They still believe the Russian bounties story because they were told to believe it over and over again by the media outlets they trust, and were not told to STOP believing it over and over again by those same media outlets after it was completely discredited. As usual.
Same reason they still think they were vindicated for all that shrieking about Russian collusion. They were blasted in the face with it for years, and then the outlets which did this failed to sit them down and explain how completely discredited those claims turned out to be.
I still to this day get shitlibs telling me "Read the Mueller report!" even though the Mueller report completely discredits the Russian collusion narrative. Not one American was ever indicted for conspiracy with the Kremlin. They don't know this because no one told them.
Capitalism is a misanthropic, dystopian ideology. Its proponents always talk about "human nature" as greedy and selfish, which is complete bullshit that only feels true to a greedy, selfish person. But it's also a self-fulfilling prophecy that creates the world it describes.
Because capitalism cultists believe human nature is greedy and selfish, they cannot imagine any solutions to our world's problems that aren't driven by greed and selfishness. That's why they're holding out hope that we'll all be saved by greedy, selfish parasites like Elon Musk.
Someone who's always projecting their own greed and selfishness onto everyone else will scoff and dismiss the idea that we can transcend our self-destructive patterning and move into a collaborative relationship with each other and with our ecosystem. They see it as impossible.
People believe we can just snip humans out of their ecosystemic context to colonize space for the same reason they believe in rugged individualism: they don't grasp how inseparably interconnected each human is. With our ecosystem, and with our society. Separation is an illusion.
We are not separable from our ecosystem. We ARE our ecosystem. We're so inseparably one with our ecosystem that, as Alan Watts once said, we need to send astronauts into space with a little box of it or else they will die. Space colonization will never happen.
People assume space colonization is part of our future primarily because science fiction takes this as a given. But science fiction is fiction, written to entertain and appeal to the same ego which imagines it is separate from the rest of the world. It's an illusory premise.
Every positive change in human behavior, individually or collectively, has been preceded by an increase in awareness. Anything you can do toward this end makes a difference, whether it's spreading awareness through a conversation, a tweet, or street graffiti. Your efforts matter.
One doesn't end an addiction or self-destructive behavior until they become conscious of the inner dynamics feeding into it. Societal illnesses don't end until people become conscious of how wrong they are. Dysfunction and consciousness can't coexist. Your efforts matter.
All that is wrong with our world is the result of human unconsciousness. All that is good in our world is the result of an expansion of consciousness. Anything you can do to help make even a tiny part of humanity a tiny bit more conscious of the truth makes the world better.
"It’s not surprising that Australians might look with horror on such a conflict. There’s no way for anyone to 'win' a war between America and China. A conventional clash could easily end up going nuclear, with the US still reserving its right to first use of these weapons"
Sometimes I think the Yanks would better understand why I write about their government's escalations against China if they lived a little closer to the front line.
"If China chose to retaliate to such an attack without directly attacking the American mainland, hitting a US ally like Australia would be an option."
a metric which describes the increased lifespan of a sociopath due to lack of stress from empathy
"I know John Bolton is old but he's not that old in Kissinger years"
Sociopaths don't experience stress like we do. They actually seek out the sensation of stress. It's called "sensation seeking." They *enjoy* the chaos; it doesn't exhaust them or make them sick, it energizes them. Keep this in mind when thinking about US foreign policy.
This is why assholes like Kissinger live forever and the ones who care the most wear themselves out young.
Detente: The Vital Word Missing From Discourse On Russia And China
A recent 60 Minutes interview with Tony Blinken illustrates the way the concept of detente (the easing of hostilities between nations) is being deliberately hidden from public awareness. caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/detente-the-…
On a recent 60 Minutes interview with Norah O'Donnell, US Secretary of State Tony Blinken talked about the United States as a defender of the rules-based international order and the importance of bringing Beijing into compliance with it.
"Our purpose is not to contain China, to hold it back, to keep it down: it is to uphold this rules-based order that China is posing a challenge to," Blinken said. "Anyone who poses a challenge to that order, we’re going to stand up and defend it."