“To write the truth as I see it; to defend the weak against the strong; to fight for justice; and to seek, as best I can to bring healing perspectives to bear on their terrible hates and fears of mankind, in the hope of someday bringing about a world in which men and women will enjoy the differences of the human garden instead of killing each other over them.”

I.F. Stone

“In reading The History of Nations, we find that, like individuals, they have their whims and their peculiarities, their seasons of excitement and recklessness, when they care not what they do. We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first.” 

Charles Mackay

I cannot believe some of the things that I am hearing on the mainstream media and the internet these days.Well, shame on me if I am shocked because I forecast that this was coming. A period of hysteria and a general disregard for reality follow on a long period of lies and corruption, like night follows day.

If the economic hardships had been more rigorous I have little doubt that the killing would have come closer to home by now.

What does shock me I suppose is how blithely seemingly well-educated people of relative privilege, who certainly know better, are willing to embrace the Big Lie, and run with it without a second glance back. Bizarre untruths and gross hyperbole are not just for the fringes anymore.

I was greatly disappointed by the ‘debate’ between James Risen and Glenn Greenwald, moderated by Jeremy Scahill. I include a video from Jimmy Dore below in which he discusses it, and I have posted the original debate here before.

But this is hardly the worst example, not at all. That was all over the airwaves and in the print media this weekend. The propaganda being spun out with regularity about dire threats and declarations of war make me wonder where this is all going.