The war in Ukraine was the first war since W. decided to work out his Daddy issues on Saddam Hussein that saw a lot of people go full retard. But this was far worse than Iraq. This was post-social media and that’s a whole different level. Added to the front porch flags and sidewalk stencils that are customary among a population in the throes of a war frenzy, we were subjected to the obligatory fill-in-the-cause digital variety, with blue and yellow tinted personal profiles and a deluge of posts whose sole intention was to signal to all and sundry, I SUPPORT THE CURRENT THING.
Well done, Russ! I've watched Due Dissidence for awhile but I have hitherto not seen much of your writing, especially after Adam Schiff's office(I think it was Adam Schiff's office) got me banned from Twit World for saying Schiff deserves a Nuremburg-style trial. I never bothered going back since I had Substack.
I'm a historian by choice, so I see another analogy besides the red pill from the Matrix. What has happened with the internet is very similar to what happened with the printing press. Back in the 15th and 16th Centuries, the Roman Catholic Church would run around destroying printing presses that were printing things they didn't like.
The problem was, for every one they wrecked, three more would spring up to replace them, which is how we got the Protestant Reformation. The same "heresies" had been around for centuries, but until the printing press came along it was far easier for the secular or ecclesiastical authorities to stop their messages from spreading.
Now, every time they shut down dissent on one internet platform, others spring up to take their place, and it irritates the shit out of our own authorities and the members of the PMC who suck up to them. Sooner or later, it is inevitable that there will be platforms that fight back. In the United States, that's easier for them to do than it is in Europe or Canada, because we have the First Amendment.
Censor Twitter and Facebook, places like Substack grow. Material reality is a stubborn thing. When the conditions are ripe for a system or a government to collapse. well, sooner or later it's going to collapse, and no amount of censorship and oppression will stop it.
Dec 21, 2023·edited Dec 21, 2023Liked by Russell Dobular
We are in a class war, that is constantly disguised as "everything but". Race, gender, sexuality, "war on women", gay-rights, trans-rights, xenophobia, Islamophobia, Everything-they-can-think-of-ophobia.
The moment that the majority figure-out that it is basically Us versus Them, the Monopoly Board gets flipped over, and a different type of Great Reset will befall the PMC technocrats.
When people are poor, hungry, desperate, and have no hope for a better future, they can get pretty salty!
Excellent article. I especially liked your definition of an NPC. It made me realize I've been one for a long time. Being a Patreon member helps me feel that I'm at least doing something positive.
Loved this piece, Russ. What struck me most, maybe, was this observation: "you’ll often find that talking to a MAGA voter is a lot more organic and real than any conversation you’re ever going to have with your Lib relatives." The Libs have the "code" down pat and that's all you get from them. Inorganic is right.
Today, you’re speaking of human motivation to work or create, and the weakness of today’s culture. I’d say that watching people for the past 50 years isn’t a guide to the way we are, as you said, biologically determined, to interact and produce. For a modern view of the way people react when their productivity is necessary, watch the behavior of those reacting to an emergency, fire, floods, earthquakes. They rescue, feed, and rebuild, and I’d say their best efforts are often stymied, and prevented from sustaining, by the barriers in place through insurance companies, gov’t agencies, threats of lawsuits, etc...when those obstructions collapse, one can easily imagine today’s humans learning from each other, working locally to provide for needs, creating alternatives to this failed machine. A couple examples are the Black Panthers and the early community building of Acorn. I remember George Jetson going to work in his flying car, teaching 50s kids that no matter the technological wizardry, we’d still need a “job.” I found that depressing, and now that I can reject work I don’t want to do, and am inclined to sit with a cat on my lap and a remote, I do find plenty of productive work in my own community that benefits from any small contribution I can muster, to mitigate suffering in some small way. It’s a way to rebuild “family” in this silo’d culture. Read some Paul Kingsnorth for breaking past the kaleidoscopically political way of looking at the underpinnings of our human systems. Very thoughtful philosopher, even though one may not feel compelled to join a religion as he was.
Please keep writing, you’re wonderful and hilarious.
Dec 21, 2023·edited Dec 22, 2023Liked by Russell Dobular
I have a lot of MAGA friends, and I work with a lot of MAGA people (I’m in the trades)...it’s about 80/20. 80% believe every batshit conspiracy that foments in these underground chat rooms and are submersed in a personality cult. 20% are somewhat class conscious that I would deem “getable”.
"You don’t have to get through six layers of corporate media crazy before you can even begin to have a discussion"
Man, been there. It sucks. I've stopped trying to even talk politics with these types, it's pointless. If you didn't get your information from NYT, WaPo, NPR or MSNBC, they completely dismiss it. Many liberals truly believe that Vladimir Putin is going to roll west into Europe and go to war with NATO if Ukraine is defeated, to cite one example.
psst Russell -- "Debs" not "Debbs" and "horde" not "hoard".
An intelligent analysis, engagingly argued, beautifully written, interspersed with timely irony and wit, aptly highlighting crucial emergent issues in the sociopolitical conditions relevant to every American today!
If this is the best the supposed "populist right" has, it is no wonder they lose so many elections. Russell accomplishes the goal of writing several paragraphs without saying much at all. There is certainly comedy in it, I'll give him that. In a paragraph, he literally praises Jim Jordan as a free speech warrior while attacking Bernie as some unabashed Israel supporter. This isn't just a bad take, it is an outright lie. Jim Jordan is an unapologetic supporter of Israel while Bernie is fighting an uphill battle to force a State Department report on Israeli human rights violations in Gaza(100% of Republicans opposed this in the Senate). He also hilariously says Tucker Carlson is "channeling Eugene Debs" in a recent complaint about Dollar Stores. Tucker of course firmly supports right wing politicians and runs away when confronted by real progressives. If you want to see actual censorship and someone scared of hosting someone advocate for progressive policies, you only need to watch this:
When Russell's right wing hero Tucker Carlson was confronted by an actual progressive speaking the truth; that taxes on the rich should be raised; especially in America; tucker threw a tantrum and tried to suppress the clip from getting out. Russell of course ignores the many examples of when his heroes try to cancel people. Donald Trump literally tried to sue Bill Maher over a joke and then when that obviously went nowhere told his followers to boycott HBO until Maher was fired. Has Russell ever once talked about that or the countless other times trump has called for people to be fired? Of course not, because when trump does something it is noble and good. After all despite all his policies that support and entrench the ruling class, trump an "object of ruling class scorn that is wildly popular." Yes, Trump is so popular that he lost the popular vote in both presidential elections, was the first president to lose the presidency without a serious 3rd party challenger since 1980, and saw his endorsed candidates do terribly in the 2022 swing states(Maybe someone forgot to tell Russell how Doug Mastriano and Herschel Walker did in the midterms).
Russell talks about NPC's, but proves he is one of them. He rightly speaks out on George W Bush being a war criminal(way to say it 20 years after the fact Russell!), but of course ignores that his supposed "anti-war" hero Tucker Carlson propagandized for the war on CNN during the lead up to the invasion. Russell's "Jimmy Stewart" Jim Jordan of course supported the war in the Ohio Senate(this was after he covered up for sexual assault at Ohio State University, but before he supported stealing the 2020 election for those wanting a timeline).
You see to Russell facts don't matter. Despite Trump increasing the military budget, increasing the drone war, giving Israel whatever they wanted(even after the IDF shot over 9,000 mostly peaceful Palestinian protesters in 2018), escalating the war in Afghanistan and Yemen(including vetoing congress when they tried to cut funding for that war) and launching more air strikes on Somalia in 2020 than Bush and Obama did from 07-16; well trump is an anti-war President!!! After all Tucker Carlson said so! Since Tucker is silent and didn't cover trump's war crimes, they aren't important to Russell.
The reality is everyone should care about the military industrial complex, income inequality, fighting corporate power and creating a more just society. The difference between the populist right like Russell and just awful run of the mill foxnews conservatives is at least Russell acknowledges Robber Barons do run America and that poverty is a real problem. Dobular of course doesn't have any real solutions. Many examples, such as when the expanded child tax credits were enacted that cut childhood poverty in half, 100% of his party opposed it and along with Manchin gutted the program. There was no outcry about this from Russell or Tucker Carlson. There is a class war in this country and everyone should be engaged in fighting it and making it so the Dobular/Carlson/trump side that has fought against the working class for the past 40 years eventually loses.
You've hit the nail on the head. For the last two weeks, I have opined to my loved one that the only reason any of the nonsense continues is the fealty of those who believe the first thing they hear about an issue from an 'authority' voice, and then they never revisit the source of their belief, regardless of what information might flow to them after.
It's simply an old sales adage -- the first price you mention to someone is the one that they remember, no matter what may follow.
I was in the habit of blaming my own generation of boomers who continue to patronize cable news, but I realize now that there must be more than just them holding the status quo in place. Your column confirms to me that this is more of an awareness issue that transcends age and generations.
It's actually as if there are two or more species of human at this point -- the aware and the NPC's. I'm thinking that's more than just a possibility given the stark differences in mental processing.
I write about the Shift, which is an evolution of Consciousness. And whether someone is aware of the Shift as an actual physiological event or not, it certainly seems to be affecting the population in greater and greater numbers.
I have enjoyed your appearances on Jimmy Dore as of late. Glad substack pointed me in your direction here.
Well done, Russ! I've watched Due Dissidence for awhile but I have hitherto not seen much of your writing, especially after Adam Schiff's office(I think it was Adam Schiff's office) got me banned from Twit World for saying Schiff deserves a Nuremburg-style trial. I never bothered going back since I had Substack.
I'm a historian by choice, so I see another analogy besides the red pill from the Matrix. What has happened with the internet is very similar to what happened with the printing press. Back in the 15th and 16th Centuries, the Roman Catholic Church would run around destroying printing presses that were printing things they didn't like.
The problem was, for every one they wrecked, three more would spring up to replace them, which is how we got the Protestant Reformation. The same "heresies" had been around for centuries, but until the printing press came along it was far easier for the secular or ecclesiastical authorities to stop their messages from spreading.
Now, every time they shut down dissent on one internet platform, others spring up to take their place, and it irritates the shit out of our own authorities and the members of the PMC who suck up to them. Sooner or later, it is inevitable that there will be platforms that fight back. In the United States, that's easier for them to do than it is in Europe or Canada, because we have the First Amendment.
Censor Twitter and Facebook, places like Substack grow. Material reality is a stubborn thing. When the conditions are ripe for a system or a government to collapse. well, sooner or later it's going to collapse, and no amount of censorship and oppression will stop it.
I do hope you write more here, Russell.
We are in a class war, that is constantly disguised as "everything but". Race, gender, sexuality, "war on women", gay-rights, trans-rights, xenophobia, Islamophobia, Everything-they-can-think-of-ophobia.
The moment that the majority figure-out that it is basically Us versus Them, the Monopoly Board gets flipped over, and a different type of Great Reset will befall the PMC technocrats.
When people are poor, hungry, desperate, and have no hope for a better future, they can get pretty salty!
Excellent article. I especially liked your definition of an NPC. It made me realize I've been one for a long time. Being a Patreon member helps me feel that I'm at least doing something positive.
Loved this piece, Russ. What struck me most, maybe, was this observation: "you’ll often find that talking to a MAGA voter is a lot more organic and real than any conversation you’re ever going to have with your Lib relatives." The Libs have the "code" down pat and that's all you get from them. Inorganic is right.
i would like to share two mini docs on this topic of mass psychological formation
1) on buy buy buy commercialism [ https://youtu.be/NkCRsatApVA?si=VdTufzjKKbzllpVT ]
2) fear fear fear the commie [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBDU_MWsD98 ]
i personally had no idea about Edward Bernays and him originating and systemizing this thought control
Excellent piece. I’m not MAGA but neither am I a TDS sufferer. I sure hope most of us can wake up in the true sense of being awake.
Today, you’re speaking of human motivation to work or create, and the weakness of today’s culture. I’d say that watching people for the past 50 years isn’t a guide to the way we are, as you said, biologically determined, to interact and produce. For a modern view of the way people react when their productivity is necessary, watch the behavior of those reacting to an emergency, fire, floods, earthquakes. They rescue, feed, and rebuild, and I’d say their best efforts are often stymied, and prevented from sustaining, by the barriers in place through insurance companies, gov’t agencies, threats of lawsuits, etc...when those obstructions collapse, one can easily imagine today’s humans learning from each other, working locally to provide for needs, creating alternatives to this failed machine. A couple examples are the Black Panthers and the early community building of Acorn. I remember George Jetson going to work in his flying car, teaching 50s kids that no matter the technological wizardry, we’d still need a “job.” I found that depressing, and now that I can reject work I don’t want to do, and am inclined to sit with a cat on my lap and a remote, I do find plenty of productive work in my own community that benefits from any small contribution I can muster, to mitigate suffering in some small way. It’s a way to rebuild “family” in this silo’d culture. Read some Paul Kingsnorth for breaking past the kaleidoscopically political way of looking at the underpinnings of our human systems. Very thoughtful philosopher, even though one may not feel compelled to join a religion as he was.
Please keep writing, you’re wonderful and hilarious.
I have a lot of MAGA friends, and I work with a lot of MAGA people (I’m in the trades)...it’s about 80/20. 80% believe every batshit conspiracy that foments in these underground chat rooms and are submersed in a personality cult. 20% are somewhat class conscious that I would deem “getable”.
"You don’t have to get through six layers of corporate media crazy before you can even begin to have a discussion"
Man, been there. It sucks. I've stopped trying to even talk politics with these types, it's pointless. If you didn't get your information from NYT, WaPo, NPR or MSNBC, they completely dismiss it. Many liberals truly believe that Vladimir Putin is going to roll west into Europe and go to war with NATO if Ukraine is defeated, to cite one example.
psst Russell -- "Debs" not "Debbs" and "horde" not "hoard".
COURAGE!
An intelligent analysis, engagingly argued, beautifully written, interspersed with timely irony and wit, aptly highlighting crucial emergent issues in the sociopolitical conditions relevant to every American today!
Kudos and thanks Russell!
Amazing piece, Russell!!!
If this is the best the supposed "populist right" has, it is no wonder they lose so many elections. Russell accomplishes the goal of writing several paragraphs without saying much at all. There is certainly comedy in it, I'll give him that. In a paragraph, he literally praises Jim Jordan as a free speech warrior while attacking Bernie as some unabashed Israel supporter. This isn't just a bad take, it is an outright lie. Jim Jordan is an unapologetic supporter of Israel while Bernie is fighting an uphill battle to force a State Department report on Israeli human rights violations in Gaza(100% of Republicans opposed this in the Senate). He also hilariously says Tucker Carlson is "channeling Eugene Debs" in a recent complaint about Dollar Stores. Tucker of course firmly supports right wing politicians and runs away when confronted by real progressives. If you want to see actual censorship and someone scared of hosting someone advocate for progressive policies, you only need to watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_nFI2Zb7qE
When Russell's right wing hero Tucker Carlson was confronted by an actual progressive speaking the truth; that taxes on the rich should be raised; especially in America; tucker threw a tantrum and tried to suppress the clip from getting out. Russell of course ignores the many examples of when his heroes try to cancel people. Donald Trump literally tried to sue Bill Maher over a joke and then when that obviously went nowhere told his followers to boycott HBO until Maher was fired. Has Russell ever once talked about that or the countless other times trump has called for people to be fired? Of course not, because when trump does something it is noble and good. After all despite all his policies that support and entrench the ruling class, trump an "object of ruling class scorn that is wildly popular." Yes, Trump is so popular that he lost the popular vote in both presidential elections, was the first president to lose the presidency without a serious 3rd party challenger since 1980, and saw his endorsed candidates do terribly in the 2022 swing states(Maybe someone forgot to tell Russell how Doug Mastriano and Herschel Walker did in the midterms).
Russell talks about NPC's, but proves he is one of them. He rightly speaks out on George W Bush being a war criminal(way to say it 20 years after the fact Russell!), but of course ignores that his supposed "anti-war" hero Tucker Carlson propagandized for the war on CNN during the lead up to the invasion. Russell's "Jimmy Stewart" Jim Jordan of course supported the war in the Ohio Senate(this was after he covered up for sexual assault at Ohio State University, but before he supported stealing the 2020 election for those wanting a timeline).
You see to Russell facts don't matter. Despite Trump increasing the military budget, increasing the drone war, giving Israel whatever they wanted(even after the IDF shot over 9,000 mostly peaceful Palestinian protesters in 2018), escalating the war in Afghanistan and Yemen(including vetoing congress when they tried to cut funding for that war) and launching more air strikes on Somalia in 2020 than Bush and Obama did from 07-16; well trump is an anti-war President!!! After all Tucker Carlson said so! Since Tucker is silent and didn't cover trump's war crimes, they aren't important to Russell.
The reality is everyone should care about the military industrial complex, income inequality, fighting corporate power and creating a more just society. The difference between the populist right like Russell and just awful run of the mill foxnews conservatives is at least Russell acknowledges Robber Barons do run America and that poverty is a real problem. Dobular of course doesn't have any real solutions. Many examples, such as when the expanded child tax credits were enacted that cut childhood poverty in half, 100% of his party opposed it and along with Manchin gutted the program. There was no outcry about this from Russell or Tucker Carlson. There is a class war in this country and everyone should be engaged in fighting it and making it so the Dobular/Carlson/trump side that has fought against the working class for the past 40 years eventually loses.
You've hit the nail on the head. For the last two weeks, I have opined to my loved one that the only reason any of the nonsense continues is the fealty of those who believe the first thing they hear about an issue from an 'authority' voice, and then they never revisit the source of their belief, regardless of what information might flow to them after.
It's simply an old sales adage -- the first price you mention to someone is the one that they remember, no matter what may follow.
I was in the habit of blaming my own generation of boomers who continue to patronize cable news, but I realize now that there must be more than just them holding the status quo in place. Your column confirms to me that this is more of an awareness issue that transcends age and generations.
It's actually as if there are two or more species of human at this point -- the aware and the NPC's. I'm thinking that's more than just a possibility given the stark differences in mental processing.
I write about the Shift, which is an evolution of Consciousness. And whether someone is aware of the Shift as an actual physiological event or not, it certainly seems to be affecting the population in greater and greater numbers.
I have enjoyed your appearances on Jimmy Dore as of late. Glad substack pointed me in your direction here.