Thread by @caitoz

You're Not A Radical, You're Just Sane

"You're not an extremist if you oppose a system which crushes human beings to death at home and abroad for the power and profit of the very few, you're just normal."
caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/youre-not-a-…

In response to rumors that Bernie Sanders foreign policy advisor Matt Duss may be playing some role in the Joe Biden State Department, bloodthirsty psychopath Nikki Haley said this:

https://twitter.com/Kredo0/status/1357450466431533067?s=20

Which is of course ridiculous. Taken as a whole Biden's imperialist foreign policy has not differed much from Trump's, and Duss is a fairly reliable imperialist himself.

https://twitter.com/RealAlexRubi/status/1357170264488968192?s=20

This administration is not an "extreme" deviation from the norm, and much less a manifestation of anything that could be called "extreme left".

https://twitter.com/freedomrideblog/status/1357497101614264320?s=20

This at the same time we learn the Pentagon has put some US military operations on hold, not because they are depraved acts of mass murder driven by the megalomaniacal agenda to dominate the entire world, but because it's possible there may now be "extremists" among their ranks.

That's right, the US military has for decades been merrily incinerating entire families and ripping apart children with cluster munitions, but now they need to pause some of that normal, wholesome activity because a few bad apples might perhaps have succumbed to extremism.

Devastating Iraq, destroying Libya, facilitating genocide in Yemen, waging an endlessly expanding 'war on terror' and brandishing armageddon weapons at your enemies? That's fine and normal. Members of the military joining hate groups and believing in QAnon? THAT'S extremism.

This all just goes to show how completely meaningless the mainstream concepts of "normal" and "extreme" have become when talking about politics and power in our insane world.

People will act like you're unreasonable and impossible if there's not a US politician you support.

"Not even Bernie?" they'll ask. "Not even AOC??"

If you are an anti-imperialist, being asked to choose a US politician you support is like being asked to pick a favorite Nazi.

The same goes for socialism. There's nothing "extreme" or "radical" about believing the poor shouldn't be left to suffer and die and that workers should own the full value of their labor.

You're not a "radical", you're just sane. This is why I think it's important for sane people to reject such labels; there's a coolness factor which comes with presenting yourself as a radical, but it comes at the price of normalizing a status quo which is pure violent extremism.

Don't let that bat shit crazy model define you by setting the status quo up as "normal" and yourself as a "radical" deviation therefrom. THEY are the radical ones. YOU are just normal and sane.

Abnormalize the status quo and normalize sanity. Put your energy into helping the world see how bat shit insane their "normal" really is. The status quo isn't the baseline of normality, sanity is.

A sane, healthy world would look wildly different from this one, and we need to help people get clear on the distinction so we can all start creating that world together.

Literally the single most normal thing in the world. But they work tirelessly to dupe us into thinking it's freakish and crazy.

https://twitter.com/KN3RDS/status/1357549593177722880?s=20