It’s intense right now. Damn intense. Especially in America.

Liberals and progressives fear their nation is on the brink of a violent fascist uprising and civil war, and the mass media are happily feeding into that fear. Rightists are outraged over internet censorship and the belief that their democracy has been taken over by Deep State ChiComs (or whatever they’re on about at the moment). People who don’t buy into any particular partisan perspective are being shrieked at by those who do for their refusal to move with the herd.

Wherever you’re at on the political spectrum, it’s intense. And it’s scary. And that’s just the latest development in what looks to conventional wisdom like a decaying society on a dying world. So it’s very easy for a sense of despair to set in.

As things get increasingly weird and the possibility of a healthy impulse seizing control of the reins in this chaos and guiding us to sanity looks more and more remote, it’s common for people to assume they’re watching a disintegration that reflects the actual fundamental nature of humanity, or of reality itself. That maybe humanity is just awful, or we were born into a dark universe of terrible suffering. That life sucks and everything is shit.

It’s one of those beliefs that can creep in unnoticed, without ever even really being consciously put into words in your mind. It can just kind of hang out in your subconscious, pulling the strings of your thought and attention without your ever necessarily being aware of it.

But it’s not true. It’s not true at all.

Things aren’t bad because the world we were born into is innately bad, things are bad because a few manipulative sociopaths have made them that way. A few manipulative sociopaths set up a system that is designed to preserve the status quo which feeds them wealth and power at the expense of the health and wellbeing of everyone else, and at the expense of the health and wellbeing our ecosystem. This system is designed to keep everyone poor and propagandized so that nobody can challenge the power of the manipulative sociopaths whose rule depends on exploitation and endless bloodshed.

The universe is not against you. Just because the system is stacked against you doesn’t mean the universe is. We’re up against the ephemeral agendas of a few mortals whose lives are tiny specks in a yawning infinity. They are tiny wisps of nothing against the vast backdrop of reality.

There is so very, very much more to humanity than conventional wisdom can currently perceive. We have so very, very much untapped potential that simply hasn’t unlocked yet. There are mysterious forces at work in our species, and it just so happens that the very worst-equipped among us to reckon with those forces are the manipulative sociopaths.

Sociopaths do not have inner vision. Their narcissistic wiring and lack of empathy allows them to use people as tools to get them what they want where the rest of us would shy away from such actions, but it blinds them to things like inspiration, healing, and insight.

Things are unpacking in ways that conventional wisdom can’t really understand and language can’t adequately point to, and the very last people who will recognize the fruits of that unpacking are the manipulative sociopaths who run things.

Despair is an irrational position when looking at our plight, because it assumes we possess a kind of omnipotence which can perceive all the factors at play in our situation and rule out the possibility of a desirable outcome. And we just can’t. Anyone who’s had sufficient experience with inner exploration or psychedelics knows there are massive levels of our consciousness which haven’t even come into play yet in our collective functioning as a species, but they are there, all ready to go when the time comes.

What we know is dwarfed by what we know we don’t know, and what we know we don’t know is dwarfed by what we don’t know we don’t know. Anything can happen. Bad things. Good things. A wildly unprecedented world in which humans find a way to collaborate harmoniously with each other and with their ecosystem.

The manipulative sociopaths and their schemes are just the faintest blips against that vast backdrop. And then they die, as Sheldon Adelson has so kindly reminded us.

The universe is not against you. The bastards have not won. Keep your head high and your eyes wide, beautiful rebel.

______________________________

Feature image via Pixnio.

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82 responses to “Just Because The System Is Stacked Against You Doesn’t Mean The Universe Is”

  1. I like the message i read in this article.

  2. “Just Because The System Is Stacked Against You Doesn’t Mean The Universe Is”

    The Universe is utterly indifferent to everything. Looking at Earth’s history, however, you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. During the Permian–Triassic extinction, just one of the ‘big five’, around 96% of species were lost. The five mass extinction events took place long before we arrived – at 23:58:43 if Earth’s history is pictured as a 24-hour clock. We may well be unique, alone and an evolutionary hodge podge. Consider, the humble shrimp has better vision than us (we see less than 1 percent of the light spectrum, and not at all at night unaided), our retinas detach easily and lenses deteriorate. with time. We are made largely out of bacteria, viruses, fungi and archaea, and fitted with sub-optimal plumbing (breathing, eating, excretory and reproductive). We are also programmed to die, alas, unlike Turritopsis dohrni. . Further, at least 40 percent of animal species are parasites, and this figure does not include the infamous ‘1%’

    1. Since I started fre+lancing I’ve been bringing in (((($)))90 bucks/h… I sit at home and i am doing my work from my laptop. Th℮ best thing is that i get more time to spent with my family and with my kids and in the same time i can earn enough to support them… You can do it too.

      Start here—— > > > Home Profit System

  3. There is nothing “beautiful” about rebels. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Refusing to submit to Liars ,Cheats , and Thieves is Not rebellion ,and you will need something more than conventional wisdom to figure this out. The Gospel Requires that I resist false-accusers ,not rebel against Them. Never give a Liar a gram of credibility. All System Players…All.. are liars, being lied to ,and perpetuating those same lies over and over again. look back 120 years in America. Even after 2 WWs and a forever-till-Jesus-returns middle east war ,what steps forward has the World made. The world is delusional and the adversaries of truth and justice rule till the end.
    I Am painfully aware that the Bible is the most abused authority in the western world ,but this was foretold and We know it well. Pseudo-Christianity has the Power in Their hands and only Christ Himself can take it back. As for Me , I must resist and rebuke the corrupt Leadership.

    1. Roy Elliott Hurley Avatar
      Roy Elliott Hurley

      Wow, so helpful.

      1. What do I owe You? You’ve not asked for My help ,just as I have not asked for Yours. The Rule of Law is not worthy of it’s self policing and will undoubtable fail drastically. Enjoy the Tribulation of Nations neighbors. I AM loving it.

        1. Roy Elliott Hurley Avatar
          Roy Elliott Hurley

          There are many hacking at the branches, even fewer hacking at the roots. You seem not only content, but intent ,on wasting everyone’s time.

          1. I quit working at shoprite to work online and with a little effort I easily bring in around $45 to 85 per/h. Without a doubt, this is the easiest and most financially rewarding job I’ve ever had. I actually started 6 months ago and this has totally changed my life.

            for more details visit………Home Profit System

    2. Why obscure and distract from the essential meaning of your post by hinging it upon an unnecessary contention of the definition of the term ‘rebel’?

      You advocate resistance. Resistance to the functional principles of an over-riding regime is a form of rebellion. Stimulating undue focus and argument upon such definition seems unnecessary and unhelpful the cause you’re explaining.

      1. Really? Functional principles? Ruling through adversarial means is Tyranny and Satanic. I have not shed innocent blood resisting the liars. No ,rather ,I went to prison ,but committed no crime. Sue us ,they said. But They already knew before they abused me ,that their ways are not My Ways. All Liars shall have their part in the lake of fire. Whatever that means ,it don’t sound good. And I am not trying to be helpful ,I don’t owe you anything.

        1. Resistance is rebellion. Why split unnecessary hairs over the matter? Defining the issue as violence vs non-violence would enable a more usefully focussed arbitration.

          1. Violence answers violence. What does that have to do with resisting arrest? Christ went to death. The Apostles ,to prison first ,then death. Christians today think they have rights. Who died and gave rights to anybody?

            1. I responded to the proposition that rebellion was evil and that resistance was the noble option. I simply observed that resistance is rebellion and that the choice between good/evil or better/worse might better be seen as violence vs non-violence (as regards rebellion/resistance). I’m not making an argument either way re violence. I’m just trying to get a common understanding to the words being used. Otherwise we may as well all get on here and talk past each other in a myriad different languages.

    3. TeganHargreaves Avatar
      TeganHargreaves

      I quit working at shoprite to work online and with a little effort I easily bring in around $45 to 85 per/h.GHJ Without a doubt, this is the easiest and most financially rewarding job I’ve ever had. I actually started 6 months ago and this has totally
      changed my life….

  4. Thank you Caitlin Johnstone. Thank you so very much. Thank you. Thank you.

  5. To the discussion whether “they” are sociopaths or psychopaths, that is very interesting, really!
    But they are only words that describe something, so that one understands what is meant, or what could be meant. In reality, they are just as much humans, as everyone else. One should say goodbye to the idea that the human being would be a good being, that “normal” people would be good – this is wishful thinking and superstition and Erich Fromm[1] has already shown enough that the “normality” does not correspond to the good as one likes to tell oneself. In reality the human being covers the whole spectrum from good to evil and that means humanity in the real sense – the history shows us that clearly!
    It is the society or the form of society and the system which favors the one or the other more, thus such people who go over corpses promotes or not and it is the man himself who is prone to all kinds of deceptions and manipulations. This is also the reason why the founders of the USA invented representative democracy. A form of society, which is supposed to make the people believe that they have a say, but effectively only the elites have something to say[2] – it is a construct to ward off real democracy with the suggestive power of the term “democracy”.
    So it depends on the society and the system to promote the good in man, but it is difficult when even good people pathologize others and declare them sick, without any valid proof and only because of their behavior.
    It is claimed (research suggests) that psychopaths, for example, have a different brain structure[3] than other people, but that is still no reason to assume that this is something pathological and not the completely normal spectrum of what a human being can be, depending on how he or she evolves, influenced by (among other things) the environment and the society in which he or she lives.
    Thomas Insel[4], the former director of the NIMH, had said it already in 2013, psychiatric diagnoses are not valid, are based only on observable behavior and the statements of affected people and nothing has changed significantly until today!
    That does not mean that I find the behavior, which is called sotiopathic or psychopathic good, but one should finally start to look at the humanity as what it is, so that one can draw the right conclusions from it. It is part of the social control of the powerful over all others to divide people – divide et impera – and psychiatry is among other things a powerful tool for this.

    take care!

    [1] https://fromm-online.org/en/pathologie-der-normalitaet-normalitaet-pathologie-der/
    [2] see e.g. Edward Bernays, Walter Lippmann, Noam Chomsky etc.
    [3] https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/features/sociopath-psychopath-difference
    [4] https://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/directors/thomas-insel/blog/2013/transforming-diagnosis.shtml

  6. One more well written commentary. No need for even one duck! Thanks. Tom

  7. I’ll have what she’s having. 😉

    (This is so much more than simply earning her keep.)

    Thanks!

  8. Thank you.

    Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees.

  9. i suspect socio- indicates a larger # of victims than mere psycho-.
    remember the movie? with janet leigh in the shower and along comes tony perkins?
    compare to Hitler.
    phoney progressive is an example of co-oxymorons trying to defund the language.
    i’m gonna put this piece on my wall. gorgeous is the word i was hit with.
    heck with pragmatics…lets all kneel down and start giggling. this is so bad it’s funny.
    first of all money is not god–it only looks like it. there is no god. relly god is the question .
    it proves you have a conscience; empathy. do unto others. right? i hate religions because they all claim t have talked to god and been to heaven and i question those. who outrageously sell them to us and define women, then enslave them, then burn them at the stake for feing herbalists. then endorse hitler i ’38 and sprinkled “holy” water on the slave ships leaving africa.
    and most currently announced “we don’t need to be afraid of saying the word, war.”
    love means empathy and empathy means BMI world wide. no need to feel so stressed and rushed and exhausted all the time. with a common basic median income the natural tendency of mankind will rise up into a beautiful world of art and invention and work love and knowledge…based upon our common want to learn how to make something.

  10. Caitlin Johnstone wrote:
    > There is so very, very much more to humanity than conventional wisdom can currently perceive. We have so very, very much untapped potential that simply hasn’t unlocked yet. . . .
    > The universe is not against you. The bastards have not won. Keep your head high and your eyes wide, beautiful rebel.
    .
    “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”
    — Martin Luther King, Jr., Acceptance Speech, Nobel Peace Prize 1964
    .
    “How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.”
    — Leo Tolstoy, Three Methods of Reform, 1900
    .
    “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
    ― Mahatma Gandhi (attributed)
    .
    “I’m starting with the man in the mirror
    I’m asking him to change his ways
    And no message could have been any clearer
    If you want to make the world a better place
    Take a look at yourself, and then make a change . . .
    .
    “You know it!
    You know it!
    You know it!
    You know it!
    Make that change”
    .
    Michael Jackson — Man In The Mirror

    1. “Many small people,
      in many small places,
      doing many small things,
      can change the face of the world.”
      — African proverb (saying of the Xhosa people)
      .
      “Heal the world
      Make it a better place
      For you and for me
      And the entire human race
      There are people dying
      If you care enough for the living
      Make a better place for you and for me”
      .
      Michael Jackson — Heal The World, live 1993

      1. thank you JMG…..at times we have to be reminded of what you have written. Peace.

  11. Caitlin is right: “things are bad because a few manipulative sociopaths have made them that way” but ALSO because most people are genetically predisposed and culturally conditioned to believe any sociopath who tells them they are working towards their best interests. This is equally important to understand the nature of society’s problems. A successful revolution must address both the abusers and the victims of abuse, but the latter are not capable of escaping their hypnotic state. Read more of this here: http://www.wisdompage.com/2013%20Articles/Molyneaux%20essay.pdf

  12. Roundball Shaman Avatar
    Roundball Shaman

    “Just Because The System Is Stacked Against You Doesn’t Mean The Universe Is”
    .
    This is one of the Great Secrets revealed. This is the reason we were born upon this wild Earth. We were put here – in all our various colors and sizes and stations in life — to learn this ultimate truth of existence.
    .
    We are surrounded by madness. We are surrounded by evil. We are surrounded by pain and confusion. That’s the Dark Cave that each of us must find a way out of. And the way find our way into the Light is to realize that as insane and painful and confusing as life on this Earth is… it was all put here for us to experience and realize that even through the madness… that Universe LOVES US. Cares about us. Nothing we experience in our earthly lives will endure. NOTHING. It’s ALL GOING AWAY FOREVER. Nothing lasts. What does last? Our consciousness, our life energy, our soul. That’s who and what we really are. That’s the lesson we’re put here to learn. And that the Eternal Energetic Spirit will always be with us and be our Guide.
    .
    We’re here to learn that it was a loving Universal Spirit that gave us all the gift of existing instead of NOT existing… being a nothing in a dark void. We live. We have power. We change. We grow. We’re headed somewhere. Somewhere much better than where we are now. Don’t believe that? That’s fine. Universe doesn’t care. Universe just smiles and moves on its eternal way. Universe knows… sooner or later, you’ll catch on. We all will. While everything passes way, nothing is ever lost. That’s the universal irony of it all. Everything changes and is in motion every microsecond… and Universe is logging and taking note of all of it… and all of us and everything we think and do.
    .
    We exist because we are loved… by a force of Energy and Mind who thought of us…BEFORE WE THOUGHT OF OURSELVES. How about that? Want to trade wits with a Force like that? Want to argue with a Mind like that? If so, Universe will let you and quietly smile to Itself… and wait for you to catch on.
    .
    We are all travelers on a great journey, an epic quest to find ourselves amidst all the madness that surrounds us. What greater journey could there ever be…

    1. I like this very much. More, please, of this shamanic wisdom.

    2. That is not the purpose of life unless you enjoy being a masochist.

      What was Venice? The best way to understand the evil of Venice is to look at the great poets’ portrayal of the unbelievable duplicity that Venice represented: portrayals by MaI;lowe in The Jew of Malta, and by Shakespeare in The Mercllant of Venice and especially in Othello, the Moor of Venice . The quintessential Venetian is Iago. Yet the most brilliant portrait of Venetian method was done by Friedrich Schiller in his The Ghostseer. You can never understand Venice by studying what posi-tions the Venetians took on an issue. The Venetians did not care what position they took. They always took all positions. Their method was one of looking for the weak point and corrupting the person. At this form of evil, they were the masters. Their diplomatic corps was the best in the world at the time, and the British diplomatic corps was trained by the Venetians. The year is 1509. The League of Cambrai, representing the total combined power of western Europe, is called upon by the papacy to crush Venice. At the Battle of Agnadello, the Venetian forces are completely destroyed. France is poised to invade the very islands that comprise Venice to deliver the coup de grace. The papacy relents, fearing a war that will be fought on Italian soil by foreign troops. Several times before, such troops had seized parts of Italy. In a series of diplomatic moves, the alliance falls apart, and, miraculously, Venice is saved. Venice, which worked with the Turks to create a republic of usury and slavery; Venice, the slave trader of Europe, so close to being destroyed, survived. Its survival would now wreak havoc on western civilization. Modem history commences with Nicolaus of Cusa and the Council of Florence, and the Italian Renaissance that Cusa and his collaborators inspired. It was Cusa, with the help of Pius II, who created the basis for a war on the pagan idea of man as a beast, and to defend the concept of man as imago Dei and capax Dei. It was the power of these ideas which caused the greatest increase in human population in the history of man. This idea of the power of hypothesis and its relationship to transforming nature proved conclusively that man was fundamentally different from the beast, and as such could not be used as a slave. Venice reacted wildly against the ascendancy of this idea. With the papacy in the firm grip of Pius II and Cusa, Venice launched a war to destroy Christianity.

      And, this 500 years later is where we’re still at, if people have no backbone to overthrow their slave masters, then yes you’re right you’re nothing but a cow waiting to be slaughtered.

  13. Getting back up after being continually knocked down by evil-doers makes one wiser and stronger. The bullies do no like it when the fear has been knocked out of you. Sometimes you might not feel like getting back up again; however the courage to stand up for your beliefs and your convictions always makes you get back up and deft the owners and the masters over and over and over again.

  14. yes,
    a good God exists and will bring God’s order

    you do not believe?
    look at this

    https://yeshu.info/post/who-is-the-god-of-the-old-testament

    I like Your post

    regards:)

  15. Michel Bélisle Avatar
    Michel Bélisle

    We have had sometimes in the past ruling elites with a certain sense of honor; men like general de Gaulle for example, a tall and dignified man with great charisma and there has been some others in ancient times…

    But because it is the return of the days of Noah just before the return of Jesus, and the decadence is everywhere, it seems that ruling elites consist of just little people close to their own interests and nothing else.

    Very sad…

    Keeping my Rosary on hand!

  16. Comorbidity 2024 Avatar
    Comorbidity 2024

    Humans are a deadly virus; take heart, the cure has been found!

    https://playsafe.health.nsw.gov.au/2020/08/31/can-you-get-covid-19-from-sex/

  17. Caitlin has expressed in this, one of her finer pieces, by far THE MOST IMPORTANT DIVIDE: that between those who have managed to retain and nourish their human spirit despite decades of neoliberal degradation, and those who have embraced, wittingly or unwittingly, by ready acceptance or by simply being worn down, the inhuman spirit of neoliberalism, the socioeconomic evils of which are but manifestations of this deeper evil. The terrible truth is that those who have given up, yielded their human spirit in the face of relentless personal, social, economic, and political assault, have, albeit unintentionally, allied themselves with the violence, exploitation, oppression, and ecocide they once hated, in many cases, still do. How have they allied themselves? By spiritual capitulation, by resignation, by pessimism, by defeatism–by no longer being able to summon the courage and determination within themselves, by losing the capacity to believe, to really believe deeply in their hearts and minds, in the possibility of a better, more beautiful world. Those who readily embrace neoliberalism directly inflict the pain and suffering on people and planet, but those who have been beaten inside by it, even those who purport to stand with us against it, also strengthen neoliberalism by telling us that our oppositional cause is hopeless, that the plutocratic bastards have won–in other words, that the universe is precisely as neoliberalism envisions it. And what is that vision? As succinctly put by Frederic Myers as it was first coming into ascendency in the late 19th Century: “The pessimist holds the view that sentient existence has been a deplorable blunder in the scheme of things. The egoist at least acts upon the view that the universe has no moral coherence, and that ‘each for himself’ is the only indisputable law.” So if this piece of Caitlin’s doesn’t resonate with you, doesn’t lift your heart, instill hope and encouragement, then there’s inner work to do if you nevertheless still want to be part of this fight against the evil of neoliberalism, a battle which humanity must fight and win not only to survive but, yes, oh yes, goddammit yes, to THRIVE.

    1. Roy Elliott Hurley Avatar
      Roy Elliott Hurley

      Excellent reply to all the naysayers,etc..Hacking at the root!

    2. Michel Bélisle Avatar
      Michel Bélisle

      Of course, our ruling elites are telling us:

      “Damn bundle of germs … damn full of s…”

      But we are more than what the elites think of us.

      And do not listen too much to them. We are living in decadent times and the more you climb the socio-economic ladder, the more decadent.

      It is the return of the days of Noah just before the return of Jesus.

      Keeping my Rosary on hand!

  18. Bravo Caitlin. If we compare what we know to what we don’t know, there is little difference between a moron and a genius. The problem being of course, so many actually believe they know so much.
    “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.” Bertrand Russell.
    I would not be so gentle as calling those wielding the power sociopaths. They are full blown psychopaths, who find mere sociopaths quite useful. Nuclear weapons are the fly in the ointment. Being psychopaths, they won’t hesitate to use them if they fear they’re losing. Unless of course one of those things we don’t know stops them.

    1. For whatever reason Caitlin won’t use the word “psychopath.” Mental block? Doesn’t know/ understand the difference? Interesting indeed.

      1. In what possible way is Caitlin’s preference for “sociopath” over “psychopath” (if, indeed, she has such a preference) either interesting or telling? On the other hand, what IS interesting and telling, at least to me, is the desire to quibble over words–words with subtle differences in meaning and often used interchangeably–when all hell is breaking loose almost everywhere we look.

        1. i suspect socio- indicates a lager # of victims than mere psycho-.
          remember the movie? with janet leigh in the shower and along comes tony perkins?
          compare to Hitler.

  19. Oh yes the house is on fire but its ok and I feel so positive because my room is not burning yet.

    1. Feel free to hide under your bed. That’s definitely a solution.

      1. Khatika’s comment is somewhat dismal but entirely valid. How we might feel is important. What we might, or can, then actually do is as, or perhaps even more, important. Simply hanging out here for some emotional communion, rant relief and perhaps a vicarious sense of rebellion isn’t enough in the scheme of things. I’m not saying that is the limit of what everyone or anyone here is doing. But who’d know from the comments? After our daily replenishments at this well of sanity and clarity, how do we then each, individually and ideally also collectively, practically use this and other similarly excellent resources that are defining and seeking to amplify the real issues?

        Beyond such moments of replenishment it is that applied leverage that is the critical factor toward maintaining our sense of metaphysical and physical adequacy. Very evidently Khatika feels that scale of things is beyond individual action. Given the underpinnings to all of this that are presented in one of his recently provided links and then appended with one from me, that is a pretty reasonable estimation. I don’t think he’s hiding under the bed. If he were he wouldn’t be here absorbing this degree of clarity about things. In sum total of his perception of the evidence he’s decided the main game play from here on is a spectator sport, not a community participation event. I don’t think he’s the only one on this forum who’ve reached that conclusion, although some seem to be unaware of their condition in that regard.

        To better express your concern toward his apparent condition, maybe you could suggest some particular things he could do that might place him usefully into the game. Or maybe he is right, in which case fighting flat out is, at its best, a means of retaining dignity and honour in the face of oblivion. That is no insignificant thing. But imagine not fighting hard and, more importantly, smart and with some conscious cohesion to the effort, and then finding out when it’s too late that there had been more time and greater scope to turn things than the most dismal scenarios predicted?

        Everyone will see things differently. To me the real challenge is to coalesce like minds within real time for mutual engagement upon actions and objectives that can make a difference upon the quality of life from here on in.. As things are that is no mean challenge.

    2. The house may be on fire but the house is not the world. This is not the only house we’ve ever had and it’s not the house we’ll inhabit forever. We’re not the first humans to live on the precipice of our familiar social order morphing into something wildly different and terrifying and we will not be the last. Who says we have to sit inside and let the house burn us down with it?

  20. Tessa Fights Robots https://tessa.substack.com/p/coup-in-the-head
    Now, the important battle. Currently we are facing a true existential danger coming from Big Tech, Big Biotech, their partners in the military, and their servants in the government, regardless of their political affiliation. Alas, I cannot name a president or a popular presidential candidate who hasn’t been collaborating with very wealthy people who are, in turn, hellbent on turning all of us into serfs. Obama was in bed with Google. Trump went “Operation Warp Speed,” packed with the military crooks. Yang wants a vac…n passport. Biden is all, #BuildBackBetter. Like, seriously, WTF, all of them. So it’s just us. We are on our own, and we only have our hearts to lead us. Perhaps, it’s always been this way, and now it’s just more visible. Perhaps, it’s an opportunity to finally find our hearts because it is the only source of light in the midst of darkness.

    1. When the electricity stops, big tech evaporates.

      1. This is an important strategic observation. It raises the critical strategic question of how do ‘we’ best organise in anticipation of that gathering event, fully mindful of the extent of familiar and extensive support that such events will take from all of us.

  21. “The universe is not against you. The bastards have not won. Keep your head high and your eyes wide, beautiful rebel”.Thank you soooo much, Caitlin, for your fierce optimism. I was born waving a placard (according to my late mother) & I’ve gone through life with my fist in the air. Now, in my 70s, feeling first fears that Armageddon has a better chance than socialism. Thanks for reminding me that it doesn’t. I read widely on what I call the radical left, but even on days when time sabotages, I read your newsletter. And btw, I’m a Covid lockdown-inspired rookie abstract artist incorporating text into my paintings—Quotes from beautiful rebels—& your closer in today’s column (as well as other bits I’ve saved to use) will definitely end up on someone’s wall.

    1. So you prefer a different brand of psychopath holding the gun to your head? NAZIs, aka National Socialists, fought with communists not because they opposed them, but because they were in competition with them. There’s little difference between fascism and socialism. Both require the use of violence to exist. Unless there is unanimous agreement, guns will be held to people’s heads. As is the case with all governments.

  22. Andy Greenhouse Avatar
    Andy Greenhouse

    Thank you Caitlin. I needed this today.

  23. Very well said.
    Thank You very much.

  24. Wow, I just wanted to say thank you for penning such a motivating, inspirational piece, because lately a lot of us have been feeling that the walls are closing in on us. On all points of the political spectrum. I’ve had friends of 40+ years blow up relationships over what the sociopaths are doing to us. And then I read my fellow commentators and want to put my head in a wood chipper.

  25. On 20 January 2021, the US will show its Fascist’s face to the world. Tens of thousands of police and National Guard soldiers will protect an elected President, which will seize power through fraudulent elections; why crying wolf about fraud elections in Belarus when it happens in front of your door? How dear the US establishment to teach anybody on democratic elections, not to speak of censorship. When big tech can shut down the US president, they should stop criticizing China, Russia, or any other country follow the US example. The useful idiots that acclaim them will follow suit if they don’t obey. This purge of dissenting opinions is not over. It will increase on a dramatic scale. 75 million Trump voters are put on notice. Whose bastards have not won?

  26. Hi Caitlin, just a side note.
    The assumption that the universe would be for or against a species that is more like a microbe on a cosmic scale is not only extremely ridiculous, but also describes in a special way the humanoid hubris that is so typical for this species.

    In order not to completely despair of the vast, dark emptiness of the universe, humans need more or less a superstition in order not to be completely lost in it, and this need itself opens the door for the powerful to be exploited.

    As long as people are more likely to see and look for their salvation in the vastness of the universe, and not here on earth and in themselves, as then hardly anything will really change for the better. Even those who explored their inner worlds and made experiences with psychedelics cultivate this escapism in a way that seems downright unreasonable.

    Take care!

  27. Won’t be any peace and chilling out – not by the weekend anyway !

    This is what it is all about !!

    The Syrians are confident Trump ( it won’t be Trump – he has no say in ANYTHING ) will start a WAR with Iran by this coming weekend !!

    This would likely finish the PRO Trump movement off as well – because Trump will be blamed !

    It is all happening NOW folks – you need to keep your ear to the ground and avoid MSM who will tell you NOTHING !

    https://www.syrianews.cc/israel-bombs-deir-ezzor-city-and-al-bukamal-area-in-the-east-of-syria/

    https://www.syrianews.cc/trump-forces-loot-syrias-grains-smuggle-them-to-iraq/

    Israel and the US are absolute barbarians !!

  28. The universe will kill you or me with utter indifference. “It” couldn’t “care” less. New Agers who don’t get this are infants. The Universe is a pitiful anthropomorphism and substitute for a caring Personal God.

    https://stephenhand2018.blogspot.com/2019/11/i-am-therefore-i-think.html?

    1. Are you having an argument with yourself here? Can you tell us which side is winning at the moment?

  29. Caitlin, the universe will kill you or me with utter indifference. “It” couldn’t “care” less. New Agers who don’t get this are infants. The Universe is a pitiful anthropomorphism and substitute for a caring Personal God.

    https://stephenhand2018.blogspot.com/2019/11/i-am-therefore-i-think.html?

  30. Seems to me that an outbreak of [local] Peoples’ Congresses is what we could use right now. Once we the people actually get together and agree/decide what is right for our lives is the time the light starts shining in the darkness. Gaddafi gave the diverse and frequently squabbling Libyan people this political tool and from then on there was no looking back. Here’s the background and his blueprints for a much better people-friendly world in his Green Book: http://openanthropology.org/libya/gaddafi-green-book.pdf No wonder the psychopaths of the West hated him so much. Before the NATO bullies smashed this forward looking people-friendly paradigm into open air slave markets, great steps had been made by the people themselves. They decided what they needed at street level and then handed their decisions up to the central administration whose task was to implement it. Spend 9 minutes watching this

    and you’ll perhaps see what I mean. Using this system gives us exactly what we need and removes the psychopaths from undue power permanently. No longer the deeply flawed and big money soaked ‘Representational Democracy’ but its far more benevolent and truthful stablemate, *Full Participatory Democracy*. You have nothing to lose but your chains. You need no-ones permission to begin this.

    “Rise like Lions after slumber
    In unvanquishable number,
    Shake your chains to earth like dew
    Which in sleep had fallen on you-
    Ye are many – they are few.” – Shelley

  31. Trouble is, when the current manipulative sociopaths die they have a production line of replacements waiting to assume the burden. Btw, I’ve always been a rebel though possibly not considered beautiful.

  32. Christine Smith Avatar
    Christine Smith

    Thank you Caitlin. I’ve been despairing at the world lately. Here in totalitarian Britain our freedoms and rights are being stripped away while the sheeple cheer it on! This cheered me.

  33. And this is the type of SHIT the ZIO/US is up to around the world – they are serial PESTS !!

    https://www.syrianews.cc/trump-forces-loot-syrias-grains-smuggle-them-to-iraq/

  34. We are paying the price for a social system that values inflicting trauma, derived from cultures that have been inculcated with emotional illiteracy as a tool for dominating first one’sself then everything around you…once trauma is the baseline, and people are hostile to their own emotions, that’s how sociopaths rise to the top. That’s how the 6th extinction event is a mindless byproduct of over consumption. Consumption is the by product of marketing. Creating demand, and what creates endless demand but internal lack of self worth due to unresolved trauma and the rejection of emotions as wrong, when evolution saw fit to instill these things in us to help us navigate our complex social and natural relationships. It’s a vicious cycle, like a boil coming to a head, but becoming aware of its existence is the first step towards intentionally dismantling it. If you can imagine consciousness isnt a sole propriety of humans, that possibly its a quantum force imbued in every atom around you, it changes how you think and act. We may have languages and hands to express this quality beyond other creatures but we have been blinded by it into becoming the antithesis of our gifts.

  35. What does China have to worry about – NOTHING !

    With the S400s in place and the S500s on the way (probably there already) CHINA can’t be attacked !!

    XI also has the option of waiting it out and dealing with China’s BRI allies only OR closing China’s borders completely until the whole thing goes away !!

    Yeah – China shuts everything down – says nothing is coming in OR going out – blames it on COVID !!

    Global economy would be completely paralysed within 4 weeks and would NEVER recover !!

    XI has the POWER !

  36. Klaus von Berlin Avatar
    Klaus von Berlin

    In 1955 America had 229 beds per 100.000 for the mentally ill. Today is 20 looks like they all found employment in corporate military complex.

    1. Most of the mentally ill ended up in the prison system. It is estimated fully one third of inmates are mentally ill. The rest became street people.

  37. Thank you for the perspective.

  38. To expand a bit upon the feelgoodness of this article, there are well-developed tests to spot psychopaths and authoritarians. I would like us humans to use these tests to disqualify people with these characteristics from any position of power. Maybe we will just evolve to improve ourselves politically, but in the meantime it might be useful to consider tests for public office. It may, at least, be useful to think about this.

    1. That would require someone besides a psychopathic government agent to be in charge of them. Fat chance. As long as you are willing to submit to psychopaths with guns pointed at your head, this is not a solution.

  39. The Muslims learn from their holy book that while man schemes God also schemes.

  40. It’s not too late. Nobody has to starve.

    1. It is planned for it to happen. This is a designed depopulation program by starvation.

  41. Tomo Stojanovic Avatar
    Tomo Stojanovic

    “..Liberals and progressives fear their nation is on the brink of a violent fascist uprising and civil war,”

    It seems to me that these “liberals and progressives” in fact ARE fascists and they know it.
    What we have here is deliberate gaslighting – a common tool used in our PSYCHOCRACY.

    1. @Tomo Stojanovic You’re so damn right! These phoney progressives are far worse than the good old open Reaganite types.

      1. As a socialist I have to agree. I have more respect for someone who beats me up and steals my wallet than someone who reaches into my back pocket while they’re giving me a hug. There are few things on this earth that I find more contemptible than the GOP’s disdain for the American people and the phony progressives’ disdain for the the American people happens to be one of them.

  42. A splendid reminder for all of us! Thank you, Ms. J!

  43. Thank you Caitlin for reminding me. I have recently fallen into despair with what’s happening.
    Thank you for your effort in keeping us focused on what really matters when we are all sick of everything.
    Thank you for using your word craft. I appreciate it so much.

  44. Roy Elliott Hurley Avatar
    Roy Elliott Hurley

    I recently found the Freedom Cell Network and have begun finding more compatriots than I knew existed. I recommend that your readers do themselves a favor and check it out. There may be a bunch of joyous rebels in your neighborhood.

  45. Approximately 1 percent of the humans are psychopaths’. The personality characteristic is deadly and many of the top dogs suffer from the disorder. It is amazing that the world is still a beautiful place in spite of the existence of the opposable-thumb wielding primates lead by a succession of brain damaged charlatans.

  46. This is a beautiful piece. One I will refer to often. It reminds me of what we are all capable of . Thank-you. We all need the reminder of the bigger picture perspective. Its essential.

    1. Caitlin, the universe will kill you or me with utter indifference. “It” couldn’t “care” less. New Agers who don’t get this are infants. The Universe is a pitiful anthropomorphism and substitute for a caring Personal God.

      https://stephenhand2018.blogspot.com/2019/11/i-am-therefore-i-think.html?

      1. If you knew physics and math well enough, and gave it some time to think about it, that even if there were no living things in the universe, no God or any other such thing, that the mere physical attributes of that empty universe would create its own God, and not just a God, but life as well, capable of thought, and eventually capable of knowing that not only is there a God, but a loving caring personal God as well. Not only is it in the math, but we now know experimentally that computers are capable of empathy, and someday, I’m sure, with enough processing power, love as well.

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