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

Sunday, September 16, 2018

Why we’re blind to the system destroying us [a "best post"]

Click here to access article by Jonathan Cook, a British independent journalist, from his blog. 

This British journalist has been located in the Middle East where it is much easier to identify the obvious evidence of power influencing the way information is shaped by all the powerful owners of media corporations to promote the power and profits of our masters in the ruling capitalist class. He has been among the leaders that led the effort to warn about this encroachment on truth-telling by the powerful; and true to his insights, he has pursued, probably at great material sacrifice, a very independent career in journalism. There is much to be learned from his articles, and we need to support his independent journalism especially because it is disappearing due to the overwhelming presence of corporate media.

In this article he attempts to explain the blinding effects of corporate journalism which functions to prevent us from seeing the truth about important events (and many minor ones) in the world that impinge upon the power of capitalist elites. Although people can recognize abuses of power by individuals, they are prevented from seeing the abuses of power that are promoted by the neoliberal (advanced capitalist) system that sustains power and wealth for a very few who own the media (and nearly everything else of value).

Because the abuse of power by our fundamental system of capitalism is so pervasive and kept well-hidden, I urge readers to not only read this article, but to study it. And the same goes for two major links included in the article: the links to previous articles from Media Lens here (the latter is the same article which he posts in his own blog) and here, and other references in the latter articles.