And there is the problem. The system cannot exist without the current media. The media needs to change before the system can.
Lets take Australia. Before Obombas "pivot to Asia" in 2018, China was viewed as a friendly country, and generally in a positive light. Fast forward with four years of intense propaganda and brainwashing, and now nearly half are ready to go to war against China (Yougov poll as per the Guardian article).
Compare this to Ukraine where Ukrainian and Russian relations were viewed as brotherly, and a very close kinship for centuries. Since 2014, the same indoctrination and propaganda has now turned a large portion of Ukraine in to a hysterical anti-Russian society. This bias was of course confirmed after the invasion - which was exactly what was intended. This included the use of some extreme ideology that was useful for this purpose. This in turned has created a self feeding system for generations.
Now eight years later, I see Ukrainians boiling severed Russian heads, and torturing them before killing them. All this after only 8 years!. I wonder what Australians will be willing to do after another 4 years....
It shows that we are still a very primitive species that can be manipulated so easily. And the media is to blame for pushing this agenda. It is not the source of the problem. I don't think we can change the actual source. It is however, our avenue for information, and can be changed.
If anyone knows much about this conflict, it is no surprise whatsoever. I was, and still am in awe on how the propaganda was spewed at us incessantly since the start of this conflict.
With immense love for your words and truth and spirit, there are some for whom organized religion is good ... I'm not among them, but I remember a humbling experience with a podcaster who was interviewing Dr Meryl Nass .. I forgot her name, she had dual Canadian and American citizenship, blonde hair, seemed like a sweet lady. She was quoting the Bible and clearly Christianity was core in her life, also as a guiding light to understand and have strength to fight the sociopathic narrative control of current times. There was something so innocent and authentic to how she came across, and the contrast between the goodness I felt from her and the disdain my former tribe may have, instinctually, for someone who quotes the Bible (especially being counter to the official covid narrative) ... was sad to behold.
Jus sayin, there are many ways to interact with religion .. for some it's wasteful, hypocritical .. others focus on the judgemental things supposedly said in the books they take literally ... this podcast woman seemed to exist in a realness of love that for her was intertwined with religion.
One example does not an argument make, especially since you saw her being interviewed one time and know nothing about who she really is.
People can be inspired by their religion and the truth is religions are cults. Yes there are some inspired writings... and more BS. Yes, some people even wake up and give their teacher or religion the credit. Humans will always be controllable sheep until they stop giving away their power to institutions or any other person.
>Humanity is abandoning religion as we discover that it's all just a bunch of unhelpful and unevidenced made-up beliefs.
As one of the few real journalists left, it is disappointing to see you dismiss religion like a used face mask. The foundation of all major religions are teachings derived from the lived wisdom of countless generations. The spiritual laws they teach elevate and inspire us. Religious institutions obviously have been corrupted and hijacked at all times, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. It is blindingly obvious that we are in a spiritual struggle, and the anti-human forces are clearly working to diminish or even eliminate our connection to divinity. I hope you revisit and reconsider this point.
Human wisdom and inspiration are demonstrably possible in the total absence of religions. Religions are a human construct and unnecessary. What a sad world it would be if belief in myths and superstitions were a precondition for all that is good about our species.
The real problems occur when the followers of religions want to forcibly impose their views on others who don't participate in their beliefs.
Social orders which are focused on the production of people and status (as opposed to food) tend to develop imperial ambitions, simply because they eventually run out of willing, internal "inputs" to initiate into their order, and must practice and project force to keep their cosmic mill running.
"The foundation" of all major religions may be as pure as the breeze, but how long has any of them stayed with the foundational wisdom?
There's a saying that religions go through three phases: "formin', stormin', and normin'." When they reach the "normin'" stage, they are far away from their roots.
You're deliberately ignoring the massive amount of history that shows just how far from any "lived wisdom" of the human race that organized religions have come.
Basically, you're an apologist for the status quo.
Whatever the religious institutions end up morphing into, the texts and the teachings remain unchanged and are there for anyone to learn from for themselves. Human beings will always be religious because the soul that animates us is transcendent. Replacing G-d with the State is horrific because it denies our divinity and has nothing to offer spiritually. Look at China and North Korea to see what happens. That's what they want for all of us.
Why would they want a vision specified by liberal-capitalist, specifically American propaganda, in search of world domination? Of course it doesn't sound very nice. Why would it? As for religion, I'm not against anyone's religion, as long as the religious keep their hands off my body and my children. But -- as to the state -- if the state is so bad, why are so many religious people trying to seize state power? God's not enough?
Yes there are some inspired writings and yes throw out everything else. Question everything. Stop supporting institutions that do harm. Believe what your own experiences teach. Trust yourself. The answers are "inside" you. Be empowered. Love.
Humans have a deep need and desire to know, and yet they are inevitably surrounded by ignorance dictated by the limitations of their bodies as the infinities of nature.. To compensate, to deal with this terrible predicament, they make up stories and become attached to them with passionate belief. As they must.
The social and economic "returns" on technology are NEGATIVE and have been for a long time. Think a-social media to start with and then think of surveillance and control.
2) democracy of information is vitally important for far more than voting. There are things government is doing on a daily basis that the people know absolutely nothing about. I'm tempted to remind people that. even that fiend LBJ sought "maximum feasible public participation" in the day to day affairs of government. And of course, people can not effectively organize, mobilize and attack the behavior of an illegitimate government they know nothing about.
I wonder if anyone here recalls that US Congress used to have a Office of Technology Assessment.
That was back in the day when the social and environmental impacts of technology were an important consideration and there was no consensus of the inevitable unstoppable technological utopia as new have today. People were outright hostile to "technological innovation" The Luddites have been given a bad name.
I wish I could share your optimism that humanity is abandoning religion, however, I'm not convinced that's happening. Even self-identified atheists in the US seem more credulous of myths and superstitions than religious people in, say, Europe.
Religions won't disappear unless the malicious powers that be recognize that it's no longer useful as a tool to manipulate the masses.
Education is the best defense against myths and superstitions but hoping education will step up to the plate in the US is sadly laughable.
Not sure of which myths you are talking about. Many legends and myths are based on real experiences. Not everything in this world can be seen. It is a mysterious Universe. The open mind sees a lot more than the closed one.
People kick out one irrational belief system, and welcome another in its place. One _knows_ there is a God, and then later the same one _knows_ there isn't a God.
The biggest myth of all and the one most relevant to Caitlin Johnstone's substack is that our species was specially created by a god or gods and so humans have an intrinsic right to dominate their environment in all senses of the word.
An offspring of that myth is the myth that certain humans are exceptional or special and deserve the right to make others subservient to their goals.
It's not hard to draw a line from these faulty beliefs that are propagated by religions to where humanity is now - the wealthy's money grab in plain view of billions from the pockets of regular working people, climate catastrophes, and threat of nuclear war.
The world would be better off free of religions with their myths and superstitions..
In the context of 'technology', from medical, utilities, telecommunications (Verizon/T-Mobile/AT&T), banking, et al, many individuals are not aware of the manipulative algorithm deception, designed to profit the company. From my observation, many folks are also not aware of the intentional coding based on human prejudicial bias. https://hbr.org/2019/10/what-do-we-do-about-the-biases-in-ai
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion." Thomas Jefferson
Cait we have a really good innovation to lift people out of poverty, it is called nuclear power. But the Malthusians who control the narrative, apparently, have been very successful at rolling back its implementation. 
It is becoming increasingly evident to me that the big question has to be: How is it possible for all the evil work carried out by DaDeepState all over the world, even considering the financial incentives involved to the co-conspirators and their natural propensities for evil - all coordinated with seemingly amazing effectiveness for centuries?
Well, the Bible actually has the answer and I have posted this thread before - There are several factors.... beginning with this question: Are We Governed by Humans? - https://crushlimbraw.blogspot.com/2020/11/are-we-governed-by-humans.html?m=0 - and that reference is just the starting point for our research.
This is a hard thing for both secularists and churchians, but that is the gap which needs to be filled. There is a dimension to life which most folks never see, and I don't mean just non-believers, because Christianity of the Apostles has been changed to Churchianity - you can check that out at my library as well.
When Paul said 'we're not just dealing with flesh and blood, we're dealing with wicked spirits in high places' he wasn't talking about Halloween tricks.
caitlin, been reading and appreciating your essays for a while. thought you might be interested in this : www.movetoamend.org. be glad to correspond about it. below is what i just sent out to friends.
mike
_____________
Friends:
Move to Amend is the only grassroots citizens' organization that works to get corporations OUT of the constitution -- that means no more 1st Amendment, 4th Amendment, 5th Amendment, 14 Amendment etc. "rights" for corporations -- ONLY what people and their legislators choose to grant.
There's a constitutional amendment to do just that with 90+ sponsors in Congress so far. But most importantly, there is a dedicated, passionate, experienced movement pushing it. We'd do well to see how we can make this happen. I know these folks and Move to Amend is the real deal.
First of all i would like to thank you for your brave commitment to global citizenship awareness and free speech, its admirable! You know, while reading your essay this quote sounded my mind:
---
"Peace Speech" (JFK, 1963):
Professor Woodrow Wilson once said that every man sent out from a university should be a man of his nation as well as a man of his time, and I am confident that the men and women who carry the honor of graduating from this institution will continue to give from their lives, from their talents, a high measure of public service and public support.
“There are few earthly things more beautiful than a university,” wrote John Masefield, in his tribute to English universities—and his words are equally true today. He did not refer to spires and towers, to campus greens and ivied walls. He ad-mired the splendid beauty of the university, he said, because it was “a place where those who hate ignorance may strive to know, where those who perceive truth may strive to make others see.”
I have, therefore, chosen this time and this place to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived—yet it is the most important topic on earth: peace
And there is the problem. The system cannot exist without the current media. The media needs to change before the system can.
Lets take Australia. Before Obombas "pivot to Asia" in 2018, China was viewed as a friendly country, and generally in a positive light. Fast forward with four years of intense propaganda and brainwashing, and now nearly half are ready to go to war against China (Yougov poll as per the Guardian article).
Compare this to Ukraine where Ukrainian and Russian relations were viewed as brotherly, and a very close kinship for centuries. Since 2014, the same indoctrination and propaganda has now turned a large portion of Ukraine in to a hysterical anti-Russian society. This bias was of course confirmed after the invasion - which was exactly what was intended. This included the use of some extreme ideology that was useful for this purpose. This in turned has created a self feeding system for generations.
Now eight years later, I see Ukrainians boiling severed Russian heads, and torturing them before killing them. All this after only 8 years!. I wonder what Australians will be willing to do after another 4 years....
It shows that we are still a very primitive species that can be manipulated so easily. And the media is to blame for pushing this agenda. It is not the source of the problem. I don't think we can change the actual source. It is however, our avenue for information, and can be changed.
In regard to propaganda, see:
https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/massive-anti-russian-bot-army-exposed-by-australian-researchers/
Yes I have seen this.
If anyone knows much about this conflict, it is no surprise whatsoever. I was, and still am in awe on how the propaganda was spewed at us incessantly since the start of this conflict.
With immense love for your words and truth and spirit, there are some for whom organized religion is good ... I'm not among them, but I remember a humbling experience with a podcaster who was interviewing Dr Meryl Nass .. I forgot her name, she had dual Canadian and American citizenship, blonde hair, seemed like a sweet lady. She was quoting the Bible and clearly Christianity was core in her life, also as a guiding light to understand and have strength to fight the sociopathic narrative control of current times. There was something so innocent and authentic to how she came across, and the contrast between the goodness I felt from her and the disdain my former tribe may have, instinctually, for someone who quotes the Bible (especially being counter to the official covid narrative) ... was sad to behold.
Jus sayin, there are many ways to interact with religion .. for some it's wasteful, hypocritical .. others focus on the judgemental things supposedly said in the books they take literally ... this podcast woman seemed to exist in a realness of love that for her was intertwined with religion.
My response is that, if your religion makes you happy and makes you a good person whose actions help others, I'm happy for you.
One example does not an argument make, especially since you saw her being interviewed one time and know nothing about who she really is.
People can be inspired by their religion and the truth is religions are cults. Yes there are some inspired writings... and more BS. Yes, some people even wake up and give their teacher or religion the credit. Humans will always be controllable sheep until they stop giving away their power to institutions or any other person.
>Humanity is abandoning religion as we discover that it's all just a bunch of unhelpful and unevidenced made-up beliefs.
As one of the few real journalists left, it is disappointing to see you dismiss religion like a used face mask. The foundation of all major religions are teachings derived from the lived wisdom of countless generations. The spiritual laws they teach elevate and inspire us. Religious institutions obviously have been corrupted and hijacked at all times, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. It is blindingly obvious that we are in a spiritual struggle, and the anti-human forces are clearly working to diminish or even eliminate our connection to divinity. I hope you revisit and reconsider this point.
Human wisdom and inspiration are demonstrably possible in the total absence of religions. Religions are a human construct and unnecessary. What a sad world it would be if belief in myths and superstitions were a precondition for all that is good about our species.
The real problems occur when the followers of religions want to forcibly impose their views on others who don't participate in their beliefs.
Social orders which are focused on the production of people and status (as opposed to food) tend to develop imperial ambitions, simply because they eventually run out of willing, internal "inputs" to initiate into their order, and must practice and project force to keep their cosmic mill running.
"The foundation" of all major religions may be as pure as the breeze, but how long has any of them stayed with the foundational wisdom?
There's a saying that religions go through three phases: "formin', stormin', and normin'." When they reach the "normin'" stage, they are far away from their roots.
You're deliberately ignoring the massive amount of history that shows just how far from any "lived wisdom" of the human race that organized religions have come.
Basically, you're an apologist for the status quo.
Whatever the religious institutions end up morphing into, the texts and the teachings remain unchanged and are there for anyone to learn from for themselves. Human beings will always be religious because the soul that animates us is transcendent. Replacing G-d with the State is horrific because it denies our divinity and has nothing to offer spiritually. Look at China and North Korea to see what happens. That's what they want for all of us.
Why would they want a vision specified by liberal-capitalist, specifically American propaganda, in search of world domination? Of course it doesn't sound very nice. Why would it? As for religion, I'm not against anyone's religion, as long as the religious keep their hands off my body and my children. But -- as to the state -- if the state is so bad, why are so many religious people trying to seize state power? God's not enough?
Yes there are some inspired writings and yes throw out everything else. Question everything. Stop supporting institutions that do harm. Believe what your own experiences teach. Trust yourself. The answers are "inside" you. Be empowered. Love.
What's the difference between Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Shinto?
Cost of membership?
Are you asking "James"? Maybe you should have addressed your question to him.
Nothing
Was hoping the person making the original comment would answer. It wasn't the setup to a joke!
Is there a punchline?
Humans have a deep need and desire to know, and yet they are inevitably surrounded by ignorance dictated by the limitations of their bodies as the infinities of nature.. To compensate, to deal with this terrible predicament, they make up stories and become attached to them with passionate belief. As they must.
Let us, for once, have mercy on ourselves.
Henology is the greatest scam the Devil pulled.
"We're the giant."
We seem to forget this fact. It's time to flex our muscles and take out our oppressors.
There have always been oppressors. When some get taken out, they are replaced by other oppressors.
We are not going to get good leaders until people face their own shadows and heal. Violence is not the way.
Who says they have to be taken out violently? Maybe the law will be on our side for once?
Two quick points:
1) an usual disagreement with this:
"now those returns are functionally nil"
The social and economic "returns" on technology are NEGATIVE and have been for a long time. Think a-social media to start with and then think of surveillance and control.
2) democracy of information is vitally important for far more than voting. There are things government is doing on a daily basis that the people know absolutely nothing about. I'm tempted to remind people that. even that fiend LBJ sought "maximum feasible public participation" in the day to day affairs of government. And of course, people can not effectively organize, mobilize and attack the behavior of an illegitimate government they know nothing about.
I wonder if anyone here recalls that US Congress used to have a Office of Technology Assessment.
That was back in the day when the social and environmental impacts of technology were an important consideration and there was no consensus of the inevitable unstoppable technological utopia as new have today. People were outright hostile to "technological innovation" The Luddites have been given a bad name.
I wish I could share your optimism that humanity is abandoning religion, however, I'm not convinced that's happening. Even self-identified atheists in the US seem more credulous of myths and superstitions than religious people in, say, Europe.
Religions won't disappear unless the malicious powers that be recognize that it's no longer useful as a tool to manipulate the masses.
Education is the best defense against myths and superstitions but hoping education will step up to the plate in the US is sadly laughable.
Not sure of which myths you are talking about. Many legends and myths are based on real experiences. Not everything in this world can be seen. It is a mysterious Universe. The open mind sees a lot more than the closed one.
People kick out one irrational belief system, and welcome another in its place. One _knows_ there is a God, and then later the same one _knows_ there isn't a God.
Indeed. Fighting one while implicitly having another.
The biggest myth of all and the one most relevant to Caitlin Johnstone's substack is that our species was specially created by a god or gods and so humans have an intrinsic right to dominate their environment in all senses of the word.
An offspring of that myth is the myth that certain humans are exceptional or special and deserve the right to make others subservient to their goals.
It's not hard to draw a line from these faulty beliefs that are propagated by religions to where humanity is now - the wealthy's money grab in plain view of billions from the pockets of regular working people, climate catastrophes, and threat of nuclear war.
The world would be better off free of religions with their myths and superstitions..
"The world would be better off free of religions" - as it used to be before they came, I assume.
In the context of 'technology', from medical, utilities, telecommunications (Verizon/T-Mobile/AT&T), banking, et al, many individuals are not aware of the manipulative algorithm deception, designed to profit the company. From my observation, many folks are also not aware of the intentional coding based on human prejudicial bias. https://hbr.org/2019/10/what-do-we-do-about-the-biases-in-ai
thank you for your news letters
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion." Thomas Jefferson
Republicans are lucky because they get to just openly be Republicans. Democrats have to be Republicans in secret.
Brilliant (as always)
Cait we have a really good innovation to lift people out of poverty, it is called nuclear power. But the Malthusians who control the narrative, apparently, have been very successful at rolling back its implementation. 
The Gap In Understanding World Affairs -
It is becoming increasingly evident to me that the big question has to be: How is it possible for all the evil work carried out by DaDeepState all over the world, even considering the financial incentives involved to the co-conspirators and their natural propensities for evil - all coordinated with seemingly amazing effectiveness for centuries?
Well, the Bible actually has the answer and I have posted this thread before - There are several factors.... beginning with this question: Are We Governed by Humans? - https://crushlimbraw.blogspot.com/2020/11/are-we-governed-by-humans.html?m=0 - and that reference is just the starting point for our research.
This is a hard thing for both secularists and churchians, but that is the gap which needs to be filled. There is a dimension to life which most folks never see, and I don't mean just non-believers, because Christianity of the Apostles has been changed to Churchianity - you can check that out at my library as well.
When Paul said 'we're not just dealing with flesh and blood, we're dealing with wicked spirits in high places' he wasn't talking about Halloween tricks.
Happy Armistice Day! (11/11)
Thank you. FYI -- a new arrival -- Garland Nixon is truly outstanding:
• https://rumble.com/v1tk95q-freeze-this-conflict-or-escalate-wgarland-nixon-live.html
Freeze this conflict or escalate w/Garland Nixon (Live) – 1:13 hours (Ukraine focus)
• https://rokfin.com/stream/25253 -- Nov 9 – good – 1:15 hours
MIDTERM REVIEW - BOTH HOUSES STILL OPEN
• https://rokfin.com/stream/25205 -- Nov 8 -- Outstanding 1:09hours
MID TERMS 2020 - A REFERENDUM ON DARK BRANDON
caitlin, been reading and appreciating your essays for a while. thought you might be interested in this : www.movetoamend.org. be glad to correspond about it. below is what i just sent out to friends.
mike
_____________
Friends:
Move to Amend is the only grassroots citizens' organization that works to get corporations OUT of the constitution -- that means no more 1st Amendment, 4th Amendment, 5th Amendment, 14 Amendment etc. "rights" for corporations -- ONLY what people and their legislators choose to grant.
There's a constitutional amendment to do just that with 90+ sponsors in Congress so far. But most importantly, there is a dedicated, passionate, experienced movement pushing it. We'd do well to see how we can make this happen. I know these folks and Move to Amend is the real deal.
Tune in right here: https://www.movetoamend.org/midterm_implications_for_mta
mike
Hey Caitlin, silent follower here!
First of all i would like to thank you for your brave commitment to global citizenship awareness and free speech, its admirable! You know, while reading your essay this quote sounded my mind:
---
"Peace Speech" (JFK, 1963):
Professor Woodrow Wilson once said that every man sent out from a university should be a man of his nation as well as a man of his time, and I am confident that the men and women who carry the honor of graduating from this institution will continue to give from their lives, from their talents, a high measure of public service and public support.
“There are few earthly things more beautiful than a university,” wrote John Masefield, in his tribute to English universities—and his words are equally true today. He did not refer to spires and towers, to campus greens and ivied walls. He ad-mired the splendid beauty of the university, he said, because it was “a place where those who hate ignorance may strive to know, where those who perceive truth may strive to make others see.”
I have, therefore, chosen this time and this place to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived—yet it is the most important topic on earth: peace