A Weird, Stupid Dystopia by Ms Caitlin Johnstone!
(2022-05-04 at 00:35:21 )

A Weird, Stupid Dystopia by Ms Caitlin Johnstone!

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The last few days in the United States have seen a parade of wealthy freaks fellating each others egos and preening for the cameras in outlandish garb while ordinary Americans suffer more and more.

The weekends White House Correspondents Dinner saw a gaggle of media celebrities congregate to congratulate one another on what a great job they have been doing bravely telling the truth and holding the most powerful government on earth to account. The host, Trevor Noah of The Daily Show, gushed with enthusiasm about how much freedom the press have in America to say things the powerful do not like.

I have always respected Trevor Noah so much but this closing speech from the White House correspondents’ dinner is particularly spectacular.-Mike Birbiglia (birbigs) May 1, 2022

"As we sit in this room tonight, people, I really hope you all remember what the real purpose of this evening is," Noah said. "Yes, it is fun. Yes, we dress nice. Yes, the people eat, they drink, we have fun. But the reason we are here is to honor and celebrate the fourth estates and what you stand for - what you stand for - an additional check and balance that holds power to account and gives voice to those who otherwise would not have one."

"And if you ever begin to doubt your responsibilities, if you ever begin to doubt how meaningful it is, look no further than what is happening in Ukraine," said Mr. Noah. "Look at what is happening there. Journalists are risking and even losing their lives to show the world what is really happening. You realize how amazing it is. In America, you have the right to seek the truth and speak the truth even if it makes people in power uncomfortable, even if it makes your viewers or your readers uncomfortable. You understand how amazing that is? I stood here tonight and I made fun of the president of the United States, and I am going to be fine. I am going to be fine, right? Do you really understand what a blessing it is?"

Of course there are people who have said things that United States presidents do not like who are not in fact fine.

Julian Assange continues to waste away in Belmarsh Prison as the United States government continues its efforts to extradite him so he can become the first publisher ever tried under the Espionage Act. Edward Snowden, an American, remains in exile because one United States president after another continues to refuse to pardon his heroic whistleblowing about the sinister surveillance practices of the United States intelligence cartel. Daniel Hale, also an American, sits in prison for exposing the depravity of Americas monstrous drone program.

Trevor Noah: "In the United States you have the right to speak the truth even if it makes the people in power uncomfortable."

In 2021 Daniel Hale was sentenced to 45 months in prison for exposing that in Afghanistan, 90% of the victims of United States airstrikes were civilians.-Friendly Neighborhood Comrade (SpiritofLenin) May 2, 2022

Trevor Noah did not mention these people, or the many others who have been persecuted, silenced, imprisoned and killed for saying things the powerful individuals who govern the United States do not approve of, because as a member of the mainstream media his job is not to inform but to propagandize.

Far from providing "an additional check and balance that holds power to account and gives voice to those who otherwise would not have one" as Mr. Noah claims, the people in his audience on Saturday night are tasked with manipulating public thought in facilitation of the interests of the powerful.

The mainstream news media in the United States of America, and throughout all the so-called free democracies of the western world, are propaganda institutions whose first and foremost job is to manufacture consent for oligarchy and empire.

Which is why the President of the United States, when he took the podium that night, had nothing but friendly words for the mainstream press.

"What is clear, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, is that you, the free press, matter more than you ever did in the last century," Biden said. "We have all seen the courage of Ukrainian people because of the courage of American reporters in this room, and your colleagues across the world who are on the ground taking their lives in their own hands."

Congratulations to United States journalists for doing nothing but produce coverage that the White House absolutely loves.-Michael Tracey (mtracey) May 1, 2022

This past weekend also saw a friendly gathering of brave fourth estate truth warriors and political and government operatives of the United States empire at a party hosted by the billionaire owner of the neocon war propaganda rag The Atlantic.

Politico reports:

David and Katherine Bradley and Laurene Powell Jobs hosted a dinner at the Bradleys home. SPOTTED: Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Cabinet Secretary Evan Ryan, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, CIA Director Bill Burns, press secretary Jen Psaki, Deputy A.G. Lisa Monaco, Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-U.S. Virgin Islands), homeland security adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, Jeffrey Goldberg, Nick Thompson, Peter Lattman, Anne Applebaum, Russell Berman, Franklin Foer, David Frum, Elaine Godfrey, Adam Harris, Mark Leibovich, Jeff Dufour, Heather Kuldell, Kevin Baron, José Andrés, Enes Kanter, Mitch Landrieu, Dafna Linzer, Rachel Martin, Judy Woodruff, Jake Tapper, Wolf Blitzer, Jonathan Capehart, Katty Kay, Steve and Jean Case, John Dickerson and Jen Palmieri.

Yep, when you see a shady basketball player-empire propagandist fraternizing with the CIA Director while surrounded by media celebrities and government insiders at a party hosted by a media-owning plutocrat, you know you are in a country where power is held to account. Right, Trevor???

Had a great conversation with the Director of CIA William J. Burns

Thank you for your friendship.-Enes FREEDOM (EnesFreedom) April 30, 2022

Hillary Clinton looks regal at the #MetGala.-Variety (Variety) May 2, 2022

#Gigi Hadid attends the #MetGala2022 in an #AtelierVersace custom puffer coat worn over a latex catsuit. #VersaceCelebrities--VERSACE (Versace) May 3, 2022

The orgy of embarrassment was capped off by the 2022 Met Gala, a big weird dystopian parade of rich freaks dressed like Hunger Games aristocracy and laughing in the face of everyone who can not afford to live.

An honest Met Gala dress would have a corset made from the bones of Yemeni children, draped with a cloth of stolen gold and lithium spun by the tiny hands of child slaves, with a full-length train that leached oil and blood wherever it went.

-finding out roe v wade is overturned in between regurgitations of images of celebrities the met gala..feels very american!-norman (emonormie) May 3, 2022

This while ordinary Americans struggle just to survive. While American women appear to be on the precipice of losing their reproductive sovereignty. While money is poured into a proxy war which threatens to escalate into a conflict that could easily end all life on earth.

This is your dying empire, America. This is your end-stage capitalism. This is your dystopia, in all its weird, phony, stupid glory.

It is horrifying. The longer you look at it, the creepier it gets.

We just sent $33 billion in militarized aid to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, here is Philadelphia.-Kathryn Rose Fisher (kayrosef) May 1, 2022

Breathe it all in, folks.

We are in for a HELL of a ride.

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