It's not too late to take the blue pill

Let's be honest: reality is hard.
It's difficult doing all your own thinking, and being ostracized for it.
It's much easier to just accept the mainstream consensus on DKos, or MSNBC, or Fox News, or Comedy Central, or wherever.

Just don't pretend you weren't warned.
I'm talking to you, Bernie supporters.

Why Don’t Sanders Supporters Care About the Russia Investigation?

That was an actual NY Times headline from a week ago.
While I'm sure a lot of people have well-researched and thought out reasons for not believing the Russia-hype, I bet a bunch of people don't believe the propaganda for a basic reason:
It smells like bullshit.

The "Aahh! Scary Russia!" has a distinct and unmistakable odor of Grade A cow-droppings, just like the Iraqi WMDs did.
But if you needed a more reasoned argument than that, there is Lee Camp's takedown.

If you needed a more intellectual rebuttal to "Putin Is Under Your Bed! Aahh!", then I suggest Chris Hedges.

It would seem, given how we are locked out of the corporate media and public broadcasting, that the assault is overkill. But the ideology that sustains the corporate state, the “free market” and neoliberalism has lost all credibility. The corporate state has no counterargument to its critics. The nakedness of corporate greed, exploitation and repression is transparent across the political spectrum. The ideological fortress erected by corporate power and sustained by its courtiers in the press and academia has collapsed. All it has left is a crude censorship.
...The charge that RT and these left-wing sites disseminate “foreign propaganda” is the beginning, not the end, of a broad campaign against press freedom. Once this precedent of state censorship is normalized, far more tepid and compliant media outlets will be targeted.

Just like McCarthyism started with a Democratically-controlled House Un-American Activities Committee in 1938, this latest Russia scare has started with Democrats.
Both today's fear-mongering and the one from the 40's are aimed at silencing internal dissent, not at Russia.
In other words, you are the target Bernie Bros.

redblue_pill.jpg

The establishment news media explicitly told us who to vote for.

Among the top 100 largest newspapers in America, just two — the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville — endorsed Trump...
Even Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson has had more success with editorial boards than Trump. This weekend, the Charleston Post & Courier became the fourth paper to back Johnson.

We didn't listen, and this shocked the MSM.
Polls showed that people's trust in the news media has been declining for a long time, but the news media obviously didn't care. They arrogantly disregarded polls that showed Americans are far more likely to believe the ads for the penis enlargement pills and "get rich" investments than the actual news stories in the magazines they are reading.
The MSM took the attitude of the Democrats of "where else are they going to go?"
Like the Democrats, the MSM was legitimately shocked when people flipped them the middle finger and defied them.
Like the Democrats, the MSM decided that an honest investigation into people's lack of faith in their organization wasn't in their interests. Instead they would find a scapegoat.

This has all come about as a panicked reaction to the public no longer buying the bullshit.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans say the mainstream press is full of fake news, a sentiment that is held by a majority of voters across the ideological spectrum.
According to data from the latest Harvard-Harris poll, which was provided exclusively to The Hill, 65 percent of voters believe there is a lot of fake news in the mainstream media.
That number includes 80 percent of Republicans, 60 percent of independents and 53 percent of Democrats.

If TPTB can't sell you crap for truth then they lose control over your mind. Then there is no telling what thought-crimes you might commit.
Their only answer is censorship.

Share
up
0 users have voted.

Comments

Greens

The Green Party racked up several victories in local races in the Nov. 7 general election.

At least 127 Green candidates were on the ballot on Nov. 7, of whom at least 22 were elected. 13 ran for state or federal office, so the municipal victory count is 22 out 114 races. In all 2017 elections (not just Nov. 7), Greens won 44 out of 164 races.

Greens are Russians

Third party candidate Jill Stein was a surprising addition this week to investigators casting an increasingly wide net in the congressional probe into Russian interference in the presidential campaign.
Stein’s name was included in a Senate Judiciary Committee letter requesting all communication between President Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. and a number of others, including Russian officials and other members of Trump’s presidential campaign.
up
0 users have voted.
The Aspie Corner's picture

And that's because those on the right are far easier to manipulate. I suspect that was something the Clintons and the DLC knew all too well.

up
0 users have voted.

Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

Bollox Ref's picture

with just $200,000 of FB ads, just imagine what he could do with $1.2 Billion (see H. Clinton).

Suckerberg & Co. are value for money.

up
0 users have voted.

Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

The Russia lies are aimed at both, greater internal censorship, and setting the stage for more aggression against Russia; even outright war.

up
0 users have voted.

Orwell: Where's the omelette?

@jim p

up
0 users have voted.
Wink's picture

targeted us Berners and Never Hillary voters, well, it's not like we missed the stares and glares. From Day One of Russia-gate I called horse$h!t without knowing all the facts. One does not follow politics for 35 years (Reagan) and not pick up the signs. Russia-gate was clearly a smokescreen. It was just a matter of time before we discovered what was hiding behind the smoke. My first thought was "covering for HRC's humiliating smackdown." That's still my #1, but there were other reasons.
The DNC is still pissed becuz their "Let's Unite!" tour was as sucksesful as HRC's campaign. And, as we all know, the MSM doesn't give a fuck about reality, so... they too sneer at Berners for not following the script everyone else followed. And... if they liked 2016 they're gonna love 2018 where even more "Establishment" candidates take it in the shorts.

up
0 users have voted.

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.

Wink's picture

the blue pill... I think we all know there is no spoon. I'm pretty sure the apocalypse is upon us (if it hasn't already arrived). And will be in our faces sooner rather than later. I just hope I live long enough to help set up what "infrastructure" the 99% needs to survive it. It's a great time to experience this! It's easy to take the blue pill. Please choose the red. We need your help.

up
0 users have voted.

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.

are dire days indeed.

It seems a bit late to be thinking about building parties or who we can "elect" in a completely corrupt system.

The corrruption is now so transparent, perhaps because TPTB are so supremely confident and arrogant, that my cynicism has gone off the rails. If we could even foment a revolution, it seems doomed because it has been anticipated. That is pretty well documented. We'd have to not just be angry, but really really smart with really really good and powerful allies. I'm still working on trying to make my friends understand WHY we should be angry. They are still angry because Hillary lost.

up
0 users have voted.
mimi's picture

because what would happen if a kewl rusky RT journalist would seduce me and I made a US-Russian baby? Where would the world come to?

Thanks for the essay, gjohnsit. I thoroughly enjoyed Lee Camp.

up
0 users have voted.
Raggedy Ann's picture

revolution? That's the pill I want to take and pass out to others. It's our only hope.

up
0 users have voted.

"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

Wink's picture

@Raggedy Ann
to deny reality. The clip above is about a nine year reality worker wishing to return to the days before reality smacked him upside the head. He's tired of reality and wants to "go back" to the days when ignorance was bliss. He's bargaining with the reality PTB for a blue pill trip back to the good ol' days where he will not remember a thing about the reality. Kinda like the Hillaryites. They don't want to hear about reality, just want their Hillary to magically appear as president.
Good movie! Highly recommended.

up
0 users have voted.

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.

Raggedy Ann's picture

@Wink
That's why I need the pill of revolution. Perhaps it's the psychedelic one!

up
0 users have voted.

"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

Meteor Man's picture

@Raggedy Ann @Raggedy Ann
And you get to follow Alice down the rabbit hole!

up
0 users have voted.

"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

Raggedy Ann's picture

@Meteor Man
my favorite color and I oh, so hoped someone would say take the purple pill! Now, if I can only find that darn rabbit hole............

up
0 users have voted.

"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

@Wink Cypher died. He didn't make it back to the safety bubble of the Matrix.

up
0 users have voted.

O.k. When is the next meeting for the revolution?
-FuturePassed on Sunday, November 25, 2018 10:22 p.m.

Centaurea's picture

... is in my siggy.

up
0 users have voted.

"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi

"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone

@Centaurea

up
0 users have voted.
Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

If [the press, working for TPTB] can't sell you crap for truth then they lose [their jobs].

up
0 users have voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

thanatokephaloides's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

What I think is really bothering the press...

If [the press, working for TPTB] can't sell you crap for truth then they lose [their jobs].

And we all know how well honest labor pays these days (not!)

Diablo

up
0 users have voted.

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Anja Geitz's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

Not great news for the peroxide and teeth bleaching business either, eh?

up
0 users have voted.

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

jobu's picture

...that I saw Chris Hedges on TV last night, talking about massive corruption of World Leaders engaged in Arms Sale Bribery?

Apparently I wasn't dreaming. Perhaps as a result of the take down of the Charlie Rose show, a brave PBS producer (probably already given the Donahue treatment by now) aired instead this:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f42ewEFHQnU]

jamess wrote about this here back in early 2016. I had not seen it.

So again, imagine my utter shock at watching this scathing unabashed truth-telling happening on my TV, in prime-time.

The reason for my shock, sadly, is because I believe that in your essay above you have, per usual, very succinctly conveyed the problem before us. TPTB know we know and they aren't even trying to hide it any more. Hence, night after night after night of Reductio ad Putinum. The Big Lie must be told with constancy and force. PBS and NPR have been part and parcel to the telling. To see Shadow World show up on PBS at this time was puzzling, shocking and yes, uplifting. Maybe there are Red Pill People still in places of power to throw monkey wrenches.

up
0 users have voted.
Mark from Queens's picture

@jobu
this last night, as you say.

The scenario you describe, of producers and schedulers maybe finally having an epiphany with help from public pressure/public relations resulting in the Charlie Rose takedown, does bode really well.

There have to be so many potential "Network" moments waiting to happen. To think, how many real investigative journalists ala Greenwald, Fang, Giroux, Monbiot, Hedges, Taibbi, Schahill, etc, at these places filled with the idealism of their calling, are just waiting in the wings, ready to fly with the truth. I'd love to see a few more of them have their moments on live tv, calling out the fraudulent charade for what it is. There were two female reporters (one on CNN and one on RT) who publicly came out to say, in essence, that they couldn't do their jobs the way in which they intended. I think also Dylan Rattigan had a moment, Cenk maybe also (although he seems to have had a bunch of money dangled in front of him, which clearly wars with his conscience, because he does have his of-old moments of clarity about how putrid the whole system is).

The embarrassing retread, lapdog dupes in the MSM are on thin ice, though they don't seem to know it. For anybody like myself, who hasn't watched MSM television in years (and there are more and more of us) and avoids mainstream print also, even a few moments of watching the bottom-feeding of corporate media is disorienting, angering and laughable all at once.

The biggest thing we can keep on about, as I've said over and over, is to get people to make a concerted effort to refuse all corporate media while looking for independent sources.

Propaganda, marketing, disinformation and distraction, the hallmarks of the MSM, are the biggest problem as far as I'm concerned.

That film looks amazing. Gonna look for it now...

up
0 users have voted.

"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

Meteor Man's picture

And The NY Times and CNN and MSNBC. The entire M$M sold us out to the plutocrats and the Duopoly a long time ago. Fortunately we have a few online sites like Dore and Hedges that still speak truth to power. I'm a pessimistic optomist that that the peaceful revolution Bernie kicked off can survive and turn the ship of state around.

up
0 users have voted.

"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

Not Henry Kissinger's picture

As a rising generation of leftists increasingly asserts itself within the Democratic Party — and may, eventually, have the opportunity to shape foreign policy — it must articulate a new approach to Russia consistent with its core values. This approach should be driven neither by the interests of the national security state nor by the energy sector. Instead, it should aim to block Russia’s kleptocratic elite from safeguarding its assets in the United States, to clean up the influence of foreign lobbying on Washington and to shut down tax havens for billionaires everywhere. The investigation into the Trump campaign’s Russia ties provides an opportunity to focus on these issues.

As if the US doesn't have enough of its own kleptocratic elite bribing politicians and hiding assets off shore.

Once that corruption is cleaned up, then maybe I'll worry about some other country's problems.

up
0 users have voted.

The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

"If it doesn't serve the interests of the sponsors, it ain't news".
If MSM sponsors keep wasting their money on "news" (shaping public opinion) that everyone is already hip to (as what may be seen in the coming Alabama special election for US senate), they (MSM sponsors) will start diverting their 'investments' toward lobbying the government to undo net neutrality, so they can 'manage' (censor) online content.
People across the political spectrum really frown on censorship, regardless of whether they agree or disagree with the content being censored. If both major parties continue to promote censorship, that may be enough to get a viable anti-censorship political movement off the ground. We can always hope.

up
0 users have voted.

Mike Taylor