BRUCE LERRO—The spread of propaganda horizontally to the group is very old and supports the ancestral evolutionary need to depend on the group. However, propagandistic advertising has created group conformity not just on a local level, but on a mass level. “Keeping up with the Jones” would be foreign to times where the ancestral brain was predominant.
CULTURE & HISTORY
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• Prigozhin’s Gambit—Treason by any other name
34 minutes readSCOTT RITTER—Prigozhin’s antics, which were played out in intimate detail on social media, caught the attention of pro-Ukrainian information warfare specialists, who began promoting the narrative of Prigozhin—a former convict with zero political experience—assuming a leadership position in Russia. Prigozhin himself seemed to feed off this notion. While publicly denying any such ambition, Prigozhin continued his public trolling of Shoigu and Gerasimov. The vitriol became so intense that Putin was compelled to summon both men to the Kremlin, where they were read the riot act by an irate Russian President.
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GARY OLSON—The political realist assumes that all people are by “nature” greedy, aggressive and fiercely competitive. Morgenthau counseled that “Politics is governed by objective laws that have their roots in human nature.” [16 ] Further, “The struggle for power is universal in time and space and is an unavoidable fact of experience.” As such, the realist concludes that states, the actors on the international stage, must focus on power. No universal morality exists and power politics is amoral.
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THE LIBERAL/WOKE WORLD ORDER OF HYPOCRISY AND CONTRADICTIONS
8 minutes readGARLAND NIXON—In a superb chat, Garland peels away the numerous layers of self-serving myths the Empire and its legions of apologists use to justify their criminal actions across the globe and even on the home turf, America itself. Exceptionalism, of course, comes up high, as America was born thinking itself unique and morally superior to all other nations, something probably inherited from the British, who, quietly but effectively culturally racist, have long regarded even their fellow Europeans —”the Continent”—as inferior humans. The latest symbol of moral superiority to be brandished like a bludgeon is the WOKE conceit, whereby the US struts around the world proclaiming its primacy in human rights on account of its ostensibly privileged treatment of LGBTQ people, blacks, and other minorities.
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Viewed by many as an “eco-terrorist”, and certainly as an “annoying obstacle to human progress”, Tompkins, a onetime dedicated capitalist, eventually embraced the rights of all species, and the right of nature not to be exploited to death, with total equanimity. His transformation had profound consequences. Now Tompkins’ legacy—attained with his wife Kristine’s collaboration and support—will be the single biggest philanthropic gift in history, with an ecological footprint twice as large as Yellowstone Park in the US.