A Letter to Those Experiencing Cognitive Dissonance During the Decline of the American Empire
For anyone currently feeling confused and misled
You may not believe me.
I wouldn’t have believed either, and in fact, I didn’t, when I was told the same. Trust that I understand where you are, because I experienced this cognitive dissonance myself, and in fact continue to experience it as this potential global war unravels.
In the spring of 2023, I was first informed about something that I did not immediately believe. I did not understand its significance then, but in retrospect, it began a slow unraveling in my mind, which shattered my worldview and forced me to look through perspectives that challenged my existing way of thinking. If you are in the West—American, Canadian, British, French—you may be experiencing this too, or you may experience it quite soon, in the coming weeks, and this year that follows.
It’s new and uncomfortable, and it invites a strong, defensive reaction. In some ways, our understanding of reality depends on continuing to think as we have.
The information I was told was that Ukraine was going to lose the war against Russia. “Unsubstantiated” reports from unrelated independent sources were beginning to appear, reporting that the Ukraine, which had mostly at this point been depicted as faring quite well, was struggling and unlikely to win. Yet despite this, Western media—“reputable” sources such as the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, BBC, Le Monde, CBC, Toronto Star—was not reflecting this reality to the public.
Why not? I asked.
They don’t want the public to know yet, the source indicated. Right now, the West needs you to believe Russia is losing, because they need you to be on board with that narrative.
What does that mean?
Like any other country, Western media can convey truth. But again like any other, we are equally capable of propaganda. America, in fact, as the richest and most powerful country in the world, may even have the most advanced propaganda system in the world.
Not the reputable news, though, I said, to clarify.
Yes.
Bullshit, I thought immediately.
I was instinctively suspicious, inexplicably angry and offended in a way I could not explain.
I read the New York Times every day, I thought. They are the gold standard of journalism. Liberal, informed people read the Times because it is reputable. If the Times says Ukraine is winning, there’s no reason to disbelieve them. Any disbelief in our press is for MAGA-Trumpers and Fox News. Propaganda is for Cold War Era Russia, or Communist China. Independent reports are unsubstantiated bullshit on the internet.
But now, almost a year later, I watch as the West hints at safety concerns and France and Germany talk increasingly about the possibility of war, suggesting that the “existence” of Europe is at stake if Ukraine loses. I see an increase in Western warnings of “Russian propaganda” and increased portrayals of Russia as paranoid, threatening, and unreasonable. At the same time, Western governments are cracking down on social media censorship and free speech themselves. It makes me look back at what I was told, and I better understand the cognitive dissonance that I experienced, and in fact continue to experience as I also watch the news in Gaza unfold.
At this point, the seed about the West’s fallibility in the media was planted. But I did not quite believe it, as I was convinced that accepting this made me a right-wing conspiracy nut or a person aligned with Russia, brainwashed by anti-Western propaganda.
2023 neared its tail end. On October 7, the Israeli-Palestine “conflict” intensified, but because I have been conditioned to do so, I tried to stay out of the conversation when possible. The dispute over Israel/Palestine’s right to land has always been depicted as unsolvable to the general Western population. I have often been cautioned against participating in debates as it inevitably creates vicious, emotional reactions. This was wrong. I should have tried harder to participate and learn, because the answer now is quite clear.
At this point, the seed about the West’s fallibility in the media was planted. But I did not quite believe it, as I was convinced that accepting this made me a right-wing conspiracy nut or a person aligned with Russia, brainwashed by anti-Western propaganda. But I began to investigate, to see if this claim could be disproven.
I began to follow more news sources outside of Canada and America than I ever had before, both inside and outside of the West. I read sources that were considered propaganda and ones that were not. I was on Tiktok too, and Substack. I went on reading conventional “reputable” Western media as well, in order to compare perspectives.
Reading the other sources was not replacing Western sources. I was literally only comparing what was reported.
And I began to get increasingly anxious and angry by the things that I was seeing.
Sources outside of the West were reporting on many, many deaths in Gaza. More than one source. Varied sources. Independent sources. Sources who both had and did not have a reason to lie, from all over the world. Reports grew every day of deaths, which eventually surpassed those in Israel. Reports of food insecurity. Starvation. Violence. I saw this on social media too.
This was absent from Western sources. No word on genocide. Palestinian deaths or suffering, if mentioned, were a whisper, footnotes hidden as deep as they could go. CNN, the Times, the LA Times, highlighted Israel’s opinions. They spoke of hostages, anti-Semitism. They used passive, neutral language about Israel. Netanyahu reports this. Israel says that. Deaths on “both sides,” they wrote.
Then back to global news and social media. Turkey, Iran, South Africa, Japan, Tiktok, Substack, X. People reporting destruction in Palestine. Mass starvation. Videos and photos of body after body wrapped in cloth; children with faces like skeletons. Palestinians peeling rotten potatoes. Eating pet food, pets, dirty flour off the ground. I saw the term “genocide”, again and again, from many sources. It appeared on the world stage, at the ICJ tribunal, the UN. I watched the documentary Israelism. I absorbed everything I could.
But the West downplayed the suffering of Palestinians. The hostages, they reported in the New York Times, CNN, Washington Post, BBC. Israel says, they wrote, Israel says. They have the right to “self-defense”, which apparently means exterminating the entire population.
I did not understand. There had to be an explanation. Why wouldn’t the West cover the extreme situation in Palestine? I understood that America was Israel’s biggest ally, but if these outlets were truly reputable, and truly cared about the truth, they wouldn’t hide deaths just because they wanted to support hostages. If they are reputable, they must be human, I reasoned with myself, naively. Despite America’s support of Israel, they wouldn’t turn a blind eye if Israel were truly committing a genocide.
Or would they? Would they?
They would. They did. We did. And it continues.
At the ICJ tribunal, America vetoed calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza that would have saved thousands of lives. It was followed by a second. A third. They continued to send weapons to enable the destruction. So did Canada, until recently. And Britain. And much of the West. There was overwhelming reporting from other countries calling to address the situation in Gaza, to stop it. In the West, silence, complicity, nothing pointing to the intensity, the suffering.
The propaganda theory held. It was not a left-right issue. It was a Western issue, a humanitarian issue. The West willingly enabled Israel’s destruction of Palestine. Their priority was not to save lives, but to shut down voices that spoke to that loss of life. A Tiktok ban bill followed in America, passed remarkably quickly for a famously polarized country. It was because there was too much Pro-Palestinian content, they said. It couldn’t possibly be because most of the world actually supported a ceasefire. Oh, no. It had to be because China is brainwashing us.
More censorious and surveilling behaviour followed. Rumours of selling Tiktok to pro-Israel people, like Steven Mnuchin. Meta limiting “political content” on Instagram. Telegram banned in Spain. Canada proposing making people input their identification to access porn, for some reason. Yet the West tries to assert that China and Russia are the only ones who engage in cyberattacks and propaganda.
The West has also been pushing this narrative: if you read anything not in Western media, it is misinformation. It’s the new “fake news,” thrown at anything they disagree with.
Everything I saw has not disproved my source’s theory about the West. When the US drafted their own ceasefire “call”, the New York Times’ headline was “US calls for ceasefire, Russia and China veto.” After vetoing three times themselves, the language in many Western media outlets deliberately vilified Russia and China in their headlines. They did not explain that the ceasefire they proposed did not actually use the correct language that would actually demand for a ceasefire. Yet they wanted us to think they were taking a stand against the evil Russia and China. They wanted to retain moral authority, even though they have lost it.
The West has also been pushing this narrative: if you read anything not in Western media, it is misinformation. It’s the new “fake news,” thrown at anything they disagree with.
If any posts on social media counters their opinions, it is propaganda. If it’s from any source outside the West, it’s propaganda. They even claimed the recent drama about Kate in the British royal family was exacerbated by Russia, even though I personally learned about the drama from the British media itself. I also learned about the flaws in the Western narrative simply by comparing perspectives, and noticing the Western narrative doesn’t make sense. How is that propaganda? I was literally looking at their own goddamn fucking writing.
I am not denying that Russia and China have their own propaganda campaigns going on. But this does not mean our media in the West isn’t engaging in it, too. Israel was the West’s experiment, and it has resulted in genocide. That’s why they are hiding this. That’s why they continue to support Israel even when their population does not. It’s happening now, as Israel continues to bomb Rafah even after a ceasefire has been agreed upon by the globe.
The West is still hesitant to report on this. It is huge news, but they don’t want to talk about it.
I understand if you don’t believe me. I wouldn’t have believed me either.
Thank you for reading. If you like my writing and want to support me, please consider subscribing to my newsletter.
Some Writers and Articles I’ve Been Reading on Substack:
Imagine if Russia or China Did the Things Israel is Doing in Gaza by Caitlin Johnstone
“Are we the baddies?” Western support for genocide in Gaza means the answer is yes by Jonathan Cook
If you're a U.S. reporter, anything but rabidly pro-Israel coverage is dangerous to your career by Bill Astore
What Do We Do When Our Leaders Aren’t Leaders? by Diana van Eyk
USA Attacks Francesca Albanese by Carina Malatesta
Thanks for spelling this out, Eleanor. I do the same thing, read conventional news and lots of other sources, and the discrepancy is jarring.
I share demonstrations going on all over the world on social media, since there isn't even a peep about them, and people need to know that people all around the world are objecting to the genocide taking place in Gaza. And that our politicians and its media mouthpieces are lying to us.