The empire’s favorite trick is to begin the historical record at the moment its enemies retaliate against its abuses.
Security camera footage just before the shooting of health insurance executive Brian Thompson in New York on Dec. 5, 2024. (CCTV, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
By Caitlin Johnstone
CaitlinJohnstone.com.au
Listen to Tim Foley reading this article.
New York prosecutors have charged Luigi Mangione with “murder as an act of terrorism” in his alleged shooting of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month.
This news comes out at the same time as a Haaretz report titled “‘No Civilians. Everyone’s a Terrorist’: IDF Soldiers Expose Arbitrary Killings and Rampant Lawlessness in Gaza’s Netzarim Corridor.”
The report contains testimony from Israeli troops that civilians are being murdered in Gaza and are then being retroactively designated as terrorists to justify their execution.
“We’re killing civilians there who are then counted as terrorists,” a recently discharged officer told Haaretz.
These two stories together say so much about the way the label “terrorist” is used under the U.S.-centralized power umbrella.
The guy who shot the health insurance CEO is a terrorist, but the people systematically slaughtering civilians in Gaza are not terrorists. The people fighting against those who are slaughtering the civilians are terrorists, and noncombatants are being categorized as belonging to this terrorist organization in order to justify killing them.
The al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria were terrorists, but now they’re a U.S. puppet regime so soon they won’t be terrorists — but they need to be designated terrorists for a little while longer because the claim that Syria is crawling with terrorists is Israel’s justification for its recent land grabs there.
The Uyghur militant group ETIM used to be a terrorist group, but now they’re not a terrorist group because they can be used to help carve up Syria and maybe fight China later on.
The IRGC is a military wing of a sovereign nation, but it counts as a terrorist group because of vibes or something.
Is that clear enough?
To those still skeptical that Israel is committing war crimes: Will you believe it when it comes from a literal IDF officer saying "yes we murder civilians and then pretend they were terrorists"? If not then, then what amount of evidence will suffice? pic.twitter.com/q71HTOhVIb
— Nathan J Robinson (@NathanJRobinson) December 18, 2024
Really the label “terrorist” is nothing more than a tool of imperial narrative control which gets moved around based on whether or not someone’s use of violence is deemed legitimate by the managers of the empire.
Because Mangione’s alleged crime has ignited a public interest in class warfare, the label “terrorism” is being used to frame it as an especially heinous act of evil against an innocent member of the public.
The empire’s favorite trick is to begin the historical record at the moment its enemies retaliate against its abuses.
Oh no, a health insurance CEO was victimized by an evil act of terrorism.
Oh no, Israel was just innocently minding its own business when it was viciously attacked by Hamas.
Oh no, Iran attacked Israel completely out of the blue and now Israel must retaliate.
Oh no, Russia just launched an entirely unprovoked war on Ukraine.
Everything that led up to the unauthorized act of violence is erased from the record, because all of the violence, provocation and abuse which gave rise to the unauthorized act of violence were authorized by the empire. Authorized aggression doesn’t count as aggression.
Whoever controls the narrative controls the world. If you control the narrative you can control not only when the historical record of violence begins but what kinds of violence qualify as violence.
Killing people by depriving them of healthcare because denying healthcare services is how your company increases its profit margins? That’s not violence.
Inflicting tyranny and abuse upon a deliberately marginalized ethnic group in an apartheid state? That’s not violence.
Violence is when you respond to those forceful aggressions with forceful aggressions of your own.
Luigi Mangione could’ve gone overseas to slaughter Palestinians in Gaza and our government would’ve lauded him as a hero, but he ~allegedly~ killed a CEO, so he is branded a terrorist and thrown behind bars. The priorities of this system could not be clearer.
— James Ray ? (@GoodVibePolitik) December 18, 2024
If we are to become a healthy society, we’re going to have to stop allowing some forms of violence, aggression and abuse to be redacted from the official records while others are listed and condemned. Those who care about truth and justice account for all forms of violence, aggression and abuse, not only those which inconvenience the rich and powerful.
It is an act of aggression to do things which sicken and impoverish others in order to advance your own wealth.
It is an act of aggression to pollute the biosphere we all depend on for survival in order to increase your profit margins.
It is an act of aggression to use your wealth to manipulate your nation’s politics in ways which exacerbate inequality and injustice.
It is an act of aggression to maintain an apartheid state which cannot exist without nonstop violence.
It is an act of aggression to surround the earth with military bases and encircle nations which disobey your dictates.
It is an act of aggression to try to rule the world using military violence, proxy conflicts, staged coups, threats, starvation sanctions, and financial and economic coercion.
These are all acts of aggression, and any retaliation against them will never be an unprovoked attack. As we move into the future while these abuses exacerbate, it’s going to become very important to maintain an acute awareness of this.
Caitlin Johnstone’s work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, following her on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, YouTube, or throwing some money into her tip jar on Ko-fi, Patreon or Paypal. If you want to read more you can buy her books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff she publishes is to subscribe to the mailing list at her website or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything she publishes. For more info on who she is, where she stands and what she’s trying to do with her platform, click here. All works are co-authored with her American husband Tim Foley.
This article is from CaitlinJohnstone.com.au and re-published with permission.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
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“If you want to dispossess a people, the simplest way to do it is to tell their story and start with secondly.” — Mourid Barghouti
No surprise that two countries who understand this happen to be South Africa and Ireland, no doubt from their past history.
The REAL aggression begins for any nation rich in natural resources. The US can’t stand it when others are better off.
Slave revolts are never going to end well for the slave owners
I want to repost this on bluesky
Nathan J. Robinson is the author of “Superpredator: Bill Clinton’s Use and Abuse of Black America”.
It is a reminder of just how awful the Clintons were towards African-Americans. This later played a significant part in Hillary Clinton’s defeat in 2016.
If one actually listens to Jesus and what he tried to teach …. who gets to heaven in this story?
The CEO? Absolutely not. No Chance. Less chance than a full grown camel fitting through the eye of a sewing needle, according to the teachings of the son of God. Jesus obviously understood what it takes to become rich in a human society, and that this meant there was no way that such a person was getting into heaven.
The murderer? Again, not likely. Thou shall not kill. But, a better chance than the CEO, when one remembers that the one time Jesus actually lost his cool was when he met the Money Changers in the Temple. IIRC, Jesus apologized for that and asked for forgiveness. If the murderer does the same and admits they were wrong and asks forgiveness when he meets Jesus, he might still get into heaven. Some chance is better than the no chance that the rich CEO has, given that Jesus will know what he did to get rich.
I was going to write something very similar, thank you for saying it for me. That is the reason Luigi reminded me of Jesus Christ, and I see him as a Christ like individual. While Jesus ended up nailed to the cross for doing things very similar to what Luigi did, Luigi may end up dying in prison. But if heaven and hell exist, he will end up in heaven, while all the corporate multi billionaires who have denied health care to their customers will forever burn in hell, deservedly so.
“If the murderer does the same and admits they were wrong and asks forgiveness when he meets Jesus, he might still get into heaven.”
This brings up something that especially bothered me when I was a Christian. According to traditional Christian teaching, and especially as emphasized by fundamentalist and conservative evangelical Christians, a person is “saved” and is let into heaven by “accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior”, and only by doing so, and only by doing so in this present life.
So apparently an “unsaved” murder victim goes to hell, while if the murderer “repents” and admits they were wrong and asks forgiveness then the murderer is let into heaven. (Here I am not thinking about somebody like a rich CEO; I am thinking about any average person who has not “accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior” and is thus supposedly “unsaved”.)
This is a major part of the reason I am no longer a Christian (as well as also some more personal reasons), and I am happy to no longer be one. I talk about this, and other things, in my write-up linked to by my screen handle.
Some of my thoughts on the possibility of life after this present life, and justice in a future life.
There is very much of what looks like possible evidence for life after this present life on the internet. One such web site is run by a retired Australian attorney named Victor Zammit. He makes the bold claim that there is “without any doubt whatsoever, objective, repeatable, evidence for the existence of the afterlife”, and that the evidence has been collected by “some of the most brilliant scientists who ever lived”. He makes the point that this is not about religious crusading, and has nothing to do with religion.
hxxps://victorzammit.com/
Victor Zammit makes a point of noting that he considers that the evidence he has found shows that justice works itself out in the next life. For instance those who are cruel in this present life will find themselves in a very undesirable state, or a dark realm, in the next life, but such a state does not have to be permanent (unlike Christian teaching that one’s eternal destiny is fixed at the moment of death).
And here is a very interesting video about the Life Review, which is one feature of Near Death Experiences (NDE’s) which many people have reported. The video is titled The Golden Rule Dramatically Illustrated, and features NDE researcher Dr. Kenneth Ring. Dr. Ring makes the point that people have re-experienced and relived their deeds, not only from their own perspective but from the perspective of others whom one’s deeds have affected. In particular Dr. Ring describes the life review of a man, a big fellow, who had gotten into a fight with and punched out another man. In a life review accompanying a near-death experience he later had, he had to re-experience what he did — and this time he had to in effect be the man he had punched out, and to himself feel what the other man must have felt as a result of his blows.
In the video Dr. Ring makes the point that in the context of the near death experience the Golden Rule is “not just a precept for moral conduct but the way it works”, and one experiences this in a very forcible way in the life review.
hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tiKsKy7lFw
Hearing about near death experiences and the life review gives me some hope about the possibility of justice working itself out in a next life if not in this life.
Disclaimer: I have never had any personal experience which would confirm or strongly indicate for me the reality of life after this present life. I consider myself to be between 2 and 3 on Richard Dawkins’ scale of belief, where 1 = strong belief and 7 = strong disbelief. And I also absolutely do not accept the Christian beliefs that one’s eternal destiny is solely dependent (or even at all dependent) on “accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior” in this present life, and that a person’s eternal destiny is necessarily fixed at the moment of death.
Saint Caitlin…. Thank you
If the Healthcare Denial Parasites are killing ordinary people for the sake of profits, is it wrong for ordinary people to kill the Healthcare Denial Parasites for the sake of reform? (having been denied, denied, denied any nonviolent options for reform?)
Exactly what constitutes terrorism and what constitutes self defence?
Just askin’
Going back further stealing a religion to be weaponized by an empire as mythical antisemitism for setting up someone for rattig out a mythical prodigal son and a whole people blamed. Sparking a society of crucifixion imperialists who eventually morph from Knights Templar into a NATO military alliance for world cultural, economic, religious and military domination.
And the original religion that they stole was one that said “Put your sword into its sheath, for those who live by the sword shall die by the sword.”
Talk about irony, because it is quite apparent that the Christian Nation of America, which now lives entirely by the sword, is now quite obviously destined to die by the sword. Too bad they didn’t listen much to the religion that they stole.
thank you so much, caitline johnstone,
for making it crystal clear:
“might does not make right.”
but will we ever be able to reach the point where
people finally dare to SHARE fairly what’s there?
instead of an unfathomably in$atiable minority
not resting to wrest from the rest what’s left …
until nothing’ll be left except the end of human
life on earth as we knew it?
Capitalism is based on aggression since its colonising arm expands its empire by declaring a country ’empty’ (eg Australia et al) or simply going up its rivers with gun boats and ‘capturing’ it. Or declaring war on all other weaker ones and adding them to its empire. If a powerful person was practising this he would rightly be classified as a bandit. So we live and work in the Super Bandit’s empire.
I think I’m going to go listen to an old Queen song. Something about dust.
Were you perhaps meaning to refer to the classic and oh-so-fitting song, “Dust in the Wind”? I’m still in Kansas anymore, btw. lol
hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH2w6Oxx0kQ
Ahhh yes, of course…Queen’s another one bites was your point of reference, although it might be better if more in decision-making positions were to reflect on and catch wind of their own mortality as well as all those their decisions and actions affect.
Yes, when your three score and ten years of play time are over, it’s too late for the residual dust to do anything at all, even express regret for all the bad choices it made whilst briefly animated.
I can remember nearly 80 years back when, as a student in Catholic school, those hard-ass unforgiving nuns used to terrorize us little whelps with threats of how nearly every one of us in this life would absolutely, positively never get to heaven. Not even after being “purified” by suffering a hundred million years in the fires of “Purgatory.” Purportedly, only some tiny fraction of one percent of might have enough of God’s “grace” (not just “poise” but a more fungible commodity that you might actually earn by maintaining a record of good “cred” with the bearded One on His cloud) to dare fantasize ever seeing even a tiny precis of your days on this planet added to the latest edition of “Lives of the Saints.” Creatures such as us, when confronted by “free will,” are sure to sin… in ways awful and often that pretty much eliminate any chances at heaven on your “day one” on Earth. Least that’s what the “brides of Christ” had to say about the matter. With that as an underlying philosophy, what is anyone’s motive for doing “good works?”
I don’t so much blame the alleged creators of these great reiterating board games called religions, but most of them seem to make the worst possible choices in the PR teams they supposedly put together–worse even than all of Trump’s cabinet picks! Pope Frank seems the least insane of the lot, but he is roundly condemned for being an apostate when he suggests that the godhead might show mercy to those of us who try but fail to meet perfection under the rubric of “human nature” which he supposedly devised. Frank seems to be a “realist,” but in a good (at least a less evil way, if human suffering qualifies–which you’d think NOT based on its prevalence). If I were “God for a day” I’d reserve the deepest pit in hell not for the “money changers, ” the greedy, or the narcissists per se, but for the unapologetic hypocrites–especially those who make religion part of their great con–yes, like Joe Biden and his relentless crime family. Yeah, Joe, you deserve a solid case of eternity in hell, even more than the old ladies who tried to cheat at the weekly parish “Bingo” games.
Excellent points here. I always harp on about how the illegal starvation siege warfare, euphemistically called “sanctions” also results in mass ill-health, early death and mass emigration, refugee crisis… Then when the “illegals” arrive in the US/EU/UK they can be exploited, abused and used as political scapegoats and cannon fodder. So the crimes just keep rolling and the sycophant-stenographer MiniTrueMedia ignores it, or makes excuses for it.
Because the US does not like the Taliban govt. in Afghanistan, the US has seized billions in central bank reserves of the poorest, or one of the poorest, nations on earth and imposed “sanctions”. No matter what we think of the Taliban, it is incredibly cruel to punish innocent people en masse. Venezuela, Cuba, etc. are under starvation siege warfare, yet few talk about it. This is another incredibly cruel (not to mention illegal, fwiw) policy that rivals the cruelty of any other regime in history.
If hypocrisy is not considered a virtue, then folks in the Anglophone world should not criticize the actions of other nations until they stop the murderous and cruel policies of the empire.
Caitlin’s juxtaposing the violence of legal health care extortion (what passes for health care in the US) with other violent acts is spot-on. Although MiniTrue does not give us history or context, we can easily connect a few dots and see the ugly big picture. However, the picture is so ugly, and so disturbing that many choose to remain in denial.