Podcast #120
John Steppling, Dennis Riches, Shaenah Batterson, Max Parry, Hiroyuki Hamada, Cory Morningstar
https://www.michael-parenti.org/article-jfk-assassination-defending-the-gangster-state-1996
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/04/frank-rich-roy-cohn-the-original-donald-trump.html
https://dennisriches.substack.com/p/the-privatization-of-retirement-funds
https://www.globalresearch.ca/russian-revolution-separating-truth-myth/5734305
https://www.montereyherald.com/2022/01/29/beloved-pismo-clams-make-a-mystifying-comeback/
https://www.urmedium.net/c/presstv/130112
One of the odd paradoxes of the “conspiracy literature” is that although it constantly presents itself as “The most staggering thing you’ll ever read!” and “This will blow your mind!” etc. is that it very soon lapses into monotony. David Icke, possibly the “Ur-conspiracist”, writes in exactly this hyperventilating way but achieves a kind of deadly saturation within a couple of pages. It turns out that every conspiracy theory you ever heard is true. This soon merges with all that paranormal / UFO stuff and we read about Atlantis, psychic projections, the allegedly extraterrestrial origins of the human race etc. That last bit is perhaps the clue since, even if it was true, doesn’t answer the question as to how life/humanity evolved in the first place. At which point it soon becomes obvious that this extraterrestrial origin notion is a present day version of “God created the heavens” etc.
And throughout these conspiracist excursions there is a constant sloppiness regarding actual factual information that can be easily checked. (I relish Icke’s reference to “one of Debussy’s most famous operas”. Excluding unfinished projects, Debussy only wrote one opera!)
As for Max’s point that he can appear on Right Wing sites uncensored, I am convinced that this is a case of information management. “The Left” exercises more censorship because, ironically, it is the Left that is assumed – correctly I think – to be the most accurate representative of what the majority think e.g. the vast majority nowadays are actually secular and, though they may pay lip service to various religions, they instinctively respect what is supposedly scientifically validated. This was proved with a vengeance through covid where the sane and common sense evaluation of your own health through the way you feel took a back seat to what a little mark on a plastic strip supposedly showed you.
Likewise, the absurdities of transgenderism were another indication of how a substantial portion of the public were quite happy to go along with “the latest findings” about “our human nature”.
And I think the ruling class know very well that it is this general respect for science – or whatever presents itself as “The Science” – which commends the most loyal following.
Because of all this, the current formation of the “propagandist arena” is built around a separation between, on the one hand, a “Right Wing” realm which can permit any amount of uncensored scepticism – as long as it is constantly linked with “the wacky stuff” that can easily be ridiculed and, on the other hand, the “proper” “validated” stuff, presented as “Left” but only in a very limited sense and ironically lined with covid, climate, transgenderism and whatever other vehicle the ruling class want to currently use to implement their policies.
An example of this cunning bifurcation in action is that Naomi Wolf, who has been excellent in her rejection of the covid and trans nonsense, has – with seeming gratification on her part! – been “accepted into the fold” of a new conservative milieu which is handy since it gives “Leftist” approved mainstream propagandists (such as her namesake Naomi Klein) a wonderful opportunity to relish an attack on Wolf as “a loony Rightist”.
Which leads me to note that much of the “Rightist” critique of the media is actually more pertinent in identifying the old divide-and-rule policy whereby we have e.g. the “culture war”. And this works through assigning everybody to a position in which their sensibilities can be crudely constrained within a preconceived pattern: Loony Rightist conspiracy nut against that hallowed “sensible (vastly watered down) Leftist”. But even this insight into divide-and-rule has to be couched in illegitimate terminology e.g. a “Hegelian trap”.
Thanks, Cory, for calling out the Trump show for what it is, bread and circuses to keep people entertained and focused on the spectacle instead of what's real. The phrase was coined by a Roman to explain how to keep people entertained so they would not revolt at being bled dry at every turn or protest against the slaughter of their fellow human beings.