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

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Posts that I especially recommend for Wednesday, October 27, 2021

How things have changed since Donald Trump came and went as US president. Until then, I was able to identify myself as firmly on the progressive left. Now – with the Covid pandemic only reinforcing the post-Trump trauma – I find myself in some weird no-man’s land, trapped and squeezed between two ballooning ideological tribes that sound too much alike on too many questions.
 
My reaction: The ruling capitalist class has deliberately aligned with the Democratic Party, a traditional workingman's party and one of the political parties that they permitted, in order to use them as a vehicle to carry the nation toward the new Reset strategy. The latter strategy, in turn, is the ruling class's terribly destructive social response to the climate crisis we are now entering.
This piece, which will be of interest for all historians and history-interested people, starts out with the latest advocates of the Great Reset, The Fourth Industrial Revolution, etc. and a host of other names (Ehret identifies some of them as “The Singularity” and “Transhumanism”).
 
From there, he goes to the history of such schemes with roots in the Age of Enlightenment, capitalism, and Christianity. Of course, the first conflicts saw the Christian religion and science as major conflicts. But capitalism with its racist components also played a major part in the history of Western civilization. 
 
The major historical problems are that the new discoveries by Darwin interacted with both of the major cultural drivers--capitalism and religion. You can see it in the history which Ehret goes into detail to explain. Furthermore, these conflicts resulted in a fetishization of science in the service of both Christianity and capitalism throughout our history. It is really only a rather complicated method of obtaining truth about our existence.

Ehret promises more articles on this topic in the future, and I am interested to see where he goes with this beginning.
The problem is that the proverbial genie is already out of the bottle when it comes to that country’s “drone diplomacy” with Ukraine. Now that Kiev is in possession of such potentially game-changing offensive weapons that have already been proven to have emboldened its aggression in the ongoing civil war over its eastern region’s future political status, there’s nothing that Ankara can do to restrain its partner. To the contrary, it’s now compelled to continue providing more equipment, spare parts, and maintenance.
The reluctance of too many to undertake effective defense of the Earth’s climate, since nearly 40 years ago, can only culminate in devastation of the planet’s life support systems—one of the greatest catastrophes the planet has undergone since the dinosaur extinction about 66 million years ago. 
 
My reaction: The reluctance stems from the capitalist realization that you can't have infinite economic growth on a finite planet, but this realization is weaker than their addiction to profits and power.
  • The Class Wars of Internet Access from Journeyman Pictures' channel on YouTube (05:55). My reaction: This is not an endorsement for co-ops, but a method of surviving in a capitalist nation.
The following two posts are selected by Brad Fredricks (and his reactions, commentaries, etc.) for this website:
Facebook has over 2.8 Billion Users. This number is over 1 Billion more users than China has citizens. Having so many users, it seems one would want to believe they had some sense of moral responsibility, which has been repeatedly proven false.

Facebook represents one of the largest obvious dangers to society in the world, with undeclared yet obvious ambitions of taking on a more Governmental role, it is a threat to free and open society everywhere.

Interestingly, Facebook has morphed itself into a news medium, targeting and funding news-rooms throughout the world with money to publish stories.This may potentially indicate an effort to influence information dissemination, or at least cause news-rooms to potentially hold a sort of cognitive bias against them.
 
That said, there is a murky reality emerging behind the scenes and beyond the large amounts of cash they have dropped on the Facebook Journalism Project. It is there hiring frenzy across the globe.

Anyone that is willing to spend the energy can readily find that Facebook has been hiring former DC Lobbyists, as well as former Intelligence Officers, analysts, and security experts in large numbers. What started as a dorm room code hijack has morphed into an undeclared global intelligence agency with billions at its disposal, reporting to one man, Mark Zuckerberg.

Is Facebook making an effort to legitimize themselves as a public utility, or perhaps as a soft form of Government. By this I mean is Facebook attempting to insert its privately owned platform into the political process officially, giving it a level of legitimacy and power unprecedented to what it holds now?

There is only one solution that seems appropriate considering all the above.

SHUT IT DOWN. Simply providing oversight and protected rights does not change what has become a global surveillance apparatus to the NSA, it only emboldens it.

#DeleteFacebook 
Professor Crispin is a rational voice of reason amongst the polluted horizons of intellectualism. Where many have folded their cards and turned to career safe mainstream narratives, the tenured professor has held steadfast on channeling his in George Carlin, and questioning everything.

One must wonder what is to come of anyone countering the narratives being dictated by the White House, as it becomes increasingly clear the Federal Government is encircling people who do not echo their slogans, question their claims, and seek evidence to support the anti-dotes prescribed by those with financial motivations.

The key take-away here is that we must all learn and devise how to speak with others on controversial topics. 
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