Listen to a reading of this article:

Lately when people react with shock and indignation that I would dare to dispute a claim made by the western political/media class about an empire-targeted government, I’ve taken to simply asking them what reading they’ve done on the other side of the issue. What are some articles they’ve read arguing against the official western narrative about that government?

It’s a question that can be applied to any disputed western narrative about any government the US-centralized empire doesn’t like. Russia is engaging in aggressive provocations. Assad is using chemical weapons. There’s a genocide in Xinjiang. Iran is developing nuclear weapons. Maduro is deliberately starving his people. Whatever’s the Official Imperial Line of the Day about the Official Bad Guy of the Day.

What I’ve found interesting about this exercise is that while I would’ve correctly predicted that those questioned had done zero research into the opposing viewpoints of the issue they’re commenting on, I would probably not have predicted the brazenness with which they’ll admit it. Very often they’ll come right out and express incredulity at the very idea that any such counter-arguments could even exist, skipping right past any pretense that they may have read them or even made any effort to find them.

When they do this, even before I provide them with links to counter-arguments against whatever issue we’re discussing, they have already lost the argument. They have already admitted that they’ve done no real research into whether or not the western narrative they just swallowed is actually true; they just believed what they were told because someone told them to believe it. They swallowed an imperial narrative about an empire-targeted government with zero gag reflex, just as people did in the lead-up to the Iraq war.

At that point it’s been established that, at least as far as the subject under discussion goes, they are no better informed than any average consumer of TV news. Because they have made no effort to find and review arguments and evidence that go against the TV news narrative.

There are always counter-arguments against western criticisms of empire-targeted governments. They are not difficult to find once you’ve decided you want to find them, as long as you’re open to venturing outside your own self-reinforcing echo chamber. They’re not always great arguments. They don’t always leave the empire-targeted government in question looking perfectly innocent. And they generally won’t be found in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, or any other western outlet which consistently protects and promotes western imperialist narratives. But they are there, and unless you have reviewed their arguments and evidence and given them a good deal of consideration, you’re in no position to pretend you know anything about the subject under discussion.

This same principle applies to “conspiracy theories” as well, both for and against. If you haven’t reviewed the evidence for and against a given theory, then unless it’s something that’s self-evidently absurd at a casual glance it would be silly and asinine for you to take a confident position on it one way or the other. This also applies to arguments for and against measures that have been implemented and could potentially be implemented in response to Covid-19.

If you haven’t thoroughly researched the opposite position, you don’t understand your own. This is true whether you agree with the official narrative or disagree with it. Oftentimes people of a certain bent will be biased against the mainstream narrative and select for arguments against it which confirm that bias, even when the mainstream narrative is the better-evidenced one. It cuts both ways.

It’s very easy to select a position on an issue which conforms to your ideological preferences and your understanding of the world. It’s much harder to sincerely dedicate yourself to finding out whether or not something is true, or whether the truth of the matter is a lot less certain than the talking heads in the western news media are making it seem. But it’s the only way you can really have a legitimate position on such matters.

This should be a widespread and common sense understanding, and it is to everyone’s detriment everywhere that it isn’t.

________________________

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83 responses to “If You Haven’t Researched Arguments Disputing A Western Narrative, You Don’t Understand The Issue”

  1. sounds like trying to convince people about the facts of evolution and the myths of religion the person who is brainwashed by religion has their mind echoing cognitive dissonance implanted by propaganda created by some ruling class millennia before and continuously reinforced by our ruling class since even the word propaganda was created by the catholic church in the 16th century in rome by pope gregory who set up the propaganda vide or academy to teach the missionaries and priests the art of indoctrination and then unleash the propagators on the world of non hierarchial societies and victims scraped up for submission this is fact all religion is based on same intent total myth to subjugate the masses now how many in this feedback loop writing about people who wont listen are religious hmm the dinosaurs walked our home millions of years and the universe is over 13 billion years old we are evolution evolving our ancestors are 2.5 billion years old our home is 4 billion years old so how many of you are brainwashed religious believers now be honest or does something stop you from seeing the truth…

    1. I describe myself as a post-Christian non-theist. I’d use “atheist” if it had not been perverted into meaning “anti-theist.”
      I would like to offer a quote I once heard for your consideration. “What is written without care will be read without pleasure.” I found your comment quite interesting as far as I was able to read it, but soon gave up trying to plow through.
      It’s not just that you lose readers, either. We don’t really know how we feel or what we think about a given matter until we have spent the time it takes to articulate our feelings and thoughts.
      You are rather off topic with the anti-religion rant, but it’s a good side topic that follows well from Johnstone’s argument. Religious indoctrination is proving to be a crude and short-handled form of propaganda in a world of literate folk, but it still works very effectively if the target mind is attacked before it can learn to think. You will meet very few who were raised in secular homes and made a deeply felt religious conversion after the age of twenty-five.
      What is more sad than meeting a good mind tied in religious knots, and watching it struggle to reconcile its Escheresque internal reality with plain fact? Slowly awakening from that same nightmare in your fifties, and realizing how much religion has cost you.

      1. Again spot on Hodgicus. Years ago I dived as deep as books allowed into the history of what we know as the Christian Church and found a bowl of theological spaghetti. The first 400 years plus of the CE are essentially un-documented as far as the development of a religion called Christian is concerned – first apparent one around 120 CE +/- 50.
        All early religious dogma appears designed to help the undeveloped minds of the population make sense of life beyond the immediate physical. Its power to capture minds you describe perfectly as you also do the grip it holds anfdthe shocking mess it creates in one that develops and ‘wakes up’ to the indoctrination which has been used to manipulate.
        A man or woman filled with what others put in them has nothing of themselves. Are they an empty soul, no true self? Life is more than that.

  2. No one’s fault really, most of us are not born standing up and talking back. Critical thinking and fact checking skills are acquired after one has becomes curious enough to rely on street smarts that mostly question authority. It should be a curriculum item required for everyone but isn’t by design. The lack of curiosity being the apparent missing ingredient fomenting the gullible. Remember nothing, and I mean nothing ever gets on television that they do not want you to see. Be curious, ask questions and insight informed commentary.

  3. The CDC just admitted the covid pcr test is unreliable and has dropped authorization for its use after 31 Dec 2012.

    https://www.cdc.gov/csels/dls/locs/2021/07-21-2021-lab-alert-Changes_CDC_RT-PCR_SARS-CoV-2_Testing_1.html

      1. They’re also investigating the outbreaks on the cruise ships among people who have been fully vaccinated. Of course those breakthrough cases couldn’t be due to the vaccine! They think it’s Omicron. They’re not sure but they think it’s a safe bet. Wrong! As a trained pataphysician, I am in a position to claim, without the shadow of a doubt, that the fish is responsible. Having all this unvaccinated fish swimming around those cruise ships day and night was a recipe for disaster since it’s obviously a pandemic of the unvaccinated fish. If there’s any sanity left in this world, the CDC will demand that all the fish be vaccinated, as well as the octopuses – especially those living in a garden in the shade – and the whales too while we’re at it. Can’t be too careful!

    1. Thanks for the great link!
      I was banned from a social media account for a week after posting the CDC’s own graph of Covid infections by age group, Jan 2020 through December 2020.
      The point precisely: the first purpose of the puppet show is to keep our attention focused on the little pretend stage.

  4. We live in a post truth world as I have found out. It doesn’t matter what is true and what is false any more. Importance is now placed on what the tribe thinks. It’s about identity. You can show them facts all day from multiple credible sources and they can have no retort but it makes no difference. You are wrong because it’s not the state sanctioned message – Period. I have literally had debates with people where I have, to coin the popular YouTube phrase, destroyed their argument, only to have them turn around and call me alt right and dismiss everything I have said. Covid-19 is a perfect example of a world that has lost its collective mind. All these so-called “experts” that have no idea what they are talking about. These medical gurus getting on TV and telling us what they believe … what they guess … half of them are on the take from big pharma the other half just don’t want to lose their cushy six figure job. You know there are actual people out there doing deep dives into the data, there are highly qualified people with hundreds of academic papers under their belt speaking the truth based on evidence but you don’t here from them. They are deplatformed and censored because it’s not the official line. So yeah good luck with your alternative research. RIP truth.

  5. What are the best sources of counter arguments regarding China’s alleged concentration camps of Uiyghur Muslims? Any links gratefully received.

      1. These links prove that it is easier to lie than tell the truth. The lies are persuasive and obvious as these links show. However it is almost impossible to prove it is not happening. For example I say you beat your kids. Easy lie. Now others chime in. It becomes a truth. How do you prove me wrong except to say you lie. Then you parade your kids forward and they say, mom doesnt beat me. Then I say they were coherced. So very hard to prove a lie when it is repeated over and over.

      2. Excellent! Thank you.

    1. What are my best sources to counter claims against China regards slave labor ???
      Check it all out here, see who the MAIN beneficaries and supporters of this slave LABOR INDUSTRY in none other than the very nation that accuses others of similar things. Talk about PROJECTION.
      Check it out here :
      Understanding The Manu Forms Of Prison Slave Labor In the U.S.
      https://worthrises.org/blogpost/understanding-the-many-forms-of-prison-labor

    2. Philip Daniel Smith Avatar
      Philip Daniel Smith

      China re-education camps BS
      No, The UN Did Not Report China Has ‘Massive Internment Camps’ For Uighur Muslims
      http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/50123.htm

      %1
      Orig article –
      No, The UN Did Not Report China Has ‘Massive Internment Camps’ For Uighur Muslims
      Who funds these people ? – Follow the money – and propaganda radio stations and other outlets – inspect the entities quoted
      information about camps containing 1 million prisoners has originated almost exclusively from media outlets and organizations funded and weaponized by the US government to turn up the heat on Beijing.
      https://thegrayzone.com/2018/08/23/un-did-not-report-china-internment-camps-uighur-muslims/

      Key 2
      US accusation of “genocide” by China based on claims by far-right ideologue Feb 2021 – Facts and stats – What is really happening in that province.

      Birth control now = genocide! – Really –
      While Zenz’s employers describe him as “one of the world’s leading scholars on People’s Republic of China government policies towards the country’s western regions of Tibet and Xinjiang,” he is, in fact, a far-right Christian fundamentalist who has said he is “led by God” against China’s government, deplores homosexuality and gender equality, and has taught exclusively in evangelical theological institutions.
      http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56350.htm

  6. Dunno about the US, but here in Australia, and I suspect the UK, many older Folks swallow the line/lies from the ABC and the BBC respectively.
    They forget that these two very conservative corporations depend on handouts from the suits in government.
    Granted, there are a couple of pseudo Lefties amongst their ranks but even they love to wallow in their middle class comfort zones.
    I remember Joe Toscano, a passionate and thoughtful anarchist, giving one ABC host a hard time during an outside broadcast.
    The host’s response was condescending and imperious.
    Exactly what you’d expect.
    Mammon rules the mainstream.

  7. Klaus von Berlin Avatar
    Klaus von Berlin

    We will have to understand that you cannot function in this society or culture and not eventually become sick regardless of what beliefs or opinions you hold.Because the culture itself operates against reality and that’s what sickness is :being at odds with reality.Religious and scientific ‘knowledge’ cannot give you the answer to this We must take a leap into the unknown because everything we think we know has brought us to this precise point of crisis.Lets totally recreate our relationship with material reality and non -material reality as equal opposites that work in tandem towards the deepening and expansion of consciousness.A revolution of total reality.If we humanity do not respond to this techno-science -religious-mess appropriately then these forces will wipe out present human civilizations .

  8. It is getting harder to research the truth with the truth being suppressed at every turn. The average person will be unable to discern the truth until they question the current narrative.

  9. OK the video was great, but what do you do about a guy like Alex Jones (he is a proven liar with his sandy Hook Nonsense) ) but the mainstream media calls him a kook crank conspiracy theorist etc.

    No wonder everyone is so angry nothing can be trusted – nothing!

  10. Come on higher power! The perfect just and loving one

  11. Five time Emmy Award winner Sharyl Attkinsson has a few tips about debunking astroturfers and other propagandists. This is already six years old and it fits the present Covid gaslighting, among others, like a glove:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bYAQ-ZZtEU&t=16s
    This analysis of mass psychosis and how it’s manufactured and infects the majority is also quite interesting:

    1. Excellent video. Everyone should watch it. The parallels to the ongoing Covid panic and isolation are clearly seen.

    2. Excellent video that is narrated by Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson. It explains how our Mass Media is preparing us for Mass Psychosis, to enable further consolidation of power by the few billionaires who already own everything. So we get to experience Totalitarianism. Well, you know, at least it is not the same as Authoritarianism of Russia’s Putin. Interestingly, USA has a law on the books against the monopolies, but our government does not use it anymore to break up monopolistic corporation, because the government is controlled by these monopolies (like Amazon). LOL Jeff Bezos even owns the Washington Post newspaper for the narrative control. No wonder the billionaires in the US get idolized as very talented hard working individuals whose exceptional discipline made them exceptionally rich. I read that Jeff Bezos even sleeps 8 hours a night – to be in best shape for acquiring more riches.

  12. I enjoy reading your commentary and generally appreciate reviewing the comments that are tendered. Unfortunately, it is quite unlikely that any of that would matter.

    If the United States becomes engaged in a Nuclear War, the first thing that might happen is that Washington, D.C. (and perhaps many other major cities in the US) would be destroyed within 15 minutes. After this happens, the command of the the United States would be passed down to a member of the Presidential Cabinet (e.g., perhaps the Secretary of Transportation). This new Commander in Chief of the United States would have one, and perhaps only one, thought. “Those bastards killed my friends!” He would then order a counter-strike which would include a significant portion of the US Nuclear Arsenal.

    Our successor President would be well hidden from hostile forces, but this means that it would be nearly impossible to communicate with the new President except through highly classified government communications systems. In essence, POTUS would be in his own foxhole and extremely well guarded (but also extremely well isolated). Meanwhile, US Military Forces would proceed with well established plans to annihilate the enemy.

    In essence, Nuclear War consists of a member of the US Cabinet making a decision to counter-attack which will launch Nuclear Weapons upon strategic locations of the aggressor. Of course, this just leads the aggressor launching a second strike and the US returning a second strike.

    The US has the capability to launch a first strike, but unless things change radically, there would be no reason for the US to do so. If the US becomes engaged in a conventional war (i.e., no nukes), US Nuclear Forces would not initiate a Nuclear War except if the US is losing badly. I have every reason to believe that no other nuclear power would see any benefit in engaging in a nuclear attack and even if the US was losing badly, a nuclear strike would not be ordered. This is not to say that some other nation will not launch a nuclear attack, but even China would have nothing to gain from a mutually assured destruction of both nations.

    Other nations may hope to use nuclear weapons in a fashion that suggests that Russia or China had launched the first strike, but the odds of being successful in doing so would be minuscule. If an intercontinental weapon is launched, US Satellites would detect it at time of launch and respond quickly.

    Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) is an insane philosophy and takes us to the fringe of unlikely Nuclear War scenarios. Nobody has anything to gain in a MAD scenario.

    1. USA is in the process of “modernizing” its nuclear arsenal, and they are developing a new nuclear doctrine for “low yield” nukes such as B61 Mod 12. Each of this is 3 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb. So it is designed to wipe out a population of a large city. These bombs are given a description of “more usable”, i.e. more likely to be used. But how?
      The possible scenario for using B61 Mod 12 ( without provoking MAD response), is either attacking a country that does not have nuclear weapons, or coordinated attacks on multiple cities and military installations of a large nuclear country to completely prevent that country’s response from taking place. For the coordinated attack to succeed, they will have to be done by AI and not involve humans.
      This is why Sen. Wicker with help of corporate mass media started to build public consent to the “first-use nuclear strike” on Russia (or Iran). They literally need
      “nuclear Wolfowitz” doctrine to compliment American nuclear modernization program that is underway.

    2. You seem to ignore the possibilities of India, Pakistan or Israel using nuclear weapons. And “US Nuclear Forces would not initiate a Nuclear War except if the US is losing badly” is another way of saying the US might use them. It’s conducted several ‘war games’ involving conflict with China in which it ended up losing badly.

  13. Regarding COVID-19 origins, I assume everybody read this Gain-of-Function reporting.
    https://www.organicconsumers.org/campaigns/covid-19/gain-of-function-hall-of-shame

    1. You can’t repeat a lie often enough to make it true. Don’t any of you conspiracy nuts remember Russiagate? You’re doing the same thing they did!

    2. I believe every word of it. After all, the US government was among the first to say it was engineered at the WIV, and the US government surely wouldn’t mislead anyone, would it?
      .
      “On January 5, 2020, the World Health Organization reported that, on the last day of 2019, it had been informed of “cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology” in the city of Wuhan in central China.

      Almost immediately, a rumor began to circulate that they were caused by a genetically engineered virus that came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, China’s only biosafety level 4 laboratory.

      The source of this rumor was the U.S. government.”

  14. Those who mandate masking children know exactly what they’re doing; and it has nothing to do with safety.

  15. Proving, of course, that the vast majority of people are stupid, careless, ego-invested in their own opinions, stubborn, ill-informed – or all of the foregoing. Whether you call it selective exposure or confirmation bias, humanity has always resisted even common sense ideas and information, until it’s value has been proved over and over again, without possibility of continued refutation.
    Then, of course, their are those guilty of gross ignorance as a survival technique, becasue anything new and/or different is viewed as a threat. I would posit that this is especially true of the majority of devout religious individuals.

  16. https://open.spotify.com/episode/0aZte37vtFTkYT7b0b04Qz?si=G-d4oAX6SZW5fwooj2LUCA&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A4rOoJ6Egrf8K2IrywzwOMk

    In the midst of this historically unprecedented mass psychosis, please hear some knowledge on what’s real…

    Fauci
    Gates
    CNN
    Big Pharma…

    Why do all roads lead to the injection??

    1. Carolyn L Zaremba Avatar
      Carolyn L Zaremba

      Because we have studied the scientific information and read articles by immunologists, virologists, specialists on aerosols and how they work. As a Marxist, I am opposed to corporate “health care” and believe that there should be no such thing as “intellectual property” when it comes to vaccines and other developments of medicine. That said, I also study the reports from scientists who are not in the pay of the government. I do my very best to spread what I’ve learned around. If you are an anti-vaxxer, there is no rational discussion possible with you.

      1. Carolyn, the term Antivaxxer like others is a derogatory term used to deride, ridicule and disable anything the accused has to say, what they say and the individual as well. It is a verbal attack weapon just as being accused of being a Socialist is in an American context.
        I suggest that attack words have no true meaning as that is not the purpose for their use. Like the word Democracy which now has no specific meaning because it has far too many meanings for far too many people, attack words have only a destructive purpose.
        People who have only received knowledge, implanted by a prominent narrative intended to indoctrinate have no intrinsic value system, no ethical basis that is true to them with which to filter what is fed to them. With nothing to attach the new to they will defend it fiercely as they have nothing if it is swept aside. This is the foundation of fundamentalist knowledge – no evidence, no argument, no reasoning will ever remove it.

        1. Peter, excellent rational post, well done.

    2. I haven’t watched the video you recommend – it appears to be nearly three hours long! But could you summarise how Fauci, Gates, and CNN managed to persuade the likes of Cuba and China to develop their own COVID vaccines?

  17. Bukowski's Fudge Roll Avatar
    Bukowski’s Fudge Roll

    After almost five minutes of digital diarrhea, my 2cents is best stated with a line that probably belongs to someone else: inquiry is scary, honesty is brave, truth is lonely and the WesternTradition is now closer to institutionalization than independence.

    1. spot on. Thankyou for saying so well.

  18. Caitlin notes that many people are prone to swallow “an imperial narrative about an empire-targeted government with zero gag reflex, just as people did in the lead-up to the Iraq war.” Yet there are also a lot people who do gag on propaganda. To quote Wikipedia (usually OK for basic facts as opposed to interpretation): “According to the French academic Dominique Reynié, between January 3 and April 12, 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against the Iraq war. In the United States, even though pro-war demonstrators have been quoted as referring to anti-war protests as a ‘vocal minority’, Gallup Polls updated September 14, 2007 state, ‘Since the summer of 2005, opponents of the war have tended to outnumber supporters. A majority of Americans believe the war was a mistake.’ From the protests before and during the Iraq War, this was one of the biggest global peace protests to occur in the early 21st century, since the 20th century protest of the Vietnam War.” So let us not forget that many, many people in the U.S. and across the world saw the invasion and destruction of Iraq and swallowed nothing. The bastards in charge would have us forget this massive, worldwide regurgitation of propaganda.

    1. It is true. Most Americans oppose the 20 years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, the US Government is governed by multi national corporations, and is not swayed by American public opinion.
      Also, the government of Iraq asked American troops to leave already, but that did not matter either.
      We should be asking whose interests American government represents.

      1. Yup. The upshot of these massive protests was just as you say–the war went forward as if they hadn’t happened. “The People” haven’t had a say in American federal government since the deep state murdered JFK. But then again, I’ve lost my faith in “The People” (eagerly at each other’s throats, whether so manipulated or not) as well as their overlords. What’s left? Faith in a higher power, I suppose, however you prefer to think of that.

        1. I am with you regarding faith in a higher power. However, we should also speak our (well researched) truth to power. Because one of the purposes of mind- numbing propaganda is to make us not pay attention to what is being done by our own government in our name.

          1. I agree, Inna, but blogging and tweeting and videoing to the choir, which is the great pastime of today’s left, speak to neither “power” nor the vast majority of “The People.” It all seems like spitting into the wind.

        2. It is imperative that rational minds envision and pursue rational alternatives to the psychotic mob state of the indoctrinated majority.
          Do not tell me there is no hope; you Are my hope for a brighter, cleaner world that feeds and clothes its children as a matter of course.
          Disengage from the consumerist nightmare, one small step at a time. Begin with what you can best afford: spend less time online, especially on social media and corporate news. You and I are not Caitlyn Johnstone, and our capacities for fighting off the mind rapists are not equal to hers. Let your life be lived offline, and just come check on your heroes from time to time.
          The chief tool of tyrants is fear, and the chief requirement of fear is isolation. Check with your elderly neighbor before you go to the store; fetch home the few things he needs. It’s not about the things, it’s about the connection. Never, never, never do anything kind, generous, or friendly with the expectation of return in kind. That’s a transaction, not a social connection. Kindness, generosity, and friendliness do what they do because they are what they are. Connect.
          Buy less and less new stuff as time goes by. Have the same attitude toward debt as you would have toward a vampire bat living in your home. One person doing this doesn’t mean much, but it creates a trail for the like-minded to follow. I venture there are millions of us sewing up our socks and small clothes, and buying the rest second hand. But do not stress over your position in life. It is much more important to be headed in the right direction than it is to “accomplish” some well-meant goal we set for ourselves. Think of yourself as a sailboat. Put away the oars, and let the magic begin.
          We live in a tiny house we found on the foreclosure market, surrounded quite literally by subdivisions full of homes selling for $600,000 and up, but the Central American immigrants in the trailer park across the street are the only neighbors that wave back. I am learning their language (slowly indeed at my age) much to their affectionate amusement. We trade chores and share lawnmowers and sit out on fine evenings watching their dozens of children run and play. Next year all the women are going to garden together (their culture prevents much crossover tasking), once the men get the garden dug and fenced. Since they are renting, this must necessarily happen on my grass, and it looks like we’ll have room for a little playground, too.
          We are not changing the world. We are making room for being human in this one. Someday King Dragon The Redeemer may split the sky and visit sweet justice on the Oppressor. Perhaps. But while we wait, let’s build gardens and raise kids, what do you say?

          1. Wonderfully said Hodgicus. very well put. Live local and disengage from a life race we are never allowed to win. Like casino slot machines teasing us with a dribble of coins while fleecing our pockets.
            An indigenous Australia park ranger put his life philosophy this way.
            Country always comes first.
            Take only what is yours
            When in surplus, share.

      2. Carolyn L Zaremba Avatar
        Carolyn L Zaremba

        We know whose interests American government represents. They represent the millionaires and billionaires, the corporate profiteers and the weapons industry. I personally have known this since the 1960s.

        1. Not just the US or American or whatever you choose. The Cabal running the show is controlled by a multinational ‘who gives a shit about borders’ gang of manipulators using a tribe of willing helpers, just as any tyrannical controlling gang does.
          Magicians distract with one hand while pulling their trick with the other. Always look behind the curtain.

    2. Carolyn L Zaremba Avatar
      Carolyn L Zaremba

      Thank you. I was one of the people in the streets protesting against the Iraq war. There were millions of us and the corporate media ignored us.

    3. Spot on. Seems the World collectively has amnesia on certain issues and is unable to recollect events that happened such a short time ago. Maybe human brain power is fast deteriating ?

  19. People I know quote those narratives from “CNN”. They believe that’s an unquestionable authority. They look at me incredulously when I tell them CNN is the OTHER Fox News.

    1. Carolyn L Zaremba Avatar
      Carolyn L Zaremba

      Yes, I’ve had that response as well. I got rid of my television 10 years ago because it was an endless torrent of government and corporate propaganda and I didn’t want it in my house. As a friend of mine said, checking out the NYT and others is good as long as you do so to learn what the enemy is saying. Otherwise, it is worthless hooey. Capitalist News Network.

  20. It takes some time to arrive at the truth, and as Werner Herzog says “The world reveals itself to those who travel on foot.” Which means not only researching the counter-arguments, but you should actually personally visit the places you are talking about, if you want to know even a little bit more than US media coverage. It is easy to imagine foreign countries full of enemies, but it is harder to think of friendly people you met and lived among as enemies. It is not that hard to figure out that Western media (US -financed) narrative is false by simply comparing the terrible things we hear about Iran, Russia, China etc. to people from these countries that immigrated to the U.S.
    The US narrative about the government of all these enemy-states being authoritarian is actually very concerning in the context of the Bush/Wolfowitz doctrine, that the USA will do anything needed to keep another dictatorship from rising to the superpower status. They used this narrative to get public consent for invading Iraq. Typically there is no mention about good people living in the enemy-states, the news are flooded with the reports about one single evil dictator, and how American invasion will free the people and bring a peaceful democracy to exotic lands.
    The actual motivation is not that different from the Crusades, where the plunder justified the mass murder.
    But to a couple of generations of Americans, who grew up watching homicidal cartoons and comics of the Marvel “superheros”, it is to easy make a connection to their childhood dreams of saving the world from the bad guy. American children watch scenes of mass murder starting very early in video games, cartoons and movies. American public does not even know that a real war was started overseas because the US Congress does not declare wars. And in public schools, they do not teach about any ongoing or recent wars, in any truthful detail. So what do you expect to happen?

    1. Carolyn L Zaremba Avatar
      Carolyn L Zaremba

      I was once dismayed to learn how few Americans actually had passports or had traveled to even one other country, even close ones like Canada and Mexico. It is also important to remember, though, that most working class people cannot afford to travel. They’re struggling to put food on the table and pay the bills. That said, even relatively impecunious people, if they are curious, have managed to travel outside of the U.S.

  21. Sanity Clause? Insanity Clause? Satan’s Claws? To which are you referring.

  22. https://www.johndayblog.com/2021/12/living-economy.html
    War is always the back-up plan for a failing power elite in a collapsing economic system…
    The Russians really do not want war with the west, but the west keeps pushing. Russia’s wars always seem to get fought on Russian soil. Russians know that.​
    Putin sincerely desires a sustained and assured peace, because the weapons of war are so devastating, and are set to escalate to total nuclear war in a heartbeat, once triggered.”Armed conflicts and bloodshed are absolutely not our choice. We do not want to see events go that way. We want to use political and diplomatic means to resolve problems but we want to at least have clearly formulated legal guarantees. This is what our proposals are all about. We set them down on paper and sent them to Brussels and Washington, and we hope to receive a clear and comprehensive response to these proposals.”
    https://www.moonofalabama.org/2021/12/what-russia-says-about-its-not-an-ultimatum-to-the-us-and-nato-.html#more

    My impression is that Omicron is also a lab created strain, with the same “fingerprints” of all functional-mutations and very few random-mutations compared to a nearest ancestor which would have to have diverged over years ago. I already think Omicron is the military-vaccine. Protects from “future strains”…
    US Army Creates Single Vaccine Against All COVID & SARS Variants, Researchers Say
    Within weeks, Walter Reed researchers expect to announce that human trials show success against Omicron—and even future strains.
    https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2021/12/us-army-creates-single-vaccine-effective-against-all-covid-sars-variants/360089/

    1. Unlike Omicron, Walter Reed’s vaccine doesn’t replicate and contains no RNA. So Omicron isn’t the ‘military-vaccine’.
      “The SpFN vaccine is a protein subunit nanoparticle vaccine platform, meaning it presents a fragment of a virus to the immune system to elicit a protective response. SpFN comprises multiple coronavirus Spike proteins linked to the surface of a multifaceted ferritin nanoparticle.”
      https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/938356

      1. First actually find in a Covid-19 sufferer for a sample, isolate the virus, purify (not contaminate it to insanity) identify then expose this virus to a non-Cov-19 individual to produce the same symptoms as the original source. THEN and only then can ANYONE say that THAT virus is probably the causal pathogenic agent called SARS-Cov-2. NOT done people, this has NOT been done, so NO medical intervention targeting ‘something’ called SARS-Cov-2 is assured of doing ANYTHING to deal with Cov-19 illness whatever THAT is. Maybe it is just seasonal Flu made worse by masks, isolation and masses of fear and anxiety and mob hysteria. Lets do the homework first – and properly and NOT profitably.

        1. Oh. Health workers in Wuhan were dropping like flies back in January 2020 because of “seasonal Flu made worse by masks, isolation and masses of fear and anxiety and mob hysteria”?

          1. And if ‘flu is the true cause of COVID, why would tests show negative for influenza virus – which has been the subject of many human challenge studies?
            ‘The Future of Flu: A Review of the Human Challenge Model and Systems Biology for Advancement of Influenza Vaccinology’
            https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6489464/

            1. The PCR so called tests, the gold standard and almost universal method of determining cases and counting deaths (though read the WHO guidleiines for identifying Covid-19) CANNOT IDENTIFY A SPECIFiC VIRUS. So ALL the numbers are suspect and inaccurate – unusable data.

              1. Even if true, that doesn’t explain why they didn’t find ‘flu.

          2. What evidence guarantees it was a viral infection? Do viruses cause such sudden collapse and death?
            A huge number of 5G transmitters were turned on in Wuhan about this time and despite the claims of industry 5G radiated energy can harm.
            Quick to blame THE obvious culprit has proven a huge mistake especially in Epidemics.
            Could we be seeing a magicians distraction being told what to see?

            1. Some viruses are harmless. Some take years to kill. Others kill rapidly. And if 5G causes COVID, how does it spread to places without?

              1. I did NOT suggest 5G causes anything including sudden deaths on the streets of Wuhan. If that is what you think I said please read and rethink as you have missed the point – or is that your intent? .
                You have made a lot of detailed Claims about viruses above. What is your evidence for such Claims? Do you actually have any?

                1. If you weren’t suggesting 5G causes anything, why on earth did you mention it? And whatever does “despite the claims of industry 5G radiated energy can harm” mean if not that 5G may cause harm?

                  1. And why do you ask if “viruses cause such sudden collapse and death”? Who says they do? Some video from Wuhan two years ago showed someone (more than one?) collapsing in the street, but with no evidence they had covid, let alone that they’d only just caught it. People can suddenly collapse for all sorts of reasons, and there was no follow-up on that case (those cases?) to find out why they collapsed or if they died.

                    1. Pick pick pick. That all you have to offer? Flip flop as well it seems which is just another way to annoy so maybe that is all you can do.

    2. John Day. Cannot find how to contact you ( I know why as accept the defensive aspect ). There is a whole re-think on human biology which is part way why the rush is on to use Pharmacology and Germ Theory / Medical Model concepts that have been welded into a huge portion of the world population who accept this thinking as foundational.
      Viruses just may be NOT always pathenogenic something well accepted in the late 1800’s when no one could even see a virus or isolate one. Viruses were known to both weaken in effect most often though rarely on occasion seem to strengthen – Gain of Function anyone?
      One semi-retired thinking GP near you in Texas reached out to South Africa about Omicron and found it was a non-event and at that timne NO ONE had died of it, hospital stays were few and short. It is likely Omicron is a figment of a marketing campaign to ‘sell’ the Cov jabs to the hold outs and justify boosters which are just more of the same that failed..
      Caitlin, you have my permission to give John Day my email address.

  23. Once again, Caitlin nails it. The point here should be obvious common sense to all, but since it is not, this little blog post is a most helpful reminder that no, we are not the crazy ones…

  24. Anarchy perhaps! but they’ll shut you down anyway what ever ideas you share, be prepared to be murdered and made to look like you are a perpetrator of some evil

  25. “This also applies to arguments for and against measures that have been implemented and could potentially be implemented in response to Covid-19.” Research: https://thegrayzone.com/2021/10/19/health-wealth-digital-passports-surveillance-capitalism/ “ImmunaBand, a wearable wristband, … ‘to bring the world a little closer.’” “Khushi Baby makes microchip-equipped necklaces for a child to wear at all times to track their vaccination status.” “Good ID” initiatives: “The Aadhaar system is named for a 12 digit number” which controls whether one is able to obtain services, and buy or sell.” “Gargantuan surveillance tools that establish the basis for a social credit system.” “The ‘end goal’ of its agenda is expanding the model … until every person in the world holds a unique digital ID.” “Gates’ ID2020 campaign has collaborated with the forces advancing a system that registers Americans’ vaccination status with the same corporation that calculates their financial credit score.”
    Will You Accept a Microchip? Will You Have a Choice?
    https://seaclearly.com/2021/12/21/will-you-accept-a-microchip-will-you-have-a-choice

    1. The brief shopping list should include: Vitamin-D 5000 unit pills , baby aspirin 81 mg, or regular 325 mg aspirin, if you only plan to treat yourself when ill, zinc 50 mg pills, quercetin (any form, with or without bromelain) to help the zinc get into the infected cells, and lecithin (granules or capsules) to help the quercetin be absorbed in the stomach. The lecithin is likely to help absorption of vitamin-D, also, but I don’t know that for certain.
      You might also want to get an antihistamine, like cetirizine. You might want to get some Pepcid (famotidine). You might want to get some vitamin-C.
      You might also want to get some ivermectin at your local feed store, if you don’t keep it around for man and beast, already.
      Here we go with the revised Omicron Christmas last minute rush update:
      https://www.johndayblog.com/2021/12/otc-covid-rxs-for-omicron.html

  26. This is perfect! I’ve been try to think of what I’m going to say to my doctor if he confronts me about my position on COVID. I’ll ask him if he has done some research, or if he just believes whatever Fauci is saying on that particular day.

    1. https://www.johndayblog.com/2021/12/living-economy.html
      Yet another independent study confirms over 150K Americans killed by the COVID vaccines
      …Results from fitted regression slopes (p75 years), and 146K to 187K vaccine-associated US deaths between February and August, 2021.​ [VFR: vaccine fatality rate]​
      https://stevekirsch.substack.com/p/yet-another-independent-study-confirms

      ​Carlos Tejada, a New York Times Deputy Asia Editor, has died at the age of 49. He suffered a heart attack less than a day after posting to social media that he had received a Moderna booster vaccination.
      https://thenationalpulse.com/2021/12/26/ny-times-editor-49-dies-one-day-after-moderna-booster-shot/

      ​Four professional soccer players collapse and die of heart attacks during games in one week.​ Young guys.
      https://www.rt.com/sport/544437-algerian-footballer-heart-attack/

      ​ ​Florida’s new surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, has issued a statewide public service announcement in support of commonsense COVID prevention strategies such as optimizing your vitamin D, staying active, eating nutrient-dense foods, and boosting your immune system with supplements.
      ​ ​ Florida Health’s HealthierYouFL.org website now urges Floridians to “Talk to your health care provider about how certain supplements or foods containing vitamins and minerals might help boost your immune system, such as zinc, vitamin D, vitamin C and quercetin.”
      https://www.theepochtimes.com/florida-surgeon-general-promotes-nutraceuticals-for-covid_4166126.html

      Patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 can die by euthanasia if doctors decide they might not survive, the New Zealand government has declared.
      https://catholicherald.co.uk/new-zealand-okays-euthanasia-for-covid-patients/

  27. “When they do this, even before I provide them with links to counter-arguments against whatever issue we’re discussing, they have already lost the argument.”
    All well and good if you want to ‘win arguments’, but in the meantime, they continue believing the dominant Western narratives. How do we get them to look at alternatives when they refuse?

    1. Pray? Wish for a miracle? I’m not being facetious, just frustrated like you. Recently I had an argument with someone in which I took the non-mainstream view. They demanded I provide evidence to back my views so I did, they “fact checked” each author and source I gave them, then discounted each without even reading, bc their establishment “fact-checkers” told them not to trust those sources. And my whole argument was that the establishment is lying to them. Couldn’t see the irony!!

      1. Sorry Sue. Good work, though.
        They just wanted to make you perform, not watch your performance…
        🙁

        1. Ask those demanding evidence from you to supply their own to support their claims. They dont have any usually and just make more claims they will not question.
          Foundational principal in science is to Question, always question. Not allowed to question science today? Whyeee? .

      2. Very similar to my own experiences. And in their minds, they haven’t ‘lost the argument’ at all. On the contrary, I’ve proved myself a loony extremist peddler of crackpot conspiracy theories by quoting Wikileaks or something.

      3. Sue: psychosis is psychosis and mass psychosis is mass psychosis. Ain’t nuffin’ we can do about it. The difference between a neurotic and a psychotic is that the psychotic thinks two and two are five and he’s perfectly happy with it whereas the neurotic knows that two and two are four and it drives him mad. I’m afraid, as each of us who’s tried it has to admit, there’s not much we can do about people who think that two and two are five and are perfectly happy with it. We’re in survival zone here. It’s the strength of propaganda and propagandists! These guys aren’t wankers just trying to fool people for fun. They’ve been improving on Bernays and Lippman for a whole century and they’re not the dumbest in the classroom either. Fortunately, sooner or later the truth pierces through in the most unexpected way. Unfortunately, they then quickly move on to something else to avoid engaging and a war – or at least borderline saber-rattling – is always tempting stuff to do the job. And they’ll get the same adhesion from the mass psychotics looking for the comfort of their mothers’ wombs. What can we do about it but laugh? :o)

        1. Pascal, follow me. I will save you.

      4. Those who ‘Claim’ that you must provide evidence are the ones YOU must insist provide THEIR evidence.
        Arguing against unfounded Claims is a wasted exercise – its the wrong way around and we all fall for it when we believe we have the evidence to support our own views. DO NOT DO IT hard as this may be.
        Force those who make Claims to back the Claim as failure to do so invalidates their Claim. Unsupported Claims are nothing more than opinion and sadly surveys show that fewer people than ever can decide what is fact and what is opinion – social media dependent ones are the worst as recognizing opinion is NOT fact..

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