Caitlin Johnstone emails me almost everyday. She always asks for her work to be shared freely. So this one is for her.
Talkin’ About Armageddon: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix
Listen to a reading of this article: https://soundcloud.com/going_rogue/talkin-about-armageddon
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The fact that our world is hurtling toward man-made obliteration on multiple fronts should probably occupy more of our conversational bandwidth than it does.
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My basic overall position is that humanity is about to end itself via climate chaos or nuclear war due to global capitalism and oligarchic imperialism, that propaganda prevents people from rising up to stop this, and our only path out is a mass-scale psychological transformation.
If you've ever been curious why I don't write more about this or that subject, it's usually because the above is my area of focus. Everything I write points to this in some way. That's what I do here.
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There are a lot of narratives circulating about what's really happening between the US and China and whether the aggressions are actually as dangerous as they seem, and all of these narratives are rendered moot by the undeniable buildup of US military weaponry around China.
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If you're more concerned about China's domestic affairs than your own country's aggressive foreign policy toward China it's because you've been propagandized. Change your media consumption habits accordingly.
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Not even the craziest imperialists want a hot war with China. They'd much rather China to bow and be absorbed into the US-centralized empire as so many other nations before, or to collapse and fragment after a decades-long subversion campaign à la the USSR. In that order.
The empire will happily make life miserable for Chinese people in coming decades to pressure Beijing into accepting that it's in the people's interests that the PRC kiss the ring. The problem of course is that China will be resisting these maneuvers in ways that can easily blow up in catastrophic ways. It's entirely possible for any of the planned escalations and proxy conflicts geared toward undermining nuclear-armed China to provoke a response which causes a chain reaction from which there is no return.
A simple miscommunication, misfire or weapons malfunction could do it. In a steadily intensifying "great power competition" that imperialists are saying will likely consume the entire 21st century, that's a lot of chances for something to go catastrophically wrong. We repeatedly came close to this happening in the last cold war.
And none of this insane brinkmanship is necessary. There's no reason the US and China can't simply get along and work toward the benefit of the world together. The only obstacle to this is a few western imperialists deciding US unipolar hegemony must be preserved at all cost. There's no legitimate reason the life of every terrestrial organism must be gambled over some moronic geostrategic agenda which benefits none of us, just because a few people with too much power got some idiotic ideas between their ears.
Don't consent to the new cold war. They're working so hard to manufacture the consent of the public for this bullshit because they require that consent. So don't give it to them. Fight the unleashing of this omnicidal horror every step of the way.
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This is an illegitimate military occupation made possible by a CIA-backed coup in 1975 and is being escalated in a move that was shoved through without Parliamentary debate. I as an Australian do not consent to this illegitimate occupation. #YankeeGoHome #auspol https://t.co/GAXomjtyvz
— Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ (@caitoz) September 17, 2021
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"Why is there a labor shortage?"
There's not a labor shortage, there's a paying people enough to live shortage.
"So people aren't coming to work because they're tired of being robbed by the boss?"
Yep. The problem with capitalism is you eventually run out of other people's money.
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Most of us intuitively understand that our true enemies are the powerful and not other rank-and-file members of the public, and most of us immediately forget this understanding the instant we log on to social media.
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You don't own your comrades. A lot of people will get angrier about a political ally disagreeing with them on one percent of total issues than a political enemy disagreeing with them on 99 percent.
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Most people navigate social interactions like novice poker players: they bluff the opposite of whatever hand they're holding. If they feel inferior they act superior. If they feel small they act big. If they feel vulnerable they act invincible. If they feel dumb they act like they're smarter than you. Don't buy into their bluffs. Be gentle.
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If you resolve on a deep level to get real with reality, to want the truth at all cost whatever it is, it will turn your life upside down. You'll lose careers, relationships, you'll experience white-knuckle terror. But you'll also give life a chance to astonish you with miracles.
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Science tells us that matter and time don't exist in the way our minds perceive them and what we're actually experiencing are our own conceptual models of something that isn't actually there. So, you know, feel free to change your own story in whatever way works for you and start over whenever you want.
My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around.
by Caitlin Johnstone. https://caitlinjohnstone.com/author/caitlin-johnstone/
