I hope this belongs here, since it’s not a news article.
I live in Europe and I’ve mostly been the guy people listened to when they admitted to not feeling well informed on international conflict situations like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and US/NATO’s more secretive and subversive conflicts/coups and backroom deals with autoritarian regimes around the world, all in the name of democracy and freedom.
Can’t help it, I’m curious, I like reading books and I think connecting the dots is rewarding for my ADHD. The NATO connections to post WWII-nazis, GLADIO and other stay-behind groups, the CIA ties - it was all thrilling and interesting, but unfortunately part of our reality. During the Wikileaks days even the people most critical of my assessments came and admitted that they were wrong and that they now understood they had been duped. And now, they said, “we know better”. They all went back to reading the very news that consistently lied to them.
There still was a semi-reliable left/left-centrist press in Europe that you could point the few normies allergic to “not verified by authority” reporting to, mostly written by a few journalists who didn’t bend as much to pressure of falling in line with drumming for the democracy exporting business.
What happened? Of course the big media companies always always bent to the will of the warmongering establishment but there were always some sane voices doing somewhat decent investigative journalism targetting the common narratives, even if just to be able to deflect criticism by pointing to their work. How did they get rid of almost every sane voice? Did the mostly senior editors just die off/retire?
Today I am surrounded by people telling me obvious lies with a blind conviction of almost religious zealotry that can often be debunked with 2 minutes of research in spite of the downfall of major SEO and “24/7 breaking news repitition” infested search engines.
I always knew that most people wouldn’t spend the time on research to get an understanding of how this world functions and that Western democracy and liberty are basically strawmen that can be weaponized against anyone who stands in the way of Western interests. But I also always knew that I could rely on some people being receptive of well sourced information. My convincing of some people of course didn’t put a dent anywhere but you at least felt like it was still possible to reach people and breakt through the programming.
Even the people calling themselves antifascists are now ignoring the obvious neo Nazi-ties of Ukrainian Banderites while chanting OUN slogans. People are openly calling for censorship of the Internet in the name of “safety” and if you equate “fact checks” by the very people opposed to investigative journalism with the obvious risks of centralized Ministries of Truth being erected in front of our eyes, they vehemently disagree and demand that “freezepeach” must come to an end.
I’ve never been this worried about the world I’m living in. The US and Western elites are hellbent on provoking a war with every nation that’s no longer willing to bend to their unipolar world order, with Europeans taking the brute of it, whether it be economically or, should the war escalate, even on future frontlines.
Is there any serious opposition left? How do you cope with the reality we’re headed for? I’ve never been an optimist but I managed to keep my pessimism in check, until now.
I’ve basically written the west off at this point, and my hope is that it just continues becoming more irrelevant while the rest of humanity marches on. The west is a small portion of humanity, and ultimately it is responsible for creating its own downfall. I think we’re looking at a reverse moment of when USSR collapsed and US led capitalist order became the dominant ideology in the world. Today, it is US led world order that’s collapsing, and the new order that’s forming will be led by Communists in China.
Communism and socialism will come to be seen as the path forward for humanity while liberal capitalism will finally become a discredited ideology. While what’s coming to people living in western countries is unfortunate, that has to be balanced against the improvement of lives of countless billions who will finally be able to shake off western hegemony. As communists we must take an internationalist perspective and consider current events in their global context.
I think the biggest danger today is that the west will do something unhinged such as starting a nuclear war. The next few years will be pivotal, but if we make it through them then there is much to look forward to in the future.
Sucks to be here, but ultimately, yeah. Kind of feels like the only option for the west to adopt socialism right now is for us to “devolve” into a kind of semi-feudal capitalism as the west’s global influence decreases and the rest of the world moves on without us.
I just can’t see a revolution working in places that are so used to having the crumbs of imperialism given to them, and anti-communist indoctrination from birth. Circumstances are likely to change going forward, but right now, I can’t really see much potential here.
Exactly, it’s going to take many years for any serious movement to surface in the west. Currently, there’s no labour organization, no political education, and no leadership to speak of. Meanwhile, the material conditions are deteriorating at an accelerating pace.
People in the West are being radicalized. In the US more and more leftists are familiarizing themselves with theory and socialist history. I’ve been surprised watching how mainstream conversations are changing in regards to labor and imperialism. While Western chauvanism is a major obstacle needed to overcome, I do think it’s possible given enough time. Call me naive.
The question is whether that growing force develops fast enough to keep up with the forces of reactionary thought. It’s not entirely hopeless that there won’t be a solid socialist movement. But it’s likely going to have to go through some really really difficult and nasty lessons as it grows.
I agree, the really big question is whether the left or the right can develop faster as people lose faith in the system and start moving away from mainstream politics. Unfortunately, the right is growing at a much faster rate all across the west right now.
It’s going to be really funny when the world stage itself accepts China as the new dominant power and more and more nations starts turning and disavowing the western lies about them. Meanwhile libs in the US will continue to screech about it while their own fascist police forced run them over with antipersonnel vehicles.
That does seem to be where things are going.
Maybe in a few decades or even a few years, there’s going to be a sequel to “The Triumph of Evil” that is called “The Triumph of Good”.
❤️🔥
Well in the UK the pseudo-left media (I.E. the guardian, the independent etc) we’re all very-pro war during the initial phase of the invasion. We had to get saddam, get osama, and get justice done. Whenever the establishment needed broad popular support, every media conglomerate would answer the call.
Right now what you’re seeing is the slow-decrepit death of the neo-liberal imperialism. They bang their head against china and russia since that’s all they know, they’re very wealth, influence and power is at stake here, but they’ll never seriously fight head on. There was never a serious opposition to the establishment, maybe the manufactured opposition such as the conservatives vs the liberals. But there was never a media outlet which actually challenged the state critically. This is the reason why so many media conglomerates are pooling their collective voice into 1 thing, win in ukraine, win against russia/china, and win against the “radicals”.
Ease your mind by just thinking of this, you finally see how western liberal democracies work, you’re no longer in a stable period under neo-liberalism, a crisis of bloated magnitude is present within the western world order . The elites are scared of everything right now, foreign bourgeoisie and proletariat countries working their way to ditch western imperialism, rising worker’s consciousness, and the implosion of capitalism is literally around the corner.
Things are bad, they’re going to be worse. People will take the bait and chew the propaganda, but its a tired, rustic trick. No matter how much lies, pandering, myths, or delusions, people are realising their security and safety and now being eroded. You cannot change reality to your wishes, that’s how I cope with this. As much was the western elites wish they’re god, they cannot keep using this same trick, not when the reality you’re presenting is the exact opposite of actual reality. Think the propaganda disillusionment as a bubble, no matter how much shit you pile in there, it will burst. And people will see what capitalism really is.
I can finally for the first time in my life, see the end of capitalism/imperialism, for me there’s no more net, they’ve eroded it with their greed, and are stuck in a quagmire. Who knows? Maybe the first revolution since the cold war might happen in the west? Its a big possibility. But keep your hopes up, things are changing, just hope these changes will lead to a bright future.
But the Guardian especially has some stuff that hasn’t made sense. They’ve defended and promoted transphobia which still is odd in this context. I almost feel like what these news agency’s real goal is just to see the world burn
Division sells and brings clicks from boths sides linking to their drivel pieces.
The culture wars are extremely useful to distract people into meaningless nonsense that will change nothing.
I avoid using that term. It has nothing really to do with ‘culture’, it’s just hateful people getting mad.
Hmm, I need a replacement for it then. It’s commonly well understood.
Listen to this podcast ep on the topic, I forget what they recommend: https://citationsneeded.libsyn.com/episode-157-how-the-culture-war-label-is-used-to-trivialize-life-and-death-economic-issues
Thanks, I’ll give it a go but I’m already deeply sceptical of this from reading the summary. It looks like some liberals are annoyed with our name for their relatively trivial liberal issues.
"we discuss the vague nature of the term “culture war”; how this lack of clarity is weaponized to gloss over and minimize life-and-death issues like police violence and gender-affirming healthcare; "
It reminds me of this thread from earlier today.
The point of “trivialising” these things is that they are trivial, in the context of the wider world. The USA is less than 5% of the world and people will try to convince you that their domestic issues of screeching at each other about manspreading is important and that you need to vote for one side of their global death-cult mass-murdering regime or 1) The woke mob will make you gay or 2) the “democracy” will fall… and other hysterical ensuing dramas will unfold unless you enable them.
Yes, LGBT issues etc. are important in the USA, to Americans. But they’re nothing, nothing compared to the malign activities of the USA around the world. The people there are kept constantly raging about relatively minuscule issues compared to what they enable to happen by supporting their rotten regime.
This comment puts it well, though there are others in there.
They are not trivial in the context of the world. Colonial powers have suppressed gender/sexuality around the world for their benifit for centuries. You are basically just repeating the corrosive nonsense that gender and sexuality are only issues for those infected with a fabled bourgeoisie decadence, which itself is a narrative that is backed by western power brokers and leveraged by bourgeoisie nationalists.
Ffs, two spirit people were fed to giant war dogs by colonizers in California. The violence surrounding these issues cannot be understated, and reducing it down from anything but genocide is indeed trivializing it.
Comrade, I suggest you investigate the episode before you make a judgment, as you are literally falling into the trope episode discusses. Also, I don’t get what you mean by “our name” considering the podcast is a socialist media criticism podcast and the term was coined by right-wingers, are you a right winger? They are US based, but it’s applicable worldwide. And like the other ‘country breakfast’ said, law enforcement or vigilantes murdering people and getting away with it is not an issue of “culture” as right-wingers would have people believe. The gist of the episode is how right-wingers and liberals downplay the real material roots of these issues and how they are used as a smoke screen for minor electoral wins, changing little and obfuscating the evil Imperial nature of America and western countries through media manipulation. I sense if you would listen to the episode, you would agree with what it is saying.
Is there any serious opposition left?
Yeah.
There might not be any internally in your country, but if you’re in Western Europe your nation almost certainly participates in inperialism, and there will be serious opposition in the countries it’s imperializing.
We’re winning. It might be hard to see it from within the imperial core as it descends into fascism, but I promise you: we’re winming.
Mostly weed and the rare few leftist friends
Not only have the indoctrination techniques become more sophisticated, but their pervasiveness is hard to resist for even normally sceptical people. Your average “lizard people are controlling us” conspiracy theorist will still believe everything they’re told about China. It’s all been scientifically honed to be as maximally effective as possible. They have it down to a fine art. Even intelligent, well-meaning liberals will believe previously credible outlets like the Guardian, ( who’ve published this today for example).
It’s become difficult to not sound like you’re a conspiracy nutter, rather than them, because they have the mainstream news on their side. Asking them to confront the possibility that there’s a massive real conspiracy going on is asking a lot, we have to admit.
One way to cope is to just accept the worst. We are probably heading towards a nuclear war. The US will not accept a world where they are not the supremacists they believe themselves to be.
The only marginal success I’ve had in that area is to explicitly outline the difference between “conspiracy” and “conspiracy theories” and spend more time educating people on what makes conspiracy theories lack weight and evidence than I do on actually educating them about the socialist side of things. The only real way to do it is to basically give people a crash course in critical thinking and media literacy, both of which take a lot of time. That’s the biggest hurdle. It takes no effort to believe this nonsense, and a ton of effort to educate people out of it. It’s a massive uphill battle.
Is there any serious opposition left? How do you cope with the reality we’re headed for? I’ve never been an optimist but I managed to keep my pessimism in check, until now.
I just wait. Time will eventually be on your side this time too and everyone else will follow, just as it has happened with the Iraq War. It’s the same as always, so in the meanwhile try not to worry and enjoy life.
Ignore the news unless it’s local and actually affects you. As a person, you will have no ability to change the way things are going for the most part. Organize with trusted comrades and prepare for the worst. Get into the ‘Red Prepper’ movement. Read old non-fiction books, concentrate on self-improvement and fitness. Remember the dialectical method and apply that to your outlook.
The US hasn’t actually engaged Russia/China directly in combat…
I don’t get what you’re trying to say. Did you forget to add a “yet”?
I guess I meant that US/NATO resources are being embarrassed in the proxy war in Ukraine, which demonstrates serious opposition.
I’ve been talking to real people today, who apparently can use a keyboard, who believe that Ukraine is winning. There’s a lot of them around.
Two of them are in these comments right now
Spend time with comrades, get organized, agitate, snd have an exit plan.
have an exit plan
Dear God, you don’t mean?
When things ramp up, socialists may need to flee (or get jailed/killed).
It’s happened many times before. Also, the fash don’t understand our divisions so they’ll go after everyone vaguely left. Example: Indonesian DemSocs thought they’d be spared under Suharto since they persued 100% legal and “friendly” means. They were very wrong.
How does one go about developing an exit plan? Asking for a friend.
Be ready to board a plane and get out early enough.
The first is about having money. Easier said than done, of course. If you want to be particularly secure, you’d consider having enough gold for it, as it’s an inflation hedge and I would not be surprised if hyperinflation coincided with these things. Yes I know that buying gold sounds silly lol.
The second is about deciding when to fight and when to run. Not easy and a personal decision, but people who stay too long if we lose will be in a bad situation.
