Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Why can't we be friends?

Greetings good citizen,

It seems yesterday’s market rally has become today’s market rout as the Dow is off more than a hundred points in early trading.

As I have said before, the term ‘bargain’ is extremely relative.

Every once in a while you will come across an article that asks the question Why can’t we be friends? which takes the position of achieving ‘social justice’ through ‘negotiation’.

You have made many excellent analyses of the power of global capital and its capacity to undermine ordinary citizens’ efforts to transform the global reality toward a more humane and generous world. If there were a serious movement in the U.S. ready to challenge global capital, what should such a movement do? Or is it, as many believe, hopeless, given the power of capital to control the media, undermine democratic movements, and use the police/military power and the co-optive power of mass entertainment, endless spectacle, and financial compensations for many of the smartest people coming up through working-class and middle-income routes? What path is rational for a movement seeking to build a world of environmental sanity, social justice, and peace, yet facing such a sophisticated, powerful, and well-organized social order?

As we all know, global capital DOESN’T NEED TO NEGOTIATE! They do whatever the fuck they want and defy the government to ‘punish’ them (usually a fine) after the fact.

And we all know how THAT game is played out…the initial fine is the figure that gets published and it is usually a whopper…but Daddy deep pockets puts his lawyers on the job instructing them to appeal the fine. Usually with a ‘reverse incentive’, meaning the more they get the fine reduced, the larger the ‘bonus’ the firm will receive.

Didn’t that big judgement against the Tobacco companies end up being litigated to almost nothing?

While all ‘movements’ in this country know what they’re up against, they also know if they get too ‘hardcore’ their donations will ‘dry up’ and without donations they would have to support the ‘cause’ by getting a job!

Worse, an ‘alliance’ between individual movements would result in this same drying up of funds as the ‘mother movement’ was demonized by the media as an all powerful monolith, on par with the ‘special interest’ lobbyists of Washington, DC.

So now we know why seemingly related causes don’t, er, ‘team up’. They remain ‘independent’ to prevent being targeted/shunned by the very people they solicit funds from!

And like ‘charities’, it’s all a ‘racket’. A majority of the money donated is ‘tax deductable’ (and there’s probably a certain degree of you lie and I’ll swear to it going on, a ‘padding’ of donations/deductible amounts if you will…you know how the, er, shrewd can’t resist a ‘bargain’!)

Same thing for the people who run these organizations, it beats honest work and then there’s that abysmal 80 to 90 cents of every dollar donated going towards ‘administration’ thing to remember!

The number one beneficiary of any charity you can name is the idiot who runs it!

So you can imagine how successful we’d be trying to ‘unify’ the many different movements out there.

Then again, some of these movements exist to, er, ‘limit the funds available’ to broader based efforts.

You can hear it now: “ I’d love to help the Greenies but I just gave all of my money to the ‘Save the Snipe’ foundation, maybe next year, huh?”

Actually, the reality is even worse. Except the guy with $20 to donate to his favorite presidential campaign (usually his ‘beer money), grassroot funds are extremely limited.

Now, you’re gonna fight corporate power with corporate, tax deductible donations?

Ain’t happening.

While there are some ‘employee owned’ ventures out there, the pie usually isn’t big enough to meet their own funding needs AND give away a heap to a ‘less than neutral’ political movement (even if ‘the cause’ serves their interests!)

Ironically, this tiny segment of the economic pie is probably the ‘hope’ this article is referring to!

Chomsky says in the article that the US is ‘surprisingly free’ relative to other countries.

You don’t suppose this ‘illusion of freedom’ is what prevents us from rioting in the streets like the Europeans do?

We don’t have to stand up to the (corporate captive) government; we can use the ballot box to slap them down with!

And Santa Claus is going to bring us all baby Unicorns for Christmas!

WTF!

But I digress…

As usual just to give you an idea that these people are not on the same page the rest of us are.

Once again I didn’t excerpt the article because it is ‘petite’ and would likely alter the context.

So, that leadership we are all yearning for isn’t likely to be available for some time yet, but it’s coming, that I guarantee you!

The thing to watch for is what the new leader demonizes. It is the best indication of which way they’re bent and who they are really fighting for.

Which is to warn that not everyone who criticises the rich is your friend.

The ‘elite’ are quick to throw one another under the bus because less competition there is, the more they can scoop up for themselves!

Funny how myopic our ‘betters’ are, it also tends to give them away. They are really fond of the word ‘me’ (ceaselessly yapping about how selfless and humble they are) and seldom use the word ‘we’ unless they are defining a personal ambition they need YOUR help to achieve.

Pretty much the same goes for those who claim to ‘speak for god’, they really want to be the ones to tell you what ‘god’ expects from you…and if the bible doesn’t say anything like that it is because god is speaking to you through THEM…

If what god has to say works out surprising well for his messenger, it’s just because god likes him more than he likes you!

Danger is everywhere, good citizen. Look to your heart and decide wisely before ‘following’ anyone.

Thanks for letting me inside your head,

Gegner

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