You Are Not Deficient, You Are Just Ruled By Assholes by Ms Caitlin Johnstone!
(2023-04-29 at 23:30:43 )

You Are Not Deficient, You Are Just Ruled By Assholes by Ms Caitlin Johnstone!

Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):

Stress, anxiety and depression are on the rise, and they have been for years. Studies have found that increases in cost of living have a lot to do with this deterioration in mental health, while others have linked it to widespread social media use, and the financial and social stressors ensuing from government Covid restrictions certainly have not helped.

What nobody seems to be doing any research at all into investigating is the possibility that all these mental health problems have something to do with the fact that we are ruled by tyrants who are squeezing the working class harder and harder while continually pounding peoples minds with mass-scale psyops.

William Gibson said "Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes." And speaking from personal experience this is fantastic advice; I have found that many of the problems I had previously ascribed to flaws in myself and necessary difficulties that are built into the nature of human living quickly disappeared from my life at the same time assholes did.

But even more worthwhile than pointing out that a lot of your assumed mental health problems have more to do with being surrounded by assholes is considering the possibility that you are in fact ruled by assholes. By tyrants who are making life needlessly difficult for ordinary people while psychologically abusing them into thinking their situation is normal and appropriate.

A popular socialist YouTuber called Second Thought has a good new video out called "You Are Not Immune To Propaganda" which examines the subject from a different angle than you might be used to.

Second Thought emphasises the mundane, everyday nature of propaganda in our society as opposed to the shinier, better-known instances of its use like the consent-manufacturing for the Iraq invasion; the way it manipulates our understanding of who we are and what our values should be so that we will blame our struggles on ourselves instead of the neoliberal systems of oppression that are crushing peoples spirits throughout western civilization.

Think about the consequences it would have on mental health to continually be bombarded with messaging that you need to keep working like a machine under whatever conditions your employer sees fit to provide, for whatever compensation your employer sees fit to offer, and that if you can not thrive in this soul-crushing environment the problem lies with you and not the system which permits such an exploitative relationship. Then consider the possibility that this is exactly what is happening.

This nonstop propaganda messaging is further bolstered by the just-world fallacy, a cognitive bias which causes people to incorrectly assume that if anything bad happens to someone it is because they deserved it.

This common glitch in human reasoning arises because of peoples need to feel like they are in control of their lives; they get that feeling of control by espousing the fallacious belief that as long as people always make good common sense decisions, nothing bad will ever happen to them.

As a Twitter follower named Joe Ligato recently pointed out to me, this fallacy would cause people to blame themselves for problems in their lives that actually exist because of exploitative systems.

Some people wonder why mental health conditions are so bad, while I marvel at the fact that they are not much worse.

It is actually amazing anyone is functioning at all in a civilization that is ruled by exploiters and abusers who dominate the world using mass-scale psychological manipulation.

It is a testament to human resilience that anyone is sane!

When everyones mind is always being pummeled with messaging that you are deficient if you can not thrive under our oppressive systems, that you are flawed if you do not look, think and act a certain way, that poverty is normal and acts of mass military slaughter are acceptable, it is a wonder we do not all snap!

When everyones consciousness is being continually warped and twisted to suit the agendas of the powerful and keep us all thinking, speaking, working, shopping and voting in ways that advance their interests, it is surprising we are not seeing more suicides, more mass shootings, more substance abuse, more clinical depression and anxiety.

In a totalitarian dystopia that is held together by mass-scale psychological abuse, it is entirely reasonable that people are finding themselves overwhelmed with despair, alienation, depression and anxiety.

Everything seems phony, meaningless and needlessly difficult because it is.

This is not a statement about human nature or life as it naturally exists, it is a statement about the artificially constructed systems we live under currently. Systems that were built by people and are being maintained by people. Systems which can be changed and restructured by people, too.

In the meantime, please be gentle with yourself.

If you are struggling to get by, do not heap extra problems upon yourself by beating yourself up about it.

If you are feeling deficient because you can not live up to the standards of success and worthiness you are using, maybe take some time to consider whom those standards might benefit.

If they are the sort of standards that would help turn the population into productive gear-turners of the capitalist machine, they are probably not the best gauge with which to measure your success as a person.

There is no real reason life needs to be this difficult.

There is no reason we can not provide for everyone while technological advancement gives us all more and more free time.

There is no reason we can not learn to live in collaboration with each other and with our ecosystem instead of in competition for the benefit of a few abusers at the top.

All that is required is for enough of us to decide we are not going to take it anymore.

Times are hard, and they are getting harder, but we can turn this thing around. Please be kind with yourself in the meantime!!

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Ah, the Buddha Ms Caitlin speaks the truth!!! - Cousin Lucky