The Difference Between Totalitarian Regimes And Free Democracies

"In totalitarian regimes they have massacres and wars. In free democracies they have humanitarian interventions."
caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/the-differen…
In totalitarian regimes they use torture. In free democracies they use enhanced interrogation techniques.
In totalitarian regimes they fund terrorist groups to create instability. In free democracies they fund terrorist groups to create stability.

In totalitarian regimes evil dictators bomb their own people. In free democracies we do it for them.
In totalitarian regimes a single party upholds and enforces the status quo. In free democracies, two parties uphold and enforce the status quo.
In totalitarian regimes the government controls the press and determines what information the public is allowed to have access to. In free democracies it is billionaires who do this.
In totalitarian regimes they wage brutally violent crackdowns on protesters to quash dissent. In free democracies they do this also, but then they kneel while wearing kente cloth.
In totalitarian regimes you know exactly who rules over you. In free democracies the true rulers hide behind fake puppet governments.
In totalitarian regimes any elections they have are rigged, and challengers are hand picked by the authoritarian rulers. In free democracies the rulers rig the elections and hand pick the candidates, and they do this to other countries as well.
In totalitarian regimes they imprison journalists for revealing inconvenient truths about the powerful. In free democracies they imprison journalists for revealing inconvenient truths about the powerful, and all the other journalists jump on social media to say he deserved it.
In totalitarian regimes they don't let political dissidents speak. In free democracies they just refuse dissidents any influential platforms and use algorithms to keep revolutionary ideas from being heard by a significant number of people.
In totalitarian regimes they circle the planet with military bases, wage endless wars which kill millions, and work to destroy any nation which disobeys their government. Whoops, sorry, that's actually free democracies.
In totalitarian regimes political speech is heavily regulated by the government. In free democracies political speech is heavily regulated by the government via Silicon Valley.
In totalitarian regimes the citizenry are kept impoverished while the rulers live lavishly with more than they could ever spend. In free democracies the citizenry are kept impoverished while the rulers live lavishly with more than they could ever spend.
In totalitarian regimes there is lack. In free democracies there is artificial lack.
In totalitarian regimes the government spy agency tells the news media what stories to run, and the news media unquestioningly publish it. In free democracies the government spy agency says "Buddy, have I got a scoop for you!" and the news media unquestioningly publish it.
In totalitarian regimes bands of armed thugs patrol the streets to enforce obedience to authority. In free democracies bands of armed thugs patrol the streets to enforce obedience to authority and Hollywood makes movies about how heroic they are.
In totalitarian regimes students are taught to mindlessly worship a picture of the evil dictator. In free democracies students are taught to mindlessly worship the flag.
In totalitarian regimes students are taught never to question authority. In free democracies students are taught never to question the news reporters.
In totalitarian regimes they commit evil deeds which free democracies could never get away with doing. In free democracies they have totalitarian regimes commit those evil deeds for them.
In totalitarian regimes the people are kept too brutalized and cowed to rise up against their rulers. In free democracies the people are kept too propagandized and brainwashed to rise up against their rulers.
In totalitarian regimes the powerful determine what happens regardless of the desire of the people. In free democracies the powerful determine what the people will desire to happen.
In totalitarian regimes everyone is a slave to the powerful. In free democracies everyone is a Slave™ to the Powerful™.

In totalitarian regimes you are forced to obey. In free democracies you are trained to think your obedience was your own idea.
The Difference Between Totalitarian Regimes And Free Democracies (Audio)

"In totalitarian regimes you are not free, and you know it. In free democracies you are not free, and you don't know it."
soundcloud.com/going_rogue/th…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Caitlin Johnstone ⏳

Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @caitoz

11 Jun
The more I learn about this new UFO narrative and its origins the more of a freaky psyop it looks like. It's clearly been packaged for and marketed to mainstream Americans who don't understand global power dynamics or the depravity of the US military/intelligence machine.
I mean, this tweet is completely true, and this guy's saying it in a kind of "isn't that wild" sort of way, but also how suspicious is that? How easy would that be to manipulate? Really you'd just need to put some convenient ideas in Tom DeLonge's head.
And DeLonge absolutely does have some convenient ideas in his head. Look at these bat shit crazy beliefs he has about UFOs, how completely uncritical they are of the US war machine, how naive they are about imperialism, the reasons why wars are fought etc.
Read 6 tweets
9 Jun
If you don't oppose western imperialist agendas against China then none of your other anti-imperialism matters. All of the western empire's aggressions on the world stage are ultimately about smashing China; that's checkmate on the global chessboard in the eyes of the empire.
Preventing the rise of any other nation has been the foremost priority of the US empire since the fall of the Soviet Union. All the other little chess moves on the board have revolved around this ultimate goal. China is the only nation in a position to surpass the US.
This is stupid and wrong, and is the result of consuming right-wing imperialist propaganda. China was briefly cozied up with (A) to pull it away from the USSR and (B) to exploit a massive labor pool, but smashing it was always the ultimate plan.
Read 4 tweets
9 Jun
Learn enough about what's happening in the world and you realize that most people in your society have worldviews that are completely and utterly wrong. This can seem bold, perhaps even arrogant, but if most people weren't deluded about the world, the world wouldn't be so fucked.
And it's not that people are dumb; intelligence has little to do with it. Some of the most intelligent people on earth promote the same deluded worldviews as everyone else. The problem isn't intellect, it's manipulation, and anyone can be manipulated no matter how smart they are.
This mass-scale manipulation is the result of wealthy people buying up narrative influence in the form of media, political influence, think tanks, lobbying, etc, in conjunction with the mass-scale manipulations of the powerful government agencies which are allied with them.
Read 7 tweets
8 Jun
Tom Cotton Explains Why Warmongers Love The Wuhan Lab Leak Theory

"Not everyone who supports an investigation into the lab leak theory is a warmonger, but warmongers will definitely be happy if they get that investigation."
caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/tom-cotton-e…
At a recent appearance on Sunday Night in America, Senator Tom Cotton took a break from masturbating to drone bombing footage to explain why he and his fellow psychopathic warmongers love the hypothesis that Covid-19 originated in a Chinese laboratory.
Here's a transcript of Cotton's comments.
Read 23 tweets
7 Jun
"I oppose cold war escalations, but if China's responsible for Covid we need to get the truth."

And who do you imagine will be "getting" this "truth"? In what possible scenario could such an inquiry lead to objective truth unmanipulated by the western cold warriors pushing this?
I'd really like specific answers to this question. How SPECIFICALLY do people imagine an inquiry into the lab leak theory taking place in a way that can lead to unmanipulated facts, or indeed anything other than more cold war escalations by US and its allied power structures?
I mean surely nobody is naive enough to believe that literal psychopaths like Cotton are interested in truth? Surely we all understand that the only people with real power who are pushing for a China investigation are trying to engineer aggressions, right?
Read 15 tweets
6 Jun
Media Converges On The Narrative That UFOs May Be Russian/Chinese Threat

"Whenever you see the imperial media converge to this extent upon a single narrative, that's the Official Narrative of the empire. We can expect to see more of this going forward."
caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/media-conver…
So in case you missed it, it's been pretty thoroughly confirmed that the UFO report won't contain any revelations or any confirmation of ET origin, but it will absolutely 100% contain fearmongering that UFOs could mean the US is falling behind Russia and China in the arms race. Image
This narrative was then picked up by cable news, with MSNBC inviting former CIA director and defense secretary Leon Panetta on to explain to their audience that the US government should assume UFOs are Russian or Chinese in origin until that possibility has been exhausted. Image
Read 6 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(