On Bullshit and Bullshit Detectors
NOTE: The following is not aimed at anyone at Caucus99percent. I'd say the audience here is considerably more immune to bullshit than most – not that any of us are entirely immune. Some bullshit is obvious and some is sneaky – but it's every-fucking-where. This is just a riff on the subject. I'm publishing it here in the spirit of a Public Service Announcement...or for some other reason I can't remember.
We live in a time of explosive growth in the rate at which new knowledge is acquired and applied. It's changing our world profoundly, sometimes in ways we don't understand and at speeds that often defy expectations. It could end up being our salvation or our doom. It's still too early to say...let's say.
How bizarre is it that an explosion of knowledge would be accompanied by, rivaled by, an explosion in expensively produced and prettily packaged bullshit?
“Bullshit is the glue that binds this nation together.” ~ George Carlin
Today, for every ounce of hard earned knowledge, there is a virtual metric ton of bullshit. For every individual or organization trying to tell us the truth, there is an army of others trying to deceive, mislead, confuse and cram their bullshit down our throats. Truth telling is a dying art. Bullshit is a trillion dollar industry.
With the constant shitstorm of lies, propaganda, misinformation, disinformation, ignorance, confusion and general lunacy, who's to say what's real anymore?
Russians!
Terrorists!
WMDs!
China!
Iran!
The Axis of Evil!
What better way to hide blatant crimes than to bury it under a mountain of bullshit? The entire American political class has been propagandizing, gas-lighting and shamelessly conning the all-but-defenseless public for decades. The average citizen with no influence, no power and no recourse is the perfect victim for their crimes. Ah, but citizens have the power of the vote, you might say, but in an easily hackable system that offers nothing honest or genuine to vote for and no way to accurately verify the vote count, a vote is meaningless.
If everybody would just vote, people say. For what? For whom? If everybody votes but we have nothing but corrupt and dishonest scoundrels to vote for, how does that help? With gerrymandering, easily hackable electronic voting machines, Citizens United, Super Delegates, the electoral college, etc. our electoral system is FUBAR.
"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman
Elect a black liberal and see if anything changes. We did and it didn't. Between the rogue outlaw Bush administration and the Obama administration, virtually nothing changed. What changes did take place were mostly around the edges. Bushco got a pass for lying the country into a phony war and for torturing countless helpless souls, some of them to death, the wars still raged, the looting of the nation by Wall Street and the 1% never missed a beat. When Occupy Wall Street tried to stand up to the 1% for the rest of us, they were crushed by a coordinated campaign of police violence that came straight from the Obama White House. Even the ACA (Obamacare) left our hideous for-profit health care nightmare fully intact with Big Insurance, Big Pharma and Medicine, Inc. firmly in charge. American citizens are still being screwed every day by our heartless and predatory medical system.
We are at war around the world, they keep passing tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires and taking it out of the hides of the suffering masses. The criminal 1% keep getting away with their blatant crimes against humanity, the Wall Street bankers continue to gorge on the nation's carcass while the fossil fuel monsters drill everywhere while plotting against renewable energy, climate action, reason and sanity.
My simple point is that we all need to raise our game when it comes to bullshit detection. Without sufficient effort there, any one of us could easily end up falling for somebody's bullshit. It's everywhere. The mass media are rife with it. Our political system is eaten up with it. Our culture oozes it. And it's poisonous.
Everywhere you look: distraction, denial and outright lies. As though lying to the people is the birthright of politicians, political parties, Generals, bankers, media empires and corporations.
Some liars are slicker and more convincing than others, some lies are more egregious and/or harmful than others, but liars are liars. Lying is the new normal and that's horrifying. Our politicians now have public and private views: one for the Goldman Sachs crowd and one for the rubes, one for the Military Industrial Complex and one for the people being cheated out of health care, safety, education, infrastructure, pensions, living wages, peace, equity, justice and a reasonable existence.
Many people don't want to face reality (hard to blame them, it's ugly) and many others don't want us to know what reality is (since clarity could bring their gravy train to a jarring halt).
“If the American people ever find out what we have done, they would chase us down the street and lynch us.” -George HW Bush
“See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.” ~ George W. Bush
"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media." -- William Colby
Hillary Clinton told top banking executives that she has “both a public and a private position” on Wall Street reform and is reliant on wealthy donors to fund her campaign, leaked excerpts of the former first lady’s speeches seem to show, fueling claims of hypocrisy on the part of Mrs. Clinton...
In the realm of the hideously rich, a thick protective layer of bullshit is necessary to continue the myth that it's okay for the few to have obscenely more than the many. That the suffering masses must bear the cost of the over-indulgence of the hyper-privileged few. That we absolutely MUST cut Medicare, Social Security, food stamps, etc. because we MUST now pay for the tax-cuts for millionaires and billionaires that congress had no choice but to pass.
Papa needs a brand new gold-plated yacht, so let the suffering suffer. What could be uglier than selfishness in the face of suffering?
The pathology of the hideously rich is so blatantly unjust that it must be protected by lies and confusion, and since they own the media, the lies come fast and furious. And they come from everywhere. This period in history may someday be referred to as the Golden Age of Bullshit (either that or the Age of Forever War). Someone actually trying to tell us the truth is what is shocking these days. Just ask Julian Assange, Edward Snowden or Chelsea Manning.
So when you hear talk of wars, nukes, military rivals, terrorism, immigrants, machine guns for teachers or any other insane rightwing or neoliberal talking point, tune up your bullshit detectors because assholes are hard at work trying to lull us into believing their cynical, cruel-hearted, self-serving bullshit. And it's killing us. Literally killing us. Not to mention so many others around the world.
These greedy assholes are trashing a perfectly good planet and slaughtering innocents by the millions. And they will keep doing it until we make them stop.
My advice is don't choose teams. Don't get sucked into the bullshit trap of groupthink. Do not accept untruths because it's easy or comfortable or buys you membership in a group. Question everything and think for yourself always.
And always push for peace. Every human being on the planet deserves to live in peace.
What we need right now is more people thinking harder and clearer than ever before so that we might stand some small hope of meeting our most pressing existential challenges, which will involve overcoming a shit ton of ignorance and bullshit. Let's fight for science, education, truth and knowledge.
So tune up your bullshit detectors and put on your bullshit stomping boots, because only the clear-eyed truth can set us free.
Down with bullshit. For ever and ever. Amen.
Fight the bullshit!
Comments
Hey everybody.
Well, good morning to you!
Wonder if we will ever get the explanation for Poppy's statement.
I am headed to Russia in May, might try to suggest to the locals I am Canadian. A good kind of bull shit.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
@on the cusp @on the cusp Good morning.
Good morning. Said to be a reference to Iran/Contra (I believe). Some say he never said it, but I believe he did. And whether he did or not, I believe it's true. Nice to see you too.
Have a great trip, eh. (-;
Don't mention Canada. They've gone full McCarthy
Here's a cartload of unadulterated bullshit from the Canadian anti-Russian Maclean's (it's Canada's version of the CIA run Newsweek).
Speaking of smear jobs, have a smell of this shit-stain:
Here's the scoop on Freeland. This kind of news gets almost zero coverage in the Canadian press.
@CB Desperate clandestine
Desperate clandestine war?
Why don't we just mark all news on this continent PROPERTY OF LANGLEY and be done with it?
Apologies to the Mexicans, who may not yet be subject to this crap.
"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
@CB
And RUSSIA!!! will be the excuse for cheating the Cons back in, or for retaining Trudeau's excellent stand-in-corporate-Liberals for them, I suppose. Probably the latter, going by InJustice Trudont's actions in earning his unjust rewards at the cost of everyone else in the country, (barring a relative few hyper-wealthy, of course,) there and with the betrayal of Canadians to the multitude of corporate coups, including the TPP, he's been 'legitimating' and a bunch of other depressing and life-dooming stuff...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
What a Jewish Ukrainian-Russian told me about Bush
This guy came to American near end of Soviet times. He and wife made big money on real estate--he was formerly a physics teacher. And he became a republican--just pure business for him. He said that people outside the States really like individual Americans regardless of the political leadership. But what he feared in the second term is that people would turn on Americans because of the bullshit Bush was doing around the world. People I read who know Russia have said right now the mood among Russians is utter bewilderment at the Russian hysteria. With increased sanctions and Russians being killed in Syria, don't know how long that will last.
Heard in passing a Russian joke. After the fall of the Soviet Union Russians realized what Pravda told them about their country was a lie. But everything it said about the West was true.
Hey, that’s what people say in former East Germany, too. n/t
Just like RT today!
Just like RT today! Except, of course, that RT's accuracy reporting on Russia is better than the old Pravda's ever was.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
@on the cusp If I were going, I
If I were going, I would want them to know I'm American, because I want them to know not everybody over here is full of shit.
"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
They know.
They know. And every time a real American visits, they learn it again.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
I will also be in Russia
I will be in Moscow from mid March to mid June. I would not go as a Canadian. They have a large Ukrainian diaspora and are currently choking on unbridled Russophobia. I have always been treated kindly by Russians in Russia. They are a bit cold until you start talking. They like Americans, but are both confused, bewildered and now getting angry at the US establishment and media. They know US politics far better than we know Russian politics. Cable TV in Moscow has news channels from all around the world, including CNN. I have had many good conversations on politics with Russians that I met. Be a bit assertive to get it started and prepare for a very good conversation with a very knowledgeable person. Ask your Russian friend what he thinks of Vladimir Putin and be prepared for an incredibly positive response. His approval rating ranges between 85 and 90% and that is definitely not from propaganda. They love him for the great things that he has done for Russia, and for being the great statesman that they perceive. For me, this was at first a huge shock, as everyone in the US, even Progressives, will bash him or faintly praise him. The truth in Russia is the exact opposite. Enjoy the completely different attitude!
I will continue to read and post on C99 while I am in Moscow.
Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.
I usually try to establish that I am a "thinking American".
Where I tend to have the best chats is with wait staff at the bars. I tip well.
I have been to numerous countries in central Europe that greatly admire Putin. I recall Putin tee shirts everywhere in Serbia.
I am so excited about going there!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
@on the cusp
Alas, the Canadians are no longer good guys; the Koch brothers and others running the Canadian government, (and the CSIS apparently helpfully started with the aid of the CIA) have Canadian military shamefully involved in the invasion/war crimes of Syria and the disgusting anti-Russia mess, that illustrating why I believe that this global issue has to be tackled at source: the US/European billionaires/corporate interests and others conspiring at the global military/corporate hostile take-over in progress...
On the other hand, the Russian people overall are, as far as I've read, savvy enough to know that American/Canadian citizens have absolutely no control over the interlopers forming what passes for our respective governments...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Hey OPOL
Good to see you.
Hope life is treating you well.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
@Steven D Life and I are not on
Life and I are not on the best of terms, never have been...still, can't complain. Hope all is well with you.
How about an amen from the audience?
AMEN!
The thing to remember about bullshit is it can be used to fertilize the garden. Doesn't work too well in brains...tends to rot them.
The poor state of media, the so called fourth estate, propagates the bullshit. Governments, like individuals, such be examined for their actions not their rhetoric. In the case of the US, 1000 plus military bases all over the world, 7 concurrent hot wars and many more covert ones, prisons over crowded with mainly poor people of color, and on and on. America is great isn't it?
Great to "see" you OPOL. Thanks for the essay!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
@Lookout Thanks, Lookout. Good to
Thanks, Lookout. Good to see you too.
Shorter OPOL
It's always great to read one of his essays.
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma
The Gospel According to OPOL
I give you an Amen and raise you a Hallelujah!!
Even here on C99 I've noticed a small number of posters who are seemingly and stealthfully propping up the President Shithole and Repub party lines. Sorry to the good people that this offends. Just consider it an opinion, and read with a Discerning Eye folks.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
@Citizen Of Earth Thanks CoE.
Thanks CoE.
You have to admit that with President Shithole
at least you know you are being fed a shit sandwich.
BTW, my aging eyes are finding it increasingly difficult to discriminate between party lines. They're kinda blurry and tend to switch back and forth at different times.
@CB
Well, they did pull up the (survival-at-)stakes supposedly separating the cesspools...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
I would say we elected a black corporatist
though he did campaign as a liberal . . . right before letting Citibank pick his cabinet. And we already know the rest of the story.
And yet most Dems still love Obama
They look right past all his Neoliberal bullshit. He was an asshole. But he was THEIR Asshole, so it's all good.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
You forgot his neocon bullshit
He allowed them to move into the back bedrooms at the WH with the assistance of his first SoS. It appears that under the Trumpeter they have just moved back into the basement.
@CB
I suppose it's easier to import more visible hell from down there...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
AFTER Obama was first elected--just shortly before his
first inauguration, in fact, he gave WAPO an interview in which he promised to cut "entitlements." Shortly after he first took office, he stated that he was a New Democrat. Those were only a couple of things he forgot to mention during the 2007 to 2008 primary season, when he pretended to be well to the left of alt neoliberalcon Hillary. Turned out, he was with Her!
Another thing he forgot to mention then--that if he had been in the US Senate for the Iraq War vote, he probably would have voted for it, much as his future Secretary of State had. In fact, he forgot to mention that, if elected, he'd make a neocon warmonger with a negative amount of people skills his Secretary of State.
Another thing he forgot to mention then--even though he campaigned on no individual mandate and a strong a public option, he didn't really much care about either of those things. In truth, the only thing he really cared about was becoming President. And, if that weren't bad enough, he would treat America to eight years of amateur hour, blowing his first two years--despite incredible Democratic control of Congress--and being all but a lame duck for the remaining six.
Oh, and Rahm Emanuel would be his chief of staff, spearheading initial negotiations with Big PHRMA, big medical providers, etc.
One of the most deceptive Presidential candidates ever. But young, athletic, nice-looking, great smile, great family life, not embarrassing like Trump, etc. And that's where the bar is anymore. Poor homely, gangly, terribly-dressed Lincoln would never have been able to become President these days, much less George "Wooden Dentures" Washington, paralyzed FDR, etc.
But those White House photo diaries at TOP were *so* lovely …
>sigh<
And those first two years? It seemed as soon as someone expressed any kind of doubt, someone else would jump in and post the Obama “Chill the f~~~ out — I got this” meme in reply.
How about "He's playing forty-two dimensional chess and you're
capable only of checkers?" And, "He can't do that now. He has to get re-elected. Just wait until his second term." And, "Everyone knows Obamacare isn't perfect. It will be improved over time, like Social Security."
BTW, when did "He as to get re-elected" become a justification for not doing one's duty? As if re-election is guaranteed anyway. And improving Obamacare over time wasn't even a dream.
I remember Jon Stewart being interviewed during Obama's first term. He was asked how he thought Obama was doing. And Stewart said something like, "Either he is a Jedi master, operating on a level we can't even comprehend or this thing is kicking his ass."
Playing dimensional chess
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
you guys are way too hard on Obama, a good man
you expect him to fix everything when he's only been in office 8 years and now out for 1+.
/s
that is to say, we realized by Feb. 2009 he wasn't doing right and got told we were expecting too much, too soon. Small consolation but good for us to have figured it out so quickly. (I know some saw through him pre-election)
Sadly, I did not see through him until well after I sank a
ton of money and many volunteer hours into his campaign.
I had grown up believing that electing Democrats was all that I had to worry about; and I didn't begin paying closer attention to politics than that until around 2004. So, Obama was a big eyeopener for me.
During his second term he was unable to appoint a
Supreme Court justice. How’s that for re-elected power? That’s some deep bullshit.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
The Supreme Court is hearing a very important case
about unions and if it goes the wrong way, kiss them goodbye. Obama had lots of ways he could have gotten his weak pick Garland on the court, yet he refused to do it. If he had made a recess appointment, Garland would be hearing the case, not Gorusch. I think that Obama and McConnell made a deal. Obama would play bipartisanship with the republicans and they would block the things that both of them didn't want passed. Why else would he have kept trying to work with them after they said they wanted to make him a one term president?
Now that the shoe is on the other foot, the democrats are willing to work with Trump and saying that they'll willing to give him a chance? Kabuki bullcrap
(autocorrect wanted to type bull raped)
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
@snoopydawg
Maybe autocorrect has a point and that AI thing's progressing to the point of commentary?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
I think Gorsuch is bullshit
The way Merrick was shut out was bullshit.
Beware the bullshit factories.
That was amateur hour--unless Obama didn't give enough of a crap
about the seat anyway. He didn't even try to stir up the public about it very much.
Was Garland a Democrat, anyway? I read that he was essentially a pro-choice Republican--and imma quibble spme with the "pro-choice" portion of that description. According to the Supreme Court, women have a limited right of reproductive choice. As a federal lower court judge, Garland had no choice but to follow the Roe v. Wade line of cases.
@Lily O Lady
There had long been an emergency state regarding the lack of Judges within the generally American Court system, which had been building for some time, as I was reading some years back. The plan was evidently to appoint a massive load of corporate judges at various levels who would reliably rule against against the public good, at some strategic point which I suspect has arrived; haven't looked into it for some time and dunno if that backlog's being quietly filled now or at some point in the interim, but that would certainly explain rather a lot of unlikely judgments/over-turnings of sensible ones.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
so lovely
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Well, 'chill out' was certainly appropriate
considering how thoroughly the public interest continued to be frozen out...
And 'I got this' was probably just explaining that he'd taken it all away for Those Who Actually Matter to do with as they will.
In some sense, perhaps he was an 'honest politician' in merely allowing us to con ourselves into believing he meant something he didn't.
After all, 'it takes a thief to catch a thief', 'you have to know the rules before you can safely break them' and perhaps it takes a Constitutional scholar and a Community Organizer to understand how to steal the final vestiges of citizen's rights while convincing the public that he must know what he was doing and must therefore want to do the right thing. At least he was less rabidly psychopathic than Secretary of State Hillary and did place some restraints on her bloodthirsty tendencies, and I must give him that. Even if he did also take a lot that wasn't his to dispose of.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
I can't seem to shake a nagging feeling that Obomber was
specially groomed for the job.
John Pilger had him pegged from the start.
Published on Aug 15, 2009
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=_3hZjwWe6Rc]
Someone I posted with on another board (not Kos) thought
Obama's maternal grandfather was an undercover agent. IOW, that Obama's Presidwency was planned out when Obama was born, maybe even earlier. My mind doesn't work that way.
I don't believe anything was planned when Obama was a child
But, if his father was indeed a CIA agent in Kenya, this would give an opening for Obama to get a CIA job with Business International Corporation in 1983.
When Obama eventually entered politics in 1996, I'm sure the CIA would have taken note due to his previous contacts with them. BTW, almost all CIA officers have been recruited from universities right from the start of the organization. There has always been a fairly tight relationship between presidents and the CIA - Family Jewels.
I don't think the CIA had a direct hand in Obama's election but they certainly wouldn't have opposed him. One can never have enough friends in high places when running for President.
Maybe we will find out the truth in 50 or so years. Still waiting for the full Kennedy story.
Two fleeting details along the way
His keynote address at the 2004 Democratic Convention had a lot of strange gravity about it. I got the message then he was the next President. A lot of people did. Yet it was the first time most ever saw him.
Somewhere along the way, I ran across an article from the NYTimes. It was an historic clip announcing Obama's Law Review Presidency or his graduation from Harvard. Again, it struck me as odd that this was featured. Lots of people go to Harvard. The Dean was being interviewed about it, and I recall him mentioning the US Presidency as a possibility.
The Republicans reacted to his presidency like insane people. Just exactly the way the Democrats are reacting to Trump. It's all so symmetrical.
Populations don’t like wars. They have to be lied into it.
That means we can be “truthed” into peace. — Julian Assange
He DID come out of nowhere
After his speech at the convention everyone was saying that he was the next president. One speech was all he needed to do. This reminds me of Her thinking that she didn't have to work for her votes. Just show up at the convention and be coronated.
I like the description of his being a lame duck president for 6 years. This sure fits.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Or his mom. Ford Foundation, the Geithners, etc.
I think you are right
After the dumb shrub's administration destroyed all checks and balances, the PTB knew that people would fall all over a person who was offering everything 180 degrees from him. Enter the charming black dude who has a charming family who then tells people what they are dying to hear and whola! That person can do the same things that the shrub was doing, but with a smile, and people would give him a pass on it. This is exactly what happened during his tenure. Next follow him up with someone like Trump and people will wish that the charming black guy who destroyed Libya and caused so, so much more deaths in the Middle Eastern sandbox was back in office. Not to mention all of his economic policies that left this country in worse conditions. Oh there mind games.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
The rabble in the streets were getting aroused after Bush's
two terms that ended in an economic disaster for them. They needed to be placated so they would put down their torches and pitchforks.
The ruling class was desperate for a silver tongued devil to appease the hoi polloi. It worked in spades. Obama even managed to set in stone all those Bush policies that had got them all riled up in the first place. Obama should have got an Oscar instead of that paid-for Nobel Peace Prize - it would have made more sense.
There is a lesson to be learned here. Never let a President play 11th-dimensional chess with your brains - it scrambles them.
@CB Obama made it
Obama made it immoral and wrong to honestly exercise critical thinking skills. The moral thing to do was cheer.
"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
This cannot be emphasized enough
We saw it every day at dkos.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
@snoopydawg This person ain't
This person ain't giving him a pass. For some reason people don't get how fucking disrespectful it is to give somebody a pass because they're Black.
"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
he WAS Her
Turned out, he was Her! EEEuuuuwwwww!!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
@thanatokephaloides In the same way, as
In the same way, as you said, "Trump IS Hillary. Hillary IS Trump."
Except for managerial style and public speaking, they are all interchangeable.
"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
Trump IS Hillary
And, as I said, eeeuuuuwwwww!!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Always good to see a post from you.
Look no further than Flawer'Duh if you want to see this kind of pathology in action.
Disability services are cut to nothing (almost), employment opportunities are non-existent unless you go into service or retail, both of which offer hideously low wages in this state, retirement and other benefits constantly slashed at every opportunity, especially during Voldemort's 2 disastrous terms, crumbling infrastructure except for Themeparklandia (Disney, Universal, etc.) and the list goes on.
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.
Apart from trying my best not to add to the bs, I have no
idea how to fight it.
@HenryAWallace The only way to stop a
The only way to stop a bad guy with BS is a good guy with BS...or is that truth? I forget.
In the case of Obama, a bad guy with bs picked up where
another bad guy with less bs had left off. Same as when Clinton succeeded Bush 41. That's been America's problem--going from one bad guy to another, with the degree of bs being a variant.
@HenryAWallace I believe it is important
I believe it is important to maintain some space where accuracy and integrity are still valued. It is frightening how few such spaces there are, and how perplexed most people are when you use basic integrity, honesty, and critical thinking skills in conversation.
"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
Often beyond perplexed--angry.
We move into a time of action.
Words may not suffice. There may be some comfort or discomfort in them as a mirror to the status quo. The current structure if our lives and civilization "works" because a lot of people like me still want to work and eat and have some sort of living arrangement even if there is repression. Because of American hegemony we are some of the most feared and biggest killers on the planet. We are more fortunate than some but our position comes with a lot of bullshit. The status quo will irreversibly break sometime in the future (it's inevitable given climate change) and then we enter the TUMULT. Armor up! That doesn't mean buy guns it means put on your armor. It's going to be a rough ride!
Thanks for this, OPOL...sharing
Another excellent essay, Randy! Very timely, too. The bullshit is very deep these days, and a whole lot of our fellow citizens are neck deep in it. Almost no one is completely immune, either, since the truth is sometimes pretty hard to discern. Thanks for the good read and keep these essays coming!
@stagehand099 Thanks, brother.
Thanks, brother.
Ah, OPOL, thanks and Amen, it always gives me some
hope finding people who can write like you and tell us as it is or should be.
That was some needed honey to my aching pains. Thank You.
A problem though, where do I get the best bullshit detector on the market? Mine always gets clogged with something. Sigh.
Please write something more often. It's good for some folks, who are inclined to 'give up'.
@mimi lol - I know what you
lol - I know what you mean, mimi. My bs detector is also constantly getting clogged up. Hard not to get overwhelmed by the enormity of the bs these days. ALways nice to hear from you.
Thanks OPOL!
Yes, this latest gun fight surely obfuscates some news, or non-news per MSM, which I think is important to note that is happening. West Virginia Teachers are fighting back! According to this Article it's in its 3rd day. Way to stand up WV Teachers! We need more of this on a larger level IMHO.
https://www.salon.com/2018/02/26/west-virginias-teacher-walkout-will-con...
O.k. When is the next meeting for the revolution?
-FuturePassed on Sunday, November 25, 2018 10:22 p.m.
As an expert at bullshit detection, primarily because I think
everything is bullshit until proven otherwise, I concur with this approach.
@Big Al That's probably the best
That's probably the best way to look at it: bs until proven otherwise. Thanks, Big Al.
Absolutely right on. But bullshit stays warm a long time.
It takes some effort to keep the perspective that it is all bullshit until proven--but it is th4e only one for these times. For example, people threw in my face that Mueller indicated 13 Russians. While the bullshit is laying there exuding steam, the bullshit detectors are on the case, but it takes time to figure out the bullshit. It was a few days later that the Russian journalist who wrote about the troll farm way before the Western press took it up said that one of the indicted Russians hadn't t worked for the troll farm since 2014 and some of the others were not active during the US elections. So looking at maybe only 9 doing any posting. Nine Russians ruined American democracy?"??? Russians were for Jill Stein!!! Really just one posting?
what really ruins American democracy...
The Palmer Report:
'The same purist progressive dipshit nihilist asswipes who helped usher Trump into power are now trying to hand Dianne Feinstein’s seat to a Republican. When are we going to do something about the mentally deranged purist phychos of the left? They’re killing the left.'
apparently this guy needs a civics class so he can learn how the system works. And so do lots of other people who believe we must not question, we must accept.
Amazing. Stay with status quo or else.
Hand it over to the gop? ah they mean hand it over to another republican.
@Shahryar Right on.
Right on.
Thanks OPOL.
Shared to FB.
This shit is bananas.
Thanks for that, OPOL
Obviously, you're still pissed off. Great piece, exacting criticism.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
On target, as usual, OPOL.
The only reason I rely so heavily on c99p is exactly outlined in your essay. It's the only place I can come to get truth. Most of us here can cut through any bs offered by anyone here who brings bs. We are adept at recognizing it. That said, we need constant reminders, which you have successfully outlined.
It is getting deeper, these days, like quicksand, so we must continue to up our game. Please keep bringing game plans to us - we must all get better at the game than them.
Warm regards to you, OPOL. Hope the world is treating you well.
"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
@Raggedy Ann Thanks, RA. Warm regards
Thanks, RA. Warm regards back.
Carlin always: “The best thing you can tell a kid in this
country is that a whole lotta bullshit is coming your way that needs to be detected and avoided.“
He's the Sage, as far as I'm concerned. A very famous and successful artist who used his platform properly. Not many, if any, are speaking that kind of truth to power anymore. Not with that cogency, fearlessness and sharp biting truths.
Just found this quote in the comments section of the excellent Jimmy Dore interview with Caitlin Johnstone about her new book, attributed to Terence Mckenna, which really spoke to me:
"The artist’s task is to save the soul of mankind; and anything less is a dithering while Rome burns. Because of the artists, who are self-selected, for being able to journey into the Other, if the artists cannot find the way, then the way cannot be found.”
Yes, OPOL, as you quote from St. George, "bullshit is the glue that keeps this country together.
Here's the rest of that brilliant piece if folks are interested:
And further to that point says,
To me the propaganda bullshit starts the day you enter kindergarten. One of the first things you're told to memorize, goes like this, "Repeat after me: I Pledge Allegiance, to the flag..."
It's all downhill from there. We're put in place for a relentless firehosing with American Exceptionalism and the false idea of material wealth misconstrued as the American Dream (which incidentally for me is probably his best piece).
"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
^^^ This comment^^^
is worthy of an essay itself. Great comment!
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
St. George, indeed.
Great post as always.
freakin' Carlin goes from comic genius to sainthood - well deserved - for being able to see thru the steam from the bull$h!t and communicating what he sees to the rest of us. Gone too soon, I'd pay $200 to catch one of his live shows today, were he still with us. Of course, these days he'd likely be shot on stage by Deep State. "show's over, folks. forget what you heard here." St. George indeed.
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.
Sri George Carlin
Even though he and I have had our differences (I'm a Steely Dan fan and he decidedly wasn't) we agree on all fundamentals. I miss him.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
@Mark from Queens Awesome. Thanks.
Awesome. Thanks.
Bullshit?
You mean like this:
I can just see it now: Trump rushes in and with a jump flying spinning back kick gets the perp square in the temple with a bone spur. President 'Bone Spur' Superhero!
Thanks man.
he
would subdue the shooter with his micropenis, and his desert-dome.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHbjIFTyLws]
@JtC Having come of age
Having come of age during the Vietnam war era, I don't consider it a bad thing to avoid service in an unjust and immoral war, but when I hear old 5-Deferments going on about how brave he would be under fire, I can't help but be astonished at the outrageous hypocrisy. Yeah, he's a big brave badass...right?
Right on both counts...
"Having come of age during the Vietnam war era, I don't consider it a bad thing to avoid service in an unjust and immoral war"
I turned 18 in '72, my Random Sequence Number was 018, I was a goner. The draft ended 9 months after my birthday. I didn't hear anything from them.
-and-
"but when I hear old 5-Deferments going on about how brave he would be under fire, I can't help but be astonished at the outrageous hypocrisy. Yeah, he's a big brave badass...right?"
Some folks say that our last pres was The One, nope, Donnie is The One. Just ask him, he'll tell you.
@JtC Sadly, this will now
Sadly, this will now make criticisms of the police unpalatable because Trump also criticized them, in a typically egotistical and stupid way. Then those of us who are critical of the police will be called far-right Trump-supporting racists.
"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
Bullshit
Trump would be pushing kids out of the way trying to get himself out of there before his narcissistic self got hurt.
Beware the bullshit factories.
Excellent essay, OPOL
Every time, we give up our own critical thinking skills and turn them over to someone else, we are giving up our own free choice. Tribalism works to keep us divided against ourselves. Part of becoming red pilled is to recognize who and what are our real enemies. We must open our minds to all sources of information and then use our critical thinking skills to discern what is right and what is bullshit. As Big Al said, most of it is bullshit, so we must be prepared to wade through the muck of it all to find the truth.
I am a firm believer that the world is not all black and white, but is shades of grey. Within those shades of grey are the nuggets of truth. We must work hard to ferret out the truth and then help others to see it. It is hard work, but if we are to survive as a species and a society, we must first seek the truth wherever we may find it. IMHO, that means we must first be willing to give up tribalism.
Here is something I posted on another essay yesterday. It is not as eloquent as your essay, OPOL. But I believe it is in the similar vein.
I followed that up with this comment later.
Thank you again for this wonderful essay. I hope we will see more from you in the near future.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
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