Ronald Mc'Donald Hung Out To Dry - The Collapse of Globalization- By Chris Hedges

[kpete]

The aim of the corporate state is not to feed, clothe or house the masses, but to shift all economic, social and political power and wealth into the hands of the tiny corporate elite. It is to create a world where the heads of corporations make $900,000 an hour and four-job families struggle to survive. The corporate elite achieves its aims of greater and greater profit by weakening and dismantling government agencies and taking over or destroying public institutions. Charter schools, mercenary armies, a for-profit health insurance industry and outsourcing every facet of government work, from clerical tasks to intelligence, feed the corporate beast at our expense. The decimation of labor unions, the twisting of education into mindless vocational training and the slashing of social services leave us ever more enslaved to the whims of corporations. The intrusion of corporations into the public sphere destroys the concept of the common good. It erases the lines between public and private interests. It creates a world that is defined exclusively by naked self-interest.

...................

The celebrities and reality television stars whose foibles we know intimately live indolent, self-centered lives in sprawling mansions or exclusive Manhattan apartments. They parade their sculpted and surgically enhanced bodies before us in designer clothes. They devote their lives to self-promotion and personal advancement, consumption, parties and the making of money. They celebrate the cult of the self. And when they have meltdowns we watch with gruesome fascination. This empty existence is the one we are taught to admire and emulate. This is the life, we are told, we can all have. The perversion of values has created a landscape where corporate management by sleazy figures like Donald Trump is confused with leadership and where the ability to accumulate vast sums of money is confused with intelligence. And when we do glimpse the poor or working class on our screens, they are ridiculed and taunted. They are objects of contempt, whether on “The Jerry Springer Show” or “Jersey Shore.”

........................................

The propagandists for globalism are the natural outgrowth of this image-based and culturally illiterate world. They speak about economic and political theory in empty clichés. They cater to our subliminal and irrational desires. They select a few facts and isolated data and use them to dismiss historical, economic, political and cultural realities. They tell us what we want to believe about ourselves. They assure us that we are exceptional as individuals and as a nation. They champion our ignorance as knowledge. They tell us that there is no reason to investigate other ways of organizing and governing our society. Our way of life is the best. Capitalism has made us great. They peddle the self-delusional dream of inevitable human progress. They assure us we will be saved by science, technology and rationality and that humanity is moving inexorably forward.

None of this is true. It is a message that defies human nature and human history. But it is what many desperately want to believe. And until we awake from our collective self-delusion, until we carry out sustained acts of civil disobedience against the corporate state and sever ourselves from the liberal institutions that serve the corporate juggernaut—especially the Democratic Party—we will continue to be rocketed toward a global catastrophe.

more:
Chris Hedges:

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_collapse_of_globalization_20110328

[marew]

1. Absolutely true.

And pathetically tragic. I will never understand the greed and selfishness, never.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. True and Obvious and we freaking SETTLE FOR IT

When are we going to wake up?

[PATRICK]

3. Pardon my aging brain

Some good recent post delineated five groups/factors uniting to spark revolt in the Arab countries. You can see that in the USA as well with the key difference being: we are not being ground into desperation on all these fronts yet, there is "hope" for some political change within the system, the propaganda and other props along with civil rights and social programs is too intact to spark the overthrow. The goons on the right of course want to dismantle those very props including the modest reportage of NPR and more gleefully celebrate the iron fist ungloved.

The long slide of America can become quickly precipitous because of the dominance march of the usual suspects. Evil is noted primarily for sly and ruthless stupidity. The illusions and vestiges of democracy and social prosperity cause fear among the rich ever deifying themselves beyond the need for actual production, social contribution and post-imperial banksterism. As with slavery, the situation, even if apparently stable and unassailable from within, degenerates for all and can be defeated by a massive confrontation with the self-entitled "elites".

[freshwest]

24. That is probably the most awesome post I've read here. Thank your aging brain for me.

[xchrom]

4. recommend

[msongs]

5. Our politicians extend tax cuts for the filthy rich despite their campaign lies lol nt

[freshwest]

25. We don't pay them as well as the rich, is all that is. They're the middle men between 'us and them.'

[Dawson Leery]

6. K/R

"Reality" Television has dominated the small screen this past decade. Corporate media trying to sell the masses a fantasy indeed.

"The celebrities and reality television stars whose foibles we know intimately live indolent, self-centered lives in sprawling mansions or exclusive Manhattan apartments. They parade their sculpted and surgically enhanced bodies before us in designer clothes. They devote their lives to self-promotion and personal advancement, consumption, parties and the making of money. They celebrate the cult of the self. And when they have meltdowns we watch with gruesome fascination. This empty existence is the one we are taught to admire and emulate. This is the life, we are told, we can all have. The perversion of values has created a landscape where corporate management by sleazy figures like Donald Trump is confused with leadership and where the ability to accumulate vast sums of money is confused with intelligence. And when we do glimpse the poor or working class on our screens, they are ridiculed and taunted."

[Snoutport]

7. kr x 2

[Dawson Leery]

8. Ever see the G*d D**m "E" Channel?

Every show is at a party or in an overpriced high end hotel/resort. If not that, they are in a mansion with "assistants" which is the new term for "staff"/"help".

[dotymed]

19. How about the "reality show" called

"Sweet Sixteen?"
It shows wealthy teenagers turning sixteen y.o.'s, getting "gifts" that the average American can never afford. They spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on their children's "parties" and even more on their gifts.
It is hard to believe that struggling Americans do not revolt after watching one episode of this celebration of wealth and entitlement to the next generation, who are so self-centered and totally without a moral compass.
Instead, they applaud this generational, familial, transfer of wealth and entitlement. It is so unbelievable that people actually watch this and think, "wow, maybe when I turn 16 or my child turns 16, I can do this"..... NOT!
Get real people, you are not the entitled 1-5%. This is all a celebration of self indulgence and if one of the worker drones makes a mistake, it totally destroys the occasion.
HOW? Don't you believe that this level of indulgent wealth is obscene when we have people starving and living on the street, and not by choice.
Wake up and see the reality not the entertainment(?) value of the wealthy and their lifestyles.....
America is completely upside down and the MSM is mainly responsible...

[Dawson Leery]

29. Perhaps these 16 year olds need to get real jobs.

[tavalon]

14. Gosh, that makes me miss TV

Not.

[nradisic]

9. Fantastic Post

Kpete...you should be writing for a living...Kudos. Extremely well thought out and written...

[marmar]

10. It's an article written by Chris Hedges......

...... not to take anything away from kpete. :)

[kpete]

18. if only.....

but i am only the cut&paster....
peace, kpete

[bhikkhu]

11. Very well put!

As an alternative to that, I tend to think of a sane arrangement this way:

Every person eats, lives in buildings, wears clothing, consumes and uses things which are the products of other people's labor. It is natural for a person who relies on other people in that way to wish to give equally in turn, to produce with labor what other people need and use. To do so is to be a part of a society, and this is the natural desire of every person - to have a job or a role in society which makes us a part, to provide for others in some way, and in turn to be provided for.

The worst thing for a person is to be denied a role or excluded, even if that exclusion is done in such a way that material needs are still met. They are both terrible, but I think exclusion is worse than hunger.

Of course all this is mediated by money, among other things, which can be artificially accumulated. What about people who consume and use massive amounts of other people's labor, and give back nothing themselves? They are no part of a real or sane society, and in my experience they exhibit every variety of anxiety and malaise that might arise from exclusion, and from living a life of lies and fraud...somehow we as a society have been conned into wishing for wealth and ease, and thinking that being a real part of a real society is in some way shameful or a failure - to me this seems just a projection of the mental illness of the wealthy onto the rest of us.

Take care and be wise about who and what you admire!

[Fiendish Thingy]

12. k&r - there was a time that such heresy wasn't allowed on DU

"and sever ourselves from the liberal institutions that serve the corporate juggernaut—especially the Democratic Party—we will continue to be rocketed toward a global catastrophe."

It's nice to see some populist passion getting some airtime here.

[tavalon]

15. I've noticed a trend since 2008

It's rare that this administration is commended because they rarely do anything commendable. I'm glad that many of us have been able to see past party lines and speak the truth of what we see.

[Tripod]

13. Nice, k&r

[malaise]

16. Excellent article

Rec

[tomp]

17. "sever ourselves from the liberal institutions....

that serve the corporate juggernaut—especially the Democratic Party....."

that's what i've been saying.

but i think he means EX-liberal institutions.

[grahamhgreen]

20. To the top!

[SalviaBlue]

21. That was a "must read"

thanks for posting!

[Bozita]

22. Yup, MUST READ, for sure!

[freshwest]

23. The truth marches on! K & R!

[MichiganVote]

26. K&R

[lunatica]

27. It's hard to wake up when they keep feeding you sleeping pills

It's not just that people need to wake up. There's a concerted and deliberate hypnotic pressure to keep people asleep. People are worn down at every turn.

[Skidmore]

28. yup,,,

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x796804

[blackspade]

30. I can't recommend this enough.

As a historian and archaeologist, I am only too aware of the cyclical nature of civilization.
While we are taught that civilization is always progressing, we are not taught how the collapse of previous civilizations have resulted in losses of knowledge that have never been recovered.
We have a marvelously advanced society, but it's foundations are clay because we do not have any understanding of history and how it informs us of our current state.