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

Friday, July 19, 2013

Revealed: Gen. David Petraeus’ course syllabus features ‘Frackademia’ readings

Click here to access article by Steve Horn from DeSmogBlog.

The author uses Gen. Petreus as an example to illustrate how ruling class directors circulate trusted figures in their financial-industrial-military capitalist complex in key areas of society, in this case academia, to insure their control over society. With such figures controlling what is taught in major institutions of higher learning, they secure control over ideology; hence what and how people think about ruling class interests, policies, and actions.

While examining Petraeus' course syllabus, he discovers that...
...two crucial studies [pro-fracking] on the syllabus reading list - and the lack of critical readings on the topic of fracking - offers a glimpse into the stamp of legitimacy industry-funded studies get when they have the logo of elite research universities on them. It's also another portrayal of the ascendancy of the corporate university.
Of course, capitalist ruling classes have always exercised control over all sections of society as much as they could. The only difference nowadays is that their increasingly concentrated power provides them with the will and the means to exercise every greater direct control. This tendency is perfectly natural within a system which supports concentration of wealth and power in ever fewer hands. As a system it is now achieving its ultimate destiny. The only problem is that it is a system that is completely incompatible with an ecosystem that can sustain human and many other life forms.