sure, but that no longer requires things like Gladio. It's self imposed, and not done so out of fear but of belief.
Conversation
Replying to
All I see in this is the success of the program.
You get to Corbyn being ratted out by his own party through years, decades, of removing every single effectual person from power.
When all that's left is careerist cowards and softies, control can take on forms less overt.
1
1
If there were a European revival in the sense of strength of belief, nationalism (or regionalism), etc., you can bet we'd see the return of annual mysterious deaths among prominent politicians.
Market forces, innit?
1
1
Replying to
Europe is powerful enough to stop that, if they were serious. It's time to stop pretending you HAVE to bow down to America. At this point, it's a choice.
1
3
which your leaders just made again, by the way. The EU response to Ukraine was to crawl spinelessly to America and beg to be ruled and impoverished.
2
3
Replying to
You know fully well that choices require more than merely the notional ability to enact change.
It'd be vastly overestimating the moral fiber of European leaders to think that they'd be willing to take literally any risk whatsoever to their own careers. They are less than weak.
1
2
One of the ways in which I respect US culture more than European is that while people here are even more heavily propagandized, even worse educated, and even more stripped of free time, effective autonomy, et. al., underneath all that there is at least a nominal will to power.
1
1
Replying to
that's because the daily grind of life is mean, and there's almost no social safety net. If you won't hurt other people, someone will stomp you into the mud because if it's not you, it'll be them.
1
2
American life is a game of musical chairs, 80% of the chairs suck, there are millions less chairs than people and if you don't get a chair, you wind up homeless or in prison or die.
1
3
6
this teaches people a certain "will to power", if you wish, and they use it in every sphere of life.
It also teaches authoritarian subjugation, though. Americans are mostly kick down, lick up types.
1
2
Replying to
There is certainly an increasing amount of that, yes.
Structural and spiritual consequence of much of the economy existing at the whim of remote billionaires, that.
It is very similar to how the European trend has been towards increased submissiveness and "of-course-our-govt.-are-the-good-guys"-ism.
Direct consequence of the extent to which society is a subject of the nanny state.
1
1
Replying to
Not quite the same thing. America's is because there is little nanny state left. The submission isn't to government, it's to various barons or sometimes to individual government departments (especially the military.)
1
1
Show replies