We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, October 6, 2016

New ‘Group Think’ for War with Syria/Russia

Click here to access article by Robert Parry from Consortium News.

What I'd like to point out in this post is its essential liberal orientation regarding the ongoing imperial adventure of the US-led Empire in Syria and adjacent regions. In so doing, I want to make myself absolutely clear: this website is excellent in reporting the many truths about the nefarious operations of the Empire, and I have posted many of their articles on my website. This article is not an exception because it points to so many factual truths about US operations in the region. But Consortium News in general and this article in particular illustrate the furthest one can go as a liberal critic in the US and throughout the US Empire. 

Notice that Parry (the editor) attributes the US operations in Syria and the recent "U.S. escalation of conflicts against Syria and nuclear-armed Russia" as coming from only a group in the government. Later in the article he defines this group as "neocons and their liberal-hawk sidekicks". For whatever reason Parry stops well short to depict our official government as anything other than the real government. By limiting such actions of the Empire to only one segment of the official US government, he avoids any kind of deep structural analysis of a highly organized system that could be operating behind the scenes. 

With this in mind I would like to draw attention to a list of topics which are not permitted to social and political critics. You might consider this a line in the sand that critics dare not cross without some negative consequences emanating from the real hidden government or the fascist deep state (see this and this commentary) that exists behind the scenes. Many stop well short of this line in the sand for fear of consequences--especially to their careers.
  • Thou shalt not argue or imply that there exists an invisible government operating behind the scenes of the official government that really rules the US, and by extension, its Empire.
  • Thou shalt not seriously expose the major crimes of the deep state such as the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, etc, and their engineering of the 9/11 tragedy.
  • Thou shalt not engage in any fundamental criticism of capitalism or make any assertion that capitalist governance masquerades as a democracy.
One consequence of violating these "shall nots" are that one will be totally ignored by mainstream media. If you should get some notoriety that corporate media cannot ignore, you will be branded as "conspiracy theorist", a kook, or a delusional crank. More seriously, you will likely lose your career and suffer economic distress.

Now I grant that some otherwise sincere critics will intentionally limit their views because they want to appeal to a wider segment of the largely brainwashed population that is unaware of the true nature of our rule and the many crimes committed by the ruling capitalist class. They also might want to protect themselves from harmful economic consequences.