The task shouldn’t be falling to university activists and obscure antiwar bloggers. Every news outlet in the world should be making this their entire focus.

What used to be the city Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, after Israeli forces’ genocidal destruction. Jan. 21, 2025. (UNRWA/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 4.0)
By Caitlin Johnstone
Caitlin’s Newsletter
Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):
It can make you feel like you’re going mad. How phony and superficial it all is. How we’re a year and a half into history’s first live-streamed genocide and our whole society is acting like everything’s peachy.
We’re murdering kids. We’re starving them. We’re dropping high tech military explosives on them. Blowing their limbs off. Ripping their guts out. Shooting them in the head. This isn’t just being done by “Israel”. It’s being done by the entire western empire which backs these atrocities.
And yet if you turn on a TV you’ll see famous people laughing and joking about nonsense, expressing political opinions of no more depth and significance than whether or not there should have been a female Ghostbusters movie. Go read the news and it’s dominated by empty fluff about celebrities and politicians and the latest brain fart to come out of Donald Trump’s mouth. Go to a party and everyone’s nattering about vapid gibberish, yelling “No politics!” if you try to say anything about the holocaust-shaped elephant in the room.
I used to have a lot more fun on my platform. Lots of humor. But ever since the Gaza holocaust began, that kind of writing has often felt like it would be irreverent and frivolous. Almost sacrilegious. I would feel like I’m joining in with the madness of mainstream culture by turning my back on all those emaciated bodies and mutilated children.
So for the last year and a half I’ve mostly just been doing what I feel everyone on earth ought to be doing: pointing to the genocide and saying it needs to stop.
I used to be more creative in my ways of pointing to the criminality of the empire, because its depravity was often difficult for people to really grasp, so I was always seeking out new ways to help people see its monstrosity with fresh eyes. Now that they’re just butchering children right in front of us, that’s not really what’s called for anymore. What’s called for is to keep drawing everyone’s attention to the terrible thing that’s staring us all right in the face.
This task shouldn’t be falling to university activists and obscure antiwar bloggers. Every news outlet in the world should be making this their entire focus.
If we had a sane and ethical news media, this is what they would be doing. All the leading stories every single day would be about the latest evil thing Israel and its western backers have done in Gaza, clearly stating in every headline our own government’s role in making this possible. Every press conference would be completely dominated with questions asking every western official why we are participating in an active genocide and demanding answers about when it is going to stop.
Instead we get “Palestinians perish in explosion” passive-language headlines, usually coupled with “…says Hamas-run health ministry” in order to let readers disbelieve the entire story. And that’s on those rare occasions that Israel’s atrocities get reported on at all; normally Gaza is seen as a third or fourth-tier issue of far less importance than some infinitely less egregious grievance in our own country.
Palestinian lives are given vastly less weight than western lives, with our own feelings and comforts emphasized far more heavily than the issue of the Palestinian people living or dying.
And it can just make you feel like you’re going crazy. It’s like if we were all going around physically drenched in human blood, with blood flooding our living rooms and severed limbs strewn about our bedrooms and kitchens— but nobody was talking about it.
You try to say “What’s up with all this blood and gore?” and they shush you and tell you it’s impolite to talk about politics. A dark red deluge pours out of your minivan door when you open it to pick up your kid from soccer practice, and everyone looks away.
This is happening. We know it’s happening. It’s happening right in front of us and we’re acting like it’s not. It’s so maddening and frustrating, and it can make you feel so powerless.
But we keep pointing at Gaza, because what the hell else are we going to do? The alternative is to join the lunatics acting like it isn’t happening.
At the very least, it’s a way of preserving our sanity. Preserving our humanity. Even if they do succeed in purging Gaza of all Palestinian life, at the very least we will have prevented the bastards from warping and twisting us into psychopathic freaks like them. Even if we can’t stop them from destroying Gaza, we can at least stop them from destroying our hearts.
Caitlin Johnstone’s work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, following her on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, YouTube, or throwing some money into her tip jar on Ko-fi, Patreon or Paypal. If you want to read more you can buy her books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff she publishes is to subscribe to the mailing list at her website or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything she publishes. For more info on who she is, where she stands and what she’s trying to do with her platform, click here. All works are co-authored with her American husband Tim Foley.
This article is from CaitlinJohnstone.com.au and re-published with permission.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
No doubt about it, Mrs. Johnstone & Mr. Foley, “GOT” heart! “Ya gotta have heart;” b/c *“They Live!!!” AND, *”Love’s the only engine of survival.”
…… “[THEY LIVE]” is a 1988 American science fiction action horror film. Written & directed by John Carpenter. Based on the 1963 short story “Eight O’Clock in the Morning” by Ray Nelson. The film follows a drifter who discovers through special sunglasses that the ruling class are aliens concealing their appearance & manipulating people to consume, breed; AND, conform to the status quo via subliminal messages in mass media.”
…… “Pouvez-vous m’aider s’il vous plaît?” (Can you help me, please)? And, Caitlin Johnstone rock’n a pair of “Special Sunglasses,” answers the call, w/Tim Foley, “Raising “their” Voices! “Merci du fond du coeur. (Thanks from the bottom of “our” heart)!”
If, you listen, you can hear,” the “heart” of Leonard Cohen, “I’m sentimental, if you know what I mean. I love the country but I can’t stand the scene; And, I’m neither left or right. I’m just staying home tonight. Getting lost in that hopeless little screen; but, I’m stubborn as those garbage bags that time cannot decay. I’m junk; but, I’m still holding up this little wild bouquet,” [that universal benevolence, empathy, simplicity, fairness, trust, stability, “a shared sense of equanimity throughout the” universe, “Paz En La Terra;” &, independence fm “The Beast,” (AUKUS, NATO, “El Chapo,” the U.S.Congress, Israel), PREVAILS]!!! Before “this sacred heart, blows.”
“Pray for Gaza.” “At ICJ, Only U.S., & Hungary Back Israel Starving Gaza. Thirty-seven states, the U.N. and international NGOs all condemned Israel’s denial of aid to the starving people of Gaza at the International Court of Justice last week.” Marjorie Cohn, 5.7.25, “Although Israel has blocked all humanitarian aid from Gaza since March 2, it began preventing food, water, electricity and gas from entering Gaza immediately after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.” Marjorie Cohn.
…… “Shot through the heart;” And, “The Beast” is to blame; &, the ICJ, “Shame! Shame!!! Shame, i.e., “IT is likely that the ICJ will issue its [ADVISORY Opinion] in a [Matter of MONTHS]. Although its decision will not be legally binding, it will probably have a profound impact on international law, international assistance to Israel and global public opinion.” 5.7.25 @ hxxps://consortiumnews.com/2025/05/07/at-icj-only-us-hungary-back-israel-starving-gaza/
“Love is shown by deeds NOT words.” HEAR, HERE > “Preserve our sanity. Preserve our humanity. Prevent the bastards from warping and twisting us into psychopathic freaks like them. Even if we can’t stop them from destroying Gaza, we can at least stop them from destroying our hearts.” Caitlin Johnstone.
TY! “Keep It Lit!”
For the detriment and the big shame of our ‘civilized’ society. Was a deafening silence just as audible when Hitler was busy with his genocide of Jews???
Caitlin, you continually write courageously concerning
the US-Israeli/West genocide in Gaza, and so for CN
readers we have in you, a voice of conscience.
Without that voice there is no love in the world.
Gimme a ‘T’ ……. “T!”
Gimme a ‘E’ ……. “E!”
Gimme a ‘A’ ……. “A!”
Gimme a ‘C’ ……. “C!”
Gimme a ‘H’ ……. “H!”
Gimme a ‘I’ ……. “I!”
Gimme a ‘N’ ……. “N!”
What does that spell? ……. TEACH-IN! …..What does that spell …… “TEACH-IN!”
(if you are under 60, and have no idea what this is about ….hxxps://museumofprotest.org/methods/teach-ins/ )
The solution comes in two parts.
Getting people to Tune In to information that is not being broadcast at deafening volumes on a thousand channels. And getting people to Drop Out of a murderous, genocidal society that desperately needs a revolution of values to get on the right side of history.
And these two parts usually have to be worked on at the same time. You are both pushing and pulling at the same time.
Modern activists seem good about screaming about problems. This appears to be a successful fund-raising technique. Scream a bit, then say “Click to Donate $100.” Brings in the bucks to keep the paycheck from bouncing.
But, organizing is different. You need to both get them to stop listening to the disinformation on corporate media, but to also tune in to alternative information. The organizer not only needs to point out the genocidal nature of the society around them, but also to give people an alternative and a place to come. After all, it is highly likely that when someone begins to recognize the genocidal nature of society, that their relationships within that genocidal society are going to become more strained. Kids with the moral character to oppose Vietnam usually had Fathers and Mothers who were angry and disappointed with them. So, not only do you have to Teach, but you have to Build. You have to build a place for people to come and feel welcome when they are feeling unwelcome among the genocidal.
Don’t be afraid to start small. If you feel you are alone, a first goal might be to double the size of your movement. :) Then you can aim at doubling it again … and again … and again … until one day you can fill the streets and stop a war and send a President fleeing away on a helicopter to his mansion on the coast.
The U.S. has lost any semblance of a moral compass. Children having limbs amputated without anesthesia, all because of a blockade, is beyond comprehension. And all of this with full American support. And as terrible as the Nazis were, I can’t recall ever reading that they shot children in the head.
A lot of the camp atrocities were committed by collaborators, ie foreigners recruited to run the camps, the army stuff was down to Keitel and his corncobb military counterinsurgency terror tactics, same sh1t then as happens today. Iraq Afghanistan and so on. plenty of stories of NATO troops murdering civilians in reprisal or just because.
And of course Gaza and the IDF which is NATO trained, both NATO and the IDF dishonor the Spartan’s (and Greek) military code by using the chevron.
Gaza is just the latest, a symptom of the complete moral collapse of the West.
One could take that a step further and say there never was any moral compass, only interests and the pursuit of power. “Foreign policy is not for the Plebs” (Klemens von Metternich)
I was too young to recall, but the carpet bombing of SE Asia is an example from roughly a half-century ago where thousands upon thousands of innocent men, women and children were slaughtered. Even to this day, unexploded ordnance litters the place, and people still get blown up. Korea was bombed into the Stone Age before that…Iraq, Afghanistan,Libya, Syria later on…
(Less reported in the press is the starvation warfare of The Siege of Venezuela and Cuba, supported by both Ds and Rs.
And, even more so, society averts its eyes from the West Bank.
Gaza at least has become a “cause”. Gaza thus gets some attention. But, everything that Israel has been doing in Gaza has also been occurring in the West Bank. Attacking hospitals, displacing people, killing people, hauling people off to the “camps.” But, nobody cares, because that’s not a “cause.”
IMHO this column should be posted, by everyone who reads it, to everyone we know (Democrat, Republican, MAGA, conservative, etc).
The only way that things might change is if we can expose all the fence sitters and complacent people that we know, every day. The MSM is not doing anything, the crooked politicians are not doing anything, etc. Oh yes, a few like Bernie are making some weak statements, but no where near enough. It is up to everyone of us to step up our attempt to overcome the resistance of the powerful, and get this before everyone we can.
Thank God for places like, Consortium news, Common Dreams, Scheerpost, etc.
The thing about modern politics is that there are no fence sitters. In America, there used to be a middle that did not follow the party line of either party. These were people who read newspaper endorsements and then thought about which candidate to back. These people are extinct in America. At least to the extent that they no longer matter politically.
In the last election, how many ‘fence sitters’ were there between Genocide Don and Genocide Kam? Did you know anyone who made up their mind on who to vote for on the day of the election? Or, was everyone locked into a position long in advance? Could you have made a list of who you knew that would Vote Trump or Vote [choice of the mega-donors] back in the winter before the election? I could have, and with very high eventual accuracy.
American politics is firmly locked into two camps, and there is very little movement between the camps and very few “undecideds” in between them. Well over 95% of Americans voted for Genocide in Gaza, and almost all of these people were locked into those votes months before they were cast. They were not fence sitters on mass death in Gaza.
The point is, just showing a “fence sitter” an article won’t do the trick. Try this instead. Talk to them. Certainly not about what you believe, and not about what they believe either. Talk to them about their problems. What is causing problems in their lives. Most likely, this traces back to oligarchs or other powerful people, corporations or governments. Now you’ve got something you can talk about and agree on. :)
Talk to them about the problems in their life, and then they will not be a fence sitter. And, then you can probably steer the conversation to something like how we spend $billions of taxpayer money funding mass death and isn’t there something better we could do with that money a little closer to home?
Don’t get mad …. organize!
Thank you, Mischal Bernert, for your fantastic, educational comments. Between you and Caitlin now I know some helpful stuff to do more to organize more people for self-determination for Palestine. Peace and love to you and yours.
You make a mistake in citing Bernie Sanders as being someone less insane than the rest of the imperialists. He has voted to send funds in support of Israel, he keeps on saying that Israel “has the right to defend itself” at every speaking engagement he attends. He is a charlatan and you should know better. And if you really want to keep in the know you should be reading Mondoweiss, The Electronic Intifada, and the World Socialist Web Site. Consortium is good, but Common Dreams and Scheerpost are middle of the roaders.
The Black Agenda Report does a great job as well. As the late Bruce Dixon, and now Margaret Kimberly have pointed out: AOC and Sanders are rank hypocrites and are “sheepdogging” for the DNC.
Thank you for the references. IF Bernie is an important touchstone to the anti-Zionist and younger Jews in the U.S,…is it constructive to castigate him?….just a question.
Eric Foor, just an answer, “Yes. 100%!!! “constructive to castigate him.”
“Many people believe,” Bernie Sanders had a chance to be “BRILLIANT;” &, he blew it!!! Granted, “Bernie” excels in blowing smoke up the universe’s wazoo! Year after Year after Year after Year. Currently, “Bernie’s” on tour, yapp’n & yell’n! Getting everybody, “Fired Up!” Ready To Go, “Vote, Blue. No Matter Whom!!!”
A best practice, Just “Say Good Night. Good Bye. Good Riddance, Bernie $anders.”
Memo To: “anti-Zionist and younger Jews in the U.S.,”
…… Fuhgeddabout “that independent, hot-air factory, from Vermont, $enator Bernie Sanders. Like the DNC’s & the Democrats, the Independent’s “goose is cooked.” Itsa a Code Blue! Do Not Resuscitate!!!
* “All hail the underdogs. All hail the new kids. All hail the outlaws,” (anti-Zionist & younger Jews)… “It’s YOUR time to make a move! It’s YOUR time to make amends! It’s YOUR time to break the rules!” (X Ambassadors, “Living Like Renegades).”
Please, Begin, HERE” > Fully DETACH yourselves, 100%, from the Mother$hip, i.e., the DNC, the Democrats, the Independent, who caucuses w/the Democrats, i.e., Bernie, in a heartbeat, goes full-blown MAGA, “Israel has a right to defend itself.” Bernie Sanders is as disingenuous as Sandy “AOC” Cortez, the progressives’ liar. HER live action role playing. HER script, “Comma La “working ‘tirelessly’ to secure a ceasefire in Gaza & bring the hostages home” Harris, is a lie!!! Imo, ALL Bernie’s & AOC’s truth is one big f/lie. Imo, the best place for Bernie & AOC is in YOUR rear view mirror!
Sincerely, Lived Experience, “Bernie’s footprint, Use. Abuse. Betray. Abandon.”
I too am absolutely astounded at the lack of coverage of this genocide. Often there is no mention of the atrocities in the MSM. And i am disheartened to hear people say “oh i can’t watch the news any more” or some such feeble excuse to not discuss it. It’s more important to see what outrageous costumes actors are wearing at the latest hollywood ball.
When someone says ‘I can’t watch the news anymore.’, that is a good thing! Its ‘the news’ that tells people how to think, and what to think. The very best thing that could happen is everyone ‘turning off the news.’
Back when there was an antiwar movement that actually stopped a war, the attitude of the people in that movement towards ‘the news’ was to say “Who cares what the Squares think?” Which meant they had stopped watching ‘the news’. They were no longer accepting the Cronkites who told them that they had to fight in Vietnam. They were thinking for themselves, and not letting themselves being controlled. They did not care what ‘the Squares’ on ‘the news’ thought or said.
When someone can’t watch the news anymore, that is a key step towards following Bob Marley’s advice, and ‘freeing yourself from mental slavery.’
Don’t watch the news anymore. Turn them off.
That doesn’t mean you turn off your soul. Instead, you will be freeing your soul to be able to see and act and feel. You will be better informed as well, without all the misinformation and advertising. Encourage people who say they can’t watch the news anymore. But, don’t stop organizing them.
I am disgusted and revolted, but not astounded. In order to keep the Empire running it is necessary to keep the public in the dark. The MSM is nothing more than the mouthpiece of imperialist propaganda and vapid hawker of distraction.