Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix
Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):
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The Iraqi government says 16 people were killed in the latest round of US airstrikes in Iraq, including civilians. You might think 16 deaths as payback for three Americans killed by Iraqi militants would be more than enough, but you would be wrong. There will be many more.
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I’ve been railing against the US war machine for around seven years now, and never during that time have I had more westerners on my side than right now. Never has the depravity of the western empire been more starkly exposed in the cold light of day.
Usually perceiving the monstrousness of US foreign policy requires some knowledge and understanding, some background and context, and I’ve had to spend my time providing that so readers could see what I’m seeing. Now it’s just a deluge of massacred children appearing right on people’s social media feeds, with the US president proudly acknowledging that he’s backing it and bombing countries throughout the middle east to help it continue.
There’s not really any way for the imperial propagandists to spin that as anything other than what it is. They try (my god do they try), but not enough people are buying it. Too many people are looking right at the emperor’s shriveled nutsack in the cold morning air and saying “Hey wait a second, this bitch is ass dick naked!”
Everyone who opposes the US war machine has that one moment that snapped their eyes open, where they realized the media are lying to them and they’ve been cheering for the imperial stormtroopers this entire time. Syria. Libya. Iraq. Vietnam. There’s always something. And in terms of freshly opened eyes, this moment in history may wind up leaving the rest far behind.
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Top ten reasons people support Israel:
1. Their favorite political party supports Israel
2. They were taught to support Israel and revising your worldview is hard
3. They believe the media would never lie to them
4. They hate Muslims
5. They want Jesus to come back and send nonbelievers to hell
6. Their employment depends on it
7. They have a personality that always sides with power
8. They want to fit in socially with other people who support Israel
9. They hope to retire in an Israeli settlement someday
10. They want a career in politics or media
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Step 1: See the most horrific thing you can possibly imagine on your social media feed.
Step 2: Israel supporters show up to explain why the thing you just saw is actually fine and normal and should probably happen more.
Step 3: Repeat Steps 1 through 3, every day, for months.
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If Israel was the moral and responsible force it purports to be it wouldn’t need a huge army of paid and unpaid apologists running around all day every day explaining why its latest documented atrocity is fine/is being misunderstood/didn’t happen/is someone else’s fault.
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Israel has been the sole perpetrator of atrocities since October 7, so they keep “discovering” new atrocities Hamas perpetrated on October 7 to make it look less one-sided. Oh look they beheaded babies on October 7! Oh look there were mass rapes on October 7! Oh look UNRWA was involved in October 7! Etc.
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“Am Yisrael Chai” is a popular Hebrew political slogan which loosely translates to “Palestinians should not have hospitals”.
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Only liars and manipulators try to reframe criticisms of Israel as criticism of Jews instead of criticisms of the specific actions of a specific state power. Revealingly, both Zionists and neo-Nazis do this constantly.
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Get out of the middle east. Just get the fuck out. Stop backing a genocide in Gaza, stop murdering people to shore up domination of world resources, and leave. Leave before you unleash something far worse than the nightmare you’ve already inflicted upon our species.
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My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece here are some options where you can toss some money into my tip jar if you want to. Go here to buy paperback editions of my writings from month to month. All my work is free to bootleg and use in any way, shape or form; republish it, translate it, use it on merchandise; whatever you want. The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley.
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Featured image via Adobe Stock.
Caitlin Johnstone 