“We are led by the least among us – the least intelligent, the least noble, the least visionary. We are led by the least among us and we do not fight back against the dehumanizing values that are handed down as control icons.”
Because so many vote as their parents did, even when they see how dreadful the party they helped vote in is killing all progress and conditions while the uber wealthy get wealthier by the hard work of their workers who, in some cases, are on call 24/7.
People no so long ago would strike for better conditions, conditions that were made for all workers. Now our governments, even the so-called progressive ones, are using police - who are meant to serve the community but now beat and seriously injured people for protesting about the things police are now doing to the people they are meant to protect. This is not progress it's regression, our governments are turning us all into Palestinians, except for the countries where the people have come out in force and on strikes. If the workers don't work, the rich don't make profits. The stakes to stop arms deliveries to israhell means less money for arms manufacturers who are always ready to force wars to keep their money rolling in, but these weapons are being used on civilians not armies - do not forget that.
There is no choice in elections. All make promises to “make healthcare affordable”, “fight corruption”, etc etc etc. There will be no changes in America until corporate and superpac money is against the law. It’s legalized bribery and the government officials who benefit are the only ones who can change it and they never will.
Some reading up on 5 Eyes is called for before taking your statement seriously much less reinforcing or trying to defend it. Policy positions substantiated and national political v. realpolitik positions need to be clarified, assessed and circumspectly critiqued.
That's just insane,if I were that lady's family I'd be suing these motherfuckers back to the Stone Age,and demand their immediate arrest and public conviction.The government itself also deserves to be sued,because they permitted and backed this atrocity against a little old lady.She will likely not ever be functional again,and living with disability for the rest of her life.
Those heathens in israhell are the ones who should be sanctioned,and their entire government and military brought before the international courts and tried for crimes against humanity.I am also sick and tired of these people given free reign and carte blanc to do as they please to the people of all the countries surrounding them.And that giving them any semblance of bad press is the worst godawful thing in the history of EVER.They aren't those biblical"chosen ones",those people have been dead for millenia,and don't exist anymore.(I once read somewhere that the Egyptians from the pyramids,Pharaohs and ancient times are a race that is extinct,and the people there now are a completely different race of people.I assume that would have to now be true of most of those ancient races mentioned in the Bible and other ancient texts.)The current occupants of Israel are European,not Middle Eastern.They are white people,not the Middle East people who have been there way longer.So that bullshit of them being"chosen"is absurd.They should be held as accountable as any other country and it is far past the shelf life of feeling sorry for them.
I know it's unpopular to feel this way,but ask me if I care,it shouldn't be okay to openly commit genocide to another group of people no matter who's doing it to whom.Period.
"We’ve got highly qualified leaders working hard". You repeat it several times and each time
I wanted to laugh harder. Or cry, They're all mediocrities who arrived at or were already bent to the tune of malignant narcissism as compensation. And so they manipulate one another and the world.
I read, maybe three decades ago, an article by a Harvard professor (though I wouldn't trust a Harvard professor today, quite the opposite) who proved that powerful, rich people, especially men, because of their elite position, believe they are free to do anything they want (including rape, genocide, war on sovereign countries, resource theft, murder, freezing/confiscation of assets that aren't theirs, and can declare anyone anywhere an enemy and propagandize enough in MSM to make the citizens believe Daddy and his bootlickers that Russia, China, Nicaragua, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela are our enemies though not one has attacked us) and will not be arrested or punished in any way simply because of their exalted status. Odd that thousands of people agree with this weird thinking. Out of the ballpark again, Caitlin.
From this point of view one can also see how the power structure actively weeds out people with too much conscience, compassion, creative intelligence, vision, or sense of responsibility. It builds incentives (even outside those of capitalism) towards sociopathy, greed, avarice, and vacuous personalities. And no surprise, most people who give a shit are outside the structure, or held precariously in the middle rungs, unable to do anything.
I can't help but think outlawing anti-genocide protest and speech is actually intended to indiscriminately suppress the conscientious forces in society whose voices inconvenience the power game being played. It reminds me of this quote from John Ehrlichman, one of Nixon's top advisors, about the War On Drugs:
“We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities,”
"We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
I absolutely believe leaders are fully in thrall with Israel for myriad reasons, but I also believe criminalizing criticism of Israel is their attempt to consolidate dominance of their class and character over society and force out people who are more awake.
If you look at this whole combine of capitalism, privilege, Empire, Zionism etc as a virus, it's doing what HIV does, attacking the immune system itself so it can proliferate more, and as result letting in even more unchecked infection. Thinking and caring people are the immune system of our civilization, and when they get shut out (or manipulated into irrelevance) things fall apart dramatically and quickly. When a deadly virus has finally triumphed over the immune system and achieved its goal of saturating the body, it is also the moment when the host dies and the party ends.
For that reason we have to take whatever power back we can to genuine human beings and away from the sick empty vessels, sleepwalking in their numb and violent addictions.
Too many of us still taking authority as truth, and not the other way around. Reversing this is step one in reversing the course we’re on, wrestling back the wheel as you say.
No they don't. We are watching reality devolving into the Jerry Springer show, on purpose. It is a deliberate demoralizing bonanaza. To solve:
To solve: We first need to build a platform of local strength, self-dependence, and resiliency. Once done, and we have a solid foundation from which to stand, from there we begin working on taking back the higher levels: county, state, federal.
The solution is to get local, get self-dependent, get the common unity back in community by building webs of resilience with your neighbors, get control of your school boards, mayors and sherrif's office, and town councils (the last places we still hold all of the cards), get a garden in your lawn no matter how small, a single tomato plant is better than nothing, get a well (water is your most important resource hands down), get ready, get moving, get doing, and, if so inclined, get God.
People, generally speaking, do not want the responsibility of democracy. Democracy is hard work. Most of us would rather delegate it. And, to be fair, most people don’t have enough time to play a meaningful role in a democracy, as, at least here in the U.S., they’re living paycheck to paycheck. There’s a reason that many of those who run things inherited wealth. They had more time. As a child, Donald Trump was driven to school in a limousine. His basic needs have always been met by others — the laborers among us. And, as you say, Caitlin, in addition to that, there’s a strong tendency toward authoritarianism running through the population. It’s not limited to an elevation of our political “leaders.” I see it often on social media. If an author, especially if well-known, says something, it must be right. The reader who takes exception must therefore be wrong. John Locke called this an “appeal to authority.” If you agree with the author (or boss) it enhances your status and even your safety. Nonconformity is risky. Critical thinking obviously doesn’t play a large role in this. Having said all that, I agree with you. It’s a good thing you’re right.
I had to look up Sallust, FF. (One of the many gaps in my education). I recently finished an historical novel about Cicero’s rise to the Roman consulship, “Imperium,” but it didn’t mention Sallust. I think Imperium is the first book in a trilogy, though, so the paths of the two must have crossed later. Very interesting. Human nature doesn’t change.
I hear people say, "We need to get rid of Trump", or "They need to get rid of Netanyahu". What for, so that we can have J.D. Vance or Itamar Ben-Gvir? They are just as bad, and arguably much worse. If the US and Israel had elections today, both countries would reelect their current leaders, and probably by large margins. People need to educate themselves and stop electing these monsters.
“We are led by the least among us – the least intelligent, the least noble, the least visionary. We are led by the least among us and we do not fight back against the dehumanizing values that are handed down as control icons.”
— Terence McKenna.
Yes and they keep being voted in by sleep walkers
Because so many vote as their parents did, even when they see how dreadful the party they helped vote in is killing all progress and conditions while the uber wealthy get wealthier by the hard work of their workers who, in some cases, are on call 24/7.
People no so long ago would strike for better conditions, conditions that were made for all workers. Now our governments, even the so-called progressive ones, are using police - who are meant to serve the community but now beat and seriously injured people for protesting about the things police are now doing to the people they are meant to protect. This is not progress it's regression, our governments are turning us all into Palestinians, except for the countries where the people have come out in force and on strikes. If the workers don't work, the rich don't make profits. The stakes to stop arms deliveries to israhell means less money for arms manufacturers who are always ready to force wars to keep their money rolling in, but these weapons are being used on civilians not armies - do not forget that.
'In our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians'
There is no choice in elections. All make promises to “make healthcare affordable”, “fight corruption”, etc etc etc. There will be no changes in America until corporate and superpac money is against the law. It’s legalized bribery and the government officials who benefit are the only ones who can change it and they never will.
Is it really surprising that England spawned (at least) two degenerate, pirate nations that are now causing all of this?
Like father, like son.
Somehow Canada and New Zealand managed to stay sane.
The dead natives buried under cities and churches and support for israel's genocide beg to differ.
Not really.
Look at how draconian both of their governments were during the covid scamdemic.
And the NZ govt now perpetually kisses the US govt's backside.
The First Nations peoples of Canada may disagree with that statement.
Huh? Sarcasm?
Exactly! Canada is more bound to the Empire than AU.
Some reading up on 5 Eyes is called for before taking your statement seriously much less reinforcing or trying to defend it. Policy positions substantiated and national political v. realpolitik positions need to be clarified, assessed and circumspectly critiqued.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/an-exclusive-club-the-five-countries-that-dont-spy-on-each-other
https://archive.org/details/For_The_Record_78_Interview_with_Christopher_Simpson
Tio Mitchito
TM
Canada, in particular, is fully complicit in the genocide
Ignorance about. Critical thinking skills are lacking.
"Australian police beat a 69 year old woman at an anti-genocide protest so badly that they've broken her spine in FOUR places"
WTF? :(
That's just insane,if I were that lady's family I'd be suing these motherfuckers back to the Stone Age,and demand their immediate arrest and public conviction.The government itself also deserves to be sued,because they permitted and backed this atrocity against a little old lady.She will likely not ever be functional again,and living with disability for the rest of her life.
Those heathens in israhell are the ones who should be sanctioned,and their entire government and military brought before the international courts and tried for crimes against humanity.I am also sick and tired of these people given free reign and carte blanc to do as they please to the people of all the countries surrounding them.And that giving them any semblance of bad press is the worst godawful thing in the history of EVER.They aren't those biblical"chosen ones",those people have been dead for millenia,and don't exist anymore.(I once read somewhere that the Egyptians from the pyramids,Pharaohs and ancient times are a race that is extinct,and the people there now are a completely different race of people.I assume that would have to now be true of most of those ancient races mentioned in the Bible and other ancient texts.)The current occupants of Israel are European,not Middle Eastern.They are white people,not the Middle East people who have been there way longer.So that bullshit of them being"chosen"is absurd.They should be held as accountable as any other country and it is far past the shelf life of feeling sorry for them.
I know it's unpopular to feel this way,but ask me if I care,it shouldn't be okay to openly commit genocide to another group of people no matter who's doing it to whom.Period.
Yes, jamenta, WTF is happening?
If you follow the link on X and read some of the replies you'll spit out your coffee. I had to stop.
There are only 5000 people in the world. They are called Bankers. Everything else is a commodity.
"We’ve got highly qualified leaders working hard". You repeat it several times and each time
I wanted to laugh harder. Or cry, They're all mediocrities who arrived at or were already bent to the tune of malignant narcissism as compensation. And so they manipulate one another and the world.
Morons on my team. We are all Strother Martin now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCbq46sb0sI
I read, maybe three decades ago, an article by a Harvard professor (though I wouldn't trust a Harvard professor today, quite the opposite) who proved that powerful, rich people, especially men, because of their elite position, believe they are free to do anything they want (including rape, genocide, war on sovereign countries, resource theft, murder, freezing/confiscation of assets that aren't theirs, and can declare anyone anywhere an enemy and propagandize enough in MSM to make the citizens believe Daddy and his bootlickers that Russia, China, Nicaragua, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela are our enemies though not one has attacked us) and will not be arrested or punished in any way simply because of their exalted status. Odd that thousands of people agree with this weird thinking. Out of the ballpark again, Caitlin.
From this point of view one can also see how the power structure actively weeds out people with too much conscience, compassion, creative intelligence, vision, or sense of responsibility. It builds incentives (even outside those of capitalism) towards sociopathy, greed, avarice, and vacuous personalities. And no surprise, most people who give a shit are outside the structure, or held precariously in the middle rungs, unable to do anything.
I can't help but think outlawing anti-genocide protest and speech is actually intended to indiscriminately suppress the conscientious forces in society whose voices inconvenience the power game being played. It reminds me of this quote from John Ehrlichman, one of Nixon's top advisors, about the War On Drugs:
“We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities,”
"We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
I absolutely believe leaders are fully in thrall with Israel for myriad reasons, but I also believe criminalizing criticism of Israel is their attempt to consolidate dominance of their class and character over society and force out people who are more awake.
If you look at this whole combine of capitalism, privilege, Empire, Zionism etc as a virus, it's doing what HIV does, attacking the immune system itself so it can proliferate more, and as result letting in even more unchecked infection. Thinking and caring people are the immune system of our civilization, and when they get shut out (or manipulated into irrelevance) things fall apart dramatically and quickly. When a deadly virus has finally triumphed over the immune system and achieved its goal of saturating the body, it is also the moment when the host dies and the party ends.
For that reason we have to take whatever power back we can to genuine human beings and away from the sick empty vessels, sleepwalking in their numb and violent addictions.
Love the bit about HIV..I might steal that, if I may.
Too many of us still taking authority as truth, and not the other way around. Reversing this is step one in reversing the course we’re on, wrestling back the wheel as you say.
No they don't. We are watching reality devolving into the Jerry Springer show, on purpose. It is a deliberate demoralizing bonanaza. To solve:
To solve: We first need to build a platform of local strength, self-dependence, and resiliency. Once done, and we have a solid foundation from which to stand, from there we begin working on taking back the higher levels: county, state, federal.
The solution is to get local, get self-dependent, get the common unity back in community by building webs of resilience with your neighbors, get control of your school boards, mayors and sherrif's office, and town councils (the last places we still hold all of the cards), get a garden in your lawn no matter how small, a single tomato plant is better than nothing, get a well (water is your most important resource hands down), get ready, get moving, get doing, and, if so inclined, get God.
Propaganda has succeeded in preventing this. Everyone seems to only care about themselves or their ‘tribe’ which was formed by that propaganda.
People, generally speaking, do not want the responsibility of democracy. Democracy is hard work. Most of us would rather delegate it. And, to be fair, most people don’t have enough time to play a meaningful role in a democracy, as, at least here in the U.S., they’re living paycheck to paycheck. There’s a reason that many of those who run things inherited wealth. They had more time. As a child, Donald Trump was driven to school in a limousine. His basic needs have always been met by others — the laborers among us. And, as you say, Caitlin, in addition to that, there’s a strong tendency toward authoritarianism running through the population. It’s not limited to an elevation of our political “leaders.” I see it often on social media. If an author, especially if well-known, says something, it must be right. The reader who takes exception must therefore be wrong. John Locke called this an “appeal to authority.” If you agree with the author (or boss) it enhances your status and even your safety. Nonconformity is risky. Critical thinking obviously doesn’t play a large role in this. Having said all that, I agree with you. It’s a good thing you’re right.
Sallust taught us that, while humans say they want liberty, what they really want are kinder masters.
Perfectly put
I had to look up Sallust, FF. (One of the many gaps in my education). I recently finished an historical novel about Cicero’s rise to the Roman consulship, “Imperium,” but it didn’t mention Sallust. I think Imperium is the first book in a trilogy, though, so the paths of the two must have crossed later. Very interesting. Human nature doesn’t change.
We need to figure out how to dismantle this system and come up with something much, much better. And we should take a look at what BRICS is doing.
I hear people say, "We need to get rid of Trump", or "They need to get rid of Netanyahu". What for, so that we can have J.D. Vance or Itamar Ben-Gvir? They are just as bad, and arguably much worse. If the US and Israel had elections today, both countries would reelect their current leaders, and probably by large margins. People need to educate themselves and stop electing these monsters.
Our rulers are drunk with power and they are driving under the influence. “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk” applies to them as well.
And same people don't ask to be driven by drunk drivers. And yet they can't seem to find any sober ones.
*sane* not same
w t f that woman beaten to broken spine. This is sick. The point is fear.
Another spot-on assessment of where we are now - a precarious place. Thank you CJ. for this brilliant piece.
Yeah…