DrEvil wrote: they removed their data caps and nothing happened. It's almost as if the caps are there to fleece the customers and nothing else.
Exactly! The ISPs add nothing, they only get in the way leech money.
Moderators: Elvis, DrVolin, Jeff
DrEvil wrote: they removed their data caps and nothing happened. It's almost as if the caps are there to fleece the customers and nothing else.
Berlin District Court, January 23, 2024
My name is CJ Hopkins. I am an American playwright, author, and political satirist. My plays have been produced and received critical acclaim internationally. My political satire and commentary is read by hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. 20 years ago, I left my own country because of the fascistic atmosphere that had taken hold of the USA at that time, the time of the US invasion of Iraq, a war of aggression based on my government's lies. I emigrated to Germany and made a new life here in Berlin, because I believed that Germany, given its history, would be the last place on earth to ever have anything to do with any form of totalitarianism again.
The gods have a strange sense of humor. This past week, thousands of people have been out in the streets all over Germany protesting against fascism, chanting "never again is now." Many of these people spent the past three years, 2020 to 2023, unquestioningly obeying orders, parroting official propaganda, and demonizing anyone who dared to question the government's unconstitutional and authoritarian actions during the so-called Covid pandemic. Many of these same people, those who support Palestinian rights, are now shocked that the new form of totalitarianism they helped usher into existence is being turned against them.
And here I am, in criminal court in Berlin, accused of disseminating pro-Nazi propaganda in two Tweets about mask mandates. The German authorities have had my speech censored on the Internet, and have damaged my reputation and income as an author. One of my books has been banned by Amazon in Germany. All this because I criticized the German authorities, because I mocked one of their decrees, because I pointed out one of their lies.
This turn of events would be absurdly comical if it were not so infuriating. I cannot adequately express how insulting it is to be forced to sit here and affirm my opposition to fascism. For over thirty years, I have written and spoken out against fascism, authoritarianism, totalitarianism etc. Anyone can do an Internet search, find my books, read the reviews of my plays, read my essays, and discover who I am and what my political views are in two or three minutes. And yet I am accused by the German authorities of disseminating pro-Nazi propaganda. I am accused of doing this because I posted two Tweets challenging the official Covid narrative and comparing the new, nascent form of totalitarianism that it has brought into being -- i.e., the so-called "New Normal" -- to Nazi Germany.
Let me be very clear. In those two Tweets, and in my essays throughout 2020 to 2022, and in my current essays, I have indeed compared the rise of this new form of totalitarianism to the rise of the best-known 20th-Century form of totalitarianism, i.e., Nazi Germany. I have made this comparison, and analyzed the similarities and differences between these two forms of totalitarianism, over and over again. And I will continue to do so. I will continue to analyze and attempt to explain this new, emerging form of totalitarianism, and to oppose it, and warn my readers about it.
The two Tweets at issue here feature a swastika covered by one of the medical masks that everyone was forced to wear in public during 2020 to 2022. That is the cover art of my book. The message conveyed by this artwork is clear. In Nazi Germany, the swastika was the symbol of conformity to the official ideology. During 2020 to 2022, the masks functioned as the symbol of conformity to a new official ideology. That was their purpose. Their purpose was to enforce people's compliance with government decrees and conformity to the official Covid-pandemic narrative, most of which has now been proven to have been propaganda and lies.
Mask mandates do not work against airborne viruses. This had been understood and acknowledged by medical experts for decades prior to the Spring of 2020. It has now been proven to everyone and acknowledged by medical experts again. The science of mask mandates did not suddenly change in March of 2020. The official narrative changed. The official ideology changed. The official "reality" changed. Karl Lauterbach was absolutely correct when he said, "The masks always send out a signal." They signal they sent out from 2020 to 2022 was, "I conform. I do not ask questions. I obey orders."
That is not how democratic societies function. That is how totalitarian systems function.
Not every form of totalitarianism is the same, but they share common hallmarks. Forcing people to display symbols of conformity to official ideology is a hallmark of totalitarian systems. Declaring a "state of emergency" and revoking constitutional rights for no justifiable reason is a hallmark of totalitarian systems. Banning protests against government decrees is a hallmark of totalitarian systems. Inundating the public with lies and propaganda designed to terrify people into mindless obedience is a hallmark of totalitarian systems. Segregating societies is a hallmark of totalitarian systems. Censoring dissent is a hallmark of totalitarianism. Stripping people of their jobs because they refuse to conform to official ideology is a hallmark of totalitarian systems. Fomenting mass hatred of a "scapegoat" class of people is a hallmark of totalitarianism. Demonizing critics of the official ideology is a hallmark of totalitarian systems. Instrumentalizing the law to punish dissidents and make examples of critics of the authorities is a hallmark of totalitarianism.
I have documented the emergence of all of these hallmarks of totalitarianism in societies throughout the West — including but not limited to Germany — since March of 2020. I will continue to do so. I will continue to warn readers about this new, emerging form of totalitarianism and attempt to understand it, and oppose it. I will compare this new form of totalitarianism to earlier forms of totalitarianism, and specifically to Nazi Germany, whenever it is appropriate and contributes to our understanding of current events. That is my job as a political satirist and commentator, and as an author, and my responsibility as a human being.
The German authorities can punish me for doing that. You have the power to do that. You can make an example of me. You can fine me. You can imprison me. You can ban my books. You can censor my content on the Internet, which you have done. You can defame me, and damage my income and reputation as an author, as you have done. You can demonize me as a "conspiracy theorist," as an "anti-vaxxer," a "Covid denier," an "idiot," and an "extremist," which you have done. You can haul me into criminal court and make me sit here, in Germany, in front of my wife, who is Jewish, and deny that I am an anti-Semite who wants to relativize the Holocaust. You have the power to do all these things.
However, I hope that you will at least have the integrity to call this what it is, and not hide behind false accusations that I am somehow supporting the Nazis by comparing the rise of a new form of totalitarianism to the rise of an earlier totalitarian system, one that took hold of and ultimately destroyed this country in the 20th Century, and murdered millions in the process, because too few Germans had the courage to stand up and oppose it when it first began. I hope that you will at least have the integrity to not pretend that you actually believe I am disseminating pro-Nazi propaganda, when you know very well that is not what I am doing.
No one with any integrity believes that is what I am doing. No one with any integrity believes that is what my Tweets in 2022 were doing. Every journalist that has covered my case, everyone in this courtroom, understands what this prosecution is actually about. It has nothing to do with punishing people who actually disseminate pro-Nazi propaganda. It is about punishing dissent, and making an example of dissidents in order to intimidate others into silence.
That is not how democratic nations function. That is how totalitarian systems function.
What I hope even more is that this court will put an end to this prosecution, and apply the law fairly, and not allow it to be used as a pretext to punish people like me who criticize government dictates, people who expose the lies of government officials, people who refuse to deny facts, who refuse to perform absurd rituals of obedience on command, who refuse to unquestioningly follow orders.
Because the issue here is much larger and much more important than my little "Tweet" case.
We are, once again, at a crossroads. Not just here in Germany, but throughout the West. People went a little crazy, a little fascist, during the so-called Covid pandemic. And now, here we are. There are two roads ahead. We have to choose ... you, me, all of us. One road leads back to the rule of law, to democratic principles. The other road leads to authoritarianism, to societies where authorities rule by decree, and force, and twist the law into anything they want, and dictate what is and isn't reality, and abuse their power to silence anyone who disagrees with them.
That is the road to totalitarianism. We have been down that road before. Please, let's not do it again.
Propagation of fascist, neo-Nazi and "white pride" causes, including sympathetically linking to sites which advocate such, will not be permitted. This includes revisionist histories of the Holocaust.
So what if, then, in the spirit of honest inquiry, we were to talk about alleged Holocaust Deniers in the spirit of “innocent until proven guilty,” to give them the benefit of the doubt as human beings who might be driven by something other than hatred? What if we were to dispassionately examine their arguments? And what if, by doing so, we sometimes found not hatred or insanity (or a psyoperative posing as a researcher), but a sincere desire to get to the truth?
Researching an established historical narrative … to see how it holds up to scrutiny involves two angles of approach:
1) Checking the evidential body behind the narrative to see if it is accurate
2) Looking for counter-evidence that refutes the narrative
In the process of this rearrangement of evidence, it is more than merely tempting to assemble a new narrative—it is unavoidable. The main thing, then, is to avoid, as much as possible, premature narrative-building, out of a desire to “win the argument”—including, or especially, the one in our own minds.
The desire to reduce cognitive dissonance, as it increases in the face of two contradicting versions of reality/truth, can certainly be overwhelming. We want to make sense of the new evidence as quickly as we can, to escape the gravitational pull—the spell—of the old narrative, which is constantly trying to pull us back in (even though we can no longer quite believe in it).
“We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” (William Casey, CIA Director, 1981 to 1987)
“We’ve been trying to get people to stop saying ‘mainstream media’ because there’s nothing mainstream about 90 percent of the media being controlled by 6 private, for-profit corporations or 5 other big tech companies. There’s nothing mainstream, or Main Street, about the ideas and the views that they platform. It’s corporate media or establishment legacy press, and then there’s independent media which means very little.”
— Mickey Huff
Project Censored was founded by a communications and sociology professor in the 1970s. He asked himself how it was that Richard Nixon was elected by a landslide despite ample coverage of his misdeeds and corruption in the independent alternative media. And why did it take so long for the establishment press to catch up?
Steve’s guest Mickey Huff discusses the work of Project Censored today and the current state of the press. They talk about how the corporate media’s coverage is based on American exceptionalism and propaganda efforts, as well as the receding role of independent local outlets. They emphasize the importance of critical media literacy and how the media landscape has become more complicated with the rise of social media. They touch on the influence of big tech and billionaires on the media, and look at it as another example of corporate exploitation of workers.
Mickey Huff is an educator, radio broadcast producer/host, podcaster, author/editor, the current director of Project Censored, and the president of the nonprofit Media Freedom Foundation. Since 2009, he has coedited the annual volume of the Censored book series and has contributed numerous chapters to these works since 2008. His most recent books include United States of Distraction: Media Manipulation in Post-Truth America (and what we can do about it), co-authored with Nolan Higdon, and Project Censored’s State of the Free Press In 2024, co-edited with Andy Lee Roth. Mickey is currently a professor of social science, history, and journalism at Diablo Valley College where he co-chairs the History Area and is chair of the Journalism Department.
https://www.projectcensored.org
On Twitter:
@mythinfo
@ProjectCensored
guruilla » Thu Feb 08, 2024 8:59 am wrote:"Propaganda-derangement-syndrome" (PDS) = the sabotaging of human sense-making abilities via cognitive warfare, beginning & ending with our ability to discern truth from falsehood. What can't be said too often, IMO, is that this isn't only a means, but an end in & of itself - as implied in the above quote.
Desired result: inmates becomes guards; populace polices itself, internally as well as externally.
DrEvil » Fri Feb 09, 2024 11:29 pm wrote:I think the reason for the "no Holocaust denial" rule is pretty obvious: keep the fucking Nazis out. You let one Nazi have a drink at your bar, next week he comes back with a couple of mates, and before you know it all your regulars have left and you're the Nazi bar.
May not be much of an issue now that most of the regulars already left, but back when Jeff made the rules there were a lot more people posting. Easier to just nip it in the bud than deal with the bullshit and the thinly disguised "just asking questions" brigade.
alloneword » Sun Feb 11, 2024 10:21 am wrote:You touched on this in one of your podcasts, regarding the human mind being hard-wired to be mortally afraid of social ostracization and becoming cast out from one's social group. This appears to have a deep evolutionary basis, in that such an occurrence would quite possibly have meant literal death.
alloneword » Sun Feb 11, 2024 10:21 am wrote:
Which brings me to a second notion... That all of these 'big lies', these confected narratives that contain elements that don't stand up to even the most cursory scrutiny or inquiry, that they are this way by design. These threads are left hanging out, precisely for inquiring minds to pull on and become entangled on their way down the rabbit hole. A hole that divides all the way down, along a pre-dug trajectory, until reaching it's inevitable dead end.
If they made the narratives more coherent, or the rebuttal of doubters more convincing, they might actually decrease the divisionary effect and even risk propagating the opposite.
The book of Job is about the impossibility of man’s ever understanding the causal links (the story), and yet his need to trust that God does indeed uphold the world, that there is a story there of which we are a part. It shows that man must neither simply accept that there is a story nor refuse to believe that there is one, but that it is his duty constantly to question God (and himself) about it. In Kierkegaard’s wonderful phrase, it keeps “the wound of the negative open.”
The Book of God: A Response to the Bible, p. 290, by Gabriel Josipovici
guruilla » Sun Feb 11, 2024 3:23 pm wrote:i.e., good guys vs bad guys. We so badly need to take sides (find an identification point) in every story, to find a position that feels secure, that we end up joining the first controlled opp/psyop that comes along.
alloneword » Sun Feb 11, 2024 4:00 pm wrote: I'm not completely sure that this apparent preference for 'good guys vs bad guys' narrative isn't in itself manufactured.
By that I mean that when content with a narrative framework which eschews such familiar patterns does somehow make it's way into popular culture, it seems to be both critically and publicly acclaimed - 'The Wire', 'Game of Thrones' etc. So it could be argued that it's not purely down to 'what the audience demands'.
Your comment on finding of a 'position that feels secure'... That crystalised something - it's all so infantilising. 'Explain the world to me as if I was six'. Looking across my kids bookshelves, I find the odd 'original' versions. Spoiler: The wolf/witch/whatever eats the kids. The End.
Admittedly, to a certain extent in our daily lives we all place events into our own personal narrative framework, one in which we ourselves at least play the 'good guy', if not 'the hero'. Whether this tendency is innate, inculcated or a mixture of the two, it surely makes the suppression of our co-operative nature and the process of division much easier.
alloneword wrote:One of the things that became glaringly apparent to me over the past few years is that the purpose of so much of this propaganda is not so much to tell you what to think, but rather it is carefully engineered to try and convince you what others think.
guruilla » Sun Feb 11, 2024 9:31 pm wrote:What I got from this, intended or not, is that a big part of the schismogenesis is making us think that other people think things we find threatening, without really testing this assumption (because it can't be tested, on anything but a one-to-one basis...)
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