Freedom of thought and freedom of speech only exist on the fringes of Western society, in such small numbers that they make no difference.
Lady Gaga illustration. (Vector Portal.com)
By Caitlin Johnstone
CaitlinJohnstone.com
Listen to a reading of this article.
The Times of London has published an article titled “Lady Gaga embodies everything China fears,” subtitled “The singer’s uncompromising individuality makes her a serious threat to the mass imposition of cultural conformity through censorship,” and its contents are exactly as horrifyingly idiotic as you would imagine.
Here are the first three paragraphs of the article by Ben Macintyre, because if I had to read them then so do you:
“A woman looking like an extra-terrestrial praying mantis upholstered in red leather strode on to the stage at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, jets of flame shot 100ft into the air, 50,000 outrageously costumed fans screamed, and I understood why China is so terrified of Lady Gaga.
For there is nothing so wildly individualistic, so defiant of convention, so unwilling to be regimented and controlled as Lady Gaga in full voice, an erotic, exotic ubercelebrity who also contrives to be the girl next door, Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta from New York City.
Lady Gaga’s Chromatica Ball last week was the first UK performance in seven years by this raw meat-wearing, bisexual feminist who sings of liberty, drugs, addiction, mental health and the absolute right to self-expression because she, and everyone else, is Born This Way. Simultaneously channelling Freddie Mercury and Princess Diana, she is both an extreme fashion freak and defiantly ordinary, which is why she is one of the most powerful pop stars in history and, from the point of view of Beijing’s Communist leadership, a serious threat.”
Macintyre goes on to explain that Lady Gaga was banned from China in 2016 for meeting with the Dalai Lama (who just between us is known to have collected a massive paycheck from the C.I.A. for decades), which makes her a serious threat whose bold defiance and bisexual feminist individualism give Xi Jinping screaming night terrors.
Lady Gaga embodies everything China fears.
“Do What U Want, she sings, and Beijing trembles.” https://t.co/Tid1FRa8ri
— Tom Harwood (@tomhfh) August 6, 2022
“Lady Gaga poses a threat less for her political views, her visit to the Dalai Lama, and her support for LGBTQ rights than through her determination to be, and encourage others to be, entirely different,” Macintyre concludes. “Do What U Want, she sings, and Beijing trembles.”
I seriously cannot believe this article was published. Like, anywhere. I would have been surprised to see it on even the most obscure clickbait blog in the seediest backwaters of the internet, much less by a prominent 237 year-old British newspaper.
But from where I sit right now, the funniest thing about it is the way the article portrays the Western world as this bastion of free thought and individuality. Just that one fact alone eclipses the absurdity of the fact that the article’s author thinks the perfect symbol of this freedom is Lady Gaga strutting around in a meat dress.
Anti-China Propaganda
I mean, just the fact that we are ingesting anti-China propaganda to facilitate the long-term strategic agendas of the U.S.-centralized empire while reading in the Murdoch press about how free and unique we are compared to the Chinese shows you how bizarre this claim is.
In an authoritarian regime, you do what the powerful want you to do. In a Free Democracy, you do what you like, and it’s only by pure coincidence that what you like just so happens to always align perfectly with what the powerful want you to do.
The more you understand about the brainwashing effects of domestic propaganda in the West, the more adorable it is when you see Westerners talking about themselves as free-thinking individualists living in a free society in contrast with the citizens of nations like China. A civilization whose inhabitants are continuously indoctrinated with power-serving belief systems from childhood until their dying breath is not individualist, is not free, and is not thinking. Its inhabitants only think this is so, and they think this is so because they’ve been told to.
Freedom of thought and freedom of speech only exist on the fringes of Western society, in such small numbers that they make no difference. The mainstream population whose numbers could be used to effect revolutionary change are herded into political factions which are designed to prop up status-quo power at every turn and corresponding media echo chambers which keep them from providing any meaningful resistance to the machine.
As a whole we are marching in perfect accordance with the will of our masters: voting how they like, thinking how they like, speaking how they like, working how they like, shopping how they like, and living how they like. It is only the power-serving narratives put in our minds by our education systems and our media which tell us we are free. And it is only those power-serving narratives which have trained us to look down our noses at people in nations like China.
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This article is from CaitlinJohnstone.com and re-published with permission.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
Why should PRC even care to go gaga over Lady Gaga, the last time the West had for similar objective had projected their proxy Pussy Riot against Putin, neither the Russians nor the Chinese more than batted their eye lids. But perhaps a Baddy Gaga exposing her talents without those pasties could have caused more of a stir !
First of all, Ben MacIntyre can’t tell the difference between “banned” and “denied entry into the country”. Western countries have also denied, and are actively denying, entry to foreign individuals (musicians, athletes, actors, religious figures, politicians, etc.), but this point would be too inconvenient for Ben’s brainwashing narrative.
Second, Lady Gaga’s work is not any kind of statement; she gets paid buckets of money to perform her “shocking” little shticks, and she aims to please. Just like Ozzy decaptitated a dead bat on stage, Lada Gaga is just doing it for the “shock” value….. and for lots of money. Soon enough, a bigger “star” will come along, with an even more shocking “statement of individuality” (I don’t know, something like “I amputated my leg so I wouldn’t have to eat as much and help save the planet”) and everyone will see today’s Lada Gaga as a mild-mannered middle aged woman enjoying “Golden Girls” reruns on TV, living the american dream in her cozy house with a white-picket fence, the minivan in the driveway, and the dog in front of the fire place. Awww… how cute.
In trying to depict China as some kind of evil opressor, Ben’s article prompted me to show that, in reality, the Western world is just like China. I’m sure China has their own “Ben MacIntyre” writing the same article about the Western world. In many ways, for the Western nations, looking at China is like looking in a mirror but refusing to admit that the reflection is yours.
The longer this “shit storm” of outrageous miss use of the national powers of countries who are major players in the world economy continues to dominate what ever headlines the MSM is paid by big money to “communicate” or better yet, dispense propaganda to the masses the more the entire mess appears as politically charged theater. All at the expense of the have not destitute poor and the poverty stricken masses.
This effort could be the result of the “new model” of the money driven world order attempting to drive so much fear into the hearts of anyone just a fraction better off. (see the explanations for the off-shore banking industry that are being revealed about those who engage in the practice.
Instilling the fear that if “You don’t get yours now or you will join the down trodden masses”.
A mechanism that will drive alienation of one class of individuals from the “other”. As in, “I can’t afford to be sensitive to the needs of others when I am endangered myself.
Is this what we are destined to become? Think about where organized religion has driven so many as one example.
I remember when Madonna was hailed as subversive, a renegade who empowered women and of course herself. University study was given over to her, and she was on the cutting edge. So, no surprise with the gaga over Gaga. Lady Gaga has of course stolen heavily from Madonna with the calculated outrage and shallow political pursuits using her music ( such as it is) to promote her brand. Compare the Ga to somebody like Roger Waters to get the full flavor of the vacuity on display. The awful journalism on display is not new, but is up all the way to eleven at this point.
I see no mention by Macintyre (or his 237 year old paper) of the British and American governments’ denial of rule of law to, or its persecutions of, truth tellers like Julian Assange, Alex Salmon, Craig Murray, Graham Phillips, Daniel Hale, and so many others who have revealed official crimes, or reported a narrative, or pursued a political course of action inconsistent with the government line.
So much for the ‘freedom’ he espouses re: useless celebrity mediocrities. Meanwhile the UK and US governments cannot take care of their own people. No wonder, the elites who run them exist by sucking dry the 99%.
“In perfect accordance with the will of our masters” we are fighting each other fang and claw. Thus we are fiercely distracted from our “masters”, who fund not only the Dali Lama, but also the CIA, NBC, CBS, BBC, Congress, Parliament, etc.
Who are these master paymasters who can afford to hire so many instrumental people into subservience? And who are also willing and able to coerce those who do not succumb to mere money, by having them fired, or their reputations smeared, or having them beaten up, or even murdered?
In such circumstances it is completely understandable that only the most fringe voices, almost invisible, would dare to bring up the moountain of evidence that identifies these “masters”, and explains their means of control.
Time to break out Dame Vera Lynn’s classic.
As an ex professional musician, I never rated her music work…because its essentially pop trash with the occasional actual quality vocal performance thrown in for good measure.
But I have zero respect for her political views and find her to be a shining example of all the excess and ridiculousness that got us to where we are today.
However, seeing her face( and more) all over the contents of hunter bidens photo file on his laptop pretty much sealed the fact she is, to me anyway, human garbage.
China doesn’t fear her. Nobody does. And the sooner we turn away from this celebrity garbage, and return to the reality we all live in, the better.
Yes, I was in an environment where I had to listen to some of her work, and I was appalled. She has a sweet voice tone, but she struggles to sing on pitch, having to slur up or down to hit a note–in the studio no less.
She’s fake.
Perhaps she’s a perfect representative of modern American values!
BTW, who is Lady Gaga?
There are definitely advantages to tuning them out.
“because if I had to read them then so do you:”
Actually, no I don’t. It was however a very effective device to make me stop reading at this point.
Have a nice day.
I quite deliberately avoid much if not all of the corporate media. I see no reason to let them into my head. They are known liars and known manipulators, and I gain nothing by letting them into my head. Thus, I do not. So, I did not read them. And no, I still won’t read them. Just because they think they’ve found a backdoor into my head, they were wrong, because I guard that backdoor as well.
Actually, it is rather amazing the amount of ‘alternate media’ that spends its time and effort into making others read what the corporate media is saying. Not just Miss Caitlin, but it is widespread across alternate media. One goes looking for an alternate opinion, and instead finds The Times or the The New York Times or some other such corporate media instead.
I have made a deliberate effort to Tune them out. I wish others would join me.
Turn on, Tune in, Drop out.
“Free to do what you want” – burn oil, heat the planet, coup who you want to, dominate the globe with military force, impoverish your citizens but enrich your industrial supporters. Oh ya ya ya America is #1.
I could live without Gaga.
Because being a “raw meat-wearing, bisexual feminist who sings of liberty, drugs, addiction, mental health and the absolute right to self-expression,” is somehow also “defiantly ordinary.” I’m sure the handlers of American Empire are quite glad to see anyone supporting “the absolute right to self-expression,” and the right to be “defiantly ordinary” because that makes each of us a special case that no one else can speak to about anything that’s real. Pointing out facts is only another opinion and therefore disinformation unless packaged correctly for propaganda purposes. Facts are merely examples of that go-to, malignant largesse of “political extremism.” It’s hard to believe that the American experiment is being controlled by people who could just as easily be wearing racoon fur coats and eating live gold fish at the Harvard/Yale football game. But that is what we have become.
Astute observations, Caitlin! The “freedumb” to wear a meat suit doesn’t exactly translate to the freedom to report on governmental war crimes, does it?!
The recent all out propaganda campaign in support of Ukraine in which its violations of the laws of war are ignored and Russia’s are reported in the greatest detail is an example of what the media must be like in China.
Why don’t you go see for yourself instead of throwing around baseless accusations? CGTN, GlobalTimes, Xinhua are all freely available online if you don’t know where to start looking.
Oh, we can see Beijing t-r-e-m-b-l-i-n-g. Who needs the USS Ronald Reagan when you have Lady Gaga screaming, eh?
The poverty of thought in the west is beyond pale
The PRC is said to be a one-party state, but it would perhaps be better described as a no-party state in that “party politics” is not a part of how the Chinese system works. We are conditioned from birth into thinking that political parties are the backbone of democracy, but in truth they have nothing at all to do with democracy. In practice they function as a dumbing down of democracy. The notion that there are only two types of Americans is a joke.
“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. “– Goethe
Thanks for reminding me of that quote!
Yes, Lady Gaga is a good choice here, because she embodies exactly the sort of freedom that a materialist-capitalist system tolerates: extravagant self-decoration and self-celebration with a touch of forbidden sexuality to add spice, wrapped up in veneer of social consciousness that claims to care about everybody else’s welfare: a delicious mixed message that reinforces the personal confusion of those trapped in the system. A confection of pseudo-revolutionary expression that poses absolutely no challenge to the system. That sort of free expression is not only welcome in our system, it is a requirement in order to maintain the facade and charade of personal freedom in a system where the average person is for all intents and purposes a slave or serf.
And, it’s all a bit reminiscent of high-society behavior Vienna in the 1920s, as described by Hannah Arendt in The Origins of Totalitarianism.
As much as I like Caitlin’s piece here, your reply takes it up a notch.
Yeah, I’ll second that DMCP. Don’t rock the boat – you might “fall” overboard. And remember, this paradigm is “the best of all possible worlds.”
An excellent article from Caitlin Johnstone. MacIntyre, by the way, wrote a spy book about Soviet defector Oleg Gordievsky and the Nazis in Paraguay, so he can be relied upon. But seriously I really do wonder what VVP and Xi say about these ridiculous manifestations of western decadence.
Dear Caitlin,
we both know that our energy and our time are limited. Few people have the “privilege” of freedom of thought because this
“privilege” is a high time and energy consumer. Most people just want to “survive” their daily responsibilities and they spend
most of their energy and time on such activities . It is so . I think it was so and it will be the same in the future.
I was asking myself for decades which techniques are using some “masters” to convince “bees to voluntarily bring honey in
the master’s hive ” because for me this is the main “name of the game” in human society.
So (your quote):”Freedom of thought and freedom of speech only exist on the fringes of Western society, in such small numbers that they make no difference” is almost the true.
I think it will remain in such way. For me the one good fact is that small number is not zero.
The second good fact is that there are web sites (not many) where a free thinking and free speech can be “done”.
I like your articles and I hope that You will share your thoughts with us in the future.
All the best, Caitlin !
P.S. As You know from the history many good
(and bad) ideas “started” from a few people at the beginning.
Yes, I think that it will take something like a war or an economic depression to wake up the sleepwalking masses from their induced slumber. In George Orwell’s rather lesser known and sardonic novel – Coming Up For Air. This was the story of a travelling salesman one George Bowling in post-war UK in the immediate post- 1914. Orwell was not involved in the conflict but the novel expressed a semi-global catastrophe. The novel speaks through the eyes of George and the implicit background of post-war mass society. Mr. Bowling speaks.
”The war was full of loose-ends and forgotten corners. By this time literally millions of people were stuck up backwaters of one kind or another. Whole armies were rotting away on fronts that people had forgotten the names of. There were huge ministries with hordes of clerks and typists all drawing two pounds a week and upwards for piling up mounds of useless paper. Nobody believed the atrocity stories and the gallant little Belgium stuff any more. The British soldiers thought that the Germans were good fellows but hated the French like poison. Every junior officer looked upon the Army’s general staff as mental defectives. A sort of wave of disbelief was moving across England … It would be an exaggeration to say that the war had turned people into highbrows, but it did turn them into nihilists for the time being. People who in a normal way would have gone through life with about as much tendency to think of themselves into Bolshies just by the war. What should I be know just be now if it hadn’t been for the war? I don’t know, but something different from what I am. If the war hadn’t happened to kill you it was bound to start you thinking. After that unspeakable idiotic mess you couldn’t go on regarding society as something stable, eternal and unquestionable, like a pyramid. You knew it was all just a ball’s up. (Coming Up For Air – George Orwell – 1939).
Perhaps a reference to W.B.Yeats – The Second Coming – is appropriate here:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
In a similar vein this to a certain extent to Vietnam and its impact on US society perhaps?
Bread and circuses ! But without the bread …