The Revolution of the Mind is Underway{long read}

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/activism/revolution-mind-underway



Chris Hedges has an important essay in Truthdig this week, Our Invisible Revolution. Essentially he describes a revolution of the mind in which people’s consciousness are raised as they become aware of the inability of the current governmental and economic systems to respond to the needs of people and the planet. When this is understood, then the revolutionary changes that seemed impossible become possible. Hedges writes:

“As long as most citizens believe in the ideas that justify global capitalism, the private and state institutions that serve our corporate masters are unassailable. When these ideas are shattered, the institutions that buttress the ruling class deflate and collapse. The battle of ideas is percolating below the surface. It is a battle the corporate state is steadily losing. An increasing number of Americans are getting it.”

People realize that the institutions don’t work because they are experiencing the consequences.

This week was the one year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy and the recovery effort, Occupy Sandy. Occupy Sandy is still active because people on the New York and New Jersey coastlines continue to suffer from the effects of that storm. To mark the occasion, people from those areas brought a human “wave of change” to city hall in New York and held a march they called “Turn the Tide.” Protesters are demanding that five priorities be met: good jobs, affordable housing, sustainable energy, community engagement and strong healthcare.

One year later, Sandy demonstrates the dysfunction of government to address both the people’s needs and climate change. As Naomi Klein wrote this week in How Science Is Telling Us All To Revolt, “there is still time to avoid catastrophic warming, but not within the rules of capitalism as they are currently constructed; which may be the best argument we have ever had for changing those rules.”

[xchrom]

1. kick

[arthritisR_US]

2. I can only kick once :( ! nt

[socialist_n_TN]

3. See, this is what the "Revolution will never happen" folks miss........

when they talk about how most people are too comfortable to rise up. This is capitalism. NOTHING STAYS THE SAME UNDER CAPITALISM! Class war is a zero-sum game. If workers win, bosses lose and vice-versa. And of course, workers have been losing for 3 or 4 decades now which means that living standards are going to hell at a pretty rapid pace. At least for most of us.

When it gets bad enough, people WILL rise up. How violent it will be depends ENTIRELY on the ruling class and how tightly they try to hold on to the power that capitalism gives them.

I'll paraphrase V.I. Lenin to close this post out: "Sometimes years go by with nothing much happening and sometimes years go by in months." When things get bad enough, all it will take is a spark and nobody knows what that spark will be. The unrest in Brazil was sparked by a bus fare hike. Get the picture?

[xchrom]

4. unrest in other places was simply a spike in food prices. nt

[socialist_n_TN]

14. Yep. And actually that was a more DIRECT cause than......

many others. That was the spark of the Egyptian revolution as I recall. The first one anyway.

[arely staircase]

7. so what is going to cause this revolution?

All the porn sites crash at once? Starbucks disapears? The Kardashians stop getting boob jobs? What will be the tipping point?

[socialist_n_TN]

10. What part of "nobody knows" don't you understand?........

Revolutions happen because the underlying causes are there, NOT because the cable goes out. Although the cable going out would be as good of a spark as any. When the causes are in place and consciousness has been raised, what the spark is doesn't really matter.

That's a FACT of actual revolutions. It's not what the spark is, it's a raised consciousness caused by objective factors.

[arely staircase]

12. I bet it will have something to do with Miley Cyrus. nt

[socialist_n_TN]

16. Or Russell Brand?......

Scoff all you want. History is a guide in this matter.

I'm not saying it's close, but if this goes on, it is coming.

[Generic Brad]

13. The Kardashian's getting one more boob job would be a tipping point

At least for the surgically altered Kardashian.

[arely staircase]

15. lol nt

[arely staircase]

5. the main change to the human mind

is attention spans of gnats, less real social interaction, rudeness and a need for immediate gratification, all this thanks to technology.

[Avalux]

6. Not to get too 'woo woo' but....

Chris's article echoes the sentiments of those who think the human race is moving into a higher dimension, where we recognize everyone and everything on this planet are connected; the ego is aligned to cooperate with the 'soul' self, and we choose to love and take care of each other and the planet instead of fighting, killing and destroying.

Maybe there is hope. If the human race continues as we are, we will have the distinct honor of being the only species to cause our own extinction.

[arely staircase]

8. the level above human

Google it.

[Shankapotomus]

9. Their website is still up?

I wonder who pays the bill.

[arely staircase]

11. amazing isnt it? nt

[Shankapotomus]

17. They must have paid it

for the next hundred years. I would have love to have been in on that conversation with the hosting company.

"You want to pay for a hundred years of hosting upfront? Um sure, okay."

[Avalux]

19. It's crazy that site is still there.

Thanks for the giggle.

[arely staircase]

20. right?

I like to check on it every couple of years to make sure.

[FarCenter]

18. While information technology may indeed cause a revolution, it's unlikely to be towards equality

Information technology empowers people who

- are able to understand and use it,

- can take advantage of the ability of the cloud to provide information and can use the analysis tools, and

- can organize cooperatively to benefit from the information.

Therefore, societies and sub-groups within societies who have high intelligence, self-discipline, and a cooperative social style within their in-group will benefit, while those not characterized by these qualities will fall behind.

Society will be organized differently, but not necessarily in a more equal fashion.

[FirstLight]

21. I can dig it

a new paradigm is emerging...Occupy, Brand, and others have it right. The current system IS broken beyond repair, I hope the tipping point in mass consciousness comes soon, this mess is depressing...