Tuesday, August 16, 2022

The Rule of Tyrannies


The world will never know peace as long as war is profitable. The world will never know health as long as sickness is profitable. The ecosystem will never thrive as long as ecocide is profitable. We will remain ruled by tyrants for as long as our systems elevate tyranny. --Caitlin Johnstone,  All Our Systems Are Built To Elevate Viciousness

The Rule of Tyrannies
by C.A. Matthews

There is no water left on Earth that hasn't been tainted with micro-plastic particles.
 
There are mass die-offs of trees, plants, and animals due to rising temperatures and the subsequent droughts and fires that ensue.
 
The sea levels are rising because of melting ice sheets at the poles, causing flooding and drowning entire island chains.
 
There are many who shout racist-elitist taunts at the migrants fleeing from natural disasters and violent conflicts caused by our rapidly warming planet and our economic system's insatiable need to overthrow any leaders who don't do business on our country's terms.

There is another pandemic on the horizon with the emergence of the monkeypox virus in the US. With no universal health care, possibly another million plus Americans will suffer and die from a preventable illness. (The current rate is 400+ COVID-19 deaths per day and an untold number of people suffering permanent disability from Long COVID.)
 
There are politicians spouting nonsense about "winnable nuclear war" as if radiation faded away mere hours after dropping a nuke bomb. These same politicians continue to militarize the police, an unspoken threat against the working classes to stay in their designated place. The politicians' military industrial complex donors are happy with this outcome.
 
There are those who still think nuclear power is "clean energy" even after the disasters of Chernobyl, Fukushima, and others. They are doing their best to prevent cleaner sources of energy such as solar, wind and geothermal from ever becoming a part of our power grid, as a recent bill  passed in Congress and praised by the fossil fuel industry demonstrates.

What is the key element winding its way through all these seemingly unrelated abuses of our planet, its peoples, and all its creatures? If you said "money" or more accurately "the love of money" then you win today's prize. The prize is that you get to die knowing how these man-made insults to Mother Earth were entirely preventable.


 (Watch the documentary 2040 to learn how current technology can address all the above challenges. They're not unsolvable problems. We are capable of affecting positive changes to save the planet, but we have to be willing to do so and we need to start today.)
 
The love of money, or profits, if you will, is selling humankind's destiny down the river of greed in order to make a few more billionaires even richer. Why any person needs incalculable wealth to survive when the rest of us get by on mere pittances is a mystery to me. I don't know about you, but this obsession billionaires have with accruing more and more digits in their bank account ledgers just makes me angrier and angrier.
 
Time is running out for our dear Mother Earth. We've seen the effects of climate catastrophe speeding up this summer in heatwave after sweltering heatwave. Some say we've gone beyond the point of no return. And all because these billionaire tyrants can't make enough money to satisfy their lusts. They are obsessed with "growing the economy" while gouging workers for basic necessities like food, medicine, and shelter. These greedy tyrants can't get enough until they destroy all the beautiful diversity of life on this planet.
 
Will somebody--anybody--make it stop? Please.


If our dying world and our empty bellies can't motivate us lowly workers to stand up for ourselves and the planet, then what will? We've been terrorized by tyrants using a sadistic economic system called capitalism for far too long. To save Earth and humanity, capitalism must die. It must die and be replaced with a kinder, gentler system that treats everyone and every living thing with the respect and dignity he/she/they/it deserves.
 
Will taking the reins away from the tyrants now in control be easy? No. Will it possibly cost us some of our lives in the struggle? Yes. But we have no choice--our planet is being destroyed by sadistic psychopaths. Psychopaths who can't see the forest for the trees since they've chopped all the trees down to print more useless currency!
 
It would be wonderful if the tyrants of the 1% came down off their thrones and gave the 99% the keys to the kingdom, but don't count on it. If they've convinced their politician-puppets to spout nonsense about the benefits of nuclear warfare, and how justice can be found in increasing policing and military agencies to take up arms against us, then we must be prepared to deal swiftly and strongly with shutting these monsters down.
 
We can't wait, hoping and praying these tyrannical psychopaths will come to their senses and learn to be empathetic. Odds are they never will. We can't risk what is left of our Earth still able to harbor life.

It's life or death for our world. I vote for the death of the tyrants and their capitalist system so that the vast majority of us may live. Live in peace and harmony together with nature--not constantly fighting against Our Mother Earth in order to acquire huge sums of meaningless money.
 
We've only got one planet. Let's do what needs to be done. Let's take good care of her so she will continue to take care of our children and grandchildren in the future. Don't allow the tyrants--bent on destruction to slake their thirst for blood money--stand in our way.

Things you can make money out of:

  • War

  • Ecocide

  • Sickness

  • Finite commodities

Things you can't make money out of:

  • Peace

  • A thriving biosphere

  • Health

  • Energy sources you can't control

While we use money to value things, we will never be free. --Caitlin Johnstone, China Threatens the US Empire, Not the US Itself


Related Articles:

Solving Plastic Crisis Through Community Empowerment https://popularresistance.org/solving-the-plastic-crisis-through-community-empowerment/

US Houses Passes Pro-Corporate Climate Bill
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/08/13/zxah-a13.html

Trailer for the documentary 2040: https://vimeo.com/429859999

Monkeypox is Yet Another Health Crisis Fueled by Governmental Neglect https://truthout.org/articles/monkeypox-is-yet-another-global-health-crisis-fueled-by-governmental-neglect/

Land of the Dying: Alarming Study Shows US Killing Its Own Population
https://scheerpost.com/2022/08/09/america-land-of-the-dying-alarming-study-shows-us-killing-its-own-population/

Capitalism is Making Us Sick and Sucking Us Dry
https://truthout.org/audio/capitalism-is-making-us-sick-and-sucking-us-dry/

The U.N. Just Declared a Universal Human Right to a Healthy Sustainable Environment https://popularresistance.org/the-un-just-declared-a-universal-human-right-to-a-healthy-sustainable-environment/

High Profile Paper on Catastrophic Climate Impact...
https://popularresistance.org/high-profile-paper-on-catastrophic-climate-impacts-echoes-our-what-lies-beneath-analysis-on-fat-tail-existential-risks-and-ipcc-reticence-published-four-years-ago/

Climate Reality Is Hitting Us Like a Breakaway Glacier https://truthout.org/articles/climate-reality-is-hitting-us-like-a-breakaway-glacier/

Big Oil and Gas Reap Record Profits as the World Burns https://scheerpost.com/2022/08/02/big-oil-and-gas-reap-record-profits-as-the-world-burns/

Why Is There More Media Talk About Using Nuclear Weapons Than About Banning Them https://scheerpost.com/2022/08/09/why-is-there-more-media-talk-about-using-nuclear-weapons-than-about-banning-them/  

Modern US Warmongerng Is Scaring Henry Kissinger https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/modern-us-warmongering-is-scaring 

Why Can't They Say It? (video--Lee says "it" at approx. 17 min.) https://rumble.com/v1g38yp-why-cant-they-say-it-with-lee-camp.html

All Our Systems Are Built To Elevate Viciousness https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/all-our-systems-are-built-to-elevate

China Threatens the US Empire, Not The US Itself https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/china-threatens-the-us-empire-not

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Tuesday, August 9, 2022

Whee! Let's Start World War 3!

“Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living.” -- US Army General Omar Bradley, Armistice Day 1948

 

Whee! Let's Start World War 3!  

By Coast Watcher  

Capitalism loves war! And it loves it with a passion Romeo and Juliet could only have dreamed of. 

The profits that roll in from the vast military industrial complex’s sales to nations around the world alone are far greater than the GNP of most countries. Of course, in order to sell armaments there needs to be an actual war—or at least the threat of one. Armed tension is a great incentive for weapon sales. That way all those potent weapons systems can be bought and deployed immediately or at least stored until they could be used or sold on to others by their use-by date. 

But not all weapons ever reach their intended user. According to a recent CBS News report up to 30% of the weaponry sent to Ukraine doesn’t make it to the front lines. [Editor's note: The CBS News link about black market arms sales in Ukraine was taken down because of the Ukrainian government's pressure, but you can now watch it here: https://www.bitchute.com/embed/g5OgTXkzzLy9/] Instead they find their way onto the lucrative black market, where they'll end up in the hands of terrorist organizations. (Generally this means people who’ve had enough from the US government and could use these weapons to make their point.) 

It’s not only the MIC that profits from war or a perpetual state of armed tension. Big Oil in the shape of Standard Oil sold its product to both Axis and Allies during World War I. The vehicle industry makes out like bandits, too. GM and Ford continued to operate quite openly in Germany during the Nazi regime of World War II. 

US corporations are rather practical-minded when it comes down to things such as working with Nazis. They figure making a buck means a buck made--whether or not it comes from your side or the other in a conflict. 

Computer-related hardware sales are another major factor when it comes to starting a war, but sometimes the banging of war drums fails to achieve the desired effect. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent controversial visit to Taiwan caused China to end trade in microprocessor chips of the kind that fit in the American Javelin missile system, the very weapon currently being sold by the US to Ukraine. Production of the weapon is now suspended until another supplier can be found.

Oops.

Pelosi’s visit is a classic example of an insider stock-trader capitalist seeking to profit from war or near-war conditions. (For even more eye-opening insight into how deeply America's and China's economies are intertwined, check out this NPR story.) The Pelosi family’s investment in Taiwanese industry is a matter of record. Whether it’ll ever yield them profits is debatable since her provocative visit to the island has goaded China into action.

The Chinese government warned Biden that the Speaker’s visit would “cross a red line.” Biden retorted that he didn’t recognize red lines—something he also said prior to Russia’s similar warning  about Ukraine's bombing of the Donbass region. Their intervention to defend ethnic Russians is nearing the point where over a quarter of the country is now under control of the Russian Army.

It’s quite reasonable to assume it won’t be long before negotiations are begun in earnest to end the Ukrainian war. What’s left of Ukraine will remain a poor relation in Europe, saddled with immense debt to the United States for generations. There are even rumors that parts of the country will be given to Poland as a reward for supporting the NATO forces in this entirely preventable conflict.  

All this needless death and mayhem was set in motion by the US/NATO forgetting the Minsk Accords in order to shut down the Russian/German built Nord Stream 2 liquid natural gas pipeline so that Europe would be forced to purchase their energy supplies from the US. It's not like that this foolhardy military escapade has affected the price of gasoline and foodstuffs for average Americans though, right?

Pelosi's visit to Taiwan heralds the US military industrial complex's next money-generating event. Biden's recent remarks and Pelosi's trip have provoked the Chinese Navy to conduct exercises geared toward a possible intervention in their breakaway province. Naval exercises are to take place in both the island’s “national waters” (which aren’t officially recognized by any maritime nation) and in the Taiwanese Straits.  

Biden has warned China that the latter move is violating a previous understanding about the Straits. This is a clear indication that the US is contemplating military action to protect Taiwan from invasion from the mainland. It’s practically a given that conventional military exchanges between the US and China could escalate to a full-on nuclear war, one that could annihilate the entire planet.

Could it be the capitalists' answer to global warming is a nuclear winter? 

The super-rich somehow believe they’ll be safe, tucked away in their luxury bunkers in the south of New Zealand. But who will wash their dishes and grow their food if the rest of the world's population succumbs to radiation poisoning?

Has capitalism gone too far in its greed for new opportunities for weapon sales? Indications are that it has. Are the US and the West in general ready and prepared to wage an all out nuclear war, the final military conflict on Earth?  

US plans to cope with a nuclear holocaust have been in place for decades. New York recently ran a series of public service announcements on TV showing what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. From the procedures outlined in the ads it amounts to little more than the old “duck and cover” ideas of the 1950s and are about as effective (read: not very). Experts agree that the best response to an attack with modern nuclear weapons is to put your head between your knees and kiss your ass goodbye.

Most people dwell in a blissful mental state of denial, a place where the prospect of all out nuclear war is but a remote possibility. To these deluded folks today will be the same as yesterday. Tomorrow, of course, will be the same as today. There’s food to buy, a roof to keep over your head, work to think about... Existence as we know it and all life on Earth can’t possibly come to an end because of the simple and malevolent greed of the military industrial complex. 

Can it?

For more background info, read:

Nancy Pelosi, Stay Out of Taiwan!
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/08/02/pers-a02.html

A Brief History of Taiwan  https://www.thoughtco.com/brief-history-of-taiwan-688021


BIO: Coast Watcher is beginning to wonder if everyone isn't a little bit suicidal. Or maybe, just maybe, average people have been fooled into thinking that their MIC corporate-owned political leaders actually care about their safety and nuclear holocaust is necessary? Either way, we've got to wake up and toss these 1% warmongers out and fight like hell to build a safer and healthier world.

From The War Does Not Want A Global NATO: 

In 1955, 10 years after the U.S. dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima (Japan), the Turkish poet NΓ’zim Hikmet wrote a poem in the voice of a 7-year-old girl who died in that terrible act. The poem was later translated into Japanese by Nobuyuki Nakamoto as “Shinda Onnanoko” (“Dead Girl”) and frequently sung in commemorations of that atrocity. Given the harshness of war and the escalation of conflict, it is worthwhile to reflect once more on Hikmet’s beautiful, haunting lyrics:

I come and stand at every door
But no one hears my silent tread.
I knock and yet remain unseen
For I am dead, for I am dead.

I’m only seven, although I died
In Hiroshima long ago.
I’m seven now as I was then.
When children die, they do not grow.

My hair was scorched by swirling flame.
My eyes grew dim; my eyes grew blind.
Death came and turned my bones to dust
And that was scattered by the wind.

I need no fruit, I need no rice.
I need no sweets, nor even bread.
I ask for nothing for myself
For I am dead, for I am dead.

All that I ask is that for peace
You fight today, you fight today
So that the children of the world
May live and grow and laugh and play.

Related Articles:

Where We Stand on August 6 and 9, 2022 https://popularresistance.org/where-we-stand-on-august-6-and9-2022/

The World Does Not Want A Global NATO https://scheerpost.com/2022/08/01/the-world-does-not-want-a-global-nato/ 

NATO-Backed Network of Syria Dirty War Propagandists Identified https://mate.substack.com/p/nato-backed-network-of-syria-dirty

US empire preparing to discard Zelensky regime, pivoting to Taiwan to make up for its losses  https://popularresistance.org/amnesty-international-report-exposes-ukraines-violations-of-international-law-deliberate-use-of-civilians-as-human-shields/

War With Iran (podcast/article)  https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/listen-to-this-article-war-with-iran#details  

"Russian Propaganda" Just Means Disobedience https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/russian-propaganda-just-means-disobedience  

Westerners Think They Are Free-Thinking Individualists And It's Effing Adorable  https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/westerners-think-they-are-free-thinking

The US made a breakthrough battery discovery — then gave the technology to China  https://www.npr.org/2022/08/03/1114964240/new-battery-technology-china-vanadium 

Soldiers Speak Out Against America's Misguided Wars https://popularresistance.org/the-chris-hedges-report-soldiers-speak-out-against-americas-misguided-wars/

Big Chip In US China Crisis
https://popularresistance.org/big-chip-in-us-china-crisis/

Scott Ritter & Richard Medhurst: Will Taiwan Be the Next Ukraine? (video) https://youtu.be/J4rhvCv5_hc

This Is How It Ends (Pelosi's Destroying Ongoing Chinese/American Negotiations Over Climate Change) https://rumble.com/v1f7zg3-this-is-how-it-ends.html

Government Secrets Podcast: How GM & Ford Helped The Nazis
https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/governmentsecrets/id/23833361

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Tuesday, August 2, 2022

The Boot


People who are ideologically prohibited from seeing capitalism as the obvious source of society's ills are forced to make up other things to blame those ills on like elite pedovore cabals, Jews, immigrants, the LGBT community, and Satan.

Vastly outnumbering your rulers but choosing not to overthrow them because you think the status quo might someday make you wealthy is the same as having all the power in the world and trading it away for a lottery ticket.--Caitlin Johnstone, For Warmongers It's Always 1938


The Boot

by C.A. Matthews

Have you ever felt like you had the weight of the world on your shoulders? How about the weight of the world resting upon your neck like a giant yoke? A yoke you're forced to wear in order to keep pulling and pulling a heavy load uphill without ceasing?

Most Americans have learned since the BLM Summer of 2020 just how dangerous having an immense weight resting on your neck can be. But can you imagine having this weight resting on your neck, crushing your shoulders, breaking your back without reprieve since the day you were born, perhaps even before you were born? Can you imagine never experiencing freedom from this immense weight in your lifetime or even in your children's or grandchildren's lifetimes?

That's what "the boot" of capitalism feels like for most Americans. We realize as we grow older that we can never escape the boot's weight no matter what we do. We discover through life experiences, for good and for ill, that we'll never be rich enough or white enough or the "correct" gender or connected to the movers-and-shakers of our society enough.

We learn that there's no way for a poor worker to get ahead of the day-to-day grind to survive in a society run by insanely wealthy oligarchs (or billionaires if you like to think of them that way). There is no one in a position of leadership who can stand up and plead our case, either, because these self-same oligarchs own the vast majority of our political leaders. It's a most effective form of slavery, too.

Our political leaders love to be owned by these capitalists. Cash passes freely from the briefcases of the corporate lobbyists and into the pockets of our elected representatives at all levels--federal, state, and local. The oligarchs, emboldened with how easy it is to own the US government, openly mainstreamed this activity through a Supreme Court ruling known as Citizens United. The courts state that spending massive amounts of money to influence politicians is "free speech." We who struggle find now that we have no voice.

Money--or capital--talks. And many people who are struggling seem to listen to the money/capital rather than to their own insights or those of  their fellow strugglers. These misguided folk somehow think that they're what John Steinbeck called "temporarily embarrassed millionaires." Tomorrow they'll be flying around the globe in their own luxury jet or sailing the seas on their own $500 million yacht just like Amazon's Jeff Bezos. Just you wait and see.

 Whether they realize it or not, American workers have much more in common with each other than they do a billionaire clown like Bezos.  No matter where or how they work--white collar, blue collar, no collar at all--all workers are powerless to raise the federal minimum wage, which hasn't increased in decades and remains at $7.25/hour. Workers are powerless to move it even one red cent. The Haves make sure the Have-nots will never get ahead or even get close to their level of financial security. The Haves knowingly and without empathy for the workers' plight maintain their superiority in capital and political power at our expense.

 And still, some struggling American workers idolize these tormentors, praise their persecutors. Perhaps you're one of them. I've got to ask you a question then: What has a billionaire ever done for you personally? Why do you think they'll care about you enough to do anything for you in the future?

Has Bill Gates ever walked up to you and given you food when you were hungry and didn't have a penny to your name? Has Elon Musk ever offered to make good on your past due rent or mortgage payments? Is Jeff Bezos currently paying off your medical debt or student loans?

If you answered "yes" to any of those questions, then I could see why you'd sincerely love that person. They were kind and helped you out when you needed it. Otherwise, why do you assume oligarchs (or Haves) like Gates, Musk, or Bezos give a rat's ass about you or any other working class American?

Wake up and smell their stinky foot fungus!

The Haves wear "the boot" of capitalism. They will continue to rest that boot heavily upon your neck until you do something to stop them from doing so. What can you do? You must learn to work together with your fellow strugglers to throw off the billionaire class that oppresses all workers everywhere.  

Stop pretending you're better (or worse) off than others who live under the tyranny of capitalism. Reach out and join or form a union with your fellow workers. Propose and establish workers' co-ops and the like. Be creative!

Practice caring and support for one another through mutual aid societies. Don't leave anyone behind. Why? you ask. Easy--would you like to be left behind? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Workers organizing and coming together to demand fair pay and fair treatment is what the oligarchs fear the most. United, workers have the power and ability to kick "the boot" off each others' necks. Freed from tyranny, they can build a fair and just society for all.

Together we can create a beautiful and healthier planet where the weight of the world will be shared by all, not only by those without capital.

Very revealing quote of the week: 

"A Bank of America executive stated that “we hope” working Americans will lose leverage in the labor market in a recent private memo obtained by The Intercept. Making predictions for clients about the U.S. economy over the next several years, the memo also noted that changes in the percentage of Americans seeking jobs “should help push up the unemployment rate.”

The memo, a “Mid-year review” from June 17, was written by Ethan Harris, the head of global economics research for the corporation’s investment banking arm, Bank of America Securities. Its specific aspiration: “By the end of next year, we hope the ratio of job openings to unemployed is down to the more normal highs of the last business cycle.” (...)

The memo is an uncanny demonstration that the economist Adam Smith was right when he described the politics of inflation in his famed 1776 work, “The Wealth of Nations.”

“High profits tend much more to raise the price of work than high wages,” Smith argued. “Our merchants and master-manufacturers complain much of the bad effects of high wages in raising the price. … They say nothing concerning the bad effects of high profits. They are silent with regard to the pernicious effects of their own gains. They complain only of those of other people.”

Thus, exactly as Smith would have predicted, Bank of America complains loudly about the bad effects of high wages in raising prices, but appears to be silent about the pernicious effects of high profits.

This is especially remarkable given the role that corporate profits have played in the recent increase in inflation. After-tax corporate profits stood at 8.1 percent of the economy at the beginning of 2020 but have since shot up to as high as 11.8 percent of the GDP. In an economy the size of the U.S., that equals an increase of more than $700 billion in profits per year. These higher corporate profits have been the cause of over 50 percent of recent price increases.

Instead, the memo is focused on the enticing prospect of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, slowing the economy, and bludgeoning workers back into line. (...)

The memo therefore tells us what we suspected all along: The most powerful economic actors in the U.S. — entities like Bank of America and its clients — do not like working people to have power. But it’s nice to have it in their own words." --from  Bank of America Memo, Revealed: “We Hope” Conditions for American Workers Will Get Worse

Related Articles:

Bank of America Memo, Revealed: “We Hope” Conditions for American Workers Will Get Worse https://theintercept.com/2022/07/29/bank-of-america-worker-conditions-worse/


For Warmongers It's Always 1938 https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/for-warmongers-its-always-1938-notes


Moby Dick and the Soul of American Capitalism https://popularresistance.org/moby-dick-and-the-soul-of-american-capitalism/ 


Europe's "Apocalypse of Heat" Highlights Capitalism's Climate Crisis https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/07/19/aesc-j19.html 


Child Labor Is Alive And Well in the US  https://popularresistance.org/child-labor-is-alive-and-well-in-the-united-states/


The Age Old Wealth Problem:The Rising Age and Bank Accounts of the US Congress  https://jesseventura.substack.com/p/the-age-old-wealth-problem  

Trapped in the Slaughterhouse https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/trapped-in-the-slaughterhouse 

Almost No One Trust the US Media After Decades of War Propaganda and Lies  https://popularresistance.org/polls-show-almost-no-one-trusts-us-media-after-decades-of-war-propaganda-and-lies/ 

 Seen on Twitter:

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Tuesday, July 26, 2022

More Warfare! Less Health Care! What Bad Air?


 More Warfare! Less Health Care! What Bad Air?

Some observations on too much media consumption by C.A. Matthews 

If I were an active consumer of American mainstream media (i.e., CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, NPR, Wash. Post, NY Times, etc.), I might come to some odd conclusions on what all is happening in the world and what is really important to Americans. 

I might assume that Americans love continual warfare since we're spending $800 billion plus on our defense (offense, more likely) budget. I might assume we don't care much about brown or black people since we give military and economic aid to countries like Saudi Arabia and Israel who are set on genociding the Yemenis and Palestinians. 

I might assume we're good with supporting fascists since we've given massive amounts of military hardware to the Azov Battalion, an openly Neo-Nazi militia. I might assume that America means for all these weapons to wind up on the black market to be sold to terrorists around the world, since that's what's happening to the arms we've sent to Ukraine. I might assume that money laundering through these black market arms sale is agreeable to those who profit the most from them, the top one-percent who own shares in Raytheon and their ilk.

If I were an active consumer of mainstream media, I might come to some odd conclusions about the importance of health care in the US. I might assume that all Americans have private health care and love it. I might assume that we don't place much value on women since we seem to like taking away their rights to bodily autonomy. I might assume that we place zero worth on women of color in particular since their infant and maternal mortality rates are so high. I might assume that the life of a pregnant person is worth less than a fetus since many states have already passed laws declaring it to be so. I might assume that Americans have little empathy for victims of rape and incest--particular the youngest and most vulnerable.

I might assume that it's okay for people to go bankrupt whenever they have an expensive healthcare emergency since the majority of bankruptcies in the US involve some form of medical debt. I might assume that homeless persons do not have the right to health care and especially mental health care since we seem more preoccupied with pushing them out of our cities than in getting them the help they need and a roof over their head. I might assume that COVID-19 was no more, and it no longer posed a threat to human life on the planet. I might assume we'll never have to worry about another pandemic ever again in spite of reports about the spread of monkeypox.

If I were an active consumer of American mainstream media, I might assume there's no such thing as the "climate catastrophe" or climate change since these kind of stories are seldom reported on major outlets. I might assume there's no such thing as "greenhouse gases" and that CAFOs--concentrated animal feedlots--are wonderful and don't dump tons of animal wastes into watersheds. I might assume that Americans don't care about the suffering of animals raised under these horrible conditions. I might assume toxic blue-green algae is rather pretty  and its washing up on the lake shores doesn't poison drinking water for millions.

I might assume that this summer's record high temperatures are just an aberration. I might assume that wildfires in the south of England are a regular event along with their roads melting. I might assume that coastal erosion and sea level rise are just myths and that a huge icy chunk of Antarctica didn't break off and start melting into the sea. I might assume that Glacier National Park was named after something other than giant ice fields.

I might assume that millions of people suffering from lung disease have nothing to do with the rise of pollutants such as ozone and heavy particulates in our air. I might assume that there's no way microscopic bits of plastic have become a part our drinking water and are now a part of all our bodies thanks to the fossil fuel and plastic industries promotion of non-recyclables.

So, what's wrong with taking mainstream media at its word? If you said, "Everything," then you'd be correct. These erroneous assumptions that American mainstream media encourages demonstrate how propaganda skews our worldviews. Mainstream media propaganda causes more harm than good. People who don't have access to differing viewpoints can form skewed and sometimes dangerous opinions and actions. They need to know that non-violent options exist. (Check out Rad Indie Media for different viewpoints.)

As I sit here at my laptop, listening to the Annual Meeting of the Green Party US this weekend, I hear speakers conversing on related topics that don't support any of these assumptions. In fact, they paint very different pictures and tell very different stories--and give very different responses on how to deal with challenges. Greens don't take corporate money and don't listen to billionaires and do their bidding. Their visions are clear and not clouded by money, unlike members of the establishment factions.

We can't believe the fairy tales our corporate-sponsored,  status quo/duopolist politicians promote any longer. We just don't have the time. The earth is heating up. Crops are failing. People will starve. People are dying in the US now because we don't provide universal health care, and guaranteed food and housing. 

People are dying around the world because the military industrial complex wants the US Empire to grow. The US Empire wants to force other countries to give us their natural resources, whether they want to or not. It's profits over people. The Empire will bomb other countries until they hand their resources over.

When will Americans realize they've been lied to and stop these horrors? Would obvious lying and voter suppression caught on tape perpetrated by the party in power convince them? If not, what will?

How about when they announce it's time for World War III let's all just be like "Nah, we're not doing that."

And then let’s build a healthy world. -- Caitlin Johnstone

 

Related Articles:

When They Announce WW3 Let's Just Say 'Nah' https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/when-they-announce-ww3-lets-just

Medical Debt Is A Rip-Off  https://scheerpost.com/2022/07/21/medical-debt-is-a-rip-off/

Proof US Missiles to Ukraine End Up with Terrorists https://leecamp.com/proof-us-missiles-to-ukraine-end-up-with-terrorists/ 

In Ukraine, A Proxy War on the Planet  https://mate.substack.com/p/in-ukraine-a-proxy-war-on-the-planet-413 

The Imaginary War  https://scheerpost.com/2022/07/17/patrick-lawrence-the-imaginary-war/

The CIA's Worst-Kept Secret: Newly Declassified Files Confirm US Collaboration with Nazis  https://ips-dc.org/the_cias_worst-kept_secret_newly_declassified_files_confirm_united_states_collaboration_with_nazis/

Servant of the Corrupt https://popularresistance.org/servant-of-the-corrupt/

Zelensky's Hidden Offshore Assets and Corruption Exposed (video) https://youtu.be/muA7fZIl08Q

If This Isn't a Climate Emergency What Is https://www.rsn.org/001/if-this-isnt-a-climate-emergency-what-is.html 

As Europe Burns, Biden Puts Profits Over the Climate https://www.leftvoice.org/as-europe-burns-biden-puts-profits-over-the-climate/

Roads Are Literally Melting in Europe During Unprecedented Heat Wave https://truthout.org/articles/roads-are-literally-melting-in-europe-during-unprecedented-heat-wave/

Les Miserables, Living and Dying on American Streets https://scheerpost.com/2022/07/22/les-miserables-living-and-dying-on-american-streets/

NC Democrats' Version of Stop the Steal  https://www.pmrt.org/nc_democrats_version_of_stop_the_steal

We've Been Lied To Our Whole Lives About Everything That Matters https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/weve-been-lied-to-our-whole-lives 

Seen on Twitter: 

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