Caitlin Johnstone

Happy 2020: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

Start over in the new year. Also, start over at any other time during the rest of the year, whenever you want, as often as you like. Time is an illusion anyway. I cannot assure you that things will get better in the ’20s. I can’t assure you that they’ll get worse, either. What I…

Caitlin Johnstone
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Start over in the new year. Also, start over at any other time during the rest of the year, whenever you want, as often as you like. Time is an illusion anyway.

I cannot assure you that things will get better in the ’20s. I can’t assure you that they’ll get worse, either. What I can absolutely guarantee is that things are going to keep getting weirder and weirder. At this point in time the only reliable pattern is the disintegration of patterns.

The mainstream worldview isn’t mainstream because it is more fact-based, logical, or makes better arguments than other potential worldviews, it’s mainstream because vast fortunes are poured into keeping it mainstream.

“Why do those people hate us?”
“We destroyed their country.”
“We should leave the Middle East then.”
“We can’t”
“Why not?”
“Israel.”
“What about it?”
“Those other countries hate it.”
“Why?”
“It destroyed the country it was built on top of.”
“Well maybe we and Israel should leave, then?”
“Nazi.”

The empire’s overall strategy toward Iran seems to be to crowd the area with an increasingly intrusive military presence, then react disproportionately in “self defense” when anything happens. It’s like an older sibling’s “I’m not touching you” car ride teasing, but with an entire region.

Not hearing any urgent concerns about that horrible horrifying epidemic of antisemitism that was pervading the Labour Party anymore. I guess they all stopped being antisemites all of a sudden.

“You defend Assad!” No I don’t, idiot. I attack the US-centralized empire for pouring billions and billions of dollars into actual terrorist groups in Syria with the goal of effecting regime change, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths. I don’t play defense, I play offense.

I’m still tripping on how the latest WikiLeaks drops are getting literally zero mainstream media coverage, and yet people on the internet still get mad at me for writing about them. Even one indie blogger talking about these authentic documents is unacceptable to some people.

Everyone involved in getting the OPCW leaks out did the right thing but the MSM. The inspectors did the right thing, the whistleblowers did the right thing, WikiLeaks did the right thing… then the media refused to report it and gave control of the narrative to fucking Bellingcat. The facts are right there online right now, staring us all right in the face, but because coverage is being suppressed and the conversation controlled, I have people in my social media notifications at this very moment regurgitating old establishment Syria narratives as gospel truth.

Imagine living in Nazi Germany and only ever talking about Jim Crow laws in the American south. That’s what it’s like when people who live in the US-centralized empire focus on the alleged misdeeds of non-aligned nations.

Our entire society is mentally ill. What our mentally ill society labels “mental illness” is actually just a small slice of the broader mental illness spectrum–those who are impaired in their ability to participate in the consensus mass delusions shared by the rest of society.

Sometimes I can only stop and stare slack-jawed at all the extreme hate and vitriol that gets directed at anti-imperialists online. I mean, you’ll get called all sorts of names, get called evil and a monster, for advocating peace. PEACE! Really shows you the power of propaganda.

Mentally mute the narrative soundtrack about Obama changing things after Bush and Trump presenting a radical deviation from all US norms, and what you see is a government continuing along pretty much the exact same trajectory with only cosmetic changes between administrations. World minus narrative is night-and-day different from world plus narrative.

Wars aren’t good vs evil; usually they’re geostrategic agenda vs geostrategic agenda. But Hollywood always portrays war as good vs evil, which is why empire apologists always bleat “You’re saying Dictator X is a Good Guy!” whenever you oppose interventionism in X targeted nation. Without that conditioning by professional storytellers, it would never occur to us to try and find the “good guys” in the chaos of a military conflict. We’re trained to think there must be a Good Guy and a Bad Guy, and that if a side isn’t one then they’re the other.

Capitalism is literally a game. It’s based on completely made-up rules with a completely made-up points system just like any other game. The only difference between this game and the others is this one gets taken so seriously that losing can kill you in real life.

Arguably the only people who actually truly understand the highly unscientific and completely made-up field of economics are those who manipulate the economy for their own benefit. And they only understand it because they’re the ones authoring its self-fulfilling prophecies.

Sometimes it’s funny to think about how humanity fought two world wars for basically no reason. World War 2 sprung directly from the effects of World War 1, and hardly anybody can give a coherent explanation for why World War 1 happened. Certainly nobody can justify why World War 1 was necessary. Our species fought two world wars (or arguably one world war with a long intermission to grow more troops) for no justifiable reason at all.

Keep paying close attention to Syria. I know they’re saying “Assad won” and there’s a lot of other stuff going on in the world, but the battle for narrative control over Syria is hotter than ever and we’re going to see even more information emerge to discredit the imperial press.

“I hope those folks in Hong Kong and Iran obtain democracy like we westerners have. Lemme log off this search engine algorithmically stacked toward billionaire CIA-tied media and ponder whether I want Donald Trump or Joe Biden to continue the wars and oligarchic exploitation.”

It can be fun to debate political and ideological solutions to humanity’s problems. Also, it’s worth noting that every one of those problems would disappear very quickly if we all just stopped taking our own mental chatter so seriously.

________________________

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29 responses to “Happy 2020: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix”

  1. Paul Davis Avatar
    Paul Davis

    The violent history of the U.S. government goes about as far back as the constitution that created it. The manipulation of the narrative by the ruling class goes almost as far back too.

    Here’s a little piece for those unacquainted with these thing: https://fee.org/articles/the-palmer-raids-america-s-forgotten-reign-of-terror/ .

    The only difference today is that a large and growing number of people are becoming aware of the reality and may, just may, do something about it.

  2. Defiance Demon Avatar
    Defiance Demon

    https://www.mintpressnews.com/social-media-control-how-silicon-valley-serves-us-state-department/263267/?utm_source=Stay+Informed%3A+Sign+Up+For+Our+Newsletter&utm_campaign=99016ee462-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_01_17_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_51e062931b-99016ee462-108702033

  3. Douglas Newman Avatar
    Douglas Newman

    Caitlin… Your continued efforts to help *The People of the World* see with acute clarity what is actually happening gives me great hope for our world. You must know that you are not alone in your desire to see real and positive change take place. The light that you carry is an inspiration to all those who would see and feel it. Thank you for bringin’ it! Wishing you and yours every possible “good” in 2020 and beyond.

  4. JWK Avatar
    JWK

    The general population is delusional. The fantasies they believe in are too comfortable to refute. Unfortunately, reality does not ask permission. Consequences will appear, whether one is prepared or not. Hopefully, we survive , and are able to construct lives based on real principals and ethics. Hopefully, we can refrain from putting Sociopaths In Charge again, and govern ourselves instead of being governed by monsters.

  5. Lloyd Avatar
    Lloyd

    “Let’s kill all the lawyers” is a line from William Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2. The full quote is “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”. It is among Shakespeare’s most famous lines, as well as one of his most controversial. Shakespeare may be making a joke when character “Dick The Butcher” suggests one of the ways the band of pretenders to the throne can improve the country is to kill all the lawyers. Dick is a rough character, a killer as evil as his name implies, like the other henchmen, and this is his rough solution to his perceived societal problem. Whether Shakespeare sympathises with the line is ambiguous, and it has been interpreted in different ways: criticism of how lawyers maintain the privilege of the wealthy and powerful; implicit praise of how lawyers stand in the way of violent mobs; and criticism of bureaucracy and perversions of the rule of law. (Wikipedia, but I give so it’s OK ;)) Personally, I’m totally with the Bard’s Dick on this one (no pun intended, well maybe not) but I’d update the line to read “Let’s kill all the politicians and bureaucrats who happen to also be lawyers”. Methinks this would solve much.

  6. jcdoss Avatar
    jcdoss

    Most significant first step toward world peace begins with, ““Well maybe we and Israel should leave, then?”

  7. Melanie Avatar
    Melanie

    “Arguably the only people who actually truly understand the highly unscientific and completely made-up field of economics are those who manipulate the economy for their own benefit. And they only understand it because they’re the ones authoring its self-fulfilling prophecies.”

    This is not entirely true. If you can get away from the mainstream Keynesian economics that are mucking everything up (deliberately, as this system favors the folks in power) and read some Austrian economics, you may be surprised to learn it’s not all crap. Anything by Murray Rothbard would be a great place to start.

    Happy 2020, and keep doing what you’re doing!

    1. Frank Thompson Avatar
      Frank Thompson

      IIRC, Rothbard and the Austrian School are stuck in the hard currency economy, writing about money as if its value were pegged to some physical substance, such as gold. Those ideas do not translate well when hard currency has been superseded for over a hundred years by fiat currency. Fiat currency relies on the mass delusion that the money is actually worth something tangible. Of course, gold is of limited practical value itself, suitable as it is for filling teeth and for some electronic applications.

      MMT is where it is at for truly modern economics, where it is recognized that the role of money is to keep score in the game. Where like points on a scoreboard, sovereign currency can never run out and never will be repaid.

      1. Frank Thompson Avatar
        Frank Thompson

        BTW, Keynes went out about the time Reagan was elected.

        Neo-classical was all the rage in the 1980’s, and its orthodoxy concerning markets and competition are still the touchstones of the establishment. And Republicans still hold forth on the Laffer Curve, declaring that tax cuts will pay for themselves (even though that has never happened in the history of tax cuts by the U.S. government).

  8. Yossarian Avatar
    Yossarian

    America invades a country. Twice. Bombing it significantly both times, as well as constantly for the decade in between. In the 2nd invasion, it is estimated that well over a million “extra deaths” occurred as a result. You still see that number quoted, even though by now it is well over a decade old and there presumably have been more “extra deaths” along the way. Like maybe when major cities like Mosul were flattened and destroyed?
    So, the narrative tells us that the only way the locals would attack the sainted foreign invaders that they love so deeply and truly is if there is a malign, Iranian influence.
    Because, we all now that foreign invaders that invade a country (twice, or is it three times?) and cause vast destruction in the nation and millions of extra deaths are always so deeply loved by the invaded people. When they set up a ruling complex in the capital, such sites always become a shrine where the love of the invaded is expressed towards the occupiers and thanks are given daily for the blessings of the invasions and deaths.
    Thus, it can only be a malign, Iranian influence, presumably pushed along by the evil Putin and the perennially evil Russians, that could cause the Iraqi people to attack the dearly loved and adored American saints in their country.

  9. Ron Campbell Avatar
    Ron Campbell

    Well 2020 is here. The ” Chaos ” looms on the horizon. My old gut tells me that our ” masters and owners ” are headed straight into a huge quagmire by following their huge egos. Many humans are going to die.
    It is a bit of an uncomfortable embarrassment for the west that Rockefeller-Carnegie Foundations had poured money into Western Universities and German Universities alike since 1912 in a bid to legitimize the “science of racial purification” which was really just a cover for “population control”. Please readthis article here:
    https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/01/01/putin-reminds-west-those-who-ignore-history-doomed-repeat-it/
    If Mr. Putin looms larger and larger on the world stage; if “the moment has come,” as the Times Literary Supplement recently announced, “for even the most hardened skeptics to admit that he is one of the most successful world leaders of our era””; if the United States at the same time staggers from one imperial disaster to another even while descending into civil war – then it is not because the Russian leader is particularly clever, but because the United States is locked in an ancient mindset that is increasingly divorced from reality. Please read this fine article here:
    https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/01/01/american-collapse/

  10. Mary Wildfire Avatar
    Mary Wildfire

    I went to a New Years party last night. My niece, who lives in Sweden was there with her British husband, who I’ve thought an intelligent and well-educated guy. We got talking politics, and I said about the recent UK election, WTF or something along those lines. “People are so ignorant! It’s appalling!” he said. “They’re disconnected from politics, all they care about is, like who’s doing what…” “Celebrities, ” I filled in. “Or sports.” “Yeah.” At some point I queried how Brits could have elected Johnson–mentioning the NHS, do they REALIZE that privatization means a system like we have in the US, among the worst in the world? “Oh but you have to understand,” he replied, “the other guy was worse.” “What? Corbyn?” “He’s like, an unreconstructed 60’s radical, some of his policies are actually COMMUNIST.” I pointed out that I’d read that most Brits actually endorsed all of Labour’s policies and blamed the media for the election outcome, but he dismissed that. “Anyway, he’s not a nice guy. For example, Elizabeth May needled him about the lack of support behind him in his own party, she said ‘But who’s behind you,’ and he looked at her with such hatred. You can’t DO that!” I pointed out that Trump constantly attacks anyone who criticizes him in any way and it hasn’t cost him anything–we got interrupted at that point.
    My analysis the morning after is that he is a good example of how the PTB in the UK kept Corbyn away from power, where he would have at least tried to deliver policies supported by a large majority of Brits. Yeah, the troglodites support Johnson, but they also needed to get to people like my niece’s husband. He should have seen through this media campaign, but other things he said suggested to me that he watches a lot of TV, likely gets his news there, I would guess that there was a clip of May digging at Corbyn and his look of hatred and that this clip was replayed a thousand times. Along with shocked exclamations of “communist!” and predictions of the downfall of the UK economy if tax money were spent on working class needs. He didn’t mention the “antisemitism” plank but I would imagine it had its effect even on those who consciously dismissed it, through sheer repetition.

    1. Yossarian Avatar
      Yossarian

      Democracy can not exist in a society of lies.
      ———-
      Democracy is supposed to be giving the people a say in what’s happening. The definition of democracy is that the sovereign power of a state lies in the hands of its people. But, when the people are constantly lied to, they can not make intelligent decisions and choices. Such lies are a direct overthrow of the very idea of Democracy. From whom it is that gains power in such manner, the obvious source is the old Enemy of the People…..The Oligarchs.
      ———-
      “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery”

  11. Khatika Avatar
    Khatika

    Doesnt all of this going on in the world remind you of the prelude years before WWI and WWII. Increased tension, tariffs, sanctions, etc. Then all out war. We are just one president away from WWIII and bombs dropping on America. Whoever comes after The Donald will light tge fuse on this powder keg.

    1. Yossarian Avatar
      Yossarian

      Yep, we must keep the peacemaking and sainted and holy Donald in power.

      ———-
      I am always fascinated that the lovers of Donald Duck ignore the glaring impeachable offense that he has committed. That is the missile strikes on Syria. Launched with no declaration of war by the US congress, no fig-leaf resolutions allowing the use of force. The attacks were explained by the narrative managers that they had to occur because of chemical weapons, but there is no treaty that says that a nation is required to attack a user of chemical weapons, nor any treaty that even gives permission in such a case. International law is quite clear that only the UN Security Council could order such an attack. And of course we now know from the important OPCW leaks that the whole thing was all BS to begin with.
      All of which seems to leave the Duck lovers with strange, narrative-guided thoughts that somehow the politician who ordered those attacks and the deaths of that night as some sort of Prince of Peace who must be re-elected or else we are all doomed, doomed I say. It must be true, because Murdoch said it is true.

      1. Khatika Avatar
        Khatika

        You miss the point. Trump is no saint but his inclination for all out war is not enough to start a world war in my opinion. I put his war views is similar to Tulsi Gabbard, The military industrial complex will bend your views regardless. They need a Bush or Obama type president to start the next big war. A willing participant and insider. Trump is not that guy nor is Tulsi Gabbard.

  12. Guillermo Calvo Mahé Avatar
    Guillermo Calvo Mahé

    Happy new year Caitlin, may it bring you joy, happiness, tranquility, joy and continued success.

  13. Neville J. Angove Avatar
    Neville J. Angove

    “I have people in my social media notifications at this very moment regurgitating old establishment Syria narratives as gospel truth.”

    You could say this is happening because these people only get their information from social media. While this is possibly true, the entertainment media is also part of the misinformation process. The preponderance many popular TV and movie dramas, comedies and documentaries tend to echo the MSM lines/lies about gas attacks by Assad, and these shows are probably the major source of information for most people (the screen-addicted will claim they use Google or Wikipedia as fact verifiers, without doubting that both are as reliable as loose-leaf diaries).

    Or you could say that most people do not like to be confused, or alienated from whatever per group they think is theirs, and adopting views that make them feel the most comfortable.

    Making more money makes people feel comfortable, especially if they can ignore the effects on the the people who are the source of that money. The GFC resulted from many people trying to make money from others at the same time, but in the washout, except for a few scapegoats, it happened to be the small fry sh as the small investors who lost, while those who caused the mess enjoyed taxpayer-funded bailouts.

    1. Julius Skoolafish Avatar
      Julius Skoolafish

      Great post, thank you. It is what it is I am afraid …

      “So perhaps happiness is synchronising one’s personal delusions of meaning with the prevailing collective delusions. As long as my personal narrative is in line with the narratives of the people around me, I can convince myself that my life is meaningful, and find happiness in that conviction.”

      ‘Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind’ by Yuval Noah Harari:

      I try and ask friends and family to listen first hand – and then ask their own questions … for example

      Asma al-Assad, First Lady of Syria …
      https://youtu.be/oc4ZZ-yXaOQ

      President al Assad (sample only)
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-4kuVtqLFo

      And of course …
      Exclusive Interview with H.E. Dr. Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun, Grand Mufti of Syria

  14. Joseph Olson Avatar
    Joseph Olson

    “The World War One Conspiracy” documentary series at CorbettReport(.)com

    “All Wars Are Bankers Wars” by Michael Rivero at WhatReallyHappened(.)com

    Monopolists OWN the NO BID war industry and the myopic mass media industry. They delight and profit from carnage and suffering. End feudalism in 2020.

    1. Julius Skoolafish Avatar
      Julius Skoolafish

      To complement your post (thank you)

      Debunking A Century of War Lies – Corbett Report)
      https://youtu.be/Yw0-ASR4sr8

    2. Julius Skoolafish Avatar
      Julius Skoolafish

      Re WWI in particular, I should also mention the [Viscount James] Bryce (“babies on bayonets”) : Report of the Committee on Alleged German Outrages (1914-15) – along with the Lusitania, the Bryce propaganda report was fundamentally central to instigating WWI.

      A copy of the report can be downloaded here.
      https://archive.org/details/reportofcommitte00grea/page/n3

  15. Julius Skoolafish Avatar
    Julius Skoolafish

    And let’s not forget Libya:

    LIBYA. NATO protects you … (very distressing)
    https://youtu.be/3aiigx_V7Zc

    The interposed speech is by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen
    https://youtu.be/z2EpSYhhe0w

    and Barack Hussein Obama certainly had a lot to offer [Clinton-Yugoslavia, Bush-Iraq, Obama-Libya and beyond, Trump-Syria contd]

    (don’t worry about the title – this is about Obama and Libya)

  16. John Day Avatar
    John Day

    http://www.johndayblog.com/2020/01/truth-will-out.html

    Jim Kunstler lets it all hang out in his 2020 predictions, best I’ve seen.
    https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/forecast-2020-whirling-and-swirlin/

    Addicted to Anticipation, what goes on in the brain chemistry of a gambling addict
    ​ ​“First you get that euphoric feeling, that rush and excitement,” Townsend-Lyon says, “Once you become addicted, then you get to the point where you don’t care about anything. You’re in a zone and you don’t realize what’s going on around you.”
    The high is in expecting an outcome, desiring it, imagining it, not in its fulfillment.
    http://nautil.us/issue/40/learning/addicted-to-anticipation

  17. Levi Tate Avatar
    Levi Tate

    Caitlin offered:
    .
    “What I can absolutely guarantee is that things are going to keep getting weirder and weirder.”
    .
    I have been saying for years now that if you think anti-Democracy-ites (formerly known as Democrats)
    have become crazed, wait until The Donald gets reelected for *Four More Years*.
    .
    Crazed on top of crazed. What will that bring us?

  18. Steve Avatar
    Steve

    There is a high-level mafia network that has made all the little wars and assassinations and “revolutions” and weapons and drugs and nuclear deals since at least WWII. These mafia members are not only in governments, e.g. not only in the “swamp” but outside the u.s. gov and other governments. There are family dynasties involved. There are a lot of familiar names involved and lots of unfamiliar names. I learn the names and network connections from George Webb on utube. At the moment he’s looking at the encrypted blackberry network centered around Congress.

  19. Julius Skoolafish Avatar
    Julius Skoolafish

    Did you mention Hong Kong?

    The “Black Hands” Behind Hong Kong’s Turmoil
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUCpGQz6ETo

    (Vanessa Beeley has done some extraordinary work on Syria – particularly exposing the “white helmets” for what they are.)

    .. or the rogue musical state DPRK?

    Enjoy …
    Moranbong Band – Let New Year’s snow fall

    1. lyindoc124 Avatar
      lyindoc124

      wonderful eye-candy

      I got a rush watching the musicians working their audio magic

  20. Julius Skoolafish Avatar
    Julius Skoolafish

    Thank you for your extraordinary work and Happy New Year, Caitlin

    Speaking of PEACE and propaganda:

    “Atrocity propaganda is how we won the war [WWII]. And we’re only really beginning with it now! We will continue this atrocity propaganda, we will escalate it until nobody will accept even a good word from the Germans, until all the sympathy they may still have abroad will have been destroyed and they themselves will be so confused that they will no longer know what they are doing. Once that has been achieved, once they begin to run down their own country and their own people, not reluctantly but with eagerness to please the victors, only then will our victory be complete. It will never be final.

    Re-education needs careful tending, like an English lawn. Even one moment of negligence and the weeds crop up again – those indestructible weeds of historical truth.”

    Sefton Delmer [from Tasmania]– former British chief of ‘Black propaganda’ in a conversation with Dr Friedrich Grimm (German Professor of International Law)

    This is precisely why movie trash like Jojo Rabbit are made to this day.

    PEACE to all
    http://hitlerspeaceplans.com/

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