As a Jewish woman whose memories go back to WW2, I am especially horrified and shamed by the behavior of Israel. I was born in the U.S. and most of my life has been devoted to learning and trying to awaken people to the criminality of my own country, it's strong ties to the formationof nazi Germany amd haven't devoted that much interest to Israel. What I feel is that our entire lives (or most of mine) we've been told that men are the "natural leaders". They are the ones who "naturally led" the Jewish people to occupy an already occupied country and everything that has ensued since. Was it deliberate? Was there no other land available? It's also hard not to believe the attack on Israel wasn't a false flag with the intent of believing Netanyahu's insane reaction to it is defensible. I also think that unless we all somehow find a way to remove this toxic patriarchal thinking we've all been programmed to accept , human life on earth is doomed. And if we must hate someone, we need to learn to focus on our real enemies, our so-called leaders whose arrogance belies their ineptitude. They are making of our Mother Earth a place hostile to all life.
I agree with your analysis. I wish that women didn't think that being equal meant being like men. I have found when I try to discuss this with otherwise intelligent men, they often get defensive. When I tell them it is the system that is the problem, not necessarily individual men, it helps. It would not be much help to get rid of toxic patriarchal thinking just to have it replaced by toxic thinking in women. We need to get rid of capitalism and maybe even partisan politics. We need to move toward cooperation.
On behalf of men, the root of evil is not ‘patriarchy’ as I’m sure for most evil men there’s an evil woman pulling the strings or at least complicit. Enough with that idea. It’s also not capitalism vs socialism. Its not religion vs atheism. It’s our inability to see all life as precious and connected. If we can have leaders on all sides that genuinely believe this, the world will be safer.
Patriarchy doesn't mean men! Of course women pull the strings that they can (moslty through men as you point out) and are complicit in what ever bad things happen. They were also brought up under the same system that traps and programs us all. It's a system that rewards domination and control of each other and of the environment.
The solution is not women! It's freedom for everyone from conditioning to behave in dictated ways, to express one's emotions and to show vulnerability. It's cooperation, respect and equality between sexes, races and species.
Exactly. Some of the worst patriarchs I’ve met are women. And some of the best feminists have been my male friends. I’d say Jack is a great example of that.
Very well said! What we also need is a world not brainwashed into the belief that we need "leaders". For what? to lead us off a cliff while they wave goodbye? In my old age I've become an anarchist..
I reckon you've got the wrong idea about what patriarchy is Micheal. It is not about how good or bad most individual men are it is about the systemic organisation of society. And if you take an overview of for instance domestic violence you will discover that the vast majority of the severe beatings and murders of women and children are committed by adult males. And that applies to all regions and all religions. And incidentally all major religions have male gods and male supermen at the top. And capitalism also is a major contributor to most of the major wars. Capitalism and Imperialism are inseparable And imperialism is a major factor in all the wars of recent times (2,000 years +) history.Starting with the Roman Empire through the British Empire and up to the most recent (undeclared but obvious) American Empire. All headed and run by men by the way. There is a simple (but alas probably unattainable) solution to these global problems which the majority of women would embrace and the majority of men think stupid) and that is replace hate with love. I am not religious and do not personally believe in gods, male female or genderless; but the best expression of what I am claiming was from the god man Jesus when he said "Love even you enemies". That sort of love does not entail running towards the person who is pointing a gun at you to try to embrace them but as recognising the person behind the gun as a fully ( misguided) human being.
Patriarchy is a SYSTEM obviously dominated by men. Of course women are often complicit with the men they are close to. Many reasons, some emotional, some because we live in a system of patriarchy that continually tells us that what men say and do is better than what women or children say and do. It isn't anything versus anything. It just is. There is no other side to the patriarchy.
So tell me, how many women are in positions of power, that is real power. Such as possessed by Bill Gates, the high school grad, and his Charles Manson with money power? How many women head global corporations, what percentage of the U.S. Congress is comprised of women? Men who perceive that women have power are men who resent any power that women might have.
For some people there's always a readily available red herring to hook into. Left/right, liberal/conservative, up/down, etc. For many women it's patriarchy. Got to be some frame. No to the big picture.
This of course is the religious point of view. The science version claims we are pack animals & thrive with a strong alpha leader. In either case, we can overcome destructive behaviors for the sake of the many
I have similar sentiments. I've always thought it's awful so many men go off to needless wars, usually fought for the benefit of the wealthy elites, Children's Crusades. But women allowing their men (and sons) to go off and die in endless wars - or actually going off to die in war themselves - doesn't fix anything, just compounds the underlying problem of war itself, as one of the greatest of human moral evils, regardless of what sex you are.
Women cannot stop men from going to war. Men have to decide that for themselves. I feel sad when I hear that women are fighting now too. Women are not men's nurturers nor are they nurturers of other women unless that is a choice between people. The idea that any of us can our should control others is what ultimately leads to war, domestic abuse, racism and more.
Perhaps I used the wrong word i.e. allowing - more like "supporting" men and their sons to go to war, probably a better way of saying it. I also feel sad more women participate in war, but I don't believe they should be disallowed to participate if they so choose.
I like the way you think. I used to think it was capitalism - well it is, but I think it also doesn't matter. As long as we have a system based on male superiority, we'll never have peace and love, just war and hate. We're all victimized by patriarchal thinking, both women and men. To me., it's about archetypes: the archetypal male is competitive and aggressive, the archetypal female is cooperative and compassionate. Obviously there's a spectrum but basically these are the male/female archetypes. So matriarchy isn't the opposite of patriarchy. A matriarchal system would be about consensus rather than control. Men build skyscrapers (so phallic!), the symbolism of that is the top guy is on top, crushing those on the bottom. Matriarchal architecture is round buildings with round rooms in which decisions would be made by a circle, not at the top of an edifice by the few,. That's the system I believe might work. Every economic system created by the patriarchy has the most ruthless at the very top, doesn't matter what you call it.
Also dubbydove, if you want a good time, read Scientific American this month. It’s about Woman The Hunter and has some amazing info about estrogen and the way anthropologists have pushed the myth of male superiority. I usually don’t trust Scientific American because of its masculist bias, but this one musta got by the editors! 😁😂
Thanks for the heads up. I'll look for it. I read about an archaeologist who said that whether male or female the majority of archaeologists studying a site make the assumption that men were primary, even at sites where female symbolism is rife. She also said that the problem is that we assume that matriarchy is directly opposite of patriarchy, but women aren't men. That women seek consensus, not control - in a matriarchal setting. The bonobos are a good example. I have a book called The Bonobo Sisterhood, but haven't had a chance to read it yet.
Capitalism is a creation of the patriarchy. In both ideologies it is important that someone is at the top and that person is then considered successful and admirable. It changes nothing when it is women who are the capitalists at the top. Women are perfectly capable of being cutthroat and greedy too and not because they are being told my men to be that way. The patriarchy affects everyone. Men, women, gay men and women, trans men and women, people of colour, short, tall, beautiful, ugly. Everyone can become infected with patriarchal thinking.
Thank you for this brilliant analysis. I was born in ‘44 and I completely agree with your idea that it’s toxic patriarchy that is destroying our world, one insane authoritarian step at a time. But I’m puttin my money on Mother Earth and the sanity of most of the people most of the time. Bless
From the way those who bring it up are using it I'm sure they know it refers to the system not the merits of men vs women. It's the replies 'standing up for men' or pointing out that women are just as bad as men, who don't seem to realise.
There's also "matriarchy" and I assume it doesn't mean women. Would that be a superior system? Or would men brought up under matriarchy be as toxic as women under patriarchy? Or shouldn't there be any "-archies"?
Patriarchy is a system that rewards domination and control (or submission) of each other and of the environment.
The solution is not a martriarchy whatever that would be like! It's freedom for everyone from conditioning that dictates they behave in certain ways, freedom to express one's emotions and to show vulnerability without shame. Living in harmony and balance with nature not commodifying it, which some call eco-feminism. It's cooperation, respect and equality between sexes, races and species.
I recall when Gold Meir was Premier of Israel there was a serial rapist who everyone was alarmed about. The lawmakers stated that women should have a curfew until the criminal was caught. Golda Meir said it wasn't the women committing the crime and initiated a male-only curfew. I think it was in Tel Aviv.
We may disagree about "mother earth", since I write about Mystery Babylon's control of it, but I side with you wholeheartedly on Nazis allying with our country's (corrupt) leadership. Operation Paperclip?
Some tipping point of narrative collapse seems to loom, for both the apartheid state and the Empire. Probably already past with the Gaza genocide, the world is done with their BS.
These photos shocked the conscience of the world, stoked a massive Vietnam anti-war movement and shamed military and US government officials.
Yet today, thousands of victims - thousands every day! - and we get crickets, small protests, and actual open support by government officials and so called "progressives".
We had the draft then. Nobody - or most young men - didn't want to fight that war. It was, like most, if not all oour wars, outrageous. We're "fighting for our freedom" - in Vietnam. Really? The Vietnamse peasants were going to leave their villages and steal our freedom? As it was, they came here because our gov't destroyed their country - and our gov't also stole our freedom - or we gave it up willingly. I think it was more about the draft than the war because since they ended the draft, it's like an end to protest. At least not what we saw then.
Not true. And certainly not to everyone - I guess you missed this, where after calling the US "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today" Dr. King said this:
This I believe to be the privilege and the burden of all of us who deem ourselves bound by allegiances and loyalties which are broader and deeper than nationalism and which go beyond our nation's self-defined goals and positions. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation and for those it calls "enemy," for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers.
And as I ponder the madness of Vietnam and search within myself for ways to understand and respond in compassion, my mind goes constantly to the people of that peninsula. I speak now not of the soldiers of each side, not of the ideologies of the Liberation Front, not of the junta in Saigon, but simply of the people who have been living under the curse of war for almost three continuous decades now. I think of them, too, because it is clear to me that there will be no meaningful solution there until some attempt is made to know them and hear their broken cries."
Maybe. There is a force for good in the universe and we can choose to co-operate with it. It doesn’t have to be protests that bring down Israel. Tho I totally relate to your despair and sense of urgency.
"Propagandists are used to having a lot more wiggle room to work with than this."
Oh, they're trying, all right, frantically spinning, playing lawyer games with words, blaming victims and trying to convince us that blacknis white and the murderers of children really are the victims, here.
"The fact that the US and its allies are helping Israel murder children by the thousands is a giant glitch in the narrative matrix."'
This is fantastic--there are more holes in the western propaganda narrative than Swiss cheese! The only fear I have is that the narrative has been manipulated for so long and the western so-called "democracies" (*cough, cough*) have brainwashed their peoples into believing everything their governments do is for the "good" of all. Anyone who resists that narrative is cancelled and shut down and censored. Until EVERYONE has become "unbrainwashed" in the west, we'll still have people cheering on genocide and the murder of children. These sociopaths who manipulate the thought processes of others just can't seem to help themselves. The money and potential resource grabs might be too irresistible.
We have to fight both the narrative manipulation AND the evils of capitalism to shut down the MIC and the Endless War forever.
Yes, but pig pharma has gotten away with murdering children over the last 50 years with their poison vaccines. There are more than one gang of murdering scum on the planet. Some in plain view and others hidden in the shadows like cowards.
WHAT the United States is doing, openly helping, "murdering children by the thousands" somewhere else, is showing the people of the US that if they do it in Gaza, they'd do it anywhere, even to it's own people... well like they already have done in Lahaina.
Have you never read the history of the colonization of the western hemisphere? I do believe the worst genocide that's ever been committed was against the indigenous in the western hemisphere. The Pope issued the Doctrine of Discovery in 1493 mandating that any land that Christians happened upon that was occupied by non-Christians should be deemed unoccupied and any action necessary to retain said (stolen) land was "moral" and "justified" -- because of Jesus I guess. They used the babies of the Indigenous here for target practice. These are not nice people - they didn't suddenly become not nice - they've always done the same, for the same reason - conscienceless insatiable greed. as well as lust for power.
Any "civilized" community (in the loosest & most general sense) that has private or public (or both) media & educational institutions for children or adults is involved in propaganda about that community's past, present, & future. Public relations, socialization, enculturation, & private and public education, political, ideological, & religious evangelism are all propaganda. Every "civilization", from the smallest to the largest, is intellectually & emotionally built upon a foundation of propaganda, & the meaning of every event in the world has to be spun to capture it within that civilization's ideological mesh. Public opinion is propaganda & needs to be constantly spun & re-spun to ensure a smooth & superficially credible ideological narrative, and it needs to be done daily in all the media & social institutions (schools, churches etc., company meetings with administrators, etc.). That's why thoughtful people carefully choose their tone, words, & delivery style whenever they communicate with others. Humans are always attempting to persuade others of something or other; when we do that, we're putting propaganda spin on our messages.
“…. But something is moving underneath it all. Something big. The empire has done irreparable harm to its ability to keep everyone sleeping and complacent going forward. A healthy world may be in our future yet….”
While this is very true, let’s see how it goes. As long as people continue to subscribe to the imperial mass propaganda machine called “social media”, they are at risk of the empire adapting new strategies to manipulate them.
It’s my observation that social awareness moves in a circle, not a straight line. When the top gets too heavy, it starts to tip over and turns the bottom up to the top. The horrors of the imperialists will turn the nation into a force for good as consciousness shifts. But it take awhile and it’s gonna hurt!
. . . following the British Tradition of killing children . . .
“The earliest evidence located by QI appeared in a 1683 book by an English historian named John Nalson titled “An Impartial Collection of the Great Affairs of State from the Beginning of the Scotch Rebellion in the Year MDCXXXIX to the Murther of King Charles I”. While discussing warfare in Ireland the author stated that barbarities were committed by combatants on all sides. He also stated that one of his relatives who had served in the military heard the motto spoken during battle. Boldface has been added to excerpts:[1]
. . . I have heard a Relation of my own, who was a Captain in that Service, Relate, that no manner of Compassion or Discrimination was shewed either to Age or Sex, but that the little Children were promiscuously Sufferers with the Guilty, and that if any who had some grains of Compassion reprehended the Soldiers for this unchristian Inhumanity, they would scoffingly reply, Why? Nits will be Lice, and so would dispatch them . . .”
I believe the phrase “ Nits will be Lice” was last used by the American troops in the 1800’s of the Sioux wars . . .
As a Jewish woman whose memories go back to WW2, I am especially horrified and shamed by the behavior of Israel. I was born in the U.S. and most of my life has been devoted to learning and trying to awaken people to the criminality of my own country, it's strong ties to the formationof nazi Germany amd haven't devoted that much interest to Israel. What I feel is that our entire lives (or most of mine) we've been told that men are the "natural leaders". They are the ones who "naturally led" the Jewish people to occupy an already occupied country and everything that has ensued since. Was it deliberate? Was there no other land available? It's also hard not to believe the attack on Israel wasn't a false flag with the intent of believing Netanyahu's insane reaction to it is defensible. I also think that unless we all somehow find a way to remove this toxic patriarchal thinking we've all been programmed to accept , human life on earth is doomed. And if we must hate someone, we need to learn to focus on our real enemies, our so-called leaders whose arrogance belies their ineptitude. They are making of our Mother Earth a place hostile to all life.
I agree with your analysis. I wish that women didn't think that being equal meant being like men. I have found when I try to discuss this with otherwise intelligent men, they often get defensive. When I tell them it is the system that is the problem, not necessarily individual men, it helps. It would not be much help to get rid of toxic patriarchal thinking just to have it replaced by toxic thinking in women. We need to get rid of capitalism and maybe even partisan politics. We need to move toward cooperation.
I am so pleased and comforted by your comment. I believe all of the world's major religions are apologies for patriarch and oppression.
On behalf of men, the root of evil is not ‘patriarchy’ as I’m sure for most evil men there’s an evil woman pulling the strings or at least complicit. Enough with that idea. It’s also not capitalism vs socialism. Its not religion vs atheism. It’s our inability to see all life as precious and connected. If we can have leaders on all sides that genuinely believe this, the world will be safer.
Patriarchy doesn't mean men! Of course women pull the strings that they can (moslty through men as you point out) and are complicit in what ever bad things happen. They were also brought up under the same system that traps and programs us all. It's a system that rewards domination and control of each other and of the environment.
The solution is not women! It's freedom for everyone from conditioning to behave in dictated ways, to express one's emotions and to show vulnerability. It's cooperation, respect and equality between sexes, races and species.
Exactly. Some of the worst patriarchs I’ve met are women. And some of the best feminists have been my male friends. I’d say Jack is a great example of that.
'May you be blessed with male feminist friends' would make a could benediction x
Very well said! What we also need is a world not brainwashed into the belief that we need "leaders". For what? to lead us off a cliff while they wave goodbye? In my old age I've become an anarchist..
me too x
I reckon you've got the wrong idea about what patriarchy is Micheal. It is not about how good or bad most individual men are it is about the systemic organisation of society. And if you take an overview of for instance domestic violence you will discover that the vast majority of the severe beatings and murders of women and children are committed by adult males. And that applies to all regions and all religions. And incidentally all major religions have male gods and male supermen at the top. And capitalism also is a major contributor to most of the major wars. Capitalism and Imperialism are inseparable And imperialism is a major factor in all the wars of recent times (2,000 years +) history.Starting with the Roman Empire through the British Empire and up to the most recent (undeclared but obvious) American Empire. All headed and run by men by the way. There is a simple (but alas probably unattainable) solution to these global problems which the majority of women would embrace and the majority of men think stupid) and that is replace hate with love. I am not religious and do not personally believe in gods, male female or genderless; but the best expression of what I am claiming was from the god man Jesus when he said "Love even you enemies". That sort of love does not entail running towards the person who is pointing a gun at you to try to embrace them but as recognising the person behind the gun as a fully ( misguided) human being.
Perfectly stated! Thank,you.
Patriarchy is a SYSTEM obviously dominated by men. Of course women are often complicit with the men they are close to. Many reasons, some emotional, some because we live in a system of patriarchy that continually tells us that what men say and do is better than what women or children say and do. It isn't anything versus anything. It just is. There is no other side to the patriarchy.
And who are you to speak on behalf of all men?
I can only apologize for my part and I do apologize. Much love.
Well, as the saying goes, "Yer either for us, or agin us".
So sorry you have had that experience. I have not met any men who have suffered in such a manner.
So tell me, how many women are in positions of power, that is real power. Such as possessed by Bill Gates, the high school grad, and his Charles Manson with money power? How many women head global corporations, what percentage of the U.S. Congress is comprised of women? Men who perceive that women have power are men who resent any power that women might have.
For some people there's always a readily available red herring to hook into. Left/right, liberal/conservative, up/down, etc. For many women it's patriarchy. Got to be some frame. No to the big picture.
https://risingdawn360.substack.com/p/the-disintegration-of-the-family
This of course is the religious point of view. The science version claims we are pack animals & thrive with a strong alpha leader. In either case, we can overcome destructive behaviors for the sake of the many
No Michael. Religion is part of their system. It is organized and given to us by spiritual scientists who rule at the top. If you can get through my story, you might have a change of mind... https://risingdawn360.substack.com/p/four-corners-of-the-earth-rediscovered -- and other satirical truths.
I don't think they are apologies for religion. I think religions, for the most part, are justifications for the oppression and denigration of women.
I have similar sentiments. I've always thought it's awful so many men go off to needless wars, usually fought for the benefit of the wealthy elites, Children's Crusades. But women allowing their men (and sons) to go off and die in endless wars - or actually going off to die in war themselves - doesn't fix anything, just compounds the underlying problem of war itself, as one of the greatest of human moral evils, regardless of what sex you are.
Women cannot stop men from going to war. Men have to decide that for themselves. I feel sad when I hear that women are fighting now too. Women are not men's nurturers nor are they nurturers of other women unless that is a choice between people. The idea that any of us can our should control others is what ultimately leads to war, domestic abuse, racism and more.
Perhaps I used the wrong word i.e. allowing - more like "supporting" men and their sons to go to war, probably a better way of saying it. I also feel sad more women participate in war, but I don't believe they should be disallowed to participate if they so choose.
I think all men and all women should be discouraged from going to war. If nobody would go, then the elites would have to go themselves.
Wouldn't that be something. Joe Biden somewhere on the front line in Ukraine.
I like the way you think. I used to think it was capitalism - well it is, but I think it also doesn't matter. As long as we have a system based on male superiority, we'll never have peace and love, just war and hate. We're all victimized by patriarchal thinking, both women and men. To me., it's about archetypes: the archetypal male is competitive and aggressive, the archetypal female is cooperative and compassionate. Obviously there's a spectrum but basically these are the male/female archetypes. So matriarchy isn't the opposite of patriarchy. A matriarchal system would be about consensus rather than control. Men build skyscrapers (so phallic!), the symbolism of that is the top guy is on top, crushing those on the bottom. Matriarchal architecture is round buildings with round rooms in which decisions would be made by a circle, not at the top of an edifice by the few,. That's the system I believe might work. Every economic system created by the patriarchy has the most ruthless at the very top, doesn't matter what you call it.
Also dubbydove, if you want a good time, read Scientific American this month. It’s about Woman The Hunter and has some amazing info about estrogen and the way anthropologists have pushed the myth of male superiority. I usually don’t trust Scientific American because of its masculist bias, but this one musta got by the editors! 😁😂
Thanks for the heads up. I'll look for it. I read about an archaeologist who said that whether male or female the majority of archaeologists studying a site make the assumption that men were primary, even at sites where female symbolism is rife. She also said that the problem is that we assume that matriarchy is directly opposite of patriarchy, but women aren't men. That women seek consensus, not control - in a matriarchal setting. The bonobos are a good example. I have a book called The Bonobo Sisterhood, but haven't had a chance to read it yet.
Capitalism is a creation of the patriarchy. In both ideologies it is important that someone is at the top and that person is then considered successful and admirable. It changes nothing when it is women who are the capitalists at the top. Women are perfectly capable of being cutthroat and greedy too and not because they are being told my men to be that way. The patriarchy affects everyone. Men, women, gay men and women, trans men and women, people of colour, short, tall, beautiful, ugly. Everyone can become infected with patriarchal thinking.
Paul Levy calls it wetiko - a Native word that means white man's disease of greed which is hgihly contagious.
Thank you for this brilliant analysis. I was born in ‘44 and I completely agree with your idea that it’s toxic patriarchy that is destroying our world, one insane authoritarian step at a time. But I’m puttin my money on Mother Earth and the sanity of most of the people most of the time. Bless
From your lips to the ears of the Goddess.
And again it's all about Gaza's gas and oil fields . https://www.vtforeignpolicy.com/2023/10/israeli-bad-intentions-on-gazas-gas-fields/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=israeli-bad-intentions-on-gazas-gas-fields
Yes indeed. I searched for such a map that I ‘knew’ had to exist but no luck. Many thx
Golda Meir wasn't just some transitional figure in the history of Israel.
The current crop of women in power in the West makes a lot of men blush for their perceived lack of testosterone.
The latest male-woman, Defense Minister of Chechia, calls for Chechia to leave the UN for its "siding with Hamas terrorists": https://www.rt.com/news/586103-czech-minister-leave-un-israel-resolution/
These women were brought up under the patriarchy. The patriarchy doesn't mean men!
"The patriarchy doesn't mean men!" - tell that to those who constantly bring it up.
From the way those who bring it up are using it I'm sure they know it refers to the system not the merits of men vs women. It's the replies 'standing up for men' or pointing out that women are just as bad as men, who don't seem to realise.
I wish they'd be clearer then.
There's also "matriarchy" and I assume it doesn't mean women. Would that be a superior system? Or would men brought up under matriarchy be as toxic as women under patriarchy? Or shouldn't there be any "-archies"?
Patriarchy is a system that rewards domination and control (or submission) of each other and of the environment.
The solution is not a martriarchy whatever that would be like! It's freedom for everyone from conditioning that dictates they behave in certain ways, freedom to express one's emotions and to show vulnerability without shame. Living in harmony and balance with nature not commodifying it, which some call eco-feminism. It's cooperation, respect and equality between sexes, races and species.
I recall when Gold Meir was Premier of Israel there was a serial rapist who everyone was alarmed about. The lawmakers stated that women should have a curfew until the criminal was caught. Golda Meir said it wasn't the women committing the crime and initiated a male-only curfew. I think it was in Tel Aviv.
We may disagree about "mother earth", since I write about Mystery Babylon's control of it, but I side with you wholeheartedly on Nazis allying with our country's (corrupt) leadership. Operation Paperclip?
Some tipping point of narrative collapse seems to loom, for both the apartheid state and the Empire. Probably already past with the Gaza genocide, the world is done with their BS.
"When choosing sides, take care not to choose genocides." - Ned B.
One Buddhist Monk self immolating:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thích_Quảng_Đức
One napalmed your girl
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phan_Thi_Kim_Phuc
One military execution head shot:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42864421
These photos shocked the conscience of the world, stoked a massive Vietnam anti-war movement and shamed military and US government officials.
Yet today, thousands of victims - thousands every day! - and we get crickets, small protests, and actual open support by government officials and so called "progressives".
What happened?
I am referring to small US protests.
This author claims there are huge US anti-war protests - I guess I'm using Vietnam as a baseline:
https://scheerpost.com/2023/10/29/we-are-witnessing-the-largest-u-s-anti-war-protests-in-20-years/
The Viet Nam war protests were small, even tiny, to begin with.
We had the draft then. Nobody - or most young men - didn't want to fight that war. It was, like most, if not all oour wars, outrageous. We're "fighting for our freedom" - in Vietnam. Really? The Vietnamse peasants were going to leave their villages and steal our freedom? As it was, they came here because our gov't destroyed their country - and our gov't also stole our freedom - or we gave it up willingly. I think it was more about the draft than the war because since they ended the draft, it's like an end to protest. At least not what we saw then.
Yes, but at the current rate of slaughter, Gaza will be gone in the comparable period it took to educate and organize and grow the Vietnam protests.
It didn't matter how many Vietnamese were dying. It mattered that conscripted Americans were.
Not true. And certainly not to everyone - I guess you missed this, where after calling the US "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today" Dr. King said this:
This I believe to be the privilege and the burden of all of us who deem ourselves bound by allegiances and loyalties which are broader and deeper than nationalism and which go beyond our nation's self-defined goals and positions. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation and for those it calls "enemy," for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers.
And as I ponder the madness of Vietnam and search within myself for ways to understand and respond in compassion, my mind goes constantly to the people of that peninsula. I speak now not of the soldiers of each side, not of the ideologies of the Liberation Front, not of the junta in Saigon, but simply of the people who have been living under the curse of war for almost three continuous decades now. I think of them, too, because it is clear to me that there will be no meaningful solution there until some attempt is made to know them and hear their broken cries."
https://bwolfe.substack.com/p/the-arc-of-biden-bends-toward-genocide
Maybe. There is a force for good in the universe and we can choose to co-operate with it. It doesn’t have to be protests that bring down Israel. Tho I totally relate to your despair and sense of urgency.
American troops are killing children in Gaza.
tasnimnews.com/en/news/2023/10/28/2979369/5-000-us-troops-involved-in-israeli-land-war-on-gaza-exclusive
"Propagandists are used to having a lot more wiggle room to work with than this."
Oh, they're trying, all right, frantically spinning, playing lawyer games with words, blaming victims and trying to convince us that blacknis white and the murderers of children really are the victims, here.
What I'm mostly seeing is the world governments trying to censor dissenters by calling them anti-semites and therefore guilty of "hate speech."
Where are the “yOu’Re a HaMaS aPoLoGiSt” commenters today?
The only way anyone can say that is if they refuse to actually read what you’re saying.
They’re probably attending their Evangelical churches.
Half of them. The other half are liberals, knee-jerking themselves all the way to brunch.
"I execute judgement on you, Gaza!" spit flying all over the place and some sidekick shaking in ecstasy.
This same nut is probably saying something like that right now. Do your own substitution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSIrQBGfUtw
"The fact that the US and its allies are helping Israel murder children by the thousands is a giant glitch in the narrative matrix."'
This is fantastic--there are more holes in the western propaganda narrative than Swiss cheese! The only fear I have is that the narrative has been manipulated for so long and the western so-called "democracies" (*cough, cough*) have brainwashed their peoples into believing everything their governments do is for the "good" of all. Anyone who resists that narrative is cancelled and shut down and censored. Until EVERYONE has become "unbrainwashed" in the west, we'll still have people cheering on genocide and the murder of children. These sociopaths who manipulate the thought processes of others just can't seem to help themselves. The money and potential resource grabs might be too irresistible.
We have to fight both the narrative manipulation AND the evils of capitalism to shut down the MIC and the Endless War forever.
Yes, but pig pharma has gotten away with murdering children over the last 50 years with their poison vaccines. There are more than one gang of murdering scum on the planet. Some in plain view and others hidden in the shadows like cowards.
WHAT the United States is doing, openly helping, "murdering children by the thousands" somewhere else, is showing the people of the US that if they do it in Gaza, they'd do it anywhere, even to it's own people... well like they already have done in Lahaina.
Have you never read the history of the colonization of the western hemisphere? I do believe the worst genocide that's ever been committed was against the indigenous in the western hemisphere. The Pope issued the Doctrine of Discovery in 1493 mandating that any land that Christians happened upon that was occupied by non-Christians should be deemed unoccupied and any action necessary to retain said (stolen) land was "moral" and "justified" -- because of Jesus I guess. They used the babies of the Indigenous here for target practice. These are not nice people - they didn't suddenly become not nice - they've always done the same, for the same reason - conscienceless insatiable greed. as well as lust for power.
I know it! I believe it's the same evil force operating back then as today. Nothing has changed in their quest for world-domination...
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2023/10/28/2979369/5-000-us-troops-involved-in-israeli-land-war-on-gaza-exclusive
https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2023/10/29/israel-pounds-gaza-with-u-s-heavy-bunker-busting-bombs-erdogan-speaks-of-a-cross-vs-crescent-war/
https://www.rt.com/news/585895-hamas-hostages-iran-release/
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/hamas-vows-release-8-russian-israeli-hostages-after-talks-moscow
https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-invasion-of-gaza-operation-cast-lead-part-of-a-broader-israeli-military-intelligence-agenda/11606
That has been my take on it since the beginning, Israeli false flag blamed on Hamas.
The mask of colonialism is being ripped off. Seeing what's beneath is horrible.
Any "civilized" community (in the loosest & most general sense) that has private or public (or both) media & educational institutions for children or adults is involved in propaganda about that community's past, present, & future. Public relations, socialization, enculturation, & private and public education, political, ideological, & religious evangelism are all propaganda. Every "civilization", from the smallest to the largest, is intellectually & emotionally built upon a foundation of propaganda, & the meaning of every event in the world has to be spun to capture it within that civilization's ideological mesh. Public opinion is propaganda & needs to be constantly spun & re-spun to ensure a smooth & superficially credible ideological narrative, and it needs to be done daily in all the media & social institutions (schools, churches etc., company meetings with administrators, etc.). That's why thoughtful people carefully choose their tone, words, & delivery style whenever they communicate with others. Humans are always attempting to persuade others of something or other; when we do that, we're putting propaganda spin on our messages.
"That's why thoughtful people carefully choose their tone, words, & delivery style whenever they communicate with others."
SPOT ON. Good reminder....
Everybody should read the following letter to the editor, probably one of the best ever written and one we should share widely.....
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/10/28/letter-to-the-editor-settler-colonialism/?unapproved=466330&moderation-hash=40a137e3a279940b4ba5d0033682bc5c#comment-466330
“…. But something is moving underneath it all. Something big. The empire has done irreparable harm to its ability to keep everyone sleeping and complacent going forward. A healthy world may be in our future yet….”
While this is very true, let’s see how it goes. As long as people continue to subscribe to the imperial mass propaganda machine called “social media”, they are at risk of the empire adapting new strategies to manipulate them.
Let’s see.
It’s my observation that social awareness moves in a circle, not a straight line. When the top gets too heavy, it starts to tip over and turns the bottom up to the top. The horrors of the imperialists will turn the nation into a force for good as consciousness shifts. But it take awhile and it’s gonna hurt!
. . . following the British Tradition of killing children . . .
“The earliest evidence located by QI appeared in a 1683 book by an English historian named John Nalson titled “An Impartial Collection of the Great Affairs of State from the Beginning of the Scotch Rebellion in the Year MDCXXXIX to the Murther of King Charles I”. While discussing warfare in Ireland the author stated that barbarities were committed by combatants on all sides. He also stated that one of his relatives who had served in the military heard the motto spoken during battle. Boldface has been added to excerpts:[1]
. . . I have heard a Relation of my own, who was a Captain in that Service, Relate, that no manner of Compassion or Discrimination was shewed either to Age or Sex, but that the little Children were promiscuously Sufferers with the Guilty, and that if any who had some grains of Compassion reprehended the Soldiers for this unchristian Inhumanity, they would scoffingly reply, Why? Nits will be Lice, and so would dispatch them . . .”
I believe the phrase “ Nits will be Lice” was last used by the American troops in the 1800’s of the Sioux wars . . .
So it goes . . .