A stark realism of what some are trying to do here. Their blueprint is clear especially with the policies being pushed on such a rapid pace in states. When people show you who they are believe them. The GOP has been planning this coup for longer than djt he was the culmination of all their divisive destructive policies.
Exceptional post. The level of pain and grief we experience collectively and individually, from this life, is staggering. The Buddha reminds up that all pain and suffering is due to attachment. When we realize innocence lost, we want to hold on, we hurt. Babies are not born because they are comfortable. They go thru tremendous pressure and constraint. So it is with us. Adversity, lies and darkness that tears at our soul, propels us toward truth. You've had some exceptional answers on this post. Your guest opened a door. Thank you. You have quite a following.
I wish TJ would have explained "what lies" they were told in the USSR.
I remember USSR propaganda about the US. What they said was all true! They told truths we denied ourselves. About slavery. About genocide against the native Americans. About racism. About inequality. Etc. Etc.
And, of course, no mention today of a war crime trial for George W. Bush, whose aggression against Iraq is the very definition of the superior war crime.
U.S. hypocrisy is showing up now, as we seek international war crime trials for Russia, when we overlook U.S. support for Israeli war crimes against the Palestinians, or U.S. support for Saudi war crimes in Yemen.
The comments of Ms. Japaridze complement perfectly the insights of Peter Pomerantsev in his work on surreal Russia entitled "Nothing is True and Anything is Possible." It is a read I can recommend.
It is hard to imagine the existential trauma one would undergo to learn that everything one thought was true was suddenly shown to be false. Such a trauma would be, in my opinion, like losing one's mind.
I’m wondering, John if our grievous, national social/political divide is evidence of a US national trauma similar to the Russian national trauma that Ms. Japaridze describes … as we all are confronted with the possibility that the US history (and theologies) we learned in the public schools and Hollywood films and TV shows … is just so much cartoonish BS to propagandize us into swallowing the National Sacred Myth of US Exceptionalism? Lots of folks are liberated by the fuller, truer histories like the the 1619 project … others grab their guns and rush the school boards to scream about CRT and wave flags on overpasses to view trucks draped in flags. For 10 years, since learning all the US history I’d learned was essentially bogus, and 20 years since learning all my religious training was bogus, I can agree it is like losing my mind … I certainly saw a lot of friendships and relationships dissolve …how does one survive that? It is painful to feel the ground continually shifting beneath you, it is painful to see those you love, angrily, counter-productively cling to the lies at family meals, at school board meetings…. but it is continually liberating to realize the pain I am feeling is the pain I was always feeling, but had previously not acknowledged by sleep-walking in the collective amnesia of believing our national propaganda.
Excellent, thank you. Knowledge is a lonely road my friend. When we see and accept truth, we no longer fit in the mainstream. Part of the Hero's Journey is to experience the Hermit. We must stop the noise in order to listen, to hear. "There is no religion higher than truth." Blavatsky. When we reach this point, grief is a natural outpouring. Which is what we see on this post. Be well.
To continue the metaphor, Art … the Hermit is now hearing “find your people” … and blundering into them … here at Lucid … at home, assisting in a campaign for a progressive to replace a local, mini-Trump county commissioner, and standing with others to form a truth and reconciliation committee to promote healing in our former sundown town … not so alone anymore as I drive my big truck around the US …. love the Blavatsky quote
Funny, how it works. "Learn to be Still," Don Henley. Eagles sang it. Blavatsky was something...... There are still a couple of sites that disseminate that type of info. Some of it pretty far out there.
I think for many folks of my generation, born in 1946, the 1960s was a decade of having many of our myths about this country's exceptionalism, as you say, questioned. We learned that race relations had a long ways to go before we realized the ideal of all "men" having been created equal; we learned that not all US military operations were on the side of God, and, in fact, some of them, like Vietnam, might actually be in spite of our belief in God; we learned that women really did have a legitimate issue regarding equal rights and that much behavior toward them was belittling and harassing; we learned that capitalism was not the historical answer to all questions regarding human freedom and expression, that it contained gross inequalities, ensuring that certain segments were left out of the American Dream; we learned that this country had some very serious issues to confront but that it also contained a fierce anti-intellectualism that made confronting, discussing, articulating these issues very very difficult, and at times, very very dangerous.
These discoveries, I believe, changed the nature of many minds. Some of those minds became deeply disturbed by what they learned and lost themselves. Other minds, in other circumstances with more support, managed to transition through without self-destructing.
But as you point out, the great historical and noetic force caving in on folks was the same as that caving in on many Russian citizens.
It is heartening to hear Ruth’s story of her own mother’s transition from being lost in the RT disinformation to regaining a firmer grasp on reality … I have not yet seen that transition begin in those close to me, blinded by the Fox fantasies. So I am grateful for your reminder that, we are all recovering from some level of unconscious delusion, and we would do well to follow Ruth’s example to remain close enough to support and embrace those who let go of the propaganda
A stark realism of what some are trying to do here. Their blueprint is clear especially with the policies being pushed on such a rapid pace in states. When people show you who they are believe them. The GOP has been planning this coup for longer than djt he was the culmination of all their divisive destructive policies.
Exceptional post. The level of pain and grief we experience collectively and individually, from this life, is staggering. The Buddha reminds up that all pain and suffering is due to attachment. When we realize innocence lost, we want to hold on, we hurt. Babies are not born because they are comfortable. They go thru tremendous pressure and constraint. So it is with us. Adversity, lies and darkness that tears at our soul, propels us toward truth. You've had some exceptional answers on this post. Your guest opened a door. Thank you. You have quite a following.
I wish TJ would have explained "what lies" they were told in the USSR.
I remember USSR propaganda about the US. What they said was all true! They told truths we denied ourselves. About slavery. About genocide against the native Americans. About racism. About inequality. Etc. Etc.
And, of course, no mention today of a war crime trial for George W. Bush, whose aggression against Iraq is the very definition of the superior war crime.
U.S. hypocrisy is showing up now, as we seek international war crime trials for Russia, when we overlook U.S. support for Israeli war crimes against the Palestinians, or U.S. support for Saudi war crimes in Yemen.
Thank you Tinatin for your insights and thank you Ruth for this interview.
The comments of Ms. Japaridze complement perfectly the insights of Peter Pomerantsev in his work on surreal Russia entitled "Nothing is True and Anything is Possible." It is a read I can recommend.
It is hard to imagine the existential trauma one would undergo to learn that everything one thought was true was suddenly shown to be false. Such a trauma would be, in my opinion, like losing one's mind.
How does one survive that?
I’m wondering, John if our grievous, national social/political divide is evidence of a US national trauma similar to the Russian national trauma that Ms. Japaridze describes … as we all are confronted with the possibility that the US history (and theologies) we learned in the public schools and Hollywood films and TV shows … is just so much cartoonish BS to propagandize us into swallowing the National Sacred Myth of US Exceptionalism? Lots of folks are liberated by the fuller, truer histories like the the 1619 project … others grab their guns and rush the school boards to scream about CRT and wave flags on overpasses to view trucks draped in flags. For 10 years, since learning all the US history I’d learned was essentially bogus, and 20 years since learning all my religious training was bogus, I can agree it is like losing my mind … I certainly saw a lot of friendships and relationships dissolve …how does one survive that? It is painful to feel the ground continually shifting beneath you, it is painful to see those you love, angrily, counter-productively cling to the lies at family meals, at school board meetings…. but it is continually liberating to realize the pain I am feeling is the pain I was always feeling, but had previously not acknowledged by sleep-walking in the collective amnesia of believing our national propaganda.
Excellent, thank you. Knowledge is a lonely road my friend. When we see and accept truth, we no longer fit in the mainstream. Part of the Hero's Journey is to experience the Hermit. We must stop the noise in order to listen, to hear. "There is no religion higher than truth." Blavatsky. When we reach this point, grief is a natural outpouring. Which is what we see on this post. Be well.
To continue the metaphor, Art … the Hermit is now hearing “find your people” … and blundering into them … here at Lucid … at home, assisting in a campaign for a progressive to replace a local, mini-Trump county commissioner, and standing with others to form a truth and reconciliation committee to promote healing in our former sundown town … not so alone anymore as I drive my big truck around the US …. love the Blavatsky quote
Funny, how it works. "Learn to be Still," Don Henley. Eagles sang it. Blavatsky was something...... There are still a couple of sites that disseminate that type of info. Some of it pretty far out there.
Randolph,
I think for many folks of my generation, born in 1946, the 1960s was a decade of having many of our myths about this country's exceptionalism, as you say, questioned. We learned that race relations had a long ways to go before we realized the ideal of all "men" having been created equal; we learned that not all US military operations were on the side of God, and, in fact, some of them, like Vietnam, might actually be in spite of our belief in God; we learned that women really did have a legitimate issue regarding equal rights and that much behavior toward them was belittling and harassing; we learned that capitalism was not the historical answer to all questions regarding human freedom and expression, that it contained gross inequalities, ensuring that certain segments were left out of the American Dream; we learned that this country had some very serious issues to confront but that it also contained a fierce anti-intellectualism that made confronting, discussing, articulating these issues very very difficult, and at times, very very dangerous.
These discoveries, I believe, changed the nature of many minds. Some of those minds became deeply disturbed by what they learned and lost themselves. Other minds, in other circumstances with more support, managed to transition through without self-destructing.
But as you point out, the great historical and noetic force caving in on folks was the same as that caving in on many Russian citizens.
It is heartening to hear Ruth’s story of her own mother’s transition from being lost in the RT disinformation to regaining a firmer grasp on reality … I have not yet seen that transition begin in those close to me, blinded by the Fox fantasies. So I am grateful for your reminder that, we are all recovering from some level of unconscious delusion, and we would do well to follow Ruth’s example to remain close enough to support and embrace those who let go of the propaganda
Thank you for such a candid and relevant response from your personal history.