In Sophisticated Propaganda, Even The Reverse Isn't True

 

On this inauguration day, as Democrats pretend that all will be well under a neoliberal regime headed by the very corporations that are killing the life support systems of our planet, and that empty promises are as good as kept, I'm worried. 

False dichotomy is a very effective tool for keeping the masses confused. The above meme claiming "the left" just won* the presidential election is not stupid, it is dangerous.

And we've lived through this before.

President Obama was constantly portrayed as a socialist or communist by propagandists and political enemies. Meanwhile, the banks got bailed out and the people got sold out on his watch. (And Occupy Wall Street encampments were violently evicted in a coordinated national effort.)

Also, Chelsea Manning and free speech martyr Julian Assange were jailed and tortured for revealing war crimes and financial crimes. Their fellow whistleblower Edward Snowden escaped the empire's grasp to go into exile in Russia; he was at risk of suffering their fate for revealing that the federal government was conducting illegal surveillance of us all.

And those who had opposed wars under George W. Bush mostly went to brunch rather than hold their handsome, articulate warmonger accountable.

Yesterday the Biden nominee for Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, (yet another recycled Obama administration hack) indicated a desire for the war in Afghanistan to continue indefinitely. He bemoaned the fact that the Obama administration overthrew the socilaist government of Libya without installing an effective replacement for Gadaffi, whom Hillary Clinton gloated about killing. 

Blinken not asked about most wars, not even Iraq, nor about his revolving door profiteering. He thinks Iran is evil but favors the agreement. He defends Libya war lies and war, arming Ukraine, freaking out over China. Asked how to rejoin the world he named 0 steps.

— David Swanson (@davidcnswanson) January 19, 2021

The inside job that allowed black clad men with zip ties to breach capitol security did not look like "the left" had any involvement. Someone who's paying attention told me Erik Prince and Blackwater -- or whatever he calls his band of mercenaries these days -- had their people inside.

The large number of clownish participants on January 6 tend to draw our attention, but let's not get distracted from what was allowed to happen -- and what it is being used to justify.

Photo: Leigh Vogel UPI/Rex/Shutterstock

In the 1970's my late father warned a teenaged me, "Watch for the U.S. to become a police state. It's already well underway." 

Let's not be distracted by the shiny surface of things, but instead keep our eye on the ball.

*A handy guide to know if "the left" ever comes to power in Washington DC: we'll get universal health care and guaranteed basic income.