The people who own the stocks and shares in weapons companies, fossil fuel companies and tech companies are in charge. Eisenhower was absolutely prescient and it has indeed come to pass. Profit is the driver for all, human rights be damned.
I suppose it depends on what you mean by "in charge". They have power, certainly, but the power to do what, exactly?
They have the power to fuck us over: to extract the wealth from our labour, concentrate it and waste it on mad schemes to acquire more power, eventually running our society into the ground. But do they have the power to fix this mess? I don't think so.
In the unlikely event that any of the sociopaths at the top of the hierarchy ever developed a conscience, the others would quickly turn on them and divest them of their power.
To say the oligarchs are in charge is like saying a cancerous tumour is in charge of its host.
I think it’s wildly optimistic to believe any oligarch ever wants to fix anything, they just want to accumulate more. They’ll never develop consciences because there’s no profit in that. Their power lies in being able to buy public opinion- it’s the reason Islamophobia is so rampant round the world, why good people like Jamal Bowman loses his seat. And I think they are definitely tumours up in charge of the host, and we ordinary people (the host) just seem to be unable to see a way out. I certainly can’t.
Okay, I basically agree with you, let's not quibble over the definition of "in charge". What I was wanting to get across was that I think our problems stem from looking for a daddy or mummy figure look after us. If we give up the expectation to be led, the childish desire to abdicate our responsibilities to our "betters", then we won't be creating a niche for sociopaths to dominate us and con us into acting against our own interests.
What I'm talking about is bottom up cultural change giving rise to a different society, rather than top down, hierarchical enforcement of policies which, as you point out, always get co-opted.
The propaganda machine is so entrenched into American society, it’s seems like an impossible task to get people off the propaganda tit. The powers that be are so good at creating division, it’s hard to see an end to the machine that exists. Top down/bottom up, I don’t know which would be easier to realize.
I don't think it will be a choice. The cost of energy will keep increasing until the Machine breaks down. Reality will force us to change our behaviours. That's what I meant by the large scale society being an emergent phenomenon.
After the breakdown, to paint in broad strokes, we can either participate in rebuilding local communities (bottom up) or continue to look to a boss man/woman for the answers, that is to say, submit to feudalism (top down). Either way, it'll be a struggle.
Agreed. We are close to a tipping point and the Masters of western society know it. It’s why all these desperate acts of warmongering and propaganda have intensified. They are scared of the BRICS nations and are making a last ditch effort to keep their hegemony, and it seems it will be at the cost of millions of lives.
I don't know about that, but I do believe that when humans are able to work together in good faith with sociable intentions, they'll come up with ways of life which function better than our current habits.
That sociopaths cold-heartedly exploit our sociable inclinations to lead us astray needn't mean we should reject sociability - we just need to wise up.
The nuclear family, a fairly recent invention, is an isolated fragment of community, so usually quite dysfunctional.
The people who own the stocks and shares in weapons companies, fossil fuel companies and tech companies are in charge. Eisenhower was absolutely prescient and it has indeed come to pass. Profit is the driver for all, human rights be damned.
I suppose it depends on what you mean by "in charge". They have power, certainly, but the power to do what, exactly?
They have the power to fuck us over: to extract the wealth from our labour, concentrate it and waste it on mad schemes to acquire more power, eventually running our society into the ground. But do they have the power to fix this mess? I don't think so.
In the unlikely event that any of the sociopaths at the top of the hierarchy ever developed a conscience, the others would quickly turn on them and divest them of their power.
To say the oligarchs are in charge is like saying a cancerous tumour is in charge of its host.
I think it’s wildly optimistic to believe any oligarch ever wants to fix anything, they just want to accumulate more. They’ll never develop consciences because there’s no profit in that. Their power lies in being able to buy public opinion- it’s the reason Islamophobia is so rampant round the world, why good people like Jamal Bowman loses his seat. And I think they are definitely tumours up in charge of the host, and we ordinary people (the host) just seem to be unable to see a way out. I certainly can’t.
Okay, I basically agree with you, let's not quibble over the definition of "in charge". What I was wanting to get across was that I think our problems stem from looking for a daddy or mummy figure look after us. If we give up the expectation to be led, the childish desire to abdicate our responsibilities to our "betters", then we won't be creating a niche for sociopaths to dominate us and con us into acting against our own interests.
What I'm talking about is bottom up cultural change giving rise to a different society, rather than top down, hierarchical enforcement of policies which, as you point out, always get co-opted.
The propaganda machine is so entrenched into American society, it’s seems like an impossible task to get people off the propaganda tit. The powers that be are so good at creating division, it’s hard to see an end to the machine that exists. Top down/bottom up, I don’t know which would be easier to realize.
I don't think it will be a choice. The cost of energy will keep increasing until the Machine breaks down. Reality will force us to change our behaviours. That's what I meant by the large scale society being an emergent phenomenon.
After the breakdown, to paint in broad strokes, we can either participate in rebuilding local communities (bottom up) or continue to look to a boss man/woman for the answers, that is to say, submit to feudalism (top down). Either way, it'll be a struggle.
Agreed. We are close to a tipping point and the Masters of western society know it. It’s why all these desperate acts of warmongering and propaganda have intensified. They are scared of the BRICS nations and are making a last ditch effort to keep their hegemony, and it seems it will be at the cost of millions of lives.
You are absolutely right.
I don't know about that, but I do believe that when humans are able to work together in good faith with sociable intentions, they'll come up with ways of life which function better than our current habits.
Family values........I think this was Reagan.
That sociopaths cold-heartedly exploit our sociable inclinations to lead us astray needn't mean we should reject sociability - we just need to wise up.
The nuclear family, a fairly recent invention, is an isolated fragment of community, so usually quite dysfunctional.