Priorities, People! Priorities!

Becoming distracted from what is really important can lead to serious consequences.

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." —Voltaire

Priorities, People! Priorities!

by C.A. Matthews

Everyone probably has had a teacher, professor, coach, boss, or parent who has shouted, “Priorities, people! Priorities!” whenever you seemed to lose focus or got distracted by something not as important as you thought it was.

I can still hear my 9^th grade Algebra teacher repeatedly telling us to do our assignments first or we wouldn’t be able to pass the chapter test.

“Did you do the even numbered exercises last night? he’d challenge us. “You want to pass the test and pass this class, don’t you? Priorities, people! Priorities!”

Of course, not everyone did their homework. Not everyone passed the test or passed the class. They got distracted by something more fun than working math problems. In my era, that meant watching too much TV or listening to your latest rock LPs for hours on end instead of doing your homework. And the results of their distraction showed—in their grades then, and possibly in their lives later on because of the type of jobs they were able to get without passing Algebra. Not the good paying kind.

Becoming distracted from what is really important can lead to serious consequences. “What happened?” these distracted folks whine in confusion. They’ll blame everyone but themselves for making poor decisions by following a false priority down a dead end path.

I want to help you focus on what should be your top priorities, not because I enjoy scolding people, but because I hate seeing people suffer later, angry, because no one warned them from wandering far from what really matters.

So, first things first: What you should be focusing on is not whatever the mainstream media pundits, trendy podcasters, or neoliberal party spokespersons are telling you is important. You probably know who I’m talking about here, the propagandists who shout things like, “This election is the most important election of our lives! It could mean the end of democracy as we know it! Do as we tell you!”

Anyone who spits out such trite phrases to trick and manipulate others into doing their bidding is not your friend. They want you to turn off your brains and become good little zombies for them. Refuse to follow their orders. Turn off CNN, MSNBC, TYT and the rest who push the oligarchs’ lies instead.

It’s time to think for yourself. Think hard about what is actually happening in the world, not the pretend bubble the rich and powerful dwell in that the manipulators make you think is your reality as well. It isn’t.

For some, this might entail doing research into what independent journalists are reporting on currently. (Check out radindiemedia.com and the article links below to start with.) This may come as a shock, but you’ll find that these indie journos focus on stories concerning human suffering and survival. They’re not hung up on window dressing stories about which celebrity or politician said what shocking thing and to whom. Politicians might factor into their stories, but the emphasis will be on ordinary human beings like you and me just trying to survive. Most of us are just trying to scrape together enough money to pay our rent or mortgage payment this month so we don’t wind up homeless, right?

So, your top priority should always be to focus on what’s happening to your fellow ordinary human beings and how they’re surviving (or not).

Keeping that priority in mind, which topic do you think you should focus upon this month? Here are a couple to choose from: 1)Thousands of civilians dying daily from bombings, starvation, and disease behind the locked gates of an open-air concentration camp called Gaza, or 2) A convicted old white man might take over the figurehead position of a dying, white-settler colonizing, imperialist country.

I know it’s a tough decision, but I think you can handle it. It’s the first choice, of course. We should prioritize the health and safety of the Palestinian people who are being mass murdered by the Israelis. We should focus on the horrific things happening to them in hopes that we can affect change in the world and save what’s left of the Palestinians and their culture.

“But wait!” I hear some of you cry as you clutch your pearls tightly. “We’re suffering horribly right here in the US. This the most important election of our lives! Orange Man bad! Uh, no, I meant to say it’s Project 2025 that’s bad. We gotta prevent whatever that thing is from happening, or our whole society will be destroyed.”

Sigh. Let’s deconstruct this knee-jerk reaction together, shall we?

Repeat the mantra: Priorities, people! Priorities! You’re clutching your pearls, for pity’s sake. You have food, clothing, and a roof over your head if you can afford pearls, or other superfluous, expendable goods, such as high end jewelry.

Deep down you realize that no matter what corrupt old white man is president you’ll still have your pearls, that is, your house in suburbia and food on your table. You just won’t care for this year’s figurehead, but that’s a minor inconvenience compared to starving Palestinian families being bombed while sheltering in tent camps and UN schools that the Israeli Occupation Forces have targeted repeatedly. It’s a minor inconvenience compared to Palestinian families losing the majority of their loved ones these past ten months.

Besides, this year’s latest American propaganda scare tactic—Project 2025—isn’t very new at all. It’s been around for decades, but you’ve not focused your attention on it until some propagandist dragged it up recently, right? Read more about it here. If this hasn’t bothered you personally enough to take action against it until now, why would it bother you to wait until later? Priorities, people! Priorities!

If you find yourself still whining about Project 2025 after reading about the potential 186,000 to 600,000 fatalities in Gaza since last October, then please, stop. Start meditating and work on your apparent lack of empathy. It could be a sign of a very serious problem. Please get help and get better.

Priorities, people! Priorities!

But some will continue to lose focus and whine, “What’s the deaths of all those innocent women and children in Gaza got to do with me? How can I help them? I don’t have an army, do I?”

Notice the emphasis on the pronouns, “I” and “me”. Everything is not about you, is it? Focus on what you can do—and not just you alone. After all, no one is an island. We exist in community.

And you do have an army if you live in a country like the US or any of the NATO countries. You’re paying for what they do or don’t do with your tax payments. The blood of Palestinians, Ukrainians, Russians, Yemenis, Syrians, Afghans, Iraqis, Congolese, Sudanese Haitians… are on the hands of all the tax payers of NATO countries who have paid for and/or provided the arms, bombs, drones, and military advisors to aid in the slaughter of millions.

The US has lead the way in arming Israel to commit genocide in Gaza. The citizens of US and other NATO countries could help the Palestinian people by protesting, striking, and forcing the shut down of the funding and arming of Israel. More of us could help support the BDS movement, negating the power of the military-industrial complex owned politicians who provide armaments to Israelis for profit.

Focus on ending suffering in the world. Join a local, national, or international group for support and ideas on how to help Gaza. Send an email or make a call to your elected representatives about cutting off all arms sales to Israel and elsewhere. Do anything but whine about your creature comforts while others are starving and dying from bombing raids.

Priorities, people! Priorities!

Anything that takes your focus away from the evil that is happening today in the world to your fellow human beings isn’t a priority. It’s a distraction. An evil distraction or manipulation to keep you from helping bring about justice for all.

Propagandists working through the mainstream media are good at distracting us. They’re experts at the “What if…?” game to distract you from what’s really important. But once you’ve caught on to their tricks you can refuse to play along.

“But, but,” some Americans are still crying. “What if Orange Man wins in November? We’ll become a fascist state, according to So-and-So. I’m scared of big words like fascism.”

Excuse me? The US is already a fascist state. We’re already living in a country where corporations exert more and more power and control over the apparatus of government. That’s the definition of fascism according to Mussolini, the man who coined the term—corporatism. Aiding a genocide is a symptom of fascism, because it’s making massive profits for the corporations of the military-industrial complex. The US is already fascist state because these things are happening now.

So, stop being afraid and playing the “What if…”game and focus on what’s important to ordinary people’s survival. You’re already living in a fascist state that aids and abets genocide. (Last week’s blog demonstrates that the US is a fascist oligarchy, and not a democracy as it advertises. The Princeton Study confirms this.) Why worry about something that’s already happened? You still got your pearls, don’t you? Focus on what you can do and get to work saving lives.

Priorities, people! Priorities!

If you’re still having trouble concentrating on what’s more important—your comfort zone or the lives of your fellow human beings—the following poem based upon a recent event about a young man with Down Syndrome ruthlessly murdered by Israeli Occupation Forces might help.

He Called The Dog Habibi

by Caitlin Johnstone

He called the dog “habibi”
 — my darling — 
as it mauled him to death
while his family listened nearby.

They had never heard him speak before.
He had the mind of an infant.

“Enough, my darling,” Muhammed said to the dog,
because it was killing him,
and because he was in pain,
and because his family had spoken to him
so lovingly all his life.

Those were the words he knew.
That’s how he was spoken to.
That’s what you say to someone
when you need them to stop.
When you need them to listen.
When their behavior is challenging,
but you have deep love in your heart.

Enough, my darling.
Enough, my darling.
As Gaza burns: enough, my darling.
Enough.

As attack dogs on two legs
send attack dogs on four legs
to bite and maul and kill:
Enough, my darling.
Enough.

A murder of crows
follows a murder of IDF soldiers,
cawing, “Enough, my darling.
Enough.”

The bombed out hospitals.
The children without limbs.
The sniper drones playing recorded babies’ cries
to try and lure out civilians.
The attack dog maulings.
The hunger.
The fear.
Enough, my darling.
Enough.

As we kill our planet
and kill each other
because we cannot act kindly,
cannot let love guide us,
cannot call off the dogs,
cannot rescue their victims,
cannot stop the attack,
cannot awaken from our confusion,
the stars call down to us from above:
Enough, habibi.
Enough, my darling.

Enough.

Enough.

Enough.

You can fight back against fascism and destroy it in time, but unless you walk on water, you’ll never be able to bring back to life the hundreds of thousands brutally murdered like Muhammed Bhar was by Israeli Occupation Forces. Focus your attention where it is needed now to save lives now.

Priorities, people. Priorities.

Related Articles and Other Interesting Links

‘Project 2025’ Is Just ‘Project 1981’ https://popularresistance.org/project-2025-is-just-project-1981/

Horror Beyond Comprehension: Gaza Death Toll Realistically Assessed At 186,000, But Could Be As High As 600,000 https://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2024/07/11/horror-beyond-comprehension-gaza-death-toll-realistically-assessed-at-186000-but-could-be-as-high-as-600000/

He Called The Dog Habibi https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/he-called-the-dog-habibi

Palestinian with Down syndrome ‘left to die’ by Israeli soldiers after combat dog attack https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-palestinian-down-syndrome-left-die-israeli-soldiers-after-combat-dog-attack

ICJ Says Israel's Occupation of Palestinian Territory Is Illegal and Must End https://www.commondreams.org/news/international-court-of-justice-israel-occupation

ICJ Tells Israel to End Occupation of Palestinian Territories, Pay Reparations https://truthout.org/articles/icj-tells-israel-to-end-occupation-of-palestinian-territories-pay-reparations/

ICJ rules Israel is an apartheid state because that's exactly what it is https://www.councilestatemedia.uk/p/icj-rules-israel-is-an-apartheid

Truth Dies: With Media Enamored by US Presidential Race, Israeli Massacres in Gaza Get Even Deadlier https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-gaza-massacres

ICJ rules Israel is an apartheid state because that's exactly what it is

Israeli soldiers tell story of savage cruelty in Gaza - one given blessing by the West https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israeli-soldiers-tell-story-savage-cruelty-gaza-west-gives-blessing

Israel commits three massacres across Gaza in less than one hour https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-commits-three-massacres-across-gaza-in-less-than-one-hour

Public Health Authorities Raise Alarm as Poliovirus Is Found in Gaza Sewage https://truthout.org/articles/public-health-authorities-raise-alarm-as-poliovirus-is-found-in-gaza-sewage/

Settled https://scheerpost.com/2024/07/17/settled/

US Navy Falters; Yemen’s Blockade Bankrupts Israel’s Eilat Port https://popularresistance.org/us-navy-falters-yemens-blockade-bankrupts-israels-eilat-port/

The end of Israel’s economy https://mondoweiss.net/2024/07/the-end-of-israels-economy/

The Censored & Buried Book Israeli Zy 0 nists & Both Parties Do NOT Want You Reading https://mark192.substack.com/p/move-along-do-not-read-this-the-censored

Israel Bombs Yemen Saturday in Escalation with Houthis https://scheerpost.com/2024/07/21/israel-bombs-yemen-saturday-in-escalation-with-houthis/

Genocide Monster Drops Out, Endorses Fellow Genocide Monster https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/genocide-monster-drops-out-endorses

Joe Biden Drops Out of Presidential Race https://truthout.org/articles/joe-biden-drops-out-of-presidential-race/

JOE BIDEN ANNOUNCES WITHDRAWAL! https://chroniclesofhaiphong.substack.com/p/joe-biden-announces-withdrawal

Uhuru 3 Trial May Set Dangerous Precedent for Free Speech https://scheerpost.com/2024/07/17/truth-dies-uhuru-3-trial-may-set-dangerous-precedent-for-free-speech/

Nuclear War Is Imminent https://original.antiwar.com/Gerry_Condon/2024/07/14/nuclear-war-is-imminent/

Destabilizing the US-Russian Nuclear Balance https://scheerpost.com/2024/07/17/destabilizing-the-us-russian-nuclear-balance/

Two Americans Walking Down The Street And Talking About Politics https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/two-americans-walking-down-the-street

Biden, Blinken, Kallas and the Death of Diplomacy https://euroyankee.substack.com/p/biden-blinken-kallas-and-the-death

We Need Both Outer Work And Inner Work To Truly Free Ourselves