Mastodawn

I wanted to understand the lies that people have to tell themselves when they either quietly or joyfully watch their neighbors ruined, spirited away, killed. Different versions of this horror have happened again and again in history. They’re still happening in places like Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo and East Timor, wherever one group of people permits its leaders to convince them that for their own protection, for the safety of their families and the security of their country, they must get their enemies, those alien others who until now were their neighbors.

Octavia Butler (1947-2006) American writer
Essay (2000-05), “A Few Rules for Predicting the Future,” Essence Magazine

More about this quote: wist.info/butler-octavia/83955…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #oliviabutler #aliens #demagoguery #enemies #ethniccleansing #genocide #ingroup #leaders #looktheotherway #lying #othering #outgroup #pogrom #propaganda #protection #safety #scapegoat #security #selfdeceit #selfdeception #usvsthem

Butler, Octavia - Essay (2000-05), "A Few Rules for Predicting the Future," Essence Magazine | WIST Quotations

I wanted to understand the lies that people have to tell themselves when they either quietly or joyfully watch their neighbors ruined, spirited away, killed. Different versions of this horror have happened again and again in history. They’re still happening in places like Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo and East Timor, wherever…

WIST Quotations

WIST Quotations May 18

A quotation from Henry Commager

Who are those who are really disloyal? Those who inflame racial hatreds, who sow religious and class dissensions. Those who subvert the Constitution by violating the freedom of the ballot box. Those who make a mockery of majority rule by the use of the filibuster. Those who impair democracy by denying equal educational facilities. Those who frustrate justice by lynch law or by making a farce of jury trials. Those who deny freedom of speech and of the press and of assembly. Those who press for special favors against the interest of the commonwealth. Those who regard public office as a source of private gain. Those who would exalt the military over the civil. Those who for selfish and private purposes stir up national antagonisms and expose the world to the ruin of war.

Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Essay (1947-09), “Who Is Loyal to America?” sec. 3, Harper’s Magazine, Vol. 195, No. 1168

More about this quote: wist.info/commager-henry-steel…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #henrycommager #America #civilliberties #civilrights #corruption #demagoguery #democracy #disloyalty #division #firstamendment #freepress #freespeech #freedomofreligion #freedomofspeech #freedomofthepress #injustice #jingoism #justice #loyalty #loyaltyoath #military #patriotism #publicoffice #religiousfreedom #unAmerican #usvsthem #votersuppression #votingrights #war #warmongering

Commager, Henry Steele - Essay (1947-09), "Who Is Loyal to America?" sec. 3, Harper's Magazine, Vol. 195, No. 1168 | WIST Quotations

Who are those who are really disloyal? Those who inflame racial hatreds, who sow religious and class dissensions. Those who subvert the Constitution by violating the freedom of the ballot box. Those who make a mockery of majority rule by the use of the filibuster. Those who impair democracy by…

WIST Quotations

WIST Quotations Apr 17

A quotation from Orwell

History is thought of largely in nationalist terms, and such things as the Inquisition, the tortures of the Star Chamber, the exploits of the English buccaneers (Sir Francis Drake, for instance, who was given to sinking Spanish prisoners alive), the Reign of Terror, the heroes of the Mutiny blowing hundreds of Indians from the guns, or Cromwell’s soldiers slashing Irishwomen’s faces with razors, become morally neutral or even meritorious when it is felt that they were done in the “right” cause. If one looks back over the past quarter of a century, one finds that there was hardly a single year when atrocity stories were not being reported from some part of the world; and yet in not one single case were these atrocities — in Spain, Russia, China, Hungary, Mexico, Amritsar, Smyrna — believed in and disapproved of by the English intelligentsia as a whole. Whether such deeds were reprehensible, or even whether they happened, was always decided according to political predilection.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1945-05), “Notes on Nationalism,” Polemic Magazine (1945-10)

More about this quote: wist.info/orwell-george/46140/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #orwell #georgeorwell #atrocity #cause #condemnation #endsandmeans #history #justification #nationalism #ourside #partisanship #politics #takingsides #tribalism #truthiness #usvsthem #warcrime

Orwell, George - Essay (1945-05), "Notes on Nationalism," Polemic Magazine (1945-10) | WIST Quotations

History is thought of largely in nationalist terms, and such things as the Inquisition, the tortures of the Star Chamber, the exploits of the English buccaneers (Sir Francis Drake, for instance, who was given to sinking Spanish prisoners alive), the Reign of Terror, the heroes of the Mutiny blowing hundreds…

WIST Quotations

CHICAGO ASK A PUNK Apr 13

NO KNOCK (nyc) + Prairieland Protester Benefit

la casa del migrante 3, Friday, May 1 at 07:00 PM CDT

NO KNOCK returns to Chicago.

https://noknock.bandcamp.com/album/imagine-a-world-without-landlord-ep

w/ support from locals:

GLUTTON FOR INSURRECTION: https://gluttonforinsurrection.bandcamp.com/album/smash-maga-the-album

ASKO: https://asko.bandcamp.com/album/violent-by-nature

SLIT: https://hardcoreisforpussies.bandcamp.com/album/demo-2025

$10-15, notaflof

Bring food and zines for the people!

Us Vs. Them

https://chicago.askapunk.net/event/no-knock-nyc-prairieland-protester-benefit

WIST Quotations Apr 10

A quotation from Orwell

It is important not to confuse nationalism with mere worship of success. The nationalist does not go on the principle of simply ganging up with the strongest side. On the contrary, having picked his side, he persuades himself that it is the strongest, and is able to stick to his belief even when the facts are overwhelmingly against him. Nationalism is power-hunger tempered by self-deception. Every nationalist is capable of the most flagrant dishonesty, but he is also — since he is conscious of serving something bigger than himself — unshakably certain of being in the right.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1945-05), “Notes on Nationalism,” Polemic Magazine (1945-10)

More about this quote: wist.info/orwell-george/45922/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #orwell #georgeorwell #ingroup #nationalism #nationalist #powerhungry #powerseeking #righteousness #selfdeceit #selfdeception #selfrighteousness #strength #takesides #takingsides #tribalism #usvsthem

Orwell, George - Essay (1945-05), "Notes on Nationalism," Polemic Magazine (1945-10) | WIST Quotations

It is important not to confuse nationalism with mere worship of success. The nationalist does not go on the principle of simply ganging up with the strongest side. On the contrary, having picked his side, he persuades himself that it is the strongest, and is able to stick to his…

WIST Quotations

Go Weapons Hot Apr 7

#tribalism
#psychology
#sociology
#usvsthem
#Othering

'America's divisions often go beyond disputes over policy, regularly spilling into clashes over identity and culture and pitting friends and family against one another. Judy Woodruff explores how that came to be and what it means for our shared future in her latest installment of “America at a Crossroads.”'

This video is an excerpt. The complete video is available at the following URL:

https://youtu.be/M5jps8MHy4E?si=8B1RLhbKfKbMz-Ta

Sojourner00 Apr 6

Nazi’s used the same psychology to demonize “others”. Reference “The Nazi Mind” by Laurence Rees
#UsvsThem #hatred #nazi #maga
https://bsky.app/profile/yolo0311.bsky.social/post/3mitbgsgjys2w

Y.O.L.O.0311 (@yolo0311.bsky.social)

Facts spoken by an ex-trumper...

Bluesky Social

WIST Quotations Apr 3

A quotation from Orwell

A nationalist is one who thinks solely, or mainly, in terms of competitive prestige. He may be a positive or a negative nationalist — that is, he may use his mental energy either in boosting or in denigrating — but at any rate his thoughts always turn on victories, defeats, triumphs and humiliations. He sees history, especially contemporary history, as the endless rise and decline of great power units, and every event that happens seems to him a demonstration that his own side is on the upgrade and some hated rival is on the downgrade.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1945-05), “Notes on Nationalism,” Polemic Magazine (1945-10)

More about this quote: wist.info/orwell-george/45763/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #orwell #georgeorwell #comparison #competition #defeat #ego #face #faction #history #nationalism #prestige #takesides #usvsthem #victory #winning #nationalist

Orwell, George - Essay (1945-05), "Notes on Nationalism," Polemic Magazine (1945-10) | WIST Quotations

A nationalist is one who thinks solely, or mainly, in terms of competitive prestige. He may be a positive or a negative nationalist -- that is, he may use his mental energy either in boosting or in denigrating -- but at any rate his thoughts always turn on victories, defeats,…

WIST Quotations

WIST Quotations Mar 20

A quotation from George Orwell

All nationalists have the power of not seeing resemblances between similar sets of facts. A British Tory will defend self-determination in Europe and oppose it in India with no feeling of inconsistency. Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them, and there is almost no kind of outrage — torture, the use of hostages, forced labour, mass deportations, imprisonment without trial, forgery, assassination, the bombing of civilians — which does not change its moral colour when it is committed by ‘our’ side.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1945-05), “Notes on Nationalism,” Polemic Magazine (1945-10)

More about this quote: wist.info/orwell-george/17246/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #orwell #georgeorwell #hypocrisy #justification #moralrelativism #motivation #nationalism #ourside #perspective #relativism #selfrighteousness #side #tribalism #tribe #usvsthem

Orwell, George - Essay (1945-05), "Notes on Nationalism," Polemic Magazine (1945-10) | WIST Quotations

All nationalists have the power of not seeing resemblances between similar sets of facts. A British Tory will defend self-determination in Europe and oppose it in India with no feeling of inconsistency. Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does…

WIST Quotations

WIST Quotations Mar 6

A quotation from George Orwell

By “nationalism” I mean first of all the habit of assuming that human beings can be classified like insects and that whole blocks of millions or tens of millions of people can be confidently labeled “good” or “bad.” But secondly — and this is much more important — I mean the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interests.

George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1945-05), “Notes on Nationalism,” Polemic Magazine (1945-10)

More about this quote: wist.info/orwell-george/16966/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #orwell #georgeorwell #civicduty #classification #devotion #duty #evil #good #goodandevil #ingroup #jingoism #moralduty #nation #nationalism #nationality #outgroup #population #racism #stereotype #tribalism #usvsthem

Orwell, George - Essay (1945-05), "Notes on Nationalism," Polemic Magazine (1945-10) | WIST Quotations

By "nationalism" I mean first of all the habit of assuming that human beings can be classified like insects and that whole blocks of millions or tens of millions of people can be confidently labeled "good" or "bad." But secondly -- and this is much more important -- I mean…

WIST Quotations