The silver lining is that the crudity and consistency of the official narrative is destroying its credibility. Plenty of people have figured out that we are not being told the truth. The collapsing ratings for much of the MSM suggests that this phenomenon is gaining force. The absurdity of the claims being made (that inflation is due to Putin, that the economy is sound and that everything is fine) is obvious to just about everyone. The regime is weakening.
To believe the official narrative, one must simultaneously believe that Putin is all-powerful, yet at the same time has no idea how to use his superpowers and also is malevolent for its own sake, even to the point of damaging his own interests just so he can be mean. Even comic book supervillains are more believable.
Of course, there is another explanation - the official narrative is so many lies, just like it was in the case of Iraq, Syria, Yugoslavia, Libya, etc.
The incoherence of the narrative on Russia is breathtaking. Putin is alleged to be a Marxist, a Tsarist, a religious fanatic and a corrupt gangster, as well as the world's richest man and psychologically insecure too. We are told that Russia has no manufacturing and is backwards...no mention of nuclear ice-breakers, satellites or space exploration.
I am reading one of Richard one of Richard Sakwa’s books about Russia at the moment. It’s probably a bit too detailed for me, but it so clearly demonstrates how cartoonish the portrayal of Russia/Putin in western media is. Countries like Russia and their leaders simply serve as bogeymen in our discourse - the reality is that their politics and histories are as varied and multifaceted as anywhere else.
And after he is dead we can look forward to rumours of sightings, as well as conspiracy theories involving reincarnation, cryogenics, time travel, alien abduction and frozen sperm.
A financial system based on MMT is possible, but it requires state force to impose value on the money. In classical (?) theory, people believe in fiat money because they think it represents something else of value, like a precious metal, which exists in theory somewhere, or could be collected (by force) if necessary. MMT suggests that the state just print the money anyway, but unless people believe in the money it won't work as a reliable store of value and medium of exchange. So when disbelief occurs, the state has to summon value, by force if necessary, to revaluate the money it issued. It must tax, expropriate, draft, conquer the needed value. (Value could be anything people accept as such.) So the system implied by MMT isn't that different than what we have already, where the value of the money is upheld by similar means.
His wiki page states he's a "confessed" propagandist (which is a claim that can probably be aimed at anyone who writes [propaganda is not always "disinformation"; of course many who read my comment will think that first so I'm probably just asking for a fight <sigh>]-- I mean what's Caitlin doing here?) so perhaps it isn't surprising his "study" didn't find positive stories.
I could not find that "study", but as i said, i do look forward to knowing more from Pozner.
Thanks for the Vladimir Pozner YouTube link. It was illuminating on the Western MSM change towards Russia/USSR since 1980s and current Corporate Censorship being more effective.
For US readers, NPR broadcast the most despicable "parody" of the Chinese Communist Party this morning (in the form of juvenile cultural and political revision of trashy US movies). It was dripping jingoism with a heavy dose of war mongering narrative formation. Insanely disgusting. This is what decadent declining empires do the "others" they seek to make war on.
Yesterday I was at the main Edinburgh railway station with my "Free Assange" T-shirt and my cloth bag "Nuclear Weapons banned from 22.Jan.2021" when a Aussie woman said to me that she agreed with me. Thinking she meant "Free Assange", I said the Australian Government needs to do more for him. Unfortunately, she did not mean Assange, but said she agreed with the Nuclear Weapons sentiment, however, North Korea was the issue. I pointed out that at least 50 countries ratified the treaty but not the Nuclear Weapon states and North Korea would very likely be invaded if it did not possess them. It was a short encounter but it disappointed me that Assange was not a concern for her and North Korea was being used as an alibi to deal with Nuclear Weapons issue. I guess she might have been an Australian diplomat visiting Edinburgh for the Festival.
What really disappoints me is that there is a venue called "House of Oz" devoted to Australian shows behind my tenement block but not a single one deals with Julian Assange and his plight. I guess because it is Australian Government funded. I am sure in Australia there are lots of theatre in support of Julian Assange. I guess that Aussie journalist who took a pot shot at you would find such censorship acceptable by the Australian Government.
Diplomat? In that case I wonder how many teeth she'd have broken gnashing them if you had mentioned Israel in rebuttal. Iran is feeling strong, as today it requested the US get Israel to join the NPT at the annual NPT meeting. I think it's a hint that both Israel and USA are the imps behind USA back-walking on JCPOA.
It's been eerie being born and growing up as an American, even being patriotic and somewhat proud of my country in my youth, but then having the mask of illusion slowly ripped off. Partially, because the country has I believe become much more corruptly run - yes, it was corrupt before, but now it is blatant corruption and the wealth disparity gap has become obscenely large, and economic exploitation hearkens back to feudal age work slavery and serfs - and partially because I bought the now pretty obvious propaganda disseminated via the media networks in my younger days.
It is sad to see so much potential be used for destructive purposes - destruction of ordinary lives of both Americans and so many human lives abroad, destruction of the planetary ecosystem, destruction of the hopes and dreams of people who are forced to live in the chains of poverty through no fault of their own, in a system that exploits mercilessly anyone that wasn't born with a silver spoon in their mouth.
And the only way this corrupt American system justifies itself is by demonizing the "other". Demonizing Russia and China. Like any classic psychological projection - the enemy is out there, and can't be within our own borders.
Agree. In feudal times, if one were poor and even homeless, it was assumed that this was just your natural state - and you weren't stigmatized with the poverty. Today's homeless (and poor) in the US, not only are demonized with their poverty, and you get the never ending propaganda of the Horatio Alger myth and the "American dream" myth - that anyone can make it in America - today's American homeless are also stigmatized with the propaganda and false narrative that it is their own fault that they are homeless - because they're lazy, or weak - that the only "winners" in America are the rich, the billionaires and "entrepreneurs" - which Americans have been indoctrinated with endless propaganda as being human beings who have the largest value in society. Instead the billionaires are a predatory class who have robbed Americans of their supposed democratic government, and exploited American labor mercilessly so they can enrich themselves further.
Meritocracy is a myth in America. And to stigmatize the poor and homeless for their plight, is pathetic and immoral.
“As I learn more and more about global power dynamics and interact with more and more people around the world responding to the things I have to say, I find myself growing more and more disdainful of those who live directly under the thumb of the US empire and yet spend their time criticizing unabsorbed governments like Russia and China. It's literally the most pathetic, snivelling, power-serving position anyone can possibly take at this point in history.”
There’s a word for that: slave morality. They’re unable to think about the plank in their eye, but rail about the needles in the eyes of others.
As Confucius once said, “the strong man is hard on himself, the weak man is hard on others.” They are fake Timocrats. They feign virtue and honor, but they’re really just operating based on tribal affinity and the desire for personal gain. They rely on imitating the behaviors of those who actually care, but only to the extent they can leverage them for their own personal interest or that of their tribe. We saw a lot of this in religion and politics. These are the truly weak people, the ones with no humility, terrified of turning the mirror on themselves. There are plenty of people who will do something bad or commit crimes, but they won’t try to convince you that it’s Good or right. The fake Timocrats and “Democrats” in Plato’s Republic, where he very accurate describes the decline of the states, the different stages of defer degeneration, are the main pretenders, the “imitators.” Finally, at the end of all this, a Tyrant usually comes in to bring order and push back against these tribes, but then finds himself with absolute power, which he won’t relinquish.
The solution is to abandon tribal affinity and pursue the real thing, namely ie to love of wisdom. Without that, we can talk about any and as perfect a political system as one can dream of, but it will always fall and lead to chaos and destruction of this seemingly unimportant or abstract notion, wisdom, is kicked to the curb. It’s the most practical thing that can be done, as both Confucius and Plato well understood.
My mother would have said; clean your own room, and look helpful, but wait for the ask, as even an offer of help can be a slap in the face of someone who isn't looking for your help.
Good post, thanks. Too many seem bent on blaming anyone other than themselves or their country for what is wrong. These problems so supersede any nation on Earth. All nations have glaring faults though some with more power abuse that power with greater force and more hypocrisy. Either we the people learn to work it out or it’s over. When you really think about it the lunacy of having rank opportunists (kleptocrats) in a position to negotiate for us is clear. Hopefully we can survive these international crooks.
You are spot on with this one. Even when Americans are warned about their policy makers evil deeds they just burry their heads in the sand. GWB giving lectures on leadership, what a joke. Vincent Bugliosi’s “The prosecution of GWB for Murder” was ignored but I knew at the time he was a useful idiot and his leadership would help accelerate our road to dystopia. Even Edward Snowdens warnings, and Julian
Assange’s exposure of corruption are accepted as National Security threats.
Depends on how you define "national security". Usually, it seems to mean the security of the ruling class of the nation-state. So, in that sense, people like Assange and Snowden are certainly threats.
That's the excuse they used to close down Snowden "Natl Security Threat" - and the excuse they will use when they escalate the military state that has been developing in the US now for decades, with the advent of the Homeland Defense Department, and the ability of the deep state to now spy and operate on Americans (including use of propaganda) as much as the deep state does abroad.
This is nothing new when it comes to tyranny, and oppression backed up by brute force and deceit. One of the oldest rationales in the book: that in the name of security, the state has the right to take away your freedom, to disappear you from society, to silence you via whatever means they can (social media banning, censorship) or by deceitfully writing hit pieces against you on Wikipedia or other state controlled outlets.
I think it's on the verge of it getting much worse for Americans, as the economy begins to descend into depression if not collapse, and the needs and hopes of ordinary Americans are crushed by Totalitarian rule - and a militarized police and deep state that have become akin to the German gestapo - ruling our lives with constant surveillance, deceit and absolute power.
The Nazi philosopher Carl Schmitt reponded to criticisms of Nazi totalitarianism by saying that all states are inherently totalitarian because they make totalitarian claims, such as claiming that they have the legitimate power of life and death over their citizens/subjects/inhabitants, and any and all of their property and environment. In his view, states may assume liberal form, but when threatened (or when their ruling classes think they are threatened) the liberal forms are dropped.
Schmitt could be proven wrong if there were a culture that imposed strong limits on the state, but we don't seem to observe that in the present US except on the fringes of the society, and the fringes are small and hate one another (for the most part).
When you have corporate power conjoined with state, you approach fascism. We see that in the US more and more everyday. From the mass eviction of ordinary Americans from their homes by the banks - with laws that they helped produce because the banks have corrupted the state, and act as a proxy to the state - and the obvious mass surveillance we now see in the US of American citizens - and the increasing encroaching of fundamental American liberties (such as personal privacy), again with the state using corporate power as a proxy and closely operating with.
I think another ominous sign is the removal of on-hand cash, more and more as a form of legal tender. Instead, you must rely on a corporately run plastic card in order to purchase your food and gas etc. The banks (and paypal) have already arbitrarily begun shutting down the financial accounts of Americans who do not comply with official propaganda (protestors, outspoken Americans on multi-media platforms). The state/corporate power of censorship (speech and growing financial) has now become a new normal for Americans.
The essence of fascism might be said to reside in Mussolini's formulation:
"Everything within the state, nothing outside of the state, nothing against the state." The government, the corporations, other institutions (such as religious organizations) can be used towards this end. Mussolini didn't invent this idea, but he gave it a very compact formulation. Given that some people desire power over others, the appeal of the idea to some is not surprising, but it is surprising to see how many people whose primary motive in life is not domination are willing to go along with it. I would like to know how to oppose or subvert the idea, but I can't claim any general success.
Given how they will run over protestors with police cars, and shoot them whenever they want - I'm not sure either, except with Americans willing to risk life and limb (and their corporate job and bank account) to regain their lost democracy. I don't see that happening anytime soon. So, at this point I imagine an entire collapse of the system will have to take place before any positive change occurs.
By then, you and I will likely be long gone. I'm already retired, so the sand in my hourglass is already rapidly approaching the end. And more and more these days, I've been asking myself, what then (if anything)? What was the point of me or any of this?
The profitability of key areas of the Australian media depends on government advertising. The business model of the MSM requires complaints with the government on key issues. Journalists know that their current and future employability depends on conformism.
The independent press died with the old Fairfax company. The late Sir Warwick Fairfax allowed his editors to commission investigative journalism. This threatened a range of villains across the entire Establishment, including the ALP and the Coalition, organised crime, big business, corrupt police and the US Gov't (remember Nugan Hand and the CIA heroin trade?). The royal commissions into corruption and espionage were a gigantic headache to the elite...some of the findings are still embargoed (I think). After Sir Roderick died his son and heir, young Warwick, was IMO set-up and encouraged to make a corporate take-over. He ultimately failed, the company was sold off and the 'troublemakers' were out in the cold, to the enduring relief of the villains. Australia has never been the same since.
Caitlin.....excellent article and we are essentially fellow travellers. I am an American living in Chiina and make no secret of my shared point of view with you. However, I am a 12 year guest here doing career and life design counseling and training of counselors and my mission and government censorship preclude what passes for First Amendment rights in the USA. Nevertheless, Chinese people are going through their own phases as they shake off the relentless horrors of social upheaval and wars from at least the Tanping Rebellion of 1850-64 to the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76. The intergenerational traumas are passed down, not through genetics but through the transfer of psychological distress from grandparents to parents to their children. I have learned firsthand that we are all human beings no matter our national origins and struggle for basically the same things i.e. personal happiness and some modicum of success in family and social life and in our work or productive life. The American Empire is the most powerful and dangerous in the world and we Americans do very much need to cast off the propaganda of our own culture and embrace the mindset transformation that will make sustainable life on our planet attainable. Extinction of modern civilization rides on it.
I have always believed that we are all human beings who share the same goals in life: to have a stable roof over our heads; to have enough to eat; to be free of violence; to make the world a better place for our children.
Thanks for corroborating this from the other side of the world.
(I also believe that there's nothing wrong with the extinction of modern "civilization." Of course, I live in the US, so that will affect my outlook.)
Some research indicates trauma is also passed down genetically. It's a double-whammy of behaviorial and genetic damage. As a descendant of survivors of pogroms and starvation (which also has been shown to alter descendant genetics to store fat more easily) I can identify with the stress aspects in my family.
I'm old enough to remember the 2000-2008 period vividly, when Bush was considered Satan personified in the U.S. But Biden has always been a warmonger, and now that he is senile and the beneficiary of the stolen 2020 election, he is more than happy to:
* Kill
* Censor
* Inflict dictatorial mandates, like demanding people give up their bodily autonomy and take the vax
* Suck up to Klaus Schwab
* Get rich off of China.
Biden hates us when he's lucid, which is not very often.
I'm always disappointed by how blithely my fellow U.S. people ignore our horror show, while in same breath repeating blatant propaganda aimed at others who are so much less influential than we are. It's like the garment of that is the U.S.A is this tattered, damaged, holes gaping, oversized, hanging, ill-fitting mess that people prop up and half heartedly mend with sole stitch here and there, to an obsessive and yet obviously lazy standard. Pride is a weak show of denial. It's based on nothing anyone can point to in recent times. Defenders of flag go all the way back to WWII and pretend that's enough to justify our worse behavior throughout our ENTIRE history. To be an honest American enduring this constant, weak show of systemic denial is now a given. It's why point fingers everywhere else. Some of us are trying our damndest to shed some light on where we are and where we need to go. We are getting more takers but those in obsessive denial are manic and dangerous.
Thanks Caitlin, I’m a physician as are most of my friends, great majority of them are brainwashed by the most powerful and crucial tool of the US arsenals. Something that you have clearly recognized and referred in your blogs👍
The idea that all evil is equal and evenly spread out, and no country and its representatives is worse than any other, is pure bogus. It derives from the idea of original sin- it's just the way we are and if we don't take control, sometimes employing the evil but natural tendencies we all have, well someone else will, with worse results. That's the story, but any kid of twelve that hasn't already been brain-washed could see through it. It's bad logic, and bad policy and the evidence is smacking us in the face -unless facing annihilation right now from several sources can be called the successful outcome of a successful policy going back at least from the end of WW II.
No, having "bad thoughts", usually about sex, is not in the category of supporting the Cold War, and the demonization of a country 28 million people of which died fighting Nazis the West encouraged by its demonization of that suffering country. But that's what I was told: "look into your own soul and its tiny confines, and let us take care of the big stuff" by my school and my church. That's what my country maintained as part of the Western Hemisphere: we will decide what is best for us and the world: just give us a mandate: sign on the dotted line.
And the same BS goes down, without blinking or blushing, right now: just the names China and Russia are enough to send chills down the backs of some people, sensitized as they have been, like Pavlov's dog. Poor things.
What, we don't have an MSM to criticize Russia and China for every possible sin, real and imagined, daily?
Vladimir Pozner commissioned a study to find positive MSM mentions of Russia since 2008 or so. The study found none.
The silver lining is that the crudity and consistency of the official narrative is destroying its credibility. Plenty of people have figured out that we are not being told the truth. The collapsing ratings for much of the MSM suggests that this phenomenon is gaining force. The absurdity of the claims being made (that inflation is due to Putin, that the economy is sound and that everything is fine) is obvious to just about everyone. The regime is weakening.
To believe the official narrative, one must simultaneously believe that Putin is all-powerful, yet at the same time has no idea how to use his superpowers and also is malevolent for its own sake, even to the point of damaging his own interests just so he can be mean. Even comic book supervillains are more believable.
Of course, there is another explanation - the official narrative is so many lies, just like it was in the case of Iraq, Syria, Yugoslavia, Libya, etc.
The incoherence of the narrative on Russia is breathtaking. Putin is alleged to be a Marxist, a Tsarist, a religious fanatic and a corrupt gangster, as well as the world's richest man and psychologically insecure too. We are told that Russia has no manufacturing and is backwards...no mention of nuclear ice-breakers, satellites or space exploration.
I am reading one of Richard one of Richard Sakwa’s books about Russia at the moment. It’s probably a bit too detailed for me, but it so clearly demonstrates how cartoonish the portrayal of Russia/Putin in western media is. Countries like Russia and their leaders simply serve as bogeymen in our discourse - the reality is that their politics and histories are as varied and multifaceted as anywhere else.
Don't forget that we are constantly told Putin is dying so I don't see what they are so worried about
And after he is dead we can look forward to rumours of sightings, as well as conspiracy theories involving reincarnation, cryogenics, time travel, alien abduction and frozen sperm.
Off-topic, but have you looked into Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)?
Because if everything you're being told about foreign policy is a lie, everything you're being told about the US economy is a lie, too.
MMT is an empirical study of how an economy with a fiat currency works. Empirical study = looking at an economy with your eyes open.
A financial system based on MMT is possible, but it requires state force to impose value on the money. In classical (?) theory, people believe in fiat money because they think it represents something else of value, like a precious metal, which exists in theory somewhere, or could be collected (by force) if necessary. MMT suggests that the state just print the money anyway, but unless people believe in the money it won't work as a reliable store of value and medium of exchange. So when disbelief occurs, the state has to summon value, by force if necessary, to revaluate the money it issued. It must tax, expropriate, draft, conquer the needed value. (Value could be anything people accept as such.) So the system implied by MMT isn't that different than what we have already, where the value of the money is upheld by similar means.
Yeah, MMT better explains the last 40 years than classical monetarist theory.
I am aware of MMT.
The fact that the regime is relying more and more upon overt censorship and naked repression of dissent shows the truth of your last sentence.
Looking for the study you mentioned I found this... looking forward to watching it. I had heard hints of the claim, but nothing specific.
Vladimir Pozner: How the United States Created Vladimir Putin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X7Ng75e5gQ
His wiki page states he's a "confessed" propagandist (which is a claim that can probably be aimed at anyone who writes [propaganda is not always "disinformation"; of course many who read my comment will think that first so I'm probably just asking for a fight <sigh>]-- I mean what's Caitlin doing here?) so perhaps it isn't surprising his "study" didn't find positive stories.
I could not find that "study", but as i said, i do look forward to knowing more from Pozner.
Thanks for the Vladimir Pozner YouTube link. It was illuminating on the Western MSM change towards Russia/USSR since 1980s and current Corporate Censorship being more effective.
Yep. Go on Amazon and try finding a Kindle book on Russia or Putin that is not empire propaganda
For US readers, NPR broadcast the most despicable "parody" of the Chinese Communist Party this morning (in the form of juvenile cultural and political revision of trashy US movies). It was dripping jingoism with a heavy dose of war mongering narrative formation. Insanely disgusting. This is what decadent declining empires do the "others" they seek to make war on.
NPR is a fully subsidized subsidiary of the Koch Bros.
imagine what North Koreans must have been feeling toward the US... how about Palestinians???? i can't even go there...
Brought to you by Cargill, Northrup Grumman, The John D and Catherine T McArthur Foundation, Monsanto, Beyer…
Yesterday I was at the main Edinburgh railway station with my "Free Assange" T-shirt and my cloth bag "Nuclear Weapons banned from 22.Jan.2021" when a Aussie woman said to me that she agreed with me. Thinking she meant "Free Assange", I said the Australian Government needs to do more for him. Unfortunately, she did not mean Assange, but said she agreed with the Nuclear Weapons sentiment, however, North Korea was the issue. I pointed out that at least 50 countries ratified the treaty but not the Nuclear Weapon states and North Korea would very likely be invaded if it did not possess them. It was a short encounter but it disappointed me that Assange was not a concern for her and North Korea was being used as an alibi to deal with Nuclear Weapons issue. I guess she might have been an Australian diplomat visiting Edinburgh for the Festival.
What really disappoints me is that there is a venue called "House of Oz" devoted to Australian shows behind my tenement block but not a single one deals with Julian Assange and his plight. I guess because it is Australian Government funded. I am sure in Australia there are lots of theatre in support of Julian Assange. I guess that Aussie journalist who took a pot shot at you would find such censorship acceptable by the Australian Government.
Diplomat? In that case I wonder how many teeth she'd have broken gnashing them if you had mentioned Israel in rebuttal. Iran is feeling strong, as today it requested the US get Israel to join the NPT at the annual NPT meeting. I think it's a hint that both Israel and USA are the imps behind USA back-walking on JCPOA.
It's been eerie being born and growing up as an American, even being patriotic and somewhat proud of my country in my youth, but then having the mask of illusion slowly ripped off. Partially, because the country has I believe become much more corruptly run - yes, it was corrupt before, but now it is blatant corruption and the wealth disparity gap has become obscenely large, and economic exploitation hearkens back to feudal age work slavery and serfs - and partially because I bought the now pretty obvious propaganda disseminated via the media networks in my younger days.
It is sad to see so much potential be used for destructive purposes - destruction of ordinary lives of both Americans and so many human lives abroad, destruction of the planetary ecosystem, destruction of the hopes and dreams of people who are forced to live in the chains of poverty through no fault of their own, in a system that exploits mercilessly anyone that wasn't born with a silver spoon in their mouth.
And the only way this corrupt American system justifies itself is by demonizing the "other". Demonizing Russia and China. Like any classic psychological projection - the enemy is out there, and can't be within our own borders.
Demonizing the "other" includes demonizing the homeless within the US borders.
Agree. In feudal times, if one were poor and even homeless, it was assumed that this was just your natural state - and you weren't stigmatized with the poverty. Today's homeless (and poor) in the US, not only are demonized with their poverty, and you get the never ending propaganda of the Horatio Alger myth and the "American dream" myth - that anyone can make it in America - today's American homeless are also stigmatized with the propaganda and false narrative that it is their own fault that they are homeless - because they're lazy, or weak - that the only "winners" in America are the rich, the billionaires and "entrepreneurs" - which Americans have been indoctrinated with endless propaganda as being human beings who have the largest value in society. Instead the billionaires are a predatory class who have robbed Americans of their supposed democratic government, and exploited American labor mercilessly so they can enrich themselves further.
Meritocracy is a myth in America. And to stigmatize the poor and homeless for their plight, is pathetic and immoral.
Did not Memphis Minnie teach the masses thusly?
"I had to travel, ',fore I got wise..."
“As I learn more and more about global power dynamics and interact with more and more people around the world responding to the things I have to say, I find myself growing more and more disdainful of those who live directly under the thumb of the US empire and yet spend their time criticizing unabsorbed governments like Russia and China. It's literally the most pathetic, snivelling, power-serving position anyone can possibly take at this point in history.”
There’s a word for that: slave morality. They’re unable to think about the plank in their eye, but rail about the needles in the eyes of others.
As Confucius once said, “the strong man is hard on himself, the weak man is hard on others.” They are fake Timocrats. They feign virtue and honor, but they’re really just operating based on tribal affinity and the desire for personal gain. They rely on imitating the behaviors of those who actually care, but only to the extent they can leverage them for their own personal interest or that of their tribe. We saw a lot of this in religion and politics. These are the truly weak people, the ones with no humility, terrified of turning the mirror on themselves. There are plenty of people who will do something bad or commit crimes, but they won’t try to convince you that it’s Good or right. The fake Timocrats and “Democrats” in Plato’s Republic, where he very accurate describes the decline of the states, the different stages of defer degeneration, are the main pretenders, the “imitators.” Finally, at the end of all this, a Tyrant usually comes in to bring order and push back against these tribes, but then finds himself with absolute power, which he won’t relinquish.
The solution is to abandon tribal affinity and pursue the real thing, namely ie to love of wisdom. Without that, we can talk about any and as perfect a political system as one can dream of, but it will always fall and lead to chaos and destruction of this seemingly unimportant or abstract notion, wisdom, is kicked to the curb. It’s the most practical thing that can be done, as both Confucius and Plato well understood.
My mother had a saying : "Clean your own closet before you start in on others' "
My mother would have said; clean your own room, and look helpful, but wait for the ask, as even an offer of help can be a slap in the face of someone who isn't looking for your help.
MY mother said, "When your doorstep is clean, then you can clean others'."
Good post, thanks. Too many seem bent on blaming anyone other than themselves or their country for what is wrong. These problems so supersede any nation on Earth. All nations have glaring faults though some with more power abuse that power with greater force and more hypocrisy. Either we the people learn to work it out or it’s over. When you really think about it the lunacy of having rank opportunists (kleptocrats) in a position to negotiate for us is clear. Hopefully we can survive these international crooks.
You are spot on with this one. Even when Americans are warned about their policy makers evil deeds they just burry their heads in the sand. GWB giving lectures on leadership, what a joke. Vincent Bugliosi’s “The prosecution of GWB for Murder” was ignored but I knew at the time he was a useful idiot and his leadership would help accelerate our road to dystopia. Even Edward Snowdens warnings, and Julian
Assange’s exposure of corruption are accepted as National Security threats.
I do not accept Snowden's warnings nor Assange's exposure of corruption as Natl Security threats.
Depends on how you define "national security". Usually, it seems to mean the security of the ruling class of the nation-state. So, in that sense, people like Assange and Snowden are certainly threats.
That's the excuse they used to close down Snowden "Natl Security Threat" - and the excuse they will use when they escalate the military state that has been developing in the US now for decades, with the advent of the Homeland Defense Department, and the ability of the deep state to now spy and operate on Americans (including use of propaganda) as much as the deep state does abroad.
This is nothing new when it comes to tyranny, and oppression backed up by brute force and deceit. One of the oldest rationales in the book: that in the name of security, the state has the right to take away your freedom, to disappear you from society, to silence you via whatever means they can (social media banning, censorship) or by deceitfully writing hit pieces against you on Wikipedia or other state controlled outlets.
I think it's on the verge of it getting much worse for Americans, as the economy begins to descend into depression if not collapse, and the needs and hopes of ordinary Americans are crushed by Totalitarian rule - and a militarized police and deep state that have become akin to the German gestapo - ruling our lives with constant surveillance, deceit and absolute power.
The Nazi philosopher Carl Schmitt reponded to criticisms of Nazi totalitarianism by saying that all states are inherently totalitarian because they make totalitarian claims, such as claiming that they have the legitimate power of life and death over their citizens/subjects/inhabitants, and any and all of their property and environment. In his view, states may assume liberal form, but when threatened (or when their ruling classes think they are threatened) the liberal forms are dropped.
Schmitt could be proven wrong if there were a culture that imposed strong limits on the state, but we don't seem to observe that in the present US except on the fringes of the society, and the fringes are small and hate one another (for the most part).
When you have corporate power conjoined with state, you approach fascism. We see that in the US more and more everyday. From the mass eviction of ordinary Americans from their homes by the banks - with laws that they helped produce because the banks have corrupted the state, and act as a proxy to the state - and the obvious mass surveillance we now see in the US of American citizens - and the increasing encroaching of fundamental American liberties (such as personal privacy), again with the state using corporate power as a proxy and closely operating with.
I think another ominous sign is the removal of on-hand cash, more and more as a form of legal tender. Instead, you must rely on a corporately run plastic card in order to purchase your food and gas etc. The banks (and paypal) have already arbitrarily begun shutting down the financial accounts of Americans who do not comply with official propaganda (protestors, outspoken Americans on multi-media platforms). The state/corporate power of censorship (speech and growing financial) has now become a new normal for Americans.
The essence of fascism might be said to reside in Mussolini's formulation:
"Everything within the state, nothing outside of the state, nothing against the state." The government, the corporations, other institutions (such as religious organizations) can be used towards this end. Mussolini didn't invent this idea, but he gave it a very compact formulation. Given that some people desire power over others, the appeal of the idea to some is not surprising, but it is surprising to see how many people whose primary motive in life is not domination are willing to go along with it. I would like to know how to oppose or subvert the idea, but I can't claim any general success.
Given how they will run over protestors with police cars, and shoot them whenever they want - I'm not sure either, except with Americans willing to risk life and limb (and their corporate job and bank account) to regain their lost democracy. I don't see that happening anytime soon. So, at this point I imagine an entire collapse of the system will have to take place before any positive change occurs.
By then, you and I will likely be long gone. I'm already retired, so the sand in my hourglass is already rapidly approaching the end. And more and more these days, I've been asking myself, what then (if anything)? What was the point of me or any of this?
No one should and neither do I
The profitability of key areas of the Australian media depends on government advertising. The business model of the MSM requires complaints with the government on key issues. Journalists know that their current and future employability depends on conformism.
The independent press died with the old Fairfax company. The late Sir Warwick Fairfax allowed his editors to commission investigative journalism. This threatened a range of villains across the entire Establishment, including the ALP and the Coalition, organised crime, big business, corrupt police and the US Gov't (remember Nugan Hand and the CIA heroin trade?). The royal commissions into corruption and espionage were a gigantic headache to the elite...some of the findings are still embargoed (I think). After Sir Roderick died his son and heir, young Warwick, was IMO set-up and encouraged to make a corporate take-over. He ultimately failed, the company was sold off and the 'troublemakers' were out in the cold, to the enduring relief of the villains. Australia has never been the same since.
Caitlin.....excellent article and we are essentially fellow travellers. I am an American living in Chiina and make no secret of my shared point of view with you. However, I am a 12 year guest here doing career and life design counseling and training of counselors and my mission and government censorship preclude what passes for First Amendment rights in the USA. Nevertheless, Chinese people are going through their own phases as they shake off the relentless horrors of social upheaval and wars from at least the Tanping Rebellion of 1850-64 to the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76. The intergenerational traumas are passed down, not through genetics but through the transfer of psychological distress from grandparents to parents to their children. I have learned firsthand that we are all human beings no matter our national origins and struggle for basically the same things i.e. personal happiness and some modicum of success in family and social life and in our work or productive life. The American Empire is the most powerful and dangerous in the world and we Americans do very much need to cast off the propaganda of our own culture and embrace the mindset transformation that will make sustainable life on our planet attainable. Extinction of modern civilization rides on it.
I have always believed that we are all human beings who share the same goals in life: to have a stable roof over our heads; to have enough to eat; to be free of violence; to make the world a better place for our children.
Thanks for corroborating this from the other side of the world.
(I also believe that there's nothing wrong with the extinction of modern "civilization." Of course, I live in the US, so that will affect my outlook.)
Some research indicates trauma is also passed down genetically. It's a double-whammy of behaviorial and genetic damage. As a descendant of survivors of pogroms and starvation (which also has been shown to alter descendant genetics to store fat more easily) I can identify with the stress aspects in my family.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=study+cortisol+trauma+holocaust+descendents&t=fpas&ia=web
I think the great work of Gabor Mate touches on this dynamic as well.
Thanks for the reference. Yes, there is evidence of transfer of emotion across cells
I'm old enough to remember the 2000-2008 period vividly, when Bush was considered Satan personified in the U.S. But Biden has always been a warmonger, and now that he is senile and the beneficiary of the stolen 2020 election, he is more than happy to:
* Kill
* Censor
* Inflict dictatorial mandates, like demanding people give up their bodily autonomy and take the vax
* Suck up to Klaus Schwab
* Get rich off of China.
Biden hates us when he's lucid, which is not very often.
I'm always disappointed by how blithely my fellow U.S. people ignore our horror show, while in same breath repeating blatant propaganda aimed at others who are so much less influential than we are. It's like the garment of that is the U.S.A is this tattered, damaged, holes gaping, oversized, hanging, ill-fitting mess that people prop up and half heartedly mend with sole stitch here and there, to an obsessive and yet obviously lazy standard. Pride is a weak show of denial. It's based on nothing anyone can point to in recent times. Defenders of flag go all the way back to WWII and pretend that's enough to justify our worse behavior throughout our ENTIRE history. To be an honest American enduring this constant, weak show of systemic denial is now a given. It's why point fingers everywhere else. Some of us are trying our damndest to shed some light on where we are and where we need to go. We are getting more takers but those in obsessive denial are manic and dangerous.
Thanks Caitlin, I’m a physician as are most of my friends, great majority of them are brainwashed by the most powerful and crucial tool of the US arsenals. Something that you have clearly recognized and referred in your blogs👍
Stand with Russia -- it stands for all of us against bipartisan US War party !!
The idea that all evil is equal and evenly spread out, and no country and its representatives is worse than any other, is pure bogus. It derives from the idea of original sin- it's just the way we are and if we don't take control, sometimes employing the evil but natural tendencies we all have, well someone else will, with worse results. That's the story, but any kid of twelve that hasn't already been brain-washed could see through it. It's bad logic, and bad policy and the evidence is smacking us in the face -unless facing annihilation right now from several sources can be called the successful outcome of a successful policy going back at least from the end of WW II.
No, having "bad thoughts", usually about sex, is not in the category of supporting the Cold War, and the demonization of a country 28 million people of which died fighting Nazis the West encouraged by its demonization of that suffering country. But that's what I was told: "look into your own soul and its tiny confines, and let us take care of the big stuff" by my school and my church. That's what my country maintained as part of the Western Hemisphere: we will decide what is best for us and the world: just give us a mandate: sign on the dotted line.
And the same BS goes down, without blinking or blushing, right now: just the names China and Russia are enough to send chills down the backs of some people, sensitized as they have been, like Pavlov's dog. Poor things.
Losing your appetite for endless war?
Prescription Militor® can help:
https://medium.com/slackjaw/militor-a-new-prescription-drug-from-the-makers-of-war-98b914d8ecd5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgoB2h_Wkco
I'm feeling inspired to rewrite the Lyrics to : The Drug I need"
I'm going to go lay down and see if it passes.
Tens of millions of Merry Cats on this stuff, and I didn't even know about it until just now! Whodathunkit?