I actually never had any shows I watch or once watched recommended to me by the algorithm. Even with Rising on The Hill, I actually first found out about it because Niko House tweeted about it positively, back in the days when Krystal & Saagar were more well-regarded on the left.
3. Don't just search for a particular topic if you don't want to hear whatever mainstream bullshit is being churned out. Instead of searching for "Ukraine" search for, say, "Ukraine" and "Max Blumenthal". Or whoever you trust to give you the straight dope. For the same reason, if you do happen to look at whatever the top stories are on Google or YouTube or whatever, make sure to remember why you're not getting your news from whichever outlets they're recommending in the first place and to search for the opinion of someone trustworthy on it. For example, one of the first things I saw when I looked at the top stories right now was about Justin Trudeau virtue signaling over Roe v. Wade, wringing his hands about how awful the Supreme Court decision was. Not that Trudeau is wrong *this* time IMHO, but if you read enough stories like that--ones which make him out to be a heroic defender of women's rights--then you might start to forget that he froze peaceful protestors' bank accounts, imprisoned others, that "In 2020, the Canadian government, citing COVID, proposed legislation 'to make it an offence to knowingly spread misinformation that could harm people.'" (via Greenwald), etc.
I don't know whether any of that is helpful to anyone who reads this, but hopefully it will be.
I was totally with you until I got to the part about Trudeau. Although I am not a fan of his, I (and many, many other Canadians) wanted him to freeze the bank accounts and imprison and in fact do whatever was necessary to put down the rebellion centred in Ottawa. Most of us were also happy about the job the federal government did regarding Covid. I assume you are not Canadian?
It was a lot of honking and blocking roads, it was not a dangerous rebellion or anything.
And while I admit that if I were living in a city with blocked roads and honking that I would probably hate it, it would be overkill to fucking FREEZE PEOPLE'S BANK ACCOUNTS AND ARREST THEM FOR IT. That was tyrannical by the Trudeau government, and no, I don't want to reconsider my words there. "Tyrannical" fits nicely.
I'm a dual citizen of the US and Canada, living in Canada btw.
"It was a lot of honking and blocking roads," - that's what I understood it was. And though from the point of view of the govt it was ok to squash it by whatever means (let's not kid ourselves with all that "western democracy" shit) it's illustrative how the freedom-loving Canadians ran to support those measures.
I guess Covid and people dying doesn’t mean anything to you.
You are happy about COVID response in Canada? While I bought it at first, the manipulation of the Canadian psyche from 19 to omnichron proves Caitlens point. When the head doctor Tambot recommends glory holes to prevent the spread, Canadians have lost their minds. I wont even bother to go down the list of purposely done destructions of freedoms. The CBC is the very organization that Caitlen speaks about. CTV are turds in a punchbowl. They choose the liberals to protect their telecom monopoly. The big 5 banks are in it as well. My plans include a safe run to another country, something I would never have considered 10 years ago.
In addition to all of that, nobody should be happy at all about there being actual laws on the books saying that you can be arrested and maybe imprisoned if I talk about how the vaccines can cause myocarditis or whatever truths are being labeled "misinformation" by the government.
World Socialist News would like to have a word with you: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/02/21/poli-f21.html
I used to think Canada was almost a Utopia, but now I understand that "most of you" don't even see the chains that bind you. There was no "rebellion." The truckers were very peaceful.
Yeah, when Covid started I was watching the US and thinking "Damn, I'm glad I don't live down there!" And then ol' Justin decided to prove to the world that he could be just as authoritarian as Biden. At which point I thought "Well, so much for Canada being better..."
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/02/01/otta-f01.html
Okay you and Rob Brown sound like Libertarian a-holes, I give you this quote:
“Libertarians claim to be a radical philosophers but are really as bourgeoisie as they can get. Ultimately, all libertarians are really interested in is defending their petty, white, middle class interests.
Most Libertarians begin life as a spoiled upper-middle class and very white teen who fails to comprehend that not everyone else in the world is a spoiled upper-middle class white teen.
At first, the young libertardian-to-be has only a vague dissatisfaction. He begins to ask himself questions like:
"What political philosophy can I both bastardize and miss the point of, so that I can justify being an even more selfish prick than I am now?"
"How can I reconcile that I hate those who I deem aren't productive, with the fact that I don't need a job because daddy gives me a generous allowance?"
"Why do we even need government? Surely almost seven billion people can all police themselves, right?"
The answer comes to them in two little words. Ayn Rand. With sixth-grade level vocabulary, and fourth-grade level philosophy, Rand's book have all the emotional depth of a two-year old's temper tantrum. "MINE!!!" Rand is their holy prophet. She speaks the words so perfectly, the words they want to hear.
"You don't lack compassion! You just want people to get by on their own merits!", She says. "You're not a selfish asshole! You just have a sense of rational self-interest!", She affirms. "You have no obligation to the society in which you live! Governments are only there to lift up those not as good as you!", She declares.
And lo, it was good. Because if there is one thing that makes financially comfortable white people feel good about themselves, it is that they earned the benefits of being financially comfortable, clearly by their own merits.
It wasn't daddy's money that bought you your head start in life. It wasn't the better schools, the better nutrition, the better neighborhoods. It wasn't the country you were born in, or the system of laws that protected and to this day protects you. It wasn't the various government agencies making sure you have licensed doctors, clean drinking water, or safety standards for vehicles.
No, my young privileged white boy, you did it all. You, and only you, are responsible for all your success. And anyone who isn't as well off just didn't work as hard. And the government can only take from a productive member of society like you to give to the leeches. And there should be no laws. And even though there are laws, they don't really apply to you, because you're special. Be as selfish as you want. It's all you.
Don't ASSume you know my thoughts. You don't. You're a marionette in chains. Trudeau, a representative of the corporate elitist Klaus Schwab yanks your strings and you are too blind to see it. Strange that you should show up on Caitlin's substack, because you are obviously too stupid to learn anything from her. She's telling you about the strings and the narratives (like WSWS's nonsense that the truckers are right wingers and not workers). Tell me, why does WSWS say Omicron is worse than any previous wave? Vaccine acceptance in Canada is very high. I would have thought Covid would be stamped out in Canada by now. Why are infection and death rates in Africa so low?
Yes, I support the Bill of Right and the Charter of Canadian Rights and Freedoms, as well as a US Constitutional Amendment to deny those natural rights to corporations, which currently control both governments, the very definition of fascism. You are a totalitarian lunatic, as are all communists and fascists.
WSWS actually says Omicron was worse than Delta or the original?
In addition to perpetuating the myth that everybody who has reservations about the vaccine is "right-wing"?
I'm glad I never bothered reading it like I used to read The Intercept.
Finally, one doesn't have to be "libertarian" to support a protest. Protests are, by design, meant to inconvenience people. If you had a protest which everybody could easily ignore, everybody would ignore it and nothing would change. Maybe you think this isn't something that was worth protesting, "Mamaluigi7", but you'd be singing a different tune if you'd been injured by the vaccine as many people have by now. And FFS, last year the Ontario government actually came out and said that Moderna was too risky for people aged 18-24...after they'd already injected tons of 18-24 year-olds with it. https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/ontario-recommends-people-aged-18-to-24-take-pfizer-over-moderna-1.5605442
P.S. "Privileged" huh? You know what real privilege is? Real privilege is saying to yourself on election day "Sure, I'll vote for the Liberals (if in Canada) or for the Democrats (if in the US) because my life has always been perfectly fine and none of their decisions have fucked up my life at all." THAT is your privilege, bitch. You never got locked up because of the Crime Bill, you never lost your business or your job because of lockdowns or because of trade deals, you never had your bank account frozen, you never had the government build a pipeline on your land, and you sure as hell don't seem to care about the fact that both Trudeau and Biden are killing Yemenis and Palestinians by proxy with their support of Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Get yourself a conscience and maybe you'll stop voting for these fascists who harm so many, who harm as many people as Trump or Harper ever did. It doesn't matter if their policies don't negatively affect YOU. You should care about those people their policies DO negatively affect. Or are you going to call the First Nations people in Canada and Native Americans in the States "privileged"? Are you going to call the large percentage of African-Americans who quite understandably don't trust the government "privileged"?
List of Things Libertarians Hate
Calendars, clocks
Standard weights and measures
Sick days
Maternity/Paternity leave (What do you mean, America is the only developed country in the world not to have paid maternity leave? They're all commies!)
Overtime pay
Minimum wage
Electricity
Clean water
Clean air
State and national parks, playgrounds, Fish and Game Wildlife Services (We should be able to kill all the cute critters in the forest if we want to! ESPECIALLY the endangered ones!)
Roads and infrastructure
Postal service
Safe workplaces, OSHA
Health inspectors, all federal workers (see "postal service")
Welfare, unemployment benefits
Public schools
Seat belts and airbags
Cops (protection rackets and the mafia are far more libertarian)
Fire stations (ESPECIALLY volunteer firefighters)
Taxes (even if they don't pay 'em because they have no job and live in their parents' basement)
Unions
Public transport
Food free of salmonella
Nutrition facts
Vaccines
Safe medicine
Poor people
black people
women
SOCHULIZM!!!!!!!
Charities, any altruistic behavior.
Unemployment benefits
Gaining more than 3% of the vote
History
“This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US Department of Energy.
I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility. Then, I brushed my teeth with that water, filtered to standards set by the EPA and my state.
After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I watched this while eating my breakfast of US Department of Agriculture inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the Food and Drug Administration.
At the appropriate time as regulated by the US Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the US Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration approved automobile and set out to work on the roads built by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank and printed by the Federal Bureau of Engraving and Printing. On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the US Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.
I park my car on the street, paved and maintained by the Department of Transportation, and put quarters issued by the United States Mint into the parking meter.
Then, after spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, I drive back to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and the fire marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.
I then log onto the Internet which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration and post on freerepublic and fox news forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right. Keep government out of my Medicare!”
You can criticize Trudeau without being an anti-vaxxer or Covid denier nutjob.
Also the starving African children would like to speak with you.
“Strange that you should show up on Caitlin's substack, because you are obviously too stupid to learn anything from her.”
I do, she is just not a libertarian like you think she is, she also supports Socialism and Communism.
https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1297189068103487490?s=21&t=8vl7MEnr0ReA5k470b-emw
She does, however, speak against "propaganda," "censorship" and the elite narrative. You apparently love all three since you defend Trudeau. I never claimed Caitlin is a libertarian. I don't think she understands there's such a thing as a left-libertarian, who understands there is a difference between individual human beings and corporate entities.
In one of your posts you extolled the great benefits of government-regulated monopolies. Defending private monopolies is quite reactionary. Governments should own monopolies, with any profits accruing to government to fund anticipated expansion or otherwise returned as rebates to rate payer.
Labels are a convenient way to try to pigeon-hole people. To the extent Caitlin falls for it and refuses to listen to certain points of view, I criticize her. I don't agree with her all the time, but probably much more often than you. She is not an authoritarian and believes people should think for themselves. You spout nothing but authoritarian talking points; not an original thought in your pea brain.
I am Canadian - and you have stated that "Most of Us were happy about the job the Canadian government did...." How do you claim to speak for Most of Us? What you have stated is false & misleading. I do NOT agree with the Governments Mandates & I DO Support the Freedom Convoy. I think you are actually unaware what Trudeau is up to - & it has nothing to do with keeping the Canadian Population Safe. For Example, why was the Emergencies Act used? No One in the Federal Government can provide a reason. WE have been betrayed and once again our supposedly guaranteed Charter of Rights & Freedoms have been trampled on to excuse the various levels of governments mismanagement of Everything including Covid. SWJW
You support the "freedom convoy" enough said.
What an absurd comment - the Freedom Convoy was the most peaceful, non-aggressive & perfect example of democratic action. Only shut down by our Lying/Cheating & Useless "Leaders". A Shameful Display. SWJW.
I cannot claim I followed that closely but would you say "rebellion centred in Ottawa" was something akin to "Jan 6 insurrection" in the US?
You'd wish they'd teach these five concepts in journalism school. They could inoculate the new journos from becoming mindless government-operated mainstream media drones. Until we learn to recognize the manipulation ourselves, we'll need all the honest journalists we can get.
Caitlin has accurately described the "cultural hegemony" of the "power elite," including the oppressor, controlling "wealthy media-owning class." The oppressor class is not all whites, nor all cis-gendered heterosexuals, nor all males, though those are the narratives the "wealthy media-owning class" wants us to believe via CRT, radical feminism and queer ideology. Oh, and it's really perfectly fine with cis-gendered, heterosexual whites blaming POC, queers and women for all their problems. The "power elite" says it opposes such divisiveness, but actually does all it can to "stir the pot." It keeps the vast oppressed class divided and fighting each other, whites vs POC, males vs females, straight vs queer, Republican vs Democrat, "conservative" vs "liberal" etc.
"Authoritative sources" don't just lie to us about war. They lie to us about everything of importance to the "wealthy media-owning class" and anything that might unite us, like the so-called "red-brown alliance."
It is all a big red herring. Left or right.
..old proverbio, he who digs a pit under another, falls into it himself!
A critical analysis of Putin and Russia must be put forth and examined outside of the mainstream narrative. Parts of the mainstream narrative are true, but like all propaganda, truth is mixed with lies and presented in a such a manner as to persuade those at whom it is directed to draw false conclusions.
I think you're right..I personally believe a critical analysis of Putin and Russia starts with Aleksander Dugin (aka "Putin's brain" in the media). I'm seeing a trend lately of Dugin engaging directly with American Orthodox Christian youtube channels, and on the other side there is a trend of Slavoj Zizek engaging more with disillusioned left channels, and they are sparring with each other in oblique ways over the future of Eurasia and America, within their own Overton window of sorts. I recognize more and more lately that there's an enormous battle for the human mind taking place all over the world, with the American Imperial Narrative becoming more desperate to prioritize spectacles of unrest and violence over raising consciousness.
Probably one area of this that is often overlooked are the special operations that take place in comments sections. Lots of games being played. The goal it seems is to sow confusion.
you would know all about trolling comments
Dr. Joe Mercola is an osteopathic physician who sells supplements and wellness products and his net worth is $100 million.
I'm not talking about trolling. I'm talking about special operations.
and big pharma is a trillion dollar conglomerate that bribes congress...sells toxic vaxxines and pills...and keeps natural treatments hidden from view...now go get your 15th COVID booster
Gone are the days where you had one vaccine and the problem is solved. Now we are at four shots and the effectiveness of the vaccines are questionable at best.
Big Pharma is a big problem just as big anything is, but supplements and those who get rich off of them are not the answer. It's just more Big Pharma. THINK.
https://pharma.elsevier.com/pharma-rd/link-big-pharma-supplement-industry/
****One can imagine that some pharmaceutical drug makers might fume over this situation. After all, while they take on the serious and costly work of running intensive drug trials and conducting post-market surveillance, dietary supplement makers can just grind up a few plants, put them in a bottle and then forgo responsibility. Except for one thing: the reality is that even though the regulations on pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals are as different as night and day, the companies creating them are not.
“Increasingly, Big Pharma and Big Herba are indistinguishable,” claims Parramore. “The very same mega-companies with gigantic chemical labs that make drugs are cooking up vitamin and herbal supplements labeled with sunny terms like ‘natural’ and ‘wholesome.’ Pfizer, Unilever, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and other big pharmaceutical firms make or sell supplements.” While she does acknowledge there are a few small companies still in the mix, Parramore says they represent a tiny amount of the total sales in the $23 billion-a-year supplement business.
Many of these pharma companies have made the foray into supplements because it plays to their strengths while being far, far cheaper than drug development. Meanwhile, though, there are other large companies coming at it from a different direction. Nestlé has established a subsidiary, Nestlé Health Science, which, according to STAT, “employs 3,000 people globally and brings in annual revenue of about $2 billion. The big drivers: high-protein nutritional shakes sold under the Boost brand, and shakes and soups marketed under the Meritene brand as reducing ‘tiredness and fatigue,’ among other benefits.”****
you blew your cover as a troll when you claimed to know Mercola's net worth...his wife doesnt even know his net worth...now go work on another straw man argument
5 . political security for Russia: we help ourselves.
US of Arrogance Hato liar:. Politcical security is your learning helplessness.
We elites help ourselves to your Learned Helplessness.
Elites teach folks to learn to be helpless.
Now go to jail. Close door behind you
Excellent article.
Another great article but maybe it's an octagon not a pentagon.
#6 EDUCATING AGAINST THINKING
- controlling schooling so it's homogenized pro-empire, psychologically parochial, training citizens to be good selfish anodyne consumers, crushing real curiosity replacing it with obsessive compulsive ephemera, stigmatize wrongthink (like socialism, dissent, disloyalyy) early and often so the individual's reaction when triggered is felt, never reasoned out
#7 EMBEDDING THE WE
- groupthink is best when it's unconscious. unconscious means path of least resistance. path of least resistance means feeling natural, objectively correct, in the right, included. self and national identity blended into "we" by mythologizing the past while obfuscating real history, conditioning pride in empire and personal 'felt' association with its outcomes
#8 INSTILL LOVE/NEED FOR A CARCERAL LIFE
- empire wants the citizen productive, exploited, responsive to direction, committed to internalized small scale ambition, terrified of unknowns and uncertainties, naive and rooted by faith in the goodness of the homeland. turn fear of authority into love of authority, faith in authority, unconscious ties to place and prescription. All that kind of lasagne...
The powerful, with all their think tanks and perpetually increasing surveillance technology have known for a long time that a point would arrive when the deprived, oppressed populaces would rebel, one way or another, and have provided for that event. They use and have used all forms of
media to brain wash in the idea that we live in the best of all possible worlds, the panglossian view
that has been extremely successful - to the point of inducing guilt in the large numbers of people who "fail" in the system, are not clever or callous enough to use others to advance themselves.
Many of these people see themselves as losers, once the reality sets in, and they know their lives and that of their families will not improve. This attitude is not normal but studiously imposed on society by elites. We have to think our way out of it and demand socialism, or to be treated as human beings with natural rights, not a novel idea in itself, but manipulated and distorted to the point where deprivation \is forwarded as a form of "freedom" and therefore, a "right". From that insane starting point they can foist anything they choose onto us, with no fear of reprisal.