So now we’re all standing largely naked before the coming onslaught of disinformation that is sure to come along with the 2023 and 2024 elections: the lies will be coming fast and furious…
I fear we are in for a very difficult battle. If we are to preserve democracy in an environment where one of our major political parties expressly no longer believes in government of, for and by the people, it will be up to ordinary people to fight this political battle. Daniel Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky, the authors of “How Democracies Die,” have a new book out called “The Tyranny of the Majority,” in which they detailed how other countries in Europe made political reforms we failed to make to prevent our current situation. Ziblatt and Levitsky recently had an article in the New York Times in which they admit they were surprised at the January 6 insurrection. I was not especially surprised at it, and it was fairly obvious that Trump was at the center of events.
We may not be able to prevent Trump from trying the same tricks again, or prevent him from receiving a majority of the electoral college vote and having his groupies vote for him again. They live in a fantasy world. Trump is fundamentally a political symptom of our current problems, and it isn’t enough to deal with him through the court system. He has to be dealt with politically, and I’m not certain our system is capable of that.
That’s EXACTLY why WE, THE PEOPLE, have to fight like hell, get everyone we know to the polls, vote these people out. It’s got to be done. We all need to preach it to everyone we know. Everybody has to understand unless they want to live like the people in other countries always in fear of soldiers storming their homes, and having the leader, dictator, take everything they have and own, keeping them totally penniless, we must vote these people out of office!
Yes, the tyranny of the minority. Worked in Germany The NSDAP was a gang of thugs, stupid MFers for sure, and that is why stupid MFers like MAGAts are a problem, they are using Democracy, the Bill of Rights and constitution to overthrow Democracy, just like the NSDAP between 1922 and 1933. Thanks to social media and Television there is a time constriction, what used to take years, now takes days.
Last night a friend of mine, a lifelong Democrat, said that she couldn’t stand the situation we are in, she feels the Democrats have abandoned us, and she is considering voting Green in 2024.
This is my response:
That won’t get us out of this mess. Sadly we have only two parties. And only one that is anywhere near functional.
It isn’t that the Dems are not listening. It is that the system itself is broken.
If you vote green the Republicans have a better chance of winning. And they have already announced the plan for American fascism if they win. That is not a campaign tactic by the Dems. It’s a fact.
And even if the Dems win, they do not have nearly the latitude to govern that people think they do.
The corporate oligarchs are more powerful than this government. That is the true enemy. Not the Democrats.
The choice is how much harm will be done. The Republicans are in alignment with the oligarchs. The Democrats will do what they can to avoid the worst harm.
So what can we do? Vote blue to keep the level of authoritarianism where it is, instead of a bare fascist dictatorship. Which would be a hell greater than we can imagine.
And figure out how to either bring down the oligarchy or take ourselves en masse out of its control.
We won’t be able to do any of that under Republican Christo-fascist rule. We will be too busy surviving and maybe risking our lives in the resistance.
Outstanding, straight to the heart of the problem. Yes a vote for Green or any other party, is a vote for Trump. So we must closely examine the real motives of the Green and other parties like No Labels. Their purpose its to siphon off votes from the Democrats, thus ensuring a forever fascist theocracy.
Tell your friend this Grandma Green, who was the first Rep. in her County and attended the founding convention in Sacramento when we got on the ballot, this ain't your Grandma's Greens anyhow, there's been lots of reporting that they are bought off specifically to sucker frustrated idealists like her, and if Thom Hartmann hasn't communicated to her this is an EMERGENCY, I don't know what to tell her. OK, how about this: Grandma Green (that's me) will vote for Joe Biden if he's in a COMA on election day, because now is not the time to pine over the perfect while you flush the good down the toilet.
We cannot give up. Now is a time to rally, march, sign up new voters... give up Facebook and Twitter and boycott as many companies supporting Trump/Putin as possible.
In my opinion, and I am a progressive, is that the occupy movement, is nothing but a bunch of spoiled kids, looking to each other for peer approval, and in essence a Woodstock like get together, all they succeed at was trashing the streets. What they needed (and need) to do is get off the mastubatory train, register and vote., to save themselves and democracy and elect officials who think like them, and frankly most of them don't.
That generation reminds me of the boomers, in the 1960's and 1970's they were hippie protesters who gathered at Woodstock or moved to San Francisco, but as they got older, reality set in, and they realized that they need money to live. So they got busy, got jobs, invented shit, like apps and websites, invested their money, and became conservative, even arch conservative, driving Cads, BMWs. Mercedes of Mini vans full of children.
When they vote, they vote right wing, to protect their wealth and careers.
"On September 17, 2011, they rebelled. Pointing a finger at banks, corporations, and the wealthiest 1 percent, whom they blamed for corrupting our democracy by buying elections to control the legislative process. "
Prior to that, I I worked with many young people, Kids, and was on a local message board where many young people talked in the Political forum about these same issues we are talking about now, They drew a lot of heat for this from the older guys. who were about 10 years older. This was well before September 2011 by at least four years. It scared the Hell out of me, what they were saying made sense. No one would take them seriously. Just like some people did not take the Occupy Movement seriously. So since about 2007 Kids have been talking about the "Super Rich buying candidates," and look at us now, talking about boycotting companies that support Putin and Trump. All of this has been a long time coming, The Kids saw it well before they were handing out pizza. We have lost a lot of them, who think our democracy it is irreparably broken. Insults are not going to help change that.
All of that is true, and I was in sympathy with the Occupy movement, but push came to shove, they achieved nothing, because non violent resistance is what the established elite want.
Example: The Ghandi myth,It was Ghandi who inspired the British to leave India, it was the "ghost" of Subra Chandra Bose and he Indian National Army (the ones that fought for Japan, for no other reason than to oust Britain. Bose was dead, but his spirit of armed resistance and the NIA posed a real threat to Britain, so they packed up and left, using Ghandi as an excuse.
Same with MLK, it wasn't his non violent resistance that spurred changes, it was the riots and destruction of of cities, that spurred changes, that are on the were of being undone (thanks Clarence for being a Quisling).
It wasn't hippy protesters that caused Nixon to back off and back out of Vietnam, but the middle class mothers and fathers who had seen enough body bags that spurred Nixon, because that was his base, the base that is now Maggots.
The plutocrats, political elites, Boards of Directors, CEO's, shareholders that welcome and even use non violent protesters, because they don't destroy property and pose a real threat.
What they fear are an angry mob, hell bent on getting attention and threatening the elite.
Take Portland and Seattle as examples, they even used professional agitators and black clothed trouble makers, with Doc Martins to break windows, and otherwise cause damage to justify turning loose the police and National guard.
You might recall police scooping up those black uniformed "anarchists" in Portland and Seattle, but have you ever seen any news on them being prosecuted and jailed. I haven't, what I have seen is catch and release. Catching them,carrying them from the scene and releasing them out of sight of the media and public.
They have learned, where there is no threat of violence, they create their own threat, to discredit peaceful protesters and shut them down. So some paint is smeared and windows broken, all an excuse to pass draconian laws, to put fear into peaceful protesters.
I think Thom really tells the story here in a way that cannot be further distilled. It is a complex story, and as I have learned the hard way, complex is persona non grata in our public discourse. So good on Thom for doing what he does best - telling truth in a way we can all understand.
The other day I brought up a tough subject while commenting on the 2 Santa Clause piece: At what point do legitimate political undertakings crossover into conspiring against our nation? It is a sincere question, and one I would like to think more about. I reference this because the PR (Putin Republicans) folks are clearly over the line. Clearly. So where is the rule of law in this regard? The PR firm of the GOP openly celebrate the world's largest and most threatening dictatorships. And they're bringing that form of rule to the US, one community at a time.
And as far as the folks who claim to be "left" (of which I am one) are concerned, we need to get our priorities straight. Because if the PR strategy works, then none of the ideals we hold dear (including environmental justice) will be attainable. Period. Right now we are in a moment that will most likely determine the future of life on Earth (at least for a conceivable period). We need to keep the ship of democracy from sinking. Without it, there is no platform to build a fair and just tomorrow from.
We must support Ukraine in defeating Russia's illegal and morally revolting invasion.
We mustn't vote for third-party candidates in the 2024 Presidential election (no matter our frustration with the status quo). We do not have the luxury of voting for our ideals at this point in history, unfortunately.
We must be able to detect and counter the subtle and sophisticated propaganda of hostile global adversaries, as well as the PR firm of the GOP. And, sadly, we must know when even our most revered thinkers are misguided (love you Cornell West, but sorry...).
I hope people will realize that our house is fully on fire, and we need to put it out - not argue over remodeling plans for the future.
More like pulling the blanket over fur the next 4 voting cycles, which we must not do. These Trumpublicans cannot take this nation over. They have to be voted out of all political offices. Local, state, and federal.
The first time I heard "Stop the world I want to get off" was my buddy Curtis from Oakland, we were a tight knit group of four, we hung out at a beat coffee shop, Diogenes Lantern reading poetry and prose. This was 1958-1959
Curtis, stood up and said "the next time the world stops, I am getting off", major applause met with one hand clapping, then another of my friends stood up and said "He was a carpenter they hung him on a tree, and he just hung there", more applause.
"Fashionable" indeed. Good description, "fashionable." The contrarian stance, as if anything contrary guaranteed inner knowledge and cleverness and real, inner-sanctum, information. Up to a point this contrariness closely tracks our country's misdeeds. The blood and dirt on our hands. But that doesn't make anyone else into pure-as-the-driven-snow players. Blood and dirt are widely distributed elsewhere and have always been.
Along with contrarian is the flavor of seeming to have to be angry or to flame people in anticipation of any other views. Essentially, setting a a belligerent tone to push away opposition. Basically, they are there to fight, because, to paraphrase a book title, fighting (flaming) is what gives meaning to their lives.
This brings up a very sad list of people I used to admire, who've fallen totally out of my respect since the February 2022 invasion (further invasion) of Ukraine by Russia. That invasion has revealed their lack of thinking, reasoning and research. Chris Hedges, Lauria, Bill Astore, Noam Chomsky, lately, Ralph Nader. I used to think Medea Benjamin was merely naive, but she and Nicholas Davies are damagingly naive, negligently dangerous. They may as well all be working for Putin.
All of them, and others, keep calling for negotiations. Here is where they either don't do research or don't know what to make of it. Just Google for agreements between Ukraine and Russia, then extend that a bit. I wound up with a list of 32 items, starting with the "Singing Revolution" in 1987 in Estonia (I also included some peripheral agreements). Those agreements were hammered out between nations, signed ratified and ignored by Russia.
Still, they are diplomatic agreements ratified between nations with promises and guarantees. And yet, we hear the fabulated supposed verbal agreement not to expand NATO. Here's where they are not thinking/reasoning. With all those signed and ratified agreements, why is there not anything about not expanding NATO. Don't you think the Russians would have insisted on that? In writing? Signed, sealed and ratified? BTW: you can find articles in which Gorbachev is specifically asked about such a verbal agreement and he says there was none.
Putin's own document of 12 July 2021, seven months before the current "special operation," is available on the Kremlin site. I downloaded it and copy/pasted into Microsoft Word just to get a quick word count. With the date, title, author credit (Putin) and body Word returned 6,901 words. Almost none of it concerns NATO. Almost all of it is about our kin are not Ukrainian, they are Russian and must be returned to "us" as Russian. A text search for "NATO" gave me only two places in the 6,901 words where "NATO" is used, twice in one short paragraph. That is a paragraph 88% of the way toward to bottom comprising 1.35% of the total word count. If NATO was any real concern of Putin's, don't you think he would have put it at the top and made it occupy a lot more than 1.35% of the word count?
Then, of course are Putin's further plans, to make Russian World go from Lisbon to Vladivostok (western Europe to far east Russia, above Japan). Or Putin's 2005 exhumation of super fascist Ivan Ilyn's body (and his wife's) from Switzerland, where Ilyin died in exile in 1954 and was now reburied in Moscow, in a sort of secular-saint of the guiding philosophy for Putin and for Russia.
And don't forget Xi, standing by, biding his time, observing what we will do to defend someone attacked and making a decision how soon he will invade and conquer Taiwan. Xi, of the mild face, maybe a bookeeper's face, is a total autocrat who means to own the world and thinks long term.
There are people who will not quit physically going to war with you, whether as a street thug or a street thug with country and army. You cannot just talk with them and you cannot make agreements with them. Any such agreements with someone not willing to abide by them are just further openings down the road for more attacks.
A long but great comment. You and I are in the same boat. I once was a sponsor of Democracy Now, until I realized that they were exactly unrepentant Marxists, and Marx is not a leftist, but a proto libertarian. I have explained here before and will do again, if needed.
These clowns who I once admired are regulars on Democracy Now. now I have to disavow them Chris Hedges, Lauria, Bill Astore, Noam Chomsky, lately, Ralph Nader. I used to think Medea Benjamin was merely naive, but she and Nicholas Davies are damagingly naive, negligently dangerous. They may as well all be working for Putin.
I use to donate regularly, $100 at a time, but no more, not since I caught their hypocrisy, which they have tried to mute, since they have found out they are on the wrong side of the issue, and thus disenchanted supporters like me.
Champions of the Palestinians and Muslims, with no thought at all of their death threat against Israel, and the misogynist and homophobic, as well religion ordained harsh treatment and death meted out to women, LGBT and atheists.
And they ignore the same in Christianity, Dominionism, Evangelicalism and the Catholic Church.
In fact I would like to see an exposition of Dominionism. Founded by Rushdoony and Ted Cruz father Rafael in Canada, It makes the Taliban look like Boy Scouts.
There goal is to take over society, and make Mosaic Laws, Deuteronomy and Leviticus the law of the land, save those of the 312 commandments that are inconvenient, like wearing clothes of mixed fabric, or eating shell fish or pork.. It is also known as Christian Reconstruction and has established itself in Pentecoatal, Evangelical and Rad Trade Catholics like Pence. there is no one in the corporate media, from WAPO, and NYT to MSNBC who has the guts to do a deep dive in Christian Reconstruction https://www.sullivan-county.com/nf0/fundienazis/royal_race.htm
Wow. I admire your analysis of the 2021 document for what was really on Putin's mind. Just an anecdote: an Uncle of mine was the son of immigrants, and identified as "half Russian and half Ukrainian." going back to turn of prior century. No confusion of identity.
While the left was trying to end human suffering with the minimum wage and social spending, the religious right (unevolved animals that wear the best clothes) were dreaming of shooting the left (the humans) and causing massive humans suffering for all those they hate! The right expects a miracle, their savior to come back and save THEM. If that is not insanity, I don't know what is! The right kept producing many children while the left practiced birth control in order to not overpopulate the Earth. Democracy fails when the irresponsible take the reigns of power. So the right, would not allow civics in public and private schools or rational thinking or free thought or the teaching of the facts of Life or accurate history... The right would have hated for those kids to grow up and turn human and disown them, so the right crippled the whole younger generation mentally with their religion to keep them in line. While this was going on, the rich westerners turned China and Russia into autocracies and pushed neoliberalism. We can't blame only foreigners for America's problems. The enemies of all working people on earth is the excessively rich and the phony religions that brainwash the babies to be coming sadistic, homicidal, greedy, rapists. The natural order would be for the most rational and intelligent people to rule the world by exterminating all of the inferiors. Currently, China fits that description because they are united as one and not divided by race or religion and they are very intelligent. Yet, it is already too late with global warming and plastic particles and overpopulation and toxic waste that include nuclear fuel rods and possibly a nuclear war. Getting governed by thugs is not an option for free thinkers. But our GOP and Democrat leadership are thugs. With Biden and Garland protecting democracy, we are doomed! Still we must vote for Biden in the hopes that he can salvage democracy and socialism and civility. I would recommend the left, learn to grow and preserve your own foods and survive off the grid, and buy weapons to defend yourself with. Also if you have the ability to move out of the country after the 2024 election, do it, if a Democrat loses. Also to encourage young people to have no children for their own sake!
“We fielded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, helped start the UN, built NATO, and worked with democratic allies around the world.”
Yes, WE did. And then along came Trump! What happened then? Trump pulled us out of NATO, and everything else. Trump immediately stopped ALL trade with ALL nations. Trump initiated a block on our receiving any goods from any nation. Then Trump became best butt sucking buddy with Putin, and Xi!
Now, questions needs to be ask here.
Is this the moves of a president that is working toward expanding our democracy?
Is this what a Democratic, Free, Nation looks like, and is supposed to act?
Something else that Trump did. He directed all the attention to the southern border. Why did he do this?
It’s a really simple solution, and for those of you that have had any law enforcement, investigative experience or training should know the answer to this right away.
When a crook/thief wants to commit crimes, he usually tries to direct the attention of law enforcement elsewhere to allow him the access and time he needs to do what he wishes to do.
It’s my theory here that Trump directed all the attention to the southern border for a few reasons.
First, he is spending his time collaborating with Russia, China, North Korea, and other communist nations to get something set up to bring into this country. Now, think back to when COVID hit this nation, and became so prevalent. Was it not during the time when the attention was turned toward the southern border, and the “sudden influx of immigrants”?
That’s my first theory on this. My second one is much more ‘believable’, ‘understandable’. It’s because Trump is always about making himself money. If he’s not putting money in his pocket every second of every day, he hasn’t stayed up long enough to accomplish his goal.
When Trump ordered “The Wall” to be built on the southern border, tens of billions of taxpayer dollars poured into that ‘project’, which, in all honesty, neither Mexico nor the United States has ever taken up such a project for several reasons. First and foremost is the Rio Grande River. The border sits mostly right in the middle of it for some stretch. Second is the mountain region. It’s almost totally impassable on foot. How in the hell would any company get heavy equipment, supplies, and the manpower on it, to it, or through it, to build a stupid wall? Third, and most importantly. This country, especially the southwestern states, have depended on immigrants to work the fields, produce crops, pick the crops. Basically to do the ‘grunt work’ that Americans refuse to do. This has been going on for a lot longer than I am alive. You cut off the farm labor, you cut off the food. NO FARMS. NO FOOD!
Now, I want to add one thing since I’ve climbed on this soapbox.
This southern border has been open ever since this country was founded. This country was founded by immigrants that came from other countries. Not one person alive in this nation right now can do their ancestry without learning their history is from another country. Mine is from England, and France. So, cutting off the southern border is against what our founding fathers intended. Back in the beginning, when the huge influx was migrating into this country from the ‘old country’ did they close Ellis Island to immigrants coming in. Hell no! The southern border shouldn’t be shut down either. If anything, a huge building should be built to process these people as fast as they can get here.
I have sounded off enough. Back to the initial topic. Trump turned his attention to the southern border to allow the influx of the COVID Virus, and to put billions of dollars in his pocket. Which, sadly, he accomplished both. And as with all the other criminal acts he’s committed his entire life and gotten away with, he’s gotten away with those two also. The only problem is with the virus, he’s managed to kill over 1.2 million Americans! He should be held accountable for his acts!
I do not think trump was 'responsible' for Covid, but he did play games with the policies needed to deal with the pandemic. So yes he was responsible for a lot of deaths. trump's primary motivation is to become the super billionaire he claims to already be - he is not, but that's what he craves - BUT he has been pulled into what putin wants because he knows there is money to be found via Russian oligarchs - multi-billions in fact - so THAT is his prime objective and why he became putin's best bud ! Since what putin wants more than anything is the destruction of the US & it's power, trump became a traitor to his own country. Now the law is catching up with him, and we wait to see if he is jailed for his crimes.
I am going to state the obvious. Not that it matters, so just venting. Trump is stupid, has a low IQ, probably in the 90's, not at all curious. He knows he is stupid, so he compensates with tyrannical control of his minions, and all those he can intimidate, which includes many a talking head in the media. His main method of trying to garner the respect he so craves is wealth. He equates wealth with intelligence, so he lies, cheats, steals and brags (first sign of an inferiority complex is someone bragging about themselves, how smart they are, how important they are..pity them, but don't enable them.
Trump before he was a reality star, would call into NYC radio shows, passing himself off as John Barron (he liked that so much he named his youngest son Barron), and passing on "gossip" about how rich and important Trump was, total signs of his inferiority complex, and that is why he requires so much publicity and adulation.
I think your assessment is closest. He ultimately has such a narrow range of responses and vocabulary. The old phrase "survival mode" came to me reading all the commentary. I suspect that a lot of what is attributed to him as calculated is just reflex and habitual. The tragedy is, the seed falling on fertile ground is that his defense reflex is meanness, and three out of ten of our fellow citizens vicariiously revel in the bully nastiness that they wish worked for them.
I just watched Ukrainian Secretary Danilov describe the loss of their sons and daughters who go willingly to fight to save their country and the future freedom of their children. What heartbreak and unnecessary tragedy, ALL because of Putin. ONE person with absolute power should go against the fiber of every being on the planet.
But it doesn't---we have to counter the threat of authoritarian figures as well as their supporters. This is at the very root of the United States. We have to keep repeating that, just like the Ukrainians, we have given too much blood to kneel to a king.
There is no honor in what the GOP has done. David Brooks described the Congressional far right as "nihilistic performance artists"; he nailed it. These Putin-puppets joined the disinformation campaign for Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia and would end everything people sacrificed for, if we let them. Our unity is more important than ever. We need to kick their ass at the voting booth and with the truth.
It is just not the sons, but the infants, women and children, as well as the pile of rubble Putin is creating in Ukraine. Meanwhile Biden dithers, tried to keep Ukraine's hands off the F-16, by imposing ridiculous and time consuming conditions
And The Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, which has a range of about 190 miles, enough for Ukrainian forces to strike Russian targets far behind the front lines.
Because Putin waves his nuclear phallus, and America ducks for cover, as they were conditioned to do in school.
Now Kim Jong Un, has a roll model, all he has to do is wave his nuclear phallus and he can walk into South Korea and intimidate Japan and America.
There is only one way to take out the mafia or a bully, and that is to smack them where they hurt
Ukraine has and is willing to do the heavy lifting, all Biden has to do is give Zelensky the tools, sit back and watch Zelenky sear Putin's ass.
The deeper we go into madness the more we need to go outside the box. Surely there is a readiness among half the people to take a leap into a sane system. Discontent and unworkability being so great is an opening for new thinking but we aren't doing any.
One thing I'd have is a Suggestion Box. For a sample of new thinking, this is something I'd put in it: "As the insurrectionists get prison sentences that satisfy our desires for vengeance, what about the higher need for our oppositional country to come to together? We could create a training program for the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys to teach them consciousness, so to speak. Waking them up would change the world, uniting the sides we are on and illustrating we all can come together in one human family. It’s an infinitely higher objective than making horrible people’s lives miserable, even though they deserve that. PS: Look to the justice system in Norway that runs on rehabilitation for criminals being better for society than just meting out punishment."
I have a piece about Norway which is mind-blowing if you don't know what they do. Look up my Substack and get on my mailing list if transformational thinking is for you.
I just don't know that there's rehab for malignant masculinity supported by religious mania. The feeling of superiority, power supported by weaponry and violence, and peer-group reinforcement is addictive. You need to re-train involuntary dopamine response. Every time Trump blurts out an insult; every time their buddy says, that bitch ain't talking back to me no more, they get a little brain-buzz. The metaphorical Stone Age is snapping at the heels of what I see as a tissue-thin veneer of "civilization." Remember females only got to vote in America in 1920, and that was 50 years after African-descended who happened to have penises.
Noble aspiration, but that is all that it is Suzanne. Decent people see the world as decent people, with some misguided misfits, that can be reasoned with and redirected. They aren't aware of human nature, addiction and psychology.
Crooks and bigots are dominated by their lizard brains, and there is no reasoning at all with the lizard brain, for it evolved to fight or flight. They see the world as themselves, to them all of the world is crooked, fearful, angry, narcissistic.
There is no communication or reasoning with them, and that is the problem of decent people like Democrats. There is only two options, capitulation or fight.
I was just giving an example of new thinking that we lack for and need, and used a kind of wild example to try to get attention on how fruitful it could be if we tried to come up with ideas as a better course of action than capitulation or fighting, speaking of lizard brain activity.
I understand and applaud your attempt. But honestly I see no way to break through the right wing wall, unless circumstances arise for one to reassess their opinions or beliefs.
Opinions differ from beliefs, Believes are the stuff of the Ego and Id, they constitute the core of one's identity. If shed,they need to be replaced by another belief,and as with religious converts, the convert, because of cognitive dissonance, becomes more radical than one brain washed from birth
Opinions are either arrived at by being receptive to information, or acquired by lazy people who let others do their own thinking.
Acquired opinions are harder to change, but opinions arrived at are easily changed.
As regards the theocratic, racist, misogynistic fascists they are in the grasp of beliefs,and thus impossible to engage, converse with, educate or change in any matter,and thus any attempt is fruitless and actually counterproductive, because the more you try, the harder they did in their heels.
Try to convince a Muslim or true believing Christian, that their religion is a scam based on false man created stories,to create Word Controlled Humans, that have a vacant brain and will follow anyone who claims to be a shepherd and sings the siren song that grabs their lizard brain, like the Pied Piper of Hamln.
All that I put out these days has to do with things we-the-people could do. Have a look at my Substack for much more. This is the track with ideas: https://suzannetaylor.substack.com/s/changemaking-now. That said, your black and white to dismiss what I suggested is too simplistic. Give some MDMA dosing and you could see radical changes in how people think.
Thanks for the attempt to insult. Thus creating an enemy. Good show.
Personally I do not think there is any chance of creating a middle ground, or two sides so diametrically opposed and with the right wing so deeply entrenched in their beliefs, anger, angst and fears that there is no chance in hell that they are approachable, and your response is to try and belittle me.
Let me be clear, by asking you this question, who actually are you thinking of Ecstasy dosing, me or the Maggots. If me they are trying to belittle me, because I disagree with your world view, if the Maggots, forget about it, they are high on cocaine, religion and/or racism.
Insult? Dear dear. Not at all. Ecstasy is being used therapeutically to root out deep dysfunction. That is the treatment I'd give them. But your black and white certainty is cause for pause.
To paraphrase someone on a news show the other day, Fox and the others are there with disinformation and lies because they have a huge audience anxious to be snowed. Only the people can put an end to this free-for-all and the people will only become aware and informed when enough people in positions of leadership and power understand how to reduce vulnerability and gullibility. We stand naked due to negligence.
Last Tuesday, after an eye exam, I got home to hear the last few seconds of a discussion on the show. Later, I spotted a story on Raw Story which I am certain was the source (or one source) of that topic Thom had discussed. That story was, “A neuroscientist explains why MAGA supporters refuse to accept Trump's 91 felony charges”, by Bobby Azarian, Raw Story (9/12/23).
For most of us, the behavior of MAGA supporters has been a profoundly perplexing mystery. Neuroscience now offers novel explanations which make a great deal of sense. This author breaks down the hard evidence which draws the fundamental correlation between perception, experience, and brain function from brain scans, and consequential specific human behavior. His revelations square very well with other studies and observations.
Essentially, if I understand what Azarian proposes correctly, given certain kinds of training and experience, some children as a way of conserving cognitive resources and avoiding confusing complexity develop a style or habit of accepting convenient or conventional narratives, of adopting certain facile explanations, or of “suspending disbelief”. They instead learn to habitually resort to prefabricated formulaic answers to controversial or difficult questions, which in this case are provided by ignorant and nefarious reactionary influencers.
But, while Trump supporters have turned this mental tactic into an art form or a way of life, it is not necessarily an anomaly or aberration. It is one of several relatively common and normal strategies of dealing with issues confronting one in life. We all presumably utilize this strategy successfully at times.
This ‘short-cut’ for coming to conclusions or resolving issues and conflicts, when overused and intentionally distorted leads to attitudes and behavior which tend to be irrational, anti-social, and restrictive. In Azarian’s analysis, narratives which contain untruths and a type of mysticism surrounding someone like Trump, who has exploited ignorance and naivete to build a cult following, provide a ready-made cognitive pattern and set of beliefs. Erroneous predispositions are affirmed. Biases and fears and perceptions of malice or evil are confirmed. The followers have complete confidence in the explanations and beliefs they have subsumed, which have all fit nicely because of the familiar framing and well-worn narratives. The cult becomes a cult ONLY because of programming which has predisposed individuals to followership.
This is typically explained primarily in terms of pathological family, church, and media, and as an effect of political ideas, memes, and organizational structures. What have been omitted, however, are the major effects of the school environment and experience over a decade and more. STAY WITH ME.
Every teacher replays over and over a narrative which is an essential part of attempting to keep students attentive and orderly. It has always been assumed the teacher has admirable motives, that she or he is benevolent, and that providing instruction, assistance, information, skills training, and proper discipline are core purposes associated with the profession for all but a very rare few miscreants. The mission of the school invariably contains statements reflecting high-minded, edifying, charitable, and character-forming services. Indeed, almost without exception, the intentions of school staff are truly honorable and benign.
The needs of students are a frequent topic for discussion in schools, logically. However, as an organization and an institution serving the community, schools have a set of needs and priorities, also, which may not be so high-minded and which are divorced from education.
A condition develops which I call ADD, or Attention Demanding Disorder. Likewise, some teachers and administrators suffer personally from ADHD or Adult Attention Demanding-Hyperactivity Disorder in which they become obsessive about carrying out their objectives aimed at making the world more stable or organized and a better place by using the force of their personality and their adult influence to motivate and educate ignorant children. Some are neurotic to the point of being overzealous or messianic in their transformational endeavors, much to the detriment of students. Their roles command total compliance and obedience.
Kids nearly all try very hard not to disappoint. But the perpetual pep rally and constantly being chided for “not living up to their potential” takes a heavy toll. Anxious and hyper teachers push, prod, and use guilt trips as ploys, which work well for about 5% of students and negative effects for about 95%. Not every child has an aptitude or an affinity for academics at a specified age, or ever, and not every child is suited for the programming, conditioning, and behavioral modification that schools require to keep the ‘factory’ running smoothly.
Unfortunately, the most damaging narratives delivered incessantly to the school population as a whole, which are ubiquitous in public schools, revolve around false promises and unrealistic expectations. Knowledge and education are socially prized attributes, or they had been until recently.
People involved in schooling have appropriated knowledge and education as their exclusive property and domain for many generations. They have cultivated the mistaken belief that school is synonymous with education. They have exploited the economic, social, and political need in the modern industrial world for the care and feeding of children by babysitting, controlling, and warehousing them, and mistakenly calling it “education”.
Those who do become educated do so most often in spite of the school establishment and its formalized duplicity. Schools improperly get credit.
The recurring narratives which students have internalized are powerful and enduring. They stay with them throughout their lives in most instances unless methodically replaced by other more valid facts and information. It is held as gospel that students who fail to learn or achieve academic success have only themselves to blame. It is the consensus that a curriculum well-designed by experts building from fundamental elements or “basics” can be developed and applied en masse, and the result will be widespread education.
The strong conviction shared by nearly everyone who has spent much time in these systems, and contrary to ample evidence, is that dedicated, devoted, and trained teachers can work with significant numbers of children inducted into an involuntary system to inspire and lead them to become literate, numerically competent, intellectually adept, democratically oriented, and well-informed citizens in twelve years of primarily classroom instruction. Those narratives do not stand up to close scrutiny. No such thing has ever happened on any appreciable scale.
Have the most staunch defenders of democracy and the most articulate and eloquent spokespersons responsible for maintaining our government and way of life acquired their knowledge and passion from traditional schooling? Would democracy be stronger and more vital for more people if more children spent more time in traditional schools? To these questions, I say an emphatic NO. Please explain how schools which are fundamentally authority-based can possibly effectively familiarize students with democratic principles. I am waiting for an answer and I expect one.
To challenge school mythology is heresy. To point to the empirical evidence proving it nonsense is taboo. To talk about ending compulsory school attendance laws is tantamount to urinating into a strong wind and up a rope (as my dad occasionally described in more colorful language).
If you recognize that narratives “steer away from critical examination and instead encourage blind faith” for Trump supporters and that magical thinking and contradictions result from their early indoctrination, how do you then not see the contradiction between statements which rate our schools as “AAA+”, and that in the same breath complain that a full 25% of students leave as illiterate and many more as semi-literate? By lacking the same insight into your own self-delusion, you put at risk many children, democracy, and your own credibility.
Suspending disbelief is perfectly fine for small children. Stories about Santa coming down chimneys and the Easter Bunny hiding baskets of tooth-rotting candy add to the fascination children feel, and any potential harm is not catastrophic. However, for adults to ignore scientific studies and to persist in believing that we have schools which would educate effectively IF ONLY we could squeeze more money out of the clutches of insensitive lawmakers, or IF ONLY civics classes are reinstated is pure folly and treacherous. The indoctrination has been terribly effective, even with the most highly educated individuals. Why not apply this new revelation to our most important function as adults?
Make no mistake, those “educators” who have been directly witnessing the gross miseducation of children and those important influencers with the responsibility to speak out but who have denied the reality and gone along blithely with this travesty will be known in historical accounts of the future as phony and cowardly. These scandals will not remain concealed forever.
I am an example of this "Those who do become educated do so most often in spite of the school establishment and its formalized duplicity. Schools improperly get credit."
My grammar school was 1st through 8th grade, so I missed that terrible Junior High or as they call it now Middle school.
My High school was staffed by, literally bonkers (my algebra teacher) and incompetent and boring older men and women, this was a period when all of the young men, and women were either in the armed forces or supporting the war, and coming back had no experience or qualifications for teaching. Late 40s, to late 50's. Teachers were old folk, 4 F or otherwise excluded from the draft, who probably became teachers because all of the able bodied folk were in the armed forces or supporting the war in industry.
My teachers were not people who should have been teaching. Some of them borderline, all of them boring, I spent more time looking out the window or day dreaming, probably, ADD than paying attention, one exception my World History teacher, Mr Epstein, and later in another school my Literature teacher Mr Harper.
I could no longer take it and skipped school, replacing it with the Public Library, and after explaining my situation to the Librarian, who was going to call the truant officer, she became my guidance counselor giving me books to read, and then taking a verbal report.
And thus when tested, I had an IQ of 138, 2nd highest behind Cindy Springer. about 150 classics like Charles Dickens, James Fenimore Cooper, Victor Hugo, etc.
I didn't graduate as I joined the service, but within a year I passed the HS and AA GED,
years later graduate University with Highest Honors, and 10 years later a Masters with a 3.47 GPA.
And I owe it all to a librarian and not teachers.
I suspect it is worse today, with Charter schools and vouchers to be handed to religious schools.
William, You have a very interesting personal story and you are clearly an exception to the rule. But your experience with school was not at all unusual, only in part because of your high IQ. However, I have to remind that the factor which is of greatest importance as documented in hundreds of studies is not the brilliance or competence of the teacher but the relationship to students and the school “climate”, “environment”, or “milieu”. I believe I outlined that in some detail in my most recent Substack posting (The Interminable Obsessive-Compulsive Re-invention of the Educational Wheel). To beat the dead horse yet again, schools have a very limited ability to establish and maintain an encouraging, respectful, democratic, or intellectual environment because attendance laws dictate a hierarchical structure with students at the bottom, teachers in the middle and state officials (such as DeSantis) at the top. It’s like driving your vehicle into wet cement and leaving it there until the cement hardens and then wondering why you can’t get anywhere. Not smart.
I agree, and to a large part, I think the way I do, because I basically raised myself. mother was a single parent with three kids, worked in a bank for $1.00 an hour, and I was out earning my own money when I was 7 or 8, up to the time I left home. Basically had no grown up telling me what to believe and what to think. Mom was a "drill sergeant" , she made me stand up for myself, and do my chores (perfectly) she once had me scrub the kitchen floor with a toothbrush, as I did such a sloppy and lazy job, that taught me, but intellectually there was no guidance or interference. So I am an autodidact At age 15 I had learned the dangers and dysfunction of being a social animal and giving control of my life to my peers and "society"
Like giving in to peer pressure, and that always made me an outsider, Which I learned to live with and enjoy. Never anti social, but always a social, Life on in the project, taught me enough social skills, to avoid trouble.
But in a society of "C's" and "D's" if you are an "A" or "B" the C's and D's can make your life miserable, out of jealousy and fear, and the poor "E's" and "F's" are perpetual scapegoats and victims of the "C's" and "D's"
A's and B's show up the C's and D's and thus a threat, I wish there were stats on how many A's and B;s hold themselves back, because of fear of being picked on and ostracized by the C's and D's, and woe to the poor E's and F's.
Edit added: Given that state and municipal funded schools are not optimum. A bigger threat is vouchers and private schools, especially religious schools, because they pump out a steady stream of close minded bigots, and ignorant people who know nothing of history, civics, social studies and even core subjects.
Robert, I have been looking for that Bobby Azarian MAGA/religious explanation for years. Now everything fits perfectly. Thank you. Happy to have found your opinion here.
I’m sure that neuroscientists have just scratched the surface. You can’t get much better illustrations of conditioning than the correlation of brain activity with certain stimuli. I think the key takeaway is that it isn’t necessary to have a Sunday school teacher or a fire and brimstone preacher inundating small people with doctrine and fear of an angry god. The banality of something such as a teacher reminding several times a day, every day, that students must “pay attention” and “follow instructions” or “complete all assignments as directed” (regardless of interest, engagement, or relevance, the implication being that all knowledge comes from external sources and the student’s thoughts and knowledge are of no importance) can condition some of the more vulnerable among them to a mindset of undiscriminating obedience to a leader. It’s as much a kind of moralism, worship of power and authority, and sanctimony, as it is a religious influence, I believe. Cult followers are made, not born and we have way more than our share in this country because of the cult of school.
Shared to a few facebook groups that seem to like The Hartmann Report, with this comment at the top:
Since even satirist Andy Borowitz's posts are being removed these days, I'll give you the title of this substack post by Thom Hartmann in case you have to go look for it elsewhere:
Can We Stop China, Russia, Murdoch & the "Putin GOP" From Tearing Down our Democracy?
There are the informed and the falsely informed otherwise known as the uninformed. That is the battle in this upcoming election. As for Cornell West, he is showing us that his ego and greed outweigh any integrity he may have had. Show us the money Cornell West!
If we had media outlets with more integrity that were not merely mouthpieces for dueling donors (AKA political parties) our population would not be as susceptible to disinformation. That being said, there is disinformation from every major media outlet and most minor ones in the form of bias, lies of omission, and an overall viewpoint that adopts American nationalism and empire as its perspective. This type of fascist media exists on both sides of the tribal divide and involves a trivialization of the humanity of the other. Studies have shown that MSNBC offers false or misleading information 35 to 40% of the time, while Fox news does no over 50% of the time. Interestingly, the echo chamber media which includes The Thom Hartmann Show has a polarizing effect on democracy and increases susceptibility to misinformation. When the agenda becomes sweeping the malfeasance of politicians under the rug to help them get elected, including the framing of valid criticism as "circling the wagons," the threat then originates from within and can be amplified by outside sources.
Damn Barry, you had me agreeing with you, until you pulled the both sides ism with MSBBC andFox.
I have long complained that MSNBC, whose parent is NBC who just gave Trump free publicity, with Welkers interview on Meet the Press. It is not that MSNBC offers false and misleading information (that is a claim you have to prove), but because of their silence and self censorship.
For instance they have been behind the curve on global warming.In an NBC interview ofimmigrants at the border. Recent episode was at Eagle Pass. The clown cum reporter looked at the huge crowd of migrants and asked who is from Venezuela, and virtually all handsflew up.
What is interesting about the crowd is that they were wearing designer clothes, quite expensive, well cared for as if they just got off the airplane, not traveled thousands of miles through dangerous and inhospitable territory, like the Darien gap, thousands of miles away.
Also carrying soccer balls and dolls, again clean, not dirty.
The Venezuelan's are of the same class, category and mentality of the upper and upper middle class Cubans, that fled to Miami.
Worse from my perspective, they are ultra conservative, Catholics, with their misogynistic, homophobic, religious values and a perfect fit with the Republican party, and Bidens CBP and State Department is giving them priority, not the people looking for work, even if it is picking fruit, vegetables, house keepers and nannies.
These Veneuzuelans represent the middle class, people who have never seen a days worth of honest labor, but are merely people who extract income for the peasants and working class.
And these hosts and reporters don't follow through, when the politician, evades a question or lies.
We don't trivialize the fascists, trivializing them is ignoring the threat. The threat is serious, not only to Democracy, but the health and lives of those they wish to exterminate. Wounded vets, old folk, people of color, non believers in their god, women (forced back into the peonage of the 19th century., LGBT folk literally eradicated or forced so back into the closet, that they can't see the light of day.
Whoa. I've been passing on the word about the special class of Cubans for years, but I did not know this about the Venezuelans. Can you point me to learning more about the dynamics of just who are getting driven out of Venezuela? The media always lumps them all together as "Hispanic."
Hispanic is so broad a term it is almost meaningless. Start with the U.S. Census or another survey you take for health care. They ask if you are white Hispanic of Other Hispanic. at least my health care provider does, because Medicare wants to know.
There are lily white Hispanics and there are black Hispanics and all shades in between, including indigenous peoples Yet it is obvious that the Republican party is racist and xenophobic, following Trumps lead coming down the "golden" elevator, declaring Mexicans are drug mules and rapists. A few are, just like whites, but most aren't.
As regards the Venezuelans, time to time their is an article about middle class Venezuelans fleeing the country for America. Bear in mind middle class in Latin America is not middle class in America, it is much thinner and mostly shop keepers, which like the middle class that fled from Cuba made their wealth by exploiting the peasants.
However if you pay attention to the crowds assembling at the border, the Venezuelans stand out because of their clean designer clothes, and backpack, and the toys that their kids are carrying. Such things are luxury items that would be discarded if they hitched a ride on a freight train, (an incredibly dangerous thing)
Also the fact that they are still wearing designer cloths and carrying toys, when the thousands of thieves who prey on migrants would have taken, long ago.
In1975 I traveled the Pan American Highway from Texas to Panama
At every border there are customs officials who go through all of your belongings and if you have anything valuable they will keep it, unless you have an official passport (I did). I always want to visit the Darien Gap, but stayed away, as it is one of the most dangerous jungles in the world, hostile native, thieves, no roads, and critters like the fer de lance or jaquar, deadly insects.
And yet families, with young children, supposedly transit the gap. The gap is a giant graveyard.
I have to respectfully disagree with you, Barry. I don’t know what ‘disinformation’ all the networks broadcast, or the newspapers publish. But, I do watch MSNBC quite regularly. I do know that most of their folks that have programs on there are either Republicans, or were Republicans prior to Trumpism. Joe Scarborough, for instance makes no qualms about the fact that he used to be Republican. Many of the others often comment that they are Republican, but can’t understand why the party has turned against Democracy and the Constitution. They can’t answer why it wants to turn this nation into a Dictatorship, and under the permanent leadership of Trump, the rapist, thief, embezzler, and TRAITOR.
I think "most of" is over stating: is there a count somewhere? Anyway, I am just a smidge younger than Thom, and adopted MSNBC in its infancy,and well remember them going full pander in run-up to Iraq invasion. Pushing out Phil Donahue and the two war-monger stars were: Joe Scarborough and Tucker Carlson. So I never forgive or forget when it comes to Scarborough.
Barry pulls shit out of his ass and smears it on the interwebs, he has an obvious agenda, won't tell you what it is, but it is easily ascertainable by his criticisms, especially his campaign to criticize Thom and he Democrats. Do the math 1 + 1 = 2
I also criticize the Democrats and the media, but because I want to light a fire under their behinds. Induce the Democrats to show some back bone and stand up to the fascists.
But I get bad actors like Barry and Marc. It is impolitic, not too smart PR wise, to defend and advance Putin.
So they go about it in reverse, attack those that Putin declares his enemy, especially useful when you can't go down the right fork, so choose the left fork and make comments that are conspiratorial and cast aspersions on the left for opposing the the war criminal.
I fear we are in for a very difficult battle. If we are to preserve democracy in an environment where one of our major political parties expressly no longer believes in government of, for and by the people, it will be up to ordinary people to fight this political battle. Daniel Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky, the authors of “How Democracies Die,” have a new book out called “The Tyranny of the Majority,” in which they detailed how other countries in Europe made political reforms we failed to make to prevent our current situation. Ziblatt and Levitsky recently had an article in the New York Times in which they admit they were surprised at the January 6 insurrection. I was not especially surprised at it, and it was fairly obvious that Trump was at the center of events.
We may not be able to prevent Trump from trying the same tricks again, or prevent him from receiving a majority of the electoral college vote and having his groupies vote for him again. They live in a fantasy world. Trump is fundamentally a political symptom of our current problems, and it isn’t enough to deal with him through the court system. He has to be dealt with politically, and I’m not certain our system is capable of that.
That’s EXACTLY why WE, THE PEOPLE, have to fight like hell, get everyone we know to the polls, vote these people out. It’s got to be done. We all need to preach it to everyone we know. Everybody has to understand unless they want to live like the people in other countries always in fear of soldiers storming their homes, and having the leader, dictator, take everything they have and own, keeping them totally penniless, we must vote these people out of office!
Yes, the tyranny of the minority. Worked in Germany The NSDAP was a gang of thugs, stupid MFers for sure, and that is why stupid MFers like MAGAts are a problem, they are using Democracy, the Bill of Rights and constitution to overthrow Democracy, just like the NSDAP between 1922 and 1933. Thanks to social media and Television there is a time constriction, what used to take years, now takes days.
Last night a friend of mine, a lifelong Democrat, said that she couldn’t stand the situation we are in, she feels the Democrats have abandoned us, and she is considering voting Green in 2024.
This is my response:
That won’t get us out of this mess. Sadly we have only two parties. And only one that is anywhere near functional.
It isn’t that the Dems are not listening. It is that the system itself is broken.
If you vote green the Republicans have a better chance of winning. And they have already announced the plan for American fascism if they win. That is not a campaign tactic by the Dems. It’s a fact.
And even if the Dems win, they do not have nearly the latitude to govern that people think they do.
The corporate oligarchs are more powerful than this government. That is the true enemy. Not the Democrats.
The choice is how much harm will be done. The Republicans are in alignment with the oligarchs. The Democrats will do what they can to avoid the worst harm.
So what can we do? Vote blue to keep the level of authoritarianism where it is, instead of a bare fascist dictatorship. Which would be a hell greater than we can imagine.
And figure out how to either bring down the oligarchy or take ourselves en masse out of its control.
We won’t be able to do any of that under Republican Christo-fascist rule. We will be too busy surviving and maybe risking our lives in the resistance.
Outstanding, straight to the heart of the problem. Yes a vote for Green or any other party, is a vote for Trump. So we must closely examine the real motives of the Green and other parties like No Labels. Their purpose its to siphon off votes from the Democrats, thus ensuring a forever fascist theocracy.
Tell your friend this Grandma Green, who was the first Rep. in her County and attended the founding convention in Sacramento when we got on the ballot, this ain't your Grandma's Greens anyhow, there's been lots of reporting that they are bought off specifically to sucker frustrated idealists like her, and if Thom Hartmann hasn't communicated to her this is an EMERGENCY, I don't know what to tell her. OK, how about this: Grandma Green (that's me) will vote for Joe Biden if he's in a COMA on election day, because now is not the time to pine over the perfect while you flush the good down the toilet.
We cannot give up. Now is a time to rally, march, sign up new voters... give up Facebook and Twitter and boycott as many companies supporting Trump/Putin as possible.
Any other ideas on how to fight back?
Is there a list of companies supporting Trump and Putin?
Start with Koch Industries and FOX advertisers. Easy found online.
Yeh, the Wall street stock exchange, Shorter list on NASDAG, or the top 500.
That's a tall order. Wonder if Occupy Wall Street would help stuff some envelopes?
In my opinion, and I am a progressive, is that the occupy movement, is nothing but a bunch of spoiled kids, looking to each other for peer approval, and in essence a Woodstock like get together, all they succeed at was trashing the streets. What they needed (and need) to do is get off the mastubatory train, register and vote., to save themselves and democracy and elect officials who think like them, and frankly most of them don't.
That generation reminds me of the boomers, in the 1960's and 1970's they were hippie protesters who gathered at Woodstock or moved to San Francisco, but as they got older, reality set in, and they realized that they need money to live. So they got busy, got jobs, invented shit, like apps and websites, invested their money, and became conservative, even arch conservative, driving Cads, BMWs. Mercedes of Mini vans full of children.
When they vote, they vote right wing, to protect their wealth and careers.
"On September 17, 2011, they rebelled. Pointing a finger at banks, corporations, and the wealthiest 1 percent, whom they blamed for corrupting our democracy by buying elections to control the legislative process. "
Prior to that, I I worked with many young people, Kids, and was on a local message board where many young people talked in the Political forum about these same issues we are talking about now, They drew a lot of heat for this from the older guys. who were about 10 years older. This was well before September 2011 by at least four years. It scared the Hell out of me, what they were saying made sense. No one would take them seriously. Just like some people did not take the Occupy Movement seriously. So since about 2007 Kids have been talking about the "Super Rich buying candidates," and look at us now, talking about boycotting companies that support Putin and Trump. All of this has been a long time coming, The Kids saw it well before they were handing out pizza. We have lost a lot of them, who think our democracy it is irreparably broken. Insults are not going to help change that.
All of that is true, and I was in sympathy with the Occupy movement, but push came to shove, they achieved nothing, because non violent resistance is what the established elite want.
Example: The Ghandi myth,It was Ghandi who inspired the British to leave India, it was the "ghost" of Subra Chandra Bose and he Indian National Army (the ones that fought for Japan, for no other reason than to oust Britain. Bose was dead, but his spirit of armed resistance and the NIA posed a real threat to Britain, so they packed up and left, using Ghandi as an excuse.
Same with MLK, it wasn't his non violent resistance that spurred changes, it was the riots and destruction of of cities, that spurred changes, that are on the were of being undone (thanks Clarence for being a Quisling).
It wasn't hippy protesters that caused Nixon to back off and back out of Vietnam, but the middle class mothers and fathers who had seen enough body bags that spurred Nixon, because that was his base, the base that is now Maggots.
The plutocrats, political elites, Boards of Directors, CEO's, shareholders that welcome and even use non violent protesters, because they don't destroy property and pose a real threat.
What they fear are an angry mob, hell bent on getting attention and threatening the elite.
Take Portland and Seattle as examples, they even used professional agitators and black clothed trouble makers, with Doc Martins to break windows, and otherwise cause damage to justify turning loose the police and National guard.
You might recall police scooping up those black uniformed "anarchists" in Portland and Seattle, but have you ever seen any news on them being prosecuted and jailed. I haven't, what I have seen is catch and release. Catching them,carrying them from the scene and releasing them out of sight of the media and public.
They have learned, where there is no threat of violence, they create their own threat, to discredit peaceful protesters and shut them down. So some paint is smeared and windows broken, all an excuse to pass draconian laws, to put fear into peaceful protesters.
5 hearts for this one...
I think Thom really tells the story here in a way that cannot be further distilled. It is a complex story, and as I have learned the hard way, complex is persona non grata in our public discourse. So good on Thom for doing what he does best - telling truth in a way we can all understand.
The other day I brought up a tough subject while commenting on the 2 Santa Clause piece: At what point do legitimate political undertakings crossover into conspiring against our nation? It is a sincere question, and one I would like to think more about. I reference this because the PR (Putin Republicans) folks are clearly over the line. Clearly. So where is the rule of law in this regard? The PR firm of the GOP openly celebrate the world's largest and most threatening dictatorships. And they're bringing that form of rule to the US, one community at a time.
And as far as the folks who claim to be "left" (of which I am one) are concerned, we need to get our priorities straight. Because if the PR strategy works, then none of the ideals we hold dear (including environmental justice) will be attainable. Period. Right now we are in a moment that will most likely determine the future of life on Earth (at least for a conceivable period). We need to keep the ship of democracy from sinking. Without it, there is no platform to build a fair and just tomorrow from.
We must support Ukraine in defeating Russia's illegal and morally revolting invasion.
We mustn't vote for third-party candidates in the 2024 Presidential election (no matter our frustration with the status quo). We do not have the luxury of voting for our ideals at this point in history, unfortunately.
We must be able to detect and counter the subtle and sophisticated propaganda of hostile global adversaries, as well as the PR firm of the GOP. And, sadly, we must know when even our most revered thinkers are misguided (love you Cornell West, but sorry...).
I hope people will realize that our house is fully on fire, and we need to put it out - not argue over remodeling plans for the future.
I alternate between “stop the world I want to get off” to wanting to just pull the covers over my head fit the next 14 months.
Realize neither is a viable strategy.
So, onward through the fog.
More like pulling the blanket over fur the next 4 voting cycles, which we must not do. These Trumpublicans cannot take this nation over. They have to be voted out of all political offices. Local, state, and federal.
The first time I heard "Stop the world I want to get off" was my buddy Curtis from Oakland, we were a tight knit group of four, we hung out at a beat coffee shop, Diogenes Lantern reading poetry and prose. This was 1958-1959
Curtis, stood up and said "the next time the world stops, I am getting off", major applause met with one hand clapping, then another of my friends stood up and said "He was a carpenter they hung him on a tree, and he just hung there", more applause.
First time I heard the phrase was when my high school drama club performed the play of the same name.
"Fashionable" indeed. Good description, "fashionable." The contrarian stance, as if anything contrary guaranteed inner knowledge and cleverness and real, inner-sanctum, information. Up to a point this contrariness closely tracks our country's misdeeds. The blood and dirt on our hands. But that doesn't make anyone else into pure-as-the-driven-snow players. Blood and dirt are widely distributed elsewhere and have always been.
Along with contrarian is the flavor of seeming to have to be angry or to flame people in anticipation of any other views. Essentially, setting a a belligerent tone to push away opposition. Basically, they are there to fight, because, to paraphrase a book title, fighting (flaming) is what gives meaning to their lives.
This brings up a very sad list of people I used to admire, who've fallen totally out of my respect since the February 2022 invasion (further invasion) of Ukraine by Russia. That invasion has revealed their lack of thinking, reasoning and research. Chris Hedges, Lauria, Bill Astore, Noam Chomsky, lately, Ralph Nader. I used to think Medea Benjamin was merely naive, but she and Nicholas Davies are damagingly naive, negligently dangerous. They may as well all be working for Putin.
All of them, and others, keep calling for negotiations. Here is where they either don't do research or don't know what to make of it. Just Google for agreements between Ukraine and Russia, then extend that a bit. I wound up with a list of 32 items, starting with the "Singing Revolution" in 1987 in Estonia (I also included some peripheral agreements). Those agreements were hammered out between nations, signed ratified and ignored by Russia.
Still, they are diplomatic agreements ratified between nations with promises and guarantees. And yet, we hear the fabulated supposed verbal agreement not to expand NATO. Here's where they are not thinking/reasoning. With all those signed and ratified agreements, why is there not anything about not expanding NATO. Don't you think the Russians would have insisted on that? In writing? Signed, sealed and ratified? BTW: you can find articles in which Gorbachev is specifically asked about such a verbal agreement and he says there was none.
Putin's own document of 12 July 2021, seven months before the current "special operation," is available on the Kremlin site. I downloaded it and copy/pasted into Microsoft Word just to get a quick word count. With the date, title, author credit (Putin) and body Word returned 6,901 words. Almost none of it concerns NATO. Almost all of it is about our kin are not Ukrainian, they are Russian and must be returned to "us" as Russian. A text search for "NATO" gave me only two places in the 6,901 words where "NATO" is used, twice in one short paragraph. That is a paragraph 88% of the way toward to bottom comprising 1.35% of the total word count. If NATO was any real concern of Putin's, don't you think he would have put it at the top and made it occupy a lot more than 1.35% of the word count?
Then, of course are Putin's further plans, to make Russian World go from Lisbon to Vladivostok (western Europe to far east Russia, above Japan). Or Putin's 2005 exhumation of super fascist Ivan Ilyn's body (and his wife's) from Switzerland, where Ilyin died in exile in 1954 and was now reburied in Moscow, in a sort of secular-saint of the guiding philosophy for Putin and for Russia.
And don't forget Xi, standing by, biding his time, observing what we will do to defend someone attacked and making a decision how soon he will invade and conquer Taiwan. Xi, of the mild face, maybe a bookeeper's face, is a total autocrat who means to own the world and thinks long term.
There are people who will not quit physically going to war with you, whether as a street thug or a street thug with country and army. You cannot just talk with them and you cannot make agreements with them. Any such agreements with someone not willing to abide by them are just further openings down the road for more attacks.
As much as Ukraine is at risk, so is a lot more.
A long but great comment. You and I are in the same boat. I once was a sponsor of Democracy Now, until I realized that they were exactly unrepentant Marxists, and Marx is not a leftist, but a proto libertarian. I have explained here before and will do again, if needed.
These clowns who I once admired are regulars on Democracy Now. now I have to disavow them Chris Hedges, Lauria, Bill Astore, Noam Chomsky, lately, Ralph Nader. I used to think Medea Benjamin was merely naive, but she and Nicholas Davies are damagingly naive, negligently dangerous. They may as well all be working for Putin.
They are not for Democracy Now, unless they are Tankies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tankie#:~:text=Tankie%20is%20a%20pejorative%20label,Leninism%2C%20whether%20contemporary%20or%20historical.. Old Marxists, sentamentalists who believe that Putin's Russia, is a Marxist empire. They are also champions of the "oppressed" with exceptions of course, like Ukraine.
I use to donate regularly, $100 at a time, but no more, not since I caught their hypocrisy, which they have tried to mute, since they have found out they are on the wrong side of the issue, and thus disenchanted supporters like me.
Champions of the Palestinians and Muslims, with no thought at all of their death threat against Israel, and the misogynist and homophobic, as well religion ordained harsh treatment and death meted out to women, LGBT and atheists.
And they ignore the same in Christianity, Dominionism, Evangelicalism and the Catholic Church.
In fact I would like to see an exposition of Dominionism. Founded by Rushdoony and Ted Cruz father Rafael in Canada, It makes the Taliban look like Boy Scouts.
There goal is to take over society, and make Mosaic Laws, Deuteronomy and Leviticus the law of the land, save those of the 312 commandments that are inconvenient, like wearing clothes of mixed fabric, or eating shell fish or pork.. It is also known as Christian Reconstruction and has established itself in Pentecoatal, Evangelical and Rad Trade Catholics like Pence. there is no one in the corporate media, from WAPO, and NYT to MSNBC who has the guts to do a deep dive in Christian Reconstruction https://www.sullivan-county.com/nf0/fundienazis/royal_race.htm
Wow. I admire your analysis of the 2021 document for what was really on Putin's mind. Just an anecdote: an Uncle of mine was the son of immigrants, and identified as "half Russian and half Ukrainian." going back to turn of prior century. No confusion of identity.
While the left was trying to end human suffering with the minimum wage and social spending, the religious right (unevolved animals that wear the best clothes) were dreaming of shooting the left (the humans) and causing massive humans suffering for all those they hate! The right expects a miracle, their savior to come back and save THEM. If that is not insanity, I don't know what is! The right kept producing many children while the left practiced birth control in order to not overpopulate the Earth. Democracy fails when the irresponsible take the reigns of power. So the right, would not allow civics in public and private schools or rational thinking or free thought or the teaching of the facts of Life or accurate history... The right would have hated for those kids to grow up and turn human and disown them, so the right crippled the whole younger generation mentally with their religion to keep them in line. While this was going on, the rich westerners turned China and Russia into autocracies and pushed neoliberalism. We can't blame only foreigners for America's problems. The enemies of all working people on earth is the excessively rich and the phony religions that brainwash the babies to be coming sadistic, homicidal, greedy, rapists. The natural order would be for the most rational and intelligent people to rule the world by exterminating all of the inferiors. Currently, China fits that description because they are united as one and not divided by race or religion and they are very intelligent. Yet, it is already too late with global warming and plastic particles and overpopulation and toxic waste that include nuclear fuel rods and possibly a nuclear war. Getting governed by thugs is not an option for free thinkers. But our GOP and Democrat leadership are thugs. With Biden and Garland protecting democracy, we are doomed! Still we must vote for Biden in the hopes that he can salvage democracy and socialism and civility. I would recommend the left, learn to grow and preserve your own foods and survive off the grid, and buy weapons to defend yourself with. Also if you have the ability to move out of the country after the 2024 election, do it, if a Democrat loses. Also to encourage young people to have no children for their own sake!
They are implementing “The Shock Doctrine” on a global scale. With the advent of social media it seems to be metastasizing exponentially. Scary stuff!
“We fielded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, helped start the UN, built NATO, and worked with democratic allies around the world.”
Yes, WE did. And then along came Trump! What happened then? Trump pulled us out of NATO, and everything else. Trump immediately stopped ALL trade with ALL nations. Trump initiated a block on our receiving any goods from any nation. Then Trump became best butt sucking buddy with Putin, and Xi!
Now, questions needs to be ask here.
Is this the moves of a president that is working toward expanding our democracy?
Is this what a Democratic, Free, Nation looks like, and is supposed to act?
Something else that Trump did. He directed all the attention to the southern border. Why did he do this?
It’s a really simple solution, and for those of you that have had any law enforcement, investigative experience or training should know the answer to this right away.
When a crook/thief wants to commit crimes, he usually tries to direct the attention of law enforcement elsewhere to allow him the access and time he needs to do what he wishes to do.
It’s my theory here that Trump directed all the attention to the southern border for a few reasons.
First, he is spending his time collaborating with Russia, China, North Korea, and other communist nations to get something set up to bring into this country. Now, think back to when COVID hit this nation, and became so prevalent. Was it not during the time when the attention was turned toward the southern border, and the “sudden influx of immigrants”?
That’s my first theory on this. My second one is much more ‘believable’, ‘understandable’. It’s because Trump is always about making himself money. If he’s not putting money in his pocket every second of every day, he hasn’t stayed up long enough to accomplish his goal.
When Trump ordered “The Wall” to be built on the southern border, tens of billions of taxpayer dollars poured into that ‘project’, which, in all honesty, neither Mexico nor the United States has ever taken up such a project for several reasons. First and foremost is the Rio Grande River. The border sits mostly right in the middle of it for some stretch. Second is the mountain region. It’s almost totally impassable on foot. How in the hell would any company get heavy equipment, supplies, and the manpower on it, to it, or through it, to build a stupid wall? Third, and most importantly. This country, especially the southwestern states, have depended on immigrants to work the fields, produce crops, pick the crops. Basically to do the ‘grunt work’ that Americans refuse to do. This has been going on for a lot longer than I am alive. You cut off the farm labor, you cut off the food. NO FARMS. NO FOOD!
Now, I want to add one thing since I’ve climbed on this soapbox.
This southern border has been open ever since this country was founded. This country was founded by immigrants that came from other countries. Not one person alive in this nation right now can do their ancestry without learning their history is from another country. Mine is from England, and France. So, cutting off the southern border is against what our founding fathers intended. Back in the beginning, when the huge influx was migrating into this country from the ‘old country’ did they close Ellis Island to immigrants coming in. Hell no! The southern border shouldn’t be shut down either. If anything, a huge building should be built to process these people as fast as they can get here.
I have sounded off enough. Back to the initial topic. Trump turned his attention to the southern border to allow the influx of the COVID Virus, and to put billions of dollars in his pocket. Which, sadly, he accomplished both. And as with all the other criminal acts he’s committed his entire life and gotten away with, he’s gotten away with those two also. The only problem is with the virus, he’s managed to kill over 1.2 million Americans! He should be held accountable for his acts!
I do not think trump was 'responsible' for Covid, but he did play games with the policies needed to deal with the pandemic. So yes he was responsible for a lot of deaths. trump's primary motivation is to become the super billionaire he claims to already be - he is not, but that's what he craves - BUT he has been pulled into what putin wants because he knows there is money to be found via Russian oligarchs - multi-billions in fact - so THAT is his prime objective and why he became putin's best bud ! Since what putin wants more than anything is the destruction of the US & it's power, trump became a traitor to his own country. Now the law is catching up with him, and we wait to see if he is jailed for his crimes.
I am going to state the obvious. Not that it matters, so just venting. Trump is stupid, has a low IQ, probably in the 90's, not at all curious. He knows he is stupid, so he compensates with tyrannical control of his minions, and all those he can intimidate, which includes many a talking head in the media. His main method of trying to garner the respect he so craves is wealth. He equates wealth with intelligence, so he lies, cheats, steals and brags (first sign of an inferiority complex is someone bragging about themselves, how smart they are, how important they are..pity them, but don't enable them.
Trump before he was a reality star, would call into NYC radio shows, passing himself off as John Barron (he liked that so much he named his youngest son Barron), and passing on "gossip" about how rich and important Trump was, total signs of his inferiority complex, and that is why he requires so much publicity and adulation.
I don't believe he is smart enough to know how stupid he is.
Chuckle. good one have to remember that/
I think your assessment is closest. He ultimately has such a narrow range of responses and vocabulary. The old phrase "survival mode" came to me reading all the commentary. I suspect that a lot of what is attributed to him as calculated is just reflex and habitual. The tragedy is, the seed falling on fertile ground is that his defense reflex is meanness, and three out of ten of our fellow citizens vicariiously revel in the bully nastiness that they wish worked for them.
Pure attention grabber. Narcissistic sociopathic tendencies. He’s a sick individual. Only cares about himself
He’s responsible. He sat up that COVID to come here from China. He should be responsible for every death from it.
Thanks for this Report, Thom.
I just watched Ukrainian Secretary Danilov describe the loss of their sons and daughters who go willingly to fight to save their country and the future freedom of their children. What heartbreak and unnecessary tragedy, ALL because of Putin. ONE person with absolute power should go against the fiber of every being on the planet.
But it doesn't---we have to counter the threat of authoritarian figures as well as their supporters. This is at the very root of the United States. We have to keep repeating that, just like the Ukrainians, we have given too much blood to kneel to a king.
There is no honor in what the GOP has done. David Brooks described the Congressional far right as "nihilistic performance artists"; he nailed it. These Putin-puppets joined the disinformation campaign for Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia and would end everything people sacrificed for, if we let them. Our unity is more important than ever. We need to kick their ass at the voting booth and with the truth.
It is just not the sons, but the infants, women and children, as well as the pile of rubble Putin is creating in Ukraine. Meanwhile Biden dithers, tried to keep Ukraine's hands off the F-16, by imposing ridiculous and time consuming conditions
And The Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, which has a range of about 190 miles, enough for Ukrainian forces to strike Russian targets far behind the front lines.
Because Putin waves his nuclear phallus, and America ducks for cover, as they were conditioned to do in school.
Now Kim Jong Un, has a roll model, all he has to do is wave his nuclear phallus and he can walk into South Korea and intimidate Japan and America.
There is only one way to take out the mafia or a bully, and that is to smack them where they hurt
Ukraine has and is willing to do the heavy lifting, all Biden has to do is give Zelensky the tools, sit back and watch Zelenky sear Putin's ass.
The deeper we go into madness the more we need to go outside the box. Surely there is a readiness among half the people to take a leap into a sane system. Discontent and unworkability being so great is an opening for new thinking but we aren't doing any.
One thing I'd have is a Suggestion Box. For a sample of new thinking, this is something I'd put in it: "As the insurrectionists get prison sentences that satisfy our desires for vengeance, what about the higher need for our oppositional country to come to together? We could create a training program for the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys to teach them consciousness, so to speak. Waking them up would change the world, uniting the sides we are on and illustrating we all can come together in one human family. It’s an infinitely higher objective than making horrible people’s lives miserable, even though they deserve that. PS: Look to the justice system in Norway that runs on rehabilitation for criminals being better for society than just meting out punishment."
I have a piece about Norway which is mind-blowing if you don't know what they do. Look up my Substack and get on my mailing list if transformational thinking is for you.
I just don't know that there's rehab for malignant masculinity supported by religious mania. The feeling of superiority, power supported by weaponry and violence, and peer-group reinforcement is addictive. You need to re-train involuntary dopamine response. Every time Trump blurts out an insult; every time their buddy says, that bitch ain't talking back to me no more, they get a little brain-buzz. The metaphorical Stone Age is snapping at the heels of what I see as a tissue-thin veneer of "civilization." Remember females only got to vote in America in 1920, and that was 50 years after African-descended who happened to have penises.
Noble aspiration, but that is all that it is Suzanne. Decent people see the world as decent people, with some misguided misfits, that can be reasoned with and redirected. They aren't aware of human nature, addiction and psychology.
Crooks and bigots are dominated by their lizard brains, and there is no reasoning at all with the lizard brain, for it evolved to fight or flight. They see the world as themselves, to them all of the world is crooked, fearful, angry, narcissistic.
There is no communication or reasoning with them, and that is the problem of decent people like Democrats. There is only two options, capitulation or fight.
Fighting won in 1865
I was just giving an example of new thinking that we lack for and need, and used a kind of wild example to try to get attention on how fruitful it could be if we tried to come up with ideas as a better course of action than capitulation or fighting, speaking of lizard brain activity.
I understand and applaud your attempt. But honestly I see no way to break through the right wing wall, unless circumstances arise for one to reassess their opinions or beliefs.
Opinions differ from beliefs, Believes are the stuff of the Ego and Id, they constitute the core of one's identity. If shed,they need to be replaced by another belief,and as with religious converts, the convert, because of cognitive dissonance, becomes more radical than one brain washed from birth
Opinions are either arrived at by being receptive to information, or acquired by lazy people who let others do their own thinking.
Acquired opinions are harder to change, but opinions arrived at are easily changed.
As regards the theocratic, racist, misogynistic fascists they are in the grasp of beliefs,and thus impossible to engage, converse with, educate or change in any matter,and thus any attempt is fruitless and actually counterproductive, because the more you try, the harder they did in their heels.
Try to convince a Muslim or true believing Christian, that their religion is a scam based on false man created stories,to create Word Controlled Humans, that have a vacant brain and will follow anyone who claims to be a shepherd and sings the siren song that grabs their lizard brain, like the Pied Piper of Hamln.
All that I put out these days has to do with things we-the-people could do. Have a look at my Substack for much more. This is the track with ideas: https://suzannetaylor.substack.com/s/changemaking-now. That said, your black and white to dismiss what I suggested is too simplistic. Give some MDMA dosing and you could see radical changes in how people think.
Thanks for the attempt to insult. Thus creating an enemy. Good show.
Personally I do not think there is any chance of creating a middle ground, or two sides so diametrically opposed and with the right wing so deeply entrenched in their beliefs, anger, angst and fears that there is no chance in hell that they are approachable, and your response is to try and belittle me.
Let me be clear, by asking you this question, who actually are you thinking of Ecstasy dosing, me or the Maggots. If me they are trying to belittle me, because I disagree with your world view, if the Maggots, forget about it, they are high on cocaine, religion and/or racism.
Insult? Dear dear. Not at all. Ecstasy is being used therapeutically to root out deep dysfunction. That is the treatment I'd give them. But your black and white certainty is cause for pause.
To paraphrase someone on a news show the other day, Fox and the others are there with disinformation and lies because they have a huge audience anxious to be snowed. Only the people can put an end to this free-for-all and the people will only become aware and informed when enough people in positions of leadership and power understand how to reduce vulnerability and gullibility. We stand naked due to negligence.
Last Tuesday, after an eye exam, I got home to hear the last few seconds of a discussion on the show. Later, I spotted a story on Raw Story which I am certain was the source (or one source) of that topic Thom had discussed. That story was, “A neuroscientist explains why MAGA supporters refuse to accept Trump's 91 felony charges”, by Bobby Azarian, Raw Story (9/12/23).
For most of us, the behavior of MAGA supporters has been a profoundly perplexing mystery. Neuroscience now offers novel explanations which make a great deal of sense. This author breaks down the hard evidence which draws the fundamental correlation between perception, experience, and brain function from brain scans, and consequential specific human behavior. His revelations square very well with other studies and observations.
Essentially, if I understand what Azarian proposes correctly, given certain kinds of training and experience, some children as a way of conserving cognitive resources and avoiding confusing complexity develop a style or habit of accepting convenient or conventional narratives, of adopting certain facile explanations, or of “suspending disbelief”. They instead learn to habitually resort to prefabricated formulaic answers to controversial or difficult questions, which in this case are provided by ignorant and nefarious reactionary influencers.
But, while Trump supporters have turned this mental tactic into an art form or a way of life, it is not necessarily an anomaly or aberration. It is one of several relatively common and normal strategies of dealing with issues confronting one in life. We all presumably utilize this strategy successfully at times.
This ‘short-cut’ for coming to conclusions or resolving issues and conflicts, when overused and intentionally distorted leads to attitudes and behavior which tend to be irrational, anti-social, and restrictive. In Azarian’s analysis, narratives which contain untruths and a type of mysticism surrounding someone like Trump, who has exploited ignorance and naivete to build a cult following, provide a ready-made cognitive pattern and set of beliefs. Erroneous predispositions are affirmed. Biases and fears and perceptions of malice or evil are confirmed. The followers have complete confidence in the explanations and beliefs they have subsumed, which have all fit nicely because of the familiar framing and well-worn narratives. The cult becomes a cult ONLY because of programming which has predisposed individuals to followership.
This is typically explained primarily in terms of pathological family, church, and media, and as an effect of political ideas, memes, and organizational structures. What have been omitted, however, are the major effects of the school environment and experience over a decade and more. STAY WITH ME.
Every teacher replays over and over a narrative which is an essential part of attempting to keep students attentive and orderly. It has always been assumed the teacher has admirable motives, that she or he is benevolent, and that providing instruction, assistance, information, skills training, and proper discipline are core purposes associated with the profession for all but a very rare few miscreants. The mission of the school invariably contains statements reflecting high-minded, edifying, charitable, and character-forming services. Indeed, almost without exception, the intentions of school staff are truly honorable and benign.
The needs of students are a frequent topic for discussion in schools, logically. However, as an organization and an institution serving the community, schools have a set of needs and priorities, also, which may not be so high-minded and which are divorced from education.
A condition develops which I call ADD, or Attention Demanding Disorder. Likewise, some teachers and administrators suffer personally from ADHD or Adult Attention Demanding-Hyperactivity Disorder in which they become obsessive about carrying out their objectives aimed at making the world more stable or organized and a better place by using the force of their personality and their adult influence to motivate and educate ignorant children. Some are neurotic to the point of being overzealous or messianic in their transformational endeavors, much to the detriment of students. Their roles command total compliance and obedience.
Kids nearly all try very hard not to disappoint. But the perpetual pep rally and constantly being chided for “not living up to their potential” takes a heavy toll. Anxious and hyper teachers push, prod, and use guilt trips as ploys, which work well for about 5% of students and negative effects for about 95%. Not every child has an aptitude or an affinity for academics at a specified age, or ever, and not every child is suited for the programming, conditioning, and behavioral modification that schools require to keep the ‘factory’ running smoothly.
Unfortunately, the most damaging narratives delivered incessantly to the school population as a whole, which are ubiquitous in public schools, revolve around false promises and unrealistic expectations. Knowledge and education are socially prized attributes, or they had been until recently.
People involved in schooling have appropriated knowledge and education as their exclusive property and domain for many generations. They have cultivated the mistaken belief that school is synonymous with education. They have exploited the economic, social, and political need in the modern industrial world for the care and feeding of children by babysitting, controlling, and warehousing them, and mistakenly calling it “education”.
Those who do become educated do so most often in spite of the school establishment and its formalized duplicity. Schools improperly get credit.
The recurring narratives which students have internalized are powerful and enduring. They stay with them throughout their lives in most instances unless methodically replaced by other more valid facts and information. It is held as gospel that students who fail to learn or achieve academic success have only themselves to blame. It is the consensus that a curriculum well-designed by experts building from fundamental elements or “basics” can be developed and applied en masse, and the result will be widespread education.
The strong conviction shared by nearly everyone who has spent much time in these systems, and contrary to ample evidence, is that dedicated, devoted, and trained teachers can work with significant numbers of children inducted into an involuntary system to inspire and lead them to become literate, numerically competent, intellectually adept, democratically oriented, and well-informed citizens in twelve years of primarily classroom instruction. Those narratives do not stand up to close scrutiny. No such thing has ever happened on any appreciable scale.
Have the most staunch defenders of democracy and the most articulate and eloquent spokespersons responsible for maintaining our government and way of life acquired their knowledge and passion from traditional schooling? Would democracy be stronger and more vital for more people if more children spent more time in traditional schools? To these questions, I say an emphatic NO. Please explain how schools which are fundamentally authority-based can possibly effectively familiarize students with democratic principles. I am waiting for an answer and I expect one.
To challenge school mythology is heresy. To point to the empirical evidence proving it nonsense is taboo. To talk about ending compulsory school attendance laws is tantamount to urinating into a strong wind and up a rope (as my dad occasionally described in more colorful language).
If you recognize that narratives “steer away from critical examination and instead encourage blind faith” for Trump supporters and that magical thinking and contradictions result from their early indoctrination, how do you then not see the contradiction between statements which rate our schools as “AAA+”, and that in the same breath complain that a full 25% of students leave as illiterate and many more as semi-literate? By lacking the same insight into your own self-delusion, you put at risk many children, democracy, and your own credibility.
Suspending disbelief is perfectly fine for small children. Stories about Santa coming down chimneys and the Easter Bunny hiding baskets of tooth-rotting candy add to the fascination children feel, and any potential harm is not catastrophic. However, for adults to ignore scientific studies and to persist in believing that we have schools which would educate effectively IF ONLY we could squeeze more money out of the clutches of insensitive lawmakers, or IF ONLY civics classes are reinstated is pure folly and treacherous. The indoctrination has been terribly effective, even with the most highly educated individuals. Why not apply this new revelation to our most important function as adults?
Make no mistake, those “educators” who have been directly witnessing the gross miseducation of children and those important influencers with the responsibility to speak out but who have denied the reality and gone along blithely with this travesty will be known in historical accounts of the future as phony and cowardly. These scandals will not remain concealed forever.
A long read, but worth reading. Food for thought.
I am an example of this "Those who do become educated do so most often in spite of the school establishment and its formalized duplicity. Schools improperly get credit."
My grammar school was 1st through 8th grade, so I missed that terrible Junior High or as they call it now Middle school.
My High school was staffed by, literally bonkers (my algebra teacher) and incompetent and boring older men and women, this was a period when all of the young men, and women were either in the armed forces or supporting the war, and coming back had no experience or qualifications for teaching. Late 40s, to late 50's. Teachers were old folk, 4 F or otherwise excluded from the draft, who probably became teachers because all of the able bodied folk were in the armed forces or supporting the war in industry.
My teachers were not people who should have been teaching. Some of them borderline, all of them boring, I spent more time looking out the window or day dreaming, probably, ADD than paying attention, one exception my World History teacher, Mr Epstein, and later in another school my Literature teacher Mr Harper.
I could no longer take it and skipped school, replacing it with the Public Library, and after explaining my situation to the Librarian, who was going to call the truant officer, she became my guidance counselor giving me books to read, and then taking a verbal report.
And thus when tested, I had an IQ of 138, 2nd highest behind Cindy Springer. about 150 classics like Charles Dickens, James Fenimore Cooper, Victor Hugo, etc.
I didn't graduate as I joined the service, but within a year I passed the HS and AA GED,
years later graduate University with Highest Honors, and 10 years later a Masters with a 3.47 GPA.
And I owe it all to a librarian and not teachers.
I suspect it is worse today, with Charter schools and vouchers to be handed to religious schools.
William, You have a very interesting personal story and you are clearly an exception to the rule. But your experience with school was not at all unusual, only in part because of your high IQ. However, I have to remind that the factor which is of greatest importance as documented in hundreds of studies is not the brilliance or competence of the teacher but the relationship to students and the school “climate”, “environment”, or “milieu”. I believe I outlined that in some detail in my most recent Substack posting (The Interminable Obsessive-Compulsive Re-invention of the Educational Wheel). To beat the dead horse yet again, schools have a very limited ability to establish and maintain an encouraging, respectful, democratic, or intellectual environment because attendance laws dictate a hierarchical structure with students at the bottom, teachers in the middle and state officials (such as DeSantis) at the top. It’s like driving your vehicle into wet cement and leaving it there until the cement hardens and then wondering why you can’t get anywhere. Not smart.
I agree, and to a large part, I think the way I do, because I basically raised myself. mother was a single parent with three kids, worked in a bank for $1.00 an hour, and I was out earning my own money when I was 7 or 8, up to the time I left home. Basically had no grown up telling me what to believe and what to think. Mom was a "drill sergeant" , she made me stand up for myself, and do my chores (perfectly) she once had me scrub the kitchen floor with a toothbrush, as I did such a sloppy and lazy job, that taught me, but intellectually there was no guidance or interference. So I am an autodidact At age 15 I had learned the dangers and dysfunction of being a social animal and giving control of my life to my peers and "society"
Like giving in to peer pressure, and that always made me an outsider, Which I learned to live with and enjoy. Never anti social, but always a social, Life on in the project, taught me enough social skills, to avoid trouble.
But in a society of "C's" and "D's" if you are an "A" or "B" the C's and D's can make your life miserable, out of jealousy and fear, and the poor "E's" and "F's" are perpetual scapegoats and victims of the "C's" and "D's"
A's and B's show up the C's and D's and thus a threat, I wish there were stats on how many A's and B;s hold themselves back, because of fear of being picked on and ostracized by the C's and D's, and woe to the poor E's and F's.
Edit added: Given that state and municipal funded schools are not optimum. A bigger threat is vouchers and private schools, especially religious schools, because they pump out a steady stream of close minded bigots, and ignorant people who know nothing of history, civics, social studies and even core subjects.
Robert, I have been looking for that Bobby Azarian MAGA/religious explanation for years. Now everything fits perfectly. Thank you. Happy to have found your opinion here.
I’m sure that neuroscientists have just scratched the surface. You can’t get much better illustrations of conditioning than the correlation of brain activity with certain stimuli. I think the key takeaway is that it isn’t necessary to have a Sunday school teacher or a fire and brimstone preacher inundating small people with doctrine and fear of an angry god. The banality of something such as a teacher reminding several times a day, every day, that students must “pay attention” and “follow instructions” or “complete all assignments as directed” (regardless of interest, engagement, or relevance, the implication being that all knowledge comes from external sources and the student’s thoughts and knowledge are of no importance) can condition some of the more vulnerable among them to a mindset of undiscriminating obedience to a leader. It’s as much a kind of moralism, worship of power and authority, and sanctimony, as it is a religious influence, I believe. Cult followers are made, not born and we have way more than our share in this country because of the cult of school.
Shared to a few facebook groups that seem to like The Hartmann Report, with this comment at the top:
Since even satirist Andy Borowitz's posts are being removed these days, I'll give you the title of this substack post by Thom Hartmann in case you have to go look for it elsewhere:
Can We Stop China, Russia, Murdoch & the "Putin GOP" From Tearing Down our Democracy?
I have fears that we can't. Not when money can purchase parties and politicians.
The bip picture, Thom Hartmann, good one, thank you.
There are the informed and the falsely informed otherwise known as the uninformed. That is the battle in this upcoming election. As for Cornell West, he is showing us that his ego and greed outweigh any integrity he may have had. Show us the money Cornell West!
If we had media outlets with more integrity that were not merely mouthpieces for dueling donors (AKA political parties) our population would not be as susceptible to disinformation. That being said, there is disinformation from every major media outlet and most minor ones in the form of bias, lies of omission, and an overall viewpoint that adopts American nationalism and empire as its perspective. This type of fascist media exists on both sides of the tribal divide and involves a trivialization of the humanity of the other. Studies have shown that MSNBC offers false or misleading information 35 to 40% of the time, while Fox news does no over 50% of the time. Interestingly, the echo chamber media which includes The Thom Hartmann Show has a polarizing effect on democracy and increases susceptibility to misinformation. When the agenda becomes sweeping the malfeasance of politicians under the rug to help them get elected, including the framing of valid criticism as "circling the wagons," the threat then originates from within and can be amplified by outside sources.
Damn Barry, you had me agreeing with you, until you pulled the both sides ism with MSBBC andFox.
I have long complained that MSNBC, whose parent is NBC who just gave Trump free publicity, with Welkers interview on Meet the Press. It is not that MSNBC offers false and misleading information (that is a claim you have to prove), but because of their silence and self censorship.
For instance they have been behind the curve on global warming.In an NBC interview ofimmigrants at the border. Recent episode was at Eagle Pass. The clown cum reporter looked at the huge crowd of migrants and asked who is from Venezuela, and virtually all handsflew up.
What is interesting about the crowd is that they were wearing designer clothes, quite expensive, well cared for as if they just got off the airplane, not traveled thousands of miles through dangerous and inhospitable territory, like the Darien gap, thousands of miles away.
Also carrying soccer balls and dolls, again clean, not dirty.
The Venezuelan's are of the same class, category and mentality of the upper and upper middle class Cubans, that fled to Miami.
Worse from my perspective, they are ultra conservative, Catholics, with their misogynistic, homophobic, religious values and a perfect fit with the Republican party, and Bidens CBP and State Department is giving them priority, not the people looking for work, even if it is picking fruit, vegetables, house keepers and nannies.
These Veneuzuelans represent the middle class, people who have never seen a days worth of honest labor, but are merely people who extract income for the peasants and working class.
And these hosts and reporters don't follow through, when the politician, evades a question or lies.
We don't trivialize the fascists, trivializing them is ignoring the threat. The threat is serious, not only to Democracy, but the health and lives of those they wish to exterminate. Wounded vets, old folk, people of color, non believers in their god, women (forced back into the peonage of the 19th century., LGBT folk literally eradicated or forced so back into the closet, that they can't see the light of day.
Whoa. I've been passing on the word about the special class of Cubans for years, but I did not know this about the Venezuelans. Can you point me to learning more about the dynamics of just who are getting driven out of Venezuela? The media always lumps them all together as "Hispanic."
Hispanic is so broad a term it is almost meaningless. Start with the U.S. Census or another survey you take for health care. They ask if you are white Hispanic of Other Hispanic. at least my health care provider does, because Medicare wants to know.
There are lily white Hispanics and there are black Hispanics and all shades in between, including indigenous peoples Yet it is obvious that the Republican party is racist and xenophobic, following Trumps lead coming down the "golden" elevator, declaring Mexicans are drug mules and rapists. A few are, just like whites, but most aren't.
As regards the Venezuelans, time to time their is an article about middle class Venezuelans fleeing the country for America. Bear in mind middle class in Latin America is not middle class in America, it is much thinner and mostly shop keepers, which like the middle class that fled from Cuba made their wealth by exploiting the peasants.
However if you pay attention to the crowds assembling at the border, the Venezuelans stand out because of their clean designer clothes, and backpack, and the toys that their kids are carrying. Such things are luxury items that would be discarded if they hitched a ride on a freight train, (an incredibly dangerous thing)
Also the fact that they are still wearing designer cloths and carrying toys, when the thousands of thieves who prey on migrants would have taken, long ago.
In1975 I traveled the Pan American Highway from Texas to Panama
At every border there are customs officials who go through all of your belongings and if you have anything valuable they will keep it, unless you have an official passport (I did). I always want to visit the Darien Gap, but stayed away, as it is one of the most dangerous jungles in the world, hostile native, thieves, no roads, and critters like the fer de lance or jaquar, deadly insects.
And yet families, with young children, supposedly transit the gap. The gap is a giant graveyard.
I have to respectfully disagree with you, Barry. I don’t know what ‘disinformation’ all the networks broadcast, or the newspapers publish. But, I do watch MSNBC quite regularly. I do know that most of their folks that have programs on there are either Republicans, or were Republicans prior to Trumpism. Joe Scarborough, for instance makes no qualms about the fact that he used to be Republican. Many of the others often comment that they are Republican, but can’t understand why the party has turned against Democracy and the Constitution. They can’t answer why it wants to turn this nation into a Dictatorship, and under the permanent leadership of Trump, the rapist, thief, embezzler, and TRAITOR.
I think "most of" is over stating: is there a count somewhere? Anyway, I am just a smidge younger than Thom, and adopted MSNBC in its infancy,and well remember them going full pander in run-up to Iraq invasion. Pushing out Phil Donahue and the two war-monger stars were: Joe Scarborough and Tucker Carlson. So I never forgive or forget when it comes to Scarborough.
Barry pulls shit out of his ass and smears it on the interwebs, he has an obvious agenda, won't tell you what it is, but it is easily ascertainable by his criticisms, especially his campaign to criticize Thom and he Democrats. Do the math 1 + 1 = 2
I also criticize the Democrats and the media, but because I want to light a fire under their behinds. Induce the Democrats to show some back bone and stand up to the fascists.
But I get bad actors like Barry and Marc. It is impolitic, not too smart PR wise, to defend and advance Putin.
So they go about it in reverse, attack those that Putin declares his enemy, especially useful when you can't go down the right fork, so choose the left fork and make comments that are conspiratorial and cast aspersions on the left for opposing the the war criminal.
A transparent tactic.