I'm not as hopeful for the USA b/c of the deeply ingrained glorification and use of violence.
When I see police departments resemble Hunger Games 'peace keepers' and the airways filled with Ceaesar Flickerman clones, I think it's more likely that the USA will first descend into a revolution that will fail, leading to a rise of a Panem society.
Which, I believe will ultimately fail, but not after rivers of blood are spilled.
The rest of the world? Huh. I'm not so sure. I have opinions about other societies, but my experience and knowledge are shallow so I'll keep my mouth shut on that.
However I do live in Canada (left NYC in the mid 80's).
I think we're going to be OK here. First of all, our Federal Gov't is a minority one which inherently makes it more responsive to the people. Secondly, we've avoided the major stumbling blocks of the USA (living wage, universal health care, reasonable education system). While our own MSM is as captured as the USA, there's not the sense of desperate rage and fear that percolates up from the USA.
Canada if FAR from Utopia. But it is a much better functioning society overall.
Yeah I saw it. I'm good b/c it got handled, didn't it? Here's the last paragraph. (Please note, I did say that our MSM up here is as captured as in the US so they buried this little bit...)
Several months ago, Acting Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre and DND deputy minister Jody Thomas acknowledged in an internal document that the various propaganda initiatives had gotten out of control. “Errors conducted during domestic operations and training, and sometimes insular mindsets at various echelons, have eroded public confidence in the institution,” noted a June 9, 2021, message signed by Eyre and Thomas. “This included the conduct of IO (Information Operations) on a domestic operation without explicit CDS/DM direction or authority to do so, as well as the unsanctioned production of reports that appeared to be aimed at monitoring the activities of Canadians.”
I like how there's such a long article that basically says nothing of any real substance. So what they did is probably illegal, but they still won't tell the public what they did to them.
Yeah, that's a good point. And you would think re a story of this magnitude there'd be more.
I think they put it up for two reasons:
1. As a CYA sort of measure. If there's blowback the Citizen can say they brought it to the public's attention. So if something DOES blow up about this, they can say that they printed a story. But also there's the main driver of the MSM today...
2. Clicks. Despite it being memory holed in Canadain MSM, a headline as sensational as this one was would definitely get those.
The question I have (which makes this warrant a second read) is ... is there actually a story there? As I write this, the only stuff I can recall from the article is that the Canadian military did online stuff that the big assed muckey-mucks thought was a bad idea. So maybe that's not much of a story.
I. Don't. Know.
Perhaps that's a good lesson?
I mean, I'm not running around yelling that the military is attempting mind control. I can see it as a poorly thought PR exercise just as easily.
Which one is it?
IDK.
And maybe me simply being willing to say that and move on is a healthy thing.
I really don't know.
And I'm comfortable w/ that ignorance for now. I only have so much bandwidth, y'know? There's lots of other stuff for me to be more concerned with.
I think you're right: it's fear borne. I sat here for a few moments reflecting on your post before reaching that conclusion. The population of the USA is afraid at its deepest level. You can call it 'insecurity' if you want, but America USED to be a nation gazing at the next horizon with such a sense of hope and excitement- I was 11 years old when they walked on the moon.
In the '70's, one after another America dealt with as a nation Vietnam, Watergate and then a wounded economy of economic stagnation coupled with sharp inflation (which is a paradoxical economic event), humiliated by Iran.
Which gave rise to Regan, a more polished version of Trump. He called out the establishment and set in motion policies and events that turned the attitude of America around.
Rightly or wrongly, in his initial campaign against Carter he pointed out just how shitty Americans felt about America. I don't recall him being all that wonky regarding policy TBH; but back then my news consumption was limited to the funny pages, the sports pages and Ann Landers. I DO recall how he harnessed the sense of hopelessness in the USA: as a nation we felt like we had been getting our asses kicked since 1968. The message he gave that I recall was 'It needen't be like this. We're better than this shitshow and I'll make it so.
It was easy to vote for him, despite me voting for Carter in '76 b/c it was a shitshow. We were frustrated; not so much afraid, but frustrated.
Regan got elected and did stuff. Just what? Beats me- see funny pages-but...BUT you felt good about being an American again.
I can still recall clearly his '84 re-election campaign 'It's morning in America'. Google it- what a powerful, powerful political ad. He didn't 'win' the election- IIRC it was the biggest landslide in history.
I truly believe that the current USA mindset of fear began in the Clinton era. That was the first time I realized that the system was broken. Nixon resigned over Watergate b/c he couldn't stand the idea of being impeached. Clinton reveled in it.
He lied repeatedly to Congress, and the American people, but b/c of the media was given (and still gets) a pass. He sold American workers out worse than FDR's predecessors; and the American population was warned of this by Ross Perot around '94. And got away with it like nobody's business.
I've concluded that the current state of the US mindset- that fear- can trace it's roots directly back to Clinton's shamelessness which opened the floodgates to acceptable lying.
Americans USED to believe in their government. They USED to believe their media told them the truth. They USED to believe that they were, as a whole, good people.
They used to have faith.
Now they don't even believe in themselves anymore.
Can you blame them?
The average 30-40 year old KNOWS they'll never achieve the standard of living their parents had available to them. Let alone the 20-30 year olds. The average American's only sense of community today is their workplace (see Scott Galloway). Not their family, not their church, not their Lion's/Elk/Rotary etc clubs...
Their fucking job. Which will throw them under the bus the minute the profit and loss statement says to do so.
The society is atomized into individual dots of existence. Even Cait sees that; see how often she writes about the 'self'. Self healing. Self regard. Self care. Teensy but vocal minorities now set the agenda and the rules of conversation. Whether it's people screaming for 'trans' rights or whatever to 'content moderators' in social media, it's an iron fist that descends.
The individual has no sense of responsibility to the society, b/c the society view it them as but a cog or a resource to be exploited. And that realization percolates out.
Here's a thought experiment: ask yourself what are the names of your next door neighbors? Or the people that live across the street from you? Do you know those three entities I just described? Really?
This will get much, much worse before it gets better, man. Especially in the USA.
I'm not as hopeful for the USA b/c of the deeply ingrained glorification and use of violence.
When I see police departments resemble Hunger Games 'peace keepers' and the airways filled with Ceaesar Flickerman clones, I think it's more likely that the USA will first descend into a revolution that will fail, leading to a rise of a Panem society.
Which, I believe will ultimately fail, but not after rivers of blood are spilled.
The rest of the world? Huh. I'm not so sure. I have opinions about other societies, but my experience and knowledge are shallow so I'll keep my mouth shut on that.
However I do live in Canada (left NYC in the mid 80's).
I think we're going to be OK here. First of all, our Federal Gov't is a minority one which inherently makes it more responsive to the people. Secondly, we've avoided the major stumbling blocks of the USA (living wage, universal health care, reasonable education system). While our own MSM is as captured as the USA, there's not the sense of desperate rage and fear that percolates up from the USA.
Canada if FAR from Utopia. But it is a much better functioning society overall.
Yeah I saw it. I'm good b/c it got handled, didn't it? Here's the last paragraph. (Please note, I did say that our MSM up here is as captured as in the US so they buried this little bit...)
Several months ago, Acting Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre and DND deputy minister Jody Thomas acknowledged in an internal document that the various propaganda initiatives had gotten out of control. “Errors conducted during domestic operations and training, and sometimes insular mindsets at various echelons, have eroded public confidence in the institution,” noted a June 9, 2021, message signed by Eyre and Thomas. “This included the conduct of IO (Information Operations) on a domestic operation without explicit CDS/DM direction or authority to do so, as well as the unsanctioned production of reports that appeared to be aimed at monitoring the activities of Canadians.”
I like how there's such a long article that basically says nothing of any real substance. So what they did is probably illegal, but they still won't tell the public what they did to them.
Yeah, that's a good point. And you would think re a story of this magnitude there'd be more.
I think they put it up for two reasons:
1. As a CYA sort of measure. If there's blowback the Citizen can say they brought it to the public's attention. So if something DOES blow up about this, they can say that they printed a story. But also there's the main driver of the MSM today...
2. Clicks. Despite it being memory holed in Canadain MSM, a headline as sensational as this one was would definitely get those.
The question I have (which makes this warrant a second read) is ... is there actually a story there? As I write this, the only stuff I can recall from the article is that the Canadian military did online stuff that the big assed muckey-mucks thought was a bad idea. So maybe that's not much of a story.
I. Don't. Know.
Perhaps that's a good lesson?
I mean, I'm not running around yelling that the military is attempting mind control. I can see it as a poorly thought PR exercise just as easily.
Which one is it?
IDK.
And maybe me simply being willing to say that and move on is a healthy thing.
I really don't know.
And I'm comfortable w/ that ignorance for now. I only have so much bandwidth, y'know? There's lots of other stuff for me to be more concerned with.
I think you're right: it's fear borne. I sat here for a few moments reflecting on your post before reaching that conclusion. The population of the USA is afraid at its deepest level. You can call it 'insecurity' if you want, but America USED to be a nation gazing at the next horizon with such a sense of hope and excitement- I was 11 years old when they walked on the moon.
In the '70's, one after another America dealt with as a nation Vietnam, Watergate and then a wounded economy of economic stagnation coupled with sharp inflation (which is a paradoxical economic event), humiliated by Iran.
Which gave rise to Regan, a more polished version of Trump. He called out the establishment and set in motion policies and events that turned the attitude of America around.
Rightly or wrongly, in his initial campaign against Carter he pointed out just how shitty Americans felt about America. I don't recall him being all that wonky regarding policy TBH; but back then my news consumption was limited to the funny pages, the sports pages and Ann Landers. I DO recall how he harnessed the sense of hopelessness in the USA: as a nation we felt like we had been getting our asses kicked since 1968. The message he gave that I recall was 'It needen't be like this. We're better than this shitshow and I'll make it so.
It was easy to vote for him, despite me voting for Carter in '76 b/c it was a shitshow. We were frustrated; not so much afraid, but frustrated.
Regan got elected and did stuff. Just what? Beats me- see funny pages-but...BUT you felt good about being an American again.
I can still recall clearly his '84 re-election campaign 'It's morning in America'. Google it- what a powerful, powerful political ad. He didn't 'win' the election- IIRC it was the biggest landslide in history.
I truly believe that the current USA mindset of fear began in the Clinton era. That was the first time I realized that the system was broken. Nixon resigned over Watergate b/c he couldn't stand the idea of being impeached. Clinton reveled in it.
He lied repeatedly to Congress, and the American people, but b/c of the media was given (and still gets) a pass. He sold American workers out worse than FDR's predecessors; and the American population was warned of this by Ross Perot around '94. And got away with it like nobody's business.
I've concluded that the current state of the US mindset- that fear- can trace it's roots directly back to Clinton's shamelessness which opened the floodgates to acceptable lying.
Americans USED to believe in their government. They USED to believe their media told them the truth. They USED to believe that they were, as a whole, good people.
They used to have faith.
Now they don't even believe in themselves anymore.
Can you blame them?
The average 30-40 year old KNOWS they'll never achieve the standard of living their parents had available to them. Let alone the 20-30 year olds. The average American's only sense of community today is their workplace (see Scott Galloway). Not their family, not their church, not their Lion's/Elk/Rotary etc clubs...
Their fucking job. Which will throw them under the bus the minute the profit and loss statement says to do so.
The society is atomized into individual dots of existence. Even Cait sees that; see how often she writes about the 'self'. Self healing. Self regard. Self care. Teensy but vocal minorities now set the agenda and the rules of conversation. Whether it's people screaming for 'trans' rights or whatever to 'content moderators' in social media, it's an iron fist that descends.
The individual has no sense of responsibility to the society, b/c the society view it them as but a cog or a resource to be exploited. And that realization percolates out.
Here's a thought experiment: ask yourself what are the names of your next door neighbors? Or the people that live across the street from you? Do you know those three entities I just described? Really?
This will get much, much worse before it gets better, man. Especially in the USA.