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, May 19, 2020

Posts that I especially recommend today: Tuesday, May 19, 2020

The question that Corbett poses in his final comment is not "who is Bill Gates?". Gates is simply taking advantage of the advances of technology, which is inevitable, as is his unconscious assumption that capitalism is an uncontravertible fact of reality. He has been immersed with this idea all of his life while living in the center of the capitalist empire and benefiting from the system with enormous profits and power. Gates is not an evil ogre who wants to intentionally enslave mankind. He is merely a brainwashed human wanting to logically take advantage of technology for the benefit of capitalists, like himself. Hence, the real question is: is the existence of capitalism necessary? and the answer is: in the time remaining for the human species is the necessity of comprehensive socialism: a rule by and for the people. Advanced technology should benefit all the people, and not a tiny transnational class of capitalists. 
But the latter class is so addicted to power and profits that it will take a monumental effort, in the time remaining, to overthrow their system and replace it with socialism.
(Note: This is all I have time for.)

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