You are by far my favorite Substack author ... but for some reason, I only rarely comment here ... maybe it's because you nail it so completely that there's nothing left for me to say ...
Well said, I still blather anyway not so much as to comment on Caitlin's brilliant writing, but, more as a expression of solidarity with flavor. When I read and donate to Caitlin as well as Tiabbi, Greenwald, Hedges ,etc. I face the future armed mentally with facts and knowledge my fear is justified. I have lost so many friends and important relationships for not accepting the propaganda, so I am here and not alone. Working with some of the most brilliant minds in science it scares me hearing the propaganda spit back at me word for word. I am older and know enough to run to the light and embrace the Neutrons.
Sorry, but I just happen to be Hedges #1 antagonist on the planet ...
I used to love this guy, but not anymore ...
In my world, he's a "straddler" ... he's got one foot in their world and only one foot in our world ... Thomas Frank, Krystal Ball, Saagar Engenti, Briahna Joy Gray, Katie Halper ... I could go on, they're all straddlers and Hedges is their sacred cow ...
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Let us review a few of Chris Hedges more revealing quotes:
On DEC 2, 2021 ...
The FDA was compelled by a court ruling to release Phizer's vax trial data that revealed 1,223 post-jab deaths and 34,762 adverse events in the first 10 weeks of its trial ... The FDA attempted to delay the full release of this data for 75 years!
On JAN 1, 2022 ...
Chris Hedges made this comment on the Krystal Kyle & Friends Podcast (Episode #54):
"I don't think we're going to stop the pandemic and mutations until everybody gets vaccinated" ... Chris Hedges DID NOT have to take sides on this issue ... He had to know about the release of Phizer's trial data, but he was still willing to endorse their experimental shot ... He has also refused to comment or stand with the working class against the illegal and unconstitutional mandates and passports ... he has only said: "it's a tough decision" ...
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"Let us stand up and resist so future generations will at least say ‘they tried.’ We cannot do this alone ... together we have a chance" ...
BTW, he has refused to comment on THE GREAT RESET, The World Economic Forum and the book THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
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In a 2020 interview, he said he told indigenous pipeline protesters to "park your cars in their path, remove the engines and walk away" ...
BTW, he did not even comment on the Canadian trucker convoy until a March 2022 interview with Jimmy Dore - one month after the protests actually ended ....
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In his AMERICAN SADISM speech, he made this extremely divisive statement that revealed his disdain for those of us who openly question the motives of elected officials ...
He said the loss of mainstream media credibility "has given rise to spontaneous groups, as well as the lunatic fringe that embraces conspiracy theories"
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From his book WAGES OF REBELLION, he said:
“I do not fight fascists because I will win. I fight fascists because they are fascists” ...
If he still believed this, he would have stood with the working class against the mandates and passports ...
Chris Hedges changed with the lockdowns ... clearly, he no longer has the fire in his belly ...
But tell all the members of his cult not to worry, I'm the only person in this hemisphere who notices such things ...
I don't agree with Hedges about everything, and I'd say the same about Greenwald, Taibbi, Krystal, Saagar (especially him), and a number of others, like Dore, who I mostly agree with. But I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one in this hemisphere who'd say so. Often I've found that I don't entirely always agree with myself, a day or so later. Nobody's right about everything.
Ha, I just wrote that about myself without seeing your comment. I support with dollars until I get a sense there is pretending, greed or dishonesty. I love Jimmy Dore and support his work and I am not completely sure I know all of his politics however the opening to his podcast is enough to know I enjoy solidarity with he and Stef on many issues. You might checkout Revolutionary Blackout Network, RBN. Besides, we need to be able to face this shit with some comedy too : )
Maybe Basil ... but I AM in fact the only person in this hemisphere who has had the balls to publicly chase him down and call him out on his nasty, duplicitous comments ... BTW, it might interest you to know that the DS is actually shielding him from public criticism ... YT has been censoring my carefully-researched criticisms of him for well over a year ... you might ask yourself why ... why would they protect an anti-corporate independent media figure from criticism - WHY?
So I gather you agree with Hedges about some things and disagree with him about others. Isn't that normal? Apparently, that makes him a "straddler". Is that bad?
When did we, as a society, lose the ability to (amicably) agree to disagree with each other?
Yes. Whenever I see the type of black and white thinking: where the conversation becomes more about a person (i.e. identity politics) than the issue itself, without room for disagreements, that's a red flag.
You refer to my comment as "B&W" thinking, when your comment is a text book example of a lobotomized admirer blinded by celebrity ... those are all verbatim quotes straight from the horse's mouth I just cited at the top of this thread ... so why do you object ... those are his words, not mine ... WTF is your problem? ... did I pop your little love-bubble with the duplicitous St. Chris?
He's using you, he does not give a hoot about you ...
You've been lobotomized by his good deeds ... amazed that you fail to realize the truly mean-spirited comments he's made on COVID issues ... he should not be forgiven ... his feet should be held to the flames ... but you're incapable ...
Your argument is very strong and I agree with much of what you correctly stated. I also have my disagreements with Chris Hedges as few as they are. I part with Chris on the need for leadership in a worker movement. Chris correctly predicted Bernie would fail to rise up against the Democan't party and run as third party. Kshama Sawant the only politician I support along with a friend in state gov. openly spoke and demanded Bernie run third party rather than kiss the ass of the Democan't party. Chris believes the only successful worker movement will have no leadership that fails the masses as Bernie did bending the knee, " Joe Biden is a friend of mine he would make a great president" while standing on stage in S.C. With all that I disagree with Chris all successful movements have had a leader and so successful a leadership we remember them by the name of that person. With all that I still look to people like Chris who are masters of the written word, thought and deed for solidarity. I look at that moment in time during Occupy Wall Street, that was a moment IF there are been a voice to guide and speak for us just maybe the start of change would have happened. Rather than allowing Obummer (my greatest political hope destroyed) giving General Motors tens of BILLIONS of dollar in bailout could have been forced to turn over the company to the employees creating a true worker owned company backed by pension funds and gov. zero interest loans. AIG, the same, etc. So without leadership there is no voice without violence speaking with the loudest voice, or so I think. So yes I continue to support Chris, Yanis Varoufakis Dem25 etc. Sorry about the ramble it speaks to my despair.
We all have 20/20 hindsight. Those who didn’t, who saw clearly were surrounded by the braying of the Neolibs and could hardly break through the disinformation spread by “our” mouthpieces—the NYT, Post, ALL liberal publications. The only voices that were clear were insane—like Flush Limpbough and FUX news. Don’t blame yourself. We were all victims of a mass propaganda assault. News the time to shrug it off, stop looking in the rear view mirror and start praising those who have risen up to meet the challenges. There are many—Caitlin one of the best.
You go way over the top on criticizing Hedges, and you rely on one issue and your interpretation of cherry picked quotes.
The fact is, many of the people criticizing numerous aspects of the response to COVID and vaccines simply reject the entire foundational premises of public health and fail to understand statistics and scientific uncertainty. One (hypothetical, not COVID related) illustration: many people are unwilling to vaccinate their children due to minuscule individual risk and share the social risks of that decision that benefits the community. This is individualism run riot.
The science on COVID is not well known and has evolved. Many have exploited this to make false claims and question motives (and I am a huge opponent of Big Pharma and fully understand regulatory capture).
Hedges is not a scientist or regulatory expert, so to attack him so brutally based on what you rely on is absurd.
And one thing I’d like to point out about Covid is that we all had so little information about it and what we had was contradictory and often counter intuitive, plus the fear of it was pounded on until we were all quite mad no matter which side of the issue you took, that it did what it was supposed to do—sharply divide the populous and keep us at each other’s throats instead of turning on our system and demanding answers.
My response to Sars-Cov2 was the same as yours, info that made some sense , followed it and nearly died anyway. When I almost recovered and still haven't I spoke to a Virologist friend and tried to invent a rapid virus mass testing camera using one of our Astrophysics detectors, Henry laughed at me. Henry said, to complicated and you're now insane with paranoia ha.
Not in light of the fact that Hedges essentially endorsed the vax just 30 days after the FDA was forced by a court ruling to release it's trial data ... over 1200 people died in the first 10 weeks and over 30,000 were injured! ... Hedges did not have to take sides on this issue and he did it anyway ... he could have said it's a personal decision ... and please tell me exactly what it is I don't understand about statistics ... eagerly awaiting your reply!
Was the data released at the time? Do you think Hedges is a statistician qualified to analyze that data? Were there competent analysis in the public domain at the time?
The deaths and injuries you cite are not demonstrated as causal as far as I know. If you have a peer reviewed scientific source that demonstrates causal mechanisms for those deaths and injuries, please educate me and provide a link.
There are public health principles and community interests that may trump "personal choice". I am not saying that those conditions were present during COVID, just that they exist. Refusal to accept this public health concept is a form of pathological and anti-social individualism.
Hey Bill ... there's an absolute ton of peer-reviewed data on this experimental jab ... check the Canadian COVID Care alliance (CCCA), Trial Site News, Google Dr. Chris Martensen on the FDA release ... I could on ... Ed Dowd and his team just compiled the results of the first two years since the lock-downs were declared ... over 200,000 people have been killed by that hideous jab ... and in light of this, you're telling me that I'M THE PROBLEM ... yeah, right.
My only problem with Hedges is that he does seem like a very strong Leftist journalist and commentator, but he doesn't openly or explicitly embrace/espouse Socialism or Communism. He's a little cagey on his own political ideology. He is an ardent critic of the oligarchs, Christian fascists, warmongers, and globalist, but what is he FOR? I think it would help move some of his readers ideologically if he was also a more strong, openly vocal socialist or communist. I think Hedges may think part of being a professional journalist and academic means you should pull back a little from showing your own ideology.
Fire in the belly gives you heartburn. Chris has done wonders for pulling heads out of asses for decades. I imagine he’s tired. And got heartburn. Especially over people who just throw him away because he no longer does the work they should be doing for themselves. The man worked with real honest to god victims of “The System” in prisons before that same system started to finally effect the privileged yuppie whites who now cry loudly that someone, anyone should have done something about this. There were people trying to get your attention—trying to see through the fog of popular Shitlib propaganda and get information into print in a society that only prints the news that fit to stupefy. And now you dismiss them as straddles. Whoa. I’m truly glad if you are one of a kind.
His work with prison inmates is laudable - I've followed him as closely as anybody since 2011 ... I followed him so closely that it was impossible to not notice how he abandoned the working class once the lock-downs were declared in March 2020 ... I merely quoted him verbatim ...
Here's a link to that interview right here on Substack ... his words, not mine ...
“The perfect dictatorship would have the appearance of a democracy, but would basically be a prison without walls in which the prisoners would not even dream of escaping. It would essentially be a system of slavery where, through consumption and entertainment, the slaves would love their servitudes.” ― Aldous Huxley
Re: anti-authoritarians that come to mind, I think of Solzhneitzyn, Junger, Assange, Orwell (to an extent), I think of Andrew Jackson who destroyed the second Rothschild U.S. central bank, Louis T. McFadden, Angelo Codevilla, Archbishop Vigano...
Good Huxley quote, but Andrew Jackson?!?!? I'd go Rosa Luxemburg, Eugene Debbs, MLK. And today, yes, Julian Assange. Unfortunately we have no revolutionary political leaders in the US today, only some journalists and academics. Heck, we don't even have any good revolutionary artists or writers like we did a generation ago.
His battle against the second central bank was legendary and extraordinarily drawn out and difficult, you should read about it. Before his death he was asked what he regarded as his greatest achievement, and he replied without hesitation: "I killed the bank."
Later when the Federal Reserve was established (the third central bank), they ultimately put his face on the $20 bill as a "fuck you, we won", because it was everything he was against. True story.
Hi Jean, I was responding to the prompt, which was "picture an anti-authoritarian figure...fighting the real power where it stands here and now".
Because I view the owners of the world central banks as the essential element pushing the feudalistic order we are all increasingly subject to, I give very strong weight toward those who fought against it when answering the prompt. Anyway, Jackson has a controversial reputation and isn't necessarily "remembered well" at this point.
On a broader level, all men have good and bad within them, so there will always have to be a value judgment about how one weighs a person's accomplishments vs failures. I will quote Solzhenitzyn on this: “If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? During the life of any heart this line keeps changing place; sometimes it is squeezed one way by exuberant evil and sometimes it shifts to allow enough space for good to flourish. One and the same human being is, at various ages, under various circumstances, a totally different human being. At times he is close to being a devil, at times to sainthood. But his name doesn’t change, and to that name we ascribe the whole lot, good and evil.”
Temporarily setting back the central bankers while simultaneously owning hundreds of slaves and aggressively participating in settler colonial genocide. Hmm. I'm going to say the good doesn't outweigh the bad here. Given what we know about Jackson, perhaps his opposition to the central bankers wasn't entirely from a position of aiding working class people? Slave owners and large property holders generally don't have that particular drive...
That is a very interesting take. Paper? I do wonder if you could find in his writings and speeches what his original intent was. I always assume evil when it comes from evil origin ha.
No, it’s not. I don’t need a lecture on how to understand men. I’ve been around them for 78 years and know every twist and turn of their attempts to mans’plain the worst of their ilk. What I don’t get is why can’t they hold other men to the same standard that they say they hold themselves to? Why are they always rushing to defend the worst in men by trying to say that “we’re all like that” as if they had a corner on wisdom. Well, we aren’t all like that. And it’s time we stopped elevating the killers of the past and started rewarding the peacemakers of today— and following their example.
You realize using the term, "Indians" is offensive and a product of the white man's ignorance and prejudice. To then get high and mighty as if you're an ally is laughable. You point and wag your finger at others who don't meet with your attempt at empathy for a group identity that you've chosen to adopt sensitivities for, while at the same time offending sensitivities that they have. Nice job Karen, offending while you bask in imaginary offense. Whatever it takes to try to absolve yourself of your white guilt...that failed outside of your own self-image as a white savior and protector of the poor, little, oppressed Injun!
Yes. Making fun of your comment. Helping to yank up those panties in a wad that you're wearing, so your sphincter muscles clamp up even tighter. Hilarity ensue. "Dropping the pretense of being polite to those with whom we disagree and telling it like it is." And all.
Yeah I recently read an article here on Substack (Badlands Media) about Jackson and how he challenged the bankers. I now have a newfound respect for him.
Rosa Luxemburg for sure ( " She told the poor the truth, so they did away with her), and Michael Parenti. I would also add Bertolt Brecht, Frantz Fanon, Antonio Gramsci. What about Fidel Castro and Che Guevara? Of course Julian Assange.
Yes Sartre thought freedom a burden which we are condemned to live in. I think many of us are aware of our chains but find them comfortable and reassuring.
I’m coming to agree with this, at least in this Yuppie Era. In my day—‘55 to ‘75 freedom was sought after, cherished and shared, but then in the late 70’s, as the Women’s Movement developed, I could see that most of the “activists” really did not want freedom. They wanted privilege for white middle class women and to ignore any one—especially gay women—who demanded equality. Betty Frigid the worst. And then we metastasized into the pearl clutching ‘80’s and have been a stain on the world ever since. So no, people with privilege don’t want freedom OR responsibility—they just want to hang on to their, as you say comfortable chains, and make everyone else do the same.
Noam Chomsky shared these insights long before I was ready to hear them. As did Alex Carey, the Australian who influenced Chomsky so much he dedicated "Manufacturing Consent" to him.
Alex Carey's works:
Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Propaganda in the U.S. and Australia, 1995
Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Corporate Propaganda vs. Freedom and Liberty, 1996
But what happened to Chomsky? He's been as rabid a propagandist and wisher of death on those who didn't obey as any Fascist could've ever wanted from one of the top Marxist intellectual influencers on the planet. Was he really controlled opposition, too? A tool, like so many other influencers, ready to jump into line when called into action? He wished death on the unvaxxed and unmasked. Death!
For someone who was so influential in the minds of so many who saw this US regime for the murderous regime it is long ago, he sounded like a man who'd have sat at the machine gun nest aimed at a thousand civilians and opened fire on them with a sadistic joy leaping from his heart at being the executioner of the disobedient.
I'll often cite his work like Manufacturing that rings true in what you often share. But I know him to be what I know him to be now: a loathesome, barbaric, cold-blooded murderous heart.
And we contrarians are really betraying ourselves when we fail to call out classic progressive voices who now conduct themselves like pigs ... his comments on the unvaxxed from 2-3 years ago was a real show-stopper ... see my comment below ...
I just pounced on one of Hedges' admirers at the top of this thread - I've included several head-scratching quotes by that false God ... he's not one of us, he's one of them ...
Let's be fair, admirer is a bit over the top. Respected, that I admit to. As I stated I don't have to agree 100% with someone to consider them someone I can work WITH. You I would imagine walk alone on the path to change. I have more in common with a unsheltered Black quadriplegic woman than, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, etc.
As a long time reader (since 2016), I'd say this is one of your best!
"This totalitarian dystopia looks like freedom because they let us more or less do what we want, while controlling what it is that we want to do using mass-scale manipulation."
As long as people can jump in their car and waddle into Walmart for their $1.00 Great Value cookies purchased on credit, nothing will change. Edward Snowden is my choice. Too bad he's disappeared. Now a Russian citizen I hope he didn't get called to military service and sent to the front line.
Strange comment, you can read Edward anytime you like. I have friends living and working in Russia. The war is over now. If only we in the u.s. didn't have a Imperialist need for placing Nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
But you continue to present those fighting Gender Identity madness as misguided fools focusing on silly stuff while the ship burns. In truth, we fight the Gender Cult (too) because:
i)we won't stand by as kids we love are put on a conveyor belt to Frankenstinian medical maimings,
ii) we recognize that teaching kids that men have babies and demonizing those who don't agree, is part of dissociating people from reality...from our world...from our bodies...it is part of disorienting and disempowering everyone,
iii) gutting women's and LGB rights actually does matter, the damage is breathtaking, and
iv) we see that people trying to organize a movement for system change getting us beyond capitalism and the fate it engenders....those people have lost all credibility, all strategic sense.
As an environmental activist, I must stand up for biological reality; as a socialist, I must break from those who demean that label by saying kids are born in wrong bodies. And oddly enough, dragged kicking and screaming from my single-minded focus on preventing ecological and/or nuclear disaster, to put some time into fighting the Gender Madness, I find myself right where I need to be. Here lies the kernel for building the kind of working class movement we need. Here with people who refuse to praise the Emperor's clothes....people who didn't talk to each other before because of our self-proclaimed places on the political spectrum. Please do reach out to people like me; you're missing some vital stuff. And keep up your otherwise fabulous analyses.
Anyone who dismisses fighting the gender ideology madness as trivial is not realizing how important that ideology is to having God on our side in this battle against evil. God protects the children above all other. And a society that doesn't protect its children do not receive God's divine hand that can smite any evil that Satan has constructed through his deceit that is embraced among the faithless. God has countless times performed miracles to lift up his children in times when all was seemingly lost. But they had to be Godly. And they had to protect their children, their future. Above all else. We sent our children into schools wearing pieces of cloth across their faces because we gave up on God's perfect immune system. We butcher children saying blaspheme, "sometimes God makes a mistake and puts little girls in little boys bodies." We're teetering on the edge of an abyss now and unless we embrace God in our hearts and souls he'll just as soon Sodom and Gomorrah us to helping us. Yes. Dismiss fighting the greatest sin of all being perpetrated on our young at great peril.
For those new to Gender Cult issues, Caitlin's reference to the guy running over Bud beer cans relates to Dylan Mulvaney, a man who prances around in woman-face. As a reward for treating women with such disdain, Mulvaney has now become the spokesperson for all sorts of corporations: Budweiser, Nike, tampon-manufacturers.
I encourage readers to check out Patrick Lawrence's "The Disinformation Complex: An Anatomy" (Scheerpost) in which he has a link to Jacob Seigel's “A Guide to Understanding the Hoax of the Century” in last week's Tablet magazine, where he (Seigel)is a senior editor." Lawrence says the following." His subtitle, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at Disinformation,” is literate, gutsy, and suggestive of the gloves-off essay underneath it.
This is the most powerful, sustained rip into the Russiagate disaster I have yet read—and certainly the best work published to date on the destruction of American democracy at the hands of a ruling elite that invented (1) the figment of a disinformation crisis and (2) the frightening apparatus that now drowns us in disinformation in the name of combating it. “Disinformation is both the name of the crime and the means of covering it up,” Seigel writes pithily, “a weapon that doubles as a disguise.” Seigel's essay is a must read. It certainly echoes Caitlin's claims by injecting history into them.
Oh yes, I read that when Sasha Stone put it on her Substack (you should check out her writings if you haven’t yet). It’s a banger for sure. I saved it on my phone to share with others but it forgot so thanks for the reminder.
I'm afraid many, if not most, Europeans (maybe it's the same in other places) developed a kind of death wish. I see more and more people openly advocating for nuclear war if Russia is not "completely defeated". They have no idea what they're talking about, but go out of the way to insult, attack, censor, or even threaten whoever has a modicum of common sense and decency. Sometimes it looks like Portugal (where I live) is one of those Baltic countries, such is the level of Russophobia.
The media here are a complete disgrace. They not only shamelessly manipulate their audiences, appealing to the most basic sentimentalism, but also -- and this might be even worse -- omit any news that might be detrimental to the "war effort", and there are so many of them. Most "war correspondents" basically sit in their hotel rooms in Kiev and other cities waiting for the Ukrainian government to tell them where to go and what to report.
And the commentators... It's really rock bottom. The majority are utterly ignorant but pontificate as if they were sages. And those who certainly know what's going on lie with all their teeth. The very few exceptions are some retired officers who are, of course, smeared as "Russian agents" or "Putinists", or (even more ridiculous) "Communists".
I've never seen something like that. Looks like America in 2003, but worse. And the question is: how can we argue with idiots?
A slave doesn't have to make decisions. A slave doesn't have to take responsibility.
Besides, the life of a house slave can be pretty comfortable, at least, relative to a field slave. Didn't Borrell say something about Europe as a "garden" and the rest of the world as a jungle?
But when the class war comes to the point where you have the tough choice of possibly risking your career, getting beaten or blinded by militarized police in a peaceful protest, or having your bank account frozen just because you took part in a trucking protest, or attempt vocally resisting the fascist Elites in charge - then it takes some real courage to rebel.
Hard part is to remove the state of denial one is in that Western society is reaching that point of not only state censorship on all levels, and the ability to quietly take anyone in and imprison them on trumped up charges of whatever, "eco terrorism" or "disinformation", - and then you are faced with that hard historical choice of whether to bend the knee and your head, or rebel and face severe consequences.
What media scholars can take from this whole mess is that television is still the most influential media -- by far. And newspapers keep being relevant. For all the wrong reasons.
With idiots by definition you cannot. The system succeeded in creating so many of them. So until something happens to it any arguments with its products are futile.
Here, in France, it's the same problem. A majority of people who have no critical spirit, who take for granted all the propaganda of the right-thinking press and who look at you sideways when you have the audacity to show them the imbecility of their remarks. It's exhausting. It is true that with a donkey, one does not reason: one pushes it or pulls it.
Amen, Caitlin, and that is precisely why I made my first Substack post nearly two years ago about exposing the propaganda machine and how it is used to divide us:
“The recipe is simple. Take a naturally occurring phenomenon, say a seasonal virus, and exaggerate its threat far beyond every imagining—despite exhaustive evidence to the contrary. Suppress, silence, ostracize, and demonize every individual who dares present facts that expose the false mono-narrative.
“Whip up a witches’ brew of anger, envy, and, most importantly, fear, escalating emotions to a boil so as to short-circuit our faculties of reason and logic.
“Isolate us from one another, supplant real-world interactions with virtual feuds, label nonconformists as a threat to the group, and pump the public with a disinformation campaign designed to confuse and atomize. In essence, foster a cultlike mentality that shuts down thought to guarantee assent.
“Cultivate and wield our cognitive biases—especially ingroup bias, conformity bias, and authority bias—against us in a comprehensive divide-and-conquer policy that keeps us too busy squabbling amongst ourselves to recognize and unite against those corralling us into a Matrix-like collective delusion that enables the powerful to extract our resources for their own gain.”
Wikipedia has a perhaps relevant entry on "The Big Lie" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_lie). Appropriately, the article itself contains "lies" (in the more expansive definition of "lies" "statements other than truth"). The inventor of the theory was supposed to be the Nazi minister of Propaganda Goebbels, but it appears earlier in Hitler's _Mein Kampf_ as well. However, it seems a bit naive believe that so many millennia of lying went by without someone noticing that the bigger lies had better success. In any event, Wikipedia dutifully does not fail to follow the current party line in attributing the practice to Mr. Trump.
"Seriously, think about it: what could the rulers of western society possibly extract from us that they're not already getting?" If the Empire gets its war with China, is the average Australian and American brain washed enough that they willingly enlist in the armed forces or will accept conscription to fight in say Taiwan? Or is that the point at which people start to question the narrative and push back against Empire.
I've recently finished re-reading 1984, and the growing similarities between Orwell's dystopian nightmare and the current trajectory of society are truly astounding. Sure, we're not yet living in an Orwellian, dystopian world. But, there are enough creeping comparisons that should make people pause and assess where we are being led. Your point speaks directly to one of the Ingsoc slogans: "War is Peace". By keeping people in a constant state of warfare, we are helpless to divert attention to anything else, even if it is taking place right before our very eyes.
Yes, and I'm also sorry to say that the Assange case has actually become a bit of a commodity among retired activists like Hedges who just use this story to maintain their place in the "independent" media food chain ... this in turn, allows them to conveniently avoid discussion of the larger issues of tyranny that now threaten us: the Great Reset, the influence of the World economic Forum on U.S. politics, vax mandates and passports, and the massive fraud and genocidal agenda of big-pharma ... as grossly unfair as the treatment of Assange has been, you'd still have to stand on your head to make the case that the plight of Assange is a top-tier working class issue ... the Assange case has no bearing on a working class individual's ability to find gainful employment at a living wage in a union environment ... but even after Hedges threw us all under the bus with COVID, members of his cult will still insist he's a champion of the working class ...
Propaganda is the REAL weapon. Yes, nuclear warheads are evil and dangerous, but without propaganda to manipulate us into "pushing the red button" they are harmless (and should be dismantled). We need to "nuke propaganda" and not the planet. Disarm the propagandists--point out their fallacies, their lies, their true reasons for wanting to brainwash the masses. Never give up! (Thank you, Caitlin, for always emphasizing this salient point.)
You are by far my favorite Substack author ... but for some reason, I only rarely comment here ... maybe it's because you nail it so completely that there's nothing left for me to say ...
Well said, I still blather anyway not so much as to comment on Caitlin's brilliant writing, but, more as a expression of solidarity with flavor. When I read and donate to Caitlin as well as Tiabbi, Greenwald, Hedges ,etc. I face the future armed mentally with facts and knowledge my fear is justified. I have lost so many friends and important relationships for not accepting the propaganda, so I am here and not alone. Working with some of the most brilliant minds in science it scares me hearing the propaganda spit back at me word for word. I am older and know enough to run to the light and embrace the Neutrons.
Sorry, but I just happen to be Hedges #1 antagonist on the planet ...
I used to love this guy, but not anymore ...
In my world, he's a "straddler" ... he's got one foot in their world and only one foot in our world ... Thomas Frank, Krystal Ball, Saagar Engenti, Briahna Joy Gray, Katie Halper ... I could go on, they're all straddlers and Hedges is their sacred cow ...
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Let us review a few of Chris Hedges more revealing quotes:
On DEC 2, 2021 ...
The FDA was compelled by a court ruling to release Phizer's vax trial data that revealed 1,223 post-jab deaths and 34,762 adverse events in the first 10 weeks of its trial ... The FDA attempted to delay the full release of this data for 75 years!
On JAN 1, 2022 ...
Chris Hedges made this comment on the Krystal Kyle & Friends Podcast (Episode #54):
"I don't think we're going to stop the pandemic and mutations until everybody gets vaccinated" ... Chris Hedges DID NOT have to take sides on this issue ... He had to know about the release of Phizer's trial data, but he was still willing to endorse their experimental shot ... He has also refused to comment or stand with the working class against the illegal and unconstitutional mandates and passports ... he has only said: "it's a tough decision" ...
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"Let us stand up and resist so future generations will at least say ‘they tried.’ We cannot do this alone ... together we have a chance" ...
BTW, he has refused to comment on THE GREAT RESET, The World Economic Forum and the book THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
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In a 2020 interview, he said he told indigenous pipeline protesters to "park your cars in their path, remove the engines and walk away" ...
BTW, he did not even comment on the Canadian trucker convoy until a March 2022 interview with Jimmy Dore - one month after the protests actually ended ....
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In his AMERICAN SADISM speech, he made this extremely divisive statement that revealed his disdain for those of us who openly question the motives of elected officials ...
He said the loss of mainstream media credibility "has given rise to spontaneous groups, as well as the lunatic fringe that embraces conspiracy theories"
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From his book WAGES OF REBELLION, he said:
“I do not fight fascists because I will win. I fight fascists because they are fascists” ...
If he still believed this, he would have stood with the working class against the mandates and passports ...
Chris Hedges changed with the lockdowns ... clearly, he no longer has the fire in his belly ...
But tell all the members of his cult not to worry, I'm the only person in this hemisphere who notices such things ...
I don't agree with Hedges about everything, and I'd say the same about Greenwald, Taibbi, Krystal, Saagar (especially him), and a number of others, like Dore, who I mostly agree with. But I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one in this hemisphere who'd say so. Often I've found that I don't entirely always agree with myself, a day or so later. Nobody's right about everything.
Ha, I just wrote that about myself without seeing your comment. I support with dollars until I get a sense there is pretending, greed or dishonesty. I love Jimmy Dore and support his work and I am not completely sure I know all of his politics however the opening to his podcast is enough to know I enjoy solidarity with he and Stef on many issues. You might checkout Revolutionary Blackout Network, RBN. Besides, we need to be able to face this shit with some comedy too : )
Thx Landru ...
I watch Revolutionary Blackout as well as Jimmy Dore ...
And I missed not seeing Nick Cruse on Jimmy's show ... so I was glad to connect with him again on Revolutionary Blackout ... thx ...
See above. 🤗
Maybe Basil ... but I AM in fact the only person in this hemisphere who has had the balls to publicly chase him down and call him out on his nasty, duplicitous comments ... BTW, it might interest you to know that the DS is actually shielding him from public criticism ... YT has been censoring my carefully-researched criticisms of him for well over a year ... you might ask yourself why ... why would they protect an anti-corporate independent media figure from criticism - WHY?
Your vendetta against a great man is kinda weird. Maybe that’s why people shield him from you. Coocoo.
My "vendatta" is based entirely on his public comments ...
So I gather you agree with Hedges about some things and disagree with him about others. Isn't that normal? Apparently, that makes him a "straddler". Is that bad?
When did we, as a society, lose the ability to (amicably) agree to disagree with each other?
Yes. Whenever I see the type of black and white thinking: where the conversation becomes more about a person (i.e. identity politics) than the issue itself, without room for disagreements, that's a red flag.
You refer to my comment as "B&W" thinking, when your comment is a text book example of a lobotomized admirer blinded by celebrity ... those are all verbatim quotes straight from the horse's mouth I just cited at the top of this thread ... so why do you object ... those are his words, not mine ... WTF is your problem? ... did I pop your little love-bubble with the duplicitous St. Chris?
O really. Then why did you call me “fucking stupid” for not agreeing with you on some issue so pointless I’ve forgotten what it was.
Ha! .. a red flag for what?
NON Solidarity?
He's using you, he does not give a hoot about you ...
You've been lobotomized by his good deeds ... amazed that you fail to realize the truly mean-spirited comments he's made on COVID issues ... he should not be forgiven ... his feet should be held to the flames ... but you're incapable ...
"He's using you, he does not give a hoot about you ..."
Pretty sure Hedges doesn't even know who I am.
"...lobotomized by his good deeds."
Didn't know that was a thing.
"he should not be forgiven ... his feet should be held to the flames ... but you're incapable"
I'm inclined to disagree, but whatever: you do you. See how easy that was?
Hedges is obviously just an entertainer in your world, that's all.
Your argument is very strong and I agree with much of what you correctly stated. I also have my disagreements with Chris Hedges as few as they are. I part with Chris on the need for leadership in a worker movement. Chris correctly predicted Bernie would fail to rise up against the Democan't party and run as third party. Kshama Sawant the only politician I support along with a friend in state gov. openly spoke and demanded Bernie run third party rather than kiss the ass of the Democan't party. Chris believes the only successful worker movement will have no leadership that fails the masses as Bernie did bending the knee, " Joe Biden is a friend of mine he would make a great president" while standing on stage in S.C. With all that I disagree with Chris all successful movements have had a leader and so successful a leadership we remember them by the name of that person. With all that I still look to people like Chris who are masters of the written word, thought and deed for solidarity. I look at that moment in time during Occupy Wall Street, that was a moment IF there are been a voice to guide and speak for us just maybe the start of change would have happened. Rather than allowing Obummer (my greatest political hope destroyed) giving General Motors tens of BILLIONS of dollar in bailout could have been forced to turn over the company to the employees creating a true worker owned company backed by pension funds and gov. zero interest loans. AIG, the same, etc. So without leadership there is no voice without violence speaking with the loudest voice, or so I think. So yes I continue to support Chris, Yanis Varoufakis Dem25 etc. Sorry about the ramble it speaks to my despair.
We all have 20/20 hindsight. Those who didn’t, who saw clearly were surrounded by the braying of the Neolibs and could hardly break through the disinformation spread by “our” mouthpieces—the NYT, Post, ALL liberal publications. The only voices that were clear were insane—like Flush Limpbough and FUX news. Don’t blame yourself. We were all victims of a mass propaganda assault. News the time to shrug it off, stop looking in the rear view mirror and start praising those who have risen up to meet the challenges. There are many—Caitlin one of the best.
You go way over the top on criticizing Hedges, and you rely on one issue and your interpretation of cherry picked quotes.
The fact is, many of the people criticizing numerous aspects of the response to COVID and vaccines simply reject the entire foundational premises of public health and fail to understand statistics and scientific uncertainty. One (hypothetical, not COVID related) illustration: many people are unwilling to vaccinate their children due to minuscule individual risk and share the social risks of that decision that benefits the community. This is individualism run riot.
The science on COVID is not well known and has evolved. Many have exploited this to make false claims and question motives (and I am a huge opponent of Big Pharma and fully understand regulatory capture).
Hedges is not a scientist or regulatory expert, so to attack him so brutally based on what you rely on is absurd.
And one thing I’d like to point out about Covid is that we all had so little information about it and what we had was contradictory and often counter intuitive, plus the fear of it was pounded on until we were all quite mad no matter which side of the issue you took, that it did what it was supposed to do—sharply divide the populous and keep us at each other’s throats instead of turning on our system and demanding answers.
My response to Sars-Cov2 was the same as yours, info that made some sense , followed it and nearly died anyway. When I almost recovered and still haven't I spoke to a Virologist friend and tried to invent a rapid virus mass testing camera using one of our Astrophysics detectors, Henry laughed at me. Henry said, to complicated and you're now insane with paranoia ha.
No Bill, it's not absurd ...
Not in light of the fact that Hedges essentially endorsed the vax just 30 days after the FDA was forced by a court ruling to release it's trial data ... over 1200 people died in the first 10 weeks and over 30,000 were injured! ... Hedges did not have to take sides on this issue and he did it anyway ... he could have said it's a personal decision ... and please tell me exactly what it is I don't understand about statistics ... eagerly awaiting your reply!
Was the data released at the time? Do you think Hedges is a statistician qualified to analyze that data? Were there competent analysis in the public domain at the time?
The deaths and injuries you cite are not demonstrated as causal as far as I know. If you have a peer reviewed scientific source that demonstrates causal mechanisms for those deaths and injuries, please educate me and provide a link.
There are public health principles and community interests that may trump "personal choice". I am not saying that those conditions were present during COVID, just that they exist. Refusal to accept this public health concept is a form of pathological and anti-social individualism.
Bill ... the data was released exactly 30 days prior to Hedges statement ... didn't you read my entire comment? ... it appears not!
Hey Bill ... there's an absolute ton of peer-reviewed data on this experimental jab ... check the Canadian COVID Care alliance (CCCA), Trial Site News, Google Dr. Chris Martensen on the FDA release ... I could on ... Ed Dowd and his team just compiled the results of the first two years since the lock-downs were declared ... over 200,000 people have been killed by that hideous jab ... and in light of this, you're telling me that I'M THE PROBLEM ... yeah, right.
PITY—people confined in small spaces, like prisoners, were dying for lack of the vaccine.
Is that the best you can do?
How does that in any way, refute my comment?
My only problem with Hedges is that he does seem like a very strong Leftist journalist and commentator, but he doesn't openly or explicitly embrace/espouse Socialism or Communism. He's a little cagey on his own political ideology. He is an ardent critic of the oligarchs, Christian fascists, warmongers, and globalist, but what is he FOR? I think it would help move some of his readers ideologically if he was also a more strong, openly vocal socialist or communist. I think Hedges may think part of being a professional journalist and academic means you should pull back a little from showing your own ideology.
Fire in the belly gives you heartburn. Chris has done wonders for pulling heads out of asses for decades. I imagine he’s tired. And got heartburn. Especially over people who just throw him away because he no longer does the work they should be doing for themselves. The man worked with real honest to god victims of “The System” in prisons before that same system started to finally effect the privileged yuppie whites who now cry loudly that someone, anyone should have done something about this. There were people trying to get your attention—trying to see through the fog of popular Shitlib propaganda and get information into print in a society that only prints the news that fit to stupefy. And now you dismiss them as straddles. Whoa. I’m truly glad if you are one of a kind.
Damn me and damn that first amendment, right?
His work with prison inmates is laudable - I've followed him as closely as anybody since 2011 ... I followed him so closely that it was impossible to not notice how he abandoned the working class once the lock-downs were declared in March 2020 ... I merely quoted him verbatim ...
Here's a link to that interview right here on Substack ... his words, not mine ...
https://krystalkyleandfriends.substack.com/p/episode-54-audio-chris-hedges#details
May be of interest . . . https://les7eb.substack.com
👏🏼
“The perfect dictatorship would have the appearance of a democracy, but would basically be a prison without walls in which the prisoners would not even dream of escaping. It would essentially be a system of slavery where, through consumption and entertainment, the slaves would love their servitudes.” ― Aldous Huxley
Re: anti-authoritarians that come to mind, I think of Solzhneitzyn, Junger, Assange, Orwell (to an extent), I think of Andrew Jackson who destroyed the second Rothschild U.S. central bank, Louis T. McFadden, Angelo Codevilla, Archbishop Vigano...
Good Huxley quote, but Andrew Jackson?!?!? I'd go Rosa Luxemburg, Eugene Debbs, MLK. And today, yes, Julian Assange. Unfortunately we have no revolutionary political leaders in the US today, only some journalists and academics. Heck, we don't even have any good revolutionary artists or writers like we did a generation ago.
His battle against the second central bank was legendary and extraordinarily drawn out and difficult, you should read about it. Before his death he was asked what he regarded as his greatest achievement, and he replied without hesitation: "I killed the bank."
Later when the Federal Reserve was established (the third central bank), they ultimately put his face on the $20 bill as a "fuck you, we won", because it was everything he was against. True story.
He killed a lot of Indians too, but as long he made white men richer, he’s remembered well. Putain.
Hi Jean, I was responding to the prompt, which was "picture an anti-authoritarian figure...fighting the real power where it stands here and now".
Because I view the owners of the world central banks as the essential element pushing the feudalistic order we are all increasingly subject to, I give very strong weight toward those who fought against it when answering the prompt. Anyway, Jackson has a controversial reputation and isn't necessarily "remembered well" at this point.
On a broader level, all men have good and bad within them, so there will always have to be a value judgment about how one weighs a person's accomplishments vs failures. I will quote Solzhenitzyn on this: “If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? During the life of any heart this line keeps changing place; sometimes it is squeezed one way by exuberant evil and sometimes it shifts to allow enough space for good to flourish. One and the same human being is, at various ages, under various circumstances, a totally different human being. At times he is close to being a devil, at times to sainthood. But his name doesn’t change, and to that name we ascribe the whole lot, good and evil.”
I hope you find this response helpful.
Temporarily setting back the central bankers while simultaneously owning hundreds of slaves and aggressively participating in settler colonial genocide. Hmm. I'm going to say the good doesn't outweigh the bad here. Given what we know about Jackson, perhaps his opposition to the central bankers wasn't entirely from a position of aiding working class people? Slave owners and large property holders generally don't have that particular drive...
That is a very interesting take. Paper? I do wonder if you could find in his writings and speeches what his original intent was. I always assume evil when it comes from evil origin ha.
No, it’s not. I don’t need a lecture on how to understand men. I’ve been around them for 78 years and know every twist and turn of their attempts to mans’plain the worst of their ilk. What I don’t get is why can’t they hold other men to the same standard that they say they hold themselves to? Why are they always rushing to defend the worst in men by trying to say that “we’re all like that” as if they had a corner on wisdom. Well, we aren’t all like that. And it’s time we stopped elevating the killers of the past and started rewarding the peacemakers of today— and following their example.
Injuns. I think it's pronounced Injuns.
Are you trying to be funny? Cuz Uffda otherwise.
You realize using the term, "Indians" is offensive and a product of the white man's ignorance and prejudice. To then get high and mighty as if you're an ally is laughable. You point and wag your finger at others who don't meet with your attempt at empathy for a group identity that you've chosen to adopt sensitivities for, while at the same time offending sensitivities that they have. Nice job Karen, offending while you bask in imaginary offense. Whatever it takes to try to absolve yourself of your white guilt...that failed outside of your own self-image as a white savior and protector of the poor, little, oppressed Injun!
Yes. Making fun of your comment. Helping to yank up those panties in a wad that you're wearing, so your sphincter muscles clamp up even tighter. Hilarity ensue. "Dropping the pretense of being polite to those with whom we disagree and telling it like it is." And all.
Yeah I recently read an article here on Substack (Badlands Media) about Jackson and how he challenged the bankers. I now have a newfound respect for him.
Rosa Luxemburg for sure ( " She told the poor the truth, so they did away with her), and Michael Parenti. I would also add Bertolt Brecht, Frantz Fanon, Antonio Gramsci. What about Fidel Castro and Che Guevara? Of course Julian Assange.
All good additions. Maybe also Hugo Chavez, Nicolas Maduro, and Evo Morales. Sukarno, Patrice Lumumba.
I am with you totally. Maybe the human race has a chance when we have/had all these great people.
Yes Sartre thought freedom a burden which we are condemned to live in. I think many of us are aware of our chains but find them comfortable and reassuring.
I’m coming to agree with this, at least in this Yuppie Era. In my day—‘55 to ‘75 freedom was sought after, cherished and shared, but then in the late 70’s, as the Women’s Movement developed, I could see that most of the “activists” really did not want freedom. They wanted privilege for white middle class women and to ignore any one—especially gay women—who demanded equality. Betty Frigid the worst. And then we metastasized into the pearl clutching ‘80’s and have been a stain on the world ever since. So no, people with privilege don’t want freedom OR responsibility—they just want to hang on to their, as you say comfortable chains, and make everyone else do the same.
Harvey Milk?
Teaches me to comment before reading.
Noam Chomsky shared these insights long before I was ready to hear them. As did Alex Carey, the Australian who influenced Chomsky so much he dedicated "Manufacturing Consent" to him.
Alex Carey's works:
Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Propaganda in the U.S. and Australia, 1995
Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Corporate Propaganda vs. Freedom and Liberty, 1996
But what happened to Chomsky? He's been as rabid a propagandist and wisher of death on those who didn't obey as any Fascist could've ever wanted from one of the top Marxist intellectual influencers on the planet. Was he really controlled opposition, too? A tool, like so many other influencers, ready to jump into line when called into action? He wished death on the unvaxxed and unmasked. Death!
For someone who was so influential in the minds of so many who saw this US regime for the murderous regime it is long ago, he sounded like a man who'd have sat at the machine gun nest aimed at a thousand civilians and opened fire on them with a sadistic joy leaping from his heart at being the executioner of the disobedient.
I'll often cite his work like Manufacturing that rings true in what you often share. But I know him to be what I know him to be now: a loathesome, barbaric, cold-blooded murderous heart.
Totally agree ...
And we contrarians are really betraying ourselves when we fail to call out classic progressive voices who now conduct themselves like pigs ... his comments on the unvaxxed from 2-3 years ago was a real show-stopper ... see my comment below ...
I just pounced on one of Hedges' admirers at the top of this thread - I've included several head-scratching quotes by that false God ... he's not one of us, he's one of them ...
I urge folks to go upthread and read the exchange. You decide.
You won. Or actually, PITY shot himself in the foot, but you brought it out in him.
Let's be fair, admirer is a bit over the top. Respected, that I admit to. As I stated I don't have to agree 100% with someone to consider them someone I can work WITH. You I would imagine walk alone on the path to change. I have more in common with a unsheltered Black quadriplegic woman than, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, etc.
Brave New World for the haves, 1984 for the havenots.
Wasn't he writing it as a warning rather than a guide : )
That's what They want you to think.
As a long time reader (since 2016), I'd say this is one of your best!
"This totalitarian dystopia looks like freedom because they let us more or less do what we want, while controlling what it is that we want to do using mass-scale manipulation."
Bril! My concern is why are we so easy to control? O ya… Yuppie Think.
As long as people can jump in their car and waddle into Walmart for their $1.00 Great Value cookies purchased on credit, nothing will change. Edward Snowden is my choice. Too bad he's disappeared. Now a Russian citizen I hope he didn't get called to military service and sent to the front line.
Snowden is alive and well.
Strange comment, you can read Edward anytime you like. I have friends living and working in Russia. The war is over now. If only we in the u.s. didn't have a Imperialist need for placing Nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
I see it, too, Caitlin. Well put.
But you continue to present those fighting Gender Identity madness as misguided fools focusing on silly stuff while the ship burns. In truth, we fight the Gender Cult (too) because:
i)we won't stand by as kids we love are put on a conveyor belt to Frankenstinian medical maimings,
ii) we recognize that teaching kids that men have babies and demonizing those who don't agree, is part of dissociating people from reality...from our world...from our bodies...it is part of disorienting and disempowering everyone,
iii) gutting women's and LGB rights actually does matter, the damage is breathtaking, and
iv) we see that people trying to organize a movement for system change getting us beyond capitalism and the fate it engenders....those people have lost all credibility, all strategic sense.
As an environmental activist, I must stand up for biological reality; as a socialist, I must break from those who demean that label by saying kids are born in wrong bodies. And oddly enough, dragged kicking and screaming from my single-minded focus on preventing ecological and/or nuclear disaster, to put some time into fighting the Gender Madness, I find myself right where I need to be. Here lies the kernel for building the kind of working class movement we need. Here with people who refuse to praise the Emperor's clothes....people who didn't talk to each other before because of our self-proclaimed places on the political spectrum. Please do reach out to people like me; you're missing some vital stuff. And keep up your otherwise fabulous analyses.
💯. Anyone who dismisses fighting the gender ideology madness as trivial is not realizing how important that ideology is to the totalitarian agenda.
Anyone who dismisses fighting the gender ideology madness as trivial is not realizing how important that ideology is to having God on our side in this battle against evil. God protects the children above all other. And a society that doesn't protect its children do not receive God's divine hand that can smite any evil that Satan has constructed through his deceit that is embraced among the faithless. God has countless times performed miracles to lift up his children in times when all was seemingly lost. But they had to be Godly. And they had to protect their children, their future. Above all else. We sent our children into schools wearing pieces of cloth across their faces because we gave up on God's perfect immune system. We butcher children saying blaspheme, "sometimes God makes a mistake and puts little girls in little boys bodies." We're teetering on the edge of an abyss now and unless we embrace God in our hearts and souls he'll just as soon Sodom and Gomorrah us to helping us. Yes. Dismiss fighting the greatest sin of all being perpetrated on our young at great peril.
Wow this is unhinged
Lol! Says the athiest, always.
For those new to Gender Cult issues, Caitlin's reference to the guy running over Bud beer cans relates to Dylan Mulvaney, a man who prances around in woman-face. As a reward for treating women with such disdain, Mulvaney has now become the spokesperson for all sorts of corporations: Budweiser, Nike, tampon-manufacturers.
I encourage readers to check out Patrick Lawrence's "The Disinformation Complex: An Anatomy" (Scheerpost) in which he has a link to Jacob Seigel's “A Guide to Understanding the Hoax of the Century” in last week's Tablet magazine, where he (Seigel)is a senior editor." Lawrence says the following." His subtitle, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at Disinformation,” is literate, gutsy, and suggestive of the gloves-off essay underneath it.
This is the most powerful, sustained rip into the Russiagate disaster I have yet read—and certainly the best work published to date on the destruction of American democracy at the hands of a ruling elite that invented (1) the figment of a disinformation crisis and (2) the frightening apparatus that now drowns us in disinformation in the name of combating it. “Disinformation is both the name of the crime and the means of covering it up,” Seigel writes pithily, “a weapon that doubles as a disguise.” Seigel's essay is a must read. It certainly echoes Caitlin's claims by injecting history into them.
Oh yes, I read that when Sasha Stone put it on her Substack (you should check out her writings if you haven’t yet). It’s a banger for sure. I saved it on my phone to share with others but it forgot so thanks for the reminder.
Thanks, Selina. I've bookmarked Seigel's piece.
I'm afraid many, if not most, Europeans (maybe it's the same in other places) developed a kind of death wish. I see more and more people openly advocating for nuclear war if Russia is not "completely defeated". They have no idea what they're talking about, but go out of the way to insult, attack, censor, or even threaten whoever has a modicum of common sense and decency. Sometimes it looks like Portugal (where I live) is one of those Baltic countries, such is the level of Russophobia.
The media here are a complete disgrace. They not only shamelessly manipulate their audiences, appealing to the most basic sentimentalism, but also -- and this might be even worse -- omit any news that might be detrimental to the "war effort", and there are so many of them. Most "war correspondents" basically sit in their hotel rooms in Kiev and other cities waiting for the Ukrainian government to tell them where to go and what to report.
And the commentators... It's really rock bottom. The majority are utterly ignorant but pontificate as if they were sages. And those who certainly know what's going on lie with all their teeth. The very few exceptions are some retired officers who are, of course, smeared as "Russian agents" or "Putinists", or (even more ridiculous) "Communists".
I've never seen something like that. Looks like America in 2003, but worse. And the question is: how can we argue with idiots?
Europeans *like* being slaves.
A slave doesn't have to make decisions. A slave doesn't have to take responsibility.
Besides, the life of a house slave can be pretty comfortable, at least, relative to a field slave. Didn't Borrell say something about Europe as a "garden" and the rest of the world as a jungle?
Not only Europeans but Americans as well.
But when the class war comes to the point where you have the tough choice of possibly risking your career, getting beaten or blinded by militarized police in a peaceful protest, or having your bank account frozen just because you took part in a trucking protest, or attempt vocally resisting the fascist Elites in charge - then it takes some real courage to rebel.
Hard part is to remove the state of denial one is in that Western society is reaching that point of not only state censorship on all levels, and the ability to quietly take anyone in and imprison them on trumped up charges of whatever, "eco terrorism" or "disinformation", - and then you are faced with that hard historical choice of whether to bend the knee and your head, or rebel and face severe consequences.
Many people think what they are told to think.
What media scholars can take from this whole mess is that television is still the most influential media -- by far. And newspapers keep being relevant. For all the wrong reasons.
You are being facetious?
With idiots by definition you cannot. The system succeeded in creating so many of them. So until something happens to it any arguments with its products are futile.
Yes, but it's annoying because I have to keep my mouth shut while listening to inane babblings every single day. Thank God there's the internet.
Here, in France, it's the same problem. A majority of people who have no critical spirit, who take for granted all the propaganda of the right-thinking press and who look at you sideways when you have the audacity to show them the imbecility of their remarks. It's exhausting. It is true that with a donkey, one does not reason: one pushes it or pulls it.
https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/note-i-will-never-ask-commenters/comments
https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/note-i-will-never-ask-commenters/comments
Amen, Caitlin, and that is precisely why I made my first Substack post nearly two years ago about exposing the propaganda machine and how it is used to divide us:
• “A Primer for the Propagandized: Fear Is the Mind-Killer” (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/a-primer-for-the-propagandized)
As I wrote in that piece:
“The recipe is simple. Take a naturally occurring phenomenon, say a seasonal virus, and exaggerate its threat far beyond every imagining—despite exhaustive evidence to the contrary. Suppress, silence, ostracize, and demonize every individual who dares present facts that expose the false mono-narrative.
“Whip up a witches’ brew of anger, envy, and, most importantly, fear, escalating emotions to a boil so as to short-circuit our faculties of reason and logic.
“Isolate us from one another, supplant real-world interactions with virtual feuds, label nonconformists as a threat to the group, and pump the public with a disinformation campaign designed to confuse and atomize. In essence, foster a cultlike mentality that shuts down thought to guarantee assent.
“Cultivate and wield our cognitive biases—especially ingroup bias, conformity bias, and authority bias—against us in a comprehensive divide-and-conquer policy that keeps us too busy squabbling amongst ourselves to recognize and unite against those corralling us into a Matrix-like collective delusion that enables the powerful to extract our resources for their own gain.”
Excellent ...
Hitchens once said: "The bigger the lie, the greater the chance of success" ...
Wikipedia has a perhaps relevant entry on "The Big Lie" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_lie). Appropriately, the article itself contains "lies" (in the more expansive definition of "lies" "statements other than truth"). The inventor of the theory was supposed to be the Nazi minister of Propaganda Goebbels, but it appears earlier in Hitler's _Mein Kampf_ as well. However, it seems a bit naive believe that so many millennia of lying went by without someone noticing that the bigger lies had better success. In any event, Wikipedia dutifully does not fail to follow the current party line in attributing the practice to Mr. Trump.
https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/note-i-will-never-ask-commenters/comments
I know. It's absolutely nutz to me. The worst part to me is that these useful useless idiots are still falling for this idiocy.
Agree, that's why the idea of red-pilling somebody, anybody is completely nuts ...
These people are all unreachable ... it's hardly worth my time ... given the opportunity, I'd pass ...
"Seriously, think about it: what could the rulers of western society possibly extract from us that they're not already getting?" If the Empire gets its war with China, is the average Australian and American brain washed enough that they willingly enlist in the armed forces or will accept conscription to fight in say Taiwan? Or is that the point at which people start to question the narrative and push back against Empire.
I've recently finished re-reading 1984, and the growing similarities between Orwell's dystopian nightmare and the current trajectory of society are truly astounding. Sure, we're not yet living in an Orwellian, dystopian world. But, there are enough creeping comparisons that should make people pause and assess where we are being led. Your point speaks directly to one of the Ingsoc slogans: "War is Peace". By keeping people in a constant state of warfare, we are helpless to divert attention to anything else, even if it is taking place right before our very eyes.
https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/note-i-will-never-ask-commenters/comments
Yes, and I'm also sorry to say that the Assange case has actually become a bit of a commodity among retired activists like Hedges who just use this story to maintain their place in the "independent" media food chain ... this in turn, allows them to conveniently avoid discussion of the larger issues of tyranny that now threaten us: the Great Reset, the influence of the World economic Forum on U.S. politics, vax mandates and passports, and the massive fraud and genocidal agenda of big-pharma ... as grossly unfair as the treatment of Assange has been, you'd still have to stand on your head to make the case that the plight of Assange is a top-tier working class issue ... the Assange case has no bearing on a working class individual's ability to find gainful employment at a living wage in a union environment ... but even after Hedges threw us all under the bus with COVID, members of his cult will still insist he's a champion of the working class ...
https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/note-i-will-never-ask-commenters/comments
How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Totalitarian Dystopia.
Propaganda is the REAL weapon. Yes, nuclear warheads are evil and dangerous, but without propaganda to manipulate us into "pushing the red button" they are harmless (and should be dismantled). We need to "nuke propaganda" and not the planet. Disarm the propagandists--point out their fallacies, their lies, their true reasons for wanting to brainwash the masses. Never give up! (Thank you, Caitlin, for always emphasizing this salient point.)