Social Conflict: Violence Brewing

Social Conflict: Violence Brewing

Conversation on Facebook on a post by Bill Hodgson

Henry Giroux on Zombie Politics

November 22, 2013

In his book, Zombie Politics and Culture in the Age of Casino Capitalism, author and scholar Henry Giroux connects the dots to prove his theory that our current system is informed by a “machinery of social and civil death” that chills “any vestige of a robust democracy.”

This week on Moyers & Company, Giroux explains that such a machine turns “people who are basically so caught up with surviving that they become like the walking dead – they lose their sense of agency, they lose their homes, they lose their jobs.”

What’s more, Giroux points out, the system that creates this vacuum has little to do with expanding the meaning and the substance of democracy itself. Under “casino capitalism,” the goal is to get a quick return, taking advantage of a kind of logic in which the only thing that drives us is to put as much money as we can into a slot machine and hope we walk out with our wallets overflowing.

A cultural and social critic of tireless energy and vast interests, Giroux holds the Global TV Network Chair in the English and Cultural Studies Department at McMaster University and is a distinguished visiting professor at Reyerson University, both schools in Canada.

November 30, 2013

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Morris Creedon-McVean That's the grand plan of the super rich: they return us to the late middle ages and become kings and queens and the rest of us as" wage slaves". One major problem with this plan: aristocracies have failed uncountable times in history. Who is going to fight for them? Not the American Military or any law enforcement agency, they are already wage slaves. And the wage slaves to be, are heavily armed, thanks to the NRA and the second amendment. I can perceive a brief civil war where the citizens surround the fortress homes of the super rich, high paid minions, and corporations. A siege takes place, demanding the perps of this plot come out and face charges of being traitors to the Constitution they are trying to destroy. The eventually give in as their mercenaries, decide they are not dying for these sad little old men who aren't even willing to fight themselves. With no dedicated support within the populous, at least no one willing to fight, they are alone. That means you GW Bush, Dick Cheney, and Carl Rove.

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Bill Hodgson The days of Kings, Queens government also had a strong Religious power that provided people control to backup the ruling class.
My lifetime has seen the people control function given to the local, state police and military who protect the lower class, ruling class, rich and powerful. The controlling class of the protectors are shifting more to the rich and corporations. For example, the city of Bellevue sent the police to Walmart today and arrested a few people from a very gentle group of protesters.
I remember the Chicago 7 trial and Ohio college campus shootings by the National Guard.
Today's police protection-gear is more like military gear.

Bill Hodgson, all good points.  It is all a sure sign that violent confrontation is brewing.  The nation is divided with one side who is so concrete in their thinking that they refuse to negotiate on anything. Rigid thinking and action resulting in the shutdown of Government and an international panic that the US might default on it's debt, sending the entire world into economic chaos.  Such idiotic mindless behavior to punish a very moderate President for trying to establish universal health care, which is a good thing for everyone in this country.  We are the lone prosperous nation without it.  Health care, a life and death issue, simply cannot be run for profit without unfairness that defies the purpose of this nation as defined by the Founding Fathers, and documented in the Constitution.  Most of the American population believes in these principles, even if they have not paid attention to the erosion until recently.  While the situation is frightening, on the side of the pro Constitutionalists is: Truth, history of the failure of aristocracies, a well armed populous that will make it almost impossible for the super rich to win a fighting confrontation (unless the American military obeys orders and supports the ruling rich---which would mean destruction of several American cities), at present I do not believe the military would fire on citizens because they are already wage slaves, and the Internet which prevents any surprise moves by the elite.

I find it fascinating that given his "zombie" hypotheses, he fails to even mention Marshall McCluhan's (now proven) theories that TV has a "heroin like addition".  Sometimes it seems, the academics once they have an established theoretical basis and a following of readers and students, they stop exploring other thinker's work.  I have found this type of oversight many times in my years of reading "what is new" in various fields.  I read such a book from the "New Releases" table at B&N, and observe that Professor Smith published the exact same set of ideas 6 mos. ago.  This clearly demonstrates the value of well read generalists to keep the intellectual community "honest".

Cruz Big Mouth Little Understanding

Freshman US Congressman Cruz from Texas

November 9, 2013

This man was chiefly responsible for sending the world financial markets into a panic for fear that we were going to default on our loans.  His reason: he doesn't want health care distributed more fairly in this country.

 Simply put, the rich get the best care in the world, and every one else get a watered down version of we are capable of.  The less money you have, the more watered down your care gets.  In addition, even though the lower your economic class, and get watered down care, it costs the rest of us more.  ER visits are 5-10x what office calls cost for the same care.  Hospital corporations take their profits (30%!) off the top and spend what's left on care.  So how do they make up for the huge losses they rack up for having and ER and running it in a responsible way?  By jacking up the prices of procedures that are more profitable, and those who have "good insurance" pay for in the form of increased premiums.

Obamacare will save money, not "ruin the economy" which is the latest false claim by FOX and other media owned by the super rich like Rupert Murdock.  Don't tell me to get my facts straight---I am a retired physician, an insider who knows exactly how the system works after over 30 years of practice.  You neo-con are just plain wrong about Obamacare.  To use something good for the country to blackmail the Obama Administration's plans and intimidate those who support it, to the point of shutting down the government and threatening the international money markets, is morally and ethically indefensible.

To this country’s good fortune, the man sitting in the Oval Office, NEVER panics even under this kind of cruel criticism and baseless attacks.  Obama will not back down.  He is old school, ethically and morally, he will “do the right thing”, regardless of the short term personal price.  This nation used to have a government filled with politicians who did “the right thing”, even if they paid a personal price.  But they have been run out of Congress by the new breed of greedy “my party right or wrong”, “we’re only in it for the money” who do the wrong thing even when 80% of the American people adamantly oppose their position.  That is just what happened as they voted to shut down the government to punish Obama for the outrageous act of making health care more accessible to all people and saving money at the same time.  No wait!  Obama didn’t make this sensible reform law, CONGRESS did.

Hypocrisy at the highest level of arrogance, disregard of ethics and personal responsibility.

The final assessment is that Mr. Cruz can make a lot of noise about issues that he knows little about, and has given little thought to the ramifications for US citizens or the rest of the world.  His knowledge is a mile wide and a quarter of an inch deep.  We cannot afford this type of man making decisions for this country.

Morris Creedon-McVean

Self Mutilation as Signal of Loss of Hope

Self Mutilation

Response to post by Sheli Lundberg concerning radical self mutilation

November 14, 2013

The medical problems are almost endless. He has no idea the price he will pay for looking cool, even if this a creative form so self mutilation, it is still self mutilation, which is a terrible signal of what is happening to today's youth. It signals total hopelessness, and a giving up on life. It is a correct read in many ways about the suicidal direction of our society. With the super rich and their allies destroying the ecosystem as fast as they can to maximize pro fits with no strong resistance by "good men who remain silent", this is justified. What is tragic is that they cannot see any hope for change. This idealistic collapse has been setup by two recently understood and proven by science in a rigorous way: the mental illness caused by the "heroin like" addictive qualities of television; and the biological nature of the sociopath. We now have the understanding and the tools to reverse the trend which began when TV was introduced in the 50's which set up exploitation by sociopaths who turned American culture into a "consumer" obsessed dumbed down society where the 99% stopped paying attention to what is important in life, including what the sociopaths politicians were doing, and they took over government at every level in two decades. They are now so entrenched, it will be a major struggle to regain control of our Government. a shooting civil war is a definite possibility.

 Fortunately, the GOP is fragmenting and self destructing, and lacks any leadership. The Tea Party may turn out to be gift, because if they can get a candidate on the next Presidential ballot, they will take votes from the GOP, who is already being seen as a destructing force after the farcical shutting down of the government to punish Obama for being the stimulus for making health care more accessible and cheaper. Health care reform is a good thing even with the initial difficulties inherent in such a major change, but we are the only prosperous country in the world that does not have universal health care. In spite of the vigorous adolescent fabricated attacks on Obamacare (a complete misnomer---Congress crafted the legislation and passed it---supported by both parties; Obama just signed it into law) I do not believe the GOP can stop it. It makes our profit obsessed health care system more fair for everyone, and saves money. Americans have a long history of supporting fairness, from the abolition of slavery to the civil rights movement and women's rights to control their bodies through contraception. Doing the right thing will win out again in spite of the vituperous hatred and lies that the opposition musters.

Morris Creedon-McVean