By Larry Romanoff for the Saker Blog
In an article in the NYT on America’s “Racial Democracy” (or racist democracy), (1) Jason Stanley and Vesla Weaver noted “The philosopher Elizabeth Anderson argued that when political ideals diverge very widely from reality, the ideals themselves may prevent us from seeing the gap. When the official story differs greatly from the reality of practice, the official story becomes a kind of mask that prevents us from perceiving it.”
This means that if propaganda is not only incessant and pervasive but if its tenets are too far removed from factual truth, the victims of this propaganda lose their ability to separate fact from fiction and become unable to recognise the discrepancy between their beliefs and their actions, believing their actions correspond with the religiously-inspired tenets of their propaganda even when they patently and most obviously do not correspond. The theory is not intuitively obvious, but it is heavily supported by facts. Perhaps it is for this reason that Americans are guilty of what I call “the Utopia Syndrome”, comparing themselves not with the real world of their actions but with some utopian standard that exists only in their own imaginations, a world of fancy and illusion where they meet the standards but all others do not. In this light, it may be that much of what we attribute to American hypocrisy may in reality be due to a peculiarly American kind of mass insanity.
Dictionaries generally define ‘aberration’ as a deviation from the normal or typical, an event or characteristic that may be unpleasant or even criminal but that is seldom encountered. In 1975, a US Senate Committee was investigating the documented tales of the CIA engaging in widespread killings of world leaders obstructive to US hegemony. (2) (3) Their conclusion?
“The committee does not believe that the acts of assassination which it has examined represent the real American character. They do not reflect the ideals which have given the people of this country and the world hope for a better, fuller, fairer life. We regard the assassination plots as aberrations.”
So, as William Blum noted, (4) the assassinations by the CIA of more than 50 national leaders and 100 lesser targets spanning at least 50 years and continuing in uninterrupted form through twelve US Presidents, are mere “aberrations” that don’t reflect “the real American character”. Reading from the same script, the US military casually described all the circumstances and events at its worldwide network of US torture prisons over twelve decades as “aberrations”.
It is worth re-reading the above quote telling us the 150 or more murders “do not represent the real American character”, the quote forming a perfect introduction to the Propaganda Mask and the Utopia Syndrome. The assassinations of all these foreign leaders are not denied; instead they are described as inconsistent with the American utopian ideal, and it is the ideal rather than the act against which America judges itself, the fictitious utopian ideal providing the real measure of American moral supremacy. This pathological reasoning is a stunning tribute to the efficacy of the propaganda methods of Lippman and Bernays, who almost single-handedly turned Americans into raving lunatic war-mongers during both World Wars. (5) It is from precisely this propaganda that Americans today can commit multiple horrendous atrocities, violate every measure of human rights, yet claim the high moral ground and see no inconsistency or conflict. The propagandised utopian ideal of creating peace and stability in the world will supersede America’s actions of creating only war and instability. The propagandised ideal of fostering and protecting democracy will overwhelm and mask the reality that the US has never anywhere installed a democracy, has never supported democracy, and has instead almost exclusively installed and supported brutal Right-Wing dictatorships. This patently illogical logic applies across the entire spectrum of US behavior.
Following the same line of reasoning, an American writer named Dana Williams wrote a reasonably good article detailing that America’s military interventions have always been waged only on behalf of big business and the elites, but then added: “America’s most priceless treasure is its democratic values and its growing sense of human rights”. What? A growing sense of human rights? Evidenced by what? This woman had just written of the increasingly devastating litany of American atrocities and destruction of so many governments and nations and in the next breath tells us of this same country’s priceless and growing treasure of democracy and human rights, apparently unaware of any conflict. Such is the power of propaganda and the ability of myths to insinuate themselves into the human heart and mind.
Michael Parenti, for whom I have considerable admiration, did essentially the same thing, writing, “… the American way is to criticize and debate openly, not to accept unthinkingly the doings of government officials of this or any other country.” (7) But where were all these openly-debating Americans when their government was progressively destroying Iraq for more than ten years? Where were they when Madeline Albright was killing 500,000 Iraqi infants? Where was the open public debate about the destruction of Jugoslavia or Libya? Where are they today when the US is destroying Venezuela? Due to the intensive propaganda and ideological programming, Americans are taught to venerate the process, but ignore the result. This is truly a kind of mass insanity, with all the credit due to Bernays, “the father of Public Relations in America”.
Further examples of this mass delusion are not difficult to find. US President Obama was asked why the US managed to rise for more than 200 years without apparent failure. His response was to say, “The true strength of our nation comes not from power of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the staying power of our ideals of democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.” (8) We can be forgiven for questioning the man’s sanity, that he could make such a blatantly nonsense statement. Even worse, how ignorant and gullible can Americans be, that they will cheer and wave their flags on hearing such rubbish? We have already examined the sources of wealth of this nation, and they most emphatically have never been related, not even in imagination, to ideals of democracy or liberty.
In another case illustrative of the pervasive nature of this illness, in 2014 an American football team cancelled the employment contract of one of their star players for having made a vicious assault on his wife. In a casino hotel, the elevator camera recorded the man punching his wife in the head so hard that he drove her head-first into the steel wall, rendering her unconscious on the floor. (9) (10) A moment later, the CCTV camera in the hallway recorded him dragging her unconscious body out of the elevator and dumping her on the floor like a rag doll. When the videos were released and went viral, the man made a statement to the media in which he said, “That is not the kind of person I am.” But of course it is the kind of person he is; this was the third time the police had to intervene when he had done something similar. But, as with most Americans and with the nation itself, he doesn’t compare himself to the reality of his actions but rather to the utopian ideals he pretends to hold in his mind. So even though he repeatedly punches his wife unconscious, that’s not the kind of person he is. This story is a perfect illustration of America today.
On another occasion, James Fallows, an American author and correspondent for the Atlantic magazine, wrote in one of his diatribes comparing China with the US: “… though we fall short of the ideal, we strive for a reliable rule of law.” (11) I have no particular wish to throw stones at Fallows, but this man is painting targets on his forehead with such a clearly ridiculous statement. All of the current domestic and international evidence – all of it – supports an unqualified assertion that the US freely ignores and violates every manner of law, both its own and those of other nations, whenever they become inconvenient or hinder unilateral action, yet we have Fallows with his delightfully patronising arrogance pontificating about America striving for perfection in following the rule of law, while suggesting that China does not do so. His claim is not different in quality than Bush and Obama flatly stating “we do not torture” after we have seen all the evidence and the torture prisons are all still open. Black is white. Nothing else to see here. Let’s move on. And move on Fallows does, secure in his fairyland mythology of American moral superiority, oblivious to the enormous contradictions snapping at his heels.
Fallows, in his suspended consciousness, conforms perfectly to this utopian syndrome, comparing the actions of his country to a high standard which exists only in his imagination and to which the US has never adhered. He does the same with his foolish criticisms of China, imagining the existence of some idolised standard which he then claims China fails to meet.
It is of extreme importance for readers to realise and fully understand that expressions like ‘rule of law’, ‘freedom’, and ‘democratic values’ are merely hypothetical idealistic constructs. They are myths and, like all myths, they are “designed to serve an emotive rather than cognitive function, not to provide fact based on reason but as propaganda to arouse emotions in support of an idea”. (12) Their purpose, and their clever effect, is not to provide information but to make one’s heart swell with pride at one’s own moral superiority. Think again of Fallows’ “though we fall short of the ideal, we strive for a reliable rule of law.” As Americans, we instantly feel that surge of pride in our breasts that we are so law-abiding while others by insinuation are not. Even further, we feel yet more pride that we so openly admit our (occasional and trivial) failures but, being good incarnate, we face and overcome these failings and continue striving in the best Olympic spirit. How can our god not love us?
The US government does precisely the same with its annual reports on human rights, which not only meet the definition of the utopian fallacy but contain the added merit of being mostly grand lies about countries that happen to be out of favor, and equally grand omissions about current politically-useful allies.
In this mental condition, Americans consider themselves superior to all others and believe they are advancing some greater good when all they are doing is forcibly imposing their warped anti-social values and political hegemony onto unwilling nations and peoples. Through their generations of propaganda, programming and brainwashing, most Americans live in an indispersible fog of mass delusion and self-deception in which black is white but which they inexplicably fail to fathom. From their ignorance and simple-mindedness created by their excessive utopian programming, Americans see their country’s prosecution of wars, the cannibalisation of nations and the single-minded devotion to the profit of a few elites, as the promotion of democracy and freedom, and are apparently incapable of the minor clarity of thought necessary to see that their murderous and greedy actions have absolutely nothing to do with either freedom or democracy.
When challenged, they usually offer a logic so groundless and illogical as to almost defy challenge. In their minds, all the nations their government has attacked are by utopian definition “evil regimes”. From the invasion of Mexico onward, in all the nations in South and Central America, in Africa and the Middle East, in Asia and Africa, the US was selflessly battling despotic tyranny. Of course, these nations were innocent, but to produce a list of all the countries the US has invaded and colonised with a military dictatorship, will almost inevitably evoke this response: “You make a list of all the evil regimes that “free America” has fought against, and use that list as evidence of how evil free America is.” If only that were true.
The combined political, religious and capitalistic propaganda tenets have resolved into what John Galbraith in The Affluent Society termed “conventional wisdom” (13) (14) which, through generations of that same propaganda, made these tenets “more or less identical with sound scholarship”, and their status being “virtually impregnable”, as he put it. The tenets of course have not actually been adhered to by any US government or indeed by the elites and their corporations, which means in Galbraith’s terms that the tenets are “highly acceptable in the abstract” rather than in reality. And this is the source of our dystopia of utopia in America today. We have the bizarre situation where this conventional wisdom – propaganda, in fact – makes a vigorous advocacy of these beliefs a substitute for behavior according to these beliefs.
So we have Americans preaching democracy while their government installs brutal dictatorships everywhere, and they see no disconnect. We have Americans preaching human rights while kidnapping people in other countries and “rendering” them to be mostly tortured to death, and see no disconnect. We have Americans fervently preaching and defending free-market capitalism while that same animal relieved about 30% of them of their homes and jobs, yet they see no disconnect.
This massive delusion is constantly reinforced by public repetition where each knows that many others share these beliefs. It all functions as a kind of religious morality play, the repetitive propaganda not only providing reassurance but serving as additional and pervasive evangelising of these foolish beliefs. Galbraith stated that “In some measure, the articulation of the conventional wisdom is a religious rite. It is an act of affirmation like reading aloud from the Scriptures or going to church.” He went on to say that this evangelising as a religious rite is not negligible because “its purpose is not to convey knowledge but to beatify learning and the learned”. In other words, statements like “we strive for a rule of law” are empty and nonsense pronouncements providing religious reinforcement of the mythical utopian tenets of American propaganda, then used as evidence of a superior morality tantamount to God’s will. Only in America do we find rampant self-adoration for preaching a gospel that we totally ignore in our real lives, in fact a monstrous hypocrisy re-branded as religion.
This is precisely what John Kozy was telling us (15) when he wrote that subjects in American schools were taught as if they were comprised of revealed religious truths, and in which the fundamentals of American patriotism, religious and political ideology, consumerism and free market capitalism were not different than studying the Bible in that they could not be questioned because they were by nature unquestionable, and therefore critical evaluation was proscribed. And again, “those who ask inconvenient questions are silenced in shame; books that present inconvenient truths are removed from libraries”. In the US as in no other country in the world, is it so necessary to adhere to the accepted narrative, nor so likely to provide acceptance and even applause for regurgitating that same narrative. And in no other nation does there exist the vast discrepancy between beliefs and actions or between theory and practice. The American political gospel tells us that we protect and install democracies everywhere. In real life this has never occurred even one time, but that doesn’t alter our faith in our political religion and nobody excommunicates us for our sins.
According to Galbraith again, “conventional wisdom accommodates itself not to the world that it is meant to interpret but to the audience’s view of the world”, the same view that has been artificially created by the professional propagandists. As much as Americans may criticise other nations for disapproval of deviations in behavior, especially political behavior, the same disapproval mechanism operates much more forcefully in American society. Only in America can we fully experience the awesome power of the ability of propaganda to make 300 million people so deaf, dumb and blind that they will fervently and solemnly declare that black is white. This process is so effective that not long after the flood of revelations of the extensive US network of torture prisons, including witness reports, photos and video of the pathologically depraved treatment of the prisoners, President Bush could go on national TV and tell America, “We do not torture” – and have most Americans believe him. Likewise with Obama with his torture prisons still in full operation, who told the nation, “I can stand here before you tonight and assure you that we do not torture”, leaving 300 million pathetically-brainwashed Americans firmly grounded in the moral superiority of a nation that does no wrong.
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel, commenting on American deaths in Iraq, said President Bush “believes in the value and dignity of every human life, that every life is precious and he grieves for each one that is lost”. (16) (17) As proof, one day President Bush was speaking to a meeting of the terrorist organisation known as Freedom House, and told the members, “We’re a country of deep compassion. We care. One of the great things about America, one of the beauties of our country, is that when we see a young, innocent child blown up, we cry. We don’t care what the child’s religion may be, or where that child may live, we cry. It upsets us. The enemy knows that, and they’re willing to kill to shake our confidence. That’s what they’re trying to do”. (18) But then there is a White House videotape of a conversation between former Secretary of State Colin Powell and then President George Bush, discussing their Christian obligation to spread democracy everywhere, at least in part for the purpose of protecting the lives of these innocent children. (19) (20) Powell opened the conversation with, “We’ve got to smash somebody’s ass quickly. We must have a brute demonstration of power.” To which Bush responded, “Kick ass! If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! Stay strong! Kill them! We are going to wipe them out!”
After overthrowing about 50 national governments and installing brutal military remote-control dictatorships in each of them, and trying to do the same in another 20 countries while grossly interfering in their media, elections and internal affairs, Karl Eikenberry, the US ambassador in Kabul, told the world, “America has never sought to occupy any nation in the world. We are a good people”. (21) (22)
After interfering in about 100 countries, inflicting immense bloodshed and misery on countless millions of innocent civilians, US President Ronald Reagan boasted, “We have never interfered in the internal government of a country and have no intention of doing so, never had any thought of that kind.” (23) And it was the great John F. Kennedy himself who told us, “The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war”. (24) As William Blum pointed out, this must mean that in America’s hundreds of wars with more than 70 nations spanning more than 200 years, all those countries invaded the US first, and America was just defending itself.
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, in an interview probably conducted in the office of his psychiatrist, claimed “the men and women of the US Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps were the most important peacekeepers in the world for the last century”. (25) This was the same interview in which he encouraged all NYT readers to “give war a chance”.
US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, needing a way to punish Saddam Hussein for not wanting to become a US colony, personally arranged the targeted destruction of Iraq’s drinking water purification facilities and enacted worldwide sanctions to prevent Iraq from obtaining replacement supplies or repairs. According to the United Nations, Albright’s actions directly resulted in the deaths of more than 500,000 Iraqi infants from contaminated drinking water, with the full knowledge of the US government. Then in a TV interview on the program 60 Minutes where she was confronted with evidence of these acts by Leslie Stahl, Albright famously proclaimed, “Yes, it was worth it.” (26) (27) And after personally arranging the 80-day non-stop bombing of Yugoslavia, the greatest continuous bombing campaign ever instituted by anybody anywhere, she said, “The United States is good. We try to do our best everywhere”. (28)
A US government official stated that “The American Empire is probably the most beneficial and moral the world has ever seen; not only in terms of technological development, but also through nurturing democracy and prosperity in the world. No other global empire has ever taken actions so massively against its interests solely for moral purposes.” Yet examination will uncover no example where the US has ever nurtured democracy, nor prosperity either, and I challenge anyone to detail even a single incident in the history of the world where the US has ever acted, massively or otherwise, against its interests solely for moral purposes. Various US military officials have claimed that “Our country is a force for good without precedent”, and that “The US military is a force for global good that … has no equal”. US President Woodrow Wilson boasted a century ago, that “America is the savior of the world”, while destroying and colonising that same world. Robert Kagan of the Carnegie Endowment for War and Misery, wrote, “And the truth is that the benevolent hegemony exercised by the US is good for a vast portion of the world’s population”. (29) Evidenced by what? By the Propaganda Mask and the Utopia syndrome. Nothing else.
American Christianity is a major part of this national insanity. George Bush informed the world that God told him to invade Iraq and, during the invasion, said “I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn’t do my job”. And when the war was over, after having killed a million or more innocent Iraqi civilians, Bush said, “When we lift our hearts to God, we’re all equal in his sight. We’re all equally precious. … In prayer we grow in mercy and compassion. … When we answer God’s call to love a neighbor as ourselves, we enter into a deeper friendship with our fellow man”. We are apparently to conclude that no one has had greater love for his fellow man than George Bush had for the million civilians he killed in Iraq and that Madeleine Albright was just exhibiting her great love for mankind by killing half a million infants. And of course, Obama can’t be left out of this parade. After countless thousands of deaths in the illegal destruction of Libya and the countless civilian deaths incurred by his drones in Pakistan, he fulfilled his propaganda obligation by telling us, “I believe that Christ died for my sins and I am redeemed through him. That is a source of strength and sustenance on a daily basis”. (30) The people in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and Pakistan might have a different interpretation of Obama’s relationship with his god.
Another result of this utopian syndrome is what we term “the pot calling the kettle black”, in other words, attributing to others the sins that “our side” commits and being apparently oblivious to the gross illogic and falsehoods in our position. The only reason the US accuses Huawei of being a potential spy is because Cisco, Microsoft, Intel, Xerox, and so many other American IT firms have been spying for the CIA and NSA for decades. The US media accuse anyone writing articles sympathetic to China, Russia or Iran of being paid shills, only because American correspondents have been paid CIA shills since the 1950s.
Another example that recently crossed my path was an article in the Financial Times by Jamil Anderlini who was at the time the FT’s station chief in Beijing. In an article titled ‘Patriotic education distorts China world view’, (31) Anderlini claimed that China’s “selective teaching of history influences its self-image”, imagining a great “disconnection between how the world views China and how China – from ordinary citizens to top leaders – sees itself.” He stated the world sees China as a frightening monster that bullies all other nations, his ignorance rendering him blissfully unaware that this sentiment is not true for China but for the US that he defends.
He wrote that China’s “selective teaching” of history and emphasis on “patriotic education” cultivates a “nationalistic, anti-western victim mentality among young Chinese”, again apparently ignorant of the typical Western (US) patriotic education cultivating US patriotism. This mentality is typical for all Western media correspondents who are selected primarily for the extent of their conversion by US propaganda. This is perhaps a good place to note that prior to joining the Financial Times, Anderlini was employed as a male underwear model which employment no doubt contributed to his deep understanding of Chinese culture while solidifying his credentials as the FT’s Beijing station chief.
Mr. Romanoff’s writing has been translated into 28 languages and his articles posted on more than 150 foreign-language news and politics websites in more than 30 countries, as well as more than 100 English-language platforms. Larry Romanoff is a retired management consultant and businessman. He has held senior executive positions in international consulting firms, and owned an international import-export business. He has been a visiting professor at Shanghai’s Fudan University, presenting case studies in international affairs to senior EMBA classes. Mr. Romanoff lives in Shanghai and is currently writing a series of ten books generally related to China and the West. He is one of the contributing authors to Cynthia McKinney’s new anthology ‘When China Sneezes‘. His full archive can be seen at https://www.moonofshanghai.com/ + http://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/ He can be contacted at: 2186604556@qq.com.
Notes
(1) https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/12/is-the-united-states-a-racial-democracy/
(2) https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/intelligence/2017-06-02/white-house-cia-pike-committee-1975
(3) https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKassassinationsC.htm
(4) https://williamblum.org/essays/read/us-government-assassination-plots
(5) https://www.moonofshanghai.com/2020/08/blog-post_49.html
(7) http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Parenti/Superpatriotism.html
(8) https://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/obama.transcript/
(9) https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/ray-rice-elevator-assault-video
(11) https://www.theatlantic.com/author/james-fallows/
(12) I have lost the source of this quotation
(13) https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/wisdom/conventional-wisdom-what-it-means-and-when-to-use-it/
(14) https://www.amazon.com/Affluent-Society-John-Kenneth-Galbraith/dp/0395925002
(16) https://williamblum.org/aer/read/55
(17) https://www.counterpunch.org/2008/03/04/how-could-hillary-have-known/
(18) https://williamblum.org/aer/read/32
(19) https://www.lewrockwell.com/2008/06/tom-engelhardt/kill-kill-kill/
(20) http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article41967.htm
(21) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jun/20/the-talibans-wishlist
(22) https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2011/07/08/the-brown-mans-burden/
(23) http://whale.to/b/reagan_h.html
Ronald Reagan, 1982. See: Nicaragua [2011 Jan] RONALD REAGAN: ILLUMINATI TOOL [1995] The Crimes of Mena By Sally Denton and Roger Morris.
(25) https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2009/10/frie-o13.html
(26) https://dissidentvoice.org/2010/10/the-evil-of-madeleine-albright/
(27) https://dissidentvoice.org/2020/03/we-think-the-price-is-worth-it/
(28) https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/American_benevolence
(29) https://carnegieendowment.org/1998/06/01/benevolent-empire-pub-275
(30) https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/2008/08/17/obama_mccain_air_views_on_faith/
(31) https://www.ft.com/content/66430e4e-4cb0-11e2-986e-00144feab49a
excellent summary of “american” mentality.
yorg
It is indeed. One example:
“The committee does not believe that the acts of assassination which it has examined represent the real American character. They do not reflect the ideals which have given the people of this country and the world hope for a better, fuller, fairer life. We regard the assassination plots as aberrations.”
And what happened after that ? Anybody answer for these crimes ? Were these crimes prevented from occurring again ? Answer: “No”. Hypocricy and double standards are a Washington tradition, not to mention ignoring signed treaties.
In 2014 Victoria Nuland, the famous Vicky Cookie, was caught preparing a coup d’etat in Kiev. In that famous telephone conversation with the US Embassy in Ukraine she was discussing who should be installed in Kiev. She also spent 5 billion dollars preparing the coup. What did the famous US Congress do about it ? Nothing. However, when it came to Trump and Russian “meddling”, we had demands for impeachment, while the behavior of the US media was despicable. Both Congress, the courts and the media were despicable after the elections which were stolen from Trump. Instead of overturning the injustice that was done, they went along with it.
As I have written before, the North American colonies in 1776 changed hands. Up till 1776 they were under Crown control, and after 1776 they were placed under banker control, the US its self being a banker creation. George Washington was a Freemason, while the HQ of the Freemasons is in Washington DC and controls the US Government and Congress. The US Fed is a private Central Bank under Rothschild control. The November 2020 rigged election and the appointment of neocon puppet Joe Biden is proof of the power the bankers and neocons have in the US. We can now expect an escalation of conflicts in the world. The next four years are going to be some of the most dangerous ever.
This is a very important essay.
World culture has always known of the hypocrisy of the United States, but never before have I seen it broken down like this into the mechanism by which it works.
I shall be pondering this for some time. This seems to me a somewhat unique – and in my limited reading, groundbreaking – presentation of a most important dynamic, one that both creates and supports cognitive dissonance. This essay explains much about much.
Many thanks to Larry Romanoff, and to the Saker platform, for this paradigm-shattering view. I’ve just realized that I have several articles by Larry Romanoff bookmarked on various topics and platforms. His retiring from business was evidently our gain. He is an excellent writer, and his thinking is top-tier.
ps…
In this one observation:
I would only add the language, “nor so dangerous to dissent from that narrative.”
Since the end of WWII there has been an epic, never-ending battle raging in the minds of Americans between the power of logic and the power of myth. To me it is quite obvious who’s been winning up to this moment.
Great point. Myth wins out over logic every time. Never more so than in a society that vaingloriously prides itself on being logical. I believe the US has now sunk into complete and utter psychopathy. Not just the leadership either, but the whole damn shootin’ match.
It is a myth that Americans have ever been under the ‘power of logic’.
Many Americans are legends in their own minds, but many many more are suffering from parental overload. The need to make sure everything is in order at all times, and even during an endemic, so now they are literally cracking up w/stress.
And not until they let go of this, everything being in order, or orderly, at all times, do they release the chains of stress and just let the kids and family take the risk of being the kids and family, along with the success or failure of each days mission.
Bad news is the latter is about to crush the former under the weight of the numbers of problems all at once, and after examining what they can do about this, may humbly take a step back and just watch the crumbling show.
Great points as well. The ‘hovering parent’ mentality is now manifest in the Convid19 hyper-reaction. The idea that absolutely everything can be understood, controlled, and manipulated for advantage/profit is a unique form of psychopathy in and of itself. It’s gonna be a hard fall indeed for a society so completely lost in delusional thinking. We’ve completely lost our sense of wonder before a universe that we really don’t understand in the least.
@Disaffected: “We’ve completely lost our sense of wonder before a universe that we really don’t understand…”
“To lose our childlike sense of wonder is a sort of death” — Albert Einstein, physicist
“The Universe is a strange and beautiful place” — Frank Wilczek, physicist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS3TldQq-bY
Let us consider myth and mythology as it applies throughout history. This link is to a no names satire for another look at Lady Godiva as she mounts her white horse and rides across a stock market floor. News seeps out regarding a peeping Tom whose identity is yet to be proven although many suspects are shown.
https://youtu.be/72rJhK05yJM
Great piece! Better than anything else I’ve read at Saker.
Great article Larry…multiple bravoes!
And the perfect illustration of this alternative reality that is so entrenched throughout the US is the unbelievable flow of nonsense that emanated from the 2020 POTUS elections.
The world, at least in the meantime, is being spared of having to listen to the rambling litany of bare-faced lies and self-adulation that was Trump’s idiotic trademark.
It is now replaced by another perfect example of what Larry Romanoff describes in this excellent essay entitled…” The Propaganda Mask and the Utopia Syndrome”.
Look no further than the nauseating diatribe, clichés, and monumental cognitive dissonance that Joe Bidet offered up on inauguration day…truly another sickeningly epic helping of exactly what Larry describes.
But of course no time for reflection or real analysis…the show must go on. The lead actors have changed but tragically the same ghoulish play-book remains with an endless global blood trail and a home front vastly more divided and dangerous than ever before.
And so TPTB chuckles loudly as they busily stuff their pockets with incalculable loot. Mainstreet limps on down the road to destruction, badly wounded and tragically confused, all the while completely missing the real debate and endlessly arguing about the disgustingly unappetizing menu that the kleptocracy shoved under their noses.
Yep…it’s business as usual…the business of global butchery underwritten by domestic neo-feudalism.
In this instance, a change is definitely not as good as a rest.
Sadly
Col
This puts into words something I’ve felt strongly but been unable to articulate. I have a follow-up question/comment. In this delusion, the U.S. has so many enablers within other Western electoral democracies who help perpetuate the lie. Why won’t or can’t these enablers call the U.S. out for what it is? Yes, I know, the question answers itself, but the point remains: we in the American vassal states enable the delusion, if not participate in it. I’d love to read your thoughts on this sometime.
The western enablers enable the USA because they’ve all been either bribed directly, or simply benefit from the situation in some other ways. For example, UK’s establishment benefits because cooperation with the empire makes it possible for them to continue to pretend that they still have influence on the world stage. Those who cannot be bribed are removed – by various means, including physical elimination (e.g., as reported in the Confessions of an Economic Hitman). There really is not much mystery in all of this – just that the information had been concealed from most people.
Best Larry Romanoff piece ever. Knocks it out of the park. The Christian angle is strong
Christianity is a Greek-based idealism with little connection to the real world. That’s why is has had no influence on Western rulers and leaders: so long as they defend the faith, they can kill as many people as they wish and it’s cool.
Confucianism, on the other hand, is not a religion and is almost anti-idealistic. What is a government’s first responsibility? To enrich people. Second? Educate them… All very measurable, tangible, empirically observable.
Hi Godfree
Leonard Cohen certainly had a way with words [a gross understatement!! ] and his description was…
I can’t run no more
with that lawless crowd
while the killers in high places
say their prayers out loud.
Cheers Col
Oh dear!
Dear Larry Romanov, Have you ever heard of the term ‘Collective guilt’? It is used frequently within the religious circles to shackle the sheep that graze upon the meadow, and by the application of this farcical notion the entire population becomes guilty of a crime that was never committed, such as ‘The original sin’.
In 1975, there was an investigation into the murder of various political leaders and other by the CIA, and we are told that this was not ‘The American way’ as if to insinuate that it was. Of course the list of ‘political leaders’ would have included JFK, RFK, MLK, John Lennon, and perhaps the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan. Yes, it could be very well described as ‘not the American way’, as such murders have been committed virtually throughout time, from when Cain apparently killed Abel, so to label these political assassinations as ‘The American Way’ should be considered rather erroneous.
Was Macbeth an American? I would hardly think so. Was Julius Caesar a victim of an American plot,? I would hardly think so. And the Machiavellian plots within the Vatican a prelude to the American way of life? Again I doubt it.
So to put into context the short lifetime of the CIA and its murderous behaviour, within the political sphere of when parliaments at least were first created back in about 1290, or even later to Cromwell and the murder of his king, the CIA in reality have not been the most proficient murderers.
But even then, to consider that these methods are used by and endorsed by the average American would have to be considered rather naïve, as so many Americans come from such diverge backgrounds, and have intertwined their ancestral roots that their political views would never contemplate such odious behaviour..
And so when you look at the statements of ‘this is not ‘the American way’, that statement is quite correct, but it is the way of a select few to gain power, and to hide their misdeeds by making it a ‘collective guilt’, thus ensuring that they will never be held to account.
And then to bring into the equation the behaviour of one odious person, and say; “Look, this is the manner of the American way” is again odious in itself. There are countless crimes committed by such people throughout our world, but we do not sully the entire population with the act of one or two persons; unless of course we remember Glencoe and blame the Campbells for such treachery, and thus forget about the real perpetrators of that act being the Master of Stair and his King.
Thank you Mr MacGregor
I concur, A very well reasoned response.
I do have to admit though, that I was always inclined to blame the Campbells. I will revise my historical prejudice and have a close look at the Master of Stair.
Dear DM,
To understand ‘The swamp” in America, I believe it helps to understand how this mythical monster was created, and to understand that you have to understand the history not only of the USA, but also its predecessors, and that is mostly British and Hess, The Duke of Hess was also considered the paternal grandfather of European monarchy.
Hess is rather simple; the Duke of Hess was the first Rothschild’s main customer, and Hessian troops were sold to the English for extensive works in their ‘colonies’. At Culloden, we had the Duke of Cumberland (there were only two Cumberlands and they died intestate) with his General Wolf, and their troops were mostly Hessians. And then Wolf led a Scottish army in Canada.
As with Hess, Queen Victoria was considered the maternal grandmother of the European Monarchy, but then again in the background were Rothschilds.
Now then perhaps you may or perhaps you may not remember the various claims that certain American families were related to the British royal family, but if that is so, then the lineage would have to be, how does one say it politely, by a devious route. and then we find that such families as in the Bush were of a religious order that went to the kirk on a Saturday.
So we look at the ‘master of Stair’ John Dalrymple, and you start to think of it as an odd name for a
Sassenach. You do a quick search and except for the ditty ‘Kate Dalrymple’ there is no earlier mention of the family name. Much the same for Lord Montague who along with several London businessmen greeted William of Orange when he arrived with his invasion fleet of 30,000 mercenaries to take on his father in law James VII, and then one also considers the Presbyterian religion which came o’er the waters from the Netherlands, with it’s taste of usury. and of the teaching of Calvin, and you start to get an idea of ‘The Swamp’. It also explains why there was so much poverty in England, Scotland and Ireland, and why there were the ‘Clearances’. And why Malcolm X called them WASPS (wealthy anglo saxon protestants) but they swapped wealthy to white.
Perhaps you may also consider the warning of Eisenhower as he left office, but consider the acts of thirty years later when it suddenly became in vogue for the manufacturing to be sent overseas to mainly China and Mexico, much the same as the Manchester Industry was transferred out of Manchester to India, and you will note one major point. The Military industries all remained in the US. This gave the Military Industries enormous political power as they held the last post for an American Middle Class, and that was not coincidental.
And lastly remember that after the failed rebellion of 1848 in Europe, most of the Jews fled Europe via England to New York, but Marx and Engels remained in England where they had very strong ties. And of course Rothschild’s man in England, Chaim Weizmann in 1914 had the Zionist headquarters moved from Europe to America. just after they had established the Federal Reserve.
And it is all of these forces that have bandied together to form what is now called the swamp. This creature is as old as Methuselah and just as deadly.
Excellent points all. In the end the only thing one has any control over is ones own actions and thoughts. Know thyself and accordingly do your best to follow your heart. While still flawed, it is all you have.
The comment it seems conveniently overlooks certain facts. The public consistently and over decades votes for those few psychopaths, yet they have alternatives. How come men such as Senator Ron Paul are consistently ignored by the population? The answer is because he only promises justice instead of handouts. Said differently, the public is simply and willingly being bought out to close their eyes on the US government’s crimes (the exact same phenomenon applies to European countries also). Where I part with Mr. Romanoff is in his diagnosis of some kind of collective cognitive disorder. It is not, unless one considers “greed” as a mental illness. However I agree when he says a large part of the population is complicit in crime.
Said differently, the public is simply and willingly being bought out to close their eyes on the US government’s crimes (the exact same phenomenon applies to European countries also). Where I part with Mr. Romanoff is in his diagnosis of some kind of collective cognitive disorder. It is not, unless one considers “greed” as a mental illness.
Excellent points! But yes, I do consider mere greed a mental illness when it becomes a national obsession. I think it’s more than fair to say that greed is the one (and only) unifying theme that holds the US together as a national entity these days. As in: once the hegemonic dollar goes (and it will likely be soon), so will any pretense of national unity and sovereignty.
This reminds me of how the Khazarian Mafia, AKA the 13th Tribe, hijacked the Jewish religion, committed horrendous crimes against humanity, and then blamed it all on the Jews. This is how antisemitism got started. This caused the Holocaust that hey have responsibility for. Then they use the antisemitism card and the Holocaust to get their way to commit more crimes.
Absolutely brutal article but entirely accurate!
I need to go back and study it further as well as to go back and research some of Mr Romanov’s previous articles.
One of the aspects that comes out in this article and is a constant factor to me is what does the speaker of this mindless nonsense actually believe. Is it simply useful propaganda to him or her, is he or she aware that this is actually evil lies used for a purpose. Hypocrisy does not even come close.
Is the evil so pervasive, so universal among these psychopaths, that humanity is completely lost. And the evil continues to prevail but it will be glossed over, myths and “ideals” will continue to block any honest reflection and recognition of reality.
Some of the examples which Romanoff uses, albright, obama, bush, nuland, kagan, biden, are constant reminders of this pervasive evil and it hits us between the eyes every single day. One could go down the list of admin officials from obumer to biden’s obumer II to broaden the list.
i do get the idea that Romanoff does not see any change possible, any positive news; it really argues for the complete and necessary collapse of the evil empire as the only way out of this evil morass; however, I do not know what the catalyst would be other than complete bankruptcy of the empire and its subsequent inability to export its evil to the rest of the world.
But of course that spells dire prospects for American citizens-to be sure, the oligarchs will continue to loot what is left of the treasury and the average citizen will continue to be ignored and exploited. Maybe, just maybe, change must come from within but that requires leadership, funding, and a program. i do not see any of these factors present in the current situation. A third party is not the answer as they have always failed. The deck is stacked.
She married Rice after 6 weeks and they are still together
So I guess he changed and he did a lot of good things after {even before he did}
Can the US change too and do good things?
The article forgets to mention the other side of the coin: namely that *all* the other nations of this world want to believe the myth of the USA.
It is only this world system that sustains this madness. The other nations of this world all cover up their religious belief in the USA, by believing in their fundamental moral superiority over the US-beings, due to culture and/or religion. Thus they will proclaim “the US is arrogant” etc., “they are all after the money”, “they have no culture”, and that’s it. No further actions required.
“… namely that *all* the other nations of this world want to believe the myth of the USA.”
Oh no, … please stop and think before writing such nonsense: clearly they ALL do not!
This comment (by Oliver K quoted above) is a classic case of the disease being discussed by Larry Romanoff.
Sigh, … :-/
It is a good example of the supremacist attitude trying to find a way to neutralize the attack on itself.
”18 Woe to those who drag their sins behind them like a bullock on a rope. 19 They even mock the Holy One of Israel and dare the Lord to punish them. “Hurry up and punish us, O Lord,” they say. “We want to see what you can do!”* 20 They say that what is right is wrong and what is wrong is right; that black is white and white is black; bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.
21 Woe to those who are wise and shrewd in their own eyes! 22 Woe to those who are “heroes” when it comes to drinking and boast about the liquor they can hold. 23 They take bribes to pervert justice, letting the wicked go free and putting innocent men in jail. 24 Therefore God will deal with them and burn them. They will disappear like straw on fire. Their roots will rot and their flowers wither, for they have thrown away the laws of God and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. 25 That is why the anger of the Lord is hot against his people; that is why he has reached out his hand to smash them. The hills will tremble, and the rotting bodies of his people will be thrown as refuse in the streets. But even so, his anger is not ended; his hand is heavy on them still” (Isaiah 5:18-25).
”You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
*Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. 41 Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, 42 He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. 43 He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God” (Matthew 27:40-43)
I would like to add another syndrome to the Utopia syndrome described by the author of this article. It is what I call
Tonya Harding syndrome: if you are in my way, I will brake your legs. My business and my connections require me to visit USA at least twice a year and with these occasions I notice Tonya Harding syndrome being pervasive everywhere in American society: regular people, companies, corporations, the two political parties, at government level and against foreign countries. If you are in my way I’ll break your legs but this is not who I really am. Is this the result of propaganda? I think it sure is.
Indoctrination, more than propaganda, part and parcel of ‘exceptionalism’; pride does go before a fall and long may it be, the ‘fall’ that is, we need a break.
Cheers, M
An excellent article. I am in Australia but lived in the US for several years. What the US citizen hears is unlike “news” elsewhere around the world. Amongst people I know, the US is viewed as a violent despotic killer, just not very good at it. The US is able to cower governments, such as Australia’s, but not the citizens.
Congrats Larry
A very insightful blog post by Larry Romanoff, imo.
“We have the bizarre situation where this conventional wisdom – propaganda, in fact – makes a vigorous advocacy of these beliefs a substitute for behavior according to these beliefs.”
Indeed, and why the immediate past president was a Hotel/real estate tycoon and TV Reality Show host (funded by a gambling casino magnate) who was judged by many as acting (poorly) as a ‘president’. Indeed, again, like the antagonist in world championship wrestling ‘drama’ his projected persona played the ‘anti-president’ — basically his ‘sin’ in the eyes of many was his poor acting (in hiding his reality); not in his real deficits. Complex? Sure is, and that is the point: Don’t open the kimono!
And also a recent related rather sobering effort by PCR which sets out how the manner in which this US election was conducted, will tend to carry the deep cancer forward … which is the point I assume from a deeply criminal perspective. The purpose of a system is what it does (POSIWID).
https://usawatchdog.com/establishment-war-against-we-the-people-paul-craig-roberts/
[Btw. Facebook is blocking this link saying it does not exist…. Lol, ….BS ‘Factchecker’… ;-]
The one Achilles heal in this dance of DC criminal gangs is that by attempting to impeach Trump in the Senate (to counter, deflect and entrap) it will set the stage for the official presentation of the ‘evidence’ that Trump claims to exist. If that evidence exists, and is found to be relevant by the Senate (Harris with a swinging vote!), then the impeachment discourse will flip and proceed against the NDP. If proven then sleepy Joe risks impeachment as the fall guy and then (bingo!) Hindu-Harris is the 1st female non-white president of the USA. Surely the Postmodern ‘gods’ aren’t that crazy? … or just maybe they are? (Surah Al-Anfal 8:30)
Interesting times, indeed.
My bet is, like the 2001 controlled demolition of “Building 7,” it will simply fade away into historical irrelevance.
So the double bind left behind on Trump’s exit stage left/right,.. and center is that:
(a) there is no precedent for impeaching an ex-president after leaving office; and
(b) any progress in a Senate debate will thereby allow the evidence to be tabled and debated etc.
Well done, Nancy et al.! We thinks your Trump obsession has protested “too much” and now the opportunity exists for Act III to proceed in slow simmer for 18-24 months until the midterms.
“Indeed, again, like the antagonist in world championship wrestling ‘drama’ his projected persona played the ‘anti-president’ — basically his ‘sin’ in the eyes of many was his poor acting (in hiding his reality); not in his real deficits. ”
Thank you for this insight! I never liked Trump, and he is guilty of war crimes, but in certain ways he was more honest than his predecessors and surely more so than the present criminal. Still, I never quite understood the source of the Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), since his actions just reflected what we have learned is always coming from the US. But your point that his poor acting was the essential sin makes kind of sense. It triggered cognitive dissonance in the subconscious minds of propagandized people, and as usual the reaction in such cases is to deny reality not correct their beliefs of reality.
“… is to deny reality…” — … and shoot the messenger.
And, no, Trump is/was not the messiah! Rather, just like Python’s “Brian” basically a naughty boy (in their eyes).
Intended, or not, (remember Bannon at the start), “It triggered cognitive dissonance in the subconscious minds of propagandized people, … ” — yes, indeed and threatened to wake them up to the possibility of real deep change. I suggest Gregory Bateson’s work on double bind etc. We have just seen what “pathogenic” looks like between 6-Jan and 20-Jan 2021. Farce and fear, respectively. [All I see now on FB screens is Bernie Sanders in coat and gloves — palliative care mode strategy (for the US audience in shock). He’s always rolled out to pacify and regroup etc.]
Learning III (Trito-Learning): “Change in the Learning II processes, “e.g., a corrective change in the system of sets of alternatives from which choice is made . . . [and] to demand this level of performance of some men and some mammals is sometimes pathogenic.” (myth/metaphor/meta-narrative)
If we look at his II level below then it is easy to see that all efforts of control are focused on allowing Level II changes where necessary to left off steam etc. But NEVER level III change. That level belongs to the 1% elite boss controllers etc. Intended or not, Trump’s style/antics caused that red line to be approached. They only allow the Obama BS rhetorical (illusion) change variants.
Learning II (Deutero-learning): “Change in Learning I process via corrective changes in the set of alternative choices. Learning II focuses on “habit formation”—that is, unconscious systems: “an essential and necessary function of all habit formation and Learning II is an economy of the thought processes (or neural pathways) which are used for problem-solving or Learning I” (worldview)
Learning I: “Change in response (within alternative choices) incorporating correction of errors.” (systemic)
Thanks Larry for a well written article. You make your point clear & to the point. Well done.
In my opinion, Europe is equally to blame for all crimes committed by USA on foreign countries.
Excelente analisis! What we all knew all along! Pero verbalizado que es importante.
American dream….global nightmare! ( a not too bad book by the way) Sadly, the propaganda not only affects the americans but the rest of the world ( the role of Hollywood and “american culture” should be analysed as well brainwashing generations..). Are we waking up at last?
Just two examples…Can somebody explain and analyze why Obama was a given an absurd and totally undeserved nobel prize award after 5 minutes in power???? (why not give it to me, my butchers or next door neighbour?) Why even before being president in a probably Soros funded publicity stunt bizarre foreign campaign speech crowds and crowds (200 000 idiots) gathered in 2008 in Berlin (of all places!) to applaude and adore him.. Absurdo y grotesco!
Thorbjørn Jagland, the then head of the Nobel Committee (the committee consists of failed/retired Norwegian parliamentarians) is the ultimate opportunist. He wanted his picture to be taken with Obama, given that Obama was the new man in power. Jagland was laughed out of the PM position after one year in the late 1990s. Obama was inaugurated 20. January, and the Nobel Peace price nomination deadline was 31. January. So it must have been something he did those 11 days….
Yes, it is grotesque.
The issue at this point that blows my mind is the serious claim in various quarters that the election was STOLEN from Trump. I am unable to determine the definitive truth in this matter. But that such a claim can be made seriously in the self-proclaimed and self-perceived premier nation in the world — the so-called “light on the hill” to the rest of the world is, to me, beyond belief. That the country that supposedly champions democracy, human rights, freedom and INTEGRITY, and seeks to hold all others to these sacrosanct “values”, is unable to ensure the unquestionable integrity of the elections for its own highest national office, is so confidence-shaking, that I am near speechless.
I am now deeply convinced that the majority of adult (US) Americans are dumbed-down and delusional, about their country, their leadership and about themselves; and their leaders are equally dumbed-down and delusional, about their country, their policies and about themselves.
The penultimate question in my mind is whether, in its death thoes, this dumbed-down and delusional country will seek to bring down the rest of the world, with its break-up/demise. Regrettably, I believe that it will! Question: Are you/we preparing/prepared for this?
If history is any guide, all empires eventually decline, when the costs of maintaining them in terms of manpower and resources exceeds the cost of building them in the first place by military conquest.
Historian Paul Kennedy’s book “The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers” over the past 500 years illustrates this quite nicely. Spain, Britain, France, Prussia, Austria-Hungary and now the US are all good examples.
But the birth and death of Empires has been going on far longer in time. Paul M.M. Cooper ‘s research shows that it has occurred throughout the world for thousands of years: in China, the middle East and South America. This suggests that this phenomenon is caused a series of emotional drives embedded in the imperfect human psyche.
Once upon a time there was an evil sorceror who held the whole land under an enchantment. No fairy tale this.
Chomsky setting Marr straight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjENnyQupow 7:30 on for brevity/context.
Thanks.
Being an underwear model seems to be a CV requirement to reach top positions not only in Western Imperial media, but also in Western Imperial military alliance, as the astounding case of Stoltenberg so clearly shows…
That, and having all the face of a simpleton…because, could there be people who have such anodine faces´expression than Guaidó, Navalny or Tikhanouskaya?
BTW, these are so by design, I mean they were born so, or as the result of applying drugs to them? I ask after knowing the ammount of material Navalny had swallowed between psychotropics and alcohol when he felt bad in a flight and after fell in coma…Mixing psychotropics and alcohol seems the best way to kill oneself ( in fact this is a way largely used by suicidal people…), in the best case ending in an ICU intubated…
Could you please expand on your comment..”as the astounding case of Stoltenberg so clearly shows…”
Many thanks
David
This article explains a lot regarding the cognitive dissonance people are having trying to figure out what is going on. However, things have changed so rapidly and radically within the last 5 years, or perhaps since the 911 triggering event, that there could be a new development. So the regular explanations, like PNAC or psychotic leaders, or the Great Reset (takeover), do not explain the acceleration. Perhaps the insiders know something, like peak energy is about to make itself known through extreme disruptions in the global health and economy, or we have all already received a lethal dosage of radioactivity. The insiders knew that COVID was coming as demonstrated by their selling of stocks before the news came out.
Very bold and funny. Don’t necessary agree that Amis are delusional, though. They could be just lying with a straight face, hehe. I saw the WSJ hit piece on Mr. Romanoff. Those expert idiots! But good for him. I mean triggering Wall Street and others such as BBC, Irish Times and FOX, let alone our diplomatic services… that’s not an easy trick! Well done, Sir! Best!
Excellent article capturing the inanity of mainstream discourse in the USA. People are so propagandized and afraid of having “heretical” opinions. I think in the case of Clinton, Bush, and Obama, they were picked by the oligarchy because they are very good liars.
I always find myself agreeing with Alexis de Tocqueville about Americas dangerous narcissism.
“All free nations are vainglorious, but national pride is not displayed by all in the same manner. The Americans in their intercourse with strangers appear impatient of the smallest censure and insatiable of praise. The most slender eulogium is acceptable to them; the most exalted seldom contents them; they unceasingly harass you to extort praise, and if you resist their entreaties they fall to praising themselves. It would seem as if, doubting their own merit, they wished to have it constantly exhibited before their eyes. Their vanity is not only greedy, but restless and jealous; it will grant nothing, whilst it demands everything, but is ready to beg and to quarrel at the same time. If I say to an American that the country he lives in is a fine one, “Ay,” he replies, “There is not its fellow in the world.” If I applaud the freedom which its inhabitants enjoy, he answers, “Freedom is a fine thing, but few nations are worthy to enjoy it.” If I remark the purity of morals which distinguishes the United States, “I can imagine,” says he, “that a stranger, who has been struck by the corruption of all other nations, is astonished at the difference.” At length I leave him to the contemplation of himself; but he returns to the charge, and does not desist till he has got me to repeat all I had just been saying. It is impossible to conceive a more troublesome or more garrulous patriotism; it wearies even those who are disposed to respect it”
‘American narcissism’ is the compensation of their deep-seated complex of inferiority and insecurity. They cannot suffer any ‘superiority’, hence their egalitarian mania which generated their censoriousness of their better, boorishness, lack of manners and learning. Deep down they know that they live a lie, but it would be too painful to face it, hence their aggressiveness towards those who may expose it.
One must complete Tocqueville’s observations with those of a contemporary, the English novelist and writer Frances Milton Trollope (aka Fanny Trollope) who lived for a while in America and described her impressions in a celebrated book ‘ Domestic Manners of the Americans’ (1832):
”A single word indicative of doubt, that any thing, or every thing, in that country is not the very best in the world, produces an effect which must be seen and felt to be understood. If the citizens of the United States were indeed the devoted patriots they call themselves, they would surely not thus encrust themselves in the hard, dry, stubborn persuasion, that they are the first and best of the human race, that nothing is to be learnt, but what they are able to teach, and that nothing is worth having, which they do not possess”.
For all likeminded readers of this article, consider this video as a supplement to the above opinion.
Cheers
https://youtu.be/mHn6TvsWq6w
These facts have always been known to wise Americans. E.g.
“It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them”.
– Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar, Ch. XX
It is a play, some of it directed by Hollywood , most of the action by the global elite. Big Tech is also Hollywood media and both are being directed by policies of the global elite, CIA is also deeply involved in propaganda and even creating Big Tech for the Global elite. It is well directed like watching a Hollywood movie nowadays.
People in the U.S.A. have no power so they cannot be behind any of this.
MK-Ultra used to control Hollywood, but now it controls the whole country.
Well, Mk-Ultra is CIA, and it is a program under their control. CIA also runs Hollywood but it does not mean
it is the same thing. The global elite’s organisations enter the film- and music stars into Illuminati, it is well known and they have reported from their “meetings”,such as Angelina Jolie. Illuminati is a well-known organisation used by the Global Elite to stage propaganda and events for taking control over everything. Using culture as well as revolutions, such as “rainbow revolutions” , historically Illuminati were caught as the organisation staging
the French revolution for the “Burgois”, not for the people per se. Illuminati is a huge organisation that took control over the freemason organisations a fact that remains hidden from ordinary members until they may be recruited. The Illuminati program is huge, among others things abolishing Christianity.
Abolishing Christianity is not a ‘thing among others’. It is the first thing, all the others follow necessarily.
Larry Romanoff says what I have thought but not able to adequately put into words.
It is a massive cognitive dissonance in the American psyche reinforced constantly by the elites that own and control major narratives in the US MSM for power and riches at the expense of the people. The US elites want to rule the world (a sure sign if any of their insanity).
The constant reinforcement causes the personal identity of people to merge with the illusion of being ‘indispensable and exceptional’ as was openly stated even by Obama. Criticism of the US is then confused with a personal attack.
This is not a left/right issue. In Cold War v1 it was the precursors of the neocons that led the witch hunts for ‘communists’ and ‘fellow-travelers’ and many losing their jobs and some committing suicide. Now it’s the neolib democrats (and the neocon republicans with them) into another Cold War v2 which this time is establishing a tyranny targeting a clamp down on fifty-plus million Americans.
The US lives in a supremacist unreality. But to attack a huge portion of its own people as well is unsustainable madness. The Big Tech tyranny they are rolling out can last for a long time but it will lurch from one failure to another and eventually disintegrate. The American myth based on the founding has been shattered to pieces, cannot be reassembled by those that shattered it, and while they have control will put a monstrosity in its place.
As for the few here that don’t like what Romanoff is lifting the lid on I recommend to watch your thoughts that bubble up while reading it. Those thoughts come from the ingrained attitude which is trying to maintain control. Supremacist attitudes reinforced over many decades are complexes that will not give up without a fight.
Is there any doubt that America, as leaders of the West, is in a fight for survival….and this fight is extended to all Western countries.
War has been declared, you don’t need permission to fight!
Bidet took no time to overturn Trumps anti-globalists policies, that was Trumps problem, he went against the Zionist project.
The Zionist control all American institutions, CIA, FBI …etc.
They have dismissed Trumps supporters like little children, you can sulk in a corner or fight!
There are a couple of things for sure, you are fighting cowards, if the Zionist is successful then Israel will be the Washington D.C of the West.
If you don’t fight you lose.
“Further examples of this mass delusion are not difficult to find”
One example that will forever be etched in my mind was reading Jimmy of PTL fame magnum opus I Was Wrong wherein he makes 2 shocking confessions the first of which he never read the bible until after ending up in prison. The second was what little he did read he could not understand these words of Christ especially:
“And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matt. 7:21-23
That is simply outrageous and was for me the beginning of a shocking discovery about America. For how exactly does someone of such ignorance be able to build a multi-million dollar empire and lose it all while claiming to be a representative of Christ?
I was especially taken aback because those words of Christ are the very foundation of a Christian Character. If I had been asked at the tender age of 18 what “I Never Knew You’, means I would have replied simple the answer to that lies in the question does Jesus know what sins He had to die for in your life and do you know that He knows it.
My word when phony’s can hoodwink an entire nation and get the kind of money that a sultan would blush with embarrassment you know there is something very wrong. And get this it wasn’t just one guy there are numerous ones with some even claiming that their private jets help them in their Divine Communication with the Eternal. lol I’m still scratching my head over that one? I guess they need to see clouds and the earth from 30,000 feet rather than as Christ said in prayer in your closet at home.lol? Only in America I guess?
And then there are pastors of churches who struggle with incomes of little more 30,000 a year? But I wonder how many of these wouldn’t be preaching to empty benches if they had spoken out firmly against the insanity of the Trendy Clergymen or Hirelings is the better word and put a stop to the pillage!
America was a nation that got far to wealthy far to fast and greed just fuels it more and more.
Do Not Be Deceived is the order of the day yes.
Thanks Larry Romanoff,
This disconnect has achieved critical mass in America, so “welcome to dystopia “. Plenty of careerist
opportunities in the propaganda industries will ensure the continuity and embellishment of utopia America. Anything that doesn’t conform is “deplatformed” …………have l got the correct word? Puritan folly has never been so ambitious or expansive. But the Puritans are not the only ones to be seduced by utopia. Revolutionaries also embrace that shining path, and we have Edmund Burke to remind us of all the bloodshed along the way .
I’m also reminded of Michael Pompeo’s now famous quote of the role of the C.I.A., to a university audience.
“We lied, we cheated, we stole……we had entire training courses……(laughter, applause)
It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment “.
Even alittle bit of truth gets co-opted to myth.
Americans who profess Christianity need to address sin. Starting with Pride.
Nice essay Larry Romanoff. The timing is perfect.
Burn
by Bruce Cockburn (1974, revised 2003)
Look away across the bay
Yankee gunboat come this way
Uncle Sam gonna save the day
Come tomorrow we all gonna pay…
And it’s burn baby burn
When am I going to get my turn
Something dead under the bed
Local diplomats hang their heads
Never mind what the government said
They’re either lying or they’ve been misled…
And it’s burn baby burn
When am I going to get my turn
Vietnam was yesterday
Kabul and Baghdad today
How would they ever make the late news pay
If they didn’t have the CIA?
And it’s burn baby burn
When am I going to get my turn
Here it comes, the loaded gun
Gotta keep the bad guys on the run
You’d buy or bury everyone
For liberty and life
And just plain fun
And it’s burn baby burn
When am I going to get my turn
Their agenda… “Order Ab Chao”. Edward Bernays, author of “Propaganda”, believed that propaganda was essential for creating order out of chaos. Why? It works. “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society.” However, what he fails to mention is that our Founding Fathers never sought to create a democracy in the U.S. That word doesn’t appear in even one of our founding documents. To the Founders, democracy meant “mob rule.” Which increasingly is what we have… the Republic is falling, just as did Rome.
For all likeminded readers of this article, consider this video as a supplement to the above opinion.
Cheers
https://youtu.be/mHn6TvsWq6w
I hope a lot of Europeans read this because the only thing the EU has done since its inception is ride the American coattails of plunder.
Did not encounter any people having a hard time a few days prior bombing Lybia to the stone age in 2014.
I don’t know what is worse, thinking your exceptional or not caring. Both has to do with being educated and or more precicely lack thereoff! All the technological tinkering devices certainly hasn’t helped us Westerners being better educated or being better people in general. It seems we are worse of than the middle ages at least then we still had connection with nature.
@ Bizantura
“All the technological tinkering devices certainly hasn’t helped us Westerners being better educated or being better people in general. It seems we are worse of than the middle ages at least then we still had connection with nature.”
You got to wonder at least I certainly did back when I was a teenager how one could learn in my case anyway the bible just by listening to it on the go in a car, on a bike, motorcycle and such. The cassette made education a great deal easier by not just finding time to read but you could just plug in a cassette and voila a world of knowledge opens itself up to you anywhere. It was such a pleasure to drive somewhere and listen to God’s word and today with our long commutes some spend what 4 hours a day in traffic to and from work. Such an unbelievable waste of time if that is one uses it to ones advantage. You however are certainly correct we should be better or the best educated of any generation in all of human history but alas nope and just how bad is it really?
A survey of 1,150 college students back in 1971 revealed:
Only 1 in 39 could name 3 books written by St. Paul
only 1 in 38 could name 3 of the Old Testament prophets
1 in 8 could name 3 of the Ten Commandments
Another survey of colleges only 60% could name one parable that was given by Christ
53% of Americans were unable to name even 1 of the four gospels.
Is it any wonder we are in the mess we are in? I can’t even begin to imagine what a survey would show today?
Cheers
I have posted this article on my own blogspot, but translaterd in Dutch.
https://xevolutie.blogspot.com/2021/01/1115-amerika-heeft-geen-idee-hoe-de.html
Thanks, mr Romanoff. Thanks, Saker !
But do they really believe in goodness of America (or in their own goodness) or do they just pretend to believe? Is this whole thing just fake just like believing in snake oil?
The question is this:
What is America really?
It is the Land of the Free, Beacon of Liberty, Constitutional Republic, Liberal Democracy, Leader of the “Free World” that it always claims to be?
Or is America something more sinister in nature?
In its essence, America is the true Evil Empire–but one that disguises its malevolence behind its foundational lies of US “Freedom and Democracy.”
Thus, the more wars of aggression, economic terrorism, political regime change/balkanization campaigns, and media smears that this American Evil Empire perpetuates, the more the USA:
1). Psychologically projects its own crimes onto its geopolitical opponents like Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, etc.
2). Incessantly spouts propaganda about freedom, democracy, liberty, human rights, rule of law, or the “Rules-based International Order” to conceal its malignant national character.
That’s Americanism at its core: American Imperial Terrorism hidden behind a fanatical and messianic belief in American moral supremacy.
In fact, Americanism is basically a religion, but a false religion based on the delusion that America is the “Shining City on a Hill” that was uniquely chosen by God as a light unto nations and beacon of liberty.
America Is a Religion – An Aggressive One
http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/how-its-exceptionalism-makes-america-dumb-and-aggressive/ri12257
As such, Americanism bears a strong resemblance to its ideological blood kin: Zionism.
Just as Zionists believe that Jews are God’s Chosen People, Americans believe that America is God’s Chosen “Democracy.”
You could even say that Americanism=Secular Zionism
Americanism: The Fourth Great Western Religion
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/58940/americanismthe-fourth-great-western-religion-by-david-gelernter/
Ultimately, however, like the Zionists, the Americans are in reality Satan’s Chosen People, whose continued existence spreads darkness throughout the world….
America’s Crimes
https://twitter.com/Americas_Crimes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1350234037605040129%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcaitlinjohnstone.com%2F2021%2F01%2F16%2Fthe-two-faces-of-the-us-empire%2F
Excellent essay! I think we need to understand that myth almost always trumps reality. I’ve noticed that rhe vast majority want to believe in the mythological framework of American Exceptionalism and information to the contrary, no longer how obvious, is ignored and/or the person delivering that info is demonized and pssibly reported to the authorities (not yet here on a mass scale but soon to be more common). Democracy and liberty are aberrations such that we have turned the corner and the future will consist of some form of authoritarianism and those ideals will gradually die out along with the sort of literacy that created them.
the author’s the conjectures about the ‘Rona as presented by his articles in the Unz have been a total failure. It seems that he has an agenda.
We should take whatever he states with a pinch of salt.
Walter Lippmann, the journalist who was a charter member of the 1900-1927 Progressive Movement, was still writing a column when I was growing up in the fifties. I read it reularly in the Boston Globe. He had moved quite a bit to the left and was condemning much of US bellicosity by that time. In the sixties, among journalists, together with Joseph Kraft, he was vehemently against US involvement in Vietnam. Lippmann then was no stock character. He grew with age.
I have trouble with the notion that the man in the elevator’s horrendous abuse of his wife is a good example of “America today.” The vast majority of married men in this country do not hit their wives, just as the vast majority of Americans would not have participated in the Capitol monstrosity of January 6. Yeah, there is a lot of antisocial behavior going on regularly. But those responsible are the ones that the local police, should they find out about it, call “the usual suspects.” Most American men I have met or heard of in my 77 years living in this country do not practice spousal abuse. A significant minority does, just as such a minority engage in other crimes, violent or otherwise.
Those abusers are very good at hiding their private behavior. Many of them are considered paragons of morality. like religious leaders, until they are found out.
I think you have to differentiate between the American ruling class and its cadre of insatiable billionaires committed to running the world and grabbing most of its wealth and the average American, who is much like the average person of any other so-called great power. It’s an important distinction to make. If the averaqge American is deluded about America’s role in international politics, it is because he or she reads, listens to, watches propaganda. If you are educated in this country’s history and politics, you can read, listen to or watch all the same things with a critical eye and ear. But our education, like everything else that’s worth anything in theis country costs a ridiculous amount (Europeans’ education all the way through graduate school) costs virtually nothing. The problem in the US is and always has been its extreme capitalism. So few can afford advanced education. It was getting better in the fifties and sixties, when I was coming of age. But from Reagan on all that progress was reversed. Reagan was in my opinion the most corrosive, the most elitist and antidemocratic president in our history because while talking all his happy talk, he was destroying opportunity for the average American and turning the US into the wholly elitist mess it is in today. Clinton was the same, putting a lot of Reagan’s worst inequalitarian ideas into effect.
I think you have to differentiate between the American ruling class and its cadre of insatiable billionaires committed to running the world and grabbing most of its wealth and the average American, who is much like the average person of any other so-called great power.
70-80 million Americans voted and supported the mass murdering Republican war criminal, Donald Trump.
70-80 million Americans voted and supported the mass murdering Democrat war criminal, Joseph Biden.
The so-called “average American” is also guilty, not just the US elite.
America is only good at two things: waging wars of aggression based on lies … and trying to evade guilt for these crimes by deflecting its guilt onto others.
Invoking of God to justify war and other atrocities is common not only to US leaders, but also to virtually every imperialistic power all the way back to ancient Syria and Persia, as well as ancient Israel. It is far, far from peculiar to US leaders. If the masses of people in any given country are fed full of ruling class propaganda, then they will parrot it back. The only way people have the possibility of thinking for themselves and developing a literate critical perspective is through good higher education that teaches critical thinking. When I was teaching for over thirty years at Cal. State, Long Beach, a public institution of over 35,000 students and a faculty of over 1,500, we developed courses on critical thinking and including critical thinking mainly for the very purpose of helping the students, who came from average, not elite homes to exercise their minds in a critical way in assessing the boiler plate news and public discourse and other assorted drivel we are all constantly fed. Liberal arts faculty generally pay a lot of attention to this kind of thing. I did the same thing after retirement in teaching Western Civilization to students at a community college in Astoria, Oregon. It is not for want of strongly committed academics all over the country in higher education showing their students how to cut through all the crap dished out in public venues. The problem is that because the ruling class does not want young people or anyone else to be so enlightened, they therefore do not fund public higher education the way the Europeans, Japanese and others do. So most cannot afford to go to college any more. When I started teaching at CSULB in 1970, there was no tuition, only very nominal student fees, as I paid in graduate school at public institutions in Massachusetts and Iowa. Then began, with the rise of the right, the defunding of higher education. We had governor after governor — Ronald Reagan (R); Pete Wilson (D), Jerry Brown (D) — whose chief relationship to higher education was to cut it. And California is one of the most progressive states in the country. What do you suppose happened in places like Arkansas and Nebraska? It’s like the old computer saying: garbage in, garbage out. The simple fact is that the elites don’t want educated, critical, enlightened American citizens. They want drones. The only way to change that is for movements to elevate truly equalitarian leaders into power, people who walk the walk. They all talk the talk.
Thank you, Mr. Berk. I agree with you. The pendulum swings both ways, and it is far easier to suggest most Americans are mindless sheep than to consider and evaluate common human tendencies, and the need for a good education. Some of us get that, and indeed, many voters have tried to change this country in a peaceful way. There are and have been in our lifetimes powerful forces against it, but anyone can come to these realizations, even the uneducated. I believe it is happening in spite of all the attempts to subjugate and mislead. People are people, and for the most part even American citizens know more and more that this country is the country of the rich and does not care about poor people. That’s it in a nutshell. The great thing about more aware citizen leaders like Putin and Xi is that they are well aware of this fact. Let’s keep insisting that humankind is basically good and is intelligent and can learn truths. Stop bashing folk that are actually not much different from yourselves, please, people. You are attacking the victims when you ought to be helping them.