The Glass is Refillable

The earth looks so beautiful from space. Let's keep it that way.

The Glass Is Refillable

by C. A. Matthews

Most of us reach a breaking point at one time or another in our lives. There’s simply too much crap being thrown at us. We’re in pain both mentally and physically, and we’re long past the point of caring at work, school, or home. Since nothing is going our way, and it appears to be the last days of the Late Great Planet Earth, the urge to do absolutely nothing but tear down others who voice even an ounce of optimism is too tempting to resist.

So, we sit on our backsides and insult absolute strangers on the internet whenever they suggest possible solutions to our or the world’s problems. Simply put, we don’t want to hear that the glass is “half full.” Oh, no, no, no! We bitch up a storm and tear those faceless internet posters a new hole and make them feel as horrible as we feel, because we don’t have any optimism left when we’re in the midst of a breaking point.

Well, pardon me for breathing, but I think you actually can generate some enthusiasm for life even when the sh*t has hit the proverbial fan.

Optimism is Mother’s Nature way of keeping us alive and functioning and not wallowing in self-pity or destructive behaviors. Because while we’re wallowing, nothing is getting done, and we’re actually adding to our own problems as well as the planet’s. Screaming—or the online equivalent in all caps complete with asterisks and exclamation points—that the glass isn’t even “half empty” because it has been spilled and smashed into a million pieces only provides a mere nanosecond of relief. The pain inside remains.

 

The goal for intelligent, rational creatures is to rid ourselves of pain, not continually do things that ask for more of it. We are hardwired to take action to end the pain, and we can do so without killing ourselves or others. (Editor’s note: If you are feeling suicidal, in the US please call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. If you’re feeling homicidal, put all weapons out of reach, take a deep breath, and contact Emotion Anonymous to find a meeting near you.) 

Rash actions are often regretted and cannot be rescinded, but wisely planned and deliberate actions taken toward a reachable goal can ease our pain and provide possible solutions to the challenges facing us.

For all those who feel hopeless and see no way to fight against those who are destroying Earth’s biosphere, I feel your pain. Peter Kalmus, a NASA climate scientist, recently said in his keystone address at the Green Party Annual National Meeting how much it hurts him to see what’s happening in the world, too. He told us: “Don't lose hope—but don’t have false hope.”

This means we can’t deny what is happening any longer. We need to educate ourselves about the main causes behind the environment’s degradation. For example, we have to look at our outdated economic system. It is disheartening and maddening to watch heartless capitalists turn the precious planet we’ve come to know and love into one huge polluted cesspit for the sake of ever bigger profits for a tiny handful of billionaires. It makes no sense. Don’t these a-hole billionaires breath oxygen and drink water, too?

It's the senselessness of the mega-polluters’ stupidity that causes us the most pain. Their asinine and self-centered attitudes reveal the true cause behind these insanely short-sighted behaviors: they’re a-holes and selfish bastards.

There, I said it. Now, what do we do about the situation? Do we allow the super-wealthy to continue wallowing in their a-holery and selfishness?

Nah, that would be wrong of us. We want the sick-o billionaires to be happy and healthy functioning human beings, right? They can’t remain these hideous, soulless creatures, raping the planet of its natural resources, filling landfills and oceans with toxic wastes, poisoning life as we know it. It’s time to take action to turn the billionaires into actual human beings even if it impoverishes them in the process. It’s time to take away their power and their playthings and stop others from cooperating with them in the destruction of Earth.

How we go about this awesome feat depends on our own individual/personal philosophies. Some activists will take to the streets in protest and boycott products from countries that are greatly contributing to the biosphere’s demise. A great example of focusing attention (and possibly bringing about some real change) on how destructive the fossil fuel industry is to our environment is happening on September 17 at the March to End Fossil Fuels in New York City. 

If marching down Broadway while screaming at the billionaires doesn’t bring you out of yourself and generate renewed determination to become a doer and not just a wallower in your pain, please find someone to talk to, such as a professional counselor. Asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness, and we need all the strong people we can get.

Environmental activism (protests, marches, sit-ins, demonstrations, etc.) can include resisting and preventing the growth of the military-industrial complex (MIC) and fighting for peace as well. The US military machine has not only killed millions of innocents, but it’s also the fifth most polluting organization in the world, ranking far ahead of actual countries.

Shutting down America’s endless wars for resources would help stop the MIC’s pollution, and it would also create friendlier conditions among nations to cooperate and fight climate change together. Once everyone is on the same page and talking to each other, without fear of having an American nuclear bomb dropped on them, it would go a long, long way in solving all our planet’s problems.

Isn’t it better to take the “half-full glass” of optimism and run with it than to throw the glass on the floor in a fit of existential pique?

Some activists will hack into banks’ and corporations’ computer systems and take the power away from those who do the most harm by financing the resource wars that increase pollution. Relieving billionaires of their wealth and redistributing it to those who are in need will end most social ills, too. Once income inequality is addressed many good things will fall into place. In the US that would mean the end of homelessness, health care for all, and free education from the youngest to the oldest of students. Solving those issues could lead to the end of racism and classism. Less pain for everyone!

Some activists feel more comfortable working “within the system” or at least attempting to overthrow the corrupt system from within. They put time and effort into electoral politics and assisting political candidates and causes. Is this the most effective use of their time, energy, and intellect? The jury is still out.

One thing's for certain, to sit around and scream obscenities online at those who are involved in the electoral process is definitely a waste of time, energy, and intellect. Acting like a “troll” online does not solve anyone’s problems, let alone the planet’s. It doesn’t meet the challenges of ending wars or fighting for the environment or preventing income inequality, for instance. Perhaps the people who have tough skin that can handle the media smears and nasty hit-pieces in the press about their characters while they run for office are the ones most capable of inspiring the majority of populace to take action.

Human beings need honest and hard-working leaders because the game of life is tough and the goalposts seem so far away. Let’s not run the worthy leaders off the field before they’ve had their chance to convince us otherwise. But let's not be afraid to expose and run off the dishonest and unworthy leaders, either. Perhaps a two-pronged approach of direct action as well as electoral action is the wisest route to take after all?

Many people think they have the sole responsibility to fix what all needs fixing in the world. But that’s not true. We’ve got to do it together or not at all. The “not at all” happens while we wallow and criticize others’ optimism and actions. It only adds to our “empty glass” pain.

Taking action by becoming an activist is one way to fight the pain in our hearts and the depression that clouds our thought processes. When you focus your energies toward a common goal—tackling climate change, for instance—then you’re no longer alone in your pain. You no longer have the time to wallow and criticize needlessly. You’re busy doing something worthwhile, and you’ll feel better about yourself and others.

At the very least, you’ll have more things to criticize later when you give activism up and go back to the wallowing and destructive behaviors. So, why not give it a try? You’ve got nothing to lose.

Remember, the glass may not be “half full,” but it isn’t “half empty,” either. The glass is refillable. We’re still here. The planet is still here. We need to get to work now. It may sound hokey, but tomorrow is another day. Let’s use our glass wisely and together.

 

Another way to look at the necessity of activism:

Nuclear brinkmanship. Yemen. Iraq. Starvation sanctions deliberately targeting civilians. Deliberately imposed poverty crushing people to death at home and abroad. Arming neo-Nazis, violent jihadists and right wing counterrevolutionaries in foreign conflicts to advance geostrategic interests. Police brutality. The relentless push for online censorship. The nonstop barrage of propaganda to manipulate our minds. The increasingly loud drumbeats for hot war with Russia and China. The ecocidal nature of global capitalism.

All of these things are profoundly horrific, but people don’t really see them, because they’re being conditioned to look past them.

Our task, then, is to get them to look. Really look, and really see. In this way we can actively abnormalize what has been normalized, one pair of eyes at a time.--Caitlin Johnstone, Abnormalize the Empire

Related Articles and Interesting Links

The March to End Fossil Fuels: https://www.endfossilfuels.us/ 

The Choice https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-choice.html 

Suicide and Crisis Lifeline--Call 988 in the US and for more info:   https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/988-fact-sheet.pdf

Find a meeting of Emotions Anonymous (worldwide): https://emotionsanonymous.org/find-an-ea-meeting/general-information.html 

Montana Youth Turned The Tables And Won An Unprecedented Climate Victory https://popularresistance.org/montana-youth-turned-the-tables-and-won-an-unprecedented-climate-victory/

The Imperialist History Behind the Maui Fires https://www.leftvoice.org/the-imperialist-history-behind-the-maui-fires/

Environmentalists Owe An Enormous Debt To Julian Assange
https://popularresistance.org/environmentalists-owe-an-enormous-debt-to-julian-assange/

The Media’s Role In Criminalizing Climate Protest
https://popularresistance.org/the-medias-role-in-criminalizing-climate-protest/

Japan to release wastewater from Fukushima nuclear plant into Pacific Ocean https://www.nationofchange.org/2023/08/25/japan-to-release-wastewater-from-fukushima-nuclear-plant-into-pacific-ocean/

The U.S. Military Is Driving Environmental Collapse Across the Planet https://www.leftvoice.org/the-us-military-is-driving-environmental-collapse-across-the-planet/

How Ohio’s Chamber of Commerce Killed an Anti-Pollution Bill of Rights https://theintercept.com/2019/08/29/lake-erie-bill-of-rights-ohio/

Abnormalize The Empire https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/abnormalize-the-empire

Unipolar Hegemony Is A Freakish Historical Aberration
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/unipolar-hegemony-is-a-freakish-historical

Another Day, Another CIA Press Release Disguised As News
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/another-day-another-cia-press-release

97 Percent of UAW Workers at Big 3 Automakers Vote to Authorize a Strike  https://truthout.org/articles/97-percent-of-uaw-workers-at-big-3-automakers-vote-to-authorize-a-strike/

Double Punishment: California Prisons Set Up Thousands of People to be Detained and Deported by ICE—Including Citizens
https://scheerpost.com/2023/08/24/double-punishment-california-prisons-set-up-thousands-of-people-to-be-detained-and-deported-by-ice-including-citizens/

BRICS Doubles Share of Global Oil Production In Welcoming Six New Members at BRICS Summit in S. Africa
https://themcgwire.substack.com/p/brics-doubles-share-of-global-oil

Ukraine’s Counteroffensive Has Failed—It’s Time to Reevaluate
https://scheerpost.com/2023/08/26/ukraines-counteroffensive-has-failed-its-time-to-reevaluate/

Zelensky Cracks Down on Draft Dodgers, Forces Men to Fight & Die in This War https://scheerpost.com/2023/08/25/zelensky-cracks-down-on-draft-dodgers-forces-men-to-fight-die-in-this-war/

Coming soon, the first book from The Revolution Continues blog:  The Little Red Book of Revolution

How can you get your e-copy? The easiest way is to subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack as a paying subscriber. Choose what level you'd like to subscribe at online at: https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com

If you'd like to help out in the meantime, buy me a coffee!  https://ko-fi.com/therevolutioncontinues

More details to come. Power to the people!

 

Does the US Deserve Redemption?

 

Hey, I've got a smart idea: let's make laws that require corporations to act like sociopaths, pursuing profit without any consideration for morality or human well-being, then let's allow our entire civilization to be ruled by corporations.

Oh cool, we already did that, good thinking. --Caitlin Johnstone, You Have To Be Trusted By The People That You Lie To

 

Does the US Deserve Redemption?

by C. A. Matthews

After that one millionth, “Oh, no, not again!” feeling, you begin to wonder “Why bother?” Why bother getting upset or angry or depressed or frustrated when you know that feeling will come again and again and again and again…

The United Nations Security Council on February 21 heard testimony from Professor Jeffrey Sachs and former CIA Intelligence Anaylyst Ray McGovern about the Nord Stream pipelines bombing. It’s obvious to everyone that the US (with the help of Norway) were the culprits, and it was an act of terrorism that should be punished. But nothing is going to be done about it. The UN refuses to condemn the bombers. They’ll pretend like it never happened, although it actually happened, and it destroyed several member nations’ property and caused the largest methane leak in history.

The United States is a Teflon-coated bully that can destroy the environment and drone bomb the world and nobody will ever stand up to the US because of fear of retaliation, probably. That “Oh, no, not again!” feeling never goes away when it comes to the amount bullshit the United Nations will allow the US to get away with, and all because we’re the only country to drop not one, but two atom bombs on another country.

I’ve had enough of it. I’m ready for somebody or somebodies to call us on our shit and take us out once and for all. It will come as a great surprise to some Americans that there are many countries who have been longing for the day when the United States of America is no more. It’s not like these folks necessarily nurse an irrational hatred of our people, our junk food cuisine, our insipid Hollywood movies and exported TV shows, or even our gas-guzzling, climate-changing cars. It’s that they’ve had enough of our imperialism. 

It’s our imperialism that makes the US a pariah around the world. The list of countries we’ve invaded, helped stage a coup d’etat, economically sanctioned, or simply bombed grows longer by the day. Here’s a list of the countries the US has attempted to overthrow since World War II:

(* indicates successful ouster of a government)

• China 1949 to early 1960s

• Albania 1949-53

• East Germany 1950s

• Iran 1953 *

• Guatemala 1954 *

• Costa Rica mid-1950s

• Syria 1956-7

• Egypt 1957

• Indonesia 1957-8

• British Guiana 1953-64 *

• Iraq 1963 *

• North Vietnam 1945-73

• Cambodia 1955-70 *

• Laos 1958 *, 1959 *, 1960 *

• Ecuador 1960-63 *

• Congo 1960 *

• France 1965

• Brazil 1962-64 *

• Dominican Republic 1963 *

• Cuba 1959 to present

• Bolivia 1964 *

• Indonesia 1965 *

• Ghana 1966 *

• Chile 1964-73 *

• Greece 1967 *

• Costa Rica 1970-71

• Bolivia 1971 *

• Australia 1973-75 *

• Angola 1975, 1980s

• Zaire 1975

• Portugal 1974-76 *

• Jamaica 1976-80 *

• Seychelles 1979-81

• Chad 1981-82 *

• Grenada 1983 *

• South Yemen 1982-84

• Suriname 1982-84

• Fiji 1987 *

• Libya 1980s

• Nicaragua 1981-90 *

• Panama 1989 *

• Bulgaria 1990 *

• Albania 1991 *

• Iraq 1991

• Afghanistan 1980s *

• Somalia 1993

• Yugoslavia 1999-2000 *

• Ecuador 2000 *

• Afghanistan 2001 *

• Venezuela 2002 *

• Iraq 2003 *

• Haiti 2004 *

• Somalia 2007 to present

• Honduras 2009 *

• Libya 2011 *

• Syria 2012

• Ukraine 2014 *

From William Blum’s Overthrowing Other People’s Governments: The Master List

And the US continues to get away with these sordid kinds of things. We actually don’t get sanctioned, boycotted, bombed or nuked in return. We love to claim certain “baddies” are out to get us with their “spy-surveillance-lost-weather-balloons,” but no, that’s more of our own paranoia reflecting back at us. Luckily, most other nations are wise and mature enough not to fall for the US provoking hostilities and ignore Americans slurs made against them as a people. 

So, what if one day the US actually did get “caught in the act”? (We’ve been caught red-handed before and nothing happened, but what if?) What if one day the United Nations actually doled out an ample punishment for our imperialistic ways? Not a slap on the wrist, but an actual penalty to drive the point home that nobody likes a bully? What would that be like?

I, for one, would love to see the most polluting, most corrupt, and most violent American military machine put out of business. Forever. The UN could confiscate their facilities and re-tool them to do more productive and peaceful activities. At the end of the day, there would be no more military-industrial-Congressional complex. Good-bye Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, General Dynamics, Boeing… Total death to the War Machine! It's time to end the most polluting, environmentally damaging organization in the world, the US military! 

It also would put an end to all the well paid lobbyists and the kickbacks they give to the Congressional part of that MIC complex. No more huge piles of money buying off the loyalties of American politician-puppets. The idiots in Washington DC and our state houses would have to actually work for We the People and live only on the wages they’re given as an office holder. (Watch the current crop of politicians abandon ship like rats when the corporate money dries up.)

I hope the UN will enact sanctions against our “Death Industry” as well. Sanctions would put an end to the Big Pharma/Big Health Insurance cartel that has caused more unnecessary American deaths than every war we’ve legitimately taken a part in. Imagine every American having access to health care when they need it, not when or if they can afford to purchase it. Imagine! No more tricking young men and women into joining the military simply to gain health care coverage, either. People poisoned by a chemical spill and burn caused by a private corporation will have one less worry when it comes to treating their chronic illnesses.

The UN could also hold the US accountable to follow all the treaties we’ve ever signed that recognize human rights for all people. These human rights would include not locking up persons of color for decades and slapping life sentences/death sentences on them for the same crimes a rich white person with money might commit and receive only a slap on the wrist. This would mean allowing asylum seekers into the country who are searching for safety, instead of kicking them back into the dangerous border region of northern Mexico. This would mean the US government would have to follow all the treaties they've broken with Native American tribes.

So many good things would come about if the corrupt socioeconomic system of capitalism, the thing that drives American imperialism, was wiped off the map. Completely. Forever. 

But what would replace it? And, more perplexing still, do Americans as a people, a country, a nation, even deserve redemption?

Can a country whose Constitution holds that enslaved African Americans were worth 3/5 of a person for census purposes ever be absolved of that sin? Can a nation that committed outright genocide against its indigenous population ever be forgiven for their inhumanity? What reparations have we made to persons of color? What land have we given back to Native Americans without strings attached? Have we really wiped away the taint of “otherness” from those of Japanese descent whose grandparents we locked up in concentration camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor? If so, why are hate crimes against Asian Americans on the rise? 

I could go on here about other minorities who have been treated poorly both in the past and in the present day, but you get my meaning. What is worthy of redemption in a country that treats/have treated persons of color, the migrant, the indigenous, the working poor, the sick and disabled, the differently gendered with such scorn and contempt? 

As Black History Month comes to a close, it’s time to take account of all the ways Americans have caused harm to the human beings on this planet. A massive methane leak caused by a terrorist act on a Russian/German LNG pipeline only exacerbates the climate emergency and will only hurt ourselves in the long run. Destroying our neighbors' property is not a positive action, and it doesn’t encourage mutual cooperation and peace among the nations. Why do We the People allow sociopaths to become our political leaders and make such heinous decisions for both the US and the world?

So many Americans claim they follow the “Golden Rule,” but do they? Do they love their neighbors as themselves? We seem to hold back our love and wish evil upon them, but why? Fear? Greed? Selfishness? Laziness? 

Americans need to take a good look around at all the war, violence, and chaos we've caused and are still causing. If we wish to be deemed worthy of redemption, then we need to start putting things right and fix the wrongs that we've done. Today. 

It's simple: Shut down the War Machine. Start peace talks. Stop taking advantage of the economically oppressed and lock up the sociopathic oligarchs for their crimes against humanity. We the People know, deep down, these are the right things to do. We can’t keep kidding ourselves with all this “freedom and democracy” nonsense if we don’t practice what we preach. 

Related Links:

UPDATE: Hungary Calls for a UN Investigation into the Nord Stream pipeline attack: https://popularresistance.org/hungary-demands-un-investigation-into-nord-stream-pipeline-attack/

Jeffrey Sachs and Ray McGovern at the UN on the Nordstream 2 Sabotage https://popularresistance.org/jeffery-sachs-and-ray-mcgovern-at-the-u-n-on-the-nord-stream-2-sabotage/ 

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs and Ray McGovern Address the UN Security Council on the Nord Stream Investigations (video) https://youtu.be/R_EX-VwKjng 

Ray McGovern Interview - The Nord Stream Pipeline Attack (video) https://www.youtube.com/live/LsjcVv2l8wU

You Have To Be Trusted By The People That You Lie To https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/you-have-to-be-trusted-by-the-people 

 

Overthrowing Other Peoples' Governments: The Master List

https://williamblum.org/essays/read/overthrowing-other-peoples-governments-the-master-list 

 

How Many Countries Has the US Invaded https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/how-many-countries-has-the-us-invaded

 

US Wars and Hostile Actions: A List  https://davidswanson.org/warlist/

China Report Excoriates ‘US Hegemony’, War Crimes, CIA Coups, 400 Foreign Interventions https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/02/22/china-report-us-hegemony-wars-coups-intervention/

Why and How to End the War in Ukraine https://popularresistance.org/why-and-how-to-end-the-war-in-ukraine/

More Evidence Emerges that US Wanted Russia to Invade https://popularresistance.org/more-evidence-emerges-that-us-wanted-russia-to-invade/

How US and Ukraine's Far-Right Made Pro-Peace Zelensky a 'No Peace' President https://mate.substack.com/p/how-us-and-ukraines-far-right-made

 

How Can the Peace Movement Be More Effective?

https://scheerpost.com/2023/02/25/how-can-the-peace-movement-be-more-effective/ 

 

There Has Never in History Been A Greater Need for a Large Anti-War Movement  https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/there-has-never-in-history-been-a

 

Pay For Your Own Wars, Big Oil! https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2023/02/pay-for-your-own-wars-big-oil.html

 

Poisoning America For Profit: A Brief History of Norfolk Southern's Greed https://popularresistance.org/poisoning-america-for-profit-a-brief-history-of-norfolk-southerns-greed/

 

American Chernobyl  https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2023/02/american-chernobyl.html

 

Seen on Twitter:

Why hasn't ANY congressperson introduced articles of impeachment over Joe Biden’s unilateral, illegal terror attack on NATO Germany’s Nord Stream pipelines?#Ukraine #Russia #Kiev #NordstreamSabotage #WWIII #Crimea #Bakhmut #Artemovsk

— JRkiefer1 🇭🇹 🇸🇾 🇾🇪 🇻🇪 🇮🇷 🇵🇸 (@josephkiefer77) February 23, 2023

pic.twitter.com/BhUxsGP3s0

— Broken Soldier⏳🇾🇪 (@DavidJSoldier1) February 27, 2023