Russia and Ukraine

[Belacqua]

The very idea of democracy is based on the idea that at some point, even the most ordinary man will understand what’s going on. 

I don't think the definition of democracy is that ordinary people know what's going on. A lot of people know what's going on now, but it doesn't help. Democracy is where the people vote for representatives who enact the will of the people. That isn't happening in the US. 

It's fully possible for lots and lots of people to know what's going on even in an oligarchy like the US. 

And if he/she doesn’t. Well I think you are right then, Than China should be our vision of a most efficiently governed society. 

Why do you think that people in China don't know what's going on? Have you spoken to a lot of Chinese people? 

They vote for their local representatives, the local representatives have responsibilities. If you look at the enormous improvement in living standards in China, it is clear that the Chinese government is working to improve people's lives. As opposed to the US government, which is allowing a steep decline in infrastructure, life expectancy, and other indicators of quality of life. 

China is way out ahead in many sectors of high-tech industry. Tim Cook says he has factories in China not because the costs are lower (they're a lot lower in other Asian countries) but because the quality of work is so high. 

There are of course points on which the Chinese government should be criticized. The trouble is that Anglophone media not only emphasizes these points to the exclusion of all good things, but also invents other evils out of whole cloth. 

Poor people have fared much better in China than in the US in recent years. 

But I think you are not right. I think that even with the most advanced propaganda or alternate-reality creating method, there are some limits. I even think that a country like Russia is already way beyond these limits.

And I think that Americans are more deeply sunk into alternate-reality land than just about anybody else. Are there limits to this? 

It will be interesting to see what happens when Ukraine crumbles and the US loses interest. There's a very good chance that Russia will get what it wants, more or less, and at that point Ukraine will fall so far off of the US media's radar screen that it will be like it never existed. Remember the war in Afghanistan that was necessary for peace and democracy in the world? The US lost it to the Taliban and now it's dropped completely out of media discourse. How often do you read about Yemen? The US is supporting an evil war against Yemenis, and although they also provide food aid, it is a fraction of the military aid they give to Ukraine. Apartheid in Israel continues to increase, but no one in the US government dares to mention this. 

As Russia/China/Iran/India and the other BRICS nations replace the dollar as the reserve currency, and America continues its decline at home, there will no doubt be a serious increase in advanced propaganda to persuade Americans that the US is still #1 and that bombing other countries = peace. 

Are you aware that during Obama's term in office, he averaged one bomb dropped every eight minutes for the full eight years. We're number one.