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 25, 2021

Posts that I especially recommend for Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Dizikes uses a definition of collectivism that may not be relevant in this study:
 
Collectivism broadly refers to the inclination to prioritize a group’s needs over an individual’s concerns, and social scientists have often worked to measure its presence among different populations. The researchers found a culture of collectivism to be a key driver of mask use even after accounting for many other factors, including political orientation, state policies, the severity of Covid-19 outbreaks, and more. 
 
But what if the data provided by government agencies like the CDC, under the control of the capitalist ruling class, are all skewed (paying more to hospitals if they diagnose patients as having Covid-19, pressure on doctors to diagnose patients as having Covid-19, using PCR tests to inflate statistics, to instruct their "news" corporations to plant reports emphasizing the hysteria and fear of a "pandemic", etc.) in order to fake a pandemic? Now this researcher at MIT pleases his bosses and grant agencies with a study based on the above definition. Meanwhile, small businesses are going bankrupt and corporations are reaping record profits. And when some of the plain States are under the control of conservative capitalists who believe in old-fashioned conservative ideas, could we arrive at the same results? 
 
I think this study is a very clever way to reach conclusions that support the existence of a "pandemic" and the various self-serving interests of the current ruling class! (I've seen other studies done to please funding sources.) No doubt this study will be quoted widely by those serving the ruling class to validate their clever project to create a "pandemic".
 
I think that most people have complied with these restrictions on our liberties out of concern for the rest of society, but that doesn't mean they haven't been deceived for nefarious purposes of the ruling class! The study conveniently goes along with all other efforts to wrap the deceivers of the ruling class with virtue. 
 
Considering all the evidence, many were deceived once again as they have been in the past: the assassinations of key figures who wouldn't go along with the aggressive agenda of the ruling class, the so-called "war on drugs", 9/11, the invasion of Iraq, "the war on terrorism", and now this ... that so far is enriching billionaires, putting small businesses into bankruptcy, their employees out of work, and teaching the lessons of obedience to the great "unwashed masses". Could it be that it was the billionaires' plan all along? 
  • The Origin of the Species (trailer) from Journeyman Pictures and their YouTube channel. (Note: Journeyman Pictures is investigating the topic of robots and their efforts to produce "good" effects.) My reaction: To me, it's simple. If you have the ruling class "experts" designing robots, they will be used for the self-serving needs of the capitalist class. Technology is neutral.
  • Antiganda – #SolutionsWatch featuring James Corbett of his weblog The Corbett Report pointing to some activists who are trying to encourage people to achieve independent, critical thinking. 
What is the point here? It is that this whole ark of military strategy rooted in massive aerial bombardment – reaching back to the 1920s, and pushing forward until today in Gaza, is expiring. It has become obsolescent (at least in the Middle East), just as did trench warfare in the wake of 1918.

Tunnels (now, much more sophisticated ones), have gained renewed life as the answer to massive aerial bombardment on civilian terrain as a prime psychological tool of war. They mark the end of a strategy. Swarm missiles, and smart drone clusters are today’s inflection points: the ‘new’ warfare – just as much a game-changer as was the advent of the longbow (in the 1300s). They have become, as it were, somehow Hamas’, Hizbullah’s, the Houthi’s and Iran’s ‘alt’ Air force. 
 
Later, Crooke writes:
 
The U.S. and the Europeans however have no idea what to do about the situation, beyond calling for a return to ‘normality’ – one that permits Israelis ‘to return to the beach’, and the Palestinians ‘to their cage’, as one commentator, caustically remarked about the meaning of ‘normal’. 
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