The outrage over the Iowa caucus scandal has continued to burn white hot as more and more establishment manipulations against the Bernie Sanders campaign come into view.
At the beginning of a CNN town hall with Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg last night, immediately following the network’s town hall with Sanders, the event’s host Chris Cuomo announced that 100 percent of the caucus results were now in and the former South Bend mayor had narrowly won the contest. These results had been announced by the Iowa Democratic Party moments before Buttigieg’s town hall appearance.
There is no reason for anyone, let alone a major news outlet, to believe these results are legitimate. They are full of easily demonstrable errors and discrepancies which have been highlighted by both the Sanders campaign and The New York Times, and they have yet to be addressed. Furthermore, Sanders has a perfectly legitimate claim to the win given the undisputed fact that he received thousands more votes. This is without even getting into all the other extremely shady shenanigans with the now-infamous Shadow app whose crash has given the media days to sing Buttigeig’s praise, which has in turn given him a major polling bump for New Hampshire.
But Chris Cuomo (who is the brother of a Democratic New York governor and the son of another Democratic New York governor) declared Buttigieg (who because of his establishment grooming and alt-centrist ideology is beloved by billionaires and spooks) the winner anyway. In front of millions of people. While Buttigieg was standing right there in the spotlight. Immediately after the “results” were released.
https://twitter.com/KyleKulinski/status/1225605348716924928?s=20
We’re watching a major US election being rigged in real time, right in front of our eyes, and it’s intense. And it’s only just getting started.
In the 2016 race between Sanders and Hillary Clinton, the Iowa caucuses saw some suspicious activity and there was some controversy over improbable coin toss results, but nothing like the furor we’ve been seeing over Iowa for the last several days. It wasn’t until the Nevada caucus that things really started to get crazy in the 2016 race, and we’re still a couple of weeks out from that.
So we’re way ahead of schedule in terms of emotional intensity tied to this presidential primary race, and possibly at a more heated point after the very first 2020 primary contest than at any point in the 2016 race between Sanders and Clinton. And it’s only going to get crazier from here.
And that’s just looking at the US Democratic presidential primary. Later this month we’ve got the beginning of Julian Assange’s extradition trial, we’ve got the OPCW narrative managing its own scandal by smearing the whistleblowers who revealed that the US, UK and France almost certainly bombed Syria in 2018 under false pretenses, we’ve got continuing revelations that pretty much everything the Trump administration told the world to justify the assassination of Qassem Soleimani was a lie, we’ve got an escalating new cold war between the US and Russia, increasing establishment attempts to censor the internet, an increasing propaganda war against China, the general militaristic belligerence of the US-centralized empire, and God knows what else.
As I said back in November, things are going to get weirder and weirder throughout the foreseeable future. We’re coming to a point in history where the only reliable pattern is the disintegration of patterns, and 2020 has come storming out of its corner swinging for the fences working to establish this pattern with extreme aggression. We’re not going to hit a point of stability or normality this year, we’re going to see things get crazier and crazier and crazier. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I know it’s going to be nuts.
Things Are Only Going To Get Weirder
"I often hear people in my line of work saying 'Man, we’re going to look back on all this crazy shit and think about how absolutely weird it was!'
No we won’t. Because it’s only going to get weirder."https://t.co/z5ivGMEMoY— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) November 1, 2019
In such an environment, it’s going to be absolutely essential to take exceptional care of your psychological health if you want to remain engaged with what’s going on in the world in a positive way.
And I do mean exceptional. Whatever you’re doing now, do more. Start cultivating new habits to keep yourself lucid and serene, and start now before things get super crazy. Work out your issues with your family and with yourself. Remember to move your body in ways that feel good to you. Carve out some time out each day for just being quiet with yourself. Notice the beauty around you. Give cuddles, get cuddles. Take a shower and sing your heart out. Feel your feet on the floor, nestle your bum into your chair and listen to yourself breath like it’s a song on the radio. Yawn. Belch. Stretch. Roar. Put on some loud music and rock out. Whatever you know works for you to get you out of your head and back in to your body, remember to do it, and remember to do it regularly. Make it habitual.
Be proactive with this rather than reactive; if you wait until you have to react to things going ass-side up later on it’s going to feel like you’re fighting to get your head above water. If you do it now you’ll have the mental space needed to navigate tumultuous waters.
This is what will be necessary if you want to engage with the increasingly frenetic narrative matrix in the future. The only alternative will be to disengage completely and throw your attention into escapism, or at least away from politics and news. And if you don’t make the cultivation of mental well-being your first and foremost priority you will be forced, in a very unpleasant way, to disengage anyhow.
And honestly this is something all activist types should be doing anyway. Believing you can help the world without doing serious inner work is like believing you can clean the house while covered in raw sewage. You can always spot the political activists who engage without doing any inner work by the chaotic, unskillful and frequently counterproductive form their actions take. They can’t see clearly enough to operate efficaciously, because their vision is clouded with unresolved suffering and conflict. Get in the shower and wash the yuck off yourself before trying to clean the house.
Some of my readers want a Sanders insurgency in the Democratic Party, some support third parties or independents, while others eschew electoral politics altogether and endorse other approaches to pushing for real change. But in my experience you all care deeply about the world, regardless of your preferred path toward doing so, and that’s going to take a heavy toll as all manner of things unravel over the next year if you don’t have the psychological spaciousness to navigate it lucidly.
Above all, be gentle with yourself. We got a ways ahead of us, and we need you fresh and feeling good. You won’t be able to help wake the world up if you let the chaos and confusion drag you down. Know when to take a break from the information stream and all the babbling narratives trying to twist your perception of it. Use your tools to distance yourself from the narratives so that you can perceive them objectively. Ground yourself, find your center, then, when you’re ready, wade back in.
No matter how chaotic things get, your ability to navigate that chaos skillfully needs to be your first and foremost priority. Put your mental well-being first, and everything else will fall into place.
Be the peace and harmony you want to see in the world.
___________________________
Thanks for reading! The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for my website, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitter, checking out my podcast on either Youtube, soundcloud, Apple podcasts or Spotify, following me on Steemit, throwing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypal, purchasing some of my sweet merchandise, buying my new book Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone, or my previous book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish or use any part of this work (or anything else I’ve written) in any way they like free of charge.
Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2
71 responses to “2020 Is Going To Get Much Crazier. Prioritize Your Mental Health.”
https://www.mintpressnews.com/three-extraordinary-australian-journalists-that-spoke-truth-to-power/264753/
John Pilger, Wilfred Burchett and Julian Assange
Opinion & Analysis
Pilger, Burchett and Assange: Three Extraordinary Australian Journalists That Spoke Truth to Power
Australia, writes Rick Sterling, should be proud of its three native sons that were willing to speak truth to power no matter the consequences.
by Rick Sterling
Washington DC is truly CrazyTown, USA.
Perhaps, it’s time to prioritize the mental health of the lunatics and sociopaths that comprise the American ruling class and its institutions from the US regime to the media to the military?
It would truly benefit the world if all these psychos were placed in a secure mental facility far from civilization–kinda like Hannibal Lecter in the Silence of the Lambs.
Donald Trump in particular would look quite fetching, sporting a Lecter-style mask.
Its fascinating how deep the propaganda runs. Watching a silly little BBC comedy murder mystery show with 4 possible suspects. But I correctly guessed the killer only a couple of minutes into the show. He was the character named “Maduro”.
Sly, subtle little things to try to tie the tag of “murderer” to “Maduro” in people’s minds. Even the non-news stuff is toxic these days. Be careful and keep your anti-mind-control hazmat gear close at all times.
That’s 2 out of 3 of this show this year that I’ve guessed the murderer by such methods. I suppose watching how the propaganda flows is entertaining in its own way. They certainly made me laugh today. But, all I wanted to do was to watch a fun, silly little mystery to relax. Sigh…..
Thank you so much for being thoughtful of my well-being. Much appreciated, and the same to you.
One of the problem is that it seems the Western ruling elites are so decadent that they are currently too weak to retaliate when a country like Iran bombs US bases, as it was the case at the beginning of this year. Only 10 years ago, they would have retaliate with full force to that.
However, today the only people the decadent Western ruling elites are still able to subdue are the constantly increasing poverty-stricken people in their own countries which are too helpless to defend themselves.
It is a violent society as it was in the days of Noah. And we are in the return of the days of Noah just before the Second Coming of Jesus and I pray the Rosary to hasten His return because I do have seen enough bullshit.
And, also consequently, the United States has a higher percentage of its people in prison than does any other nation – and virtually all of them are lower class, not the type of criminal who murders by giving an order or by signing a contract or by selling a dangerous or toxic product but by knifing or shooting someone. The crooks who do the most harm are the richest ones, and they do not merely violate the laws, they (through their lobbyists etc.) also write the laws. Please read this very illuminating article here:
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/02/08/who-can-now-say-america-hasnt-become-mega-corporate-dictatorship/
Similarly…. In America, there are three different classes when it comes to taxes.
1) The vast majority fills out their forms and pays what they are told to pay … or else.
2) An elite class can hire accountants and attorneys to manage their money all year long to take advantage of loopholes and pay as little tax as possible.
3) The Oligarchs buy a group of congresspeople and senators and write the tax code so they don’t pay any tax.
It’s super crazy already. Ever heard of the Venezuelan embassy protectors? Their trial starts in a few days. They will not be allowed to say that Maduro, the president of Venezuela, is the president of Venezuela.
The truth is now banned from America’s courts.
Has been before of course. The Ploughshares protesters who go onto military bases and spread some red paint around to simulate blood are never allowed to bring up legal treaties the US has ratified pledging to eliminate nuclear weapons.
—————
America keeps it serfs under control through myths like democracy and the Iowa caucuses. Myths like justice and a fair trial. We are supposed to believe that we live in a free and just society. But of course, that’s like George Carlin’s answer to “Why do they call it the American Dream?” …pause … “Because you have to be asleep to believe it.”
“[Bill and Hillary Clinton] set up a machine that was really a juggernaut with all this corporate money they brought in through the Democratic Leadership Committee,” says Blumenthal. “It was a very different structure than we’d seen with previous Democratic candidates who relied heavily on unions and the civil rights coalition.
“And that machine never went away,” the journalist goes on. “It kept growing, kind of like this amoeba that began to engulf the party and politics itself. So that when Bill Clinton was out of power, the machine was passed to Hillary Clinton, and the machine followed her into the Senate. And the machine grew into the Clinton Global Initiative.” Please read this fine article here:
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-clinton-machine-will-do-anything-to-stop-bernie-sanders/
By now its a lot bigger than the Clintons and their con jobs. Its the whole disgusting top layer of national Dem leadership and all the wannabees that want to take their places. The DLC has become the Democratic Party, with campaigns like Bernie trying to voice opposition from the fringes. These days, if a person identifies as a Democrat, and CNN doesn’t hate and smear them, then they are part of the large DLC faction that now controls the party.
—————–
The old Democrat campaigns of the seventies and eighties were very different. They were always outspend by the Republicans and their faction of business and the wealthy. Democrat campaigns were recognized by seeing a hundred people all in teacher union t-shirts knocking on every door on your street on a weekend before the election. In America, there was always a two-party system, but it used to be more of a balance between FDR’s Farm-Labor-Middle Class coalition and the Chamber of Commerce Republicans. There was more of a balance between a leftward party based on mobilizing people and a business party with money.
But then the Democrats sold their soul and followed the Clintons and the Gores and the lure the DLC offered of big money as bait. And yes, Al Gore was the first DLC candidate for President. He appealed to the KKK Democrats in the south and ran on a strong defence platform because he supported Reagan and his nuclear missiles. Super Tuesday was invented as a tool for the conservative Dems to stop liberals. They pictured an all white Al Gore conservative Dem victory paraded. As usual, the rightwing Dems forgot about people of color, and Al Gore got clobbered in those primaries by Jesse Jackson. After that, Al Gore did one of his first re-inventions of himself, and the DLC went with the Clintons the next time around despite Bill giving perhaps the worst political speech in history at the Dukakis convention.
A long story, but just remember that in these modern times, its not just the Clintons that are the problem…. but that the DLC is now the whole fake-center bunch of Wall Street Dems and former CIA and military officers with (D) after their names. The good news is that the Clintons will fade offstage now, although Hillary the Hated doesn’t seem to want to exit quietly.
I got an email today from an Internet friend who asked me to watch our president in action. I am an old man who does not like to have my insides churn so I do not watch Donald Trump ( and a hosts of others) at all. Maybe some of you would like to watch this:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/52956.htm
Well, I guess that’s at least a different way to try to steer people towards Trump propaganda.
Or I could be a way to make people actually think just how bad of a human being really he is.
Gee Caity…I’m SURE you remember this video posted of “Project Camalot” by Bill Ryan…You KNOW the one about the REAL agenda infecting this planet…Right???
Agenda 2030….made 15 years ago (2005)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d86DRn7T098/
He makes it EXTREMELY Clear WHY the situation on-going on this planet even Exist!
If it was not for some of the great independent websites available on the Internet the public would be in the dark about everything. These are two articles at the Ron Paul Institute that are worth your time.
http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/february/07/a-progressive-appeal-to-new-hampshire-libertarians-with-tulsi-gabbard/
http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/february/06/acronym-group-that-sabotaged-iowa-caucus-birthed-by-billionaire-who-funded-alabama-disinformation-campaign/
What could be better for the citizens of these United States then governmental officials at each others throats? The more that comes out about they way that they lie and cheat about everything the better it is for the general public to see and realize that the entire government needs to be replaced. What we now have is a bunch of blood thirsty criminals running this country.
Its a long struggle. In fact, its a Lifetime struggle. Because, if we’ve learned anything from our past successes its that the elites who want us to be slaves will always counterattack and challenge what we’ve won. So, its a long struggle to win. And then the struggle continues onwards to fight off the inevitable counterattack.
Its a struggle worth fighting. Its a fight one can be proud of when they get old. But, its a long, marathon, fight of an entire lifetime. So, find your ways to stay sane. Know how to rest and recover to fight again tomorrow. Because one thing for certain, when tomorrow comes there will still be a fight that needs fighting.
My own answers are music and the fact that I live in a beautiful place.
And yes, events of the last few days have tried my soul and made seek such solace. It reached the point where I had to turn off the internet and crank up some tunes and watch a sunset. But these recent events also make me more determined than ever.
People over Oligarchs!
“When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator.” — Mahatma Ghandi, who pissed off more than a few oligarchs in his time.
Tulsi is the only candidate who has said she will drop charges against Assange and Manning, and also pardon Snowden…Tulsi is the one to defeat Trump, she transcends party lines and is already admired by many in all parties..it’s a no-brainer…The “socialist” scare word will be used against Bernie relentlessly…and Lets not kid ourselves, the rigors of being President will take a tremendous toll on aging Bernie…Tulsi is young and fit, plus her foreign policy is exactly what we need right now…she understands if we don’t address the cost of war, we cannot have robust domestic policies…Tulsi would wipe the floor with Trump in a debate…
I strongly supported Bernie in 2016, then he threw his supporters under the bus…he knew the rigging was going on and did nothing about it…he was not obligated to honor any DNC agreement, since it was null and void as a result of the rigging…Bernie had the power of his immense supporters to unleash his proclaimed revolution as an Independent in the General election and would have won…Instead he campaigned for the Wall Street #QueenOfWarmongers…It took him how long to stand up for the Tulsi smears after she stuck her neck out for him in 2016?…And he continues to tow the establishment party line despite his rhetoric…Tulsi has proven time and time again she will fight for us… Madam President, Commander In Chief #TULSI2020
The candidate that CNN is desperate to keep off the stage is the candidate who scares them the most.
————-
While Tulsi is my first choice, the Dems have a rule that says if a candidate don’t get 15% of the vote, they get no delegates. So, I’ll have to weight when my time to vote comes if Tulsi is at that level. If not, its a firm vote for Sanders.
———-
My ranked preference voting list…
1) Gabbard
2) Sanders
3) Screw u Dems, I’m voting Green!
BTW, if anyone wants to volunteer or give money to the Tulsi campaign, now is probably the time to do it. The campaign has been focusing on NH, and wants a strong result from there to send a message from the people against war. A few bucks to help pay for ads or an hour or two phonebanking from home could help when the anti-war cause needs it now.
“Bernie in 2016… threw his supporters under the bus […] was not obligated to honor any DNC agreement, since it was null and void […] had the power of his immense supporters to unleash his proclaimed revolution […] would have won…Instead…”
Do you still believe that the shepherd dog that the Demolicans trot out at each voting season ever intends to win?
That. Is. Not. His. Job.
What does one have to do to make clear what’s already obvious?
If you follow mental wellbeing info, you’ll know that there are connections between the mind and body that science has only just started exploring. Caitlin is right as far as she goes, but you need to feed your head, as the wise man said, and not just the right stimulants, but especially nutrition. You have no hope of finding inner peace if your body cannot find it too. Unfortunately as bad as the dysfunction is in the body politic, it is worse in the nutrition realm. Find nutrutional truthtellers and your brain will thank you. Hint:there are no ancestral peoples who did not take advantage of the superior nutritional content of animal foods.
In making the State of the Union all about her, Ms Pelosi sent the very strong message to her party operatives that opposition to this President is now their number one priority. The impeachment was something that she knew would damage the party, but she went along with it and the lies it was built on because she was told to. Please read this relevant article here:
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/02/07/did-pelosi-just-tear-up-the-fabric-of-the-u-s/
Its a very pro-Trump theme being pushed by the fake-opposition. That impeachment just hurt Trump. Note that the argue requires listening to and believing Trump in the argument. Trump claims he’s stronger, so it must be true.
————-
The Dems just did something smart for a change. They did it too late and too weakly, but I’m not sure that changes the outcome. They picked a case they could prove and made it in the evidence. That’s a good thing. A majority backed impeachment, and that’s good. That will pay off down the line.
They also just took a big step towards retaking the Senate. They just locked the whole Republican Party and every Republican Senator (except Romney) with an steel chain to Trump. They made all the Republicans come out and back Trump, where most had looked liked they preferred to keep their distance. Before it was iffy if the Democrats could take the Senate. It just became more probable that Republican Senators sink with Trump. In an election where Trump has 43% and is going to defeat, they just made every Republican Senator tie themselves closely to Trump.
And of course, the pro-Russia websites hate this because while they try to seem independent, they don’t like anything that harms Trump and they criticize anyone who poses a threat to Trump. I’m not at all a Russia-gator, but the tilt of the Russian sponsored propaganda has become quite obvious over the years.
I don’t like the Democrats at all, but Trump must be stopped. Russia might be happy to see a rise of fascism in America, but I’ve been anti-fascist since the 50’s, so not on my watch. Four years of Trump to stop Hillary was something the American people could survive. But Eight years? Hell No! And there’s a large silent majority behind me on that one.
Trump has lost this election. Its fascinating to watch who’s crying and which websites don’t like it. The interesting thing about picking a fight is that you make people show their true colors and pick a side.
Thanks for the timely reminder Caitlin
I watched the first video of that song and sort of liked it. The new version is amazing…maybe the same sound track but what a fabulous job of collecting images to go with it.
Thank you, Caitlyn—your advice is just what I needed right now, as I’m already feeling the same kind of stress that I did during the 2016 debacle. There’s a husband and seven cats who are going to get all kinds of cuddling, and I have art projects, books, and weather permitting, woods to walk in, all of which take me back to feeling real again. Thanks again for the reminder!
“2020 is going to get much crazier” Great! Even Mega MAGA Great. Always loved slap-stick and Théâtre de l’absurde can be a hoot. Our national discourse edges toward slap-happy absurd slap-stick. What a treat … as long as We don’t die laughing.
Ms Johnstone produces articles very quickly and I am an old man.
Just one day after the Iowa caucuses had descended into unbridled mayhem with the Democratic Party failing at simple arithmetic, Washington’s man in Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, was feted at Trump’s State of the Union Address as the rightful leader of the South American country. These dual events are symptomatic of a murderous empire drunk on hubris and arrogance, teetering on the edge of self-annihilation. Please read this fine article here:
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/02/07/how-can-america-play-kingmaker-in-venezuela-when-it-cant-be-trusted-to-conduct-a-caucus-in-iowa/
in response to this & your previous article . it’s just proven how rotten to the core the whole pathetic smoke n mirror’s show is ” Deep Spooks ” and no I’m not a Q fan or into Chan 4 or 8 . it’s right in front of you all
There is now open war between Sanders and the Democratic establishment; Sanders mentions them in his speeches. This is probably what Corbyn needed to do. If the DNC cheats Sanders out of the nomination it will mean a Trump re-election, and they probably understand this. I think a fair alternative to the coin tosses would be to just give each candidate .5 of a vote.
What people should be doing in their spare time is imagining the day to day details (who’s going to produce what, for what, etc.) of a better Matrix than the one that everybody’s plugged into now, and then comparing those details with other folks who have also imagined their own detailed, supposedly better Matrix.
Yes, that is exactly what has to happen BEFORE ending the present Matrix either by vote or revolution.
Engineers are given a task such as “design a new bridge over X river to replace the old bridge”. What happens then? The engineers request the operational requirements of the bridge – number, size and weight of vehicles that will be on the bridge at any moment; the environmental elements the bridge will be subjected to; the design life of the bridge, etc. The engineers have to know exactly what the result of their effort is going to be BEFORE they even touch a computer key, let alone getting off their asses to do “something”. It is up to those requesting the bridge to provide the location of the bridge and how much the politicians intend to allow the traffic volume to grow over the next decades of the new bridge’s design lifetime.
Again, our first task is to describe in great detail and agree upon the deficiencies of the present Matrix. If we cannot do that, we don’t need to do anything further.
Some people notice problems in the present whatever-you-want-to-call-it “system” in which we live. For just one MAJOR example many, the 3 young human beings who have inherited a factory that has been in our city of 20,000 people for 75 years – one that employs 3,000 of those 20,000 people – suddenly decide to close down the factory and move their capital equipment to a place on the planet where there are desperately poor, starving people who are “willing” to work 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, for food and a place on the factory floor to sleep. Those three owners are going to make much more profit as a result of that move. They’re ecstatic about their decision.
The employees of the factory who are about to lose their livelihoods are in panic mode because they know full well that there are no other jobs in their city. The owners of the local businesses that depend upon the employees of the factory spending their money in their establishments are also in panic mode.
These groups contact their political representatives at the local, state and federal levels, but they are told that because the factory is “privately” owned, the owners are “free” to do with their “property” whatever they choose, including moving the factory to a location on the planet where they can “maximize profit”.
The factory workers and local business owners decide to do something in an attempt to keep the factory in the city. They decide to “protest” the factory closure by surrounding the factory to prevent the equipment from being moved. This is successful for the few days that it takes the 3 owners of the factory to go to a court of law.
In short, however many government employees carrying firearms it takes to arrest however many protesters it takes to allow the capital equipment to be removed from the factory is put into action and the equipment is removed.
So will the vast majority of people living in this present Matrix, including the commenters here, think that the above situation is unacceptable and must be changed? I think the answer may very well be “yes”, but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe people think that the 3 owners moving “their” factory to where the slave laborers are is just fine and fuck their former employees.
So then the question is, naturally, as follows. Just exactly WHAT are the details of a “better” outcome to that situation?
We don’t need to march in the streets to discuss and, hopefully, decide what the details of that better Matrix should be. Again, if we can’t do even that, just forget about a new, better Matrix somehow miraculously popping into existence. It ain’t gonna happen. Just take the blue pill and go back to sleep.
Excellent post. Thank you.
Saw a similar situation here in West Virginia few years ago. In the midst of the mountaintop removal coal mining region, is Coal Mountain. People living in the area got wind that a MTR mine was planned which would slaughter their mountain. They commissioned a study which found that if a wind farm were put on the mountaintop, it would generate plenty of power and a lot more jobs and local taxes than the coal mine. But once the mountaintop was chopped off, the wind lower down would not be sufficient. They publicized this study but–the mountain was owned by a “land company” in Pennsylvania, and its shareholders were more interested in immediate profit. Likely few or none of them had ever been in the area, perhaps never been in WV. But they owned the mountain and could decide what to do with it–the people who lived there had no say. This–is–wrong.
A “better” matrix is still a matrix, an alternative to reality. Matrix is the situation required to keep the psychopaths in control. Reality is what the individual requires to maintain sanity. Both of these examples are the product of one matrix. Replacing it with another will only generate a different means for the psychopaths to remain in control.
Humans cannot grasp reality. It’s enormity of scale, detail and dynamics is ineffable to them. Humans invariably develop a construct of reality from their necessarily limited understanding of it and its demands upon them. This understanding is an amalgam of both real and imagined perception. This is called culture. It enables our passage through the larger entirety of reality. It is a narrative. It could also be called a matrix.
The shape and function of the narrative, particularly the ownership of its creation ands transmission is the critical factor to human well-being. It needs to be hierarchically flat and attend equitably to the needs of all its social participants. We cannot know reality,y but we can and we must know the shape and the function of our social ‘matrix’. To be human we must demand and have equitable access to and influence upon it.
Well said. I agree 100%.
Grow vegetables and have beans, rice, oil, salt, water and fuel around your homestead.
http://www.johndayblog.com/2016/07/liberty-garden-central-texas-climate.html
http://www.johndayblog.com/2020/02/bind-moggling.html
Got a good bike with good tires? Got a way to carry some groceries on it?
Got a butt for that bike seat? 🙂
John, you won’t be able to hide or protect yourself. Embrace it. Preparing to survive and exist won’t be desirable. Acceptance will transcend the physical. Ultimately, you know that our destiny lies beyond the physical. The few scavenged survival items will only prolong the physical and the lingering, weakening grip on this dimension will ultimately give way to the return of our souls to the celestial existence of our beginning. Just enjoy the ride. It will be epic.
JWK, the day we are born is the day we enter what I refer to as A, repeat, A “situation” or an “arrangement” or “Matrix” or “reality”.
For the infant, the mother or father or both or the orphanage, etc. are the immediate, vitally-important part of that very local “Matrix”. In short, the infant cannot “raise” or “bring up” itself. This infant will not survive without those nearby, hopefully loving “features” of the Matrix into which the infant has been born “nurturing” this infant.
The parents part of the Matrix are the first “educators” of their infant. The sounds coming out of the mouths of the parents are some of the first sounds heard by the infant.
The infant also makes sounds, especially when the infant needs food, warmth, cuddling, etc. The sounds from the infant’s mouth change over time to match the sounds that come out of the mouths of the infant’s nurturers.
Infanthood leads to early childhood, in which other features of that individual’s Matrix make themselves known — other people, schools, TV, etc. All of these exist BEFORE the newcomer-human-being is born. The local Matrix exists BEFORE the newcomer, whether that local Matrix was 10,000 years ago or 10 days ago. The newcomer had/has no “choice” but to “go along with” the Matrix in which it just happens to be born.
The newcomer was/is genetically capable of behaving, while being “plugged into” literally ANY Matrix, in a way that will eventually allow that individual to survive on a long-term basis, and survival means acquiring food (either in a field or a grocery store) and a warm place to “live”, what mouth-sounds to make, etc. Exactly HOW that individual acquires those varies wildly according to where and WHEN that individual existed/exists –in other words, according to the particular local Matrix in which the individual lived or lives.
We are all capable of describing HOW we live on a day to day basis — for example, how we must behave to acquire the “money” that we know that we will need to “buy” whatever we need to live.
We also have at least some idea of what we would have to do (get more training, relocate, etc.) in order to acquire money in a different way.
For lack of a better expression, we “interact” with other individuals that we either bump into in person, or by email, over the phone, etc. We don’t live alone, even if we live in an apartment or residential house alone. We live in a “society” or Matrix in which 7+ billion other individuals live (work, play, consume, etc.)
The BEHAVIOR of the individuals and the Matrix in which they lived 10,000 years ago are in many ways VASTLY different than those in which individuals live today. But the basic necessities of life for those individuals are exactly the same.
Above I described an economic/living situation (working in a factory) which has been common in the US for literally many decades. We can all understand the whys and wherefores of that situation. Do we want to keep that feature of the Matrix the same? If we do, we don’t need to do a damned thing. If we don’t, what do we have to do to change the Matrix and, more important, what do we imagine the better Matrix to be? We can’t just say “we need that situation to stop”. Something has to REPLACE that situation while at the same time retaining the advantages of large scale, highly automated production of the necessities of life. Again, if we are not capable of describing that better arrangement, we’re impotent to change anything.
Caitlin,
.
You left off the Corona Virus.
.
It is debated whether the 1918 Influenza affected the outcome of WWI.
.
Today we have the Corona Virus.
.
Will people gather for speeches and polling places?
.
What will be the effect in the Middle East when it arrives in refugee camps?
Will borders lock-up like drums?
.
What will be the effect on warfare when it reaches Idlib, Syria? Or Libya?
.
Would someone intentionally transmit it to Palestinians? Camps or Gaza?
.
Would someone intentionally transmit it to Israelis?
.
Would suspicion itself create chaos?
.
Chaos.
.
“Chaos is opportunity riding a dangerous wind”
– Ancient Chinese saying likely adopted by the CIA, etc.
“Be the peace and harmony you want to see in the world” ? Not Possible! No time for that. Seriously, Caitlin, we’re 100 seconds to midnight and you want us to sit back and contemplate our navels, while insane rapture driven psychos contemplate the buttons that will blow us all to hell. This is as crazy as it gets, it’s not getting any worse, it’s already worse. Procrastinate and suddenly it’s twelve o-clock.
As opposed to what? Run around in circles shrieking? She’s not saying be inactive. She’s saying better take care of your mental (and physical) health.
What makes you think I’m not taking care of my mental health? Never been running around in circles shrieking in my entire life, not that type of woman, sorry.
Perhaps the way you leapt to critically misinterpret what Caitlin was saying? Maybe chill out and think a bit more before acting and before taking things unnecessarily personally.
At least I’m not lurking behind a anonymous name like you.
Thanks for the tips. Caring about the world is kind of a curse, in my experience. Witnessing insanity while trying to remain sane is not easy. We need to take care that we don’t become a part of it.
As for Buttigieg, it seems we have our own version of Juan Guaido now!
“From each according to their ability, to each according to their need” ~ Communism 101
Bernie has the ability to get votes, while Tom Steyer, Deval Patrick and Sneaky Pete needed votes. Redistribution has consequences.
Caitlin – As a holistic health practitioner and one who has spent the last four decades looking and feeling inward while also trying to keep acting outward, I valued most here your thoughts on the nitty-gritty of staying sane and healthy. I swim about 500 miles every year and in that swimming I find my breath rhythm and let my mind wander free – past, future, politics, poetry, thoughts tame and wild, love, hate, pride, shame, reconciliation. For me it is restorative and essential time. We are so centrifugal, more now than ever. It is amazing how difficult it is to stop the flywheel’s made spinning, to come to true rest, to shape oneself around the full, calm breath. It takes years, decades of work, but it is the very thing that strikes a balance against the insanity that envelops us. An insanity driven, I think, by a world full of centrifugal people who keep wanting more because they haven’t looked and can’t find that calm place within. Thank you for bringing out the importance of that relation between our inner and outer worlds!
Interesting, sane comment. Merci
Activists are just other people wanting to tell me what to do. No better than the ones telling me what to do now. Only path to inner peace is to disengage.
On a side note, by whatever means the US days as a international power and cohesive country are numbered. We are witnessing the fall of another civilization in real time.
The ruling elites will cling to power at any cost.
It is a difficult task for them because they have to appear to be honest and fair play at the same time.
They deserve kind of admiration for that. However, they are helped in this task by many ordinary folks of bad faith that will close their eyes on any wrongdoing and that need the ruling elites and their “System” to maintain their social status, money and assets.
So, here we are in the return of the days of Noah when everybody were of bad faith, except for Noah and his family. The good news is that it means the Second Coming of Jesus is very near and I pray the Rosary to hasten His return because I have seen enough bs.
It’s very seldom you see someone professing Jesus and cursing at the same time.
What can I say?
Aren’t our days the days of Noah all over again?
People accepting and endorsing lies to protect their social status, money and assets.
Am I wrong on this?
I pray the Rosary to hasten the return of Jesus because I have seen enough bullshit
Reminded me, in an oblique way, of one of my favorite quotes from Edward Bellamy, which although expressed in Victorian language, points toward the redemptive work that Caitlin indicates lies ahead, IF we make ourselves ready to undertake it: “The great enthusiasm of humanity which overthrew the old order and brought in the fraternal society was not primarily or consciously a godward aspiration at all. It was essentially a humane movement. …But ‘if we love one another God dwelleth in us,’ and so men found it. It appears that there came a moment, the most transcendent moment in the history of the race of man, when with the fraternal glow of this world of new-found embracing brothers there seems to have mingled the ineffable thrill of a divine participation, as if the hand of God were clasped over the joined hands of men. And so it has continued to this day and shall for evermore.” Equality (1897)
I’m sure that it’s entirely possible for this fraternal society to be formed again, with the help of divine participation. However we must seriously ask the divine and seriously get an answer from the divine as to how we are to deal with greedy psychopaths who will be waiting in the wings to destroy any new fraternal society that we create.
Don’t forget that in the same phony Town Hall, Rep Gabbard was completely forced off the stage. While any billionaire who wanted in just had to call and ask for an invite. Billionaires that didn’t meet any of the standards set for participation were on the stage, while Rep. Gabbard, who is polling above most if not all of the billionaires, was kept off the stage.
Official Iowa Caucus results with 100% in:
.
Pete Buttigieg
Percent: 26.2%
SDE: 564
Votes: 43,195
.
Bernie Sanders
Percent: 26.1%
SED: 562
Votes: 45,826
.
Etc.
.
Iowa Caucus 2020 Live Results And Updates — NPR
https://apps.npr.org/liveblogs/20200203-iowa/
.
That is, Bernie Sanders wins with 2,631 more votes. However, the official results give a percent based on State Delegate Equivalent — including coin tossing to break ties in precints — so officially Pete Buttigieg wins by 0.1%.
.
Coin Toss at Iowa Caucus
Caucuses are very public events. That’s one of the good things about them. Everyone in the precinct shows up, and publicly stands in a group supporting their candidate. Everyone can count them.
And of course, any competent campaign has precinct captains in there writing down the public counts and then phoning them into campaign HQ. Its as close to a public vote count as we get in America.
The Sanders campaign said a few days ago that they had gotten 29% of the vote.
This matches one released poll that showed Sanders 9 pts ahead going into the caucuses.
Don’t forget that CNN had to pull a poll from public release the weekend before the caucus. They’d spend money on it, and apparently had publicly advertised it …. Tune in Sunday for the ‘gold standard’ poll on the Iowa caucuses. Then CNN pull it and refused to release the results. By now, it seems very obvious that the poll showed Sanders way ahead. The whole MayorCheat Wins scam can’t work if CNN has just released a poll showing a big Sanders victory.
BTW, for those who don’t know the process, such “coin tosses” are not for delegates at the national conventions.
The caucus is the beginning of a process. The precinct level meetings are followed by conventions at the county and then the state level. A coin toss at a precinct caucus is to decide one delegate at the county convention.
Secession Caitlin. Peaceful secession. The only way to resolve it. This is a cultural divide. Let those who want maximum freedom do so, and let those who want to live in a progressive paradise have their place to live see if they can make it work out.
That’s been tried before. The Yankees and the NY bankers did not respond well, including burning a city to the ground and a vicious blockade/sanctions regime against the civilian population.
I’m not saying I disagree. But don’t expect them to give up without crimes against humanity.
No disagreement, but let’s not preclude it as a way to keep things from becoming bloody. There’s no good reason why anyone should be forced to live under a system they passionately disagree with, don’t you think?
And where is it written that secession is out of the question? We can point to Jefferson and the fact that what we call civil government is something that only exists for the benefit of people. When we outgrow our old clothes, we change them. What is there about the union that is so sacred that once in, there’s no way out?
We don’t fight over what flavor ice cream we’re forced to eat, or any number of preferences we have and express when we buy things. So why must it be corporate fascism vs socialism? Why can’t we get a choice of real freedom to live and associate with others of like mind and to let others decide how they wise to live?
Just consider that as a legitimate possibility that can be a win/win for everyone.
Don’t be foolish, any secession will not be peaceful. It will be interesting if Vexit gains any real traction. That would be hilarious since I am in West Va, only 20 miles from the Va border. I doubt it will happen though. Va is a lot wealthier than W Va, and I am not so sure that the border districts would really go through with it.
When any group gets together there are always some who want to tell the others what to do.
But we can always leave groups and find others who think and believe like we do.
One size fits all will only produce bad results wherever it’s forced on people. And mind that it will always come to a bad end when people are forced to do things that are against their best interests.
Let’s give freedom a chance?
For an intentional community to function well there would need to be a focus on divinity (perhaps as in the monastic example), definitely a focus on an entity that is above the station of any individual in the group. Everyone would need to work towards the well-being of the group as a whole, leaving aside individual wants and desires. This is a tall order for westerners who are so accustomed to being individuals.
A healthy community would also need to use tools, technology that is produced locally by un-bonded and willing workers earning a decent living.
The very instruments we are using now to communicate with each other are produced by slaves and they contain toxins. The constant exposure to these toxins are making the workers sick.
Our individual needs and global purchasing power has caused China and other countries to be polluted to an extreme degree. We need to produce all of our goods close to home and keep them non-toxic.
Does the current system of profit driven government and industry need to completely collapse before we can rebuild in a healthy and caring way or can we make the necessary changes within the current paradigm?
I fully agree. The distinct recognition of an essentially significant and benign entity higher than the individual, and indeed higher than the social formation, is a crucial factor of human sanity and survival . This has been increasingly lost by the neolithic progression and is now utterly abandoned by post-enlightenment modernity. We have imagined ourselves to be above all else and are suffering the end stages consequent to that madness.
A localised response to this delusory madness is needed but any such initiatives must quickly gain adequate freedom from the oppressive and suppressive structures from above, as well as be able to survive withdrawal from the current system’s pervasive supply lines. It is crucial for a local society to fully understand that these ‘normal’ lines of comfort are both addictive and merely palliative. It is likely such things will only begin in any degree of necessary earnest when sufficiency in the ‘normal’ lines of delivery falters below a given standard. That doesn’t auger well for the composure and time needed to manage such transition.
Yes Greg, I feel that the transition has already begun but it is yet to gather enough momentum to attract people away from the current paradigm.
A small example in Australia and New Zealand and perhaps elsewhere is the movement to return to organic agriculture. Within the organic farming ‘movement’, the WWOOF organization is a way for people to connect, help and learn from each other.
Joining a co-operative fraternity is one way that we can learn how to give up a bit of ourselves and work for the well-being of the whole.
As the lust for power and wealth becomes ever more pervasive throughout our culture there seems to be an urgency developing to fix the problem before the giant balloon of mammon pops.
Our mega-cities are unsustainable, they require an immensity of resource gouging, environmental degradation and slavery to continue in their present form.
Eventually people are going to leave these cities to find a more natural and rewarding life in the countryside. I hope this is a gradual transition so the communities in the countryside can absorb these refugees and teach them how to live sustainably. If there is a sudden panic and millions of people leave the cities at one time there is likely to be a famine.
I am aware of a ‘prepper’ movement in North America. I am guessing that these people have stored up supplies and ammunition and weapons to help them ‘survive the storm’, fortified in their homes or compounds as has been shown in dystopian movies. I am optimistic though and I feel that the time for weapons and ammunition is over. Humanity MUST take a step forward away from it’s primitive tribal paradigm.
Thanks again Caity. Be well.
I’ll second that!