The Last to Know
I’ve been asking myself, why do I continue writing about Covid and the Ukraine War? Do I believe that they are the most important stories or subjects of our time?
No.
I believe that the most important story of our time is the slow but inexorable decline of Cheap & Profitable Energy within our increasingly debt-riddled world. And the increasing trouble this will create for us and our response-ability to give thanks for our lives.
However, I continue to write about Covid and the Ukraine War because they have clarified that those who consume mainstream media, and only mainstream media, will be the last to know.
It would be great if there was one mainstream media organization that truly published all the news that’s fit to print, and actually printed it on paper so that we could read it without a screen. What an incredible service to humanity that would be.
But alas. We do not have that.
We likewise do not have a network news show, nor a cable news network, nor a national public radio, that can be trusted any more than Pravda.
It would be great if we did.
But we do not.
What we do have is a tightly aligned bundle of sticks; what the Italians called a “fascio”.
“Strength through unity” as the Fascists would say. Whereas one stick by itself can be broken, all the sticks tightly aligned together cannot be broken.
What are the sticks in our “fascio”? They are the government, the intelligence community, the military industrial complex, big Pharma, big Tech, Agri-biz, Academia, think tanks, Wall Street, and of course, last but certainly not least – the mainstream media. When they are tightly aligned, they are stronger.
But are they? And if so, for how long?
Because a “fascio” carries within it the seeds of its own demise. An elite culture that cuts itself off from outside perspectives becomes immune from criticism, immune from self-correction, immune from learning. It becomes prone to full-scale internal corruption. “Fascio’s” leaders become prone to being lost within their own minds, unable to sense the real world anymore.
This is why we in the US pay the most for health care while we are some of the least healthy.
This is why we in the US pay the most for “Defense” while our military mostly stumbles from one military misadventure to the next.
This is why we in the US have a Presidency that excels only in being a global example of Elder Abuse.
Our “bundle of sticks” will eventually end the way all “fascios” do – horribly.
Or we can end it with a lot less tragedy by waking up and facing it directly.
It doesn’t take everyone. It just takes enough of the folks in the cultural middle to reject the “fascio’s” authority and question it publicly.
Remember, the “fascios” tight alignment is above all an alignment in narrative management. It is the mainstream media that tie all the other sticks together with one tightly packaged narrative.
Few trust the mainstream media any more. But here’s the problem: Our cocooned leaders are the few that still do. Their narratives may be coming apart at the seams. But they will be the last to know.
Covid and the Ukraine War are both rare opportunities to clearly see how horrible tragedies can unfold through tightly managed narratives that carefully and assiduously exclude, suppress and demonize anyone or anything that does not follow the “fascio’s” narrative.
Covid and the Ukraine War are both rare world-historic opportunities to clearly see how our cocooned leaders turn problems-that-could-be-solved into predicaments-that-must-be-survived.
If we humans can’t get clear now on the dangers of overly crafted and choreographed narrative management, then we have practically no chance to successfully navigate the slow but inexorable decline of Cheap & Profitable Energy as it recedes from our increasingly debt-riddled world.
Russia spends a fraction of what the US spends militarily. Less than 1/10 what all of NATO spends.
And yet Russia has a more experienced and competent military with more advanced weapon systems than NATO. That includes both advanced offensive weapons such as hypersonic Zircons and Khinzals, and advanced air-defense systems such as the S-400 and S-500.
Perhaps even more importantly, Russia still has an intact military industrial base that can mass produce basic artillery and munitions for traditional battlefields.
This isn’t to say that Russia doesn’t have their own problems with military corruption. Nor is it to say that Russia is immune from making tragic mistakes on the battlefield.
But it must be noted that Russia is fighting – on their own borders – with better weapons – with shorter supply lines – in order to protect ethnic Russians.
The only way for Russia to lose this war is if everyone on Earth loses in a global thermonuclear war.
Anybody who tries to tell you otherwise is lost within their own mind. They are lying to you and putting the entire world at risk.
Don’t be among the last to know.
“You’re either with us or against us”, the “fascios” say. They said it 20 years ago as we illegally invaded Iraq on a tightly managed narrative built on lies.
Stop getting distracted by the fact that two decades later our current bundle of sticks is now “led” by the opposing political party. That’s not the relevant part.
Maybe it’s time to revisit the songs “Masters of War” by Bob Dylan and “War Pigs” by Black Sabbath.
No matter how culturally far apart Bob Dylan and Black Sabbath were, one thing they did have in common was that they were not conservative far-right conspiracy-theorists, the label our current “fascio” uses to dismiss any and all dissenters from its own narrative.
Russia just so happens to have 12 time zones full of resources. Russia just so happens to be the world’s largest exporter of total energy products in our world, selling oil, natural gas, coal and uranium.
Our leaders, lost in their own minds, clearly don’t have a Plan B to balkanizing Russia and stealing their resources to shore up our unsustainable debt so that we can keep kicking our little can down the road a few more decades.
So they sell a narrative that this is a fight for “Freedom and Democracy” and “Putin is Hitler”. Just as Saddam Hussein was also Hitler.
Of course there is and always has been a true Plan B – let go of Empire, refocus on giving thanks for our lives, and refocus on building true wealth within our communities while some Cheap & Profitable Energy remains.
Our cocooned leaders have painted themselves into a rather tight little corner by choosing every day to escalate the war in Ukraine.
In early July, 2023, the US agreed to send cluster bombs to Ukraine because we’re running low on traditional munitions. Cluster bombs are banned by over 100 countries. Our leaders have clearly stated publicly that their use is a war crime. But now we are sending them to Ukraine – to dismember and kill generations of civilians after this war is over.
Masters of War. War Pigs.
Every day, the US has had the opportunity to stop this war.
Every day, our leaders chose to escalate it instead.
Don’t be among the last to know.
“You’re either with us or against us”.
OK. Thanks for clarifying.
P.S. I offer the list below of people that I read regularly who offer perspectives outside the narrow confines of mainstream media. I do not agree with everything any of them say. They certainly do not all agree with each other. But I have learned something from each and every one of them.
(I guess that saying that I read these folks regularly makes it clear that I do not have kids, that I do not have a mortgage, and that I am self-employed.)
The Automatic Earth - Raul Ilargi Meijer
Ecosophia – John Michael Greer
Clusterfuck Nation - James Howard Kunstler
Coffee & Covid- Jeff Childers
bad cattitude - gato malo
Consent Factory - CJ Hopkins
Consciousness of Sheep – Tim Watkins
Darkhorse Podcast - Brett Weinsten & Heather Heying
Peak Prosperity - Chris Martenson
The Great Simplification - Nate Hagens
The Dreizen Report – Jacob Dreizen
Charles Eisenstein
Market Ticker - Karl Denninger
Unlimited Hangout - Whitney Webb
Matt Taibbi
Caitlin Johnstone
Solari - Catherine Austin Fitts
Our Finite World - Gail Tverberg
Moon of Alabama – b
The Honest Sorcerer – B
Gold, Goats & Guns - Tom Luongo
Paul Kingsnorth
Aaron Mate
Fabio Vighi
Of Two Minds - Charles Hugh Smith
Brownstone Institute
Children’s Health Defense - RFK Jr.
Michael Hudson
Michael Tracey
Mattias Desmet
Edward Curtin
Jimmy Dore
Joe Rogan
Tucker Carlson
Russel Brand
Glenn Greenwald
Ben from UnchartedX
Randall Carlson
Graham Hancock
Hey Farmer,
Thanks for your thoughts. For people who might not have tons of time to put towards learning what's going on in the world, could you narrow down the list to three sources? Thanks.
Thanks for the list. I would add Chris Hedges.