Faux Republics

image source: The dangerous zombie identities of global capitalism

Tucker Carlson is a rabid racist zombie.

If he wasn’t rabid racist he would still be a zombie and if he wasn’t a zombie he would still be rabid-racist: he would still be brain-dead either way from a disease that kills brain cells starting with those linked to empathy, morality and rational thought.

It’s a nasty mutated double-virus genetically engineered in the Propaganda Labs that create RZ humanoid mouthpieces. It manifests with a particularly virulent form of racism and nationalism that masquerades as protecting the rights, freedoms and what is vaguely implied as “values of the western civilization”.

People wonder how come the USA ended up with the Orange Sicko: the obvious answer is Murdoch‘s Faux News and brain-dead propaganda mouthpieces like Tucker.

It is, as a former News Corp insider described it: “an aggressive, masculine culture: “Alpha males are selected as editors. It’s a real big swinging dicks culture”*…

The United States was founded, relatively recently in historical terms, upon the pseudo-values of Western colonialism, genocide and slavery; these still permeate large parts of the population: the racism that was pushed under after the Human Rights movement has now again come to the fore. Add to this factor the effect of a two-party, no-choice capitalist system and the asphyxiation of free thought becomes even more inevitable, even inescapable as a consequence.

Tucker Carlson is a suit with a bowtie and an implant that generates racist propaganda incessantly. The facial expression is permanently set to anal-retentive constipation and the voice is set to rapid high pitch indignant interruptive irritation mode volume 12.

It is impossible to have a rational, temperate debate and intelligent analysis with Tucker – or any of the same models generated by Faux News Corp. android factory: they are not capable of listening or responding – their speech is an automated constant repetition of racist anger, white arrogance and hatred, on a loop.

Europeans, dealing with monopolies and state propaganda that corrode democracy leading to dictatorship have long since evolved: they adopted measures to protect public discourse, hold media to a high level of standards of truth and objectivity, protect plurality against monopolies, safeguard freedom of information and Net neutrality from both State and special interests’ attempts of distortion, misrepresentation, discrimination bias or silencing: news outlets in those countries are supposed to report facts instead of fabrications. When they fail to do so they are held accountable by independent bodies of scrutiny. Although imperfect, such safety valves to protect democracy are better than nothing at all.

These protections don’t apply to the US: people are brainwashed to abhor regulations and standards so that corporations can screw them any way they wish and get away with it. In the USA, propaganda, incitement to violence, the racist agenda, homophobia, misogyny, xenophobia, bullying and similar hatemongering are much less regulated than in most liberal democracies: it is protected as “free speech”.

There is reluctance to promote public scrutiny by the press and scrutiny of the media themselves, that would inform citizens and enable them to intelligently discern between free speech and propaganda, true and false, factual and fabricated, in the public discourse (the no harm principle): when, for example, rational criticism fact-checks and exposes the lies of Faux News and the other megaphones of corporate propaganda, at best the criticism is dismissed as mere “opinion” and at worst as “fake news” and the critics branded “Enemies of the People”. On the other hand, criticism of National policies is labeled “unpatriotic” and often officially oppressed (examples here, here and here).

So we see that free expression, far from being protected, is further and further restricted from criticizing inequality or discrimination, when it takes on the establishment, nationalism, state terrorism or “popular” opinion. Free expression is further and further squeezed down to a shrinking personal, private space – and even that is threatened by online bullies, “thought crime” policing, surveillance, peer pressure, societal norms and indoctrination by state and religious institutions – they are protected and officially given permission to constantly harass and poison the public.

The fascist morality of “might makes right” forms the basis of the American exceptionalism, imperialism and superiority/superpower complex, its assumption that it has the god-given right to interfere into other sovereign states around the world in order to protect and promote American interests, but the reverse is denied: the rest of the world does not have the right to criticize the USA, its policies and transgressions – that is “a threat”, “an attack” on America and “western values”, worse, it’s “communism”; even its own citizens are restricted from criticizing the “National interests” doctrine – that would be “unpatriotic”, or “treason”. This protection is extended at will to states that USA policy excludes from scrutiny (Israel – see below – or Saudi Arabia, for a recent example).

It’s what Huxley, Orwell et al have warned us about, the Dystopian worship of nationalist totalitarianism, the Religion of the State (in a country that, ironically, has brainwashed its citizens to believe that a small government and low taxation are part of the “American Dream” – while in fact what they’ve been manipulated to hate is the socially caring, fair, egalitarian state, which would benefit them; they are directed to support, instead, massive tax expenditure on extravagant programs that benefit corporate interests – such as the various military projects). This State Religion is based upon exploiting the adulation of authority. Quite predictable to happen in societies where greed and religiosity (belief in dogma and a Divine Father) are unchecked and unleashed to corrupt minds, poison and neutralize free thought and feed upon the public without restraint.

As a result, over many decades, an ever-growing part of the population has been addicted to the poison, conditioned to adore the corporate propaganda and mistrust the independent rational voices. The ruling class maintains control over the masses restricting education and feeding them misinformation: effective methods as old as tea. So there are millions of people in the USA today that believe Earth is flat, evolution is a myth and everything in the Bible is true. They have no idea where Iraq or Israel is, for example, they couldn’t point at them on a world map, and they don’t care to know – but they blindly support USA intervention abroad (even against fictional Wakanda) at the Commander In Chief’s discretion: blind faith and ignorance are comfortable, learning is a nuisance, the rat race allows very little free time for independent research and being part of a group that is as uninformed as they are themselves makes them feel better about themselves and intensify their sense of belonging, giving them the sense of power they crave – a self-reinforcing and self-rewarding, vicious cycle.

Power, of course, requires an outlet: it needs enemies so it feeds the tribal hatred against all those who do not belong to their own cult. “They are different”, ergo they are adversaries. It is a bit like the intense pride some people share about their traditional custom of consuming beer in groups with the single purpose of getting sick with alcohol poisoning: it’s part of their “identity” and “culture”. If you don’t partake you’re a “weirdo” – worse, you are met with hostility and suspicion. If you attempt to raise the health and social issues related to alcoholism and binge-drinking they ignore and dismiss the attempts as “political correctness”. They view binge-drinking as an integral part of who they are, what defines their nationality – just as symbols like flags, national anthems, the state forces (military, police), sports teams – and of course, the majority rules: skin color, gender, faith, “values” and sexuality; the same conformist groupthink applies to white male nationalism, aggression, pride, privilege and superiority myths. And all these are of course exploited by industries and corporations to sell their products and control the consumers. Control the consumer and you control the voter…

The fascist mythology is quite simplistic: we are great, we are better, richer, stronger than the rest; we were here first (the implication behind the “discovery” myth of the American continent by the Europeans) and everybody else wants to take what’s ours but they are very, very bad people: they want to rape our white women (that we own), they want to take away our land, our property and our privileges, they are criminal, dirty, lazy savages, atheists and communists; they carry diseases and threaten to contaminate our racial identity, our National [(North) American, Western), “Christian”] values and our superior purity with their inferior blood. We used to be able to control these subhuman pests, exterminate and/or keep them as slaves but this right has been taken away from us and next they will be coming for our guns.

Play this message 24/7 on a loop, broadcast it loud, simple and clear, even disguised or subtle, to millions that have been conditioned for generations to be gullible and servile worshippers of higher power and its symbols (the Holy Book, the Gun etc), poorly educated and mistrustful of “others”, reliant on corporations for their panem et circenses consumerism, accustomed to systematic discrimination against “minorities” and see what you get: fanatics, zealots and Trump followers.

Tucker Carlson and the other, rather crude models like him, generated and hired by that particular factory production line of primitive humanoids (lacking the sophistication of more evolved androids like “The Manchurian Candidate” for example), and the slightly differentiated models who are tweaked to target specific demographics (Ben Shapiro – a model fit to operate among religious, Jewish “intellectual” conservative Trump-pseudo critics, Milo Yiannopoulos, useful among amoral, flippant, trendy gay men, alternative-right guru Richard Spencer, icon for the eloquent neo-Nazi brand of white supremacy) form an endless list; it includes mouthpieces in every skin color, gender and sexual identity so that they cover all target groups and is eternally upgraded and updated; many experimental variants, produced by more modernized and sophisticated factories, are undergoing public trials for efficiency in the constant, relentless race of the corporate totalitarian propaganda machine to be one step ahead, evolve, adopt progressive personas, take over public platforms, hijack legitimate concerns, messages, needs and demands of the public, and spew them back out at them twisted to suit the puppet masters and translated in Newspeak.

You might wonder why the controllers don’t ever bother with the controls to give Tucker or Shapiro a more humane, sympathetic outlook and pitch – the answer is simple: those tried and tested extremes work because they are impressive and command attention. To make them sound compassionate would be counterproductive – they need to emit raw power. Empathy, compassion, emotion, synergy is the enemy of the Elite – the message is intentionally, unapologetically egotistical: “I don’t care how you feel” – that is what we are supposed to accept and emulate because the flock must become selfish and divided, transformed from a social cooperative communal species to a mass of demoralized powerless units bickering between themselves, that’s the whole point: divide, conquer, control.

These dehumanizing fascistoid zombies might sound irritating to a functioning brain but tannoys are not designed for engaging in “talking” with rational people as equals; they are broadcasting constant brainwashing sounds at and to sheeple reared on a staple diet of brute force and ignorance, their empathy centers traumatized and neutralized since before birth: the brutalized folk need to hear the angry drone of these monotonous machine-gun voices spewing inanities while they are munching and suckling in their pens; its mother’s milk substitute gruel. It’s soothing. The faithful need to feel they are in safe hands, that the Great Leader, The Father of the Nation, male, white, Almighty, when he is not talking to them directly (something stressful to the flock) is represented by his disciples (superhuman androids), and together they are strong and tough, able to defeat the “very, very bad people” enemy.

Of course, Tucker & Co do not possess any ability to think for themselves and they don’t work for real News programs, so we can’t expect or demand they fact-check and report factual truths – there is no provision for that in the Faux Republic: they are objects, mask-wearing loudspeaker orifices of the propaganda machine. They do what they are programmed to do. Readers and listeners have to do their own cross-checking. So when Mouthpiece Tucker says “immigrants make America poorer and dirtier and more divided” it is actually extremely easy to find out that these are in fact lies and the exact opposite is true. The resources are at anyone’s fingertips, there are endless statistics and studies providing ample evidence that demonstrates the falsehood of such statements – but the Flock is instructed to never doubt the Gospel of the Great Father of the Nation as given to the folk by the trusted mouthpiece.

Of course, such mouthpieces wouldn’t be as effective in a just, pluralistic, multicultural, social democratic society; that is precisely why Americans have been inoculated against integration, social democracy and pluralism. The main reason for the emergence of extreme right-wing populism (the Trumpist brand of Fascism) is that the two-party system does not represent choice – the Republicans and the Democrats are GOP & COP-light. The GOP proper has moved to the far right while Clinton moved the Democrats to the right of center; failing to embrace the genuine Bernie Sanders grassroots movement the party establishment is directly responsible for Trump. (Recommended reading: Noam Chomsky on Fascism, Showmanship and Democrats’ Hypocrisy in the Trump Era).

And the “Democratic” party is about to make the same mistake again: frontrunners for the Democratic nomination are the Obama VP Joe Biden, Bernie and Beto, Beto-Biden-Bernie, or Bernie-Biden-Beto, depending on which of the polls you look at. (We seem to be in a B era of the Democratic party…)

Bernie is the only option if the Democratic Party genuinely wants to win in 2020: he has emphatically demonstrated in the 2016 primaries that, unlike Hilary, he would have easily defeated Trump. Biden, respectable and well-known surely, but represents the establishment – the Washington Democrats and the Obama era, of a POTUS charismatic, intelligent, eloquent and well-liked, but not really the ground-breaking people’s champion and the reformer he promised to be; it can be argued that many of his efforts were blocked and that he was intensely hated by the racist electorate, but still his foreign policy does not speak for peace. Beto, nice guy, charismatic, likable, BobbyKennedyesque and all that, but not clearly or really progressive based on record. Style over substance? Read the excellent analysis: Beto O’Rourke Should Not Run for President.

Will the Democratic Party persist on its stale logic of “name recognition” and middle-ground conservativism that robbed American voters of real choice in 2016? I am willing to make a wager on that: even if Trump is still in the picture in 2020, the Dems will likely go with another self-defeating choice. It might be Biden, it might be Beto, but it probably won’t be Bernie. The party establishment does not feel the love for Sanders. He is not one of theirs. And that ineptitude, if not plain hypocrisy and betrayal of the people, I hope I’m wrong, could cost them another election, an election very critical, not just for the Democrats and the US but for the world’s chances on Climate Action.

Why does the establishment hate Bernie Sanders? Have a guess…

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, in the country where the “American value” system was born, informed by the same inherent vices (colonialism, authoritarian rule, imperialism, exploitation, racism, slavery) the racist, xenophobic terror-mongering trolls emerged from the anus of history to incite fear and hatred, dragging the UK back under its “Little Britain” rock…These are the “western values” that the far right really represents: the pseudo-values of the WASP ruling class to prey upon everyone else it looks down upon and protect the interests of plutocracy over democracy…