Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Are You Living a McLife? And Would You Like Some Fries with That?

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

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Are You Living a McLife? And Would You Like Some Fries with That?

Click here to access article by Mitchell Waldman from Worldwide Hippies.

Just think about it. It’s 2012. And most of us are living fast food, junk food lives. Oblivious to what’s out there beyond the fast food information sent to us by the big media corporations.

Today's capture of the minds of ordinary people by the boob-tube (TV) and all the other corporate media is very much like a wet-dream that Joseph Goebbels probably had during the late 1930s. It is so powerful in its influence that few ordinary people are conscious of its control of their ideas, values, and behaviors.

One thing that really bothers me is that many activists are too concerned about how their actions will be portrayed in mainstream, McLife media, and thus, allow their actions to be shaped accordingly. I think that little headway can be made against the juggernaut of capitalist culture until activists realize that they must place a high priority on establishing their own media and weaning people away from McLife media.