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, September 24, 2021

Posts that I especially recommend for Friday, September 24, 2021

  • CrossTalk | Hegemony Challenged from RT's channel on YouTube (24:56m). My reaction: I was particularly pleasantly surprised by the insightful comments of Joe Lauria, who normally posts on Consortium News in contrast to George Szamuely who takes a more amoral geopolitical view of world events.
Since Americans have long recognized that their ability to transform or conquer the world is limited, why do they still frequently launch wars that eventually fail? One reason is that its defense industry is meant to make money off of war. It provides a constant source of power for the US to maintain its dominant to the world and make huge profits from the process.

The desire of arms dealers to get profited is constantly pushing Washington to keep pursuing war targets, creating tensions in some hot spots, and gaining profits by pulling in allies in a remote, proxy manner. 
  • Interview 1662 – New World Next Week with James Evan Pilato featuring James Corbett and James Evan Pilato discussing the huge profits and corruption derived from big defense (sic) contractors and Big Pharma in a 28:18m video from Corbett's website. In addition, Pilato reports and comments on other topics especially the classic fascist suppression of protests in Australia. My reaction: Corbett and Pilato don't mention that mainstream media hides this corruption, and is therefore a part of this capitalist scam on ordinary Americans. In prior podcasts, Corbett, at least, favored small capitalists in past eras; but when in the present era they have inevitably grown to the huge monsters they are with the concentration of power and profits, they are critical of them.
  • Professor Guy McPherson on Reversing Abrupt, Irreversible Climate Change featuring the views and analysis of Prof. (retired) Guy McPherson, an independent scientist (via his YouTube channel--13:48m), who has fearlessly focused his attention throughout his career on the climate crisis. My reaction: What are the chances that the transnational capitalist ruling classes have of backing this proposal regarding the use of mirrors? I think less than none. They like the alcohol-addicted will lie and engage in destructive behaviors because they are thoroughly addicted to wealth and power. Only we can save humans and many other species from becoming extinct, and I see no prospect of that happening because of the thoroughly addicted ruling capitalist class (the billionaires) who control all institutions ... and the media being only one!
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