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

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

The Financial Bearings of “Manufactured Dissent”

Click here to access article by Prof. James F. Tracy from his blog Memory Gap. A MUST READ

The author provides an especially valuable contribution to critical thought with this article. He exposes a prime method used by the ruling class to contain and, in many cases, co-opt writers on the left to stay within acceptable journalistic limits, that is, acceptable to the One Percent ruling class. It is an exceptionally clever and pernicious way of effectively managing opposition to their rule. 

As he makes clear the ruling class has had experience with this method for over a hundred years. However, their application of it has accelerated in recent decades as the One Percent has accelerated their concentration of power and wealth to the detriment of the 99 Percent. 

It follows logically and politically, that activists must, if they are serious about changing anything, establish their own media to serve interests that are wedded to grass roots organizations. Unfortunately, this type of consciousness is still a long way off based on what I have observed in the US. Hopefully, articles like this will facilitate a growing awareness of the subtle methods used by the ruling class to control information ordinary people are exposed to.