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, September 12, 2010

Flying the flag, faking the news

by John Pilger from his blog.

The author explains how liberal propagandists have functioned in capitalist countries to manage the consent of the people.
In his 1928 book Propaganda, Bernays said the “intelligent manipulation of the organised habits and opinions of the masses was an important element in democratic society” and that the manipulators “constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power in our country“. 
Such methods are far cheaper than the blunt instruments of a police state; but be assured that if they don't work, the capitalist ruling classes will not hesitate to use the blunt instruments of state oppression. You may have noticed that they have been preparing us to accept more and more police state methods made "legal" by the so-called Patriot Acts.