Inflating the Masses: How the Empire Taught Us to Dance on Our Own Ruins
Mahdi Kawrani — 2026.09.20
Greetings to open minds. Greetings to you, modern human. Greetings to your mind, which has become a beautiful, colorful balloon—flying high, yet completely hollow inside. Greetings to your conscience, which cannot accommodate more than thirty seconds (the duration of a single commercial), while war crimes require thirty years to be recounted from our blood.
They succeeded. They succeeded brilliantly. Not by subjugating us with bombs—for that was difficult and costly—but by subjugating us through laughter. They made us laugh while our cities were being demolished, dance while our wealth was being looted, and exchange memes while decisions governing our fate were written in rooms whose addresses we do not even know.
This is not colonialism. This is art. Old colonialism required armies, gear, and ships. The new variety requires only a camera, a slogan, and a hashtag.
Chapter One: The School of Slogans — Where Barbarism Is Taught with a Smile
Lesson One: “Freedom”
This golden word. It is pumped into our heads from childhood. Freedom! Freedom! Freedom of expression, freedom of choice, market freedom, freedom of movement. Words that glisten like gold, but are in reality advertising slogans for a commercial show titled “Hegemony.”
When our peoples raise this banner, they believe they are fighting backwardness. In reality, however, they are executing a pre-scripted scenario. The freedom being promoted is not the freedom of peoples, but the freedom of capital. The freedom for an investor to loot your land, for a foreign corporation to sell you your own water and oil, and for a TikTok influencer to tell you that revolting against your own capabilities and values is your destiny—and that stripping glory and dignity from your thought is your own choice.
Freedom in the modern empire means: your freedom to be enslaved with your own consent.
Lesson Two: “Democracy”
Another glittering slogan. “The people want,” “the ballot box decides,” “your vote is your weapon.” “Your vote decides”—how wonderful. But a simple question arises: who writes the candidates’ names?
In Europe and America, democracy functions because money functions. In our lands, democracy is imported as a product, but shipped without batteries. Peoples are asked to vote, yet the choices are manufactured in Washington, Brussels, and Riyadh. The more critical question: when Algeria voted, what happened? When Palestine voted, what happened? When Egypt voted, what happened? When Tunisia voted, what happened?
Democracy in the empire means: your right to choose the master who will submit to the supreme master. Period.
Lesson Three: “Human Rights”
This is the most ingenious slogan of all, because it turns the strong into the judge and the weak into the accused. Human rights are wielded as a stick, not as a principle. When an Arab country is occupied, they cite “human rights violations.” When Israel bombs Gaza, they proclaim “Israel has the right to defend itself.” When sanctions are imposed on Iran, they claim it is “to protect the Iranian people.” When Sudanese people are killed, it is labeled a “domestic conflict.” In Afghanistan, human rights matter only when a Muslim kills a non-Muslim.
Human rights in the empire mean: our right to hold you accountable, and your duty never to hold us accountable.
Lesson Four: “Progress, Modernity, Development”
A sacred slogan. “Progress and development” are equated with technology, the internet, and smartphones. Yet progress in the empire is not the progress of the human being, but the advancement of the machinery of hegemony. A smartphone in the hand of a child in Somalia, while his country’s army lacks anti-aircraft defense. Uber in Sudan, while hospitals lack medicine. 5G in Lebanon, while electricity is available for only two hours a day. Revolution in Syria, yet kept under siege until absolute submission—no relative surrender, but total. In all their theories, values and matters are relative; yet when it comes to hegemony and subjugation, nothing exists except the absolute.
Progress in the global empire means: being connected to the world while the world harvests your fruits.
Chapter Two: The School of Superficiality — How Peoples Are Trained in Barbarism Through Entertainment
Television: The Fool-Making Machine
This is where minds are manufactured—not in schools, but in living rooms; not in books, but in commercials. Western channels and their affiliates do not broadcast the truth; they broadcast what they want you to see. And what do they want? They want you to see absurdity, triviality, foolish shows, and celebrity lives.
Why? Because a person pondering Hollywood stars does not ponder oil corporations. A person following “first love” dramas does not track Security Council resolutions. A person who buys a luxury designer bag at the highest price sells their land at the cheapest rate.
Media in the empire is not entertainment; it is an anesthetic.
Cinema: Turning War into a Movie
Watch a war film. What do you see? A dashing white hero slays the villains—who are, naturally, people of color, Muslims, or Russians—then wins, returns home, and lives happily ever after. But real war is never shown. They do not show dismembered children in Iraq, burned families in Gaza, destroyed villages in Afghanistan, or millions of refugees across the world.
Why? Because the truth does not sell tickets. Cinema in the empire is not art; it is brainwashing. It makes us experience wars as if they were games, forgetting that their victims are human beings.
Social Media: Breaking News in Thirty Seconds
Look at your phone screen. What do you see? “Funny cat video!”, “Watch this celebrity dance!”, “Quick knafeh recipe!”. The world is exploding, and you are watching cheese-stretching knafeh. Palestine is bombed, and you are watching a koshary recipe. Sudan is burning, and you are watching the Ice Bucket Challenge.
Social media in the empire is not connection; it is fragmentation. The fragmentation of attention, awareness, and willpower—until the individual becomes a mere number in an algorithm rather than a citizen in a state.
Clothing and Brands: Identity as a Product
”Who are you?” A simple question. The empire’s answer: “I am the one wearing Nike.” “I am the one holding an iPhone.” “I am the one wearing Dior perfume.” Identity is no longer nationality, religion, or history. Identity is a brand.
Why? Because a person who buys a brand does not buy land. A person proud of a handbag is not proud of a homeland. The empire grants you an identity that can be bought and sold, so you forget that true identity is inherited and preserved.
Chapter Three: The School of Chaos — How Peoples Are Trained for Hegemony in the Name of Revolution
”Color Revolutions”: Western-Style Democracy
Look at what happened in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America: the “Color Revolutions,” the “Arab Spring,” the “Orange Revolution,” the “Yellow Vests Movement.” All were framed as “popular” movements. But who funds them? NGOs financed by Washington and Brussels. Who trains them? Experts in the mechanics of regime change. Who amplifies them in the media? Western networks.
The result: fractured states, perpetual chaos, and permanent weakness. The empire does not want successful democracies; it wants weak, blackmailable democracies that require protection and are incapable of competing.
This is not liberation. This is colonialism dressed in democratic attire.
”Civil Society”: A Time Bomb with a Smile
”Civil society”—another glittering phrase. Rights organizations, charities, and development institutions. But who floods them with money? Who dictates their agendas? Who protects them? The answer is clear.
Civil society in the empire is not an alternative authority; it is an auxiliary power. It weakens the state, dismantles society, and creates alternative loyalties—until the citizen becomes loyal to a foreign association rather than their own state.
”Digital Democracy”: Freedom in the Air, Control on the Ground
”The Metaverse,” “Cryptocurrencies,” “Artificial Intelligence”—shining slogans. But who owns the data? Who owns the servers? Who owns the algorithms? Western corporations: Google, Apple, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft. These corporations are more powerful than states, wealthier than our economies, and better equipped than armies.
Digital democracy in the empire means: your right to vote on your phone, while your decisions are written on their servers.
Chapter Four: The Ultimate Contradiction — Slogans for the Weak, Weapons for the Powerful
Here we reach the pinnacle. The empire inflates the masses with slogans, while reserving facts for itself. Consider the scene:
Peoples are urged to “resist” through words and banners, yet tanks remain motionless.
Peoples are urged toward “freedom” through posts and hashtags, yet borders remain closed.
Peoples are urged to “reject violence” through speeches, yet nuclear weapons continue to pile up.
Peoples are urged toward “tolerance” on ceremonial occasions, yet blockades remain unlifted.
Peoples are urged toward “democracy” in their homelands, yet dictatorial allies are protected.
Peoples are urged toward “human rights” in speeches, yet war criminals are welcomed in their capitals.
This is the ultimate contradiction: slogans for the people, weapons for the states. Slogans remain floating in the air, while weapons remain planted on the ground. Slogans are inflated, while weapons kill. Slogans bring laughter, while weapons bring tears.
Why? Because the empire knows that slogans do not destroy a tank, but they can collapse a revolution. Slogans do not liberate a homeland, but they can sedate a population. Slogans do not feed the hungry, but they can silence them.
Chapter Five: We Are the Accused — Because We Believed
The bitter truth: the empire did not succeed alone. We helped it. We are the ones who laughed at foolish programs. We are the ones who danced to trivial songs. We are the ones who bought Western products. We are the ones who abandoned our language, our history, and our identity. We are the ones who believed that poverty was destiny, that the West was the ultimate dream, and that technology equaled progress.
We are the ones who inflated slogans with our own mouths, raised false banners with our own hands, and applauded leaders who executed foreign agendas.
We are accomplices in this crime. We are simultaneously the victims and the executioners.
How Do We Reclaim Our Minds?
The question now: what next? How do we reclaim our minds?
Stop Applauding: Let us stop believing everything we are told. Let us stop chanting slogans we do not understand. Let us stop consuming trivialities.
Return to the Roots: Reconnect with our language, history, and identity—with what makes us who we truly are, rather than a faded copy of someone else.
Build Alternatives: Establish alternative media, economic, educational, and cultural institutions. We must not wait for the empire to reform itself. Empires are not reformed; they are replaced.
Think Critically: Reflect on real war, real hegemony, and real colonialism. Think beyond the slogans.
Most importantly: Admit the truth. Let us admit that we were deceived, that we were superficial, and that we acted as barbarians within a false civilization. Admission is the very first step toward liberation.
The empire did not defeat us through raw strength. It defeated us through our ignorance. And we alone can defeat it through knowledge.
To everyone who read this article, laughed, then reflected, felt ashamed, and decided to change: you have not lost yet. Strive, from this moment on, not to be a victim of the empire.
Source: https://mohammadabbaskawrani.com
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