I woke up this mornin
Took a look in the mirror
Saw somethin starin back at me
I was frozen with fear
Put a hand to my face
When what to my surprise
Five claws scratchin mandibles
And a pair a compound eyes
And I said ah christ
Gotta seek some advice

Went and asked my ol lady
Oh how can this be
She said man you got some nerve right here
To come cryin to me so why don’t you just
Put on your coat and hat right now
And crawl yourself out the door
These gears ain’t gonna grease themselves
And you don’t wanna be poor
So get off the floor

Oh what can I do

You sleep with the rest of the vermin
Vermin

Before you had changed
You knew every boss was a bastard
Bastard

Have you given up
Or did you not know that cockroaches fly
So fuck it

Doombrass

The Gregor Samsa Blues (Pandemo Version)

Compartmentalizing is when we mentally separate information or experience from our existing understanding of ourselves and our world and kind of sweep it under the carpet so we don't experience cognitive dissonance anymore. We don't delete it; the information is still there to be accessed if we want to, but it's placed in a separate file and treated as though it exists in a parallel alternate reality.

Compartmentalization sometimes comes into play when a wife discovers that her husband has been sexually molesting their child; she files the information away into a separate container, because the way that information would shatter her world if she held onto it is too frightening and the cognitive dissonance of holding both worlds at the same time too uncomfortable.

Compartmentalization comes in when we're scrolling through our news feed and see something about the horrors that are being unleashed upon Yemen with the help of our government; it doesn't square with the model of the world we've been trained to hold in our minds, so we dissociate it from our model.

It comes in when we remember that we were lied to about Iraq. It comes in when we think about what humankind's way of living on this planet is doing to our ecosystem. It comes in when we think about the fact that nuclear weapons are a thing and that cold war tensions are escalating. It comes in when we are reminded that our government is participating in the torture and imprisonment of a journalist whose only crime was trying to bring the truth out from the locked files it's been hidden away in so we can make it a part of our worldview.

Reading by Tim Foley.
Article with links and sources: https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/the-empire-depends-on-psychological

The Empire Depends On Psychological Compartmentalization

mr astronaut

The inaugural episode, in which Knackers & The Vadge have a thing or two to say about Frank's heroes, John Maynard Keynes and Honest Abe.

Episode 1: Francis Leach

The second episode, in which The Vadge bangs on for entirely too long in a vain attempt to disguise the fact that she did not leave nearly enough time to edit her and Knackers' interview with Dr. Shakira Hussein in time for International (Working) Women's Day.

Episode 2: Dr. Shakira Hussein (Part 1)

The third episode, which is really just the rest of the second episode, but which we will all agree to call the third episode, okay?

Episode 3: Dr. Shakira Hussein (Part 2)

The difficult fourth episode, in which K&TV speak to activist, academic, avowed Marxist and known homosexualist, Roz Ward, about stuff.

Episode 4: Roz Ward

The fifth episode, in which Knackers and The Vadge talk to Chris Graham, to check it's cool if they call his publication New Matil, and also to see if he's shameless enough to write a glowing review in it of a podcast episode in which he's the guest.

Episode 5: Chris Graham

sweet ophelia (zella day cover)

A song about the ongoing oppression of Julian Assange.  The constant assault on journalism must stop. #FreeAssange

Help this independent artist by streaming this free on Choon!
https://choon.co/tracks/0yryi6nu3qo/kill-the-messenger

Lyrics written by jamesgetsit and @v4vapid

Click to support!

Kill The Messenger

Six years in an embassy
In London town, in a 'land of free'
There's a man denied his right freedom

He published crimes of the wicked few
Now pays the price of being true
Everything is twisted, truth is treason

Now he's broken and beaten
Is this what you call freedom?

National security
Excuse for authority
To suppress, our liberation

Don't we need transparency
To have a real democracy?
Come and join, our demonstration

When did truth become treason?
Is this what you call freedom?

Now another year's over
But they still haven't won
Need to shout from the rooftops
Come on everyone
Julian is a symbol
Of what is to come
Join the real resistance
We can overcome
If we are as one

We will never be beaten
We will fight for our freedom

Freedom #FreeAssange

Readings of all Caitlin Johnstone's articles, usually by her co-writer Tim Foley.

The Empire Depends On Psychological Compartmentalization

Caitlin Johnstone

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