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

Thursday, September 3, 2020

Posts that I especially recommend today: Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020

  • How the West followed China into lockdown from Spiked. (Note: Paddy Hannam, of Spiked, interviews Karl Wennberg, a Swedish sociologist, regarding his views following his research regarding various nations and their responses to the covid-19 pandemic.)
Karl Wennberg: We found that rather than factoring in the heterogeneous situation each country was in, decision-makers followed the actions of neighbouring countries to a very large degree. .... 
To understand why this has happened, it is important to think about psychological factors. Humans are greatly influenced by the behaviour of other humans, and specifically those they compare themselves with. Key decision-makers obviously compare themselves to other key decision-makers, and hope to be perceived as better than them, or at least not any worse than them. The desire to not be seen to have performed worse is incredibly important when it comes to explaining the decisions made around Covid-19. ....
  • Hancock’s Half-Hour by Stephen McMurray from Off-Guardian (based in Britain). (Note: It appears that there is a new TV show that satirizes the current restrictions imposed people by government authorities. But it appears to me that this TV show can only be viewed in Britain.)
A brand new TV show has just been announced called Hancock’s Half-Hour. Over the course of 30 minutes the main character, Hapless Hancock, playing the part of the Health Secretary, will highlight all the government’s absurd policies and fake facts and figures surrounding the covid situation.
  • Richard Gage Delivers Updates on 9/11 Truth from The Corbett Report. (Note: James Corbett interviews Richard Gage of AE911Truth, an organization made up of architects and engineers that dispute the official story, to explain his organization's views about the 9/11 tragedy on this 19th anniversary.)
  • Margaret Atwood who briefly urges action regarding the climate crisis (via YouTube). (Note: As you may know, if you have followed my weblog, I finally concluded last December that it was already too late.)
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