It Is Good When Idols Get Knocked Off Pedestals: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix by Ms Caitlin Johnstone!
(2023-05-02 at 21:41:10 )

It Is Good When Idols Get Knocked Off Pedestals: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix by Ms Caitlin Johnstone!

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

Jeffrey Epstein, Woody Allen, and Noam Chomsky went out to dinner one night.

There is no punchline, that is just something that happened.

Of course, nothing that comes out about Mr. Epstein himself will ever be as significant as the first fact that powerful intelligence agencies use kids as sex slaves to manipulate our society with blackmail.

Anti-China propaganda needs to be opposed ferociously. United States military encirclement of China is rapidly increasing and the floodgates are being opened to pour weapons into Taiwan as quickly as possible, and it is getting almost no resistance anywhere. People barely know it is happening.

The propaganda campaign against China needs to be opposed right now because it is a threat right now, and also because otherwise when the time comes to actually send out the war ships the public will just consent to it, since the war propaganda went unchallenged that whole time. After a certain point a propaganda narrative can gain enough momentum that there is simply no resisting it. We can not just ignore this!!

Aaand there he is. Mr. Bolton shows up literally every single time there is a new opportunity to push for war. We do not rage hard enough about the fact that there are people whose actual job is to try and get as many human beings violently killed as possible at every opportunity.-Caitlin Johnstone (caitoz) May 2, 2023

The United States alliance is indisputably encircling Russia and China in ways it would never permit itself to be encircled. The only way to defend this discrepancy is to say "Well it is okay when we do it because they are Bad Guys while we are Good Guys," which is an infants understanding!!

Believing that "democracies" should be allowed to do things that "autocracies" should not be is just subscribing to an adult-sounding iteration of the "Good Guys vs Bad Guys" plotline of every childrens cartoon. It can not withstand an instant of critical thought!!"

Even if you do subscribe to an infantile "Good Guys vs Bad Guys” worldview, all facts in evidence say the United States should be considered the latter.

Russia and China have not spent the 21st century killing people by the millions in wars of aggression, for example.

Russia and China have not been strangling entire nations around the world with economic warfare for the crime of disobedience.

Russia and China have not been circling the planet with hundreds of military bases in order to rule the world.

Russia and China have not been plotting to destroy any nation which disobeys them.

Only the United States is doing all these very evil things!!!

A great question to ask someone is "What conspiracy theory do you think might be true?"

If they struggle to come up with even one, then that means they do not question anything. If they do not question anything, they are not thinking at all.

If you believe The Official Story about everything that happens, then you are not thinking, you are repeating.

If the only thing you question is the questioners, then you are not an individual with your own mind, you are an enforcer of the status quo.

You are as much a separate person with your own thoughts as a car radio speaker is separate from the sound of the disc jockey.

The contradictions and hypocrisy of the United States empire are so in-your-face right now it sometimes barely feels worthwhile to point it out.

But it needs to be pointed out every time, because the majority of people still manage not to see it.

Biden at the correspondents dinner: "journalism is not a crime."

Julian Assange conspicuously missing from the evenings remarks.-Briahna Joy Gray (briebriejoy) April 30, 2023

I think it is probably a good thing when our idols get knocked off the pedestals we put them on.

Chomsky. Bernie. The Dalai Lama. It is not healthy to elevate others to a lofty status above ourselves instead of seeing them as normal human beings who are as capable of error as anyone else.

Our entire culture - movies, schoolbooks, religions etc - tells us to always be looking for heroes. Tells us to look outside ourselves for celebrated leaders who will show us where to go. And I just think that is a terrible dereliction of duty - of our duty to find the truth for ourselves.

One of the worst mistakes you can make is neglecting your responsibility to cultivate a truth-based understanding of reality for yourself.

People hand off that responsibility to journalists, pundits, "thought leaders", teachers, preachers and gurus, but to do this is to neglect a very sacred duty.

As Terence McKenna said, "You have to take seriously the notion that understanding the universe is your responsibility, because the only understanding of the universe that will be useful to you is your own understanding." Do not pass off that responsibility to someone else!

You are the sole authority over your own understanding of the world. You have no business abdicating that authority because someone else is speaking about something with a confident and authoritative tone.

Find out the truth for yourself. Place blind faith in no one when it comes to understanding reality, including me obviously.

It is disempowering to have idols on pedestals, because they create the false impression that the solution to our problems exists somewhere outside ourselves. In reality no one individual will ever solve the massive problems humanity now faces. It is going to take all of us.

Truth does not exist in some other person; it is for you to sort out for yourself. Revolution is not hiding in some celebrated hero; it is going to have to come from within us.

Enlightenment does not exist in some lofty future state; it is here presently and just needs to be recognized!!

The healthy way to relate to famous figures is to relate to them as anyone else: if they say something useful then use it, if they say something unhelpful then do not.

You never need to elevate them so high that there is an expectation that they will always get everything right, or that you feel a sense of disappointment or betrayal if they get something wrong.

It is disempowering to put people on pedestals, and it is no fun to be on the pedestal either. I always cringe a bit when I see someone constantly praising me as a person instead of focusing on the specific merits of my work on a case by case basis, not because I have a problem receiving compliments but because I know they are going to have to knock me off that pedestal one day.

Anyone who is sincerely interested in truth will eventually have to knock some idols off of pedestals, because keeping them there inevitably becomes an obstacle to your own understanding of what is true. The whole relationship is just deeply unpleasant for everyone involved.

Hero stories keep you looking for heroes outside yourself. Idols keep you looking for truth outside yourself. Gurus keep you looking for enlightenment outside yourself.

It is good to make use of all the knowledge and wisdom that exists in the world, but do not let it get you digging for treasure in the wrong place!!

"This Ms Caitlin Johnstone article, its pictures, and its links are here:"

Thanks for reading!!

Everyone has my unconditional permission to republish or use any part of this work (or anything else I have written) in any way they like free of charge.

My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitter, throwing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypal, purchasing some of my "sweet merchandise", buying my new book "Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone", or my previous book "Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers". The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for "my website", which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I am trying to do with this platform, "click here".

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