Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Disney, Militarization and the National Security State After 9/11

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

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Disney, Militarization and the National Security State After 9/11

Click here to access article by Henry A. Giroux and Grace Pollock from Truthout.

The article consists of lengthy excerpts from a book by these authors published last year entitled, The Mouse that Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence.

The excerpts illustrate one of Gramsci's primary themes that contemporary capitalism does not rely so much on force (although prepared to use that also) and intimidation as it does on powerful cultural weapons to induce compliance by its citizens with the developing fascist Empire. (See also yesterday's reference to Gramsci.)