Americans have a bizarre quality now.
The vast majority of them readily acknowledge that their government is corrupt and run by corporations. They know this. Don't you?
However, when they start to think about the actual specifics of it, they switch off this understanding and enter into a fine balance between hopeless limpness and casual optimism. "That's the only way we can get things done." "That's just how the system is." "Well, I think [current politician] will still do a pretty good job." People will actually fight to defend the system and think in the direction of conspiracy theories even when faced with facts like the things I am linking in this post.
The stance, for example, that Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump would try to end government support of war, fossil fuels, or disenfranchisement of the American people directly contradicts American resentment of the 1% and all of the information available about both candidates. More importantly, to pretend that the current system blanketing the United States could be burned away simply by picking the right establishment candidate in a presidential election is childlike. The concept that Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump are diseases rather than symptoms is below average human reasoning.
It is not ignorance. As you can see in the above graph, Americans are well aware that both their government as a whole and both of these wealthy candidates are not trustworthy. And yet people feel incredibly strongly about putting all their hopes into voting against a single lesser evil candidate, as if they forgot that they know factually the entire system is rotten.
They also try to avoid learning new horrors, and to file into the past the worst things they've been forced to hear, like the government's lies for entering the Iraq War, the torture of Guantanamo prisoners, the deliberate US airstrike on Doctors Without Borders, the NSA leaks, the DNC election bias, etc. Americans try to somehow explain away and downplay any proof of serious wrongdoing by their government. This is quite the opposite of the rational reaction, which would be to assume that what we have not found out about government wrongdoings exceeds what we have found -- especially since the government lied in every one of these circumstances.
But then ask them another time, is the government corrupt? "Hell yeah." Is America, which has nearly 800 military bases in 70+ countries, which is the only country in history that has ever dropped nuclear bombs, which has 3x the military budget of any country on earth, indisputably a warlike nation? Are Vietnam and Iraq alone not enough to prove that our government drags us into war for corrupt reasons and commits human rights abuses?
Everything I have referenced is known fact.
How can we explain this contradiction in American thinking?
It's doublethink.
"Doublethink" is a term invented by George Orwell in his famous dystopian book 1984:
"To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which canceled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget, whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again, and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself -- that was the ultimate subtlety; consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed."
The majority of the American public is fully engaging in doublethink.
To know and not know that their government is bombing civilians while providing weapons to their targets to supposedly necessitate the bombing; to be conscious of extensive corporate corruption in their government while insisting individual pawns and players central to that corruption could somehow make everything OK; you can imagine your own take on the rest. Americans know, and the fact that they already know may actually make it more difficult for them to do anything about knowing. 15% of Americans are in poverty and many more are close. 43 million Americans owe a total of 1.3 trillion in student loan debt -- the interest of which mainly goes to fund the federal government, who spends near 600 billion of its budget on further military armaments and endeavors.
"I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. . . We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be.
We know things are bad — worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is: 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.'
Well, I'm not going to leave you alone." - part of the speech from The Network
So after a while, for example like after learning about the DNC corruption, we just shrug and say, "Well, we have to defeat Trump," and go to vote for the "lesser evil" like good obedient citizens. Occupy Wall Street failed, so we write the whole opposition off. We have to stop ISIS, so we buy the notion that more war will do so, rather than ceasing to be the region's major arms supplier for all sides. And then next time, if there's some leak about Democratic or Republican party bias or agenda, the outcry will be even quieter. They know they can get away with it. The corruption is already on full display at websites like opensecrets.org and we've become acclimated to it the same way we've become acclimated to images of bloodied children and reports of beheadings in the Middle East.
Recently, journalist and activist Chris Hedges debated Robert Reich on Democracy Now, saying, "Fear. That is all the Democrats have to offer now and all the Republicans have to offer now." Indeed there cannot possibly be any good argument for continuing to support the exact kind of candidates who are symptoms of a system we openly acknowledge to be opposed to its people's best interests other than some kind of tactic of terrifying people. And that is why our two major party candidates are both incredibly hateful, polarizing humans who require one another to draw in votes. People will not only vote for Trump/Clinton -- they will fight vehemently to convince others that they must do the same to more or less save the nation/world. Hedges responds to a question of which he would vote for were he not supporting Green Party candidate Jill Stein, "I don’t think it makes any difference. The TPP is going to go through, whether it’s Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. Endless war is going to be continued, whether it’s Trump or Clinton. We’re not going to get our privacy back, whether it’s under Clinton or Trump. The idea that, at this point, the figure in the executive branch exercises that much power, given the power of the war industry and Wall Street, is a myth."
I don't remind you of all of this to depress you. On the contrary, I think there is great hope, but it has to be made clear to people in this country that they already know our government has been seized by corporate powers, and that this is the sort of scenario in which citizens are supposed to fight. I don't know why, but protesting and fighting for your country has become devalued. We are at a point now where journalism is so suppressed that hackers are our best journalists; the Obama administration has prosecuted more whistleblowers than all previous administrations combined.
In this kind of environment, someone like Chelsea Manning ought to be a hero just like Edward Snowden is considered by many people to be. She exposed US army targeting of civilians, support of child abuse and trafficking, and more horrors (this is hard to read, but please look at this one). Yet the sensitive and courageous 28-year-old was sentenced to 35 years in prison and currently languishes in solitary confinement as punishment for a recent suicide attempt. Worst of all, most Americans did not actually look at the information she sacrificed her life to provide. More Americans are concerned with whether Manning was a traitor than the information she revealed about their entire government. This is a common diversion tactic that ought to be transparent if people weren't engaging in doublethink with such determination: in the aforementioned interview Hedges says, "I mean, this whole debate over the WikiLeaks is insane. 'Did Russia?'--I’ve printed classified material that was given to me by the Mossad. But I never exposed that Mossad gave it to me. Is what was published true or untrue?"
Chelsea Manning's fate is a mere blip on the radar of a vast government system that has caused countless deaths and horrors, which I hope is becoming clearer and clearer. I am not a conspiracy theorist. I am not linking you to bunk websites. If you take two seconds to clear your mind, it should be obvious that although a lifetime of patriotic propaganda has settled into some parts of you and you don't want to accept all this, you already know it's true that the United States government is evil. Now, "evil" may seem like a strong, melodramatic word. Go look at that link I gave about what Chelsea Manning revealed. That is enough, but you have much, much more information than that.
You know your candidates this year are handpicked elites who will represent the 1% and do the bare minimum required to try to keep you silent. You know your government is a terrible military presence all over the world who supports dictators, bombs innocents, and creates terrorists. You know that almost nothing is being done to try to alleviate the suffering of everyday American people, simultaneously as billions are given to banks and Israel. You know it is a bald-faced lie that doing any better than this for peace, people, and the environment is "unrealistic." It's mentally unsound to think you could possibly fix a system you know is corrupt by picking an insider of that system to represent a portion of that system. You know what this government has become.
Are you going to do a damn thing about it?
Don't tell me it's impossible. If it were impossible, I wouldn't be able to find the information I linked and you wouldn't be able to read this article. More than that -- "impossible" is something human beings only say when they don't care enough to try regardless. If a parent's beloved child is deathly ill or in great danger, the parent doesn't give up just because the odds are poor. "Impossible" is not in the vocabulary then. So if you're thinking it's impossible, what you're really thinking is "what a hassle." If you have a conscience, you can't think "what a hassle" knowing what you know. With climate change alone, even your own way of life is not going to continue smoothly forever. Catastrophes and major wars are not just for history books; they happen continually, soon and in the distant future as well.
"All machines have their friction; and possibly this does enough good to counterbalance the evil. At any rate, it is a great evil to make a stir about it. But when the friction comes to have its machine, and oppression and robbery are organized, I say, let us not have such a machine any longer. . . when. . .a whole country is unjustly overrun and conquered by a foreign army, and subjected to military law, I think that it is not too soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize. What makes this duty the more urgent is the fact that the country so overrun is not our own, but ours is the invading army." - Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience
Thoreau published those words in 1849. Funny how true they remain today.
Activist Mario Savio built on Thoreau's words in 1964 when he said (and I recommend listening to it as that is very different), "There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part. You can't even passively take part! And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it — that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!"
There is a lot of light, spirit, and beauty to be found in rebellion and the freedom of knowing you've opened yourself to accept reality, even if that reality is hard as hell to swallow. I didn't realize this until very recently. I always had trouble with fully acknowledging the reality of my government, just like most of my fellow Americans. I was only able to start waking up recently because I saw a way of doing it that involves joy and love.
This is the 2016 Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein spray painting a piece of construction equipment graffiti'd by Dakota Access Pipeline protestors, "I approve this message."
I have tried to find anything to criticize about this candidate and come up short. So have the major two parties and people who think it is possible to "spoil" candidates who represent a rotten-to-the-core system: the only smear campaign managed has been a readily debunked claim that Harvard graduate and 25-year medical practitioner Jill Stein is "anti-vaccine." Every time a news channel tries to make her look bad in an interview, she demolishes them with a polite smile. (I wrote more about this candidate and the third party spoiler myth here.)
But I link the above video not to get Dr. Stein and the Green Party more exposure, but mainly for the moment where the interviewer asks her how she could handle the scrutiny and physical exertion of being president, and she replies, "It's a 22 hour a day job. It's--In my view it's a wonderful opportunity. You know, I'm a medical doctor and I came to see that if we're going to fix the things that are literally killing us, we have to address our sick political system above all. And I began this process really about 15 years ago, when I was recruited to start running for office by the Green Party, which, lo and behold, I didn't know anything about. It was actually a party that was advancing the same agenda that I was, for people, for an environment, for jobs, for an economy that works for all of us. So, you know, since I've begun this--To me it's a very wonderful, exciting, very healing process by which we get to have a real conversation -- through the Green Party, because we're not funded by the usual predators."
I can tell through her interviews and deep knowledge of the world and US that she is perfectly well aware of everything I wrote here, and much more. She has said she would not only pardon whistleblowers like Snowden and Manning, but put Snowden in her cabinet. She knows all of these horrors. She knows how badly the system is stacked against peace and everyday people. And yet, she can playfully graffiti construction equipment alongside Native American protestors, pluckily protest outside the debates for being disallowed to enter amidst 1,000 armed policemen (after being handcuffed to a chair for eight hours the last time she did so), and make playful jabs like this:
After so much time battling uphill, she remains determined and optimistic. I would say she is a glowing example of how to be an activist without letting the things you are fighting get you down. You can have fun fighting corruption, murder, torture, greed, etc. In fact, I think you must. I think activism is best done with high spirits and joy. You can be horrified by the things you fight and still fight them with a smile.
As you know, America needs a revolution very badly. At the very least, I hope this shakes some people out of their delusional doublethink and encourages them to seek out more hard truths on their own.
But if you can do even a tiny thing to help us get there, please do. That's how it happens. Slavery didn't end with a single movement. Major social movements and protests are not just for history books or foreign countries; they are a vital part of being a good citizen and yes, you, too, might have to end up on the street with a sign in your hands. I have a life, too; I have a job, friends, hobbies, etc. I know these things take effort and/or money. But if you refuse to let your mind dismiss and forget the reality of what you are supporting with your inaction, tax dollars, and purchases, then you will be unable to remain inactive. Remember what you know and don't let yourself hide any longer from the fact that your government has been taken over by corporate powers and is an international terror.
Thoreau also wrote, "How does it become a man to behave toward this American government to-day? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it."
Let's Do This
To get news that tells you what's actually going on, I recommend Democracy Now. They are the only legitimate large-ish US news source I know that is definitely not in the US government's pocket. (All others critical of the US government I've seen are heavily biased/conspiracy theory sites.) There are of course also good journalists, like the aforementioned Chris Hedges or Glenn Greenwald (who released Snowden's information). It's good to look at a broad variety of sources with different biases.
Yes, this is a hassle, too. I know Americans are accustomed to the concept that their government will just chug on and everything will be fine if they ignore it and the world, but being informed is part of being a responsible human being on planet Earth. So find a variety of sources and work on rooting out the truth instead of taking one source or multiple similar sources (i.e., only American/British sources) at their word.
After becoming more informed, you can seek out groups that have noble goals in mind. For me right now, one of these groups is the Green Party. I strongly urge you to focus on groups that are looking at the real root of our problems: our warmongering government that is robbing us blind. I actually want to get a revolution started, and I think this could even crop out of Black Lives Matter. But I'm focusing on the Green Party just now because they have goals like ranked choice voting, which is one way we could get much closer to fixing things. I'm not really sure how we kick this thing off, but I know we have to try and figure it out. Important goals include campaign finance reform and altering the voting process/system. To quote Hedges again, "We have to remember that 10 years ago, Syriza, which controls the Greek government, was polling at exactly the same spot that the Green Party is polling now—about 4 percent. We’ve got to break out of this idea that we can create systematic change within a particular election cycle. We’ve got to be willing to step out into the political wilderness, perhaps for a decade. "
Also, community interaction matters. When people get together and start talking, things happen. Maybe even right here on Steemit. When people feel like they're doing good, they're less afraid to look in the mirror or the real state of the world. So for example, volunteering for a charity like Habitat for Humanity could also be useful.
I'm new to all this; I just woke up. So think about it and comment, give me your suggestions. We're allies. We're not enemies. Race relations, for example, have LONG been a way to keep people from fighting corrupt government. The more we work toward a common cause, the stronger we are. We outnumber them.
ah yes that's very true. Incredibly divided nation.
I'm Canadian living in China and I always tell them if a topic comes up that lets me say it and I say "America's greatest weapon is it's propaganda machine". It has already convinced most of the world a bunch rubbish.
America has convinced it citizens and most of the world that is "land of the free, home of the brave." when in reality it's quite the opposite.
Even American operated Think Tanks have rated America as falling in Freedom and puts them at 20th on the list down from last last.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/08/19/u-s-falls-to-20th-in-freedom-index/
When I tell people in China "In some parts of America people could go to jail for collecting rain water on their property or face an expensive" the Chinese people literally don't believe me.
America propaganda is strong. Double Think is Real.
The DNC and RNC are the ministry of Love.
It's big topic. Your post was kinda long. Next one break it up in to 2 post and you will get more votes.
It's a good topic.
You're right. Maybe I can edit it. I don't want to cut it in half, though, and I also feel that contrary to normal writing rules, repetition is necessary to get through to people here. Any suggestions of what I could maybe cut?
...wait, so the system is corrupt and horrible, and your current solution is vote for someone to take part in it? After you just got done expounding on how the pawns in the game have no ability to affect the larger machinery?
I do applaud you for point out the doublethink. This is a constant obstacle that I struggle with when I talk to just about anyone here in the US. I can't tell you how many times I've heard the words "but this time, if we..." come out of the mouths of otherwise sensible, rational people. You're right; they acknowledge the state is a horrific monstrosity while simultaneously calling for it.
Right, so there is a difference between voting for someone who will take part in it by being elected to it, and voting for someone who will oppose it by being elected to it. That's why Hedges still supports Stein instead of nobody. Bernie Sanders said, "No president, not Bernie Sanders or anyone else, can effectively address the economic crises facing the working families of this country alone. No president can do it alone. The truth is – and it’s important that every American understand this – the truth is that Wall Street, corporate America, the corporate media and wealthy campaign donors are just too powerful." We need to replace the corrupt system and the corrupt pawns in it, but if we could shove an outsider into the White House they could be an incredibly galvanizing leader. I made sure to emphasize every time I said that electing someone into the system will be ineffectual that I noted electing someone who represents that system into the system will be ineffectual.
Jill Stein is the entire reason I was able to write and think like this, so clearly there is value here.
Also, I am focusing right now on getting more involved with a local group, not just voting for a single candidate. There's no one solution, but if Americans voted in a candidate like Jill Stein, that would be an incredible step in the right direction. The Green Party and Stein are system outsiders. They are 100% noncorporate-funded, and their actions and words bear that out. My hope is that Stein will not cease to lead people and fight corruption after November 8th. We need strong leaders very badly right now. Voting for her is just a tiny, tiny thing in this oligarchy, but it is still a good thing. Many other actions and bigger things are needed, but supporting her does not disable me or anyone from taking other actions simultaneously.
The problem with what you're suggesting is that it preserves the system that has given rise to all of the problems you cited in your article. So long as the system exists, corporatocracy and corruption will always inevitably follow. Note that it only took a decade for the newly approved Constitutional federal government to enact more invasive and restrictive laws than the very monarchy the Founders sought to undermine.
The first, and by far the most vital, step is no longer accepting that men and women with special moral authority exist simply by the will of other people. We are all of us individuals. If it is immoral or unethical for me to do something to you, it is thus in all cases, whether I am just a guy or I'm an agent of the state. No one can delegate to someone else rights they do not have, and as no one has the right to violate the consent and ownership of another person, the state is immoral on its face.
This, more than everything else, has to be understood and accepted. This has to become a mainstream line of thought first. As it grows in acceptance, solutions to government-provided services will present themselves. Cryptocurrencies are a prime example of this, and they have the capacity to subvert the authoritarian central bank system. Cell 411 is another example of consensual services displacing traditional state-provided services, like police and fire departments.
So you think the answer is to just spread the idea of people deserving to be free of authoritarian constraints? I think that's just one of many paths. I think many roads, from BLM to the Green Party's ideals to the protests against the Dakota Pipeline, etc., can get us to a better place. People have to believe they have the power and they have the ability and right to acquire better lives and things like free healthcare. I currently lean more toward socialism than anarchy. I don't think it matters. You and I both have the same basic goal: disrupt the corrupt system that currently stands. Supporting candidates who have people's interests at heart is not a solution, but one very easy path. I think everything that is wholly good should be supported. Some anti-establishment people are communists. Some are socialists. Some are anarchists. Some are not certain exactly what they want. But all of these groups have to agree on certain goals, I think, for the American people to most effectively deeply alter or reinvent their government. The country is just too big and diverse to aim for total alignment.
This happened during the Civil Rights movement -- MLK Jr. called for full integration, Malcolm X for some time called for breaking away and living in a separate society. It's like ants moving a heavy object. Eventually they get it where it should be by having a basic shared goal, even though some are pulling in the opposite or sideways directions.
If you think we have the same goal, then I think you misunderstand what my goal is. My goal is for everyone to have the chance to live free of the coercive violence that is the state; I want freedom for humanity, not a nicer group of sociopaths ruling everyone. Socialism is abhorrent to human dignity for the same reason our current system is: it doesn't respect individual bodily ownership, it ignores individual consent, and it assumes authority where none actually exists.
All states are like this. Unless a state has the consent of the people by actually giving people a choice whether or not they want to be held to its rules - and then respecting that choice, it should be dismantled and destroyed.
The reason I mentioned spreading the message is because that is how things change. Culture influences society, society influences politics. Trying to change a cultural norm (which is what accepting corrupt authority is) through politics is similar to trying to keep a ship from sinking by bailing water out of it, while ignoring the holes in the hull, or trying to cut down a tree but only focusing on the branches.
It seems to me to be unnecessary to insist on focusing semi-aggressively where we disagree, especially when I barely even have a developed and informed idea of the best way to go about dismantling the corruption of the US government. I don't know why discussions online so often have to focus on disagreement. Do we both want to tear apart the current system? Yes? That's my idea of the same goal -- not having the exact same plan for what we replace it with. So wouldn't it behoove us to work together to seek the best ways of accomplishing that?
I think it would be good if there were someplace people could go when they want to live in a state of anarchy. But imposing anarchy on people who don't want it isn't freedom, either. Of course everyone in history who topples the government replaces it with what they want, and sometimes that turns out to be worse.
I'm not fully opposed to anarchy because I know far too little about history and political science to talk, but basic logic and certain knowledge tells me that a state of anarchy when you're working with a massive number of people would inevitably result in temporary chaos and civil war followed by the establishment of a government. To wit: mass anarchist communities inevitably fail, and people left to their own devices are inevitably violent. I should say this isn't so much human nature as simply nature. Nature is a violent, unsafe place because each organism is focused on the survival of itself and [generally unwittingly] its species. Existence is selfish. A state of anarchy is a state of nature. I'm sure that since you seem so informed you must be aware that the concept that people were ever nonviolent is a myth.
"Decentralized government" sounds a lot better to me than purely leaving people to their own devices. There must be ways of both checking people's natural propensity for violence and maintaining people's rights to live their lives as they see fit provided that does not impugn upon the rights of others. I think you could hardly say that a society like Denmark's is a horrible thing. The scenario is not simply "government like that of the US" or "no government."
For example, here is a local green party platform:
It seems to me you're throwing the baby out with the bathwater here. I want massive overhaul and reform, but can you convince me that your way is the only and correct way?
I really would like you to see me more as a curious person who likewise wants the earth and its inhabitants to be as contented as they can be, rather than an opponent.
I don't see you as an opponent at all, and I'm sorry if I gave you that impression. I address things very directly, so if I came off as though I was criticizing you harshly, I apologize. However, where you and I differ is that, as of right now, you are still calling for a state to exist. I'm simply arguing that a state, by its very nature, does more to damage and infringe on people's lives than a world without states would.
I agree that nature is unforgiving and cruel, and this has been the struggle of humanity since we first discovered how to create and use fire, or how to fashion tools to make our tasks easier. However, I'd also like to point out that over the course of the last three hundred years, concepts such as individuality, property rights, bodily ownership, and individual liberties that are inalienable have come into existence, where previously no such concepts existed (or had taken such universal forms). To say that, because it failed in the past, it won't work in the future, is simply an appeal to antiquity. That's why the focus should be on spreading the message of individual liberty and a rejection of arbitrary authority.
I'm not seeking to impose anything on anyone. I'm simply pointing out that a state, by definition, restricts the rights of people with or without their consent, and this is objectively immoral; put another way, every state on this Earth lays a monopolistic claim to a territory and enforces its rules on all people within that territory, whether they consent to be ruled by that state, through the use of violence. Aside from the immorality of such an organization, it is a guarantee that it will be abused by people who would seek to be a part of it for their own personal gain. This has been proven throughout history, where benevolent rulers and governments that didn't abuse their people are the exception, not the rule. Lest I also make an appeal to antiquity, think of it logically: if I'm a sociopath and want to use other people for my own purposes and interests without running afoul of people with power, what's the best way to do it in modern society? Become an agent of government. The more power I wield in government, the more far-reaching and widespread the effect of any policies I manage to put into practice.
I don't see you as an opponent, Noelle. I just don't want you to expend your energies on supporting a structure that necessarily inflicts suffering on other people. Your heart is absolutely in the right place, and I applaud you for it; most people don't even make it that far.
Please let me know your thoughts on what you think will help.
Will in a bit. Am on my phone now and this deserves a good response.
Thank you for the upvotes and thank you even more for reading, fellow Steemiters. I have reinvested your support in the Green Party, who is currently supporting 22 or more people arrested for peacefully protesting the closed two-party debates. Even if you don't agree with that party or supporting them for some reason, people protesting for the world's right to hear every qualified candidate in the debates deserve it.
I say "America's greatest weapon is it's propaganda machine"
HOLLYWOOD!
Truth is join the military. Honorable discharge will grant you the right to join the boys in blue and you can kill citizens with immunity. Better yet become a lawyer and you can suck fees from the legal compliance system. Top that off become a drug dealer ... requires medical license ... and you'll be golfing for free in no time.