Listen to a reading of this article: ❖ Everyone's anti-war until the war propaganda starts. Nobody thinks of themselves as a warmonger, but then the spin machine gets going and before you know it they're spouting the slogans they've been programmed to spout and waving the flags the flags they've been programmed to wave and consenting to whatever the imperial war machine wants in that moment.
I served during Vietnam and witnessed atrocities. I met ordinary men who risked their lives for a cause they trusted was virtuous and came to understand was just propaganda. Abu Ghraib was predictable and firing the entire Bath party infrastructure was a bigger disaster than Joes escape from Afghanistan. Our governments lies are only exceeded by their incompetence and refusal to accept any responsibility for their failures. Now we have Ukraine the most blatant interference leading towards WWIII and pointing out the potential for unintended consequences is forbidden. What could go wrong and why hadn’t Ray Epps been arrested?
The first and basic propagandist lie is the idea/view instilled from childhood that your country is the good guy, the one guided by God that is always, without exception on the right side of history Now, this might be true of some countries, those with no imperialist, colonialist past, but it is not true of Western countries. Western countries have become prominent in world affairs just because of this particular orientation: they manifestly have had no moral/ethical compunction historically, and right up to the recent past, against widespread brutality, destruction, killing, theft, enslavement. It is the Western media spreading lies about the Ukraine /Russia situation that allows the West to proliferate this proxy war, pour in arms and cash and perpetuate it indefinitely, in the hope mainly of weakening and destroying Russia, and enriching and perpetuating the military industrial complex. To this end they have employed the cheapest, shabbiest tactics that include dragging in and defaming long dead great artists, writers, composers, and forcing living artists to denounce Putin at the metaphorical point of a gun. The total sanctions imposed on Russia and all supporters is an historical record.
Now, the nature of the lie may be unclear to the uninformed, but surely the shabby backstreet tactics are clearly desperate and shameful, and in themselves discredit the positions they are meant to enforce.
Hi, I enjoy your writing. I was born in East Germany (German Democratic Republic), in 1970. It was and still is wrongly called a communist country (it was state-socialism in its practice). In November 1989, the Berlin Wall came down, whilst I was serving my third month in a military training camp for NCOs (non commissioned officers)... by that time I had already become largely immune to propaganda and, watching my East German brethren behaving like crazed monkeys on a stampede, when they were - literally - given oranges and bananas, lost a huge amount of my respect for us bipeds, for human are only very few. Then, I studied Russian for ten years (BA, MA, PhD) and realised that also Western professors were as propagandized/ignorant as, let's say, a builder or hairdresser from my former East. Why am I writing this? To say that I respect and thank you for your energy and excellent work. You belong to a small group of special humans who have not given up. Solidarity!!!
Your appeal seems to be directed at supposed adults. But by the time they become such they've already been thoroughly indoctrinated by the whole education system. For many, if not most, that means they've become robots enough to respond to all the stimuli the system designed for them to act in a predictable way.
Thanks again, Caitin. When half of the people in a nation make their living manipulating people as a way of life, it needs imperialism. It needs to exploit the labor and land of foreign nations to support the non productive. And the billionaires. In America only half of the employed people make their living providing the necessities while the other half manipulate others by words and numbers. The billionaire class is part of the elite, but many see that they are not the principle aspect of the elite and therefore look to the "super hero" to save us. You are right, the billionaire will not come to the rescue as in the movies. Only those who provide the necessities, the producing class can save ourselves, but neither will the professional word people, thus it is only the producing class who has a need to end these imperialist wars for it is mostly our sons and daughters dying, getting maimed, and getting mental illness fighting the wars. Because the practice of people, the practice of our culture needs imperialism , it is not so difficult to convince the citizens to either support wars or do nothing about it .You are right it is challenging being anti war for even in these days, it many will label anti war to be anti our culture, anti-American. To end imperialist wars, we first must be for something and not only "anti" We workers first must be for our own power for it not in our interest to inflict wars. It is not first the fault of the government, but the need of the nation. Imperialist nations re more democratic that the subject nations,
This applies to every arena of U.S. government and politics. When I refused to vote for Hillary Clinton because I believe her to be a shameless hawk, my leftist liberal supposedly peace loving feminist friends literally shunned me. It was more important to them to vote for someone with a vagina than someone who would try to maintain world peace. (Or not vote at all) I felt 100% certain she would do the opposite if elected.
They also had the evidence of her voting record and her agenda, but that mattered far less than her sex. That’s when I realized the reach and pervasiveness of the MIC. They’re so powerful they’re able to make themselves invisible to otherwise well-meaning people.
Thank you as ever, Caitlyn, for your insight and for continuing to fight the good fight.
It is in fact easy to resist propaganda. You must simply realise that sociopaths (Cluster B disordered; particularly NPD) are speaking to you.
Are sociopaths lying? Easy to tell. Their lips are moving; or their hands are typing.
Sociopaths lie and manipulate constantly and pathologically. They lack the cognitive hardware to act differently.
They will use projection, word salad, false accusations, gaslighting, ridicule, intimidation, whatever they intuitively understand works in the present moment to maintain their "spell".
They do this even when telling the truth would serve their aims more effectively.
They also love bragging - about what they have done or will do - often in a disguised way.
Thus the peculiar, charged quality of what they say and how they say it.
Once you recognise these techniques in real life for what they are - maybe from a family member or colleague - you will realise they work the same all the way up to CEO.
This is because these techniques work on 80% of people. They are mind hacks, or evolutionary advantages that have been selected for. This is because human society is by essence cooperative and thus must run on trust. Questioning everything takes a lot of energy away from more important tasks. Thus a niche appears for the cognitively limited social predators among us.
People with empathy always think that these creatures must have good "reasons" for their behaviour. It is hard to understand how these... legal persons are the so-called "philosophical zombies" in the flesh.
The otherwise absurd conspiracy theory of a race of lizard people lording over us is appealing because it is a superbly effective metaphor.
Imperialism and capitalism are expressions of the mutually supportive organisation of sociopaths in the realm of political economy.
While they are the definition of egoism; they do understand that they MUST support each other; even if they have otherwise violent disagreements. They support each other intuitively and possess little self-awareness. It is an organic flocking together of like-minded mentalities; their "ideology" will change as necessary. Their horizon is international, essential characteristics possess no essential role. Their social power is based on cognitive disability, opposite to what they portray themselves to be (übermenschen) - and they must always have someone to target for domination.
They like saying that human nature is evil. That immorality, competition and corruption is in our DNA. Whether it is one person or a group in charge, that always the power of a few conquer and rule over the weak. The Melian Hypothesis. This is very true - for them.
Hopefully non-sociopathic leaders (insofar as they exist) - realise what they are dealing with.
Sociopaths would rather see the world end than lose control in the present moment. They are really frightened of losing face with other sociopaths. You cannot reason with them as you would other adults.
Ultimately they are cruel children; they respect only adults putting them in their place; in no uncertain terms. Is there an adult in our room?
"It's important to research and learn new things about the world"
I agree, which is why I started reading *National Geographic* again after about a 15 year or so absence. That past 15 years or so is what I call my awakening, or you might call "getting unplugged from the Matrix", or others may call "finding my way out of Plato's cave."
"and to this day most of the information they get about the world has some of its roots and branches in parts of the propaganda matrix."
OMG! Yes! I could not beleive how much propaganda I am now able to spot in even such an apolitical publication such as NG! Either they have changed a lot or I have or both. There is still a lot of good science and nature information in there, but I have to roll my eyes at a lot of stuff sprinkled throughout the articles. Wow.
Sounds exactly like the propaganda the left is pushing about Elon Musk now. The left are no longer true liberals but propaganda pacifist.
Austin chooses WWIII and so many are backing his insanity. Each night I wonder what morning will bring.
Your title says it all. Excellent article. We live in the most destructive times I've ever seen. The west's propaganda far out weighs Russian propaganda as you describe.
I know our political beliefs are very different but our beliefs on war and propaganda are equal. God Be With You and Us All.
It would be much cheaper to just pay tithe to those who run the military rather than go through the ridiculous charade of inventing causes to fight for, arms to sell and countries to invade.
Of course if you believe that Nam was invaded for Domino’s (pizza) theory, or Iraq for the Kurds, or Afghanistan for educating their women, then you’ll believe anything.
war of self-defense, like what the Vietnamese did against the western imperialists in vietnam, is not only justified but also absolutely essential for justice, which real peace requires.
1. You examine the idea of being *truly anti-war as opposed to *theoretically, or *half-heatedly anti-war – let's call it a *fair-weather anti-war stance. Most people, myself included, are not strictly pacifist, that is I can imagine circumstances in which coercive force up to and including violence is justified to protect one's community (for example, locking a rapist in prison could be acceptable to me). I prefer to resolve conflict without force but accept it isn't always possible. So I don't see a problem with having a *fair-weather anti-war stance. And I wonder what additional quality would make me *truly anti-war.
2. "Propaganda only works on those who don't know they're being propagandized." Nonsense. If the mayor pushes a "Keep our city beautiful! Don't be a litter lout!" campaign that's propaganda. I can know that *and it can work on me, i.e. I choose to accept it. When the currently ruling regime attempts to manipulate public opinion, that's propaganda, and from the opposition it's called dissent. People can be understand this (I believe most people do, more-or-less) and still choose to accept the arguments.
3. When a community goes to war people can be forced to choose: Are you with or against the war? The consequences of the choice can be big. I assume everyone more-or-less understand this.
4. So in the community decision about war, each side will push its arguments, e.g. pro-war propaganda and anti-war dissent, or visa versa depending on the case. I can know which is which at the same time as evaluating the augments contained therein. And I feel morally that I must.
So much for generalities, at which level I don't see the difference that makes one *truly anti-war versus the other kind.
Or are you simply *labeling people who accept the bs propaganda coming from DC and its clients in the specific case of the current conflict in Ukr as *failing to be *truly anti-war? If that's all then I agree.
I have always had a feeling that something was wrong with the money system, but I have never been able to articulate it. I just thought there was something wrong with me. Everyone else seemed okay with money. Then I got swept into the "new age" movement and was told that money is love, that money is just energy, and then I was convinced there was something wrong with me. But recently I have come to the understanding, through works of amazing people, that the money system is created and maintained by debt, that the pie it creates is not enough to feed everyone. Separation, scarcity, competition, and greed are built into its very foundation. And we are fed the lies that this is normal, human nature is selfish, greedy, and every hu(man) for themselves, other people and nature be damned. But none of this is true at all. It is a story based on the biggest lie of all time: that we are separate from others and from nature, that we are self-contained islands unto ourselves. The truth is that we are a sum of our relationships: to ourselves, to others, to nature, and to life. We are in a state of interbeingness. When you grasp that truth, you will be pro life, and you will never support another war, no matter how much propaganda is thrown at you.
I served during Vietnam and witnessed atrocities. I met ordinary men who risked their lives for a cause they trusted was virtuous and came to understand was just propaganda. Abu Ghraib was predictable and firing the entire Bath party infrastructure was a bigger disaster than Joes escape from Afghanistan. Our governments lies are only exceeded by their incompetence and refusal to accept any responsibility for their failures. Now we have Ukraine the most blatant interference leading towards WWIII and pointing out the potential for unintended consequences is forbidden. What could go wrong and why hadn’t Ray Epps been arrested?
The first and basic propagandist lie is the idea/view instilled from childhood that your country is the good guy, the one guided by God that is always, without exception on the right side of history Now, this might be true of some countries, those with no imperialist, colonialist past, but it is not true of Western countries. Western countries have become prominent in world affairs just because of this particular orientation: they manifestly have had no moral/ethical compunction historically, and right up to the recent past, against widespread brutality, destruction, killing, theft, enslavement. It is the Western media spreading lies about the Ukraine /Russia situation that allows the West to proliferate this proxy war, pour in arms and cash and perpetuate it indefinitely, in the hope mainly of weakening and destroying Russia, and enriching and perpetuating the military industrial complex. To this end they have employed the cheapest, shabbiest tactics that include dragging in and defaming long dead great artists, writers, composers, and forcing living artists to denounce Putin at the metaphorical point of a gun. The total sanctions imposed on Russia and all supporters is an historical record.
Now, the nature of the lie may be unclear to the uninformed, but surely the shabby backstreet tactics are clearly desperate and shameful, and in themselves discredit the positions they are meant to enforce.
Hi, I enjoy your writing. I was born in East Germany (German Democratic Republic), in 1970. It was and still is wrongly called a communist country (it was state-socialism in its practice). In November 1989, the Berlin Wall came down, whilst I was serving my third month in a military training camp for NCOs (non commissioned officers)... by that time I had already become largely immune to propaganda and, watching my East German brethren behaving like crazed monkeys on a stampede, when they were - literally - given oranges and bananas, lost a huge amount of my respect for us bipeds, for human are only very few. Then, I studied Russian for ten years (BA, MA, PhD) and realised that also Western professors were as propagandized/ignorant as, let's say, a builder or hairdresser from my former East. Why am I writing this? To say that I respect and thank you for your energy and excellent work. You belong to a small group of special humans who have not given up. Solidarity!!!
The Ten Commandments of War Propaganda:
1. We don’t want war, we are only defending ourselves.
2. Our adversary is solely responsible for this war.
3. Our adversary’s leader is inherently evil and resembles the devil.
4. We are defending a noble cause, not our particular interests.
5. The enemy is purposefully committing atrocities; if we are making mistakes this happens without intention.
6. The enemy makes use of illegal weapons.
7. We suffer few losses, the enemy’s losses are considerable.
8. Recognized intellectuals and artists support our cause.
9. Our cause is sacred.
10. Whoever cases doubt on our propaganda helps the enemy and is a traitor.
Your appeal seems to be directed at supposed adults. But by the time they become such they've already been thoroughly indoctrinated by the whole education system. For many, if not most, that means they've become robots enough to respond to all the stimuli the system designed for them to act in a predictable way.
Thanks again, Caitin. When half of the people in a nation make their living manipulating people as a way of life, it needs imperialism. It needs to exploit the labor and land of foreign nations to support the non productive. And the billionaires. In America only half of the employed people make their living providing the necessities while the other half manipulate others by words and numbers. The billionaire class is part of the elite, but many see that they are not the principle aspect of the elite and therefore look to the "super hero" to save us. You are right, the billionaire will not come to the rescue as in the movies. Only those who provide the necessities, the producing class can save ourselves, but neither will the professional word people, thus it is only the producing class who has a need to end these imperialist wars for it is mostly our sons and daughters dying, getting maimed, and getting mental illness fighting the wars. Because the practice of people, the practice of our culture needs imperialism , it is not so difficult to convince the citizens to either support wars or do nothing about it .You are right it is challenging being anti war for even in these days, it many will label anti war to be anti our culture, anti-American. To end imperialist wars, we first must be for something and not only "anti" We workers first must be for our own power for it not in our interest to inflict wars. It is not first the fault of the government, but the need of the nation. Imperialist nations re more democratic that the subject nations,
This applies to every arena of U.S. government and politics. When I refused to vote for Hillary Clinton because I believe her to be a shameless hawk, my leftist liberal supposedly peace loving feminist friends literally shunned me. It was more important to them to vote for someone with a vagina than someone who would try to maintain world peace. (Or not vote at all) I felt 100% certain she would do the opposite if elected.
They also had the evidence of her voting record and her agenda, but that mattered far less than her sex. That’s when I realized the reach and pervasiveness of the MIC. They’re so powerful they’re able to make themselves invisible to otherwise well-meaning people.
Thank you as ever, Caitlyn, for your insight and for continuing to fight the good fight.
It is in fact easy to resist propaganda. You must simply realise that sociopaths (Cluster B disordered; particularly NPD) are speaking to you.
Are sociopaths lying? Easy to tell. Their lips are moving; or their hands are typing.
Sociopaths lie and manipulate constantly and pathologically. They lack the cognitive hardware to act differently.
They will use projection, word salad, false accusations, gaslighting, ridicule, intimidation, whatever they intuitively understand works in the present moment to maintain their "spell".
They do this even when telling the truth would serve their aims more effectively.
They also love bragging - about what they have done or will do - often in a disguised way.
Thus the peculiar, charged quality of what they say and how they say it.
Once you recognise these techniques in real life for what they are - maybe from a family member or colleague - you will realise they work the same all the way up to CEO.
This is because these techniques work on 80% of people. They are mind hacks, or evolutionary advantages that have been selected for. This is because human society is by essence cooperative and thus must run on trust. Questioning everything takes a lot of energy away from more important tasks. Thus a niche appears for the cognitively limited social predators among us.
People with empathy always think that these creatures must have good "reasons" for their behaviour. It is hard to understand how these... legal persons are the so-called "philosophical zombies" in the flesh.
The otherwise absurd conspiracy theory of a race of lizard people lording over us is appealing because it is a superbly effective metaphor.
Imperialism and capitalism are expressions of the mutually supportive organisation of sociopaths in the realm of political economy.
While they are the definition of egoism; they do understand that they MUST support each other; even if they have otherwise violent disagreements. They support each other intuitively and possess little self-awareness. It is an organic flocking together of like-minded mentalities; their "ideology" will change as necessary. Their horizon is international, essential characteristics possess no essential role. Their social power is based on cognitive disability, opposite to what they portray themselves to be (übermenschen) - and they must always have someone to target for domination.
They like saying that human nature is evil. That immorality, competition and corruption is in our DNA. Whether it is one person or a group in charge, that always the power of a few conquer and rule over the weak. The Melian Hypothesis. This is very true - for them.
Hopefully non-sociopathic leaders (insofar as they exist) - realise what they are dealing with.
Sociopaths would rather see the world end than lose control in the present moment. They are really frightened of losing face with other sociopaths. You cannot reason with them as you would other adults.
Ultimately they are cruel children; they respect only adults putting them in their place; in no uncertain terms. Is there an adult in our room?
"It's important to research and learn new things about the world"
I agree, which is why I started reading *National Geographic* again after about a 15 year or so absence. That past 15 years or so is what I call my awakening, or you might call "getting unplugged from the Matrix", or others may call "finding my way out of Plato's cave."
"and to this day most of the information they get about the world has some of its roots and branches in parts of the propaganda matrix."
OMG! Yes! I could not beleive how much propaganda I am now able to spot in even such an apolitical publication such as NG! Either they have changed a lot or I have or both. There is still a lot of good science and nature information in there, but I have to roll my eyes at a lot of stuff sprinkled throughout the articles. Wow.
Sounds exactly like the propaganda the left is pushing about Elon Musk now. The left are no longer true liberals but propaganda pacifist.
Austin chooses WWIII and so many are backing his insanity. Each night I wonder what morning will bring.
Your title says it all. Excellent article. We live in the most destructive times I've ever seen. The west's propaganda far out weighs Russian propaganda as you describe.
I know our political beliefs are very different but our beliefs on war and propaganda are equal. God Be With You and Us All.
It would be much cheaper to just pay tithe to those who run the military rather than go through the ridiculous charade of inventing causes to fight for, arms to sell and countries to invade.
Of course if you believe that Nam was invaded for Domino’s (pizza) theory, or Iraq for the Kurds, or Afghanistan for educating their women, then you’ll believe anything.
"The US-centralized empire's ability to hide its propaganda machine is a foundational element of its brilliance." Well said.
war of self-defense, like what the Vietnamese did against the western imperialists in vietnam, is not only justified but also absolutely essential for justice, which real peace requires.
“All we are asking is give peace a chance”
If Lennon hadn’t been assassinated, the world would be very different now.
Not your most coherent, Caitlin.
1. You examine the idea of being *truly anti-war as opposed to *theoretically, or *half-heatedly anti-war – let's call it a *fair-weather anti-war stance. Most people, myself included, are not strictly pacifist, that is I can imagine circumstances in which coercive force up to and including violence is justified to protect one's community (for example, locking a rapist in prison could be acceptable to me). I prefer to resolve conflict without force but accept it isn't always possible. So I don't see a problem with having a *fair-weather anti-war stance. And I wonder what additional quality would make me *truly anti-war.
2. "Propaganda only works on those who don't know they're being propagandized." Nonsense. If the mayor pushes a "Keep our city beautiful! Don't be a litter lout!" campaign that's propaganda. I can know that *and it can work on me, i.e. I choose to accept it. When the currently ruling regime attempts to manipulate public opinion, that's propaganda, and from the opposition it's called dissent. People can be understand this (I believe most people do, more-or-less) and still choose to accept the arguments.
3. When a community goes to war people can be forced to choose: Are you with or against the war? The consequences of the choice can be big. I assume everyone more-or-less understand this.
4. So in the community decision about war, each side will push its arguments, e.g. pro-war propaganda and anti-war dissent, or visa versa depending on the case. I can know which is which at the same time as evaluating the augments contained therein. And I feel morally that I must.
So much for generalities, at which level I don't see the difference that makes one *truly anti-war versus the other kind.
Or are you simply *labeling people who accept the bs propaganda coming from DC and its clients in the specific case of the current conflict in Ukr as *failing to be *truly anti-war? If that's all then I agree.
I have always had a feeling that something was wrong with the money system, but I have never been able to articulate it. I just thought there was something wrong with me. Everyone else seemed okay with money. Then I got swept into the "new age" movement and was told that money is love, that money is just energy, and then I was convinced there was something wrong with me. But recently I have come to the understanding, through works of amazing people, that the money system is created and maintained by debt, that the pie it creates is not enough to feed everyone. Separation, scarcity, competition, and greed are built into its very foundation. And we are fed the lies that this is normal, human nature is selfish, greedy, and every hu(man) for themselves, other people and nature be damned. But none of this is true at all. It is a story based on the biggest lie of all time: that we are separate from others and from nature, that we are self-contained islands unto ourselves. The truth is that we are a sum of our relationships: to ourselves, to others, to nature, and to life. We are in a state of interbeingness. When you grasp that truth, you will be pro life, and you will never support another war, no matter how much propaganda is thrown at you.