I don’t want to give us too much credit cause we definitely do suck but: I do think its worth remembering that polls show a significant majority of Americans support a permanent ceasefire. This is just another example of democracy being a dog and pony show while the empire carries on doing whatever the hell it wants.
i mean we’ll see in the election results, no matter how much the americans pontificate about how theyre good on the inside actually and that its just the evil politicians guiding them astray, if more than 50% of them vote for the nazi parties two wings we know that those polls were wrong
They doubtlessly will, but I think this just reinforces the fact that in every epoch, the ideas of the ruling class are the ideas of the working class. The same pattern holds for masking: certainly less than 10% of Americans mask, and even in California only about 15% are up to date with vaccines. America is the most brainwashed country in the world.
That being said, I don’t mean to excuse the settler brainworms that just naturally come as a consequence of most Americans being labor aristocrats at best, and active Imperialist agents at worst.
im not willing to give the americans the out of being brainwashed, i imagine if youve been on this site for a while youve probably already heard the critiques at least once, i agree the ideas of the ruling class of america are the ideas of the working class, but also that the working class of america are the junior party of the ruling class of the world, and their class position makes it beneficial for them to behave like they do, and the consumption the propaganda they consume is a subconcious effort to reaffirm that they arent the bad guys. This has never been clearer to me in the wake of gaza, seeing how these people choose to not see something and not believe something because it would shatter their self image if they were to accept it.
No one believes they are the bad guys. IDK how to break people out of that cognitive self-defense.
Also there’s a sort of doomerism that comes with realizing you live in a country like this. It is easy to feel powerless & despair so why not push those feelings down and try to ignore it? I get the logic. It’s wrong, but I don’t believe people in this position can’t be converted to the left. We have to try reaching people. We can’t give up.
I think the logic of trying to push those feelings down is actually one of a couple “correct” things to do. Its easier to not fight against the bullys. Like in school when people see the kid being picked on they don’t intervene even if they feel bad because then the attention would be on them. Its actually a good individual survival strategy.
I also agree that those people can be reached and that we shouldnt give up. However many years down the line I just want honesty from the westerners that come around to communism or whatever that before they were cowards at best, evildooers at worst.
Talk of “manufacturing” and “inventing” suggests an imposition over and against the individual’s will. I believe that, on the contrary, the process of Western propaganda is better understood in terms of “licensing”: the issuing of moral license for the bourgeois proletariat to profitably go along with bourgeois designs without the feeling of shame overwhelming. In this alternative account people aren’t “brainwashed” insofar as they don’t actually believe the lies, not in the way that we generally understand belief. It’s more correct to say that they go along with them, whether enthusiastically or apprehensively, because it’s actually their optimal survival strategy.
I know several people who have said that this is the first election they aren’t voting in. Idk if it’s going to matter, but these are dem voters in a swing state.
supporting a ceasefire does not at all mean you’re pro-palestine. most EU countries voted for the UN deal months and months before all while supporting israel. plenty of zionists want a conditional deal where israel’s hostages are returned and palestine’s colonial subjugation and apartheid continue, just not as overtly.
found a poll from this week that 60% of americans support continuing military aid to israel. and you can’t assume the 40% against it are against it on principled grounds, many of them are simply isolationists who don’t want their taxpayer money going to other countries
I don’t disagree and like I said in my post: we do indeed suck. I just want to push back slightly because looking at the numbers I think reality bears out more that Americans are deeply confused and propagandized. Its fair to say that a lot of people have arrived at the right conclusion for all the wrong reasons and I’m all down with throwing out a “death to amerikkka” as we feel it…but I also think the more important takeaway to have in this situation is that the feelings of the American public are essentially immaterial here. The empire doesn’t care.
I don’t want to give us too much credit cause we definitely do suck but: I do think its worth remembering that polls show a significant majority of Americans support a permanent ceasefire. This is just another example of democracy being a dog and pony show while the empire carries on doing whatever the hell it wants.
i mean we’ll see in the election results, no matter how much the americans pontificate about how theyre good on the inside actually and that its just the evil politicians guiding them astray, if more than 50% of them vote for the nazi parties two wings we know that those polls were wrong
They doubtlessly will, but I think this just reinforces the fact that in every epoch, the ideas of the ruling class are the ideas of the working class. The same pattern holds for masking: certainly less than 10% of Americans mask, and even in California only about 15% are up to date with vaccines. America is the most brainwashed country in the world.
That being said, I don’t mean to excuse the settler brainworms that just naturally come as a consequence of most Americans being labor aristocrats at best, and active Imperialist agents at worst.
im not willing to give the americans the out of being brainwashed, i imagine if youve been on this site for a while youve probably already heard the critiques at least once, i agree the ideas of the ruling class of america are the ideas of the working class, but also that the working class of america are the junior party of the ruling class of the world, and their class position makes it beneficial for them to behave like they do, and the consumption the propaganda they consume is a subconcious effort to reaffirm that they arent the bad guys. This has never been clearer to me in the wake of gaza, seeing how these people choose to not see something and not believe something because it would shatter their self image if they were to accept it.
No one believes they are the bad guys. IDK how to break people out of that cognitive self-defense.
Also there’s a sort of doomerism that comes with realizing you live in a country like this. It is easy to feel powerless & despair so why not push those feelings down and try to ignore it? I get the logic. It’s wrong, but I don’t believe people in this position can’t be converted to the left. We have to try reaching people. We can’t give up.
I think the logic of trying to push those feelings down is actually one of a couple “correct” things to do. Its easier to not fight against the bullys. Like in school when people see the kid being picked on they don’t intervene even if they feel bad because then the attention would be on them. Its actually a good individual survival strategy.
I also agree that those people can be reached and that we shouldnt give up. However many years down the line I just want honesty from the westerners that come around to communism or whatever that before they were cowards at best, evildooers at worst.
Relevant essay about brainwashing versus licensing in the imperial core
https://redsails.org/masses-elites-and-rebels/
The voter turnout will be telling. Do people stay home this time?
I know several people who have said that this is the first election they aren’t voting in. Idk if it’s going to matter, but these are dem voters in a swing state.
supporting a ceasefire does not at all mean you’re pro-palestine. most EU countries voted for the UN deal months and months before all while supporting israel. plenty of zionists want a conditional deal where israel’s hostages are returned and palestine’s colonial subjugation and apartheid continue, just not as overtly.
found a poll from this week that 60% of americans support continuing military aid to israel. and you can’t assume the 40% against it are against it on principled grounds, many of them are simply isolationists who don’t want their taxpayer money going to other countries
I just want to comment that polls don’t mean that much since the people they’re polling are fed lies.
I don’t necessarily disagree entirely, but you should give Masses, Elites, and Rebels a read. Sorry for the necro post.
I don’t disagree and like I said in my post: we do indeed suck. I just want to push back slightly because looking at the numbers I think reality bears out more that Americans are deeply confused and propagandized. Its fair to say that a lot of people have arrived at the right conclusion for all the wrong reasons and I’m all down with throwing out a “death to amerikkka” as we feel it…but I also think the more important takeaway to have in this situation is that the feelings of the American public are essentially immaterial here. The empire doesn’t care.