The Post-Partisan Emporium

‘Oceania Had Always Been at War With Eurasia’: Corporate Media Shifts Public Enemy #1 Overnight Ben Bartee Actually, as Winston well knew, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control. Officially the change of partners had never happened. Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible. -George Orwell, 1984 The smoothness with which the corporate media redirects its viewers’ base emotional response — emanating from the deepest reptilian caverns of the medulla oblongata, the “lizard brain” — is…  uncanny, other-worldly, jaw-dropping . No combination of adjectives could do justice to this most marvelous of propaganda coups over the ...

23 Different Types Of Violent Extremists And Counting, Will You Be Classified As One?   The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wants Americans to believe since 2011, when the word "extremists" was just starting to take root in the public's consciousness, there has been an explosion of violent extremism.  In 2011, DHS published the "Empowering Local Partners To Prevent Violent Extremism In The United States"  report  while at the same time calls for ending America's never-ending war on terror started taking hold. The DHS report made dubious claims like al-Qa‘ida was trying to recruit Americans and radicalize terrorism across the country, which coincidentally was also the 10th anniversary of 9/11. The report mentions extremists and violent extremists interchangeably during a time when Americans were beginning to question the war on terror. In May 2011,  National Public Radio  wrote,  "Why We Must End The War On Terror"  and asked in Septembe...

Slack! An Irreverent Proposal John Michael Greer For quite some time now, utterances from the elite classes of the industrial world have had a sidelong relationship at best to the reality that most of us inhabit.  Recent weeks have seen the surreal quality of official pronouncements slam into overdrive, however. I first noted some time ago that the most difficult job in the world these days must be writing satire for online parody websites such as  The Onion  and  The Babylon Bee;  the struggle to come up with stories more absurd than the latest official pronouncements has got to be appallingly stressful. “I can’t be overdrawn, I still have checks left!” At this point, though, I’m sorry to say the  Onion  and the  Bee  have been left behind in the dust. Here in the United States, we’ve got Nancy Pelosi  insisting with a straight face  that expanding federal expenditures without raising taxes doesn’t increase the federal deficit. Her...