{"id":265363,"date":"2024-07-01T12:00:11","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T11:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=265363"},"modified":"2024-06-26T05:42:59","modified_gmt":"2024-06-26T04:42:59","slug":"if-gaza-opened-your-eyes-to-the-empires-depravity-make-sure-they-stay-open-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/07\/if-gaza-opened-your-eyes-to-the-empires-depravity-make-sure-they-stay-open-forever\/","title":{"rendered":"If Gaza Opened Your Eyes to the Empire\u2019s Depravity, Make Sure They Stay Open Forever"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Rebel Voice<\/p><\/div>\n

Please please please don\u2019t let Gaza be a one-off in terms of your opposition to the imperial machine. Keep your eyes fiercely trained on its actions after this is over, and help bring as much attention to its crimes as possible. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

24 Jun 2024 <\/em>– One of the most important things to understand about the US-backed atrocities in Gaza is that the US-centralized empire isn\u2019t normally this obvious about its criminality. The relatively undisguised nature of the sadism and savagery in this particular case has been a gift to opponents of the US war machine, because the empire has made it much easier for us to open people\u2019s eyes to its depravity.<\/p>\n

Normally it\u2019s a lot harder. Normally almost everyone is buying into the mainstream narrative about what\u2019s going on in Empire-Targeted Nation X because of Evil Enemy Dictator Y, with the empire\u2019s role in instigating and perpetuating the violence and suffering being swept under the carpet by the narrative-makers in western governments and their obsequious stenographers in the mainstream press<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It takes a lot of in-depth research and critical thinking to punch through the propaganda narratives and understand things like how western powers and their regional allies intentionally plunged Syria into violence and chaos<\/a> using heavily-armed extremist proxy militias in an entirely premeditated campaign to topple Damascus and install a puppet regime. Or the fact that the starvation and suffering we heard so much about in Venezuela a few years ago was actually largely caused by US sanctions<\/a>. Or the fact that the \u201cfamine\u201d we heard about in Yemen was actually caused by a US-backed blockade and assault<\/a> on civilian infrastructure. Or the fact that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was so deliberately<\/a> and methodically provoked by NATO powers<\/a> that a great many western strategists and academics<\/a> spent years warning that those actions were going to get Ukraine wrecked<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Understanding what\u2019s happening in Gaza is a lot easier. There\u2019s nonstop footage of obvious war crimes pouring out of the enclave, and generations of opposition to Israel\u2019s settler-colonialist apartheid abuse of the Palestinians had already succeeded in gaining a foothold in academia and in many fairly mainstream progressive political circles. They\u2019re still saturating the airwaves with propaganda just like they do with all the empire\u2019s other crimes, but because of how much light has already been shed on the situation, the obfuscations aren\u2019t nearly as potent as they normally are, and the mainstream press are even being forced to report on a lot of inconvenient facts to avoid completely losing legitimacy in the eyes of the public.<\/p>\n

I emphasize the fact that Gaza is one of the easy ones because it\u2019s so important that people whose eyes were recently opened to the criminality of the empire keep those eyes open to that same criminality after this particular mass atrocity is done. There will with absolute certainty be more evil mass military atrocities performed and backed by the US war machine, and most of them will probably require a much closer look than Gaza.<\/p>\n

It probably won\u2019t be as obvious. The crimes of the empire will probably be a lot more carefully hidden. The victims and victimizers probably won\u2019t be quite so easy to discern. The ones being targeted by the US-aligned side probably won\u2019t be quite as reflexively sympathized with.<\/p>\n

As a general guideline, if you ever find yourself thinking things like \u201cThis time the US is on the right side for once\u201d or \u201cEh both sides are equally bad,\u201d that\u2019s a pretty good sign that they\u2019ve suckered you. The US empire is the most murderous and destructive power structure on earth<\/a> by such an immense margin, and is on the wrong side of every conflict so consistently and reliably, that if you ever find yourself viewing a foreign conflict in ways that aren\u2019t completely hostile to Washington, it\u2019s almost certainly because you\u2019ve swallowed the propaganda.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s no shame in that, to be clear. The US empire has the most sophisticated and effective propaganda engine that has ever existed, and its pervasive narrative control and distortions make it very easy to get lost when navigating the complex information ecosystem<\/a> of the modern world. If you get something wrong and have to change your position after research and reflection, doing so is just a sign of emotional and intellectual maturity on your part. Everyone makes mistakes.<\/p>\n

All this to say, please please please don\u2019t let Gaza be a one-off in terms of your opposition to the imperial machine. Keep your eyes fiercely trained on its actions after this is over, and help bring as much attention to its crimes as possible. If you\u2019re not sure about a particular conflict that\u2019s in the news there are many<\/a> great<\/a> resources<\/a> available<\/a> for helping<\/a> you<\/a> sort<\/a> out<\/a> fact<\/a> from<\/a> fiction<\/a> with<\/a> regard<\/a> to the empire<\/a> and its propaganda<\/a> spin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The empire didn\u2019t just start getting crazy and evil with Gaza. It\u2019s always<\/em><\/strong> doing things like this. It always<\/em><\/strong> lies about them. The mass media always<\/em><\/strong> help it lie. Gaza isn\u2019t some aberration in its usual behavior, it\u2019s just more obvious.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t ever let them lull you back to sleep with their deceptions. Keep your eyes open to what they\u2019ve been opened to. Keep fighting the empire for the rest of your life, or until the empire is fully destroyed.<\/p>\n

________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Caitlin Johnstone is a rogue journalist, poet, and utopia prepper<\/em>. Contact: <\/em>admin@caitlinjohnstone.com<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 caitlinjohnstone.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

24 Jun 2024 – Please please please don\u2019t let Gaza be a one-off in terms of your opposition to the imperial machine. Keep your eyes fiercely trained on its actions after this is over, and help bring as much attention to its crimes as possible. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":216777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[1161,491,3281,87,865,88,2571,427,112,2200],"class_list":["post-265363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anglo-america","tag-arms-industry","tag-empires","tag-evil-empire","tag-gaza","tag-genocide","tag-israel","tag-official-lies-and-narratives","tag-palestine","tag-pentagon","tag-us-empire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265363"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":265365,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265363\/revisions\/265365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}