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

Monday, October 18, 2021

Posts that I especially recommend for Monday, October 18, 2021

I have frequently used what I have gleaned from the study of Marxism: in particular, a class structure with a ruling class arising out of previous class structured societies, and a ruling class that always tries to maintain their rule by various methods that are in the past always associated with mostly violence against dissenters. This is what I find is valuable about Marxism. Karl Marx was a prolific writer, and he wrote about a variety of issues and concepts. But, his most important contribution to understanding societies remains that of identifying a class structure of societies and their resulting characteristics. 
 
Curtin, and most other educated in the USA, have been indoctrinated to avoid any hint of class analysis. In this essay, he is trying to use psychological concepts and simulacra to understand the coronavirus scam that the ruling capitalist class has used to create the adverse conditions that we see today in society. But these explanations are only derivatives of real understanding.
 
Neither Curtin nor his sources have been indoctrinated by ruling class authorities to not understand or explain the prior conditions of the monopoly of media and all other institutions that the ruling class enjoys today. This monopoly of influence is a natural evolution of capitalism. They don't understand how a small ruling class, who after centuries of consolidation and concentration of property and who today owns (and controls) just about everything, can have such a profound influence of society and the minds of college-educated people like himself.
 
Most American dissidents of the web today suffer from their many years of indoctrination in colleges and universities--in addition to just living in the USA where the ruling class has control of every institution--have carefully censored out the ideas of socioeconomic class analysis. Curtin becomes closest to this understanding when he references digital technology: He writes "It involves the entire spectrum of techniques of mind control and propaganda.  It includes politics, medicine, economics, Covid-19, the lockdowns and vaccines, etc. Everything." Instead of focusing on only one method, digital technology, he refuses to connect this with a ruling class that has nearly complete control over every institution including jobs, careers, grants, etc.
  • Was America’s Longest War for Opium, Oil and Propping up the Stock Market? by John Potash from Internationalist 360°. My reaction: In this well-documented research Potash produces considerable evidence to support the affirmative explanation. However, there were other reasons together with the reasons Potash cited that caused the invasion using 9/11 as a grand psy-op: like strategic reasons as a base to counter Soviet and Chinese influence in the area.
While organizations such as Architects and Engineers for 911 Truth’s nearly 3,500 industry professionals have provided a mass of evidence on the pre-planned demolition of the twin towers and World Trade Center 7,[1] Professor Peter Dale Scott and others unearthed evidence on the Bush administration’s real reason for invading Afghanistan. They say it was for access to its poppy fields and its proximity to oil resources.
  • The U.S. ‘Longer Telegram’ Is Hostile Interventionism in China, Posing as Competition by Alastair Crooke from Strategic Culture Foundation. My reaction: The editors of this journal recognize one of the basic theorems of class analysis with their introduction: "Incumbents of the White House come and go, but U.S. security objectives do not alter course so readily, Alastair Crooke writes." The ruling class appoints their main employees contrary to the conventional belief that we live in a democracy.
In light of the recent massacre of seven protesters and the wounding of dozens of others in a highly sensitive district of Beirut, senior political analyst Nasser Qandil argues that the US and Israel are seeking to drag Hezbollah into a new Lebanese civil war that would rob the movement from engaging in a decisive war with Israel while in its military prime. 
  • Climate Change Worse than Expected: A Conversation with Guy McPherson conducted by Michael Welch from Global Research. (Note: The "Conversation with Guy McPherson" begins at 08:00.) My reaction: The founder of Global Research, Michel Chossudovsky previously poo-pooed (def.) such climate change scientists and their work, but I haven't read such articles in recent years.)
The following post is selected by Brad Fredricks (and any of his reactions and commentaries for this website): 
In 2020 the world's richest people got $1.9 Trillion Richer. In contrast to this is the growing reality that people are living with less, making less, and finding it increasingly harder to survive capitalism.

Last year, I made about $12,000 myself. As a father of two, living below the poverty line has been incredibly hard. I've had friends take their lives due to the pressure, and others have turned towards severe addiction.

The realities of the 5,000 year reign over the world by those that control money have brought free society to its knees. You're either enslaving others, or a slave in the capitalist system.

Nothing new to report here, just more absurd evidence that the system of capitalism is not working for the majority, and much less so for the planet itself.
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