Vietnam War--A false story was circulated that North Vietnamese torpedo boats unleashed two "unprovoked" attacks on US Destroyers in international waters. This led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which allowed President Lyndon B. Johnson to dramatically escalate U.S. military involvement.
Grenada War--A false story was circulated by the US government accusing Grenada of constructing facilities to aid a Soviet-Cuban military buildup in the Caribbean based on a 9,000-foot runway which allegedly could accommodate the largest Soviet aircraft, such as the An-12, An-22, and the An-124.
Kuwait War-- A false story was circulated that Iraqi soldiers went into hospital rooms where babies were in incubators and took the babies out of the incubators and stole the incubators, leaving the babies on the cold floor to die.
Iraq War--A totally false lie was repeated ad nauseam that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and was a threat to world peace.
Libya War--A false story was concocted which claimed that Obama and Clinton were just trying to protect civilians and prevent a humanitarian disaster. Its actions revealed that all along it was intent on regime change.
Ukraine Coup--A false story was circulated that the massacre in 2014 during the Maidan uprising was perpetrated by the Ukrainian security forces loyal to the legally elected president, Viktor Yanukovych. In fact, the Maidan massacre trial and investigation produced overwhelming evidence that the victims were massacred by snipers firing from buildings controlled by the anti-Yanukovych protestors.
Ukraine War--A false narrative was created claiming that the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was totally "unprovoked" and is indicative of Russia's aggressive intentions to re-create the Soviet Union by absorbing Ukraine and perhaps other European countries.
Great list. Charlie K. But You missed one; the one that made every war You mentioned since then possible and inevitable.
And that is the explanation that some Raghead living in a cave in Afghanistan pulled off 9/11 all by himself. Even to the point of standing down NORAD that day, and wiring the three Towers for the planned demolitions that brought them down.
And thus was launched "The Forever War," which includes Iraq and Libya. And now that the so-called Global" so-called "War On" so-called "Terrorism" [aka the GWOT] has lost its sting, we have Cold War II in Ukraine and over in East Asia.
It is important to remember that the intent of "The Forever War" in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, etc, was not to "win" it. Rather, the intent was just to have it; and to sow further conflict in the impacted regions. All the while waiting for the emergence of a new and improved Cold War II with Moscow and Beijing.
For now, Russia has recovered from the collapse of the USSR ~ and China from the madness of Mao ~ sufficiently for both, individually or especially as a duopoly, to present clear, viable, credible "Threats" to America's 30-year global unipolar hegemony since the end of Cold War I. Or so we are informed.
The Forever War was, is, and ever will be nothing but a half-time show designed to keep the troops visibly engaged, the defense contractors profitably employed, and the American people comfortably numb to protracted conflicts in places that most of them can't find on a map of the world.
When the USSR and European Communism collapsed in the autumn of 1991, lots of folks in America's military-industrial-congressional complex were fretting about who their Enemy and Threat would be now, so as to justify keeping their budgets at record high levels.
And the folks in the White House and Pentagon who had pulled off OPERATION DESERT STORM earlier that year in Kuwait and Iraq had already started the process of providing exactly that answer.
My list only includes some of the most egregious examples of duplicity and malfeasance. What is truly amazing and almost beyond comprehension is that, despite this track record of fabrication, falsehood and bold-faced lying, nothing seems to change. The MSM just carries on and acts as if none of this ever happened. So, year after year they faithfully continue to regurgitate the latest drivel dished out by the Pentagon, National Security Council, CIA, etc. as if the information/analysis shared by these nefarious agencies is factually accurate. One would think that, after this grotesque track record of total duplicity, it would be the exact opposite! But no, the lies are simply swept under a rug, and then it's on to the next war unleashed by the US National Security State (regardless of which party sits in the Oval Office), all justified with a fresh batch of lies and fabrications. Not only are all the lies and fabrications dutifully reported by the MSM, but also the overwhelming majority of the American public absorbs it all without questioning for one second its veracity. This process defies all logic and reason. I don't think anyone has really come up with an adequate explanation for this phenomenon. For me, "manufacturing consent" does not adequately explain the process by which the human brain can be so perverted so as to believe anything no matter how many lies it is exposed to. The bigger question is, How the hell do you ever cure this disease? The Germans were cured of their allegiance to Nazism 60+ years ago by having their country reduced to ashes. Are we to conclude that this is the only cure?
Propaganda and illusions are important here. A willingness to believe. Those who question the dominant narrative are shunted aside, or denounced, or ignored. Those who go along have their voices amplified, their power enhanced.
And so people become cynical, desperate, disillusioned, and they grasp for "solutions" like Trump. Whereas we know the only solution with a chance is a mass movement. But how to bring people together when there's so much effort to keep us divided?
I think the challenge before us is quite overwhelming. The last time there was any serious investigation into the criminal behavior of the National Security State was way back in 1975 when, due to the pressure brought above by the abundance of mass movements at that time (anti-war/feminist/Black Power, etc.), the Church Committee was formed to delve into the rampant criminality against the civilian population. Even though that investigation uncovered all kinds of malfeasance, no one was held accountable. Nowadays, look what happens when similar criminality is exposed. Julian Assange is being slowly murdered in prison for publishing the lies and crimes of the US National Security State. Others--John Kiriakou, Jeffrey Sterling, etc.--are prosecuted and vilified by the MSM, or simply ignored altogether. Concerning mass movements, the last example of any significance took place in the weeks before the launch of the US-led invasion of Iraq 20 years ago. Regardless of the fact that the movement took on global proportions, bringing together 36 million people in almost 3,000 protests across the globe, it proved incapable of stopping the mass slaughter in Iraq. And no one--not Bush, Rumsfeld, Powell, Wolfowitz, Rice, Cheney--was ever threatened with prosecution for war crimes. The idea that these people were culpable for their actions and should be prosecuted as war criminals even seems preposterous. We are now living in an era (less than 50 years since the Church Committee) when even questioning the actions of the National Security State in any form is verboten. The National Security State has created an environment which is, for all intents and purposes, impervious to criticism. Anyone who dares to do so will wind up in prison or denounced as a "Putin apologist." This is a new kind of McCarthyism that appears to be all encompassing. When no one in a position of power is ever held accountable for the crimes they commit in the name of "National Security," it is hard to see how to crack through the edifice of invincibility that has been erected by the National Security State.
Yes. The National Security State has lost all its major wars since 1945 but has won the war for the hearts, minds, wallets, checkbooks, and credit cards of America. (That line -- maybe I'll use it in a future piece.)
We pay interest on the national debt every year, Jeff. That debt also limits spending programs (in the name of fiscal responsibility; not how it doesn't lessen spending on weapons and war); it weakens the dollar; it tends to drive personal interest rates higher, making it more expensive to pay your credit card, to get an affordable mortgage, etc.
Don't worry, whether we know it or not, we're paying.
Who pays the interest on that Debt, Bill? The American taxpayer? Or the Federal Reserve by simply printing more paper money?
And those interest rates are also controlled completely by the Federal Reserve. And how high have they been until just very recently? At all-time record lows.
And how weak is the dollar when compared to any other national currencies? If it is so weak, then why is it still the global reserve currency?
And finally, the Debt doesn't limit spending programs on non-national "defense and security" programs. Those limits are imposed and inflicted by the elected politicians in DC that the American People keep sending there.
But now that the Debt Ceiling has been eliminated until January 2025, what excuse do those politicians have now?
Before prosecuting Cheney [and his lapdog Bush], Rumsfeld, Powell, Wolfowitz, and Rice for war crimes perpetrated and perpetuated AFTER 9/11, they should have been impeached for Dereliction of Duty for their failure to protect the American People and their Life, Liberty, and Property from “all enemies, foreign and domestic” ON 9/11.
As i wrote back in the spring of 2004, the Grounds For Impeachment were [and still are]:
“1. That senior- and lesser-level officials failed to efficiently and effectively manage and execute the national defense, counter-terrorism, intelligence, law enforcement, immigration, and sovereign security tasks, duties, responsibilities, and functions of the Executive Branch of the federal government of the United States of America, so as to have allegedly completely failed to detect and then actually completely failed to prevent the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
“2. That senior- and lesser-level officials failed to efficiently and effectively react and respond to the simultaneous highjacking of four commercial aircraft and to execute established standard emergency operational policies and procedures, which directly resulted in the deaths and injuries of thousands of United States citizens and in the loss of and damage to billions of dollars of private and public United States property.
“THESE INDIVIDUALS ARE THUS DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GREATEST LAW ENFORCEMENT, INTELLIGENCE, ANTI-TERRORISM, NATIONAL DEFENSE, AND HOMELAND SECURITY FAILURE IN THE HISTORY OF THIS NATION, AND COMPLETELY FAILED IN THEIR CONSTITUTIONALLY-MANDATED ULTIMATE DUTY AND RESPONSIBILITY TO PRESERVE AND PROTECT THE LIFE, LIBERTY, AND PROPERTY OF AMERICAN CITIZENS.
“If mere incompetence is not a “high crime or misdemeanor,” then complicity is all that and treason. There is a substantial body of evidence that would stand in a court of criminal law that points to official complicity in 9.11 at the highest levels of the government, including actions taken after the attacks to prevent disclosure of the actual perpetrators. For a summary, with detailed reference to substantiating documentation, see THE NEW PEARL HARBOR: Disturbing Questions About the Bush Administration and 9/11, by David Ray Griffin, Olive Branch Press, 2004.” [EMPHASIS added.]
The media smears antiwar and leftist voices. Presents them as crooks, scammers, foreign agents, liars, etc. People read and watch this and adopt those views as their own. People don't read a NYT Ukraine article and then go to the library to find a book on Ukraine. They assume the Times reporters read all the books and that these reporters know the truth. And so the people read and watch msm and then go out into the world and repeat the exact same unsubstantiated arguments to anyone who disagrees with them.
When you or I challenge their arguments, for a 1/4 second they realize they have no idea what they're talking about. Then they remember the formula, and call us names.
If a critical mass of Americans did that ~ especially #1 ~ that would send a very loud and clear message to Swampland and the perpetrators and perpetuators of all that Bullshit.
Honestly I wonder which would be more difficult in terms of legal challenges. Yard rock or none of the above. Leaning towards the latter, since the former is something that exists and was born in the US and is definitely older than 35 years old.
Heh. i wouldn't emphasize Its last qualification too much, Rachel.
Not given all the pissing and moaning going on of late about America's RGC, Ruling Gerantocracrit Class.
In any event, THANK YOU for introducing me to Lee Camp, who, quite honestly, i had never heard of until i subscribed to Yard Rock's Email Updates and ended up on Mr Camp's website.
Which led me to order a Kindle version of BULLET POINTS AND PUNCH LINES with the Foreword by Chris Hedges and Introduction by Jimmy Dore. Which leads me to believe that i have a good, full nite's worth of great reading on tap. ~ jeff
At this stage of The Game, Rachel, Yard Rock has my complete and total endorsement and, assuming that 1], NOTC is not on the ballot, and 2], that there is an election in November 2024 ~ which at this stage of That Game, is no sheerly safe bet ~ It will get my vote.
i wonder if making Yard Rock and None Of These Candidates running mates for Election2024 would work.
Let me qualify that. If Yard Rock was on the ballot for President, i would not vote NOTC, but for It. But NOTC would stay on the ballot for each, every, and all of the Congressional elections.
I find Rachael's commentary on Ukrainian History to be a real eye-opener. Let us hope it gets a chance to open more eyes than our complicit / corrupt (take your pick) American Media.
Military Training and Political Violence in the Americas
Leslie Gill. Published 2004
Located at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia, the School of the Americas (soa) is a U.S. Army center that has trained more than sixty thousand soldiers and police, mostly from Latin America, in counterinsurgency and combat-related skills since it was founded in 1946. So widely documented is the participation of the School’s graduates in torture, murder, and political repression throughout Latin America that in 2001 the School officially changed its name to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. Lesley Gill goes behind the façade and presents a comprehensive portrait of the School of the Americas.
Gill exposes the School’s institutionalization of state-sponsored violence, the havoc it has wrought in Latin America, and the strategies used by activists seeking to curtail it...
...Gill describes the School’s mission and training methods and reveals how its students, alumni, and officers perceive themselves in relation to the dirty wars that have raged across Latin America. Assessing the School’s role in U.S. empire-building, she shows how Latin America’s brightest and most ambitious military officers are indoctrinated into a stark good-versus-evil worldview, seduced by consumer society and the “American dream,” and enlisted as proxies in Washington’s war against drugs and “subversion.”
“Lesley Gill has produced an in-depth exposé of the militaristic mentality, socioethnic tensions, and outrageous atrocities of the empire’s Praetorian Guard. Insightful and richly researched, a work of superior quality.” — Michael Parenti, author of The Terrorism Trap and The Assassination of Julius Caesar
In 1990, former ~ and now defrocked and excommunicated ~ Catholic Maryknoll Priest Father Roy Bourgeois and a small group of supporters launched SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS WATCH to “protest the training of mainly Latin American military officers, by the United States Department of Defense, at the School of the Americas (SOA) at Fort Moore (formerly Fort Benning).” [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_the_Americas_Watch ]
At http://www.resistersbook.org/pdf/regular.pdf is a PDF of the book FROM WARRIORS TO RESISTERS: U.S. Veterans on Terrorism, originally published in 2002 with a third edition in 2019. It tells the story of a number of American military Veterans who have protested against the SOA/WHINSEC, and, in some cases, gone to jail for their efforts.
Beginning at page 21 are extracts from the journal i kept during on the 52-day Fast and Prayer Vigil i conducted at the Front Gate of Ft Benning in support of then-Father Roy and SOAW in April-June 2001.
The United States has for decades been committed to educating military leaders from developing nations — so that those military leaders can then return to their countries and stage violent coups. When GOP Congressman Matt Gaetz recently asked a Pentagon official why we keep training coup leaders, the military official could only spew military double-speak about “core values” and “curriculum.”
Jimmy discusses the indisputable fact that the United States has routinely supported coups around the globe since World War II.
U.S. General Confronted For Overthrowing 11 African Governments Since 2008
Since World War II, during a supposed golden age of peace, the United States military has killed or helped kill some 20 million people, overthrown at least 36 governments, interfered in at least 86 foreign elections, attempted to assassinate over 50 foreign leaders, and dropped bombs on people in over 30 countries.
There is a reason that most countries polled in December 2013 by Gallup called the United States the greatest threat to peace in the world, and why Pew found that viewpoint increased in 2017.
But it is a reason that eludes that strain of U.S. academia that first defines war as something that nations and groups other than the United States do, and then concludes that war has nearly vanished from the earth.
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.
The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie.
It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
'The illusory truth effect and the “unprovoked” invasion Of Ukraine'
Arguably the single most egregious display of war propaganda in the 21st century occurred last year, when the entire western political/media class began uniformly bleating the word “unprovoked” in reference to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On February 23 of last year, the day before the invasion began, the New York Times editorial board wrote that “an unprovoked invasion of a sovereign European state is an unprovoked declaration of war on a scale, on a continent and in a century when it was thought to be no longer possible.”
After the war began, the Biden White House released a statement titled “Remarks by President Biden on Russia’s Unprovoked and Unjustified Attack on Ukraine.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken shared Biden’s statement on Twitter with the comment “Russia’s premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine blatantly disregards the lives of innocent men, women, and children, Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and international law.”
In early March of last year the New York Times editorial board wrote that western sanctions against Russia in retaliation for the invasion “have demonstrated that there are consequences for unprovoked wars of aggression.”
In April of last year the New York Times editorial board again repeated this slogan, writing that Putin had “ordered an unprovoked war to satisfy his ambitions of empire and the destruction of a neighbouring nation.”
In May of last year the New York Times editorial board reiterated that “Ukraine deserves support against Russia’s unprovoked aggression.”
According to analyst Jeffrey Sachs, the New York Times used the word unprovoked “no fewer than 26 times, in five editorials, 14 opinion columns by NYT writers, and seven guest op-eds.”
One never-fail "tell" is the frequent, emphatic repetition of some word or phrase, especially by public figures or those with unlimited access to news media. It almost always confirms that a lie is being told. Repetition and emphasis of it is so necessary to sell it (and to convince the teller that it's being bought).
Many of us had noticed that bit of chicanery - and it made it clear that those using it were desperately lying to the public.
Or as Caitlin Johnstone wrote,
"In an interview with the Useful Idiots podcast not too long ago, Noam Chomsky repeated his argument that the only reason we hear the word “unprovoked” every time anyone mentions Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the mainstream news media is because it ABSOLUTELY WAS PROVOKED, and they know it."
Wow, there's a lot to respond to there. I think the empire managers created a world that mixes the best of both authors. The truth is certainly concealed from us, per Orwell. One concealment strategy is literal distraction per Huxley- promoting the individual, promoting vanity and superficial slogans to focus the majority of us on shallow goals. This works because most people don't question this consumeristic purposelessness until they're older, at which point they've invested in it for so long it's nearly impossible to change ways. That distraction could be mostly a side effect of capitalism, but I think there's some direction to it as well.
They've also sucked the economic life out of most Americans, making us work longer hours and harder than ever just to "stay in place". Since people without wealth can't choose their occupation like people with wealth, and because the jobs they get are so exploitative and inhumane, people are miserable.
It's natural that miserable people turn to alcohol, drugs, stupid three second video reels, or whatever addiction.
I definitely need to revisit Huxley when I finish Orwell. I just prefer explanations that lay the blame for our misery on this empire that has so abandoned, lied to, and mocked its people and every value the country is SUPPOSED to embrace. I mean, did any other cruel empire of the past have such a successful, wide-ranging propaganda operation that convinced its population that the evil things it did were actually quite holy and good and justified? I suppose there very well could have been that kind of empire in the past.
In any case, I give people a lot of breaks for believing the bullshit they're fed. This is a very sophisticated operation, and people are so busy working at jobs they hate to learn how to read the news and sift through the lies. Also I'm tired of the animosity. I "awoke" to the true meaning of the US after 9/11 and the Iraq invasion. But by 2008 or so I completely stopped paying attention to American politics. I even lived abroad for a couple years. I'd apologize to people on behalf of Bush 2. But I just couldn't handle the reality I found and I buried it so deep that I didn't wake up again until 2021. (The railroad contract dispute was what did it. For whatever reason I got very interested in the rail workers' contract fight. Seeing both parties screw them, while one party screwed them and simultaneously SAID they supported them, that shattered my complacency. I HAD to pay attention. The dominoes fell. And since then I keep telling myself "YOU KNEW THIS BEFORE!"
Since I've literally turned my brain off in the past, I empathize with people who ignore the news or accept (with general disinterest) the empire's talking points. It's not like it's easy to find the rebuttals anymore. Per Orwell. And we're surrounded by meaningless distractions, per Huxley.
The argument over which writer was more prophetic, Orwell or Huxley, is one I’ve heard for decades. Well before I had read either of these works, I recall family members discussing Neil Postman’s book AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH (1985), which contrasts Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s BRAVE NEW WORLD.
By the title of Postman’s book, you can probably guess which dystopian author he believed was more prescient about our future. Nevertheless, I think Postman offers an objective overview that boils down the dystopia each authored feared. Here’s a highly relevant passage from the book.
“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy."
As Huxley remarked in BRAVE NEW WORLD REVISITED, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny ‘failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions.’
"In 1984," Huxley added, "people are controlled by inflicting pain. In BRAVE NEW WORLD, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure."
In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.”
I’ll leave it to readers to discuss which author was more prophetic, Huxley or Orwell. But it’s first worth examining the primary thing both of these dystopias had in common.
Now, it would be fun to explore all the themes 1984 and BRAVE NEW WORLD shared—and I might just do that in a future article—but it’s clear these dystopias had one glaring similarity: each society was dominated by a government that controlled, monitored, and lied to its people.
At some level, then, it’s safe to say that both Orwell and Huxley—two of the most brilliant writers of the 20th century—saw a powerful, centralized government as a dangerous and evil force.
In this respect, their views were similar to America’s founding fathers, whose deep-seated distrust of government and centralized power led them to create a government built on checks and balances.
The Constitution was deliberately designed to frustrate and divide power because the founders saw concentrated power as an evil force, a threat to life and liberty.
“Government, even in its best state, is a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one,” said Thomas Paine.
Few people see government this way today, which is odd considering that the 20th century demonstrated the horrors of collectivism and statism in tragic detail. (Even putting the two World Wars aside, GOVERNMENTS MURDERED AN ESTIMATED 200 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY ALONE.) [https://reason.com/volokh/2022/11/09/data-on-mass-murder-by-government-in-the-20th-century/ ; EMPHASIS added.]
I expect that people will continue to debate whose work was more prophetic, Orwell’s or Huxley’s—and that’s great. I enjoy such discussions.
But we should be more mindful of what unites these two masterpieces and recognize that the state is, at best, a necessary evil. If we forget that lesson, dystopia will arrive before we know it.
This leaves me with a final, fun question for readers to consider: do people know it when they live in a dystopia? Curious what you think. (And I’ll offer my thoughts in the near future.)
Well there's the people and there's the government. The two don't necessarily connect. Given the 24/7 support of this war by the mainstream media it's heartening that so many people have grown skeptical or cynical about our funding of this destruction. Unfortunately the decisions are made by the government rather than by the people.
There is no compulsion to negotiate with Russia – Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council Secretary
VALENTYNA ROMANENKO — Tuesday, 15 August 2023, 13:41
"Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, maintains that international partners are not persuading Ukraine to conduct "peace talks" with the aggressor state of Russia.
Source: Danilov in an interview with the Italian newspaper la Repubblica
Details: When a journalist said that partners were trying to persuade the Ukrainian authorities to negotiate an end to the war and asked what scenario they were proposing (for example, the Korean scenario - a country divided in two), Danilov replied in the negative.
Quote: "Reports of this alleged pressure are not confirmed by anything. They only exist on the internet. I don’t know, perhaps this is the work of the Russian troll army, but our partners have not set any demands to negotiate. Ukraine will solve this problem independently, and there can be no negotiations with Putin. Russia must be destroyed like a modern-day Carthage. You can't leave the enemy behind." https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/08/15/7415644/
"HOW DID YOU LOSE THE WAR, DADDY? WHY DID YOU LOSE THE WAR ON FREEDOM?"
How and Why indeed, my child.
The War On Freedom...it officially began on September 11, 2001...and we started losing it the very next day. How?
We lost it by expending all those precious and limited resources [time, energy, effort, money, and, above all, life force] trying to stop or change or otherwise deal with SYMPTOMS: as in The Invasion and Occupation of Iraq; as in The USA PATRIOT Act; as in The Ascendancy of The American Empire; as in The so-called War Against so-called Terrorism [at home and abroad]; as in Regime Rotation here at home among Bones and Skulls and their ilk… .
We lost it by wasting our lives trying to change the world by dealing with SYMPTOMS instead of the DISEASE, with EFFECTS instead of the CAUSE, with RESULTS instead of the ACTUATING FORCE....
We lost it by staying there. And so we CONTINUED to CONTINUE to FAIL. We continued to accomplish absolutely NOTHING that we wished to achieve.
We were able to feel good about ourselves for TRYING, for being SEEN and HEARD, but we continued to fail to accomplish anything, to change anything, to make any Real difference in the Real World.
The War On Freedom...it officially began on September 11, 2001...and we started losing it on the very next day. Why?
Because the DISEASE, the CAUSE, the ACTUATING FORCE that we should have been devoting EVERY LAST BIT and ALL of our resources to was seeking out, finding, unearthing, exposing, and unleashing The Truth, The Real Truth, the Whole Truth, and NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH About September 11, 2001: about WHAT Actually Happened, about HOW It Actually Happened, about WHY It Actually Happened, about WHO Actually Made It Happen, and above all, about Precisely WHO Let It Happen.
Because we did not do this, there were more Invasions and Occupations, and more USA PATRIOT Acts, and more rising of The American Empire, and more, more, and more so-called Wars Against more, more, more so-called Enemies and Threats, and “Axes of Evil.” At home and abroad.
ALL in the Name Of and Because Of and As Response To and Justified by September 11, 2001.
And thus, we became ACCOMPLICES.
Because if all the resources named above that have been spent on anything BUT 9.11 TRUTH over the last years --(protesting Iraq, going to the Party Conventions, other rallies and marches and vigils and parades, all the books and movies and articles and poems and bullshit sessions and e-mail List dialogues, getting out the vote, etc and etc and etc -- had been spent on 9.11 TRUTH and ONLY on 9.11 TRUTH, all those people whom we professed to hate so much would have been in jail or executed, long, long ago.
We had a choice back then and continued to have it. At least until Terror Event 2 [see *** below]. And then, all bets were off. Because, being an Accomplice did not protect us. Not after TE2, after 9.11v2.
Because, because, because my child... September 11, 2001 was The End Of The World As We Knew It....
It was, indeed, the End of The World As We Knew It, but it was, is, and ever will be more. Far more than that.
It was, in simple fact, a Lie.
The Lie. The Biggest Lie. Ever.
Against the perpetrators and perpetuators of which there was but One Weapon.
That’s how and why we lost The War On Freedom, my child.
It was that simple. It just wasn't easy.
*** Note: “Terror Event 2” was The COVID Event of 2020-2022.
Vietnam War--A false story was circulated that North Vietnamese torpedo boats unleashed two "unprovoked" attacks on US Destroyers in international waters. This led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which allowed President Lyndon B. Johnson to dramatically escalate U.S. military involvement.
Grenada War--A false story was circulated by the US government accusing Grenada of constructing facilities to aid a Soviet-Cuban military buildup in the Caribbean based on a 9,000-foot runway which allegedly could accommodate the largest Soviet aircraft, such as the An-12, An-22, and the An-124.
Kuwait War-- A false story was circulated that Iraqi soldiers went into hospital rooms where babies were in incubators and took the babies out of the incubators and stole the incubators, leaving the babies on the cold floor to die.
Iraq War--A totally false lie was repeated ad nauseam that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and was a threat to world peace.
Libya War--A false story was concocted which claimed that Obama and Clinton were just trying to protect civilians and prevent a humanitarian disaster. Its actions revealed that all along it was intent on regime change.
Ukraine Coup--A false story was circulated that the massacre in 2014 during the Maidan uprising was perpetrated by the Ukrainian security forces loyal to the legally elected president, Viktor Yanukovych. In fact, the Maidan massacre trial and investigation produced overwhelming evidence that the victims were massacred by snipers firing from buildings controlled by the anti-Yanukovych protestors.
Ukraine War--A false narrative was created claiming that the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was totally "unprovoked" and is indicative of Russia's aggressive intentions to re-create the Soviet Union by absorbing Ukraine and perhaps other European countries.
Anyone notice a pattern here?
Great list. Charlie K. But You missed one; the one that made every war You mentioned since then possible and inevitable.
And that is the explanation that some Raghead living in a cave in Afghanistan pulled off 9/11 all by himself. Even to the point of standing down NORAD that day, and wiring the three Towers for the planned demolitions that brought them down.
And thus was launched "The Forever War," which includes Iraq and Libya. And now that the so-called Global" so-called "War On" so-called "Terrorism" [aka the GWOT] has lost its sting, we have Cold War II in Ukraine and over in East Asia.
It is important to remember that the intent of "The Forever War" in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, etc, was not to "win" it. Rather, the intent was just to have it; and to sow further conflict in the impacted regions. All the while waiting for the emergence of a new and improved Cold War II with Moscow and Beijing.
For now, Russia has recovered from the collapse of the USSR ~ and China from the madness of Mao ~ sufficiently for both, individually or especially as a duopoly, to present clear, viable, credible "Threats" to America's 30-year global unipolar hegemony since the end of Cold War I. Or so we are informed.
The Forever War was, is, and ever will be nothing but a half-time show designed to keep the troops visibly engaged, the defense contractors profitably employed, and the American people comfortably numb to protracted conflicts in places that most of them can't find on a map of the world.
When the USSR and European Communism collapsed in the autumn of 1991, lots of folks in America's military-industrial-congressional complex were fretting about who their Enemy and Threat would be now, so as to justify keeping their budgets at record high levels.
And the folks in the White House and Pentagon who had pulled off OPERATION DESERT STORM earlier that year in Kuwait and Iraq had already started the process of providing exactly that answer.
And the rest, as they say, is “History.”
My list only includes some of the most egregious examples of duplicity and malfeasance. What is truly amazing and almost beyond comprehension is that, despite this track record of fabrication, falsehood and bold-faced lying, nothing seems to change. The MSM just carries on and acts as if none of this ever happened. So, year after year they faithfully continue to regurgitate the latest drivel dished out by the Pentagon, National Security Council, CIA, etc. as if the information/analysis shared by these nefarious agencies is factually accurate. One would think that, after this grotesque track record of total duplicity, it would be the exact opposite! But no, the lies are simply swept under a rug, and then it's on to the next war unleashed by the US National Security State (regardless of which party sits in the Oval Office), all justified with a fresh batch of lies and fabrications. Not only are all the lies and fabrications dutifully reported by the MSM, but also the overwhelming majority of the American public absorbs it all without questioning for one second its veracity. This process defies all logic and reason. I don't think anyone has really come up with an adequate explanation for this phenomenon. For me, "manufacturing consent" does not adequately explain the process by which the human brain can be so perverted so as to believe anything no matter how many lies it is exposed to. The bigger question is, How the hell do you ever cure this disease? The Germans were cured of their allegiance to Nazism 60+ years ago by having their country reduced to ashes. Are we to conclude that this is the only cure?
Propaganda and illusions are important here. A willingness to believe. Those who question the dominant narrative are shunted aside, or denounced, or ignored. Those who go along have their voices amplified, their power enhanced.
And so people become cynical, desperate, disillusioned, and they grasp for "solutions" like Trump. Whereas we know the only solution with a chance is a mass movement. But how to bring people together when there's so much effort to keep us divided?
I don't have glib answers here ...
I think the challenge before us is quite overwhelming. The last time there was any serious investigation into the criminal behavior of the National Security State was way back in 1975 when, due to the pressure brought above by the abundance of mass movements at that time (anti-war/feminist/Black Power, etc.), the Church Committee was formed to delve into the rampant criminality against the civilian population. Even though that investigation uncovered all kinds of malfeasance, no one was held accountable. Nowadays, look what happens when similar criminality is exposed. Julian Assange is being slowly murdered in prison for publishing the lies and crimes of the US National Security State. Others--John Kiriakou, Jeffrey Sterling, etc.--are prosecuted and vilified by the MSM, or simply ignored altogether. Concerning mass movements, the last example of any significance took place in the weeks before the launch of the US-led invasion of Iraq 20 years ago. Regardless of the fact that the movement took on global proportions, bringing together 36 million people in almost 3,000 protests across the globe, it proved incapable of stopping the mass slaughter in Iraq. And no one--not Bush, Rumsfeld, Powell, Wolfowitz, Rice, Cheney--was ever threatened with prosecution for war crimes. The idea that these people were culpable for their actions and should be prosecuted as war criminals even seems preposterous. We are now living in an era (less than 50 years since the Church Committee) when even questioning the actions of the National Security State in any form is verboten. The National Security State has created an environment which is, for all intents and purposes, impervious to criticism. Anyone who dares to do so will wind up in prison or denounced as a "Putin apologist." This is a new kind of McCarthyism that appears to be all encompassing. When no one in a position of power is ever held accountable for the crimes they commit in the name of "National Security," it is hard to see how to crack through the edifice of invincibility that has been erected by the National Security State.
Yes. The National Security State has lost all its major wars since 1945 but has won the war for the hearts, minds, wallets, checkbooks, and credit cards of America. (That line -- maybe I'll use it in a future piece.)
Whose and which checkbooks and credit cards are those, Bill?
The American People have not paid a dime for any of America's wars since 9/11.
At the beginning of September 2001, America's national, sovereign debt stood at $$3.339 trillion.
[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States_public_debt ]
Today, it stands at $32.697 trillion. [ https://usdebtclock.org/ ]
Thus, with America's so-called "All Volunteer Force" military, the American People have had and still have neither Blood nor Treasure in the game.
We pay interest on the national debt every year, Jeff. That debt also limits spending programs (in the name of fiscal responsibility; not how it doesn't lessen spending on weapons and war); it weakens the dollar; it tends to drive personal interest rates higher, making it more expensive to pay your credit card, to get an affordable mortgage, etc.
Don't worry, whether we know it or not, we're paying.
Who pays the interest on that Debt, Bill? The American taxpayer? Or the Federal Reserve by simply printing more paper money?
And those interest rates are also controlled completely by the Federal Reserve. And how high have they been until just very recently? At all-time record lows.
That Debt is one very major reason why the US's credit rating was dropped from AAA to AA+, also very recently. See https://fee.org/articles/why-the-united-states-lost-its-aaa-credit-rating/ for details.
And how weak is the dollar when compared to any other national currencies? If it is so weak, then why is it still the global reserve currency?
And finally, the Debt doesn't limit spending programs on non-national "defense and security" programs. Those limits are imposed and inflicted by the elected politicians in DC that the American People keep sending there.
But now that the Debt Ceiling has been eliminated until January 2025, what excuse do those politicians have now?
Before prosecuting Cheney [and his lapdog Bush], Rumsfeld, Powell, Wolfowitz, and Rice for war crimes perpetrated and perpetuated AFTER 9/11, they should have been impeached for Dereliction of Duty for their failure to protect the American People and their Life, Liberty, and Property from “all enemies, foreign and domestic” ON 9/11.
As i wrote back in the spring of 2004, the Grounds For Impeachment were [and still are]:
“1. That senior- and lesser-level officials failed to efficiently and effectively manage and execute the national defense, counter-terrorism, intelligence, law enforcement, immigration, and sovereign security tasks, duties, responsibilities, and functions of the Executive Branch of the federal government of the United States of America, so as to have allegedly completely failed to detect and then actually completely failed to prevent the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
“2. That senior- and lesser-level officials failed to efficiently and effectively react and respond to the simultaneous highjacking of four commercial aircraft and to execute established standard emergency operational policies and procedures, which directly resulted in the deaths and injuries of thousands of United States citizens and in the loss of and damage to billions of dollars of private and public United States property.
“THESE INDIVIDUALS ARE THUS DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GREATEST LAW ENFORCEMENT, INTELLIGENCE, ANTI-TERRORISM, NATIONAL DEFENSE, AND HOMELAND SECURITY FAILURE IN THE HISTORY OF THIS NATION, AND COMPLETELY FAILED IN THEIR CONSTITUTIONALLY-MANDATED ULTIMATE DUTY AND RESPONSIBILITY TO PRESERVE AND PROTECT THE LIFE, LIBERTY, AND PROPERTY OF AMERICAN CITIZENS.
“If mere incompetence is not a “high crime or misdemeanor,” then complicity is all that and treason. There is a substantial body of evidence that would stand in a court of criminal law that points to official complicity in 9.11 at the highest levels of the government, including actions taken after the attacks to prevent disclosure of the actual perpetrators. For a summary, with detailed reference to substantiating documentation, see THE NEW PEARL HARBOR: Disturbing Questions About the Bush Administration and 9/11, by David Ray Griffin, Olive Branch Press, 2004.” [EMPHASIS added.]
The media smears antiwar and leftist voices. Presents them as crooks, scammers, foreign agents, liars, etc. People read and watch this and adopt those views as their own. People don't read a NYT Ukraine article and then go to the library to find a book on Ukraine. They assume the Times reporters read all the books and that these reporters know the truth. And so the people read and watch msm and then go out into the world and repeat the exact same unsubstantiated arguments to anyone who disagrees with them.
When you or I challenge their arguments, for a 1/4 second they realize they have no idea what they're talking about. Then they remember the formula, and call us names.
I'm not sure what to do anymore.
Two things immediately come to mind, Rachel, that any American Citizen who is fed up with all this Bullshit can do:
~ 1. Reduce all possible individual Payroll Deductions to the absolute minimum, and then do not file with the IRS come Tax Time.
~ 2. Launch a national crusade to make “None Of These Candidates” a mandatory choice on every ballot for the Presidential and every Congressional election scheduled for November, 2024, as detailed here at BV in April, 2022 at https://bracingviews.substack.com/p/reforming-americas-elections-the-notc-way .
If a critical mass of Americans did that ~ especially #1 ~ that would send a very loud and clear message to Swampland and the perpetrators and perpetuators of all that Bullshit.
Honestly I wonder which would be more difficult in terms of legal challenges. Yard rock or none of the above. Leaning towards the latter, since the former is something that exists and was born in the US and is definitely older than 35 years old.
Heh. i wouldn't emphasize Its last qualification too much, Rachel.
Not given all the pissing and moaning going on of late about America's RGC, Ruling Gerantocracrit Class.
In any event, THANK YOU for introducing me to Lee Camp, who, quite honestly, i had never heard of until i subscribed to Yard Rock's Email Updates and ended up on Mr Camp's website.
Which led me to order a Kindle version of BULLET POINTS AND PUNCH LINES with the Foreword by Chris Hedges and Introduction by Jimmy Dore. Which leads me to believe that i have a good, full nite's worth of great reading on tap. ~ jeff
What about Yard Rock 2024? 😀
https://yardrock2024.com/
At this stage of The Game, Rachel, Yard Rock has my complete and total endorsement and, assuming that 1], NOTC is not on the ballot, and 2], that there is an election in November 2024 ~ which at this stage of That Game, is no sheerly safe bet ~ It will get my vote.
i wonder if making Yard Rock and None Of These Candidates running mates for Election2024 would work.
Let me qualify that. If Yard Rock was on the ballot for President, i would not vote NOTC, but for It. But NOTC would stay on the ballot for each, every, and all of the Congressional elections.
I find Rachael's commentary on Ukrainian History to be a real eye-opener. Let us hope it gets a chance to open more eyes than our complicit / corrupt (take your pick) American Media.
https://justrachel.substack.com/p/real-ukrainian-history
Pro-war messaging is very simple. If we (the good guys) don't do something then they (the bad guys) will win. And we can't have that.
Yes. And being pro-war is American and anti-war is un-American. Support our troops! If you don't like war, you must hate America.
https://www.dukeupress.edu/The-School-of-the-Americas/
The School of the Americas
Military Training and Political Violence in the Americas
Leslie Gill. Published 2004
Located at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia, the School of the Americas (soa) is a U.S. Army center that has trained more than sixty thousand soldiers and police, mostly from Latin America, in counterinsurgency and combat-related skills since it was founded in 1946. So widely documented is the participation of the School’s graduates in torture, murder, and political repression throughout Latin America that in 2001 the School officially changed its name to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. Lesley Gill goes behind the façade and presents a comprehensive portrait of the School of the Americas.
Gill exposes the School’s institutionalization of state-sponsored violence, the havoc it has wrought in Latin America, and the strategies used by activists seeking to curtail it...
...Gill describes the School’s mission and training methods and reveals how its students, alumni, and officers perceive themselves in relation to the dirty wars that have raged across Latin America. Assessing the School’s role in U.S. empire-building, she shows how Latin America’s brightest and most ambitious military officers are indoctrinated into a stark good-versus-evil worldview, seduced by consumer society and the “American dream,” and enlisted as proxies in Washington’s war against drugs and “subversion.”
“Lesley Gill has produced an in-depth exposé of the militaristic mentality, socioethnic tensions, and outrageous atrocities of the empire’s Praetorian Guard. Insightful and richly researched, a work of superior quality.” — Michael Parenti, author of The Terrorism Trap and The Assassination of Julius Caesar
In 1990, former ~ and now defrocked and excommunicated ~ Catholic Maryknoll Priest Father Roy Bourgeois and a small group of supporters launched SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS WATCH to “protest the training of mainly Latin American military officers, by the United States Department of Defense, at the School of the Americas (SOA) at Fort Moore (formerly Fort Benning).” [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_the_Americas_Watch ]
At http://www.resistersbook.org/pdf/regular.pdf is a PDF of the book FROM WARRIORS TO RESISTERS: U.S. Veterans on Terrorism, originally published in 2002 with a third edition in 2019. It tells the story of a number of American military Veterans who have protested against the SOA/WHINSEC, and, in some cases, gone to jail for their efforts.
Beginning at page 21 are extracts from the journal i kept during on the 52-day Fast and Prayer Vigil i conducted at the Front Gate of Ft Benning in support of then-Father Roy and SOAW in April-June 2001.
Note: The video interview of me during my Prayer and Peace Vigil/Fast in New Orleans two weeks after 9/11 is now at https://stupidtelevisionshow.com/media/nopeace/ .
We never hear about the School of the Americas, or its successor, from any main stream news source. Not once.
The United States has for decades been committed to educating military leaders from developing nations — so that those military leaders can then return to their countries and stage violent coups. When GOP Congressman Matt Gaetz recently asked a Pentagon official why we keep training coup leaders, the military official could only spew military double-speak about “core values” and “curriculum.”
Jimmy discusses the indisputable fact that the United States has routinely supported coups around the globe since World War II.
U.S. General Confronted For Overthrowing 11 African Governments Since 2008
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_YOvbmgrtM
Since World War II, during a supposed golden age of peace, the United States military has killed or helped kill some 20 million people, overthrown at least 36 governments, interfered in at least 86 foreign elections, attempted to assassinate over 50 foreign leaders, and dropped bombs on people in over 30 countries.
There is a reason that most countries polled in December 2013 by Gallup called the United States the greatest threat to peace in the world, and why Pew found that viewpoint increased in 2017.
But it is a reason that eludes that strain of U.S. academia that first defines war as something that nations and groups other than the United States do, and then concludes that war has nearly vanished from the earth.
https://davidswanson.org/warlist/
"You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you've seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war"
-Jackson Brown (Lives in the Balance)
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.
The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie.
It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Paradoxically, the bigger the lie, the easier it may be for people to believe.
Right. So why not 'go big'?
'The illusory truth effect and the “unprovoked” invasion Of Ukraine'
Arguably the single most egregious display of war propaganda in the 21st century occurred last year, when the entire western political/media class began uniformly bleating the word “unprovoked” in reference to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On February 23 of last year, the day before the invasion began, the New York Times editorial board wrote that “an unprovoked invasion of a sovereign European state is an unprovoked declaration of war on a scale, on a continent and in a century when it was thought to be no longer possible.”
After the war began, the Biden White House released a statement titled “Remarks by President Biden on Russia’s Unprovoked and Unjustified Attack on Ukraine.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken shared Biden’s statement on Twitter with the comment “Russia’s premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine blatantly disregards the lives of innocent men, women, and children, Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and international law.”
In early March of last year the New York Times editorial board wrote that western sanctions against Russia in retaliation for the invasion “have demonstrated that there are consequences for unprovoked wars of aggression.”
In April of last year the New York Times editorial board again repeated this slogan, writing that Putin had “ordered an unprovoked war to satisfy his ambitions of empire and the destruction of a neighbouring nation.”
In May of last year the New York Times editorial board reiterated that “Ukraine deserves support against Russia’s unprovoked aggression.”
According to analyst Jeffrey Sachs, the New York Times used the word unprovoked “no fewer than 26 times, in five editorials, 14 opinion columns by NYT writers, and seven guest op-eds.”
https://johnmenadue.com/the-illusory-truth-effect-and-the-unprovoked-invasion-of-ukraine/
One never-fail "tell" is the frequent, emphatic repetition of some word or phrase, especially by public figures or those with unlimited access to news media. It almost always confirms that a lie is being told. Repetition and emphasis of it is so necessary to sell it (and to convince the teller that it's being bought).
Many of us had noticed that bit of chicanery - and it made it clear that those using it were desperately lying to the public.
Or as Caitlin Johnstone wrote,
"In an interview with the Useful Idiots podcast not too long ago, Noam Chomsky repeated his argument that the only reason we hear the word “unprovoked” every time anyone mentions Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the mainstream news media is because it ABSOLUTELY WAS PROVOKED, and they know it."
I'm listening to a reading of 1984 now and omg, it should be called 2023.
Wow, there's a lot to respond to there. I think the empire managers created a world that mixes the best of both authors. The truth is certainly concealed from us, per Orwell. One concealment strategy is literal distraction per Huxley- promoting the individual, promoting vanity and superficial slogans to focus the majority of us on shallow goals. This works because most people don't question this consumeristic purposelessness until they're older, at which point they've invested in it for so long it's nearly impossible to change ways. That distraction could be mostly a side effect of capitalism, but I think there's some direction to it as well.
They've also sucked the economic life out of most Americans, making us work longer hours and harder than ever just to "stay in place". Since people without wealth can't choose their occupation like people with wealth, and because the jobs they get are so exploitative and inhumane, people are miserable.
It's natural that miserable people turn to alcohol, drugs, stupid three second video reels, or whatever addiction.
I definitely need to revisit Huxley when I finish Orwell. I just prefer explanations that lay the blame for our misery on this empire that has so abandoned, lied to, and mocked its people and every value the country is SUPPOSED to embrace. I mean, did any other cruel empire of the past have such a successful, wide-ranging propaganda operation that convinced its population that the evil things it did were actually quite holy and good and justified? I suppose there very well could have been that kind of empire in the past.
In any case, I give people a lot of breaks for believing the bullshit they're fed. This is a very sophisticated operation, and people are so busy working at jobs they hate to learn how to read the news and sift through the lies. Also I'm tired of the animosity. I "awoke" to the true meaning of the US after 9/11 and the Iraq invasion. But by 2008 or so I completely stopped paying attention to American politics. I even lived abroad for a couple years. I'd apologize to people on behalf of Bush 2. But I just couldn't handle the reality I found and I buried it so deep that I didn't wake up again until 2021. (The railroad contract dispute was what did it. For whatever reason I got very interested in the rail workers' contract fight. Seeing both parties screw them, while one party screwed them and simultaneously SAID they supported them, that shattered my complacency. I HAD to pay attention. The dominoes fell. And since then I keep telling myself "YOU KNEW THIS BEFORE!"
Since I've literally turned my brain off in the past, I empathize with people who ignore the news or accept (with general disinterest) the empire's talking points. It's not like it's easy to find the rebuttals anymore. Per Orwell. And we're surrounded by meaningless distractions, per Huxley.
On the other hand, Rachel...:
THE DYSTOPIAS OF ORWELL AND HUXLEY HAD ONE BIG THING IN COMMON by Jon Miltimore / The Take 081123
I recently wrote about Aldous Huxley’s letter to George Orwell, in which he congratulated the 1984 writer for his book—and gently suggested his own book more correctly predicted mankind’s future. [ https://jjmilt.substack.com/p/aldous-huxleys-letter-to-george-orwell ]
The argument over which writer was more prophetic, Orwell or Huxley, is one I’ve heard for decades. Well before I had read either of these works, I recall family members discussing Neil Postman’s book AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH (1985), which contrasts Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s BRAVE NEW WORLD.
By the title of Postman’s book, you can probably guess which dystopian author he believed was more prescient about our future. Nevertheless, I think Postman offers an objective overview that boils down the dystopia each authored feared. Here’s a highly relevant passage from the book.
“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy."
As Huxley remarked in BRAVE NEW WORLD REVISITED, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny ‘failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions.’
"In 1984," Huxley added, "people are controlled by inflicting pain. In BRAVE NEW WORLD, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure."
In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.”
I’ll leave it to readers to discuss which author was more prophetic, Huxley or Orwell. But it’s first worth examining the primary thing both of these dystopias had in common.
Now, it would be fun to explore all the themes 1984 and BRAVE NEW WORLD shared—and I might just do that in a future article—but it’s clear these dystopias had one glaring similarity: each society was dominated by a government that controlled, monitored, and lied to its people.
At some level, then, it’s safe to say that both Orwell and Huxley—two of the most brilliant writers of the 20th century—saw a powerful, centralized government as a dangerous and evil force.
In this respect, their views were similar to America’s founding fathers, whose deep-seated distrust of government and centralized power led them to create a government built on checks and balances.
The Constitution was deliberately designed to frustrate and divide power because the founders saw concentrated power as an evil force, a threat to life and liberty.
“Government, even in its best state, is a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one,” said Thomas Paine.
Few people see government this way today, which is odd considering that the 20th century demonstrated the horrors of collectivism and statism in tragic detail. (Even putting the two World Wars aside, GOVERNMENTS MURDERED AN ESTIMATED 200 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY ALONE.) [https://reason.com/volokh/2022/11/09/data-on-mass-murder-by-government-in-the-20th-century/ ; EMPHASIS added.]
I expect that people will continue to debate whose work was more prophetic, Orwell’s or Huxley’s—and that’s great. I enjoy such discussions.
But we should be more mindful of what unites these two masterpieces and recognize that the state is, at best, a necessary evil. If we forget that lesson, dystopia will arrive before we know it.
This leaves me with a final, fun question for readers to consider: do people know it when they live in a dystopia? Curious what you think. (And I’ll offer my thoughts in the near future.)
Source: https://jjmilt.substack.com/p/the-dystopias-of-orwell-and-huxley
Sick Nation.
Biden - $24,000,000,000 more to Ukraine war.
The US has committed more than $60-billion in aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict.
(4) What happened to this Neighborhood? - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI30F0Vt88E
(4) The Oakland, California Homeless Problem is Beyond Belief - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRWmKh13b50&t=22s
(4) Where Do They Go? The Painful Reality of Seattle's RV Homeless Sweeps - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-mins3KNFk
(4) Portland’s homeless desperate for change as the city moves with mass encampments - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTtMqp5_1ck
Well there's the people and there's the government. The two don't necessarily connect. Given the 24/7 support of this war by the mainstream media it's heartening that so many people have grown skeptical or cynical about our funding of this destruction. Unfortunately the decisions are made by the government rather than by the people.
-20 years in Viet Nam.
-Cuba still sanctioned
-Troops on Syia.
-Troops in 800 based around the globe
- 10 years in
-We're still in S Korea
- This forever war in Ukrainian is in its stage.
Hial Biden and all his precedants
Have you any idea how any earthlings we've kills, maimed, tortured, displaced into ghetto camps. Too many!
*With our complicate tax dollar*
There is no compulsion to negotiate with Russia – Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council Secretary
VALENTYNA ROMANENKO — Tuesday, 15 August 2023, 13:41
"Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, maintains that international partners are not persuading Ukraine to conduct "peace talks" with the aggressor state of Russia.
Source: Danilov in an interview with the Italian newspaper la Repubblica
Details: When a journalist said that partners were trying to persuade the Ukrainian authorities to negotiate an end to the war and asked what scenario they were proposing (for example, the Korean scenario - a country divided in two), Danilov replied in the negative.
Quote: "Reports of this alleged pressure are not confirmed by anything. They only exist on the internet. I don’t know, perhaps this is the work of the Russian troll army, but our partners have not set any demands to negotiate. Ukraine will solve this problem independently, and there can be no negotiations with Putin. Russia must be destroyed like a modern-day Carthage. You can't leave the enemy behind." https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/08/15/7415644/
"HOW DID YOU LOSE THE WAR, DADDY? WHY DID YOU LOSE THE WAR ON FREEDOM?"
How and Why indeed, my child.
The War On Freedom...it officially began on September 11, 2001...and we started losing it the very next day. How?
We lost it by expending all those precious and limited resources [time, energy, effort, money, and, above all, life force] trying to stop or change or otherwise deal with SYMPTOMS: as in The Invasion and Occupation of Iraq; as in The USA PATRIOT Act; as in The Ascendancy of The American Empire; as in The so-called War Against so-called Terrorism [at home and abroad]; as in Regime Rotation here at home among Bones and Skulls and their ilk… .
We lost it by wasting our lives trying to change the world by dealing with SYMPTOMS instead of the DISEASE, with EFFECTS instead of the CAUSE, with RESULTS instead of the ACTUATING FORCE....
We lost it by staying there. And so we CONTINUED to CONTINUE to FAIL. We continued to accomplish absolutely NOTHING that we wished to achieve.
We were able to feel good about ourselves for TRYING, for being SEEN and HEARD, but we continued to fail to accomplish anything, to change anything, to make any Real difference in the Real World.
The War On Freedom...it officially began on September 11, 2001...and we started losing it on the very next day. Why?
Because the DISEASE, the CAUSE, the ACTUATING FORCE that we should have been devoting EVERY LAST BIT and ALL of our resources to was seeking out, finding, unearthing, exposing, and unleashing The Truth, The Real Truth, the Whole Truth, and NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH About September 11, 2001: about WHAT Actually Happened, about HOW It Actually Happened, about WHY It Actually Happened, about WHO Actually Made It Happen, and above all, about Precisely WHO Let It Happen.
Because we did not do this, there were more Invasions and Occupations, and more USA PATRIOT Acts, and more rising of The American Empire, and more, more, and more so-called Wars Against more, more, more so-called Enemies and Threats, and “Axes of Evil.” At home and abroad.
ALL in the Name Of and Because Of and As Response To and Justified by September 11, 2001.
And thus, we became ACCOMPLICES.
Because if all the resources named above that have been spent on anything BUT 9.11 TRUTH over the last years --(protesting Iraq, going to the Party Conventions, other rallies and marches and vigils and parades, all the books and movies and articles and poems and bullshit sessions and e-mail List dialogues, getting out the vote, etc and etc and etc -- had been spent on 9.11 TRUTH and ONLY on 9.11 TRUTH, all those people whom we professed to hate so much would have been in jail or executed, long, long ago.
We had a choice back then and continued to have it. At least until Terror Event 2 [see *** below]. And then, all bets were off. Because, being an Accomplice did not protect us. Not after TE2, after 9.11v2.
Because, because, because my child... September 11, 2001 was The End Of The World As We Knew It....
It was, indeed, the End of The World As We Knew It, but it was, is, and ever will be more. Far more than that.
It was, in simple fact, a Lie.
The Lie. The Biggest Lie. Ever.
Against the perpetrators and perpetuators of which there was but One Weapon.
That’s how and why we lost The War On Freedom, my child.
It was that simple. It just wasn't easy.
*** Note: “Terror Event 2” was The COVID Event of 2020-2022.
[Originally posted to the iNet on 05 NOV 04]