Is This A Dystopian Novel?

 

Is This A Dystopian Novel?

(Or Is It Reality?)

by C.A. Matthews

 

I’m writing this on the way home from an annual science fiction convention we’ve attended for many years. My husband and I primarily speak on writing craft and publishing topics, but sometimes we’re asked to be on panel discussions dealing with the intersection between fiction and reality. How does SF (speculative fiction) show us the current situation humanity finds itself in or even our possible future?

Wise words from a famous science fiction author

I happened to land on a panel called “The Handmaid’s Tale: Fear and Social Dystopia.” (Excellent topic idea!) We were to discuss how this best-selling novel by Margaret Atwood, and the more recent streaming television series based upon it, reflects the horror of discrimination American women currently face and how it could be a prediction of even scarier things to come.

Of course, since I was on the panel, the discussion soon wandered into what I see as the novel’s true premise. The story of the abused and enslaved handmaids isn’t a dystopian tale of the near-future or an alternate future but an accurate reflection of both our current and past American society. Atwood, as a Canadian, is in an excellent position to see us as a sympathetic outsider and point out painful things that Americans have blocked from our cultural memories. There is much for us to learn from her discerning eye.  

Is the USA in reality the mythical “Gilead”? Why do we not see the red-caped young women marching in lines and “the wall,” the place where dissidents and non-believers are hung for their crimes against the state and their bodies left hanging as a warning to others? My contention is that these two things do in fact exist, albeit in slightly different forms.

When the US imprisons whistleblowers and journalists (such as Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, and Julian Assange) because they revealed horrific torture operations done in our name by the US military, the CIA and others at the Abu Ghraib Prison and at our very own extrajudicial detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, are we not in reality hanging these brave souls from “the wall”? Are we not using their slow deaths in prison and exile to scare other potential whistleblowers not to do likewise? Isn’t dangling their reputations in front of the mainstream media (aka “the wall”) and making false charges against them a deterrent to others emboldened to expose the immorality and corruption of the US government?

When cops murder people of color in cold blood for minor traffic violations or for simply sleeping in their own beds, is this not a kind of state execution or “the wall” that tells others to stay quiet and obey their white masters and don’t fight for their rights? When the police use teargas and rubber bullets on protesters and striking workers, isn’t this putting them on “the wall” to kill their hopes and dreams for a better future for all?

The US now spends more money on militarizing our local police departments than most countries—including Russia—spend on their actual military. No other country has 800+ military bases scattered all over the globe. The closest is China with about eight bases. The US has the largest military budget in the world, one that is more than the other top ten nations combined, and yet it has no money available for health care, education, or housing for all its citizens.

Now, which country reminds you of the fascistic/militaristic realm of Gilead—the country who recently announced that poverty had been eradicated within their borders (China) or the one that has criminalized homelessness in many municipalities (USA)? “The wall” presents injustices along with rotting corpses of those the state doesn’t want.

What about the red capes and the rapes of the handmaids/ concubines? Atwood purposefully had her handmaids wrapped in “bloody cloths” or red capes, a symbol of birth and sacrifice. These young women are the heifers and hens forced to give birth like livestock in order to provide enough laborers to support the ruling classes. Gilead’s economic system relies on slavery—but it isn’t necessarily thought of as chattel slavery by its rulers. Wage slavery works just fine in present day America and our rulers (bosses) think nothing of it, either.

Which so-called “first world nation” has the highest maternal mortality rate? You know it—it’s the USA. The maternal mortality rate for mothers of color is even higher than it is for whites, but it’s also high for poor whites with no access to private health insurance. What other society tells its women of child bearing years that their health and safety during child birth isn’t all that important? Could it be the only so-called first world nation that doesn’t provide universal health care for its people?

And then there’s the overturn of the Roe V. Wade ruling. (Read my take on how abortion rights are used against women in A Matter of Control.) What other country allows basic human rights, such as the right to bodily autonomy, to be stolen away from its citizens at the whim of conservative judges? Yes, Trump did appoint conservative federal judges, but he didn’t appoint all of them or even the majority of them. Most federal judges currently serving have been serving for more than ten years. Arch-conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was appointed during the Clinton Administration. Who was the senator that made sure Clarence Thomas was appointed to the Supreme Court by discrediting Anita Hill’s testimony and raking her over the coals? Senator Joseph R. Biden of Delaware is the man who made sexist, disparaging remarks to Professor Hill. You may have heard of him.

Atwood’s Gilead has one advantage the US doesn’t. It doesn’t waste time playing the silly game of what “color” or establishment political party is currently in the majority. True rulers always will get what they want at the expense of the ordinary working people’s lives. The establishment parties are mere distractions, foils as it were, and will always do as they’re told. Therefore, all third parties or alternative viewpoints must be crushed at whatever cost. The upper-classes can’t have the ordinary people thinking for themselves, can they? 

I posit that Americans have been living in Gilead since 1776. The corrupt economic system established by our “Founding Fathers” will always favor wealthy, white, land-owning (and slave owning) males. Women will always be controlled by the state through their wombs or reproductive capacity. Activists who speak up against injustices and attempt to organize the poor and working classes will always be labelled as agitators, communists, or enemies of the state. 

Los Angeles has criminalized the homeless.

Isn’t this the society Atwood envisioned in The Handmaid’s Tale? There’s no reason for Americans to lie to themselves any longer. The US is a dystopian novel. 

What can we do about it? Audience members asked the panelists if there was a way to overcome the Gilead characteristics baked into the DNA of the USA. I’m optimistic there is something we can do because folks did ask that question and assumed that they are capable of enacting changes for the better.

I think our best shot is to create genuine community and practice systems of mutual aid, such as the ones I described in my novel Where The Bodies Lie. We can grow our own food and share it with neighbors. We can create worker co-ops and organize worker-run unions to take on exploitative employers. We can work around the discriminatory distribution systems for food, health care, and shelter by fulfilling needs directly without including the predatory middle-man that capitalism seems to think is necessary for life (and that we all know isn’t).

There are many positive things we can and already do to dispel the gloom of dystopia, but we must do them together. No more of this “rugged individualism” that keeps us struggling and infighting amongst our fellow workers while the rich receive tax breaks and government subsidies for failing businesses. We need to build compassionate communities capable of feeding and taking care of each other, such as those described in the New Testament in the book of Acts. No more leaving anyone behind!

Until all women are free, all people of color are free, the homeless and the migrant and the hungry are all free, none of us will ever be free. None of us will escape Gilead. It’s an all or nothing proposition. But do we have the will to turn The Handmaid’s Tale dystopia into a Star Trek utopia? If any group can make the world into a better place, I believe it's sci-fi fans.

Let’s boldly go into that future.

Another great quote from Kurt Vonnegut.

Related Links:

Free Stores Offer an Alternative to the Exploitative Capitalist Economy https://truthout.org/articles/free-stores-offer-an-alternative-to-the-exploitative-capitalist-economy/

Catalyzing Worker Co-ops and the Solidarity Economy https://popularresistance.org/catalyzing-worker-co-ops-the-solidarity-economy/ 

US Quality of Life Now Ranks Down with Bulgaria (video) https://rumble.com/v1lor6v-us-now-ranks-with-bulgaria-as-developing-country.html

90% of the World Doesn't Back the US Now (video)  https://youtu.be/jsrOfEVcbzA

 

 

 

 

Convinced Yet? (General Strike Now!)

 

"The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." --Frederick Douglass

 

"The world is dominated culturally, economically and militarily by a regime that just killed women's rights protections because they make Jesus mad." --Caitlin Johnstone

Convinced Yet?

words and protest photos by C. A. Matthews

I hate to say, "I told you so," but I told you so. This is all getting a bit ridiculous. I discussed the history and likely outcome of the Supreme Court's recent ruling a little over a month ago in a piece entitled The Ministry of Truth v. Roe v. Wade. I followed up a week later at the first pro-abortion rights protests with Your Obedience Is Prolonging This Nightmare. Go back and read those two articles and then tell me that I'm not prescient. Go on. I'll wait.

Okay, now that you're back, and scratching your head over what we can do next to protect our human rights, let's get down to brass tacks. It might be too late. The damage has been done, and we can't overestimate the damage enough. Americans have sleepwalked into allowing the oligarchs, a.k.a. the 1%, a.k.a. the billionaires, a.k.a. the true rulers of our country and the world, into doing whatever the hell they want to whomever the hell they want, whenever they want.  Here are a few examples:

Equal rights/equal pay for women? Whatever! Put out the fire and put your bra back on, Grandma.

LGBTQIA rights and marriage? Excuse me? These persons don't exist in our perfect society ruled by white, hetero, cis-gendered males of wealth and privilege. Go back into your closets and shut the f*ck up.

Public schools? Desegregated public schools? To paraphrase a younger Joe Biden, "We aren't going to let our superior white offspring go to school in the jungle with all those brown and black kids." And besides, government school vouchers are good at religious schools now according to the Supreme Court. We only want our children associating with people going to heaven with us, not straight to hell where everyone who is not us automatically goes to upon death, an early death probably brought on by malnutrition caused by childhood poverty.

Yes, they'll be coming for more than just your or your friends' right to have an abortion. Count on it.

So, what are we to do? Voting harder doesn't work. Voting doesn't seem to work period. According to the infamous Princeton study, politicians don't even listen to us little people, the 99%. Money is what influences their actions. We'll never have as much money as the top 1% or even top 10%, so we'll never be able to influence politicians the way the wealthy can. 

Stop wasting your tears on feeling betrayed by "progressives" or "The Squad" or whoever lied to you to get your vote and/or a donation out of you. Their job is to manipulate you into thinking the system works for the poor and struggling of America. But the system is corrupt. It's broken. It's not worth saving.

Get over acting like "temporarily embarrassed millionaires" as John Steinbeck once put it. Even if you consider yourself "middle class," you are desperately poor compared to the billionaires who own everything, including our government. You ain't ever going to be allowed in their club, let alone dictate terms to them.

That means there's only one thing left we can do. We can use our vast numbers to overtake and take down the super-wealthy minority from their position of power. We can even the score and even out the inequalities of our society. We can start by letting them know in no uncertain terms that We The People are in charge.

How do we take charge? Two words: General strike. 

Our super power is our labor. In case you haven't noticed, rich folks don't know how to do shit for themselves. They have slaves--I mean, wage slaves--to do everything for them… Everything from cleaning their mansions to mowing their estates to painting their fingernails to piloting their private planes to wiping their backsides. If We The Workers don't do the work, the one-percenters are effectively dead in the water, particularly if the captain of their yacht abandons ship with them on it in the middle of the ocean.

And a general strike doesn't have to be one big, long, dragged out affair that happens everywhere at the exact same time. A general strike can be a series of shorter strikes done in rapid succession and spread across a wide variety of industries and occupations. Medical workers can strike at the same time as teachers and fast food workers. The next week it can be civil servants, airline pilots, and telecommunication workers. And so on. The main thing is that workers are all agreed to keep inconveniencing the oligarchs until they capitulate to the workers' demands.

What if you're unemployed or retired or disabled? You can help the strikes by boycotting businesses and institutions that treat their workers disrespectfully and cruelly. You can use your voices and wallets to support strikers by helping them stay out on the picket lines for as long as necessary and relieving them from time to time. Just the fact that we are the majority of Americans gives us unspeakable powers over the tiny majority that hoards most of the material wealth on this planet.

So, get creative and stick it to the Man. The Man undoubtedly wants to stick it to us. 

The actions of the 1% wealth-hoarders indicate that they're aware of our great power. It's why they've been militarizing your local police. It's why they continue to build up our bloated military (while simultaneously raking in lots of profits from the military industrial complex). The only way they know how to keep us in line is by force and violence. The oligarchs long have been dreading the day when working class Americans woke up to the fact that they've never lived in a democracy. The US is actually a corporatocracy ruled by those who come into the world connected to great wealth.

There are very few Cinderella stories in reality--it's why it's a fairy tale. Reality is much harsher. Rich kids inherit a ton of cash and get to go to the exclusive schools. They automatically go to the top positions of government and industry upon graduation. Poor kids stay in poor jobs and sometimes become even poorer than their parents' generation.

We The People need not be shy about it any longer. We know we need to redistribute the wealth of our land to all the people. No American should go hungry, or without health care, or a roof over their head. There is more than enough for everyone. It's the distribution methods that are totally f*cked. It's the corrupt distribution of wealth in the US that allows the homeless to die on the streets when there are homes enough for all--and then some.

That's why it's so obvious that our politicians are on the take from the 1%. They gladly perpetuate this screwed up distribution system to keep the majority of us poor and struggling so that a mere handful can enjoy every creature comfort ever invented. Politicians can't wait to be in that top percentage group, too.

So here's a plan: General strike. Stop wasting time voting for those now currently in office backed by the corrupt establishment political parties. Support leaders who aren't in the pockets of Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Ag, etc. Chase the oligarchy away. Tear down the system. Rebuild it back better. Be open to change and a new way of doing things that is truly democratic, not just pretend democratic like the mess we've got currently.

Convinced yet? If you are, get going!

If not, re-read this piece and ask yourself, "Why do I not believe I'm worthy of the human rights the Supreme Court has taken/will continue to take away from me?" Deep down, you know you are worthy. Leave behind the abusive relationships that make you feel unworthy of equality, liberty, and justice.

It's time. We need you on the picket line.

A telling quote:

That’s why America’s authoritarians are out of control. They are reveling in their power so much they’re flaunting it. They’re openly, gleefully saying that, next, they’re going to come for gays, kids, minorities of every kind, everyday marriages, families. When authoritarians are that open, my friends, you had better understand: it’s a message. They’re trying to humiliate you, because they are no longer afraid. They are only this open when they are unleashed to the maximum degree, and unafraid of any form of consequences whatsoever. --Umar Haque, If You're Scared For America, You're Still Not Scared Enough

Related articles:

When Joe Biden Voted to Let States Overturn Roe v. Wade https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/29/us/politics/biden-abortion-rights.html

Just Hurling Money at the Democrats Won't Save Abortion Rights https://www.rsn.org/001/just-hurling-money-at-the-democrats-wont-save-abortion-rights.html

How the Democrats Are Culpable in the Erosion of Abortion Rights https://www.gp.org/democrats_are_culpable

If You're Scared For America, You're Still Not Scared Enough  https://eand.co/the-end-of-roe-is-the-beginning-of-a-totalitarian-america-c9038f7d1d91  

The Creative Methods Workers Are Using to Stop Bosses' Abuse https://popularresistance.org/the-creative-methods-workers-are-using-to-stop-bosses-abuse/

What Overturning Roe v. Wade Means for Pregnant People in Pollution Hotspots  https://grist.org/health/what-overturning-roe-v-wade-means-for-pregnant-people-in-pollution-hotspots/ 

As Roes Falls, Criminal Defense Lawyers Sound Alarm About Mass Incarceration  https://www.npr.org/2022/06/16/1105291030/scotus-roe-v-wade-abortion-law 

GUIDE: How Will My State Be Impacted by the Overturning of Roe v. Wade? https://therealnews.com/guide-how-will-my-state-be-impacted-by-the-overturning-of-roe-v-wade

Green Party Calls for Mass Mobilizations to Protect Reproductive Rights https://www.gp.org/green_party_calls_for_mass_mobilizations_to_protect_reproductive_rights?

"A Revolutionary Ruling--And Not Just For Abortion"  https://scheerpost.com/2022/06/25/a-revolutionary-ruling-and-not-just-for-abortion-a-supreme-court-scholar-explains-the-impact-of-dobbs/

How Clarence Thomas' Concurring Opinion Suggests Other Rights May Be Vulnerable After Roe  https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/clarence-thomas-2657559336/

Fascist Republicans Kill Roe v. Wade, Useless Democrats Let It Happened https://www.directleft.com/p/fascist-republicans-kill-roe-v-wade

The Ministry of Truth v. Roe v. Wade  https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-ministry-of-truth-v-roe-v-wade.html 

Your Obedience Is Prolonging this Nightmare  https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/05/your-obedience-is-prolonging-this.html

 

Seen on Twitter:

“You have to vote for Democrats to protect Roe!”

How many times did we hear this? Yet, Roe was just overturned with a Democratic majority.

If this doesn’t make you realize that Democrats are complicit with Republicans I really don’t know what will.

— K ☭ (@IbaraEleven) June 24, 2022

Radicalization is an appropriate response to your rights being stripped away. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.

— 🏳️‍🌈 Pinkerbun 🏴🚩🏳️‍🌈 (@PinkerbellPixie) June 24, 2022

The U.S. will not give you healthcare for you or your baby, it will not give you daycare, it will not feed, educate, or house your baby, BUT by any means necessary they WILL FORCE YOU to bring a child into this Hellhole they have created.😉🔥

— Petrichor Exulansis (@PetExula) June 24, 2022

Maybe someday, women in America will have as many rights as guns do.

— Jo 🌻 (@JoJoFromJerz) June 23, 2022

Bill Clinton could have codified Roe V. Wade into law.

Barack Obama could have could have codified Roe V. Wade into law.

Joe Biden could have Roe V. Wade into law.

THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY NEVER CARED ABOUT ABORTION RIGHTS.

— Danny Haiphong (@SpiritofHo) June 24, 2022

My Soviet grandmothers had access to free abortions in the 1950-60s unlike both their American contemporaries and American women in particular states in 2022. Kind of mindblowing, huh? Because it's not only a gender issue, it's a class issue, untenable under capitalist rule.

— katya (@kazbek) June 24, 2022

Just got another e-mail from @SpeakerPelosi wanting a signature and money to stand against the abomination that is the SCOTUS decision. I should give the party money so she can go campaign for an anti-abortion candidate and help defeat a pro-choice one? Not in this lifetime!

— Spunky to My Friends (@laflemm15) June 26, 2022

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Your Obedience Is Prolonging This Nightmare

"I don't think that a woman has the sole right to say what should happen to her body." --Joe Biden, 1974

Your Obedience Is Prolonging This Nightmare

by C. A. Matthews

I participated in one of the thousands of Protect Roe v. Wade/Pro-Choice protest rallies held across the US this past Saturday. Our local outing was well-attended. Both the signage and the chanting protesters were creative and colorful. Passers-by honked their car horns and gave everyone a smile and a thumbs up. It's good to know that many Americans won't take this possible abridgement of their rights to privacy and bodily autonomy lying down. 

The saddest part for me was that some in this loud and boisterous crowd seemed oblivious to how and why the Roe v. Wade decision will be overturned. They seem content with supporting the corrupt status quo that created this dilemma in the first place. Whether this is intentional or unintentional makes little difference. The oligarchy that actually runs this country relies on the ignorance of the masses to promote their own purposes. 

 For every witty "Think Outside My Box" protest sign I spotted there was at least one sign proclaiming "Vote Blue in 2022 to Save Roe v. Wade." For every "My Body, My Choice" button there was a person carrying a clipboard, trying to sign folks up to become registered Democratic Party voters. 

Excuse me? The Democrats have been in power with a majority in both legislative houses of government during the Clinton, Obama, and now Biden administrations. They have done nothing to codify the Roe v. Wade ruling into federal law at any time in almost fifty years. What makes you think they're going to change their stripes now? 

Well, I guess Biden can point to the ill-timed attempt to codify Roe in the Senate this past week, but wouldn't you know it--it failed. That mean ol' senator from West Virginia, Joe Manchin, voted against it. What party does Manchin belong to? Why, he's a Democrat. He's also the head of many important Senate committees. 

And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was out campaigning this past week for a vocal anti-abortion member, a Representative Henry Cuellar, a Democrat from Texas. With these high level party examples of Sen. Manchin and Speaker Pelosi, why of course you would expect the Democrats to be the savior of Roe v. Wade. It makes perfect sense!

I got this bridge in Brooklyn I want to sell you if you believe that line of bull hockey. No kidding. You can trust me. You trust the DNC, right? 

So, you can understand why I'm very worried that we are going to return to the good ol' days of back alley abortions and women bleeding to death trying to induce one at home. If seemingly intelligent women at the rally actually believe the lie that either faction of the establishment (or either one of the "wings of the same bird") is going to protect a woman's right to choose, then we're destined to live in the world of The Handmaid's Tale. 

I covered the whys of the duopoly's love affair with keeping Roe v. Wade only a ruling and never a law in last week's blog, so I won't repeat myself here. But I will repeat that this "magical thinking" that either the Democrats or Republicans give a hoot about you or your rights above their bottom lines is just that--foolish and nonsensical. You have become a part of the problem by not questioning their misinformation campaigns (also mentioned in last week's blog). You have become blindly obedient to following their directives. And, in doing so, you have become a part of this nightmare. 

Please stop. 

You're prolonging the misery of millions of Americans by mindlessly giving your time, money, or vote to either faction of the duopoly. Nothing will change if they remain in power. Nothing. You will never sleep well at night knowing a woman's right to choose is safe unless you elect and appoint persons to government who have nothing to do with the current system that produces "lesser evil" candidates. You just won't. 

All the magical thinking in the world can't make politicians (who make a good deal of money on the side doing what they're doing) change. You have to "think outside the box" of voting either Democrat or Republican if you want them to stay out of "your box" and not take away your right to abortion care if and when you need it. 

Luckily, there is one American political party that fields candidates that don't accept corporate bribes--uh, lobbyists' money--and also have it written into their platform that abortion care is health care and that all Americans have the human right to health care. It's the Green Party US. Here is it in black and white: https://www.gp.org/the_real_difference 

Attend all the Protect Roe v. Wade rallies you like, but never forget that voting "blue no matter who" just keeps this nightmare going and going and going…

 P.S. Same goes for endless wars for oil/natural gas. Voting "blue no matter who" got us into the current proxy war. (Update: The US has just invaded Somalia as well.) You have to admit that the "Orange Man" isn't in charge anymore, so we can't put this war on his tally, long as it is.  The Democratic Party (including the supposedly progressive "Squad") are pro-military-industrial complex and pro-war, as every single one of them voted for the $40 billion package to Ukraine. Biden is admittedly anti-abortion as the earlier quote attests. 

By listening to the propaganda from the "Ministry of Truth" (Disinformation Governance Board) that told you to "vote for the lesser evil" Biden, you installed Evil 2.0.  And nothing has fundamentally changed, has it? We're still living in a nightmare. Until you decide to step out of line, that is.

Related articles:

Thousands in US March Under "Ban Off Our Bodies" Banner for Abortion Rights https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-abortion-rights-activists-start-summer-rage-with-saturday-protests-2022-05-14/

The Ministry of Truth v. Roe v. Wade  https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-ministry-of-truth-v-roe-v-wade.html

How the Democrats Are Culpable in the Erosion of Abortion Rights
https://www.gp.org/democrats_are_culpable

Mass Protest Is Rising. Can It Confront Global Capitalism? https://truthout.org/articles/mass-protest-is-rising-can-it-confront-global-capitalism/

Obama and Liberals Killed Abortion Rights https://www.blackagendareport.com/obama-and-liberals-killed-abortion-rights

Nancy Pelosi is Still Supporting Henry Cuellar, the Only Anti-Abortion House Democrat  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/nancy-pelosi-is-still-supporting-henry-cuellar-the-only-anti-abortion-house-democrat/ar-AAXeoRX

The Bizarre, Unanimous Democratic Support for the $40 Billion War Package https://popularresistance.org/the-bizarre-unanimous-dem-support-for-the-40b-war-package-to-raytheon-and-cia-for-ukraine/

 Seen on Twitter:

Never forget, literally every reason you are suffering right now, Joe Biden played a part in creating it over the last 5 decades.

— citizen uprising (@cit_uprising) May 13, 2022

Hard to believe that after all the countries the US has invaded, the Dictatorships it has supported, the Coups it has orchestrated, and Leaders and innocent civilians it has murdered, that our citizens still fall for this talk about fighting for Freedom and Democracy

— Black in the Empire (@blackintheempir) May 13, 2022

"Thanks for the $40 Billion Joe" pic.twitter.com/2zaNgiDOYf

— No Retreat No Quarter (@ChrisSVige) May 11, 2022

Stop normalizing Nazis at home and abroad. It’s getting people killed.

— Ryan Knight ☭ (@ProudSocialist) May 15, 2022

#FoodShortageJoe will lead to a summer of food riots

— #GayUnemployedWaiter (@PaulSorrentino3) May 14, 2022

There is a kind of poetic beauty in the way the US empire was birthed onto the world stage by a nuclear blast and will probably die in the same way.

— Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ (@caitoz) May 14, 2022

I'll believe it when I see it. Dems never met a corporate lobbyist with a suitcase of cash they didn't like. #capitalismkills

— C.A.M.@ TheRevolutionContinues.com (Pls read & RT) (@cynthianna3) May 14, 2022

Imagine still thinking voting Blue fixes things

— Pineal Podcast (@Pinealpodcast) May 14, 2022

It's possible to not be a Putin puppet and be against the criminals running this country risking WWIII so they can steal another $40 billion from us and more.

— Black in the Empire (@blackintheempir) May 15, 2022

Everything bad that was supposed to happen if Trump got re-elected is happening under Biden (but worse) because this is how the duopoly works. The people and planet always lose and Big Business and the ruling class always win because they own both parties.

— Ryan Knight ☭ (@ProudSocialist) May 16, 2022

The Ministry of Truth v. Roe v. Wade

 

The Ministry of Truth v. Roe v. Wade

by C.A. Matthews

Two shocking revelations were made public this past week that, at first glance, may not seem to have anything in common. Yet at second glance, any intelligent person can see they have everything in common.

The first revelation: The US Department of Homeland Security announced that they have been lying to us. (A big surprise to everyone, I'm sure!) Their "Disinformation Governance Board" is essentially what George Orwell described as "The Ministry of Truth" in his novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. Government propagandists work to "spin" what's happening in the world in order to cover over a multitude of faux pas made by our officials and other embarrassing truths about the United States. The theory of propaganda is that if you, the public, don't know what's actually happening, you'll never become angry at the right villains and hold them accountable. You'll be easily manipulated into hating people, places, and things that possibly could be of benefit to you.

Remember: Private health care works! You've never once donated to a GoFundMe to help out a friend or stranger who is struggling with medical bills. Those homeless people on city street corners deserve to be homeless. It's not like we have a surplus of 17 million+ empty homes in the US currently. (Like what the "Disinformation Governance Board" (DGB) is doing thus far?)

These propagandists feed their concocted fairy tales to the mainstream media where good-looking, well-paid, big name newsreaders obediently pass them onto the public with little fact-checking of the facts. (Okay, I exaggerate here. There's no fact-checking done, whatsoever, especially if it comes from the mouths of "anonymous officials" who are probably with the CIA. These "anonymous tips" are just accepted as gospel truth. The DGB appreciates your cooperation in this matter.)

We're seeing the outcome of these propaganda tales currently in a number of "fake news" stories on broadcast outlets about events going on in Ukraine, some of which there is no proof of having ever occurred.

Remember: You've never heard of the Azov Battalion. Those funny tattoos on their bodies are not swastikas. There is no Nazi symbology on either their flags or helmets. You've never heard them once bragging about killing LGBTQ folks or other minorities. The DGB crosses its fingers and sings, "This is true! We hope to die, stick a needle in our eyes." Yes, you really are back in third grade. 

The second revelation: A leaked draft opinion (featuring references to a discredited misogynistic 17th century judge) reveals that the US Supreme Court will repeal the Roe v. Wade pro-abortion ruling. It was verified by the Chief Justice as a genuine document. Pro-choice activists immediately took to the streets to express their anger at the infringement of their rights to privacy and to exercise bodily autonomy.

Remember: Women enjoy equal rights in the United States. Look at how we passed that Equal Rights Amendment so many years ago…  See how a woman of color makes the same amount of money in the same job with the same training and experience as a white male does... You can trust us at the Disnformation Governance Board to steer you in the right direction, just like neoliberals can "push Joe Biden left."

So, how do these two revelations intertwine? Let's take a look at the mainstream media's promotion of this statement: "The Democrats are the party that supports abortion rights." If this story is true, then why is reality so different? Crystal, an abortion care worker in Pennsylvania, attests:

The Democratic Party has not had any substantial response to the recent attacks on Roe. Their statements and brief denouncements of these egregious abortion bans and restrictions have been toothless and weak, hardly even mentioning abortion services the majority of the time.

Why did President Obama promise on the campaign trail in 2008 that on his first day in office he'd sign Roe v. Wade into law if he never was planning to do so? If you realize that abortion rights have yet to be codified in the year 2022 and that Obama ran as a Democrat in 2008, then Crystal's statement that Obama's party has not made any substantial moves to protect Roe v. Wade contradicts the propaganda put out by the party currently in power.

I hope you now can see the "spin" of propagandists at work. The workers at our Ministry of Truth work hard at trying to convince you of falsehoods that serve the status quo's best interests. But why would they lie about Democrats being the champions of abortion access? What purpose do these lies serve? My exploding email box gives us the answer:

From Sen. Chuck Schumer: 

The instant Roe is overturned, abortion could be illegal in 26 states. And Republicans are already plotting to pass a nationwide ban on abortion if they take back control of Congress and the White House.
This is what's at stake in this year's election. So I need you to donate anything you can right now to some of the most vulnerable Democratic Senators up for reelection this year in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Washington and Democrats running to flip critical Senate seats in Ohio, Florida, and North Carolina. We need every single one of them to win if we're going to stop the Republicans from taking over Congress again and add to our majority to protect abortion rights.

From Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: 

The only -- ONLY -- way to get justice is to win this election, protect the Democratic House and Senate, and replace every last anti-choice Republican who made this happen. I need a historic response to meet this earth-shattering moment -- 25,000 Democratic gifts in the next 24 hours -- to send a message so powerful, so resounding, there can be no question of our opposition. Will you rush $15 to stand with me on the right side of history? 

These and many other emails I--and millions of others--have received in the past week reveal the real truth: The Democrats have never really cared about putting Roe v. Wade into law because it scares neoliberal people into writing checks to support their campaigns. Simply put, never codifying this decision is a great way to raise money.

"Oh, but they have to deal with the ugly Republicans and those mean ol' Supreme Court justices!" you cry. "They keep the Democrats from making Roe into law." If these assertions are true, then why couldn't Clinton, Obama, or Biden with Democrat majorities in both the House and Senate even attempt to pass legislation to protect a woman's right to choose? Why did they let their majorities in Congress evaporate without putting up much of a fight to protect abortion access? Why did they pick justices to the high court who ultimately wouldn't stand up for abortion rights?

Two words: Ka-ching! Ka-ching! Keeping voters upset about access to legal abortion services is all about fundraising. It's just another way to control the public--especially women. (Read my take on how abortion rights are used against women in A Matter of Control.)

Now that your eyes are open to how the DGB/Ministry of Truth along with their well-paid allies in the mainstream media operate to spin facts in order to cover up the hidden agenda of their corporate-owned masters, you can't deny it. Roe v. Wade is an excellent fundraising tactic for both Democrats and Republicans. 

One group raises money by promising to defend Roe against the "evil conservative" people on the other side of the aisle. The other raises money by promising to "save the babies" or at least those babies who aren't born yet, since starving children without health care or a roof over their heads doesn't seem to bother them all too much.

So long as the establishment duopoly remains in power, a woman's right to abortion care will never be safe. 

Scarier still, other recently won rights such as same-sex marriage could be threatened as well. Check your email for the fundraising pitches to see which story the Ministry of Truth will spin next, and keep your money in your wallet. There's no use being robbed blind by these corporate-owned political machines as well as lied to by your government, is there?

Remember: Voting Democrat or Republican makes America great. We're not involved in a proxy war or selling bombs to drop on innocent civilians anywhere on the planet--and especially not on Palestinians or Yemenis! Women and minorities have always been treated equally in the USA. Americans are never arrested and incarcerated simply for "driving while Black" or living rough on the streets because they lost their homes due to unpaid medical bills or overwhelming student debt or high unemployment during a pandemic or...

Seen online:

I'm not pro-murdering babies.  

I'm pro-Becky who found out at her 20 week anatomy scan that the infant she had been so excited to bring into this world had developed without life sustaining organs.

 I'm pro-Susan who was sexually assaulted on her way home from work, only to come to the horrific realization that her assailant planted his seed in her when she got a positive pregnancy test result a month later.

 I'm pro-Theresa who hemorrhaged due to a placental abruption, causing her parents, spouse, and children to have to make the impossible decision on whether to save her or her unborn child.

I'm pro-little Kathy who had her innocence ripped away from her by someone she should have been able to trust and her 11 year old body isn't mature enough to bear the consequence of that betrayal. 

I'm pro-Melissa who's working two jobs just to make ends meet and has to choose between bringing another child into poverty or feeding the children she already has because her spouse walked out on her. 

I'm pro-Brittany who realizes that she is in no way financially, emotionally, or physically able to raise a child. 

I'm pro-Emily who went through IVF, ending up with SIX viable implanted eggs requiring selective reduction in order to ensure the safety of her and a SAFE amount of fetuses.

I'm pro-Christina who doesn't want to be a mother, but birth control methods sometimes fail.

I'm pro-Jessica who is FINALLY getting the strength to get away from her physically abusive spouse only to find out that she is carrying the monster's child.

I'm pro-Vanessa who went into her confirmation appointment after YEARS of trying to conceive only to hear silence where there should be a heartbeat. 

 I'm pro-Lindsay who lost her virginity in her sophomore year with a broken condom and now has to choose whether to be a teenage mom or just a teenager.

 I'm pro-Courtney who just found out she's already 13 weeks along, but the egg never made it out of her fallopian tube so either she terminates the pregnancy or risks dying from internal bleeding.

You can argue and say that I'm pro-choice all you want, but the truth is: I'm pro-life. Their lives. Women's lives. You don't get to pick and choose which scenarios should be accepted. Women's rights are meant to protect ALL women, regardless of their situation!

Related articles:

Obama and Liberals Killed Abortion Rights  https://popularresistance.org/obama-and-liberals-killed-abortion-rights/

Democrats Have No Plan To Stop the Overturning of Roe v. Wade https://therealnews.com/democrats-have-no-plan-to-stop-the-overturning-of-roe-v-wade

Republicans Kill Roe v. Wade, Democrats Vow to Tweet Harder https://www.directleft.com/p/republicans-kill-roe-v-wade-democrats?s=r

Democrats Had 50 Years To Save And Protect Roe. They Failed. https://truthout.org/articles/democrats-had-50-years-to-save-and-protect-roe-they-failed/

Leaked Draft Opinion Shows Supreme Court Set to Strike Down Roe v. Wade https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/05/02/leaked-draft-opinion-shows-supreme-court-set-strike-down-roe-v-wade 

https://www.propublica.org/article/abortion-roe-wade-alito-scotus-hale

The Roe Disaster--And What To Do About It  https://www.levernews.com/the-roe-disaster-and-what-to-do-about-it-2/ 

What Does Roe V. Wade Really Say?  https://www.abajournal.com/web/article/what-is-roe-v-wade 

Legal Experts Fear Loss of Abortion Rights Could Usher in End of Same-Sex Marriage and Other Rights  https://www.abajournal.com/web/article/legal-experts-fear-loss-of-abortion-right-could-usher-in-end-of-same-sex-marriage-other-rights

Homeland Security's "Disinformation Board" Is Even More Pernicious Than It Seems  https://greenwald.substack.com/p/homeland-securitys-disinformation

Western Claims of Russian Mass Graves Near Mariupol Another Fake News Hoax  https://scheerpost.com/2022/05/05/western-claims-of-russian-mass-graves-near-mariupol-another-fake-news-hoax/

There Are Many American Soldiers Already in Ukraine https://popularresistance.org/former-cia-contract-pilot-tosh-plumlee-there-are-many-more-american-soldiers-like-willy-joseph-cancel-already-in-ukraine/ 

Manufactured Truth (video) https://youtu.be/WG2q811Rmb0

CNN Helps US Government Lie About Spying on Americans https://www.rokfin.com/post/84932  ( very short video) 

Ukraine Alone Makes Biden the Worst US President In a Long Time https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/ukraine-alone-makes-biden-the-worst

Seen on Twitter:

Roe v Wade was decided in 1973. Democrats had 49 years to pass legislation for protecting abortion rights. They didn't.

— José Angel (@ComradeHavik) May 3, 2022

I wish Democrats fought for Roe v. Wade as hard as they fought against Bernie Sanders.

— John Brown was a socialist (@demsocjohnbrown) May 3, 2022

For decades, the Hyde Ammendment - which sexist Joe Biden supported throughout his career- prevented millions of poor women, who are disproportionately black, from getting abortion services. White liberals voted for Joe anyway.

Reproductive "freedom" is not reproductive justice.

— Prof Zenkus (@anthonyzenkus) May 4, 2022

So glad Trump lost because otherwise Roe v Wade would be on the chopping block and immigrants would still be getting mistreated and the Iran deal would still be dead and the military budget would keep inflating. Bastard would probably have us on the brink of World War 3 by now.

— Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ (@caitoz) May 3, 2022

democrats hold women’s health hostage for fundraising dollars and votes

— #GayUnemployedWaiter (@PaulSorrentino3) May 5, 2022

That's the whole idea of this charade--pretend to do something but then the bad guys in red hats stop it. Voters are told to keep voting "blue no matter who" to save Roe v. Wade. The Dems aren't serious about codifying it or else they'd have done it by now.

— C.A.M.@ TheRevolutionContinues.com (Pls read & RT) (@cynthianna3) May 6, 2022

Remember right before the Roe decision leaked how people were saying Biden should forgive all student debt? See how no one's talking about that now? That's why they leaked it.

— John Meade (@johnmeadeb2) May 9, 2022