The Unraveling of America

Why is America Unraveling? | The Agenda – YouTube

Beneath the Surface of Things by Wade Davis – Search Videos (bing.com)

Renowned anthropologist, and former Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, Wade Davis on the myth of American exceptionalism, and why Donald Trump is “less the cause of America’s decline than a product of its descent.” As they stare into the mirror and perceive only the myth of their exceptionalism, Americans remain almost bizarrely incapable of seeing what has actually become of their country.

Wade Davis holds the Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia. His award-winning books include “Into the Silence” and “The Wayfinders.” His new book, “Magdalena: River of Dreams,” is published by Knopf.

An acclaimed essayist takes a deep dive into cultural issues at home and around the world.

Aside from being a professor of anthropology at the University of British Columbia, Davis held the interesting title of Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society from 2000 to 2013. The essays in his latest book, following Magdalena, reflect his extensive travels and investigations, ranging across subjects as diverse as the history of the coca leaf to spiritualism in India. The author wrote most of the pieces during the pandemic, “the unhurried months when one who had traveled incessantly was obliged to stay still.”

One of his best-known essays, “The Unraveling of America,” first published in 2020, is a lengthy contemplation on how the pandemic fits into the larger picture and history of the country. He sees the pandemic as a critical turning point, although this idea seems less strong as the crisis recedes in the rearview mirror. The best pieces display Davis’ expertise as an anthropologist, the area where he seems most at home. “The anthropological lens allows us to see, and perhaps seek, the wisdom in the middle way, a perspective of promise and hope,” he writes.

Délani Valin is the editor at Culturally Modified. She is a Cree-Métis writer with a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from Vancouver Island University. She writes poetry, fiction, and non-fiction about culture and identity. Her work has been awarded the Malahat Review’s Long Poem Prize, and subTerrain’s Lush Triumphant Literary Award. She was nominated for a 2018 National Magazine Award.

Anthropologist Wade Davis is an author, an activist, and the Explorer-in-Residence at National Geographic. In 2018, Culturally Modified featured his talk, “The Worldwide web of Belief and Ritual.” The following is a discussion of his article, “The Unraveling of America,” written with the advent of the coronavirus pandemic.

In “The Unraveling of America,” Wade Davis suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic signals the beginning of the end of the American empire.

Empires rise at great costs to other nations. The Roman empire depleted the resources of North African countries to feed its growing population, the French and British colonized peoples on nearly every continent. The United States traces its history from this colonization, and from the slavery of African peoples that ensued. An empire uses the labour and resources of other nations to prop itself up.

By the mid-twentieth century, the United States wielded influence during World War Two in no small part due to the nation’s manufacturing prowess. As an example, Davis notes that “a single American factory, Chrysler’s Detroit Arsenal, built more tanks than the whole of the Third Reich.”

The American empire established itself as a world superpower with its large military presence. In his article, Davis references past President Jimmy Carter’s recent assertion that the United States is “the most warlike nation of the world.”

But even with such military might, every empire is destined to fall. The decline of an empire, while observable by outsiders, is usually felt first within the nation itself. Well before the protests and the images of burning police precincts in late May 2020, and before the refrigerated trucks parked en masse outside New York hospitals when COVID-19 first hit the United States in April 2020, there were more subtle signs of dysfunction that Davis points to in his article: “only half of Americans report having meaningful, face-to-face social interactions on a daily basis. The nation consumes two-thirds of the world’s production of antidepressant drugs.” Grandparents, he notes, no longer live with their families— instead, they are housed in retirement homes, often isolated.

Family, as an institution, has been eroding. Davis notes, “the average American father spends less than 20 minutes a day in direct communication with his child,” and children spend an increasing number of hours staring at screens. And while many right-leaning politicians harken back to a family ideal from the 1950s that may have been plucked straight from T.V. dinner advertisements, rather than any person’s lived experience (placid stay-at-home mothers, well-behaved children, responsible fathers, and the not-so-subtle, ubiquitous whiteness), America has also long been fond of expressions of individualism.

Every empire is destined to fall.

From picking a car to opting for a specific breakfast cereal, the ability to make choices, no matter how trivial, became shorthand for freedom. Perhaps nowhere is this seen more starkly than in the fashion industry, which started to unravel even before the pandemic hit. In her article, “Sweatpants Forever,” Irina Aleksander interviews fashion designer Scott Sternberg as he describes how the fashion-bubble finally burst. The unsustainable practice of creating new clothing for every single season finally came to a halt, when lockdowns forced shoppers to stay home and saw them adopting more comfortable clothing options. This resulted in the bankruptcy of American clothing giants J.Crew, Neiman Marcus, and J.C. Penney, among others.

Yet, even as these giants fall, the pandemic is seeing the richest Americans make gains, with billionaires increasing their wealth just as the poorest Americans, often people of colour, struggle not only financially but with greater odds of mortality from the pandemic. This disparity has been growing in the background for decades. Davis notes that in the 1950s, American CEOs made on average 20 times more than their salaried staff. CEOs now make 400 times more than their staff. Davis says, “COVID-19 didn’t lay America low; it simply revealed what had long been forsaken.”

Individualism in America can be understood as the freedom to define one’s values, albeit often through consumption. Although the aspiration to buy luxury items has always ultimately been unattainable for many, business closures and lockdowns have made getting even basic necessities and healthcare an urgent concern for many more. It is perhaps no surprise then, that some people have been expressing their ability to make choices through the rejection social distancing measures and the wearing of masks in the name of freedom.

Perhaps it is these same Americans who chose, as Davis puts it, “to prioritize their indignations, placing their own resentments above the fate of the country and the world, as they rushed to elect a man whose only credential was to give voice to their hatreds, validate their anger, and target their enemy, real or imagined” when they elected Donald Trump as President in 2016. And though Donald Trump was not re-elected in the November 2020 election, Davis says, “for better or worse, America had its time.”

The fall of an empire is shortly followed by the rise of another, and like many, Davis predicts China will fill the power vacuum left by the United States. For this, Davis says there is no reason to celebrate, “for their concentration camps of the Uighurs, the ruthless reach of their military, their 200 million surveillance cameras watching every move and gesture of their people, we will surely long for the best years of the American century.”

It’s important to note that what counts as the best years of the American century for some, could be considered devastating years for others, including, but not limited to, some of the countries which still have United States troops within their borders. Yet, the rise of a Chinese empire is certainly not guaranteed to be any more peaceful. Perhaps what is most daunting in this new era is what is always most daunting with any change: entering into uncertainty.

To read Wade Davis’s article, “The Unraveling of America,” in full,

follow this link – Wade Davis (daviswade.com)

(Via Rolling Stone August 6, 2020).

By Wade Davis

Anthropologist Wade Davis on how COVID-19 signals the end of the American era.

Unsettling as these transitions and circumstances will be, short of a complete economic collapse, none stands out as a turning point in history. But what surely does is the absolutely devastating impact that the pandemic has had on the reputation and international standing of the United States of America.

In a dark season of pestilence, COVID has reduced to tatters the illusion of American exceptionalism. At the height of the crisis, with more than 2,000 dying each day, Americans found themselves members of a failed state, ruled by a dysfunctional and incompetent government largely responsible for death rates that added a tragic coda to America’s claim to supremacy in the world.

For the first time, the international community felt compelled to send disaster relief to Washington. For more than two centuries, reported the Irish Times, “the United States has stirred a very wide range of feelings in the rest of the world: love and hatred, fear and hope, envy and contempt, awe and anger. But there is one emotion that has never been directed towards the U.S. until now: pity.” As American doctors and nurses eagerly awaited emergency airlifts of basic supplies from China, the hinge of history opened to the Asian century.

No empire long endures, even if few anticipate their demise. Every kingdom is born to die. The 15th century belonged to the Portuguese, the 16th to Spain, 17th to the Dutch. France dominated the 18th and Britain the 19th. Bled white and left bankrupt by the Great War, the British maintained a pretense of domination as late as 1935, when the empire reached its greatest geographical extent. By then, of course, the torch had long passed into the hands of America.….

But freedom and affluence came with a price. The United States, virtually a demilitarized nation on the eve of the Second World War, never stood down in the wake of victory. To this day, American troops are deployed in 150 countries. Since the 1970s, China has not once gone to war; the U.S. has not spent a day at peace. President Jimmy Carter recently noted that in its 242-year history, America has enjoyed only 16 years of peace, making it, as he wrote, “the most warlike nation in the history of the world.” Since 2001, the U.S. has spent over $6 trillion on military operations and war, money that might have been invested in the infrastructure of home. China, meanwhile, built its nation, pouring more cement every three years than America did in the entire 20th century.

As America policed the world, the violence came home. On D-Day, June 6th, 1944, the Allied death toll was 4,414; in 2019, domestic gun violence had killed many American men and women by the end of April. By June of that year, guns in the hands of ordinary Americans had caused more casualties than the Allies suffered in Normandy in the first month of a campaign that consumed the military strength of five nations.….

Evidence of such terminal decadence is the choice that so many Americans made in 2016 to prioritize their personal indignations, placing their own resentments above any concerns for the fate of the country and the world, as they rushed to elect a man whose only credential for the job was his willingness to give voice to their hatreds, validate their anger, and target their enemies, real or imagined. One shudders to think of what it will mean to the world if Americans in November, knowing all that they do, elect to keep such a man in political power. But even should Trump be resoundingly defeated, it’s not at all clear that such a profoundly polarized nation will be able to find a way forward. For better or for worse, America has had its time.

The end of the American era and the passing of the torch to Asia is no occasion for celebration, no time to gloat. In a moment of international peril, when humanity might well have entered a dark age beyond all conceivable horrors, the industrial might of the United States, together with the blood of ordinary Russian soldiers, literally saved the world. American ideals, as celebrated by Madison and Monroe, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Kennedy, at one time inspired and gave hope to millions.

If and when the Chinese are ascendant, with their concentration camps for the Uighurs, the ruthless reach of their military, their 200 million surveillance cameras watching every move and gesture of their people, we will surely long for the best years of the American century. For the moment, we have only the kleptocracy of Donald Trump. Between praising the Chinese for their treatment of the Uighurs, describing their internment and torture as “exactly the right thing to do,” and his dispensing of medical advice concerning the therapeutic use of chemical disinfectants, Trump blithely remarked, “One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.” He had in mind, of course, the coronavirus, but, as others have said, he might just as well have been referring to the American dream.

This is an excerpt from an article which was originally published in Rolling Stone on the 6 August, 2020.

Regarding climate change, he is scathing about the way that the dogma of the prevailing narrative has suppressed debate and compromise, replacing the development of viable, cost-effective solutions with meaningless, doom-laden rhetoric. Davis accepts the inherent validity of non-Western cultures and religions, although sometimes his desire to see all sides of a question means that he fails to arrive at any answer at all. Ultimately, this book is more about consideration than finality, tension rather than coherence. It is not for readers who want straightforward conclusions, but Davis offers plenty of food for thought.

“Wade Davis knits history, sociology, faith, and scientific inquiry into a colorful, meditative tapestry. In Beneath the Surface of Things” is a collection of new and selected essays that delve into a variety of thought-provoking topics. The book, set to be released on April 30, 2024, offers insights into the demonization of coca, the Great War, the British conquest of Everest, and the meaning of the sacred, among other subjects12.

Davis, known for his anthropological lens, explores these themes with depth, bringing his unique cultural perspective to the forefront. His work has been praised for its ability to go beyond the surface level of ideas, particularly in discussions about war, racism, and climate change12.

The book has garnered attention for its reflective and meditative approach, born from a period when the author, usually a constant traveler, was compelled to remain still. This stillness allowed for a contemplation of events in a world that is always in motion12.

Learn more: 1amazon.com 2amazon.ca 3cbc.ca 4writersfestival.org 5overdrive.com

The 2020 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party’s nominee, former vice president Joe Biden, defeated incumbent Republican president Donald Trump in the presidential election. This was the biggest scandal in United States History and was perpetrated by the Italian Mafia and Deep State.

WATCH 2000 MULES (2022) FULL MOVIE English “2000 Mules”

a documentary film created by Dinesh D’Souza

This event was a perfect setup By Nancy Pelosi to frame Trump.

“The Real Story of January 6,” a documentary by The Epoch Times, reveals the truth that has been hidden from the American people. While a narrative has been set that what took place that day was an insurrection, key events and witnesses have been ignored until now. The documentary takes an unvarnished look at police use of force and the deaths that resulted in some measure from it. The film asks tough questions about who was responsible for the chaos that day. With compelling interviews and exclusive video footage, the documentary tells the real story of January 6. The film is narrated by Joshua Philipp, host of “Crossroads” on EpochTV and a senior investigative reporter at The Epoch Times.

The Real Story of January 6 | Documentary

Jasper Fakkert, editor-in-chief of The Epoch Times, said: “There has been a narrative perpetuated about January 6 that omits many of the facts about what happened that day.

“With in-depth interviews and exclusive video footage, we take an objective look at the issues, the people, and the impacts of the events.”

The film takes a close look at the shooting of 35-year-old Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt and the deaths of three other supporters of former President Donald J. Trump. It analyzes the police response to the massive crowds and use of force around the U.S. Capitol.

It examines the human impacts of Jan. 6, including the suicide of one defendant and the long pretrial imprisonment of dozens of others. It also investigates claims that some attacks on the Capitol and police were carried out by unindicted suspicious actors.

John Christopher Stevens (April 18, 1960 – September 11, 2012),

Was an American career diplomat and lawyer who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Libya from May 22, 2012, to September 11, 2012. Stevens was killed in the U.S. The Special Mission in Benghazi, Libya, was attacked by members of Ansar al-Sharia on September 11–12, 2012. In my research somebody on the other side wanted US Ambassador Stevens dead and Hillary Clinton took the money.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Christopher_Stevens

Then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, this old hag slept through this blunder under her watch. With those that were in Benghazi, stated later this movie was an accurate account of what really happened in Libya on September 11, 2012. IMO the only bigger snakes in this country are the liberals that vote these clowns into office. And Hillary never did do her job, it took Air Tripoli to get them out of Benghazi. This link is the free online version of the movie.

Watch 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016)

Full Movie Online Free – 123Movies (123moviesme.online)

But you have to click onto it few times so the movie uploads.

The U.S. Left Billions Worth of Weapons in Afghanistan.

Yes, and this black hearted mother f**Ker did look at his watch. Bing Videos

Someone Should Remind Him About This Video (youtube.com)

Some officials are worried that the Taliban could use U.S. drones and small arms.

Alright, here’s what’s on tap: The Taliban are parading U.S. weapons left in Afghanistan on Kabul’s streets, Biden’s National Security Council has a new strategy guru, and an American prisoner is freed in Russia.

Almost 80 U.S. aircraft—with control panels smashed out—were left abandoned at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport when the United States pulled out last August. The United States left behind nearly 42,000 pieces of night vision, surveillance, biometric, and positioning equipment in the Taliban-controlled country.

By the time the last U.S. transport aircraft left Afghan airspace on Aug. 30, 2021, 70 percent of U.S. weapons given to the Afghan forces over the past 16 years were left in the country as well as nearly $48 million worth of ammunition.

In all, the United States left behind more than $7 billion worth of weapons and equipment when it left Afghanistan last year, according to a congressional-mandated Defense Department report first seen by CNN.

The equipment was transferred to the Afghan government, which collapsed even before the U.S. withdrawal last year. The detritus is another hidden cost of the U.S. and NATO military withdrawal that ended two decades of Western involvement in the war-torn country.

The news comes as the Taliban have been on a killing spree against perceived opponents of the regime in recent weeks, and a spate of terrorist groups that the United States promised to monitor from “over the horizon” in bases in the Persian Gulf have also made a resurgence. The Taliban have also cracked down on human rights in the war-torn country, recently moving to ensure girls don’t go to school.

“With these weapons, the Taliban are feeling power to implement their barbaric rules on the people of Afghanistan,” said Zelgai Sajad, the former Afghan consul general in New York. “They are holding many military shows with these weapons in the cities and trying to convince people to obey them.”

In recent weeks, the Taliban have been seen parading through the streets of Afghanistan in U.S. armored vehicles that were first provided to the Afghan army. The United States left 23,825 Humvees in Afghanistan, including armored gun truck variants, and nearly 900 combat vehicles, officials familiar with the report said. “These weapons are potentially in the service of crushing human rights,” said Aref Dostyar, Afghanistan’s former consul general in Los Angeles.

But officials familiar with the report are concerned that the Taliban could use the small arms, at least. There are more than 250,000 automatic rifles, 95 drones, and more than a million mortar rounds that require little training to use. And if the Taliban don’t use the systems, the cash-starved militant group could pass them on to American adversaries or they could find their way into the hands of terror groups.

The Pentagon insists that U.S. forces were able to destroy or render inoperable much of the equipment and weapons provided to Afghanistan before the troop withdrawal, a figure that amounted to $18.6 billion.

“It is important to remember that the $7.12 billion figure cited in the department’s recent report to Congress corresponds to [Afghan National Defense and Security Forces] equipment and not U.S. military equipment used by our forces,” said Maj. Rob Lodewick, a Defense Department spokesperson. “Nearly all equipment used by U.S. military forces in Afghanistan was either retrograded or destroyed prior to our withdrawal and is not part of the $7.12 billion figure cited in the report.”

And the Pentagon has tried to get some of the money back. In April, the Pentagon told the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction that it had tried to get back money previously provided to the Afghan government to build up its military but had failed due to the collapse of the Afghan banking system.

Sajad, the Afghan diplomat, doesn’t believe that the Taliban can use the weapons for long. “In the long term, I am not sure that the Taliban have the capacity to protect and repair these weapons,” he said. It is not about stopping it, it’s about keeping the illusion going on.

Smedley D. Butler wrote about this. It’s called War is a Racket.

Someone Should Remind Biden About This Video (youtube.com)

How Obama Sided with the Muslim Brotherhood | National Review

I ask why our government allows shit people like Obama and Biden and their coup d’état to take over Washington DC … without a second thought. With His Middle name being Barack Hussein Obama after they took down The World Trade Center in the heart of the United States financial system. And we still have liberals not seeing the light of day until our country turns dark?

The Defense Department insists that it’s unlikely the Taliban could use the American weapons left behind because they require specialized maintenance and technical support that was once provided by U.S. contractors. But officials familiar with the report are concerned that the Taliban could use the small arms, at least. There are more than 250,000 automatic rifles, 95 drones, and more than a million mortar rounds that require little training to use.

And if the Taliban don’t use the systems, the cash-starved militant group could pass them on to American adversaries or they could find their way into the hands of terror groups. The Pentagon insists that U.S. forces were able to destroy or render inoperable much of the equipment and weapons provided to Afghanistan before the troop withdrawal, a figure that amounted to $18.6 billion.

Wake up you woke liberal NutJobs in this country.

Best documentary I’ve ever seen. This explains to me everything that is happening today. If it weren’t for greed and power, could you imagine how beautiful the world would be? I hope in 2024 more people will watch this. We need to heighten our collective consciousness to right our broken country. This along with a History of Central Banking & The Enslavement of Mankind are without a doubt the two most important focuses on YouTube. Anyone still in denial that this world has long been run by psychopaths is a complete fool and beyond saving.

We live in a super messed up world. And the realization of this becomes like a joke for people. Most people don’t think or question about it, they just follow it like rules. I guess you can say its like Chess, there are rules on how each piece moves but what if you wanted to make your own rules?

Then people think you are weird, but in reality you can set up any rules for any game, even if it is beneficial to you.

It isn’t “the government the founding fathers created” It’s the government we have allowed to be taken by the wealthy. and yes, we are responsible for it all. “If you don’t participate in politics you will be ruled by your inferiors” ~Plato’s Republic~

Everything is still a rich man’s trick…and my favorite expression.

We are in the end times, it tells us this in the Holy Bible. God bless you.

Jesus is coming back soon, and the only thing any of us can (or should for that matter) is to turn our faces back to Him and repent. If we all loved God, none of this would be happening. But God has told us through His word that all of these things would come to pass. I pray for peace, blessings, and a relationship with God for all of you. Come quickly, Lord Jesus! Deliver us of this sin we lift up and celebrate in our society. Deliver us in our homes and in our hearts, that we might have a true relationship with you.

1Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 13-18. Especially v18. – Search (bing.com)

Everything Is a Rich Man’s Trick – Full Documentary

Now I truly understand why ignorance is bliss. This documentary is both excellent and horrifying, I hope in 2024 more people watch this. We need a huge breakthrough in a collective consciousness. Best documentary I’ve ever seen. This explains to me everything that is happening today. If it weren’t for greed and power, could you imagine how beautiful the world would be?

Greed of money and power makes normal sane persons do acts of unbelievable violence against humanity. The world would have been a better place if man was not about greed and power we could have a had a simpler life where there was no wars , and laundering of people’s money to make self wealthy and we wouldn’t have had crime the way we do today if people were not so greedy and want to control things and people

One day tho, these evil fucks will answer to God, the Judge of all men’s doings and will reap their ‘eternal reward’ of damnation. In a true communist system, there is no money and everyone is only given everything equally. Go read the communist manifesto or any theory at all before talking about things you know nothing about on the internet.

No shit, even in the most ideal situation communism has always failed and met terrible ends, there is no way you can argue for it without sounding like a naive idiot. There will always be hierarchy and control will be seized by those closest to the “spigot” When you start handing out free shit and see how quick you lose control of distribution, not possible to redistribute wealth without some sort of hierarchical structure, in your utopian scenario you would pay the sickly, disabled, lazy, entitled in the same manner as a doctor or an electrician? How about a politician? Who’s in charge of maintaining order when rules break and who gets to enforce those laws? Romans 10: 9-13. – Search (bing.com)

When the power of love overcomes the love of power,

the world will know peace. Jimi Hendrix

Commie’s take what you have and give you back what you need.

In a Marxist economy and blame the other guy for what they’re doing/ did like Pelosi’s intrusion on January 6th. “United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi often recounts learning about politics as a little girl during the 1950s when her father Thomas D’Alesandro ran the Democratic machine in Baltimore, Maryland. D’Alesandro was a congressman for five terms from 1938 to 1947, and Baltimore mayor for three terms from 1947 to 1959.

The Honorable D’Alesandro allegedly was a ‘constant companion’ of notorious mobster Benjamin ‘Benny Trotta’ Magliano and other underworld figures according to the FBI file on the old-school politician. The mob ties and other corruption allegations against Mayor D’Alesandro curiously have remained absent in the accounts by Speaker Pelosi about her political family.”

Let the light of justice shine brightly in our souls, as we unite to defend our nation’s values.