Listen to a reading of this article: You can always tell how important narrative control is by watching the way people react when their control of the narrative is jeopardized. Empire apologists are raging at Amnesty International for pausing its aggressive facilitation
What to do with all of these people, most especially Americans, under the spell of US empire? How do you snap someone out of a mind-controlled trance? I don't have any easy answers for it except to keep speaking out about it. And to live with integrity and be that which I want to see in the world.
As a former participant in the world of academia, I'd be loath to expect most academics to take any positions that fly in the face of conventional narratives. It's just not conducive to sustaining the motion of their gravy train toward tenure. Back in the 80's and 90's, it was only the most radical who were willing to speak out about climate and biosphere disaster. Past three years, most biomedical academics tucked tail when it was suggested to them that an experimental vaccine, with trials run by the profit-driven manufacturer and unaccompanied by raw data release, might be a questionable idea, unlikely to reveal systemic issues that wouldn't be exposed by reductionist analysis (e.g., "induces antibodies"). And while so-called "academic freedom" might provide a classroom forum for discussion of alternative views, most of my colleagues wouldn't take the career risk of articulating such alternative views outside the protection of the lecture hall. Oi, the dirty looks I got for "stirring up trouble" and "scaring my students." Now that most institutions have become corporate structures, it's perhaps easier to see that they're merely part of that cadre of "exponentially greater influence that western institutions have over our minds".
If it wasn’t abundantly clear how well the mind control works here in the USA prior to the 2016 election, then it certainly has become very clear since then. It still astonishes me how many “educated” people fully embraced and believed the Russiagate narrative. I think many of them still do. But what makes the mind control so effective is how dumbed down we are as a society. There are so very few critical thinkers these days. And even many folks who seem to think critically in certain areas, have massive blind spots.
This is an excellent piece and I would expect nothing less from a person of such honesty, integrity and fearless determination who, like myself and many other humane beings, are destined to fight to the bitter end against this worsening farrago of lies and hypocrisy which serves no other purpose than to further the monstrous criminal agenda of the Nazi Alliance of Terrorist Operations which serves this evil beast of the Westen Hegemon thrashing in its desperate and futile attempt to maintain unipolarity. Before we throw our arms up in despair at those among us who, despite suffering the effects of this pernicious and pervasive imperial hubris, continue in their myopic obstinacy in seeking false sanctuary in a trance-like state of mass psychotic acquiescence, it appears that Caitlin is drawing our attention to something that should provide succour in our darkest hour - and that is the fact that it is not a foregone conclusion that the brainwashed are inherently incapable of awakening to the truth in respect of the important role that the Eastern Alliance has to play in its extermination of the spectre of exceptionalism and unipolarity. As is highlighted in this highly intelligent and perceptive piece of journalism, it is the very fact that Amnesty International has now been forced by both circumstance and evidence to discover even the narrowest crack in the wall of falsehood that they have been hiding behind for far too long now. And even the narrowest fissure can allow a ray of light to illuminate the abyss of ignorance, arrogance and foolishness which is the natural habitat of the demons and asuras which, by the agency of human functionaries gripped by evil, serve only to violate the very principle of the right to life, liberty, prosperity and happiness for all. Amnesty International is now charged with its responsibility to cross this rubicon and to depart the shore of delusion and proceed rapidly towards the opposite shore of enlightenment and abandon, once and for all, its fealty to those of psychopathic and sociopathic predilection, who as the self-proclaimed masters of the universe, think little of destroying the entire living, breathing, and loving systems of life on a planet they desire to reserve entirely for themselves in the interests of the maintenance of their lewd perversions of transhumanist and virtual existentialism. Why does this give me so much hope in the face of so much hopelessness ? One answer can be given in regard to a 'friend' who visited me after some years of absence, only to launch into a vitriolic tirade against Putin and Russia. All the 'tropes' were spewed out exactly in accordance with the doctrine. However, this person's salvation was his willingness to allow me to show him evidence of videos by Patrick Lancaster, Eva Bartlett, Vanessa Beeley and others who continue to have their lives threatened by these cowardly fascists whose greatest fear is having their mischief exposed to the light of day. However, it was when I showed my friend the video of the Odessa Massacre that he finally crossed his own red line and entered the realm of consciousness, finding it utterly incredulous that he could have been so easily manipulated by all this dissemblence, all this inversion, all this projection, all this lying, all this hypocrisy and all this cowardice. Having nearly burnt myself out in exhaustion after more than three hours of pleading with him to open his eyes and unblock his ears, my reward was to see him leave my house a free man, for now he is free to speak the truth to others. I will just conclude by saying that the importance of this piece by Caitlin cannot be overestimated - it is a truth bomb which exceeds the power of the diabolical arsenals that can never be used, and it must be shared as deeply and as broadly as possible. Just as people can be brainwashed - they have the potential to be awakened - and there is too much evidence now to refute that fact, and the proof of that is borne out by the fact that here in the UK, a nation of supine acquiescents, people are now mobilising against the tyranny of corporatism and corruption in government. John Pilger advocated that we must engage in civil disobedience - we must refuse to just keep rolling over and complying with the decrees of politicians who are now engaging in overtly fascist policies. With a UK Conservative leadership offering the choice between a slime-ball and a sock-puppet, we are in for seismic changes as the citizenry struggles to afford the basics of subsistence - and they can no longer use the lies of Ukraine as a distraction. The game is up.
Thank you so much - from an Australian woman and a former academic. I was born in Czechoslovakia and we knew that we are reading propaganda in the state socialism. Somehow, this was never the case here. Yes, I know, we live in freedom........ It is so sad to see this nearly total propaganda.
Stopped this morning at a local coffee shop in an upscale liberal Puget Sound touristy town (100 miles north of Seattle). There was a poster on the door of a religious icon - I don't have the correct terms, but it looked like a nun in full regalia (Ukraine colors, not black) with a shoulder launched missile on her shoulder!
I tried to engage conversation with the young digital hipsters about it, but they just couldn't understand or see any problem with that.
I left with a snarky comment (also went over their heads): "Good thing we didn't have Russian propaganda in the 60's, or we'd still be in Vietnam!"
Question origins of pandemic, mask efficacy, jab risks, efficacy and necessity, quarantine: Dangerous mis/disinformation of selfish MAGA.
Question election integrity of mail ballots, dropboxes, remote machine programming, six swing states simultaneously stoping counting and observers with magically adjusted flipped results when they restart, outsourced election process to partisan groups: Dangerous mis/disinformation of fascist MAGA, even insurrectionist.
Question grooming sexualization of children by drag queens performing lewd acts in elementary schools and children's libraries: Dangerous mis/disinformation of homo/transphobe fascist MAGA.
Question racial division and policing minority crime, and schools teaching CRT: Dangerous mis/disinformation of racist white nationalist fascist domestic terrorist MAGA.
Just like questioning Ukraine/Russia policy, the US regime has taken off its mask for all to see, it is built upon and sustains itself with propaganda and lies, all who question it targeted for attack and destruction. It is a criminal regime. The bell is tolling for it. Deservedly.
Amnesty is receiving flak from groups who are quite naturally astonished at the sudden turnaround prompted by a desperate need to save face and cover its other end, or what it can of it at this late date. Because, in spite of all the hopes and intrigues of the regressive movement - neoliberalism and adherents, and the immense power and riches of Western fantasists, history says different, and history will have its way. Injustice has always been a feature of empires, but they controlled populaces with the proverbial carrot and stick: a kind of balance has been the rule. Neoliberalism has struck a terrible blow to that balance, and this concerted move against Russia and its legitimate, existential concerns has revealed its true face. The supporting narrative became crazier and crazier, billions in arms shipments at the expense of social programs, wild sanctioning of Russia and Russians and wild claims of human rights abuses, actually perpetrated, as in Bucha, by Ukraine, or so the available evidence would imply: the fact conclusive evidence via an open investigation has been blocked by the West and Ukraine doesn't enhance their credibility. And Pelosi's graceless intrusion in Taiwan was the death blow: rats deserting the sinking ship of state should be a common feature of the landscape from here on in.
The amount of outrage generated by these few mild criticisms of Ukraine--and even these muffled by the requisite boiler-plate denouncements of Russia--clues us into the fact that the Ukrainians are doing what the few dissident voices that pierce the Western narrative say they are, and possibly worse.
The small Ukrainian forces and their ragtag foreign mercenaries are entrenching themselves not in open countryside where they would be wiped out quite quickly. Instead they are using their own population as ‘human shields’. A well known term that is synonymous with terrorist groups. When will people wake up and smell the coffee/napalm or the stench of American imperialism, sadly backed by so many western governments that should really know better. But most governments are just puppets of the elite and global corporations paving the way for the NWO. What happened to Independent Journalism? The media is just a propaganda tool and wouldn’t post the truth if delivered with ten credible sources let alone two. Here in the U.K. further legislation is being pushed through to prevent any independent journalism from publishing anything that might ‘embarrass’ the government! Seriously? Can that coverall word of ‘embarrass’ even have a legal interpretation let alone a definition.
Thank you, Caitlin Johnstone, for all your work! I have been labeled as Russian, Chinese agent, supporter, troll etc. My simple goal was to show other independent news/journalist findings. As well as provide clips of the MSM reports that occasionally exposes Western lies and/or lazy journalism.
Now this is what I find on my Twitter account:
"Your account is permanently suspended
After careful review, we determined your account broke the Twitter Rules. Your account is permanently in read-only mode, which means you can’t Tweet, Retweet, or Like content. You won’t be able to create new accounts. If you think we got this wrong, you can submit an appeal."
If "Russian propaganda" just means disobedience, I reckon that "Russian disinformation" means something that is factually true, but embarrassing to the ruling elite.
It also seems to me that one of the key differences between "Russian propaganda" and "Russian disinformation" is that while "Russian propaganda" usually emanates from Russia, "Russian disinformation" tends to arise from sources that have no connection to Russia at all.
What to do with all of these people, most especially Americans, under the spell of US empire? How do you snap someone out of a mind-controlled trance? I don't have any easy answers for it except to keep speaking out about it. And to live with integrity and be that which I want to see in the world.
As a former participant in the world of academia, I'd be loath to expect most academics to take any positions that fly in the face of conventional narratives. It's just not conducive to sustaining the motion of their gravy train toward tenure. Back in the 80's and 90's, it was only the most radical who were willing to speak out about climate and biosphere disaster. Past three years, most biomedical academics tucked tail when it was suggested to them that an experimental vaccine, with trials run by the profit-driven manufacturer and unaccompanied by raw data release, might be a questionable idea, unlikely to reveal systemic issues that wouldn't be exposed by reductionist analysis (e.g., "induces antibodies"). And while so-called "academic freedom" might provide a classroom forum for discussion of alternative views, most of my colleagues wouldn't take the career risk of articulating such alternative views outside the protection of the lecture hall. Oi, the dirty looks I got for "stirring up trouble" and "scaring my students." Now that most institutions have become corporate structures, it's perhaps easier to see that they're merely part of that cadre of "exponentially greater influence that western institutions have over our minds".
Dear NATO.
Shove your fake outrage, your lies, and your murderous expansion UP YOUR FUCKING IMPERIALIST ARSE.
If it wasn’t abundantly clear how well the mind control works here in the USA prior to the 2016 election, then it certainly has become very clear since then. It still astonishes me how many “educated” people fully embraced and believed the Russiagate narrative. I think many of them still do. But what makes the mind control so effective is how dumbed down we are as a society. There are so very few critical thinkers these days. And even many folks who seem to think critically in certain areas, have massive blind spots.
Thank you, Caitlin. You’ve done it again. You are greatly appreciated.
This is an excellent piece and I would expect nothing less from a person of such honesty, integrity and fearless determination who, like myself and many other humane beings, are destined to fight to the bitter end against this worsening farrago of lies and hypocrisy which serves no other purpose than to further the monstrous criminal agenda of the Nazi Alliance of Terrorist Operations which serves this evil beast of the Westen Hegemon thrashing in its desperate and futile attempt to maintain unipolarity. Before we throw our arms up in despair at those among us who, despite suffering the effects of this pernicious and pervasive imperial hubris, continue in their myopic obstinacy in seeking false sanctuary in a trance-like state of mass psychotic acquiescence, it appears that Caitlin is drawing our attention to something that should provide succour in our darkest hour - and that is the fact that it is not a foregone conclusion that the brainwashed are inherently incapable of awakening to the truth in respect of the important role that the Eastern Alliance has to play in its extermination of the spectre of exceptionalism and unipolarity. As is highlighted in this highly intelligent and perceptive piece of journalism, it is the very fact that Amnesty International has now been forced by both circumstance and evidence to discover even the narrowest crack in the wall of falsehood that they have been hiding behind for far too long now. And even the narrowest fissure can allow a ray of light to illuminate the abyss of ignorance, arrogance and foolishness which is the natural habitat of the demons and asuras which, by the agency of human functionaries gripped by evil, serve only to violate the very principle of the right to life, liberty, prosperity and happiness for all. Amnesty International is now charged with its responsibility to cross this rubicon and to depart the shore of delusion and proceed rapidly towards the opposite shore of enlightenment and abandon, once and for all, its fealty to those of psychopathic and sociopathic predilection, who as the self-proclaimed masters of the universe, think little of destroying the entire living, breathing, and loving systems of life on a planet they desire to reserve entirely for themselves in the interests of the maintenance of their lewd perversions of transhumanist and virtual existentialism. Why does this give me so much hope in the face of so much hopelessness ? One answer can be given in regard to a 'friend' who visited me after some years of absence, only to launch into a vitriolic tirade against Putin and Russia. All the 'tropes' were spewed out exactly in accordance with the doctrine. However, this person's salvation was his willingness to allow me to show him evidence of videos by Patrick Lancaster, Eva Bartlett, Vanessa Beeley and others who continue to have their lives threatened by these cowardly fascists whose greatest fear is having their mischief exposed to the light of day. However, it was when I showed my friend the video of the Odessa Massacre that he finally crossed his own red line and entered the realm of consciousness, finding it utterly incredulous that he could have been so easily manipulated by all this dissemblence, all this inversion, all this projection, all this lying, all this hypocrisy and all this cowardice. Having nearly burnt myself out in exhaustion after more than three hours of pleading with him to open his eyes and unblock his ears, my reward was to see him leave my house a free man, for now he is free to speak the truth to others. I will just conclude by saying that the importance of this piece by Caitlin cannot be overestimated - it is a truth bomb which exceeds the power of the diabolical arsenals that can never be used, and it must be shared as deeply and as broadly as possible. Just as people can be brainwashed - they have the potential to be awakened - and there is too much evidence now to refute that fact, and the proof of that is borne out by the fact that here in the UK, a nation of supine acquiescents, people are now mobilising against the tyranny of corporatism and corruption in government. John Pilger advocated that we must engage in civil disobedience - we must refuse to just keep rolling over and complying with the decrees of politicians who are now engaging in overtly fascist policies. With a UK Conservative leadership offering the choice between a slime-ball and a sock-puppet, we are in for seismic changes as the citizenry struggles to afford the basics of subsistence - and they can no longer use the lies of Ukraine as a distraction. The game is up.
Thank you so much - from an Australian woman and a former academic. I was born in Czechoslovakia and we knew that we are reading propaganda in the state socialism. Somehow, this was never the case here. Yes, I know, we live in freedom........ It is so sad to see this nearly total propaganda.
Stopped this morning at a local coffee shop in an upscale liberal Puget Sound touristy town (100 miles north of Seattle). There was a poster on the door of a religious icon - I don't have the correct terms, but it looked like a nun in full regalia (Ukraine colors, not black) with a shoulder launched missile on her shoulder!
I tried to engage conversation with the young digital hipsters about it, but they just couldn't understand or see any problem with that.
I left with a snarky comment (also went over their heads): "Good thing we didn't have Russian propaganda in the 60's, or we'd still be in Vietnam!"
Such creative penmanship reminding others about their "critical thinking cap" that might still be on the hat rack
Question origins of pandemic, mask efficacy, jab risks, efficacy and necessity, quarantine: Dangerous mis/disinformation of selfish MAGA.
Question election integrity of mail ballots, dropboxes, remote machine programming, six swing states simultaneously stoping counting and observers with magically adjusted flipped results when they restart, outsourced election process to partisan groups: Dangerous mis/disinformation of fascist MAGA, even insurrectionist.
Question grooming sexualization of children by drag queens performing lewd acts in elementary schools and children's libraries: Dangerous mis/disinformation of homo/transphobe fascist MAGA.
Question racial division and policing minority crime, and schools teaching CRT: Dangerous mis/disinformation of racist white nationalist fascist domestic terrorist MAGA.
Just like questioning Ukraine/Russia policy, the US regime has taken off its mask for all to see, it is built upon and sustains itself with propaganda and lies, all who question it targeted for attack and destruction. It is a criminal regime. The bell is tolling for it. Deservedly.
Amnesty is receiving flak from groups who are quite naturally astonished at the sudden turnaround prompted by a desperate need to save face and cover its other end, or what it can of it at this late date. Because, in spite of all the hopes and intrigues of the regressive movement - neoliberalism and adherents, and the immense power and riches of Western fantasists, history says different, and history will have its way. Injustice has always been a feature of empires, but they controlled populaces with the proverbial carrot and stick: a kind of balance has been the rule. Neoliberalism has struck a terrible blow to that balance, and this concerted move against Russia and its legitimate, existential concerns has revealed its true face. The supporting narrative became crazier and crazier, billions in arms shipments at the expense of social programs, wild sanctioning of Russia and Russians and wild claims of human rights abuses, actually perpetrated, as in Bucha, by Ukraine, or so the available evidence would imply: the fact conclusive evidence via an open investigation has been blocked by the West and Ukraine doesn't enhance their credibility. And Pelosi's graceless intrusion in Taiwan was the death blow: rats deserting the sinking ship of state should be a common feature of the landscape from here on in.
The amount of outrage generated by these few mild criticisms of Ukraine--and even these muffled by the requisite boiler-plate denouncements of Russia--clues us into the fact that the Ukrainians are doing what the few dissident voices that pierce the Western narrative say they are, and possibly worse.
The small Ukrainian forces and their ragtag foreign mercenaries are entrenching themselves not in open countryside where they would be wiped out quite quickly. Instead they are using their own population as ‘human shields’. A well known term that is synonymous with terrorist groups. When will people wake up and smell the coffee/napalm or the stench of American imperialism, sadly backed by so many western governments that should really know better. But most governments are just puppets of the elite and global corporations paving the way for the NWO. What happened to Independent Journalism? The media is just a propaganda tool and wouldn’t post the truth if delivered with ten credible sources let alone two. Here in the U.K. further legislation is being pushed through to prevent any independent journalism from publishing anything that might ‘embarrass’ the government! Seriously? Can that coverall word of ‘embarrass’ even have a legal interpretation let alone a definition.
Thank you, Caitlin Johnstone, for all your work! I have been labeled as Russian, Chinese agent, supporter, troll etc. My simple goal was to show other independent news/journalist findings. As well as provide clips of the MSM reports that occasionally exposes Western lies and/or lazy journalism.
Now this is what I find on my Twitter account:
"Your account is permanently suspended
After careful review, we determined your account broke the Twitter Rules. Your account is permanently in read-only mode, which means you can’t Tweet, Retweet, or Like content. You won’t be able to create new accounts. If you think we got this wrong, you can submit an appeal."
Thank you.
If "Russian propaganda" just means disobedience, I reckon that "Russian disinformation" means something that is factually true, but embarrassing to the ruling elite.
It also seems to me that one of the key differences between "Russian propaganda" and "Russian disinformation" is that while "Russian propaganda" usually emanates from Russia, "Russian disinformation" tends to arise from sources that have no connection to Russia at all.