American Evil
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCuIB57q-uA&feature=youtu.be]
Trump, Bill and Hillary Clinton, the Bush Family, Dick Cheney - these are the names we know, but the truth is that our corrupt system of government, the worldwide dominance of a few massive multinational corporations, and our military industrial complex constitute the three pillars of an overarching American Empire, an empire that at its heart is evil, and I do not use that word that lightly.
This empire is not a new development, and the crimes against humanity for which it is responsible go back decades. The only difference today is that the empire is no longer even attempting to hide itself. It directly requires the efforts of thousands of people, most of whom do not consider their actions to exploit the people of the world - to encourage regime change, salve labor, endless war, and the depletion and pollution of essential resources necessary to life on this planet - as bad things.
What the Bernie Sanders campaign exposed when this empire marshaled all of its many resources to defeat him is just the tip of the iceberg. We are not fighting against mere personalities, such as Hillary or Trump, or a faction of corrupt politicians, but a global system of elites and the corporate entities who use their money to control many governments, but most importantly our own. Elites who rely upon the increased build-up and use of American military power to sustain themselves. To change this system will not just take a political revolution, but a complete change in our society from top to bottom. It will literally require the concerted and sustained actions of millions willing to stand up against evil for us to have any hope of effecting such changes.
Recognizing the true extent of the problem requires us to give it its true name - American Empire - and to loudly and frequently decry its many harmful and dangerous actions as evil. For this is not a simple problem of fixing our electoral politics, but of of overthrowing and replacing a system of that is deeply embedded in our culture and our society. It does not rely on any single cult of personality, but on a millions of people who are in denial regarding what our country is and what it does. We must acknowledge its scope and its true nature, before we can hope to fully empower a movement large enough and powerful enough to not only defeat it, but to replace it with a civilization that values all lives and a sustainable world over the dangers inherent in the mindless pursuit of profits, power, and war at the expense of human misery, death and the destruction of our planet.
Comments
Who doesn't want that?
Hmm hard choice. On the one hand we can have peace, sustainability, health, freedom and prosperity, on the other hand we can have greed, death, exploitation and eventual extinction. It isn't a hard sell.
Beware the bullshit factories.
Except that the powerful are on the greedy side. How do we
wrest power away from them?
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Every species has freeloaders and cheaters.
To manage them they usually run them off or kill them. Pick one.
If those are my choices, I'd pick run them off, then!
Although I have a feeling we may be the ones who get run off.
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(No subject)
Not enough buying it.
If they did, if we did, they'd be screaming "bull$h!t" at the DNC convention in Philly, demanding Bernie the Dem nominee. Instead we let them coronate Her Highness.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
I could not agree more...
[video:https://youtu.be/LHV8r4DxxDE]
C99, my refuge from an insane world. #ForceTheVote
The United States as the New Roman Empire
In a letter written to an aide during World War II, Harold Macmillan (who later became Britian's Prime Minister in 1957), commented on the changing dynamic as the torch of world leadership was being passed from Great Britain to the United States.
At the time, Britain still had an empire - even as its hold on it was rather tenuous. With India's independence in 1947, decolonization would begin and a decade or so later, all that would be left would be the British Commonwealth - and Gibraltar. After the Suez Crisis of 1956, following which Macmillan would succeed Anthony Eden into the Prime Minister's job, Britain drew an important lesson: always back and stay close to the United States in world affairs. What lesson did the French learn from this crisis? Never to trust the Anglo-Saxons again!
If it ever existed, Britain's role as Athens was rather short lived.
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma
US empire will be shorter. Worm Ouroboros.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Ha! Not Happening Anytime Soon
As Italian political theorist Antonio Gramsci explained it, American cultural hegemony is an integral part of this new form of imperialism. Call it a softer version of the old British/French-style imperialism, i.e., one without physical colonies for the most part. It gives the populace the illusion of the United States not being imperialist in nature when, in fact, it is exactly that!
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma
Scott Anderson, Paolo Pellegrin Sunday New York Times Magazine
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/explaining-middle-east-conflicts-eyes-six...
This is an amazing, profoundly honest, thoughtful work. For those who don't get the New York Sunday Times, am sure your local library would have this Magazine, 8/14/16. Don't know if anyone can read it without crying, but still hope it will get a very, very wide readership.
Know there's a paywall at NYT now, hope someone can find a work-around, I'm a luddite.
Here's How to Get Around Paywalls
You can access articles in one of two ways, even after you've exceeded your monthly limit.
Try it, as I think both approaches will work and you should be able to read the article in full.
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma
Thanks J&H
This article is the WHOLE New York Times Sunday Magazine this week.
An amazing piece of work. They'd been working on it for more than 16 months.
We get the Sunday NYT, can't live without the crossword puzzle.
Will now clip & copy your instructions
In Firefox, hit on the three parallel lines to get private view.
No browser memory. It's wonderful!
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
After reading that article, I read the one on Ukraine.
As usual, people have swallowed up the government's propaganda about Putin being responsible for the war in Ukraine and Crimea.
It was Nuland, who people are saying is going to be Hillary's SOS that was responsible for the coup in Ukraine.
The previous president wouldn't allow foreign corporations in to do business so he had to be removed.
Now Ukraine is open for business, and the US is backing the same Nazi group that they fought against in Germany.
Just like they created AQ, fought against them in Iraq and now are fighting alongside them in Syria.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
ET...and LibGen
ExtraTorrent has it with a couple hundred seeders if you live in a country where it is legal to download.
Also check Full Spectrum Dominance by F. William Engdahl
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7273174-full-spectrum-dominance
In fact check the other works by the same author at Library Genesis. His latest is The Lost Hegemon: Whom the gods would destroy
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30186755-the-lost-hegemon
by F. William Engdahl
From the Light House.
You got that right!
The Empire thinks they are on the right path:
The overwhelming delusion of power is very difficult to argue with. Darth Vader sincerely believes the power of the dark side of the force is the best choice for a realist.
Only simpletons and naive children believe in the fairy tale of a better path. Or as the old saying goes: You can't change a man's mind if his paycheck depends on holding a certain belief or opinion.
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
We taught torture around the world
Trump wants more and Hillary has not said much about it.
To me, torture is an acid test, torture only works to impose dictatorship or totalitarianism or propaganda, the raw materials of empire. Human intelligence professionals will tell you torture does not work to extract useful information.
One obscure case of our image as an evil empire, but well known elsewhere, is the infamous torture ambassador, Dan Mitrione.
The political revolution continues
Our National DNA
..is "we don't torture". George Washington admonished the soldiers of New York and Penna to not harm the Hessian prisoners they took. Because we are America.
Fuck Dick Cheney and George Bush for pushing torture under the American flag. Fuck anyone who would so blaspheme our national heritage. And call themselves patriots.
*spits*
sorry, a little energy there. I truly love my country, because it (used to stand) stands for the ideals that are revolutionary in a way that no other can be: they are real, and rely on truth.
So I hate those who would rationalize such transgressions "in the name of".
On NPR today, the military budget was rationalized on the basis of "well, not all Americans realize how dangerous the world is out there". Jesus, fuck these people. Please.
Bernie is a win-win.
I fear that within my lifetime...
We will replace the phrase "Good Germans" with "Good Americans".
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
nah, it will be replaced by "Good Global World Citizens"
it's beyond nationalities.
Thank You, Steven D, I already missed you and thanks to JIH
for great comments and the tip for getting behind the paywall.
But then you know it's not American Evil anymore, it's more Global Evil. Too many who are involved and embedded in the American Evil and nobody knows how to get out of it. Just saying.
I have known for a long time
I have known for a long time we have a sick culture, Bernie helped show it under the light of day, but still, so many Americans are just now waking to this reality, and others enjoy it, or they support it as their stability in chaotic times, yet they see not how our sick society has made the chaos. Thanks for voicing it Steve
So long, and thanks for all the fish
"Deep State"
For what it's worth, Michael Lofgren's book, "Deep State" was released this year and it exposes who really yields power in D.C. Lofgren concentrates on 3 areas: the military-industrial complex, Silicon Valley, and Wall Street. He explains how these institutions interact with government officials, which results in a failure of the constitution and a shadow government. Lofgren provides a little history of events and paints a convincing picture of the American Empire. I hope Lofgren's next book takes on the media, who have been complicit in all of this. Thanks, Steve D, for your excellent essay.
This They Depend On
We live in such and "Emperor has no clothes" world any more. Reagan really drove that home, people lapped it up.
There were times in human existence when freedom broke out all over the place. So, how did "they" control it? The same way they always do: they co-opted it, wittingly and otherwise.
Today the exalted is brought low and the low is exalted.
For my part, I try to study history. Trust me, a citizen of Persia at the time of the mongol hordes would trade place with most of us! It helps me maintain my sanity - your video appealed to me as very, very sane; scary that! - and put things in perspective.
How bad is our "Game of Thrones" today? IMO not as bad as the HBO series, but the really sad part is when you realize what might have been, and what still could be.
What still could be. I think that's what keeps me going: aye, there's the rub!
Nice videoblog, is that what they call it?
Bernie is a win-win.