(Where /me shows off fancy new "set fo+=n" vim option for nicely wrapping numbered lists :)
** Peter Lavelle: 15 signs you may be a Putin troll (http://theduran.com/peter-lavelle-15-signs-may-putin-troll/) ------------------------------------------------------------ By Peter Lavelle on Aug 28, 2016 01:46 pm Russian President Vladimir Putin listens during a live video link with regions suffering from forest fires from the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Russias president has flipped the switch to open the last of four electricity lines to Crimea aimed at allowing the Russia-annexed peninsula to end its reliance on Ukrainian electricity. (Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) Questioning authority is the most fundamental hallmark of modern western civilization. As of late this tenant has gone AWOL. Questioning authority is now tantamount to treason. And if you are deemed treasonous, then you are probably a Putin troll. Are you afflicted with the following thoughts? 1. When you have that gnawing feeling corporate mainstream is lying — and lying a lot and all the time. 2. When thinking Vladimir Putin is a leader when his western counterparts are only imitation politicians reciting really bad sound bites by paid-for-PR. 3. When realizing words seem to lose any meaning: aggression, lies, evil, subversion, and lack of morality can only be found in others. 4. When worried almost everyone in Washington, both major political parties and the corporate mainstream media are all reading from the same prepared script. 5. When concerned the Democratic Party embraces McCarthyism and then is embraced by the failed though seemingly all-powerful neocons. 6. When noticing Washington elites and western corporate media callously and endlessly accept the role as agents for endless war. 7. When disagreeing with the “conventional wisdom” makes you suspect and even a threat to the current social order. 8. When doubting for a second Putin’s Russia threatens the west’s core geopolitical interests. 9. When questioning why the west demonizes and then destroys countries and societies that in no way threaten the west. 10. When pondering why the west is so obsessed with democracy while afraid of the democratic wishes of people around the world (including in the west.) 11. When you realize “no lives matter.” We are all political canon-fodder – it is the picking order that is in play. 12. When being terrified of the establishment’s thinking the Third World War is actually thinkable. 13. When worried being told over and over again Hillary Clinton is the “safe-hands” candidate. 14. When being angered that Barack Obama is called a man of peace – when his time on office has never seen America at peace for even a single day. 15. When doubting just about everything you have been told about “American Exceptionalism.” Hasn’t this idea been exceptionally bad for the U.S. and the rest of the world? If you say this openly in public you will face some form of social marginalization or worse. I am guessing you might consider yourself to be guilty of some or all of the above. Being a Putin Troll is not a terminal condition though – at least not yet. There is no reason to seek treatment – you are actually fine. The public sphere, as we know it, is infected and sick. Keep thinking good and honest thoughts as long as you can. If we survive all this propaganda and war mongering, being once called a Putin Troll might one day be deemed as an honorable tribute. Peter Lavelle is host of RT’s political debate program CrossTalk. His views may or may not reflect those of his employer. The post Peter Lavelle: 15 signs you may be a Putin troll (http://theduran.com/peter-lavelle-15-signs-may-putin-troll/) appeared first on The Duran (http://theduran.com) .
