“Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.”
– Lewis Carroll, Through The Looking-Glass
Once you understand that profound poem, you are ready to fathom the great debate between our dumb and dumber candidates for the Highchair in the Oval Office.
In light of Julian Assange’s release from an English prison and President Biden’s dementia-riddled debate performance against dumb-mouthed Donald Trump – Tweedledum and Tweedledee, whom Alice, when through the looking-glass, said looked exactly like a couple of schoolboys – I have been thinking about a famous proverb – “acta, non verba” (action, not words). Like most platitudes and effective propaganda, it contains both truths and contradictions and can therefore be spun in multiple ways depending on one’s intent.
Killing people is an action that needs no words to accompany it. It can be done silently. Even when it is the killing of millions of people, it can be carried out without fanfare or direct responsibility. Without a whisper, with plausible deniability, as if it were not happening. As if you were not responsible. The playwright Harold Pinter, in his Nobel Prize Address, wrote truthfully about U. S. war crimes:
It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn’t happening. It didn’t matter. It was of no interest. The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them. You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It’s a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.
I put to you that the United States is without doubt the greatest show on the road. Brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless it may be but it is also very clever. As a salesman it is out on its own and its most saleable commodity is self-love. It’s a winner. Listen to all American presidents on television say the words, ‘the American people’, as in the sentence, ‘I say to the American people it is time to pray and to defend the rights of the American people and I ask the American people to trust their president in the action he is about to take on behalf of the American people.’
Trust, of course, is a sick joke when it comes from the mouths of U.S. presidents, just as the two bloodthirsty debaters want the American people to trust them and agree with their support for the US/Israel genocide of Palestinians, as does Robert Kennedy, Jr., another aspirant for the position of Killer-in-Chief.
“I know what you’re thinking about,” said Tweedledum, “but it isn’t so nohow.”
“Contrariwise,” said Tweedledee. “if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.”
And the boys continue to battle over Tweedledum’s “nice new rattle” that he accused Tweedledee of spoiling.
The spectacle of presidential politics and people’s addiction to it is a depressing commentary on people’s gullibility. To think that the candidates are not puppets manipulated by the same hidden powerful elite forces is a form of illiteracy that fails to grasp the nature of the fairy tale told through the looking-glass. The real rattle is not a toy, but the sound of the rattling of the marionettes’ chains. In the 2020 presidential election, more than 155 million Americans voted for Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the highest voter turnout by percentage since 1900. More so than the population at large, these voters are dumb and getting dumber by the day. They think they live in a democracy where to get into the Highchair candidates will spend 10 billion dollars or so.
“Ditto,” said Tweedledum.
“Ditto, ditto!” cried Tweedledee.
Like the voters in 2020, those this year will echo the boys in illusionary expectations of political change – “Ditto, ditto, ditto – as they look in the mirror of their cell phones and hope to take selfies with the candidates to mirror the narcissistic mendacious marionettes of their illusions.
Julian Assange killed no one, but he suffered greatly at the hands of the U.S. military-industrial-security state and its evil accomplices because he used words and images to reveal their atrocities. In other words, his words were his courageous actions to counteract the murderous actions of the U.S. government. He gave voice to the previously unspeakable, a void in confronting systematic evil that seems beyond imagining or words to convey. Assange’s words were his deeds and therefore reversed the proverb or turned it on its head or upside down. He showed that the words of denial from the U.S. government were lies, language used to obscure thought about its war crimes. That is why they tortured him for so many years.
Despite such treatment, he never bowed to their violence, remaining steadfastly true to his conscience. A true individual. He was betrayed by the corporate mainstream media such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and others who published what Julian published, then trashed him and ignored him, and finally hypocritically supported him to save their own asses after he suffered for fourteen years. It is a very typical tale of elite betrayal.
Those who serve and wish to serve as American presidents are so lacking in Assange’s moral conscience that one should never expect truth from them, neither in words nor actions. Assange stands head and shoulders above these craven creeps. Here, as recounted by Marjorie Cohn, are some of their atrocities that journalist Assange, a free man, published for all the world to read and see.
The relationship between words and actions is very complex. Even Shakespeare compounds the complexity by having a character say that words are not deeds. But they are.
Neither Biden nor Trump ever personally killed a Syrian or Palestinian, but they gave orders to do so. They made sure as young men that they would never serve in the military and kill with their own hands, having received between them nearly ten deferments. What’s the term for such Commanders-in-Chief? Pusillanimous armchair warriors? Jackals with polished faces who know ten thousand ways to order others to kill and torture while keeping their hands clean but their souls sordid?
Obama had his Tuesday kill list that included American citizens whom he chose for death; Trump gave the orders to “terminate” Iranian General Qasem Soleimani; we can only imagine what orders Biden (or his handlers) has given, while Ukraine, Russia, and Gaza have suffered terribly from them. Now Tweedledum, desperate to retain his rattle, pushes the world closed to nuclear war.
But notice the expensive suits these boys wear, the crisp white shirts and pocket handkerchiefs, the elegant watches and shiny shoes. But they are killers whose orders to kill are whispered, action words, passed down the line. With a smile, a grin, a shrug, or completely indifferently, as if they were ordering a bagel with cream cheese to go.
Yet true it is, as the forgotten but great American poet Keneth Rexroth wrote in his 1955 poem Thou Shall Not Kill: “You killed him! You killed him./ In your God damned Brooks Brothers suit,/ You son of a bitch.”
Like many writers, I am politically powerless. My words are my only weapon. Are they actions? I believe they are. They are deeds. I move my pen across the paper and try to write something meaningful. Sometimes I succeed in this action; at others, I fail. Who can say? I surely can’t. As my father used to always remind me, “Quien sabe?” (Who knows?)
There are those who claim that wordsmiths are all full of shit. Why don’t they just shut up and do something, is what they say. They fail to grasp the paradoxical relationship between action and words. For writers who write to defend humanity from the predations of the ruthless ruling classes, their words are not orders to kill. Just the opposite.
Our words are reminders that killing is wrong, that waging wars are wrong, that genocide is wrong, that assassinating people is wrong – simple truths that almost everyone knows but forgets when they get caught up in the antics of the Tweedledums and Tweedledees who come and go with the breezes as the system that creates them rolls merrily along.
So if words, contrary to the famous proverb – action, not words – are a form of action, we are caught in a paradox of our own making. This is not uncommon. For there are silent and wordy acts as well as words as actions, some noisy, others sotto voce. There are violent deeds and violent words; and there are peaceful words meant to encourage peaceful deeds.
Tweedledum Biden and Tweedledee Trump are prime examples of how far my country (I write that with a lump in my throat), the United States of America, has descended into illiteracy, evil, and delusion.
The philosopher Frederick Nietzsche once wrote that the “Greeks were superficial out of profundity.” Too many Americans have become superficial out of stupidity by believing the words and deeds of con men battling over a rattle.
“No Way! We landed on the moon!”
– Jim Carrey, playing Lloyd in Dumb and Dumber
DEAR FRIENDS READ THIS ARTICLE I WROTE ABOUT HOW IN USA THERE IS NO CLASS STRUGGLE AND HOW THE RICH HAVE BEEN CRUSHING THE POOR:
IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THERE IS CURRENTLY NO CLASS STRUGGLE, THE RICH CRUSHED THE POOR!!
1. It hurts to have fought for decades – seeking to get the poor, exploited and oppressed to rise up to make an anti-capitalist revolution – that over the years you realize that it was only one of the great world utopias. Those of us who follow Marx and Bakunin from the terrorism of September 11, 2001, very mistakenly always thought that capitalism would collapse in 10 or 20 years and that its fall would depend on the forces we put into the development of mass struggles.
2. Well, capitalism did not fall, on the contrary, it was strengthened by the great wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Palestine, which have empowered the Yankee, English, French, and Israeli empires much more. Even Russia, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, after three or four years of “socialist revolution”, which never existed, were annihilated by the empires and capitalist governments that followed. In the United States I don’t know what my fellow Spartacus, Trotskyist, Maoist, anarchist and other anti-election impossibilists will think now, who – like me – continued to repudiate electoralism.
3. Here in the United States of America, the anti-capitalist, Marxist left disappeared when The Ford Foundation, George Soros, The Rockefeller Family and other globalists have offered many millions, to the reformist social-democratic center-left (false socialists, left-capitalist), the most opportunistic left like Bernie Sanders, Jill Stein’s Green Party, The American Communist Party, Democracy Now, Thom Hartmann, Counterpunch, Commondreams, The Young Turks, and other fake leftists If they want to call themselves “left” they can do so, even if they are all bourgeois capitalists who seek to dominate the government in order to secure millions of dollars in revenues and power.
4. In United States today, the right wing of the Democratic Party does not openly defend religion or the business program of the rich; President Joe Biden does it with a demagogic “the poor first” speech. However, the speeches have only served to manipulate the masses who believe that Joe Biden is much better than Donald Trump. At the end of this disastrous government of Joe Biden, like everyone else, nothing will have changed for the benefit of the majority, but the rich will be more millionaires. Joe Biden and his family will retire from politics to enjoy the millions of dollars that have been stolen
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Good afternoon Knoxville Christian-Anarchist….we were just discussing self-sufficient communities and how Maine could have been a more self-sufficient state had it not been for governments and ‘good christians’.
Self-sufficient communities also include quality human relations, communications and an appreciation for that which is healthy for all ‘beings’ to survive. Self-sufficient communities could exist due to knowing a small faction of people or an individual cannot make rules for many people. The rule makers being politician figures, police, popes and ministers! Ideas can be developed by all members of a community by group gatherings, sharing, consulting elsewhere, however, if just one person or maybe two people are dominating the discussion, the group knows they can clearly state they want everyone to share in the discussion. Always beware of the group listening to one person. So someone asks, how is this possible? And it is here where we hit the proverbial ‘brick wall’ because we want answers, however, we don’t want to think or feel. So we can’t go in circles, someone must be mindful to bring to the attention that we’re losing focus. And that person knows to be quiet after they speak, enabling another thought to surface from another individual. And of course there is more to this and most people simply close their minds and continue being content with this disaster, the plantation mentality system, call it what you want!
Hi, sorry for my late reply to your great comments. You are right when you said:
“And of course there is more to this and most people simply close their minds and continue being content with this disaster, the plantation mentality system, call it what you want!”
And this is the way the majority of people in America behave, they just go on with their own private lives, but I think that is really caused because most people are not really aware that like Aristotle said humans are political animals, and Berlolt Bretch said that the worst citizen of a nation are not killers and thieves, but good people who obey laws, pay taxes but hate politics. The political apathetic individual is to blame for all the pains and disconfomfort that most americans are being subjected to which is a hell of being taxed to death, billed to death and physically over-worked to death.
Most of my close families (sisters, cousins, uncles etc) are members of the traditional middle classes and they live a very mainstream bourgeoise philosophy of life. My parents passed away and I only have 3 sisters but their brains are fried up, and destroyed and totally manipulated by the mainstream media which tempts them with a hedonic way of life away from pain and problems.
That’s why you see that the majority of people in America (old and young) reject politics, they are scared of politics because politics, political activism is a war, and in order to be into politics people should be warriors. But the problem that the warrior instincts that humans should have has been destroyed by traditional religion, morality, institutions and laws.
So I think that the cream of USA (i call them the few, because every thing that is good is always small in numbers) should get away from the rabble, the apathetic consumerist mind-controlled slaves, and try to only mingle with other people who have our same objectives (which is the overthrow of the US capitalist oligarchic plutocratic cleptocratic government and system to be replaced by a humanist workers government. But this task is almost impossible because even the working class (even low wage workers) have shifted toward the traditional bourgeoise right-wing only voting for the traditional bourgeoise parties (Republicans and Democrats) and not even for the Green Party.
But thanks to poverty and economic problems, maybe people will wake up in the near future.
And by the way the CIA-FBI will keep trying to kill Donald Trump for Trump being an isolationist, anti-Pentagon and if they do, there would be a civil war in this country,
Something has to give !!
,
I found it particularly insightful to link Jim Carrey to Tweedledum Biden.
It seems there is an uncanny resemblance between Biden and Carrey. Though I just can’t quite put my finger on it, it seems that Biden walking, talking and moving seems at times a reflection of Carrey playing various characters in his many movies….very strange indeed.
Thank you Ed. For me your words are like a balm of sanity.
Hello Edward and friends: Another great mind opening article, exposing the USA as it is (Sold and marketed as a workers democracy, when it is really an oligarchic, plutocratic, cleptocratic capitalist-empire. And the great majority of american people in one way or the other are still supporting the US plutocratic evil capitalist-empire.
And I think that the USA which is a better country to live in, with higher living standards and more opportunities for all than Pakistan, Guatemala, Egypt, India, Haiti, Venezuela, Honduras, Mexico and many other countries, still fails miserably because I think that we should give a lot more poor countries for being poor than USA. Because there is no economic reason for the 330 million people of USA to have high living standards and a good middle class life (there is enough money inside USA for that)
But as long as the current plutocratic-oligarchic economic system of USA continues (thru democrats and republicans) it is safe to state that only about 20% to 30% of USA can reach self-realization, while 70% lives a hell on earth, taxed to death, over-worked to death, and billed to death living daily routines of only working, domestic labor (cleaning and cooking are still hard jobs) without any pleasure. What a hell, because the human body is not built for only working and suffering. The body needs both negative stress (working hard etc) and positive stress (pleasures)
There was a lot of happiness in USSR, i read that in USSR in the late 1980s a person could rent an apartment with electricity, water, cooking as, cable-tv and other basic services included for only about 25 to 50 dollars per month.
While in the USA capitalist hell most people need more than 800 dollars per month to pay for a house rent or mortgage without basic services like electricity included. No wonder americans are so overworked, and americans are taking for granted this neoliberalism capitalist hell.
For example, my sisters are going on a vacation cruise on Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas, this July 12 in Spain, Europe. And I just found out that each Oasis of the Seas ticket, does not include soft drinks (like Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, Seven-Up and other popular soda drinks). So they will have to buy each can of soft drink at a super-expensive overvalued price of 12 dollars per can. I think i might be wrong though because there is really no way that a 12 ounces of soft drink can cost so much money.
So I wrote an article on the Royal Caribbean Reddit forum on how most people are really slaves, because I bet that most of the passengers of that cruise ship Oasis of the Seas are really willing to pay 12 dollars for acan of soft drinks (no questions asked). In that articled i said how the spirit of Hugo Chavez, Stalin, Mao Tse Tun, Che Guevara, Bakunin and most anti-capitalist leaders of history is getting inside of me, thanks to Royal Caribbean. I thanked them for making me more communist than i am already. And i told them that beecause paying 12 dollars for a can of soft drinks is painful to most of the Oasis of the Seas passengers, because most of them are not rich, they are good intentioned people who work really hard creating wealth for capitalists and they take vacation cruises because they deserve a week or 2 of feeling good and relaxing and resting from the capitalist hell. And the pain i feel when somebody buys over-valued things, is related to something Che Guevara said “The suffering and pain of other human beings should really be our own suffering and pain’
That the task of a revolutiionary communist should be to feel the pain of other human beings
What a hell american capitalism is, and airports are also like the Royal Caribbean Corporation. If anybody here has traveled thru any commercial airline, they should be aware of how over-valued food and things are at airports..
Maybe when most americans get poorer we might see a revolutionary objective situation, but in the mean time, most americans are still willing to support this system and to keep voting for poverty, for bills, for taxes and for death
Something has to give !!
GEORGE WASHINGTON, THOMAS JEFFERSON, HUGO CHAVEZ, JOHN F. KENNEDY AND MARTIN LUTHER KING ARE ALIVE AND WILL COME BACK TO SAVE USA
Hello Knoxville Christian-Anarchist…..”Humans don’t like pain, it hurts us. We have become very adept at avoiding it, denying it, medicating it, cloistering it from ourselves and from others. An experience so very human in its commonality (which genuinely connects us so intimately) has grown into a thick tangle of deceit which only compounds our suffering by separating us from one another.” Author not know
“An experience so very human in its commonality (which genuinely connects us so intimately)”
Our experiences, our indoctrination (education) fear…,helps separate us from our most basic human selves!
A group crying session might be the healthiest thing we can do. Let the tears run, then tell why. Most likely this will be just about the same for everyone present no matter the age.
Thanks for your comment about pain. You know the great realist philosopher Nietzsche and other philosophers have said that pain is indeed part our natural existence, even waking up in the morning is a little bit pain, exercising is painful, working is pain, studying hard is painful, diets are painful, doing domestic chores like cleaning, cooking are painful activites for the body. But most people either negate all those types of pain of their part of their daily routines, or just simply don’t want to talk about it.
For instance, my sisters who are part of the traditional conservative consumerist mainstream middle class are enjoying an Oasis of the Seas vacation cruise for about 10 days in Europe. But since they don’t know much about philosophy, science etc. they are not aware of philosophy of time. In other words, they are not very aware that when people are having a lot of fun and constant pleasures time passes real fast. And they think that those 10 days of pure hedonic eating and hedonic pleasure will be a cure for their painful daily lives (most americans live painful daily oppressed lives, even doctors and nurses and only the super rich enjoy complete freedom.
But because americans are exploited (even lawyers, doctors, airline pilots, professionals they are all exploited and live painful daily routines just like any Mcdonalds workers, the only difference is that a Doctor might drive a new BMW and a Mcdonalds Worker a Nissan, or old Dodge Neon, but both doctors and low wage workers experience exploitation by the capitalist oppressors. But the american general population actually think that going to Disney World for 2 days, or a vacation cruise for a week, will cure their low living standards, and capitalist oppression that they are subjected to 365 days per year.
That’s why I think that in order to see a liberation of the 80% of USA people will have to get into a sort of book-reading revolution, just like John Adams said:
“Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people” – John Adams – Second President – 1797 – 1801
JFK AND MARTIN LUTHER KING ARE ALIVE !!
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The United States of Asinine.
Leading the world by example.
Dumb and dumber.
Sick and sicker.
Was it Hollywood that force fed ignorance to USians, or was it the incremental and insidious undermining of the education system?
Good morning Johnny…. education has always been undermined by various manipulators who want citizens to simply conform and obey, create a standardized view of the information authority imposes upon us. Boot Camp Create a large pool of willing labor. Hollywood? We watched ‘them’ instead of paying attention to ourselves. Violence of all sorts. Lies of all sorts. This fraud was celebrated 2 days ago. “not only has man accepted his enslavement…man has even become proud of his enslavement…and this is a terrible thing”
Quite right.