Caitlin Johnstone

The Undoing Of Illusions: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

Governments have obscenely well-funded intelligence agencies that are literally dedicated to orchestrating secret conspiracies around the world, but if you say they might be conspiring in some part of the world people call you a mentally ill conspiracy theorist. ~ The fact that the Phoenix Program existed is by itself an unassailable argument for permanently…

Caitlin Johnstone
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Governments have obscenely well-funded intelligence agencies that are literally dedicated to orchestrating secret conspiracies around the world, but if you say they might be conspiring in some part of the world people call you a mentally ill conspiracy theorist.

~

The fact that the Phoenix Program existed is by itself an unassailable argument for permanently dismantling the entire CIA.

~

A political establishment which thinks it’s crazy and extremist to reduce a $740 billion military budget by 10 percent is a political establishment that should not exist.

A political establishment which thinks it’s crazy and extremist to reduce a $740 billion military budget by 10 percent can never and will never lead to a sane world.

A political establishment which thinks it’s crazy and extremist to reduce a $740 billion military budget by 10 percent has no business calling its members “moderate” or “centrist”.

A political establishment which thinks it’s crazy and extremist to reduce a $740 billion military budget by 10 percent is a crazy and extremist political establishment.

A political establishment which thinks it’s crazy and extremist to reduce a $740 billion military budget by 10 percent is too crazy and extremist to be permitted to exist.

~

Democrats and Republicans are like male and female starfish; it’s hard to tell them apart unless you’re one of them.

~

The modern US imperial war machine kills more like a python than a tiger, placing less emphasis on the full-scale ground invasions of the Bush era and more on slowly suffocating the life out of targeted nations using sanctions, blockades, coups, psyops and CIA-backed uprisings.

This is one reason to be dismissive of Trump supporters who say he “hasn’t started any new wars”. What they mean is he hasn’t done any old school ground invasions. He’s still attacking and killing with sanctions and blockades and imperiling the world with cold war escalations.

~

From 2021 until nuclear armageddon Biden will be sitting off to the side mumbling to himself as his brain turns to chowder while holdovers from the Obama administration orchestrate cold war escalations against China in retaliation for its 2020 “election meddling”.

~

You will never, ever hate China enough to bring manufacturing jobs back to the US. Playing along with bullshit narrative spin hoping it will bring your jobs back will never work. You’re just helping opaque government agencies advance their new cold war.

~

The dumbest thing about believing foreign countries attacked American democracy is believing America has any democracy to attack.

~

Thought experiment: If you looked out the window right now and saw a mushroom cloud growing on the horizon, how would you feel about the way you’ve been spending your mental energy lately? Be honest with yourself.

~

If we win this thing it won’t be because conspiracy analysts showed everyone a bunch of complex financial connections or because Marxists put a bunch of theory in everyone’s heads, it will be because clear, simple pointing helped everyone notice the fact that they’ve been duped.

This fight isn’t a game of addition, it’s a game of subtraction. You’re not trying to get the mainstream rank-and-file public to understand a bunch of complicated new information, you’re trying to remove the blindfold so they can see something for themselves that they kind of already suspected was the case.

Cripple public trust in the establishment narrative control apparatus and you remove the only obstacle that’s been stopping the people from using the power of their numbers to force real change. They don’t need anything new, they need to exorcise the lies that have blinded them and stop trusting in the words of liars.

~

All I’m ever writing about here is the undoing of illusions. The undoing of illusions about what’s happening in the world, the undoing of illusions about the media, the undoing of illusions about society, the undoing of illusions about ourselves. If you’re a lover of truth, it’s all the same to you.

~

The world isn’t happening the way most people think it is happening. Maturity is learning and understanding the multifaceted, multi-leveled ways in which this is the case.

____________________

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76 responses to “The Undoing Of Illusions: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix”

  1. joe griffin Avatar
    joe griffin

    Can you get past your illusions about who the real influence power and control in America is now! Can you face the reality that all the real CONTROL AREAS… MONEY… MEDIA… MEDICINE etc etc etc are either or owned and controlled by a tiny group of very racist and sexist 3rd world by DNA extremely pure inbred Russian Americans whom are very low in empathy and very high in obsession! Can you face the TRUTH as in REALITY that these fellows are the main impetus for the moral decay of the country via trickle down morality and character! Can you face the REALITY that history repeats itself and this ain’t there first show! Can you face that Caitlin? Because if you can’t I’m sore afraid yer pissin’ into the wind! LOL and with there PC Brainwash campaign everyone is terrified to mention HE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED!! LOL!!! THEY GOTCHA!!! N’est Ce Pas SO?

  2. Willie Loman Avatar
    Willie Loman

    One does not have to buy into Trump as a “rogue leader” to recognize the wisdom and power of not submitting to politically correct, groupthink social pressures which are imposed by our dark masters, hidden in the shadows, via propaganda, peer pressure from the herd and weaponized social media nudges. Resist and do not comply. Be the example to catalyze those of like mind.

    Then infiltrate and destroy the controllers’ structures from within.

  3. X Avatar
    X

    I’ve made a couple of comments herein and I referred to “Truth” and “…the truth…”.
    Since making those comments I’m noticing “truth” references everywhere — it’s a popular subject these days — and I don’t agree with most of the ways it’s being used and discussed; at least it’s not in the way I mean.
    What I mean when I say “truth” or “Truth” is: What remains when all that is a lie, fabrication, untruth, mistruth, misinformation, disinformation, deception, omission, falsehood or mistake is discovered, exposed and undone.
    Also, for me, just knowing something is a lie is a form of truth; that is to say, truth is reality and lies are illusions.
    Why I think truth matters:
    Because since c. 8500 BC, with the advent of Agriculture, civilization has developed and evolved in many ways throughout the world but one thing has been common to all societies: Leaders lie — they fabricate threats and hide knowledge and present solutions — so they will be obeyed and/or their interests will be served, usually to the detriment of the people who believe, serve and obey.
    On the other hand, Truth makes everybody free. -X
    —
    “Learn what is true in order to do what is right.” -Thomas Huxley

    1. Mikam Avatar
      Mikam

      I appreciate your definition of truth. Do you want to hear another very good statistically derived definition?

      1. X Avatar
        X

        Certainly.

  4. Willie Loman Avatar
    Willie Loman

    Imposed social isolation is unnatural for human beings. It’s torture that makes us highly vulnerable to any social pressures that suggest some relief from it. Whatever their motives, today’s wannabe social controllers are clearly using the virus as a sort of obedience school where we can be conditioned through isolation to conform to their demands.

    Many likely comply in hopes of being rewarded—maybe we’ll get to go for a walk someday if we’re good dogs. The irony is that mindless conformity creates even more isolation and even more vulnerability, even as we believe we’re escaping it through compliance.

    But what if enough good people were immune to social pressure? Or resistant enough to it that they spread some immunity to others? Well, then, our power-mongering elites would be disarmed. Game over.

    In this light, here’s a fascinating question to ponder: What exactly do they hate most about President Trump? Doubtless they hate him mostly because he seems immune to their social pressures.

    That’s the bottom line. They can’t control him the way they do other Republican leaders who are so fearful of being called mean names. Worse for these power elites is that they can’t seem to isolate Trump’s supporters from him.

    No matter what you think of Trump or his tweets, we should all meditate on the power of that sort of immunity from social pressures. We should find ways to develop it in ourselves. Because if tyrants had less ability to instill social isolation, they’d be less able to induce the fears that allow them to control people’s lives.
    More: https://thefederalist.com/2020/08/11/how-forced-isolation-makes-huge-power-grabs-possible/

    1. Lynn Avatar
      Lynn

      I’m sure I speak for a lot of people when I say I don’t hate Trump for one reason only. Why hate someone who’s mindlessly following orders? I personally know many people who’ve bought into this whole rogue leader story, including its many subplots.
      —
      The controllers have always supplied us with a variety of political flavors. Trump’s flavor is unique. His brand has pulled in many who found themselves dissatisfied with the traditional Left-Right options.
      —
      I see his supporters sitting back and cheering while they trust the plan. It would make sense for them to also maintain an awareness that this could all be part of the controllers’ strategy.

  5. Chico Avatar
    Chico

    “… but if you say they might be conspiring in some part of the world people call you a mentally ill conspiracy theorist.”
    Exactly right. There are other well-funded groups dedicated to orchestrating secret conspiracies around the world that use the exact same technique, only they have convinced people to falsely call you a racist, a hater, a denier, or an anti-Semite.

  6. Jp Jude Avatar
    Jp Jude

    What a great line: The dumbest thing about believing foreign countries attacked American democracy is believing America has any democracy to attack. IS it because Ms Johnstone wrote it, I believe it? Is it because it is plainly obvious to an outsider watching what is going on in the States (I’m a Canadian observer)? Is it because I’ve been influenced by some weird narratives be they left, right or centre from a blog, news site, twitter remark, Facebook announcement, Tiktok video, Snapchat posting? Is it because there is nothing more politically ironic than a “democratic” country staging a coup against another country’s “democratically” elected government then saying it is doing so in the cause of “democracy?” Is it because there is actually a recognition of “legacy” (as in inherited) political seats in the States? I don’t think there is much to American democracy–tragedy becomes farce as the situation evolves…

  7. Dissident Avatar
    Dissident

    people who don’t believe in conspiracies are subservient sheeple, who’s existence is predicated on obeying authority. renegades, individualists, freespirited people see the world as it is: parasitic govt vs normal people. i am from Philadelphia, USA and there are more informants aka snitches, than police. so yes, cointelpro, phoenix program are alive and well in the Evil Empire. neighbors snitch on neighbors, hoping to be validated as important by authority. not realizing they’re merely rejoicing for their own involuntary servitude. most people are afraid to walk alone, and need the herd to feel safe.

  8. jmg Avatar
    jmg

    “The world isn’t happening the way most people think it is happening.”
    — Caitlin Johnstone
    .
    .
    “This generation being born now… is the last free generation.”
    — Julian Assange
    .
    Generation being born now is the last to be free — Assange in last interview before blackout
    https://www.rt.com/news/438968-assange-last-interview-blackout/
    .
    .
    “Left to its own trajectory, in some years global civilisation will be a postmodern surveillance dystopia from which escape will be impossible. We must communicate what we have learned while there is still a chance to act on what is happening.”
    — Julian Assange
    .
    Assange: ‘Join the struggle to free the internet’
    https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/assange-join-struggle-free-internet

    1. jmg Avatar
      jmg

      Coming now…

      https://twitter.com/Emily_Lykos/status/1169312742051897344

    2. jmg Avatar
      jmg

      Essentially, in those different occasions, he says:

      “We are the last free people. We are the people that have the last chance to act.”
      — Julian Assange

      https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1293136833086275586

      Also here (at 22:08 and 24:35):

      “This is the last free generation. . . . we have to take command of the position that we have, understand the position we have, understand that we are the last free people, and the last people essentially with an ability to act in this situation.”
      — Julian Assange

      30C3: Sysadmins of the world, unite! (EN)

  9. ron campbell Avatar
    ron campbell

    The ” Joe Biden ” presidential campaign is eventually going to have to deal with this!
    The leadership of the Democrats in hopes of flipping the White House to their party control have partnered with the CIA and the likes of its former director John Brennan (2013-2017), who introduced the Russia “hacking” story to the MSM in 2016. The Russian state, he claimed, had provided WikiLeaks with emails from the Democratic National Committee server that damaged the Clinton campaign and helped Trump win the election. The leaks included emails that exposed Clinton activities in securing quid pro quo deals with reactionary Middle East leaders in exchange for their large financial contributions to her and her husband’s private foundation. This fine article can be read here:
    Biden’s Ukrainegate Problem by Gerald Sussman
    https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/08/10/bidens-ukrainegate-problem/

    1. Lloyd Avatar
      Lloyd

      Ron, the Biden campaign will probably not have to deal with this at all. Enough of the GOP as well as the SCOTUS appears to have been neutered and controlled by the deep state/media/banking/industrial/Hollywood cabal to fizzle out any possible serious legal actions here through conventional avenues regardless of who knows what. At this point, the effective political arena consists of Trumpists and Non-Trumpists and the cabal has spent four years and billions of dollars generating a thick fog over all this kind this stuff while at the same time demonizing Trump, Trumpists and anything orange. If I’m wrong then IMHO Trump is in reality slated to soon be crowned as the cabal’s fully welcomed oligarch king since they’ve been totally screwing up anything that resembles a representative republic for many years already.

      1. Newton Finn Avatar
        Newton Finn

        I agree about the deep state machinations, but seen things a little differently. I think that Trump, the excruciating embarrassment he has brought to the presidency by, for example, TWEETING a bizarre mixture of public policies and personal insults, his obvious incapacity to put together and keep in place any semblance of a team of subordinate officials, and a host of other erratic, incompetent actions (such as his brutally inept “handling” of the Covid pandemic), has literally KILLED the American right wing. They seem to be standing by virtually helpless and largely silent as rioting and looting, property defacement and statue toppling, spread from one American city to another. Despite the “silent majority” moniker, the right-leaning majority back in the late 60s/early 70s was anything but silent, their public outrage and demands for harsh suppression of the protesters and hippies were loud, clear, and unrelenting. But right now, the silence of the right is deafening, and I suspect that they’re silent because they’re dead. Trump has killed them. Accordingly, Biden (who I detest almost as much as Trump, in some ways, more) should SWEEP into office and a new ballgame will begin, involving, I hope, some modest improvement on the domestic front, and also, I fear, on the foreign front, the intensification of interventionist war.

        1. ron campbell Avatar
          ron campbell

          To my knowledge, no current presidential administration has ever went after any illegal or immoral actions of any previous presidential administration. But that is not the problem; the problem is the previous presidential administration took steps to derail. defame and impeach the new presidential administration before and during its term of office. These are uncharted waters in the history of our government. Donald Trump may get hampered by ” the deep state ” in seeking revenge but his administration deserves some kind of justice for the wrongs plotted against him. The ” pot ” is seething and about to boil from sea to shining sea; no matter what transpires down the road a ” firestorm ” has been erected and ” violence and chaos in the streets is just going to get worse throughout this entire country.

        2. khatika Avatar
          khatika

          Wishful thinking. Nothing will chsnge.

          1. Newton Finn Avatar
            Newton Finn

            That’s what the worst people in the world are counting on.

    2. ron campbell Avatar
      ron campbell

      An awful lot of people are going to be desperate soon and desperate people are liable to do anything. No food and no money make people into monsters capable of anything. I wish it was not going to happen but I know that it will and there is nothing we can do about it.

  10. Lloyd Avatar
    Lloyd

    The “True Man” Show! Nice choice. Ever wonder where these Hollywood script writers get such ideas for our entertainment? In the final analysis, everything is quite educational. So what have we learned today?

  11. ron campbell Avatar
    ron campbell

    My government steps on any ” small country ” that it wants to no matter where on this planet that country is. However ” playing chicken ” with other countries that have nuclear weapons is not an advisable policy. The United States has more nuclear weapons than the rest of the entire world; but the United States has only six percent of the worlds population. The rest of humanity is beginning to shun this country and they are very wise to do so. We are on a path that will never end nicely for anybody. Our owners and masters desire the whole world or nothing. That is an insane policy for anyone to stick to and carry out.

  12. Tired and no longer active revolutionary Avatar
    Tired and no longer active revolutionary

    Cailtin, you are a lover of truth and you do well to expose deception, cheating and hidden agendas. Why not also shine your spotlight on political Z!0 nist involvement in global finance, the Deep State and middle-east conflict? Use your journalist skills to research, influence the discussion and if you find that anti- Z10 nist allegations are unsubstantiated, unfair and slanderous, then present your facts and shame anyone who falsely accuses them.

    1. X Avatar
      X

      Follow the money.
      https://thoughtmaybe.com/the-ascent-of-money/
      —
      https://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/the-spiders-web-britains-second-empire/

  13. Roundball Shaman Avatar
    Roundball Shaman

    “You will never, ever hate China enough to bring manufacturing jobs back to the US.”
    .
    You will never bring manufacturing jobs back to the US because all the factories were bulldozed or turned into expensive condos and Americans have discovered the value of avoiding working at all costs with free fake money for all. All those useful factory-job skills have been swept away along with the rubble of the demolished factories.
    .
    “If you looked out the window right now and saw a mushroom cloud growing on the horizon, how would you feel about the way you’ve been spending your mental energy lately?”
    .
    The shallow way that many people think today… they would look at the mushroom cloud and say, “Oh wow, what a cool looking cloud! I gotta take a selfie with it! Stay right there, cloud!”
    .
    “All I’m ever writing about here is the undoing of illusions. The undoing of illusions about what’s happening in the world, the undoing of illusions about the media, the undoing of illusions about society, the undoing of illusions about ourselves.”
    .
    The world, and we in it, all have some (or a lot of) ugliness inside. With illusions, all that goes away. No honest reflection necessary. No hard work necessary. Just ignore it all and construct a false image of one’s self as the most wonderful person on the Earth. Ignore all the ugliness of the world. Blame everything bad on the “Other Side”. Problem solved!

    1. X Avatar
      X

      We in the West have been deprived of True/Honest History — it’s been replaced with Lies & Propaganda in our schools & universities (and MSM and movies, etc.) — and that is the fundamental reason Americans (and Brits, etc.) continue to ignore, tolerate, abide, support and/or actually participate in the destructive and oppressive policies and actions of USA, et al.
      If citizens were cognizant of True History they likely would think, vote, behave, believe, buy and eat a whole lot differently.
      Here’s one example that people should consider when we’re being told (tricked) to fear & hate China:
      http://bitly.ws/9owJ
      (search: “the century of humiliation” & “opium wars” to go deeper)

  14. One of your best columns ever! Very good. Avatar
    One of your best columns ever! Very good.

    One of your best columns ever! Very good.

  15. John Day Avatar
    John Day

    If you see a mushroom cloud out the window, drop flat on your face on the floor as fast as you can.
    Then consider how your other preparations have worked out after the shock wave passes.
    You’ve already been irradiated, though.

    1. John Day Avatar
      John Day

      Videos of the ammonium nitrate explosion in Beirut give the clearest explanation of the shockwave effect when you see the dome go up.
      http://www.johndayblog.com/2020/08/accidents-happen.html

  16. Newton Finn Avatar
    Newton Finn

    How many comments, here and elsewhere on left-leaning websites, boil down to one version or another of the SAME comment; namely, that because of this particular outrage or that particular outrage or a certain set of outrages or all of the outrages put together, or because of irremediable mistakes or the inescapable trajectory of history or human nature in general or the all-powerful evil forces we’re up against, WE’RE TOTALLY FUCKED? Just wondering if I’m projecting or seeing clearly?

  17. Charles Andrew Robinson Avatar
    Charles Andrew Robinson

    Cinco Godzilla is here and more is coming.

    1. Georgi Avatar
      Georgi

      If all that is true then how does knowing it help you? I mean this is so insidious and powerful that you can hardly resist. Only massive numbers of people possibly could. Very depressing indeed

  18. Harry Nydick Avatar
    Harry Nydick

    To each is own. It is everyone’s birthright to aspire as he or she will. I choose to be a common man – but a common man who speaks out, at the low levels where people will actually pay attention, against injustices. When you build an apartment building or hotel, you don’t start with the penthouse. The first thing you do is create a responsible base.
    Caity has a good start at that.

  19. ron campbell Avatar
    ron campbell

    I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon — if I can. I seek opportunity — not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations, and to face the world boldly and say, this I have done.— Dean Alfange

    1. Harry Nydick Avatar
      Harry Nydick

      To each is own. It is everyone’s birthright to aspire as he or she will. I choose to be a common man – but a common man who speaks out, at the low levels where people will actually pay attention, against injustices. When you build an apartment building or hotel, you don’t start with the penthouse. The first thing you do is create a responsible base.
      Caity has a good start at that.

  20. Lynn Avatar
    Lynn

    Undoing of illusions, eh? You’ve tasked yourself with quite the mission… trying to lead a bunch of stubborn, blind mice out of the maze.

    1. Georgi Avatar
      Georgi

      I totally agree that “If we win this thing it won’t be because conspiracy analysts showed everyone a bunch of complex financial connections or because Marxists put a bunch of theory in everyone’s heads” but I do not think that ” it will be because clear, simple pointing helped everyone notice the fact that they’ve been duped.”
      Pointing that “we are duped” is by far not enough – it is my personal and real experience from a small and very corrupt european country. Everybody knows that certain institutions are obviously corrupt, even they are not hiding it that much, but when it comes to elections you do not get a real alternative to vote for. It’s like the Simpsons episode where they found that both president candidates are alien lizards. But hey they have the two party system so who should we vote for?

      I think it is important that we have simple ‘action points’ that most people agree upon to overthrow the existing oppressive system. I said it many times also here – I think it is the good old direct democracy thing, but I might be wrong about this. The main point I am making is that showing how awful and unfair the system is right now is not enough. We need also to agree on how we get rid of it and what comes next.

      really Thank You for your work, Caitlin!

      1. Lynn Avatar
        Lynn

        Yeah, maybe. However, I think awareness gets the snowball rolling. From there the details will take care of themselves.

        1. Anarcissie Avatar
          Anarcissie

          The details can be mighty detailed. I’ve recently been reading Taibbi on the latest developments of Russiagate, which is slowly rotting and falling apart, and it has many, many individual piece of rot and encompasses a large number of corrupt persons and projects. Someone is going to have to make up graphs and charts — _four-dimensional_ graphs and charts — to get it all down. It’s amazing how big and weird a little fable can grow grow to be.

  21. billbowman53 Avatar
    billbowman53

    So, then, why might one resist the necessary transition to voluntaryism/anarcho-capitalism?
    There is no CIA, and there isn’t even a government with any power at all. Yes, the biggest polluter on the face of the earth is eliminated overnight (or however long the hopefully brief transition takes.)
    It solves unemployment overnight, as companies and workers negotiate what works best for them, with no minimum wage laws. Heck, there are no laws at all. No mandates. Just a transition to humans actually being accountable beings again. THIS is regulation, people, and not the concept you have been spoon-fed.
    (Of course, free association allows for unionization of those who want to.)
    There are only two simple guiding principles:
    (1) Everyone understands the importance of abiding by the Non-Aggression Principle, or suffers the consequences.
    (2) Property rights exist and are protected by the NAP in (1).

    Why not? Because one speculates that coercive governments’ protection from evil overlords is necessary? They are in cahoots. And that will never change. My two cents.

    1. Victor G. Avatar
      Victor G.

      Oh! You mean Libertarian-Capitalism.
      There never has been, never will be anything Anarcho about capitalism.
      Aren’t you folks reticent of being associated with Anarcho just about now?
      You are Libertarian-Capitalists. Come out of the closet and meet your fate.
      Hands off Anarchism. Asking nicely.

      1. Anarcissie Avatar
        Anarcissie

        _They_ think it’s anarchism. And I’m too anarchistic to disabuse them of the notion, although I don’t think they’re thinking things through very well. People need their illusions to get through the night, and sometimes the day as well.

      2. billbowman53 Avatar
        billbowman53

        AnCaps like myself call for an absence of government. Now, is your position that an absence of government isn’t an absence of government? That would be an interesting position, but pretty hard to defend, I would think.

      3. John Allen aka Ol' Hippy Avatar
        John Allen aka Ol’ Hippy

        Thank you for clarifying anarcho-capitalism misnaming above. Defund the military/surveillance/prison state and go from there. If there’s any ‘there; left.

  22. Mike McDonnell Avatar
    Mike McDonnell

    There is a way of finding psychopaths. See the website theauthoritarians.org, and read the (free) book if you have the time and inclination. I think that psychopaths must be eliminated from public life if we are ever to have good government. The problem is that they want power and will force their way into wherever power lies. A possible solution is to have a public-domain computer program which objectively decides who is eligible to hold public office. We are far away from using such means of filtering out psychopaths, but I think that something like that is needed.

    1. John Day Avatar
      John Day

      There’s this one little problem with the kill-the-psychopaths strategy.
      Can you find it?
      I know, that’s not what you said, but psychopaths hold the power, and have things set up that threats to their power must first threaten all the “regulars”.
      That’s why bankers keep getting bailed out.

  23. Khatika Avatar
    Khatika

    Dont get me wrong I am no Trump fan. However I feel he is really antiwar. He is forced to give ground to the Industrial Military Complex and thus pressures continue. Also he probably hears from them the need to do this or that continually. All Trump really cares about is Trade and Immigration just as he campaigned. We saw Trump in trying to leave Nato and trying to remove troops from Europe. He was slapped down or neutralized both times.

  24. Newton Finn Avatar
    Newton Finn

    “You’re not trying to get the mainstream rank-and-file public to understand a bunch of complicated new information, you’re trying to remove the blindfold so they can see something for themselves that they kind of already suspected was the case.” Caitlin’s comment jibes with my daily observations of life here in the U.S. There remain many decent and well-meaning people in my country, as I’m sure there are in all countries. And yes, almost all of them sense that something is deeply wrong with their country and the world in general, but they can’t quite articulate it because of relentless Overton window conditioning by the MSM and entertainment industry. So the perplexing issue is how “to remove the blindfold” being constantly created, and while blogs like this one encourage those who already see, I fear they do little to remove the manufactured blindness of the masses. Caitlin knows this, I’m sure, as much as anyone, but she continues on because telling the truth as she sees it is something she must do to be who she is. And in our own ways, isn’t it the same with almost all of us who have managed to pull off the blindfold or had it ripped away by forces beyond our control? We babble on, preaching mainly to the choir but hoping that occasionally someone outside the choir loft will listen. Although self-removal of the blindfold is less painful than having it ripped from our eyes, it is in this latter process that our hope for the masses must lie. Will the lack of necessary governmental response to the coming Covid Depression, resulting in the further immiseration of millions upon millions of average citizens (at least in America and other rogue capitalist societies), be of sufficient force to rip the blindfold from the eyes of the majority? I believe it will be, because again, like Caitlin, I know that most of my fellow Americans, and no doubt the majority of citizens of many other countries, already feel that something is terribly wrong with the status quo. When this “wrong” begins to directly impact their already diminished quality of life and deprive them and their children of any viable future, all hell is likely to break loose, either taking us over the precipice into fascism or barbarism OR initiating an evolutionary process, with increasing momentum, toward an answer to a 2000-year-old prayer that the kingdom of heaven come on earth. The upward or downward path we take will depend on whether we can summon the seemingly-naive courage to believe in the human spirit. If we fail to summon that “crazy” courage, if we instead choose to wallow in dystopian thought, content to say “I told you so,” then we’ll have proved by our lack of vision, conviction, and determination–by our lack of belief in ourselves–that our oppressive overlords were right about us “human resources” all along.

  25. JWK Avatar
    JWK

    “Stopping the people from using the power of their numbers to force real change”.
    That would be a delusion. Governments have not balked at killing hundreds of millions of their own people to maintain and expand their power. After all, the vast majority of those involved in government are psychopaths. The very idea of such a thing as democratic principal is historically new, and at present doesn’t look all that durable. We can govern ourselves, or be governed by monsters.

    1. Khatika Avatar
      Khatika

      Democracy is an abberation whose time is rapidly moving towards an end.

      1. Anarcissie Avatar
        Anarcissie

        The only problem is that all the alternatives seem to be worse.

  26. Jim McDonagh Avatar
    Jim McDonagh

    The limitations of the human sensory array makes finding absolute truth impossible. The mutation which is the self conscious mind has severely limited human access to truth as well , since it is little more than a censor which limits inputs to the brain leading to massive self deception aka cognitive dissonance these days.

  27. Jim McDonagh Avatar
    Jim McDonagh

    I enjoyed the starfish analogy , thanks for it. However it is unfair to starfish , whom I’m told keep sea urchin populations under control?

    1. Khatika Avatar
      Khatika

      Lol. I liked analogy too. Good point.

  28. Lili-Ann Berg Avatar
    Lili-Ann Berg

    Growing up in an era where girls routinely were told not worry their pretty little heads with matter of state immediately set of an alarm in my brain. I became a pest, questioning everything and everybody, never satisfied with the answers I got. Hence I was continually in trouble in school, at home and among friends. Being a truth-seeker is a perilous journey and once set in motion can never be stopped as long as you have a functioning intellect,

    Seeking the truth is definitely not a recipe for a long and happy life, and those courageous few who make it their profession, are making untold personal sacrifices. People like Julian Assange and others we’ll never even hear about, because they’re promptly snuffed out before they have a chance to make their voices heard.

    People like you Caitlin, are as precious as they’re rare. Thank you for your courage.

  29. lech kowalski Avatar
    lech kowalski

    All you say is true but the problem is that this massive killing machine, top to bottom has employees and each one wants to keep his or her job. This spreads wide, reaching around the world and eventually everyone fits somewhere into that lineage of employees. Little lies become big lies. Big lies become little lies. All to keep employed. It all keeps chugging along until it can’t anymore. That’s what is happening now. How to survive the new times? I am curious how you write about that? How to build for the new times? What do we actually face when that crack starts running through every ones life?

    1. X Avatar
      X

      I’ve had the same thoughts & questions for more than 20 years.
      Until now I never thought there was any reason to expect a paradigm shift toward peace and equity (i.e., fairness & justice) and health (i.e., clean air, pure water, wholesome food, honest medicine) for everyone, everywhere on Earth; that is what seems best to me.
      Now I believe we are at an historic turning-point moment — we’ve reached critical mass; there will be a turn — and everyday, as the bad news keeps coming and getting worse, my psyche gets stronger, not weaker, because the bad news is exposing ruling class malfeasance worldwide and the people of the world, finally seeing (and finally believing) the evil deeds of those with economic, political, tech and medical power, will not be inclined to fight each over these agendas of oppression, destruction & profit; we can all see — at least it seems more and more are starting to — we’re all in the same boat that’s sinking for the sake of preserving the wealth & power of a few bloodlines and a bunch of greedy a$$holes and some career psychopaths — ¡basta!
      So…
      The reason for my response to your comment is to tell you what I think the answer is:
      I think…
      The world needs a baseline set of Universal Values — not laws, not ideologies, not beliefs, but VALUES that are individual/personal and can’t be granted or taken away — that are based-on logic & reason of what constitutes protecting, preserving and balancing life on Earth and that thereby preempt political malfeasance, environmental degradation & destruction, poverty, preventable disease, injustice, inequity and war.
      Of course…
      This won’t solve the problems but it will create in each of us the same certainty of the problems, and the Common Sense that they are unacceptable; then, the solutions follow naturally — one at a time and billions all at once — because action follows certainty.

      1. shocker Avatar
        shocker

        I think X marks the spot here. It seems to me we have been influenced all our lives, by media, to focus on and listen to the worst of our human impulses, weaknesses and values. Greed, hubris, anger, hostility, hate, impatience, anxiety . . .. If we’re looking for solutions, shouldn’t we be looking for ways to focus on the best of our impulses, strengths and values?

        1. Newton Finn Avatar
          Newton Finn

          X and Shocker nail it. We’ll know we’ve turned a corner when bold and beautiful new positives began to supplant the endless litany of negatives, those true and tragic stories which need to be told but that in and of themselves can take us nowhere. When edgy, audacious utopian thinking breaks through the dystopian clouds we’ve grown so used to seeing, to breathing in, then that unmistakable shift in the zeitgeist will signal our species’ long-delayed, long-awaited move from adolescence to maturity. X and Shocker sense it. So does Caitlin. And so do I and many others.

          1. X Avatar
            X

            Thank you truly, Shocker & Newton Finn for your positive replies to my comment.
            I’m pretty sure one of the influences — there are many, many — to my Universal Values notion is the book “Ishmael”, at the end.
            Audio here: http://bitly.ws/9fy3

    2. Khatika Avatar
      Khatika

      Extends to state governments too. They get their revenue from war also.

      1. Anarcissie Avatar
        Anarcissie

        And corporations. Many years ago, during the Vietnam years, I met a man who, being a Quaker and a pacifist, wanted to remove himself from any connection to the war machine. He started out being some kind of electrical engineer, and looked for a job which was not connected, and couldn’t find one in his field. Then he looked into several other fields; everything was hooked up. About all he could have done was go full survivalist and live in the wilderness, which he was not yet up to doing. I suppose being a freegan junk collector might do the trick, but I’m not sure. The great vacuum cleaner seems to suck everything up.

    3. Joan Roelofs Avatar
      Joan Roelofs

      I agree. The problem is more complicated, as so many people and institutions (including progressives, environmental organizations, museums, charities, universities) are supported in some way by the military industrial complex. See my Counterpunch article: Guess Who’s Sleeping with our Insecurity Blanket, reposted on my website: https://joanroelofs.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/insecurity-blanket.pdf

  30. X Avatar
    X

    “They don’t need anything new, they need to exorcise the lies that have blinded them and stop trusting in the words of liars.” -CJ
    —
    I believe people do need “new” information (i.e., they need to finally — each in their own time, in their own way — discover it and understand it: The Truth).
    Lies are repeated by the powerful so the people believe them; therefore, the truth must be repeated by the people so they believe each other instead.
    It is the obligation of those who can think and research and analyze and connect dots and find the truths to share what they know whenever & however, with whomever, possible.
    Not Death by a Thousand Cuts; rather, Truth (enlightenment) by a Thousand Voices.
    Repeat Truth; it’s new to somebody.

    1. X Avatar
      X

      …Also:
      https://www.moonofshanghai.com/2020/07/cia-project-mk-ultra-july-2-2020.html#more

    2. Khatika Avatar
      Khatika

      Cant remember the movie but a scene where a hardware owner was so intent on selling his wares in an emergency that he failed to save some for himself. Greed blinds man that the they pursue wealth to their own detriment. The term you dont crap where you live is appropriate. We are destroying our environment pursuing wealth. That is what upsets me about climate change. It has hijacked the environmental movement taking up all the air so to speak. No more talk of clean air, clean water, etc.

  31. peter mackey Avatar
    peter mackey

    Great article….clear and actionable.

  32. Jack Oliver Avatar
    Jack Oliver

    ALL the evidence you will ever need !

    There is NO way Epstein or ‘Gizzy Ghizzy’ were ever incarcerated – let alone DEAD !

    They are far too well ‘connected’ !!

    https://newspunch.com/jeffrey-epstein-ghislaine-maxwells-company-terramar-tied-clintons-rothschilds/

  33. ron campbell Avatar
    ron campbell

    The populous of the Evil Empire will eventually suffer enough soon and the pain is going to end their slumber. They are going to be hurt and very angry. What this angry mob sets out to do is right now is very unpredictable; they will take their frustrations out on whomever or whatever they think is responsible for their pain. They will look for the ” scapegoats ” to inflict pain on them and then move on and on like locusts swarming everywhere. They will be aroused with their eyes unblinded; but they will not be civilized nor rational. They may prefer to kill everyone on this planet because their ” blissful ignorance ” is no longer available to them. Chaos is coming to the evil empire; it is unavoidable!

  34. John Avatar
    John

    Right, Caitlin. We are up against sociopaths who don’t even care for the fate of their own progeny. And, probably some venal opportunists, too, who might come around when it is far too late. Our obsession must be, is there any possible way that power could be wrested from them? (Hint: it won’t be by appealing to Americans, in the mass. They are too childish, too uninformed, too deluded.)

  35. Timothy MIchel Avatar
    Timothy MIchel

    Every country’s intelligence apparatus should be dismantled, because regardless if it is the U S of A, or China, they both play the same game of attempting to bring countries to their knees so that they can take them over economically. China has bee particularly aggressive with that tactic lately; and yes that is what the United States has been doing since WW II, when they were engaged in full scale invasions like Vietnam.

    “You will never, ever hate China enough to bring manufacturing jobs back to the US.” China/.U.S. trade deals were designed to make a select group of people in both the United States and China rich. Chinese people would work for starvation wages while American people lost their jobs. all the while the elite in both countries raked in the doe. This wasn’t something where America was turning the screws to China, this economic deal was more like a partnership. If you want to know something about how that came about, See: https://excellentrap.wordpress.com/2015/05/11/china-the-bush-family-middle-kingdom-rainmakers/ for some background

    1. Timothy MIchel Avatar
      Timothy MIchel

      Last sentence first paragraph should have read: “when they were not engaged in full scale invasions like Vietnam.”

  36. war pig Avatar
    war pig

    Caitlin,

    Please don’t say “$740 billion”. Please read this:
    https://www.independent.org/news/article.asp?id=1941

    We need to check the math again. At the very least, “$740B” grossly undercounts.

    If you’re inclined, I also encourage you to search corbettreport.com for interviews with Catherine Austin Fitts. She claims we have little idea what the real budget is.

  37. Fair dinkum Avatar
    Fair dinkum

    We have been conditioned to look at the world and Life (always with a capital L, because we can only ever FEEL the beauty of Life within) with a tunnel vision view.
    To see the world as it really is, we must look at it from outside the tunnel.

    1. jim andrews Avatar
      jim andrews

      Please have a look at my reply to your comment under “In A Universe.” I would still be interested to know how you acquired the insights which you express there.

  38. Keith Hayes (K-Dog) Avatar
    Keith Hayes (K-Dog)

    Undoing illusions is one thing. Creating visions to replace illusions is harder work. Empty eyes saunter the slow thighs of this sclerotic empire to Ragnarök where below deep waters civilization will sleep. Alas, no spark of solidarity will change the way; but along the way lies honor for those of character wishing to find it. The Phoenix Program is long gone. What rose from the ashes burns bright.

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