The essence of fascism is intimidation. It stops resistance, stifles opposition, and causes the fearful and desperate to cooperate. It scares off both researchers, reporters, and opinion writers…
Important topic...if we truly honor freedom of speech and freedom of the press. My personal moral radar still has Jordan, Scalise, and of course all of the outrageous liars: Gosar, MTG. Boehbert, McCarthy, Biggs, Brooks, Nunes, Gaetz, Gohmert, Loudermilk...all of those in the House who KNEW that the election was NOT stolen. But, also, never leaving my range, those in the Senate: Cruz, Hawley, Lee, Graham who SURELY knew that their actions were totally dishonest. Lee was worried that the Jan 6th committee had access to his and other's phones...why???
Why is Garland afraid to go after right wing traitors? The answer is obvious, they are family.
His Trump humping DOJ, has wasted no time going after Hunter and progressives, in fact the DHS ignores right wing terrorists and invests their resources into persecuting and with DOJ's help investigating and prosecuting environmental activists and antifascists, like the arrest of protestor at "Cop City"Fulton Co., GA
Our GOP representation, our conservative SC justices, and the manipulated base that justifies the worst crimes and policies, self-righteously parroting outrageous propaganda with no self-examination:, some of whom are very smart, are brainwashed by their insulated circles and their ignorance of empathic critical thinking, according to WWII era philosopher Hannah Arendt. Seems so obvious really but we all often subscribe great mental capacity to powerful people, especially SC justices who absolutely do not deserve the esteem. They are human beings who are simply brainwashed at this point, and weak in character. Arendt said, "The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil...."
From a great read and brief article:
20c philosopher and writer Hannah Arendt fled Nazi Germany (while her former philosophy professor and close friend became a Nazi), eventually landing in NY in 1941..... Throughout her life, she asked the question 'where does evil come from'...
In her report for the New Yorker of the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann "she expressed how disturbed she was that Eichmann was a rather bland, “terrifyingly normal” bureaucrat. He carried out his murderous role with calm efficiency not due to an abhorrent, warped mindset, but because he’d absorbed the principles of the Nazi regime so unquestioningly — never considering their consequences from anyone’s perspective but his own — that his focus was simply to further his career within the regime and climb its ladders of power.
His actions were defined not so much by thought, but by the absence of thought.
...Arendt concluded evil is perpetuated when immoral principles become normalized over time by people who do not think about things from the standpoint of others. Evil becomes commonplace; it becomes the everyday."
What is the psychological attraction for these mostly anonymous sources like Koch, Leo, etc to so energetically and ruthlessly advocate policy and behavior that is so destructive to the very freedoms that they claim to espouse? It's bullying for sure. And it can't be money. Absolute power is anathema to freedom. Their outrageous distortions and lies undermine all that is good, it undermines all true debate and communication in a free society. What did Hitler really want, what do Orban, Putin, the Taliban want? Is it just plain stupidity and ignorance for what freedom and honesty brings to a society? Is it just a mindless "lust for blood" reptilian mindset, an addiction, in a few individuals? It's not "God" because that is their manipulation of the masses, as they seem absolutely godless themselves, and without integrity. The balance of power in our government is central to our freedoms and security. And yet the conservative mindset seems intent to destroy that, which is the very fabric of what makes democracy work. Loss of political control does not fully answer the question. What human weakness is at the heart of this?
The attraction may be partly psychological, but that's not all of it. The "balance of power in our government" may indeed be "central to our freedoms and security," but it's ignoring a crucial component about which the Constitution says very little: economic power. In the early 20th century and then during the New Deal and the decades that followed, the legislative, executive, and judicial branches kept economic power in check, protecting (for example) the rights of workers and consumers and the health of the environment and, eventually, starting to dismantle the apartheid-like systems that denied basic civil and political rights to people of color.
From the Reagan administration onward, the GOP -- handsomely funded by uber-wealthy corporations and individuals -- has worked double-time to demolish all those safeguards. They believe, or claim to believe, that those safeguards were *attacks* on our "freedom." Supposedly if corporations and billionaires were unhampered by pesky regulations, they would do what's right for the country and we would all prosper.
We all should have realized decades ago that this plan, aka "supply-side economics," was a crock, but too many of us didn't. (Some of us thought it was an OK deal as long as it came with the promise of white Christian supremacy.) In some ways, this isn't all that surprising, because for close to two centuries now, Big Money has been accusing anyone who supports workers' rights, women's rights, people of color's rights, the planet's rights, etc., etc., of socialism, communism, anarchism, and so on -- and we keep falling for it.
Short version: It's not "human weakness" that's responsible for all of this -- instead, it's a system that handsomely rewards certain kinds of human weakness and puts ever-fewer restraints on it. On second thought, OK: human weakness *is* involved. It's our collective weakness when it comes to recognizing that unfettered economic power can and will undermine all the freedoms we claim to value. "Freedom" doesn't mean the same thing to the uber-wealthy (or, for that matter, to the white Christian supremacists) as it does to you or me. Their freedom is built on unfreedom for the rest of us. Here's hoping enough of us catch on before it's too late.
It's interesting, you make good points. I would argue that money at the level we are talking has become something else. No one has the capacity to comprehend even a billion dollars, as Musk has lost in a day, even more, or that kind of sum that appears in a column on a spreadsheet for Koch, any more than anyone can fully comprehend 'infinity.' I maintain rather than economics, it comes down to one's personal sense of 'freedom' - and for the privileged, that is about always getting their way, because they can. They think anyway. That is all they know at some point. That has become their sense of 'freedom.' And limiting that feels like oppression. And they lack the capacity to see otherwise because they cannot 'feel' for another human being.
It's hard to conceive the amount of money they have. No kidding. Ideas about freedom matter, but so do economics -- and in our society the two are closely related. (You can have unlimited freedom to do whatever you want, but if you don't have the economic resources, it won't happen.) The solution? Damned if I know, but here's my guess: If you trace the wealth of the uber-wealthy back to its sources, sooner or later you'll find real people producing a product or service that makes money for the uber-wealthy. That's their vulnerability, and our potential source of power.
I could not agree more. As an example, read the commentary of kaufman D O in these comments section. There is the example of what you are writing about.
Good question. The human weakness is the same that has dogged humanity for eons - these men (they're usually men) are fixated on the idea that their world-view represents what's right and true, and the rest of us are on the wrong path. They become dictatorial in their beliefs, because they're unable to comprehend that human society can function with more than just one world-view. Broad-mindedness is a virtue they lack.
Yes, I realized, after posting my question, that their bullying lies and distortion, their single mindedness on power at all costs, comes from a primal fear of others, distrust of others having control over THEM, their choices. Sequestering them. And so entitled people - who have enjoyed a level of freedom the rest of us aspire to enjoy through a better justice system, through respect for one another, through our democratic institutions - become irrational and panic, on a primal level, at any sense of loss of it. Will do anything to hold onto their freedom as they know it. Freedom is intensely primal, the desire for freedom "undivisible" to us, as Jefferson phrased it. So any alternative to the freedom anyone enjoys looms as a threat. And to someone entitled, giving up privilege is an unknown abyss where others can take control. Democracy, the balance of powers, our checks and balances is the brilliant safeguard against what they fear. The conservative mind seems not to understand this basic truth. That we must protect a just system, greater than ourselves, aspire to have institutions beyond human corruption, and seek to treat each other with dignity and respect.
With democratic values as you've expressed, you ought to be a politician; please - replace most of the politicians we have now with people who share your values, because most of the ones we have now have been purchased with billionaire's money, or "speech" as Thom likes to remind us.
I hope that your freedom is based on more than money or democracy. As much as these billionaires have a certain freedom that, as you say, we aspire to, it doesn't take much to take away their freedom, and then they're lost souls, because they've placed all their trust in money. Democracy is fine, if it hasn't been corrupted; unfortunately we're not seeing much of true democracy today.
Those at the top of the pyramid, look down at those below them as tools, widgets that aren't human, but whose purpose of existence is o serve them. Unless you are a peer, in the same rung of the ladder, or above them, you don't exist outside of how they can use you.
Like Mehmet OZ, they don't know what life is like for the rest of us, he grabs broccoli out of a bin and calls it crudite'. They have have never had to make an appointment with a PCP, or sit in a waiting line. or an airport line.
And their feckless and gullible minions, are overjoyed that they have a dear leader, as surrogate father to take care of them and make the world safe, by obliterating any and all whom they feel is threat to their own mini kingdom, the traveling space in which they are ensconced. That is one that does not include those pesky outsiders who have "stolen" their hegemony. Self willed and self validating females, LGBT, people with more melanin than they, and POC who are enjoying the perks of Stephen, the house slave in Django Unchained.
The hell with you I got mine attitude, which is prevalent if not prominent in all races, classes and subcultures.
We see that with the transphobia of Andrew Sullivan and J.R. (the TERF) Rowling. and Tim Scott, Kanye, Clarence Thomas, and Ms Ladybug Graham of SC.
Yes, all that is blind privilege. I do wonder if we might institute a version of domestic Peace Corps, an alternative to serving in the military, a way to spend gap years or as a career path of service to country. Possibly wherein time devoted to public service might be rewarded like the military, with paid higher education opportunity, health/medicare, & other financial perks. When we see what we have in common, when we 'meet' each other in life, we are more humanized and understanding. It would strengthen our country and culture, unify us
I intuitively agree, however from my experience the military is full of right wingers, it is an institutionally conservative organization. A domestic peace corps would have to have different objectives, rather than be trained to kill.
Being a retired officer, I can honestly say, that military training and camaraderie is not focused on anything, other than accomplishing the mission and following orders
The Peace Corps I was referring to is the int'l mission est by JFK. Not law and order peace keeping. The military uses the term 'peace keeping mission' I think... - someone I know served in Afghanistan under Petreaus in this way, helping with water access and building a school. So very similar. I see why you made that connection.
It's a big idea... one could devote one's life to creating the vision for it, and how it would be implemented and funded.
I understood the difference. I knew a number of people who served in the Peace Corps in South America.I gave half of my bachelor quarters to one, while waiting for a flight to Bolivia.
I was stationed at Howard AFB, CZ at the time.
That arrogant, narcissistic ass, Chris Matthews also joined the Peace Corps as an alternative to being drafted for Vietnam.
The loss of power for us bourgeoisie, means security of power for the plutocrats.
And they are like sharks who have to keep swimming or die from suffocation ( water has to be forced through a sharks gills, they don't breathe like other species. The plutocrats (gamblers -stock market and real estate developers especially) have to find more and more ways of making a profit or they die.
Example is the CEO CFO and COO of large corporations, most (except for Koch's) are hired by a Board of Directors, who represent their and other corporations, and the Executives have one mandate and that is to produce a positive Quarterly Profit and Loss statement, their jobs, salaries and especially bonuses rely on this increasingly positive report. Thus they are like sharks.
Also like gambling, alcohol, tobacco, guns it is addictive.
What do we do about it? Where are the pathways to strike back and to protect the people who are on the research and report front lines? The Democratic Party?? Move On???
NPR just had a piece on about election officials who were stalked, threatened, spied upon and who expect it to be worse, this time around. One gal was 3rd trimester pregnant during the 2020 cycle. Such a sweetheart; who tortures and terrorizes pregnant women? Bullies, that's who. They were followed by trucks, big SUV's, cut off, pointed guns at them .... I bet all the harassers were drunk or high. The anger, rage comes from that. Anyhow, suing someone into bankruptcy is one of the older tricks in the U.S. playbook. Using the courts as a battleground is common in business, politics, everything. How many women were screwed by rich, narcissistic sociopaths in a divorce just so 'hubby' could hook up with a trophy wife? I know thousands who have been forced into poverty by guys like these. At least The Donald, Bezos, Musk paid them off.
I think our only hope is the Lincoln project. If the Lincoln project would set up a GoFundMe page, we could reach the maga masses during NASCAR on television and during wrestling and rodeos and country music programming. We could try to educate the brainwashed to what a dictatorship is, and ask them if they want to lose their gun rights, their organs, their freedom, their children's future, their social security, their minimum wage, betortured, starve, eat poisoned food, water and pharmaceutical drugs.... And so much more. The the commercials in my opinion should end with, if you can't vote for Biden don't vote for something even worse!
Yeah Putins a great guy . Remind me please , no, do not I couldn’t take the condescension.
Tell
me again how well protected we’ve been through Republican administrations .
Fascists are ruling that congregation, now .
I don’t believe that we in this country have ever realized the full extent of ruthless violence and power in many instances .
Who is protected now?
Only the wealthy and the well connected. Only money for certain ‘deserving ‘ citizens , white men with very deep wallets. The Federalist Society has certainly contributed to the current power structure. So has the Catholic Church in this country . Is the aimed power of the wealthy superseding the trampling of the people?
Of course . And is the constant attack of lies by the Jim Jordans and Marge T Greene and Mr Comer of course DJT, always excused by the powerful.
I would say the lies and misinformation industry took off with the Iraq War when Democrats and Republicans alike were waving the flag and championing a war they knew was completely unprovoked and unwarranted. This delegitimized both parties sufficiently to cast doubt upon critical thinking and truth. Then the media, you included, started taking sides, each side rallying against the malfeasances of the other without any reflection upon their own. Because neither side is honest, neither has the moral grounds for the judgment and abuse they heap upon one another, aided by pundits selling everything including themselves to make a living off their respective echo chambers. The result of this is perpetual war due to both sides backing imperialist leaders and policies, and the ultimate violation of the tenets of Martin Luther King Jr in the enabling and ignoring of our militarism and brutality abroad and here at home.
May I call you Barry? I read your profile as an avowed Liberal Progressive and I respect that very much. I am a left leaning moderate and a reformed radical liberal.
I believe that the GOP led wars are as bad as any that Dems have broadened and implemented. However I think Fascists aligned with Christian Nationalists funded by Oligarchs are the prime evil in this cruel world.
Biden is no saint for sure but significantly better than any current maga loving GQP candidate for leadership.
I espouse significant change that can only happen through a " Blue" sweep in 2024, 2026 & 2028. I want to see what can be accomplished with a super majority like the Republicans have had in many, many Red States.
Putin like Hitler and other extreme authoritarian males will stop at nothing unless stopped by the U.S military.
Why should he think that he had a green light to move against Zelensky( your comedian), I see that you think negotiations will mollify him and all he has done is ignore any of that. His major deterrent is the US and he sees that we are nearly destroyed by the enemies within.
To control anyone else we must first shore up our own Democracy and that will take years. Nuclear war will come if any dictator in this world believes we are weak at home and at this point it looks increasingly like we are.
Appreciate your perspective and of course you can call me Barry. First, we are the ones cutting off communication by refusing to speak to the Russian ambasador about anything at all. Second, while it was not covered by US media of course, there were peace negotiations in March of 2022 which were stopped by the US-- https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/05/09/ukrainian-news-outlet-suggests-uk-and-us-governments-are-primary-obstacles-to-peace/. Three, Zelensky is a comedian just like Trump is a reality show star. Neither have a clue about running a country which is why Zelensky does whatever we say. And I would offer that Biden's milquetoast finger-to-the-wind politics and policy are too weak to fight Trump's brand of fascist populism. Saying you are a lobar president and then breaking a railway workers strike or passing legislation to combat climate change and opening up record areas to oil and gas exploration has real world impacts far beyond any armchair punditry or political considerations. Only someone who is truly for the people, eg a Bernie Sanders type populist, could defeat Trump's fascism. BIden is for the oligarchs, and Democrats have cried wolf too many times for Americans to be mobilized by an establishment codger who is losing his faculties. This "better than Trump" relativism is what has put us in such a precarious place in the first place. Pretending that a judgment-addled, lying hundred millionaire like Hillary Clinton was some sort of noble opponent against a judgment-addled, lying billionaire was an example of how a lack of critical thinking and journalism, along with the "better than Trump" model, continues to put us in a rightward downward spiral. Instead if fighting this rightward shift with sound public policy, Biden and the Democrats join the Republicans in their harsh militaristic policies so they won't look "weak" and to appeal to that ever-popular "swing voter." I do often wonder how bad things will have to get, what with the loss of women's reproductive rights which is Obama's fault and our escalation of imperialist foreign policy that liberals seem to embrace fully. Liberals are the splitting image of Martin Luther King Jr's (and Malcom X's) "moderate white liberal," going against virtually every tenet of peace and equality that MLK espoused while using his name for political advantage ewhen convenient. They are awful, and just because Trump is worse does not mean I should support any of them apart from those who do not accept corporate PAC money. In truth, Democrats love Trump and made him the frontrunner in 2016 (https://www.salon.com/2016/11/09/the-hillary-clinton-campaign-intentionally-created-donald-trump-with-its-pied-piper-strategy/). He is great for fundraising and they can do pretty much anything they want and still look better than him. What's not to like?
Lies were "huge" in the runup to the Iraq invasion especially in red America. We were driving back from Alaska across northern America, living in our pick up, at this time. There was no such thing as finding the NY Times on a newspaper shelf, hearing NPR on our radio or anything but Limbaugh, etc. preaching hate along with the snake handler Evangelical sickos preaching equally insulting nonsense. We stopped at a gas station to get our oil changed. When the nice guy doing it saw our NY license plate he made a negative comment about our Senator, Hillary Clinton. He was amazed that my report from rural upstate NY was pretty positive. His "knowledge" from his news sources was totally non existence. He had Limbaugh on his radio preaching his hate lies. We were astounded as I didn't realize that people took such insanity seriously, just like their religion.
Perfect Report that gets to the heart of the matter.
The one thing that dirt-bag Bannon tells the truth about is LYING. He could give a master class on how to use distortion to disorient and exploit the people who do not want to do their homework. They don't want us to do ours either. His target market is not stupid---they are willfully ignorant. They choose to hide behind religion. Does that make them bad people? It does when they also choose to bully and discriminate.
Jordan's hearings are pitiful. The Dems are fighting back and doing a good job of it. All I can say is if any of these disinformation researchers get hauled before Congress they will be able to tell their side of things and they will be helped by Democrats on the committee. Take a look at C-SPAN to see Rep. Nadler in action at the Durham hearing. Sadly, researchers would not want "help" from either side. They just need common decency from both, so they can do the research and science that is sorely needed. The right fears the truth. Republican disinformation purveyors.....what a bunch of fascists, criminals, and losers!
Jim Jordan knows only lies , fortifying lies, accusing truth tellers of lying . Orban has taught his students well. And the followers of these vipers the Maga also have turned truth around . They will repeat anything they hear by the most sordid GOP liars club. Their souls have been stolen by misinformation, no ,Lies by their leaders have wracked their innate ability to tell the truth. Thanks to all these , their warped leaders.
The GOP has decided that their only means to achieve political power is through lies, and lies do have some powerful effects. Dr. Steiner had much to say regarding lies - here's just one example:
"Thus there is a certain species of bacilli who are the carriers of infectious diseases; these beings are the progeny of the lies told by human beings; they are nothing else than physically embodied demons generated by lies. You see therefore that lies and untruths of earlier ages appear in world-karma as a definite host of beings. A passage in Faust indicates how much deep truth is contained in myths and sagas. You will find there a connection between vermin and lies in the role played by rats and mice in connection with Mephistopheles, the Spirit of Lies."
For our case today, future sagas will tell of the host of demons being entertained by today's GOP, the majority of whom are being led by the modern version of Mephistopheles, aka the Orange Man. For those who are doubtful, how else to explain that we suffered through our generations' worst bout of disease during the Trump administration?
Important topic...if we truly honor freedom of speech and freedom of the press. My personal moral radar still has Jordan, Scalise, and of course all of the outrageous liars: Gosar, MTG. Boehbert, McCarthy, Biggs, Brooks, Nunes, Gaetz, Gohmert, Loudermilk...all of those in the House who KNEW that the election was NOT stolen. But, also, never leaving my range, those in the Senate: Cruz, Hawley, Lee, Graham who SURELY knew that their actions were totally dishonest. Lee was worried that the Jan 6th committee had access to his and other's phones...why???
And, why is Garland afraid to go after traitors?
Why is Garland afraid to go after right wing traitors? The answer is obvious, they are family.
His Trump humping DOJ, has wasted no time going after Hunter and progressives, in fact the DHS ignores right wing terrorists and invests their resources into persecuting and with DOJ's help investigating and prosecuting environmental activists and antifascists, like the arrest of protestor at "Cop City"Fulton Co., GA
Just sent your reply to our President.
Can I expect a visit from the FBI now?
they don't have your name...
Our GOP representation, our conservative SC justices, and the manipulated base that justifies the worst crimes and policies, self-righteously parroting outrageous propaganda with no self-examination:, some of whom are very smart, are brainwashed by their insulated circles and their ignorance of empathic critical thinking, according to WWII era philosopher Hannah Arendt. Seems so obvious really but we all often subscribe great mental capacity to powerful people, especially SC justices who absolutely do not deserve the esteem. They are human beings who are simply brainwashed at this point, and weak in character. Arendt said, "The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil...."
From a great read and brief article:
20c philosopher and writer Hannah Arendt fled Nazi Germany (while her former philosophy professor and close friend became a Nazi), eventually landing in NY in 1941..... Throughout her life, she asked the question 'where does evil come from'...
In her report for the New Yorker of the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann "she expressed how disturbed she was that Eichmann was a rather bland, “terrifyingly normal” bureaucrat. He carried out his murderous role with calm efficiency not due to an abhorrent, warped mindset, but because he’d absorbed the principles of the Nazi regime so unquestioningly — never considering their consequences from anyone’s perspective but his own — that his focus was simply to further his career within the regime and climb its ladders of power.
His actions were defined not so much by thought, but by the absence of thought.
...Arendt concluded evil is perpetuated when immoral principles become normalized over time by people who do not think about things from the standpoint of others. Evil becomes commonplace; it becomes the everyday."
https://philosophybreak.com/articles/hannah-arendt-on-standing-up-to-the-banality-of-evil/
What is the psychological attraction for these mostly anonymous sources like Koch, Leo, etc to so energetically and ruthlessly advocate policy and behavior that is so destructive to the very freedoms that they claim to espouse? It's bullying for sure. And it can't be money. Absolute power is anathema to freedom. Their outrageous distortions and lies undermine all that is good, it undermines all true debate and communication in a free society. What did Hitler really want, what do Orban, Putin, the Taliban want? Is it just plain stupidity and ignorance for what freedom and honesty brings to a society? Is it just a mindless "lust for blood" reptilian mindset, an addiction, in a few individuals? It's not "God" because that is their manipulation of the masses, as they seem absolutely godless themselves, and without integrity. The balance of power in our government is central to our freedoms and security. And yet the conservative mindset seems intent to destroy that, which is the very fabric of what makes democracy work. Loss of political control does not fully answer the question. What human weakness is at the heart of this?
The attraction may be partly psychological, but that's not all of it. The "balance of power in our government" may indeed be "central to our freedoms and security," but it's ignoring a crucial component about which the Constitution says very little: economic power. In the early 20th century and then during the New Deal and the decades that followed, the legislative, executive, and judicial branches kept economic power in check, protecting (for example) the rights of workers and consumers and the health of the environment and, eventually, starting to dismantle the apartheid-like systems that denied basic civil and political rights to people of color.
From the Reagan administration onward, the GOP -- handsomely funded by uber-wealthy corporations and individuals -- has worked double-time to demolish all those safeguards. They believe, or claim to believe, that those safeguards were *attacks* on our "freedom." Supposedly if corporations and billionaires were unhampered by pesky regulations, they would do what's right for the country and we would all prosper.
We all should have realized decades ago that this plan, aka "supply-side economics," was a crock, but too many of us didn't. (Some of us thought it was an OK deal as long as it came with the promise of white Christian supremacy.) In some ways, this isn't all that surprising, because for close to two centuries now, Big Money has been accusing anyone who supports workers' rights, women's rights, people of color's rights, the planet's rights, etc., etc., of socialism, communism, anarchism, and so on -- and we keep falling for it.
Short version: It's not "human weakness" that's responsible for all of this -- instead, it's a system that handsomely rewards certain kinds of human weakness and puts ever-fewer restraints on it. On second thought, OK: human weakness *is* involved. It's our collective weakness when it comes to recognizing that unfettered economic power can and will undermine all the freedoms we claim to value. "Freedom" doesn't mean the same thing to the uber-wealthy (or, for that matter, to the white Christian supremacists) as it does to you or me. Their freedom is built on unfreedom for the rest of us. Here's hoping enough of us catch on before it's too late.
It's interesting, you make good points. I would argue that money at the level we are talking has become something else. No one has the capacity to comprehend even a billion dollars, as Musk has lost in a day, even more, or that kind of sum that appears in a column on a spreadsheet for Koch, any more than anyone can fully comprehend 'infinity.' I maintain rather than economics, it comes down to one's personal sense of 'freedom' - and for the privileged, that is about always getting their way, because they can. They think anyway. That is all they know at some point. That has become their sense of 'freedom.' And limiting that feels like oppression. And they lack the capacity to see otherwise because they cannot 'feel' for another human being.
It's hard to conceive the amount of money they have. No kidding. Ideas about freedom matter, but so do economics -- and in our society the two are closely related. (You can have unlimited freedom to do whatever you want, but if you don't have the economic resources, it won't happen.) The solution? Damned if I know, but here's my guess: If you trace the wealth of the uber-wealthy back to its sources, sooner or later you'll find real people producing a product or service that makes money for the uber-wealthy. That's their vulnerability, and our potential source of power.
I could not agree more. As an example, read the commentary of kaufman D O in these comments section. There is the example of what you are writing about.
Good question. The human weakness is the same that has dogged humanity for eons - these men (they're usually men) are fixated on the idea that their world-view represents what's right and true, and the rest of us are on the wrong path. They become dictatorial in their beliefs, because they're unable to comprehend that human society can function with more than just one world-view. Broad-mindedness is a virtue they lack.
Yes, I realized, after posting my question, that their bullying lies and distortion, their single mindedness on power at all costs, comes from a primal fear of others, distrust of others having control over THEM, their choices. Sequestering them. And so entitled people - who have enjoyed a level of freedom the rest of us aspire to enjoy through a better justice system, through respect for one another, through our democratic institutions - become irrational and panic, on a primal level, at any sense of loss of it. Will do anything to hold onto their freedom as they know it. Freedom is intensely primal, the desire for freedom "undivisible" to us, as Jefferson phrased it. So any alternative to the freedom anyone enjoys looms as a threat. And to someone entitled, giving up privilege is an unknown abyss where others can take control. Democracy, the balance of powers, our checks and balances is the brilliant safeguard against what they fear. The conservative mind seems not to understand this basic truth. That we must protect a just system, greater than ourselves, aspire to have institutions beyond human corruption, and seek to treat each other with dignity and respect.
With democratic values as you've expressed, you ought to be a politician; please - replace most of the politicians we have now with people who share your values, because most of the ones we have now have been purchased with billionaire's money, or "speech" as Thom likes to remind us.
I hope that your freedom is based on more than money or democracy. As much as these billionaires have a certain freedom that, as you say, we aspire to, it doesn't take much to take away their freedom, and then they're lost souls, because they've placed all their trust in money. Democracy is fine, if it hasn't been corrupted; unfortunately we're not seeing much of true democracy today.
Yes real freedom is found inside us, the way we choose to respond to the inevitable blows
Those at the top of the pyramid, look down at those below them as tools, widgets that aren't human, but whose purpose of existence is o serve them. Unless you are a peer, in the same rung of the ladder, or above them, you don't exist outside of how they can use you.
Like Mehmet OZ, they don't know what life is like for the rest of us, he grabs broccoli out of a bin and calls it crudite'. They have have never had to make an appointment with a PCP, or sit in a waiting line. or an airport line.
And their feckless and gullible minions, are overjoyed that they have a dear leader, as surrogate father to take care of them and make the world safe, by obliterating any and all whom they feel is threat to their own mini kingdom, the traveling space in which they are ensconced. That is one that does not include those pesky outsiders who have "stolen" their hegemony. Self willed and self validating females, LGBT, people with more melanin than they, and POC who are enjoying the perks of Stephen, the house slave in Django Unchained.
The hell with you I got mine attitude, which is prevalent if not prominent in all races, classes and subcultures.
We see that with the transphobia of Andrew Sullivan and J.R. (the TERF) Rowling. and Tim Scott, Kanye, Clarence Thomas, and Ms Ladybug Graham of SC.
Yes, all that is blind privilege. I do wonder if we might institute a version of domestic Peace Corps, an alternative to serving in the military, a way to spend gap years or as a career path of service to country. Possibly wherein time devoted to public service might be rewarded like the military, with paid higher education opportunity, health/medicare, & other financial perks. When we see what we have in common, when we 'meet' each other in life, we are more humanized and understanding. It would strengthen our country and culture, unify us
I intuitively agree, however from my experience the military is full of right wingers, it is an institutionally conservative organization. A domestic peace corps would have to have different objectives, rather than be trained to kill.
Being a retired officer, I can honestly say, that military training and camaraderie is not focused on anything, other than accomplishing the mission and following orders
The Peace Corps I was referring to is the int'l mission est by JFK. Not law and order peace keeping. The military uses the term 'peace keeping mission' I think... - someone I know served in Afghanistan under Petreaus in this way, helping with water access and building a school. So very similar. I see why you made that connection.
It's a big idea... one could devote one's life to creating the vision for it, and how it would be implemented and funded.
I understood the difference. I knew a number of people who served in the Peace Corps in South America.I gave half of my bachelor quarters to one, while waiting for a flight to Bolivia.
I was stationed at Howard AFB, CZ at the time.
That arrogant, narcissistic ass, Chris Matthews also joined the Peace Corps as an alternative to being drafted for Vietnam.
The loss of power for us bourgeoisie, means security of power for the plutocrats.
And they are like sharks who have to keep swimming or die from suffocation ( water has to be forced through a sharks gills, they don't breathe like other species. The plutocrats (gamblers -stock market and real estate developers especially) have to find more and more ways of making a profit or they die.
Example is the CEO CFO and COO of large corporations, most (except for Koch's) are hired by a Board of Directors, who represent their and other corporations, and the Executives have one mandate and that is to produce a positive Quarterly Profit and Loss statement, their jobs, salaries and especially bonuses rely on this increasingly positive report. Thus they are like sharks.
Also like gambling, alcohol, tobacco, guns it is addictive.
What Crazy Donnie did was, he opened the "Ghostbusters" containment unit*.
But instead of amusing ghosts, he released the vile vapors, eerie entities and sick slimers of the GOP .
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLwKMkdVMnQ&t=32s
I have been saying this for seven years now!
All true.
What do we do about it? Where are the pathways to strike back and to protect the people who are on the research and report front lines? The Democratic Party?? Move On???
NPR just had a piece on about election officials who were stalked, threatened, spied upon and who expect it to be worse, this time around. One gal was 3rd trimester pregnant during the 2020 cycle. Such a sweetheart; who tortures and terrorizes pregnant women? Bullies, that's who. They were followed by trucks, big SUV's, cut off, pointed guns at them .... I bet all the harassers were drunk or high. The anger, rage comes from that. Anyhow, suing someone into bankruptcy is one of the older tricks in the U.S. playbook. Using the courts as a battleground is common in business, politics, everything. How many women were screwed by rich, narcissistic sociopaths in a divorce just so 'hubby' could hook up with a trophy wife? I know thousands who have been forced into poverty by guys like these. At least The Donald, Bezos, Musk paid them off.
I think our only hope is the Lincoln project. If the Lincoln project would set up a GoFundMe page, we could reach the maga masses during NASCAR on television and during wrestling and rodeos and country music programming. We could try to educate the brainwashed to what a dictatorship is, and ask them if they want to lose their gun rights, their organs, their freedom, their children's future, their social security, their minimum wage, betortured, starve, eat poisoned food, water and pharmaceutical drugs.... And so much more. The the commercials in my opinion should end with, if you can't vote for Biden don't vote for something even worse!
It is one of my goals to shout that it is time to tax all religion as if it was a large multi national organization.
Yeah Putins a great guy . Remind me please , no, do not I couldn’t take the condescension.
Tell
me again how well protected we’ve been through Republican administrations .
Fascists are ruling that congregation, now .
I don’t believe that we in this country have ever realized the full extent of ruthless violence and power in many instances .
Who is protected now?
Only the wealthy and the well connected. Only money for certain ‘deserving ‘ citizens , white men with very deep wallets. The Federalist Society has certainly contributed to the current power structure. So has the Catholic Church in this country . Is the aimed power of the wealthy superseding the trampling of the people?
Of course . And is the constant attack of lies by the Jim Jordans and Marge T Greene and Mr Comer of course DJT, always excused by the powerful.
Tom Hartmanns got this right.
These Republicans are installing and advancing
Fascism at every turn .
Perfectly said and believed!
Jim Jordan is the worst of the worst.
What about the anti slapp lawsuit? https://www.rcfp.org/resources/anti-slapp-laws/#recentantislappupdates
It is meant to protect freedom of speech from intimidating lawsuits. Reporters know of it, but its open to everyone.
FYI 1988 - Frank Zappa . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzBWuE_ECdk
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart.
Oh, what a goodly outside, falsehood hath!
(Antonio, The Merchant of Venice)
I would say the lies and misinformation industry took off with the Iraq War when Democrats and Republicans alike were waving the flag and championing a war they knew was completely unprovoked and unwarranted. This delegitimized both parties sufficiently to cast doubt upon critical thinking and truth. Then the media, you included, started taking sides, each side rallying against the malfeasances of the other without any reflection upon their own. Because neither side is honest, neither has the moral grounds for the judgment and abuse they heap upon one another, aided by pundits selling everything including themselves to make a living off their respective echo chambers. The result of this is perpetual war due to both sides backing imperialist leaders and policies, and the ultimate violation of the tenets of Martin Luther King Jr in the enabling and ignoring of our militarism and brutality abroad and here at home.
May I call you Barry? I read your profile as an avowed Liberal Progressive and I respect that very much. I am a left leaning moderate and a reformed radical liberal.
I believe that the GOP led wars are as bad as any that Dems have broadened and implemented. However I think Fascists aligned with Christian Nationalists funded by Oligarchs are the prime evil in this cruel world.
Biden is no saint for sure but significantly better than any current maga loving GQP candidate for leadership.
I espouse significant change that can only happen through a " Blue" sweep in 2024, 2026 & 2028. I want to see what can be accomplished with a super majority like the Republicans have had in many, many Red States.
Putin like Hitler and other extreme authoritarian males will stop at nothing unless stopped by the U.S military.
Why should he think that he had a green light to move against Zelensky( your comedian), I see that you think negotiations will mollify him and all he has done is ignore any of that. His major deterrent is the US and he sees that we are nearly destroyed by the enemies within.
To control anyone else we must first shore up our own Democracy and that will take years. Nuclear war will come if any dictator in this world believes we are weak at home and at this point it looks increasingly like we are.
Appreciate your perspective and of course you can call me Barry. First, we are the ones cutting off communication by refusing to speak to the Russian ambasador about anything at all. Second, while it was not covered by US media of course, there were peace negotiations in March of 2022 which were stopped by the US-- https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/05/09/ukrainian-news-outlet-suggests-uk-and-us-governments-are-primary-obstacles-to-peace/. Three, Zelensky is a comedian just like Trump is a reality show star. Neither have a clue about running a country which is why Zelensky does whatever we say. And I would offer that Biden's milquetoast finger-to-the-wind politics and policy are too weak to fight Trump's brand of fascist populism. Saying you are a lobar president and then breaking a railway workers strike or passing legislation to combat climate change and opening up record areas to oil and gas exploration has real world impacts far beyond any armchair punditry or political considerations. Only someone who is truly for the people, eg a Bernie Sanders type populist, could defeat Trump's fascism. BIden is for the oligarchs, and Democrats have cried wolf too many times for Americans to be mobilized by an establishment codger who is losing his faculties. This "better than Trump" relativism is what has put us in such a precarious place in the first place. Pretending that a judgment-addled, lying hundred millionaire like Hillary Clinton was some sort of noble opponent against a judgment-addled, lying billionaire was an example of how a lack of critical thinking and journalism, along with the "better than Trump" model, continues to put us in a rightward downward spiral. Instead if fighting this rightward shift with sound public policy, Biden and the Democrats join the Republicans in their harsh militaristic policies so they won't look "weak" and to appeal to that ever-popular "swing voter." I do often wonder how bad things will have to get, what with the loss of women's reproductive rights which is Obama's fault and our escalation of imperialist foreign policy that liberals seem to embrace fully. Liberals are the splitting image of Martin Luther King Jr's (and Malcom X's) "moderate white liberal," going against virtually every tenet of peace and equality that MLK espoused while using his name for political advantage ewhen convenient. They are awful, and just because Trump is worse does not mean I should support any of them apart from those who do not accept corporate PAC money. In truth, Democrats love Trump and made him the frontrunner in 2016 (https://www.salon.com/2016/11/09/the-hillary-clinton-campaign-intentionally-created-donald-trump-with-its-pied-piper-strategy/). He is great for fundraising and they can do pretty much anything they want and still look better than him. What's not to like?
Ok I will agree you are mostly correct but my plan stands
Pray tell what side did Thom Hartmann and progressives take that is so evil and heinous.
sounds like you are saying that they should have taken no side, Is that your obscure way of supporting Putin and his genocide. If so then fail.
Putin indeed is an immoral war criminal, and Biden is on the side of the victim being bullied.
Apparently in your weltenschaung. The party being raped, plundered and murdered is just suppose to surrender and let the offender have his way.
Would you welcome the same to a home invader. I think not
Spot on William
Lies were "huge" in the runup to the Iraq invasion especially in red America. We were driving back from Alaska across northern America, living in our pick up, at this time. There was no such thing as finding the NY Times on a newspaper shelf, hearing NPR on our radio or anything but Limbaugh, etc. preaching hate along with the snake handler Evangelical sickos preaching equally insulting nonsense. We stopped at a gas station to get our oil changed. When the nice guy doing it saw our NY license plate he made a negative comment about our Senator, Hillary Clinton. He was amazed that my report from rural upstate NY was pretty positive. His "knowledge" from his news sources was totally non existence. He had Limbaugh on his radio preaching his hate lies. We were astounded as I didn't realize that people took such insanity seriously, just like their religion.
Perfect Report that gets to the heart of the matter.
The one thing that dirt-bag Bannon tells the truth about is LYING. He could give a master class on how to use distortion to disorient and exploit the people who do not want to do their homework. They don't want us to do ours either. His target market is not stupid---they are willfully ignorant. They choose to hide behind religion. Does that make them bad people? It does when they also choose to bully and discriminate.
Jordan's hearings are pitiful. The Dems are fighting back and doing a good job of it. All I can say is if any of these disinformation researchers get hauled before Congress they will be able to tell their side of things and they will be helped by Democrats on the committee. Take a look at C-SPAN to see Rep. Nadler in action at the Durham hearing. Sadly, researchers would not want "help" from either side. They just need common decency from both, so they can do the research and science that is sorely needed. The right fears the truth. Republican disinformation purveyors.....what a bunch of fascists, criminals, and losers!
Jim Jordan knows only lies , fortifying lies, accusing truth tellers of lying . Orban has taught his students well. And the followers of these vipers the Maga also have turned truth around . They will repeat anything they hear by the most sordid GOP liars club. Their souls have been stolen by misinformation, no ,Lies by their leaders have wracked their innate ability to tell the truth. Thanks to all these , their warped leaders.
Not the Maga,but MAGAts.or phonetically Maggots.
Lol
The GOP has decided that their only means to achieve political power is through lies, and lies do have some powerful effects. Dr. Steiner had much to say regarding lies - here's just one example:
"Thus there is a certain species of bacilli who are the carriers of infectious diseases; these beings are the progeny of the lies told by human beings; they are nothing else than physically embodied demons generated by lies. You see therefore that lies and untruths of earlier ages appear in world-karma as a definite host of beings. A passage in Faust indicates how much deep truth is contained in myths and sagas. You will find there a connection between vermin and lies in the role played by rats and mice in connection with Mephistopheles, the Spirit of Lies."
For our case today, future sagas will tell of the host of demons being entertained by today's GOP, the majority of whom are being led by the modern version of Mephistopheles, aka the Orange Man. For those who are doubtful, how else to explain that we suffered through our generations' worst bout of disease during the Trump administration?