US playwright & satirist of the Left living in self-imposed 'exile' in Berlin--excoriating commentary on Western imperialism & corporate state.

2 months ago, I thought he had lost the plot, w/ so much focus on rising tide of totalitarianism in Europe. Not so implausible now...
His recent work can be read in the context of sociologist Sheldon Wollin's concept of 'inverted totalitarianism,' ably described by former NYT Bureau Chief, Pulitzer-prize winning writer, Chris Hedges.

Hedges interview on 'inverted totalitarianism'
Unlike charismatic strong-man veneration of classical totalitarianism, inverted totalitarianism hides in the 'anonymity of the corporate state'... not a revolutionary party but a systemic corporate power that infests the democratic, judicial trappings of state. 35k lobbyists...
Enter 'Pathologized Totalitarianism'

'This fanatical pursuit of total control, absolute ideological uniformity, and the elimination of all dissent, is what makes totalitarianism totalitarianism.”
“The cult/culture paradigm has been inverted. Instead of the cult existing as an island within the dominant culture, the cult has become the dominant culture, and those of us who have not joined the cult have become the isolated islands within it.”
'“Whereas 20th-Century totalitarianism was more or less national and overtly political, New Normal totalitarianism is supranational, and its ideology is much more subtle. The New Normal is not Nazism or Stalinism."'
'It’s global-capitalist totalitarianism, and global capitalism doesn’t have an ideology, technically, or, rather, its ideology is ‘reality’.”'
'But the most significant difference between 20th-Century totalitarianism and this nascent, global totalitarianism is how New Normal totalitarianism “pathologizes” its political nature, effectively rendering itself invisible, and thus immune to political opposition.'
'Whereas 20th-Century totalitarianism wore its politics on its sleeve, New Normal totalitarianism presents itself as a non-ideological (i.e., supra-political) reaction to a global public health emergency.'
'And, thus, its classic totalitarian features — e.g., the revocation of basic rights and freedoms, centralization of power, rule by decree, oppressive policing of the population, demonization and persecution of a “scapegoat” underclass, censorship, propaganda, etc...'
'— are not hidden, because they are impossible to hide, but are recontextualized in a pathologized official narrative.''
'New Normal totalitarianism — & any global-capitalist form of totalitarianism — cannot display itself as totalitarianism, or even authoritarianism. It cannot acknowledge its political nature. In order to exist, it must not exist. Above all, it must erase its violence'
We are not “vaccine hesitant” or “anti-vax” or “Covid-denying conspiracy theorists.” We are millions of regular working-class people, people with principles, who value freedom, who are not prepared to go gently into the globalized, pathologized-totalitarian night.'
'We no longer give the slightest shit whether our former friends and family members who have gone New Normal understand what this is. We do. We understand exactly what this is. It is a nascent form of totalitarianism, and we intend to kill it'

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More from @EmpireinWinter

26 Nov
A 2nd view on leakiness:
'G. Vanden Bossche joined 'the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Health Discovery team in Seattle (USA) as Senior Program Officer; he then worked with the Global Alliance for Vaccines & Immunization (GAVI) in Geneva as Senior Ebola Program Manager'
He's not Jesus, not infallible, and not anti-vax--as a vaccinologist, he argues for different vaccines...

'Mass infection prevention and mass vaccination with leaky Covid-19 vaccines in the midst of the pandemic can only breed highly infectious variants.'
'Prior to the start of this universal vaccination program (and until today!), no single publication existed that came even close to suggesting that mass vaccination campaigns using non-transmission-blocking vaccines could be successful...'
Read 8 tweets
26 Nov
You know, given the firehose of data, different information sets may, in these vexatious times, be too readily chalked up to misinformation.
From unwashed anti-vaxxers at NatGeo:
nationalgeographic.com/science/articl…
The less virulence over time is one optimistic scenario, but these recent experiments showed--one study, animal testing, Marek's disease--that viruses can evolve to become *much* more virulent.
Or, directly from the peer-reviewed study published in PLOS, in 2015, from an era before data not wholly favorable to universal vax promotion was anti-vax.
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/ar…
Read 5 tweets
26 Nov
A thoughtful reading more open to the downside on Omicron implication (technical, detailed) @Lidsville

'Biden administration systematically failed to support or actively denigrated all non-pharmaceutical interventions.'

nakedcapitalism.com/2021/11/probab…
'we are collectively about to pay for the eagerness of the officialdom to declare the pandemic over at every possible turn & put all their chips on a non-sterilizing vaccine...very useful at preventing worst outcomes...but does little to prevent transmission of Delta'
Sound familiar, #bcpoli?
Biden Admin: 'actively encouraged the vaccinated to abandon masks (positioning non-masking as proof of virtue). The CDC & WHO have been silent on ventilation & have actively opposing the aerosol theory of transmission.'
Read 15 tweets
26 Nov
Are adverse events in C19 vaccine trials under-reported?
'A systematic review in PLOS journal analysed 28 studies & found that adverse events were less likely to appear in published journal articles than unpublished studies (e.g. industry-held data).'
maryannedemasi.com/publications/f…
Systematic review in PLOS Journal:
doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002127
journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/a…
'strong evidence...much of the information...remains unpublished & that the number & range of adverse events is higher in unpublished than in published versions of the same study.'
'Experts now suggest that the pivotal Covid-19 vaccine trials may have under-reported adverse events in several ways.' [below]
Read 27 tweets
25 Nov
From the anti-vaxxers @
Lancet Regional Health - Europe
Volume 11, December 2021
'In the UK it was described that secondary attack rates among household contacts exposed to fully vaxxed index cases was similar to household contacts exposed to unvaxxed index cases' (25% to 23%)'
That was transmission. Regarding infection:
'Peak viral load did not differ by vaccination status'
They conclude:
'It appears to be grossly negligent to ignore the vaccinated population as a possible and relevant source of transmission when deciding about public health control measures.'

Gross negligence is essentially what current vac-sanctified reopening amounts to.
Read 5 tweets
25 Nov
'We've been born into freedom....We are essentially free...except where our actions are specifically prohibited by law.'
This Pivotal Moment (TPM)
The universal adoption of vaccine passports .... is no less than a fundamental inversion of what is meant by freedom in democratic societies....
No longer will your personal freedom be expansive, constrained only at the periphery by long established and mutually agreed laws.
Read 8 tweets

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