96

Spooks and the Masked Media

Edward Curtin

“Back of the world in which we live, far in the background, lies another world. The relation between the two is not unlike the relation we sometimes see in the theater between the forestage scene in the regular acting area and a scrim scene projected behind it. Through a thin gauze we see, as it were, a world of gauze, lighter, more ethereal, qualitatively different from the actual world. Many people who appear bodily in the actual world do not belong in it but in that other.” Soren Kierkegaard, “Diary of the Seducer” in Either/Or

From the outset, the use of journalists was among the CIA’s most sensitive undertakings, with full knowledge restricted to the Director of Central Intelligence and a few of his chosen deputies.” Carl Bernstein, “The CIA and the Media,” Rolling Stone

Personality is persona, a mask…The mask is magic…Larva means mask; or ghost…it also means mad, a case of demoniacal possession.”Norma O. Brown, Love’s Body

There are innocent and guilty actors populating the American stage.

Unlike the naïve children who joyously revel in the costumes they don for Halloween, unaware as they are of the death fears they exorcise, the corporate mainstream media wear their masks year-round, while they consciously abet the United States government, its intelligence agencies, and its allies in exercising their God-given right to inflict death on people around the world, including many innocent children.

To point out the media’s sickening hypocrisy (Greek hypokrites, stage actor) is, in one way, quite easy and facile, but in another quite difficult because of the powerful hypnotic hold people’s “trusted” media have on them. To even suggest that people’s favorite mainstream media are doing the work of the secret state feels so insulting to people’s intelligence with its suggestion of gullibility that many recoil in anger at the possibility.

A common retort is that it is absurd to suggest that The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fox News, CNN, etc. are just disseminating propaganda from behind a mask of objectivity. And it is that small word “just” that reveals the falsity of the reply. For obviously these media organizations report truthfully on certain matters. For if they didn’t, their lies would not work. But when it comes to crucial matters of foreign or domestic policy – matters that involve the controlling interests of the elites – lies and deceptions are the rule.

Yes, Trump is a narcissistic mana personality who has entranced and mystified his hard core followers. But to think he is the only hypnotist on the stage is childish beyond belief. The psychoanalyst Sandor Ferenczi observed that people are so susceptible to returning to an imaginary childhood through hypnotic trances because “In our innermost soul we are still children, and we remain so throughout life.” Like the little children who go trick-or-treating dressed up as ghosts, witches, or grim reapers, adults too fear death and are easily induced to believe god-like authorities who will quell their fears and ostensibly explain to them who the good and bad guys are.

Like parents with children, the masked media magicians play the good cop/bad cop game with great success. Obama was a god; Trump, the devil. Trump is a savior; Obama, a destroyer. This charade is so obvious that it’s not. But that’s how the play is played. At the moment, all eyes are on Trump, who commands center stage. And those obsessively transfixed eyes are staring out of the heads of people of all political persuasions, those that love and those that loathe the man and all he stands for. And who has created this obsession but none other than our friends in the corporate media, the same people who gave us Obama-mania.

Meanwhile, back stage…it’s a wonderful life.

There’s Saudi Arabia and the recent news about the killing of Jamal Khashoggi and the Saudi war on Yemen. You may rightly wonder what that is all about.

And you might remember and be wondering about the poisoning, allegedly by Russia, of those Russian nationals Sergei Scripal and his daughter Yulia, who have been kept in total isolation by the British authorities for eight months.

Do you wonder about where the war against Syria went? Has it just gone to sleep until after November’s election? Is that what wars do, take naps?

Do you wonder obsessively about the upcoming mid-term election and all those “former” CIA folks running for office? “Crucial” elections, the media tell us. The state of the country is riding on them, right? Or is it the world?

There is so much to wonder about. The costumes are so creative, the masks mesmerizing. Something’s happening, right. There is so much to wonder about in Wonderland. Something is happening, as Dylan sings:

You raise up your head and you ask, “Is this where it is?”
And somebody points to you and says, “It’s his”
And you say, “What’s mine?” and somebody else says, “Well, what is?”
And you say, “Oh my God, am I here all alone?”
But something is happening and you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mr. Jones?

As you no doubt do know, The Washington Post, The New York Times and other corporate media are outraged by the killing of Khashoggi and now by the Saudis’ war on Yemen. Does their outrage make you wonder how outrage works?

Here from seven years ago:

The extent of America’s war in Yemen has been among the Obama administration’s most closely guarded secrets, as officials worried that news of unilateral American operations could undermine Mr. Saleh’s tenuous grip on power.

That was the NY Times’ Mark Mazzetti on June 8, 2011, two-and-a-half years into the Obama administration.

This is Mark Mazzetti for October 20, 2018, “Saudis’ Image Makers: A Troll Army and a Twitter Insider”:

In one conversation viewed by The Times, dozens of leaders [Saudi] decided to mute critics of Saudi Arabia’s military attacks on Yemen by reporting the messages to Twitter as “sensitive.

The article goes on to describe how the formerly Saudi good guys are getting bad and doing Russian-like stuff like trolling and “swarming and stifling critics on Twitter” in a propaganda and public relations campaign. Boy, isn’t it shocking and a cause for wonder? What they wouldn’t do!

And then there’s the Times’ emotional story from October 20, 2018 by Declan Walsh with photos and video from Tyler Hicks – “This is the Front Line of Saudi Arabia’s Invisible War” – that says:

The Khashoggi crisis has called attention to a largely overlooked Saudi-led war in Yemen. On a rare trip to the front line, we found Yemenis fighting and dying in a war that has gone nowhere.

“Largely overlooked” – by whom? “Gone nowhere” – and where was it supposed to go?

Now what’s happening, Mr. Reader? Has the worm turned? Do you wonder? It’s hard to remember to forget or forget to remember, isn’t it?

Would this article – U.S. stepping up weapons shipments to aid Saudi air campaign over Yemen – from April, 7, 2015 make you wonder what’s happening now?

It begins:

The United States appears to be slowly but steadily deepening its involvement in the war in Yemen.”
So many things “appear” and disappear, it makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

Yes, the American stage is populated with so many spooky masked media characters, you’d think they were out to scare and trick us, rather than treat us well.

I’m afraid that’s what’s happening in Wonderland, Mr. Jones.

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Razzer Dazzer
Razzer Dazzer
Nov 2, 2018 9:52 AM

What does the Guardian guard, except their own myopic Extreme-Left-Feminist tunnel-Vision. If it wasn’t for the Scott Trust, they would be down the toilet of history, where they belong, because they wouldn’t sell enough papers to employ their tea-person ;o) Feminist editor, Feminist contributors, including all the ‘male’ cucks.

John2o2o
John2o2o
Nov 2, 2018 12:24 AM

It’s the same here in the UK with the Guardian and the Times being possibly the primary loci for the left and right wing arms of the deep state propaganda operation. The Guardian also has an American propaganda arm as well, of course.

I can hardly believe I’m writing this. Not so long ago I would have considered such sentiments delusional paranoia, but this year my eyes have really been opened to the appalling reality of the brainwashing that we are subjected to on a daily basis by the so called “security” services via the MSM.

For many years I have felt a deep sense of unease about the reports I’d been reading in the MSM. The stories about Assad never seemed right to me – wasn’t he once considered a good guy?

I think it was possibly the idiotic (and insulting) Russophobia that became increasingly tiring for me and eventually caused me to reject the MSM altogether, though I really don’t remember for sure.

The Skripal affair was a lie too far. They – MI5/6GCHQ – whoever the hell these creeps are – got caught with their pants down in public. IMO. Like rats they scuttled for cover when the light was focused on them. I hope that they are sincere in their desire to protect me and my fellow countrymen, but frankly they freak me out with their secrecy, lies and militarism.

frank
frank
Nov 1, 2018 3:31 PM

“Now what’s happening, Mr. Reader? Has the worm turned? Do you wonder? It’s hard to remember to forget or forget to remember, isn’t it?”

The deep state has split and now there’s two factions fighting each other. That’s why there’s so much contradiction in what’s been happening. Just a theory of course. 😉

rtj1211
rtj1211
Nov 1, 2018 1:18 PM

I am afraid the whole process of joining the Establishment is intimately linked to joining the spying world.

My sister was recruited at medical school, if not before, and at 26 was ordered to spy on her brother, working harmlessly in a ski resort in Switzerland. As a psychopath, she had no problems destroying all bonds of family to do so. She feigns surprise that I should not see this behaviour as normal and acceptable.

My father was recruited back in the day doing colonial service instead of military service. His veneer slips too often for me to have any doubts about the sadistic nature of his persona. He spouted claptrap for years about the Labour party, when all it was for him was a vehicle to Establishment power. He wonders why the Labour Party has no meaning for me.

I saw quite clearly the spying hierarchies in UK Russell Group universities and several prestigious Professorships were solely reserved for top spies. Widespread computer hacking was already practiced in the 1990s by Western hypocrites.

UN for sale. Media for sale. Western Civilisation for sale
UN for sale. Media for sale. Western Civilisation for sale
Nov 1, 2018 10:08 AM

It has been revealed, the Saudis bought the UN’s silence for the crimes in Yemen.

Which explains the media’s outrage in the Khashoggi case:
We haven’t been paid to remain silence for this, that’s why we’ll not shut up

jdseanjd
jdseanjd
Nov 1, 2018 9:58 AM

Genocide is undertaken for control: the 1%s fear they cannot control a world of expanding populations with improving technology & science. Hence the drives for depopulation & De-industrialisation, once Russia is flattened.

Robert Zubrin’s book: Merchants of Despair, shows how safe & clean nuclear power is being held back by govt bureaucracy, govt over-regulation & demonisation via the 1%s fake news MSM.
It also shows some of the depopulation strategies being employed in the 21st century & traces these demonic strategies back through Brit, US & Nazi eugenics to their, IMHO, Satanic, stupid & racist roots.

http://www.drtimball.com

John Doran.

jdseanjd
jdseanjd
Nov 1, 2018 10:09 AM
Reply to  jdseanjd

Zubrin is a PhD nuclear engineer with 9 patents to his name or pending: one sharp chap. He also exposes the warming/climate fraud.

The roots are the vicious stupidity of Thomas Malthus & the Brit Empire & the genocidal racism of Charles Darwin.

John Doran.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 1, 2018 8:44 PM
Reply to  jdseanjd

It was announced yesterday that the oceans have sequestered 25% more heat in recent decades than previously estimated. Surveys of insect life in tropical reserves have found a 90% plus collapse in numbers, caused by 2 degrees Celsius of temperature increases in the areas. YET, STILL, the lunatic cries that it is ‘fraud’. Can any species have ever produced specimens so intent on self-destruction?

PSJ
PSJ
Nov 1, 2018 10:29 PM

Sources for the 90% collapse in insect numbers?

The claim the oceans are “sequestering” the warmth is mere speculation, an attempt to explain away the absence of the expected increase in global temperatures over the past 15 or so years.

The warming seems to have stopped you see, while Co2 continues to rise. This of course would falsify the AGW hypothesis if it were to continue. So the proponents of the AGW hypothesis have put forward the idea the warming hasn’t stopped, it’s just that the seas are acting as a kind of heat sink.

There’s not much evidence this is true as yet. But the NYT, the Guardian and other liberal newspapers of course promote it as established scientific fact.

I await your calm and considered response with interest.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 2, 2018 3:23 AM
Reply to  PSJ

As one expects at this denialist redoubt, here comes the usually hard Right omni-denialism one usually sees from the likes of Matt Ridley. The sequestration of heat in the oceans is scientific fact, attested by numerous studies. Do you deny the action of gravity, too? And the collapse of insect populations world-wide has been shown by numerous studies. Do you deny the laws of thermo-dynamics and entropy, too? What drives you creatures?

Moriartys Left Sock
Moriartys Left Sock
Nov 2, 2018 1:18 PM

If the sequestration of heat in the ocean is “scientific fact” and not simply a current theory, please point to where this is claimed as such in any scientific publication.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 2, 2018 10:52 PM

The temperatures of the oceans have been measured over many decades, recently by satellite measurements that show thermal expansion of the oceans as well, and by the latest generations of scientific buoys that measure temperature, salinity and other values at various depths. We also have the EVIDENCE of increasingly widespread coral bleaching, algal blooms and mass die-offs of various species. All these are attested in scientific studies and publications too numerous to mention, but denialist fanatics like you cannot name a SINGLE study that refutes these findings. Your crazed mendacity is simply pathological.

Moriartysleftsock
Moriartysleftsock
Nov 3, 2018 12:40 AM

Crazed mendacity”? I asked you a simple and polite question for heaven’s sake!

A question you didn’t answer by the way.

To repeat – I have read many studies of ocean data, and many theories on the “missing” heat being soaked up in the deep mid-oceans. I am not aware of any study anywhere that claims these theories are proven fact.

If you do know of such a study, post a link. If you don’t post a link we will all have to assume you have made yet one more extreme claim you simply have no data for.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 3, 2018 9:16 AM

Demanding ‘links’ for widely reported science is a favourite denialist sleight of hand. Look it up yourself. Just Google ‘Heat sequestered in the oceans’, and there are numerous studies and copious scientific evidence, but what is that compared to hard Right ideological fanaticism and hatred of Life on Earth?

PSJ
PSJ
Nov 3, 2018 1:35 PM

Well, if only “Right ideological fanatics” want to see some data before accepting claims made by anonymous abusive people on the internet then – call me a Right ideological fanatic.

Oh wait, I think you already did. Or maybe it was “hard right omnicidal Zionazi cabalist”?

Anyhow, I have Googled “heat sequestered in the oceans” as suggested above. I have also read all the scientific papers on the subject I could find in a couple of online libraries I am signed up to (not just today, I have been following the sequestration argument for some time).

I have found numerous theoretical claims made about the oceans acting as heat sinks. i can find proxy measurements of ocean temps that claim to observe a very small possible increase. But I can’t find any study that claims what you are alleging – that the ocean warming is a proven fact and very considerable.

I’m going to have display my “Right ideological fanaticism” credentials again and ask you where you read this and if you can post a link to it.

Sorry! I can’t help it.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 3, 2018 8:12 PM

PSJ, scientific studies have shown that 150 zettajoules (ie ten to the 21st power) of heat have been sequestered in the oceans over the last 200 years. Only a die-hard Rightwing denialist fanatic would call that ‘..a very small possible increase’, as you do. And it simply ignores the coral bleachings and mass die-offs of life and algal blooms etc, that are the EVIDENCE of oceanic warming, but I confidently expect you to deny that, too.

PSJ
PSJ
Nov 2, 2018 1:44 PM

As I believe I said to you previously when you offered a similar example of strange invective, I’m not “hard right”. I’m a (very) ex-Republican who would happily vote for a socialist candidate provided they weren’t wedded to de-humanisation and climate insanity. But we don’t have such people where I live. Or anywhere much really.

I don’t “deny” (really beginning to hate the crude politicization of that word by the new generation of Brown Shirts!) there is a decline in insect population. I am pretty sure there is. I was surprised by your figure of “90%” though and would like to see a source for that.

There’s no evidence to link the decline to “climate change” though. Insects would be the most impervious life forms to any such alterations, and so far the temp increase has been minute. Pesticide usage is a far more likely candidate, as is the general poisoning of our atmosphere and our soil.

Regarding your other questions.

No, I don’t deny gravity, though it’s still a poorly understood force you know, and there’s a lot of curious questions about it.

No, I don’t deny the laws of thermodynamics, but I’m not sure how you see them applying here?

As to your last question. I’m not sure what specific subset of “creatures” you see me belonging to, but if I can reply as an individual human being, what drives me is the search for truth. I care about it. And the quest can even be fun sometimes.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 2, 2018 10:54 PM
Reply to  PSJ

It is easy to Google that study of rainforests in Puerto Rico, but your refusal to do so gives the nature of your hard Right omni-denialism away. Just because you find hard Right omnicidal ideology and pathopsychology ‘normal’ does not mean that the non-insane do so too.

Stonky
Stonky
Nov 2, 2018 12:30 AM

“Surveys of insect life in tropical reserves have found a 90% plus collapse in numbers, caused by 2 degrees Celsius of temperature increases in the areas.”

Mulga, this could not possibly be true. Take the UK for example. The kind of insects that are disappearing from the UK are things like houseflies, wasps, butterflies and moths. They are literally disappearing.

The gap in average temperatures between London and Aberdeen is 5 degrees. The gap between the average low in Aberdeen and the average high in London is 10 degrees. The gap between the average winter low in Aberdeen and the average summer high in London is 20 degrees. The gap between the record low in Aberdeen and the record high in London is 56 degrees.

We have all these insects that have evolved and survived over millions and millions of years, precisely because they can cope with this kind of range and fluctuation in temperatures, and now they’re dying off because of a temperature increase of 2 degrees (itself dubious)?

This cannot possibly be true.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 2, 2018 3:26 AM
Reply to  Stonky

And your scientific, particularly ecological and entomological qualifications are what, precisely? I should have said that the scientists conjecture was that the population crash was caused by climate change, but the facts of that collapse, and others elsewhere, are IRREFUTABLE. As I said above, what drives you creatures to reject science, rationality and evidence?

Stonky
Stonky
Nov 2, 2018 9:03 AM

You’re not listening Mulga. I’m not disputing the catastrophic fall in insect numbers. It’s plain to anybody with two eyes and a brain who drives in the British countryside at night that moths are disappearing.

The point I am making is that any ‘scientist’ who ‘conjectures’ that this is being caused by global warming or climate change is full of shit.

The data in my post is IRREFUTABLE too. In fact given that it’s based on simple temperatures measured with a simple thermometer, it’s a hell of a lot more irrefutable than the algorithmic BS that the warmists conjure up from their models.

But let’s suppose they are right. Let’s accept for the sake of argument that some nonsensical assertion like “the average temperature in the UK has increased by 2 degrees in the last ten years” is actually true.

I don’t need a single ecological or entomological qualification to see that this could not possibly explain the catastrophic decline in the numbers of ubiquitous insects like houseflies, wasps, or cabbage white butterflies, which have proven themselves over millions and millions of years to be resilient to temperature fluctuations ten or twenty times higher than that.

I just need some common sense.

Stonky
Stonky
Nov 2, 2018 2:00 PM
Reply to  Editor

1. No. But there are endless references online to studies showing a shocking decline in all sorts of British insects. I haven’t been to check any of the original sources, because I tend not to bother when something bears out my own “lived experience” (copyright: Guardianistas) 100%.

2. No idea. I’m not a biologist, zoologist, or entomologist. I just wish we would spend a bit of money trying to find out about the causes of something catastrophic that has already actually happened, instead of spunking billions down the drain worrying about something that might happen in 50 years, by which point there might be none of us left to watch it happen.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 2, 2018 10:59 PM
Reply to  Stonky

You do not seem to appreciate that it is the RATE of temperature increases that matters, NOT the extent (and the rises have barely begun). And the situation in a Puerto Rican rainforest is different from the UK, where the environment is drenched in insect-killing pollutants, particularly chemical poisons. Ecosystems are fragile, easily disrupted, but resilient, but only so long as change is gradual, not abrupt, as at present. What drives you to reject plain scientific findings, and educated conjecture? Is it fear, or ideology?

Moriartysleftsock
Moriartysleftsock
Nov 3, 2018 12:48 AM

Who says the current rate of warming is unusual? Ice cores and tree ring data can’t give us such detail.We are only guessing about all such things.

Speaking of plain scientific findings, the only study of insect decline I have read (done in Germany) specifically ruled out climate change as a likely cause. Do you have other data?

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 3, 2018 9:20 AM

The rate of climate change at present is ten to twenty times more rapid than at, say, the PETM of 55 million years ago, because the rate of accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere is ten to twenty times more rapid. The science regarding that is settled, but denialist imbeciles, or liars, or both, simply refuse to believe the facts, and thus materially aid the process of humanity bringing about its self-destruction. It’s a real achievement.

Moriartysleftsock
Moriartysleftsock
Nov 3, 2018 1:02 PM

I The rate of climate change at present is ten to twenty times more rapid than at, say, the PETM of 55 million years ago

You’v been skim-reading Wikipedia haven’t you, me ole abuse-merchant? Read more carefully. The science is anything but settled, even according to the Wiki editors, who get their line straight from AGW-central at Langley.

No real world data is available to us about climate 55million years ago. Think about it for a moment – how would it be? We don’t even have tree rings or ice cores for that far back. We have a few trace suggestions in the sedimentary layers is all. How much do you think we can deduce from that?

The speed of warming during the PETM is arrived at through computer modeling, using 90% assumed data points.

It’s a guess parsed through a data base to make it look a bit more convincing. The Wki page says as much.

The science regarding that is settled, but denialist imbeciles, or liars, or both, simply refuse to believe the facts……..

No, the science regarding that isn’t settled, and if you’d read the Wiki page properly you’d know it. But don’t let that stop you calling everyone else imbeciles.I won’t return the compliment. I’m sure you’re not an imbecile. But you are very rude, and you should read more.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 3, 2018 8:16 PM

‘AGW central at Langley’??!! There’s the paranoid imbecility of the conspiracy fanatic denialists for you. The CIA controls ALL the Academies of Science, ALL the scientific societies and 99% of actively publishing climate scientists, in the world, does it? No wonder humanity is on its way out when it produces creatures like the Offguardian denialist cabal.

Stonky
Stonky
Nov 3, 2018 2:22 AM

“You do not seem to appreciate that it is the RATE of temperature increases that matters, NOT the extent…”

Don’t be silly Mulga. Concerning the rate of temperature increase:The average low temperature in Aberdeen is 5 degrees over the year. The average high temperature is 11 degrees. That means the average ‘rise’ in temperature in a single day is 6 degrees. There must be many days when the rise is much higher than that.

So insects can withstand a “rate of temperature increase” of 6 degrees in a single day, but they’re being wiped out by a “rate of temperature increase” of 2 degrees over 10 years? As I say, don’t be silly.

“and the rises have barely begun…”

Well that’s kind of the point I’ve been trying (and failing) to get you to understand. Given that “the rises have barely begun (or in the case of the UK, haven’t begun at all yet) how on earth could they be responsible for exterminating half of the insect population? (or 75%, or 90%, whatever)

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 3, 2018 9:21 AM
Reply to  Stonky

Nothing quite like a Rightwing imbecile dedicated to destroying its own species. Or are you.

Stonky
Stonky
Nov 3, 2018 10:46 AM

Mulga, I’m not right-wing or an imbecile. I’ve read the Puerto Rico study and the data seems very sound. There is a temperature rise, and there is a sharp fall in the insect populations.

But the suggestion that the one has caused the other is pure conjecture, offered without one shred of scientific evidence. And it ignores the salient fact that there have been huge falls in insect populations elsewhere, where there is not a shred of evidence of temperature rises. If I were to claim that the fall in insect populations has been caused by the rise in the number of pirates, my claim would have exactly the same scientific basis as theirs.

And that is the problem, as you so ably demonstrate in your every post. AGW is becoming a medieval religion. We are fast approaching the point where no scientist who wishes to keep his tenure will dare to question the orthodoxy, and any ordinary person who dares to do so will be torn to pieces by the mob.

Mark Gobell
Mark Gobell
Nov 2, 2018 6:37 PM

Reply to Mulga Mumblebrain

MM : “!And your scientific, particularly ecological and entomological qualifications are what, precisely?”

Touché MM, I asked you the exact same question on 10 October.

https://off-guardian.org/2018/10/07/911unmasked-update-and-reminder/#comment-133720

I’m still waiting for your answer …

MG

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 2, 2018 11:01 PM
Reply to  Mark Gobell

I have a brain not infected with Rightwing psychopathology, unlike you, so I so not reject science, rationality and evidence to suit my twisted ego, as you and the Off Guardian denialist cabal do. I rather worry about the continued existence of humanity and Life on Earth, too.

Stonky
Stonky
Nov 3, 2018 3:30 AM
Reply to  Editor

Please don’t ban or mod Mulga. One of OffGuardian’s greatest strengths is that it is one of the few places that still allows a ‘robust’ exchange of views.

Mulga’s not actually threatening people with violence, and you would have to be rather oversensitive in my view to find his/her torrents of abuse anything other than funny.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 3, 2018 9:27 AM
Reply to  Editor

Stupid, ignorant, mendacious ecological catastrophe denialists are, in my opinion, the very worst type of creature extant. The very worst, working as they do to reject science, rationality and evidence in their Evil Crusade to advance their diabolical cause of hastening human extinction. I have been impressed since they first crawled out of the fossil fuel industry financed sewer, by the sheer Evil of it all.

Stonky
Stonky
Nov 3, 2018 11:08 AM

I’m coming round to the Admin view here. This latest post is so demented that it has to be a wind-up. Mulga has been taking the piss out of us all, all the way.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 3, 2018 8:20 PM

Come on ‘Admin’. I have a wager that you lot are really an off-shoot of the ‘Living Marxism’ cabal, posing as ‘dissidents’ to cover your REAL purpose-to deny and reject EVERY ecological catastrophe descending on humanity, in the interests of the economic forces behind them.

Mark Gobell
Mark Gobell
Nov 3, 2018 9:34 AM

That’s not an anawer MM, that’s simple abuse and deflection.

You ask others to justify their views by questioning their scientific credentials and I remind you that I asked you the same question 14 days ago now and I’m still waiting for your answer …

This is your second attempt at a response and all you can offer is further abuse in lieu of an actual meaningful answer.

I remind you and others also, that mush of the Climate Change Cult’s alleged philosophy is predicated on some notion of concern for the planet and humanity.

How do we square the latter with your insistence on treating your fellow human beings with contempt ?

MG

Mark Gobell
Mark Gobell
Nov 3, 2018 9:48 AM
Reply to  Mark Gobell

Mulga Mumblebrain:
Nov, 2, 2018

I have a brain not infected with Rightwing psychopathology, unlike you, so I so not reject science, rationality and evidence to suit my twisted ego, as you and the Off Guardian denialist cabal do. I rather worry about the continued existence of humanity and Life on Earth, too.

Do you even know the meaning of the psychological concept of projection ?

When you finally decide to reveal your scientific credentials to the world MM, folk can then begin to consider whether you are competent to assess “climate science.”

Until then, you come across to me at least, as a very angry bully …

So, I ask for a 3rd time MM : What qualifications do you have which enables you to properly assess claims of alleged AGW and climate science.

Alexander Pope :

“A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still”

MG

edited by admin for formatting

Mark Gobell
Mark Gobell
Nov 3, 2018 10:10 AM
Reply to  Mark Gobell

MM : I rather worry about the continued existence of humanity and Life on Earth, too.

Yet you have immense difficulty treating those fellow humans with anything other than contempt.

MG

jdseanjd
jdseanjd
Nov 2, 2018 6:28 PM

“It was announced yesterday”
WHERE? mumbling mugbrain, back up your ridiculous claim.
“90% collapse in numbers”? Peer-reviewed paper ref, mumbling mugbrain? Back up your ridiculous claim.
“2 Deg C rise in temperature in “the areas” HAHAHAHA.
What areas? Backup? Mumbling Mugbrain?
The Global average temperature rise since 1850, the Little Ice Age, till now is approx 0.7 Deg C.

John Doran.

Mark Gobell
Mark Gobell
Nov 2, 2018 7:19 PM
Reply to  jdseanjd

Reply to jdseanjd

So far I haven’t found any reference to the 90% claim.

On 18 October the Gruan warned :

Warning of ‘ecological Armageddon’ after dramatic plunge in insect numbers
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/18/warning-of-ecological-armageddon-after-dramatic-plunge-in-insect-numbers

quoting this report :

More than 75 percent decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0185809

MG

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 2, 2018 11:10 PM
Reply to  Mark Gobell

The study, by Lister and Garcia, published in the PNAS, reported a ‘sixty-fold’ decrease, i.e c. 98%. Learn how to read and Google.

Mark Gobell
Mark Gobell
Nov 3, 2018 9:35 AM

I can read and use search engines. I had no idea where the 97% claim came from so I did my best to find it. Sorry I failed so miserably. Whatever is the matter with you ?

MG

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 3, 2018 8:24 PM
Reply to  Mark Gobell

You’re just lying, as expected. I Googled it and found NUMEROUS mentions of the study. Can you sink any lower? Of course you will!

Mark Gobell
Mark Gobell
Nov 3, 2018 10:02 AM

Thanks for not supplying a link MM. Twice.

At the risk of upsetting you further, I found this :

Climate-driven declines in arthropod abundance restructure a rainforest food web

http://www.pnas.org/content/115/44/E10397

Bradford C. Lister and Andres Garcia

PNAS October 30, 2018 115 (44) E10397-E10406; published ahead of print October 15, 2018 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1722477115

Edited by Nils Christian Stenseth, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, and approved September 10, 2018 (received for review January 8, 2018)

Here’s the “60 fold” figure you quote :

“We compared arthropod biomass in Puerto Rico’s Luquillo rainforest with data taken during the 1970s and found that biomass had fallen 10 to 60 times. ”

That’s a wide ranging estimate, 10 to 60 times and you pick the worst case.

How do you arrive at a figure of 98% from that paper ?

MG

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 3, 2018 8:24 PM
Reply to  Mark Gobell

What do you think ‘sixty-fold’ means?

jdseanjd
jdseanjd
Nov 14, 2018 8:38 PM
Reply to  Mark Gobell

Mark, I’m not even going to bother reading the industrial scale fear porn nonsense published by the graun.

NOT a single ONE of the fear porn predictions made by the One-World-Govt-Fascists since the hijacked “environmental” movement since June 1988 has come true.

It’s ALL pure BS.

MuttBrain Mumbling recently claimed 60% big animals “extirpated”, couldn’t name a SINGLE ONE, & accused me of being an incompetent liar.

Go figure.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 2, 2018 11:08 PM
Reply to  jdseanjd

I do love how hardcore denialists like you don’t bother to hide your stupidity and ignorance. Your figure of 0,7 degrees is utter garbage, and it is NOT uniform across the planet. It is already much higher at high latitudes like the Arctic, and it was measured, by scientists, as 2 degrees Celsius in this Puerto Rican rainforest. I just googled the study, by Lister and Garcia, published in the ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’ and found numerous references. Are you incompetent, lying, or both?

jdseanjd
jdseanjd
Nov 14, 2018 8:21 PM

http://www.climatedepot.com/2018/10/17/analysis-global-warming-pause-extendsbecoming-clear-un-ipcc-grossly-overstated-projected-warming/

You recently claimed 60% of major animals “extirpated”, but couldn’t name ONE !!!!!

Who’s the incompetent liar ?????

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 1, 2018 8:41 PM
Reply to  jdseanjd

‘Safe and clean nuclear power’??!! Where are you George Orwell?

jdseanjd
jdseanjd
Nov 2, 2018 7:11 PM

Apart from Zubrin’s book, Mumbling Mugbrain, try this 1 hr 33 min video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkAFu7HQyzY
If ref does not work, put in search box:
Nuclear Energy Is Not What You Think
! hr 33 mins.

I note joyfully that you NEVER EVER BACK UP ANY OF YOUR RIDICULOUS WILD CLAIMS.

John Doran.

jdseanjd
jdseanjd
Nov 1, 2018 8:47 AM

The genocidal war on Yemen is just that: a war for genocide.

The US is arming, fueling & guiding the head-choppers to their targets, preferably buses full of school children, hospitals & schools.

A main ambition of the 1%s is a vast depopulation, “to save Mother Gaia”. Hence all the MSM fake news wailing about environmental crises & catastrophic man-made global warming, a complete nonsense. Ted Turner, CNN boss is on record as wanting a 95% population reduction: getting rid of 13 of fourteen people alive now. http://www.c3headlines.com & click on Quotes.

There are three main planks of the 1%s Agenda:
1) Depopulation.
2) A World Govt.
3) de-industrialisation.

Climatologist Dr. Tim Ball has this figured out. In only 121 pages he reveals this in his little gem of a book:
Human Caused Global Warming, The Biggest Deception In History.

The genocidal war on Yemen is part of the #1) Depopulation plank.

John Doran.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 1, 2018 9:53 AM
Reply to  jdseanjd

You have to be literally insane to deny the ecological Holocaust that is rapidly accelerating. 60% of all animals extirpated since 1970, for a start, and from an already low base. Do you want to deny that? You are, however, correct to expect the Evil elites to practise a great genocide of the ‘useless eaters’. That, I believe, is certain and close at hand.

Stonky
Stonky
Nov 1, 2018 2:32 PM

“You have to be literally insane to deny the ecological Holocaust that is rapidly accelerating. 60% of all animals extirpated since 1970, for a start…”

This is absolutely true, but the thing about it is – it has already happened.

Therefore it couldn’t possibly be the result of “global warming” or “climate change”, whose impact to date must be barely discernible against the background of natural fluctuations in temperature and climate.

So why aren’t we trying to find out what it really is, and doing something about that, rather than bleating about a (possibly imaginary) catastrophe that’s going to hit us around 2050. Or 2080. Or something…

This might sound cynical to the point of stupidity, but the Guardian is big on “global warming and climate change”. And I have reached the point where as soon as the Guardian gets big on anything, I immediately assume the opposite.

jdseanjd
jdseanjd
Nov 2, 2018 7:36 PM

“60% of all animals extirpated since 1970” HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Name one.
Name 10.
Name 20.
You are a nutcase.
“FROM A LOW BASE” HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
We are in a healthy warm interglacial period, which started approx 15,000 years ago.
Prior, we were in a deep glacial period, which lasted approx 85,000 years, a pattern which has prevailed for approx 800,000 years as shown by Antarctic & Greenland ice core data.

Your ridiculous ravings are getting most satisfyingly easy to demolish, muttering mugbrain.

John Doran.

jdseanjd
jdseanjd
Nov 2, 2018 7:41 PM

MugBrainMumbling I do admit I’m astonished you have the nouse to admit to the elite depopulation agenda,

JD.

Ken Kenn
Ken Kenn
Nov 2, 2018 11:10 PM
Reply to  jdseanjd

All the above doesn’t surprise me at all.

The trouble with Ted’s theory is that if there are fewer humans to exploit – there will be fewer exploiters as well.

Perhaps Ted and his ilk are deep down really good guys ( they are always guys ) and he will be willing to share his bowl of stored cornflakes with fellow surviving exploiters after the plan goes wrong.

Re: the mass media’s machinations – all medias represent somethings or someones interests.

In the US there are anti Chinese capitalists and pro Chinese capitalists – i.e. those with a stake in China’s success as they have invested in that countries economy.

What they both have in common as capitalists is that they all agreed to export their proletariat to China and other countries because their proletariat was becoming too pricey.

The media has no idea as to what Rentier capitalism is and how it works.

Come to think of it,none of them know much about capitalism full stop – which is funny as it’s a mode of economics to which they all subscribe and write endless reams of words to promote and defend.

jdseanjd
jdseanjd
Nov 14, 2018 8:30 PM
Reply to  Ken Kenn

They’ve exported their middle class & working class jobs to China for slave labour rates & thus better profit margins.

This is not capitalism. It’s best described as a form of crony capitalism: ie Fascism.

Fair dinkum.
Fair dinkum.
Nov 1, 2018 1:53 AM

We’ve now got Sky news on free to air TV in Australia.
It’s a gabfest of grea$y gargoyles pontificating the putrid worldviews of their high lord and slimy leader, Rupert Murdoch.
Excuse while I throw up.

Gezzah Potts
Gezzah Potts
Nov 1, 2018 3:28 AM
Reply to  Fair dinkum.

Fair Dinkum: ha ha ha, absolutely love your line about Sky News: ‘gabfest of grea$y gargoyles pontificating the putrid worldviews…..’. Brilliant. But also how far too the right has Aussie society moved since the imposition of the warped con job, also known as Neoliberalism.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 1, 2018 5:52 AM
Reply to  Fair dinkum.

I’ve long believed that the Dirty Digger is either Satan himself, or his representative on Earth.

frank
frank
Nov 1, 2018 3:20 PM
Reply to  Fair dinkum.

You still watch TV? 😉

Unaccountable
Unaccountable
Nov 1, 2018 1:38 AM

Making things really hopeless is, the spooks seem to have unlimited budgets, and, with the least accountability of any profession.
Their budget in the US is part of the annual $700 billion allocated for defense.
There is simply no incentive for the spies to behave in the interest of the average person on the planet.

They are even rewarded for the damage they make, and they receive more money to even make more damage.

Whatever authority politicians have over intelligence services is being eroded steadily. You can see government officials negotiating with the spooks. Horse trading, you do this for me, I do that for you. Worse, intelligence agencies have all data about politicians and can use this information to suit their own agenda.

Great article. Thanks.

Gwyn
Gwyn
Oct 31, 2018 10:59 PM

”The Guardian is editorially independent, meaning we set our own agenda. Our journalism is free from commercial bias and not influenced by billionaire owners, politicians or shareholders. No one edits our Editor. No one steers our opinion. This is important because it enables us to give a voice to the voiceless, challenge the powerful and hold them to account. It’s what makes us different to so many others in the media, at a time when factual, honest reporting is critical.”

Comedy gold from the spineless government stenographers of the Guardian, who fearlessly and independently print whichever lies they’re told to print, every single day.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Oct 31, 2018 11:15 PM
Reply to  Gwyn

Today’s Russophobe rant concerning WADA, by the execrable Marina Hyde, sans Comments, naturally, shews the Fraudian hate-mongering liars in all their sordid glory.

Thomas Peterson
Thomas Peterson
Nov 1, 2018 12:15 AM

Great that I can come to Off Guardian and get the condensed version. ‘Marina Hyde’ ‘WADA’ is literally all I need to know about that article.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 1, 2018 5:54 AM

Apparently Ms Hyde (I wonder who her Jekyll is)wants Russians banned from sport forever. The rantings of the hate-crazed elites and their stooges have long passed the pre-apocalyptic stage. I rather think that Ms. Hyde would welcome war with Russia.

Yarkob
Yarkob
Nov 1, 2018 11:37 AM

I don’t think Ms Hyde would know a Russian if they came up and stuffed a Novihoax-soaked sock in her mouth. I would hazard a guess and say that she’s never even met somebody from Russia

Gwyn
Gwyn
Nov 1, 2018 12:39 AM

Yes, Mulga, they do like to spread the hate over at the Guardian. I saw a clip of Christina Patterson on Sky News in which they were discussing the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. Not very surprisingly, she brought up the subject of anti-Semitism in the British Labour Party.

There’s no end to their dirty lies.

Stonky
Stonky
Nov 1, 2018 2:23 PM

Ah, Marina. Or to give her her proper title, Lady Hyde-Your-Aristocratic-Roots-Behind-A-Fake-Name…

Gezzah Potts
Gezzah Potts
Oct 31, 2018 11:31 PM
Reply to  Gwyn

Exactly Gwyn. Prime example of a gutless stenographer at The Guardian would be one Luke Harding. I wonder if these ‘people’ even have a conscience? Or is that naivety on my part?

Gwyn
Gwyn
Nov 1, 2018 1:08 AM
Reply to  Gezzah Potts

Nothing resembling a conscience has been detected in these weak-minded little people, as far as I know, Gezzah. Although an inflated sense of their own importance most definitely has been.

The interview with Aaron Maté in which the pathetic Harding flails helplessly as he’s questioned about alleged collusion between Trump and Dr Evil, I mean, Vladimir Putin, is a sight to see. It’s typical of the Guardian to employ such non-entities as Harding, of course.

Gezzah Potts
Gezzah Potts
Oct 31, 2018 10:35 PM

Another excellent article Edward. While reading, kept thinking of such presstitutes as Philip Williams, Michael Rowlands, Tony Jones, and Virginia Trioli, all at ABC here in Aussie. Just reaching for a bucket….. The lies, distortions, and self censorship of the mainstream media has reached Orwellian proportions. But the real evil in all this is how so many have lapped up the propaganda, drunk the Kool Aid, and believe what they hear or read. Mass Groupthink. If you post comments on news media Facebook posts, such is the level of brainwashed conformity, you are accused of being a Russian troll or an Assad apologist or a loony leftie. Its surreal. I read ‘Manufacturing Consent’ by Chomsky/Herman years ago, as well as belonging to Central American and East Timor solidarity groups. My eyes were opened as to the true nature, and agenda’s of the Western media, who are really just mouthpieces for Neoliberalism, and the ruling classes.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Oct 31, 2018 11:23 PM
Reply to  Gezzah Potts

The ABC hate-mongers are particularly, and viciously, Sinophobic. NO story appears anywhere in the Western fakestream media hate-machine concerning China that is not negative, and increasingly hateful, and the ABC is no exception. The undisguised racist dread and fury at China’s rise is pretty much what I have confidently expected for many years, because the various scum considered fit to be propaganda apparatchiki must believe firmly in the superiority of the West and the great White Man and his ‘Judeo-Christian’ genocide cult, over all the lesser races and cultures. That China is rising, inexorably, to a position of eminence in world affairs enrages the ruling psychopaths and their propaganda droogs. Trioli and the buffoon she appears with are particularly odious examples of the type.

Gezzah Potts
Gezzah Potts
Nov 1, 2018 3:51 AM

Mulga: Agree. Agree. Agree. Again. Sigh. I havn’t watched ABC morning news for ages, but totally concur with your summation of the odious Michael Rowlands. Put the cretinous stenographer in the same box as the equally odious Philip Williams. Stopped watching ABC when I found myself yelling F*** F*** F*** at the TV a bit too often. Just the fecken Empire blood soaked Imperialist cheer squad lies and distortions…

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 1, 2018 5:59 AM
Reply to  Gezzah Potts

I particularly loathe the sell-outs who adjusted to the Howardisation after 1996, and the recent Murdochisation, like the vile Phillip Adams. Even the Science Show, long the last holdout, disgraced itself two weeks ago with ludicrous propaganda defences of Roundup as ‘good for the environment’, in controlling weeds, and ‘safe’, a very Big Lie indeed. It was only a matter of time.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
Nov 1, 2018 9:58 AM

This evening the ABC ‘news’ had a hate rant against China and New Guinea daring to co-operate, without asking the White Bosses’ permission, and a lie-fest, given GREAT prominence and length, where the numbers ‘imprisoned’ in Xinjiang had mysteriously grown from the original lie of ‘one million’, to ‘two million’. It was based on ‘research’ by ASPI, a think-tank financed by Lockheed and Raytheon, among others. The sheer frenzy of the clearly racist hatred is quite amazing, but not at all surprising.

Antonym
Antonym
Nov 3, 2018 2:02 AM

Mulga logic:

Australia exports loads of coal and uranium to China: vicious racist nazionists, polluters, $%&*#! etc.

China consumes loads of (Australian) coal and uranium: ecologic forerunners, insects are doing great, best for environment, safe development, Western bias, etc.

Gwyn
Gwyn
Nov 1, 2018 11:02 AM
Reply to  Gezzah Potts

Gezzah – I know what you mean about that level of brainwashed conformity. I occasionally post comments at the Guardian which assert that maybe, just maybe, what we read about Putin and Russia every day is part of a propaganda campaign. For this, I’ve been called a ”paid pro-Putin troll.” Very predictable.

Often, though, my comments just get deleted (sometimes with a little message saying they’ve been deleted, sometimes not. Straight down the Memory Hole, in those cases). The Guardian’s little slogan of ”Comment is Free” always raises a wry smile.

DunGroanin
DunGroanin
Oct 31, 2018 7:57 PM

Nice article. Almost seem to be reading my mind 🎃

The narrative control machine is losing it’s mind. It is being fact checked and instantly rebutted by the sophistication of internet posters.

A very spooky time for the spooky spooks and their masters.

Can they invent a diverting war quickly enough?

vexarb
vexarb
Oct 31, 2018 7:04 PM

“Do you wonder about where the war against Syria went? Has it just gone to sleep…”

On the contrary: Syria has repulsed the invasion by NATZO & its Jihadis. Uncle $cam (head of NATZO) wasn’t even invited to an important meeting between Russia and the 3 biggest NATZO members on the Eurasian mainland (Turkey, Germany and France) at Istanbul. Uncle’s silence is understandable, a result of acute embarrassment.

Syrian Arab News Agency reports from Ankara: The final statement of the Istanbul summit, which brought together leaders of Russia, Germany, France, and Turkey, _stressed commitment to the territorial integrity of Syria_, and that _there could be no substitute for a political solution_.

The statement, issued after a meeting between the Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also _affirmed the need to facilitate return of displaced Syrians to their homes_.

vexarb
vexarb
Oct 31, 2018 7:41 PM
Reply to  vexarb

PS I know this article says: It’s only a paper moon / Hanging up on a cardboard tree / It’s a Barnum & Bailey world / Just as phoney as it can be ….

But here really is: What France, Germany, Turkey & Russia agreed in Istanbul

https://www.rt.com/news/442449-istanbul-syria-summit-highlights/

1. Only political solution for Syria

2. Start work on constitution in Geneva

3. No to division of Syria

4. Keep ceasefire & destroy terrorists

5. Boost humanitarian aid

6. Help return of refugees

7. Internationally observed elections

[Courtesy of Abu Ali BTL SyrPer, half an hour ago]

frank
frank
Nov 1, 2018 3:33 PM
Reply to  vexarb

Why do they need a new constitution though?

mark
mark
Oct 31, 2018 6:52 PM

That little pipsqueak Jeremy Hunt was blaming Yemen on Russia today. Apparently it’s all Putin’s fault.
The Empire and its various satellites seem to have decided to ditch Bin Salman, with their MSM all singing from the same hymn sheet..
Maybe they just want a more reliable and less uppity satrap as their puppet in Shady Wahabia,
MBS was getting a bit impudent, threatening Canada and trying to buy Russian S400s.
It tends not to end well for US satraps who have outlived their usefulness – Diem, Trujillo, Noriega, Saddam, to name just a few.

deinvestiture
deinvestiture
Oct 31, 2018 6:35 PM

As for the audience demanding “a say in what’s happening on stage” – merely a resultant of infected minds by massively effective propaganda. Unless the audience recognizes that the script and stage ain’t its, and becomes habituated to ignoring it or destroying it, its better interests can never be served. Ignored and/or destroyed out of existence the question of “Then what?” does arise like a new sun, and all answers proffered to it like fractal beams of light attendant only to it – once again filling man’s hopeful heart with possibilities for his and his neighbor’s spiritual renewal – pregnant once again with his true, clear and real purpose here, flowering forth life and joy in each for the benefit of all.

Robert Laine
Robert Laine
Oct 31, 2018 6:31 PM

Thanks Edward and Happy Halloween. In the case of Chile it is telling that, after Allende was elected President, Agustin Edwards (owner of El Mercurio, the largest newspaper) met with Nixon and Kissinger. The CIA had been active in Chile in the early 60s when it was clear that Allende’s Socialist Party was gaining influence, but after the Edwards meeting CIA dollars really started to flow, mainly to fund the trucker strike which crippled the economy. El Mercurio published many articles of fake news after the coup to keep the readers on-side.

Fortunately the CIA seems to be too busy these days to care much about Chile (especially with our own right-wing billionaire President in place) and the local spooks are too bumbling to even mount a decent enough set-up (i.e. the recent “Operation Hurricane”) to imprison Mapuche “terrorists”. But there is a potential threat that the spooks and media will join forces again as citizens become more aware of neo-liberal abuses through alternative media and because Chile often likes to ape the US. Proof: the President recently gave Trump a US flag with a 51st star representing Chile!

MichaelK
MichaelK
Oct 31, 2018 3:46 PM

In modern, urban and increasingly electronic, civilization; we are all, to one extent or another, players or performers on a very large, multi-faceted, stage with designated roles within it. In earlier civilizations, which before the modern world emerged, were feudal and extremely rigid and stratified, the roles allotted to different players were clear and obvious; the king, the aristocrats, the clergy, the warrior class, the soldiers, the peasants etc. Up until recently, our form of society looked very different and we called it… ‘democracy.’

Now, interestingly, the broad consensus about the ‘play’ the ‘stage’ and our allotted ‘roles’ in it, are not just being questioned, it’s all happening quickly because essentially our giant stage, what we call ‘society’ and the economic order underpinning it, are showing signs of tremendous stress, cracks and the first signs of serious breakdown, even impending collapse, perhaps leading towards total destruction in another, final, world war.

In the political theatre, the players are arguing amongst themselves and can’t agree about their roles and the script. Increasingly there is no ‘consensus’ about the narrative arc at all, and this ‘chaos’ is spilling out over the lamplights and audience is becoming infected too and is restless about the role of the audience in all this theatre. In fact they are starting to demand a say in what’s happening on stage and fundamental re-writes of the script, which has unnerved the writers and actors no end.

tonyopmoc
tonyopmoc
Oct 31, 2018 8:51 PM
Reply to  MichaelK

MichaelK,

I like your post, but I think there are several roles / worlds on “essentially our giant stage, what we call ‘society’”, and where your own personal world is, depends on what if anything you are currently doing. The people in this world you meet on a daily basis, talk to, relate to and maybe even work with, are the ones that have a real effect and impression on you.

Only a small percentage of people, whether they are working or not, have any real interest or awareness, of what is going on in the world outside their own “comfort zone”. They have virtually no interest in politicians, elites, bankers, wars, terrorists until it negatively affects them, and even then they are almost powerless to do anything about it.

Since 9/11, which had a profound effect on me, I have done my best, trying to explain, but almost no one is the slightest bit interested unless they are already reading or writing on a blog such as this.

I think people who are still working hard, maybe trying to create something beautiful and useful are to be applauded, and should keep on going.

It seems to me that it is the politicians, the puppets and even the so called journalists, who are the actors here on the stage. They don’t seem to realise, that hardly anyone is taking much notice of them. The actors may think they are effecting change, but if they are completely ignored by almost everyone, what change exactly can they effect?

It would be nice if they were trying to help, but most of them aren’t.

Tony