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 13, 2018

Recommended articles for 2/13/2018

  • View these YouTube videos below that portray north and south Korea cordial gatherings in relation to the Winter Olympics in south Korea, and see what is causing fits among the US ruling class that has been promoting conflict between the two sides ever since the actual ceasing of hostilities during the Korean War. This cold war attitude was expressed by Yahoo Corporation in this post, and because of such coverage most uncritically thinking Americans will continue to hate and fear north Korea.  (You may need to wait a little until the videos upload.)
 
  • Focus on China: The East is green? by Martin Empson from Socialist Review (Britain). I am offering this post to balance so much of the uncritical coverage in the left websites.
  • What U.S. News Reports on Syria’s War Hide by Eric Zuesse from Washington's Blog. Zuesse tells you the straight story regarding US history in Syria, and, in addition, explains how you can critically think about news coverage especially in corporate media.
Billionaires have lots of clout. There’s talk about “manufactured consent,” and this is the way it is “manufactured.” It is manufactured by incessant lying, not only by the Government, but by the press.

A good rule is to distrust everything you read, and to click onto at least a sampling  of its sources and examine them yourself to see whether they support the allegations that they allegedly support; and to evaluate whether those sources are themselves trustworthy — and to ignore any ‘news’ medium that doesn’t link to its sources (doesn’t conveniently let you check out its truth or falsehood), which includes especially TV, radio, and print media.