We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Sunday, August 5, 2012

A Dark Victory: How vested interests defeated climate science

Click here to access article by Robert Manne from The Monthly (Australia).
...the determination is political – the willingness of large numbers of people to listen to those who are telling them that the group of experts upon whom they customarily rely, the relevant cadre of trained and published scientists, have comprehensively got things wrong.
This is the real tragedy of the human race. The Age of Enlightenment seemed to promise so much--many thought that it was the full flourishing of humans. This era saw us take giant steps forward out of superstition into an age of seeking truth based on rigorous, disciplined methods that evolved into the refined methods of science of today.  

No, it wasn't a simple "willingness" by the vast majority that is the problem. It is that scientific methods have been hijacked, like everything else, by the One Percents and used to capture and control our minds. Although we have overcome superstition, we remain mesmerized by modern methods of managing what we believe to be true in order to serve the needs of a small group of people who "own" and control our economies--the One Percents. What was so full of promise for the flourishing of the human race has been reduced to serving the narrow, selfish interests of a small class of people; and by doing so, threatens the entire human race with extinction.

The fact that the author is only able to name these people as "vested interests" is another small indication of the power of these "vested interests"--the One Percents of the world.

It appears that we have entered a new, and final stage labeled as "neo-environmentalism" by this Guardian author. Our masters now insist that they can also manage the Earth's ecosystem so that it doesn't interfere with their compulsive pursuit of power and profit. Can conscious activists of the 99 Percents prevent these mad men and women of the One Percents from destroying everything they hold dear? Stay tuned--better yet, stay active!