I have been reading a lot of truth just lately. It is not making me happy at all. It is making me depressed and angry. Maybe that's why people avoid the truth. I have been watching this 30 minutes at a time. It is all I can take. It is the truth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5dv0zitIFw
True, I've realized that very few people actually seek the truth. Everyone says they want the truth, but very few mean it. The truth is often hard, ugly, depressing, <more adjectives here>...
How many people want that? In fact, people go to extraordinary lengths to avoid/obfuscate the truth. We DON'T live in a truth based society (and I wonder if we ever did).
Ultimately people want truth. Those with something to sell appear to practice obfuscation and downright lies - sophisticated snake oil salesmen. Gets tricky generalizing. A fair number of people are dedicated to truth telling and advocacy for antidotes to what ails us, like climate change, ending USA wars, Black Lives Matter, Medicare for All, decent journalism: The Lever, Scheerpost, Rumble, The Intercept, Dialogue Works (with Nima), professors Jeffrey Sachs and John Mearsheimer, Scott Ritter, Col Wilkerson, Ambassador Chas Freeman....
I disagree. IMO, people want safety, security, harmony, peaceful coexistence (for the most part), to feel loved and valued, to feel they matter, to feel cared about, to feel their life has purpose and meaning.
If the truth aligns with those other needs, then it is accepted. If not, it is rejected. TRUTH is a secondary concern/need, not a primary one (like the ones described above).
There's a map of sorts; it goes like this. Power and Love stand opposite each other. Truth and Wisdom stand opposite each other on the same wheel. Where there is only power - there is no love. Where there is only love - nothing gets done (there is no agency). Truth balances love and power. Stand at the bedside of enough dying people. And discover how important truth is.
I absolutely agree. Absolute Truth and Wisdom are equally valid, generally compatible and often intertwined.
There also exists relative truth which can be different for individuals, depending on their perspective. This relative truth, which may lack wisdom, is clearly not as valuable as Absolute Truth, which is ultimately the real deal and we will all get there in the end, whether we like it or not.
A spot of Wisdom will always help us along the way.
You can organize and understand it in your mind whichever way YOU want. You can create YOUR own system to justify/understand things (like you did with your comment above). But that is NOT an indication of merit/robustness/philosophical logic/validity/'truthfulness' of YOUR "explanation".
I'm not convinced by your argument/explanation, but you are free to believe whatever narrative works for you.
I think that US citizens, or anyone who lives in a country that's committing criminal acts, have still been able to "afford" to ignore the truth of what successive US (and other) governments have been doing, precisely because they don't feel personally affected. Or else, they have so much to do, to keep on top of their own lives, that considering the ramifications of international level governmental decisions, is pushed down a list of priorities?
However; I believe that Israeli and US elites may have taken themselves and their countries out of their "safe" status, by their attacks on personal devices, that could be copied, by people in a kinds of geographic locations.
Thus, even if the urgency of a person wanting their own government to stop mass murdering people wasn't enough to propel change; the realisation that US (and other) citizens are no longer living in the "safety" of relative, geographic isolation, should add to the possibility of positive change?
I think that this expanded sense of vulnerability makes the need to accept that there are problems that need fixing (true, but distressing) not so easy to ignore.
Happiness and solving problems can go together, as I see it - especially when there is an urgent need!
Let us not forget Noam Chomsky,Norman Finklestein,Chris Hedges,Naomi Klein,Daniel Ellsberg,Snowden,Manning,MLK,Malcolm X,Che and the Panthers. All were important to my honest education. The first was Howard Zinn..Most of the rest of media and writers are sell outs to the system.
Sixty years of life has taught me otherwise. People want to hear what they want to hear. People don't want to hear what they don't want to hear. As my mother often said, "flattery will get you everywhere."
As said George Carlin, "society is based on bullshit." “Bullshit is the glue that binds us as a nation.”
Then there is the great popularity of religions based on fables. Those believers don't want truth. And it very well could be that such religions are beneficial, that people behave better when they believe this stuff.
People use religion to hide their past crimes. "Oh, I was a terrible abuser of women and a complete narcissistic asshole until I found Jesus!" Says (I paraphrase) narcissistic misogynist Russell Brand who is trying to avoid going to prison and hopes that his new found faith will fool the sentencing judge when he does finally get to court.
Where there is that much smoke there is probably some fire. I've no idea to what extent the allegations against Brand are true. What is likely however, is that if Brand was a faithful follower of the narrative, rather than occasionally pointing out uncomfortable truths, those allegations would not have gotten the coverage they did and would have been quietly settled in the background.
Religions are most beneficial for a subset of people: those tending toward thuggery and self-centred selfishness, who move closer to the middle of the road; those that have to cope with terrible misfortune, giving them a way to cast their troubles onto another's shoulder; etc etc.
It may be that many are unwilling to test whether what they believe in is true, but, to the same extent people believe stuff, I think they want it to be true.
As for, “it very well could be that such religions are beneficial, that people behave better when they believe this stuff.” Where’s the proof of the truth of that? At best one might point to a specific individual and accept their claims of improved behaviour, but who’s to say that something more benign might not have had the same, or even better, results?
The next 20 years just might alter your perspective if you’ve outwitted becoming one of the walking dead. You’re still on the young side. As for Carlin…he loved his cynicism….which is a curvy mirror in the fun park.
Most people don't want to see the truth. Being immersed in a hedonistic society guarantees most will avoid the truth. This is what brings down all empires.
Climate Change doesn't ail us, Selina, it's been with us for millions of years. Snake oil salesfolk are ever-present in the climate change con industry. Have a read of this with an open mind: https://wattsupwiththat.com/u-s-surface-temperature/
It’s an interesting graph. One problem with it is that it is recording US temperatures rather than global. The issue is a global one. The temperature rises at both polar regions would look quite different. “during the last 43 years the Arctic has been warming nearly four times faster than the globe”
Yes, climate change has been with us for millions of years, and if you look at it in detail, CO2 levels are intimately involved. Climate doesn’t just change, there are physical parameters involved and CO2 concentration levels are one very important one. Too little, you get “snowball Earth”. Too much, you get the Permian Extinction. There’s a Goldilocks zone and we are intent on leaving it. But, if civilization and the basics of life for future generations aren’t important to one, then it’s not a problem.
The fallacy there is that CO2 changes follow the climate changes rather than lead them. I think we're much more likely to get a repeat of the late Pleistocene extinctions, with or without the massive climate changes that happened 12 to 8 thousand years ago. What is undetermined is whether humans initiate the extinction with a nuclear war or it starts a bit later with a cyclical solar outburst followed by asteroid impacts.
In the case of the ice ages, the primary drivers are the Milankovitch cycles, the precession and nutation of the earth’s axis, changes in ellipticity of the earth’s axis. However, in that case, CO2 released by the warming oceans act as a feedback mechanism, amplifying the effect. That is why there is a phase shift. The Milankovitch cycles are tens to hundreds of thousands of years long. The recent pulse of temperature rise correlates with the CO2 input from human activity. Also, it’s obvious that there is no upper limit given the CO2 in the Venusian atmosphere and the hellish conditions there.
Sadly Chang, few people would recognise the truth any more.
I have often thought after viewing the almost daily visits with the big Boeing aircraft arriving in Israel with Blinken on board, what it would take to make it a mandatory requirement for his every conversation to be recorded and broadcast live and for every other minute of his visits to be on camera for the world to see. He is without a doubt, wined and dined as a complicit, totally supportive genocodist and Jew.
Is he really saying anything he says he is saying, repeated through the US based Washington puppets as news, so-called truthful news. It always has the appearance and smell of a set of well scripted beforehand words for all to hear, and of course, in print with the supporters nodding approval as required. US political theatre.
But perhaps I am a cynic. The fact that he is Jewish (how very convenient that must be using Hebrew in case someone has a camera and microphone) obviously a messenger boy for the greatest criminal in history who could have stopped this genocide hundreds of times if he wasn't so supportive of such a crime.
But he didn’t, still gets a blessing after confession on Fridays from his church, St. Joseph on the Brandywine in Delaware and will soon leave office without a blemish, according to the government and more sadly, the bulk of the people of America.
Now there’s the real crime. In olden days, he would have been hung by the neck until dead wth everyone in the crowd knowing full well the reason for his death and applauding the action. Hard to see these days with 86% of the politicians in the good old USA on the AIPAC payroll.
Crimes against humanity. Unforgivable then, totally disregarded now and par for the course.. A normal daily occurence.
But, we have moved on from those days. Athough, hundreds of years backwards.
Contrarian 33, WHY do you keep using the word "jew" instead of "Zionist" or whatever the appropriate word is? None of the characteristics/attributes you describe define "a jew" or "judaism". Jews are NOT monolithic, just as people of other religions are NOT monolithic. Your REPEATED "style of usage of the word Jew" troubles me... I'm hoping by this point in time you are able to differentiate between "Jew/Judaism" and "Zionist" and "greedy, power hungry Capitalist", etc.
>>"few people would recognise the truth any more."
IMHO, that's a secondary problem - because TRUTH is not always universal. Example: some people will say that God is real and that is the truth. Others will say that God is not real and that is the truth.
Then, there are different kinds of truths - subjective truths, objective truths, logical truths, mathematical truths, philosophical truths, cultural/societal truths, ontological and epistemological truths, and so many more...
So, if people cannot agree on the "same truths" (regardless of recognition of them), who becomes the arbitor of truth? What methodology is used to verify a 'truth' as a 'truth'? From here, it just becomes more complicated and branches into different areas of philosophy/reasoning/thinking.
Chang: in response to your comment that people don't want truth: I don't agree with you at all. The truth about Gaza and other situations does not make me happy. But I want to know the truth anyway. There is no possibility to change anything if we don't know the truth.
Susan, we are NOT talking about YOU - not everything is about YOU. We are talking in generalities about humans and human psychology and the conditions and systems we live under.
"YOU" don't represent ALL the people on the planet. What YOU want (truth) is different from what "most others" want - and this is borne out by reality.
>>"There is no possibility to change anything if we don't know the truth"
Things are being changed ALL the time, regardless of the magnitude of the "truth" component of things.
"Susan, we are NOT talking about YOU" - that's right chokaski, this blog is ABOUT YOU CHOKASKI and nobody else. YOU and YOU ALONE define what's to be written on THIS BLOG.
you graciously make an exception for Caitlin, gotta hand it to you. i wonder how long it's going to stay that way though. 😳🤣🤡
Here we are discussing general humans, and here YOU are talking about YOURSELF. Look at the number of times you use "I" in your comment -> "I don't agree", "make ME happy", "I want to know". Anyone that follows this discussion thread knows we are talking about the HUMAN CONDITION, not "particular" individuals.
What people mostly want is honesty, I think. I don't watch YT analysis to get "The Truth", I watch it to hear what honest people say - the kind who never get onto corporate media BECAUSE they are honest.
Truth - ahh, that is for each individual to decide, unless they are an omniscient God who can really tell what is and isn't "Truth".
But honesty, honesty we can all know and do, along with dishonesty.
I'd personally rather hear an honest person be wrong accidentally, than a dishonest person be right accidentally.
Honesty is a virtue we can all practice, knowing The Truth is beyond all of us. Imo.
I can tell you for a fact that the quickest way to derail a career is to be honest upwards at work. Beyond a certain point. If you can give your executives a way to make more money through having been shown up as wrong, you can just about get away with it. But if your honesty concerns their dishonesty, you will find your name smeared far and wide.
Honesty is a virtue that can be freely practiced by the financially independent and those for whom poverty is not a problem.
Once you start down that road, you have to start making choices. If the society and system that we live under does so much evil, how much will I compromise with it?
These choices can have very real personal and professional consequences. Try not paying taxes and see what happens. "Bartelby the Scrivener" it ain't.
Even if you do compromise, you are left with a guilty conscience.
By contrast, if you go along with the crowd, you can avoid those tough choices and face no consequences, and your conscience stays relatively untroubled, for the time being at least. Even in the worst case, you can say to yourself that you did what every other Good German did under the circumstances.
There is some truth to that. In the UK there are thousands of UK workers out of work because they are on employer blacklists, aided and abetted by the state's police force. Most of the time these people on the blacklists are on them because they are trade unionists or have complained about health and safety matters in the workplace.
Just a suggestion: Make a habit of emailing/calling your two senators every week (minimally - and calling's best if there is an alive staff receiving the message)...urging them to conduct Town Halls to repair the separation b/t them and us citizens by tapping into and representing their constituents and demand the spigot of killing materiel from the USA to Israel be closed immediately. Firing Blinken, McGurk and Hostein - all zionists - also a good idea.
Susan - avoiding the propaganda is just as valuable as seeking the truth as a first step. If you can simply detox from all the MSM nonsense for 6 months, you will feel much more grounded, happier and centred. You can simply focus on your own circle of influence and concern, without in any way supporting the Uniparty's group of genocidalists, fascists and oligarchs.
When you are ready to seek out the truth, you can then start to become ready to fight back based on unpalatable knowledge.
A lot of people can't face truth because they deep down worry that the effect of it would lead them to behave terribly to their kids. So they protect their own, rather than become warriors for truth.
In my life time we were lied to about the German Holocaust, the atomic bombs on Hiroshima. Lied to about how the arms race, the space race, and the local wars on any national this hemisphere were being treated like chattel slaves on vast plantations where ever the hell the Banana rethuglicans wanted thousands of acres of monoculture. Lied to about Columbus. Lied to about fucking ridiculous the diving beneath our desks would keep us safe. I watched teachers hips, and busts as she strolled the aisles of third graders aisle by aisle. Lied to weapons of mass destruction. Obama was going to close Quantanamo. But the filibuster is still here. The chicken-fried electoral community college is still here. We still do not have "The one vote equals one vote so all votes are counted and tallied for the the ones cast on every ballot. This system is rigged. House of cards
Great post, caitlin, lots of truth here. It took me about 7 years to fully deprogram myself after retiring from the U. S. Government. I went into the Peace Corps right after college, then graduate school, then got a job with the State Department and the next thing I know it’s been 25 years of service for the Empire. It is truly an evil empire (but a very very clever one) because when you are in the middle of it you can’t think straight. It is hypnosis plus propaganda, plus textbooks full of lies from kindergarten through college. Plus endless policy papers from Washington made to look and sound “fair and just.”
I worked at a couple of universities after retiring from State and have hope for Gen Z. Pomona College, near where I live in Southern California, just expelled ten students for participating in a recent pro-Palestinian demonstration. And the college administration is using spies and electronic surveillance techniques to identify additional student participants so there is panic and fear on campus. Is this quality higher education? WTF. Anyway: The pro-Palestinian students at Pomona College are role models for us all.
There's nothing new about electronic surveillance in Universities - it was happening in the UK HEI system 30 years ago, including being done by the world's biggest medical 'foundation', the Wellcome Trust. Cambridge University selected the retired head of MI6 (UK's equivalent to CIA) to be the Master of Pembroke College, which says he was brought in to spy on the entire student population for various nefarious purposes. That was years ago. You've also got Bill Gates buying influence in 'HEIs' so that they all spout his globalist, verging-on-eugenicist mantras.
CJ>>"Most Americans (and most westerners generally) fail to truly see and understand how profoundly evil the US-centralized empire is..."
Yes, and those that do see PRETEND to have NOT seen it - people want to maintain the illusions and narratives that keep them in their comfort zones and away from resolving cognitive dissonances (for fear that they would unravel - as any normal person that intends on absorbing the reality of the US Empire would).
You're comfortable with the concept of telling your kids: 'Sorry kids, my commitment to truth in Israel means I've been sacked at work, you're going to have to go to the local school with all the druggies and the house is being repoed next week. So we're going to live in a tent or a caravan for quite some time', are you?
I see that you've decided to SPAM the comments section today with your non-sensical, reductionist, strawman musings all over the place...having a bad week and taking it out on this substack are you?
Faculty Members Suspended From Harvard’s Main Library After ‘Study-In’ Protest
Harvard Library suspended roughly 25 faculty members from entering Widener Library for two weeks after they conducted a silent “study-in” protest in the library’s main reading room last week — an extraordinary disciplinary action taken by the University against its own faculty.
The faculty study-in protested the library’s decision to similarly suspend student protesters who conducted a pro-Palestine study-in last month. The University’s decision to suspend students from the library had already come under fire from free speech groups, including the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard.
So we learn what to expect and isn't the repression giving us even more cause and inspiration? "On September 9, 1980, Berrigan, his brother Philip, and six others (the "Plowshares Eight") began the Plowshares movement. They trespassed onto the General Electric nuclear missile facility in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, where they damaged nuclear warhead nose cones and poured blood onto documents and files."
There are several legal organisations that Will be, or may have already, taken these bad actors to court over their unconstitutional acts of suppression. Among them are The Center for Constitutional Rights, https://ccrjustice.org/
I lifted that from the pertinent section of the days blog post. I do gather a lot of open-source information at drjohnsblog.substack.com , for those who might find it useful, always a free-service.
Damn good one Caitlin. Those who broke free of the propaganda can see the Empire crumbling. The Narrative of the Empire is getting perforated. Because the mask is ripped away so is the Moral High Ground. This will end in victory for the Resistance eventually. It's incremental, methodical and relentless. It will build momentum. Much change is coming.
Thank you Caitlin. I so appreciate your speaking the truths that need to be told. I find a number of substacks are holding back less now. It is time. And most of us who have lived through helplessly witnessing and feeling the depths of suffering, anguish, death, torture and wanton destruction which the US/Israel and Western Corporate Colonial allies have inflicted upon the Gazans/Palestinians, Yemenis, Iraqis, now Lebanese, Syrians and on and on, has been unceasingly distressing and heartbreaking - We need now to speak and hear these bedrock truths to find how to begin to topple these inhuman, lethal power structures. As you say, it starts with "getting outside that matrix of manipulation" starting with recognizing the fraudulence of US Presidential elections, especially and blatantly this one. Every word you write is true.
In the current world, the truth will only set you free for two options:
1. Keeping the truth to yourself to remain in employment.
2. Freeing yourself from the possibility of being employed due to voicing the opinions of a 'domestic terrorist'.
The truth doesn't set you free from the actions of fearful sheeple, who follow the orders from above, which may include targeting you for recriminations, being stool pigeons etc etc.
It's not quite as simple as some people make out, understanding the consequences of knowing the truth.
Not if you're not already financially self-sufficient.
'Up to' is a very convenient piece of terminology. How far below 200 million do you think that number goes? How about bounding it by saying 'more than XXXX and up to YYYY', then we'll get a feel for how much moral outrage you are entitled to possess, eh?
This is just one country, over 50 years, and Britain invaded most of the World, between 2-3 centuries. I've read more detailed articles by Indian historians in recent years, but the last PC died and I don't have the accumulated bookmarks anymore. Still, you can get a feel for the sheer scale of this.
I'd be grateful to see Caitlin promote the campaigns, that I think are beginning to be more widespread, in the US, for ranked choice voting.
I personally feel that US citizens are in a really difficult position; in having two, main, corrupted Parties and no real ability to effectively vote outside of that, unless an outright majority of US citizens astonish the international world, at this election and vote for the US Green Party.
With the US' international influence being so significant, the problems with the US electoral system have an international effect. That's why I feel that it's important for anyone who can offer useful advice, to consider doing what they can to help.
From Australia, I've been trying to answer comments on social media posts and to point US readers in the direction of the campaigns for ranked choice voting, that already exist. The majority of readers, to whom I've replied, didn't actually know what that form of voting was, nor that Jill Stein has been advocating for it's introduction.
As Australian readers will probably know, Australia has preferential (ranked choice) voting at every election and it is not an "ominous" choice, that must be prevented, as I've read some US media outlets portray.
I feel that there's a difference between "supporting" either of the main candidates and recognising that one (Trump) would have an even more damaging effect than the other and recognising that not voting at all, would only increase the chances of Trump being elected.
One aspect of truth, as I see it, is that the US does have the foundations of what's needed for a government that would be appreciated and emulated, by other countries, if those foundations were working as they were created.
No matter what a person's opinions about a Constitutional Monarchy, or Queen Elizabeth II might be, I do often recall and agree with a quote of Queen Elizabeth's: "Democracy doesn't just happen all by itself; it must be worked at".
The Green Party has been working on genuine solutions to the problems of unbalanced corporate sponsorship of politicians, as well as working on legislation that would correctly designate AIPAC as the foreign organisation that it is.
If the fear of "wasting" a vote, by voting for a third Party, were taken away, through ranked choice voting, I believe that far greater numbers of US citizens would vote for the Green Party.
I'm not very familiar with how the Electoral College works, in the US. However; I've read a number of comments about the need to remove it, so that's another area in which advocacy could help?
I feel that this is a time when the spirit of action, for positive change, is as important as it was, when our parents/grandparents' generation wrote the guiding Conventions, such as the Genocide Convention and the Geneva Convention, as well as wrote the US laws that are being broken, right now.
You often seem to imply you are all alone in the quest for truth. You are not. There are many of us out here on the same quest for truth. I’m now 78, was a high school junior when my hero JFK was murdered. That event started me on a lifelong quest for the truth. What I discovered was more horrible than I could have ever imagined, many of the same things you articulate so well.
My journey started with a BA in Sociology, then a BS in EE leading to a 35-year career in micro-circuit physical design beginning in 1981. Because of that combination of experience, I learned to view society as a system. The ability to find the truth is present in all human beings when presented with the facts. This is the basis of our jury system, one of the last remaining elements of our self-governing experiment. Albert Einstein has said, “If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.” Truth is found when the facts fit simply together along with all the other things we have learned.
The truth I have found is that we live inside a global fascist empire where fascism is defined as when private individuals (and a foreign country) gain control of our government for their own private enrichment. Our governing establishment does not like the fascist word because it points directly to them. When the fascist gain control, they use that power for their own private gain, erasing democracy and any idea of public good. Our global fascist empire is so complete it has us, as a country, agreeing to, and actually participating in a genocide.
I have researched this topic for more than a decade, putting together how this fascist empire was built and how we, along with the world, might defeat it. You have inspired me to do something about this by maybe putting my research into an e-book. If you would contact me via email, I would like to find a way to share what I have learned with you.
I agree with your initial assessment, but I have trouble squaring this with what I know about the life of Jimmy Carter after he left the office of president. I can accept every other candidate and president of my lifetime as "deeply evil," but Carter really doesn't feel that way to me.
Note, that it was only after Carter left office, forced by inflation?, that he was allowed to be that good man. There no space for that during his presidency. He deserves kudos for not continuing on the road they put him on, as all the other former presidents have done.
We have made tremendous strides over the last year exposing this entire situation with Israel and the Zionists. In fact I get a wee bit hesitant to use that term Zionists because it makes people think of people like Netanyahu and his ilk. Truth is it goes far deeper than that. Twitter is probably ground zero for this.
To say I support Trump is a loaded term IMHO. That being said if the status quo continues I am fairly certain that site will be severely compromised. It was supposed to have already happened. I believe the mostly apolitical (at that time) Elon was allowed to purchase it in order to torpedo Trump’s Truth Social. If I am correct about that assumption it might have been the backfire heard around the world.
I say this to challenge your thoughts and understand there is a long game in all of this. We must be patient and understand that we have and are in a long term war. The enemy are Global Fascists who want to clamp down on the human race. People like Trump, Gabbard, Kennedy Jr, etc are not perfect but they buy us time. When I say “us” I mean humanity.
Take a look at the recent, excellent Chris Hedges Report with his piece entitled: "The Choice this Election is between Corporate and Oligarchic Power
There is a civil war within capitalism. Kamala Harris is the face of corporate power. Donald Trump is the mascot of the oligarchs. Either way, we lose."
I read that article and found it unconvincing. One might have stated Kamala Harris is the the mascot of the oligarchs and Donald Trump is face of corporate power and it would be equally true. To me it is just the Ins versus the Outs. This sort of conflict arises in every system of power. Then the Outs may become the Ins, but what ensues is just more of the old In-Out.
I deleted my comment because it was harsh i suspect. I don’t mean it was harsh towards you. You have to understand if the left continues onward our voices will dramatically decrease. They almost did. Like I said, there will be no more do overs.
Trump and his cronies have given me no reason to think they will stifle speech. You should probably start there.
What “left”? This is one of Caitlin’s main points: people have been so indoctrinated that words no longer mean anything. The US is led by a cabal of fascists and oligarchs. Trump or Harris make no difference.
We are past the right/left or liberal/conservative matrix now. We have a monopolist ruling class dedicated to economic neoliberalism and military neoconservatism. That class, embedded in the bureaucracy of both political parties and into the foundations of our establishments doesn’t give a fuck who wins.
>>"You have to understand if the left continues onward our voices will dramatically decrease."
You wouldn't know what "LEFT" is if your life depended on it - as is apparent from your "deleted comment" and the present one.
As for Trump/cronies stifling speech, etc. - you really don't understand how the empire works. The empire doesn't care about your (or anyone else's) speech as long as it does not challenge the Empire and its objectives. The minute that you/whoever become an <opposing force>/<hindrance> to the empire, your speech (and more) will be stifled - regardless of Team D or Team R (which are BOTH part of the Empire) - regardless of Trump or Harris. Trump and Harris are simply hired actors playing their part according to the wishes/demands of the Empire.
Also, please educate yourself on what "leftist" ideology is, as you seem to be under the influence of "propagandized narratives".
i have no illusions about the evils of the US and the rapacious Capitalist system under which progressives and lovers of freedom suffer. The system is hopelessly rigged against the worling class and especially minorities. Taking up arms against the fascist state while needed is suicidal given the masses of military and police arrayed against such a movement. If the US and its partner Israel are to be defeated it will have to be accomplished by Russia,China,Iran and other countries via economics,boycotts and the abolition of Nuclear weapons. I am 81 and don't expect this to happen in my lifetime.
I have been reading a lot of truth just lately. It is not making me happy at all. It is making me depressed and angry. Maybe that's why people avoid the truth. I have been watching this 30 minutes at a time. It is all I can take. It is the truth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5dv0zitIFw
True, I've realized that very few people actually seek the truth. Everyone says they want the truth, but very few mean it. The truth is often hard, ugly, depressing, <more adjectives here>...
How many people want that? In fact, people go to extraordinary lengths to avoid/obfuscate the truth. We DON'T live in a truth based society (and I wonder if we ever did).
Ultimately people want truth. Those with something to sell appear to practice obfuscation and downright lies - sophisticated snake oil salesmen. Gets tricky generalizing. A fair number of people are dedicated to truth telling and advocacy for antidotes to what ails us, like climate change, ending USA wars, Black Lives Matter, Medicare for All, decent journalism: The Lever, Scheerpost, Rumble, The Intercept, Dialogue Works (with Nima), professors Jeffrey Sachs and John Mearsheimer, Scott Ritter, Col Wilkerson, Ambassador Chas Freeman....
>>"Ultimately people want truth."
I disagree. IMO, people want safety, security, harmony, peaceful coexistence (for the most part), to feel loved and valued, to feel they matter, to feel cared about, to feel their life has purpose and meaning.
If the truth aligns with those other needs, then it is accepted. If not, it is rejected. TRUTH is a secondary concern/need, not a primary one (like the ones described above).
There's a map of sorts; it goes like this. Power and Love stand opposite each other. Truth and Wisdom stand opposite each other on the same wheel. Where there is only power - there is no love. Where there is only love - nothing gets done (there is no agency). Truth balances love and power. Stand at the bedside of enough dying people. And discover how important truth is.
Why would truth and wisdom not be together on the same side? Wisdom without truth is BS at best. Truth without wisdom is meaningless.
I absolutely agree. Absolute Truth and Wisdom are equally valid, generally compatible and often intertwined.
There also exists relative truth which can be different for individuals, depending on their perspective. This relative truth, which may lack wisdom, is clearly not as valuable as Absolute Truth, which is ultimately the real deal and we will all get there in the end, whether we like it or not.
A spot of Wisdom will always help us along the way.
>>"There's a map of sorts; it goes like this."
You can organize and understand it in your mind whichever way YOU want. You can create YOUR own system to justify/understand things (like you did with your comment above). But that is NOT an indication of merit/robustness/philosophical logic/validity/'truthfulness' of YOUR "explanation".
I'm not convinced by your argument/explanation, but you are free to believe whatever narrative works for you.
I think that US citizens, or anyone who lives in a country that's committing criminal acts, have still been able to "afford" to ignore the truth of what successive US (and other) governments have been doing, precisely because they don't feel personally affected. Or else, they have so much to do, to keep on top of their own lives, that considering the ramifications of international level governmental decisions, is pushed down a list of priorities?
However; I believe that Israeli and US elites may have taken themselves and their countries out of their "safe" status, by their attacks on personal devices, that could be copied, by people in a kinds of geographic locations.
Thus, even if the urgency of a person wanting their own government to stop mass murdering people wasn't enough to propel change; the realisation that US (and other) citizens are no longer living in the "safety" of relative, geographic isolation, should add to the possibility of positive change?
I think that this expanded sense of vulnerability makes the need to accept that there are problems that need fixing (true, but distressing) not so easy to ignore.
Happiness and solving problems can go together, as I see it - especially when there is an urgent need!
Chang, seeking the truth is depressing as hell, which is why most Amerikkkans don’t do so.
On the other hand, it’s inspiring to see the likes of Scott Ritter, Larry Wilkerson, Douglas McGregor, many others.
Let us not forget Noam Chomsky,Norman Finklestein,Chris Hedges,Naomi Klein,Daniel Ellsberg,Snowden,Manning,MLK,Malcolm X,Che and the Panthers. All were important to my honest education. The first was Howard Zinn..Most of the rest of media and writers are sell outs to the system.
"Ultimately people want truth. "
Sixty years of life has taught me otherwise. People want to hear what they want to hear. People don't want to hear what they don't want to hear. As my mother often said, "flattery will get you everywhere."
As said George Carlin, "society is based on bullshit." “Bullshit is the glue that binds us as a nation.”
Then there is the great popularity of religions based on fables. Those believers don't want truth. And it very well could be that such religions are beneficial, that people behave better when they believe this stuff.
People use religion to hide their past crimes. "Oh, I was a terrible abuser of women and a complete narcissistic asshole until I found Jesus!" Says (I paraphrase) narcissistic misogynist Russell Brand who is trying to avoid going to prison and hopes that his new found faith will fool the sentencing judge when he does finally get to court.
Where there is that much smoke there is probably some fire. I've no idea to what extent the allegations against Brand are true. What is likely however, is that if Brand was a faithful follower of the narrative, rather than occasionally pointing out uncomfortable truths, those allegations would not have gotten the coverage they did and would have been quietly settled in the background.
Religions are most beneficial for a subset of people: those tending toward thuggery and self-centred selfishness, who move closer to the middle of the road; those that have to cope with terrible misfortune, giving them a way to cast their troubles onto another's shoulder; etc etc.
It may be that many are unwilling to test whether what they believe in is true, but, to the same extent people believe stuff, I think they want it to be true.
As for, “it very well could be that such religions are beneficial, that people behave better when they believe this stuff.” Where’s the proof of the truth of that? At best one might point to a specific individual and accept their claims of improved behaviour, but who’s to say that something more benign might not have had the same, or even better, results?
The next 20 years just might alter your perspective if you’ve outwitted becoming one of the walking dead. You’re still on the young side. As for Carlin…he loved his cynicism….which is a curvy mirror in the fun park.
Most people don't want to see the truth. Being immersed in a hedonistic society guarantees most will avoid the truth. This is what brings down all empires.
Climate Change doesn't ail us, Selina, it's been with us for millions of years. Snake oil salesfolk are ever-present in the climate change con industry. Have a read of this with an open mind: https://wattsupwiththat.com/u-s-surface-temperature/
It’s an interesting graph. One problem with it is that it is recording US temperatures rather than global. The issue is a global one. The temperature rises at both polar regions would look quite different. “during the last 43 years the Arctic has been warming nearly four times faster than the globe”
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-022-00498-3
Yes, climate change has been with us for millions of years, and if you look at it in detail, CO2 levels are intimately involved. Climate doesn’t just change, there are physical parameters involved and CO2 concentration levels are one very important one. Too little, you get “snowball Earth”. Too much, you get the Permian Extinction. There’s a Goldilocks zone and we are intent on leaving it. But, if civilization and the basics of life for future generations aren’t important to one, then it’s not a problem.
The fallacy there is that CO2 changes follow the climate changes rather than lead them. I think we're much more likely to get a repeat of the late Pleistocene extinctions, with or without the massive climate changes that happened 12 to 8 thousand years ago. What is undetermined is whether humans initiate the extinction with a nuclear war or it starts a bit later with a cyclical solar outburst followed by asteroid impacts.
In the case of the ice ages, the primary drivers are the Milankovitch cycles, the precession and nutation of the earth’s axis, changes in ellipticity of the earth’s axis. However, in that case, CO2 released by the warming oceans act as a feedback mechanism, amplifying the effect. That is why there is a phase shift. The Milankovitch cycles are tens to hundreds of thousands of years long. The recent pulse of temperature rise correlates with the CO2 input from human activity. Also, it’s obvious that there is no upper limit given the CO2 in the Venusian atmosphere and the hellish conditions there.
Sadly Chang, few people would recognise the truth any more.
I have often thought after viewing the almost daily visits with the big Boeing aircraft arriving in Israel with Blinken on board, what it would take to make it a mandatory requirement for his every conversation to be recorded and broadcast live and for every other minute of his visits to be on camera for the world to see. He is without a doubt, wined and dined as a complicit, totally supportive genocodist and Jew.
Is he really saying anything he says he is saying, repeated through the US based Washington puppets as news, so-called truthful news. It always has the appearance and smell of a set of well scripted beforehand words for all to hear, and of course, in print with the supporters nodding approval as required. US political theatre.
But perhaps I am a cynic. The fact that he is Jewish (how very convenient that must be using Hebrew in case someone has a camera and microphone) obviously a messenger boy for the greatest criminal in history who could have stopped this genocide hundreds of times if he wasn't so supportive of such a crime.
But he didn’t, still gets a blessing after confession on Fridays from his church, St. Joseph on the Brandywine in Delaware and will soon leave office without a blemish, according to the government and more sadly, the bulk of the people of America.
Now there’s the real crime. In olden days, he would have been hung by the neck until dead wth everyone in the crowd knowing full well the reason for his death and applauding the action. Hard to see these days with 86% of the politicians in the good old USA on the AIPAC payroll.
Crimes against humanity. Unforgivable then, totally disregarded now and par for the course.. A normal daily occurence.
But, we have moved on from those days. Athough, hundreds of years backwards.
Contrarian 33, WHY do you keep using the word "jew" instead of "Zionist" or whatever the appropriate word is? None of the characteristics/attributes you describe define "a jew" or "judaism". Jews are NOT monolithic, just as people of other religions are NOT monolithic. Your REPEATED "style of usage of the word Jew" troubles me... I'm hoping by this point in time you are able to differentiate between "Jew/Judaism" and "Zionist" and "greedy, power hungry Capitalist", etc.
>>"few people would recognise the truth any more."
IMHO, that's a secondary problem - because TRUTH is not always universal. Example: some people will say that God is real and that is the truth. Others will say that God is not real and that is the truth.
Then, there are different kinds of truths - subjective truths, objective truths, logical truths, mathematical truths, philosophical truths, cultural/societal truths, ontological and epistemological truths, and so many more...
So, if people cannot agree on the "same truths" (regardless of recognition of them), who becomes the arbitor of truth? What methodology is used to verify a 'truth' as a 'truth'? From here, it just becomes more complicated and branches into different areas of philosophy/reasoning/thinking.
Chang: in response to your comment that people don't want truth: I don't agree with you at all. The truth about Gaza and other situations does not make me happy. But I want to know the truth anyway. There is no possibility to change anything if we don't know the truth.
Susan, we are NOT talking about YOU - not everything is about YOU. We are talking in generalities about humans and human psychology and the conditions and systems we live under.
"YOU" don't represent ALL the people on the planet. What YOU want (truth) is different from what "most others" want - and this is borne out by reality.
>>"There is no possibility to change anything if we don't know the truth"
Things are being changed ALL the time, regardless of the magnitude of the "truth" component of things.
"Susan, we are NOT talking about YOU" - that's right chokaski, this blog is ABOUT YOU CHOKASKI and nobody else. YOU and YOU ALONE define what's to be written on THIS BLOG.
you graciously make an exception for Caitlin, gotta hand it to you. i wonder how long it's going to stay that way though. 😳🤣🤡
I have never claimed to represent all people on the planet. You appear to think that is your job.
Here we are discussing general humans, and here YOU are talking about YOURSELF. Look at the number of times you use "I" in your comment -> "I don't agree", "make ME happy", "I want to know". Anyone that follows this discussion thread knows we are talking about the HUMAN CONDITION, not "particular" individuals.
what the fuck do you expect me to say if I don't agree with you? you are a twit. An idiot. I think that. ME. MYSELF. YOU are an asshole
"The first casualty of honesty is war".
What people mostly want is honesty, I think. I don't watch YT analysis to get "The Truth", I watch it to hear what honest people say - the kind who never get onto corporate media BECAUSE they are honest.
Truth - ahh, that is for each individual to decide, unless they are an omniscient God who can really tell what is and isn't "Truth".
But honesty, honesty we can all know and do, along with dishonesty.
I'd personally rather hear an honest person be wrong accidentally, than a dishonest person be right accidentally.
Honesty is a virtue we can all practice, knowing The Truth is beyond all of us. Imo.
I can tell you for a fact that the quickest way to derail a career is to be honest upwards at work. Beyond a certain point. If you can give your executives a way to make more money through having been shown up as wrong, you can just about get away with it. But if your honesty concerns their dishonesty, you will find your name smeared far and wide.
Honesty is a virtue that can be freely practiced by the financially independent and those for whom poverty is not a problem.
Once you start down that road, you have to start making choices. If the society and system that we live under does so much evil, how much will I compromise with it?
These choices can have very real personal and professional consequences. Try not paying taxes and see what happens. "Bartelby the Scrivener" it ain't.
Even if you do compromise, you are left with a guilty conscience.
By contrast, if you go along with the crowd, you can avoid those tough choices and face no consequences, and your conscience stays relatively untroubled, for the time being at least. Even in the worst case, you can say to yourself that you did what every other Good German did under the circumstances.
Feral. How many people EVEN know they have a 'guilty conscience?' IF they do know then they go shopping and all is right with the world.
A good question. Humans are excellent at rationalizing.
There is some truth to that. In the UK there are thousands of UK workers out of work because they are on employer blacklists, aided and abetted by the state's police force. Most of the time these people on the blacklists are on them because they are trade unionists or have complained about health and safety matters in the workplace.
I wouldn't disagree with you, although it also depends on the hierarchy upon which you choose to join - if you have a choice in the matter.
Just a suggestion: Make a habit of emailing/calling your two senators every week (minimally - and calling's best if there is an alive staff receiving the message)...urging them to conduct Town Halls to repair the separation b/t them and us citizens by tapping into and representing their constituents and demand the spigot of killing materiel from the USA to Israel be closed immediately. Firing Blinken, McGurk and Hostein - all zionists - also a good idea.
If a guy you found unattractive contacted you every week urging you to have sex with him, would you take any notice?
You may get lucky with your emailing, but more likely you will receive formulaic responses in effect, saying, FOAD.
On subjects which are local, you are more likely to succeed than on matters where the politics are conducted at POTUS level or above.
I think you mean “Hochstein.”
Susan - avoiding the propaganda is just as valuable as seeking the truth as a first step. If you can simply detox from all the MSM nonsense for 6 months, you will feel much more grounded, happier and centred. You can simply focus on your own circle of influence and concern, without in any way supporting the Uniparty's group of genocidalists, fascists and oligarchs.
When you are ready to seek out the truth, you can then start to become ready to fight back based on unpalatable knowledge.
A lot of people can't face truth because they deep down worry that the effect of it would lead them to behave terribly to their kids. So they protect their own, rather than become warriors for truth.
In my life time we were lied to about the German Holocaust, the atomic bombs on Hiroshima. Lied to about how the arms race, the space race, and the local wars on any national this hemisphere were being treated like chattel slaves on vast plantations where ever the hell the Banana rethuglicans wanted thousands of acres of monoculture. Lied to about Columbus. Lied to about fucking ridiculous the diving beneath our desks would keep us safe. I watched teachers hips, and busts as she strolled the aisles of third graders aisle by aisle. Lied to weapons of mass destruction. Obama was going to close Quantanamo. But the filibuster is still here. The chicken-fried electoral community college is still here. We still do not have "The one vote equals one vote so all votes are counted and tallied for the the ones cast on every ballot. This system is rigged. House of cards
I wonder if there will come a time in history when people will deny the genocide in Gaza.
Keep on Susan. We can make it better. TY
Great post, caitlin, lots of truth here. It took me about 7 years to fully deprogram myself after retiring from the U. S. Government. I went into the Peace Corps right after college, then graduate school, then got a job with the State Department and the next thing I know it’s been 25 years of service for the Empire. It is truly an evil empire (but a very very clever one) because when you are in the middle of it you can’t think straight. It is hypnosis plus propaganda, plus textbooks full of lies from kindergarten through college. Plus endless policy papers from Washington made to look and sound “fair and just.”
I worked at a couple of universities after retiring from State and have hope for Gen Z. Pomona College, near where I live in Southern California, just expelled ten students for participating in a recent pro-Palestinian demonstration. And the college administration is using spies and electronic surveillance techniques to identify additional student participants so there is panic and fear on campus. Is this quality higher education? WTF. Anyway: The pro-Palestinian students at Pomona College are role models for us all.
There's nothing new about electronic surveillance in Universities - it was happening in the UK HEI system 30 years ago, including being done by the world's biggest medical 'foundation', the Wellcome Trust. Cambridge University selected the retired head of MI6 (UK's equivalent to CIA) to be the Master of Pembroke College, which says he was brought in to spy on the entire student population for various nefarious purposes. That was years ago. You've also got Bill Gates buying influence in 'HEIs' so that they all spout his globalist, verging-on-eugenicist mantras.
CJ>>"Most Americans (and most westerners generally) fail to truly see and understand how profoundly evil the US-centralized empire is..."
Yes, and those that do see PRETEND to have NOT seen it - people want to maintain the illusions and narratives that keep them in their comfort zones and away from resolving cognitive dissonances (for fear that they would unravel - as any normal person that intends on absorbing the reality of the US Empire would).
You're comfortable with the concept of telling your kids: 'Sorry kids, my commitment to truth in Israel means I've been sacked at work, you're going to have to go to the local school with all the druggies and the house is being repoed next week. So we're going to live in a tent or a caravan for quite some time', are you?
I see that you've decided to SPAM the comments section today with your non-sensical, reductionist, strawman musings all over the place...having a bad week and taking it out on this substack are you?
Maybe rusbot has a friend 😹
Zionist lobby organizations openly seeking fascism in Canada
Zionists are openly calling to “shut down” the upcoming Toronto talk by United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese. https://www.thecanadafiles.com/articles/zionist-lobby-organizations-openly-seeking-fascism-in-canada
Literary Institutions Are Pressuring Authors to Remain Silent About Gaza https://scheerpost.com/2024/10/26/literary-institutions-are-pressuring-authors-to-remain-silent-about-gaza/
Harvard Law School bans 60 students over pro-Palestine protest https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241025-harvard-law-school-bans-60-students-over-pro-palestine-protest/
Faculty Members Suspended From Harvard’s Main Library After ‘Study-In’ Protest
Harvard Library suspended roughly 25 faculty members from entering Widener Library for two weeks after they conducted a silent “study-in” protest in the library’s main reading room last week — an extraordinary disciplinary action taken by the University against its own faculty.
The faculty study-in protested the library’s decision to similarly suspend student protesters who conducted a pro-Palestine study-in last month. The University’s decision to suspend students from the library had already come under fire from free speech groups, including the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard.
During the faculty study-in, professors silently read materials on free speech and dissent while placing signs related to free speech and University policy on the tables in front of them. As they did so, Securitas guards noted down their names and ID numbers. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/10/25/faculty-members-suspended-harvard-library/
Microsoft fires employees who organized vigil for Palestinians killed in Gaza https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-fired-workers-israel-palestinians-gaza-72de6fe1f35db9398e3b6785203c6bbf
EU 'neglects' international law, maintains trade with illegal Israeli settlements
A top EU legal officer falsely argued that the recent ruling at the Hague does not oblige a ban on the import and sale of products from illegal Israeli settlements https://thecradle.co/articles/eu-neglects-international-law-maintains-trade-with-illegal-israeli-settlements
Former US State Department Official Says 30-Day Deadline for Israel To Let More Aid Into Gaza Is a PR Ploy
Hala Rharrit said the US is in violation of multiple foreign assistance laws by continuing to arm Israel https://news.antiwar.com/2024/10/24/former-us-state-department-official-says-30-day-deadline-for-israel-to-let-more-aid-into-gaza-is-a-pr-ploy/#gsc.tab=0
So we learn what to expect and isn't the repression giving us even more cause and inspiration? "On September 9, 1980, Berrigan, his brother Philip, and six others (the "Plowshares Eight") began the Plowshares movement. They trespassed onto the General Electric nuclear missile facility in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, where they damaged nuclear warhead nose cones and poured blood onto documents and files."
Daniel Berrigan - Wikipedia
Don't merely resist, but seek Divine Guidance. Daniel and Philip Berrigan were that way, as I recall.
There are several legal organisations that Will be, or may have already, taken these bad actors to court over their unconstitutional acts of suppression. Among them are The Center for Constitutional Rights, https://ccrjustice.org/
FIRE https://www.thefire.org/defending-your-rights/legal-support/fire-legal-network
and Palestine Legal, https://palestinelegal.org/
Wow! You must read a great deal of news. That's helpful : I won't do that.
I lifted that from the pertinent section of the days blog post. I do gather a lot of open-source information at drjohnsblog.substack.com , for those who might find it useful, always a free-service.
Damn good one Caitlin. Those who broke free of the propaganda can see the Empire crumbling. The Narrative of the Empire is getting perforated. Because the mask is ripped away so is the Moral High Ground. This will end in victory for the Resistance eventually. It's incremental, methodical and relentless. It will build momentum. Much change is coming.
We ain’t no resistance. Resistance means you lose. We are those who make the beast move. It cannot go on without us.
Thank you Caitlin. I so appreciate your speaking the truths that need to be told. I find a number of substacks are holding back less now. It is time. And most of us who have lived through helplessly witnessing and feeling the depths of suffering, anguish, death, torture and wanton destruction which the US/Israel and Western Corporate Colonial allies have inflicted upon the Gazans/Palestinians, Yemenis, Iraqis, now Lebanese, Syrians and on and on, has been unceasingly distressing and heartbreaking - We need now to speak and hear these bedrock truths to find how to begin to topple these inhuman, lethal power structures. As you say, it starts with "getting outside that matrix of manipulation" starting with recognizing the fraudulence of US Presidential elections, especially and blatantly this one. Every word you write is true.
"Only truth can lead to satisfaction."
"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” --John 8:32
"Workers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!"
Truth = freedom = satisfaction = unity = more freedom
In the current world, the truth will only set you free for two options:
1. Keeping the truth to yourself to remain in employment.
2. Freeing yourself from the possibility of being employed due to voicing the opinions of a 'domestic terrorist'.
The truth doesn't set you free from the actions of fearful sheeple, who follow the orders from above, which may include targeting you for recriminations, being stool pigeons etc etc.
It's not quite as simple as some people make out, understanding the consequences of knowing the truth.
Not if you're not already financially self-sufficient.
Up to 200,000,000 people were killed by the British Empire alone during its global reign of terror. Has anything changed?
This is the "media". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTt09yGQdhw
'Up to' is a very convenient piece of terminology. How far below 200 million do you think that number goes? How about bounding it by saying 'more than XXXX and up to YYYY', then we'll get a feel for how much moral outrage you are entitled to possess, eh?
This is just one country, over 50 years, and Britain invaded most of the World, between 2-3 centuries. I've read more detailed articles by Indian historians in recent years, but the last PC died and I don't have the accumulated bookmarks anymore. Still, you can get a feel for the sheer scale of this.
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/12/2/how-british-colonial-policy-killed-100-million-indians
And watch ALL of this, he soon turns to the British Empire after starting off on Columbus' atrocities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtBKDMN2U4s
The Hind Rajab Foundation has filed a case with the ICC against 1,000 Israeli soldiers for war crimes in Gaza.
https://www.hindrajabfoundation.org/perpetrators/hind-rajab-foundation-files-historic-icc-complaint-against-1000-israeli-soldiers-for-war-crimes-in-gaza
I think they could use our help. Please read the article and join me in making a contribution. https://buy.stripe.com/cN228hbY5g7jaM84gg
They have a filed a more recent case in Ecuador against an Ecuadorian involved in the attack on Al-Shifa hospital.
We'd all be so much better off if we sought truth based relationships and filtered our media consumption accordingly.
I'd be grateful to see Caitlin promote the campaigns, that I think are beginning to be more widespread, in the US, for ranked choice voting.
I personally feel that US citizens are in a really difficult position; in having two, main, corrupted Parties and no real ability to effectively vote outside of that, unless an outright majority of US citizens astonish the international world, at this election and vote for the US Green Party.
With the US' international influence being so significant, the problems with the US electoral system have an international effect. That's why I feel that it's important for anyone who can offer useful advice, to consider doing what they can to help.
From Australia, I've been trying to answer comments on social media posts and to point US readers in the direction of the campaigns for ranked choice voting, that already exist. The majority of readers, to whom I've replied, didn't actually know what that form of voting was, nor that Jill Stein has been advocating for it's introduction.
As Australian readers will probably know, Australia has preferential (ranked choice) voting at every election and it is not an "ominous" choice, that must be prevented, as I've read some US media outlets portray.
I feel that there's a difference between "supporting" either of the main candidates and recognising that one (Trump) would have an even more damaging effect than the other and recognising that not voting at all, would only increase the chances of Trump being elected.
One aspect of truth, as I see it, is that the US does have the foundations of what's needed for a government that would be appreciated and emulated, by other countries, if those foundations were working as they were created.
No matter what a person's opinions about a Constitutional Monarchy, or Queen Elizabeth II might be, I do often recall and agree with a quote of Queen Elizabeth's: "Democracy doesn't just happen all by itself; it must be worked at".
The Green Party has been working on genuine solutions to the problems of unbalanced corporate sponsorship of politicians, as well as working on legislation that would correctly designate AIPAC as the foreign organisation that it is.
If the fear of "wasting" a vote, by voting for a third Party, were taken away, through ranked choice voting, I believe that far greater numbers of US citizens would vote for the Green Party.
I'm not very familiar with how the Electoral College works, in the US. However; I've read a number of comments about the need to remove it, so that's another area in which advocacy could help?
I feel that this is a time when the spirit of action, for positive change, is as important as it was, when our parents/grandparents' generation wrote the guiding Conventions, such as the Genocide Convention and the Geneva Convention, as well as wrote the US laws that are being broken, right now.
“Only truth can lead to satisfaction.” I agree.
You often seem to imply you are all alone in the quest for truth. You are not. There are many of us out here on the same quest for truth. I’m now 78, was a high school junior when my hero JFK was murdered. That event started me on a lifelong quest for the truth. What I discovered was more horrible than I could have ever imagined, many of the same things you articulate so well.
My journey started with a BA in Sociology, then a BS in EE leading to a 35-year career in micro-circuit physical design beginning in 1981. Because of that combination of experience, I learned to view society as a system. The ability to find the truth is present in all human beings when presented with the facts. This is the basis of our jury system, one of the last remaining elements of our self-governing experiment. Albert Einstein has said, “If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.” Truth is found when the facts fit simply together along with all the other things we have learned.
The truth I have found is that we live inside a global fascist empire where fascism is defined as when private individuals (and a foreign country) gain control of our government for their own private enrichment. Our governing establishment does not like the fascist word because it points directly to them. When the fascist gain control, they use that power for their own private gain, erasing democracy and any idea of public good. Our global fascist empire is so complete it has us, as a country, agreeing to, and actually participating in a genocide.
I have researched this topic for more than a decade, putting together how this fascist empire was built and how we, along with the world, might defeat it. You have inspired me to do something about this by maybe putting my research into an e-book. If you would contact me via email, I would like to find a way to share what I have learned with you.
Alayna
Dear Catlin,
This is the best of all that I have read of your brilliant writing!
Kind regards,
Robert Demler
Sonoma, California
I agree with your initial assessment, but I have trouble squaring this with what I know about the life of Jimmy Carter after he left the office of president. I can accept every other candidate and president of my lifetime as "deeply evil," but Carter really doesn't feel that way to me.
Note, that it was only after Carter left office, forced by inflation?, that he was allowed to be that good man. There no space for that during his presidency. He deserves kudos for not continuing on the road they put him on, as all the other former presidents have done.
The best of a bad bunch.
We have made tremendous strides over the last year exposing this entire situation with Israel and the Zionists. In fact I get a wee bit hesitant to use that term Zionists because it makes people think of people like Netanyahu and his ilk. Truth is it goes far deeper than that. Twitter is probably ground zero for this.
To say I support Trump is a loaded term IMHO. That being said if the status quo continues I am fairly certain that site will be severely compromised. It was supposed to have already happened. I believe the mostly apolitical (at that time) Elon was allowed to purchase it in order to torpedo Trump’s Truth Social. If I am correct about that assumption it might have been the backfire heard around the world.
I say this to challenge your thoughts and understand there is a long game in all of this. We must be patient and understand that we have and are in a long term war. The enemy are Global Fascists who want to clamp down on the human race. People like Trump, Gabbard, Kennedy Jr, etc are not perfect but they buy us time. When I say “us” I mean humanity.
Take a look at the recent, excellent Chris Hedges Report with his piece entitled: "The Choice this Election is between Corporate and Oligarchic Power
There is a civil war within capitalism. Kamala Harris is the face of corporate power. Donald Trump is the mascot of the oligarchs. Either way, we lose."
I read that article and found it unconvincing. One might have stated Kamala Harris is the the mascot of the oligarchs and Donald Trump is face of corporate power and it would be equally true. To me it is just the Ins versus the Outs. This sort of conflict arises in every system of power. Then the Outs may become the Ins, but what ensues is just more of the old In-Out.
Team D is the political manifestation of the PMC. Team R fulfills a similar role with regard to Local Gentry.
I deleted my comment because it was harsh i suspect. I don’t mean it was harsh towards you. You have to understand if the left continues onward our voices will dramatically decrease. They almost did. Like I said, there will be no more do overs.
Trump and his cronies have given me no reason to think they will stifle speech. You should probably start there.
What “left”? This is one of Caitlin’s main points: people have been so indoctrinated that words no longer mean anything. The US is led by a cabal of fascists and oligarchs. Trump or Harris make no difference.
We are past the right/left or liberal/conservative matrix now. We have a monopolist ruling class dedicated to economic neoliberalism and military neoconservatism. That class, embedded in the bureaucracy of both political parties and into the foundations of our establishments doesn’t give a fuck who wins.
>>"You have to understand if the left continues onward our voices will dramatically decrease."
You wouldn't know what "LEFT" is if your life depended on it - as is apparent from your "deleted comment" and the present one.
As for Trump/cronies stifling speech, etc. - you really don't understand how the empire works. The empire doesn't care about your (or anyone else's) speech as long as it does not challenge the Empire and its objectives. The minute that you/whoever become an <opposing force>/<hindrance> to the empire, your speech (and more) will be stifled - regardless of Team D or Team R (which are BOTH part of the Empire) - regardless of Trump or Harris. Trump and Harris are simply hired actors playing their part according to the wishes/demands of the Empire.
Also, please educate yourself on what "leftist" ideology is, as you seem to be under the influence of "propagandized narratives".
Kennedy Jnr and Trump are balls deep with the Israelis.
Wtfu
i have no illusions about the evils of the US and the rapacious Capitalist system under which progressives and lovers of freedom suffer. The system is hopelessly rigged against the worling class and especially minorities. Taking up arms against the fascist state while needed is suicidal given the masses of military and police arrayed against such a movement. If the US and its partner Israel are to be defeated it will have to be accomplished by Russia,China,Iran and other countries via economics,boycotts and the abolition of Nuclear weapons. I am 81 and don't expect this to happen in my lifetime.
Bernie Sanders just welcomes that ex-republican fascist couple to the democratic party
progressives support state -mandated "liberalism"
That is called authoritraianism