by Caitlin Johnstone - 5 April 2021
The empire doesn’t get enough credit for propagandizing us into arguing with each other about whether our expensive new multifront cold war should prioritize escalations against Russia or China, instead of whether that cold war should occur at all. Truly a masterful manipulation.
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Opposing US imperialism shouldn’t be about ideology. It shouldn’t matter if you’re a communist or an anarchist or libertarian or whatever; murder is murder, and the US is the most murderous regime in the world. Principled people oppose its murderousness regardless of ideology.
It’s offensive how often people assume your opposition to US imperialism has something to do with the government it happens to be targeting today. When they’re ramping up against China you’re a commie, when it’s Russia you’re a Trumper. No, I just oppose the worst actions of the worst government on earth.
If you only oppose imperialist warmongering against capitalist countries because you are a capitalist, then guess what? You’re a dick. Same if you only oppose imperialist warmongering against communist countries because you’re a communist. It’s not okay to murder anyone, asshole.
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A government that is currently bombing other countries is worse than a government that isn’t. For fuck’s sake. For FUCK’S SAKE. How is this not extremely obvious to everyone??
So much propaganda has gone into manipulating westerners into believing that dropping explosives on human beings is fine and normal. People fail to recognize the horror solely because they’ve been propagandized in such a way that they don’t think too hard about what bombs are.
If people just had a really conscious understanding of what bombs do to human anatomy, how it’s impossible to prevent civilian deaths in bombings, and how bombs are actually being used in our world today, that alone would kill all public belief in the US empire’s moral authority.
Joe Biden kills kids.https://t.co/9kdvUvf8Wg
— Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ (@caitoz) April 2, 2021
It’s stupid how often imperialists bleat the terms “whataboutism” and “false equivalency” in defense of US imperialism when the US empire is far worse than any government it targets. Yes, the US is not equivalent to empire-targeted nations; it’s far, far more violent and brutish.
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“I oppose all governments, not just the US government.”
If your opposition does not account for and reflect the fact that the US government is orders of magnitude more violent and destructive than any other government, you support the US government.
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The US empire is indisputably far more violent, thuggish and destructive than any of the governments it targets, and the aggressions of empire-targeted governments are usually a response to US imperialist aggression. Commentary on international dynamics should reflect this fact.
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“Why do you only criticize the US and its allies? There are other bad governments you know.”
“Why do you only focus on the fact that your house is on fire? There are other problems with your house besides fire you know. Like, the decorating is bad. And the paint is chipping.”
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You couldn’t ask for a better illustration of the way our minds are dominated by narrative than the fact that most politically minded Americans sincerely believe there’s been a major change in their country since January. Only the narratives changed, but they think reality did.
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Childish idealists say we should move away from the systems that are killing our planet and pushing us toward nuclear war. Smart realists say we should keep destroying our ecosystem for as long as it’s profitable and when it’s gone we’ll just fly up to space and frolic among the stars.
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The so-called liberal world order is a planetary status quo of nonstop murderous imperialism, exploitative neoliberalism and ecocidal capitalism running underneath a propaganda soundtrack babbling endlessly about how everything is fine and it’s going to get better any minute now.
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In liberal free democracies you’re allowed to think, speak and vote however you want, but they train you how to think, speak and vote from birth, and they keep on training you until the day you die.
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How to be a millionaire media pundit:
Never have any idea what the fuck you are talking about.
Be consistently wrong about everything.
Never admit when you’ve been proven wrong.
Only tell the truth when it serves power.
Never feature leftist or anti-imperialist guests.
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Believing that mainstream perspectives are mainstream because they are better is as silly as believing mainstream music or movies are mainstream because they are better.
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The credibility of US government agencies was so damaged by Iraq that all interventionist agendas since have relied on consent manufacturing from much more diverse sources; foreign governments, “independent” NGOs, “independent” narrative management firms like Bellingcat, etc.
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At this point the labels “Russian bot”, “CCP propagandist”, “Assadist”, “conspiracy theorist”, “tankie” and “genocide/atrocity denier” all mean the same thing: “This person is disputing key imperialist narratives and the narrative management team would like you to ignore them”.
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If you think the anti-China hysteria is bad now, wait til the propaganda campaign really gets going. It hasn’t even started yet. It’s going to get so much worse.
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Condemning anti-Asian hate without condemning anti-China imperialist propaganda is supporting anti-Asian hate.
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It sure was nice of China to start doing a bunch of evil things right when the US empire began ramping up its escalations against Beijing to prevent the upending of the unipolar world order.
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Right wingers freaking out about China live in such tightly insulated echo chambers that most of them don’t even realize they’re parroting the CNN/Biden line.
❖
“I oppose all governments, not just the US government.”
If your opposition does not account for and reflect the fact that the US government is orders of magnitude more violent and destructive than any other government, you support the US government.
❖
The US empire is indisputably far more violent, thuggish and destructive than any of the governments it targets, and the aggressions of empire-targeted governments are usually a response to US imperialist aggression. Commentary on international dynamics should reflect this fact.
❖
“Why do you only criticize the US and its allies? There are other bad governments you know.”
“Why do you only focus on the fact that your house is on fire? There are other problems with your house besides fire you know. Like, the decorating is bad. And the paint is chipping.”
❖
You couldn’t ask for a better illustration of the way our minds are dominated by narrative than the fact that most politically minded Americans sincerely believe there’s been a major change in their country since January. Only the narratives changed, but they think reality did.
❖
Childish idealists say we should move away from the systems that are killing our planet and pushing us toward nuclear war. Smart realists say we should keep destroying our ecosystem for as long as it’s profitable and when it’s gone we’ll just fly up to space and frolic among the stars.
❖
The so-called liberal world order is a planetary status quo of nonstop murderous imperialism, exploitative neoliberalism and ecocidal capitalism running underneath a propaganda soundtrack babbling endlessly about how everything is fine and it’s going to get better any minute now.
❖
In liberal free democracies you’re allowed to think, speak and vote however you want, but they train you how to think, speak and vote from birth, and they keep on training you until the day you die.
❖
How to be a millionaire media pundit:
Never have any idea what the fuck you are talking about.
Be consistently wrong about everything.
Never admit when you’ve been proven wrong.
Only tell the truth when it serves power.
Never feature leftist or anti-imperialist guests.
❖
Believing that mainstream perspectives are mainstream because they are better is as silly as believing mainstream music or movies are mainstream because they are better.
❖
The credibility of US government agencies was so damaged by Iraq that all interventionist agendas since have relied on consent manufacturing from much more diverse sources; foreign governments, “independent” NGOs, “independent” narrative management firms like Bellingcat, etc.
❖
At this point the labels “Russian bot”, “CCP propagandist”, “Assadist”, “conspiracy theorist”, “tankie” and “genocide/atrocity denier” all mean the same thing: “This person is disputing key imperialist narratives and the narrative management team would like you to ignore them”.
❖
If you think the anti-China hysteria is bad now, wait til the propaganda campaign really gets going. It hasn’t even started yet. It’s going to get so much worse.
❖
Condemning anti-Asian hate without condemning anti-China imperialist propaganda is supporting anti-Asian hate.
❖
It sure was nice of China to start doing a bunch of evil things right when the US empire began ramping up its escalations against Beijing to prevent the upending of the unipolar world order.
❖
Right wingers freaking out about China live in such tightly insulated echo chambers that most of them don’t even realize they’re parroting the CNN/Biden line.
Every US Secretary of State is a literal psychopath. It's part of the job description. https://t.co/InyvFW9KM5
— Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ (@caitoz) March 30, 2021
The idea of land ownership wigs me out. Oh, you own it? Who said? God? Get the fuck outta here Doug, you don’t own shit.
You have a piece of paper whose fragile legality rests on the pillaging of pirates stealing land by force only a few hundred years ago, and now you reckon you can throw me out of my home because I can’t send you enough game points to your little bank app there? How about no.
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So many secretly yearn for a direct experience of the divine while adamantly refusing to consider the possibility that they are already currently having one.
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Spirituality, inner work, awareness of abusive dynamics, class consciousness, peace activism and revolution are all the same thing. They’re all an expansion of awareness into parts of humanity that have been lacking in consciousness, whether they’re in yourself or in the world.
It’s all about making the unseen seen, whether that be internal dynamics within yourself which cause suffering or large-scale dynamics out in the world which cause suffering. Clear seeing and dysfunction cannot coexist, whether you’re talking about war, racism or substance abuse.
Bringing consciousness to your inner childhood trauma is the same as bringing consciousness to the reality of imperialist propaganda. Bringing consciousness to your true nature is the same as bringing consciousness to economic injustice. It’s all the same expansion of awareness.
Nobody owns this. Nobody has mastered this. No one person on earth sees all dynamics in themselves and all dynamics in the world. We’re all endarkened in some ways, trying to make things more enlightened in more ways. We’re all part of a collective expansion of consciousness.
We’re all part of this movement from unseeing to seeing, whether we realize it or not. We’re either working to bring things into the light of truth, or we’re fighting to keep things hidden, or a little from both columns A and B depending on what we’ve got going on. Choose seeing.
You have a piece of paper whose fragile legality rests on the pillaging of pirates stealing land by force only a few hundred years ago, and now you reckon you can throw me out of my home because I can’t send you enough game points to your little bank app there? How about no.
❖
So many secretly yearn for a direct experience of the divine while adamantly refusing to consider the possibility that they are already currently having one.
❖
Spirituality, inner work, awareness of abusive dynamics, class consciousness, peace activism and revolution are all the same thing. They’re all an expansion of awareness into parts of humanity that have been lacking in consciousness, whether they’re in yourself or in the world.
It’s all about making the unseen seen, whether that be internal dynamics within yourself which cause suffering or large-scale dynamics out in the world which cause suffering. Clear seeing and dysfunction cannot coexist, whether you’re talking about war, racism or substance abuse.
Bringing consciousness to your inner childhood trauma is the same as bringing consciousness to the reality of imperialist propaganda. Bringing consciousness to your true nature is the same as bringing consciousness to economic injustice. It’s all the same expansion of awareness.
Nobody owns this. Nobody has mastered this. No one person on earth sees all dynamics in themselves and all dynamics in the world. We’re all endarkened in some ways, trying to make things more enlightened in more ways. We’re all part of a collective expansion of consciousness.
We’re all part of this movement from unseeing to seeing, whether we realize it or not. We’re either working to bring things into the light of truth, or we’re fighting to keep things hidden, or a little from both columns A and B depending on what we’ve got going on. Choose seeing.
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