The irony of the phrase “may the odds be ever in your favor” is not lost on the readers of the Hunger Games trilogy of novels or the film adaption. Despite the grimness of the story, over 65 million copies of the books have been sold. The total box office take so far has exceeded $1.4 billion for the four movies. The dystopian series tackles real issues like severe poverty, starvation, torture, oppression, betrayal and the brutality of war. It doesn’t fit into the standard film making success recipe of feel good fluff, politically correct storylines and happy endings. Each film in the series gets progressively darker, with the final episode permeating doom and gloom. The books and the movies capture the deepening crisis mood engulfing the world today. And they realistically portray the world as a place where there are no good guys in positions of power. The ruling class, in all cases, is driven by a voracious appetite for supremacy, wealth, and control.
An Ambiguous, Confusing, Dangerous World
The world is a morally ambiguous place where those in power and those seeking power utilize the influence of media propaganda and PR campaigns built around “heroes” and “icons” to psychologically control the masses, while enriching themselves and their crony capitalist sponsors. Endless war against the latest “bad guys” further enriches the arms dealers and their political lackeys who joyfully use faux patriotism and nationalistic fervor to insist upon more boots on the ground, drones in the air, bombs dropped, and missiles launched.
War is good for business and keeps the masses distracted, while the Wall Street financiers harvest the wealth of the citizens. The division of the country into 12 districts, sending their bounty to the capital of Panem at the point of a gun, while they are allocated a pittance to survive, is no different than our corporate fascist government as they extract hundreds of billions in taxes, fees, levies, tolls, and fines from the productive class, while regulating, enforcing, mandating, and authorizing the plebs to death.
We live in a confusing world of anxiety, hate, greed, deceit and immorality, where governments throughout the world are nothing but rotting cesspools of psychotic despots desperately clinging to power while using any means necessary to keep the masses sedated and docile. Good people, with noble intentions, still exist in this decadent world, but they do not seek power or have any say in the governance of this world. The oppressed are hopelessly enslaved in debt, kept submissive by welfare transfers from the corrupt state, dumbed down by the state education system, amused by technological gadgets and vacuous entertainment, and kept in perpetual fear of seen and unseen enemies. We are told who to hate, who to fear, who to love, and who to believe by a nameless faceless state run by people we didn’t elect, constituting the invisible government.
The world is a dangerous place, made more dangerous by a willfully ignorant populace who mindlessly go about their day to day existence without thinking, questioning, or considering the possibility their leaders are corrupt lying thieves. We are told Putin, Assad, China, Iran and ISIS are the bad guys. Previously we had been told Hussein, Gadaffi, Bin Laden, Mubarak, Al Qaeda and the Taliban were the bad guys. It is true that none of these men or organizations are good.
It is also true that no one in leadership positions in Washington DC, on Wall Street, in corporate America, or in the mainstream media are good. The entire world is under the control of deceitful, cunning, egomaniacal, corruptible, psychopaths who will stop at nothing to fulfill their personal agendas. They are human beings who have allowed their dark sides to dominate their actions. There are no good guys, just varying degrees of evil imposed upon the masses by erratic unpredictable people with wildly differing levels of intelligence, patriotism and judgement.
The Power of Propaganda
It’s a tribute to the propagandists who have taken Edward Bernays’ teachings to another level as they have molded the minds of millions, consciously manipulating the opinions and beliefs of the masses to further their agenda of world domination. Once the Cold War ended, the ruling class sought enemies to keep their military industrial complex and Wall Street financiers enriched and happy. 9/11 was used to further that agenda as war on a tactic (terror) will never end. Perpetual conflict is a chief goal of the establishment. Orwell would be impressed with how our keepers have perfected the “We‘ve always been at war with Eastasia” propaganda tool to perpetuate their goals. Both parties continue to promote war and increase the profits of the military industrial complex.
The U.S. invaded Afghanistan fourteen years ago to get bin Laden and rid the country of the Taliban. Bin Laden was supposedly killed in 2011, but no documentary evidence has been revealed to substantiate that claim. The Taliban is stronger than ever in Afghanistan after hundreds of billions in expenditures and thousands of lives lost. The occupation continues. The neo-cons convinced the dimwitted Bush to invade Iraq in 2003 because Hussein was a bad guy with weapons of mass destruction. Amusingly, he was our buddy when he was fighting our Iranian enemies and we provided him with the WMD (gas) he used on the Kurds.
After spending $1 trillion, we left Iraq as a festering quagmire of religious zealots with a bombed out infrastructure and a corrupt incompetent puppet running the show on our behalf. Then it was on to leaving Libya in a state of chaos because we overthrew another bad guy. We didn’t like the democratically elected leader of Egypt after we overthrew Mubarak, so we overthrew Morsi and installed another military dictatorship. The propaganda storyline is always about democracy and getting rid of bad guys, not the truth about securing oil resources, weakening the enemies of Israel, and keeping the profits flowing to our “vital” defense industry.
It seems the empire ran into a bit of a snag with their plan to remove the latest “bad guy” in Syria. Another “bad guy” – Vladimir Putin – saw through the American plan to eliminate Assad and have their co-conspirators in Saudi Arabia and Qatar build a gas pipeline to Europe. After overthrowing the democratically elected president (and friend of Russia) of the Ukraine and waging an unsuccessful war against Russian backed rebels in Eastern Ukraine, Europe was left at the mercy of an angry Putin as far as not freezing to death during the upcoming winter.
Putin is a strongman leader of a country with a nuclear arsenal capable of blowing up the earth several times over. He will do what is in the best interest of his country and will not blink when confronted with the likes of corrupt feckless toadies like Obama, Kerry, Hollande, Merkel, and Edrogen. His counter measures and revelations about the true nature of U.S. and Turkish actions in Syria and Iraq have blown the lid off of U.S. plans in the Middle East.
The latest fear mongering propaganda device for the vested interests has been the dreaded ISIS. The captured mainstream corporate media fails to mention the U.S. created, armed and continues to fund ISIS as part of their master plan to overthrow Assad. The U.S. left Iraq in such a state of chaos and lawlessness, fanatical Islamist radicals used the vacuum of power and the billions of dollars’ worth of top notch U.S. military hardware to create a safe space for themselves within Iraq and Syria. The U.S. has been funding and arming the supposed “moderate” Islamic radicals fighting Assad for the last few years, while attempting to use a false flag gas attack to wage all-out war. The U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Turkey created ISIS in order to further their economic and political interests. Lead neo con warmonger, Maniacal McCain, even had a photo op with his ISIS homies.
Once Putin decided to fully support Assad and actually concentrate on destroying ISIS, it became clear the U.S. was turning a blind eye to the billions in illicit oil profits being earned by ISIS refining, transporting and selling oil to Turkey. Putin began to destroy the oil infrastructure of ISIS and immediately saw a passenger plane blown out the sky and a bomber shot down by Turkey. So the organization we created is now the most feared terrorist organization on the planet, but we refuse to cooperate or coordinate its defeat with Assad or Putin because they are “bad guys”.
Turkey financially supports ISIS and is fighting hardest against our allies the Kurds, but we fully support their crazed dictator leader Erdogan. Iran is fighting ISIS, but more than half of Congress and all presidential candidates want to obliterate them on behalf of Israel. Virtually all domestic terrorism has a link to Saudi Arabia, they treat women like cattle, behead anyone not following Islamic law and are pumping oil at a prodigious pace in an effort to destroy the U.S. shale industry, but they are considered a close ally in the Middle East. It is quite clear there are no good guys running the show in this bizarro world of unholy alliances, backstabbing, revenge, and fear mongering.
A Lot of Hope is Dangerous
No one in positions of power can be trusted. Betrayal, violence, money, power and war are the weapons of the state. Loyalty, courage, sacrifice, love and hope are the domain of the people. The state walks a fine line between keeping the masses controlled through entertainment, debt, fear and hope. If the people lose all hope, despair leads to anger as those with nothing to lose take to the streets. President Snow of Panem explains the fine line between control and revolution:
“Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. Spark is fine, as long as it’s contained.”
In the Mockingjay portion of the Hunger Games trilogy you are left with the evil President Snow attempting to maintain the status quo, with Panem ruling over the formally subservient districts, while President Coin leads the rebels in attempting to overthrow the rotting immoral government of Snow. Both sides use the power of media propaganda, symbolism, false heroes, and despicable tactics to win. In the standard good guy/bad guy plot used to entertain the American masses, the rebels would be the good guys fighting for a noble cause.
Their symbolic mockingjay leader – Katniss Everdeen – is portrayed as the fearless revolutionary of the people. She is the hope which ignites a revolution and turns despair into a war against the oppressive state and the wealthy vested interests in Panem. The rebels have the moral high ground, but the underlying feeling of distrust is always evident. The good guys might not be so good.
The central question of the final episode was, real or not real? Who can be believed? Are heroes really heroes or are they just created by public relations propaganda specialists? When an icon used to inspire a revolution has served their purpose, will the “good guys” purposefully sacrifice them for the good of the establishment? Can any government be trusted? Can any politician be trusted? Can the media be trusted?
The truth is that no one in a position of power can be trusted. The only people who can be trusted are family and friends. And even they can turn on you with enough monetary incentive. It’s a confusing, brutal world driven by greed, endless military conflict, religious zealotry, and controlled by shadowy unelected men using their ill-gotten wealth to pull the strings on all aspects of society. We are living in a dystopian nightmare where the masses have been induced to love their enslavement.
Katniss undergoes a metamorphosis after seeing her sister blown up while rushing to the aid of victims and later confronting President Snow after the rebels succeeded in overthrowing his regime. President Coin, the leader of the “good guys”, reveals herself to be even more duplicitous and evil than the leader of the “bad guys”. She used the deep-seated characteristic of human compassion to kill Katniss’ sister along with hundreds of children and rescue workers as a tactic to turn the war in her favor. Those in positions of power will use any means necessary to gain or maintain power.
When Coin proposes a last Hunger Games sacrificing the children of the previous regime’s leadership, Katniss realizes Coin is going to just replace Snow as a dictator, perpetuating the despotic policies which created the rebellion in the first place. Katniss rightly decides that killing innocents, and especially children, is never justifiable. Therefore, she decides to kill Coin, while the rioting crowds kill Snow. She sacrifices her status as a national hero in order to give her country a chance to regain its former glory as a republic. The personal sacrifice on behalf of her country is almost unbearable, but ultimately sacrifice, courage, love, strength and hope for a better future are able to sustain her during the dark days.
Turnkey Tyranny
As the former Republic known as America has descended towards the tyranny of a corporate fascist surveillance state, there have been two true patriots who have dedicated their lives to inspiring a revolution in thought and action to help this country regain its former glory based on the U.S. Constitution. One patriot is young and the other patriot old, but their message is the same – we must resist and oppose the ever growing oppressive power of a tyrannical state systematically dismantling the Constitution and stripping the people of liberty and freedom. Their words speak for themselves.
“The great fear that I have regarding the outcome for America of these disclosures is that nothing will change. People won’t be willing to take the risks necessary to stand up and fight to change things… And in the months ahead, the years ahead, it’s only going to get worse. The NSA will say that… because of the crisis, the dangers that we face in the world, some new and unpredicted threat, we need more authority, we need more power, and there will be nothing the people can do at that point to oppose it. And it will be turnkey tyranny.” – Edward Snowden
“The original American patriots were those individuals brave enough to resist with force the oppressive power of King George. I accept the definition of patriotism as that effort to resist oppressive state power. The true patriot is motivated by a sense of responsibility and out of self-interest for himself, his family, and the future of his country to resist government abuse of power. He rejects the notion that patriotism means obedience to the state.” – Ron Paul
Edward Snowden is our modern day Paul Revere, but instead of riding across the countryside warning “the British are coming”, he used the power of modern technology to warn the world “the NSA is watching, listening, and monitoring”. He sacrificed his citizenship, high paying job, freedom, and possibly his life (if the U.S. government had its way) in order to blow the whistle on the blatant destruction and disregard for the Fourth Amendment being perpetrated by the NSA, with the full knowledge and approval of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the U.S. government.
He knew his revelations would result in his persecution, attempted apprehension and ultimate imprisonment, as the corrupt malevolent establishment and their mass media mouthpieces would brand him a traitor for revealing the truth about the illegal malfeasance being conducted at the highest levels of government. He realized true patriotism is sacrificing your life for something bigger.
“I had been looking for leaders, but I realized that leadership is about being the first to act. I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions, and that the return of this information to the public marks my end.” – Edward Snowden
Snowden’s revelations exposed the U.S. government for what it really is, a corporate fascist organization designed to benefit a chosen few while oppressing the masses through debt, currency debasement, and perpetual war, while implementing Orwellian surveillance measures designed to capture dissenters and critical thinkers. The sustenance of the welfare/warfare state requires a dumbed down, passive, distracted populace who can be manipulated and controlled through propaganda and baubles.
Thus far, the vested interests have successfully convinced more than half the population that Snowden is a traitor. The power of propaganda in conjunction with a willfully ignorant public is a potent combination. Even though Snowden’s disclosures have not spurred a revolution yet, they have sparked an underlying dissent that has been growing, as trust in government, politicians, bankers, media and corporate leaders wanes.
“I can’t in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they’re secretly building. I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under. Everyone everywhere now understands how bad things have gotten — and they’re talking about it. They have the power to decide for themselves whether they are willing to sacrifice their privacy to the surveillance state.” – Edward Snowden
Snowden worked within the system until his conscience made it unbearable for him to support an immoral, rogue organization bent on trashing the U.S. Constitution at the behest of leaders’ intent on retaining their power, control and wealth through any means necessary. Ron Paul has taken a different, but equally noble path as one of the few patriots who worked within the system, but never became corrupted by the system. He has been a voice in the wilderness for decades, condemning the relentless march towards tyranny that he saw firsthand while in Congress.
The establishment, media and leadership of both political parties have scorned and ridiculed him as ineffective and inconsequential. There was never a piece of legislation with his name on it that passed during his time in Congress. His nickname was Dr. No, as he voted against anything that added to the national debt or took away freedoms or liberties.
This disparagement reveals the fallacy of what constitutes success in Washington D.C., as there are now over 5,000 Federal laws, 180,000 pages of Federal regulations, $18.8 trillion of Federal debt, $200 trillion of unfunded Federal liabilities, and every politician of both parties completely captured by corporate and special interests. There is one ruling party and the appearance of choice is nothing but a farce designed to make the masses think they have a say in the governance of their country.
“We’ve slipped away from a true republic. Now we’re slipping into a fascist system where it’s a combination of government, big business and authoritarian rule, and the suppression of the individual rights of each and every American citizen. When it comes to any significant differences on foreign policy, economic intervention, the Federal Reserve, a strong executive branch, a welfarism mixed with corporatism, both parties are very much alike. The major arguments in hotly contested presidential races are mostly for public consumption to convince the people they actually have a choice.” – Ron Paul
The vitriol and bile hoisted upon Snowden and Paul expose the weakness of the ruling class, as truth, honesty, personal courage, and sacrifice for a higher purpose are attributes they cannot subvert or buy off. It’s the words and actions of men like Edward Snowden and Ron Paul that provide hope for critical thinking liberty minded citizens. The ruling class knows a lot of hope is dangerous, so they must undermine the messages of these patriots. Ideas matter. Words matter.
These two men have inspired me and an unknown number of other citizens who still believe in the Constitution and will do everything in our power to provoke a revolution of reason, truth and honesty. The odds will never be in our favor. Carroll Quigley understood the odds were stacked against the American people over 50 years ago. The domination of the world by central bankers representing private interests has never been more evident than it has since the Federal Reserve created 2008 financial crisis and the traitorous actions taken by politicians and central bankers in the last seven years.
“The powers of financial capitalism had a far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland; a private bank owned and controlled by the world’s central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank… sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world.” – Carroll Quigley
Even though the odds are never in our favor, there is still hope. Not everyone has to make the extreme sacrifice like Edward Snowden or dedicate their life to the message of liberty like Ron Paul in order to contribute to the revolution. There are thousands of small acts which will weaken the establishment. Arm yourself. Stop watching and listening to the mainstream media. Take your money out of Wall Street banks. Grow your own food. Barter with others and starve the beast. Reduce your tax footprint. Buy locally and boycott mega-corporations. Build relationships with neighbors and reduce your dependency on the government.
Don’t be a slave to debt. Live beneath your means and accumulate some physical silver and gold. Don’t vote for candidates selected by the vested interests. Spread the message of liberty and freedom to anyone who will listen. Support the alternative media and send pertinent articles to family, friends and acquaintances. Think critically. Do not trust your government. Prepare for the inevitable collapse of this rotten, fetid, corrupt paradigm. Hope, love, courage, and persistence will ultimately win. The tide is turning. Panem will fall. What replaces the existing social order will be up to us.
I’ve often wondered what it would have been like to live in 476 AD with Romulus Augustulus as the phony (last) Emperor, collapse happening all around, your neighbors fleeing to the barbarians to gain a little freedom. Redux?
This essay/and analogy are quite good and apt.
The closing suggestions do provide an answer
for people that seek change. What is missing?
Laws were broken, theft has been committed on
a massive scale, and illegal military actions have
gone on. There has to be punishment for these crimes!
At the least, asset forfeiture to start. The stolen money
has to be returned, and the Fed bankers have to be banned.
States can print their own money. The Fed. Gov. has to be
reduced to a part time status. There is more to do, and
surely others can figure out what and how.
Not to keep resurrecting the ghost of Ayn Rand, because I realize so many have such diverse opinions of her.
But – when considering Snowden – I am reminded of her quote as follows:
“Integrity is the ability to stand by an idea”.
She also added that “integrity presupposes thought”, or similar? ( I am going by memory and perhaps paraphrasing somewhat).
Regardless – like others before him, Snowden is a hero because of his courage to tell the truth in spite of great persecution.
This is what moves the world.
In the end, the ultimate goal of the “ruling class” is global domination via Agenda 21, the demise of constitutional law and nationalism, depopulation and, ultimately, the administration of their Brave New World via their satanic ten commandments as outlined in the Georgia Guidestones.
“Let the games begin…”
PS – President “Snow” in The Hunger Games vs. Edward “Snow”den in real life. Really?
Snow WAY!
Life truly does imitate art. Fuckin’ surreal. I swear…
Interesting tidbits for your entertainment because after all you are just being entertained:
Suzanne Collins, author of the Hunger Games Trilogy, lives in Sandy Hook near Newtown and was friend of Nancy Lanza ( mother of Adam Lanza, killer (?).
These are relatives of a person mentioned in the article, does this seem like just another everyday schmuck on the planet?
John Kerry- US Sec. of State
Bill Gates- Founder (cough) of Microsoft
Amelia Earhart- Aviation Pioneer
Humphrey Bogart- Movie Actor
Alan Shepard- Apollo and Mercury Astronaut
Sigourney Weaver- Movie Actress
Susan B. Anthony
Person related to the above notable people/actors ?
Answer: Edward Snowden—- Ex CIA/NSA Spy
Also – just an FYI here – when you want extremely intelligent and articulate and eloquent people to leave you alone – the best thing to do is act stupid, obnoxious and “intellectually lazy”.
Truth is – I just, I enjoy all of the contributors on TBP – but I wish the TPTB / government assholes would leave us all the fuck alone. They won’t. Nothing you can do to avoid that. Oh well….
One hopes that you will write a book about the endless wars, debt, welfare, illegal immigration,
police state, and moral decay in the USA now. You have enough material.
Great article. When I read the Hunger Games series and Katniss puts an arrow through Coin I had to read it twice to make sure that’s what really happened. I thought shit! that’s the way to go, forget replacing the old boss with a new boss, how about no boss. To bad the hoopleheads what someone to rule them, no matter how evil they might be.
Ron Paul and Edward Snowden are two of my heros and I wish more people would consider what they have to say.
That is wild Bea. Small world. Sometimes I wonder how Adam got the combo to his Mom’s (Nancy’s) safe in order to access her assault rifle and ammo? Especially, when he was on psychotropic drugs? It ALL worked out so great to Obama’s agenda regarding mental illness and gun control. Just luck, I guess.
I also wonder why Snowden is reported on by the mainstream media.
I certainly agree with the Power of Propaganda or what I would call the Judazing of American culture and Religion. The tribe(Jews ) and ( their Anglo Saxons progressives Lackies) that controls Hollywood , TV Networks and most of the publishing industry have done Satan’s work in turning this nation away from its founding principles.(Christian principles ).As Pat Buchanan said in one of his recent articles. Christ has been taken out of Christmas. Christianity has been been ban from schools , the state and now society.(Public Square).Christianity is now openly mocked. This hostile elite is one reason for the general apostasy in America.
As always good job Admin .
If you’re on the ‘grid”, & on “narrative”, what’s at play?
I still think Snowden is a hero, but why is the MSM reporting on him when they could shove him “under the rug” like Michael Brown’s criminal record?
Stay tuned, I guess…
Too late. Much too late now.
The USA is no longer a democratic republic. It has become an oligarchic plutocracy controlled and run by a select group of elites, who happen to be the richest.
A healthy democratic republic depends upon the individual voter being engaged and aware of critical issues, then making a truthfully informed, intelligent and rational choice.
Intelligence and rationality among the general population of the US is no longer a common trait.
Hope is indeed a virtue, but must be embedded in reality. To pin ones “hope” on the military to do the “right thing” and obey their Constitutional Oath to protect society, is to hope against hope and is a fools objective.
Remember May 4, 1970 when the Ohio National Guard opened fire on unarmed university students protesting against war, firing over 80 rounds killing 4 and wounding many more.
“Even though the odds are never in our favor, there is still hope.” ———— Admin
A masterpiece of an article, Jim. A Masterpiece. How do do do it?
But …
— Hope is not a strategy.
— Hope is overrated.
— Hope lives in Texas, and nowhere else.
— Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
……… for I have seen the Mark Dice videos!
do do do ???? How the goddamn fuck did THAT happen??!!
I meant, “How do you do it?”
Admin, no one can sum up the current state of geopolitical affairs as succinctly as you.Kudos + 1000
While I agree that the USG is corporate fascist organization , they ‘re not oppressors .You can’t oppress those willing to wrap the dog collars of state security and unlimited debt around their necks.Sure there are dissenters, but outsider of the internet who many do we count among friends , family or associates. I count none.Oh, I know a few who grumble about the current state of affairs, but I don’t know any who taken the time and expense to educate themselves to the jaw-dropping gargantuan scope of magnitude with which the state now controls our lives and how we got here.
It’s mind-numbing just to try and have a conversation with these people. The references we use to Bernay, Quigley, Orwell, Huxley, Quinn..they don’t get , because they’ve neither heard nor read these names and their too busy with entertainment, texting and attempting to keep up with inflation that they’ve not noticed that the state has completely taken over the administration of their lives.
Even locally, where rampant corruption can be ended by a few people standing up , no one does, because of the networks involved and no one wanting to lose their place in the gravy web. Any who attempt it are cut loose and shunned from the employment loop.
Personally having witnessed the nature of the fallen and therefore easily corrupted for decades now,I believe the only hope for the salvation of mankind is Divine Intervention otherwise we will eventually-thanks to the greatness of Science – self-destruct.
Bea Lever …spot on brother , but you left one out. Remember back when you told us that Jacob Greenberg (aka. Mark Zuckerberg) was the grandson of David Rockefeller ,well it also turns out that Snowden is the cousin of Suckerberg and too, a grandson of Rockefeller..sppoky shit right there..controlled opposition , what else?
And like yourself , I won’t include any links to the proof…just take my word for it, because I’m another lever, right?
Another fabulous commentary – thank you.
Perhaps things are changing – this guy, David Collum – and his host Chris Martenson – touch on some interesting non-financial stuff starting at around the 48 minute mark.
My daughter is a huge fan of the series so I wanted to ask her about it before I responded. I think part of the reason that it resonated with younger people is definitely related to the fact that they can sense what is going on even if they haven’t got the intellectual chops to dissect the problem.
I’m torn on the hope thing. I just don’t see it’s practicality in my life any longer. Hope is a spiritual procrastination- it puts off to another day what should be done right now, it saps the energy and drive out of people and leaves them open to predation on a grand scale.
Again, another shot out of the park. Great pace and phrasing, succinct message, wonderful tie in to pop culture and in fewer words than an average NYT op-ed.
“Freedom is a mystical truth. It’s expressed best in The Brothers Karamazov. The freedom that Christ gave the world was the freedom of being an individual in a collectivity, of basing ones life on love, as distinct from power, of seeking the good of others rather than nourishing ones own ego. That was liberation. And the Chief Inquisitor, who speaks for every dictator, every millionaire, every ideologue that’s ever been, says we can’t have it.”
Malcolm Muggeridge
Bea, I saw that claim (Snowden being related to Zuck and Rockefeller) here before. It certainly makes me pause and go Hmmmm?
Things are almost never what they seem.
Bea will believe any bullshit conspiracy he reads on the internet. As soon as he provides proof, other than the scriblings of some goofball websites, I’ll give credence to his usual crap. His gullibility knows no bounds. When I googled his claim, nothing but ridiculous conspiracy websites came up, all regurgitating the same bullshit with absolutely no FACTS to back up their claims.
The stupid – it burns.
Inventions get abused. Invent a plane and soon the idiots are dropping bombs on each other. Invent Smart Phones and FB and then TPTB know where you are and when.
100 years from now what we perceive as ‘freedom’ will be thought of in the same vane as Chinese foot binding of little girls.
Who needs freedom when we get fed, have all the mindless sex and drugs that we want, violent sports and video games? How can freedom measure up to THAT?
Bea Nutjob
I await a detailed analysis of the family tree that proves your claims. That should be very simple for you to provide. It’s just people’s names and how they are related. Piece of cake. Right Bea?
Or will you provide links to 15 nutjob websites with unsubstantiated claims?
We’re waiting.
I see Bea’s bullshit falling at freefall speed.
Okay, Admin… I am guessing that when I saw it here before, it was Bea posting it as well. Okay.
SpecOps… Huxley’s Brave New World had no idea.
I made the mistake of visiting an old schoolchum who lost her foot in a car wreck in St. Louis Barnes hospital while dropping the rocket scientist wannabe at the airport. (He was supposed to learn a better method of solar energy conversion and storage for me. Brat.)
Anyway, it cheered her greatly to see me Christmas Day and since I was there when her son arrived (who has been invited to hunt on my land, being one of my boys when he was little), I got to be patted on the back and told what an Angel of Mercy I was to come see her on the holiday.
So that went well.
Since then, my online life has been a living hell with her constant perusing of my facebook accounts and her delight at discovering we’ve build a lovely log home in the Ozarks–why she can’t wait to come visit and with that pond out there in front to fish in, she says she just might not leave. Then she proceeded to tell me the accident wasn’t really her fault because she had a petit maul (spelling?) seizure, she thinks, and was hit by a man who swerved to avoid her head on collision into his lane. He hit the passenger side head on instead, demolishing both his and her car, but managing to prevent her immediate death.
She told me that her insurance company is going to sue him for a million dollars because she lost her foot. She said that her agent told her that since he technically was out of his lane, they think they can get it or at least half that in settlement.
What the hell is wrong with people? I don’t even want to KNOW someone so predatory that they are plotting to sue a man who saved their life on a technicality. And if she finds her way here (her son KNOWS that I do not accept visitors unless they are invited directly by ME. He and I had the conversation about his mother when he came to hunt deer. So, yes, I knew she was a leech but figured a visit to the hospital to cheer her was harmless, especially when her son asked me to visit because she was so lonely. But, now, I’m going to have to tell a one-footed woman that I do not want to tell her where I live because if she shows up, Nick is probably going go all mafioso and tell her she is not welcome again.
Even when doing something charitable on Christmas day, the odds are NEVER in your favor.
Oh, why did I post that? Because her father was in the direct lineage of Samuel and John Adams. He was a stalwart (been wanting to use that word) Arkansas hillbilly who’d moved to the flatlands of SE Missouri in the big race to buy all the newly drained swampland and get rich quick. He didn’t get rich on farming, but he did make a tidy retirement sum by studying the area and finding a lot of unique Indian artifacts that he sold to a museum for enough money to buy a nice place in the hills and live a subsistence life with his wife and children, of which the woman I speak was the only daughter.
I have seen HIS family tree, my father having been a good friend and admirer of him. However, I don’t think either Sam or John would be proud of their great-great-great granddaughter/niece.
Admin- I am simply posting a interesting tidbit, not an affront to your fine article. When I said people are here to be entertained, I meant on the planet, not TBP.
Also, I did not list Suckerberg and Rockefeller now did I ? That is Flash in his usual early morning attack mode.
Look up Suzanne Collins on Wikipedia and scroll down to (Personal Life), plainly states she lives in Sandy Hook.(also lists in her bio on her first book if I can remember correctly)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzanne_Collins
Next, go to the site ( Famouskin.com). On the top toolbar select INFAMOUS. Scroll down to Edward Snowden and click on his name. You can get the list of famous kin and the charts are included which chart his family tree quite nicely. If you doubt the tree, chart it your self.
Admin, again fine article, and I am not a nutjob thank you very much. Flash is stirring the shit as usual.
Bea
I went to your famouskin bullshit website. You post bullshit about Snowden being the fucking 13th cousin 3 times removed of Kerry and 14th cousin of Bill Gates based on some guy who arrived on the fucking Mayflower??????
Keep that shit for some other conspiracy website. Your comment was meant to denigrate Snowden and make it look like he is part of some shadowy conspiracy.
And there is no fucking family tree. Just the verbiage of some dude. Nothing but worthless drivel. As usual.
This is a great piece, Jim. One of your best. As far as having hope is concerned, I really don’t know what use it has for me anymore. Hope seems to almost be a form of procrastination, ‘hoping’ that the problem will be fixed by others. I have no hope that this will get fixed. I also have no interest in participating in any of this nonsense any more than is required. Stay out of debt, save outside of the banking system. My only concern is being able to care for my family when the inevitable happens.
JFish
You made 7 of the first 13 comments on this thread. Most of them were attempts to misdirect the dialogue. You immediately brought Sandy Hook into the discussion even though it has no place in this thread.
This is one of my major articles. I only write one every few weeks. I’m starting to get the feeling you are a paid troll whose job is to distract from the message of my articles.
I do not want my article hijacked by your ramblings. You’ve been warned.
Admin, learn to use the site. The tree is most certainly there if you ACTUALLY read the information contained within. What you need to grasp is that being charted back to Mayflower passengers is required to be THE infamous spy of our time.
You may also be interested to find Joseph Wharton in some of the charts of people who are famous. Never discount old Bea, I am anything but a nutjob.
Bea
You’re a fucking nutjob. You look in the mirror and don’t believe it’s you looking back.
Your original comment is a worthless piece of shit meant to misdirect the dialogue.
You and JFish add nothing to this website. I’m tiring of your drivel.
Also, Admin I think it is noteworthy that the women who writes books about children killing each other lives in Sandy Hook and knew the Lanzas, not trying to take away from the article.
Bea
Bruce Jenner lived in Newtown too. I bet he was part of the plot. Collins is surely part of the plot.
Please provide the documentation that Collins was besties with the Lanzas.
Sound of crickets. You’re a fucking idiot.
“What replaces the existing social order will be up to us.”
It’s this last sentence that gives one pause.
To prevail against superior odds only to find that what you are left with is a distinctly different landscape than the one you came from is difficult enough, but to anticipate 330 million people will be capable of holding together anything resembling the original ideal is even more intimidating.
This is perhaps the most difficult part, to know that “winning” is only the beginning. What comes afterwards may be every bit as difficult if not more so. It may be decades before any semblance of normalcy returns? There are intense divisions within this country and many disparate groups with different ideas of what “should be.” The Balkans, perhaps?
In the meantime, nature abhors a vacuum, and there will be many contradicting entities struggling for power. The real trick civilized society has to pull off is balancing the desire for individual freedoms with the insight required to elect those legitimately driven to protect them. Miss this and the effort will have been in vain.
Buckle up. It’s going to be a long and not-so-pleasant ride.
EC and I think he is unwarnable.
Bea, I don’t know if Snowden’s family tree is relevant. My footless friend’s is NOT. She was a nurse on a medical Navy ship in Desert Storm, got some sort of illness that has her 100 percent disabled and now seeks to find a way to enrich herself from some kind man who could have ended her life without moving his truck an inch, but chose to swerve into her passenger side to avoid killing her.
Our culture is corrupted from the inside out. Whether Snowden is in the bloodline of Zuckerman and/or Rockefellers doesn’t really matter. Shit, my family tree on my mother’s side has a direct line to the Kennedy Fitzgeralds, but that doesn’t give me a ticket into the compound. (Don’t think when the old guy in Texas died they didn’t try to get some of that money though)
In the end, each of our characters is left to stand on our own. What we do with what we are genetically and by socializtion in the environment in which we are raised is up to us. I can no more blame my parents for my bad decisions in life than my son can blame me if after all the support I’ve chosen to give him, he decides that he just wants to walk away from the opportunity available and take long walks on the beach, hoping someone will feed him.
It has nothing to do with hope. It has everything to do with common sense and integrity.
Correction…What we do with what we are genetically provided and by socialization taught in the environment in which we are raised is up to us.
My favorite Scripture on Hope? Romans 8:24-25
24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
So, for Christians, Hope is a reward forever out of sight. Those that will deal with God must deal upon trust. Faith implies there is a promise of something beyond, while hope is a vision of a thing promised. So, in a way, Faith could be considered to be the mother of hope. I like that. We do with patience wait. As a mother and stepmother, I have witnessed suffering of my children and believed that there was something better for them, even though there might be delays of it. Now that I have see that better thing realized for my stepson and in the process of becoming reality for my son, perhaps I am gaining an understanding of how Faith and Hope are interwoven.
And that will be my contribution from the great beyond for today.
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Moving images to photobucket on the laptop is harder. Not gonna do it.
Suzanne Collins came up with the idea for the Hunger Games while channel surfing one night. She was flipping between a reality TV show where young people were competing for prizes and actual war coverage where young people were dying in combat. The resulting combination of the two was the inspiration for the books.
Of course, anyone who has ever written a novel will tell you that that is when the work really begins. The brilliance of her story is that she combines fast-paced action, with solid simple prose, while, most importantly, sticking to her themes…namely war and oppression. She has been very clear saying that the books are about war. That is why the tone gets continually darker and the there is not some grand party when the revolution finally, inevitably succeeds. War is a horrific, nasty business…always.
I think of the movie “Cold Mountain” where most of the men are thrilled at the prospect of War…cheering each other on. Four short years later, the few left alive cheer no more.
Hope is not idleness. It is not passive. It is simply a reason to try. I read posts here to the effect that the future will have the same psychopaths in power, with the rest of us just poorer and more miserable. That is very defeatist.
I think a lot of people also hope that, even after the coming collapse, they can return to basically the same lives they have now. This is not possible. Our current systems and paradigms will collapse and must collapse. The hope lies in the unique historical opportunity to rebuild after an historical collapse. To not let those currently in power retain it….to not rebuild the same foolish systems, on the same unstable foundations.
The good thing is that this type of hope changes nothing in what we to today. Live today as best you can, eat drink and be merry, do meaningful work, love as best as you can…and simply be aware of what the future holds. The preparation needed, I believe, is mainly psychological and spiritual (although some physical preps are certainly a good idea)…these can be done in parallel with the good tasks of the day.
Drud, that was great. Thanks.
I’ve had more frequent dreams of social chaos and strife lately. I’m no prophet or physic but it’s somewhat disconcerting.
Maybe I’m reading too much TBP and watching too many Hunger Games movies. Ha ha.
But in all seriousness, the Hunger Games and Walking Dead themes by admin are my favorites.
My moniker is “Rise Up”, because we MUST!
Thank you, HSF. There is a fair measure of hypocrisy involved, of course, as I sit at my desk, fully ingrained in the current doomed paradigm, putting off some work that I actually need to get done this morning. 🙂
Ah, JFish and Bea…I rarely, if ever, engage either of you. Do you understand why? You both seem to have fallen victim to the great American deception that quantity is more important than quality. My eye is now fully trained to ignore you both as I ignore most comments. HSF, Admin, Stucky, llpoh, DC Sunsets, a few others…here my eye always stops. Why? They are the music in the noise…what does that make you?
I say this only because I think you both have something to offer…but randomly typing every thought that creeps across you brain completely buries whatever that may be.
DRUD… I agree with MOST of your comment, except that it necessarily changes what we do today simply by forcing us to accept an altered view of the future. (By US I don’t mean you and I… I mean the rest of the schmucks out there that might be saved from the coming collapse.)
Well done. You expose what is happening very well. We are being fed and marketed propaganda daily by “the Good Guys.” See links below:
http://graysinfo.blogspot.ca/2015/12/are-corporate-media-and-others-covering.html
http://graysinfo.blogspot.ca/2015/12/the-good-guys.html
OK fine Admin, everything is on the up and up…….Wall Street is honest, the MSM never lie to you, CONgress just decided to take a vacation and do nothing on our behalf. Famous people have NO connection and the woman who wrote The Hunger Games just happens to live in SH and knows a lot of interesting people.
If you consider this MY drivel, please explain as I am just the messenger. I have no power over where Suzanne Collins lives and I also have no input in Snowden’s bloodline. If you would like to expel me along with the Fish, it’s your call. I am here to comment on the articles that are offered, that’s what I do. I don’t just ditto everyone else and I do not apologize for same.
DUD- There is something brown on your nose again.
True, Maggie…but then again every thought, actions, sight, sound…everything alters our brain..permanently and irreversibly as new neural paths are formed…it is only a matter of degree. There is a certain amount of compartmentalization required to stay aware of the coming collapse and not only keep our sanity but to also be able to function.
There was another point I wanted to make about the Hunger Games books (And these article are among my favorites of yours, Admin) and that is the on the people of the Capitol. They are well-fed, trapped in a world of over-the-top entertainment and ridiculous creature comforts, tricked into believing that their appearance is who they are…and they are mostly useless in every way.
It is there indifference, ignorance, mindless obedience and decadence that allows the oppression of the districts. They are not evil in and of themselves, but they certainly facilitate it.
They are very much like modern day Americans.
A comment containing only noise, Bea.
Somehow I knew that is how you would respond.
Best of luck to you.
Ah… DRUD, you point out something that has been troubling me but has been unspoken. Since my son got his excellent internship opportunity inside the Beltway last summer and earned almost as much per hour as I made at my last job as a gubment contractor in Oklahoma, he’s had stars in his eyes about the nation’s Capitol. (In my defense, I was going the WRONG WAY in wages the last couple of jobs to try to find a place I was happier and didn’t have to work for idiots. In the end, quitting and taking care of Nick’s Dad fit the bill.)
I think I worry that my son’s decision to pursue a more mainstream engineering degree instead of focusing on alternative energy technologies is due to seeing just how wonderfully everyone in the D.C. area lives and how much industry is booming there.
I alway will take a theme from an article or movie and see how it applies to my life and family. I will take the macro event to the micro level immediately and see if there is someone I know to whom it applies. Unfortunately, there are way too many when it comes to these types of topics. We don’t have the guns to hand out to people like my footless friend. We have them to keep her out.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/a-major-investment-bank-broke-down-the-worlds-astonishing-warped-distribution-of-wealth/ar-BBnYyM0?li=BBnb7Kv
@T4C? What caused it?
Hope is just a four letter word , while Reality is the evil bitch clawing at the door to get in.
http://www.returnofkings.com/74520/5-predictions-for-our-dystopian-future
3. Hillary Clinton will be elected the next President of the United States
Likely, for two terms. She has the support of women, minorities, and a good number of liberal white men. Even if Trump could win the support of all white men, he cannot win the election. The numbers just aren’t there. Politicians know that they no longer have to cater to white males. White male voters can no longer decide the outcome of elections. If you secure the female vote, you win. Secure the minority vote as well and it’s a landslide victory. It’s that simple.
George W. Bush will go down in history as the last straight white man to serve as President of the United States. The first black president will be followed by the first female president, likely followed by the first openly gay president. Look at how Ben Carson pulled ahead of Donald Trump in Idaho in recent polls. Idaho! White men are now seen as unelectable in their own country.
Expect Republicans and Democrats to run opposing black candidates. It will be our black candidate versus their black candidate, sort of like how the Space Race pitted America’s German rocket scientists against the Soviet Union’s German rocket scientists.
Although I look upon politicians with the same cynicism as this author, I’m not opposed to allowing a glimmer of light in if it comes my way. In that spirit, this morning I became aware of a new senator elected by Nebraska a year ago who is NOT a politician, Ben Sasse. He is a historian, worked as a strategy consultant, and launched his maverick senate bid from a post as college president. Watch his recent speech in the Senate chambers, and ask yourself if you wouldn’t rather vote for this man than *anyone* currently in the list of Republican candidates: