The Politics of Panic and Puerile Propaganda

 

Desperation creates a sickening stench.

At least that seems to be the case with dying empires.

As the front pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post become more and more indistinguishable from puerile and poisonous publications like the National Inquirer, Daily News, Globe, and Weekly World News, we see the symptoms of a nation whose auto-immune system has stopped working, and no barriers any longer stand in the way of fantastic lies and the opportunistic diseases of exceptionalist self-absorption and kleptocratic abuse. 

Much of what claims to be news puts spectacle and rumor ahead of fact and truth-telling.

Every day I scan the pages and websites of main stream media and nowhere can I find a discussion of truly critical issues, much less a serious attempt to address them with cogent, creative, promising solutions.

 

Yet, who am I to decide what is said and written.  Am I to tell a dying man that I find his death rattle annoying and counter-productive?

Having accepted the irrelevancy of my own opinion of the national conversation, we are still looking at a total retreat from journalistic integrity, an abandonment of responsibility vital to our survival as a nation, in fact, a complete surrender and servility to self-serving, corrupt leadership which acknowledges no allegiance or debt to those who put them into office, and driven by panic and desperation can only make excuses and offer distractions for its failure to serve the real interests of the country. 

There is no other verdict any sane, aware, concerned person can come to.

The rest of the world seems to have our number.  The U.S. pretends to be in charge but more and more we see one nation after another turning away.  And apparently citizens across our once-great country -- regardless of whether they voted for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders or Gary Johnson or Jill Stein, or just stayed home out of disgust -- will be the last to know that the U.S. is no longer a functioning democracy and has been completely taken over by fierce, ruthless, elitist, self-serving, corporate autocrats, and more fatefully we are being simultaneously prepared for major economic collapse and a global war which carries the ominous risk of extinction for the human race.

Moreover, the planet itself each day stands in silent but immutable judgment.

The Arctic is in crisis, evidence of catastrophic global heating.  The oceans are on their way to becoming vast sea creature graveyards.  Scientists have now concluded we are in the middle of another mass species extinction.  The world we now inhabit will go away and eventually become uninhabitable, both for humans and much of the life on the planet which we now take for granted.

Pathological levels of hubris, demagoguery, and megalomania have the major nations on hair-trigger alert, with the nuclear destructive power to destroy the world 25 to 50 times over, just a launch button away.  Most of this animosity stems from America's inability to accept its place as one of a community of nations.  We will run things our way or destroy the entire world in a colossal temper tantrum.



With existential crises of an unprecedented and truly apocalyptic scale . . . let's talk about hacking by the Russians.  Let's talk about Trump's potty mouth and dicey business deals.  Let's form two massive groups -- die-hard Hillary Clinton supporters and President-elect Donald Trump supporters -- face off and scream at one another.  Let's talk about Trump's rumored man-love of Vladimir Putin and his pussy-grabbing -- apparently he's bisexual, since he can swing both ways.  Let's spread the word! After all . . .

Someone told someone else that when Putin and Trump aren't butt-fucking, they're scheming to take down the greatest country in the world.  Just as bad, when Hillary isn't spreading state secrets across the world wide web like viral mannequin challenges, she's running a child sex slave ring  out of a DC pizzeria, to try to make a buck, while of course supplying fresh nubile flesh for Bill's pedophilia parties.  We know this story is true, which is a big part of the reason many people didn't vote for her, because someone mentioned it to Alex Jones and he subsequently devoted a lot of time to it on his show.  I love Alex's voice, don't you?

Of course, our whole electoral system is in crisis.  THANKS TO THE DAMN RUSSIANS!  Seventeen intel agencies told someone anonymously -- of maybe someone told us that 17 intel agencies told them -- the idea of hacking our elections is consistent with the priorities of Russia.  We don't know which agencies suggested this.  It's hard to know because at my last count there were 1,271 government organizations responsible for national security.  Out of these, 500 could easily be considered "intel agencies".  Hmm . . . 17 out of 500.  That seems odd, eh?  Whatever.  Those Russians are always up to no good.  Especially the Bolshoi Ballet and Tchaikovsky.  And Tolstoy!

Then there's the whole Electoral College mess.  Hard to believe that we didn't notice.  But apparently the electoral college's potential to not represent the express will of the voting public -- sometimes referred to by the rich and powerful elite who occasionally take a break from plundering the Treasury and devising more effective means of maintaining full control over the machinery of government and even our pathetic personal lives to elbow each other in the ribs and snicker about the "slobbering masses" -- has been secreted in Article II of our venerated Constitution now for over 227 years.  Sure, they'll claim it was there the whole time.  But they put it in Article II, and let's face it, most of us never got past reading the Preamble, much less Article I.  Anyway, better late than never.  Now we know that whether you love him or hate him, Trump was right!  The system is rigged!  Therefore it's time for some real effective action.  Let's start a petition!  No way can let that pussy-grabbing scumbag be president over some technicality in the Constitution probably put in there by the slimy Russians.  We should have our first female president, who despite having ovaries and a pussy -- which Trump probably tried to grab! -- is tough as nails and will hit the ground running by starting World War III with either Iran, Russia, or China.  Maybe all three!  Talk about macho!



Granted, a lot of this seems to miss the big picture questions, which are . . .

Why did we have to choose only between Hillary and Donald?

Or . . .

Why is it no matter who we elect, everything just gets worse?

Or . . .

What's the point of representative government if the people we elect don't represent us?

Or . . .

How can it be called choice when both of the two major political parties just put people up for election who serve the interests of the wealthy, who promote war, who can't find it in their hearts or in our national budget to provide the basic services and necessities which many other nations in the world take for granted?

Then again . . .

Those kinds of questions are really really difficult.

Solving those problems requires radical reform and profound systemic changes.
It would be very embarrassing to admit to the world that our democracy is in big trouble.
Addressing those challenges takes a lot of hard work and time which most of us don't have.
Having a government which serves everyday citizens is sure to piss off the Koch brothers!



Isn't it more convenient to ask questions which are more likely to get answered?

Like . . . is or was Dick Cheney ever a robot?

You know, folks, I suspected something like this all along.  I even wrote a blog about it.

Deep-State Doppelgängers

See?  I'm on top of the news!



[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]



The Politics of Panic and Puerile Propaganda

Let’s Try To Figure This Out

 

So you have a stubborn old right wing uncle. You know the one I'm talking about. He's the guy who gets all his insights into the world from Fox, thinks Rush Limbaugh is Prophet Isaiah reincarnated, and would join Donald Trump base jumping from the top of Trump Tower in a snow storm

How do you reply when he claims that all sorts of scientists have proven that climate change is a hoax?

How about this?

Let's say you went to ten doctors and had a full examination. Nine of them told you point blank you were suffering an extremely aggressive form of cancer, your life was in danger, and you needed to be treated immediately. But one doctor told you that you were in great health and there was nothing that should concern you.

The nine doctors who warned you of impending doom unless drastic action were taken, all work for respected independent medical facilities, hospitals, research labs, universities.

The one doctor who had buckets of good news happens to work for the insurance company who would have to pay for your medical bills.

Which advice would you heed?

Would you go out and celebrate, have a few drinks, maybe smoke a pack of cigarettes?

Or would you be first in line next morning at the clinic to begin treatment?

There is overwhelming agreement in the legitimate scientific community -- the clearly objective, independent, unbiased centers for study and research -- that climate change is real and it is largely being caused by humans. While the public for various reasons lags in grasping the extent and immediacy of the crisis, over 97% of climate science researchers agree. Less than 3% of the literature on climate change challenges this huge consensus.

 

And guess where the nay-sayers come from?

They belong in that same suspicious category of compromised, non-objective, "interested" parties as that doctor who works for the health insurance company -- the one that probably got a bonus for telling you everything was fine and you didn't need medical help.

The bulk of climate change denial studies is generated by bought-and-paid-for lackeys who WORK FOR THE FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY!

So as the title of my article suggests . . . let's try to figure this out.

Who should we listen to?

The 10,000+ scholars who have published thousands of pier-reviewed research papers which declare we have a problem?

Or the handful of deniers, many of whom have published articles which have not passed the standards of pier-review, but who probably live quite affluently with the money they get from oil, gas, and coal companies?

Speaking of self-serving deceptions, the climate agreement recently reached at COP21, the international climate conference in Paris at the end of last year, was a PR stunt. Respected climatologist James Hansen calls it a total fraud.  It has no teeth, is not legally binding, has no fines or penalties for irresponsible deviations from its nice-sounding, highly-acclaimed guidelines for holding the temperature rise to 2˚C.  Yes, it made a lot of people feel good, stuffed a lot of feathers in a lot of caps, not least of which is the one for President Obama's historical legacy. Obama, who in his State of the Union address touted America's and his own pivotal leadership role in shaping the final agreement, called it "the best chance to save the one planet we have." But anyone who is actually paying attention knows that this slippery non-binding pile of happy face promises is no substitute for an absolute and genuine commitment to real, actionable, and enforceable policy realignment.

So . . . have we figured this out?

We have a combination of willful denial (ignorance), disinformation (self-righteous lying), paralysis (corporate oppression), and general apathy (sheeple power).

I don't feel well.

Is huffing gasoline bad for the environment?



[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]



Let’s Try To Figure This Out

What is more evil than pure evil?

 

My Japanese wife in her quest to understand Western
culture regularly runs by me some very interesting, sometimes entirely
bizarre web sites. Recently she directed me to one strangely called  
vegetariansareevil.com,from which I borrowed the image you see posted 
here. The site is now shut down, I guess because they couldn't pay their 
bill or maybe there are still some sane people in the world who had the 
good taste to delete it.

I have to say that while I am pretty jaded about what pops up on the internet, 
this one truly pushed the envelope of absurdity.

Offering a twisted taint-by-association logic __ which even makes the outlandish
satire of The Onion seem tame by comparison __ the web site seemed to be
promoting more meat consumption, based on the intrinsic evil of being a
vegetarian. Right! Just what we need. More heart attacks, colon cancer,
strokes, hypertension, clogged arteries. More stinking blood-drenched
meat farms and global warming resulting from even more massive herds of
steroid-plumped beef cattle farting continent-engulfing eddies of
methane gas. More tectonic escarpments of slimy pig shit and tidal waves
of cattle piss to foul the waterways and aquifers of our fragile
ecosystems.

It can safely be assumed that whoever is behind this __ if it is not a complete
put-on, in which case my hat goes off to them for their entirely
brilliant if bizarre bit of mockery __ suffers from severe blockage of
the arteries that supplies blood to their brains. But that's a whole
other can of beans. Or spam. Or something. Maybe a Double Down from KFC?

The reasoning is as direct as it is specious . . .

Hitler was evil incarnate. Hitler was a vegetarian. So vegetarianism is evil incarnate.

I am reluctant to point this out __ since I don't want to trivialize the
extent to which such thinking can impede any constructive exchange of
ideas __ but I have it on good authority that Hitler also breathed. So
we all should stop breathing? Because clearly such imitative behavior is
evil incarnate? Inhaling an endorsement and praise of the Holocaust?
Exhaling like clicking our heels together and yelling 'Sieg Heil!'

Maybe more interesting, or at least sensible, is to ask: Exactly why was Hitler a
vegetarian? The answer is brilliant on many levels and the perfect cause
for disbelief and indignation.

First we have this quote from Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda,
asserting the extent of Hitler's devotion to the idea . . . 

"The Führer is a convinced vegetarian, on principle. His arguments cannot
be refuted on any serious basis.  They are totally unanswerable . . .  He
believes more than ever that meat-eating is harmful to humanity. Of
course he knows that during the war we cannot completely upset our food
system. After the war, however, he intends to tackle this problem
also." 

Then we have the words of Hitler himself . . . 

"One may regret living at a period when it’s impossible to form an idea of
the shape the world of the future will assume. But there’s one thing I
can predict to eaters of meat: the world of the future will be
vegetarian." 

It appears that Hitler based his vegetarianism on an opposition to causing
suffering to animals __ isn't that ironic? __ and rooted in the  
writings of Richard Wagner . . . 

"When first it dawned on human wisdom that the same thing
breathed in animals as in mankind, it appeared too late to avert the
curse which, ranging ourselves with the beasts of prey,
we seemed to have called down upon us through the taste
of animal food: disease and misery of every kind, to
which we did not see mere vegetable-eating men exposed." 

So here is a man whose demented policies resulted in cruel human experimentation,
the cold-blooded torture and murder of millions of people, a man
responsible for collecting gold fillings from freshly killed victims and
turning people into lampshades, the man who stacked human corpses like
they were cobs of corn during the autumn harvest . . . the same man who
found the killing of animals for consumption as food, indelicate, cruel,
unsavory.

Whew!

Let's try to get a handle on Der Führer, some perspective on him and his times.

Remember that the German people in the 1930s and 40s looked at Hitler as a great
man. He was revered and regarded by millions of Germans, both in Germany
and in enclaves of Germans in bordering countries, as a demigod. Most,
of course, subsequently denied any knowledge of his savage treatment of
the Jews, gypsies, Poles, and others he regarded as 'subhuman'.

I personally believe that many, if not a majority, had a strong inkling of
what was going on. It's hard to be downwind of the human barbecues
taking place at Auschwitz-Birkenau and conclude the stench coming from
the ovens was yet another splendid meal of sausage or beef steak for the
residents, who for some reason looked extremely anorexic.

But citizens somehow looked the other way. They gave Herr Hitler a pass.
Anything which might cast doubt on his noble work on behalf of the
German people was swept aside in the torrents of praise. Why question
this remarkable man? After all, he was telling them what they
desperately wanted to hear, that Germans were a great people, an exceptional
people  __ destined to lead the rest of the world into an era where
Germany would oversee a grand new world order. He told them to stand
tall, be proud and patriotic, serve their country, to support the wars,
and let him and the Third Reich create an empire which would raise them
to their rightful place as the leaders of the world.

(By the way, does this sound at all familiar?)

 

Yes, Hitler turned the faltering German economy around. Hitler restored the
faith of the German people in themselves and their country. Hitler loved
dogs. Hitler loved children. Children loved Hitler! Hitler made his
people proud. Germans worshiped their Führer. He loved his people! By
golly, he was so gently and caring he was even a vegetarian.
What a great guy! So they proffered one of the most savage men in
history the blind eye of absolution, a total pardon for his less than
humane activities, the not-so-pleasant collateral damage, necessary
evils __ the pogroms, the slave and concentration camps, the terrifying
and indiscriminate civilian massacres of the Blitzkrieg, all of the
unpleasant but requisite slaughter necessary to achieve the greater
glory of Germany.

As one of my favorite contemporary philosophers says . . . 

"Rationalization is the evil step-brother of rationality." 

Now with the hindsight of history and the clarity of victory, we know Hitler was
pure evil. Worse than pure evil! Evil evil evil! How convenient, because
our bully pulpit blowhards have the perfect tool at hand to demonize
anyone they don't like. How often we now hear the hysterical screaming . . .

"[Fill in name of latest evil bogeyman here] is another Hitler! He must be destroyed!" 

Now I'm not about to make any such comparison between Adolph and any living
politician or national leader. I'll leave that to the purveyors of
panic, a congested field of hysterical pundits and desperate politicos
who lie and spit their hatred in pursuit of their insatiable appetites
for plunder, death and destruction.

What I want to point out here is that there is an important lesson to be learned.

At the time of Hitler's reign, the German people saw him as a savior, a hero, a
man who would restore dignity and worth and greatness to the German
nation. They looked very selectively at all of the positive things about
the man, ignoring the blatant signs that they were in the throes of a
love affair with a madman, whose unprecedented cruelties knew no bounds,
whose egomania and visions of hell drove his destructive delusions.
Obviously, we now benefit from a more complete understanding. All of the
niceties and personal charm, the propaganda and spin which mesmerized
the German nation and infused them with a pathological reverence for
their leader is horribly irrelevant against the massively cruel,
psychopathic crimes their Führer inflicted on humankind.

And that is the lesson we must learn from this.

I'm not going to name names here. All of you are big people you can figure this
out on your own who this might apply to. These idols who substitute
charisma and charm for character and honor are scattered far and wide
across the political landscapes of the world. We have them here where I
live in Japan, though I'd like you to focus on America and its European
allies, since the West is the center of power in the world, at least for now, and 
represents the greatest existential threat to humankind.

Having said that . . .

When our contemporary leaders give their inspiring speeches, when they appeal to
our pride, declare America the greatest nation in the world, declare
Americans to be superior and exceptional, appealing to our already
bloated pride. When they calculatingly take popular stands on
"hotbutton" issues sure to bring them easy support because these are
intensely emotional and appealing matters, for example, when they
support gay marriage and minorities and other human rights, when they
voice their concerns for the vulnerable, the sick and the less fortunate
members of our society, even come out in favor of legalizing marijuana,
then maybe give a little boost to the budget to help the unemployed or
shove a nice plate of food in front of a hungry kid at school. There's
no question, these are on their own terms good things. These show common
decency and compassion and common sense. These are fine, genuinely
heartening gestures for sure. They feel good and give us the warm and 
comfortable feeling that we're in good hands.

By golly . . . they're just like loving children and dogs and being vegetarian.

Hmm.

The point is, when these same people then slaughter tens of thousands of innocent
citizens around the world, start unnecessary wars over oil or other
resources, promote aggression to enrich the corporate stockholders of
our vast defense industries, sponsor extrajudicial torture and killing
__ drone and special ops assassinations __ refuse to sign or approve treaties like banning land mines and cluster munitions, when these same leaders support ruthless murderous regimes around the world, and through all of the horror of these and other crimes against humanity, we look the other way, are we any better than the German citizens were before and during WWII?

Aren't we just giving these putatively wonderful men and women a pass on the things that are the true measure of their moral leadership, the things which will blot our history for generations to come with the blood stains of our savage disregard for human life?

Of course, none of our splendid current leaders will ever reach the level of
depravity and notoriety in history books as the man who was more evil
than pure evil . . . Herr Hitler. 

Our leaders can be forgiven for their sins.

They still eat hamburgers.

Just like us.


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

Militarizing The Police – Part 4

Kelly Thomas was killed by police brutality.

Let me be clear about something here. When I talk about militarizing the
police, I'm not just referring to equipment. I'm talking about a
mentality __ a world view.

Militarizing anyone is a tough, convoluted process. As they grow up, even if boys
are taught to be boys, they are also taught to love thy neighbor, be
respectful of human life, thou shalt not kill, and so on. Then when
taken into the military, everything is turned upside down and they are
told: Okay, now forget about all of that, at least with respect to some
subset of the human race __ the Japs, the Nazis, the Arabs, the Gooks,
whoever. They are told that none of those old rules of kindness, even
God's sacred commandments, don't apply. Those people over there
are your enemies. You will show them no respect, no mercy, in fact, you
are to destroy them, kill them without hesitation or remorse. And if
you do a good job of slaughtering them, you will be lauded, decorated
with medals, become a national hero, the object of admiration and
praise. Chicks will dig you.

Okay . . .

What happens when the police start seeing themselves as an extension of the
military, here not to protect and serve, issue the occasional traffic
violation, give talks to kids in school about being good citizens, but
to PROTECT THE HOMELAND against THEM?

And then what happens, when the average American citizen comes under suspicion?
Suspicion of being a misfit, a troublemaker, a dissident, a traitor? Of
not being "with us" but "against us"? Of being a commie-sympathizer, a
towelhead, a jihadist? What happens when databases are being kept of
potential threats, of people who allegedly fit some profile of being a
terrorist, lists of citizens who allegedly fail to fall in line, and may
well be trying to undermine our great country, sabotage the government,
destroy the land of the brave, home of the free? What happens when the public is now seen as the potential enemy?

That's the kind of militarization of the police we most have to fear. Because here's what you get . . .

Enough said. I don't want to be accused of being a fear monger or some wild-eyed Chicken Little paranoid. There's more than enough of that going on already. But we've all been put on notice. The signs are there and we've been given fair warning.

Given how far along I believe the militarization of the police has already progressed, what is the government __ both the law enforcement branches and many agencies who provide non-security related services like the Social Security Administration and postal service __ preparing for?
Social order breaks down when people become desperate or angry. When they are both desperate and angry, the doors for massive insurrection swing wide open. What could precipitate such catastrophic and violent breakdown of our society?

In my view, there are a number of scenarios which are not entirely out of the question __ some say they are likely __ which could drive desperation and anger. These are, I might note, what the government think tanks themselves say they're worried about.

1. The abandonment of the dollar
   as the world's reserve currency or machinations by private banking and
   investment resulting in the complete collapse of the American economy.
2. The foundering of delivery mechanisms or severe interruption of the supply chains for the critical necessities for survival: food, water, electricity, heating oil, natural gas, gasoline.
3. Violent insurrection or civil war based on widespread discontent and hysteria.
4. World War III or any far-reaching global conflict precipitating any of the above.

The U.S. dollar as the reserve currency is already under assault. We have become grossly irresponsible and abused the enormous privileges we enjoyed for decades. Now the BRICS and several other nations are trying to get out from under the oppressive thumb of the U.S. banking cartels.

The supply chains for food and other necessities are long and fragile. It has been claimed, for example, that if the trucks, boats, planes and trains supplying the supermarket were to somehow be compromised, the shelves would be completely empty in just a few day. Then what? Hunger is a virulent and uncompromising enemy of social order.

The government has created such a vast pool of fear and paranoia, people have armed themselves to the teeth. Back in the 90s, the police beating of Rodney King set off huge riots across the country. Those were much calmer days than we have now post-911. With the grotesque polarization of the population on a vast array of issues, the U.S. has become a tinderbox. It's hard to predict what the spark might be that will set it all off. But it sure doesn't take a Nostradamus to see what's coming.

With Syria, Iran, the Ukraine, the encirclement of Russia and China by the U.S. military, it is obvious to anyone looking that there's a psychotic rogue element within the architecture of the U.S. government that is itching for a war. When it happens, with economies across the landscape on the brink of collapse and the fragile balance of peace in the world ready to shatter, this will mean conflagration and chaos like never before in history. If America in the midst of this insanity, were to go nuclear __ and yes, my friends, there are plans for it __ even if there's no sizable retaliation and we survive, the U.S. will become a leprous pariah in the international community. However you stack it up, if we continue on our present course and are the instigator of a major war, America will end up bankrupt, scorned, isolated __ a pathetic shell of a once glorious nation.

Though you wouldn't know it, with all of the "exceptionalist" blather and chest-beating jingoism that passes for patriotism in the media and spews from the pulpits of political power, America is widely resented, feared, despised. When the rest of the world can't handle any more of our belligerence and turns on us, it won't end well. We'll go down kicking, screaming, throwing an epic tantrum.

That's how federal agencies responsible now for civil order see things.

That's what the local police are being militarized for.

That's what they are preparing for.


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]