Sunday, January 10, 2010

Oliver Stoned: A Perfect Example of "Suicidalism"

Memetic Warfare is the use of advanced propaganda, utilizing memes as weapons. A good example of this is the Borgian use of "Resistance is futile." If you believe it, it is. If you don't, you can beat the Borg.-- CPT R.A. Bear, S-2, Dogtown Rangers (A graduate cum laude of some of the finer courses at Fort Huachuca, Arizona).




The most important weapons of al-Qaeda and the rest of the Islamist terror network are the suicide bomber and the suicide thinker. The suicide bomber is typically a Muslim fanatic whose mission it is to spread terror; the suicide thinker is typically a Western academic or journalist or politician whose mission it is to destroy the West’s will to resist not just terrorism but any ideological challenge at all.

But al-Qaeda didn’t create the ugly streak of nihilism and self-loathing that afflicts too many Western intellectuals. Nor, I believe, is it a natural development. It was brought to us by Department V of the KGB, which was charged during the Cold War with conducting memetic warfare that would destroy the will of the West’s intelligentsia to resist a Communist takeover. This they did with such magnificent effect that the infection outlasted the Soviet Union itself and remains a pervasive disease of contemporary Western intellectual life. -- "Armed and Dangerous," in his essay on "Suicidalism."


In his piece entitled Gramscian Damage A&D points out:

In a previous post on Suicidalism, I identified some of the most important of the Soviet Union’s memetic weapons. Here is that list again:

* There is no truth, only competing agendas.

* All Western (and especially American) claims to moral superiority over Communism/Fascism/Islam are vitiated by the West’s history of racism and colonialism.

* There are no objective standards by which we may judge one culture to be better than another. Anyone who claims that there are such standards is an evil oppressor.

* The prosperity of the West is built on ruthless exploitation of the Third World; therefore Westerners actually deserve to be impoverished and miserable.

* Crime is the fault of society, not the individual criminal. Poor criminals are entitled to what they take. Submitting to criminal predation is more virtuous than resisting it.

* The poor are victims. Criminals are victims. And only victims are virtuous. Therefore only the poor and criminals are virtuous. (Rich people can borrow some virtue by identifying with poor people and criminals.)

* For a virtuous person, violence and war are never justified. It is always better to be a victim than to fight, or even to defend oneself. But ‘oppressed’ people are allowed to use violence anyway; they are merely reflecting the evil of their oppressors.

* When confronted with terror, the only moral course for a Westerner is to apologize for past sins, understand the terrorist’s point of view, and make concessions.

As I previously observed, if you trace any of these back far enough, you’ll find a Stalinist intellectual at the bottom.


Two of history's poor, misunderstood babies.

Now comes Oliver Stone to provide the most recent example of A&D's point.

January 09, 2010

Oliver Stone's 'Secret History' to put Hitler 'in context'

Director Oliver Stone's upcoming Showtime documentary miniseries "Secret History of America" promises to put mass murderers such as Stalin and Hitler "in context."

"Stalin, Hitler, Mao, McCarthy -- these people have been vilified pretty thoroughly by history," Stone told reporters at the Television Critics Association's semi-annual press tour in Pasadena.

"Stalin has a complete other story," Stone said. "Not to paint him as a hero, but to tell a more factual representation. He fought the German war machine more than any single person. We can't judge people as only 'bad' or 'good.' Hitler is an easy scapegoat throughout history and its been used cheaply. He's the product of a series of actions. It's cause and effect ... People in America don't know the connection between WWI and WWII ... I've been able to walk in Stalin's shoes and Hitler's shoes to understand their point of view. We're going to educate our minds and liberalize them and broaden them. We want to move beyond opinions ... Go into the funding of the Nazi party. How many American corporations were involved, from GM through IBM. Hitler is just a man who could have easily been assassinated."

The controversial director's 10-part documentary series for Showtime promises to focus on events that "at the time went under-reported, but crucially shaped America's unique and complex history of the last 60 years." Subjects in "History" include President Harry Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan and the origins of the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

"You cannot approach history unless you have empathy for the person you may hate," Stone said during the show's trailer, which promised to put historical villains "in context." "I don't want to put out conventional History Channel product where it's easy to like it."

"He's not saying we're going to come out with a more positive view of Hitler," emphasized professor Peter Kuznick, the lead writer on the project. "But we're going to describe him as a historical phenomenon and not just somebody who appeared out of nowhere."

Stone said that conservative pundits will dislike the show.

"Obviously, Rush Limbaugh is not going to like this history and, as usual, we're going to get those kind of ignorant attacks," said Stone, who also also compared the experience of sympathizing with war criminals to making his "W" movie about George W. Bush. "I'm trying to understand somebody I thoroughly despised."

Stone also warned that the same military industrial complex forces that he's explored in movies such as "JFK" and in "Secret History," are now corrupting Barack Obama.

"You can understand why Obama is following in Bush's footsteps in Afghanistan," Stone said."Obama is very much trapped, we believe, in that system. And so that's what we're going to try and show you -- the way it works."

The project will also show lesser-known positive aspects of American history and unsung heroes. Stone eventually hopes to send "Secret History" to schools as a teaching curriculum.

"It would be a very different counterweight to what they're learning," Stone said. "Nobody is going to force it down anybody's throat."

13 comments:

rexxhead said...

"* When confronted with terror, the only moral course for a Westerner is to apologize for past sins, understand the terrorist’s point of view, and make concessions."

What is it A&D is suggesting Westerners do about 'past sins'? Repeat them? That is, in fact, our current foreign policy...

Robert L Stevenson said...

Oh no, we're not going to force anything down anyone's throat. Not us.

jon said...

according to the fas.org IRP, the first directorate "department v" was responsible for wetwork, not "memetic warfare."

according to wikipedia's article on the first directorate, there isn't one -- roman numeral itemized departments are just used for geocentricity. and america isn't in department five, it's in department one, as you might expect.

as of just this moment, a google search for "kgb memetic" brings up A&D's article first -- that exact link and not his sources. this blog post itself is result #8.

googling "memetic warfare" does not yield impressive results, either. memetics comes from richard dawkins (political activist with science degrees) and douglas hofstatder (pioneer in computation and complexity; intellectual). the "meme" concept is no more than 30 years old, has never been popular, was virtually unknown until 2002 or so, and probably died with the journal of memetics in 2005.

it's possible A&D was thinking of first directorate "service a," responsible for disinformation.

and i assume he is coining the phrase "memetic warfare" himself to get a point across.

Toastrider said...

*stares*

In context? How the devil does he plan to put such monsters 'in context'?

These are not like men who were (let's not mince words) from less civilized ages, like Vlad III Tepes, the infamous Impaler. They were sociopathic louts whose thirst for power and control drove them to the heights of depravity.

(Yes, I know Vlad once impaled something like 20,000 Turks as an object lesson to the Ottoman Empire. But there's a reason he's a folk hero in parts of Western Europe, and Stalin isn't.)

I still take grim amusement that in one fictional world, conspiracy theorists (particularly the really whackjob ones) are called 'Stoneys'.

Concerned American said...

I also highly recommend this 1985 Canadian documentary/interview with former KGB operative Yuri Bezmenov.

It is an important element in synthesizing how we got so far down the rabbit hole.

clay barham said...

Individual freedom, for 400 years, has proven far better than a few thousand years of tyranny, the rule of the few over the many. We have only to look at the Federal Government as an inept and corrupt center of organized crime to see how bad it will be to return to the Old World way. A new book, SAVE PEBBLE DROPPERS & PROSPERITY describes the libertarian ways that built America, on claysamerica.com.

Anonymous said...

"Stalin, Hitler, Mao, McCarthy..."

:blink:

Let's play a game, shall we? I'll write down four things, and you see if you can guess which one doesn't belong.

/workinwifdakids/

Anonymous said...

It seems to me that to really understand what Mike is trying to get across here you have to be more familiar with previous posts of his on related topics, which means I am admitting to a certain level of puzzlement here. However, there are still some observations I can make:

1) The old argument that all evil can be traced back to 'Communist' is really old, tired, and stale. Why? Because 'Communism' is/was/always-has-been a product of Western elitists. Who was Marx? Well, he was a paid dupe of Engels who told the moron what to write. Who was Engels? A son-of-a-bitch elitist capitalistic German traitor who sold out his country and joined the elitist clique in London for fame and fortune. All the so called 'Memetic Warfare' tactics predate the Soviet Empire by..., hell, probably by thousands of years. If you want to find where the modern versions of such things were developed you don't have to look further than England.

2) What is the bitch with Oliver Stone? I've watched JFK and I certainly agree with the principle tenants put forth by it. Name one major movie that has ever portrayed Garrison as a hero? He was. Look around today and name one politician, judge, or Attorney General that has the guts Garrison had. They don't exist as BO's eligibility question proves. Everything Stone put forth in the movie matches up with what is asserted right here: a power elite is in control of our government and they are willing to silence, intimidate, or kill anyone to maintain that power; a morally bankrupt power elite made up of freaks, deviants, and other low life slime swilling scum bags - doesn't that remind you of all those who are currently serving the present administration and regularly mentioned right here?

"Now comes Oliver Stone to provide the most recent example of A&D's point."

I respectfully disagree. Where the devil do you think Hitler got his financial support? Who do you think gave him all the support and resources he needed to get his Nazi party organized and developed? Who do you think did everything they could to destroy the German people and the development of a strong German republic? Look no further than London and the elitist cabal. World War I and II were the direct result of the British capitalistic elite's determination to destroy their major European economic competitor, and they succeeded. Hitler and his Nazis may deserve every harsh judgement directed at them, but it was the enemies of the German people who were behind his rise and who orchestrated the social disaster that allow his taking control. If Stone's documentary is going to lift the curtains on this then what the devil is the problem? I thought Mike has gone to considerable effort to make the point that our enemies are the international elite and their rabble of dupes and pukes. When suddenly faced with the opportunity to see how they were behind Hitler's rise to power are we supposed to suddenly forget all about them and damn the one who provides the evidence?

That is certainly an interesting twist. Perhaps it would serve as an example of some form of strange-o Memetic Warfare...

De Oppresso Liber

bacsi

Happy D said...

Ever notice how the corporation that sold the car to the polity in question is to blame but not the polity that ran over the innocent?

Typical leftist collectivist non-thought.

Chris said...

Please look, find and read "The Science Of Government Founded On Natural Law" written by Clinton Roosevelt (of the infamous Roosevelt family) Published by Dean and Trevett in 1841 YES 1841, this is a full 7+ years before "Moses Mordecai Marx Levy Published "His" Communistic Manifesto. He plagiarized his work off of Clinton Roosevelt and Roosevelt plagiarized his from "Adam Weishaupt" of Illuminati Fame. His work originated in +/- 1775. I have The Book and it is REAL ! Secret Societies and their Evil plans.......Oh My, Oh My. Take me back to Kansas.

Sean said...

If Oliver Stone commits suicide, how much better for all. Love the communist apologists and guides who show up here, and argue that they're not really communists, and that communism is not really so bad, and it's all our fault anyway. Must be interesting, to shave and never have to look yourself in the eyes.

Chris said...

"Sean",

That is Funny AND True.

Chris
III

Scott said...

"
* For a virtuous person, violence and war are never justified. It is always better to be a victim than to fight, or even to defend oneself. But ‘oppressed’ people are allowed to use violence anyway; they are merely reflecting the evil of their oppressors."

Does that mean since I feel oppressed by this omnipotent statism that is running amok in this country that I can use violence too because I am as they say merely reflecting the evil of the oppressors?

Or is this only for liberals/democrats/communists only?