By Caitlin JOHNSTONE

Whoever controls the narrative controls the world. That’s all you’re seeing in efforts to manage information via censorship, algorithm changes, “fact” checking, Russian propaganda panic, etc. Humans are story-driven animals, so if you control the stories you control the humans.

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Lessons from this whole Wall Street/Reddit ordeal:

• The stock market is a scam.
• There is no “free market” and there never will be.
• Wall Street predators are the most despised people on earth.
• The public can do more to fight back than it had previously assumed.
• There’s surely a lot more we can do to fight back that we haven’t thought of yet.

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You can’t expose how rigged the system really is without pushing against its power structures according to its own rules. When the entire system pushes back and boots you out in front of everyone, more people are made more aware that it is rigged. This can only be a good thing.

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Every single hedge fund plutocrat has at some point in their lives thought the words “I can’t believe I’m getting away with this!”

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This is another one of those awkward “we need to shut down the rabble without looking like a totalitarian oligarchy” standoffs.

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Myth: The rich compete with each other and ordinary people benefit from it.

Reality: The rich collaborate with each other against ordinary people.

Example:

It will always tend to be more profitable to do bad things than good things: ecocide over preservation, exploitation over equality, war over peace. Humanity remains on a doomed trajectory for as long as its systems maintain profit-seeking as the driving force behind its behavior.

The only argument capitalism really has for this is that people can do their good deeds separately from their profit chasing: philanthropy etc. But at best this just means a tiny percentage of human behavior is going toward good things while everything else goes to bad things.

If human behavior is driven by profit chasing and it’s more profitable to do bad things than good things, and if the entire system is pointed at doing bad things with only a few charitable good things done in our free time, we will necessarily remain on a doomed trajectory.

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Biden’s Iran policy is just Trump’s Iran policy with “TRUMP’S FAULT” scribbled over it in crayon.

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Democrats: We propose a shitty, awful thing that will kill people and benefit billionaires.

Republicans: Make it 60% worse and you’ve got a deal.

Democrats and Republicans: We have produced a bipartisan measure! That’s the power of pragmatism, compromise, and working together.

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First they came for the conspiracy theorists, but I did not speak out, for I was not a conspiracy theorist.

Then they came for the socialists, but I did not speak out, for I was not a socialist.

They never came for me, for I am a shitlib and they’re fine with me.

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Have the heart to prioritize the good of the collective and the balls to take your stand as an individual.

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Too many people are expecting Biden’s warmongering to manifest as blatant Bush-style ground invasions. If you keep looking in that direction you’ll probably miss his actual warmongering, which will more likely manifest as proxy wars, cold war escalations, coups, sanctions, etc.

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Your favorite commentator will eventually say something you strongly disagree with. The more you put them on a pedestal, the more that’s going to hurt. Regard them as an equal, whose views you can take when they’re useful and leave when they’re not, and this won’t happen.

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It is not strange or suspicious when someone chooses to focus their criticisms on the most powerful and destructive government on earth, it is strange and suspicious that more people don’t.

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Whenever there’s a new US president and people criticize his actions, someone from the other side always points out that it was actually started by the previous president. And then, somehow, the conversation never becomes about why all US presidents advance the same evil agendas regardless of their political party or campaign platform.

The political/media class generally fixates on the differences between presidents, but you can learn a whole lot more about what’s really going on by looking at their similarities.

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Once the collective began awakening to the fact that a free and democratic society is preferable to a totalitarian one, it became inevitable that there would soon emerge totalitarian societies disguised as free and democratic societies.

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Ideologically I am first and foremost a truth and transparency advocate. I hold it self-evident that if people could really see what’s happening in their world uninhibited by government secrecy, propaganda and censorship, they’d naturally force a much healthier system into being.

I have other ideological preferences (I’m way down in the left-libertarian corner of the political compass), but I also have enough humility to know that maybe my way wouldn’t be best for everyone, and we must all be allowed to see the truth and let everyone make up their mind.

This to me is the least authoritarian position possible: let everyone see the truth uninhibited by the narrative manipulations and opacity of powerful, then let the collective decide on the best path from there. It would definitely end up much healthier than our current system.

Really it’s just a matter of letting awareness expand, which is always the driver behind any positive change people make. It should be allowed to expand inwardly too: legalize psychedelics. Bring consciousness to unjust societal dynamics. Encourage healing and inner exploration.

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Be your own revolution. You have all the media access you need to help wake the world up with the power of your own inspired action. Reject cliques, factions and sectarianism, and have the courage to stand on your own two feet attacking the machine with your own unique abilities.

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Just blast off. Don’t wait for your comrades. Don’t try to pull them along with you before they are ready. Just blast forward into your own revolution, burning brightly and scorching the machine with your light. Shine brightly enough and the others will follow when they’re ready.

One of the most frustrating things is seeing where we need to move and not being able to get the collective to come with you. You’re like “It’s there, let’s move!” and they just want to bicker and ego spar. Just blast off into health yourself. The others will come when it’s time.

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Narrative and reality are becoming further and further apart on a mass scale, and it’s gonna snap at some point. And it just so happens that a lucid perception of the difference between narrative and reality is the thing that spiritual awakening is. This can happen at mass scale.

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We are living in unprecedented times. In unprecedented times, unprecedented things can happen. It is entirely possible that we end up winning this thing and creating a healthy world together. There is no real argument to the contrary.

caitlinjohnstone.com