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 19, 2019

Counterpunch Shadowboxes and Loses

Click here to access article by Edward Curtin from his blog Behind the Curtain

Another very astute observer of political power events in today's capitalist class rule has been rejected and disappeared by the editors of CounterPunch, one the oldest online, "alternative", American blogs. I have long held doubts about their dedication to truth when the truth leads one to question the very foundations of the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire: the ruling capitalist classes and their obsession with power and profits.

He attacks the editors of CounterPunch as "gatekeepers" after he describes the way that corporate media's use highly trained people who will follow orders by presenting only news, information, and analysis that serve the interests of the capitalist ruling class:
In the fight for truth in the public arena, similar subterfuges occur.

To battle honestly in the open forum, to argue to and fro squarely, is often prevented in advance by eliminating an opponent’s voice from the debate.  This is the typical method used by the corporate mass media that stack the deck with sycophants and refuse dissidents a place to voice their ideas.

Then there is the masquerade of fighting an opponent who is really a collaborator and benefactor, whose punches one counters in a game of shadow boxing meant to convince the audience that the fight is real and you are on their side.  Some alternative media use this technique because they are gatekeepers for the power elite.