By R. Lesnoix for the Saker Blog
Four years ago, I wrote an article for this site, my first, because of how bad I felt about how our western governments had been acting, especially in the middle east, and with regards to Syria in particular. There are a lot of my own emotions and frustrations buried in it. As you can probably tell.
I used a comedy sketch by Mitchell and Webb as a starting point, because of how obvious it was that in the second world war, the nazis were the bad guys (a sketch also referred to by Graham Phillips in his interview with British mercenary Aiden Aslin). Or at least, I thought it was so obvious. And yet here we are. Four years later. And the west is cheerleading, and quite openly too, for the side with the genuine nazis. I had assumed that nazis are bad guys by definition, but much, and maybe even most, of western society would seem to disagree with me.
As the current conflict unfolded, more and more the actions on the Ukrainian side began to resemble those of their world war two political forebears. The hatred. The propaganda. The brutalities. The wilful blindness. But also the de-facto Volkssturm. The hitlerian ‘no retreat’ orders. The reprisals against their own people. Not to mention having their own brand of Gestapo.
If I look at what is happening in the Ukraine not militarily, but politically and societally, it’s almost like a parody of reality. Like a very poorly written, directed and acted play. But it’s really happening. And ‘we’ (in the west), applaud as if it was the best play we have ever seen. We want more. I wish I was surprised. Unfortunately, I am not.
What I wrote four years ago is even more applicable today. And I fear, more urgently so. Perhaps it can be of some help to some of you, whether to help make sense of it all for yourself, or in your interactions with others. Compared to the original, I have made a few corrections with regards to grammar and punctuation. I’ve also made a mere handful of minor changes, additions mainly, (in cursive) to make my meaning more clear where it might not have been. I haven’t changed the content.
Here’s the link to the original sketch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn1VxaMEjRU
And here to the original article (and the comments) from four years ago:
https://10.16.86.131/ask-yourselves-are-we-the-bad-guys/
R. Lesnoix
Ask yourselves: Are we the bad guys?
One can fault the British for many things, but not for their sense of humour. Some time ago, I saw a sketch by the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb. They played two German soldiers, sitting in a fortified position at the front, enjoying the relative quiet of the moment. They were dressed in SS uniforms. In that typically British roundabout way of starting an awkward conversation, one of them begins to talk about their uniforms. He has noticed something odd, something off-kilter. Their uniforms have skulls on them. So he asks the other one why that would be. In the following discussion, they try to come up with positive associations with skulls. They try to find a valid reason why their uniforms would have skulls on them. When they fail to do so, and can only come up with negative associations, the first one looks the other in the eye, and asks hesitantly “Are we the bad guys?”
It’s a funny sketch, partly because with our knowledge and morality of today, the idea of two SS-men wondering if they are the bad guys is almost grotesque. Of course they are the bad guys. “How could they not have known they were the bad guys?” Many will have this thought flash through their minds in some way or other. It is generally posed as a rhetorical question, as it’s so obvious it requires no further deliberation. That is a mistake though. It’s a very serious question. It needs exploring, because it goes to the root of why good men are capable of doing, or supporting, great evil. So let’s explore it. Why didn’t the Germans consider themselves to be the bad guys?
Let’s start with the skulls. Putting skulls on uniforms wasn’t unique to the SS. It had a long tradition in the German army and before that, in the Prussian army. It was used by the hussars for example on their hats. One likely reason the SS used it, was to tap into this history, to present themselves not as something completely new, but as a new way of continuing old german traditions, or if you like, as one of different ways they tried to legitimise themselves as part of german society. Keep this trick of trying to look like something you’re not in mind. Nor were the germans the only ones to use it, nor was it a purely military thing. If the skulls alone denote ‘evil’ what does that say of the Skull and Bones society, which has many of Americas elite, even former presidents, among its members? Skulls have had many symbolic meanings throughout human history. Judging historical use with a narrow contemporary view will lead to wrong conclusions. So no, the presence of skulls on their uniform was not a dead give-away of being ‘the’ bad guys. Unfortunately, this simplistic view, especially judging the ‘other’ with ones own limited viewpoint, is commonplace. Point to one very specific aspect that is easily identifiable as ‘bad’, from your point of view, ignoring context, and presto. You have your bad guys. Given that we are conditioned to view the world in absolutes, that also gives you your good guys. If one side is bad, the other must be good.
For Germans in the 1930’s it was far from obvious they were the bad guys. They had lost the first world war, a war they felt had been forced upon them by other countries. They had requested an armistice, believed they were promised a fair settlement, and were then betrayed at Versailles. Some, maybe most, believed that the war was not lost at the front by the army, but back home by spineless politicians. Hadn’t the army defeated the Russians on the eastern front after all? Germany lost significant parts of what it considered to be its ‘Heimat’ permanently, while other parts were occupied by the allies. The exorbitant reparations they were forced to pay drove the country into economic misery. In other words, germans largely felt themselves to be the victims of injustice. They felt robbed, they felt threatened, they felt betrayed, they felt wronged. So when someone came along who helped make things right, of course they went along. The economy improved, unemployment went down, political stability returned, the army was strengthened, lost parts of the ‘Heimat’ were regained, and a settlement with the soviets was arranged. From their point of view these were good things, worthy achievements even if it came with rough edges. When world war two broke out, it’s also easy to imagine this was seen as a reaction of the western powers to the resurgence of Germany as a continental power. It was just a new phase in a centuries old political game. This time though, the manner in which the conflict played out was much, much darker as civilians became the target in very direct ways. I’ll leave the rest of what happened for what it is. You all know the story.
When it finally ended Germans were, collectively, blamed for the crimes and misdeeds of their government. For most of them these came as a shock. Some were in denial and refused to accept them as true. Most accepted them though, especially when the stories of the average soldiers who had served on the eastern front, or as occupation troops, became more widespread. Given what they had seen and done, the camps didn’t seem that farfetched. While some argued over the details of what happened there and over exact numbers, and some still do, there’s no doubt of the brutality and wide scale murder that took place. The treatment of ordinary soviet citizens and soviet prisoners of war alone are testament to the evil nature of the nazi regime. Note that this does not mean that their opponents were pure as snow. Whatever the misdeeds and crimes committed by the allies and soviets, these do not justify or excuse what the Germans did in any way. It did make it easier though to see the allies and soviets as the bad guys and by inference, themselves as the good guys.
The Germans argued they hadn’t known what had been going on, other Germans were to blame, “wir haben es nicht gewusst”. But looking at the scale of what happened we wonder how they could not have known. There were plenty of signs, plenty of proof in plain sight, not to mention all the public rhetoric their leaders had used. How could they not realise what was happening? How could they not know the murderous nature of their state? The counterargument against the german people can be paraphrased as ‘you could have known, and you should have known’, combined with ‘looking away from what is happening in order not to see it, does not absolve you of guilt.’ And truth be told, after the war, the german people did carry this guilt collectively. They did realise how wrong they had been. But they also struggled with the question of how this had crept up upon them. How could they have been so blind? Individuals who had always thought of themselves as good people had somehow been led astray and had become more than just bad guys, they had supported and facilitated evil. And that question is crucial. If it could happen to the Germans, it can happen to others too. As Herman Goring said, “you don’t need the support of a majority of the population, you only need about 5% of them behind you, as long as it’s the right 5%.” Does that sound familiar to anyone?
It’s easy to point fingers at a few guilty individuals but ultimately, it takes a state with all its trappings to commit atrocities on this scale. And it wasn’t just the Germans who got caught up in this. Just look at how easily and seamlessly local authorities in conquered countries cooperated with the occupation authorities. Local police enforced German policies without much resistance. They cooperated to combat resistance groups, and to arrest whomever the Germans wanted. People tend to have a natural inclination to follow institutionalized authority without questioning its moral legitimacy. Its moral legitimacy is assumed as nearly all people consider themselves to be, individually and collectively, the good guys, irrespective of the specific collective used to identify with. Given that we all are members of different collectives at any given time, it’s easy to use, consciously or subconsciously, a collective whose moral authority is obvious to ourselves. We then confuse (and conflate) the self-image we have of our morality with the morality of the institutions that rule our daily life.
Many in the western world identify as christians for example, and the christian creed and morality is beyond doubt for them. So it becomes easy to say to one self, ‘as christians we have the moral high ground, so obviously we (our institutions/governments) are the good guys’. In the west we also consider ourselves to be democracies and we elevate this onto the highest of pedestals, ‘we are democracies, the most righteous form of government, and therefor we hold the moral high ground, so obviously we (our institutions/governments) are the good guys’. Even more abstract is the notion that we, in the west, are ‘free’ and therefor have the moral authority over those countries where ‘the people’ are ‘not free’. We believe that gives us the moral high ground, so obviously we (our institutions/governments) are the good guys. We have become moral Pavlov-dogs. Dangle a so-called noble cause in front of us, and any action, any action, undertaken by us (our institutions/governments) instantly becomes justified no matter what the morality of that action itself actually is. We have killed, directly or indirectly, children not by the hundreds, not by the thousands, not by the tens of thousands, but by the hundreds of thousands over the last few decades in order to make the world ‘free’ and ‘safe for democracy’. Somehow that’s okay with us (as a society). But when our own government tells us Assad killed some children with chemical weapons (cue Pavlov-reaction) no proof is required, and we accept ‘something’ must be done. Why? Because we (our institutions/governments) are the good guys, and we’ve been conditioned to think that the good guys don’t lie. Despite all the lies we’ve witnessed, we still think of them as incidents, not as the rule. It’s always individuals who lied or did wrong. ‘Tony Blair lied the UK into the Iraq war’. No, everyone did. The whole system is corrupted, not just individuals in it. The system rules and changes the individuals, not the other way around. We (i.e. the general public in the west) justify our belief in our authorities by saying that if it wasn’t true, ‘someone’ would speak up. Lies that big can’t hold up. But when people do speak up, we ignore or ridicule them, calling them conspiracy nuts. And a suspiciously large number of them have car accidents, commit suicide, are on planes that crash, suddenly get cancer, or are the victim of robberies gone wrong. The scale of our self-delusion is mind-boggling.
For the Germans during and before world war two a similar association took hold. They felt they had been wronged in many ways after the first world war, and that as the victims of that war they were only trying to make right those wrongs. So to them, the moral authority obviously belonged to them, no matter what they (their institutions/government) did. They saw themselves as the good guys. Period. At most they recognised some rough edges, but not enough to question the moral authority of what they (their institutions/government) were doing. Latch on to one belief of absolute moral authority and the gates to mass-murder and atrocities are wide open. Machiavelli’s best known observation is the mechanism of ‘the goal justifies the means’ as a political tool. This also applies to morality. If people are convinced of their own moral superiority they stop questioning their actions. Any action is allowed. But moral authority never rests with just belief or creed or conviction. It is not absolute. It is not unquestionable. One’s morality is determined by one’s actions and by one’s inactions, not by belief itself. Remember, looking away in order not to be confronted by unpleasant realities, is not a valid excuse to claim innocence. Not acting is a moral choice too. Not questioning your assumptions is also a moral choice. ‘God is on our side’, or its equivalent, has been uttered by just about every side in a war at some point, even when the warring sides were of the exact same religion. Now, looking back, that looks as absurd as two members of the SS wondering if they are the bad guys. But when you don’t question moral authority, when you simply assume it, then both of these make complete sense.
Which begs the question, how will people in the future look back at us, and our historical era? I am a citizen of one of the western countries that thinks of itself as free, democratic and based on Judaeo-Christian moral authority. My fellow countrymen and women consider themselves to be the good guys. It’s so ingrained into the national consciousness, it’s like a super-dogma. By implication, they consider what their government does, especially internationally, morally good. ‘They are us, and since we are good, so too must they be’, the thinking, if any, goes. And yet domestically, they denounce individual politicians and political parties in large numbers as corrupt, self-serving and elitist. The traditional political parties in most western countries are taking a beating in the polls, as they are seen to represent not the people, but their own pockets and supranational interests. Voters flock en masse to the so-called populist parties, on both the left and right of the political spectrum. We denounce the European Union as completely undemocratic and ruled by technocrats who are at the beck-and-call of big business. Fewer and fewer of us consider ourselves to be christians, and even if we do, it’s a vague sort of watered down version without much substance or clear morality. The popular narrative in fact, is to be inclusive of ‘the other’ and their convictions. All creeds and convictions are supposedly equal. Tell that to the Kali-worshippers. And although we question and discard the very foundations of our own freedoms, our own democracy, and our own christian-based morality domestically, we still believe that our national and supranational governments, and their attached institutions, somehow represent freedom, democracy and moral authority. We still think we, both individually and collectively, are the good guys. We seem to be unable to separate the moral self-image of the individual from the morality of the state. And yet it stares us in the face.
The number of people who died in Iraq since the western aggression against that country started in 1990, has been estimated at several million. The economic sanctions imposed by the west between the first and second gulf war have cost an estimated 1.5 million Iraqi lives, of which about 500.000 were children. When confronted with these numbers, former US representative at the UN Madeline Albright stated that ‘it was worth it’. Hillary Clinton had a similar comment. I know of no western leader who, back then, condemned or denounced this, and who acknowledged our actions as immoral and wrong. I could go on with numerous examples of how our western policies have resulted in mass casualties of civilians, including children, over the last few decades. If this one by itself does not start you to question (our supposed) morality nothing will. So, if you’re not questioning it now, maybe you should wonder why not, and take some time to contemplate the matter.
I do consider myself to be of high moral character. I have thought about this long and hard. I know right from wrong, or at least I think I do. It is always tricky to confront one’s own assumptions. I consider that what our western governments are doing is very, very wrong. I sense this clash between me as an individual, and me as a member of a happy society that does, according to my individual sense of morality, evil. When I look around myself, in my day to day life I don’t see it (in the people in interact with). Most people are like me. I feel like I fit in. Life looks nice and shiny. Bread and games for all. But when I widen the scope, and see what those we let represent us do, I shudder. And I feel sick to my stomach. For me there’s no doubt. The future historians will look at us and wonder in amazement. They’ll ask why we buried our head in the sand so deep, why we didn’t acknowledge the signs we were seeing. Why we didn’t call out our leaders on their immoral actions and attitudes. They’ll ask, “how could they not have known they were the bad guys?”. Because we are. As long as we look away and do nothing, we too are guilty (in a moral sense, and to some degree). We enable the system and it fills me with shame. As long as we maintain our illusion, and refuse to acknowledge that we are in fact not the free and democratic societies we pretend to be, and do something about it, we are as much to blame as our governments are.
A really good article.And the only answer to the question is,yes we are the bad guys in the West. I posted a long time ago that in the end the only way the West/US would have to be defeated was on the battlefield. Nothing today has changed my mind. This SMO is only the first step. If it is won Ukraine will cease to be a threat to Russia. And will be liberated from the fascist menace.But that still leaves the NATO threat to be dealt with.And as I have said before that threat must be eliminated for there to be real peace.
I take it the groundhog in the picture represents the Ukies holed up in the Maripol steelplant…….
Quite the opposite, for that’s actually a wombat.
They are among the most ‘innocent’ animals there are on our planet. Natives of Australia, they have no natural predators, and spend their lives eating, sleeping, procreating, and playing, without a care in the world.
For me, they sort of represent that what we wish for, but which is unattainable.
Wombats have a bad habit of busting 4WD axles, digging up the road.
You left out digging holes under wallaby fences and making them ineffective. But other than that they are “innocent”, and can be very amusing. One used to visit our front lawn to eat the yarrow that grew there. Ignored our blue heeler dog who was most intrigued by it but never even barked.
If a wombat decides it is going somewhere, it will get there, they are the bulldozers of the bush, impossible to stop.
And they do cubic poos.
I was once riding dirtbikes with a a mate and he fell behind. After a while I circled back, worried, and found him beside a bike with a destroyed front tyre rim. Wombat. It rolled over and trotted away, he had a broken collarbone, concussion, and his bike needed new front forks.
Bulldozers of the bush indeed.
What is Noodles Nuland up to these days? I don’t see her handing cookies to the Ukrainian Armed Forces these days. Any ideas?
” I don’t see her handing cookies to the Ukrainian Armed Forces these days.”
She never offered “cookies” only dry plain bulkas and forgot the salt.
she awfully quiet, especially after that appearance on live TV about the bio warfare labs. Blini Blinken has been fairly quiet as well, maybe they are trying to cover up their utter incompetence by allowing Biden to ramble his way into taking the blame for their poor advice.
“we are as much to blame as our governments are.”
Many in the world agree with you.
So time to drop the it-wasn’t-me-it-was-my-sisterism, and transcend infantalism if so capable and so minded – bearing your “soul” is not a pathway as Mr. Aslin will likely find out.
Thank you for putting this up again. I was just remembering your original post two days ago!
To simplify – it is in the nature of the human soul to struggle with both good and evil impulses (ask Plato) and the beginning of failure comes with self-delusion when confronted with these evil inclinations. Projection of these evils onto some other, ANY other, is then the automatic response. Ask a naughty child who did it… “it wasn’t me!”
Psychopathic polticians love to tap into this mechanism of projection, nurturing it along with institutionalised fear as the primal means to an end – which is always a rigid hierarchy of corruption and dominance. Torture and pain are food to these monsters, and the more medieval the better. They are no longer human, and in some cases never were.
Anger, hurt and betrayal are the seeds both for soul growth (by choosing the good) and for self-justification and willful ignorance (by choosing the evil). We nurture the collective evil by casting off all responsibility onto some abstraction like “the government” or “the oligarchy” or… rather than locating the causes in our own hearts and choices. There are no excuses. The solution is to shoulder the burden and take meaningful action.
We are all the bad guys – and we always were. We are to blame. We become the good guys by taking responsibility, and that hurts. There is always something that we can do, even (particularly) while the ego is screaming “there is nothing!”
Better question – are we the Sick guys?
And then it is plain to see the mental pandemic, even under the (deadly) COVID pandemic.
The doctor would then ask, symptoms, infection or poison, diet, and then cure, treatment.
George Orwell, very well shown here :
Why Propaganda is Vital In Upholding The Illusion of a Democracy
https://canadianpatriot.org/2022/04/03/why-propaganda-is-vital-in-upholding-the-illusion-of-a-democracy-2/
a clinical critique of susceptibility, of why actually a strong survival instinct means more susceptibility, to especially double-think – an infantile imitation syndrome (group-think does not quite catch the mental illness).
Sargant, who studied victims of the London Blitz, came to very unsettling conclusions.
Those who appear normal, fit in with current groups and opinions, are the most easily susceptible to indoctrination. And now it turns out the last King wrote letters to Hitler to blitz London for the effect on Londoners! (new Channel 4 Documentary).
Now look around today and the indoctrination is plainly normal to see.
Next, what induced this susceptibility? Patrick Lawrence nails it on 9/11 – it induced an infantile imperialist sickness – witness the stuff coming out of D.C.
I would put the broad daylight murder of JFK as a 9/11, which itself was a failed Reichstagsbrand. In polite salons this is called crisis management. Basically management of a deranged kindergarten, or more clinically a Mackinder-garten of wannabee imperialists.
Vaccination and treatment?
Well, Classical Music (Bach, Beethoven,Schubert…), poetry, Shakespeare, Burns, Plato, Cusa, Schiller, Leibniz, in large repeated doses, even if infantiles gag on the medicine. These vitamin deficits are actually the cause of the sick mental pandemic…
Now that Munich and New York are firing famous conductors like Russian Georgev for staying silent on the SMO, it looks like a matter of time before Bach, Beethoven, Mozart will be banned.
Tchaikovsky is already banned, and the Balalaika!
A famous American was slandered as listening to Teutonic music – meaning Beethoven, Bach, Schubert!
Hitler did not dare ban Beethoven, nor Furtwängler – the most famous conductor, and Furtwängler refused to run, which meant the imperialists attacked him!
Furtwängler met Hitler and reported : it was not about anti-semitism, but rather to eradicate any trace of reason, classical culture.
The so-called extremists in Ukraine are correctly identified by Kadyrov’s troops as the Shaytan – devils, who likely see they are next, as China sees it is next. Christianity, Islam, Confucianism, music, Judaism, are on the target list. Witness the destruction of Buddhist statues in Afghanistan, Petra – civilization itself is the target. And they will push it to nuclear war. Russia just tested a Sarmat. I think Russia knows full well it is dealing with a devil, the empire of lies, and will not give it what it wants.
The king immediately preceding the present Queen Elizabeth was her father, King George 6th. His brother was King Edward 8th, who was forced to abdicate. It was he who allegedly wrote to Hitler recommending the bombing of London.
The concept of “royalty” of itself reflects something about the ‘human mind’, and the reality of royalty even more so.
@ bonbon
You mentioned that “actually a strong survival instinct means more susceptibility…”, a topic I meant to address as a potential explanation for our tendency to be coerced into submission.
Yes, that is one of our weaknesses exploited by the ruling elites as it sometimes requires the heroism of martyrdom to overcome the survival instinct to which we are subject to like any other animal. It is wired into our genetic fabric and it is the expected defensive response from each of us when facing any kind of danger to life or limb. Yet, humans and other animals can and do purposely face life-threatening situations where higher values to self-preservation demand self-sacrifice. Our inability to overcome the survival instinct are the result of the elevation of the self (ego) in modern times to unprecedented heights. The first example that came to mind, ahead even of maternal instinct to save her offspring, because of its actuality, was the self-denial heroism displayed by Russian soldiers and civilians during WWII, perhaps the greatest contribution to the final victory and why around 27 million died from wartime related causes. Such behaviour has been explained by a heightened devotion to a collective sense of preservation of the socialist order in its humanistic, not political, dimension. Of course heroism is not exclusive to the Russians; in fact many Ukrainians nowadays are losing their lives but mostly for different, non-altruistic, reasons such as obedience to orders, hatred for the enemy, inability to escape/surrender, etc. while some may believe in a higher patriotic cause (which I suspect misguided in a country that is not a nation strictly speaking; my idea of patriotism being limited to feelings of devotion to one’s tribe/nation, not to the abstraction of country/state).
In our very individualistic/egocentric age, we are not even brave enough to fight for a better world for our own children. And that is an indictment of a society whose value system privileges the self above anything else, yet ignores one’s humanity.
Agreed. The author is right to start with WW1, a war that was forced on Germany by the very same Anglo/French Zio capitalists who later financed the Nazis and encouraged Hitler (“our bulwark against communism”) to invade Russia. The Germans are as guiltless as we are; and we in the EU$A are as guilty as the Germans were; for reasons of public complaisance toward public crime which the author describes.
The author is also right to remind us of Goering’s astute remark, that a successful coup can be made by a minority of the public – provided they the right type of minority. Which is exactly what we saw in Ukraine: the Nudelman “cookie” coup was made by a minority of U$ Zionazi oligarchs who, with the aid of $5Billion U$D for bribes and NATZO for weapons, installed the present minority Ukrainian Zionazi oligarch regime and its minority Army of Ukronazi gunmen.
However, I believe that concepts like morality and guilt do not apply to herd behaviour – and a nation is basically a herd of hairless primates. I think morality and guilt apply to the consciences of individual human beings: primarily examples of “the best of men” who are willing to face torture and death rather than commit wrong. The best known of these “best of men” are Socrates of Athens and Yeshua of Nazareth; both of them believed that they would be vindicated in an afterlife. In Nazi Germany there were a few men and women of this stature – not all of them conventionally religious – for instance the White Rose group whose puny efforts were virtual suicide; as were the puny efforts of Socrates and Yeshuah. In our time we have men like Scott Ritter who was disgraced but not killed by the State, and Dr.David Kelly who was disgraced and then killed by the State. And of course “the Wiki-Leaks guy” Julian Assange who is still (barely) living but locked up like Britain’s most dangerous criminal for spreading the truth. Such men point to a truth which is higher and more subtle than what can be dealt with by a Nuremberg trial. Historically, some groups of martyrs (Gr. witnesses to the truth) eventually thrive to become a State in their turn; but morality and guilt remain ultimately a personal matter between a human creature and its Creator.
“Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set ye free”. But not necessarily in this world.
“However, I believe that concepts like morality and guilt do not apply to herd behaviour – and a nation is basically a herd of hairless primates.”
But humans rarely act merely as individuals. Most of our actions are, in some way or other, as part of or in service of a group (one’s family, for example). If not expressed in terms of morality, what qualifiers would you use instead to differentiate between modes of behaviour and their desirability (or lack thereof)?
The qualities of group behaviour in are the same as the qualities of any single breeding pair, as described in Genesis (and not much differently in Darwin): to increase and multiply each according to its kind (though with occasional random modifications according to Darwin). Group solidarity has survival advantages, hence the tendency of herd animals (such as homo sapiens) to instinctive unthinking conformity, popularly known as “sheeplike behaviour” or “the sheeple”. One can no more blame the mass of “sheeple” for not wanting to know what the Leader is really up to, than one can assign guilt to a herd of sheep for following the donkey (or the Judas goat) that is leading them to the abattoir. Individual humans may have a presentiment of a Kingdom that needs to be built on Earth as it is in Heaven, but I think evolution will have a long way to go before the group morality of a tribe of humans will differ significantly from the group morality of a tribe of our close cousins, the chimpanzees.
“Dr.Goodall, is it true that you prefer chimps to humans?”
“I prefer some chimps to some humans, and some other humans to some other chimps”.
I work with a herd of dairy cows. Some of them are wonderful, cheerful, friendly personalities. Some are complete and utter bitches. Some are leaders, most are followers. When they find a broken fence into new grass they go silly, and when you turn up to chase them back to their paddock it is very obvious they know they have been caught being naughty.
Herd behaviour is a thing, so is individual personality. The difference between humans and herd animals is that we have a far high degree of cognition and with that comes responsibility.
Hence, we get precisely the government “we” as in the collective “us” deserve. If our government does evil stuff, it is because we allowed individuals into government whose character was inclined towards evil.
We are all individually responsible.
Thanks, Eagle Eye, for justly describing the relationship between group behaviour and individual responsibility. Your description of guilty behaviour by some of your cows whom you chased off forbidden grass is similar to the behaviour that I have observed in some of my cats when they were found trespassing in the larder.
I often think that Descartes would have been a better philosopher if he had worked on a farm or owned a pet instead of dissecting dead animals to find “the seat of the soul”.
“The author is also right to remind us of Goering’s astute remark, that a successful coup can be made by a minority of the public – provided they the right type of minority. Which is exactly what we saw in Ukraine: the Nudelman “cookie” coup was made by a minority of U$ Zionazi oligarchs who, with the aid of $5Billion U$D for bribes and NATZO for weapons, installed the present minority Ukrainian Zionazi oligarch regime and its minority Army of Ukronazi gunmen.”
Joachim Fest makes the same observation regarding the minority who ended up controlling Germany in all respects. He estimated (or cites others who estimate) that about 1 million active Nazi Party member controlled the whole German population. Partly through outright terror, partly through threats, partly through local surveillance (block watchers), etc. From this perspective it would have made sense to make sure the German people did know a certain amount about what was being done to Jews but not too much, leading to rumors, speculation, or just keeping mouth shut (of course the T4 Program predated the Jewish elimination program, and it is likely that many to most Germans knew of someone—a family member or member of neighbor’s family, etc—who had been “disappeared” already under the earlier euthanasia program). This would be a form of terrorism similar to what many Americans are now experiencing (if they are thinking) in connection with the mRNA-covid jabs and the possible introduction of enforced jabbing and “vax” passports.
Hi R. Lesnoix,
“But looking at the scale of what happened we wonder how they could not have known.”
I think, and this is only a theory, to understand that you have to put yourself in the mindset of a totalitarian society. I read your piece because I live in a democratic (or used to) society and feel that it is important to keep informed in order to know how to act (vote). However, would that be the case in a totalitarian society?
Without the vote or a just judiciary system, think about how one responds to news about malfeasance/corruption. Do you really think something will come of the Hunter Biden Laptop, or the Durham probe of Russiagate? Maybe, but not definitely. And as not prosecuting such crimes becomes the norm, what is the point of knowing about them? Such information is unactionable and superfluous. And knowing just sets up a painful / helpless / frustrating cognitive dissonance.
Furthermore, just innocently “knowing” anything in a totalitarian society can be dangerous. Here is an example:
THE LIVES OF OTHERS
https://youtu.be/1kYNK5PjoZ0?t=156
And so, ironically, the most prosperous individuals in this type of society (the ones that survive) are the ones that know the least. And the most intelligent and disciplined individuals will make a strenuous art of “not knowing” and of avoiding information. (Euphemistically, they become “not political” types.) We all self-censor on social media, so imagine if a social credit system were in place and the NSA database with everything we have ever written was interfaced with that; when that era arrives, we all would be reading your Saker essay with a Tor Browser or untraceable VPN. IMHO
In the German case, the “not knowing” was parodied by the character of Sgt. Schultz in the Hogan’s Heroes TV series, where his famous line was: “I see nothing, I hear nothing, I know nothing”. It took me many decades to really understand that. But, as we are drifting into a totalitarian society, it is becoming quite obvious now why people living in Western Democracies failed to understand Sgt. Schultz or why most Germans said they “didn’t know”. You survive by “not knowing” in a totalitarian society and the reverse in a democratic society. And if you instantly pluck someone out of a totalitarian society and try them under the norms of a democratic society, you are likely to get a lot of baffling responses. However, you don’t realize that unless you live a society where consuming information is at best counter-productive and at worst dangerous… which we are now starting to get a taste of in the West.
I hope that adds something to your thesis…. and again. it is just a perspective, and I don’t know if it is correct or not. You may or may not find something useful in it.
Also, I wanted to bring your attention to this:
The War That Had Many Fathers – Gerd Schultze-Rhonhof
https://youtu.be/MRpsfJmtPNg
I am not enough of a historian to really parse that, but similarities between 1939 and our present situation between Ukraine and Russia were just JAW DROPPING. IMHO He covers the topic of countries with mixed ethnic populations, governments that try to repress their minorities, the exact timeline of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the fact that the German government records of that era were not assembled by Germans but by the victorious Allies.
Anyway, all food for thought. And thanks for your informative contribution/essay here!
Thank you for your contribution. I understand how you would imagine it would have looked for a German living in a totalitarian state, but that’s actually a large part of the point of the article. Germany did not become a totalitarian state overnight. It took time, and was a gradual process. And don’t forget, the nazi’s used the ballot box to gain at least legitimacy, if not outright power. The Weimar republic was certainly an imperfect democracy, which helped them subvert it.
And as you rightly point out, our western democracies have turned out to be quite imperfect too. Yet another disturbing parallel with that past. And, I would argue, ours are drifting further and further towards imperfection. And at one point, ‘it’ (our democracies) will be gone altogether. The question is, would we even notice in the moment? Like the Germans in the 30’s, we are in a gradual process of democratic decline. And like them, because it’s so gradual, it’s hard for us realize that it is happening and where it is heading.
Honestly, I do wonder if we haven’t already, and unknowingly, crossed that point of no return.
Yeah, I definitely agree with you about getting close to the point of no return. I say that because the “fear of information” and “knowing” is already a problem at the very top of our elected government. Here is the most specific and blatant example I can think of, involving Russia specifically, (see, time = 37:50 & time = 1:02).
Devin Nunes: The Origins of The Russia Probe
https://radio.foxnews.com/podcast/trey-gowdy/
Nunes and Gowdy were trying to get to the bottom of the bogus Russian Collusion Investigation, and refused / avoided looking at classified documents because they feared being setup by the IC as leakers. Nunes was a member of the Congressional Gang of Eight, with the highest security clearances and he avoiding looking at the very documents he needed to conduct his probe, because they were too dangerous to him personally.
Now imagine yourself in the Third Reich, are you really going to start trying to inform yourself and know? If that is how Gowdy & Nunes were behaving in a democracy, imagine how similarly placed officials behaved with secret state documents that were out of their purview in the Third Reich. You could put Nunes on the stand and ask him: “how did you not know, the documents were made available to you?” And Nunes would truthfully reply: “they were available, but I didn’t look at them”. And that would mirror things like: “I just organized the lists of people for deportation, but I don’t know what happened to the them after that”. It seems mindboggling to us hearing that, but look at the behavior of Nunes & Gowdy in an ostensible democracy. The pattern of “information avoidance” is already happening to us… gradually also, but how many years does it take?
/The question is, would we even notice in the moment?/
The US government is run by the Intelligence Community and not even the democratically elected Senate Majority leader will challenge them and tells the POTUS to do the same:
Schumer Warns Trump: Intel Community Has Many Ways to ‘Get Back at You’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OYyXv2l4-I
How many people even “noticed that in the moment”? I think that the nation would have gone ballistic if something like that said in the antiwar Vietnam era… but something has changed. IMHO
Or maybe I am just totally naïve? (sigh)
That was my point.
“It took time, and was a gradual process. And don’t forget, the nazi’s used the ballot box to gain at least legitimacy, if not outright power. The Weimar republic was certainly an imperfect democracy, which helped them subvert it.”
It wasn’t only a gradual process. As I noted previously, it was gradual—and then it was sudden.
One cannot understand what happened in Germany under the Nazis without understanding the rapid process (within a year) of Gleichschaltung after the March 1933 (the ground had already been prepared by the Reichstag Fire in Feburary: “This decree suspended most citizen rights provided for by the constitution and thus allowed for the arrest of political adversaries, mostly Communists, and for terrorizing of other electors by the Sturmabteilung (SA) (Nazi paramilitary branch) before the upcoming election.”–Wiki).
You mention the idea that a few can control the many, but you do not describe the process whereby this actually occurred in Germany. That process was Gleichschaltung; it was overseen by Wilhelm Frick
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Frick
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleichschaltung
I see no mention of Gleichschaltung in your analysis.
Once you understand the process whereby every facet of Germany society (civil society, civil service, universities, media, entertainment, military, everything) quickly came under the control of the Nazi Party and its operatives via a series of laws passed quickly and of course wiithout opposition, ha ha, because there was none; opposition parties by now were banned and/or their members in reeducation camps), you might understand why I have called the covid psy-op Gleichschaltung 2.0 (before C J Hopkins in Berlin did the same).
In a matter of months, as far as I could see, every aspect of society in the USA and I guess worldwide was singing the same tune and carrying out the same rituals. I don’t think this kind of result can be achieved without planning.
Mathmatically speaking, we did, it was in 19 Ninety fouR
I was never so happy as when I could count to 100.
Putin himself will reveal the truth on who were the bad guys in WW2. He already hinted at it, he said “80% of the first soviet government were jewish”. The germans were as much the badies as the russian are today. Trying to proof the opposite is futile because its not the truth. Anyone who sees the Level of propaganda and how easy they manipulate the facts against Russia in the MSM must conclude that the winners wrote indeed the history. Besides that it was much easier to manipulate the Information flow around WW2 then today. The allies were and are the badies. Russia now is paying back their karma debt which they amassed in WW2 and its a damn long bill which is to be paid, be adviced. What goes around comes around.
Still not over it, that Russia kicked butt of Nazi-Germany?
What kind of debt should that be, Russia is in for WW2?
After all victory is what now matters. All moral speculations are waste of time and energy. Victory must also be unquestionable with positive consequences.
Excellent article!
A quote from Lord of War I think sums it up –
‘They say evil prevails when good humans fail to act. What they ought to say is evil prevails.’
Sadly that sketch at YT. is high-jacked by Bandera-fans switching narrativ.
Couldn’t resist,now waiting for shit-storm.
That’s how Goebbels works blud.
William Casey (CIA Director 1981-1987): “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” = Guardian + NY Times + any Western media cloaca
The US now, and always, makes allies of the most corrupt, violent collaborators. The only problem the UK & US had with Hitler was his designation of Germans as the ‘Master Race’ when they wanted that title for themselves.
US trained military yahoos have committed 8 coups in West Africa. Of course, military coups are cheaper than honestly negotiating Oil & Gas rights with responsible, democratically elected, popularly supported leadership. ‘Los Zetas’, Mexico’s worst narco gang were trained and armed by US ‘special forces’. Honduras, where democracy was recently restored after a US-OAS coup installed a president and family now facing decades in US prisons for drug trafficking. El Salvador, where ex-President Cristiani is facing murder charges for the executions of 6 Catholic priests, housekeeper, and her young daughter that advocated for negotiations and peace.
NAYOYO welcomes military coups and death squads everywhere so long as it favours corporate greed and human rights violations terrify popular dissent. Only the most savage, racist, drug-dealing monsters are embraced as worthy NAYOYO allies because they have NO LOCAL support, and know their lives and future depend on following CIA instructions.
Homer: “Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.”
Western lies and atrocities are endless and stretch back to slavery, Colonialism, and First Nations genocides. It is easily traced through every Presidency and Western country. The US began with Washington, who would rather sell his slaves to support his army than free them so they could fight in his ranks. Here in Canada, RCMP trained cowards routinely set lethal sniper over watch on First Nations protests. Meanwhile hundreds of First Nations children are found anonymously buried in residential school graves. The UK made noble fortunes from piracy and slavery. Prince Charles lied to Princess Diana so the royals could have a beautiful, compassionate woman reinvigorate their ugly, stupid lineage.
H. L. Mencken (1880 – 1956): “The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.” = Obama = Biden
“Why we didn’t call out our leaders on their immoral actions and attitudes. They’ll ask, ‘how could they not have known they were the bad guys?'”
For those who still consider themselves christians, when did Jesus call out the PTB? The Pharisees, OK, but that’s the easy one. When did He say Caesar was the bad guy? Herod? The dude had all the toddler boys slaughtered to try to get rid of Jesus, yet not even a bad word for him?
Upshot is that clearly you can stand for good without taking a stand against earthly powers.
Excellent post.
I have said it before and will quite likely say it again:
Self=righteous American who judge Germans (1) have no idea of what it is like to live under a totalitarian regime such as the one that was (in a combo of gradually and suddenly) installed by the Nazi Party, and (2) right now are failing the test of grasping that we are experiencing a similar (not identical but comparable) development in the USA, namely, the more or less gradual growth of a totalitarian regime that apparently is unnoticed by a large percentage of Americans, including the self-righteous ones.
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
Did Jesus say that, or someone else?
If the last 65 years of post-war US hegemony (and the attendant war, oppression and degeneracy) have shown us anything, it’s that the Allies were the bad guys in WWII.
OT but anybody know what’s happened to the Strategic Culture Foundation website? It was all good yesterday now when you visit the place – all you get is a blank screen with a password and name demand that can’t be answered.
I just tried to access the site and I saw the same thing.
Then I got a 503 message.
Odd, 3 hours later, still like that. Maybe they got a DDS attack and that was the way to circumvent it temporarily?
You can get stuff on Telegram but it’s not up to date. I guess the site has been sabotaged – they did write a lot about how people in the establishment really really hated them and saw them as a threat. Thing is – there was an Irish guy writing for them – he was exceptionally good and I can’t remember his name – D and a H initials I think.
Thanks for your reply
thursday a.m. I still get this:
503 Service Temporarily Unavailable
Maybe first name is Declan?
Declan Hayes?
Are we the good guys? No. Are we the bad guys? Yes. That we regard ourselves as a democracy and not a republic is a starting point. The US is or was a republic. Democracy gets thrown around a lot today, which is sad because we ought not to think of this as being the most righteous form of government. I think it’s more than obvious that democracy devolves into socialism for the simple fact that people can vote in handouts for themselves. As far as being grounded in Judeo-Christian values, I still think this is technically the case, but, the US is a society that can’t say “Merry Christmas”, and espouses a variety of ideas that are contrary to Christianity. The socialist revolution that’s occurring in the US is very hostile to Christianity namely for its values. Lastly, I’d say the FACT that we are now a society that is flirting if not outright condoning pedophilia, there is absolutely NO way we are good. Child abuse, especially the kind that is occurring here, be it sexual grooming or mutilation, all of which is in our public schools, is inexcusable. There is nothing good about any of this and this is painfully obvious. Regarding Russia, we’re clearly the aggressors. Whether Russia is technically a despotic state is increasingly irrelevant. After all, we’re a “democracy” and we approve of pedophilia, so, how good can democracy be over despotism? I should mention that as the US and West become ever more “diverse” i.e. multicultural and multiethnic, its quite clear that democracy becomes dysfunctional and untenable. The US is effectively in a cold civil war. This is mostly due to ideology, namely socialism, which is agitating the war. But, we also must concede that as the country becomes less homogenous conflict will inevitably follow, because, of game theory. Democracy makes it all the worse because we’ll all just end up voting for the interest of our own tribe. This is already the case in the US, though its misleading because whites, being the largest yet dwindling majority haven’t realized the true situation they’re in, but, that will change. Not because whites are bad, rather, they have no choice. Also, the US dollar’s global hegemony is fundamentally exploitive. In effect, we levy a tithe on every other country in the world. This is the defacto condition…no need for sanctions. Basically, by insisting all international transaction occur in dollars only, there is a value exchange that benefits the US only and not other countries. Without this paradigm, the countries would realize this value for themselves, thus, enriching their populations. This paradigm is changing, which is a good thing, because it is evil and it funds, in a roundabout way, the neo-marxist socialism here in the US.
I came across this observation from an article on Medium this morning which seems to sum up at least part of the current situation in Britain:
“In Britain, a decade and more of ultra right wing rule have plunged people into crisis — even its own government admits this. What would you do if grandma couldn’t afford heating? You’d probably vote the bums out. But not so in Britain. The Tories now appear to have consolidated something very much like one party rule. There is nothing — and I mean nothing — they can do to incur political consequences, meaning “people stop voting for them.” Nothing. The ongoing catastrophe of Brexit? Nope. Young people never being able to afford a home? Nope. Old people who can’t afford heating? Nope.
Nothing seems to matter. Politics appear to have simply stopped working, because nothing seems to matter. Whatever they do, people won’t stop voting for them. But at this point, Britain has a government which resembles a third world failed state — it can’t provide its people basics like energy, medicine, a place to live. What do you when people become hostage to their own ruin? Sorry, Grandma, I know you’re freezing every night, but hey, guess what, I’m still voting for these incompetents.”
– umair haque
Though this observation ignores the fact that all the opposition parties are part and parcel of the same system and no change of Government will make the slightest difference. A sort of variation on Yossarian’s Law: ‘A Tory victory is the continued implementation of Tory (neo-liberal/neo-con/neo-feudal) policies, regardless of what rosette they are wearing.’
Milton Mayer, who lived through that period in Germany warned us of the banality of the process:
https://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/511928.html
As matters stand there seems little prospect of the necessary change being generated internally across the entire Western world, anywhere. Which leaves the only logical option of that necessary change being imposed from external sources.
@ Dave Hansell
“Which leaves the only logical option of that necessary change being imposed from external sources.”
I have come to the same conclusion after several years turning my head around the question: “What is to be done?” when the political process has been highjacked for the purpose of putting a legitimacy figleaf on the naked exercise of power for the benefit of an elite of professional politicians acting on behalf of the owners of financial capitalism to the point that political parties, the source of the rot and the conduit to power, also became irrelevant, let alone the cheated voters.
For a while I believed that people could be awaken from their lethargic insouciance by adopting sensible systems of governance based on direct popular power by-passing political parties and politicos through “sortition”, where popular representatives were to be selected randomly from among the electorate. But that would necessitate a revolution because the existing parties have a stranglehold on the political process and constitutional ironclad protections and would not abdicate their power. Consequently, given that a revolution is beyond the mental grasp of the docile sheeple, incapable of even peaceful resistance by refusing to vote, there is no alternative for change other than outside intervention: either war or severe deprivation. And it might be on the way now as a collateral gift from VV Putin & Co as a thank you card for the compliments received from the Hegemon.
“Great crisis bring greater change” (copyright, my quote!!!)
Something that I noticed is how when poverty exists in a country that is non-capitalist, the west always blames the poverty and lack of progress on the system.
But when there is poverty in a capitalist country, the west always blames the individual poor people for their state, and never the system.
It’s the same with political and military matters. If a western government official or leader does something bad, that individual is singled out, and never is the entire system held to account.
But when a government leader or official of some country that for whatever reason the west has a problem with, the entire government of that country is immediately blamed for anything they do.
A very thought provoking article. Thanks.
Good/Bad have no meaning for the AngloZionists (although they use the words when communicating with the goyim.
The only “principle” they have is: “is it good for the Jews?” although Lenin’s remarkable mind boiled it down to the simpler “Who/Whom.”
British invent “concentration camps” for Dutch settlers: good
Germans use “Konzentrationslager” for Jews: bad
Borders of Ukraine: sacred
Borders of US: an evil “social construct”
German 1930 Nazis target Jews: bad
Ukraine 2022 Nazis support Ze: good
Etc.
Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. As Bela Lugosi said, “This will simplify everything!”
Gonna be interesting to see the US parcelled out to other nations after we lose this next war, the entire SW going back to Mexico. After all, turnabout is fair play. And don’t even get me started on all the gallows dancing coming from Nuremberg II.
The US started this insanity, it will come home to roost.
Been there, done that.
Britain, the single CSA supporter never forgave Lincoln for holding the Union together
The CSA embassy still exists in Liverpool.
The USA has one, and only one enemy,
Look at the Russian Navy parked at NY, SF, in 1963 with a note to London (and Paris) to back off, or else.
“The USA has one, and only one enemy,”
If you’re referring to the Bolsheviks running the west, yes. Death from within, at it’s highest levels.
My grandfather fought the Czarist Russians (under the Kaiser), my father and his brothers fought the Soviets (under Hitler), they were no more evil than the English or Americans. Funny how mass brainwashing works though. And I’m referring to the Allies.
In psychology it is said people under torture react mentally by saying, “what happen right now dont happen”.
Its probably the same when living in totalitarian society “refusal of reality”, because what happens if you recognize the cruel reality?
You must react, go out and kill somebody guilty and It jeopardizes one self.
I dont see politicians being the guilty, “it was Hitler who did it”??? Was it? Who followed Hitler and who carried out all his wishes and demands? We did!
So maybe the Guidestones are right. 500 million. It is said 90% of us would rather die than think and know the truth. Only 8% think they can think, and only 2% can think, leaving the 500 million as a good calculation :-D.
I discovered one more general rule. The 90% believe. To believe is for children who believe in what the big boys and girls says, what the politicians says, thus leaving small children without personal responsibility.
Adults know, an adult know things and take responsibility as adults, as Men.
I have to disagree with the comparison to the National Socialists of WWII. A lot of what The Third Reich did was economic and structural improvement of the German nation up to WWII in 1939.
Once the war started than the propaganda against The Third Reich was quite vicious and like prior to WWI, Germany was forced into a war it did not want. However, Britain did, FDR did, and Stalin was hoping for it.
There are obvious things that The Third Reich did in the 1930s that were reprehensible. Yes, they locked up Jews but the US locked up the Japanese. The Jews in Germany had shown themselves for the most part to be hostile to the German state as many radicals came in from the east. The Japanese never did anything to be rewarded with a free stay in the US internment camps.
The Third Reich did have a euthanasia program for the unfit but so did the United States with its increased interest in Eugenics in the 1930s. However, the German people saw to it that it was halted. The US never halted their own programs, which continued after WWII ended.
No, the Nazis of today are simply thugs who believe that who they are emulating would have been fine with what they are doing. However, The Third Reich most likely would have locked most of them up in the camps.
And the United States was always like who it believed the “Nazis” to be when it was just a belief in their own propaganda…
Your post prompted me to do some more reading about that period and I ran into this on Wikipedia:
The 1933 anti-Nazi boycott – Wikipedia
“By July 1933, the boycott had forced the resignation of the board of the Hamburg America Line. German imports to the US were reduced by nearly a quarter compared with the prior year, and the impact was weighing heavily on the regime. Joseph Goebbels expressed that it was a cause for “much concern” at the first Nuremberg party rally that August. ”
“Both inside and outside of Germany, the boycott was seen as a “reactive [and] aggressive” reaction by the Jewish community in response to the Nazi regime’s persecutions; the Daily Express, a British newspaper, ran a headline on 24 March 1933 stating that ‘Judea Declares War on Germany’.”
“The boycott, instead of reducing the harassment of Jews in Germany, was one of the preludes to the destruction of the Jews during the Holocaust.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1933_anti-Nazi_boycott
And it was US economic sanctions and an oil embargo that led to Pearl Harbor:
The Forgotten Reason Japan Attacked Pearl Harbor
Franklin D. Roosevelt had hoped that he could pressure Japan into accepting a diplomatic solution to the U.S. oil embargo. Instead, Japan found a military solution. Would any of America’s current enemies make the same choice?
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/forgotten-reason-japan-attacked-pearl-harbor-174121
And it seems that the present United States worldwide sanction regime against Russia is also going to backfire and lead to a lot of unintended consequences. On the day Biden announced sanctions, he said the Russian ruble would be crushed and that Putin would shortly be ousted. I wonder how many elites in the Washington DC bubble imagined that Putin would have a popularity rating above 80%? And that boycott of Germany, again by the United States, also turned out to be a gift to the Nazi Party; with a 25% reduction in imports, the US made it a lot easier for the anti-Semitic Nazis to bring the German population along with them.
So that is three examples of US economic sanctions that produced unintended consequences, opposite results and catastrophic outcomes.
I don’t believe Japan did Pearl Harbour. As 9/11, it was an inside job, for the US to have a reason to attack other countries. They always do this. Before Pearl harbour Americans had 0 interest to joing ww2, but after things changed.
You are correct there. Ordinary Americas had zero interest in entering either war. However,
this was going on behind the scenes, financial interests:
Prof Michael HUDSON – De-Dollarization – Toward the End of U.S. Monetary Hegemony?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbWaNPAS39s&t=1236s
So, it was just a matter of bringing the American population around to support the war. If you look at the official explanation for joining WWI it was due to “unrestricted submarine warfare” a WWII was Pearl Harbor. However, I think Hudson’s explanation makes much more sense. IMHO
I am not a christian! But I cannot disagree with any of that!
Which begs the question, how will people in the future look back at us! It depends who writes the material and what flavor they put on it and assuming there will be people around in the future!
Be well!!
Excellent essay. When we think of nazis/fascism we see see the bloody atrocities, torture, blood and gore. We attribute the unthinkable acts to tattooed skinhead rednecks.We must ask ourselves who Brainwashed and filled their heads with Hate to perform the evil deeds. It’s the “suits” its always the suits, they always wear those expensive tailor made suits and look oh so impressive and respectable. The likes of Nuland, Albright, the Prime Ministers, Presidents, foreign ministers etc. Also lets not forget the Handlers ….the bankers,MIC, religious fanatics media etc. Its always the SUITS that are the real psychopathic culprits. They are the ones manipulating brother to fight brother. The suits are the scourge of humanity, produce nothing of value. To them hate is a virtue. They need to get a taste of what hate does. Pitch forks ropes and lamp posts are what they deserve!
I ask this question, what if the real Nazi’s did not get rounded up post WW2 but walked away to continue on their project in the next powerful country?
What if the real criminals, the architects of wars are the criminal cabal that has run the West for over 1000 years?
Remember the Windsors changed their name during WW1, were right behind the Nazi’s before they turned on them.
The network that formed over 1000 years is still there and will not go quietly, you have to take power from them.
A brilliant essay which confronts a very real problem.
Yes, we (the US) are the bad guys, and have been for a few decades now. The simpletons we “elect” mean to have the world think like us and learn democracy. Our simpletons are just too stupid to understand most people just want to be left alone.
I’m sure the North American indigenous folk would argue with your only.”2 decades of badness” time-line. The US experience has been an ongoing experiment in what happens when a sociopathic European ethos exports it particularly heinous sociopaths and creates a “culture” from it–treating everything and everyone as commodities and where social interaction for the greater good is considered totalitarian.
Excellent article. Describes the cycle of emotions I feel each day.
When I talk about these things, often people babble a few words… then always seemingly end with, “I don’t know”. As if to say, what is the solution?
We can’t question our governments any more. Even they use the term, conspiracy theorists, to put labels on us, which the media propagates and uses as a launch pad from which to denigrate us further.
We can’t protest because the police force will come down hard on us. Unless the protests are sponsored / encouraged by opposition parties or ultranationalist, the protests won’t have much chance of gaining traction.
Any dissent against authoritative rule in the west and you are guaranteed to lose your job – mandatory vaccinations. Wasn’t there a Nuremberg code against this sort of thing?
Of couse we are the bad guys. Western society today is working from the same template as the German Nazi regime of WW2.
Wasn’t WW2 as well as many other wars and revolutions sponsored by the same financiers?
I will only post what Linh Dinh (a survivor of the Vietnam war who escaped on a helicopter in 1975 as a young boy wrote in a article that was posted months ago).
” There’s no true resistance or hope for American until the first meaningful assassination. Only galvanized by this can pushback begin”.
No we are not the good guys.
WW2 began when jews declared war on Germany.
In 1933.
A fact that is somehow omitted from history texts.
To know what Germans faced in Wiemar Germany see on bitchute “Berlin, metropolis of vice”
And know for a fact that all of the depravity, moral destruction, economic destruction was from, of, and by jews.
And know for a fact that the jew zelensky is promoting the destruction of both Russia AND Ukraine.
Yes, USA are the bad guys,as is UK. It really intensified after GHW Bush’s New World Order speech of Sept. 11 1990, Nost Americans have been Gleichgesalted by the EEOC. So afraid of losing their job because of a racist or sexist comment they have adopted group think. With the supreme court adding Homosexuals and trannys to the list, the rigid conformist liberals are now targeting anyone who is “homophobic” or “transphobic”
The FBI scared people in the 50s.From 1970-73 I was in high school and a member of the Weather Above ground, a nonviolent part of Weather. I did not get invited to a single party in high school because my friend’s parents were afraid that if they associated with me, the FBI would break in and plant drugs in their house and then arrest them.
G W Bush really accelerated the drive into Totalitarianism with the Patriot act, the anthrax attacks, and the murder of the anti-war Senator. The regime isn’t as bad as Nazi Germany yet, but is risky to oppose it. The foreign policy of the USA just in the 21th century has killed far more than Nazis ever did,
An incredibly refreshing article, thank you SO MUCH for it!
I happened to live in both Germany and Japan not even three decades after WWII; clearly, there are countless good people there, as anywhere; yet somehow we’re convinced that during the war (only,) they were nothing but monsters. Or that anyone who was conscripted knew exactly what war crimes their country would commit.
I need to gently state an opposing view to so many who claim, “We are the bad guys!” While it’s 100% true that wars waged in our name [the USA] are all fought under false pretenses and therefore are the height of evil, it’s also important to realize how astonishingly powerful the brainwashing and social manipulation is. It’s important to point the finger at those who DESERVE the blame, rather than those who either unknowingly support the evil plans by signing up to fight, or simply remain part of the largely unaware public… even these blasted “I support the latest thing” zombies.
Those of us who can see, for example, that MSM is nothing less than the Ministry of Propaganda, got somehow clued in to that knowledge, often through coincidence. Maybe we stumbled on an article that lead to deeper investigation, or went to a Meetup about Conspiracy Theories just to ridicule the members, yet left thoroughly convinced (a friend of mine did that! LOL), etc.
In my case, during a weekend seminar on options trading, the instructor mentioned, off topic, thrice in two days: “Read Creature from Jekyll Island. It will change your life.”
It took me several years to get the mysterious title from the library, but the book – subtitled “A Second Look at the Federal Reserve,” did indeed change everything. The economist who wrote it, G. Edward Griffen, backs up his statements so thoroughly, mostly with declassified government documents, that there’s simply no doubt that all major wars in the west for hundreds of years now have been started by false flag operations launched by those few ultra-wealthy “elites” after they’d positioned themselves to profit obscenely therefrom.
Should anyone be interested, it’s free to download at archive.org/details/pdfy/Pori1NL6fKm2SnY/mode/2up
It’s been nearly two decades since I heard a report on NPR exposing the fact that 96% of the world’s wealth was in the hands of a tiny group, something like .0003% of the entire world’s population. Now, we’ve all heard that 1% of people control 99% of wealth, and that too may be true; but it’s a red herring, like most propaganda talking points. 1% of people is a huge number, hundreds of millions. They can’t get together and decide what’s going to happen to humanity.
But .003% of that 1% CAN, and do. And think about it: if they control 96% of all money, they control virtually everything. All information, education, and Big Everything – Ag, Pharma, Weapons, Government, Entertainment: you name it. We are so unbelievably thoroughly brainwashed, it’s a near miracle that ANY of us has a clue about what’s actually going on.
I’ll be the first to admit an intolerant and increasingly impatient attitude toward MSM- (and other types of-) fundamentalists. I have friends with advanced degrees to whom I’ve TOLD the facts in “Jekyll Island,” but out of maybe a dozen, there was only one other woman who was actually interested. The other friends and family members went pretty much straight into denial. In my opinion, their level of fear is just too high to be able to accept the idea that sheer evil is in charge of the world. Is it their fault? I don’t think it is, though I’d SO love to do some serious butt-kicking.
But this is why this Ukraine war is so incredibly important and exciting. I believe that when Lavrov et al say there’s going to be a SEA CHANGE in the way things in the world are run, it’s because they have background information (which aggravatingly still isn’t made public) about these banksters and their horrific reign of terror for many centuries… it seems to me that Russia was WAITING till whatever stage of the banksters’ immanent demise was necessary to ensure success of the grand take-over. My guess is they knew that the weakening of the already-severely unstable monetary ponzi-scheme had reached a point of literal no-return.
And/or, maybe some of these fringe claims of secret arrests of many of the major players are true. One can only hope.
One of the statements in “Jekyll Island” that really stuck with me went something like this: “In any cartel, absolute secrecy is tantamount; and the Rothschilds perfected it during the middle ages. They stayed behind the scenes, deflecting any anger from the public onto the politicians, whom they largely controlled.”
It’s SO important, IMO, to realize that that scam is still thoroughly in place: even though we can see that Biden can barely tie his shoelaces, we still use his name when talking about what NATO and the US are being directed – from behind the curtain – to do. I would suggest that we not carry that even further and blame ourselves for the misery which is being caused by people with literally many trillions of dollars. Worthless paper dollars, perhaps, but hopefully it’s that fact that will have been their total undoing.
Completely agree with your comments on The Creature from Jekyll Island. Read it many yrs ago, got 1 person to read it and ridiculed by a dozen more who were too lazy to read anything. People would rather be lied to by their TV than read a book and learn facts. We live in an age of mental laziness, and which leads to ugly behavior by those with the smallest minds.
No matter how much we wish we could wake up the masses and do something about those who rule over us, we also have to deal with mental and physical cowardice. The masses don’t want to know what’s wrong, that would require action on their part, so they throw money at special interest groups to do their bidding for them, and then get cocky over the fact they belong to a group that fights injustice, etc. Nothing will ever change when everyone thinks they’re a warrior and won’t get off the couch to do anything.
I used my knowledge of the Fed to fight them thru denial of funds, no more tax slavery here.
Saker and followers,
I’ve been a follower since 2014, linked in through another website, and have been fully engaged with the situation in Ukraine. Must say, always considered it an outlaw country, a “get em store” if you will, much like say Columbia, Lebanon, etc..
Watched sweet Samantha Powers at the UN crying, much like the Kuwait’s incubator babies, Victoria Nuland, well we all know the company here don’t we? As for the SMO, I’d say it’s going accordingly. You see I first noticed Mr. Putin during the Romney-Obama Presidential race. In the USA industrials, the American white male was very disenchanted with the fact a black man was in office, I know I worked among them. So I understand about the layout of the Steel Mill in Mariupol, many subterranean areas of manufacturing control. Since religious ideologies are a topic here I will say having being inundated by the Mormon Religion and the false doctrine, I was totally stunned when Mr Putin banned them in Russia. If one were to research, you’d find, Mr Romney and Mr Netanyahu we’re very closely linked through the investment firm Bain, going way back, thus the distaste from our Senator towards Mr. Putin. There are so many facets to this world changing event that I think we all have wrapped ourselves, worldwide , in a state of Nationalism.
I leave you with a thought, what does it mean to be a sovereign citizen? Live in the world, not as the world? Can we be global and accept “ the other” or will we faction off and destroy each other internally?
OT – But since Strategic Culture Foundation has been downed by forces unkown – is there a back up site for this place? Is anywhere safe?
A good start but not adequate.
You need to go go a few steps deeper to ascertain why we are the bad guys?
Where did we go wrong in our fundamental principles that turned us into bad guys?
Were we always the bad guys? Presumably not. When did the rot begin? Or are our fundamental principles inherently bad?
«when our own government tells us Assad killed some children with chemical weapons (cue Pavlov-reaction) no proof is required, and we accept ‘something’ must be done. Why? Because we (our institutions/governments) are the good guys, and we’ve been conditioned to think that the good guys don’t lie.»
I think that our author is amazingly optimistic: most people accept the government line simply out of self-preservation, not because they think their government are the “good guys”.
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/05/17/public-trust-in-government-1958-2021/
“36% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say they can trust government, compared with 9% of Republicans and Republican-leaners.”
https://news.gallup.com/poll/355526/americans-trust-media-dips-second-lowest-record.aspx
“68% of Democrats, 31% of independents and 11% of Republicans trust media”
Stepping out of line can be severely punished, see for notable object lessons those meted out to Assange and Murray.
https://www.barrons.com/news/german-states-outlaw-display-of-russia-s-z-war-symbol-01648307108
«Bavaria’s Justice Minister Georg Eisenreich noted that freedom of opinion is a “great asset” but it “ends where criminal law begins. Sympathisers who use the symbol ‘Z’ of Russian forces in Bavaria must know that they may be liable to prosecution for approving criminal acts,” he said. “We will not allow violations of international law to be condoned,” he said.»
https://www.pragueforum.cz/ukraine-crisis-in-czechia-whats-happening-now-april-13/
«A city representative for Semily, a town in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic, has attracted major controversy by posting photos online of traditional Czech chlebíčky (open sandwiches) decorated with cheeses in a Z-shape […] local police are already looking into the matter. Kalvoda has been removed from his position on a local commission and local councilors are calling for his resignation.»
“The nail that sticks out will be hammered” :-)
The author poses the question –
Quote…
Are we the bad guys?
… Unquote.
Seriously – do you even need to ask (or alternatively, you only just noticed)?
There is no real answer to you great read, except to say that good and evil are what makes us human, unlike animals, they are innocent, we are not.