Our society is divided and collapsing. True or false?

Let's be alert to a marketing 'con' presenting society as fractured and divided. I explain the marketing campaign to which we are being subjected.

Are we are living in a society where we are at war with ourselves? Have the social structures that normally bind us together broken down? Are we socially ‘eating’ ourselves to our own destruction?

In reading and viewing mainstream media daily, you’d think that the foregoing questions are answerable with a ‘yes’. On social media the vitriol, hatred and bile that people spray at each other also seems to require a big ‘yes’!

Certainly, the eruption of the war between Israel and Hamas has taken expressions of hatred within our community to a new and explosive level. That there are people in our community openly calling for the mass murder of other groups of people is as scary as hell.

I’m going to argue in this Substack article that this ‘collapse of society’ thesis is much more a figment of imaginations—purposely created imaginations—than it is a statement of reality and truth. I’m not discounting the immense tensions within our society and the ugliness that often goes with that. But the behavioural evidence of the vast bulk of humans in our complex societies paints a picture of daily tolerance, acceptance, and even warm embrace of each other.

And, yes, I’m going to put a ‘conspiracy’ proposition about ‘conspirators’ who seek social destruction. You may guess that I’m talking about Marxism and Marxists.

The image above is from the front page of the May 2024 edition of ‘Red Flag’, the official magazine and website of Socialist Alternative, the self-declared voice of Australian Marxists. The proclaimed objective of SA is “…to overthrow the capitalist system and create a world run democratically by workers.”

In a nutshell, the ‘conspiracy’ is that ‘we’, the people, are being subjected to an ongoing, massively effective, Marxist marketing campaign that has one objective: the breakdown of social cohesion for the purposes of destroying free-market capitalism.

What we’re being subjected to is surprisingly simple even though we may be largely unaware of it. We’re being conned into perceiving that dissent, division and conflict is rife in our society. The Marxists’ strategy is to create that perception, then to build on it to achieve political power so that they can dictate political action to destroy capitalism. Marxists are no longer chasing spectacular ‘revolution’ but rather the destruction of capitalism and our way of life, slice by slice!

My reason for stating this Marxist ‘conspiracy’ is to make a contribution to the fight against the Marxists’ destructive objective. If we understand the manipulation to which we are being subjected, we are better placed to reject, ignore and/or counteract the manipulation. Failure to understand the Marxists’ manipulation leads to misdirected responses that achieve nothing. Instead, it risks handing victory to them.

Let me expand.

Understanding Modern Marxism – Many ‘oppressed’ classes

If you’ve followed my Substack since I began in early 2023, you’ll be aware that I’ve been engaged in a deep dive into Modern Marxism. This has involved attendance for three days at both Marxism Conferences in 2023 and 2024 and more. There’s nothing like being ‘embedded’ in the Marxists’ activities to gain a real understanding of them. My series of articles/analysis on Modern Marxism is here. Importantly, this includes outcomes of my discussions with a retired ‘old commie’ who’s had difficulty coming to terms with the modern Marxists. His comments are in Old to New – Marxist renewal. And the penny dropped for me (with guidance from him) on the marketing angle when I wrote Unmasking Marxist Marketing.

Probably the event where the reality of the Marxist strategy hit home with me was when I attended a crowded Marxism Conference 2024 workshop session on ‘Marxism vs Queer theory’. Queer theory was a term I’d heard, but I had no comprehension of its detail. It turned out that Queer theory somehow reasons that being queer (gay, etc.) is an individualistic state of mind (that’s what I think is the theory simplistically condensed). This idea of Queer being an individual thing is despised and denounced by the Marxists because for them being queer is to be a member of an oppressed class. The oppression is carried out by capitalism. And the extent to which Queer theory and holders of Queer theory were denounced at the event amounted to demands for intellectual and academic beheading by the Marxists.

This really punched home the Modern Marxist thrust. Since the ‘working classes’ have, in economically developed societies, become mini-capitalists (homeowners, property and share investors, and so on) Marxists need new collectives that can be claimed to be oppressed. The consequence is a gathering up of multiple issues, groups and agendas, the problems of which the Marxists can agitate are caused by capitalism. That is, because the working class is now a mass capitalist class, the Modern Marxists have invented modern ‘oppressed’ classes upon whose backs the campaign for the destruction of capitalism can be carried.

This helps identify differences between ‘old’ Marxism and Modern Marxism. The ‘old’ was heavily driven, financed and directed from the now-dead Soviet Union, based on a workers’ versus capitalist/bosses war. Modern Marxism is domestically driven, financed and directed, based on the invention of multiple oppressed classes at war with the capitalist ‘system’.

With this Modern Marxist approach the list of claimed oppressed classes is large, endlessly flexible, and adaptable to Marxist marketing according to whatever the current ‘thing’ is.

I did a quick flick through the Red Flag website and familiar issues quickly emerged. Try this list.

The hottest current issue is, of course, the Gaza conflict. The ‘death to Jews, death to Israel’ mantra can be understood from the Marxist perspective because Jews are perceived to be consummate practitioners of capitalism. Consequently, Jews are oppressors by virtue of their ‘class’ (of Jewishness) and need to be eliminated. It’s horribly perverted reasoning, but there it is!

In the lead-up to the Covid scare in 2020, Black Lives Matter was top of the list. Parallel to the anti-Jew mantra, BLM reasoning, as used in Marxist marketing, is that all black persons are part of a black oppressed class. The oppressors are white (usually male) persons because white males are capitalists by virtue of their class. This reasoning is nonsensically illogical, but there it is!

The list goes on and is long.

Look at each of these from the Red Flag website. Colonial rule was evil with the latest ‘evidence’ being trouble in Noumea. Whistleblowers are oppressed because they expose the evils of capitalism. To end sexism we need to destroy capitalism. Trans rights can only be achieved by destroying capitalism. Indigenous oppression is caused by capitalism. Refugee suffering is the result of capitalism. Capitalists pervert the idea of Free speech. Mining is an evil capitalist activity. Landlords (capitalists) exploit renters. Try this one: ‘Cage’ fighters in the hugely popular UFC are exploited fighters. Environmental ‘global boiling’ is the result of capitalism. I even ‘discovered’ that nurses rejecting a government pay increase offer was an anti-capitalist rejection of oppression organised by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, according to Red Flag.

Remember that in this analysis I’m not seeking to debate the specific details of each issue.

Rather, the clear understanding that I want to convey is that, to the Marxists, every issue which they run or connect with is there for the purposes of advancing dissent and conflict so that capitalism can be destroyed. The issues themselves and the campaigning are not there for the purposes of seeking resolution. The last thing Marxists want is for issues to be resolved and ‘fixed’. Instead, issues exist to be exploited by the Marxists to further the destruction of capitalism.

Therefore, Marxists do not want peace in Gaza. They do not desire a peaceful outcome for Palestinians. Marxists want a continuation of sexism. They want indigenous people to be marginalised and trapped in poverty. They need refugees to pour uncontrolled into settled nations so that social disharmony, conflict and the like prevail. And on it goes.

If peace between Palestinians and Israelis looks possible, Marxists will work hard to stop peace. If indigenous people achieve economic success, they are attacked for being traitors to their indigenous class. If mining can be done with minimal impact on the environment, Marxists will deny the facts and agitate to oppose such mines. On and on and on this process repeats and repeats.

Where does this leave us in response?

First. Understand the Marxist marketing con

‘We’, that is those of us who say that liberal democratic capitalism is darn good, face a complex challenge, both in terms of analysis and response. In free, open democratic, tolerant societies there is a genuine desire to address genuine issues. Resolving problems requires factual analysis of their causes and practical solutions.

For example, what are the practical issues that lead to third-world type health problems in remote indigenous communities in a first-world country such as Australia? And how do those issues get resolved in practical ways? The Marxists through political and bureaucratic influence apply strategies to override any practical analysis and problem solving. They prefer to adopt concepts of collectivist class ‘oppression’ than tackle practical problems.

This process repeats itself across all issues in which Marxists become involved. Just as the core learning example I observed with Queer theory, Marxists demand that every issue is used to ‘identify’ an oppressed class/group, oppressed by capitalists and capitalism. Therefore the Marxist answer is to destroy capitalism. It’s nonsensical, but there it is!

In Unmasking Marxist Marketing I explained how Marxists are organisationally the backbone of a large number of demonstrations and how they ‘product place’ their brand and use demonstrations (and more) as membership drives. But more, demonstrations are theatre events designed and intended to attract mainstream and social media coverage to give the impression that society is in crisis. In pursuit of each of these objectives the Marxists run well-oiled and well-resourced business ‘machines.’ They are successful and will continue to be so. Mainstream and social media will continue to cover the theatre.

The challenge for liberal democratic capitalist supporters is to dissect the Marxists’ marketing from the items within each issue that need analysis with a view to resolution. That’s hard. Super hard for most people leading busy lives, rearing families, running their lives and earning incomes.

And it’s really hard because the Marxists connect themselves like parasites to individuals and groups of people who are heavily invested in any given issue. The most obvious current example is Gaza. There are large numbers of people with high-level emotional commitment to their view of the historical facts of Palestinian claims. Few of us can understand that swirl of ancient historical events and the claims and counter claims. But for the Marxists that confusion is marketing ‘gold’ because it’s exploitable. It can be used to create the impression of social disintegration in what are normally comparatively harmonious societies.

Quite recently, authorities seeking to manage the pro-Palestinian occupation of university campuses have complained that the occupations have been run by non-university ‘activists.’ I think that it would be mor accurate to refer to ‘Marxists’. And further, reality is that the numbers are comparatively quite small. A US survey found that most college students ‘shrug’ at the nationwide protests. Somewhere around only 8 per cent have participated in either side of the protests.

I think that these two photos of protest ‘stayers’ are more reflective of the extent of organisational support than the impression often generated through media. It’s small.

Conclusion

My point in this article is that ‘we’ need to be aware of the marketing con being thrust upon us. Our societies are not in terminal disintegration. Our societies are undergoing very ‘normal’ high intensity, emotional debate over significant and complex issues. High intensity, emotional debate over significant and complex issues has always been, and will remain, a key factor in human social endeavour. The Marxists’ agenda will not resolve those issues. In fact, Marxists seek to prevent resolution and instead seek to turn high intensity debate into high intensity conflict. On this score, let’s reject the marketing con.

Footnote: I’m not an academic but I’m grateful to Lorenzo Warby for providing a link to James Lindsay’s blog (20 min) The Lie of Planned Spontaneity. Lindsay explains what I’ve talked about above, but in a much more academic way.