Last night Fox’s Tucker Carlson praised Trump’s decision not to go forward with a planned attack against Iran which the president claims would have killed approximately 150 people in response to a downed drone, which if true would have been a profoundly barbaric response to a broken toy plane and would have led to retaliations from Iran, followed by a chain of military actions which could have escalated God knows how far.

Carlson, who has been credited with persuading Trump against further military escalations with Iran, lit into the neoconservative elements of Trump’s cabinet with unprecedented viciousness. He called National Security Advisor John Bolton a “bureaucratic tapeworm” who never suffers any consequences for his relentless warmongering and accusing him and his collaborators of deliberately engineering a provocation to lead to direct military confrontation. Carlson urged Trump to expunge the influencers who are pushing for a war with Iran, and cautioned that it would cost him re-election.

“Bombing Iran would have ended [Trump’s] political career in a minute,” Carlson said. “There’d be no chance of re-election after that.”

Carlson’s first guest, The American Conservative‘s Robert Merry, plainly stated the likely reason for Bolton’s deceitful manipulations, saying that Americans are typically reluctant to go to war and citing a few of the historical instances in which they were tricked into consenting to it by those who desire mass military violence.

“So, you’re saying that there is a long, almost unbroken history of lying our way into war?” Carlson asked his guest rhetorically.

“Lying sometimes, not always lying, sometimes it’s manipulations, but yeah,” Merry replied. “America’s warmaking history indicates that there’s been significant instances of that kind of maneuvering, manipulations, and in some instances lying–Vietnam is a great example–to get us into wars that the American people weren’t clamoring for.”

Both men are correct. The US empire does indeed have an extensive and well-documented history of using lies, manipulations and distortions to manufacture consent for war from a populace that would otherwise choose peace, and a Reuters poll released last month found that only 12 percent of Americans favor attacking Iranian military interests without having been attacked first.

Watching Americans react online to the jarring report about how close they may have just come to a war which would have impacted most of the world to varying degrees, I’ve been experiencing a deep appreciation for what truly, sincerely good people they are underneath all the propaganda and deceit.

The fact that Americans have had to be tricked into every major military action since the Spanish-American War is telling in itself. If Americans were truly a war-hungry mob, the hawks wouldn’t need to do that. Notice too how these tricks almost always hinge on manipulating Americans’ desire to help others. The manipulators literally have to use people’s goodness to manufacture consent for war by making it all about a “dictator” who is harming his people or some variation of this theme. The hawks could try to play off of hatred or fear, but they know it wouldn’t work nearly as effectively as manipulating the already-installed “Save the day!” helping desire that most Americans live and breathe.

Now, these tricks are becoming more and more conscious for an increasing number of Americans. For instance, on the day of the Gulf of Oman incident, “Gulf of Tonkin” briefly trended on Twitter. As it becomes more apparent that they’ve been lied to, you could expect people to compartmentalize away from the bloodshed by arguing for exceptionalism and for strengthening the petrodollar and US geostrategic interests no matter the cost. They could simply switch gears and take their cues from Bolton and the neocons. But the large majority don’t. They are horrified. There is shame and there is palpable grief. They hate the thought that they might be the baddies, and they want to do what they can to stop the next senseless military bloodbath.

And then something like this near-miss happens in Iran and the responses on social media make it very clear that the will for war with Iran is almost non-existent everywhere except DC. On the contrary, Americans came out in force over the last two days to mock, deride, argue and demand that Trump cease this madness immediately. I’ve been reading all day and just swelling with so much love.

I’ve often had the thought that American culture creates the kind of people we need to save the world, but they’re also subject to the most sophisticated propaganda in the world, so so far they’ve put all that get-up-and-go goodwill into fighting shadows and each other. If the veil of the propaganda gets too thin, these guys might really end up being the superheroes, but for real this time.

And that gives me so much hope. If the US-centralized empire were built upon a foundation of cold, uncaring people, I’d probably pack it in right now and seek out a low-effort job so I can buy chips and booze to take the edge off while I wait for armageddon. But it’s not. All that’s holding our world back from health is a thin, wispy leash made of propaganda.

Whenever I try to talk about this I get a lot of pushback, not from outsiders like myself but from Americans themselves. When you’re in the thick of a society that keeps seeing itself manipulated into war after war after war, it can feel like being in the middle of an endless zombie apocalypse, and it’s easy to grow impatient with one’s countrymen.

But it’s so important that the blame be placed in the right place. We must be vigilant in directing our anger at the manipulators and not the manipulated. It’s always the conman’s fault, never the victim. That’s how it works in fraud law and how it works in life. Blaming people for being “stupid” is not only victim blaming, it’s also unlikely to be true. Being susceptible to propaganda has very little to do with intelligence. You will notice that some of the smartest people you know not only fervently believe the propaganda, they are able to gaslight themselves and others more effectively than most with their own clever arguments. A high IQ does not inoculate you against propaganda, in fact it can work against you because agile minds are able to create the most convincing kinds of reframes.

They’re not stupid, they’re trusting. And is being trusting something we really want to mock? Aside from mocking a beautiful attribute that we should be trying to protect, it also is a bad strategy if you want to help someone into seeing that they’ve been duped. Our brains are very adept at avoiding the feeling of shame, and people will use many strategies to avoid feeling the shame of being duped. So when you mock people as “stupid” you’re literally just strengthening their shame cage by making them defend it. Get angry at their abusers instead and encourage them to get angry at them too. It’s the manipulators who we should be staring down right now, not their victims.

What we are watching with Iran is a war propaganda narrative failing to get airborne. It was all set up and ready to go, they had the whole marketing team working on it, and then it faceplanted right on the linoleum. This is what a failed narrative management campaign looks like. It is possible for us to see this more and more.

Today I have a lot more hope. It’s becoming clear that the manipulations of the US war machine are becoming more and more obvious to more and more people and that everyday, regular Americans are reacting with a healthy amount of horror and revulsion. There was always the risk that the US population would already be sufficiently paced ahead of these revelations and there would be little to no reaction, but that didn’t happen. Americans are seeing what they’re doing, and they don’t like it, and they don’t want it.

And that makes me so happy. Come on Captain America. Save the day. The world is counting on you.

___________________________

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79 responses to “The Fact That Americans Need To Be Deceived Into War Proves Their Underlying Goodness”

  1. Beautiful teaching Caitlin. I have been guilty too often for blaming my fellow Americans for all the wrong thinking and action here. You are showing me a better way. Thank you so much for being your creative, perceptive self!

  2. Any group of people consisently and repeatedly fooled into murder or war must be stupid. How many times do you need to be conned before you catch on- once or twice maybe but 5 times or 10 times? A cow learns quicker than that when it touches an electric fence. If you allow yourself to be lied to it’s your fault. If you take illegal or immoral actions because you were ordered to it’s your responsibility.

  3. Christopher Kauffmann Avatar
    Christopher Kauffmann

    “The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic and a killer. It has never yet melted.” D.H. Lawrence, 1923
    While I’m in agreement with just about everything Caitlin writes, I think she’s way off on this one. The country was founded on genocide, slavery, theft and stupefying greed. It has proceeded ever since with the willing participation of its people. It loves to kill and constantly glorifies it in popular culture. It has always been fascinated and cheered on on criminality, promoting the likes of John Dillinger, Al Capone and whatever Mafia boss that captured their attention at the time — not to mention serial killers. Internationally, the record is so bad that by World War II standards, there isn’t a U.S. president and his henchmen that shouldn’t have been hanged. Today, despite the abject failure, unpunished criminality and grotesque corruption of the military, it is the most popular of American institutions. The public voluntarily and with fervor allows its streets to be increasingly militarized. It celebrates imprisoning of people for petty crimes to the point it has the largest prison population in the world and there isn’t even a close second. It is a horribly racist country. It is a horribly sexist country. I could go on and on, but will finish by saying I escaped, and I do mean “escaped” in all its meaning, 10 years ago and spent the previous 25 years trying to do so. And if I could have done it when I was 13, when I truly began to realize how sick the place is, I would have. There are millions upon millions of very good, wonderful people in the United States, there just happen to be hundreds of millions who aren’t.

  4. again, tried to share to fb. nope, you must be on the naughty list, caitlin. naughty for telling the truth…

  5. Caitlin, you should discuss”wilful ignorance”. Most folks are fine either way as long as their ox doesn’t get gored. This applies to internal as well as external issues that have destroyed the country. The US is on life support waiting for the right trigger to finish us off. How many times do people have to be lied to until they wake up? We’re way past that.

    1. Yes.

      And so the point would not be I think to say: Give up.
      The point is that correcting behavior begins with recognizing that it is bad behavior that needs to be corrected. We have a problem. It is our fault.

  6. I think this belief is at the core of why we continue to kill each other: We are basically good in nature.
    The U.S. in around 1945 dropped two bombs on two separate innocent (meaning in no way involved in hostilities) civilian targets. Killing around 200,000 civilians (yes, with women and children), some instantly others got to suffer for a while. US is Death Star.
    We have yet to acknowlege the pure, unnecessary evil of what we did. We have not standing to criticize or otherwise assess wrong-doing.
    Soccer mom’s are taking thier kids to practice and worring over thier boo-boos and non-bpa water bottles while children in gaza, syria, yemen, libia, etc. are playing in ruble that we created.
    There is in psycholgy recognition of some kind of trance like state where a large group can remain oblivious to a very unacceptable fact due to the facture that we know that to acknowlege the fact is too uncomfortable.
    In organized crime they speak of being “made” where one is obligated to participate in a horrible act and this removes the sense of innocence and reluctants to participate in such.
    Democracy is a weak form of government which makes the people feel that they are part of something (they are not) and accumulates weath which can be used to fund a military to accumulate more weath and make the world safe for accumulators of wealth.
    Large organizations are run by bureaucrats who enjoy using there power at others expess and are quite immune isolated from and indifferent to the suffering they cause.
    Not everything is OK.

  7. This notion that Americans are actually good is well refuted by Paul Craig Roberts: “Be Wary of Undue Optimism.” [ https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2019/06/24/be-wary-of-undue-optimism/ ]

    I normally agree with Caitlin … not this time. Americans are (genetically?) vicious.

    1. I think Dr. Roberts and many others fell for Ms. Johnstone brilliant satire. She knows that with the obvious “basic level” mocking she gets only so far, while with this “high degree, fine nuance, less agressive” one she hopes, as I do, the self reflection of her audience finally materialize…

      1. Caitlin and Tim did not write this as saire. What’s ironic is that what she says is so obiviously wrong that you THINK what she says MUST be satire. Again, it isn’t.

        1. Ishka,
          While I was hoping that the author(s) would read the reply posts (some do) …
          Thanks for blowing up my attempt to bring them to senses.

  8. Since when is stupidity and gullibility a redeeming quality to absolve people from responsibility?

    1. I agree with you assessment of the American public as (genetically vicious). Thanks for responding.

  9. rafael martorell Avatar
    rafael martorell

    The american people already fight against the Germans in favor of the communist Stalin.

  10. That situation with mostly good but propagandized people also happens in Israel:

    “We are being brainwashed here in Israel” – The International Angle
    https://theinternationalangle.com/index.php/2018/10/05/we-are-being-brainwashed-here-in-israel/

    In spite of all the propaganda in the country, about half Israelis oppose Netanyahu’s politics and for example favor a two-state peace settlement with the Palestinians.

  11. Indeed, something that happens in the US (in fact, permanent propaganda or mass brainwashing/deceiving/lying to the American people):
    .
    “Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear — kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor — with the cry of grave national emergency. Always there has been some terrible evil at home or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it by furnishing the exorbitant funds demanded. Yet, in retrospect, these disasters seem never to have happened, seem never to have been quite real.”
    — General Douglas MacArthur
    .
    https://izquotes.com/quotes-pictures/quote-our-government-has-kept-us-in-a-perpetual-state-of-fear-kept-us-in-a-continuous-stampede-of-douglas-macarthur-116443.jpg

  12. BDS everyone and everything that participates in, contributes to, and benefits from the evil NWO.

    otherwise you are an accomplice. in that case, just shut up.

  13. help the evil empire implode into dust. the sooner the demise, the better for humanity.

  14. No it doesn’t –

    You dont know the difference between not starting a war because you dont like murdering people and not starting a war because you only like the wars you win.

    This should be simple logic

    now remind me again why i dont like yanks

  15. This citizen of the US agrees that our government is the greatest obstacle to peace in the world today. Many have commented on this society being trapped in a sort of matrix without the willingness to get out. The real issue here, however, is what is the obvious alternative? Americans (and many Western Europeans) who are not part of the power structure and complicit in our hegemony are entertained, distracted, and titillated by an incessant narrative that to feel good and amused is the end goal of living. They are also anxious, afraid, and dependent on various forms of Soma to keep the narrative intact, knowing deep down this illusory lifestyle can crash at any time. We are the cash cow that keeps this empire afloat, although at the expense of depleted resources from other parts of the globe. Does any empire repent from within? No and they never do. They realize their sins when they are compelled by some outside power which exposes their iniquities and makes them begin to account for them. Right now, the type of information so many here have found and trust are not even considered by an Western populace who can spout sports stats quicker than foreign policy targets. Heck, most couldn’t find Afghanistan on a map or even know that Yemen exists! There are good Americans, lots of them. They could quickly change if the propaganda would stop smothering them. But, I think the time for repentance is past. We Americans must reap that which we have sown these last decades.

  16. BDS everyone and everything that participates in, contributes to, and supports war crimes.

    persuade others around you to do the same.

    that should be more than enough to stop the crimes against humanity committed in our name, on our dime, and with our blood.

    if you haven’t done your very best, you have yourself to blame.

  17. Unfortunately Caitland, I don’t share your views. IF Americans were even half the people you seem to think they are, would they then not CHECK OUT THE CLAIMS BEING MADE BY THEIR GOVERNMENT THAT HAS A HISTORY OF LYING TO THEM ?????
    And how EASY it is, these days to do that ? Sorry, but your excuse for them, does not hold water with me. B.T.W. you seem to have completely forgotten what’s going on in Venezuela right now, where the American people have completely turned their backs upon a nation they have ground into the ground. So much for the NICE people.

    1. I agree with Caitlin. Most Americans do their best for their families, friends and communities. It is the Elite who pull us apart with fear of job loss, and terrorism.

  18. “Americans always do the right thing after they’ve exhausted every other alternative.”

    Nice to see my fellow countrymen catching on after, what, eight ongoing bombing campaigns and wars now?

    I love the sentiment Caitlyn and feel it’s important to encourage the better angels in our nature but my feeling in this is the reason most Americans are against this is because they know Iran would make us suffer for it. We only like wars we don’t have to suffer any direct consequences for. We were all for the war in Iraq until we started suffering for it. Same with Afghanistan. We’re still cool with Syria and Libya and all the others where we just arm jihadists and drop bombs from far away.

    We’re fine with wars as long as it’s other people fighting and dying.

  19. The unprovoked attack in 1967 by unmarked Israeli warplanes on the USS Liberty, a state of the art electronic surveillance ship, sailing in the eastern Mediterranean is an example of an excess of restraint by the US in not retaliating for a deliberate act of war on the US by Israel. Squadrons of US fighter planes were twice launched from an aircraft carrier to defend the Liberty which was heavily damaged with many dead and wounded crew. Both times the ship’s commander was ordered by LBJ, the president, to recall the fighters. The crew were sworn to secrecy and threatened with severe consequences should they disobey. Eventually a high level investigation by the Navy documented the attack.
    So under some circumstances the US has been reluctant to risk war.

    1. Geowizz, I’m puzzled by your conclusion that the USS Liberty ‘incident’ shows that, ‘under some circumstances the US has been reluctant to risk war.’ In fact, the US aided and abetted the Israelis in their mission to sink the USS Liberty and its crew – the only reluctance Lyndon Johnson and subsequent administrations had was that the truth would come out. Surely the Israeli Airforce repeatedly and knowingly shelling a US ship IS an act of war. Enabling it and covering it up isn’t what I’d call ‘avoiding war’.

      1. Richard Foland Avatar
        Richard Foland

        The US Navy commander twice launching fighter squadrons to defend the Liberty doesn’t seem to indicate a desire to aid the Israeli attack. The Navy commander was doing his job. LBJ’s stand down orders, however, were both extremely problematic and, in my opinion, treasonous. Why was he afraid to take on the Israeli Air Force in this instance? I’d like to know.

  20. I don’t buy that the fact that the American people “have to be lied into war” means they’re “good.” The fact that they CAN be lied into war, again and again, suggests the opposite. But wait–as Woody pointed out above, the last three attempts at “hey let’s start a new exciting war!” have been met with “let’s don’t.” But the important thing left out of this narrative is that the attitude of the American people is nearly irrelevant, as proven by the Page and Gilens study. If fact, I remember that the March day in 2003 when the war against Iraq commenced, public opinion was 51% opposed–despite a relentless campaign on the part of all the “mainstream” media (only 3% of those allowed on the air opposed the imminent war, or questioned it). Millions marched against that war, all over the world as well as in the US–didn’t matter. What stops a war is when the military is against it–perhaps that has happened here. It could even be that the scenario where Trump recalled an attack while the planes were in the air was face-saving and in fact the pilots said “No. Just no. I am not dropping a bomb and starting a new war.” And their superiors said “Fine. I refuse to suggest a court-martial.”

    1. Mary: I agree with you, and, in fact, the very first thing that came to mind for me after reading the headline and briefly reading the article, was exactly the point you made.

      I’m ecstatic that I didn’t have to go to far into the comments to find someone else who feels the same way.

      I believe that the human lack of interest creates an environment in which Americans can be deceived with ease. This ‘lack of interest’ is assuredly a side-effect of low levels of empathy. This lack of empathy, by itself, is not an indicator that a human being is ‘evil’, however, it goes without saying that for a human being to be ethical and moral, they must have a requisite level of empathy.

      1. Agreed, but I’m even less optimistic. It’s not merely a lack of empathy, it’s an acknowledgement that we will lose and we will suffer for that loss. We are fine with wars we are winning – or at least are suffering no direct consequences from. But, the tide turned on the Iraq war when we were losing and suffering. Same with Afghanistan, Vietnam, “Blackhawk Down”, etc. But the other ones, the ones we barely hear about or pay attention to we’re cool with because we’re not suffering.

        Syria? Sure, sounds like we’re doing Ok there. No sufferingfor us even if we’re losing.

        Libya? We won that one, right? Cool.

        Somalia? Are we at war there? We lost some soldiers? Maybe we should leave, I don’t know, whatever.

        Iran? Wait, they have a real military! They can hit us back! No way!!!

        We only are against certain wars out of self interest.

  21. Much as I would like to believe that Trump cares more about human life than those whom he has put in charge of his foreign policy do, it is also quite likely that he is more concerned with his chances for re-election. Why does he not use his greatest actual skill and just fire Bolton and Pompeo? Is it because the 3 letter agencies have some really good dirt on him, and likely all the past presidents too? And as for the goodness of the US citizenry, though a majority may really care about the lives of non-US citizens, many would simply prefer that the majority of the budget that now gets eaten up by the military be spent on domestic infrastructure instead, purely for the benefit of Americans. The US military’s massively expensive heavy handedness overseas mainly benefits large corporations and wall street at the taxpayer’s expense. Getting rid of the slavering beasts that run the show is in the best interests of most Americans, no less than the world at large. So if that can actually be accomplished, it may be due more to enlightened self interest than compassion. Even so, I’ll take it.

  22. To paraphrase the Saker – it not true that Americans don’t like war, they just don’t like wars they don’t win.

    The yanks are NOT nice people, they let there government murder millions then re-elect them and thats not nice. They murder millions but there proud of there military power. The USA murder machine is the most respected institution in the USA. For no reason they destroy the Iranian economy and kill Iranian kids and the yanks don’t give a dam and thats not nice.

    They let there government arrest Assange and arrogantly tell you they support “free speech”. Don’t kid yourself that they don’t know, its that they don’t care. Put 50c on a gallon of gas and there would be a revolution, murder half a million and all you hear is the sound of crickets.

    If the yanks gave a dam this would stop but it don’t because they don’t. They only care about themselves and power makes them feel good. Like holding an assault rifle makes them feel good. Like kicking ass makes them feel good. Like burning commies in a hutch makes them feel good, like dropping cluster bombs on people from a safe hight makes them feel good.

    Then they claim to pity anyone who comes up against us because “we just get better and better” at killing people. I don’t like yanks, not even the “nice ones” who are all smiles and proud of the good ol uncle sam and its brave military personnel who proudly “Serve there country” by dropping napalm on kids – but “hey lets not talk about it” because were all friends here.

    In this game of life and death there are no innocent bystanders, if you let your country behave in this way you are guilty. no excuses.

    “One may smile, and smile, and be a villain. ”

    1. It amounts to the same thing, because we haven’t “won” a war in sixty years. Caitlin understands the situation better than you do.

  23. In another insult to anyone with any intelligence, Agent Orange intends to put additional “sanctions” on Iran come Monday.
    https://www.rt.com/news/462470-trump-iran-additional-sanctions/
    ..
    Just consider what’s happened over the last few years. I mostly plagiarize the following.
    ..
    In 2015 O’bomb’em & Co., China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, —plus Germany and the EU enact the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Under JCPOA, Iran agreed to eliminate its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium, cut its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98%, and reduce by about two-thirds the number of its gas centrifuges for 13 years. For the next 15 years Iran will only enrich uranium up to 3.67%.
    ..
    Iran also agreed not to build any new heavy-water facilities for the same period of time. Uranium-enrichment activities were limited to a single facility using first-generation centrifuges for 10 years. Other facilities were converted to avoid proliferation risks.
    ..
    To monitor and verify Iran’s compliance with the agreement, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitored all Iranian nuclear facilities.
    ..
    The agreement provides that in return for verifiably abiding by its commitments, Iran will receive relief from U.S., European Union, and United Nations Security Council nuclear-related sanctions.
    ..
    Even though for several years the IAEA has confirmed that Iran has followed the JCPOA to the letter, in May of 2018 Agent Orange broke the agreement. From that point on it started to re-impose economic sanctions against Iran and ordered other nations to stop trading with Iran, including the other nations that were, and still are, part of the agreement. In order to not displease their US masters, these other nations followed their orders. This is the great big reward the Iran got for fulfilling their commitment to the JCPOA.
    ..
    Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting, illegal behavior on the part of The Greatest Nation On Earth and its spineless European vassals.

  24. As an American Citizen I have to admit that as a society ” we can not handle the truth “! We refuse to admit that our children ever do bad things; just as we refuse to admit that our ” government ever does bad things”! We like our ” small realities ” kept real simple and very easy to deal with. If the war crimes our government, and its partners, were brought in homes here every night on TV in six months there would be radical changes here. Our government and the main stream media would never allow that to happen.

  25. Its hardly unique to Americans. The Germans were tricked into WWII. People everywhere hate wars and most manage to stay out of them except here.

    At some point, after having been tricked into more wars than any nation in history you would think people would require more evidence to be led into war.

    Instead, the flimsiest excuse seems to suffice and they ignore the ongoing mischief in places like Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Venezuela and so many other places we are causing or supporting death, poverty and hardships.

    Not even mentioning supporting israel brutality against the Palestinians and recent actions Iraq , Libya , Serbia and Afghanistan, etc

    If anything, I would say Americans are becoming more desensitized to the destruction caused in their name. Sure there is lots of propaganda but thats not new. Thats been true since the Spanish American War. There is also more ways Americans can educate themselves if the could break free from Facebook and various entertainment sources. Most dont.

    Lets face it. Americans are getting dumber, lazier and less caring. Caring people take better care of their poor, the elderly and their children. They make sure those who were behind the lies and deceits that led to previous unnecessary wars are held accountable and punished. They don’t glorify a military killing civilians using unmanned drones and helping deceive the people in the first place with phony intelligence.

  26. Caitlin, the American public has been awakened from the propaganda slumber by alternative media and writers like you. How do we keep the “machine” from censoring alternative news sources? It’s just a matter of time before dissenting voices like yours are silenced by the platforms they use. I also fear that alternative media sources will have to fall in line or they will be denied access to banking, etc.

  27. If Bolton and the rest of the stinkin’ NeoCons want to attack Iran so bad then President Trump should issue them all M-16’s, body armor, 10,000 rounds of ammo each and arrange for them to be dropped into Iran in the middle of the night via an stealth aircraft. And then get on the phone and call the Iranian president and tell him just where they landed.

  28. What is missing here is the comprehension that America was FOUNDED upon war. The American [sic] continents were inhabited by many peoples, but the Doctrine of Discovery as promulgated by the Roman Catholic Church stated that whatever we discover we own (some churches have specifically disavowed this obscenity). In order to rid the North American continent of its inhabitants, war was engaged in on a constant basis, and once Europeans dominated the entire land mass they then moved on to other lands, e.g., the Philippines where they murdered a quarter of the population. We have been at war since the beginning and though I have met ordinary people who are repelled by war I’ve met plenty of ordinary people who seem to savor it, such as the elderly Christian woman who used to be my neighbor. For anyone who thinks Americans are peaceful people, I would suggest reading some End Times fiction which is very popular and stinks of pornographic titillation through violence.

    1. The indigenous American people were at war with each other prior to the arrival of Europeans. Genghis Khan wasn’t European but is considered one of the most prolific warriors in history. Mankind is instinctively tribal. Sadly, it is what it is.

  29. Here’s how FDR got Japan to attack Pearl Harbor and, by extension, Americans to buy into WWII:
    http://www.unz.com/article/pearl-harbor-unmasked/

  30. Nobody is born devil nor saint. We all are born with ‘good’ and ‘evil’ tendencies. Society, education, environment work on those innate tendencies. We all can be tyrants or saviours.

    It would make all sense that Americans might, in the end, be the ones leading a worldwide awakening, cause usually the people that have been more deeply deceived are the ones to have the strongest response once they become aware.

  31. Well said, especially for someone who is not American. Most individuals are against war, however, no one wants to be called “unpatriotic.” So we get mostly conformity rather than protest.

    One thing the majority of Americans has not caught on to yet is these wars are orchestrated long in advance. Years. So really this drone being shot down or a tanker running into a mine have nothing to do with the actual war itself. Those are just excuses, just as the Gulf of Tonkin was an excuse. The decision was made long before then…

    https://opensociet.org/2019/05/19/how-many-times-do-i-have-to-explain-this/

    1. Thanks for that link that article was very refreshing.

  32. If we Americans choose not to become activists in a campaign for an immediate revolution, then we become complicit war mongers, economic exploiters, environment destroyers, racists, etc.—this is the oft-repeated message of the non-compromisers. Yes, “neoliberalism” is best defined as liberalism selling out to the dark side. I believe neoliberals like Obama, Bill Clinton, and Tony Blair sell out way too much, but I respect progressives like Elizabeth Warren for having a knack of finding little compromises that do not wholly abandon the principles of peace-making, economic fairness, environmental protection, and racial equality.

  33. Kudos to Carlson; it’s easy enough for those with little to lose to do the right thing, but harder for someone in Tucker’s position to oppose war, (a cause greater pause itself). But, I disagree Iran is the only “rich, sophisticated country with an ancient history” in the region.

    Yes, Iran is bigger than Iraq or Syria, but neither the size, wealth, or long provenance of their respective cultures, (nor importance to World history) proved much of a deterrent to America’s penchant for obliterating any they can profit in the process of doing. Still, BRAVO Tucker, not least for a fine pillorying of the menace, Bolton!

  34. Nice to see glimmers of hope here and there!
    Perhaps I don’t feel very reassured at the notion of not wanting war being a sign of “goodness” – after all, who but a psychopathic politician would actually want war? I think goodness might be better described as taking strong steps actually to prevent a war, at least for those who have the will and the physical possibility of doing so.

    But the idea of getting angry with the manipulators, rather than the manipulated, really strikes a chord here.
    Very well put.

    Otherwise, I coud certainly imagine that the prospect of a war with Iran is something which our warmongers are just flying past us for now, in order to see what our reaction will be
    They are easily sufficiently far-gone for that. At any rate, I seriously doubt that their agenda, which is already at least a hundred years old, has undergone any significant change recently.

    They were badly brought up, and it’s too late to fix that on an individual basis.

    I also heartily agree with the statement that “Americans are not stupid; they are trusting.”
    But their isolationist, exceptionalist educational system, as increasingly so with the British version, has led to many of them leaving high school in a state of being pretty ignorant, and ignorance (the kind which comes from being relentlessly subjected to mind-numbing superficiality in the media) is every bit as dangerous as stupidity, and has the same consequences.

    Some of those ignorant people rise to high political office after their school years – and of course money in the family, rather than genius, often has a lot to do with that.
    So, here too, it is the manipulators of the propaganda in our schools who should be the object of our anger.
    Not the students, nor even the teachers, who are often also the victims of that propaganda.

  35. P.S. to earlier comment: there’s another interpretation to the war-mongers’ need to use deception to trick the American public into supporting war: they are not all powerful. If they were, there’d be little need for charades and they’d simply do as they please, with no pretense or invoking of international law, reason, morality, victimization or other carefully staged presentations.

    1. But they DO simply do as they please.
      How much more psychotic can you get than Bolton?
      Yet nobody imagines that anything short of a padded cell could stop him.

      I’d say that was powerful enough, and those who have not followed a path towards power since their early student years are screened out from high political office long before they could become a voice of reason in today’s Washington.
      The Boltons of this world recognize and protect their own, and they reject anyone who is not recognized as belonging to their self-help / world-destruction group.

      1. Wardropper, yes, acknowledged… I was thinking that as I wrote; but my point was they still make some effort to put on the “dog and pony” show… Powell still goes before the U.N. before Iraq II; presidents still make speeches rationalizing their insane decisions; press secretaries still work their spin, etc. Admittedly, Bolton is a thread-bare connection to all that. My point was simply that if they had absolute, unassailable power, they wouldn’t ever bother with that much; it’s not much to pin hope on, but it is a sign that–if only in their own minds–they may not be as invincible as it appears..

  36. What you left out, Caitlin and Tim, is the near-certainty that Agent Orange was contacted by several governments, Russian and Chinese in particular, shortly after the drone shoot-down and before the US had time to attack. What do you suppose those leaders or representatives had to say to AO? They almost certainly told him that there would be “disastrous consequences” if the US were to attack Iran. Put yourself in AO’s shoes after hearing that. Yes, AO could still do whatever he wanted, but what he did not, could not know was what the ultimate consequences would/could be for that action.
    ..
    Second, AO made the same mistake in what he said to the media after supposedly calling off the attack that O’bomb’em made when he threatened Assad in Syria. O’bomb’em said that IF Syria used chemical weapons against his own people, that would be a “red line” that would require a US response. Well, just guess what happened. The White Helmets staged a false-flag chemical attack which was instantly blamed on the Assad regime. Putin came to O’bomb’em’s rescue by saying that Assad had agreed to remove all his chemical weapons, which he did, under international scrutiny. But after AO took office, false flags happened again, politically forcing AO to respond.
    ..
    Now, after the recent downing of the drone, and after AO supposedly called off his attack, AO said in an interview, essentially, that had an American been killed instead of just a drone being destroyed, he would have reacted differently. IMO, this means that he would have gone through with the attack.
    ..
    So just take a wild stab at what’s going to happen now. “Iran” is going to be blamed for some carefully arranged incident in which some Americans are going to be killed/sacrificed, and the incident will be instantly blamed on Iran by the ENTIRE “western intelligence community”, and the calls for bomb, bomb, bombing Iran will not be able to be politically resisted by AO. If AO says that he does not believe those agencies, as he honestly, naively said once before (for which he was instantly excoriated and called a traitor), he will once again be called an anti-American traitor, an Iranian agent, etc. and the calls for impeachment will be increasing and incessant. AO will be forced to either resign from office or attack Iran and let the world suffer the consequences.
    ..
    In short, IMO, what happens in the next few weeks may very well determine the fate of humanity. We’ll soon find out if those wonderful, peace-loving American citizens jump on the war wagon after some young Americans get viciously killed by those “animal” Iranians.

    1. Excellent comment! And living amongst Americans as I do, I do not see them as the good people they constantly advertise themselves to be, and which Caitlin believes them to be.

      1. Interesting comment about Americans, Susan. In response to your generalization, I can honestly say that I have never known anyone named Susan that was nice. The Susans I have met were mean-spirited people. Does that mean that all Susans are bad people? Not at all. I just happened to meet some evil Susans.

  37. Lindsey Graham reveals neo-con back-up plan for war with Iran:

    1. Mr. Lindsey Graham, like so many other United States politicians, is owned lock, stock, and barrel by Israel. Israel is armed with nuclear weapons and is quite willing to use them. Sure they could bomb Iran out of existence but what would Russia do about it? Israel could bomb Iran and start a revolution in Saudi Arabia as well as convince the rest of humanity that Israel needs to be eliminated. This whole thing is way beyond being Stupid.

  38. The entire spectrum of humanity exists here within these United States. Yes there are some very good human beings living here, but there are also some of the very worst humans alive also within this country. The United States Constitution has been almost completely ignored the whole 75 years that I have been alive. The almighty ” dollar ” holds the minds and souls of most of us captive and chained to conformity. The banks, organized crime, the deep state ( CIA-NSA-etc.), main stream media, and the weapons makers are running the show here; ordinary people a just considered taxpaying idiots totally afraid of all governmental authority. Our population is armed to the teeth but sound asleep to being herded into disaster after disaster. We are very, very gullible and that is our major weakness!

    1. those who are armed to the teeth are usually the biggest cowards that obey the abusive authority.

  39. Beautifully expressed, but the premise here needs to be regarded with some caution. Yes, there is an intrinsic goodness somewhere at the core of the American citizen. But we must also assume some responsibility for the ways we are used or manipulated; that responsibility is a central tenet of freedom and democracy. Boy Bush mangled this line–probably didn’t even understand it– but there is a truth here: fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. We have a responsibility to wake up; we can’t keep stepping into the same sucker punch, no matter how well-intentioned we may be.

  40. While I would like to fully agree with this, there are some things which you sweep under the run:
    the USA represents 4.4% of the world’s human population; it occupies 7% of the globe’s landmass, and it consumes 25% of the world’s resources. If you were to tell the American populace that to act ethically in the world would require a five fold cut-back in their consumption, most, having been fully brainwashed by their capitalist masters, would likely say “fuck you” and fully support the imperial behavior that brought them this wealth.

    America is an extortion racket which uses economic power (as in Iran, Cuba, Venezuela and many others) to bring countries to their knees; and that failing they have by far the biggest military in the world and can creditably threaten to break the knees of those who do not comply to the extortion demands. That is the brutal reality of America, and while most Americans either do not know this, or willfully avoid knowing it, even my most liberal friends would balk at doing what is necessary to stop this reality.

    1. MIchel Bélisle Avatar
      MIchel Bélisle

      I agree with you Jon.

      If you have read my comments below, you know that people do not really want to exit the Matrix. They prefer to remain in it. Sadly, they are complicit in a lot of bad things happening around the world.

      The actual confusion is a clear sign of the end times and it is above human capacities to solve it. We have to pray the Rosary for the Second Coming of Jesus, the only One who can solve our problems.

      1. I do not believe in the tooth fairy, nor in Santa Claus, nor in some long ago middle-eastern mumbo jumbo centered on a savior figure. There is no “One” who can solve our problems, and it is belief in such things which has in large part been responsible for producing those problems. People who believe these things are in fact a big part of our problem(s). That means you.

        1. Michel Bélisle Avatar
          Michel Bélisle

          Maybe Jon, if you read about father Daniel Berrigan, a great american anti-war catholic priest, we will change your mind about people of faith.

          If everybody was like him, it would help a lot.

          1. Christianity to me is a spiritual Big Mac: it can satisfy your hunger but it does not nourish you. It impoverishes you by sating your instinctual yearning for transcendence with a value system that is so rigidly judgmental and dualistic that it forms a well nigh impenetrable barrier to true self-awareness and serenity. Plus, as the Red Queen said, it demands you believe six impossible things before breakfast.

            The Christian system of belief fails to comprehend the true expansiveness of human nature, and is simply wrong in its understanding of the natural world and the human place in it. Because these distorted beliefs (which they hold to be the only correct ones) form the basis of how Christians perceive reality and respond to it, Christianity’s demand for conformity produces very serious problems for the rest of us, who seek to incorporate the intervening centuries of human progress into our belief and value systems. Berrigan and his cohorts are the exceptions that prove the rule, all too rare examples of what can be when innate human decency overcomes dogma.

    2. Exactly right, Jon. Well said.

  41. I said at least a decade ago that America has now seen a successful Anti-War Movement. Successful in that now the majority of Americans now want at least this era of continuous wars to end.
    What America now needs is a Democracy Movement.

  42. This is at least the third start a war via propaganda narrative that has failed to launch. The first was under Change and Hope Obama when he was definitely leading into a war in Syria. Some in Congress made their usual cry that the Constitution that gives Obama the power to command the military also gave Congress the power to decide to go to war. There were calls for some sort of fig-leaf, Congressional vote. But, while this was being organized, the American people made it very clear that they did not want yet another war. I remember hearing that Congressional office phone calls were running 10 to 1 against. Obama then pulled back on his effort to start a full-scale American war in Syria, and instead just kept on supporting the jihadists.

    The second was the effort in Venezuela. It also failed to launch. Part of the problem is that Trump and is advisors are now so toxic that over half the country opposes anything he wants to do. And that includes Donald and Elliots Big Venezuelan Adventure that I would imagine was fantasized as raising Trump’s awful poll numbers. Poll numbers so bad that he fires his own pollsters.

    Thus, this is the third “Hey, Lets All Go To War” Propaganda blitz that has failed to arouse the American public.

    Of course, the Americans have been telling pollsters since about 2005 or 2006 that they want these wars to end and want to bring the troops home. The last two Presidents were both elected by running as anti-war candidates against bonafide pro-war hawks like McCain and Clinton. Of course, both Obama and Trump were lying when they said they were against war, but it is telling that they have to tell that lie to get elected in the first place.

  43. A very heartening assessment Caitlin. As James Corbett points out, one of the strategies of the deep state actors is to make individuals, the ones who have an inkling of the manipulations and crimes of the state, feel powerless and hopeless about changing the trajectory. A pep talk based on successes in derailing parts of the agenda is most helpful in countering this strategy. Thank you!

  44. Persian famine of 1870–1872

    Persian famine of 1917–1919

    It started long before operation Ajax

  45. Not only do demonic warlords LIE to create war, they stage set ‘disasters’ to prolong war. Churchill destroyed the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir killing 1200 allies. Given 12 hour notice, Dugout Doug MacArthur let the Japoolpanese destroy half of all US P-40 and B17 on the ground. FDR allowed unprotected tankers to be sunk on the East Coast, sinking 400 ships and killing 5,000 merchant marine sailors. Slapton Sands training killed 1500 soldiers prior to Normandy, which was an unnecessary human sacrifice. Stalin killed 25,700 Polish officers at Katyn Forest, reports suppressed. The Morgenthau Plan was to exterminate 10 million post war Germans, mission accomplished.

    HellStormDocumentary > the “other” holocaust

  46. Not only do demonic warlords LIE to create war, they stage set ‘disasters’ to prolong war. Churchill destroyed the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir killing 1200 allies. Given 12 hour notice, Dugout Doug MacArthur let the Japanese destroy half of all US P-40 and B17 on the ground. FDR allowed unprotected tankers to be sunk on the East Coast, sinking 400 ships and killing 5,000 merchant marine sailors. Slapton Sands training killed 1500 soldiers prior to Normandy, which was an unnecessary human sacrifice. Stalin killed 25,700 Polish officers at Katyn Forest, reports suppressed. The Morgenthau Plan was to exterminate 10 million post war Germans, mission accomplished.

    HellStormDocumentary > the “other” holocaust

  47. Caitlin:

    I have sent this piece to a few US cousins – I know it will give them some courage. As for Ron Campbell’s comment – it’s pretty much the way things are going in Australia, too. And Michel Bélisle – don’t pray for that Armageddon – and just keep in mind that the vast majority of people in this world hold no such apocalyptic beliefs – so tone down your own hopes for hell to descend on our planet – it is a total loss concept that I want no part of, thanks.

    1. Michel Bélisle Avatar
      Michel Bélisle

      Hello Jim,

      I am a strong believer in the prophecy of the popes by Saint Malachy of Ireland telling us Francis is the last pope before the Final Judgement of mankind.

      But if you do not believe this prophecy and want something to change you have two choices 1:to abstain of participating in the electoral process in the Western countries, i.e. to do not vote or 2: if you vote, vote for independent candidates non-affiliated to any recognized political parties.

      The fact that nobody really wants to try that makes me think that people are not able anymore to exit the Matrix (or oddly enough prefer to stay in the Matrix) and this fact alone suggests that we are in the days of Noah or, if you prefer, the end times.

      1. You’re right that people don’t want to wake up, and #2 may be underutilized, but FWIW, half of the US voting population already does #1.

  48. Yes, the narratives that hold up US imperialism are tattering in the winds of change. Hallelujah! Dr Jerry Kroth does some great lectures on propaganda techniques we should all be hip to, as they are used against us so often. Check out Duped! at youtube. Its an education we all need. Best Wishes, Cait, I love your missives!

  49. Michel Bélisle Avatar
    Michel Bélisle

    According to an article by Elijah J Magnier this is what happened:

    “The US media claim that President Trump approved military strikes against Iran but revoked the order hours later. What actually happened – according to the source – is the following:
    Iran was informed in advance by a third party of a proposal by US intelligence that Iran selects one or two or three empty locations for the US to bomb. This was intended to make everyone happy by saving face for all concerned. Iran refused to play along with this charade, which was ultimately designed to save face for Trump. Nonetheless, Iran was reassured by this offer that the US has no intention of going to war and is trying to find a way out of its quandary; Trump is looking for a way out.”

    https://ejmagnier.com/2019/06/21/iran-and-trump-on-the-edge-of-the-abyss/

    And that, according to Mr Magnier because Trump wants to be reelected and does not want to go to war.

    The only way out for the people seems to be to abstain of participating in the electoral process in the Western countries, i.e. to do not vote or, if you vote to vote for independent candidates non-affiliated to any political parties.

    But I am not confident at all people will do that and this fact is very depressing.

    No doubt, we are in the days of Noah. The good side of it is that the end is near. I pray the Rosary for that to happen because I really really have seen enough.

  50. Trump has already win the next election by “deceiving” the Deep State ghouls thirsty for Iranian blood with his latest “crazy clown” act. Well done, Donny!

  51. The government in the United States has increasingly become a powerful weapon that two warring tribes repeatedly seize control of and then use against each other. For those of us who are averse to being smashed, it’s long past time to consider the machinery of the state as nothing more than a bludgeon in the hands of dangerous maniacs.– J.D. Tuccille, “Stop Treating Government With Respect” [2019]

    https://reason.com/2019/06/15/stop-treating-government-with-respect/?fbclid=IwAR3tGrP8mGQxTyBPtOjjlVgeDquwW5fEKzngDH0ThYHscrsymJGHlVyMfMA

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