There's Nothing We Can Do About IT
Well, the results are in, there ain't shit we can do about IT.
Damn, I went there.
I've been asking and observing, not just here but everywhere I can. There isn't a single person who knows what to do about IT.
I proposed a national referendum system and come to find out, there's a solid division regarding allowing the common citizen to vote on issues, i.e., direct democracy. Here I thought everybody would agree we need to take the power from the ruling class and give it to ourselves, but that isn't the case. Many people simply don't want to do anything about IT.
I went to the World Socialist website (WSWS) and asked if they knew what to do about IT. The WSWS plan is to agitate and educate until something happens and try to get people to join the Socialist Equality Party (SEP). They're consistently calling for an independent working class movement against the oligarchy but like everyone else, have no real plan to actually do that. I suppose it's just wishful thinking and an indication they don't know what to do about IT either.
I watched a movie last night called Mudbound, a period piece about a white landowner and black sharecroppers. During one scene, Jim Crow racism raised it's ugly head against the son of the head of the black family. He advised his son that there was "no point in fighting, they're just going to win every time".
I can't help but apply that same thinking to our present circumstances against IT. There really doesn't seem to be any point in fighting, IT will win every time. All we can do is complain and "agitate", and try to get more people to listen.
"HEY! LISTEN!
I read an article tonight by Paul Craig Roberts, a former Reagan official turned rabble rouser against IT. It's titled "Walking into Armageddon". He had this to say,
"From time to time some of you admonish me for describing our plight without providing a solution. Possibly, there is no solution. If there is a solution, it won’t be found until enough Americans arise from insouciance and escape from the Matrix to be concerned."
https://www.globalresearch.ca/walking-into-armageddon/5621749
I read another article tonight by Joachim Hagopian, an excellent writer who focuses on international affairs, the global elite and broad, systemic issues. It's a very excellent article titled, "The Dumbing Down of America - By Design".
https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-dumbing-down-of-america-by-design/5395928
He provides information of how the education system in this country, as well as the corporate media, have been purposefully managed to dumb down We the People so as to better control and eliminate US as necessary (eugenics). IT wants to keep us dumb and immobile so we're no threat at all. On purpose. Like, they planned it that way. Think about that.
They pretty much have us where they want us now. I don't know if any amount of agitation or education can change it. We may be on a collision course to hell, whatever that ends up to be. Maybe we're in hell now. Certainly those ruling us are escalating things, that's what humans do, there has to be something else, something bigger, there are never limits.
We ain't seen nothing yet.
The only solution we're provided by our rulers is a political system consisting of a Dictator and an oligarchy. We get to choose, relatively speaking because it's only among the choices they allow, who gets to represent the oligarchy and who gets to act as our Dictator for a period of two to four years when we are permitted to do it again.
We as Americans accept that because we've been trained, conditioned, brainwashed, and manipulated to believe certain illusions and false narratives about this country, democracy, freedom and the "thousand points of light". We've been trained to accept democracy as electing politicians to supposedly represent us and that it's the only process we need, forever and ever Amen because of the founding fathers, you know, they were fucking smart. There's no need to revisit a thing, they nailed it, man.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see, that's the plan right now. Wait and see if this happens or that happens until the fickle finger of fate falls on us and tells us what to do. Wait until enough people die, wait until enough people starve to death, wait until those of us left are roasting in a hot sun while nuclear winter rains down upon us.
Maybe then we'll know what to do about IT. By then it'll probably be too late. But it's always too late, it was too late for some children in Yemen today, may they rest in peace.
Comments
Pennywise
Pound foolish.
We are the clowns.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
No, we are Punch and Judy
who (again) don't notice the strings. All domiciles deserve a puppet stage.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Was it Churchill
who said you count on the Americans to do what's right after they have tried everything else.
Many have speculated...
about the meaning of the lyrics, I know what it says to me.
That's just flat out eerie.
Good pull brother J.
Used to play that song on the Pioneer Supertuner 8 Track, remember?
Yes I do...
many a year ago, coming home late at night after getting "experienced", my two brothers asleep in the beds next to mine, playing it really low so as not to wake them up after figuring out how to press the moving buttons and laying back and watching the ceiling dance in paisley patterns.
The song meant the same to me then as it does now.
I led a charmed life, until not
I grew up in a sekrit revoltionary household. Ramparts in the mailbox. Probably wiretapped. Tedious phone calls. The "study" front bedroom had joist relaxing. Solved by removing father from household.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
I'm still playing that song...
Although not as well as Jimi...
As to Al's essay...I think it is true that the corporate coup is complete, and political answers seem (are?) non-existent. But we can still act in our own communities and perhaps in our work places.
Here's a community I mentioned in the OT today that has an approach...
https://www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk/home
with a 12 min video for those so inclined
https://vimeo.com/36838823
...and I'm surprised to see 75 or so worker owned coops in the US
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_worker_cooperatives
From my view politically we are sunk (although I still participate...I'll be voting against Roy Moore next Tuesday). I still have hope that within our communities we can salvage something. As far as I'm concerned the US empire can't fall soon enough.
I find myself in total agreement with the article Al sites on the purposeful dumbing down of our educational system. I always accused our school administration of having the goal of creating fodder for the mills. Now those mills have gone to China and Central America.
I know it sounds corny, but I think it is valid...we have to be the change we want to see. I know this about teaching. We teach more by what we do than what we say!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
what does it mean?
these lyrics are hard for me to "get" ... unfortunately ... it's were I feel I lack the same cultural background you all have and I regret it.
well, may be I get it, I have read it now four times, but still feel not sure about it.
heh, I hear you saying, read another five times, you are getting there. ...
I read a couple of comments on various sites that discuss the lyrics. Sigh. The song didn't cross over to my German life in the late sixties and seventies and I hear it for the first time.
Apologies for posting a joker-like question up in this comment. Too much confusion ...
ahh, I read it ten times now. The more often I read it the more I like it.:-)
https://www.euronews.com/live
Oh, I thought the whole
dumbing down thing was a known, a given. Bloviators like el Rushbo talk about it all the time, but they (bloviators), of course, blame it on Libs. "Libs own education, therefore... " when, of course, it's been the RW that's dumbed down education every chance they could get for the last 25 years. Then, then, then, the dumbest of them all, Betsy dinos-walked-with-Christ Devos gets the cherry on top job to finish the RW (Birchers) job of "educating" the kiddies. And we north of 55 crowd wonder why the under 40 crowd doesn't get it. The under 40 crowd doesn't get it becuz they never experienced the America we old fucks did. They not only don't get it, they don't believe it, think we geezers are making it up. When, in fact, they likely never learned about it in school. Do they even bother to teach civics anymore?
As for what to do about IT, as Occupy (and Ferguson) found out the "police" are militarized these days. For reasons not having a damned thing to do with Terrism (Dubya spelling), instead having everything to do with putting down the masses. Permanently.
How do we beat that? The way Robin Hood did it. Hit'n'run. Stealth ops. Rob these rich motherfuckers and give to the poor. Hell, it's our money anyway. A good $100,000 over the last 25 years that they've "witheld" from our paychecks. Which sounds good but when's the last time you heard about anyone robbing a bank? Exactly. So, the next best thing is stop their money flow. Stop getting your meds at WalGreens and get them from the mom & pop drug store that's been around 50 years. Sure, it's gonna cost an extry $10, but it's $10 that's going directly back into your local economy, Not in some offshore bank. Collecting dust. The Only way we can hurt these motherfuckers is slow their money flow. Bigly.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Barry carried on with George's NCLB crap
this is another legacy from George that Barry continued. And as with the other policies that both administration worked on, DeVos is finishing it up.
Everything that's happening now with Trump and the republicans, I see Obama's hand in it. He told us that he was going to stop the things that Bush did, but just like Pelosi, he lied. He's as responsible for Trump as Hillary, IMO. Or more so.
Oh and today he is warning us about the fascism that's starting here. Not sure what he meant...
O was bought
early. OMG, I neighborhood canvassed for Bernie (now must go firstname) because of sarah coverup liar Huckabee Sanders.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
We ain't seen nothing yet
This is what I'm afraid of. How much worse is it going to get for us? We started seeing behind their masks during Obama's tenure and now they have ripped them fully off and showing us their intentions.
Boy are you right about this. I'm seeing comments from the idjits here that say rich people deserve to keep their money because they earned it and the same type for corporations.
Just how do you get someone like that to change their minds? Dish out enough blue pills? Is anyone making them?
Keep thinking about this. Maybe we'll come up with something soon before more states try passing laws like this.
Goodbye First Amendment
Thankfully this bill was shot down, but other states are passing laws in this vein. And prosecutors are trying to put people in prison for up to 60-70 years by charging them with felony rioting because a few windows were broken during the protests at Trump's inauguration. Sheesh.
If I ever get out of this place...
The dystopian future
has arrived.
Who knew so many humans were this fucked up. Coming from the sixties it's all the more amazing how backward so many have gone. Like a full circle thing.
We've come full circle to the dystopian future. Da da da!
It wasn't only educational dumbing down
it was also tv. The good shows that even hinted about what our government was doing were taken off the air. Even good comedies were replaced with newer, dumber ones.
The other thing that happened was after the good shows were cancelled, reality tv became a fad. Now there are tons of reality shows that keep people glued to their televisions. Dancing with the stars, anyone? Gag me with a spoon...
I'm with you, how did we get so screwed up after the 60's?
Way to bury the lead, Al. The article you linked to not only talked about education, but how what is happening has been planned for decades. The NEW WORLD ORDER that Bush1 mentioned during his SOTU address has finally come to fruition.
People, you really need to read this.
It has been mainly TV,
for two or three generations. That's the key. Television has had more impact on people's thinking than any kind of schooling and it still does. The dumbing-down was voluntary.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
Forty years ago
My best friend's mother was calling it the Idiot Box and had very strict rules about how much TV we could watch, and when.
She was a visionary.
We killed our TV about five (six?) years ago, and I don't think it's a coincidence that I think very differently than many people in "real life" these days.
This woman blew the whistle on Carnegie's plan
to dumb down the population. Kids are not being properly taught like we were and the test results show how bad it is. She offers a free E-book on her website.
Deliberate Dumbing Down of America
Was 1960's Civics a lie?
I question all my good education and ears now.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
1960's Civics, too?
- Yes, dear.
The utility of HS debate club
Learn to lie earnestly and get points! Not wasted even in science, another political persuasion.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
the whole thing is a lie?
- Yes, dear.
- I want my mom!
All eyes are on America
as we race to the bottom. I've been watching the dumbing down of murika for years. Working at a university, I see more and more young people entering university unprepared. I see university contributing to the problem by not requiring actual learning. The professors who expect learning to occur are few and far between.
Without a complete dismantling of murika's system of government, we are doomed to our fate. Revolution is the only answer, but all out civil war us distasteful to people who still want their lives, holidays, vacations, reality shows, devices, all the things we treasure in murika except real democracy and freedom. That crap takes work, involvement, and commitment. Who has time out of their lives for that? Besides, we're all trying to make a buck and not become homeless, which keeps us from becoming involved.
This is why you don't see solutions to IT. IT takes too much work, involvement and commitment.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Fool me once ...
(This is a "just 'cuz" tangent. I'm so angry about all of this, and Neil captures it perfectly).
[EDITED to actually embed video]
We REFUSE to 1) do what is right and get off
our butts and hit the streets; and, 2) JUST AS IMPORTANT, we refuse to do with less. No one needs a freaking Hummer. For that matter, no one needs 75% of the crap we think we just GOTTA have. The latest electronic gizmos (hell if i want the cable company planting microphones and cameras all around my house). We don’t need a thousand outfits with matching bra, panties, and shoes along with a $2,000 purse. We don’t really need a service that delivers meals all prepped so all you do is pop them in the oven or in the pan (and then pretend you really did something.)
And we don’t have enough people who aren’t too damn lazy to look into, to investigate and verify, the crap being shoved at us by the government, Wall Street, self-serving politicians, and the MSM, who has decided that its job isn’t to tell the people the truth but rather to hedge, omit, and lie to us about what’s really going on. The MSM has become partisan and agenda driven. And yet people just lap up everything they read and hear, especially from the biggest liars of them all: Fox, Breitbart, Washington Post, New York Times, etc.
EDIT: 2 stupid typos
EDIT EDIT: deleted a random ‘O’
I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa
I remember once in my mothers
house when she had El Gasbag on the radio he said something to the effect that people actually read the NYT and think it's telling the truth... Of course at the time I was still reading the NYT and naturally, I took offense. Sheesh, I know an asshole can be right once in a while but it is sickening to think that idiot spewed truth that day or any day. Just like Palin and her lame stream media comments, sickening but true.
And I agree, most people are happy with this system, the ones it works for are anyway. But there are many who simply are trying to hard to keep afloat and these bastards who own us count on that too. They made that and it's working for them.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
"how'd that hopey - changey thing work out?
that one really hurts.
" we don’t have enough people "
imo,we do have the people, but we are unable to coordinate our action.
I think the idea of targeted consumer boycotts is promising.
also note some are going right to congress offices with protests.
what do the smart guys say?
I read that Chris Hedges has mentioned civil disobedience.
we need a banner and a plan.
take it to them some kind of way.
handwringing won't do it.
Credexit
Cut their source or revenue.
Buy local.
Don't buy corporate anything.
Reduce, repurpose, repair,or recycle.
Stop consuming.
Never vote for a incumbent.
Always vote for the one with the LEAST amount of funds.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
@earthling1 IT in a nutshell.
IT in a nutshell.
ABSOLUTELY!
I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa
70 Years Of National Stupidity
Right on Al. The stupid just keeps on charging full speed ahead:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/12/07/cold-war-number-one-70-years-of-...
[edit to add conclusion of article]
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
Suggestion
I think the mini comic book/pamphlet idea is a good one. I think doing something is better than doing nothing. And I think instead of worrying about the needed big thing we do not see how to do, we can do a small thing.
I picture a little booklet half or 1/4 the size of a standard 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. It would feature a few facts about issues polls show are important to most people. Social Security and Medicare are hot button issues But there are others. Taxes gets people's attention. But few know about the corporations and wealthy people who manage to pay no taxes. Few know that large highly profitable corporations are handed money by the federal government.
At the moment, the proposed budget is increasing military spending by billions, but cutting health care for children.
Let me just say here that I am simple minded. What I'm thinking is that we can collaborate on what a little pamphlet would say, then each of us print out a few of them and hand them out to a few people. It is more likely to be read if it looks homemade than if it is too slick/professional looking, as long as spelling and grammar are correct, and the pages grab the eye.
I think it is possible to get people's attention, get them to think about the issues we include, maybe do a little research to learn if the things stated are true. People are in the dark about a lot of issues important to them.
I guess what I am suggesting is that we do a little rabble rousing, stir people up, make them angry, get them to pay attention. And if we choose wisely, it won't matter whether the people are voters or non-voters or what persuasion when they vote. The pamphlet will have an impact.
Thanks Granma
I totally agree, doing something is better than nothing. The left seems to be paralyzed by the democratic party, either by participating in it or complaining about it.
I'll give some thought to writing up a draft, see how it plays in Peoria.
Good. I hope you will. The mini comic idea was yours.
And you write well. My brain only half works or works half time.
You may feel frustrated, but you have taught and influenced people here, as have other writers. I suspect the ripples of information from, and influence of, this site spread farther than we can guess.
I'm reminded of putting a pan of cold water on stove to boil. For the longest time, it looks like nothing is happening. Finally a few little bubbles appear, then suddenly the water is boiling furiously. One applies heat and waits. Maybe that is what we have to do, keep the heat on and wait.
Yes, get it on old-fashioned paper
that can be carried around, pocketed and shared, passed out relatively privately even on a bus, left under windshield wipers or in many people's mailboxes if they aren't behind locked doors, copied easily and cheaply.
Plus single sheets with anti-fascist info, like some group has been stapling to telephone poles in parts of Seattle. Samisdat, as in Czechoslovakia.
Perhaps with a specific action per flyer.
Have stapler will travel
thanks. Just kidding about travel but I used to create instruction booklets to document tech stuff, so I have one of those funny looking 12" long-reach swingline staplers. The Free Software Foundation still mails out their printed Bulletin to members twice a year, it is what gave me the idea so very long ago.
I haven't built a booklet layout in a long time, might be fun to cram some different ideas on to two or three sheets and leave around town. /deskjet revolution
good luck
We kept each other informed usingtge
paper method way back when.
To this day I still laugh at how naive we were. We honestly thought Rice and Poindexter would be cleared in a ‘fair’ trial, silly rabbits that we were. We thought that reason and compassion could win over corruption and greed. At we at least were a ‘community’ that wanted the best for everyone, not a return to the days of lords and vassals.
And we’re not stupid enough to still believe the ‘revolution’ will be peaceful one. Thos invested in power and greed have no conscience.
I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa
Drop Out
That hippie idea was a good one. Let "them" play their game and *we* will be elsewhere, living life.
It worked better then, though. Now everyone gets a Social Security number when he/she is born. We're tracked by our debit cards. Even "off the grid" is on the grid.
For some reason most hippies decided to tune back in, to get jobs, make money. I, for one, don't live in a commune. (There's only one person I want to be around this much.)
But there's no way to get the powerful out of that position. And if we did there's a million of 'em waiting next in line. We know that, right?
I'm going to live my life as best I can, as ethically as I can, with as much fun as I can, and hope that others do, too. A lot of people enjoying life in a way that doesn't involve bowing down to large corporations (as much as it's possible) will be more effective, I believe, than marching or rallying. Why? Because it's too easy to cast outright political action as "trouble-making". Whereas having fun confuses them. And spreads. Let's hope that Millennials keep refusing to buy at Walmart.
Hey Shahyrar
Ya, definitely getting harder to drop out and avoid the corporations. But we have to try and it's liberating to do so. Evidently Walmart is going upscale so most millenials, at least the ones I know, won't be able to shop there anyway. Coops and such are going to be increasingly necessary for over half of society just to live, things are getting very expensive for most of us.