Listen to a reading of this article: Avoiding nuclear war is the single most important agenda in the world. The single most important agenda in history. It is more important than your political faction. It is more important than how Vladimir Putin makes your feelings feel. It is more important than anything else.
To understand just how crazy this has gotten, look at the presumptions that underlie these attitudes, and I'm speaking as a US citizen. When Americans rabidly attack Russia for invading Ukraine, and are told that the US has invaded a number of countries just in the last few decades, they respond with the typical 'whataboutism' accusation. The fact that the US has zero moral credibility to even criticize Russia is something which must be gagged and beaten to silence. But claiming that risking a nuclear war is worth it because Russia is so criminal takes the fantasy to a whole new level. They presume that not only is Russia pure evil, but that the US is some sort of benevolent power, intent on righting the wrongs of the world, always concerned about the welfare and sovereignty of other countries and the rights of the world's people, blah, blah, blah. As champion of the world's underdogs, it simply must do something, even if it risks WW3. Anyone with a few functioning brain cells and an ability to process information knows that this is pure insanity, that US behavior in the world is basically criminal, yet a good many people in my country engage in this delusional thinking, and apparently in much of the West. That hardly anyone in a position of power in the US is calling out this insanity has me worried. I realize that US is going off the cliff, but does it have to take the rest of the world down with it?
I agree with everything you say, which resonates with my life work. We used to talk about 'raising consciousness' and in my Jungian training, "making the unconscious conscious." I have spent much of my adult life on psychology and nukes. There is also a gender dimension of bravado and denial of vulnerability to threatening the use of nukes. A few hours ago I published this on the NPT conference - https://coronawise.substack.com/p/a-guided-tour-of-the-nuclear-nonproliferation
Much of my work has been on image of the enemy, manipulation of fear, etc - not addressed in this piece. I am grateful for your work.
How do you bring clear vision to those who profit by not having it? They have what they consider clear vision, and it's no use telling them it's an ugly distortion: they cannot and will not believe it. They are trying right now to put a good slant on austerity for ordinary people, with more wealth and lavish living for elites: they call it Degrowth -as in an environmental plus, and they will get away with it if we are dumb enough to permit it. We, the majority, have to keep working on the majority who do not profit from evil, but rather suffer from it, sometimes terribly. We have a mission, a definite purpose right now: we are being robbed of our birthright, the right to fully enjoy life in reasonable and non-destructive ways. Complaining is our only strategy. Constant and unrelenting opposition to the greedy and brutal, and the structures in society - laws, organizations, institutions, that cater to them with false accusations and phoney wars - as in the West's proxy war in Ukraine and many before that bring us ever closer to annihilation: a big NO to them, and YES to life.
When I was a kid in the shadow of WWII, we had "duck and cover" drills in school, as if that would save us when The Bomb hit. There were also great movies depicting the results of nuclear war. "On the Beach" and Fail Safe" come to mind. Then, for comic relief, there was "Dr. Strangelove." We knew about the possibility of nuclear war when JFK and Khrushchev worked together to prevent it. Now, Biden won't even talk to Putin.
I'm not sure if younger people today have any understanding of what's really goin' down. Do they think it's just a video game? A game of Risk? All that they think they know of WWII is that "we" nuked two Japanese cities in order to save American lives.
So, nuclear war is no big deal as long as OUR side kills more people and wipes our more cities than the OTHER side. Look how far down the rabbit hole this godforsaken country has gone since JFK. Now we have an obviously senile, degenerate octogenarian attempting to give orders, while he yells that White Supremacists are the biggest threat to our survival.
And, unlike in Britain where it is rumored that new PM Liz Truss is already on her way out, this country can't get rid of Biden until the next election. It's in the Constitution, after all. It seems that sticking to the 4-year presidential election cycle is more important that preventing WWIII.
I love you Caitlin. Your first piece I read was about the NYT article on Ukrainian "draft dodgers". Could you consider writing and tweeting about the Defuse Nuclear War campaign? We need your readers to know about the chances to take strong action Oct 14 - 16. Thank you. https://defusenuclearwar.org/
If I weren't on an indefinite Twitter hiatus and some shitlib responded to a tweet of mine about nuclear war with "Some things are worth dying for", I'd probably say "You have the right to make that decision for yourself, but you don't have the right to sacrifice anyone else. The Biden administration is willing to risk sacrificing everyone, in addition to sacrificing Ukrainians, and they have no more right to do so than you do."
If nuclear war were the sort of thing that would kill, say, 20% of the world's population but save the remaining 80% somehow then *maybe* these people could try to make a "needs of the few are outweighed by the needs of the many" argument. But it won't be 20%, or 50%....it'll be EVERYONE, or damn close to everyone. So I'd love to know how they respond to the question "What, precisely, does the death of the entire population of the world accomplish that makes it 'worth it'?"
My Bad Hobbit of Repetition-Notes from the Shire(r)
Otra vez: from the introduction of Bill(bo) Shirer’s “Rise and Fall of the Third Reich”
“I have often felt a bitter sorrow at the thought of the German people, which is so estimable in the individual, and so wretched in the generality.” Goethe
“In our new age of terrifying, lethal gadgets, which supplanted so swiftly the old one; the first great aggressive war, if it should come, will be launched by suicidal little men and pressing an electronic button. Such a war will not last long, and none will ever follow. There will be no conquerors and no conquests, but only the charred bones of the dead on an uninhabited planet.”
“Those who don’t remember the past, are condemned to relive it.” Santayana
i’m very fearful that the collective memory loss evinced by our leaders over the last quarter century, and on display most prominently now-will lead simply to the condemnation to death of all us, without any “reliving.”
There’s no hobbit hole that will protect against nuclear holocaust, and space ISS no protection.
There isn’t a single journo who writes like you do. Most report on current events yet fail to contextualize the human experience. I share your posts to my lib friends because they say they are into expanding consciousness and I hope any of this resonates with them.
That is what the massive the ramifications are; a singular culling that happens once, over a short period time, detonating across the planet—all people vaporised everywhere in the event an all-out mutual raid. The intellectuals hold sway over events; let’s not pretend. Be kind to yourselves; “it’s my feeling / we’ll win in the end.” But I am scared. So I am scared, for humankind. First time. I’m cross-posting the only reportive piece that I’ve ever cross-posted on Substack. I started out with Listserv so it’s allowed in my case. Listservs were so functional in every way. Im cross-posting as well Peter Hitchens, who pissed a lot of people off by winning the ultimate prestige of the Orwell Award, the award that matters because it comes from the non-aligned Orwell Foundation. He is a socially conservative social democrat and the brother of the late Christopher Hitchens. His courage and wealth of knowledge and hand of rationality in this hot situ is unparalleled due to his long years on the planet and his refusal to give in or back down. No this is not a plug for him don’t be silly, or it is a plug I am recommending that you read him. I’m not or I am plugging for me as well, because I don’t care.
Surely you’re right...but I have to pause, because the current bio weapon deployment against civilians en masse continues unabated; and increased funding for more bio weapon development bodes uber darkly. What will it mean when the colossal wave of immune system suppression/reprogramming, crippling of DNA repair mechanisms, and gradual micro vascular damage breaks and comes crashing down? It might be on par with the toll of a nuclear exchange...
Asking to imagine the destruction of everything on earth is pointless. Its like asking to imagine eternity - the 3D mind cant do it. Imagine the destruction of New York City - remember 9/11, that was one major block with x000 deaths. That ‘disaster’ would pale in comparison. Imagine that!
To understand just how crazy this has gotten, look at the presumptions that underlie these attitudes, and I'm speaking as a US citizen. When Americans rabidly attack Russia for invading Ukraine, and are told that the US has invaded a number of countries just in the last few decades, they respond with the typical 'whataboutism' accusation. The fact that the US has zero moral credibility to even criticize Russia is something which must be gagged and beaten to silence. But claiming that risking a nuclear war is worth it because Russia is so criminal takes the fantasy to a whole new level. They presume that not only is Russia pure evil, but that the US is some sort of benevolent power, intent on righting the wrongs of the world, always concerned about the welfare and sovereignty of other countries and the rights of the world's people, blah, blah, blah. As champion of the world's underdogs, it simply must do something, even if it risks WW3. Anyone with a few functioning brain cells and an ability to process information knows that this is pure insanity, that US behavior in the world is basically criminal, yet a good many people in my country engage in this delusional thinking, and apparently in much of the West. That hardly anyone in a position of power in the US is calling out this insanity has me worried. I realize that US is going off the cliff, but does it have to take the rest of the world down with it?
Today, Blinken was essentially trolling.
https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1576326018893492225?s=20&t=OzaWW06cQFhB_a-rK2DUkQ
The thinly veiled subtext is "Of course we blew NS1 and NS2. What you gonna do about it?"
I agree with everything you say, which resonates with my life work. We used to talk about 'raising consciousness' and in my Jungian training, "making the unconscious conscious." I have spent much of my adult life on psychology and nukes. There is also a gender dimension of bravado and denial of vulnerability to threatening the use of nukes. A few hours ago I published this on the NPT conference - https://coronawise.substack.com/p/a-guided-tour-of-the-nuclear-nonproliferation
Much of my work has been on image of the enemy, manipulation of fear, etc - not addressed in this piece. I am grateful for your work.
I really like your philosophy which I'll just summarize (perhaps incorrectly) as letting go of the ego.
But that totally conflicts with your opening:
"Avoiding nuclear war is the single most important agenda in the world."
Why? Are you saying we should allow the Oligarchy to win? In what world does their win support anything else you've written here?
You've identified the Empire.
You've made it clear who they are.
Yet, you seem to open with a plea to the empire that sounds as if you are willing to submit so long as you can remain alive.
I dunno, what is worth dying for?
I agree, "victory over Russia" isn't worth spit.
But victory over the Oligarchy? Freedom from the Empire? That seems to be a different equation.
I'd like to hear more about the coups in Australia.
How do you bring clear vision to those who profit by not having it? They have what they consider clear vision, and it's no use telling them it's an ugly distortion: they cannot and will not believe it. They are trying right now to put a good slant on austerity for ordinary people, with more wealth and lavish living for elites: they call it Degrowth -as in an environmental plus, and they will get away with it if we are dumb enough to permit it. We, the majority, have to keep working on the majority who do not profit from evil, but rather suffer from it, sometimes terribly. We have a mission, a definite purpose right now: we are being robbed of our birthright, the right to fully enjoy life in reasonable and non-destructive ways. Complaining is our only strategy. Constant and unrelenting opposition to the greedy and brutal, and the structures in society - laws, organizations, institutions, that cater to them with false accusations and phoney wars - as in the West's proxy war in Ukraine and many before that bring us ever closer to annihilation: a big NO to them, and YES to life.
Thank you, Caitlin. Well said. You've given us a lot to think about this autumn evening...
When I was a kid in the shadow of WWII, we had "duck and cover" drills in school, as if that would save us when The Bomb hit. There were also great movies depicting the results of nuclear war. "On the Beach" and Fail Safe" come to mind. Then, for comic relief, there was "Dr. Strangelove." We knew about the possibility of nuclear war when JFK and Khrushchev worked together to prevent it. Now, Biden won't even talk to Putin.
I'm not sure if younger people today have any understanding of what's really goin' down. Do they think it's just a video game? A game of Risk? All that they think they know of WWII is that "we" nuked two Japanese cities in order to save American lives.
So, nuclear war is no big deal as long as OUR side kills more people and wipes our more cities than the OTHER side. Look how far down the rabbit hole this godforsaken country has gone since JFK. Now we have an obviously senile, degenerate octogenarian attempting to give orders, while he yells that White Supremacists are the biggest threat to our survival.
And, unlike in Britain where it is rumored that new PM Liz Truss is already on her way out, this country can't get rid of Biden until the next election. It's in the Constitution, after all. It seems that sticking to the 4-year presidential election cycle is more important that preventing WWIII.
I love you Caitlin. Your first piece I read was about the NYT article on Ukrainian "draft dodgers". Could you consider writing and tweeting about the Defuse Nuclear War campaign? We need your readers to know about the chances to take strong action Oct 14 - 16. Thank you. https://defusenuclearwar.org/
The ghost of "Red Scare" Sen. McCarthy is wishing he'd had half this amount of propaganda support in the early 1950s.
If I weren't on an indefinite Twitter hiatus and some shitlib responded to a tweet of mine about nuclear war with "Some things are worth dying for", I'd probably say "You have the right to make that decision for yourself, but you don't have the right to sacrifice anyone else. The Biden administration is willing to risk sacrificing everyone, in addition to sacrificing Ukrainians, and they have no more right to do so than you do."
If nuclear war were the sort of thing that would kill, say, 20% of the world's population but save the remaining 80% somehow then *maybe* these people could try to make a "needs of the few are outweighed by the needs of the many" argument. But it won't be 20%, or 50%....it'll be EVERYONE, or damn close to everyone. So I'd love to know how they respond to the question "What, precisely, does the death of the entire population of the world accomplish that makes it 'worth it'?"
My Bad Hobbit of Repetition-Notes from the Shire(r)
Otra vez: from the introduction of Bill(bo) Shirer’s “Rise and Fall of the Third Reich”
“I have often felt a bitter sorrow at the thought of the German people, which is so estimable in the individual, and so wretched in the generality.” Goethe
“In our new age of terrifying, lethal gadgets, which supplanted so swiftly the old one; the first great aggressive war, if it should come, will be launched by suicidal little men and pressing an electronic button. Such a war will not last long, and none will ever follow. There will be no conquerors and no conquests, but only the charred bones of the dead on an uninhabited planet.”
“Those who don’t remember the past, are condemned to relive it.” Santayana
i’m very fearful that the collective memory loss evinced by our leaders over the last quarter century, and on display most prominently now-will lead simply to the condemnation to death of all us, without any “reliving.”
There’s no hobbit hole that will protect against nuclear holocaust, and space ISS no protection.
paz
There isn’t a single journo who writes like you do. Most report on current events yet fail to contextualize the human experience. I share your posts to my lib friends because they say they are into expanding consciousness and I hope any of this resonates with them.
That is what the massive the ramifications are; a singular culling that happens once, over a short period time, detonating across the planet—all people vaporised everywhere in the event an all-out mutual raid. The intellectuals hold sway over events; let’s not pretend. Be kind to yourselves; “it’s my feeling / we’ll win in the end.” But I am scared. So I am scared, for humankind. First time. I’m cross-posting the only reportive piece that I’ve ever cross-posted on Substack. I started out with Listserv so it’s allowed in my case. Listservs were so functional in every way. Im cross-posting as well Peter Hitchens, who pissed a lot of people off by winning the ultimate prestige of the Orwell Award, the award that matters because it comes from the non-aligned Orwell Foundation. He is a socially conservative social democrat and the brother of the late Christopher Hitchens. His courage and wealth of knowledge and hand of rationality in this hot situ is unparalleled due to his long years on the planet and his refusal to give in or back down. No this is not a plug for him don’t be silly, or it is a plug I am recommending that you read him. I’m not or I am plugging for me as well, because I don’t care.
Hitchens:
https://www.orwellfoundation.com/journalist/peter-hitchens/
https://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/ClarkeMicah
My Substack enriched piece with vast context I kid you not and care too little and too much:
https://open.substack.com/pub/cordua/p/the-late-modern-era-all-the-things?r=1otqak&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Good luck.
Wish the listservs would run again.
Alex
Surely you’re right...but I have to pause, because the current bio weapon deployment against civilians en masse continues unabated; and increased funding for more bio weapon development bodes uber darkly. What will it mean when the colossal wave of immune system suppression/reprogramming, crippling of DNA repair mechanisms, and gradual micro vascular damage breaks and comes crashing down? It might be on par with the toll of a nuclear exchange...
Asking to imagine the destruction of everything on earth is pointless. Its like asking to imagine eternity - the 3D mind cant do it. Imagine the destruction of New York City - remember 9/11, that was one major block with x000 deaths. That ‘disaster’ would pale in comparison. Imagine that!