EDWARD J CURTIN—Here’s a film about the 1950s – “The World As It Was” – that will tell you a great deal about life in the U.S.A. today, while disabusing anyone of the notion that nostalgia for that mephitic decade is in order, for it was a time when “democracy” tended toward totalitarianism. In doing so, it sowed the bitter fruit that is poisoning us today. Without understanding the long-standing effects of those years, it is impossible to grasp the deepest dimensions of our current nightmare. Chapter One of the documentary series, Four Died Trying, directed by John Kirby and produced by Libby Handros, appropriately subtitled: “To see where we are, look where we’ve been,” does that brilliantly.
BATTLE OF COMMUNICATIONS
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ALI SALAAM—While there are large numbers of American people who are still in blissful slumber, hypnotized by propaganda from the latest live appearance of Taylor Swift who has been recruited to promote the re-election of Biden and the encouragement of people to take the untested Pfizer genetic vaccine, there are Americans who are waking up and are sick of the performance of the elite politicians, bankers, corporate heads, and other prominent figures, elected and unelected. When this awakening reaches the critical mass, it might signal some change in the US. The Zionist lobby is one of those special interest groups coming under fire from the left and right, as well as independents, as it offers zero benefit, or rather harm and detriment, to the average American.
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EDITOR—A masterful lesson on how the capitalist/imperialist system really works, which is something the rulers can’t afford to allow because it unmasks their criminality and complete disregard for democracy and all the rest we have been taught to believe in. Fact is, the truth instantly erodes the legitimacy of the international rules-based order, and the credibility of the ruling class in the US, UK, and other members of the US empire, the so-called “collective West”. As Joti Brar notes, we enjoy free speech, “as long as no one is listening…when they begin to lose the quiescence, the passivity of the masses, free speech is over.”
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EDITOR—Sabby presents the “debate” between “Rabbi” Shmuley —a shameless Zionist propagandist—and Norman Finkelstein, first aired on the Piers Mrgan show, with Shmuley, as usual, trying to buffalo his opponent, while Norman remains absolutely calm in the face of a torrent of ad hominem provocations. Piers Morgan doesn’t help much as a moderator; the man clearly has his orders from above, so he actually piles on Norman Finkelstein until the latter puts him in his place. Sabby, meanwhile, champing at the bit, literally boils with rage and frustration while Norman does not seem unduly unruffled by Shmuley’s insults. It’s clear she would have probably disposed of Shmuley on the first round.
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CAITLIN JOHNSTONE—In reality the nature of the US-centralized empire allows it to run a massive, nonstop international propaganda campaign through mass media platforms which are mostly privately owned. The fact that these mass media outlets look independent but function as propaganda organs for the US empire allows its propaganda to fly into people’s minds without triggering any gag reflex of critical thinking or skepticism, which wouldn’t be the case if people knew those outlets were feeding them propaganda. Propaganda only really has persuasive power if you don’t know it’s happening to you.