My truth to American imperialism came in Afghanistan in 2002 as a soldier for a cause I didn't understand until I got to know my so called enemy. I found out that they were not my enemy but my friends and that the U.S. government and the military industrial complex were my actual enemies. They have been my enemies every since. Now I try to fight with my media outlets, such as my podcast and my blogs. I am but one soldier amongst the many who have seen the destruction caused by the enemy up close and I fight for those who can't fight for themselves.
We are the few who fight the many with the weapons we have, as little as they seem but, as the old saying goes, the pen is mightier than the sword. Let my sword cut quick and clean to smite my enemies as they come against me for I am a soldier and I will be a soldier until my last breath. I will fight the enemy until I can stand no longer. Then it will be a good day to die.
I don't think I know what "authentic" means. I know people like to use the word, so they must think it's something good, at least when attributed to themselves, but it's supposed to have something to do with truth, and most people don't seem to like truth very much. No wonder: as one would expect; you can do some very serious harm with truth. It has a lot of power, and as reality confirms it, it can last a long time doing its damage.
Through some unfortunate quirk of my nervous system, even as a small child I could usually tell when people were lying. Or maybe not lying; lying means deliberately uttering something not the truth, but there are many kinds of untruth besides lying, such as bullshitting, obfuscating, distorting, hiding, fabling, and so on. As you know.
As a small child, I quickly learned that if I said the wrong thing, whether it was true or false or in between, if detected, would be punished. So I learned quickly to never tell the truth except after careful consideration. I also learned to lie well. There is no use lying unless you do it right. If you want to make someone the gift of truth, use that careful consideration to figure out whether they can take the truth and, in case you guess wrong, have an good escape route planned -- you may need it urgently.
So in any case where I might be taken to be "authentic", I made damned sure to hide it. I'm not selling furniture or psychotherapy. "This is a Duncan Phyfe," etc. I can do it when people insist.
Instead of the truth, which as I said must be handled carefully, I recommend Hippocrates's oath: "First, do no harm." It might work. Try it on for a while. And don't trust me, especially if buying furniture.
I have discovered in life that there is a whole race of us out there who have your relationship with truth. I was in love with a brilliant and beautiful woman who put truth inside some strategic framework like that. She loved spy novels and cloak and dagger stuff. She hurt my feelings in very deep ways, and I hurt hers in response. I stayed with her for a long time after discovering she felt no great responsibility to be truthful, but the lack of trust and the repeated betrayals ultimately would’ve destroyed us both if she didn’t finally drive a stake through our relationship. I was never like that and will never be like that. I don’t believe it’s morally correct, even if intellectually defensible, but I know it can never be scrubbed from the species. And if you tried to purge it, you’d turn into the a__hole. People evolved to be like this, from traumas and vices and other forces. I loved her. Over the course of my life I’ve arrived at the firm conclusion that it’s the right hand that completes the circuit. If it’s my loss and pain, along with my kindness and honesty, that can arc across the divide. If it’s even my body that must serve as the connector. Then I’ll be that. As the man hanging from the cross said, “forgive them. They know not what they do.” I don’t mean that in a sanctimonious way. I think it has very practical applications.
Here's the problem with that -> the world is too complex for mere humans to know (with any degree of certainty) whether their words or action will do harm or not. Intentions are all well and good, but as the cliche goes "the road to hell is paved with good intentions".
What I'm saying is that - humans are NOT clairvoyant enought to know if what they say/do will eventually lead to harm or not. They don't even know "which" parties/groups may/may not be harmed. As the saying goes - "It's complicated".
I agree with some of your other insights into the problems (and consequences) with "truth telling". Yes, "the truth" can be complicated, can cause situations to get worse, can create misunderstandings, etc. Also, another problem is - "is what you believe to be the truth really the truth? Or is that your perception that it is the truth?"
Many great philosophers have pondered on "TRUTH", and the discussion and ideas around it seem interesting (and sometimes challenging) to understand.
Sure. Your caveats are why one should take care with "authenticity" or "truth" as if it were a bottle of nitroglycerine. It's safer, perhaps even entertaining, at a considerable distance. In any case, take my words with a grain, if not several pounds, of salt.
You know what's really funny in this discussion? Notice the number of people who attribute "authenticity" to themselves while denying its existence in others. Think about that for a moment. Or don't -- if you don't see the humor it might be depressing. But anyway, what if _everyone_ is authentic? There's a scary thought!
That's a negative. If you truly do the work you realise there is no separation between you and anything or anyone that exists. Separation is an illusion.
Identifying as an authentic, enlightened person and different and separate to other non-authentic, unlightened people is part of the problem not the solution.
Also, embracing every one of these uncomfortable truths (and all the work it entails) doesn't magically fix everything. If only it were that simple. This essay is the one percent inspiration for the 99 percent perspiration that will be required for real global change. As any volunteer will tell you, when the sweat starts, very few show up to do the real work. By all means reflect, but then pick an issue and ACT.
Like Mary Ann Farley said, the healing of our soul will come from doing things together. And one of our next big acts will be voting in the U.S. general election and then staying very engaged for the rest of our lives. Let's "Stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above." (lyrics from God Bless America). Have any others thought that beneath any governmental "deep state" is the power of the people to vote and stay engaged to correct Shepherd our potentially democratic government? Could we become the deep state if we unite to actualize the good vision that we have?
I love your spirit Arvella, but what can we do to actualize a vision... and what vision should we be thinking about? Reminds me of the Occupy movement... but when the occupations ended.. what then? The goals were never established, and the movements died. Jill Stein comes to mind in the U.S. elections, and she is saying the right stuff... yet the empire manages to ke3p her candidacy in the dark... If we want to enlighten ourselves, we need to turn on the light, and make sure the wattage is strong enough for all to see.
This piece resonates so deeply. You have to have gone through a lot of trauma, recovery and truth-seeking to arrive at the powerful insights here. Deep respect and gratitude for the moral clarity that shows up in this space day after day. Thank you so much.
Solid article, with honesty and deep feelings behind it. Problem is that the majority of my fellow Americans seem hypnotized by the propaganda from legacy media and Washington politicians. It's as if their very soul has been silenced. That's spares them from painful cognitive dissonance: "we're the world's true democracy and we thereby have the right to exterminate anybody we please."
"And who has the power to freeze dissenters bank accounts, or any bank accounts?"? Short answer, WE do. and WE did. If government have that kind of power, they also have the power to make things so that dissenters have no fear of its government. Moreover, if the correct menu is proposed that will bring national peace is presented, it can happen... trouble is identifying what 'peace' implies.
Absolutely. We are blessed with the peerless gift of a beautiful and bountiful planet. Let's respect and learn to understand and nurture the well-being of our diverse ecosystems and their amazing inhabitants.
Just profound Caitlin. I swear if a spaceship decided to make a stop here on our planet they would think they have arrived in hell. In fact living here I am beginning to think it myself. A great many cannot confront evil which doesn't make the matter any better, but actually being able to do so and not knowing what to actually do to make a difference makes one feel helpless. I believe people of all nations want to get along together; it is our governments who are the killers of humanity. Law has been perverted to support govts instead of we the people. Time for us to make a change, after all, why do we go and vote for someone to tell us what to do or ignore us and do what we do not want. I do try to explain this to others - and some realise that there may be some truth in it. I admire your tenacity and strength to put out what you do, and pray articles like this particular one start to stir even the ones who appear to have no emotions. Amazing article.
it's a propaganda ministry disguised as a government. it's a killing machine disguised as a government. it's a secretive satanic cult of perverts disguised as a government.
John Mearsheimer has pointed out that we cannot agree on first principals. This is true. It’s a fact. What I say to that is despite the fact that we cannot agree on first principals does not mean that there isn’t a best way forward for almost all things both big and small.
In relation to this article one could ask what is the most authentic, or best way forward?
With regard to the situation that stemmed from what happened on 10/7/23 I would say that the best way forward in that moment would have been for Joe Biden to force Israel and Netanyahu to take a 6 month, 1 year, or better yet a 2 year pause. A pause to try to identify the root of the problem. A pause to calmly try to figure out the best way forward which would turn down the temperature and reduce nastiness.
But, since Joe Biden is a spineless coward with no vision (and so is Kamala Harris) and since Netanyahu and anyone who thinks he might be ok is a total creep, we have what have.
And what we have is an escalation of hatred, death, destruction, pain and suffering.
And it looks like we could be headed toward a regional war. A regional war that could quickly spill over into a more wide ranging war, which could lead to nuclear war.
And this is all because we’ve allowed narcissistic creeps to run the show.
Instead of allowing this atrocity to take place and escalate our leaders, and we as a species, should be trying to be nice, compassionate and peaceful.
Kevin Flynn, based on your comment - you may be misguided on your understanding and possibly somewhat idealistic.
Things did NOT start on Oct.7th. There are over a 100 years of history, imperialism, colonization, racism, hate, conflicts, etc. that brought us where we are. Something of the sort of what happened on Oct 7, 2023 was bound to happen (i.e. highly probable) sooner or later - that is the nature and logic of humans being repressed and oppressed for so long.
>>"Joe Biden to force Israel and Netanyahu to take a 6 month, 1 year, or better yet a 2 year pause. "
You talk about a pause. Has this ever been a realistic approach in the history of mankind? Are humans rational and patient and calm and collected during times of crisis? In fact, the opposite is true. Emotions are heightened. Any such PAUSE is extremely unlikely (if not impossible) from knowing history and human nature.
>>"A pause to try to identify the root of the problem"
Everyone who's anyone knows the root of the problem - settler colonialism, apartheid, oppression, repression, abuse, torture, ethnic cleansing, etc. There is NO MYSTERY here.
>>"Joe Biden is a spineless coward with no vision (and so is Kamala Harris) and since Netanyahu..."
It doesn't matter if the person as head of state of the US is Joe Biden or Kamala Harris or Donal Trump or whoever. The problem transcends these individual personalities. US Foreign Policy has much deeper roots. And in terms of Netanyahu, there are people to the right of him and MUCH WORSE (yes, it can be hard to imagine so - but that is Israel currently). So, getting rid of Netanyahu will not solve the crisis.
>>"And it looks like we could be headed toward a regional war. A regional war that could quickly spill over into a more wide ranging war,"
YES - that looks like a given, especially since the US is unable (or not willing) to reign-in Israel.
>>"And this is all because we’ve allowed narcissistic creeps to run the show"
We haven't consciously allowed anything. The people have rarely been in control. It has always been the Oligarchs, the Power Elite, etc. that have run the show.
>>"we as a species, should be trying to be nice, compassionate and peaceful."
If our species were "nice, compassionate, and peaceful", then human history would have been different. We are here because the REALITY IS - humans are a mixed bag - there is good and bad in them - and different events and experiences bring about different characteristics and tendencies in people.
I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said but I think you’ve misinterpreted what I’ve said.
The bottom line is that what’s happening is exactly the opposite of what should be happening.
There’s no doubt that there’s a lot that I don’t know but that’s not to say that I don’t have a basic understanding of the situation in Israel. My rhetoric might make it seem like I just fell off a turnip truck but that’s not the case.
The bottom line is that we as a species need to drastically change the way we do business or the shop is going to close in the very near future.
Unfortunately things aren’t looking too good.
I’ve given how we might go about trying to right the ship quite a bit of thought - and I’m almost sure I’m on the right track. Unfortunately it takes more than a few sentences to explain what I think we should try to do.
But the one very simple concept that’s a universal truth in the human condition is that “niceness tends to beget more niceness and nastiness tend to beget more nastiness”. This might sound overly simplistic and/or naïve but it’s true.
So as I’ve said before, the best way to try to bring down the temperature is to reduce the amount of nastiness and increase the amount niceness to the greatest extent that we can.
Ask our friend Terrance (who commented above) who was part of the US’s fiasco in Afghanistan, or anyone who was part of the fiasco in Iraq, if they think I might be on the right track. Ask the poor people who’re being bombed in Palestine what they think.
If the president of the United States (whomever that might be) would have the vision and backbone to do what’s right they could at least start the process of reducing the nastiness.
My problem with your comment is your idealization of "human nature".
For example:
>>"the best way to try to bring down the temperature is to reduce the amount of nastiness and increase the amount niceness to the greatest extent that we can."
Do you think humans have such a "fine-grained" control over their emotions that they can just do this at will? Human emotions are easily manipulated. Complete (or even predominant) control over one's emotions/actions is an "illusion". Enough said on this - I'm sure you can complete the thought and take it from there to its conclusion.
>>"niceness tends to beget more niceness and nastiness tend to beget more nastiness”.
Knowing something isn't enough. Intellectually understanding something isn't enough. Just knowledge on its own isn't enough. There is a "knowing-doing" GAP. That's where a lot of the challenges lie.
>>"If the president of the United States (whomever that might be) would have the vision and backbone"
Again, its not VISION or BACKBONE (or lack of them) that are the problem. There are systems in place, institutions in place, organizations in place, and structures of power in place - all these play an important role in WHAT gets done and HOW it gets done. It is not upto "lone rangers" or figureheads like "Presidents" or "Prime Ministers". There are multiple systems, establishments, ruling authorities and power structures that decide these things. Until you understand that, you might keep beating around the bush and thinking in circles about "WHERE the problem lies".
I don’t disagree with everything you’ve had to say but I think at the end of the day it comes down to these three (3) ways to look at it.
#1. On my refrigerator I’ve written down a quote from someone that says “How to win at life…. Let people do what they need to do in order to make them happy, mind your own business, and do what you need to do to make you happy”.
#2. Watch George Carlin being interviewed by Charlie Rose where George Carlin says “I’ve given up caring about anything that has to do with humans. It’s a freak show and I’ve got a front row seat”.
#3. You ponder the question and come up with a “course” where you mind everyone’s business in order to try to save the human race from itself. It’s a thankless job and no one listens to anything you have to say but at least you’ve figured it out.
Kevin Flynn, what I've gathered from your comments is that you have a utopian/naive understanding/perception of reality. I don't mean this in a bad way, it's just how your comments come across to me.
I don't know what else to say to you or how else to get my message across to you. It's good to be positive and hopeful and optimistic - but it's not enough - skepticism is needed, critical thought is needed, questioning one's beliefs is needed (as Caitlin points out), and objective analysis from multiple data sources (even ones that disagree with your viewpoints) is needed.
And most importantly - ACTION taken and CO-OPERATION are needed on a GRAND SCALE - especially for the 99% (if there is to ever be any meaningful change in our present systems and the status quo).
I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree because in my humble opinion you’ve somehow misinterpreted what I’m trying to get across.
As far as the 99% taking action, I agree but unfortunately I think this is where you might be wrong or overly idealistic.
Among many of the scholars that are part of the teachings in my “course” is Howard Zinn. The two YouTube videos which cover the class on “humility” and basic respect for other countries are Howard Zinn’s presentation at MIT and his critique of Obama at Boston College. He states exactly what you’ve said in those videos which is that real change comes in our political system from below. It comes from the 99% at the bottom. While I agree with that I think it’s actually naïve.
It’s my contention that since we don’t have much time to start making changes and since the real power is in the hands of those already in power the change has to come from the top down. It could be that it comes from both directions, but the most efficient way for the changes that are needed to be initiated is from the top down.
And with that change “simple” things like “nationalism” which is usually associated by those who study political science as an emotion that’s associated with things like facism, can actually be used for things that are good.
It’s my opinion that if you had the right leader who could stand up to the Jewish lobby in the United States, the military industrial complex and the corporate controlled mainstream media, and rally the people directly, there could be some hope in making the changes that are needed. - In righting the ship and starting to go in a better direction.
What’s interesting is that with the right leader, that leader could actually manipulate those three entities, in a good way in order to help make the needed changes.
I can see where that leader could actually manipulate those three entities into making things better.
So without writing a dissertation, that’s what I think and my “course” lays it all out.
Having said that, my “course” acknowledges that even if we were able to follow what I’m suggesting we do there would still be some things that we would have to change that would be very difficult…
You are restating the problem. Restating the problem rarely moves people toward a solution. Let's imagine better and create a vision together that includes the benefit of all humanity. Love the vision. Take the vision with us everywhere. Make it more real every day.
Mearshimer is a Sinophobe. He calls himself a "realist" because he attributes to all potential empires the predatory practices of the U.S. So American Naval vessels in the South China Sea are okay by the realist.
A 2 year pause? Do you work for the DP? What happened on 10/7/23 was the apartheid state deployed its Hannibal maneuver, and murdered its own innocent citizens, in order to create a pretext for genocide, as if anything could justify such a holocaust.
“Without judgement” suggests morally neutral, and there’s nothing neutral about threatening a country because you can’t compete with it peacefully. The American Century is over, the curtain has fallen, and the liars running the government can’t or won’t be honest with themselves or the public.
Mearsheimer’s position on China is rooted in a bygone era. I don’t think the neocons are stupid enough to believe that war can recharge America’s imperial capacity. China has nuclear weapons and will win a conventional war with the U.S. probably easily. But China isn’t threatening the Americans. Their growth has exhibited a strong commitment to the development of its culture and education. They generate wealth and see that it is shared. Their foreign policy is based on mutual respect and mutual gain. They don’t want war, and the BS spewed by America and its allies ought not be reinforced by academicians with emotional attachment to American dominance.
describing reality as good as possible is a good beginning, but some sort of judgement will be necessary if you want to make things 'better' (if we can agree on what that means) though.
It’s interesting that you bring up the fact that John Mearsheimer seemingly treats the situation in Ukraine differently from that of the South China Sea. He answers that question in his second podcast interview with Robert Wright.
As far as the rest of your comment, I agree with you. And that’s why the situation is as messed up as it is.
And that’s why we need to try to get away from allowing narcissistic creeps run the show.
I don’t question Mearsheimer’s approach to China. He has stated that Russia is no threat to America, and that is the basis of his criticism of the proxy war.
China, though poses a credible threat to America’s global power, as its GDP will soon grow larger than America’s, and that is why China should be expected to accommodate American provocative displays of leverage at every opportunity. He isn’t a realist so much as a nationalist, and if he’s going to condone saber-rattling, I think his analysis is fakata.
We have no more "allowed" these "narcissistic creeps" to run the show than we have "allowed" corporations to take over the planet. The fix has been in for a generation. Maybe two generations. Until we actually have leverage over the powerful, we are not responsible for "letting" them rule us. And they get better and better every year at making sure we have no leverage at all.
Your perspective is interesting and I don’t disagree with you but in response I would say a few things.
Number one is that the free enterprise system has been an amazing vehicle which has provided millions of people around the globe with an incredible amount of goods and services. In the process it has lifted millions of people out of abject poverty. Other than doing things like killing most of the American Indians, this worked relatively well for a relatively short period of time while we had wide open frontiers. But now we’ve started bumping up against Mother Nature. The fact that we’re now bumping up against Mother Nature will mean that we can either curb our activities voluntarily or Mother Nature will do it for us.
The second point I would make is that I agree 100% with you and I feel your pain. However, in a kind of rebuttal to your comment I would say that I agree with Isaac Asimov when during his presentation to the humanist society he said that we now have the capacity to write our own history.
And in response to Isaac I would say - “this is true but with the advent of artificial intelligence, unless we can make sure that AI is aligned with our interests, it’ll be game over for us.
And it just so happens that in my humble opinion the best way to try to ensure that that happens is by way of my “course”.
the 'free enterprise system' has been 'amazing' because it actively hunts down any other experimental system and nipping them in the bud. it doesn't deserve praise, imo.
I have discovered in my lifetime that sometimes you have to be WORSE than the one suppressing you.
If that makes me a bad person, tough tomatoes. Truth is that I take no shit from anyone. I’m normally a kind-hearted person, but anyone who fucks with me is gonna feel my stinger.
If you study John Mearsheimer’s work and you happen to be reasonable and open minded you’ll most likely come to the conclusion that he’s has been and is exactly correct about everything he’s weighed in on.
"To to be an authentic person is to constantly plunge headlong into the uncomfortable, the unfamiliar, the unknown and the unpredictable, even when doing so feels like a kind of death, for no other reason than because that’s where the truth is."
To die is to live. We must die to our false self, our shadow self, and rise again in truth and power.
i think it has and it does at times, the anti-people just don't want the people to know. it often comes down to perception management, you know 'narrative control'.
"Are you intimating there have been no successful revolutions?" It depends on what is inferred by "successful" revolution. There have been thousands of revolutions throughout human history, but the bottom line is that we are still just minutes away from nuclear holocaust. Why ?????
My truth came when I was brought up by Irish parents in the UK not to believe any British or American propaganda. My dad told us to support the Indians in the Cowboys movie as they were the real victims protecting their land from the invaders. I watched how Irish people were wrongly convicted of bombing and put away for years. I watched the British press vilify them causing people to hate the Irish and name them all terrorists. I watched the indiscriminate bombing of Iraq, the invasion of Vietnam. I learned that US and British imperialism caused 1,000s of deaths of all their wars throughout the world. I learned the uncomfortable truth. Free Palestine 🇵🇸
The first and most important realisation must be that the system is governed by psychopaths and their willing servants who may or may not be psychopaths but at best are willing and knowing servants of psychopathic masters.
"The first and most important realization must be that the system is governed by psychopaths When one sees that bucking the system often brings absolute misery, psychopaths are created within..
For the most part psychopaths only exists in Western Civilization, Down Syndrome is an excellent example, its allenes are on the gene as narcissistic, socialpathic, psychopathic, schizophrenia etc.; those aren't all criminal behaviors, but there is a similarity in the types of reasoning that they all employ, someone else said it the other day, "maladaptive" cooping behaviors.
I primarily blame Ronald Reagan. Not only did he hand the rich the keys to the power in our nation, he also made sure that to get a college education you would have to submit to a mountain of debt. Thus most people aren't taking political science and history classes. There's very few left to question how our society can justify itself. Unfortunately, many, if not most, people are just scraping by and don't have the time to ask the great questions of our time. That's not to say that many aren't doing well, but we're definitely not doing as well as we were doing as a society up until the 1980's.
Ronald Reagan was responsible for many things. He and Margaret Thatcher were (in crucial ways) responsible for the ushering-in of neo-liberalism in full-force starting from the late 1970s.
Ronald Reagan was merely following instructions and reading scripts.
Just like every President since, from Bush I, to Clinton, Cheney/Bush II, Obama, Trump, and now whoever is in charge in the White House. And it all started with Carter.
Now that would depend on how you define neoliberalism and what it all entails.
There is an interesting new book called "Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism by George Monbiot & Peter Hutchison" that I would like to read sometime to know more about its history.
"The tragic figure exults in delusory inflation, suffers humiliation, and comes to wisdom through the restoration of the cosmic mystery of which he will never be the master." ~James Hollis
A colleague went to San Francisco with family. On a corner in downtown he observed a scene from hell – three humans in grotesques unnatural “frozen” (unmoving) positions (fentanyl effect).
One was standing by a bicycle with upper body horizontally lying motionlessly across bike.
Nowhere on Earth – in any city, state or country would be allowed such horror and suffering – for years. Only in Biden/Harris/Newsome America.
While Congress mega-gangster, Nancy Pelosi, literally kisses hands of Ukrainian Nazi-gangster and US vassal, Zelensky, in US Congress, while a large contingent of RINO Republicans wave Ukrainian flags – celebrating hundreds of billions dollars to Ukraine while above horrors are daily in the US. Congress demanded that showing that infamous photos are – forbidden to show (“disinformation”).
Note, that after US coup against democratically elected government of Ukraine and in the name of “defending democracy”, all parties were outlawed, opponents of Nazi-dominated imposed government started to “disappear”, all media is strictly censored and staffed with CIA-trained propagandists, Russian media is immediately forbidden in Europe and US….
We are ruled by a corrupt and criminal Biden/Harris administration. The country is now being entirely run by a slew of minions like Jake Sullivan, Antony Blinken, etc. Just observe a video from the past day alone, which is outright shocking -- an absolutely wasted, mentally unfit, and enfeebled looking Biden croaking out some frail introduction to his wife, who is now heading the Cabinet meeting in his stead. It is the first Cabinet meeting since October of 2023—an entire year—and it’s being run by Jill sitting at the head of the president’s seat…
This is America today – in which CIA-DNC controlled state media in unison adores and pushes an unelected loser -- the brainless puppet “Skamala” Harris.
Caitlin, you are my lifeline of hope in today's world....I see destruction being rained upon the same people who have been cheated, stolen from, murdered and humiliated, and there is no internal radar in the powerful to stop and think. It is like 21st century Mongol hordes with sophisticated technology to create ever more evil ways to murder and create chaos, e.g. the pagers. Their hearts are black.
Is anybody not familiar with the following version of this status quo?
"When THEY came for a stranger, I said nothing... When THEY came for my neighbor, I said nothing, When THEY came for me, nobody said anything."
Here's another version .... add your own story if relevant...
"When THEY refused to help the homeless I said nothing... When THEY asked the homeless to dismantle the encampment I said nothing, When THEY evicted me from my home nobody said anything.
Fakery is ubiquitous & making all of us ill. It sucks the energy, spirit, character, & belief from us, leaving us bereft of the solidity of honesty which society requires to not only prosper but just to remain extant.
Fakery is very profitable to a few so will persist & continue to infect everything it touches. Only complete revolution, both physical & psychological, will cure our world. Not sure where that'll emerge from, if at all.
It's important to grab & hold onto any moments of humanity, especially in these times, so sending out love to anyone who reads this (& those who don't). Peace comrades!
My truth to American imperialism came in Afghanistan in 2002 as a soldier for a cause I didn't understand until I got to know my so called enemy. I found out that they were not my enemy but my friends and that the U.S. government and the military industrial complex were my actual enemies. They have been my enemies every since. Now I try to fight with my media outlets, such as my podcast and my blogs. I am but one soldier amongst the many who have seen the destruction caused by the enemy up close and I fight for those who can't fight for themselves.
We are the few who fight the many with the weapons we have, as little as they seem but, as the old saying goes, the pen is mightier than the sword. Let my sword cut quick and clean to smite my enemies as they come against me for I am a soldier and I will be a soldier until my last breath. I will fight the enemy until I can stand no longer. Then it will be a good day to die.
Yup - We need to try to get together and get organized so we can right the ship.
Well said Terrance!
Eisenhower's warning about that may have been his best advice he TRIED to give americans
2002 may well have awakened you to the badness of th system but not to your own part in it
I don't think I know what "authentic" means. I know people like to use the word, so they must think it's something good, at least when attributed to themselves, but it's supposed to have something to do with truth, and most people don't seem to like truth very much. No wonder: as one would expect; you can do some very serious harm with truth. It has a lot of power, and as reality confirms it, it can last a long time doing its damage.
Through some unfortunate quirk of my nervous system, even as a small child I could usually tell when people were lying. Or maybe not lying; lying means deliberately uttering something not the truth, but there are many kinds of untruth besides lying, such as bullshitting, obfuscating, distorting, hiding, fabling, and so on. As you know.
As a small child, I quickly learned that if I said the wrong thing, whether it was true or false or in between, if detected, would be punished. So I learned quickly to never tell the truth except after careful consideration. I also learned to lie well. There is no use lying unless you do it right. If you want to make someone the gift of truth, use that careful consideration to figure out whether they can take the truth and, in case you guess wrong, have an good escape route planned -- you may need it urgently.
So in any case where I might be taken to be "authentic", I made damned sure to hide it. I'm not selling furniture or psychotherapy. "This is a Duncan Phyfe," etc. I can do it when people insist.
Instead of the truth, which as I said must be handled carefully, I recommend Hippocrates's oath: "First, do no harm." It might work. Try it on for a while. And don't trust me, especially if buying furniture.
I have discovered in life that there is a whole race of us out there who have your relationship with truth. I was in love with a brilliant and beautiful woman who put truth inside some strategic framework like that. She loved spy novels and cloak and dagger stuff. She hurt my feelings in very deep ways, and I hurt hers in response. I stayed with her for a long time after discovering she felt no great responsibility to be truthful, but the lack of trust and the repeated betrayals ultimately would’ve destroyed us both if she didn’t finally drive a stake through our relationship. I was never like that and will never be like that. I don’t believe it’s morally correct, even if intellectually defensible, but I know it can never be scrubbed from the species. And if you tried to purge it, you’d turn into the a__hole. People evolved to be like this, from traumas and vices and other forces. I loved her. Over the course of my life I’ve arrived at the firm conclusion that it’s the right hand that completes the circuit. If it’s my loss and pain, along with my kindness and honesty, that can arc across the divide. If it’s even my body that must serve as the connector. Then I’ll be that. As the man hanging from the cross said, “forgive them. They know not what they do.” I don’t mean that in a sanctimonious way. I think it has very practical applications.
>>"First, do no harm." It might work."
Here's the problem with that -> the world is too complex for mere humans to know (with any degree of certainty) whether their words or action will do harm or not. Intentions are all well and good, but as the cliche goes "the road to hell is paved with good intentions".
What I'm saying is that - humans are NOT clairvoyant enought to know if what they say/do will eventually lead to harm or not. They don't even know "which" parties/groups may/may not be harmed. As the saying goes - "It's complicated".
I agree with some of your other insights into the problems (and consequences) with "truth telling". Yes, "the truth" can be complicated, can cause situations to get worse, can create misunderstandings, etc. Also, another problem is - "is what you believe to be the truth really the truth? Or is that your perception that it is the truth?"
Many great philosophers have pondered on "TRUTH", and the discussion and ideas around it seem interesting (and sometimes challenging) to understand.
Sure. Your caveats are why one should take care with "authenticity" or "truth" as if it were a bottle of nitroglycerine. It's safer, perhaps even entertaining, at a considerable distance. In any case, take my words with a grain, if not several pounds, of salt.
You know what's really funny in this discussion? Notice the number of people who attribute "authenticity" to themselves while denying its existence in others. Think about that for a moment. Or don't -- if you don't see the humor it might be depressing. But anyway, what if _everyone_ is authentic? There's a scary thought!
"You lookin at me?"
Hi Chang
“First, do no harm “ is a Pagan /Wiccan tenet 🙂
It’s very lonely being an authentic person.
It absolutely is but then someone comes along who is also a 'truth seeker' and bam you have found a new friend.
A genuinely uplifting discovery.
Yes and lifelong friends.
Nice sentiments to warm the heart.
Like YOU, Jenny 🥰
Ditto.
That's a negative. If you truly do the work you realise there is no separation between you and anything or anyone that exists. Separation is an illusion.
Identifying as an authentic, enlightened person and different and separate to other non-authentic, unlightened people is part of the problem not the solution.
Also, embracing every one of these uncomfortable truths (and all the work it entails) doesn't magically fix everything. If only it were that simple. This essay is the one percent inspiration for the 99 percent perspiration that will be required for real global change. As any volunteer will tell you, when the sweat starts, very few show up to do the real work. By all means reflect, but then pick an issue and ACT.
Cue Bee Gees https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZInWGC5L2T8
So poignant!... ,, How many broken hearts will it take to mend our collective soul?
Like Mary Ann Farley said, the healing of our soul will come from doing things together. And one of our next big acts will be voting in the U.S. general election and then staying very engaged for the rest of our lives. Let's "Stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above." (lyrics from God Bless America). Have any others thought that beneath any governmental "deep state" is the power of the people to vote and stay engaged to correct Shepherd our potentially democratic government? Could we become the deep state if we unite to actualize the good vision that we have?
I love your spirit Arvella, but what can we do to actualize a vision... and what vision should we be thinking about? Reminds me of the Occupy movement... but when the occupations ended.. what then? The goals were never established, and the movements died. Jill Stein comes to mind in the U.S. elections, and she is saying the right stuff... yet the empire manages to ke3p her candidacy in the dark... If we want to enlighten ourselves, we need to turn on the light, and make sure the wattage is strong enough for all to see.
This piece resonates so deeply. You have to have gone through a lot of trauma, recovery and truth-seeking to arrive at the powerful insights here. Deep respect and gratitude for the moral clarity that shows up in this space day after day. Thank you so much.
Solid article, with honesty and deep feelings behind it. Problem is that the majority of my fellow Americans seem hypnotized by the propaganda from legacy media and Washington politicians. It's as if their very soul has been silenced. That's spares them from painful cognitive dissonance: "we're the world's true democracy and we thereby have the right to exterminate anybody we please."
Anyone can see how easy it is to quiet dissent by observing Israeli soldiers shutting down Al Jazeera in Palestine's West Bank.
Hell, in any western country, all you have to do is freeze the dissenters' bank accounts. Try to live without a bank account in any western country.
The dissenters will quickly fold.
And who has the power to freeze dissenters bank accounts, or any bank accounts?
Well, in Canada, this was done by administrative order, coming from the Premier.
Feral, so cash under my mattress next to my loaded .38? 😁
I am not in the business of offering financial advice.
Of course, later a Canadian authority concluded that Trudeau's action was illegal, but since no consequences stemmed from this, this was a figleaf.
Arvella,
"And who has the power to freeze dissenters bank accounts, or any bank accounts?"? Short answer, WE do. and WE did. If government have that kind of power, they also have the power to make things so that dissenters have no fear of its government. Moreover, if the correct menu is proposed that will bring national peace is presented, it can happen... trouble is identifying what 'peace' implies.
But Al Jazeera can pop up in another location unless they take down the internet.
Arvella,
Yes, but THEY can take down the internet, as other governments have done in their own neck of the woods many times already...
It is much easier for humans to go with the crowd, or with whoever is perceived to be stronger.
I agree. Time to change habits.
That's why Christianity and other religions were invented. To help people tap into our inner strength and our collective good.
Hi Arvella
One most definitely doesn’t have to be a member of a traditional religion to “tap into the inner strength and good”.
The best people I know follow their Native American traditions.
Absolutely. We are blessed with the peerless gift of a beautiful and bountiful planet. Let's respect and learn to understand and nurture the well-being of our diverse ecosystems and their amazing inhabitants.
Just profound Caitlin. I swear if a spaceship decided to make a stop here on our planet they would think they have arrived in hell. In fact living here I am beginning to think it myself. A great many cannot confront evil which doesn't make the matter any better, but actually being able to do so and not knowing what to actually do to make a difference makes one feel helpless. I believe people of all nations want to get along together; it is our governments who are the killers of humanity. Law has been perverted to support govts instead of we the people. Time for us to make a change, after all, why do we go and vote for someone to tell us what to do or ignore us and do what we do not want. I do try to explain this to others - and some realise that there may be some truth in it. I admire your tenacity and strength to put out what you do, and pray articles like this particular one start to stir even the ones who appear to have no emotions. Amazing article.
Visionary,
"it is our governments who are the killers of humanity".... But aren't WE the governments?
it's a propaganda ministry disguised as a government. it's a killing machine disguised as a government. it's a secretive satanic cult of perverts disguised as a government.
That's what they told us in high school.
This is one of your best pieces Caitlin and that’s hard to choose because all of your writing is such high caliber!
John Mearsheimer has pointed out that we cannot agree on first principals. This is true. It’s a fact. What I say to that is despite the fact that we cannot agree on first principals does not mean that there isn’t a best way forward for almost all things both big and small.
In relation to this article one could ask what is the most authentic, or best way forward?
With regard to the situation that stemmed from what happened on 10/7/23 I would say that the best way forward in that moment would have been for Joe Biden to force Israel and Netanyahu to take a 6 month, 1 year, or better yet a 2 year pause. A pause to try to identify the root of the problem. A pause to calmly try to figure out the best way forward which would turn down the temperature and reduce nastiness.
But, since Joe Biden is a spineless coward with no vision (and so is Kamala Harris) and since Netanyahu and anyone who thinks he might be ok is a total creep, we have what have.
And what we have is an escalation of hatred, death, destruction, pain and suffering.
And it looks like we could be headed toward a regional war. A regional war that could quickly spill over into a more wide ranging war, which could lead to nuclear war.
And this is all because we’ve allowed narcissistic creeps to run the show.
Instead of allowing this atrocity to take place and escalate our leaders, and we as a species, should be trying to be nice, compassionate and peaceful.
Kevin Flynn, based on your comment - you may be misguided on your understanding and possibly somewhat idealistic.
Things did NOT start on Oct.7th. There are over a 100 years of history, imperialism, colonization, racism, hate, conflicts, etc. that brought us where we are. Something of the sort of what happened on Oct 7, 2023 was bound to happen (i.e. highly probable) sooner or later - that is the nature and logic of humans being repressed and oppressed for so long.
>>"Joe Biden to force Israel and Netanyahu to take a 6 month, 1 year, or better yet a 2 year pause. "
You talk about a pause. Has this ever been a realistic approach in the history of mankind? Are humans rational and patient and calm and collected during times of crisis? In fact, the opposite is true. Emotions are heightened. Any such PAUSE is extremely unlikely (if not impossible) from knowing history and human nature.
>>"A pause to try to identify the root of the problem"
Everyone who's anyone knows the root of the problem - settler colonialism, apartheid, oppression, repression, abuse, torture, ethnic cleansing, etc. There is NO MYSTERY here.
>>"Joe Biden is a spineless coward with no vision (and so is Kamala Harris) and since Netanyahu..."
It doesn't matter if the person as head of state of the US is Joe Biden or Kamala Harris or Donal Trump or whoever. The problem transcends these individual personalities. US Foreign Policy has much deeper roots. And in terms of Netanyahu, there are people to the right of him and MUCH WORSE (yes, it can be hard to imagine so - but that is Israel currently). So, getting rid of Netanyahu will not solve the crisis.
>>"And it looks like we could be headed toward a regional war. A regional war that could quickly spill over into a more wide ranging war,"
YES - that looks like a given, especially since the US is unable (or not willing) to reign-in Israel.
>>"And this is all because we’ve allowed narcissistic creeps to run the show"
We haven't consciously allowed anything. The people have rarely been in control. It has always been the Oligarchs, the Power Elite, etc. that have run the show.
>>"we as a species, should be trying to be nice, compassionate and peaceful."
If our species were "nice, compassionate, and peaceful", then human history would have been different. We are here because the REALITY IS - humans are a mixed bag - there is good and bad in them - and different events and experiences bring about different characteristics and tendencies in people.
I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said but I think you’ve misinterpreted what I’ve said.
The bottom line is that what’s happening is exactly the opposite of what should be happening.
There’s no doubt that there’s a lot that I don’t know but that’s not to say that I don’t have a basic understanding of the situation in Israel. My rhetoric might make it seem like I just fell off a turnip truck but that’s not the case.
The bottom line is that we as a species need to drastically change the way we do business or the shop is going to close in the very near future.
Unfortunately things aren’t looking too good.
I’ve given how we might go about trying to right the ship quite a bit of thought - and I’m almost sure I’m on the right track. Unfortunately it takes more than a few sentences to explain what I think we should try to do.
But the one very simple concept that’s a universal truth in the human condition is that “niceness tends to beget more niceness and nastiness tend to beget more nastiness”. This might sound overly simplistic and/or naïve but it’s true.
So as I’ve said before, the best way to try to bring down the temperature is to reduce the amount of nastiness and increase the amount niceness to the greatest extent that we can.
Ask our friend Terrance (who commented above) who was part of the US’s fiasco in Afghanistan, or anyone who was part of the fiasco in Iraq, if they think I might be on the right track. Ask the poor people who’re being bombed in Palestine what they think.
If the president of the United States (whomever that might be) would have the vision and backbone to do what’s right they could at least start the process of reducing the nastiness.
My problem with your comment is your idealization of "human nature".
For example:
>>"the best way to try to bring down the temperature is to reduce the amount of nastiness and increase the amount niceness to the greatest extent that we can."
Do you think humans have such a "fine-grained" control over their emotions that they can just do this at will? Human emotions are easily manipulated. Complete (or even predominant) control over one's emotions/actions is an "illusion". Enough said on this - I'm sure you can complete the thought and take it from there to its conclusion.
>>"niceness tends to beget more niceness and nastiness tend to beget more nastiness”.
Knowing something isn't enough. Intellectually understanding something isn't enough. Just knowledge on its own isn't enough. There is a "knowing-doing" GAP. That's where a lot of the challenges lie.
>>"If the president of the United States (whomever that might be) would have the vision and backbone"
Again, its not VISION or BACKBONE (or lack of them) that are the problem. There are systems in place, institutions in place, organizations in place, and structures of power in place - all these play an important role in WHAT gets done and HOW it gets done. It is not upto "lone rangers" or figureheads like "Presidents" or "Prime Ministers". There are multiple systems, establishments, ruling authorities and power structures that decide these things. Until you understand that, you might keep beating around the bush and thinking in circles about "WHERE the problem lies".
I don’t disagree with everything you’ve had to say but I think at the end of the day it comes down to these three (3) ways to look at it.
#1. On my refrigerator I’ve written down a quote from someone that says “How to win at life…. Let people do what they need to do in order to make them happy, mind your own business, and do what you need to do to make you happy”.
#2. Watch George Carlin being interviewed by Charlie Rose where George Carlin says “I’ve given up caring about anything that has to do with humans. It’s a freak show and I’ve got a front row seat”.
#3. You ponder the question and come up with a “course” where you mind everyone’s business in order to try to save the human race from itself. It’s a thankless job and no one listens to anything you have to say but at least you’ve figured it out.
Kevin Flynn, what I've gathered from your comments is that you have a utopian/naive understanding/perception of reality. I don't mean this in a bad way, it's just how your comments come across to me.
I don't know what else to say to you or how else to get my message across to you. It's good to be positive and hopeful and optimistic - but it's not enough - skepticism is needed, critical thought is needed, questioning one's beliefs is needed (as Caitlin points out), and objective analysis from multiple data sources (even ones that disagree with your viewpoints) is needed.
And most importantly - ACTION taken and CO-OPERATION are needed on a GRAND SCALE - especially for the 99% (if there is to ever be any meaningful change in our present systems and the status quo).
I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree because in my humble opinion you’ve somehow misinterpreted what I’m trying to get across.
As far as the 99% taking action, I agree but unfortunately I think this is where you might be wrong or overly idealistic.
Among many of the scholars that are part of the teachings in my “course” is Howard Zinn. The two YouTube videos which cover the class on “humility” and basic respect for other countries are Howard Zinn’s presentation at MIT and his critique of Obama at Boston College. He states exactly what you’ve said in those videos which is that real change comes in our political system from below. It comes from the 99% at the bottom. While I agree with that I think it’s actually naïve.
It’s my contention that since we don’t have much time to start making changes and since the real power is in the hands of those already in power the change has to come from the top down. It could be that it comes from both directions, but the most efficient way for the changes that are needed to be initiated is from the top down.
And with that change “simple” things like “nationalism” which is usually associated by those who study political science as an emotion that’s associated with things like facism, can actually be used for things that are good.
It’s my opinion that if you had the right leader who could stand up to the Jewish lobby in the United States, the military industrial complex and the corporate controlled mainstream media, and rally the people directly, there could be some hope in making the changes that are needed. - In righting the ship and starting to go in a better direction.
What’s interesting is that with the right leader, that leader could actually manipulate those three entities, in a good way in order to help make the needed changes.
I can see where that leader could actually manipulate those three entities into making things better.
So without writing a dissertation, that’s what I think and my “course” lays it all out.
Having said that, my “course” acknowledges that even if we were able to follow what I’m suggesting we do there would still be some things that we would have to change that would be very difficult…
You are restating the problem. Restating the problem rarely moves people toward a solution. Let's imagine better and create a vision together that includes the benefit of all humanity. Love the vision. Take the vision with us everywhere. Make it more real every day.
Mearshimer is a Sinophobe. He calls himself a "realist" because he attributes to all potential empires the predatory practices of the U.S. So American Naval vessels in the South China Sea are okay by the realist.
A 2 year pause? Do you work for the DP? What happened on 10/7/23 was the apartheid state deployed its Hannibal maneuver, and murdered its own innocent citizens, in order to create a pretext for genocide, as if anything could justify such a holocaust.
My take on Mearsheimer is he describes today's reality without judgement.
“Without judgement” suggests morally neutral, and there’s nothing neutral about threatening a country because you can’t compete with it peacefully. The American Century is over, the curtain has fallen, and the liars running the government can’t or won’t be honest with themselves or the public.
Mearsheimer’s position on China is rooted in a bygone era. I don’t think the neocons are stupid enough to believe that war can recharge America’s imperial capacity. China has nuclear weapons and will win a conventional war with the U.S. probably easily. But China isn’t threatening the Americans. Their growth has exhibited a strong commitment to the development of its culture and education. They generate wealth and see that it is shared. Their foreign policy is based on mutual respect and mutual gain. They don’t want war, and the BS spewed by America and its allies ought not be reinforced by academicians with emotional attachment to American dominance.
describing reality as good as possible is a good beginning, but some sort of judgement will be necessary if you want to make things 'better' (if we can agree on what that means) though.
It’s interesting that you bring up the fact that John Mearsheimer seemingly treats the situation in Ukraine differently from that of the South China Sea. He answers that question in his second podcast interview with Robert Wright.
As far as the rest of your comment, I agree with you. And that’s why the situation is as messed up as it is.
And that’s why we need to try to get away from allowing narcissistic creeps run the show.
I don’t question Mearsheimer’s approach to China. He has stated that Russia is no threat to America, and that is the basis of his criticism of the proxy war.
China, though poses a credible threat to America’s global power, as its GDP will soon grow larger than America’s, and that is why China should be expected to accommodate American provocative displays of leverage at every opportunity. He isn’t a realist so much as a nationalist, and if he’s going to condone saber-rattling, I think his analysis is fakata.
We have no more "allowed" these "narcissistic creeps" to run the show than we have "allowed" corporations to take over the planet. The fix has been in for a generation. Maybe two generations. Until we actually have leverage over the powerful, we are not responsible for "letting" them rule us. And they get better and better every year at making sure we have no leverage at all.
Your perspective is interesting and I don’t disagree with you but in response I would say a few things.
Number one is that the free enterprise system has been an amazing vehicle which has provided millions of people around the globe with an incredible amount of goods and services. In the process it has lifted millions of people out of abject poverty. Other than doing things like killing most of the American Indians, this worked relatively well for a relatively short period of time while we had wide open frontiers. But now we’ve started bumping up against Mother Nature. The fact that we’re now bumping up against Mother Nature will mean that we can either curb our activities voluntarily or Mother Nature will do it for us.
The second point I would make is that I agree 100% with you and I feel your pain. However, in a kind of rebuttal to your comment I would say that I agree with Isaac Asimov when during his presentation to the humanist society he said that we now have the capacity to write our own history.
And in response to Isaac I would say - “this is true but with the advent of artificial intelligence, unless we can make sure that AI is aligned with our interests, it’ll be game over for us.
And it just so happens that in my humble opinion the best way to try to ensure that that happens is by way of my “course”.
the 'free enterprise system' has been 'amazing' because it actively hunts down any other experimental system and nipping them in the bud. it doesn't deserve praise, imo.
So true. And it is so difficult to get many to understand. It is so very sad. How any could support these monsters is beyond belief.
I agree 100%!
It’s quite simple for me: Choose Love. Period.
Hi Kelly
Love cannot necessarily combat hate.
I have discovered in my lifetime that sometimes you have to be WORSE than the one suppressing you.
If that makes me a bad person, tough tomatoes. Truth is that I take no shit from anyone. I’m normally a kind-hearted person, but anyone who fucks with me is gonna feel my stinger.
Hurt people hurt people… and the vicious cycle turns again & again. Until it doesn’t. ❤️
You’re exactly correct!
That’s the best way to sum it up.
If you study John Mearsheimer’s work and you happen to be reasonable and open minded you’ll most likely come to the conclusion that he’s has been and is exactly correct about everything he’s weighed in on.
"To to be an authentic person is to constantly plunge headlong into the uncomfortable, the unfamiliar, the unknown and the unpredictable, even when doing so feels like a kind of death, for no other reason than because that’s where the truth is."
To die is to live. We must die to our false self, our shadow self, and rise again in truth and power.
Speak truth to power!
Power to the People!
The Revolution....,
"Power to the People!"... Sounds nice enough! ...... question is: Why hasn't it worked so far... anywhere?
i think it has and it does at times, the anti-people just don't want the people to know. it often comes down to perception management, you know 'narrative control'.
Are you intimating there have been no successful revolutions?
Hint: the Amerikkkans had one, though they didn’t do it as well as the French.
gypsy33,
"Are you intimating there have been no successful revolutions?" It depends on what is inferred by "successful" revolution. There have been thousands of revolutions throughout human history, but the bottom line is that we are still just minutes away from nuclear holocaust. Why ?????
My truth came when I was brought up by Irish parents in the UK not to believe any British or American propaganda. My dad told us to support the Indians in the Cowboys movie as they were the real victims protecting their land from the invaders. I watched how Irish people were wrongly convicted of bombing and put away for years. I watched the British press vilify them causing people to hate the Irish and name them all terrorists. I watched the indiscriminate bombing of Iraq, the invasion of Vietnam. I learned that US and British imperialism caused 1,000s of deaths of all their wars throughout the world. I learned the uncomfortable truth. Free Palestine 🇵🇸
No one, but no one, fought harder, nor are better people, than the Irish. 🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
The first and most important realisation must be that the system is governed by psychopaths and their willing servants who may or may not be psychopaths but at best are willing and knowing servants of psychopathic masters.
"The first and most important realization must be that the system is governed by psychopaths When one sees that bucking the system often brings absolute misery, psychopaths are created within..
The first and most important realization is that we must act in whatever nonviolent way we can to a psychopathic system
For the most part psychopaths only exists in Western Civilization, Down Syndrome is an excellent example, its allenes are on the gene as narcissistic, socialpathic, psychopathic, schizophrenia etc.; those aren't all criminal behaviors, but there is a similarity in the types of reasoning that they all employ, someone else said it the other day, "maladaptive" cooping behaviors.
I primarily blame Ronald Reagan. Not only did he hand the rich the keys to the power in our nation, he also made sure that to get a college education you would have to submit to a mountain of debt. Thus most people aren't taking political science and history classes. There's very few left to question how our society can justify itself. Unfortunately, many, if not most, people are just scraping by and don't have the time to ask the great questions of our time. That's not to say that many aren't doing well, but we're definitely not doing as well as we were doing as a society up until the 1980's.
Ronald Reagan was responsible for many things. He and Margaret Thatcher were (in crucial ways) responsible for the ushering-in of neo-liberalism in full-force starting from the late 1970s.
1. How Reagan Ruined Everything (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7dHvqA-WB4)
2. What is neoliberalism? How the 'Washington consensus' was imposed on the world (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUwLB4xUk0s)
Ronald Reagan was merely following instructions and reading scripts.
Just like every President since, from Bush I, to Clinton, Cheney/Bush II, Obama, Trump, and now whoever is in charge in the White House. And it all started with Carter.
>>"And it all started with Carter"
Possibly, maybe even earlier. Though it picked up steam during the Reagan and Thatcher years.
It actually started with McKinley and the Spanish-American War and then Wilson with his creation of the Federal Reserve System.
Now that would depend on how you define neoliberalism and what it all entails.
There is an interesting new book called "Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism by George Monbiot & Peter Hutchison" that I would like to read sometime to know more about its history.
i just Kindled a sample of INVISIBLE DOCTRINE. It looks like a very interesting and enlightening read.
Indeed, Definitions and Explanations are critical.
One definition i like is the modification of Clausewitz's definition of "War" to:
"Neoliberalism is politics and policy by means other than open War."
And hit full throttle on 9/11 and has been barreling ahead ever since.
More like Adam and Eve; humans should never have been allowed to exist in the first place
Heh. Does that include You, Your Parents, Grand Parents, Great Grand Parents, etc?
he was, after all, an actual actor.
I have a nephew with a degree in political science, he became a killer and now works for the extermination of all Palestinians
"The tragic figure exults in delusory inflation, suffers humiliation, and comes to wisdom through the restoration of the cosmic mystery of which he will never be the master." ~James Hollis
THANK you !!! America under criminal administration Biden/Harris and Gavin Newsam in CA
https://youtu.be/lFNUkaRrKTk?si=ahmwOaWItOLejDZm
Same in Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vc6CHRrtH8 or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py65MJC8VR4
A colleague went to San Francisco with family. On a corner in downtown he observed a scene from hell – three humans in grotesques unnatural “frozen” (unmoving) positions (fentanyl effect).
One was standing by a bicycle with upper body horizontally lying motionlessly across bike.
Nowhere on Earth – in any city, state or country would be allowed such horror and suffering – for years. Only in Biden/Harris/Newsome America.
While Congress mega-gangster, Nancy Pelosi, literally kisses hands of Ukrainian Nazi-gangster and US vassal, Zelensky, in US Congress, while a large contingent of RINO Republicans wave Ukrainian flags – celebrating hundreds of billions dollars to Ukraine while above horrors are daily in the US. Congress demanded that showing that infamous photos are – forbidden to show (“disinformation”).
Note, that after US coup against democratically elected government of Ukraine and in the name of “defending democracy”, all parties were outlawed, opponents of Nazi-dominated imposed government started to “disappear”, all media is strictly censored and staffed with CIA-trained propagandists, Russian media is immediately forbidden in Europe and US….
We are ruled by a corrupt and criminal Biden/Harris administration. The country is now being entirely run by a slew of minions like Jake Sullivan, Antony Blinken, etc. Just observe a video from the past day alone, which is outright shocking -- an absolutely wasted, mentally unfit, and enfeebled looking Biden croaking out some frail introduction to his wife, who is now heading the Cabinet meeting in his stead. It is the first Cabinet meeting since October of 2023—an entire year—and it’s being run by Jill sitting at the head of the president’s seat…
This is America today – in which CIA-DNC controlled state media in unison adores and pushes an unelected loser -- the brainless puppet “Skamala” Harris.
IMHO, The government was always a cover for The State
That is just becoming more obvious now under greater power
Caitlin, you are my lifeline of hope in today's world....I see destruction being rained upon the same people who have been cheated, stolen from, murdered and humiliated, and there is no internal radar in the powerful to stop and think. It is like 21st century Mongol hordes with sophisticated technology to create ever more evil ways to murder and create chaos, e.g. the pagers. Their hearts are black.
Excellent Caitlin..
Is anybody not familiar with the following version of this status quo?
"When THEY came for a stranger, I said nothing... When THEY came for my neighbor, I said nothing, When THEY came for me, nobody said anything."
Here's another version .... add your own story if relevant...
"When THEY refused to help the homeless I said nothing... When THEY asked the homeless to dismantle the encampment I said nothing, When THEY evicted me from my home nobody said anything.
Who is THEY ?
Howard,
"Who is THEY".. THEY is WE, as in you and me.
I NEVER did those things !!!!!!!!!
THE STATE did though
Howard,
" I NEVER did those things !!!!!!!!! THE STATE did though. "
Did you complain to the state when the state took down homeless encampments?
homeless encampments are generally built on state owned property for the public - hence public property
on campus?
you bet
Fakery is ubiquitous & making all of us ill. It sucks the energy, spirit, character, & belief from us, leaving us bereft of the solidity of honesty which society requires to not only prosper but just to remain extant.
Fakery is very profitable to a few so will persist & continue to infect everything it touches. Only complete revolution, both physical & psychological, will cure our world. Not sure where that'll emerge from, if at all.
It's important to grab & hold onto any moments of humanity, especially in these times, so sending out love to anyone who reads this (& those who don't). Peace comrades!
Education. USA
AYE! 👊🏾♥️Well SAID