rhett o rick
rhett o rick's Journal“The Oligarchy neither loves you nor hates you, but you have resources that they want.”*
“The Oligarchy neither loves you nor hates you, but you have resources that they want.”*
Some view the big corporations (Oligarchy) as monsters wishing for our demise. I don't believe that's completely true. I am sure you've heard the expression, “It's not personal, it's just business.” So what does that really mean? Well you might find that statement following a statement like this, “If you have to die for me to make a profit,...” This may sound a little harsh but that rational has been used by humans to justify all kinds of atrocities, against other life forms and against humans.
I think “It's not personal, it's just business” is the creed of many major corporations. Ford Motor Co. a couple of decades back determined the financial value of a human life when they decided it was better for their profits to not recall their pickups that were catching fire because of the design of the gas tank (They made a similar decision re. the Pinto) They decided it was better for profits to let people die and pay off the potential suits than to recall or redesign. There are many, many cases to prove that profits take precedence over most everything for the Oligarchy.
So what's my point? Corporations are creatures (certainly not human) that we, like Dr. Frankenstein, have created. We created them via laws and gave them special privileges and powers to allow them to be creative and help us with our lives. So what went wrong? We have allowed them, or in some cases, helped them become monsters. Some have deemed them “human-like” and gave them Constitutional rights.
Progressives see the dangers in the loss of our freedoms, liberties, and wealth, to the Corp-Monster (Oligarchy). Sadly the conservative Republicons and Democrats prefer the comfort (seemingly) of the power of a strong, tough authoritarian leadership that the Oligarchy provides. HRC provides that toughness as her supporters will tell you.
Fortunately some of the Peoples of the world have decided to wake up and smell the Oligarchy. These Peoples are revolting around the globe against the strangle-hold of the Big-Corp Monster (Oligarchy). One such revolt is happening right here in River City with the support for Sen Sanders, clearly the People's choice and not the choice of the Oligarchy.
*A modification of a quote, “The AI (Artificial Intelligence) does not hate you, nor does it love you, but you are made out of atoms which it can use for something else.” credited to Eliezer Yudkowsky, research fellow, Machine Intelligence, found in the book “Our Final Invention” by James Barrat.
Happy Halloween 
Cross-posted in GD: P
We live in an authoritarian society where tough is more important than empathy.
How often do you hear about the kid that complains about being bullied being punished and the bully let go? How better to push American Exceptionalism than to have tough leaders. In schools, sports, the military and religions, we are taught to obey and follow our authoritarian leaders. Gone are the days where we taught people to think for themselves, to be skeptical, and to not be afraid to question authority.
Eric Fromm nailed it with "The Authoritarian Personality". http://www.scribd.com/doc/89863857/The-Authoritarian-Personality-by-Erich-Fromm-1957
That may be true but I am going a different direction. IMO the main point when people refer to
the mythical "let them eat cake", is that there was no sarcasm in that statement. It showed a true disconnection between the aristocrats and the People. Granted there are many aristocrats that abhor the masses but there are more that are indifferent. They view us as cattle. They don't wish us ill will, they just won't do anything to help us if it costs them. In fact, if they need to harm us to make gains in wealth (power), it isn't personal, it's just business. I think the Third Way ideology includes this. They may honestly wish us well in gaining some social justice (good for their consciences) but not if it takes away from their primary goal in life, gain wealth. Wealth can be made, esp if there is an abundance of free resources or labor, but in today's world, it's much easier to steal it. The Wealthy have been stealing the wealth of the lower classes for decades now. When the oligarchy says, "Let them have same-sex marriage," I hear, "Let them eat cake."
I believe that candidate running with the backing of the oligarchy will follow the Third Way ideology. They might help us with some social justice but only if it doesn't interfere with their plans to steal our wealth.
What a great OP. This is exactly what I think this Group is for. This is an important subject
right here in River City DU. It's so easy to push people around (bully) people when one is anonymous. Some like to push others around or control others because they like it, and others do it to push their world view when they don't have a decent argument. Mostly it's conservatives that want to control others.
The prohibition of CT in GD is a great tool for those that like to see threads locked that they don't like. For example, when Snowden emerged, it was ok to the conservatives to speculate that he worked for the Chinese and Russians to harm the US. But if one tried to say that the government was trying to subvert our freedoms, the CT card was apt to come out. It's a tool to lock or hide discussion that one has no good argument against.
Let's talk about CT. Your discussion in the OP was great. But I would go a little farther in that CT is all around us. In our jobs, in our schools, in our organizations, etc. Everywhere small groups (or big) get together to "conspire" or to "plan or plot secretly". All conspiring isn't evil. Let's say at the PTA you and a group of others decide that Person A isn't the best president and you conspire to vote them out. Same at work. A group gets together to convince the boss that they should get the project instead of the other group. Conspiring happens all the time, for good or evil. And in politics conspiring is a way of life. Think Tanks should really be called "Conspiracy Tanks", although it's not all evil.
IMO the prohibition of CT here in DU is to prevent rehash of old conspiracy data in GD. But I believe that new data is fair game or if Jeb makes a statement about 9/11, it's fair game. The CT card is too often used to shut off discussions for political reasons.
Funny that you guys always ask questions but rarely give us your opinions.
Maybe afraid to commit.
I will be glad to share my opinions with you. Like Sen Sanders, I am not afraid to state where I stand on issues. Unlike HRC that likes to waffle or triangulate.
There is good reason to suspect that the NSA/CIA wield enormous powers without regard to the Constitution and with zero objective overview. It disturbs me greatly that we have both Republicons and Conservative Democrats that welcome that authoritarian leadership and the Constitution be damned. These Conservatives of both parties live in a denial bubble and want to severely punish those that dare speak out against the authoritarian leadership of the NSA/CIA. They don't like whistle-blowers, honest investigative journalists, protesters, and liberals. They apparently believe that it's worth it to give up their liberties and freedoms for the promise of security. Sadly they are willing to look the other way as millions and millions slide into poverty. They will vote to maintain the existing establishment and status quo. They pretend to be progressive when they believe the authoritarian's promises to fix some social injustices.
Clearly not enough is being done by the public to end gun violence. We, as a society, are all
guilty of using the Second Amendment for our rationalizations not to take actions needed. Changing laws to limit access to guns is the easy step and we aren't even doing that. The real problem is that we've built a society heavily based on authoritarianism. We like the tough guys that beat up the "bad" guys. Our country has for over a century been the biggest bully on the block. Just look at the Viet Nam War and the Iraq War. Our TV and movies are full of shows that feature good guys bullying perceived bad guys. Seems we believe it's a good thing to bully for goodness. Of course we all define goodness as we see fit.
The Second Amendment is merely an Amendment to our Constitution. It is not sacred. It wasn't even part of the original Constitution. It was a change to the Constitution. We need to change the Constitution again to end this madness, if we really want.
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