Russiagate And The Salem Witch Hunt

I remember talking to someone at work about a year and a half ago who was sounding me out on politics. I cleared the first hurdle when he asked me if I was a Trump supporter and I said no.

Then he asked me what I thought about the whole Russiagate thing and I was politely dismissive. “There’s got to be something to it,” was his reply. I knew just what he meant: with all the non-stop talking about it on every media outlet, there had to be some truth to the matter. After all, where there’s smoke, there’s bound to be fire.

Where there’s smoke there’s fire is generally a good rule to go by, but for every rule there’s the exception. I would clarify by saying where there’s smoke, there’s fire, except when someone’s blowing smoke up your ass. Whether there was any fire (there wasn’t), you have got to realize by now that a whole bunch of people have been blowing smoke up the ass of the American public bigtime for the last 2-plus years.

It’s hard to imagine how such a nonsensical narrative can spin out of control the way Russiagate has, but the truth is it was never about Russia at all. It was merely a story that happened to serve the interests of several different, extremely powerful, components of our nation. Had it only been of use to one, its impact would have been limited, but it nicely dovetailed so that the Democratic Party, the military industrial complex, the intelligence agencies, and the media all saw ways to advance their agenda. Let me briefly break it down for you:

--The Democratic Party found in Russiagate an excuse for why they lost the election to Donald McDonald.

--The military industrial complex found in it a tool to steer Trump away from his campaign promise to decrease tensions with Russia.

--Intelligence agencies and the deep state found an excuse to do what they’ve been trying to do for a long time: censor speech on the internet that runs contrary to the official narrative.

--The media found a story that would sell that would involve no actual journalism. For two years all they’ve had to do is wait to be spoon-fed information by the intelligence agencies and think tanks, spew it back out for their audience, and make wild conjectures about what Putin is up to. No other era of journalism has ever had it so easy, nor made so much money from the wreck our nation’s democratic institutions.

--Also, mainstream liberals needed an excuse to stay asleep and continue the pleasant dreams they had been dreaming, nestled in the comfy bed of righteous empire. This was the easiest explanation, requiring no effort, just trust in the institutions to put things right.

Those who reject this explanation see in it a conspiracy theory that would involve too many parts, but in fact the complete opposite is true. I’m not saying these four powerful components of our nation are engaged in an implausible conspiracy theory, I’m saying they’re each pitching one, each in order to serve their own interests. Which is not to say that these four different interest groups are not linked in many different ways, just that each has more or less their own reasons for pushing the Russiagate yarn. If they were working closely together to push this story, it might almost have appeared to be coherent.

Take, for example, the Salem Witch Trials. There was one wildly false narrative, around which many different people in the community decided they would buy into in order to serve their own interests. There was no grand conspiracy created by a cabal that determined how everything would play out, there were just a bunch of self-serving parties that recognized an opportunity for personal gain through the advancement of a witch hunt. A depressing but undeniable tendency of human nature. Church leaders sought to squelch dissent, while individual members of the community wished to get rid of people they didn’t like. Some people just loved the feeling of power they got from holding listeners spellbound by their stories, while others found ways to curry favor by backing up outrageous claims with even more outrageous claims. There were undoubtedly varying levels of true belief, but that didn’t make the assertions any more justifiable.

And then you had a bunch of fearful innocents who trusted those in power more than they should have. But I guess you’re not that innocent if you’re willing to surrender your personal responsibility as a member of the community to those who wish to rule over you.

I shouldn’t have to give you proof that those who burned witches at the stake were wrong in their assertions and their behavior, unless of course you want to argue that witchcraft was actually taking place. I assume we can agree that there were various stupid, selfish, even evil reasons for why such a wild narrative spun so wildly out of control.

I am, however, more than willing to give you evidence of how the Russiagate narrative served the interests of those powerful groups I’ve mentioned. I’ve already explained to you what each stood to gain, now let me show you how each got what they wanted.

--The Democrats didn’t have to change a God damned thing, or at least they are under the impression they don’t. Rather than taking into account the troublesome progressive wing of their party, the one that rejects corporate control and war, they have labeled them useful idiots of Putin every time they say something damaging to corporate Democrats.

--The military industrial complex has managed to get the Trump administration to supply arms to the fascistic government in Ukraine, bomb Russia’s ally Syria, roll out yet more crippling sanctions against Russia’s ally Venezuela, increase troop presence on Russia’s borders, and scrap existing arms deals. They made out really well.

--The deep state and the intelligence agencies have justified telling Facebook and other social media platforms what they will and will not accept. The amount of censorship going on of the alternative media is profound, and we are yet merely at the starting point. All done in the name of Russiagate.

--Corporate media has had the opportunity to stab at the heart of alternative media, setting themselves up as THE OFFICIAL voice for REAL journalism, even as their reporting reaches all-time lows. Corporate media will never tolerate work done by alternative media, because nobody can be expected to applaud their executioner. The mainstream media knows it is in an existential battle with truths that, once excepted by the average citizen, will destroy them. Russiagate was a godsend and they seized upon the opportunity eagerly.

--Mainstream liberals have been asked to make no sacrifices. They only have to blame Russia, stupid racist Trump supporters, and Susan Sarandon. Their world need not ever change. Democrats, MIC, CIA, and Rachel Maddow will set things to right. Beat Trump in 2020 and it’s back to Sunday brunch.

Yeah, it’s hard to awaken from a comforting dream, harder still to take responsibility for participating in such a harmful and untruthful mania. I’m sure it took those living in Salem a long time to come to terms with the damage they’d done. Hell, I’m sure it took generations to work through. But we don’t have that option now. We’ve unleashed more than the killing of a few innocents, we’ve pushed ourselves further into confrontation with a nuclear-armed nation, a decision that might yet have incalculable costs. Oh, and we’ve abandoned absolutely every issue that is dear to the Left in order to do it.

“Time to move on”, you say. Fair enough, we’ll agree to forget the whole burning people at the stake episode. On one condition: Wake the fuck up to the fact that the Democratic Party, the military industrial complex, the intelligence agencies, and the media are not your friends! Then we can move on.