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, November 25, 2011

Black Friday Antidote: George Carlin on Advertising and Consumerism

This 9:44m video was posted today by Naked Capitalism. For foreign visitors let me explain than today is promoted as Black Friday by corporate media to start people shopping for the Christmas season. As Yves Smith expresses it, "Americans roll from a holiday [Thanksgiving] that has come to be about overeating to a day where merchants hope to seduce customers into an orgy of overspending." Meanwhile, Occupy Wall Street activists are declaring it, "Buy Nothing Day!"


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