Obviously, we were not careful, as we have reached this point in so many Western countries.
As an example, lets us see what is happening in the US sycophant, Australia.
Powers to strip funding from public institutions who fail (fail to grover to the local Zionists) on antisemitism is now on the cards initiated by the weak Prime Minister who dances to all the US / Israel tunes.
Years ago there was a steady increase in Israeli academics in Australian Universities, as well as funding increases in areas where some form of Israeli influence was seen to be invaluable. This is now seen daily in the level of "antisemitism nonsense" in every state but hardly a single word of criticism on genocide, murders by the thousands, baby killing, snipers, rapes and starvation as Israel's daily practices. Such activities are covered by the constantly used statement "we support the two state solution" meaning that in some way this is offered as a criticism of what is happening in Gaza. It isn't, not in any form.
Along with the UK, Germany, Canada, New Zealand Australia epitomises the real white Western Governments in being a lame duck, a tame little US bag carrier, regardless of the occasional comment which may accidentally emerge by a government politician.
Democracy does not mean that a parliament has members with opinions that differ one beat away from the dictatorial policies of a few. They are well controlled and any variation will require a dismissal from the elected majority, as happened recently in the Senate with a Senator Payman, who dared to have her own opinion. What a frightening thought.
Democracy, something of a joke.
As for the "oppressed" and the "oppressors", hardly a squeak. It is the football season you see. Any contra-opinion on matters of justice, US dictatorial statements, Israeli crimes by the hundreds, the possibility of nuclear action by the USA, hardly rate a mention. But antisemitism, (a.k.a hiding the truth about the crimes of Israel) is headline stuff every day.
A weak country now, once with a future, now just a US puppet. Not in any way a democracy because individual opinions count for nothing, but Party opinion s (as in the USA) call the shots, whatever the "executive" determines.
Not to “pile it on”, but what Aus did to its own citizens during COVID was so draconian it should have been a wake up call for every Aussie. But you had already given up your guns and had no choice but to cave. All that “freedom” is on paper only. The Zionist ruling class has you by the pair…
Everybody who can think knows these things. So we have three classes. Those who do not think and accept the propaganda. Those who do not admit that they think and pretend to believe the propaganda lest they lose jobs, friends, social status etc. And those willing to accept reality, and speak to it, which is by far the smallest group at this time.
I don't think those who are making all these crazy decisions and rules really care whether we believe them or not. They want power and they will take it any way they can.
These are the people who are the most dangerous IMO. They apologize, ignore, downplay and do nothing. No critical thinking, no morality, no responsibility. They tout their humanity and spew "it's complicated" with every breath. These are the people who are dangerous. Perhaps the truth to their inaction is a base of agreement with the situation. It's working for their agenda. Expose imorality and inaction!!!
"The empire depends on ignorance. The more stupid, racist, gullible, and easily distracted we become, the nastier agendas the empire can roll out. "
If the past few years hasn't convince you of the validity of this statement, nothing will. We are ignorant, and the empire exploits our ignorance at every opportunity.
How do we stop this exploitation? Simple--become less ignorant, less stupid, less racist, less gullible and don't allow yourself to be easily distracted. Keep your eyes focused on what agenda the empire rolls out, because we'll be the next group bombed in our beds and forced off our lands because the billionaires covet what we've got.
Don't ever think it won't happen elsewhere than Palestine, folks. Start educating yourself and keeping a close eye on those fat rich white bastards who enjoy insulting your intelligence.
Lammy is truely a disgrace. This is another facet of empire - while the 'fat white rich bastards' run the show, they condition plenty of black and brown Lammys to carry out the orders.
Funny, isn't it, that one of the most ignorant fat white bastards is bought and paid for in the US while putting his signature to as much destruction as he can. The fool does not see that the billionaire class is playing like a stringless violin, using his need for compliments to get him to fulfil their wishes - not their dreams, they can buy all if them, it's world domination. Once they have that in their pockets, it's bye bye Drumpf and thanks for all your signatures.
"Don't ever think it won't happen elsewhere than Palestine, folks."
Agreed. If they will wipe out one people, they'll be wiping out others. There will always be a new specious reason, and the next thing you know, we'll have the normalization of genocide.
I know, because since the 1960s I've witnessed the incredible, breathtaking normalization of corruption, and of lying in general. I wonder if a lot of the young people here from the US are really aware of this profound transition in American culture. Lying and corruption have always existed, of course, don't get me wrong. But what used to be abnormal, suppressed, and punished when exposed, is now anything but.
I dunno, but I think it (the corruption) has always been there since the dawn of time. Isn't that the story of Cain and Able?
Has American Culture changed? (Well, besides the obvious because of technology) Underneath haven't we (being an American) always been motivated by taking more and more and more no matter who owned it?
Is it a historical accident that "whites" managed to gain the tech to dominate the world -- for the moment (centuries long)?
The corruption has become more noticed. Is that because we (the "masses") are so powerless the Oligarchy doesn't care any longer that it is exposed? After all, we do nothing about it.
Was Tim MacVeigh right?
Would Aaron Bushnell and MacVeigh ally with one another?
"I think it (the corruption) has always been there since the dawn of time"
True, but that's why I said "Lying and corruption have always existed, of course, don't get me wrong." What's totally changed is the dominant attitude toward it from something to fight on the one hand, to something that one either ignores or participates oneself if you are are a go-getter and/or lucky.
"Underneath haven't we (being an American) always been motivated by taking more and more and more no matter who owned it?"
I don't agree. In the two-term Republican Eisenhower administration, starting two decades after FDR's, the top marginal tax rates were much higher than they are now. He famously echoed Roosevelt many times in calling for fairness. Moreover, that attitude of morality is exactly how the first wave of Civil Rights, with about 85% whites nationally, emerged a success, as well as a broad establishment of welfare, a system that was attacked decades later for very different reasons, but yet described only as pure "racism".
"Is it a historical accident that 'whites' managed to gain the tech to dominate the world -- for the moment (centuries long)?"
From what I see, once weaponry became highly superior to non-Europeans, it was a slippery slope that sustained itself a long time. Power begets power. But it was high-status, rich, risk-prone, attractive, connected, intelligent, and/or psychopaths who were the main ones who led the assaults. Unfortunately, these assaults are described today as "white people" per se, as if there were no beaten-down white serfs dominating the population of Europe. The latter who were fire-and-brimstoned into Christian submission for over a thousand years, and the vast majority had to have little to no interest conquering and killing people in foreign lands. That minority who did, like their seafaring leaders, had to *also* be risk-prone, intelligent psychopaths and/or escaping intolerable repression. Same warlords exist today in concentration of power and steamrollering is going on now with the owners/masters of banking, lawfare, computing and data, etc.
"The corruption has become more noticed. Is that because we (the 'masses') are so powerless the Oligarchy doesn't care any longer that it is exposed?"
Agreed. The level of available technology to control us is unprecedented, and likely at a power-locking watershed.
"After all, we do nothing about it."
IMO, parts are fear, denial, deer-in-the-headlights shock, and our failure thus far of imagination. What needs to be done also may not be exposed publicly.
"Was Tim MacVeigh right? / Would Aaron Bushnell and MacVeigh ally with one another?"
"How do we stop this exploitation? Simple--become less ignorant, less stupid, less racist, less gullible and don't allow yourself to be easily distracted."
No, it's not simple, and it obviously needs to be spread well beyond our own self-improvement.
-- As the saying goes, "You can't fix stupid." You can only stretch one's native intelligence a modest amount. Also, the vast majority of us, myself included, are stupid in various ways. Let's recognize those to regain humility as we face opponents.
-- Fixing ignorance requires resources. Moreover, stupidity and other mental weaknesses interfere greatly with it. How will we overcome this on a mass scale?
-- Racism, both real and imagined, though unacceptable in modern times, has evolutionary basis, just like violence and all sorts of other undesirable characteristics. As with promoting democracy, suppressing racism requires continual maintenance.
-- Our psychopathic leaders are interested in anything but remediating stupidity, ignorance, and racism. I think we know how un-simple fighting them is.
-- Abusing people on the basis of their nature and beliefs is, well... abuse. It always backfires. How do you think Zionism came to be?
In large part, we're still doing virtue-signaling circle jerks. How do we actually *expand* our kind well beyond this blog?
Caitlin, my WORST FEARS about humanity (or rather a significant minority of humanity) are coming true. We are ALREADY living under variations of George Orwell's '1984' and Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World' (at least in the Western World IMO).
I see the U.S. Empire positioning itself to be worse than the German Nazi regime (few might see it from this perspective yet, though if the current trajectory of Western nations and the U.S. Empire are to be taken to their eventual conclusions, that is how I see it).
We are living in DARK TIMES indeed, and things are about to get darker. I believe what we (the majority of normal, ordinary humans) need going forward are NEW STRATEGIES for combating all these EVILS - and organizing by the masses on massive scales never seen before in history.
I also believe we need to use the tools of the Capitalist class (and TPTB) against them - tools like AI, the internet, social media, old tech like high-quality books/documentaries, and much more - to defend, protect, care for, and block/combat what is to come...
The problem with access to high quality books is finding people under forty who are capable of reading them. Our greatest enemy is ignorance and they have done an admirable job in the last fifty years of ramping it up. Most recent grads are functionally illiterate and even more couldn't care less as long as they have their handouts and their little portable idiot boxes. to teach them all about "life".
Yes, I understand the challenges, and though you have articulated some of them, I reckon there are many more...
But WHAT OTHER SOLUTION is there? What other options do we (the ordinary, normal people) have? Can you think of some alternative, even semi-realistic ones that we might need?
This might sound like a basic question, but HOW do we get people to make SUCH paradigm shifts? I think the need is URGENT and most people are too complacent about the current state of the world...
Even a 21-month long Genocide (the worst of its kind in modern history) has not woken up enough people to the reality of the 'state of world affairs' and what it heralds for the future.
What do we need to WAKE PEOPLE UP? A few nuclear detonations? Is that how 'zombie-like' most humans have become?
Your assessment of the human condition is accurate but maybe needs some help in that there exists a theory by which it is believed that only a small percentage of a population is needed to make radical shifts in their condition, so long as the proposed changes favor the entire tribe.
I’m afraid however that nuclear war will occur before such changes can happen. But then I’m surprised it has not happened yet, and so I was wrong. For instance, politics obviously don’t work in making our collective well-being more secure. And neither does world economics… they need change, and changes can happen.
>>"...there exists a theory by which it is believed that only a small percentage of a population is needed to make radical shifts..."
I'm not sure I'm willing to put my faith in such an 'unproven?' theory. How robust is this theory? Has it been researched/analyzed scientifically/statistically in the real world (i.e. evidence based)? This seems to me like just 'another narrative' more than a 'tested/verified/robust' real-world theory.
Do you (or anyone else) have quality literature/references to take such a theory 'to task'?
I doubt there is a solution. I sometimes read articles out loud to my teenage grandchildren but, it appears with the exception of my oldest, they can hardly wait to get back to their little idiot boxes. The oldest spent a lot of time with me and has become an avid reader and follower of world events. He is constantly trying to get his siblings to wake up. He is an anomaly, a well read roughneck in the oil patch. Maybe the solution is in young ones like him who strive to better others his age and younger and leads by example.
Wow. You're so f..n' smart and the kids are f..n' stupid.
You just justified all those complaints about the boomers being dickheads. I can't defend boomers any longer.
If your kids ain't smart that's on you. Asshole.
God, I cannot believe how much your superiority complex has just pissed me off.
You must be an agent of the Oligarchy, like Laffer (for example) spreading angst and ageism and some popular meme so that you can tell yourself "Its not my fault".
Hope you're happy that you'll be in one of the latter groups the Gestapo rounds up to take to the incinerators.
My kids are my step children when I met their mother they were all in their teens. She was a widowed single mom for ten years who held down three jobs while trying to raise three kids. She was raised in a family that believed girls should be married in their teens and education for them was unimportant. She is self educated and frighteningly intelligent. She got all of her kids to graduate which at the time she believed was the right thing. The blatant ignorance in your comment shows you have no idea what adversity is or how it shapes people's lives. The system educated her kids simply because she had to work to feed her kids and keep a roof over their heads. Most people would have folded up and let the welfare system handle it all.
>>"The blatant ignorance in your comment shows you have no idea what adversity is or how it shapes people's lives."
Peter Sawchuk, it's worse than that with this JohnOnKaui (John Zwiebel) character. He is semi-delusional (as you will observe from his most recent comment to you) and his whole life revolves around 'the deep state' and his 'hero father figure Aaron Good'. I've learned to ignore his comments, as have many others in Caitlin's substack.
"The problem with access to high quality books is finding people under forty who are capable of reading them. "
I didn't say anything about the "kids".
I didn't say anything about their mom.
I am not the one who insulted and denigrated anyone under 40.
THAT WAS YOU!
YOU are the one who trashed your step children.
You admitted you didn't give a fuck about them. You left it all up to their mom. If you have any humility at all, you will crawl on your knees to her begging forgiveness.
My comment was directed at YOU and YOU alone.
Now you have the gall to take offense because I call you out for your arrogance, your self-importance, your conceit.
You have no idea which "side" you are on.
We don't need dickheads like you in our war against the Oligarchy.
John Zwiebel - like I've told you before - quit taking DRUGS. Your psychosis/paranoia and 'complete misunderstanding of other people's comments' is approaching absurd levels.
And while you're at it, trying using some filters OTHER than 'your God Aaron Good's filters' to perceive and make sense of the world. Or don't. But please stop abusing drugs (the legal or illegal kind) that seem to fuel your paranoia to abnormal levels.
"I believe what we (the majority of normal, ordinary humans) need going forward are NEW STRATEGIES for combating all these EVILS"
If I told you some, Prof. Dr. Chang Chokaski, would you beat me down for coloring outside the lines? Or did you find that deleting your+my thread enough?
-- Here's a freebie "NEW STRATEGY" for you: Allow all dialogue at all times, instead of censoring/suppressing supposed "wrongthink" or "misbehavior". It's the only way (1) you'll get close enough to rooting out what beliefs actually exist, and (2) actually change minds. No matter what other kinds of divide-and-conquer and totalitarian sophistry your own professors and "community organizers" may have been teaching you over the years. And if it's the other person who's the fool, they're left hung out to dry.
-- Here's another: Don't rely mainly on pointers (to videos, books, etc.) to explain your POV about something when you can't even briefly summarize the content of that you are pointing to - especially if it's an hour (or 200 pages) long, yet provided *without* internal location markers to the relevant content. It's a bad look when you want to convince others (those who aren't so gullible, that is) that you know what you're talking about. You're not a professor leading a class here, you're on public commentary site.
And yes, these both are relevant to you, AND your question.
I knew there were good reasons to IGNORE your comments - maybe look up 'motivated reasoning' for starters. As usual Anti-Hip likes 'instant answsers' that adhere to his 'confirmation biases'. Anything else is unacceptable (to him) and considered 'too much work'.
For someone that refuses to learn (or acknowledge) knowledge (and facts) that go against their belief systems, and refuses to put in ANY effort at learning (and instead expects to be spoon-fed), you sure are one to talk.
"Anti-Hip likes 'instant answsers' that adhere to his 'confirmation biases'."
Do not dismiss my requests for clarity as "instant answers". If you can't summarize and at (nearly) any length requested your point-of-view about subject X, you don't actually have a coherent understanding and/or valuation of X. Or, you are afraid of where the discussion will lead. Or, you are not very talented in natural language, which I don't believe applies to you.
"For someone that refuses to learn (or acknowledge) knowledge (and facts) that go against their belief systems..."
Until you get specific, and then both of us are willing to bore down (as in fact I tried), this accusation, likewise, is useless.
"...refuses to put in ANY effort at learning (and instead expects to be spoon-fed)..."
(a) You're really confusing this forum with a classroom. Get conscious of this.
(b) In any case, I tried to meet you where *you* were by starting in on that video, and then when I had objections to the content, it was *you* who refused to discuss it. That was my "WTF?!" moment with you.
-------------
Suggestions
(1) Until one starts calling out specific instances to critique, and does so, there's nothing of substance being debated. In that case, it's all about ethos, not logos. Granted, you have ethos privilege here, but please don't ignore the differences between the two.
(2) What's going to work convincing others with alien POVs to change their minds:
- If you want to accuse someone of violating, say, an ethical or debating rule (as you do me), identify specifically what and why. Don't make generalizations, else you're leaning on your ethos privilege. You, too, need to "do the work".
- If you want to cite external viewing/reading as evidence for *specific* content point, please make that specific point first, then identify where in the material the evidence for that specific point can be found.
- If you think it is your job here to *generally* educate the unwashed, I'm afraid that won't work. Not just on me, who will talk back to you, but on plenty others who won't say anything, but will walk away disgusted. Sure, you can offer your perspective, why you believe you are qualified. But all of us arrive here with all kinds of education as well as life experiences. Ironically, your disrespecting that is one of the sources of the very problems you bemoan above spreading the word about Gaza/Israel. I, myself, arrive here wanting also to understand alien POVs, but it seems you think the only way is through re-education camps. Sorry, I've been through several already.
(3) Deleting postings to which others are attached should be a non-no.
Maybe you missed reading my previous comment to you? Are you some elite/super-special human that is entitled to INSTANT ANSWERS Anti-Hip? Why are you so lazy that you cannot do any work on your own, but instead need to be spoon-fed? Maybe you LACK the skills required to do your OWN due diligence?
Hint: If you want INSTANT answers that CONFORM to your beliefs, you can ALWAYS use LLMs (like ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Grok, Llama, and dozens of others) with the appropriate PROMPTS.
Read the HINT again Anti-Hip, and again (though I doubt it'll sink in).
But sure, go ahead and invent narratives (and interpretations) of other people's comments - thereby creating 'strawman arguments' that you can successfully attack (and restore you sense of ego or whatever else you are trying to convince yourself of).
Your 'excuses/defenses' are as old as time itself - but then I suspect you knew this already - these are the very tricks that politicians use when they have NO rational arguments for supporting their beliefs/narratives/gaslighting.
"Why are you so lazy that you cannot do any work on your own, but instead need to be spoon-fed?"
I pulled this comment out specifically that identifies your obsession (apparently you are not conscious of), in a last-ditch effort to zero in on the main point I am making:
THIS IS NOT A CLASSROOM. If you think it is, you are doomed only to gather only the very like-minded, as well as people less-intelligent than yourself. Simply put, this will not advance the cause of ending Gaza, or improving the world. Best wishes.
Anti-Hip, you don't seem to care bout 'improving the world' OR 'understanding it' - as has been made abundantly CLEAR from your comments over a period of time (and in this thread).
In fact, you are actively OPPOSED to understanding things (as an example, I present to you your inability to learn/comprehend what 'LEFT and RIGHT' mean - reference past comments for evidence on this if you wish).
So, since you seem to be in Caitlin's substack primarily to PUSH YOUR narratives/understanding (rather than making any effort to learn from excellent resources avalaible to all of us), you add little value to these comment sections. Sorry, did I bruise your ego a bit more by being honest about your attitude, behavior, and lack of focus?
But yes, please plead to others (like Jim, etc.) to come to your rescue and defense instead of attempting rational argumentation. I understand that you need the help of others in defending your ego (or 'sense of self' or 'belief systems' or whatever).
"Maybe you missed reading my previous comment to you?"
I answered several items, quoted, point by point. I think you are the one with the reading/comprehension problem.
"Are you some elite/super-special human that is entitled to INSTANT ANSWERS Anti-Hip?"
Again, you ignore my explicit explanation on this very point. As well as the rest of my points... Sigh. To me, then, it is obvious you have some kind of mental dysfunction that I'm unable to fathom. Sorry to hear that.
If others would like to chime in, I'd certainly welcome it, I can't make sense of his or my failures here. Thank you all in advance.
tsk, tsk, bruised and damaged EGO Anti-Hip? Unable to 'fight your own battles' and need someone else to do the work for you?
Do you see a pattern here? Your laziness (intellectual and otherwise) seems to permeate many aspects of yourself - not only do you NEED 'spoon-fed instant answers' that conform to YOUR 'beliefs and narratives', but you often need OTHERS to do the work for you.
And therein lies your 'fake superiority complex' - thinking that you are SO SPECIAL that you DESERVE 'instant answers to your liking' and anything else is unacceptable.
BTW, this thread is about SOLUTIONS, but you seem to want to HIJACK it to make it about me (Chang Chokaski). Have you noticed that? Others sure have.
FOCUS, Anti-Hip. This is NOT about me (or you). This is about SOLUTIONS to the problem of Capitalism (and TPTB). I see NO ONE ELSE doing what you are doing here - deviating from attempting to discuss solutions to instead go on irrelevant tangents to defend your 'bruised ego from previous encounters'.
Thanks Chang Chokaski and Caitlin as well as other commenters here for helping me clear the circuit in my mind earlier this morning that was indeed referencing and boeinging between the bookends and neural pinball bumpers of my illustrative mind when filing creative works like the formative novels here cited in George Orwell's '1984' and Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World.'
In fact something about the timbre of our current times as processed in pieces I was reading all through recent weeks of nearly sleepless nights via Substack and some subscription indie journalists had me processing all through my Lit mentors via the foreward to Neil Postman's book 'Amusing Ourselves to Death' that a number of mentor\friends\former college Profs wanted me to read a coupla three years ago even as I was at present too late shaking their metaphoric shirtsleeves during our heat wave and Guadalupe River flooding the Texas Hill Country and circling back to the book's foreward and the rest of Neil Postman's writings on US mass media and technocracy from my college intro to his work circa 1980's to present:
Prior to the clarity brought to my emo muddled and wrought mind by my clear-thinking mentor\Profs turned friends; my own seeking after something non-narcotic to soothe the IDF and Palestinian missile tri-lingual slang-y cross-talk mirrored by the Empire's new dynamic duo of political representation via Wall Street (2nd term President Trump) and the Military Industrial Complex's Muddle Eastern partners in crimes against humanity (PM Bibi Netanyahu) pulled from my warped musical library of poly-lingual singersongwriter recording artists someone I left behind in the mists of my own interior changes when he converted to a highly contrasted seemingly severe and rigid first phase of Islamic conversion, namely the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens and more recently as Yusuf (nee Islam...) and now, well.....:
"Oh Very Young" is a song composed by Cat Stevens. It was released on his 1974 album Buddha and the Chocolate Box, as well as several later "Best of..." and "Greatest Hits" albums. This song that poses a question asked by future generations reached number 10 in the U.S. charts." Quote by Larry Hinze who posted this uplifting track to U. of Tube
"But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell's dark vision, there was another - slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions". In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us."
Here are some things that stood out for me ->
(1) >>"the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions"."
So true!
(2) >>"In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure."
IMHO, I think it is BOTH pain AND pleasure. Distracting pleasure for those that can afford it, and pain for those that cannot afford to experience (or get distracted) by the pleasure. In effect, we have the WORST of BOTH '1984' and 'Brave New World'. Now, did anyone imagine a reality that would compass BOTH of these scenarios (like we are living through and about to get deeper into)?
Both pain and pleasure is being used to transform the western world along with the attempt to transform the rest of the world to the western image. Orwell creates the pain, Huxley the pleasure / Netanyahu the pain for those outside the agenda and Trump the pleasure for the in-crowd. For Palestine the pain, for the in-crowd the transformed Gaza in Trumps image.
We are only in the first chapter of a two chapter book, Orwell the first chapter, Huxley the second chapter. So both are true, understanding the game depends on the page your on and where in the world your reading it. It really depends on which pill one takes, the pain or the pleasure, resist or go along to get along.
We can only hope we find the fortitude and faith of the Palestinians to resist.
While Caitlin does an excellent job of pointing out the ills of the world society, she hasn't yet offered any plan on what to do about it. This is not a criticism, unless it is recognized that no one commenting here has offered a plan so it is all of us.
Now, were someone to suggest a plan would they be arrested by ICE within 24 hours?
There is no plan, there is little hope to change it.
That is the agenda.
The Zionist, colonial, capitalist system has created a watertight system to allow them free rein and the ability to do as they please.
They have always known we would wake up to it, but they planned for it.
We only need to look at what comes out of Israel and Netanyahu's mouth - war crimes are now acceptable in the world.
We have no option but to get mad and eventually tire of being mad and accept the world they have created. We are trapped and we are mealiness other than to keep the wheels and riches spinning upward.
IMO - the only possible answer/option is armed and organized rebellion. But it won't happen, because they have that figured out as well...
We have no true means of organization that can't be infiltrated, controlled or destroyed by "them". The people you site were lone wolves and yes, what was the result...?
The Zionists control worldwide security, internet, surveillance and responses. There is no argument. There is little effective potential for rebellion without a MASSIVE violent, public turnaround.
I think it’s more the case of “what you going to do about it?” They can get away with anything nowadays. There’s no honour, no accountability, no justice. They could eat babies alive and post it on social media and everyone would fart and go to work tomorrow. fsociety
Everyone forgets the French revolution, they even forget, if they ever knew, what the Bastille Day celebrations are about. Look at Drumpf the idiot wanting to have a day just like that, so give him one or two or three - educate him with reality.
What was the promise of the french revolution? Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité!
Has it stuck to those promises?
It was captured and twisted by the new developed rich capitalist class in an instant and people went about their lifes because they had to, children were to feed, work to be done, the harvest would not wait or rot on the fields.
Same now, people get up in the morning going to work, wanting to be able to pay the bills because the alternatives are devastating for a human being in the west.
The basic social foundations are destroyed by neoliberal individualism ( Maggie Thatcher: there is no such thing as society).
So things are even harder now than back at the days of the french revolution in a way - "hate your next door neighbor but don't forget to say grace" (eve of destruction)
You totally missed what I was saying. Drumpf wanted a celebration like the one he watched in France. The way he's going he may get a bastille day, when the country has had enough of his killing off jobs that none of his supporters could ever think of having, while cutting the things so many of them rely on just to live.
We should remember that the French Revolution brought us Napoleon.
Iran doesn't seem to have fallen into that trap.
Can we examine (again) why Russia was provoked into the Ukraine war? They (and I) see no exit. It isn't that Russia wants to occupy Ukraine, it's the very obvious threat from "the West".
I have no beef with Russia (or Iran). I'm a Rodney King kind-a-guy: I "just want to get along".
Finkelstein calls them "Jewish Supremacists". Hedges calls them "the Rich". Good calls them the "Deep State".
"them", perhaps you noticed I did not specify who "them" are.
When you ask "what you going to do about it?" I get a crux of your rhetorical question.
When you shift and address youself by projecting to the mysterious Third Person(s): "There's no honour, no accountability, no justice. They could eat babies alive and post it on social media and everyone would fart and go to work tomorrow. fsociety...." That there is where you lose me via your narrator's shuck and jive and simply pass as foul gas.
It is so redolent of da candidate Trumpster's own first ever political campaign, for President no less, in January 2016 as reported here by CBS News. His shuck & jive early in his fundraising political campaign for the presidency (with no legislative experience in his work or executive history) when he was quoted as saying of the loyalty of his celebrity fan base as indistinguishable from his political constituency:
"Donald Trump: I could "shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters"
By Reena Flores
Updated on: January 23, 2016 / 3:37 PM EST / CBS News"
"According to Republican presidential contender Donald Trump, his supporters are a staunchly loyal bunch -- so loyal, in fact, that the billionaire could get away with some pretty drastic acts and his fanbase wouldn't bat an eye.
"My people are so smart -- and you know what else they say about my people? The polls?" Trump asked a crowd at a Sioux Center, Iowa, rally Saturday. "I have the most loyal people -- did you ever see that?"
"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?" he said, referring to the major street in New York City that cuts through Manhattan's large commercial district. "It's, like, incredible."
"Trump certainly holds a commanding national lead over the rest of the Republican presidential field."
"A recent CBS/New York Times poll showed 36 percent of Republican primary voters back the bombastic real estate developer -- 17 points ahead of his closest rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz."
"Additionally, a majority of his supporters have declared their minds are made up, compared to other voters: Fifty-two percent say they have decided on Trump versus 24 percent of non-Trump supporters who have made up their mind."
"Enthusiasm for the Republican politician has also grown, according to the January survey. Forty percent of GOP primary voters say they would enthusiastically throw their support behind Trump -- up 11 points from December."
"Trump later went on to bash his fellow Republican 2016 candidates, calling the supporters of contenders like Ted Cruz "soft."
"My people stay," he said. "Cruz? Soft. When they heard about this thing - that he was born in Canada, that nobody knew about? He lost a lot of people. He's gone down big in the polls."
"When likely Iowa caucus-goers at the rally were asked about Trump's charge that he is bulletproof in the polls, some dismissed his turn of phrase."
"It's "just a figure of speech," said Frank Martinez from Sibley, Iowa. "It is not the fact that he wants to shoot anybody, and I hope that's not the way it is going to be changed or edited. But what he is saying is basically he is very confident in where he lives."
"A first-time caucus-goer, David Griffith, added that "obviously he is not going to go and shoot somebody."
"Still, Griffith said, "I knew when he said it it was risky ... somebody is going to take and twist that line."
CBS News' Kylie Atwood contributed to this report.
Francesca Albanese is worth more to humanity than every US senator and congressperson combined. She epitomises and embodies uncompromising, universal moral virtue, the very greatest human trait.
First time I've come upon a quote by Canada's bard of the working man of faith, who more recently married a U.S. doctor and moved to San Francisco. Very apt quote regardless of the lack of statistical controls in this particular political science loose trendy theory....Heckuva useful song lyric and I recommend perusing closely all of Bruce Cockburn's song lyrics, from his early and continuous spiritual pursuits to his creative processing of global conflicts through the prism of engaged and informed citizenry.
Canadian Christian Sensualist Bruce Cockburn has a unique way of putting his conscience into the driver's seat of his songwriting, not to the exclusion of his human and humane-centered sensuality. Like the biblical Jacob, the complete Cockburn songbook and recordings as well as his various performance combos to date present an ongoing wrestling match between a bewildered seeker if rough sleeper and a nocturnal angel
on fire in unceasing mano y angel inferno and mortal v. immortal coiled yet conscientious combat.
The Trouble With Normal: RAI with Bruce Cockburn (2\9 from Full album)
The Real News Network
1.09M subscribers
3,335 views May 28, 2019
"Songwriter Bruce Cockburn speaks with host Paul Jay about whether his music is 'anti-American,' and about his early spiritual influences." Watch the full nine part interview series with Bruce Cockburn on YouTube at https://bit.ly/2XksiHO or The Real News at https://bit.ly/30SMiU6
I would also recommend as a pre-requisite close listening to the entire "Inner City Front" album in sequence and uninterrupted from first track to last. Special attention to the nuanced and shaded session players' in-spired aural textures of the instrumental tracks that punctuate BC's focused if often oddly-metered song narratives: (Deluxe Edition)
Nice work Catlin. Excellent. The Western so called democracies act like fascists controlled by the loathsome issreshell propagandists. Ass licking sycophants. Corrupt amerikan political fascist thugs.
You can not make sense of a mad, mad world. Openly, denying what Epstein was and his files , shows that the world leadership is controlled by forces beyond our human comprehension, otherworldy, evil forces. These forces feed off our misery, pain and fears. We are being played like chess pieces.
I nominate Francesca Albanese for the Nobel Peace Prize, the Victoria Cross, and any other award that recognises commitment and courage in the face of extreme hostility 🙏
A mind-fuck is another way of defining insulting our intelligence. However more and more are becoming hip to the mind-fuckery by our governments. Such as a magic bullet killed JFK, Epstein killed himself and Epstein had "NO" clients list.
“If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”
Malcolm X
Dr.Who....
Obviously, we were not careful, as we have reached this point in so many Western countries.
As an example, lets us see what is happening in the US sycophant, Australia.
Powers to strip funding from public institutions who fail (fail to grover to the local Zionists) on antisemitism is now on the cards initiated by the weak Prime Minister who dances to all the US / Israel tunes.
Years ago there was a steady increase in Israeli academics in Australian Universities, as well as funding increases in areas where some form of Israeli influence was seen to be invaluable. This is now seen daily in the level of "antisemitism nonsense" in every state but hardly a single word of criticism on genocide, murders by the thousands, baby killing, snipers, rapes and starvation as Israel's daily practices. Such activities are covered by the constantly used statement "we support the two state solution" meaning that in some way this is offered as a criticism of what is happening in Gaza. It isn't, not in any form.
Along with the UK, Germany, Canada, New Zealand Australia epitomises the real white Western Governments in being a lame duck, a tame little US bag carrier, regardless of the occasional comment which may accidentally emerge by a government politician.
Democracy does not mean that a parliament has members with opinions that differ one beat away from the dictatorial policies of a few. They are well controlled and any variation will require a dismissal from the elected majority, as happened recently in the Senate with a Senator Payman, who dared to have her own opinion. What a frightening thought.
Democracy, something of a joke.
As for the "oppressed" and the "oppressors", hardly a squeak. It is the football season you see. Any contra-opinion on matters of justice, US dictatorial statements, Israeli crimes by the hundreds, the possibility of nuclear action by the USA, hardly rate a mention. But antisemitism, (a.k.a hiding the truth about the crimes of Israel) is headline stuff every day.
A weak country now, once with a future, now just a US puppet. Not in any way a democracy because individual opinions count for nothing, but Party opinion s (as in the USA) call the shots, whatever the "executive" determines.
Not to “pile it on”, but what Aus did to its own citizens during COVID was so draconian it should have been a wake up call for every Aussie. But you had already given up your guns and had no choice but to cave. All that “freedom” is on paper only. The Zionist ruling class has you by the pair…
Everybody who can think knows these things. So we have three classes. Those who do not think and accept the propaganda. Those who do not admit that they think and pretend to believe the propaganda lest they lose jobs, friends, social status etc. And those willing to accept reality, and speak to it, which is by far the smallest group at this time.
You missed one. Those who think and willfully deceive others to dominate the other 3.
I don't think those who are making all these crazy decisions and rules really care whether we believe them or not. They want power and they will take it any way they can.
Hi Snow
May I add those who ignore the propaganda and go on with their lives as if everything’s “normal”?
These are the people who are the most dangerous IMO. They apologize, ignore, downplay and do nothing. No critical thinking, no morality, no responsibility. They tout their humanity and spew "it's complicated" with every breath. These are the people who are dangerous. Perhaps the truth to their inaction is a base of agreement with the situation. It's working for their agenda. Expose imorality and inaction!!!
Such are the people who'll disappear readily. Be not one of them.
"The empire depends on ignorance. The more stupid, racist, gullible, and easily distracted we become, the nastier agendas the empire can roll out. "
If the past few years hasn't convince you of the validity of this statement, nothing will. We are ignorant, and the empire exploits our ignorance at every opportunity.
How do we stop this exploitation? Simple--become less ignorant, less stupid, less racist, less gullible and don't allow yourself to be easily distracted. Keep your eyes focused on what agenda the empire rolls out, because we'll be the next group bombed in our beds and forced off our lands because the billionaires covet what we've got.
Don't ever think it won't happen elsewhere than Palestine, folks. Start educating yourself and keeping a close eye on those fat rich white bastards who enjoy insulting your intelligence.
And not just fat rich white bastards, Lammy is in a league of his own.
F....
Lammy is truely a disgrace. This is another facet of empire - while the 'fat white rich bastards' run the show, they condition plenty of black and brown Lammys to carry out the orders.
Funny, isn't it, that one of the most ignorant fat white bastards is bought and paid for in the US while putting his signature to as much destruction as he can. The fool does not see that the billionaire class is playing like a stringless violin, using his need for compliments to get him to fulfil their wishes - not their dreams, they can buy all if them, it's world domination. Once they have that in their pockets, it's bye bye Drumpf and thanks for all your signatures.
"Don't ever think it won't happen elsewhere than Palestine, folks."
Agreed. If they will wipe out one people, they'll be wiping out others. There will always be a new specious reason, and the next thing you know, we'll have the normalization of genocide.
I know, because since the 1960s I've witnessed the incredible, breathtaking normalization of corruption, and of lying in general. I wonder if a lot of the young people here from the US are really aware of this profound transition in American culture. Lying and corruption have always existed, of course, don't get me wrong. But what used to be abnormal, suppressed, and punished when exposed, is now anything but.
I dunno, but I think it (the corruption) has always been there since the dawn of time. Isn't that the story of Cain and Able?
Has American Culture changed? (Well, besides the obvious because of technology) Underneath haven't we (being an American) always been motivated by taking more and more and more no matter who owned it?
Is it a historical accident that "whites" managed to gain the tech to dominate the world -- for the moment (centuries long)?
The corruption has become more noticed. Is that because we (the "masses") are so powerless the Oligarchy doesn't care any longer that it is exposed? After all, we do nothing about it.
Was Tim MacVeigh right?
Would Aaron Bushnell and MacVeigh ally with one another?
"I think it (the corruption) has always been there since the dawn of time"
True, but that's why I said "Lying and corruption have always existed, of course, don't get me wrong." What's totally changed is the dominant attitude toward it from something to fight on the one hand, to something that one either ignores or participates oneself if you are are a go-getter and/or lucky.
"Underneath haven't we (being an American) always been motivated by taking more and more and more no matter who owned it?"
I don't agree. In the two-term Republican Eisenhower administration, starting two decades after FDR's, the top marginal tax rates were much higher than they are now. He famously echoed Roosevelt many times in calling for fairness. Moreover, that attitude of morality is exactly how the first wave of Civil Rights, with about 85% whites nationally, emerged a success, as well as a broad establishment of welfare, a system that was attacked decades later for very different reasons, but yet described only as pure "racism".
"Is it a historical accident that 'whites' managed to gain the tech to dominate the world -- for the moment (centuries long)?"
From what I see, once weaponry became highly superior to non-Europeans, it was a slippery slope that sustained itself a long time. Power begets power. But it was high-status, rich, risk-prone, attractive, connected, intelligent, and/or psychopaths who were the main ones who led the assaults. Unfortunately, these assaults are described today as "white people" per se, as if there were no beaten-down white serfs dominating the population of Europe. The latter who were fire-and-brimstoned into Christian submission for over a thousand years, and the vast majority had to have little to no interest conquering and killing people in foreign lands. That minority who did, like their seafaring leaders, had to *also* be risk-prone, intelligent psychopaths and/or escaping intolerable repression. Same warlords exist today in concentration of power and steamrollering is going on now with the owners/masters of banking, lawfare, computing and data, etc.
"The corruption has become more noticed. Is that because we (the 'masses') are so powerless the Oligarchy doesn't care any longer that it is exposed?"
Agreed. The level of available technology to control us is unprecedented, and likely at a power-locking watershed.
"After all, we do nothing about it."
IMO, parts are fear, denial, deer-in-the-headlights shock, and our failure thus far of imagination. What needs to be done also may not be exposed publicly.
"Was Tim MacVeigh right? / Would Aaron Bushnell and MacVeigh ally with one another?"
I don't know enough about McVeigh, sorry.
Netanyahu has his sights on Africa. He has stated publicly that he'll liberate Africa next. The vile Zionist agenda is beyond evil.
"How do we stop this exploitation? Simple--become less ignorant, less stupid, less racist, less gullible and don't allow yourself to be easily distracted."
No, it's not simple, and it obviously needs to be spread well beyond our own self-improvement.
-- As the saying goes, "You can't fix stupid." You can only stretch one's native intelligence a modest amount. Also, the vast majority of us, myself included, are stupid in various ways. Let's recognize those to regain humility as we face opponents.
-- Fixing ignorance requires resources. Moreover, stupidity and other mental weaknesses interfere greatly with it. How will we overcome this on a mass scale?
-- Racism, both real and imagined, though unacceptable in modern times, has evolutionary basis, just like violence and all sorts of other undesirable characteristics. As with promoting democracy, suppressing racism requires continual maintenance.
-- Our psychopathic leaders are interested in anything but remediating stupidity, ignorance, and racism. I think we know how un-simple fighting them is.
-- Abusing people on the basis of their nature and beliefs is, well... abuse. It always backfires. How do you think Zionism came to be?
In large part, we're still doing virtue-signaling circle jerks. How do we actually *expand* our kind well beyond this blog?
None of this is "simple".
None of this offers a plan for removing the Oligarchy.
Hi John
Pass out the guns and ammo
Because there’s something in the air
We’ve got together sooner or later
Because the Revolution’s here
—-Thunderclap Newman
Right. As I said (maybe in too many words), we need to up our game -- badly, and yesterday.
I replied to you at the top level here https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-empire-is-a-nonstop-insult-to/comment/134021512 as to your chokaski query.
Don't feel bad - her specialty is to drive people crazy. 😉
I honor your tireless work declaiming the empire.
with thanks to Tim.
Caitlin, my WORST FEARS about humanity (or rather a significant minority of humanity) are coming true. We are ALREADY living under variations of George Orwell's '1984' and Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World' (at least in the Western World IMO).
I see the U.S. Empire positioning itself to be worse than the German Nazi regime (few might see it from this perspective yet, though if the current trajectory of Western nations and the U.S. Empire are to be taken to their eventual conclusions, that is how I see it).
We are living in DARK TIMES indeed, and things are about to get darker. I believe what we (the majority of normal, ordinary humans) need going forward are NEW STRATEGIES for combating all these EVILS - and organizing by the masses on massive scales never seen before in history.
I also believe we need to use the tools of the Capitalist class (and TPTB) against them - tools like AI, the internet, social media, old tech like high-quality books/documentaries, and much more - to defend, protect, care for, and block/combat what is to come...
The problem with access to high quality books is finding people under forty who are capable of reading them. Our greatest enemy is ignorance and they have done an admirable job in the last fifty years of ramping it up. Most recent grads are functionally illiterate and even more couldn't care less as long as they have their handouts and their little portable idiot boxes. to teach them all about "life".
Yes, I understand the challenges, and though you have articulated some of them, I reckon there are many more...
But WHAT OTHER SOLUTION is there? What other options do we (the ordinary, normal people) have? Can you think of some alternative, even semi-realistic ones that we might need?
There are solutions, but they require paradigm shifts from norms. Most people would I believe make such shifts if we only learned from history.
This might sound like a basic question, but HOW do we get people to make SUCH paradigm shifts? I think the need is URGENT and most people are too complacent about the current state of the world...
Even a 21-month long Genocide (the worst of its kind in modern history) has not woken up enough people to the reality of the 'state of world affairs' and what it heralds for the future.
What do we need to WAKE PEOPLE UP? A few nuclear detonations? Is that how 'zombie-like' most humans have become?
Your assessment of the human condition is accurate but maybe needs some help in that there exists a theory by which it is believed that only a small percentage of a population is needed to make radical shifts in their condition, so long as the proposed changes favor the entire tribe.
I’m afraid however that nuclear war will occur before such changes can happen. But then I’m surprised it has not happened yet, and so I was wrong. For instance, politics obviously don’t work in making our collective well-being more secure. And neither does world economics… they need change, and changes can happen.
>>"...there exists a theory by which it is believed that only a small percentage of a population is needed to make radical shifts..."
I'm not sure I'm willing to put my faith in such an 'unproven?' theory. How robust is this theory? Has it been researched/analyzed scientifically/statistically in the real world (i.e. evidence based)? This seems to me like just 'another narrative' more than a 'tested/verified/robust' real-world theory.
Do you (or anyone else) have quality literature/references to take such a theory 'to task'?
If I had answers...
I doubt there is a solution. I sometimes read articles out loud to my teenage grandchildren but, it appears with the exception of my oldest, they can hardly wait to get back to their little idiot boxes. The oldest spent a lot of time with me and has become an avid reader and follower of world events. He is constantly trying to get his siblings to wake up. He is an anomaly, a well read roughneck in the oil patch. Maybe the solution is in young ones like him who strive to better others his age and younger and leads by example.
Wow. You're so f..n' smart and the kids are f..n' stupid.
You just justified all those complaints about the boomers being dickheads. I can't defend boomers any longer.
If your kids ain't smart that's on you. Asshole.
God, I cannot believe how much your superiority complex has just pissed me off.
You must be an agent of the Oligarchy, like Laffer (for example) spreading angst and ageism and some popular meme so that you can tell yourself "Its not my fault".
Hope you're happy that you'll be in one of the latter groups the Gestapo rounds up to take to the incinerators.
My kids are my step children when I met their mother they were all in their teens. She was a widowed single mom for ten years who held down three jobs while trying to raise three kids. She was raised in a family that believed girls should be married in their teens and education for them was unimportant. She is self educated and frighteningly intelligent. She got all of her kids to graduate which at the time she believed was the right thing. The blatant ignorance in your comment shows you have no idea what adversity is or how it shapes people's lives. The system educated her kids simply because she had to work to feed her kids and keep a roof over their heads. Most people would have folded up and let the welfare system handle it all.
>>"The blatant ignorance in your comment shows you have no idea what adversity is or how it shapes people's lives."
Peter Sawchuk, it's worse than that with this JohnOnKaui (John Zwiebel) character. He is semi-delusional (as you will observe from his most recent comment to you) and his whole life revolves around 'the deep state' and his 'hero father figure Aaron Good'. I've learned to ignore his comments, as have many others in Caitlin's substack.
Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately I replied before I read your comment. I will take heed in the future.
Let me quote you:
"The problem with access to high quality books is finding people under forty who are capable of reading them. "
I didn't say anything about the "kids".
I didn't say anything about their mom.
I am not the one who insulted and denigrated anyone under 40.
THAT WAS YOU!
YOU are the one who trashed your step children.
You admitted you didn't give a fuck about them. You left it all up to their mom. If you have any humility at all, you will crawl on your knees to her begging forgiveness.
My comment was directed at YOU and YOU alone.
Now you have the gall to take offense because I call you out for your arrogance, your self-importance, your conceit.
You have no idea which "side" you are on.
We don't need dickheads like you in our war against the Oligarchy.
Sounds to me like I touched a nerve. Are you too a semi literate phone addicted pothead? Just asking.
John Zwiebel - like I've told you before - quit taking DRUGS. Your psychosis/paranoia and 'complete misunderstanding of other people's comments' is approaching absurd levels.
And while you're at it, trying using some filters OTHER than 'your God Aaron Good's filters' to perceive and make sense of the world. Or don't. But please stop abusing drugs (the legal or illegal kind) that seem to fuel your paranoia to abnormal levels.
"I believe what we (the majority of normal, ordinary humans) need going forward are NEW STRATEGIES for combating all these EVILS"
If I told you some, Prof. Dr. Chang Chokaski, would you beat me down for coloring outside the lines? Or did you find that deleting your+my thread enough?
-- Here's a freebie "NEW STRATEGY" for you: Allow all dialogue at all times, instead of censoring/suppressing supposed "wrongthink" or "misbehavior". It's the only way (1) you'll get close enough to rooting out what beliefs actually exist, and (2) actually change minds. No matter what other kinds of divide-and-conquer and totalitarian sophistry your own professors and "community organizers" may have been teaching you over the years. And if it's the other person who's the fool, they're left hung out to dry.
-- Here's another: Don't rely mainly on pointers (to videos, books, etc.) to explain your POV about something when you can't even briefly summarize the content of that you are pointing to - especially if it's an hour (or 200 pages) long, yet provided *without* internal location markers to the relevant content. It's a bad look when you want to convince others (those who aren't so gullible, that is) that you know what you're talking about. You're not a professor leading a class here, you're on public commentary site.
And yes, these both are relevant to you, AND your question.
Hear, hear. Or, to quote Chang when the discussion veers too far from acceptable norms,
<End of Discussion>
Ah, the low-quality 'conspiracy theorist of substack' makes his presence known without offering anything of value (as usual).
I knew there were good reasons to IGNORE your comments - maybe look up 'motivated reasoning' for starters. As usual Anti-Hip likes 'instant answsers' that adhere to his 'confirmation biases'. Anything else is unacceptable (to him) and considered 'too much work'.
For someone that refuses to learn (or acknowledge) knowledge (and facts) that go against their belief systems, and refuses to put in ANY effort at learning (and instead expects to be spoon-fed), you sure are one to talk.
"Anti-Hip likes 'instant answsers' that adhere to his 'confirmation biases'."
Do not dismiss my requests for clarity as "instant answers". If you can't summarize and at (nearly) any length requested your point-of-view about subject X, you don't actually have a coherent understanding and/or valuation of X. Or, you are afraid of where the discussion will lead. Or, you are not very talented in natural language, which I don't believe applies to you.
"For someone that refuses to learn (or acknowledge) knowledge (and facts) that go against their belief systems..."
Until you get specific, and then both of us are willing to bore down (as in fact I tried), this accusation, likewise, is useless.
"...refuses to put in ANY effort at learning (and instead expects to be spoon-fed)..."
(a) You're really confusing this forum with a classroom. Get conscious of this.
(b) In any case, I tried to meet you where *you* were by starting in on that video, and then when I had objections to the content, it was *you* who refused to discuss it. That was my "WTF?!" moment with you.
-------------
Suggestions
(1) Until one starts calling out specific instances to critique, and does so, there's nothing of substance being debated. In that case, it's all about ethos, not logos. Granted, you have ethos privilege here, but please don't ignore the differences between the two.
(2) What's going to work convincing others with alien POVs to change their minds:
- If you want to accuse someone of violating, say, an ethical or debating rule (as you do me), identify specifically what and why. Don't make generalizations, else you're leaning on your ethos privilege. You, too, need to "do the work".
- If you want to cite external viewing/reading as evidence for *specific* content point, please make that specific point first, then identify where in the material the evidence for that specific point can be found.
- If you think it is your job here to *generally* educate the unwashed, I'm afraid that won't work. Not just on me, who will talk back to you, but on plenty others who won't say anything, but will walk away disgusted. Sure, you can offer your perspective, why you believe you are qualified. But all of us arrive here with all kinds of education as well as life experiences. Ironically, your disrespecting that is one of the sources of the very problems you bemoan above spreading the word about Gaza/Israel. I, myself, arrive here wanting also to understand alien POVs, but it seems you think the only way is through re-education camps. Sorry, I've been through several already.
(3) Deleting postings to which others are attached should be a non-no.
Maybe you missed reading my previous comment to you? Are you some elite/super-special human that is entitled to INSTANT ANSWERS Anti-Hip? Why are you so lazy that you cannot do any work on your own, but instead need to be spoon-fed? Maybe you LACK the skills required to do your OWN due diligence?
Hint: If you want INSTANT answers that CONFORM to your beliefs, you can ALWAYS use LLMs (like ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Grok, Llama, and dozens of others) with the appropriate PROMPTS.
Read the HINT again Anti-Hip, and again (though I doubt it'll sink in).
But sure, go ahead and invent narratives (and interpretations) of other people's comments - thereby creating 'strawman arguments' that you can successfully attack (and restore you sense of ego or whatever else you are trying to convince yourself of).
Your 'excuses/defenses' are as old as time itself - but then I suspect you knew this already - these are the very tricks that politicians use when they have NO rational arguments for supporting their beliefs/narratives/gaslighting.
"Why are you so lazy that you cannot do any work on your own, but instead need to be spoon-fed?"
I pulled this comment out specifically that identifies your obsession (apparently you are not conscious of), in a last-ditch effort to zero in on the main point I am making:
THIS IS NOT A CLASSROOM. If you think it is, you are doomed only to gather only the very like-minded, as well as people less-intelligent than yourself. Simply put, this will not advance the cause of ending Gaza, or improving the world. Best wishes.
Anti-Hip, you don't seem to care bout 'improving the world' OR 'understanding it' - as has been made abundantly CLEAR from your comments over a period of time (and in this thread).
In fact, you are actively OPPOSED to understanding things (as an example, I present to you your inability to learn/comprehend what 'LEFT and RIGHT' mean - reference past comments for evidence on this if you wish).
So, since you seem to be in Caitlin's substack primarily to PUSH YOUR narratives/understanding (rather than making any effort to learn from excellent resources avalaible to all of us), you add little value to these comment sections. Sorry, did I bruise your ego a bit more by being honest about your attitude, behavior, and lack of focus?
But yes, please plead to others (like Jim, etc.) to come to your rescue and defense instead of attempting rational argumentation. I understand that you need the help of others in defending your ego (or 'sense of self' or 'belief systems' or whatever).
"Maybe you missed reading my previous comment to you?"
I answered several items, quoted, point by point. I think you are the one with the reading/comprehension problem.
"Are you some elite/super-special human that is entitled to INSTANT ANSWERS Anti-Hip?"
Again, you ignore my explicit explanation on this very point. As well as the rest of my points... Sigh. To me, then, it is obvious you have some kind of mental dysfunction that I'm unable to fathom. Sorry to hear that.
If others would like to chime in, I'd certainly welcome it, I can't make sense of his or my failures here. Thank you all in advance.
tsk, tsk, bruised and damaged EGO Anti-Hip? Unable to 'fight your own battles' and need someone else to do the work for you?
Do you see a pattern here? Your laziness (intellectual and otherwise) seems to permeate many aspects of yourself - not only do you NEED 'spoon-fed instant answers' that conform to YOUR 'beliefs and narratives', but you often need OTHERS to do the work for you.
And therein lies your 'fake superiority complex' - thinking that you are SO SPECIAL that you DESERVE 'instant answers to your liking' and anything else is unacceptable.
BTW, this thread is about SOLUTIONS, but you seem to want to HIJACK it to make it about me (Chang Chokaski). Have you noticed that? Others sure have.
FOCUS, Anti-Hip. This is NOT about me (or you). This is about SOLUTIONS to the problem of Capitalism (and TPTB). I see NO ONE ELSE doing what you are doing here - deviating from attempting to discuss solutions to instead go on irrelevant tangents to defend your 'bruised ego from previous encounters'.
Thanks Chang Chokaski and Caitlin as well as other commenters here for helping me clear the circuit in my mind earlier this morning that was indeed referencing and boeinging between the bookends and neural pinball bumpers of my illustrative mind when filing creative works like the formative novels here cited in George Orwell's '1984' and Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World.'
In fact something about the timbre of our current times as processed in pieces I was reading all through recent weeks of nearly sleepless nights via Substack and some subscription indie journalists had me processing all through my Lit mentors via the foreward to Neil Postman's book 'Amusing Ourselves to Death' that a number of mentor\friends\former college Profs wanted me to read a coupla three years ago even as I was at present too late shaking their metaphoric shirtsleeves during our heat wave and Guadalupe River flooding the Texas Hill Country and circling back to the book's foreward and the rest of Neil Postman's writings on US mass media and technocracy from my college intro to his work circa 1980's to present:
https://serendipity.li/jsmill/post_1.html
Foreword from
Amusing Ourselves to Death
by Neil Postman
Prior to the clarity brought to my emo muddled and wrought mind by my clear-thinking mentor\Profs turned friends; my own seeking after something non-narcotic to soothe the IDF and Palestinian missile tri-lingual slang-y cross-talk mirrored by the Empire's new dynamic duo of political representation via Wall Street (2nd term President Trump) and the Military Industrial Complex's Muddle Eastern partners in crimes against humanity (PM Bibi Netanyahu) pulled from my warped musical library of poly-lingual singersongwriter recording artists someone I left behind in the mists of my own interior changes when he converted to a highly contrasted seemingly severe and rigid first phase of Islamic conversion, namely the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens and more recently as Yusuf (nee Islam...) and now, well.....:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Stevens
https://catstevens.com/?redirect=false
Editing Floor Blues
Terms and Conditions
Privacy Policy
Cookie Policy
Partners
Book Tour Pre-Sale FAQs
Contact / Help
RedRoom FAQ & Terms
© Yusuf Islam / Cat Stevens, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3bDBA_gN1U&list=RDI3bDBA_gN1U&start_radio=1
CAT STEVENS Oh Very Young 1974 HQ
Larry Hinze
20.5K subscribers
9,042 views Mar 7, 2015
"Oh Very Young" is a song composed by Cat Stevens. It was released on his 1974 album Buddha and the Chocolate Box, as well as several later "Best of..." and "Greatest Hits" albums. This song that poses a question asked by future generations reached number 10 in the U.S. charts." Quote by Larry Hinze who posted this uplifting track to U. of Tube
Via Tio Mitchito
Mitch Ritter\Paradigm Sifters, Code Shifters, PsalmSong Chasers
Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa (Refuge of A-Tone-ment Seekers)
Media Discussion List\Looksee
Thank you for the link (https://serendipity.li/jsmill/post_1.html) Mitch Ritter. I have copied the relevant parts here for others to read ->
"But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell's dark vision, there was another - slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions". In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us."
Here are some things that stood out for me ->
(1) >>"the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions"."
So true!
(2) >>"In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure."
IMHO, I think it is BOTH pain AND pleasure. Distracting pleasure for those that can afford it, and pain for those that cannot afford to experience (or get distracted) by the pleasure. In effect, we have the WORST of BOTH '1984' and 'Brave New World'. Now, did anyone imagine a reality that would compass BOTH of these scenarios (like we are living through and about to get deeper into)?
Both pain and pleasure is being used to transform the western world along with the attempt to transform the rest of the world to the western image. Orwell creates the pain, Huxley the pleasure / Netanyahu the pain for those outside the agenda and Trump the pleasure for the in-crowd. For Palestine the pain, for the in-crowd the transformed Gaza in Trumps image.
We are only in the first chapter of a two chapter book, Orwell the first chapter, Huxley the second chapter. So both are true, understanding the game depends on the page your on and where in the world your reading it. It really depends on which pill one takes, the pain or the pleasure, resist or go along to get along.
We can only hope we find the fortitude and faith of the Palestinians to resist.
So well articulated Umbra Illumino! Thank you.
They don’t think we’re stupid. They think we’re powerless to stop them.
Power belongs to those who take it.
While Caitlin does an excellent job of pointing out the ills of the world society, she hasn't yet offered any plan on what to do about it. This is not a criticism, unless it is recognized that no one commenting here has offered a plan so it is all of us.
Now, were someone to suggest a plan would they be arrested by ICE within 24 hours?
Who wants to be the next Gonzalo Lira?
Isn't that the problem...?
There is no plan, there is little hope to change it.
That is the agenda.
The Zionist, colonial, capitalist system has created a watertight system to allow them free rein and the ability to do as they please.
They have always known we would wake up to it, but they planned for it.
We only need to look at what comes out of Israel and Netanyahu's mouth - war crimes are now acceptable in the world.
We have no option but to get mad and eventually tire of being mad and accept the world they have created. We are trapped and we are mealiness other than to keep the wheels and riches spinning upward.
IMO - the only possible answer/option is armed and organized rebellion. But it won't happen, because they have that figured out as well...
I'am not being negative, just very realistic.
I hope you wrong, fear you right.
When there are people here who blame their own children for this situation, what other conclusion can you come to?
If I were 20 I'd have the resources to rebel but not the knowledge to know what I'm rebelling against.
Now I know what to rebel against but it is so amorphous where do I aim? It would be a "one and done" operation.
James T. Hodgkinson did it and what was the result. Nothing.
Luigi did it, but TBH I can't help but believe it was part of a mob hit.
Tim MacVeigh did it decades ago and...??? He chose the wrong target.
You have confirmed my point.
We have no true means of organization that can't be infiltrated, controlled or destroyed by "them". The people you site were lone wolves and yes, what was the result...?
The Zionists control worldwide security, internet, surveillance and responses. There is no argument. There is little effective potential for rebellion without a MASSIVE violent, public turnaround.
My only objection is the use of the label "Zionist".
The pursuit of global hegemony has little to do with Israel.
Israel, like Ukraine, is just a proxy.
I feel (though I may be wrong) claiming Israel to be the tail that wags the dog is not helpful in killing the dog.
Yes, as despicable as the Zionists are I do believe that they were fostered - just like the Nazis in Ukraine.
One of Saruman’s sinister skills is the ability to create Orcs.
I think it’s more the case of “what you going to do about it?” They can get away with anything nowadays. There’s no honour, no accountability, no justice. They could eat babies alive and post it on social media and everyone would fart and go to work tomorrow. fsociety
Everyone forgets the French revolution, they even forget, if they ever knew, what the Bastille Day celebrations are about. Look at Drumpf the idiot wanting to have a day just like that, so give him one or two or three - educate him with reality.
What was the promise of the french revolution? Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité!
Has it stuck to those promises?
It was captured and twisted by the new developed rich capitalist class in an instant and people went about their lifes because they had to, children were to feed, work to be done, the harvest would not wait or rot on the fields.
Same now, people get up in the morning going to work, wanting to be able to pay the bills because the alternatives are devastating for a human being in the west.
The basic social foundations are destroyed by neoliberal individualism ( Maggie Thatcher: there is no such thing as society).
So things are even harder now than back at the days of the french revolution in a way - "hate your next door neighbor but don't forget to say grace" (eve of destruction)
The French Revolution (although it took time) did work. It's falling apart now.
Hi Jenny
I don’t speak French but an English translation of La Marseilles makes it, IMHO, the greatest anthem on the planet.
Yeah.
To be honest Gypsy I have NO time for 'anthems' it's bullshit Patriotism.
I sit down for every single one wherever I am.
I was told off for sitting down in out Town Hall for just this. I kept sitting.
You totally missed what I was saying. Drumpf wanted a celebration like the one he watched in France. The way he's going he may get a bastille day, when the country has had enough of his killing off jobs that none of his supporters could ever think of having, while cutting the things so many of them rely on just to live.
Bastille Day was when the people opened the Bastille prison.
I know that, Drumpf obviously didn't.
We should remember that the French Revolution brought us Napoleon.
Iran doesn't seem to have fallen into that trap.
Can we examine (again) why Russia was provoked into the Ukraine war? They (and I) see no exit. It isn't that Russia wants to occupy Ukraine, it's the very obvious threat from "the West".
I have no beef with Russia (or Iran). I'm a Rodney King kind-a-guy: I "just want to get along".
Finkelstein calls them "Jewish Supremacists". Hedges calls them "the Rich". Good calls them the "Deep State".
"them", perhaps you noticed I did not specify who "them" are.
Open up the prisons!
Dear Dollyboy,
When you ask "what you going to do about it?" I get a crux of your rhetorical question.
When you shift and address youself by projecting to the mysterious Third Person(s): "There's no honour, no accountability, no justice. They could eat babies alive and post it on social media and everyone would fart and go to work tomorrow. fsociety...." That there is where you lose me via your narrator's shuck and jive and simply pass as foul gas.
It is so redolent of da candidate Trumpster's own first ever political campaign, for President no less, in January 2016 as reported here by CBS News. His shuck & jive early in his fundraising political campaign for the presidency (with no legislative experience in his work or executive history) when he was quoted as saying of the loyalty of his celebrity fan base as indistinguishable from his political constituency:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-i-could-shoot-somebody-and-i-wouldnt-lose-any-voters/
"Donald Trump: I could "shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters"
By Reena Flores
Updated on: January 23, 2016 / 3:37 PM EST / CBS News"
"According to Republican presidential contender Donald Trump, his supporters are a staunchly loyal bunch -- so loyal, in fact, that the billionaire could get away with some pretty drastic acts and his fanbase wouldn't bat an eye.
"My people are so smart -- and you know what else they say about my people? The polls?" Trump asked a crowd at a Sioux Center, Iowa, rally Saturday. "I have the most loyal people -- did you ever see that?"
"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?" he said, referring to the major street in New York City that cuts through Manhattan's large commercial district. "It's, like, incredible."
"Trump certainly holds a commanding national lead over the rest of the Republican presidential field."
"A recent CBS/New York Times poll showed 36 percent of Republican primary voters back the bombastic real estate developer -- 17 points ahead of his closest rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz."
"Additionally, a majority of his supporters have declared their minds are made up, compared to other voters: Fifty-two percent say they have decided on Trump versus 24 percent of non-Trump supporters who have made up their mind."
"Enthusiasm for the Republican politician has also grown, according to the January survey. Forty percent of GOP primary voters say they would enthusiastically throw their support behind Trump -- up 11 points from December."
"Trump later went on to bash his fellow Republican 2016 candidates, calling the supporters of contenders like Ted Cruz "soft."
"My people stay," he said. "Cruz? Soft. When they heard about this thing - that he was born in Canada, that nobody knew about? He lost a lot of people. He's gone down big in the polls."
"When likely Iowa caucus-goers at the rally were asked about Trump's charge that he is bulletproof in the polls, some dismissed his turn of phrase."
"It's "just a figure of speech," said Frank Martinez from Sibley, Iowa. "It is not the fact that he wants to shoot anybody, and I hope that's not the way it is going to be changed or edited. But what he is saying is basically he is very confident in where he lives."
"A first-time caucus-goer, David Griffith, added that "obviously he is not going to go and shoot somebody."
"Still, Griffith said, "I knew when he said it it was risky ... somebody is going to take and twist that line."
CBS News' Kylie Atwood contributed to this report.
Via Tio Mitchito
Mitch Ritter\Paradigm Sifters, Code Shifters, PsalmSong Chasers
Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa (Refuge of A-Tone-ment Seekers)
Media Discussion List\Looksee
Wow, no answer to the question "What are you going to do about it".
Just a flurry of Trump hate.
Everyone posting here all hate Trump.
Now, What are you going to do about it.
Apparently spew Bullshit that amounts to "I ain't gonna do nothin' at all".
You NAILED it- thank you for verbalizing my observations (too).
Francesca Albanese is worth more to humanity than every US senator and congressperson combined. She epitomises and embodies uncompromising, universal moral virtue, the very greatest human trait.
As Bruce Cockburn said, the trouble with normal is it always gets worse. Although it's passed my lowest expectations lately.
First time I've come upon a quote by Canada's bard of the working man of faith, who more recently married a U.S. doctor and moved to San Francisco. Very apt quote regardless of the lack of statistical controls in this particular political science loose trendy theory....Heckuva useful song lyric and I recommend perusing closely all of Bruce Cockburn's song lyrics, from his early and continuous spiritual pursuits to his creative processing of global conflicts through the prism of engaged and informed citizenry.
Canadian Christian Sensualist Bruce Cockburn has a unique way of putting his conscience into the driver's seat of his songwriting, not to the exclusion of his human and humane-centered sensuality. Like the biblical Jacob, the complete Cockburn songbook and recordings as well as his various performance combos to date present an ongoing wrestling match between a bewildered seeker if rough sleeper and a nocturnal angel
on fire in unceasing mano y angel inferno and mortal v. immortal coiled yet conscientious combat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hal4AxOUTtc&list=RDhal4AxOUTtc&start_radio=1
The Trouble With Normal (Live)
Bruce Cockburn - Topic
6.58K subscribers
2,405 views Feb 11, 2021
Provided to YouTube by Horus Music Limited
The Trouble With Normal (Live) · Bruce Cockburn
Heroes & Knaves
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMiis3lXKto
The Trouble With Normal: RAI with Bruce Cockburn (2\9 from Full album)
The Real News Network
1.09M subscribers
3,335 views May 28, 2019
"Songwriter Bruce Cockburn speaks with host Paul Jay about whether his music is 'anti-American,' and about his early spiritual influences." Watch the full nine part interview series with Bruce Cockburn on YouTube at https://bit.ly/2XksiHO or The Real News at https://bit.ly/30SMiU6
I would also recommend as a pre-requisite close listening to the entire "Inner City Front" album in sequence and uninterrupted from first track to last. Special attention to the nuanced and shaded session players' in-spired aural textures of the instrumental tracks that punctuate BC's focused if often oddly-metered song narratives: (Deluxe Edition)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZTOa_FVJWA&list=OLAK5uy_kcJLnWoy-iBLNrSejAornou5aWV1c3qUY&index=1
Tio Mitchito
Mitch Ritter\Paradigm Sifters, Code Shifters, PsalmSong Chasers
Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa (Refuge of A-Tone-ment Seekers)
Media Discussion List\Looksee
Two women I love today. Caitlin and Francesca.
Death to america
Nice work Catlin. Excellent. The Western so called democracies act like fascists controlled by the loathsome issreshell propagandists. Ass licking sycophants. Corrupt amerikan political fascist thugs.
You can not make sense of a mad, mad world. Openly, denying what Epstein was and his files , shows that the world leadership is controlled by forces beyond our human comprehension, otherworldy, evil forces. These forces feed off our misery, pain and fears. We are being played like chess pieces.
I nominate Francesca Albanese for the Nobel Peace Prize, the Victoria Cross, and any other award that recognises commitment and courage in the face of extreme hostility 🙏
A mind-fuck is another way of defining insulting our intelligence. However more and more are becoming hip to the mind-fuckery by our governments. Such as a magic bullet killed JFK, Epstein killed himself and Epstein had "NO" clients list.