Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Democracy vs. the Putin-Nazis

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, May 23, 2019

Democracy vs. the Putin-Nazis

Click here to access article by C.J. Hopkins from The Unz Review.

This excellent piece about reality deserves so much more of my attention, but I am short of time--I have other tasks to accomplish first. First, of all, this isn't the usual excellent piece of satire that he usually does. In this article he is very serious and insightful.

The post reminds me of a famous quote from Karl Rove who was so influential in the Bush, Jr. administration.

We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.

Because our masters have so much power--they own everything--they can create self-serving "realities". When one reads in the newspapers, see on TV, read in books, hear on the radio from NPR the same "realities", they become reality that is accepted by the people. Our capitalist masters have always done this, but they are now doing it at much greater intensity simply because they own or control every significant media. And also, they have so frequently succeeded in imposing these "realities" on us that they have the confidence that we will believe the most ridiculous "realities".

The “Democracy versus The Putin-Nazis” narrative is our new “reality,” whether we like it or not. It does not matter one iota that there is zero evidence to support this narrative, other than the claims of intelligence agencies, politicians, the corporate media, and other servants of the ruling classes. The Russians are “attacking democracy” because the ruling classes tell us they are. “Fascism is on the march again” because the ruling classes say it is. Anyone who disagrees is a “Putin-sympathizer,” a “Putin-apologist,” or “linked to Russia,” or “favored by Russia,” or an “anti-Semite,” or a “fascist apologist.”

Question the official narrative about the Gratuitously Baby Gassing Monster of Syria and you’re an Assad apologist, a Russian bot network, or a plagiarizing Red-Brown infiltrator.