White supremacists, Movement Conservatives, oligarchs, fascists, trumpist Republicans have all utilized othering to exploit the divisions in service of their rise to power. We do well to heed the wisdom of recently passed Desmond Tutu:
"When we see others as the enemy, we risk becoming what we hate. When we oppress others, we end up oppr…
White supremacists, Movement Conservatives, oligarchs, fascists, trumpist Republicans have all utilized othering to exploit the divisions in service of their rise to power. We do well to heed the wisdom of recently passed Desmond Tutu:
"When we see others as the enemy, we risk becoming what we hate. When we oppress others, we end up oppressing ourselves. All of our humanity is dependent upon recognizing the humanity in others.”
And for our work ahead, says Tutu:
"Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
And as you have often said...."Follow the money"....and destroy its all consuming influence
on our lives. We are in danger now because we have allowed the moneyed ideologues to put a price on everything reducing the people to wage slave consumers only allowed the freedom of increasing material inequalities in favour of those now imposing the rules. Many things in humane existence should have no price and this is what makes our society good for the wellbeing of everyone.
Follow the money. It’s always the money. We have always had this lawless accumulation of wealth group, previously called robber barons, now called kleptocratic oligarchs who want license to take advantage of and steal from everyone else. They do just enough good to distract everyone from their crimes. Think Andrew Carnegie endowing universities and libraries.
So, where will the money be in the future? I wonder if 'the American consumers', or the lack of them, will not have the greatest impact on the world economy if the US is splitting up like the USSR. In any case it would probably have much further reach than any of the present US sanctions imposed on certain countries. And China should be aware. - Wallenberg, the old Swedish capitalist, once referred to 'the Swedish engineer' with a sigh of great reliance. Since, I have been thinking of 'the American consumer' with a sigh of gratitude; at least until we have finished the earth.
A very interesting question, Olof. One fact that will militate against a USSR-style breakup of the American states: in US federal income taxes paid vs federal government money received by states, the Blue states are significantly the net benefactors, while the red states for all their politicians' bitching about creeping Democratic "socialism" are in fact the net takers by a significant margin They would fight like hell to keep us susidizing their states, if a breakup ever truly threatened.
“. . . just enough good”—Jeff Bezos gets our purchases delivered so fast we hardly notice what that has meant for so many small businesses. Who cares what he contributes in taxes (or doesn’t)? He’s going to save us by building living quarters on Mars. Or is that Elon Musk?
Mars is Musk. There is one good thing to be said about Bezos: Amazon pays on time each quarter for my books they have sold, which means I see that on time in my royalty payments. There's a silver lining in everything:-)
Sadly, the same cannot be said about the independents. I wish it was otherwise.
The MBAs - the one class of people who should be OBLITERATED - are the living embodiment of what was said of Accountants: they know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Yeah. Who knew Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness equaled huge Debt. I have been saying for years that all’s we are to them is Consumers and Commodities .Abortion in their eyes screws up their idea of ‘ Recycling ‘. China figured out that the “1 Child law “ was a mistake. In the ‘50’s ‘ we were around 160 million pop. Now , 340 mil minus all the old Ppl CoVid took out ? We still have a large Senior Pop. But mostly retired, sick and poor. Before CoVid we had 60 mil. Homeless Seniors. Bet that number has dropped ? We need them ‘Worker Bee’s ‘ just like China. Who is going to buy a home for 250K at 50 yrs old now and retire at 67 ? On not near enough to live on for the average person ? I hope I’m not here to see the Chaos .Looks so similar to the USSR when it fell.I’ve read so many have Cashed out of their 401 K’s to get through the Pandemic .
We treat the symptoms inorder to correct the behavior or the disease, too often though failing to achieve such as we keep treating the label (the symptom) as though it were such. Tutu's admonition is so important, at least to me, as I struggle to separate my abhorrence with conservative mongering while yet am coming to espose similar demonization of Republicans.
White supremacists, Movement Conservatives, oligarchs, fascists, trumpist Republicans have all utilized othering to exploit the divisions in service of their rise to power. We do well to heed the wisdom of recently passed Desmond Tutu:
"When we see others as the enemy, we risk becoming what we hate. When we oppress others, we end up oppressing ourselves. All of our humanity is dependent upon recognizing the humanity in others.”
And for our work ahead, says Tutu:
"Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
And as you have often said...."Follow the money"....and destroy its all consuming influence
on our lives. We are in danger now because we have allowed the moneyed ideologues to put a price on everything reducing the people to wage slave consumers only allowed the freedom of increasing material inequalities in favour of those now imposing the rules. Many things in humane existence should have no price and this is what makes our society good for the wellbeing of everyone.
Follow the money. It’s always the money. We have always had this lawless accumulation of wealth group, previously called robber barons, now called kleptocratic oligarchs who want license to take advantage of and steal from everyone else. They do just enough good to distract everyone from their crimes. Think Andrew Carnegie endowing universities and libraries.
(Sweden)
So, where will the money be in the future? I wonder if 'the American consumers', or the lack of them, will not have the greatest impact on the world economy if the US is splitting up like the USSR. In any case it would probably have much further reach than any of the present US sanctions imposed on certain countries. And China should be aware. - Wallenberg, the old Swedish capitalist, once referred to 'the Swedish engineer' with a sigh of great reliance. Since, I have been thinking of 'the American consumer' with a sigh of gratitude; at least until we have finished the earth.
A very interesting question, Olof. One fact that will militate against a USSR-style breakup of the American states: in US federal income taxes paid vs federal government money received by states, the Blue states are significantly the net benefactors, while the red states for all their politicians' bitching about creeping Democratic "socialism" are in fact the net takers by a significant margin They would fight like hell to keep us susidizing their states, if a breakup ever truly threatened.
“. . . just enough good”—Jeff Bezos gets our purchases delivered so fast we hardly notice what that has meant for so many small businesses. Who cares what he contributes in taxes (or doesn’t)? He’s going to save us by building living quarters on Mars. Or is that Elon Musk?
Try to completely avoid using Amazon. Refusing to put dollars in Jeff Bezos' pocket is one of the ways t Resist.
Agree!
Mars is Musk. There is one good thing to be said about Bezos: Amazon pays on time each quarter for my books they have sold, which means I see that on time in my royalty payments. There's a silver lining in everything:-)
Sadly, the same cannot be said about the independents. I wish it was otherwise.
The MBAs - the one class of people who should be OBLITERATED - are the living embodiment of what was said of Accountants: they know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Yeah. Who knew Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness equaled huge Debt. I have been saying for years that all’s we are to them is Consumers and Commodities .Abortion in their eyes screws up their idea of ‘ Recycling ‘. China figured out that the “1 Child law “ was a mistake. In the ‘50’s ‘ we were around 160 million pop. Now , 340 mil minus all the old Ppl CoVid took out ? We still have a large Senior Pop. But mostly retired, sick and poor. Before CoVid we had 60 mil. Homeless Seniors. Bet that number has dropped ? We need them ‘Worker Bee’s ‘ just like China. Who is going to buy a home for 250K at 50 yrs old now and retire at 67 ? On not near enough to live on for the average person ? I hope I’m not here to see the Chaos .Looks so similar to the USSR when it fell.I’ve read so many have Cashed out of their 401 K’s to get through the Pandemic .
Ellie, thank you for sharing the wisdom of Tutu. He was a fine man.
We treat the symptoms inorder to correct the behavior or the disease, too often though failing to achieve such as we keep treating the label (the symptom) as though it were such. Tutu's admonition is so important, at least to me, as I struggle to separate my abhorrence with conservative mongering while yet am coming to espose similar demonization of Republicans.
Beautiful. 🕊🕊
Love it, Ellie.
Thanks, Ellie.