There is so much intelligence and resulting pointers in today's writings (and even more again if you want to search for it), which should allow every reader to see how much of what has been written applies to them. Some through a lack of interest or understanding as to what is happening around them; some through the leading of a busy or complicated lifestyle; others through excessive stress ......but the majority through apathy.
Clever stuff, Caitlin.
Just the pharmaceutical example given is enough to make you think, but if you are able, read it three times so that the hidden messages (not so hidden to some) will emerge and smack you in the face.
There is a lot in this one, folks. Digest it. If it doesn’t apply to you in any of the ways it could, realistically should, then your environment is totally isolated from what we all know as the real world,…….2024.
And yet, Caitlin, the sure mark of insanity is denial of it. So for the time being at least, your writing, and my reading of your writing, are marks of our sanity. And that should get me through the weekend at least! Best to you.
Check out Dr. Gabor Maté - very helpful, clear, experienced, bright - doctor from Vancouver, Canada who has written a handful of clear, research- and experienced- based books. He has lent his wise view about the Israeli genocide of Gazans on youtube from the perspective of one who survived the WW2 Holocaust in Hungary. I highly recommend his book entitled "The Myth of Normal."
Given the news sources I access, Palestinian voices I've not quoted are those busily dodging bullets and bombs and apparently don't have the emotional oases to proselytize us westerners to bds movements. Perhaps, we westerners are soaked in pictures of dead Palestinian babies, blood covered 8 year old Palestinian boys, happy two year old Palestinians girls before the sadistic Israeli's shot them. Seeing these horrendous images and becoming anguished, frustrated, enraged at the perpetrators - Israelis and USA - that our immediate response - is not to hit pause and find a Palestinian to ask them about their opinions re bds so we can quote them - but instead to raise cane with the perpetrators - as in almost daily emails and calls to Biden, Senators and Representatives. Raise cain in comment sections and with like minded friends. An instinctive and moral impulse to stop the perpetrators, to stop the genocide. It's called intervention. To protect the Palestinians, the victims. You bet I value Finkelstein (who lost family in the Nazi genocide of Jews)as I do Chomsky and Pape. To understand a culture (the perpetrators') do you go to a foreigner or to one who knows it from the inside and has had a revelation about it, has gained an objective view of that culture? Absolutely, I will go to one who fell in the gutter, had an epiphany, a change of heart, a change of will and seeing. For there is great understanding there. Whether the gutter had been full flush alcoholic stupor or killing a human (Palestinian, Black, Indigenous, Asian).
Ela - Clearly, you've decided you know who and what I am, what I think and what I feel and what motivates me. You see me as identifying with the Israelis. You see Finkelstein, Pape and Chomsky also in black and white terms. Typical gringa. A typical sponge of USA domestic propaganda. Contrary to what you think, actually, I have wanted to understand the why of one who becomes an Islamic terrorist. It is comparable of wanting to continue reading Beloved by Morrison. No, I never perceived that "why" as being their enviousness of the USA. Not even one whit. Without understanding, wounds are never deeply healed nor are adequate other anti-dotes found and addressed. And, surprisingly for you to see, apparently, is I never decided or even had the slightest thought of a making a "reformed" Israeli. Others never "re-form" a soul. Such arrogance to think so. Like an alcoholic who hits bottom and has insight that hir way must be surrendered by her own lights for a new birth to evolve does a person change. That nadir point of reckoning that the old way must be released. That is deeply personal and deeply intimate and always a personal choice and desire. Neither you, nor I, nor a Palestinian can make another person "re-form." This is my last response to you Ela.
Here in the US, the Zionist-controlled media only allows Jewish critics. The antiwar Left is, for the most part, controlled opposition. Notice the "We'll Take It From Here " attitude. As long as Arabs and Muslims (like BLM), keep their mouths shut and obediently do as their handlers tell them to, they get support. Notice how it changes when they express agency and deviate from the Marxissist script. Notice what happens when their adherence to their faith contradicts the edicts of Leftist doctrine. No longer are they easily controlled pets who exist to prop up the virtuous image of their handlers. First, they will be gently nudged with, "Now, now, dear. That's not what we say. Don't make anyone uncomfortable..." If that doesn't work, the claws come out and accusations of "Uncle Tom!!!" "Fascist!!!!" come next, followed by excommunication and a smear campaign. The condescending attitude of "The grownups are talking ", has driven me away from the Left. Arab American people need to break away and stop relying on Marxissists to define a movement that ultimately dismisses them.
I watched "Where Olive Trees Weep" today. It is a documentary about the suffering that has been imposed on Palestinians by Israeli colonization. It is also about trying to understand people. We will never end any of this violence and hate if we do not first work on understanding.
“The system is working fine; if you can’t handle it there’s something wrong with you.”
This is what the capitalists want you to think. They put all the onus on We the Workers so they can keep their corrupt and crazy-making system the way it is. The solution is to not cooperate and work hard to tear down the system, driving the capitalists crazy along the way. Balance is maintained in the universe.
I like your descriptions Revolution, but not sure about your suggestions as t how to do it? Not sure how you can tear down the system and pay the rent at the same time... that's a ;poser...
Don't pay Tax. You'll end up homeless and in jail but that's the problem,and me too,we are all so comfortable none of us wants to be first storming the barricades. You don't pay Tax,you go to jail and lose your home,and me,they stop my state pension,my only source of income so I starve and lose my home too. Like someone said,you have to break eggs to make an omelette
The omelette analogy says it all. We either "stay comfortable" and cooperate with a system we hate or we break some eggs. The end results could be worth it, but we'll never know if we don't at least try.
DONT overlook a book written in the 1930s by the brilliant Sinclair Lewis....who must well have seen into western future when he wrote: "It Cant Happen Here".....about the rise of a flag waving bible toting American president who brings fascism to the land of the 'free'...
"Written during the Great Depression, when the country was largely oblivious to Hitler’s aggression, it juxtaposes sharp political satire with the chillingly realistic rise of a president who becomes a Dictator to Save the nation from welfare cheats, sex, crime, and a liberal press."
I'm always in awe of your knowledge and insight, rarely have anything to add. But I do strongly think more free time and money wouldn't do much for anyone as the problems go much deeper. People need to wake up and take responsibility for creating lives that honor their gifts, values and deepest needs. They need to reorder their priorities and spend time examining their lives, learning who they are, how they've been wounded and what drives them, then seek support for whatever healing and personal change is needed. They need to create a buffer of sanity around them, connect to others, admit and challenge their addictions to everything from food to technology. They need to come to grips with life's biggest challenges and be willing to answer life's biggest questions about purpose and meaning. They need community but also need autonomy and realistic, independent thinking based on the highest level of self-interest. I've managed for most of my life to remain mainstream but also carve out my own path, one where I need a minimal income because I've always sought happiness and security in ways that don't require money. I've also been realistic about what I can afford, including how many children I could support. I believe it's possible for most of us to create lives outside of the system. There certainly are tremendous victimizing forces out there and once we admit that, the important question is "so what do I do about this" and taking responsibility for freeing oneself. I believe it can be done because I've done it ever since I was 20 and realized how incredibly fucked up this world was and that it was up to me to resist the bullshit or I'd end up as miserable as everyone I saw around me.
Strongly agree that a lot of inner and outer work is necessary to truly thrive and be deeply happy in life, strongly disagree that people having more money and free time "wouldn't do much". If their most foundational needs aren't being met they stand no chance of moving up the hierarchy of needs toward self-actualization. Basic material wellbeing for everyone would be a huge step forward toward mental health and happiness.
Covid response serves as a good example of what happens when we give bags of cash out to everyone. Nobody wanted to do the shitty jobs. Unfortunately, we need people to do shitty jobs right now. It’s possible that AI and robotics results in an extreme shift in labor needs and perhaps then your idea could work. Although, I suspect most people wouldn’t suddenly become great artists or scientists but instead would blow it on booze and hookers. Welcome to idiocracy.
Makes you wonder why? Even the rich don't want to do the shitty jobs. Maybe the shitty jobs are the problem?? I might be going out on a limb here.
Most ordinary people are not as lazy as the rich assholes living in their multi-million dollar yachts want you to believe they are. In fact, most poor Americans work very hard every day, many days a week. Unlike the obscenely rich.
Human beings are innately curious, innately want to do things in the world, and given a healthy environment for them to live and work in, the majority will act creatively and be productive.
However, when you treat the majority of humans like they are plantation cotton picker slaves. When all their daily labor is funnelled up to a handful of obscenely wealthy, sociopathic individuals, and these same humans - working the cotton fields every single day, only have huts to go back to - after their daily back breaking labor - then yes, that's when the booze and hookers come in.
Unfortunately, shitty jobs are there because they are needed for now, it’s not to torture people needlessly. Jobs exist as a need and you get that job either because nobody else can do it (skill) or nobody wants to (shitty). When I walk around a Walmart I’m reminded of my pessimistic outlook that people would not use gifted money wisely.
When I say shitty jobs, I mean jobs where people are abusively treated by their employers, are not being paid well enough to live comfortably, or raise a family, and do not have any job security to speak of.
From my experience growing up in the US, at least in the 70s and 80s, many Americans were willing to work jobs, as long as some amount of job security and decent compensation was provided.
But today, in the US - that is no longer the case. The corporations want everything, funnel all the profits up to a few obscenely rich Americans, and given nothing back to the ordinary working American on the front line. The current American work environment is that of a Cotton Plantation Farm - where ordinary workers are treated like cotton picking slaves who are easily expendable and easily fired, are not provided decent wages, even if they're doing good work. Meanwhile the corporations are making record profits and the 1% Americans who own the corporations have more wealth than the bottom 90% of Americans combined. That's what makes them "shitty jobs".
Yeah, a free ride for the rich, and rugged individualism for the poor working slobs at the bottom. Just pull yourself up by your own bootstraps! You can do it!
What's ironic, is at least in Feudal times, there was a caste system in place, so even though you had a few obscenely rich "Lords" in their castles living the easy life, while the rest of the serfs labored away daily in squalid, rat infested towns - at least those poor working stiffs believed that it was their lot to be poor, that that's just the way it was - the caste system you were born into. And they weren't themselves BLAMED for their abject poverty.
Now, in 2024 Amerika, on top of being a working stiff 24/7, trying to pay the rent and rising food costs and gas and car insurance, not to mention the extortionist health care system in the US - you are suppose to somehow be responsible for the system that is crushing your soul every living day.
Caitlin Johnstone then writes clearly and incisively here:
"A stressed out and depressed person who’s struggling to get by isn’t going to have the time and energy to research the abusive nature of the systems they live under and form a revolutionary worldview. If they do somehow find the time and energy, they’re not going to have the inner clarity necessary to sort out fact from fiction, and often stumble into rabbit holes of conspiratorial power-serving propaganda operations like QAnon and Russiagate which appeal to their cortisol-soaked consciousness without ever actually challenging status quo politics or ruling power structures."
Now on top of an ordinary peasant struggling to get by, you now have the additional onus that it's YOUR FAULT that you are poor, that it's YOUR RESPONSIBILITY that you're being crushed by the system you find yourself in. That not only are you living the life of a Feudal peasant, but you also are to blame for your Feudal peasantry. Or in other words, ultimately it's your fault that your life is one of poverty and mental illness ... you have no one to blame but yourself! It's your responsibility to get yourself out of it!
This is the kind of "guilt shaming" one can easily observe from the Elite class of sociopathic assholes now running the country into the ground - who want to blame everyone BUT THEMSELVES for the state of this sick society and sick system the majority of Americans our now subject to daily.
You want to know what the problem is right now with the social system in America and Europe? It isn't the working poor, it's the sociopathic obscenely rich assholes at the top.
The soon to be trillionaires who tell everyone else it's your fucking fault you're poor. It's YOUR FAULT you're being exploited ruthlessly every day. And that you just need to be more responsible and work harder, and soon you can be rich just like us!
What a load of self justifying crap! What a guilt trip is laid on ordinary working people!
Dear jamenta,I'm not disagreeing with any of your words but can I add a history insight. But first,I am in UK,I have seen online scenes of people WITH JOBS,living in tents on the streets of some US cities. It's not so bad as that here in UK yet. But for decades the political administrations have been steadily eroding away all our institutions and the aim is to Americanize our society. Which is not good news,as your post delineates. Now,about serfs in medieval England. I'll stick with England as the pattern diverged from the European model quite early on and of course serfdom in Russia was only I think abolished in the early 20th century. In England it was more complex than simple versions of history tell. Yes,a Lord owned vast acres. He may turn have allocated smaller areas of vast acres to under Lord's who pledged allegiance to him. So the common people could be serfs,cottars,villains (from which the word villain is derived!) and some other terms I forget. Now,it gets more complicated. Some serfs (cottars) actually legally owned their hovel (it's now that cute thatched cottage worth 2million),some OWNED a couple of acres of land,some had nothing but then everyone could graze a cow on the common land and keep a few chickens so they all scraped by. But of course,their bodies were the property of the land holder (in theory the King OWNED all the land and he could take it off a disloyal Lord),they had to stay in the village and work the Lord's land as his wealth came from the harvest. But this was not as onerous as it sounds. For a start under the then universal Roman church there was a Religious Holiday a Saints Day or such every week practically. And by tradition no one worked on those days,like in parts of Southern Europe today. Then you had set days you had to work for the Lord. You might have to put in two days a week,but the rest of the days you could work on your own strip of land,or you could not work at all,or if you were a totally landless one you could put in a days work for your neighbour who did have a strip of land or even an acre or two and he would pay you in money,because he was allowed to sell his own harvest so long as he paid a toll to the Lord. And the canniest peasants were not slow to work out how to play the system. If you really resented being owned you could run away and if you could stay free and uncaught for one year and one day you were legally a FREE MAN. The best way to achieve this was to run to a town or even a city, London for example. You did not want to spend a year living abjectly in the woods getting rained on. Far from being a captivity,the urban place meant freedom. You hoped to impress a Master Craftsman with your energy and initiative so he would take you on as an apprentice then as there were good support systems in towns after that year you were not only free but you had a trade. I wanted to explain that counter intuitive as it seems to us now,then cities represented freedom and opportunity. The serf/peasant situation in England did diverge quite early from the more oppressive model that persisted in Europe and Russia much longer. It's sad that our whole systems have been perverted and changed to a bad use.
My original point is even though serfs scraped by during Feudalism, the caste system that they were born into - and most stayed within their entire lives - this is indisputably true historically, they would not be blamed for their CLASS - because it was socially accepted that if you were born a serf, you would likely remain a serf your entire life. There is a very good documentary on this subject I watched a few years ago, but I no longer have link to it.
But my point here is, in today's modern economic system, not only do you struggle as a type of modern day feudal serf (in many ways) but now you no longer have the social CASTE system that you can point to for your poverty. Instead you are now PERSONALLY blamed for your poverty because of your own failings. Like you're just a lazy bum, or you're not smart, or you didn't work hard enough. And you are expected to raise yourself out of poverty through a sheer act of will, lots of hard work. And if you didn't make it, oh well ... Tough luck!
But these are all lies. In fact in the last few decades wealth mobility in the US has gone down, the number of poor Americans rising to the Middle Class or beyond is lower than it has ever been, and it is ALSO true going the other way economically: that is, the number of very Rich Americans are now less likely to lose their wealth. And a great deal of the wealth at the very top is inherited wealth, wealth that the sons of daughters of the wealthy never worked a day in their lives to achieve.
The very idea of a meritocracy in the US is a myth. The gross wealth inequality that we now have in the US, greater than the wealth inequality of the Robber Baron gilded age of the 20s, where the top 1% of Americans now control more wealth than the bottom 90% of Americans COMBINED demonstrates that there is NO equal playing field when it comes to the American economy. That ordinary working Americans are being exploited ruthlessly for their labor in an extremely immoral and unfair rigged economic system. A rigged economic system that serves only a relatively handful of obscenely rich Americans.
Yes jamenta,I actually totally agree with you and worryingly our society is being made that way,but so far we are not so far down that dreadful road. And bringing back Serfdom IS their aim. There is still some leeway left but new laws reduce the wriggle room all the time but under such harmless sounding reasons as hygiene,animal welfare or equality. And infrastructure. That weasel world can be invoked to justify unwelcome development or to ban perfectly acceptable activities. It's a very useful concept. Only in England,at least,life in the village wasnt quite so onerous as Hollywood tells us,in fact the onset of the industrial revolution was fought with a ferocity greater than we do now. (Blood in the Machine by Brian Merchant on Audible).
I am impressed and enlightened by your assessments and conclusions. Now, how do we use this as hammers and saws so we can build the structure of society to love and share intelligence, intellect , and righteous cohabitation. I am so ready. 😄👫
When I worked with people who had physical and mental disabilities, their biggest problem was often that they didn't have enough money. People with disabilities who also have money can afford all the things that will help them. Like wheelchairs, an accessible place to live, healthy food etc. Of course, people with disabilities have issues that won't be helped by money, but money and free time can help people to get going on some basic issues like eating and getting around.
CJ->"We see this dynamic playing out in real time in the so-called “psychedelic renaissance”, with billionaires working to get psychedelic substances legalized not so that human consciousness can be liberated from its illusions and allow us to achieve our full potential, but so that compounds can be patented and prescribed for mental disorders in the same way as other substances in the pharmaceutical industry."
Thank you Caitlin. That explains why there is this sudden interest in psychedelics (including research) and hyping up of beneficial effects. I couldn't understand why after 70+ years of the existence of psychedelics, all-of-a-sudden there was this renewed interest in them. The fact that it it furthers the goals of Capitalism and the Oligarchy and Corporations (as gleamed from your article) now makes perfect sense to me.
Look up John Hopkins research on LSD and mushrooms for the reason for how they "cure" depressed, PTSD and anxiety. They work by increasing suggestibility. Just the thing to help out with the MSM propaganda. Legalizing them will allow people to use them out of a clinical setting where people will be exposed to the media. Mind control at its finest. I'm sure that pharma is working on a better version as well.
I really appreciate what you're doing here. The way you and the great Chris Hedges describe our dystopia in plain English has very much helped me health-wise.
I labour for a living, a very hard job - had a lot of misdirected sadness and anger in me. Visiting your pages has helped me focus on my creative side, and I think I've helped a few people as well.
To anyone reading this, I wish you success, peace and Olympic-sized pools of time to find the best in yourself and to inspire those around you.
The politically correct thing is, of course, to say he was writing about the USSR. Whereas all he could know about it was the propaganda of the times, and it was expedient, likely even mandatory, to use that as a cover.
Fortunately for us he's dead so you don't need to give him a penny and since all his works are in the public domain you can read any of his work without even benefitting his estate.
Lots of people who have done terrible things have also had important and worthwhile, even beautiful, ideas. Humans are complex creatures in that way (and simple in others).
One of the most challenging and intellectually clear-sighted things I've read over the last decade is Tommy Curry's defence of Eldridge Cleaver's writings in Curry's barnstorming 'The Man Not'. Cleaver understood the pathologies of systematic racism better than the vast majority of writers. He was also a seriously shitty human being.
Yes, he was no angel. Inspite of all that, he has contributed much to society. If you read all his diaries and notes (not just his books), you get a better idea of his evolution throughout his life. He was a different man towards the later years of his life (of course, that doesn't mean the rest of his behavior can be excused).
Yes, his essays and journalism are brilliant. I long ago learned to judge the art separately from the artist, and each on their own terms. I no longer even remember how to not do that anymore.
You are more evolved than I am. I constantly struggle to not let my biases about a person interfere/"cloud my mind" when trying to make an objective analysis of that person. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don't.
Practice my friend, practice. One standard, for me, is whether that person is still living, and my money would go to support them. If they are, then, although I may appreciate their art, I won’t support them monetarily. If not, then it is much easier to make the distinction.
The hardest for me to make that distinction is when it’s the person’s actual voice.
I agree that the propaganda, lies and manipulations are making us crazy. Which does benefit those with money and power. More workers. More antidepressants and valium sold to numb people. More money for the pill pushers. But even when we don't go crazy from being propagandized, we can feel crazy from the way the leaders are supporting genocide, supporting Israel in it's colonialist greed, pushing a proxy war in Ukraine where many Ukrainian people die and many Russians too, but not soldiers from NATO countries, not Americans or Canadians or Australians unless they choose to go to Ukraine and fight. Just looking at what is actually happening when we can do that, is enough to make any person anxious, depressed and "crazy".
The definition of capitalism is the powerful and wealthy organising society efficiently so that the vast majority of wealth flows towards the very top while enough is left for the rest to prevent rebellion. With of of course the middle class being given enough of th share to ensure that whilst there might be discontent that will not rise to disorder. But Karl Marx observed -wrongly thinking the necessary basic education of the working class in an industrial systems so that they could operate in an industrial society would led them to become revolutionaries, he got most of the rest right. That while large parts of the the middle class becoming dysfunctionally crazy would be a disaster for capitalism , the working and unemployed classes suffering from depression and anxiety is no real problem. More and bigger psychiatric hospitals providing there are enough workers left to fill al the necessary positions is fine . Especially if most the patients are actually unemployed. Capitalism is really efficient . It is also really heartless.
>>"The definition of capitalism is the powerful and wealthy organising society efficiently so that the vast majority of wealth flows towards the very top while enough is left for the rest to prevent rebellion."
But, Chang and Jack Lomax is there enough left to trickle down to the masses to prevent rebellion? That is why as Caitlin points out that we have to be made into lazy Zombies.
That's the way the (capitalist) system has been organized - to satisfy/meet a level that will just about prevent rebellions (eg. starvation/famine related rebellions, etc.). It is a balancing act. Sometimes the oligarchs go a little overboard and then have to pacify the crowds. Other times, they are able to maintain the illusions and prevent rebellions.
If you look at the history of rebellions in the US (especially the history of unions and union busting in the US), you can begin to understand some of the different strategies the Power Elite employ in order to maintain this balance/status quo.
BTW, don't buy into any "Trickle-Down Economics" theories. IMO, the Capitalist system seems to work rather on "Trickle-Up" theories - i.e. the 1% keep sucking-up everything they possibly can from those under them (like an upside-down suction funnel).
"Trickle-Down Economics is when the rich piss on you and tell you it's raining."
(and many people apparently believe this gaslighting unfortunately)
Yes, though sometimes miscalculations in policies, power-struggles amongst the elites, mishandling of climate change related catastrophies (eg. Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, etc.), ignorance of the relationships between the ecology/environment and people (due to the profit motives of corporations), and high levels of indifference to the plights of ordinary people can have unintended consequences and bring about many such calamities within the imperialist empire itself.
To get down to the mundane, I still haven't been able to crack the mystery of the missing "Like" icon - in spite of your help. Thanks anyway, you tried.
I had this problem a few weeks ago Indu. What fixed it is I cleared out my web browser cache completely. Got rid of all cookies, Internet history etc. I know it can be a hassle, but it worked for me.
I can help if you provide more feedback about your "Like issue".
(1) Did you try a dummy/second account on another device?
(2) Did you try signing onto Substack onto your original account on a friend's computer (Windows/MacOS/iOS/android)?
(3) What browser are you using? Your issue seems to have happened on a particular day (you can find out which by going to your Substack likes (or emails)). What changed in your environment/usage when it stopped working? Knowing that, it may help you backtrack to the cause behind the issue.
(4) Is it just this (Caitlin's) Substack or does it happen on others too?
and if the balance gets distorted (declining efficiency, too much wealth to the top, not leaving enough for the rest), it conjures up the fascists and/or war. the current empire's balancing act needs perpetual war.
"The definition of capitalism is the powerful and wealthy organising society efficiently so that the vast majority of wealth flows towards the very top while enough is left for the rest to prevent rebellion." I often see this written. But I live in capitalist Japan and it isn't that way.
Gen Z's just want to stay home, on Ma and Pa's dime--kill zombies on X_box, and have sex with like minded beautiful peeps. No wonder we who sacrificed for love, success, and brotherhood were willing to die so our kids can ignore equity, propriety, and good order.
I disagree - based on my personal observations (you can call them anecdotal evidence if you like).
Gen Z has been screwed by the Capitalist system (which includes all kinds of debt). The environment is a lot harder for them than in the past for previous generations. How much have you interacted with Gen Zers? I find many to be very hard working but still struggling. Also, as is evidenced by the Pro-Palestine protests, etc. - many GenZ are showing that they are a force for good and are trying to find a way to fight back against the system.
People can "learn" helplessness the way they learn anything else and in this case the younger generation is being taught not to expect too much. This is not an accident, but an intentional downsizing of their expectations. The only way they can break out of the limitations that this system imposes on them is to join the sociopathy and become the type of people who exploit them. Most young people are better--and smarter-- than that. My experience is that many of them are quite good at connecting the dots and quite ready to call bullshit. Let us hope that they become politically involved while at the same time holding on to their ideals. I find that many Gen Z'ers have a true moral compass. My generation (Boomers) can go to hell for all I care. They are profoundly ignorant and have a sense of entitlement that disgusts me. They live in a state of dense illusion
I agree. If you observe "rich, entitled" kids, you will see a certain kind of behavior. If you observe many kids from working class (and immigrant) families, you will see a different kind of behavior/value-system.
There are too many variables to make a simple generalization about a very diverse group such as Gen-Zers.
'Technological innovations could have been used to liberate people from the need to work and given us an abundance of leisure time...'
One important thing is to make sure that our system not only does the above, but also fairly pays our workers despite the reduction in work hours.
Because in our current ultra-capitalist system, employers will gladly utilize such technological innovations if it means they can pay workers even lesser amounts in order to further increase their profits.
In the case of employers trying to get rich, that doesn't mean they should treat their workers poorly by paying them less than the adequate amount.
In general, I belief that while getting rich and accumulating wealth isn't wrong per se, those doing so should have a responsibility to use a part of their wealth to help others who are less privileged.
And we should eradicate such systems and ways of thinking such as the 'survival of the fittest' rules, as they are unjust and inhumane towards many people in our society.
What when they say "survival of the fittest" it means: only the best criminal minds will procreate? Or does it mean, if you're born a Senator's son, you won't die in Ukraine? Trying to understand - what it all means. Help me John! What if the only reason we exist is because of tubes. Things go in at the top of our tubes, and then out the other. And that's why we exist? But why then did little tubes evolve along with big tubes? And didn't the dinosaurs have even bigger tubes? They should have survived in my opinion.
"What when they say "survival of the fittest" it means: only the best criminal minds will procreate?" Criminal perhaps, but legally ?????... Example: When the Titanic sunk it was rumored that a few men dressed as women in order to take a place on lifeboats. Although as reprehensible as it gets, and forgive me for choosing such an undignified example, but who do you think procreated afterwards, .... the brave who went down with the ship, or the men who survived because of fake identities?
Nobody said the 'Survival of the Fittest' was an example humans should emulate, but that it is a principle factor of survival in nature... and unless humans were dropped off an alien ship, humans are also part of nature's natural selection processes. Nature has been successful in establishing life in billions of species within competitive jungles. We're just part of that process. Whether or not we recognize that our intellect will potentially lead us to extinction is another matter entirely.
I see what you're saying here Turcot. But to me, the term 'Survival of the Fittest" can be used to almost define any event, in some way or another. We can in fact, use your ingenious Titanic example, and turn it on its head definitionally: suppose the progeny of those who did die - sink with the ship, inherited immense wealth immediately afterward, and then survived for many long long years, which they would not have - if their wealthy Dads, in the 1st class cabins did survive after all? But the progeny of those dressed as women, the majority of them never had children because they were cowards, or were not even interested in having families?
So to me, this "Survival of the Fittest" definition can just as well be replaced with "Dumb Luck". If anything, one could easily argue Dumb Luck has guided the evolution of humankind more than any kind of loose definition of "Survival of the Fittest" - whatever that phrase may actually mean, and you get all sorts of weird, often irrational explanations for it. So why isn't Dumb Luck in the biology text books??
I don't know John. I may just be bat shit crazy instead. But then again, for how many centuries did humans insist that a virgin could give birth to a God? It's not like in every human milieu we don't got some self-appointed Authorities in charge telling everyone else what they must believe, or else!! Hell, do we even know if the Big Bang even happened now? I've been instructed this was the case all my life - and then the James Webb telescope came along ...
Haha! you make good points, especially when referring to God's Mother. I can only add one comment to that scenario... which is: "AS IF"..... Yea... Lady Luck has been watching out for me for a long time. As far as God is concerned, after entering a convent for 4 years run by Catholic nuns starting at 7 years of age, I was unlucky enough to have received genes that rebelled against all heavenly tenets, and so my convent days were filled with enough Mea Culpas to freeze every free brain cell my body dared to reveal... Later it was the Jesuits' turn to get a stab at indoctrination, .... then the 'Brothers of Christian Schools, and finally, at 15, Darwin did his part in saving my sanity.... .
hehe! Thanks for sharing your story. It immediately reminded me of a Philosophy professor I once had many moons ago in college. Professor Norena? He gave an entire course on Aristotle's philosophical works. I remember one day, the professor announced to the class, that the two happiest moments in his life were: 1) When he first entered the seminary to become a Jesuit priest he was ecstatic - and 2) He was ecstatic, the day he left the Jesuit priesthood.
Man that guy was smart. May have been the damn smartest professor I ever had the privilege to listen to. Becoming a Jesuit priest is no small matter. But glad to hear your sanity was saved!
Wow! What a "bang on"post. I was just saying to my husband today how many people are doing outlandish, crazy, awful things. And then I said what can we expect when our "leaders" are crazy.
Your articles are some of the clearest, simplest, and concise ones on the illusion of capitalism that I’ve read
Thanks!
You took the words right out of my mouth.
Couldn't agree you more, Evan. Thinking material.
There is so much intelligence and resulting pointers in today's writings (and even more again if you want to search for it), which should allow every reader to see how much of what has been written applies to them. Some through a lack of interest or understanding as to what is happening around them; some through the leading of a busy or complicated lifestyle; others through excessive stress ......but the majority through apathy.
Clever stuff, Caitlin.
Just the pharmaceutical example given is enough to make you think, but if you are able, read it three times so that the hidden messages (not so hidden to some) will emerge and smack you in the face.
There is a lot in this one, folks. Digest it. If it doesn’t apply to you in any of the ways it could, realistically should, then your environment is totally isolated from what we all know as the real world,…….2024.
I think that it's not just the capitalist system that's the problem it's the patriarchy that constantly feeds it https://jowaller.substack.com/p/its-not-individual-evil-men-who-are
And yet, Caitlin, the sure mark of insanity is denial of it. So for the time being at least, your writing, and my reading of your writing, are marks of our sanity. And that should get me through the weekend at least! Best to you.
like
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Feral... and the well-adjusted to a sick society are ........ take a guess...
Check out Dr. Gabor Maté - very helpful, clear, experienced, bright - doctor from Vancouver, Canada who has written a handful of clear, research- and experienced- based books. He has lent his wise view about the Israeli genocide of Gazans on youtube from the perspective of one who survived the WW2 Holocaust in Hungary. I highly recommend his book entitled "The Myth of Normal."
Gabor Mate is terrific. So is his son, Aaron.
And also Dr Gabor’s other son, Daniel, who co-wrote The Myth of Normal. These three are bastions of sanity.
You mean "Buzzsaw" Aaron Mate!
Given the news sources I access, Palestinian voices I've not quoted are those busily dodging bullets and bombs and apparently don't have the emotional oases to proselytize us westerners to bds movements. Perhaps, we westerners are soaked in pictures of dead Palestinian babies, blood covered 8 year old Palestinian boys, happy two year old Palestinians girls before the sadistic Israeli's shot them. Seeing these horrendous images and becoming anguished, frustrated, enraged at the perpetrators - Israelis and USA - that our immediate response - is not to hit pause and find a Palestinian to ask them about their opinions re bds so we can quote them - but instead to raise cane with the perpetrators - as in almost daily emails and calls to Biden, Senators and Representatives. Raise cain in comment sections and with like minded friends. An instinctive and moral impulse to stop the perpetrators, to stop the genocide. It's called intervention. To protect the Palestinians, the victims. You bet I value Finkelstein (who lost family in the Nazi genocide of Jews)as I do Chomsky and Pape. To understand a culture (the perpetrators') do you go to a foreigner or to one who knows it from the inside and has had a revelation about it, has gained an objective view of that culture? Absolutely, I will go to one who fell in the gutter, had an epiphany, a change of heart, a change of will and seeing. For there is great understanding there. Whether the gutter had been full flush alcoholic stupor or killing a human (Palestinian, Black, Indigenous, Asian).
Ela - Clearly, you've decided you know who and what I am, what I think and what I feel and what motivates me. You see me as identifying with the Israelis. You see Finkelstein, Pape and Chomsky also in black and white terms. Typical gringa. A typical sponge of USA domestic propaganda. Contrary to what you think, actually, I have wanted to understand the why of one who becomes an Islamic terrorist. It is comparable of wanting to continue reading Beloved by Morrison. No, I never perceived that "why" as being their enviousness of the USA. Not even one whit. Without understanding, wounds are never deeply healed nor are adequate other anti-dotes found and addressed. And, surprisingly for you to see, apparently, is I never decided or even had the slightest thought of a making a "reformed" Israeli. Others never "re-form" a soul. Such arrogance to think so. Like an alcoholic who hits bottom and has insight that hir way must be surrendered by her own lights for a new birth to evolve does a person change. That nadir point of reckoning that the old way must be released. That is deeply personal and deeply intimate and always a personal choice and desire. Neither you, nor I, nor a Palestinian can make another person "re-form." This is my last response to you Ela.
Here in the US, the Zionist-controlled media only allows Jewish critics. The antiwar Left is, for the most part, controlled opposition. Notice the "We'll Take It From Here " attitude. As long as Arabs and Muslims (like BLM), keep their mouths shut and obediently do as their handlers tell them to, they get support. Notice how it changes when they express agency and deviate from the Marxissist script. Notice what happens when their adherence to their faith contradicts the edicts of Leftist doctrine. No longer are they easily controlled pets who exist to prop up the virtuous image of their handlers. First, they will be gently nudged with, "Now, now, dear. That's not what we say. Don't make anyone uncomfortable..." If that doesn't work, the claws come out and accusations of "Uncle Tom!!!" "Fascist!!!!" come next, followed by excommunication and a smear campaign. The condescending attitude of "The grownups are talking ", has driven me away from the Left. Arab American people need to break away and stop relying on Marxissists to define a movement that ultimately dismisses them.
I watched "Where Olive Trees Weep" today. It is a documentary about the suffering that has been imposed on Palestinians by Israeli colonization. It is also about trying to understand people. We will never end any of this violence and hate if we do not first work on understanding.
Indeed Ela,
Indicative of true and completely and unacknowledged bias!
“The system is working fine; if you can’t handle it there’s something wrong with you.”
This is what the capitalists want you to think. They put all the onus on We the Workers so they can keep their corrupt and crazy-making system the way it is. The solution is to not cooperate and work hard to tear down the system, driving the capitalists crazy along the way. Balance is maintained in the universe.
I like your descriptions Revolution, but not sure about your suggestions as t how to do it? Not sure how you can tear down the system and pay the rent at the same time... that's a ;poser...
Why pay rent to capitalists if you want to tear down the system? Exercise your imagination.
You know where your best abilities lie. It just takes the will to do something.
Are you cooperating right now? You are compelled to "cooperate". So not to isn't even a question.
Don't pay Tax. You'll end up homeless and in jail but that's the problem,and me too,we are all so comfortable none of us wants to be first storming the barricades. You don't pay Tax,you go to jail and lose your home,and me,they stop my state pension,my only source of income so I starve and lose my home too. Like someone said,you have to break eggs to make an omelette
If the choice is between homelessness and being normally miserable, underpaid and overworked, most in the US will choose the latter.
The USA is a failed nation. Dying empires wage wars of final gasps. Our overlords will end many more lives before the USA is completely dead. Soon.
Actually, all you have to do is live a simple life with a low income. It's not hard when you are old.
That's what I do. Even when I'm in Paris.
The omelette analogy says it all. We either "stay comfortable" and cooperate with a system we hate or we break some eggs. The end results could be worth it, but we'll never know if we don't at least try.
DONT overlook a book written in the 1930s by the brilliant Sinclair Lewis....who must well have seen into western future when he wrote: "It Cant Happen Here".....about the rise of a flag waving bible toting American president who brings fascism to the land of the 'free'...
"Written during the Great Depression, when the country was largely oblivious to Hitler’s aggression, it juxtaposes sharp political satire with the chillingly realistic rise of a president who becomes a Dictator to Save the nation from welfare cheats, sex, crime, and a liberal press."
An amazing book. The way he mixes humour and brutality hit me like a brick.
I read this when I was a teenager in the 1960s.
Sounds like Biden to me.
I'm always in awe of your knowledge and insight, rarely have anything to add. But I do strongly think more free time and money wouldn't do much for anyone as the problems go much deeper. People need to wake up and take responsibility for creating lives that honor their gifts, values and deepest needs. They need to reorder their priorities and spend time examining their lives, learning who they are, how they've been wounded and what drives them, then seek support for whatever healing and personal change is needed. They need to create a buffer of sanity around them, connect to others, admit and challenge their addictions to everything from food to technology. They need to come to grips with life's biggest challenges and be willing to answer life's biggest questions about purpose and meaning. They need community but also need autonomy and realistic, independent thinking based on the highest level of self-interest. I've managed for most of my life to remain mainstream but also carve out my own path, one where I need a minimal income because I've always sought happiness and security in ways that don't require money. I've also been realistic about what I can afford, including how many children I could support. I believe it's possible for most of us to create lives outside of the system. There certainly are tremendous victimizing forces out there and once we admit that, the important question is "so what do I do about this" and taking responsibility for freeing oneself. I believe it can be done because I've done it ever since I was 20 and realized how incredibly fucked up this world was and that it was up to me to resist the bullshit or I'd end up as miserable as everyone I saw around me.
Strongly agree that a lot of inner and outer work is necessary to truly thrive and be deeply happy in life, strongly disagree that people having more money and free time "wouldn't do much". If their most foundational needs aren't being met they stand no chance of moving up the hierarchy of needs toward self-actualization. Basic material wellbeing for everyone would be a huge step forward toward mental health and happiness.
Covid response serves as a good example of what happens when we give bags of cash out to everyone. Nobody wanted to do the shitty jobs. Unfortunately, we need people to do shitty jobs right now. It’s possible that AI and robotics results in an extreme shift in labor needs and perhaps then your idea could work. Although, I suspect most people wouldn’t suddenly become great artists or scientists but instead would blow it on booze and hookers. Welcome to idiocracy.
>> Nobody wanted to do the shitty jobs.
Makes you wonder why? Even the rich don't want to do the shitty jobs. Maybe the shitty jobs are the problem?? I might be going out on a limb here.
Most ordinary people are not as lazy as the rich assholes living in their multi-million dollar yachts want you to believe they are. In fact, most poor Americans work very hard every day, many days a week. Unlike the obscenely rich.
Human beings are innately curious, innately want to do things in the world, and given a healthy environment for them to live and work in, the majority will act creatively and be productive.
However, when you treat the majority of humans like they are plantation cotton picker slaves. When all their daily labor is funnelled up to a handful of obscenely wealthy, sociopathic individuals, and these same humans - working the cotton fields every single day, only have huts to go back to - after their daily back breaking labor - then yes, that's when the booze and hookers come in.
Unfortunately, shitty jobs are there because they are needed for now, it’s not to torture people needlessly. Jobs exist as a need and you get that job either because nobody else can do it (skill) or nobody wants to (shitty). When I walk around a Walmart I’m reminded of my pessimistic outlook that people would not use gifted money wisely.
When I say shitty jobs, I mean jobs where people are abusively treated by their employers, are not being paid well enough to live comfortably, or raise a family, and do not have any job security to speak of.
From my experience growing up in the US, at least in the 70s and 80s, many Americans were willing to work jobs, as long as some amount of job security and decent compensation was provided.
But today, in the US - that is no longer the case. The corporations want everything, funnel all the profits up to a few obscenely rich Americans, and given nothing back to the ordinary working American on the front line. The current American work environment is that of a Cotton Plantation Farm - where ordinary workers are treated like cotton picking slaves who are easily expendable and easily fired, are not provided decent wages, even if they're doing good work. Meanwhile the corporations are making record profits and the 1% Americans who own the corporations have more wealth than the bottom 90% of Americans combined. That's what makes them "shitty jobs".
imo, that's because the rich control education. most of us were not brought up to be free.
And they will control education even more once its all privatized.
Yeah, a free ride for the rich, and rugged individualism for the poor working slobs at the bottom. Just pull yourself up by your own bootstraps! You can do it!
What's ironic, is at least in Feudal times, there was a caste system in place, so even though you had a few obscenely rich "Lords" in their castles living the easy life, while the rest of the serfs labored away daily in squalid, rat infested towns - at least those poor working stiffs believed that it was their lot to be poor, that that's just the way it was - the caste system you were born into. And they weren't themselves BLAMED for their abject poverty.
Now, in 2024 Amerika, on top of being a working stiff 24/7, trying to pay the rent and rising food costs and gas and car insurance, not to mention the extortionist health care system in the US - you are suppose to somehow be responsible for the system that is crushing your soul every living day.
Caitlin Johnstone then writes clearly and incisively here:
"A stressed out and depressed person who’s struggling to get by isn’t going to have the time and energy to research the abusive nature of the systems they live under and form a revolutionary worldview. If they do somehow find the time and energy, they’re not going to have the inner clarity necessary to sort out fact from fiction, and often stumble into rabbit holes of conspiratorial power-serving propaganda operations like QAnon and Russiagate which appeal to their cortisol-soaked consciousness without ever actually challenging status quo politics or ruling power structures."
Now on top of an ordinary peasant struggling to get by, you now have the additional onus that it's YOUR FAULT that you are poor, that it's YOUR RESPONSIBILITY that you're being crushed by the system you find yourself in. That not only are you living the life of a Feudal peasant, but you also are to blame for your Feudal peasantry. Or in other words, ultimately it's your fault that your life is one of poverty and mental illness ... you have no one to blame but yourself! It's your responsibility to get yourself out of it!
This is the kind of "guilt shaming" one can easily observe from the Elite class of sociopathic assholes now running the country into the ground - who want to blame everyone BUT THEMSELVES for the state of this sick society and sick system the majority of Americans our now subject to daily.
You want to know what the problem is right now with the social system in America and Europe? It isn't the working poor, it's the sociopathic obscenely rich assholes at the top.
The soon to be trillionaires who tell everyone else it's your fucking fault you're poor. It's YOUR FAULT you're being exploited ruthlessly every day. And that you just need to be more responsible and work harder, and soon you can be rich just like us!
What a load of self justifying crap! What a guilt trip is laid on ordinary working people!
Dear jamenta,I'm not disagreeing with any of your words but can I add a history insight. But first,I am in UK,I have seen online scenes of people WITH JOBS,living in tents on the streets of some US cities. It's not so bad as that here in UK yet. But for decades the political administrations have been steadily eroding away all our institutions and the aim is to Americanize our society. Which is not good news,as your post delineates. Now,about serfs in medieval England. I'll stick with England as the pattern diverged from the European model quite early on and of course serfdom in Russia was only I think abolished in the early 20th century. In England it was more complex than simple versions of history tell. Yes,a Lord owned vast acres. He may turn have allocated smaller areas of vast acres to under Lord's who pledged allegiance to him. So the common people could be serfs,cottars,villains (from which the word villain is derived!) and some other terms I forget. Now,it gets more complicated. Some serfs (cottars) actually legally owned their hovel (it's now that cute thatched cottage worth 2million),some OWNED a couple of acres of land,some had nothing but then everyone could graze a cow on the common land and keep a few chickens so they all scraped by. But of course,their bodies were the property of the land holder (in theory the King OWNED all the land and he could take it off a disloyal Lord),they had to stay in the village and work the Lord's land as his wealth came from the harvest. But this was not as onerous as it sounds. For a start under the then universal Roman church there was a Religious Holiday a Saints Day or such every week practically. And by tradition no one worked on those days,like in parts of Southern Europe today. Then you had set days you had to work for the Lord. You might have to put in two days a week,but the rest of the days you could work on your own strip of land,or you could not work at all,or if you were a totally landless one you could put in a days work for your neighbour who did have a strip of land or even an acre or two and he would pay you in money,because he was allowed to sell his own harvest so long as he paid a toll to the Lord. And the canniest peasants were not slow to work out how to play the system. If you really resented being owned you could run away and if you could stay free and uncaught for one year and one day you were legally a FREE MAN. The best way to achieve this was to run to a town or even a city, London for example. You did not want to spend a year living abjectly in the woods getting rained on. Far from being a captivity,the urban place meant freedom. You hoped to impress a Master Craftsman with your energy and initiative so he would take you on as an apprentice then as there were good support systems in towns after that year you were not only free but you had a trade. I wanted to explain that counter intuitive as it seems to us now,then cities represented freedom and opportunity. The serf/peasant situation in England did diverge quite early from the more oppressive model that persisted in Europe and Russia much longer. It's sad that our whole systems have been perverted and changed to a bad use.
My original point is even though serfs scraped by during Feudalism, the caste system that they were born into - and most stayed within their entire lives - this is indisputably true historically, they would not be blamed for their CLASS - because it was socially accepted that if you were born a serf, you would likely remain a serf your entire life. There is a very good documentary on this subject I watched a few years ago, but I no longer have link to it.
But my point here is, in today's modern economic system, not only do you struggle as a type of modern day feudal serf (in many ways) but now you no longer have the social CASTE system that you can point to for your poverty. Instead you are now PERSONALLY blamed for your poverty because of your own failings. Like you're just a lazy bum, or you're not smart, or you didn't work hard enough. And you are expected to raise yourself out of poverty through a sheer act of will, lots of hard work. And if you didn't make it, oh well ... Tough luck!
But these are all lies. In fact in the last few decades wealth mobility in the US has gone down, the number of poor Americans rising to the Middle Class or beyond is lower than it has ever been, and it is ALSO true going the other way economically: that is, the number of very Rich Americans are now less likely to lose their wealth. And a great deal of the wealth at the very top is inherited wealth, wealth that the sons of daughters of the wealthy never worked a day in their lives to achieve.
The very idea of a meritocracy in the US is a myth. The gross wealth inequality that we now have in the US, greater than the wealth inequality of the Robber Baron gilded age of the 20s, where the top 1% of Americans now control more wealth than the bottom 90% of Americans COMBINED demonstrates that there is NO equal playing field when it comes to the American economy. That ordinary working Americans are being exploited ruthlessly for their labor in an extremely immoral and unfair rigged economic system. A rigged economic system that serves only a relatively handful of obscenely rich Americans.
The fabled American Dream seems to have morphed seamlessly into the true American Nightmare….
‘That's why they call it the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.’. ~George Carlin
Yes jamenta,I actually totally agree with you and worryingly our society is being made that way,but so far we are not so far down that dreadful road. And bringing back Serfdom IS their aim. There is still some leeway left but new laws reduce the wriggle room all the time but under such harmless sounding reasons as hygiene,animal welfare or equality. And infrastructure. That weasel world can be invoked to justify unwelcome development or to ban perfectly acceptable activities. It's a very useful concept. Only in England,at least,life in the village wasnt quite so onerous as Hollywood tells us,in fact the onset of the industrial revolution was fought with a ferocity greater than we do now. (Blood in the Machine by Brian Merchant on Audible).
Villeins= Villains.
I am impressed and enlightened by your assessments and conclusions. Now, how do we use this as hammers and saws so we can build the structure of society to love and share intelligence, intellect , and righteous cohabitation. I am so ready. 😄👫
Good addition
When I worked with people who had physical and mental disabilities, their biggest problem was often that they didn't have enough money. People with disabilities who also have money can afford all the things that will help them. Like wheelchairs, an accessible place to live, healthy food etc. Of course, people with disabilities have issues that won't be helped by money, but money and free time can help people to get going on some basic issues like eating and getting around.
I did all that in my life. Worked out well.
CJ->"We see this dynamic playing out in real time in the so-called “psychedelic renaissance”, with billionaires working to get psychedelic substances legalized not so that human consciousness can be liberated from its illusions and allow us to achieve our full potential, but so that compounds can be patented and prescribed for mental disorders in the same way as other substances in the pharmaceutical industry."
Thank you Caitlin. That explains why there is this sudden interest in psychedelics (including research) and hyping up of beneficial effects. I couldn't understand why after 70+ years of the existence of psychedelics, all-of-a-sudden there was this renewed interest in them. The fact that it it furthers the goals of Capitalism and the Oligarchy and Corporations (as gleamed from your article) now makes perfect sense to me.
I also have been mystified that shrooms are suddenly okay and, like you, appreciated the insight why.
Look up John Hopkins research on LSD and mushrooms for the reason for how they "cure" depressed, PTSD and anxiety. They work by increasing suggestibility. Just the thing to help out with the MSM propaganda. Legalizing them will allow people to use them out of a clinical setting where people will be exposed to the media. Mind control at its finest. I'm sure that pharma is working on a better version as well.
The Rockefellers who in their youth found psychedelics to be A Good Thing grew up into positions of influence.
Will a for-profit orientation inhibit enlightenment? I don't see why it would.
I really appreciate what you're doing here. The way you and the great Chris Hedges describe our dystopia in plain English has very much helped me health-wise.
I labour for a living, a very hard job - had a lot of misdirected sadness and anger in me. Visiting your pages has helped me focus on my creative side, and I think I've helped a few people as well.
To anyone reading this, I wish you success, peace and Olympic-sized pools of time to find the best in yourself and to inspire those around you.
Well said my friend.
They Live is a classic. Once you see the subversion everywhere, you can’t unsee it. Put on your glasses and enjoy the show! https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-advertise
"It's show time "
Orwell - 1984.
“War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.”
So he knew what he was talking about.
As another one said,I know the system is corrupt because I've used it and profited from it,!
The politically correct thing is, of course, to say he was writing about the USSR. Whereas all he could know about it was the propaganda of the times, and it was expedient, likely even mandatory, to use that as a cover.
Orwell said 1984 was a "parody." Evidently he didn't believe it would actually happen in the UK.
I don't think he could say what he actually thought. That he had insights into the British system can't be disputed.
Fortunately for us he's dead so you don't need to give him a penny and since all his works are in the public domain you can read any of his work without even benefitting his estate.
Lots of people who have done terrible things have also had important and worthwhile, even beautiful, ideas. Humans are complex creatures in that way (and simple in others).
One of the most challenging and intellectually clear-sighted things I've read over the last decade is Tommy Curry's defence of Eldridge Cleaver's writings in Curry's barnstorming 'The Man Not'. Cleaver understood the pathologies of systematic racism better than the vast majority of writers. He was also a seriously shitty human being.
Yes, he was no angel. Inspite of all that, he has contributed much to society. If you read all his diaries and notes (not just his books), you get a better idea of his evolution throughout his life. He was a different man towards the later years of his life (of course, that doesn't mean the rest of his behavior can be excused).
Yes, his essays and journalism are brilliant. I long ago learned to judge the art separately from the artist, and each on their own terms. I no longer even remember how to not do that anymore.
You are more evolved than I am. I constantly struggle to not let my biases about a person interfere/"cloud my mind" when trying to make an objective analysis of that person. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don't.
Practice my friend, practice. One standard, for me, is whether that person is still living, and my money would go to support them. If they are, then, although I may appreciate their art, I won’t support them monetarily. If not, then it is much easier to make the distinction.
The hardest for me to make that distinction is when it’s the person’s actual voice.
So your comment is just an excuse not to read Orwell or learn anything. What horseshit.
I don't think he meant that (though I could be mistaken).
Maybe it tales one to know one. I don't see many success stories here.
I agree that the propaganda, lies and manipulations are making us crazy. Which does benefit those with money and power. More workers. More antidepressants and valium sold to numb people. More money for the pill pushers. But even when we don't go crazy from being propagandized, we can feel crazy from the way the leaders are supporting genocide, supporting Israel in it's colonialist greed, pushing a proxy war in Ukraine where many Ukrainian people die and many Russians too, but not soldiers from NATO countries, not Americans or Canadians or Australians unless they choose to go to Ukraine and fight. Just looking at what is actually happening when we can do that, is enough to make any person anxious, depressed and "crazy".
Oh,
But Susan:
Wait until they bring back (??):
The DRAFT
And THIS time (being the “equal opportunity” folks that they are(?);
WOMEN are to be automatically included: (unforeseen consequences are interesting….!)
I wonder if they would be so equal opportunity driven that they would draft their own sons and daughters
The definition of capitalism is the powerful and wealthy organising society efficiently so that the vast majority of wealth flows towards the very top while enough is left for the rest to prevent rebellion. With of of course the middle class being given enough of th share to ensure that whilst there might be discontent that will not rise to disorder. But Karl Marx observed -wrongly thinking the necessary basic education of the working class in an industrial systems so that they could operate in an industrial society would led them to become revolutionaries, he got most of the rest right. That while large parts of the the middle class becoming dysfunctionally crazy would be a disaster for capitalism , the working and unemployed classes suffering from depression and anxiety is no real problem. More and bigger psychiatric hospitals providing there are enough workers left to fill al the necessary positions is fine . Especially if most the patients are actually unemployed. Capitalism is really efficient . It is also really heartless.
>>"The definition of capitalism is the powerful and wealthy organising society efficiently so that the vast majority of wealth flows towards the very top while enough is left for the rest to prevent rebellion."
Well said Jack Lomax!
But, Chang and Jack Lomax is there enough left to trickle down to the masses to prevent rebellion? That is why as Caitlin points out that we have to be made into lazy Zombies.
That's the way the (capitalist) system has been organized - to satisfy/meet a level that will just about prevent rebellions (eg. starvation/famine related rebellions, etc.). It is a balancing act. Sometimes the oligarchs go a little overboard and then have to pacify the crowds. Other times, they are able to maintain the illusions and prevent rebellions.
If you look at the history of rebellions in the US (especially the history of unions and union busting in the US), you can begin to understand some of the different strategies the Power Elite employ in order to maintain this balance/status quo.
BTW, don't buy into any "Trickle-Down Economics" theories. IMO, the Capitalist system seems to work rather on "Trickle-Up" theories - i.e. the 1% keep sucking-up everything they possibly can from those under them (like an upside-down suction funnel).
"Trickle-Down Economics is when the rich piss on you and tell you it's raining."
(and many people apparently believe this gaslighting unfortunately)
starvation/ famine, rebellion provoking super-exploitation, war are mostly organised outside the walls of the imperial hubs.
Yes, though sometimes miscalculations in policies, power-struggles amongst the elites, mishandling of climate change related catastrophies (eg. Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, etc.), ignorance of the relationships between the ecology/environment and people (due to the profit motives of corporations), and high levels of indifference to the plights of ordinary people can have unintended consequences and bring about many such calamities within the imperialist empire itself.
Thank you, Chang.
To get down to the mundane, I still haven't been able to crack the mystery of the missing "Like" icon - in spite of your help. Thanks anyway, you tried.
I had this problem a few weeks ago Indu. What fixed it is I cleared out my web browser cache completely. Got rid of all cookies, Internet history etc. I know it can be a hassle, but it worked for me.
Thank you very much jamenta - you are very kind and generous. I will give it a try.
I can help if you provide more feedback about your "Like issue".
(1) Did you try a dummy/second account on another device?
(2) Did you try signing onto Substack onto your original account on a friend's computer (Windows/MacOS/iOS/android)?
(3) What browser are you using? Your issue seems to have happened on a particular day (you can find out which by going to your Substack likes (or emails)). What changed in your environment/usage when it stopped working? Knowing that, it may help you backtrack to the cause behind the issue.
(4) Is it just this (Caitlin's) Substack or does it happen on others too?
Chang, thank you. You and jamenta have been kind and generous. By now you may have realised that I am a hopeless luddite!
'No' to your questions numbers 1 & 2.
To question 3, my web browser is google chrome.
Question 4 - It happens only on Caitlin's Substack.
Please don't worry, I will work it out.
and if the balance gets distorted (declining efficiency, too much wealth to the top, not leaving enough for the rest), it conjures up the fascists and/or war. the current empire's balancing act needs perpetual war.
"The definition of capitalism is the powerful and wealthy organising society efficiently so that the vast majority of wealth flows towards the very top while enough is left for the rest to prevent rebellion." I often see this written. But I live in capitalist Japan and it isn't that way.
how is it in japan?
Gen Z's just want to stay home, on Ma and Pa's dime--kill zombies on X_box, and have sex with like minded beautiful peeps. No wonder we who sacrificed for love, success, and brotherhood were willing to die so our kids can ignore equity, propriety, and good order.
I disagree - based on my personal observations (you can call them anecdotal evidence if you like).
Gen Z has been screwed by the Capitalist system (which includes all kinds of debt). The environment is a lot harder for them than in the past for previous generations. How much have you interacted with Gen Zers? I find many to be very hard working but still struggling. Also, as is evidenced by the Pro-Palestine protests, etc. - many GenZ are showing that they are a force for good and are trying to find a way to fight back against the system.
People can "learn" helplessness the way they learn anything else and in this case the younger generation is being taught not to expect too much. This is not an accident, but an intentional downsizing of their expectations. The only way they can break out of the limitations that this system imposes on them is to join the sociopathy and become the type of people who exploit them. Most young people are better--and smarter-- than that. My experience is that many of them are quite good at connecting the dots and quite ready to call bullshit. Let us hope that they become politically involved while at the same time holding on to their ideals. I find that many Gen Z'ers have a true moral compass. My generation (Boomers) can go to hell for all I care. They are profoundly ignorant and have a sense of entitlement that disgusts me. They live in a state of dense illusion
I agree. If you observe "rich, entitled" kids, you will see a certain kind of behavior. If you observe many kids from working class (and immigrant) families, you will see a different kind of behavior/value-system.
There are too many variables to make a simple generalization about a very diverse group such as Gen-Zers.
gaslighting us constantly. Its on purpose.
'Technological innovations could have been used to liberate people from the need to work and given us an abundance of leisure time...'
One important thing is to make sure that our system not only does the above, but also fairly pays our workers despite the reduction in work hours.
Because in our current ultra-capitalist system, employers will gladly utilize such technological innovations if it means they can pay workers even lesser amounts in order to further increase their profits.
yes... but under survival of the fittest rules, can you blame anyone for trying to get rich, which in and of itself implies survival?
In the case of employers trying to get rich, that doesn't mean they should treat their workers poorly by paying them less than the adequate amount.
In general, I belief that while getting rich and accumulating wealth isn't wrong per se, those doing so should have a responsibility to use a part of their wealth to help others who are less privileged.
And we should eradicate such systems and ways of thinking such as the 'survival of the fittest' rules, as they are unjust and inhumane towards many people in our society.
Raveen...
"we should eradicate such systems and ways of thinking such as the 'survival of the fittest' rules,".
Couldn't agree more, but agreeing on what should be done and doing so are two different issues...
What when they say "survival of the fittest" it means: only the best criminal minds will procreate? Or does it mean, if you're born a Senator's son, you won't die in Ukraine? Trying to understand - what it all means. Help me John! What if the only reason we exist is because of tubes. Things go in at the top of our tubes, and then out the other. And that's why we exist? But why then did little tubes evolve along with big tubes? And didn't the dinosaurs have even bigger tubes? They should have survived in my opinion.
Jamenta,
"What when they say "survival of the fittest" it means: only the best criminal minds will procreate?" Criminal perhaps, but legally ?????... Example: When the Titanic sunk it was rumored that a few men dressed as women in order to take a place on lifeboats. Although as reprehensible as it gets, and forgive me for choosing such an undignified example, but who do you think procreated afterwards, .... the brave who went down with the ship, or the men who survived because of fake identities?
Nobody said the 'Survival of the Fittest' was an example humans should emulate, but that it is a principle factor of survival in nature... and unless humans were dropped off an alien ship, humans are also part of nature's natural selection processes. Nature has been successful in establishing life in billions of species within competitive jungles. We're just part of that process. Whether or not we recognize that our intellect will potentially lead us to extinction is another matter entirely.
I see what you're saying here Turcot. But to me, the term 'Survival of the Fittest" can be used to almost define any event, in some way or another. We can in fact, use your ingenious Titanic example, and turn it on its head definitionally: suppose the progeny of those who did die - sink with the ship, inherited immense wealth immediately afterward, and then survived for many long long years, which they would not have - if their wealthy Dads, in the 1st class cabins did survive after all? But the progeny of those dressed as women, the majority of them never had children because they were cowards, or were not even interested in having families?
So to me, this "Survival of the Fittest" definition can just as well be replaced with "Dumb Luck". If anything, one could easily argue Dumb Luck has guided the evolution of humankind more than any kind of loose definition of "Survival of the Fittest" - whatever that phrase may actually mean, and you get all sorts of weird, often irrational explanations for it. So why isn't Dumb Luck in the biology text books??
I don't know John. I may just be bat shit crazy instead. But then again, for how many centuries did humans insist that a virgin could give birth to a God? It's not like in every human milieu we don't got some self-appointed Authorities in charge telling everyone else what they must believe, or else!! Hell, do we even know if the Big Bang even happened now? I've been instructed this was the case all my life - and then the James Webb telescope came along ...
Haha! you make good points, especially when referring to God's Mother. I can only add one comment to that scenario... which is: "AS IF"..... Yea... Lady Luck has been watching out for me for a long time. As far as God is concerned, after entering a convent for 4 years run by Catholic nuns starting at 7 years of age, I was unlucky enough to have received genes that rebelled against all heavenly tenets, and so my convent days were filled with enough Mea Culpas to freeze every free brain cell my body dared to reveal... Later it was the Jesuits' turn to get a stab at indoctrination, .... then the 'Brothers of Christian Schools, and finally, at 15, Darwin did his part in saving my sanity.... .
hehe! Thanks for sharing your story. It immediately reminded me of a Philosophy professor I once had many moons ago in college. Professor Norena? He gave an entire course on Aristotle's philosophical works. I remember one day, the professor announced to the class, that the two happiest moments in his life were: 1) When he first entered the seminary to become a Jesuit priest he was ecstatic - and 2) He was ecstatic, the day he left the Jesuit priesthood.
Man that guy was smart. May have been the damn smartest professor I ever had the privilege to listen to. Becoming a Jesuit priest is no small matter. But glad to hear your sanity was saved!
Wow! What a "bang on"post. I was just saying to my husband today how many people are doing outlandish, crazy, awful things. And then I said what can we expect when our "leaders" are crazy.