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

Friday, October 2, 2020

Posts that I especially recommend today: Friday, October 2, 2020

There is a conspiracy, but not of the Pizzagate variety. It is an ideological conspiracy, of at least two centuries’ duration, by a tiny and ever more fabulously wealth elite to further enrich themselves and to maintain their power, their dominance, at all costs.

There is a reason why, as Harvard business professor Shoshana Zuboff points out, social media corporations are the most fantastically wealthy in human history. And that reason is also why we are reaching the human “event horizon” these Silicon Valley luminaries all fear, one where our societies, our economies, the planet’s life-support systems are all on the brink of collapse together.

The cause of that full-spectrum, systemic crisis is not named, but it has a name. Its name is the ideology that has become a black box, a mental prison, in which we have become incapable of imagining any other way of organising our lives, any other future than the one we are destined for at the moment. That ideology’s name is capitalism.
This writer, like most American intellectuals, slides sideways into blaming capitalism and the "PMC". Because I read this article rather rapidly, I couldn't figure out what this writer meant by the "PMC". Perhaps the "Political Media Complex"? A pet peeve of mine are writers using acronyms carelessly.
I agree with the author that this election is an "Election to Nowhere". Have you noticed that more and more announcements on TV are urging you to vote? The Deep State, essentially the board of directors of the capitalist ruling class, is holding an election where they control both parties, and your vote legitimatizes their contrived elections. So, why vote for whom you think are the lessor-evil candidates--except for candidates in local elections who you know?

(Note: I later received an email (from the author?) claiming that "PMC" refers to "Profession/Managerial Class".)

Because I have plans to travel today, this is a shortened version of my usual posts. I'll return tomorrow. 

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