Putin Has Unmasked the American Populace
The Trump-Era Exposure of Corporate Media Was All For Naught
Just a few days prior to Russia commencing their special military operations in the Ukraine, numerous polling sources showed that intervention of any kind was vehemently opposed by the American populace. Not a surprise, Americans were tired of war. At least, that was the assumption. Just a week or so later, polls show intervention nearing fifty percent approval and climbing. What happened?
Well, it’s easy to oppose war in the nebulous sense, in the abstract. If you asked people whether or not they wanted to be at war, the answer would be almost universally no. But war in the tangible sense, is far more tempting to the American public. God forbid, Karen has to see an artillery attack happening across the globe on her Facebook feed without the assurance that someone else’s son is dying so that she feels safe, and to keep her conscience clear. She’s doing everything she can, she even changed her Facebook banner to the Ukrainian flag, now you do your part.
There was, during the Trump Era, a perceived shift, at least it seemed, away from this mode of thinking. Trump had shifted the nation away from the Neoconservative/Neo-liberal paradigm towards an America First, world police second, if ever, approach. Vladimir Putin, all other actions aside, has done the United States a great service in pulling this mask away. The depressing reality is, nothing has changed. In less than forty-eight hours, the average American showed just how weak their resolve is; just how easily they’re manipulated against their own interests.
In the Internet age, it’s easier than ever to expose the lies and propaganda of Corporate Media, and their deceptions have never been more blatant. Yet, how many fell for “The Ghost of Kyiv” or the Snake Island fairy-tale? Worse than falling for it, many have moved on to praising Ukrainian disinformation campaigns (perpetuated by U.S. Intel Agencies via the Media) as necessary to defeat the Red Menace. When push came to shove, it became clear just how little many on the Right actually care about Government deception, as long as those lies are in service of their agenda and not AOC’s.
It’s shocking how little propaganda it took to turn many supposed anti-war conservatives into McCain-level hawks. People who have endured thirty years of NATO disaster after disaster, thirty years of Americans dying in foreign lands so NATO can grift billions from the taxpayer. It’s disturbing just how many in the new conservative movements, let alone the public at large, are LONGING to be lied to, to be manipulated, to have the CIA and the State Department tuck them in and tell them that everything is under control, it’s just not under your control.
But this moral relativist view of foreign policy is wrong, because moral relativism is wrong, even when it’s working in service of your team. It’s saddening to see how many on the Right are still just playing a game, a Grand Strategy game where America are the good guys and Russia are the bad guys. Because, they’re playing with the lives of real people, all to make themselves feel better, feel powerful, feel like the saviors of the free world. So, they work overtime to craft increasingly banal arguments: “We have to send our own citizens to die for another country, they’re helpless, definitely not the second largest military in Europe. Besides bombing people is bad.” Well, bombing a sovereign nation is bad, just ask Yugoslavia or Bosnia or Serbia or Kosovo or Somalia or Libya or Yemen.
Oh wait…
