You won’t get an apology. You won’t get a redemptive arc from the Empire. It will smear you, punish you, and tell you you’re crazy.

Join us on Telegram, Twitter, and VK.

Contact us: info@strategic-culture.su

The harsh truth is narcissists don’t love you. They don’t care about your hopes, your dreams, or even your well-being. What they crave is control. They don’t want devotion; they want domination. The hallmark of narcissism is a calculated cycle of idealisation, devaluation, discard, and hoovering, where charm and manipulation lull you into dependency before the mask slips and the emotional abuse begins. Victims are left dizzy, drained, and desperate to recapture an affection that was never real. Sound familiar? Because the Empire, the so-called West, the liberal democracies parading as paragons of freedom, is the granddaddy of narcissists, grooming its citizens in a toxic, trauma-bonded dance since birth.

Remember when you were told you live in the “free world”? That if you pull your socks up, pay your taxes, and toe the line, you’ll prosper? That was the love-bombing phase—the glossy, gleaming charm offensive of Empire narcissism. But as soon as you step out of line, you’re the enemy. Ask a simple question about Pfizer’s cosy revolving door with the FDA, and suddenly you’re a dangerous conspiracy theorist. Question election results, and you’re branded a threat to democracy. Criticise Israel’s genocide, and you’re antisemitic. Dissent isn’t debate—it’s extremism. This is classic devaluation: tearing down your self-worth so thoroughly that you second-guess your own sanity. The discard is just around the corner—when economic crises hit, the Empire bails out its cronies, while you’re expected to queue up at food banks. Opposition parties make promises to the people, yet merely serve their donors and lobbyists once in power, a spectacle of gaslighting designed to shield the powerful from accountability. The false promises hurt you, but the Empire is shameless; it has no integrity, and it does not care.

This behaviour is textbook narcissism. The Empire gaslights with the precision of a master illusionist, denying obvious truths to destabilise your grasp on reality. Take the Epstein files: despite ample evidence pointing to an elite blackmail ring involving intelligence operatives, you’re told it’s all “baseless conspiracy.” The official line isn’t just false; it’s a deliberate effort to erode your trust in your own eyes and instincts. Or consider the infamous Gulf of Tonkin incident, a manufactured crisis that dragged the U.S. into a protracted Vietnam War under false pretences. When Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction—WMDs—failed to materialise, the U.S. pivoted to endless justifications, or stonewalling at the other extreme, proving that lies can be manufactured and deployed on a global scale with impunity. The chemical weapons in Syria blamed on Assad? Dubious evidence was served on a platter, despite the original OPCW engineers refusing to sign off on the falsified report, to justify interventions while obscuring inconvenient truths.

Projection is the narcissist’s favourite sleight of hand: accusing others of what they themselves are guilty of. The U.S. snarls about “election interference” while orchestrating regime change in over 80 countries worldwide since 1946 via coups, propaganda, and manipulating foreign governments behind the scenes. The UK pontificates about press freedom yet imprisons whistleblowers like Julian Assange and, more disturbingly recently, ordinary people with controversial social media posts who dare to reveal uncomfortable truths or share unpalatable opinions. The Empire claims to champion tolerance but suppresses dissent with an iron fist, accusing citizens of intolerance or extremism when they challenge blatantly false official narratives.

Blame shifting is another tool in the Empire’s kit. When the NHS crumbles under the weight of years of neglect, it blames a “pandemic surge” rather than decades of intentional underfunding and mismanagement to destroy it for cruel, idealistic reasons. Housing shortages are pinned on immigrants, not on exploitative landlords and developers cashing in on a rigged system. Even the inquiry into the 2017 Manchester bombing was heavily critical of the arena security on the ground, completely whitewashing that Adebi was an MI5 asset that British intelligence was monitoring as he became more radicalised during his trips to Syria at the behest of the British government. This is narcissistic scapegoating: never taking responsibility, always passing the buck. They could be spying on their exes, watching porn, and getting into drug-fuelled states, and yet somehow they’ll try to convince you that you need to regain their trust. You are always the problem, never their victim, in their eyes.

Control is the Empire’s endgame. The COVID vaccine mandates, tied to employment and freedom of movement, were a stark reminder that your bodily autonomy is conditional on compliance. Central Bank Digital Currency trials threaten to surveil and regulate every transaction you make. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act in the UK curtails your right to protest, tightening the noose on free expression. These are not benign safety measures—they are calculated power plays designed to keep you in line.

Manipulation and fear are deployed relentlessly. “If you don’t mask up, you’re killing grandma,” they warn, weaponising guilt to enforce obedience. The Patriot Act uses terrorism as a pretext to erode civil liberties. Climate campaigns drum up guilt whilst those that conceived them brazenly buzz around the world in their private jets. The Empire doesn’t just seek control—it manufactures consent through shame, anxiety, and constant threat.

Disrespect is the silent dagger in the narcissist’s repertoire. Mass protests—against wars, systemic racism, or environmental destruction—are ignored or vilified. Popular petitions and referenda are swept aside by unaccountable parliaments. Whistleblowers who expose corruption are criminalised, while war criminals are lionised as heroes; just ask. Your voice, your values, your autonomy—irrelevant in the Empire’s grand theatre.

Power hoarding is the narcissist’s fortress. Digital ID schemes, corporate monopolies in bed with government (sounds scarily like the true definition of fascism), and media consolidation mean that a handful of actors control what you see, hear, and believe. In the West, five companies dominate nearly all mainstream news outlets, shaping narratives to suit their interests and quash dissent.

When scrutiny arises, deflection kicks in. The Empire distracts with culture wars, royal family feuds, or high-profile celebrity scandals while homelessness skyrockets and rights quietly erode. Ukraine flags plaster every profile picture, yet most folks have no awareness of the Maiden coup nor the actual history and context of the conflict, content to be bastions of tokenism seduced by newspeak and their own insecure desires to ignorantly virtue signal. These theatrics are designed to keep your gaze fixed elsewhere, lest you notice the slow strangulation of your freedoms.

All this grooming, this relentless conditioning, starts early. From childhood, you are fed a diet of sanitised history, where the government is here to serve and represent you and cares about its citizens. Critical thought is replaced with exam checklists; conformity is rewarded, and creativity is discouraged. By adulthood, you’ve internalised fear of speaking out, for the cost is too high: your job, your reputation, your liberty. The media only reinforces this cage, spotlighting outrage-of-the-week stories to scatter your attention and keep you dependent on their controlled narrative.

But here’s the even worse problem with narcissists: when charm and manipulation, in this case media smoke-and-mirrors, start to lose their grip, they don’t suddenly develop empathy or remorse. No, they escalate. When the velvet glove slips, the iron fist emerges. The endless parade of bad news—COVID variants, looming World War III, and climate apocalypse—once potent tools of fear and obedience, has begun to wear thin. The public has grown wary, exhausted, and sometimes even defiant. So what does the narcissistic state do? It’s doubled down on violence and coercion. It will proverbially strangle you unconscious and then show no remorse, truly believing that you forced its hand by your lack of willingness to continue to believe its bullshit.

Look no further than the militarisation of police forces and the brutal crackdowns on protests. In the UK, the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act criminalises peaceful assembly with Orwellian fervour, while riot-equipped cops arrest peace activists in their 80s for protesting the mass murder of women and children. Across the Atlantic, the U.S. government’s response to dissent is a masterclass in escalating violence: militarised federal agents deployed to intimidate (and arguably incite) peaceful protesters, relentless arrests and surveillance of activists, and local police forces swollen with military-grade hardware. Like a narcissist lashing out when their carefully curated image is threatened, the Empire lashes out violently when its control via manipulation falters. Desperation and entitlement fuel this brutality; when persuasion fails, intimidation and physical force step in to remind you who’s boss.

This toxic dance of control can leave you feeling trapped, exhausted, confused, and powerless. That’s the narcissist’s ultimate trick: creating a trauma bond so strong you’re convinced you can’t live without their approval, even as they chip away at your autonomy. But here’s the truth: the Empire doesn’t love you. It never did. It only loves your admiration and its perception of its own power. And the sooner you see that, the sooner you can start to untangle yourself from this suffocating relationship.

Breaking free isn’t about retreating into isolation or donning conspiracy hats. It’s about reclaiming autonomy in a system designed to strip it away. It means building parallel infrastructures: local food co-ops, independent media, and alternative education that nourish independence and community. It means stepping off the 9–5 hamster wheel, learning to live with less, owning your time, and trading skills with your neighbours. It means dismantling the internalised narratives that kept you obedient and rediscovering critical thinking. And above all, it means reconnecting with others to rebuild bonds the Empire wants atomised.

Because the alternative is clear: more surveillance, more war, more dependency, and less dignity. The Empire’s narcissism demands your compliance, but your liberation depends on your courage to say no.

You won’t get an apology. You won’t get a redemptive arc from the Empire. It will smear you, punish you, and tell you you’re crazy. But that’s the last gasp of a narcissist losing control. Freedom isn’t given; it’s taken. So untangle the toxic bond, reclaim your power, and start building something real. Because the Empire isn’t your soulmate, your best friend, nor your protector. It’s your narcissist.