Wednesday, March 25: What Does Better Look Like?
"The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born; now is the time of monsters."
We live in an age of great moral panic about things that truly don’t matter at all while there’s somehow zero moral outrage over some of the most egregious societal sins we’ve ever witnessed as a species. Every day provides evidence of the moral decay that exists all around us, yet the attention of so many is instead occupied by celebrity gossip & sports scores & other trivialities that serve as little more than distraction.
As it stands we’re poised on the brink (in the midst?) of a massive mistake of a military operation in Iran, living in the most heavily-armed and poorly regulated country in the modern world. The Trump administration seems to think they can run a war on the weekends, balancing mass murder and the markets to avoid upsetting the balance too much, but after several weeks, the plan seems to be unraveling at a rapid pace.
I frequently come back to the documentary, “Hypernormalization”, which packs quite a punch as it explains the contradictory and predatory nature of modern society. The term was birthed late in the Soviet era, when people became aware that their system was failing but couldn’t imagine any alternative to the status quo. Society, both politicians and citizens alike, resigned themselves to at least maintaining the facade of a functioning society. Over time, this mass delusion became a self-fulfilling prophecy and everyone accepted it as the new norm, thus hypernormalization.
The film argues that in the aftermath of the global economic crises of the 1970’s, western governments, financiers and technological utopians gave up completely on trying to shape the complex “real world” and instead established a simpler “fake world” for the benefit of multi-national corporations propped up by neoliberal governments. Our constant distraction is worked into this math and we are persuaded to focus our attention on award shows & viral sports moments, while ignoring an apartheid state openly attempting to kill journalists and expand a genocidal colony. Maybe if we don’t look, we can pretend it’s not happening. The ongoing forced displacement of over a million people in Lebanon is impossible to call anything other than ethnic cleansing, on a scale larger than the Nakba, so perhaps it’s better not to call it anything at all.
Think back, has there been any significant antiwar protest over the past several weeks or months? I wonder why so many young people might be hesitant to get outside and voice their displeasure. There are certainly anti-war activists and organizations out there, but the repression they’ve faced, particularly if they spoke out against a certain apartheid state, has been so stringent that much of their work has been fragmented to the point of nonexistence. The critical mass needed to even protest effectively just isn’t there anymore because Americans ultimately are an obedient and easily-distracted people.
Even this kind of observation is a form of nostalgia for a time when democracy in this country was more real and participatory; a simpler time when markets didn’t fully dictate every decision and being online was an active choice. Now there’s no one left to persuade or pressure anymore, and there’s no real “public opinion” that matters. What an utterly inert, lethargic, and pitiful excuse for a society we occupy.
In just the past week, one of the president’s top counterterrorism officials, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, resigned dramatically, issuing an open condemnation of the Iran War. He said: “I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives.” Kent goes on to specifically highlight the influence of the apartheid state on Trump’s moronic decision to engage militarily, specifically blaming, "high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media" for encouraging the conflict.
And while the apartheid state drags us to the doorstep of World War III and extends its reach to the highest offices of power, it also continues to demonstrate its lifelong commitment to violent occupation. A comprehensive UN Human Rights Office report details the absolutely asphyxiating impact of the apartheid state’s laws, policies and practices on every aspect of daily life for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The report warns that the apartheid state is currently violating international law that requires states to prohibit and eradicate racial segregation and apartheid, featuring this interesting little detail:
“Of the more than 1,500 killings of Palestinians between January 1, 2017 and September 30, 2025, the Israeli authorities have opened 112 investigations, with only one conviction.”
The apartheid-protecting fascism has already extended stateside, as a New Jersey woman who took part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University was finally released after more than a year spent in a federal detention center in Texas. The case of Leqaa Kordia, held for more than a year without being charged with any crime, demonstrates the harsh reality of being incarcerated in a system that’s intentionally convoluted and structured to protect zionists. Meanwhile, outlets will conveniently fail to report the israeli government apologizing to literal rapist soldiers caught on film, all because some people were too mean to them. A sick joke of a society.
Side Items
Cuban Blackout: The US is actively overseeing the electrical grid failure of millions of people in our immediate vicinity, as punishment for simply daring to be Cuban. Earlier this month, Trump was caught on tape talking crazy, as always, arguing that Cuban leadership was on the verge of collapse and claiming that he expected to have the honor of “taking” the country, whatever that means. Be on the lookout for another coup on the horizon
Cesar Chavez Revelations: An investigation by the new york times (lowercase out of disdain for the outlet) found extensive evidence that Cesar Chavez, one of the most revered figures in the Latino civil rights movement, and co-founder of the United Farm Workers organization, groomed and sexually abused numerous girls who worked in the movement. It’s a pretty horrifying revelation made worse by the way Chavez has been venerated and singularly celebrated for so many years
Praireland Trial: On July 4th of last year, about a dozen protesters held a noise demonstration outside the Prairieland ICE facility in Texas. Naturally, police showed up and escalated the situation, and the result was a lot of shots being fired. In the aftermath, one of the protesters was charged with attempted murder, but 18 others got swept up in the case, some who weren’t even present at the protest! A jury eventually convicted 7 people of materially supporting terrorism by being in attendance at the demonstration. This case and the related Prairieland convictions carry a pretty scary message: if your ideology puts you in opposition to the state, there’s now a legal framework for making your opposition a federal crime. If you’ve ever worn black to a protest, used Signal to chat with people, or even carried a first aid kit, a federal jury has now decided that these actions can all be evidence of supporting terrorism. Welcome to fascism folks