This video is like an SNL skit

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Derived Absurdity
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This video is like an SNL skit

Post by Derived Absurdity »

I sort of felt like I was in the Twilight Zone when I first watched this, it's so incredibly surreal.



This creepy robot-woman is Obama's State Department spokesperson, and... just listen. It's bizarre. I mean, I thought I was fairly jaded and cynical, but listening to this makes me realize just how naive I am, truly, because I was completely shocked at the brazen, flat-out, easily verified lies this woman was spewing. I mean, she's a high-ranking government official and she was just blatantly lying over and over again to a room full of journalists, on video. And only one person dared to challenge her on them. Judging by her attitude she didn't expect to be challenged at all.

So she was answering a question about the recent attempted coup in Venezuela backed by American forces, and she actually said with a straight face that the United States "as a matter of longstanding policy" does not support military coups. She said that. A journalist in the room basically just laughed at her and challenged her on that, and she couldn't even defend herself. I mean, you could easily tell she didn't even believe her own bullshit, she had nothing to say. It wasn't even a fabrication, or hyperbole, or exaggeration, or a misrepresentation. It was just a fucking lie. And yet she just blithely said it. With no feeling, no emotion at all. I mean, watch the video. I feel like I'm in some shitty dystopian flick or something.

The United States has attempted to violently overthrow over fifty governments through non-democratic and illegal means during the relatively short sixty years or so since the end of WWII. This is a commonly accepted fact among educated people. It's not really controversial at all to say that American's backing or instigating of violent coups of governments it doesn't like is a matter of routine. I mean, illegally and violently overthrowing foreign governments is basically all the CIA does. This is easily verified and heavily documented. So you can tell why I think this video is so bizarre - that a government spokesperson can just go up on a podium and blithely state that the United States does not back military coups and only one journalist in the room had the guts or knowledge or challenge it.

Like I said, this is some Twilight Zone shit. These people are not connected to reality at all. They are legitimately delusional. They're living in an entirely separate universe. Only one journalist? A long-standing policy of not supporting coups? We supported a violent unconstitutional coup only one fucking year ago, for fuck's sake! One year is not long-standing! And of course, the fact that this video has not received any play in our media besides Democracy Now sort of speaks volumes by itself.

This is an instance of when reality is more unrealistic than fiction. Governments usually at least try. They deceive, they manipulate, they exaggerate, they distort. They don't typically just fucking lie like that. That was just sloppy. And journalists are pathetic, seriously. Only one challenged her. God this country is fucked.
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Re: This video is like an SNL skit

Post by Dr_Liszt »

That woman is the shittiest spokeperson in the world.

Did you see her conference about Assange? And also the one where the U.S government lost like 9 billion dollars?

It's like WTF?! But I don't blame her, after all, she has to speak for Satan's government, I'll find that hard to do.
Derived Absurdity
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Re: This video is like an SNL skit

Post by Derived Absurdity »

Apparently she's so incredibly shitty that the Russians have started usig her last name as a shorthand for "a rating of stupidity and incompetence". That's hilarious.

And I blame her, she chose to be a propagandist for the world's leading terrorist state. And she's not even very good at it. She's both evil and incompetent, which puts her in company with everyone else in the American government.
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Re: This video is like an SNL skit

Post by Dr_Liszt »

Yeah. I actually like this video because you won't believe the quantity of people that deny imperialism over here. We live through the wars caused by them and they still deny it, the U.S are still the good guys. How can that happen?

Just yesterday I asked my mom if the U.S was going to intervene in Venezuela and she was "Thank God! I hope so" And I was like "Why?" And she actually said:

"Because those people are having a real hard time." [none]

And my head exploded.

(Not because Venezuela isn't having a hard time, but because we are having a shit time and no one is saying anything about our system, because my system actually serves the U.S.)
Derived Absurdity
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Re: This video is like an SNL skit

Post by Derived Absurdity »

Beats me. People are weird.
Last edited by Derived Absurdity on Sat Mar 14, 2015 1:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
Derived Absurdity
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Re: This video is like an SNL skit

Post by Derived Absurdity »

You're apparently the only person here who responded to this so far. You're cool.
Last edited by Derived Absurdity on Sat Mar 14, 2015 1:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Cassius Clay
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Re: This video is like an SNL skit

Post by Cassius Clay »

I think I remember Chomsky saying something about how whether or not a power needs to lie to the people or not(in order to maintain power) says something about how much of a power imbalance exists. Powers that don't need to lie to enact their bullshit pretty much has absolute power over the people. While on the other end of the spectrum, a power that needs to manipulate the truth(half-truths and what not) obviously means their power is partially dependent on the people believing their lies...which is a good sign that the people have enough power to organize and overthrow the existing power.

So, there's hope?

But there is a difference between telling half-truths and manipulated truths/unverifiable lies versus bold-faced, obvious lies. I think the latter is not a good sign.
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Derived Absurdity
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Re: This video is like an SNL skit

Post by Derived Absurdity »

That might be true. Is there any government in the world so secure it doesn't lie to its people, though? Has there ever been any government in the world so secure it didn't lie to its people?

I sort of think the opposite. The more a government openly and brazenly lies to its people about issues of such monumental importance, the more a power imbalance exists. A government outright lying shows the fact that it can do so and get away with it, which is a signal of how much power it has. That no one will bother to catch them at it, that they'll suffer no consequences from it, that there will be no unwanted reaction.
Dr_Liszt

Re: This video is like an SNL skit

Post by Dr_Liszt »

So, there's hope?
Haha, no.

Sorry.

[sad]

Besides, I agree with Jason Urhue that the people from the first world will NEVER rebel and overthrow their governments. If a revolution is going to take place, it has to be us and Africa vs the rest of you. If I learned something from the cold war is that you will crush us if guerilla events start happening again. So nope! No hope.
BruceSmith78
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Re: This video is like an SNL skit

Post by BruceSmith78 »

Derived Absurdity wrote:That might be true. Is there any government in the world so secure it doesn't lie to its people, though? Has there ever been any government in the world so secure it didn't lie to its people?

I sort of think the opposite. The more a government openly and brazenly lies to its people about issues of such monumental importance, the more a power imbalance exists. A government outright lying shows the fact that it can do so and get away with it, which is a signal of how much power it has. That no one will bother to catch them at it, that they'll suffer no consequences from it, that there will be no unwanted reaction.

I think you and Chomsky are both right. Think about committing a murder. If you fear consequences from the law you'll do everything in your power to cover it up - bury the body, burn your clothes, take a shower, pour bleach on shit.

If you think the law horribly incompetent or powerless to convict you without an outright confession, you might just lounge around and wait for the cops to show up, then open the door still drenched in blood, point to the body in the middle of your living room with the knife still sticking out of him and say, "Yeah, I think he fell down the stairs or something."

If you think the law is your bitch then you might just call the cops yourself and say, "Hey, I just killed a guy, suck my dick."
Derived Absurdity
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Re: This video is like an SNL skit

Post by Derived Absurdity »

Yeah, the government isn't quite powerful or secure enough yet to just go "yeah, we're breaking the law right now, suck our dick." At least in some areas. It breaks the law routinely, of course, but there's always some manipulation or justification involved. It still has to have a humane-sounding pretext for invading a country, for example, they can't just go, "yeah, we're gonna do this to arrange large cash transfers from taxpayers to defense contractors and enlarge the markets for multinational corporations and strategically eliminate competition for natural oil and gas reserves, and there's nothing you fuckers can do about it, suck my dick, biatch". We're still in the "he fell down the stairs" stage. But I don't really think any government in history has ever reached the "suck my dick" phase. They've all had to provide rationales and justifications for what they do. That's an almost impossible standard. So I don't really think it's a good idea to judge our current circumstances by that standard. That seems counterproductive to me.
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Cassius Clay
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Re: This video is like an SNL skit

Post by Cassius Clay »

So I think Chomsky was addressing a perspective that the powers are too strong at this point, and there may be nothing that can be done. And the fact that certain powers have to lie to maintain power reminds us that power belongs to the people.

What I find bothersome about the blatant lying is that it highlights a willingness of the people to believe the lies...an apathy and complacence they have. If they worked really hard telling elaborate lies, that would be a different story, but to just tell straight up, bold lies is like "yeah, we will lie to you to keep up appearances..so that you can keep you consciences clean...but we know you are addicted to the way things are, and you are not going to do shit to stop it as long as you don't feel too bad about yourselves."

That is what is scary...we, the people, are colluding with them and are complicit in our self-deception...and they know it. They know we're not going to do shit about it 'cause we have it too good.
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