Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Hubris Isn't the Half of It

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, February 22, 2013

Hubris Isn't the Half of It

Click here to access article by David Swanson from World News Trust.

Swanson provides an assessment of the recent MSNBC's special program entitled Hubris. After providing evidence that the word hubris is incorrect, that it was really about "greed, lust for power, and sadistic vengeance", he concludes by welcoming such programs because they...

...prolong Americans' awareness of the lies that destroyed Iraq are the best hope Iran has right now. MSNBC should be contacted and applauded for airing this and urged to follow up on it.

I simply cannot go along with him on that. MSNBC is doing its job as a major propaganda outlet for the Empire's directors. They are doing damage control for the Empire's lies. Everyone knows that the US government's information that led up to the destruction of Iraq was incorrect, but how should the public interpret that? Was it incompetence? Was it due to arrogance? Or, was it a gross war crime of the highest magnitude? It was NSNBC'S task to insure that the public interpreted these war crimes as simply hubris. According to the dictionary that word means:

1. pride or arrogance
2. an excess of ambition, pride, etc, ultimately causing the transgressor's ruin

By framing the Empire's war crimes this way, the public is encouraged to see the lying as excusable human errors due to human weaknesses. We should applaud that?

It's only on obscure US radio stations that you might hear a candid interpretation of the Empire's actions as war crimes. See this.