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

Thursday, August 20, 2015

FBI Had 12-Page File On George Carlin Because He Made Jokes About Government

Click here to access article by John Vibes from AntiMedia.

Long after the anti-war activists from the Vietnam War dispersed to all corners of the US--some went to living off the land individually or in communes while others tried to reintegrate themselves into mainstream society--George Carlin was using humor and satire to try to educate American especially in the 1980s and 90s as to the realities that lay behind the facade of American "democracy". He wasn't kidding nor "joking" even though he used humor as a medium--he was serious and smart. And that is why the US capitalist ruling class were sufficiently worried about him to watch him closely. 

It was clear to me then that they need not worry because the overwhelming majority of my fellow Americans, once the Vietnam War was concluded, placed themselves back into the harnesses of the capitalist system in their attempt to achieve the American Dream. Of course, it was always only a dream that was used to lure Americans tired of the war back into conventional life. 

Using their ubiquitous propaganda machinery of corporate media to soothe Americans, they soon slashed government expenditures that benefited the public, attacked and weakened labor unions, supported vast military programs, and prepared for a much more aggressive foreign policy by integrating rabid Zionists into the ruling directorate--people like Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Robert Kagan and his wife, Victoria Nuland, who is now Asst. Secretary of State and widely credited with masterminding the overthrow of the previous Ukrainian government.

Unfortunately with the passing of Carlin in 2008, there seems to be no one to replace him and his ability to remove the fog of propaganda in front of American eyes to see clearly the realities of a ruthless ruling class who are drunk on power and profits and recklessly driving us toward climate destabilization and/or a nuclear war.