Friendly reminder that we’ve invented weapons which can end all life on earth and we’re in steadily increasing danger of setting them all off because some guys in a think tank wrote some words.

~

Believing cold war is no big deal because nuclear war hasn’t happened yet is the same as believing your game of Russian roulette is safe because the gun hasn’t gone off yet.

~

There’s no legitimate reason why nations can’t just mind their own affairs and care for their own people. Having to read news every day about our government and its allies scheming to destroy nations which disobey them is severely disordered, and we should oppose it ferociously.

~

1. We are in the middle of a slow-motion third world war between the US power alliance and the remaining nations which have resisted its aggressive attempts to absorb them.
2. Propaganda is used to move this world war along.
3. Points 1 and 2 explain current anti-China sentiment.

~

China Derangement Syndrome (CDS) is a terrible affliction where someone who has overdosed on mainstream narratives suddenly starts believing a nation on the other side of the planet is a very big problem that “we” need to “do something about”.

~

CDS victims often try to justify their hysteria by saying it’s about ending their country’s economic relationship with China and bringing the jobs and the wealth back home. Which is absolutely adorable. You think that’s where the money will go? To you? That’s precious.

~

Trump supporters are exactly as moronic, brainwashed and hysterical about China as Democrats are about Russia. They’ve forever forfeited all legitimacy in criticizing Russiagate.

~

Every single time the narrative managers shift to a new imperialism target I start writing about it using the same exact logic and understanding that I use to write about all their other propaganda campaigns, and every single time I get a deluge of people saying “Oh my God I can’t believe Caitlin loves that horrible government now! Usually I agree with her but now she’s gone right off the rails!”

Every single time, without exception. “Caitlin, this Official Bad Guy is completely different from all the others!” Syria, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, China, over and over again. It gets really tedious. Yes, you’ve lived in an echo chamber that opposes some imperialist agendas but supports others. That’s how propaganda works.

~

“China is just as imperialist as America, Caitlin.”

Yes, yes exerting regional power and making deals is exactly the same as dominating the whole planet with hundreds of military bases and endless acts of mass murder, because all things are exactly the same as all other things.

~

“Caitlin you need to understand that the CCP are not the good guys.”

It will never stop being weird to me how many grown adults respond to mature geopolitical analysis by babbling about “good guys” and “bad guys” like children watching a cartoon show. Hollywood is brain poison.

~

“What are you saying Caitlin? We can’t criticize China?”

You can criticize whoever you want. I just think it’s an amazing coincidence how you all became very very interested in “criticizing” that nation at the exact same time the mass media started shrieking about it constantly.

~

Before accusing someone of being an apologist for a foreign government, first contemplate whether it’s possible that they’re just being neutral and you’ve been propagandized into believing everyone needs to hate that foreign government.

~

Beginning sincere research into what’s really going on with our world behind the veils of propaganda and government secrecy reveals many experts with a profound understanding of our actual circumstances. Further research reveals that no, actually they’re all mostly faking it.

~

The neoconservative ideology of maintaining unipolar US world domination at all cost has become so mainstream over the last two decades that “neoconservative” is a mostly meaningless term now.

~

Murder a thousand people and make a fortune selling their organs: You’re a monster.

Murder the same number of people for the same amount of money by selling the weapons used to murder them after lobbying for needless military interventionism: You’re a businessman.

~

Trump could have run as a Democrat in 2016 with a liberal-sounding platform, enacted the exact same policies he’s enacted as president, and, as long as he kept saying nice-sounding things, Democrats would think he’s awesome right now.

~

Ecocide will be a problem as long as ecocide remains profitable. War will be a problem as long as war remains profitable. Politicians will cater to profit-seeking sociopaths as long as profit determines what drives human behavior.

~

You’ve probably heard it said that you’ll never find love if you don’t love yourself, but have you ever thought about why it’s true? It’s true because if you don’t love yourself, someone loving you instantly puts you at odds with them.Like that old Groucho Marx quote, “I refuse to join any club that would have me for a member.” You can’t build on that kind of foundation.

For love to work, you have to love yourself, and you also have to commit to loving yourself more and more. Your lover will always be finding new parts of you to love, many of them parts you dislike, so you’ve got to learn to love those parts too to avoid shutting them out.

This is the main reason why women go for ‘bad boys’ and fall prey to negging. If you don’t love yourself and someone falls for you, then they appear pathetic because they fell in love with you, so wow. Yuck. You know you’re disgusting so they must be disgusting to fall for you.

If you truly love yourself, you’ll welcome someone who truly loves you. When they show up they’ll slide right in, with no rejection and no bouncer at the door, just a smooth “Oh it’s you! I’ve got a place here all ready for you.”

You can learn to love yourself by making a practice of continually bringing an intimate, enthusiastic “yes” to whatever feels like the core of your being in each moment. I wrote an article on how to do this a while back if you’re interested.

________________________

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55 responses to “China Derangement Syndrome: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix”

  1. Mary Wildfire Avatar
    Mary Wildfire

    I have one big issue with this. As is way too common, you make the mistake of talking about “China” as though you could say anything about a massive territory with over a billion people (and that’s just the humans). Obviously when we say “China is…” we are not talking about the territory, which cannot have opinions or desires. I think we are supposed to assume this is shorthand for “the Chinese humans.” But what can you say about the Chinese humans? Especially when it comes to sociological, as opposed to physical matters—nothing. There is no such thing as “the Chinese character.” Individuals have character–entire nations do not, as people vary more within any group than between groups. There are cultures, but this doesn’t make much difference in national policies. When the issue is foreign policy, like who wants war or which nation is aiming at hegemony, etc, the big mistake is to use as shorthand the name of a nation. When it comes to these issues, NO people has any say in policy. We have never been consulted, and until the Revolution, we never will be. No, a small cabal directs government action in each country, and uses the media to massage public opinion. I suspect there are people in these cabals whose names are not known, and people whose names are prominent who are not actually given a vote on policy. And there may not be a separate, discrete cabal for each country…for example it looks like there are some Israelis and perhaps Europeans who get votes on US policies. Thus a better shorthand is to use the name of the capital, so it’s clear we are referring to government and not the people of any place.As a US citizen, it looks to me like we have just one enemy, one REAL enemy in the world–the one whose capital is Washington DC.
    But I also have to point out that the innocence of Beijing may be illusory. They may be behaving much better than the US currently but that’s probably because they haven’t yet superseded the US–once they do, I expect we will see “China” behaving much as “the US” is now. Not because of anything in “the Chinese character”–no such thing exists. Not because of what China’s leaders have done recently. But just because this sort of behavior is what the SOCIOPATHS RUNNING VIRTUALLY EVERY GOVERNMENT do when they can. Power corrupts.

    1. Mary Wilfire: Is this richest family on Earth – the Rothschild family – LEFTIST or RIGHTIST? // Is Soros leftist or rightists? // Is rich-man Bezos liberal or conservative? // This 50-years-plus student of social/cultural/political movements – psychology-based study – is concerned about posters writing here, who MISTAKINGLY believe our rule-the-world OLIGARCHS are politically/socially/culturally CONSERVATIVE! // They are NOT! // They are Leftists, just like you, Mary. They’re brain-blind, I suspect; that is, they haven’t much access to historical records and the LOGICAL side of their brains. -Rick

    2. Hear, hear, Mary. I’ve been an ESL teacher for over a decade. I’ve been here in Heilongjiang for about 4 years now. The locals I work with and know are just regular humans. They have families and believe in working hard to provide for them. I’ve made life-long friends here. I work mostly with children aged 4-10, and they are EXACTLY like children I’ve met everywhere. The power-elite are worshippers of power and evil.

  2. To REPEAT: Khatika: “[E]ssentially equal”? // I’m unable to become pregnant and give birth to a wombed baby. // You’re unable to impregnate a woman—naturally, I’m guessing! // I’m able to climb and limb a 70-foot pine tree (( takes upper-body strength most females lack )). // I can piss into the wind standing up. // You can’t do that, can you? // Women and men are far, FAR from “essentially equal” in biological expressions— both mentally and physically (( BTW, on the curve: far more men rate as GENIUS in STEM, even though females now out-grade and out-graduate males—mostly due to 40 years of STRONG anti-male messaging, both in this Marxian popular culture and by those don’t-call-on-males-in-the-classroom FEMINIST/MARXIST teachers—both “male” and female )). // You’ve been programmed to deny REALITY, here. -Rick

  3. Dear Caitline; Thanks for the “To Do List” Seriously, I got it printed and taped to the kitchen cubourd. I know that it’s to be an attitude timelessness list rather than consecutive (for me, anyway ) Though I agree with most of what you say here, and we love you for your anger as you are now now #3 of your list: *roar at the sky. Well, ya know, today, the stars being as they are this has been your most toxic emotional rant, like a blaring blinding light in our eyes that unless we squint and read twice and slowly, you message is so easily misunderstood backwards fro what ya mean , gal. So you can check off “roar at the sky” now. Done. Next on the list is ; *get cat food. If you ask me, I’ll ask my sister to forward a vegan recipe for homemade cat food your cat will love you for. There’s so much crap in even said to be quality cat food. $$+ Go research that for a while and let us know.

    1. Correctingme: On a re-read of this post, “China Derangement Syndrome: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix” only some parts are emotional ranting “roar at the sky”. Most of it is well grounded good factual advise. I like how she used the ampersand ~ and space to indicate a seperation of thought-bursts. Who.

  4. “Trump could have run as a Democrat in 2016 with a liberal-sounding platform, enacted the exact same policies he’s enacted as president, and, as long as he kept saying nice-sounding things, Democrats would think he’s awesome right now.”
    .
    I had to think about that for a minute, but Caitlin is right. Also I think this is the most likely item to trigger people with Trump Derangement Syndrome to reveal their derangement.

  5. Harry S Nydick Avatar
    Harry S Nydick

    Actually, I don’t sit around thinking about loving myself. It’s ingrained in me as a truism. Otherwise, there’s no way I that I could ever withstand the the attacks on me, when, neutral, I reveal the truths that almost nobody realizes, for their loss of the skill to research.
    BTW, if we’re the good guys, would we need to maintain over 100 military bases around the world, while Russia has but 10? Why is it that so few people ask, ‘Why?’

  6. Caitlin: Communism is about Insatiable Predation and an Absolute Power & Control over INDIVIDUALISM, to advance its impossible and utopian COLLECTIVISM—to rape, torture, then consume – figuratively and actually – human flesh, in its pursuit. // This scribbler has studied Chinese culture under that Marxian Mother and Chairman, M A O. // Mother Mao hated bathing (( cleanliness )), and hadn’t cleaned himself for over 50 years before he transitioned out. // He had brutally raped over 40,000 young girls, during his reign, and summarily killed them, after his lust had been sated. // He had built a special hidden room next to each of his torture chambers – placed throughout China – in which a peephole allowed him to watch his political enemies – and many innocent victims caught in his demonic gaze – BE SAVAGELY TORTURED. // I could go on, but isn’t that enough to persuade of the danger of Red China? // Profit-loving and vulture-natured capitalists had miscalculated, in providing economic means for building China’s infrastructure and military, stupidly “thinking” true-believer communists would ever morph into any Western-like, individual-person-protecting, civilized nation-state. // What do you THINK, now, not f e e e e l—dear Caitlin? // Still, I pray for a converted China, as any hot war with her is U N T H I N K A B L E. -Rick
    P.S. Maybe total surrender is t-h-e answer?

    1. 40,000 young girls raped by one guy? Mao ruled for 33 years. That means he raped 1212 girls annually or 100 per month about 3 to 4 per day!! HA HA HA. You have to be pretty delusional to buy that!!

      1. I think it’s sad to watch their craziness come out, they want so badly to be right but they can’t get their paranoia under control. It’s a great example of cold war thinking.

        1. John: Yeah, that’s about right – mathematically – for such a horny, testosterone-poisoned tyrant. // So, you don’t believe Jeffrey Epstein – as his victims have reported – had to get-off 3 or more times per day? // I’ve written extensively about human sexuality. // Your doubting may indicate some naivety, here. -Rick

          1. I meant: TJRICH, not you, John.

            1. His doubting your claim of 40,000 brutal rapes of young girls by one old man is entirely justified and sensible.

              1. “Old” doesn’t necessarily equate with impotence. // You’ve heard the quip: “Use it or lose it”? // Chinese herbal medicine kept him horny and potent. -Rick

                1. Do you really believe that? Why?

                  1. I’m a student of Chinese history—and of human sexuality, and of nutrition science ( from 1972 forward ). -Rick

                    1. What chinese history book says Mao brutally raped 40,000 young girls?

                    2. No, not any “Chinese history book.” Books written by Chinese escapees to the West. Google the subject. -Rick

    2. Carolyn Zaremba Avatar
      Carolyn Zaremba

      Individualism is a bad thing, not a good thing. Individualism is the selfish, ego-driven philosophy of the right-wing ruling elite. Individualism is not how the species survived for millennia. Social cohesion and cooperation is how our species survived and its lack in the modern world is the reason the planet is being destroyed by capitalism and greed. What you are saying is the old argument of the McCarthyites and other fascistic leaders like Hitler and Mussolini. I recommend that you learn some REAL history instead of the social studies watered-down Western nonsense.

      1. You are aware, McCarthy had been vindicated, after the release of Russia’s secret Venona Papers, which revealed communist agents had infiltrated the State Dept., and other critical Washington agencies? Regarding his life, find and read: “Blacklisted by History,” by M. Stanton Evans. You stand in the camp of mass murderers, Carolyn—of about 150-million people, using torture, rape, starvation, and full-bore warring. Change your mind. -Rick

  7. As almost always, Caitlin Johnstone, your views on politics are insightful, clear and very useful. I and I think that very often your views on love are gong toward something of real accuracy. I agree if you do not love yourself when you are being accurate, then no one else can rightly love you. The only reason you can love yourself, however, is because you are fair in how you see what is not you, the outside world. I think you, Ms.Johnstone ,can have great self-respect for how you see politics, and mostly even love, not just because you decide to love yourself. Love is not based on fantasy, but on facts. We love certain people in history because the way they were to others was just, like a Martin Luther King Jr. It is an ego-drivel to say we even admire people like Bezos, envy yes, admire not so. It is the same with us – we can only love ourselves as much as we are just to other people. My admiration for you is based on how accurate you are and try to be to other people.

    1. Alan Ross: MLK was a communist asset, directed by communist TRIBE members working behind the scenes, presenting of him a false face to this uninformed, S H E E P L E-filled world, // As was recently reported by Glenn Beck and others, about the contents of a soon-to-be-released book about MLK’s life: He lusted after white women and engaged in rape orgies, which – for some ungodly reason – made him laugh heartily. -Rick

      1. Carolyn Zaremba Avatar
        Carolyn Zaremba

        Glenn Beck is a fascist swine.

        1. That may be, but MLK was a communist asset. -RICK

  8. Caitlin observes that “(e)cocide will be a problem as long as ecocide remains profitable. War will be a problem as long as war remains profitable. Politicians will cater to profit-seeking sociopaths as long as profit determines what drives human behavior.” Then she switches gears from the social to the personal and says that “(y)ou can learn to love yourself by making a practice of continually bringing an intimate, enthusiastic ‘yes’ to whatever feels like the core of your being in each moment.” What, then, about the millions upon millions of us for whom the profit system IS the core of their being? They have little trouble loving themselves in the midst of a world that reflects their values. But they’re not really loving themselves, you say? Then go to Caitlin’s linked article, and you’ll find this: “Self-love in practice is therefore the deep, felt yessing of the core of this swirling, shifting, shapeless light show that is the human experience. As you become more skillful at loving the core of your experience, you’ll notice yourself becoming more skillful at loving everything that comes up….” Certainly, among the swirling, shifting, shapeless light show of human experience, the profit system has not only “come up” but has come to dominate. So again, what about the untold millions of human beings who say and feel an enthusiastic “yes” to that fact?

    1. This is why the idea of a kumbaya enlightenment is unlikely, if not impossible. No matter what we do, there will be a mass (and a numerically-large one given that 7+ billion humans now exist) that will need to be dragged along.

      The unwillingness of the left to accept this fact must stop or we will all perish.

      We’ll make an argument, we’ll take criticism, but we’re not waiting for some magical consensus moment. We will ultimately act, however imperfect our actions may be.

      And if you get in the way? Well, we warned you.

  9. Talk is cheap; what are you going to DO?

    We are a virus designed to exploit and destroy this culture of injustice. Become a super-spreader:

    http://www.mediafire.com/file/k1omyaf0r73shvk/Twenty-Twenty-four.pdf/file

  10. But Caitlin, we’ve always been at war with East Asia.

    1. Mary Wildfire Avatar
      Mary Wildfire

      LOL YES!

  11. Yes Caitlin ,it all about how well the narrative works in propagandizing simple people’s minds .It works well and will keep on doing so until people realize the stupidity of it all.
    Good article and right on the money .

  12. Caitlin Johnstone wrote:
    > China Derangement Syndrome (CDS) is a terrible affliction where someone who has overdosed on mainstream narratives suddenly starts believing a nation on the other side of the planet is a very big problem that “we” need to “do something about”.
    .
    Yes, it seems a joke but that is what is happening.
    .
    Trump Blames China For Acting Too Late In Coordinating U.S. Coronavirus Response — The Onion
    https://www.theonion.com/trump-blames-china-for-acting-too-late-in-coordinating-1843243502

    1. The word moron hardly does do it justice.

    2. And the Democrats sing the close harmony.

  13. Going against ” the tide ” is not what the herd expects, Ms Johnstone. They only want confirmation that everyone believes as they do about everything. Bless you for your tolerance of them and their brainwashed beliefs.

  14. Some very good points Caitlin. Here is a little politcal humor to lighted peoples day.

    1. Omg that was hilarious, thank you! I’m not sure it supports my political corner, but I didn’t care. I want to share it, but I’m afraid to, since everything I say gets me in trouble anymore.

  15. “Trump could have run as a Democrat in 2016 with a liberal-sounding platform, enacted the exact same policies he’s enacted as president, and, as long as he kept saying nice-sounding things, Democrats would think he’s awesome right now.”

    –FALSE
    Trump’s first item on the agenda was the appeal of Obamacare. For Trump to even run as a Democrat, he’d have to have supported at least Obamacare, and much of the party was supporting Bernie’s Medicare for All. Trump would be nowhere in those primaries opposing Obamacare. And no way would Democrats love him today for trying to end Obamacare.
    — Trump’s racist immigration policies and rhetoric would never have been popular with Democrats. Killing children in cages isn’t a winning issue in Dem primaries.
    — Trump’s massive tax cuts for billionaires and corporations was opposed by Democrats. No way Trump could pass that, then turn around and say that the Democrats love him for it.
    — Trump’s recent budget, DOA in Congress, called for huge cuts in social security, medicare and medicaid.
    No way could Democrats support that.
    — You weaseled a bit when you said Trump’s legislative record. The above tried to limit comments to Trump’s legislative record. But Trump is incompetent as President, and can’t pass anything through Congress. But if you look at Trump’s rule by executive orders, you’d find item after item that Democrats would not accept.
    The Democrats who backed Bernie would never have supported Trump under any circumstances. And even Biden moved far to the left to appeal to a Democrat electorate that was obviously to the left of where it had been during Obama. If you take what Biden had to say to get nominated as what the current Dem voters will accept, that is far, far, far to the left of Trump’s legislative record, executive orders, rhetoric and tweets.
    You failed the fact-check on this one.

    1. The Republicans seek corporate power, the Democrats seek government power, both on behalf of the bank cartel. Their are no “good” actors involved.

  16. Remember ….. long before Hollywood began to suck at everything it does, it was still a truism that the book was always better than the movie.
    Always.
    And that was back when Hollywood could make a decent movie.
    The book is always better than the movie.
    Read!
    The variety of what you can read is greater than the variety of what videos you can see.
    Read!
    It is harder for them to censor a book. Prisons and dictatorships have tried and failed.
    Read!

    1. Books carry covid and must be outlawed. Dont worry, they will tell us what to think.

  17. ‘ ‘ The World is on fire with greed, hatred and delusion.’ ‘

    (not much has changed since the Buddha said this)

  18. This is absolutely brilliant… made my day. Thanks.
    <>

    1. Somehow the quote got left out, it was:
      Believing cold war is no big deal because nuclear war hasn’t happened yet is the same as believing your game of Russian roulette is safe because the gun hasn’t gone off yet.

      1. It probably was the brackets. Most websites have security about accepting text in HTML brackets as nasty code can infiltrate through these text boxes. I make that mistake frequently. My favorite mess-up that doesn’t come through is to put ‘end sarcasm’ in brackets like its an end bold or something.

  19. The story that we are often told is that nuclear weapons were invented to protect ourselves, but at the end of WW2 it became quite apparent that only the US was trying to create an atomic bomb, and Einstein as a patent office worker must have known that, so the letter that he wrote to our US president begging him to finance building one must have knowingly been a lie and the bomb was created for no other reason than to kill people for no particular reason than just for the fun of killing people. Although, some people worship him as a sort by of God others say that he was a horrid, wretched man. To view the before and after pictures of his wife from wedding day onward, I’m inclined to believe the latter. Terrible people do terrible things and then others make a so-called religion out of it.

    1. Germany was most certainly working on an atomic bomb at the time Einstein wrote his famous letter. The famous Einstein-Szillard letter was written on Aug 2, 1939. This was the day after Hitler had invaded Poland. At that time, Germany certainly was working on an atomic bomb. German physicists had published an important scientific paper proving uranium fission in just Jan, 1939. At that time, Germany was the world leader in atomic physics.
      I notice you use the personal attack against Dr. Einstein. Officially, it was the Einstein-Szilard letter. That is Leo Szilard, a Hungarian physicists and he was joined by two other prominent Hungarian nuclear physicists. The sentiment was shared by the leading physicist of that time, some who had fled Hitler’s Germany and the rest who were very familiar with the advanced state of German atomic physics at that time.
      For clarity, Dr. Einstein hadn’t been a patent office worker for decades by this time. That was long before he wrote his first paper on relativity.

  20. Hmm, China Derangement Syndrome. I don ‘t think I recall that being in the latest DSM,
    but still, there might yet be hope with the right pharmaceutical. Or perhaps a new vaccine.
    Would you advocate making it mandatory?

    1. Absolutely!
      We should include it in the annual capitalism prevention shots that everyone will have to take to make sure the evils of capitalism never trouble the people of this world again. We’ll probably have to update it every year to account for the new mutations of the evil capitalism virus that are sure to emerge.

  21. I cant remember whose side i am on?

    1. Me Neither! Might be the media? You can always trust the press.

  22. “The CCP are not the good guys”. I know that they are not the good guys because I heard it on Faux News. I also know that we are the good guys because we can afford to spend trillions to get the bad guys. We can spend so much money because we have no real problems in the USA. After we have killed a million or two innocent people, like we did in Vietnam and Indonesia, then everything is better, right? Too bad more than 100,000 Americans died. Don’t worry America is the best country ever!!

  23. The purpose, the useful purpose of our (species) sociopathic elites apex-predator’s-apex-predators is to periodically solve problems by killing 10-20% of the human in an area. That’s their BENEFIT to our species, Chinese, African, French, English, Russian, American, Argentine, Arabian, Israeli; it’s all the same.
    Don’t get enmeshed in that process.
    We’re pawns.
    Be a disengaged pawn growing vegetables. None of the sides is your side.
    Okay!
    Clearer now?

    1. is it OK if I have a few chickens too…

      1. It’s OK if you take a few eggs, but don’t eat the chickens!

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