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, March 18, 2021

Posts that I especially recommend for Thursday, March 18, 2021

Although Greenwald lambasts the journalist profession with a "holier than thou" tone, he only lamely examines the reasons why most of the profession has been corrupted. It is the corruption of this profession that is the root of so much ignorance among ordinary Americans about what their ruling class and its government are doing. 
 
The corruption of government is another subject that needs exploring by brave (suicidal) people, and a few are doing this. Many members of the legal profession, of which Greenwald is a member, collude in government with liars in the secret services, corporation execs, and the whole fascist Deep State. Maybe he should stick to his own profession with his lofty principles. It is the story that needs to be reported, but a relatively few people are doing it, and mostly in alternative media. These few courageous people are constantly faced with innumerable difficulties such as begging for funding from the public, lack of resources to do their job, constantly labeled by mainstream journalists as engaging in "conspiracy theories", and under constant attack by ruling class censors posing as "fact-checkers", etc.
 
The major problem is the overwhelming power of the capitalist leviathan that has grown to the fascist monster that it is during the past several hundred years. Oh, it was cute as an infant and few people saw that it had the potential to become the bête noire that it is today. Nowadays, it is in control of an empire, all institutions therein, control of nearly all jobs and careers, and in control of resources, wealth, and power that could only be dreamed about by earlier ruling classes.
  • For Leviathan, it’s so cold in Alaska by Pepe Escobar from "The Saker" weblog. (Note: Escobar, a Brazilian journalist, brings his great geopolitical expertise to focus on two meetings between two top antagonists--the super-aggressive US/Anglo/Zionist Empire versus those nations (Russia-China-Iran alliance) which insist on a multipolar world. You will need to know what he means when he references "the Quad"; also here are the lyrics to Caroline Says II.)
  • DISCUSS: President Magufuli dead at 61 from Off-Guardian. My reaction: This is what invariably happens to those leaders who oppose the Empire's policies and actions. The leaders don't even have to be from a foreign country. The assassination of the Kennedy brothers demonstrates this.