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 1, 2021

Posts that I especially recommend for Friday, October 1, 2021

Scientists have traditionally welcomed, and the public always demanded, alternative ideas and opinions when it comes to recommending treatment for illnesses. Indeed, the idea of ‘getting a second medical opinion’ for everything from dental work to heart surgery is such a popular notion that it is practically a cliché. Among medical professionals, had ‘second opinions’ been shunned, doctors would still be bloodletting to cure hypertension, for example, and conducting operations amid unsterile conditions. Once it becomes unacceptable to question the medical authorities then that’s when scientific inquiry will grind to a dramatic stop. And that seems to be exactly where humanity presently finds itself today in its battle against coronavirus, which is also a battle between doctors, although just one side gets all of the press. 
 
My reaction: Bridge's sub-headline is grossly naive: "Given that so many medical voices have expressed concern about the mandatory vaccine mandates, why is the media not balancing their reporting with a healthy modicum of skepticism, as one would expect to find?" Americans cannot grasp the fact that a cabal of right-wing capitalists, via the concentration of wealth that is inherent in capitalism, have taken over mainstream media. Thus, mainstream media is pure propaganda serving the interests of the ruling capitalist class.
  • 💥Crisis Of Legitimacy In Our Institutions by Chris Martenson features an interview with Peter Boghossian, a recently resigned professor at Portland State University located in Portland, Oregon from his weblog PeakProsperity. Although Boghossian resists talking about the events that led up to his resignation, Martenson teases out the story. This is a best post. My reaction: The two PhDs do not realize that educational institutions and all other institutions have been taken control by the right-wing cabal of billionaires. Although the capitalist ruling class has in the past greatly influenced what material is taught in colleges and universities, never has been a time up to now that a narrow group of billionaires who have control over all institutions.
Mainstream (corporate news media) coverage is not limited to dramatic events like 9/11 and the many assassinations of prominent leaders. This may become a shock to most Americans, but all "news" reports on mainstream media is purel propaganda designed to create narrative-realities to serve a increasingly concentrated group of billionaires who quite literally own and control the vital institutions of our nation and many others particularly those in the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire. Mainstream "news" does not serve the interests of the general public. It is very hard to convince Americans of this fact.
 
It is nearly impossible to escape these "realities" because people, who are preoccupied with their own concerns regarding the struggle to survive such as job problems, the welfare of their families, childcare, etc., that influence almost everyone: friends, family members, etc. I advise those people, who have the opportunity to move to foreign lands, to escape this iron-hold of "realities" created only to serve the interests of billionaires.
We’re sorry to have to tell you this, but the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process, where the public and members of the press can request information from their government and get a meaningful response, is as dead under the Biden administration as it was under the Trump, Obama and George W. Bush administrations. In no small part, this is why the United States of America, which regularly lectures other countries on what it means to be a democracy, has lost the trust of the American people.
  • 100 Years Ago The Battle of Blair Mountain Rocked The U.S. narrated by Anders Lee and posted in Redacted Tonight's channel on RT. My reaction: This is a piece of labor history that is censored in public education, and represents thousands of articles that are left out in history courses in US schools. Remember that Prof. Michael Hudson is a champion of industrial capitalism in apparent rebellion against his Trotskyist parents? Hudson currently writes in opposition to neoliberalism (new capitalist ideas now that industrial capitalism has inevitably evolved into financial capitalism) while defending industrial capitalism. In his youth, he apparently saw that supporting industrial capitalism was a positive career move in a society that loathed subversive class-structured ideas that were not in accordance with capitalist ideology.
     
  • The Pashtun will outlast all empires, but can they hold Afghanistan's center? by Pepe Escobar from The Cradle. 
The ‘historic’ 1990s Taliban – who now compose the majority of the interim government – are Pashtun tribals who speak Pashto and so affirm their identity, much more than emphasizing being member of a particular tribe. What is unshakeable for these men issued from rural conservatism is their suspicion of the city – especially Kabul and its modernists – and the Pashtun superiority complex in relation to other ethnic groups.
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