Throw rocks and get shot in the head. Drive a car with fluffy toys in glove box, get shot in the head. Just a heads up. We need Volunteers, and Empire troops to do an about face for the world. One State Palestine.
Follow Chase Hughes to learn the red-flags of psyops from our deep-state, corporations and our owners. Edward Bernays began the epidemic around 1928. Cigs were "torches of freedom", the War Dept became the Defense Dept, false flags became the origination of regime change.
As I read your words here that regime-change-attempt movie from the 1960s, Seven Days In May, came to mind. Not that anyone would wish for that, still, if the situation in US (and elsewhere in the West for that matter) deteriorates sufficiently, there might well be that sort of military "solution" that is tried.
I'm thinking it all really is going to deteriorate into civil war, and I fear the result will be regime change in the direction of an even more brutal, and more efficient, fascism, replacing the clown show version on display now.
Remove the psyops from the deep-state and the division stops. Dems and Repub voters are the same people exposed to different propaganda and identity. JFK was killed when he began investigating the link.
Voters can't. As Charlie Kirk explained (then was assassinated) The deep-state controls the mechanisms of government. They are the decision makers... not congress or the President or the Judicial system.
Well, the Neocons tell us that to stop terrorism we need to go after the countries that fund the terrorists. Now what country is the source of funds for Central and South American "narcoterrorists"?
Because of its Zionist Occupied Government (ZOG) and a mostly compliant populace. Trump playing his role as POTUS of Israel, keeping his masters happy.
Funny that you should say that, here was the piece that got me to start thinking more along those lines full time. Title is sarcastic on the trump angle
Some suggest that Americans are wealthy, self-satisfied pricks who are fine with the wars as long as we don't have to fight in them, assuming that the purpose is to get us cheap gasoline, etc. And there IS some of that. But mostly there is a hefty minority, as there is in any country, who are easily swayed by media propaganda, like having weak scapegoats, and once a war starts, can be manipulated into supporting it--and in any case, even if a majority is opposed, the opinions of Americans are irrelevant to policy. This, I think, is true just about anywhere--there are no true democracies on this planet, not at the national level.
Just wanted to add that there is another kind of Americans(like me). Maybe it is because I was born and raised in the" People's republic of Berkeley", but I was almost 16 years old before I realized that "Fuck" and "America" were two different words.
Also, being a city boy, I never knew that some "Pigs" had four legs and a curly tail. I thought they all wore blue and carried badges and guns. People from Berkeley can't spell, For example, they think Patriotism only has four letters.
Yah, I'm kinda with you on this whole VZ thing, Caitlin.
The amount of conservatives absolutely frothing at the mouth and spewing administration talking points is highly concerning. These are the people that profess to see through propaganda, yet this war is different?
When Caitlin states "...targeting civilian populations with starvation sanctions..." I immediately remembered when Madeleine Albright was asked, on 60Minutes, ""We have heard that half a million [Iraqi] children have died. I mean, that is more children than died in Hiroshima," Stahl said. "And, you know, is the price worth it?" "I think that is a very hard choice," Albright answered, "but the price, we think, the price is worth it." Remember the song by John Mellencamp 'Ain't that America': "Oh, but ain't that America for you and me? Ain't that America somethin' to see, baby? Ain't that America? Home of the free, yeah Little pink houses for you and me Ooh yeah, for you and me" God, Americans are so STUPID! I know as I live amongst them. Never asked to be 'An American!'
Well, it is a sure thing that democracy has never really been on the table. Fill up bank accounts, look like the big guys. If only it were ONLY Israel and the US who were supporting this kind of bullying. All that religion in the world and none of it seems to have much problem with murdering, kidnapping and stealing. Guess the 10 commandments that the bible promotes are old stuff now and don't matter. Make money. Look like big men. Women know your place. Children shut up and take note. Oh, and let's not forget, this is working very well so that everyone is forgetting about the Epstein files, the pedophiles and the influence that pedophiles have on the governance of every country in the world. No wonder the tyrants are making such headway. Tyranny seems a lot better that raping and killing children, huh?
Trump is 100% self-parody, Monty Pythonesque satire. The trouble is, he could end the world on an egotistical whim by initiating global nuclear war. This level of absurdity/horror is why Kubrick decided to make Dr. Strangelove as a black comedy.
There's hardly any greater religious absurdity than the biblical belief in God creating man in His (Her? Its?) image, meaning both bodily looks and cerebral content. That would've been the most self-incriminatory gesture on God's part.
Commentators have been expressing concern that the big powers might be inching towards WWIII.
It is crucial that anti-war sentiment grows at scale within the US itself. It's heartening to hear that NYC Mayor Mamdani has directly told President Trump that he is opposed to military actions in Venezuela..
One little point of contention on this. You say Americans were on board with Iraq War 2.0, but I was living in northern Minnesota at that time, where we could get BBC as well as US media--quite different take--and what I recall is that polls said Americans were 51% opposed to the war, despite only 3% opposed on our media, talking heads etc. Then within a week after the war started despite that opposition, polls swung ten points toward support. I interpreted this as reflecting the people who had a family member or friend in the military or the National Guard--not soldiers really but heavily used in that war, as they're being used now in the war on "blue" cities--and didn't want them sent into harm's way on thin pretexts... but once they saw it was happening, they needed to believe that at least there was some noble purpose for which their loved one was risking his or her life.
The National Guard units are supposed to defend their local neighborhoods within the USA, not deployed thousands of miles away. Congress allowed the POTUS to commandeer the NG in order to avoid the need to recruit more Regular troops and to pay for their training.
What all Americans should have learned from the War in Vietnam is that there have been no “good” wars waged by the US armed forces offshore.
WWII preceded the War in Vietnam as did the unfinished one in Korea.
There is still debate about the role of the USA in instigating the attack on Pearl Harbor. Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the USA was primarily defending the interests of the British Empire.
WWII was a great financial boon to American industrialists who became “defense contractors” for the duration of that war.
Fifty years ago, many of the machine tools in use by the US automakers and aircraft manufacturers had been bought and paid for by the US government during WWII, three decades earlier.
A downside consequence was that the USA automotive and aircraft manufacturers were reluctant to invest in new machines and equipment to replace seriously worn and dilapidated hardware while the Japanese manufacturers were buying contemporary new equipment with better capabilities and tighter tolerances.
Public opinion is irrelevant. When the public is on board, it's easier for the rulers to do as they wish, but when it's not, they ignore the public and do it anyway.
Exactly. But there is an important trajectory over history, in which technology allows one man to control more and more people with a lesser and lesser number of underlings. The way public opinion becomes relevant is when the people rise up--the two ways this is prevented are propaganda (Caitlin has a nice little video with Kings in the title about this)--and that neat trick discovered in ancient Sumer perhaps and passed down by the ruling classes ever since--that you can get orderly ranks of young men from the oppressed classes to use violence to subject the rest of their class to tyrannical abuse, via "training."
My mind keeps going back to this, over and over, the last few years (and certainly last year and a half). The reason we have Trump and his administration is FULLY/COMPLETELY because of the Dem Party, and that pisses me off.
We (the U.S.) had a Dem party that was the direct cause for well over two million deaths, probably two and half million (two million in Ukraine, perhaps a million and half Ukrainians and perhaps a few hundred thousand Russians, and then, by many expert accounts, including The Lancet, almost assuredly approaching a half to three-quarters of a million Palestinians)… in just about three years!
When you have a party that was supposedly in-charge during the period when the U.S. was creating/starting the process of so much death of innocent people and destruction worldwide, and then its supporters/voters sit by quietly and apathetically (and pathetically as well), totally silent, during this entire period when there “team” was in charge (including two of those years, control of the entire Congress), totally out of fear of losing some type of imagined "political points", then an environment is created where these people cannot be taken seriously or respected at all.
Had the Dem Party power-structure/officials not allowed all this death in the first place, and/or its voters/supporters actually protested their own party’s/team’s behavior and ideology, DURING their own party's administration, instead of conducting their fake Trump-personality protests and cheerleading, then they would have won the 2024 prez election, and we would not have had this evil Trump admin. But they did the same thing in 2016 and 2020, with the sabotage of Bernie Sanders campaign, which many very reliable polls show he would have beaten Trump hands down (because his platform, what he stood for, or at that time, said he stood for, even attracted many Republican voters as well). The Dem Party had always (even though it was probably an illusion anyway) been considered the party who would promote the platform of anti-war, the citizens’ rights, and social welfare, etc.
As an aside, as it turns out, Bernie Sanders was also a fake, and someone whom I donated to (in addition to my usual almost 30-year long Green Party donations/support), and got fooled myself in 2016… but that is irrelevant, as the point is, a majority of the populace liked what Sanders positions were, his ideology (NOT necessarily, his persona, per se)… even though he turned out to be NOT who he promoted himself as. But what this shows is that Trump was NOT voted (what he claimed/felt was) some sort of a mandate because of his personality or because of racism. He received more votes than Harris because so many were desperate enough for change, and were willing to believe anyone who would claim they would deliver even the slightest positive change, even if that person was a complete liar… that’s how desperate our voters, most of us, have actually become (voters and non-voters), with $trillions/$billions being spent by the U.S. on worldwide slaughter of innocent human life in our names and our tax dollars, nothing being spent on our own infrastructure, nor our own social welfare, nor the obviously ensuing climate disaster, nor any attempts at universal healthcare, nor any attempt whatsoever to alleviate the HUGE, and rapidly widening, wealth and income gap/disparity, with most of us getting far poorer WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY WATCHING a small percentage get astronomically wealthier. People can label our system whatever they want but there is no definition of "democracy" that I'm aware of that this could possibly fall under.
Dem Party had always, traditionally, (like noted, probably an illusion) been considered the party of the people who would promote the platform of anti-war, citizens’ rights, social welfare, etc. When it turned out, or really more like when it finally dawned on these voters, that they really did not represent those things, many voters were desperate enough to change allegiance and believe a liar and conman like Trump and vote for him (instead of trusting a bunch of unknown nameless operating-in-the-dark controllers of the Dem Party… as the country/party was clearly not being run by a dementia patient… every rational thinking human knows that), not realizing that they would still be voting for the exact same bunch (with different name-tags) of operating-in-the-dark controllers. This is what a desperate voting populace ends up doing (and although I would never vote for the platforms/positions of someone like a Trump or a Biden, I can understand and certainly do not blame other human beings for feeling so desperate as to do so).
Had the Dem-party voters actually protested their own party’s slaughter of human life and near-total crackdown of speech and protest on campuses and elsewhere, etc, etc, then they would now be taken more seriously by their “opposing” team voters, and there would be a far higher probability that there would be mass protests with a very healthy combination of both political parties joining together to protest these inhumanities by our gov’t. Instead, any/all protests are likely now seen, by the “opposing team" as persona-protests and political grandstanding for future votes instead of protesting horrendously depraved behavior, irrespective of what team is in charge.
While I agree with almost everything, I have a contention with the "This is what a desperate voting populace ends up doing" part. Sure, there's desperation. But STUPIDITY is a larger problem. There were several GOOD candidates from alternative parties outside the 'fake duopoly' (eg. Cornel West, Jill Stein, etc.) to choose from. If 'the voters' were 'desperate and NOT stupid', there were good choices. But the fact of the matter is, 'voters are STUPID' (i.e. vote against their interests), and the EXTRA desperation causes them to make 'stupid decisions'.
Both the major political parties RELY and DEPEND on the 'stupidity of voters' to continue the 'back-and-forth' game of staying in power. Until the 'stupidity' issue is not fixed, I don't see much hope for 'representative democracy' ever succeeding (which itself is a questionable form of democracy). And making the general populace 'less stupid' seems to be quite a challenging endeavor (IMHO), as history shows us.
Your comment reminds me of something Chomsky said a very long time ago when someone asked him about stupid voters or something to thst effect. It was something along the lines of that he did not agree with that assertion and then said something like "look at all these same voters who can provide others with in-depth, very complex, analysis about sporting teams, sporting events, etc, etc". So, at least to me anyway, I can't help thinking it's more like ignorance than stupidity (and probably ignorance somehow purposely created by the "system").
Also, and I certainly can't speak for anyone else but, personally, I have never felt comfortable at all, nor qualified, to characterize other individuals/groups as stupid, but that's just me I guess,
Anyway, I can't find Chomsky's exact (very interesting) reply to that question that I noted (but, I know it exists... somewhere?) but I did get this AI result from a pretty crude/generic prompt. Pasted below...
""chomsky view on stupid voters""
AI Overview
Noam Chomsky does not typically characterize voters as inherently "stupid" as individuals, but rather analyzes how systemic factors, such as propaganda, media manipulation, and the marginalization of the public, lead to an uninformed electorate and what might be perceived as "stupid" voting behavior.
His views focus on the institutional mechanisms that contribute to a lack of informed decision-making:
Manufacturing Consent and Propaganda: A core part of Chomsky's analysis, particularly in Manufacturing Consent with Edward Herman, is how the mass media, operating within a propaganda model, presents information in a way that aligns with elite interests, effectively marginalizing the public. This "manufactured" public opinion leads people to vote against their own interests due to a lack of access to accurate, critical information.
Marginalization of the Public: Chomsky argues that the public is systematically "marginalized" from meaningful participation in the political system. Elections are often run by the same people who sell consumer goods, using advertising techniques to delude people into picking a candidate based on image rather than substantive policy, making the process a spectacle designed to sideline serious public input.
Anti-Intellectualism and Distrust of Experts: He notes a disturbing rise in anti-intellectualism promoted by some political elites to foster distrust in experts like journalists and scientists. This creates an environment of "paranoid delusion" and isolation, making it harder for people to form progressive movements and easier for them to be swayed by culture war propaganda, even when it means voting for policies that harm them economically.
Institutional Stupidity vs. Individual Stupidity: Chomsky differentiates between individual stupidity and "institutional stupidity". He argues that while individual stupidity can be addressed, the latter is far more dangerous, as institutions (like the financial sector operating on "fanatic religious belief" in efficient markets) make decisions that endanger survival and lead to major crises.
Contempt for the Electorate: Political campaigns often show "contempt for the electorate" by using polls to determine what to say to get elected, rather than expressing their genuine convictions or engaging in genuine public debate.
In essence, Chomsky views "stupid voters" as a product of a system designed to keep the general population uninformed and distracted, rather than as a collection of inherently unintelligent individuals. His focus is on challenging the power structures and media systems that create these conditions, encouraging critical thinking and the development of grassroots democratic movements.
Thank you musicbob! I like your response - makes sense to me. I stand corrected. I would like to change my opinion from a crude formulation of "stupid voters" to the "more nuanced and comprehensive" version outlined above.
The one point that is still relevant (regardless of institutional stupidity or electoral techniques of manipulation and propaganda) is that of the relative sparsity/deficiency of adequate critical thinking skills in general (regardless of socio-economic classes or education). Instead of "stupid voters", I would phrase it as "voters with deficient critical thinking skills for our present age" PROBLEM. Not much can fix this other than specific measures that address this problem (regardless of the intelligence of humans).
"Like maybe a really good example of tyranny would be constantly toppling governments and starting wars of aggression and targeting civilian populations with starvation sanctions and waging proxy conflicts and dropping bombs and interfering in elections and circling the planet with hundreds of military bases and working to kill, subvert and subjugate any population anywhere on earth if they disobey your commands." So the USA government tried to topple its own government in 2020, it has tried to topple several state governments that disagree with it, it is interfering in state elections and is readying to interfere in the next federal elections, it has military bases all over the country, and is not only work to kill, subvert, and subjugate its American population, but is in the process of actively murdering, subverting, and subjugating the American population as well. What America has sown in the rest of the world since its inception, is now being sown at home and Americans (even white Americans) are suffering the harvest.
"Gotta wash my hair, if it gets any more oily I’ll have Delta Force breaking down my door to steal it." LOLOLOL!!!
I saw a great meme with an image of a skillet with toy army men and an American flag in it and the caption read: I put some oil in my pan and these guys showed up
All true, but the fact remains that the US is using the dollar to terrorize the world, and so far the US has managed to save its dollar. Something new will have to be done to rid ourselves of them. And it will be done!
USA is an international criminal organization masquerading as a nation state.
In other words, an international criminal organization masquerading as an international criminal organization. ;-)
......and who is going to do 'regime change' in the USA?
Where is that “well regulated militia”?
Is that a loaded question ;)
🤔
Throw rocks and get shot in the head. Drive a car with fluffy toys in glove box, get shot in the head. Just a heads up. We need Volunteers, and Empire troops to do an about face for the world. One State Palestine.
Ramming a car into people makes it a life-threatening tool. Just like a DUI, extremism is a drug pumped into people. Don't encourage illegal acts.
it's been a multi-decade ongoing subversive op, which kicked into high gear with the 2020 election
Follow Chase Hughes to learn the red-flags of psyops from our deep-state, corporations and our owners. Edward Bernays began the epidemic around 1928. Cigs were "torches of freedom", the War Dept became the Defense Dept, false flags became the origination of regime change.
As I read your words here that regime-change-attempt movie from the 1960s, Seven Days In May, came to mind. Not that anyone would wish for that, still, if the situation in US (and elsewhere in the West for that matter) deteriorates sufficiently, there might well be that sort of military "solution" that is tried.
No one. The public is too passive and brainwashed. Foreign powers lack the wherewithal to do it. The Empire will self-destruct.
I'm thinking it all really is going to deteriorate into civil war, and I fear the result will be regime change in the direction of an even more brutal, and more efficient, fascism, replacing the clown show version on display now.
Remove the psyops from the deep-state and the division stops. Dems and Repub voters are the same people exposed to different propaganda and identity. JFK was killed when he began investigating the link.
Voters can't. As Charlie Kirk explained (then was assassinated) The deep-state controls the mechanisms of government. They are the decision makers... not congress or the President or the Judicial system.
Well, the Neocons tell us that to stop terrorism we need to go after the countries that fund the terrorists. Now what country is the source of funds for Central and South American "narcoterrorists"?
Good question. There is no answer, I fear.
OH. I think there is and it's NOT bombing.
It will be economic.
🎯💯 Well summarized W.F.Miloglav!
Because of its Zionist Occupied Government (ZOG) and a mostly compliant populace. Trump playing his role as POTUS of Israel, keeping his masters happy.
Neo nation estate
Funny that you should say that, here was the piece that got me to start thinking more along those lines full time. Title is sarcastic on the trump angle
https://archive.org/details/youtube-Ar0nHyBGyv8
Thank you for your willingness to do the heavy lifting on behalf of our country and it's freedom loving citizens who hate war upon other people.
Some suggest that Americans are wealthy, self-satisfied pricks who are fine with the wars as long as we don't have to fight in them, assuming that the purpose is to get us cheap gasoline, etc. And there IS some of that. But mostly there is a hefty minority, as there is in any country, who are easily swayed by media propaganda, like having weak scapegoats, and once a war starts, can be manipulated into supporting it--and in any case, even if a majority is opposed, the opinions of Americans are irrelevant to policy. This, I think, is true just about anywhere--there are no true democracies on this planet, not at the national level.
Just wanted to add that there is another kind of Americans(like me). Maybe it is because I was born and raised in the" People's republic of Berkeley", but I was almost 16 years old before I realized that "Fuck" and "America" were two different words.
Also, being a city boy, I never knew that some "Pigs" had four legs and a curly tail. I thought they all wore blue and carried badges and guns. People from Berkeley can't spell, For example, they think Patriotism only has four letters.
Awesome comment!
Thank-you for this, my American Friend.
It`s all too easy to fall into the shit hole of Xenophobia.
Fabulous
Humans in general are herd animals to rival any sheep, lemming or dog.
Fear-based.
Well said Mary Wildfire - agree with you 100%, including on "there are no true democracies on this planet, not at the national level".
Yah, I'm kinda with you on this whole VZ thing, Caitlin.
The amount of conservatives absolutely frothing at the mouth and spewing administration talking points is highly concerning. These are the people that profess to see through propaganda, yet this war is different?
Also, Happy New Year to you and yours, Caitlin.
We hope we all find some measure of peace in 2026.
When Caitlin states "...targeting civilian populations with starvation sanctions..." I immediately remembered when Madeleine Albright was asked, on 60Minutes, ""We have heard that half a million [Iraqi] children have died. I mean, that is more children than died in Hiroshima," Stahl said. "And, you know, is the price worth it?" "I think that is a very hard choice," Albright answered, "but the price, we think, the price is worth it." Remember the song by John Mellencamp 'Ain't that America': "Oh, but ain't that America for you and me? Ain't that America somethin' to see, baby? Ain't that America? Home of the free, yeah Little pink houses for you and me Ooh yeah, for you and me" God, Americans are so STUPID! I know as I live amongst them. Never asked to be 'An American!'
FUSA. Fuck Ice. Fuck Israel supporters (all Nations) too, and we could have fucking peace. Have a nice day.
Well, it is a sure thing that democracy has never really been on the table. Fill up bank accounts, look like the big guys. If only it were ONLY Israel and the US who were supporting this kind of bullying. All that religion in the world and none of it seems to have much problem with murdering, kidnapping and stealing. Guess the 10 commandments that the bible promotes are old stuff now and don't matter. Make money. Look like big men. Women know your place. Children shut up and take note. Oh, and let's not forget, this is working very well so that everyone is forgetting about the Epstein files, the pedophiles and the influence that pedophiles have on the governance of every country in the world. No wonder the tyrants are making such headway. Tyranny seems a lot better that raping and killing children, huh?
S u p e r b comment Susan T.
Capitalism. Making money for a few, that's all what matters. Not an inch of humanity anywhere. That's a fairy-tale.
True Ms. Hemmelder. As long as the wealthiest keep seeing their profits and net worths rise, everyone else can just suffer
Trump is 100% self-parody, Monty Pythonesque satire. The trouble is, he could end the world on an egotistical whim by initiating global nuclear war. This level of absurdity/horror is why Kubrick decided to make Dr. Strangelove as a black comedy.
if only he were Monty Python. We would be a lot better off.
Or Howdy Doody ... or Yogi Bear ... or Scooby Doo ... the list goes on ... 🤪
There's hardly any greater religious absurdity than the biblical belief in God creating man in His (Her? Its?) image, meaning both bodily looks and cerebral content. That would've been the most self-incriminatory gesture on God's part.
When I was a baby, I remember asking Mama whether humans had gods, and if they did, did they look like humans?
Mama assured me that if humans had gods, surely they would look like cats.
Nice point Bohdan ... it's like, good god, what a stupid god that would be, and of course Omg! 🤪
Best of luck out there!
~~ j ~~
Commentators have been expressing concern that the big powers might be inching towards WWIII.
It is crucial that anti-war sentiment grows at scale within the US itself. It's heartening to hear that NYC Mayor Mamdani has directly told President Trump that he is opposed to military actions in Venezuela..
One little point of contention on this. You say Americans were on board with Iraq War 2.0, but I was living in northern Minnesota at that time, where we could get BBC as well as US media--quite different take--and what I recall is that polls said Americans were 51% opposed to the war, despite only 3% opposed on our media, talking heads etc. Then within a week after the war started despite that opposition, polls swung ten points toward support. I interpreted this as reflecting the people who had a family member or friend in the military or the National Guard--not soldiers really but heavily used in that war, as they're being used now in the war on "blue" cities--and didn't want them sent into harm's way on thin pretexts... but once they saw it was happening, they needed to believe that at least there was some noble purpose for which their loved one was risking his or her life.
The National Guard units are supposed to defend their local neighborhoods within the USA, not deployed thousands of miles away. Congress allowed the POTUS to commandeer the NG in order to avoid the need to recruit more Regular troops and to pay for their training.
What all Americans should have learned from the War in Vietnam is that there have been no “good” wars waged by the US armed forces offshore.
Arguably, one--World War Two--but that one was not started by the US, it was started by a guy in Germany who strongly resembles Trump.
WWII preceded the War in Vietnam as did the unfinished one in Korea.
There is still debate about the role of the USA in instigating the attack on Pearl Harbor. Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the USA was primarily defending the interests of the British Empire.
WWII was a great financial boon to American industrialists who became “defense contractors” for the duration of that war.
Fifty years ago, many of the machine tools in use by the US automakers and aircraft manufacturers had been bought and paid for by the US government during WWII, three decades earlier.
A downside consequence was that the USA automotive and aircraft manufacturers were reluctant to invest in new machines and equipment to replace seriously worn and dilapidated hardware while the Japanese manufacturers were buying contemporary new equipment with better capabilities and tighter tolerances.
Public opinion is irrelevant. When the public is on board, it's easier for the rulers to do as they wish, but when it's not, they ignore the public and do it anyway.
Exactly. But there is an important trajectory over history, in which technology allows one man to control more and more people with a lesser and lesser number of underlings. The way public opinion becomes relevant is when the people rise up--the two ways this is prevented are propaganda (Caitlin has a nice little video with Kings in the title about this)--and that neat trick discovered in ancient Sumer perhaps and passed down by the ruling classes ever since--that you can get orderly ranks of young men from the oppressed classes to use violence to subject the rest of their class to tyrannical abuse, via "training."
My mind keeps going back to this, over and over, the last few years (and certainly last year and a half). The reason we have Trump and his administration is FULLY/COMPLETELY because of the Dem Party, and that pisses me off.
We (the U.S.) had a Dem party that was the direct cause for well over two million deaths, probably two and half million (two million in Ukraine, perhaps a million and half Ukrainians and perhaps a few hundred thousand Russians, and then, by many expert accounts, including The Lancet, almost assuredly approaching a half to three-quarters of a million Palestinians)… in just about three years!
When you have a party that was supposedly in-charge during the period when the U.S. was creating/starting the process of so much death of innocent people and destruction worldwide, and then its supporters/voters sit by quietly and apathetically (and pathetically as well), totally silent, during this entire period when there “team” was in charge (including two of those years, control of the entire Congress), totally out of fear of losing some type of imagined "political points", then an environment is created where these people cannot be taken seriously or respected at all.
Had the Dem Party power-structure/officials not allowed all this death in the first place, and/or its voters/supporters actually protested their own party’s/team’s behavior and ideology, DURING their own party's administration, instead of conducting their fake Trump-personality protests and cheerleading, then they would have won the 2024 prez election, and we would not have had this evil Trump admin. But they did the same thing in 2016 and 2020, with the sabotage of Bernie Sanders campaign, which many very reliable polls show he would have beaten Trump hands down (because his platform, what he stood for, or at that time, said he stood for, even attracted many Republican voters as well). The Dem Party had always (even though it was probably an illusion anyway) been considered the party who would promote the platform of anti-war, the citizens’ rights, and social welfare, etc.
As an aside, as it turns out, Bernie Sanders was also a fake, and someone whom I donated to (in addition to my usual almost 30-year long Green Party donations/support), and got fooled myself in 2016… but that is irrelevant, as the point is, a majority of the populace liked what Sanders positions were, his ideology (NOT necessarily, his persona, per se)… even though he turned out to be NOT who he promoted himself as. But what this shows is that Trump was NOT voted (what he claimed/felt was) some sort of a mandate because of his personality or because of racism. He received more votes than Harris because so many were desperate enough for change, and were willing to believe anyone who would claim they would deliver even the slightest positive change, even if that person was a complete liar… that’s how desperate our voters, most of us, have actually become (voters and non-voters), with $trillions/$billions being spent by the U.S. on worldwide slaughter of innocent human life in our names and our tax dollars, nothing being spent on our own infrastructure, nor our own social welfare, nor the obviously ensuing climate disaster, nor any attempts at universal healthcare, nor any attempt whatsoever to alleviate the HUGE, and rapidly widening, wealth and income gap/disparity, with most of us getting far poorer WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY WATCHING a small percentage get astronomically wealthier. People can label our system whatever they want but there is no definition of "democracy" that I'm aware of that this could possibly fall under.
Dem Party had always, traditionally, (like noted, probably an illusion) been considered the party of the people who would promote the platform of anti-war, citizens’ rights, social welfare, etc. When it turned out, or really more like when it finally dawned on these voters, that they really did not represent those things, many voters were desperate enough to change allegiance and believe a liar and conman like Trump and vote for him (instead of trusting a bunch of unknown nameless operating-in-the-dark controllers of the Dem Party… as the country/party was clearly not being run by a dementia patient… every rational thinking human knows that), not realizing that they would still be voting for the exact same bunch (with different name-tags) of operating-in-the-dark controllers. This is what a desperate voting populace ends up doing (and although I would never vote for the platforms/positions of someone like a Trump or a Biden, I can understand and certainly do not blame other human beings for feeling so desperate as to do so).
Had the Dem-party voters actually protested their own party’s slaughter of human life and near-total crackdown of speech and protest on campuses and elsewhere, etc, etc, then they would now be taken more seriously by their “opposing” team voters, and there would be a far higher probability that there would be mass protests with a very healthy combination of both political parties joining together to protest these inhumanities by our gov’t. Instead, any/all protests are likely now seen, by the “opposing team" as persona-protests and political grandstanding for future votes instead of protesting horrendously depraved behavior, irrespective of what team is in charge.
Holmes, Harris' support of the genocide in Gaza likely cost her the election.
That she continued to support that genocide is telling.
100%.
While I agree with almost everything, I have a contention with the "This is what a desperate voting populace ends up doing" part. Sure, there's desperation. But STUPIDITY is a larger problem. There were several GOOD candidates from alternative parties outside the 'fake duopoly' (eg. Cornel West, Jill Stein, etc.) to choose from. If 'the voters' were 'desperate and NOT stupid', there were good choices. But the fact of the matter is, 'voters are STUPID' (i.e. vote against their interests), and the EXTRA desperation causes them to make 'stupid decisions'.
Both the major political parties RELY and DEPEND on the 'stupidity of voters' to continue the 'back-and-forth' game of staying in power. Until the 'stupidity' issue is not fixed, I don't see much hope for 'representative democracy' ever succeeding (which itself is a questionable form of democracy). And making the general populace 'less stupid' seems to be quite a challenging endeavor (IMHO), as history shows us.
Your comment reminds me of something Chomsky said a very long time ago when someone asked him about stupid voters or something to thst effect. It was something along the lines of that he did not agree with that assertion and then said something like "look at all these same voters who can provide others with in-depth, very complex, analysis about sporting teams, sporting events, etc, etc". So, at least to me anyway, I can't help thinking it's more like ignorance than stupidity (and probably ignorance somehow purposely created by the "system").
Also, and I certainly can't speak for anyone else but, personally, I have never felt comfortable at all, nor qualified, to characterize other individuals/groups as stupid, but that's just me I guess,
Anyway, I can't find Chomsky's exact (very interesting) reply to that question that I noted (but, I know it exists... somewhere?) but I did get this AI result from a pretty crude/generic prompt. Pasted below...
""chomsky view on stupid voters""
AI Overview
Noam Chomsky does not typically characterize voters as inherently "stupid" as individuals, but rather analyzes how systemic factors, such as propaganda, media manipulation, and the marginalization of the public, lead to an uninformed electorate and what might be perceived as "stupid" voting behavior.
His views focus on the institutional mechanisms that contribute to a lack of informed decision-making:
Manufacturing Consent and Propaganda: A core part of Chomsky's analysis, particularly in Manufacturing Consent with Edward Herman, is how the mass media, operating within a propaganda model, presents information in a way that aligns with elite interests, effectively marginalizing the public. This "manufactured" public opinion leads people to vote against their own interests due to a lack of access to accurate, critical information.
Marginalization of the Public: Chomsky argues that the public is systematically "marginalized" from meaningful participation in the political system. Elections are often run by the same people who sell consumer goods, using advertising techniques to delude people into picking a candidate based on image rather than substantive policy, making the process a spectacle designed to sideline serious public input.
Anti-Intellectualism and Distrust of Experts: He notes a disturbing rise in anti-intellectualism promoted by some political elites to foster distrust in experts like journalists and scientists. This creates an environment of "paranoid delusion" and isolation, making it harder for people to form progressive movements and easier for them to be swayed by culture war propaganda, even when it means voting for policies that harm them economically.
Institutional Stupidity vs. Individual Stupidity: Chomsky differentiates between individual stupidity and "institutional stupidity". He argues that while individual stupidity can be addressed, the latter is far more dangerous, as institutions (like the financial sector operating on "fanatic religious belief" in efficient markets) make decisions that endanger survival and lead to major crises.
Contempt for the Electorate: Political campaigns often show "contempt for the electorate" by using polls to determine what to say to get elected, rather than expressing their genuine convictions or engaging in genuine public debate.
In essence, Chomsky views "stupid voters" as a product of a system designed to keep the general population uninformed and distracted, rather than as a collection of inherently unintelligent individuals. His focus is on challenging the power structures and media systems that create these conditions, encouraging critical thinking and the development of grassroots democratic movements.
Thank you musicbob! I like your response - makes sense to me. I stand corrected. I would like to change my opinion from a crude formulation of "stupid voters" to the "more nuanced and comprehensive" version outlined above.
The one point that is still relevant (regardless of institutional stupidity or electoral techniques of manipulation and propaganda) is that of the relative sparsity/deficiency of adequate critical thinking skills in general (regardless of socio-economic classes or education). Instead of "stupid voters", I would phrase it as "voters with deficient critical thinking skills for our present age" PROBLEM. Not much can fix this other than specific measures that address this problem (regardless of the intelligence of humans).
""I would phrase it as "voters with deficient critical thinking skills for our present age" PROBLEM""
Thanks CC. Not only is what you wrote/perspective, interesting but... I think I really like it as well.
"Like maybe a really good example of tyranny would be constantly toppling governments and starting wars of aggression and targeting civilian populations with starvation sanctions and waging proxy conflicts and dropping bombs and interfering in elections and circling the planet with hundreds of military bases and working to kill, subvert and subjugate any population anywhere on earth if they disobey your commands." So the USA government tried to topple its own government in 2020, it has tried to topple several state governments that disagree with it, it is interfering in state elections and is readying to interfere in the next federal elections, it has military bases all over the country, and is not only work to kill, subvert, and subjugate its American population, but is in the process of actively murdering, subverting, and subjugating the American population as well. What America has sown in the rest of the world since its inception, is now being sown at home and Americans (even white Americans) are suffering the harvest.
"Gotta wash my hair, if it gets any more oily I’ll have Delta Force breaking down my door to steal it." LOLOLOL!!!
I saw a great meme with an image of a skillet with toy army men and an American flag in it and the caption read: I put some oil in my pan and these guys showed up
All true, but the fact remains that the US is using the dollar to terrorize the world, and so far the US has managed to save its dollar. Something new will have to be done to rid ourselves of them. And it will be done!
The real tyrannical regime is the globalist one, a regime in which Netanyahu is senior to Trump.
“This kind of thing is very Israeli, it’s also very American”
There is a difference ?