looking for causes for the mess we are in? Don't be so naive as to blame the political parties or elected officials.
The distraction of electoral politics has been working very well for oligarchs for a long time. The short memories of the public makes each round of insult seem new. Pick any "issue" you like and you will be able to understand how this works. In fact the dissection of their control over us into isolated issues is one of the most effective parts of the ploy.
By breaking the complex reality we live in into isolated issues the control of our minds is simplified. These issues can be renamed and dressed in new clothes and paraded around for everyone to get excited about. Our system of elections is built around this tool of oppression.
As I asked above, pick your favorite issue. When was this first a problem? Don't neglect history or you will miss the entire point. Of course single issues can be lumped into categories like "Civil Rights" and "War" and so on.
Strip away the purposely distracting rhetoric and the same core problem is laid bare. How much control do you really have over your own life and how much choice do you really have?
It has been said that cultures that have no form of slavery have no need for the concept of "freedom". This was dealt with nicely by European colonialists. They were used to enslaving others among them in one way or another. A particular way of enslaving people arose as colonialism grew out of bounds. It could be made more total and cruel by using racism as its basis.
Genocide also was easily carried out with this kind of dehumanization of native peoples. Did you ever wonder about how the other forms of slavery were made tolerable by comparison?
Fast forward to today and look at where we are from that perspective. People have been made to believe they are "free" because they can own things and do things they want to do. Not everyone but enough to make the myths thrive. To prove you are free you can even watch institutionalized oppression of those less "fortunate". You even get to waste endless time and energy voting for your masters.
No, don't blame Trump for the hate that was there waiting for him to come along. It reminds me how the poisons in our body sometimes come to head in the form of a boil. Don't blame the political parties for being part of the corrupt oppressive system. It is built very carefully on racism, religious hypocrisy, and the idea that some of us can get to be bosses.
Why has it not dealt with real problems? Because dealing with them shows the clay feet oif the oligarchy. They only know one game and they play it very well. It will end in the collapse of "civilization" and the planet will be freed of its cancer.
Comments
We can certainly blame this political system
that was designed to keep the power at the top and away from the rest of us. Pick an issue and it's always framed as something between the republican party and the democratic party. That's how decisions are made, those two parties and the rich and powerful that own them. I think at this point we need to blame ourselves for continuing to put up with an undemocratic political system that obviously serves the rich.
We never had a real chance
at anything else. The power is there though, for the taking, but only if we want it.
What's Gilligan up to these days....?
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
Hi Don,
I read a loong article yesterday about Climate change and its consequences. I think it is good.
It's:
Like I said, it is long. It is also in your face truth about what our kids, and their kids, will be up against.
There is also this nugget, which is the point of this comment:
I thought you would appreciate this.
Our (human) "civilization" is a nano-blink in universal time.
I'm kind of ok with that. It's too bad. And I hope we are smart enough to find a way out of it. The probability seem very low though. But, until that day, I'll keep fighting for a better future in any way I can. All the best.
Someone posted a link to this article about how TPTB
are building bunkers for when civilization cracks up and they are being guarded by mercenaries.
Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich
There have been lots of rumors about where these bunkers are being built. The article first talks about how one billionaire had Lasic surgery on his eyes so that he doesn't have to rely on finding glasses or contact lenses when the shit hits the fan. His bunker is in an old missile silo, but rumors are that there are miles of tunnels and living areas under Denver international airport. This rumor has been around for decades.
The Bush crime family has purchased land in Paraguay where there is a lot of water available.
This is why TPTB aren't doing everything that they can do stop climate change. If they die before the end is nigh, they are making sure that their prodigy has a chance to survive.
If you do a search for Doomsday prep you will find tons of articles about this.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Of course the question becomes
If they destroy the earth and the habitat for living things, how do they expect to grow the food they will need in the future? This is the same damn way of thinking that believes that a nuclear holocaust is survivable. But for how long? People can only live in bunkers for a short while. But wholesale destruction of habitat is forever.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
They will grow their food in their underground bunkers
as well as stocking all types of animals that they can eat. This plan has been well thought out for quite some time.
Try a search for doomsday preppers and underground bunkers. The rich can afford to build whatever they want.
This used to be considered CT, but like all CTs, there is a grain of truth in them.
The article I posted tells part of the story.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
@snoopydawg
That only works as long as the power does. And there won't be any 'there' to go to, out there, when it fails.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
They'll be scraping slime molds off of the walls
of their fallout shelter, and hunting rats for the first three years or so, or at least until the sun comes back out.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
@dervish
Thanks, I feel a little better now. Only what are the rats going to eat and breathe if the vegetation all dies in the dark and the drought/flooding/cold? I suppose the cockroaches will outlast the rest...
Edit: just to mention, MAD is predicted to drastically block the sun for a decade or more and I suppose gradually return thereafter, although dunno about the ozone layer under those circumstances.
Geoengineering now officially under way will be increasingly damaging that, of course, making the sun required for life on the planet inimical to life on the planet, that being why they say it's 'difficult to stop' endlessly dumping untold trillions of tons of industrial poisons everywhere on Earth on a steady basis.
So, what's continuous acid rain going to do, over time, to even hardened metal bug-out shelters for the rich and fatuous?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Another interesting theory is that humans have been
observed by other intelligent lifeforms. However, humans have not evolved long enough to recognize these forms. Good reading you, Mr. don. Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
@orlbucfan
And the white mice are not impressed with what's been done to so many of their researchers in the labs...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
I *will* blame those who vote to protect their
power, their seats, their wealth *during and after their "public service" and, now, their post-Presidency. Sure, lobbyists and their overlords are to blame, too, along with their bosses and organizations like ALEC, USGLC, Bilderburg, et al. Call me naive or whatever else you want, but I ain't letting them off the hook. It's one thing to understand historical origins. However, regardless of what happened millennia ago or centuries ago, they have a choice. No, scratch that: they have many choices every single day and they enough to know what they are doing is wrong. Heck, I do, and I never got to Yale or Harvard.