The US Empire Tells Its Citizens We Cannot Think for Ourselves
It's treating us like children. We really should be insulted.
Once upon a time, Russia was a staunch American ally.
You’re not supposed to know about that alliance or that poster, you know. Just like we’re supposed to have forgotten the assassination attempt on Donald Trump less than two months ago, we’re supposed to have forgotten that without Russia, we would have been well and truly fucked in World War II.
There’s been a spate of imperial, and Democrat, propaganda about Russian influencers lately, and it pisses me off personally as well as historically. Let me explain why.
When I was in high school and started reading things like Brave New World, 1984, The Martian Chronicles, Foundation, Childhood’s End, and all of my dad’s news magazines he encouraged me to read, I started to form my own political opinions.
Inevitably and naturally, they soon sometimes diverged from his. My dad’s response, with my mom always loyally standing by him, was to lecture me that I had come under a bad influence or else I wouldn’t be thinking that way.
I’m sure this happens in a lot of families. The difference in my case is that my dad never let up on it for as long as he lived, and he made it to 82, so I know it whenever I hear it, no matter the source. My dad basically went on as follows:
If you believe that, you’ve been reading or listening to propaganda. You have come under a bad influence, probably (insert whatever Bad People here). You have been misinformed. I know The Truth and if you don’t believe me there is something wrong with your brain.
Now the US government and the Democrats are saying that if you are an American and are opposed spending any more money on the Ukraine War, then you have been influenced, maybe unconsciously or unwittingly or stupidly, but influenced, by Russian influencers or propaganda.
According to them, if you think that way then the only possible explanations are that you were influenced by the Russians or are mentally ill.
How dare they? Time to break out the big guns.
To paraphrase the great George Carlin,
No conspiracy is necessary when interests converge.
On the subject of Ukraine, I do not think, and never have, that it is in America’s national interests to continue this war for a multitude of reasons, including,
It risks a nuclear war with Russia. If that happens, we all die. I find that a compelling reason all by itself, but there are those who don’t, so guess what? There’s more.
All those billions of dollars our MIC and the corrupt Ukrainian government grifted needed to be spent wisely at home.
The Ukrainian government is a totalitarian regime that has banned all speech and religion it doesn’t like. They’re also a bunch of Nazi thugs who are wasting our oxygen, and I don’t like financing those bastards.
There is no logical reason why the United States cannot have a mutually respectful and beneficial relationship with Russia. Look at a globe. If anything, Russia is more naturally a rival with China than it is with either the United States or Western Europe.
Even Henry Kissinger knew that!
A whole generation of Ukrainian men, and increasingly women, is being wiped out by this war just like what happened to European countries in World War I. If you aren’t sickened by that thought, then I think something may well be wrong with your brain.
At least tens of thousands of Russian men have also died, and for what? To stop the US Empire from putting medium range nuclear missiles within minutes of Moscow, and for the profits of the US imperial MIC.
My wife is half Russian and a quarter Ukrainian both by DNA and by paper trail, so don’t tell me either one is inferior or that either is some sort of Western Civilization-threatening barbarian horde. And see that poster above.
Plus it’s a gods-damned war and we as a species really need to find better ways of resolving our differences. That is the only evolutionarily viable thing to do.
I think that’s sufficient. Not only do I think all those things, but I thought them up all on my own. I have studied the histories of both countries, which are inextricably intertwined, and I’ve paid attention to American foreign policy ever since the Vietnam War, which is a pretty long time.
I have reached my own conclusions on what is in the best interests of my country, and I have discovered that many, maybe even most, of my fellow Americans have similar views.
It is in the interests of the United States to end the Ukraine War. It is also in Russia’s interests, not to mention the interests of all of the Ukrainians and Russians who will bloody well die every day this stupid, dangerous, predatory and evil war drags on.
The interests of the American nation do converge with those of Russia here. There is no conspiracy, no influence, only common interests. Don’t let anyone tell you any different.
Besides, modern Russian propaganda is positively amateurish compared to that of Madison Avenue. For that matter, so is this gaslighting about Russia that the US government and the Democrats are trying to pull. And it’s not even original! This guy made a career out of it.
Don’t fall for it. Challenge it at every opportunity. And get pissed off at the condescending assholes spewing this sewage if you want to. They need to hear we know they are full of it in no uncertain terms.
It’s the least we can do for the Ukrainian and Russian people themselves. Neither deserve this war for American MIC profits and neocon imperialist fantasies.
Thank you for reading, good day or night, and good luck.
If you appreciate my scribbling, please consider becoming a subscriber or making a one-time donation by buying me a beer to help me keep scribbling.
I don't think "our" government is really interested in we citizens any more. Really, I don't.
Funniest thing I saw today - Putin says he is endorsing Kamala Harris. Tongue in cheek, or not, that's campaign comedy gold. For Trump.
Side thought - why is "our" government so hell-bent on forcing us all to get jabbed, when it is pretty clear that the jab does not work. For Covid. I get the feeling that the important thing, no matter what the disease of the month is, we all get jabbed. I will not, but things seem strange.
I am 78. My dad hated Japan to the point of madness. He was in the Navy. As far as I know, he did not see any action. Never mentioned Russia at all. We kids knew to never ever discuss politics or, really, anything else with him. But then, he was a Democrat, and worked hard to elect JFK. Plus I would literally get physically punished if he caught me reading a book. Seriously. He thought my mother left him because she read books, so books were bad. I did know to never mention Black people, Jewish people, Italian people, or Catholic people to him. And, over the years, after I left home, I bought thousands of books. Book junkie.
I hear Putin thinks Kursk was such a bad idea that perhaps Zelensky is controlled by aliens. Imo aliens would be better than those who actually control him.
My wife is 100% Soviet, then Ukrainian. She's gone through 10 years of civil war in Ukraine, and it didn't start in 2022. I've been there on multiple trips and seen the impacts. As my wife wishes, and I agree, I'll be voting for Trump with Tulsi and RFK Jr. - the only anti-war major party candidate, and it matters to Ukrainians.
That's, of course, assuming Ukraine doesn't collapse with current war and leadership changes in Ukraine!