Global Warming; The Aberration Of Capitalism;
The Advent of Information Society:
How Truth became America’s First Casualty on the so-call War on Terror
The Beginning of Change | The Beginning of The End
Indeed. The article is accurate in many respects, and I have long predicted the problems associated with bio-fuels. There are sustainable solutions which utilise natural resources, including trees, but it requires the will and decision to make some fundamental changes. We certainly in what I call the era of process as we go from a carbon fuel economy to a sustainable energy based economic system. Ironically, it could be ultimately beneficial to the many and only adversely affect a few. Transitions on a global scale such as we are witnessing at the end of the production economy which began with the industrial revolution, produce upheaval during the periods of transition. This need not necessarily be. It is a curious truth that those who do not know history will be doomed to repeat the errors of the past. We have evolved to a new level of ignorance called denial. We pretend we don’t know or hope that activities we know are bad, wrong or deceptive with our actions today with experience of the correlation of wrong actions and there cumulative effect. As Ben Franklin so aptly put it, “Doing the same thing over and over with the expectation of different results is the definition of insanity.” We are as a collective global society on a collision course with the laws of physics, biology and collective experience.
The people behind the corporations behind the absolute corruption that is the result of relentless exploitation of carbon based fuels with complete disregard for the consequences are indeed encouraging and initiating these bio-fuel solutions. I have already bored you with the facts on this subject. The problem though does have some bearing on my preachy note to you the other day. We are both the problem and the solution.
In order for the transformation of global economic models to succeed the most elemental and essential elements must be knowledge, shared information, trust and an understanding of the fact that what all humans have in common far outweighs what we do not have in common by an extraordinary mathematical factor. We share our globe which is biologically linked and interconnected and has never recognised man made lines and political borders. Whether we have the strength the will and the collective wisdom to avert global catastrophe is debatable.
America is both the hope of the world and the map of the dangers of any society based on a need for consumption for growth and prosperity. This form of an economic policy based on Ponzi scheme requires both consumption and a willingness fuelled by greed, avarice and laziness that is contrary to our stated raison d’être. The corporate models that evolved in the 1950’s are based on endless expansion and a need for an ever growing base of new consumers. McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, Starbucks are all examples of corporations whose very existence requires an ever expanding base of consumers. It is part of what I consider the Alfred E. Newman of Mad Magazine fame philosophy, “What me worry?” If I can make out well for myself today why worry about tomorrow.
Beginning in the 1920’s we began a subtle but dangerous divergence from pure capitalism to the aberrant version we mistakenly consider capitalism today. The Consumerist Society is based on making people want things they do not need and often are not even good or useful or beneficial. It also requires that ultimately the many will benefit a small and select few. Because of the epic battle between so-called Communism and Capitalism many believe that what has emerged with the demise of the Soviet Union is a capitalist society. Communism was always doomed to fail; it never took into account the most fundamental element known as human nature. In order to bring forth the ‘new socialist man’ unspeakable horrors and violence were perpetrated. The difference between the two great ideological societies with global power was the power of one came from the barrel of a gun, the power in the other came from who held the economic power. As President Eisenhower warned us in his farewell address, we risked losing everything we had fought and died for if we were not wary and attuned to what he termed the Military-Industrial Complex. This was the over-lord of Consumerist Philosophy.
Another integral aspect of a Consumerist Society is a need for both an enemy and fear to drive consumption. In the past this fear was dispensed with the use of massive force and threat of violence. Feudal, medieval and monarchic societies were founded and enforced by ruthless violence and the fear of further violence to keep populations in check. In our over-glorified worship of a misunderstood natural often referred to as nature, we lose touch with the realities of unfettered natural societies. A few will always rule the many. Ferocity insures the natural order. Anyone who does not believe or understand this has simply not experienced the ferocity, violence and ruthlessness of animals in the wild. There is no room for gentle debate.
The reason why the idea of america (with a small a, this is now a definition in the Oxford Dictionary of the English Language) continues when the reality of America is so obviously flawed to all but Americans is simple. Our nation was created on ideals, principles and shared goals. A unique experiment in the world’s history. It was based on equality of all individuals who were equally bound together under the social concept being enforced by the rule of law, rather than nature. If everyone was equal under the law and subject to the same laws, a just society could emerge. Based on not just the will of the majority but equally respectful of any minority group, view or philosophy. Revolutionary, indeed. We all shared in one great shared destiny and all were equally free to live and achieve with a unique and historic elevation of the rights of an individual to a status unimaginable. An individual citizen had as much right as an entire nation. Equal access and equal judgement under the law. This concept also allowed for special protections against abuse of power. With clear and distinct solutions and resolutions for abuse.
The key ingredient to this concept and the basis for our entire society was mutual respect and tolerance, acceptance of different ways, differing views bound together in a common understanding. Only one aspect of subservience was required. Respect and acceptance of the rule of law. The rule of law coming from the collective will of the people balanced with methods of protection from any group, individual or the military gaining undue influence or amassing too much power. Simple and elegant in both concept and execution. Flawed of course, far from perfect; it produced the first society on earth based primarily on merit and individual liberty with freedom from fear being a primary difference from all other societies in history.
This experiment fuelled the most amazing phenomenon. Any one, from any background could by dint of innovation; hard work and creativity create new ways of doing old laborious, unpleasant or simply complicated things. The transformation of a society from agrarian to industrial had great labour pains. The Civil War is but the most egregious example of how we evolved. Though there were times when too much power or money accumulated and for a time individuals or groups were able to wield their power unscrupulously, ultimately the rule of law and will of the people restored the delicate balance. The first wave of the industrial revolution created a new caste of super-wealth and power and unfair or monopolistic and other unacceptable centralised accumulation of power, which was undone by Theodore Roosevelt, an accidental President. This was how the founders envisioned abuse and excess from becoming the norm. Overall in our society wealth was dependent on creating or adding value. The hackneyed concept of ‘building a better mouse-trap.’ We had strong societal concepts and shared values. We were the first nation built with a sense of National Identity that was based on citizenship over place of birth. An American could come from anywhere on Earth. The only requirement was acceptance of the rule of law. At no time in human history has more innovation and elevation of an entire society from relative poverty to a shared basic economic security. The flaws such as the Great Depression and ensuing shared hardships taught us important lessons. We were good, but certainly far from perfect. The concept of an ever evolving society constantly learning from past mistakes willing to join together to overcome any challenge to our beliefs and rights as free men. There was a balance and excesses were eventually corrected or eliminated.
In the background from our beginning as a society there was something else elemental and fundamental to our successes and ability to adapt and change to ever changing circumstances. The concept of an informed citizenry was inherent along with individual rights and equality under the law. The power of an independent and free press was also enshrined with inalienable rights giving birth to a free press. As with any business there were abuses and outrages perpetrated by individuals who held control over the source of news and information of many. But again there were checks and balances and consolidation was frowned on and when excessive, laws and restrictions could be produced to protect the source of our informed consent.
As the Commercialist Society took root in the late 1920’s. Innovation in the form of Radio broadcasts changed the way our society spend our free time and also offered completion with newspapers for informing as well as entertaining our citizenry. This new technology required some regulation to allow for specific frequencies to be used and prevented interference and provided for the public airwaves to be used for the public good. The concept of making people want things they did not need, or want was now taken to a whole new level. The Age of Advertising allowed for the eventual rise of the Consumerist Society. The public airwaves were sold off, and the power of the message now could trump the truth and the first wave of attack on an informed citizenry began.
When you allow the method of information to be controlled or purchased to the highest bidder, there is always a danger. But economics also played a part. For if you sold something to enough people that was shoddy no good or simply did not work, people would stop buying the product. Something happened though, as the method of delivery and the message got jumbled with the advent of the Television Age. The messenger and message also began to blur. An era of celebrity a rare commodity in history now became more common place. If you were seen on TV, you were instantly familiar to millions. Fame for fame's sake was an entirely new phenomenon on this level and scale. The use of the broadcast media was also instantly adopted and cooped by totalitarian societies and dictatorships. Its power to sway millions instantly understood by those with a need to restrict information. Just as the consolidation of the collective written words and experiences of human history was restricted in earlier times to those who could read and write and only information that the rulers or governing forces wanted people to know was allowed. The printing press broke that monopoly and was part of how the American Revolution was made possible. Freedom of Information, freedom of access to information. All part of the informed citizenry.
The checks and balances and foundations of our democracy began to become imperilled with the first Great Wave of Disinformation when a junior senator from Wisconsin discovered the power of the airwaves, and how lies, half truths and insinuation could sway an entire population of supposedly free people. There were men of conscience and a President with the courage to stop what was a rapid decline of individual liberty and the power of the airwaves to misinform and spread fear. A whole new tool, which was in a dangerous dance with commercial and financial interests. The 1960 election was the first in history where the debates between the two contenders was broadcast live to an entire nation, live. It was a unique opportunity for informing the citizenry but it was also the beginning of the end for what we call the Free Press. The cost of broadcasting freely was prohibitive, so it became possible for a corporation or anyone of great wealth to buy time and influence content. It was relatively benign originally, then tobacco used this forum to dispense disease for a number of years until the correlation between the product and illness was impossible to ignore. Still the process had begun. What began with great hope and optimism as a way to inform and entertain millions became a way to influence how people thought. Politics became part of the Consumerist Message. It was no longer about providing information to the populace; it was packaging how the information was delivered. Men of wisdom and with broad education, who were able in an hour to explain complex problems or educate people about issues in an hour, were not conducive to the new methods. The sound bite became more important than the delivery of information. Manipulation and deception went mainstream at this point. Truth and unbiased information were now open to interpretation, manipulation and politics, corporations and the public airwaves were slowly but steadily co-opted by a steadily declining few. Politics became more about the cost of delivering the message than the message.
There have always been willing servants to tyrants and power. The ultimate irony of the demise of an informed public so essential to a free society came as a result of too much information. The amount of information and the methods became more and more ubiquitous and as the demands on people’s attention for information reached a point where the citizenry became desensitised and information began to become noise.
The unthinkable became possible then became the norm. In the Post-911 era, the first casualty of the so-called war on terror was truth. Fear and manipulation and what was news and what was not became relative. After the people who initiated and were determined to continue the war discovered the power of television to bring the consequences of war into people’s living room and how the informed citizenry ultimately demanded an end to an unjust war. The images and horror could not be countered with rhetoric. This lesson was learned and well learned by those who do not trust or countenance the rule of law. When the Iraq war was being marketed an early decision was to prohibit broadcasting or photographing of caskets arriving back from the war. This has become even more astonishing over time. At a time when young Americans are fighting and dying a war that is unprecedented in the opposition of the majority of the citizenry, it is possible to watch major network news without even mention of Iraq, Afghanistan or the fact we are officially a nation at war.
The issues and discussions are no longer about informing the citizenry. It is about distracting the citizenry. Historical events are colliding, our economy dependent of commercialism has finally run out of ways to provide the means to provide and create new wealth, has redistributed wealth, inflated the sense of prosperity providing people with a false sense of wealth and prosperity. The cost of an endless war which became by necessity a way to propagate fear and lies by making those who questioned authority or the so-called war on terror and turned them into internal enemies subject to abuse and innuendo. As our economy has been pillaged, our national treasury wiped out, those who will ultimately be our real enemy in the next world war have become our financial backers and bankers. It is a shell game which any con artist will tell you, there can only be one winner and there will be one loser.
Facts are no longer reported, they are suppressed. We learn of grand deceptions, lies. Find out we were deceived into going into a war we had no business starting. As we learn the truth, slowly eventually dripping out, people are in a daze. Like a huge collective hang-over experienced slowly as people wake up at different times discovering, their way of life, and the sense of security in their home ever increasing in value was too good to be true. The collective shock is still unfolding. The questions now are quite basic. Will the origins and values of Revolutionary America survive and energise the citizenry? Can even the idea of America be fuelled into a new common shared future or will the idea of america become a faded dream, as everyone tries to survive?
The collective few who have manipulated and deceived to achieve their goals and accumulated untold wealth and exercised almost unlimited power are betting that the dream of America is dead and the idea of america irrelevant. Keeping people preoccupied with more urgent matters like economic survival is their goal. Forgetting the fundamental principles of equality and respect of the rule of law and forgetting that the power of the people is absolute is the only thing the fear-mongers fear.
The issues of Global Warming have been dismissed and discounted by the very people who are the financial beneficiaries of the carbon economy. Their distraction has produced a further insult to our intelligence and sadly our planet the creation and promulgation of bio-fuel. Taking farmland out of food production and turning it into a way to continue our dependence on oil. We see the consequences already at the grocery store. Prices doubling and more for basic products made from corn and corn products. The combined rise of prices with the increasing demand for the bounty of our farmland is only going to get exponentially worse.
The consequences are now critical. Time is short. The sleight of hand and magician’s distractions are continuing. The powers-that-be are not willingly going to surrender power. They have nothing but scorn for we-the-people. Hillary Clinton can get caught in an absolute bold faced lie, and say she mis-spoke. Truth is relative and lies and innuendos the new norm. The facts about hunger and starvation and the link between that the manipulation and denial of Global Warming and the coming global disruption are lost somehow. The Patriots are called liars and the Liars are called Patriots. Truth is relative. Unfortunately nature does not care about the greedy games of humankind. The only question is will America Wake Up in time? Can truth prevail now that the rule of law has been subverted, the rights of citizens eliminated?
Over twenty years ago, I saw the effects of massive draughts and the loss of millions of lives, and predicted what would certainly happen if we did not make some significant decisions and change the way we think about our planet and our inter-dependent relationship to one-another and common critical problems. The idea of the Global Village became instead the new Global Economy. Consumerists and their aberrant creation the Consumerist Society have demonstrated the flaws in making people buy things they did not need, or want but the effect on our society and our citizens is deep rooted. Like the citizens of the former Soviet Union after the collapse, many are too dazed, confused and seem almost resigned. I know the fire and the enthusiasm is still there. I know so many people who are unhappy. Who know change must come. But do not know how. They have forgotten that they are the power; they have the power to stop the desecration of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. The Obama campaign and resultant movement is proof that people care and will stand up if given the option. There is confusion and fear though. And Clinton is now using the same consultants and advisers who managed to allow a Coup D’état, the rule of law subverted and the will of the people over-ruled by a majority of five.
In that short time America as a society of freemen equal under the law has been shredded, the concept of equal under the law mocked ignored and changed not by the will of the people but by executive fiat. Our children are fighting and dying for a war we cannot even explain anymore. We understand that lies and deceptions were used and everyone was lied to and manipulated. But now discussion that is no longer subject to discussion. It is too late to go back, we are there now. So we must win. This twisted logic would make even George Orwell head spin.
What is at stake now, is more than the deceptions that created the bogus bio-fuel programmes and persuaded farmers to trade in their land – the most productive source of foods ever – and turn them into what they believed were going to be part of the solution to our oil addiction. They got swept up in the frenzy of quick and easy money. There are new bio-fuel plants opening up on the average of one every two weeks.
So, the question is simple. There is no doubt about Global Warming. There is no doubt we can still take action. There is no doubt we can convert to renewable and sustainable sources of energy and Project 2020 will allow for a sensible conversion from a carbon based economy to a clean and sustainable economy. What is not clear is whether or not we have the will and courage to join together in a common goal and with commitment hard work innovation and leaving behind The Consumerist Society and becoming one founded on the Principles of Social Capitalism, as outlined in the “Social-Capitalist Manifesto” which outlines how by restoring innovation, encouraging Individual Freedoms and returning to Equality under the law and working together on a shared national goal the will help up individually and be a part of the greater common good.
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