"People can choose to be ruled by rich men who call themselves “markets” or they can trust themselves to erect public institutions that are responsive to human needs."
This is the stark choice facing citizens at this point in time. Do we choose to submit to High Tech Feudalism or do we choose to struggle and create participatory democracies built on shared work, responsibility and rewards?
Many of us have been angry and resigned to a dystopian future of submission to corporate oligarchs for some time now. Some people are resigned because they believe they have no choice in dealing with devastating job loss, home foreclosure and loan shark style student debt. Others are waiting for Hope and Change to set things right.
All of us are told daily by the mouth of the beast (the media, movies and television) that we have no rights that the oligarchs are bound to respect. ‘
Resistance is futile’ they whisper with nearly every television show, book and news article.
As far as the oligarchs and their lackeys are concerned, the majority of citizens are in the same position as free African-Americans in America in 1837. On the flimsiest of pretexts, a citizen’s "free papers" (Constitution and Bill of Rights) can be confiscated, shredded or burned at any time with the citizen shoved into bondage with little or no recourse.
At this moment, we still have the ability to choose, and choice is powerful. We can choose between:
A private banking system that exists only to steal money from working people or a system of
publicly owned state and municipal banks that recycles tax dollars back to Main Street, in the form of low interest small business loans, schools, parks, mass transit, health, housing and neighborhood services.
An industrial food system that saturates our soil, water and air with poison, tortures the animals we eat and contaminates the
food supply with genetically engineered organisms or public and transparent citizen institutions that protect and maintain vital natural systems such as water, food and
seeds, mountains, forests, rivers and oceans.
An outdated and highly concentrated energy system that pollutes rivers and oceans with oil and toxic dispersants, blows off the tops of mountains for dirty coal and “fracks up” fresh water supplies or clean, decentralized, renewable energy from the sun, wind, waves, geothermal and
biodigestion.
This window of choice will not last long. It has been creeping ever downward for thirty-five years. Only determined, long-term action by citizens can make a difference. The newborn Occupy movement and parallel movements like Peoples Organization for Progress seem to instinctively know this and have made a choice to act. What will the rest of us choose?
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phazex_female
in reply to randymoo05w
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Skii that is true Americans voted for George W. Bush, he is greatest example of the anti-intellectualism in politics. Its clear that Americans in general don't like smart intellectual people especially when they happen to be people of color like Obama. Its obvious that white conservatives have had enough of this slick talking socialist. Huckabee claimed Mr. Obama is " sharp enough to talk a dog out of a meat truck ". Racist white conservatives don't like these uppity negros, their unconscious biases only manifest themselves in the form of anti-intellectualism.
This is precisely why black people shouldn't confuse themselves and view black conservatism as being identical to white conservatism. Looking closer you realize anti-intellectualism is actually the overt chauvinism of the blissfully ignorant. McCain's appeal to anti-intellectualism via Joe The Plumber propaganda, ended up causing more embarassment than actual gains during his campaign. Recruiting a dingbat like Sarah Palin was genius, because her anti-rationalism and pure emotional bigotry, would appeal to working class whites who reside in the red states.
Anti-intellectualism is an American problem in general, however black people must not pretend like we have no desire for ideological/cultural homogeniety. This type of anti-intellectual populism keeps white racism alive, denying there is such sentiments amongst blacks is the literal equivalent of saying you never heard of Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka. These attitudes prevent racial equality in society, because they undermine African American merit, a black embrace of anti-intellectualism is essentially collaboration with the enemy.
-Humbleguy
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Note by Me: BET is never, ever equivalent to the KKK, but I get this guy's other points.
By Timothy
I just spent the week in New Orleans, the powerbase for one of the most talented, powerful and destructive forces in the history of music: Lil Wayne. I’ve admittedly bopped my head to the tunes of Lil Wayne in the past, feeling the same guilt that any man might feel if he were to enjoy a crack pipe or shot of heroine, knowing how these drugs destroy families, individuals and communities. In other words, I consider myself to be a Hip-Hop insider, and I simply hate the idea of being labeled as a hater. But as a father and Black man who has seen too much death and devastation in my family and so many others, I had to say that “enough is enough,” leading me to candidly discuss my decision to walk away from certain styles of Hip-Hop music.
BET, the media company that targets Black consumers, but is ultimately controlled by a predominantly white organization called Viacom, is not exactly on the same page when it comes to their assessment of Lil Wayne or any other artist (i.e. R. Kelly) who can be directly linked to the holocaust occurring within Black America today. Given that models of profit maximization rarely call for any assessment of the negative externalities that result from unethical corporate behavior, the executive committee for the BET Awards made the interesting decision to give the greatest number of award nominations to Lil Wayne, the man who said that he would (among other things) love to turn a woman out, murder her and send her dead body back to her boyfriend. Oh yea, he also said that he would kill little babies, have sex with every girl in the world, carry a gun on his hip and “leave a ni**a’s brains on the street.”
It might be almost feasible to overlook the “kill little babies comment” were it not for the innocent three-year old boy who was shot in the head by a 21-year old Black male in my hometown just a couple of weeks ago – these atrocities are all too common in quite a few neighborhoods across America. Also, the music might be considered simple entertainment were it not for the fact that millions of Black youth who had their history stolen during slavery actually look to Hip-Hop music to tell them how to dress, talk, think, act and live. There is no high school speaker more popular than a Hip-Hop star.
The Ku Klux Klan has been regularly criticized for encouraging violence against African Americans and terrorizing our community. But the truth is that the Klan doesn’t have much power anymore, and their thirst for African American blood seems to have waned a bit. At the same time, Lil Wayne and artists like him have made a habit of encouraging Black men to shoot one another, to abuse or murder women, to consume suicidal amounts of drugs and alcohol and to engage in irresponsible, deadly sexual behavior.
As a result, Black men are the most likely to die of gun violence, mass incarceration continues to decimate Black families, drug addiction and possession ruins Black lives in droves, and HIV is the leading killer of Black women. So, the truth is that Lil Wayne-like artists and the corporate armies producing this weaponized genocide have killed more Black people than the KKK ever could. So, by accelerating, financing and supporting the “Lil Wayne gospel” to a community that is already dying, BET has effectively positioned itself as a new and improved version of the KKK.
It’s one thing if BET reports on the activities of Lil Wayne or even has him as a guest on their network; we all know that celebrities increase ratings, and as a Business School Professor, I understand the need to pay the bills. But by publicly rewarding his behavior, they are encouraging every record company executive and Lil Wayne wannabe to go to the lab and manufacture more musical poison. As a result, there is some 10-year old boy putting down his textbook to watch the BET Awards, and effectively attending the Lil Wayne School of Black Male behavior. Years later, when this boy shoots another Black man in the face, infects one of his many “hoes” with HIV, ends up in a prison cell, dies from a drug overdose or beats his girlfriend to death, we will be able to link his behavior directly to his formative years, when we cashed in this child’s future for higher shareholder returns at Viacom.
Perhaps a day will come when those of us who know destructive music when we hear it – will actually have the discipline to draw lines and seek accountability – rather than look the other way. It’s not as if you can argue that Lil Wayne is actually GOOD for Black America, and it’s small-minded to justify a man’s reckless behavior just because he’s wealthy.
Charles Manson is considered one of the most vicious killers in history, yet he never actually murdered a soul. He has been in prison for 40 years because he convinced others to commit murder, controlling their minds through comfortable words and charisma. If Manson had been given the platform supplied by BET and the rest of corporate America and a license to share his rhetoric without restraint, he could have caused the deaths of millions more. So, by publicly rewarding and applauding the words of Lil Wayne, BET is giving his beloved message a level of power and penetration that is fit for a king – most interesting is that Wayne’s endorsement of killing women and children is far more vicious than anything Manson ever said.
So, the next time we turn to the KKK, Tea Partiers or the Republicans as the greatest enemies of Black people, we might want to take a look in the mirror. By cheering for those who recite lyrics that encourage us to kill our babies, we are effectively sleeping with and protecting the enemy.
-Humble Guy
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Iwillbfree
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I've been an observer of activists being co-opted since the 1960s. It works well to peel off some of the leaders, but enough people didn't rationalize and get co-opted so the various movements kept on: civil rights in South, women's movement, teachers' union start in early 1960s in NYC, antiwar movement (also had Dem pols scared in the 1960s as the antipoverty program died in the War on vietnam), and disability rights movements and the movement to stop police brutality. The warning is perfect, Glen Ford.
Also, Paul Street has a good breakdown of the 1% and $ with footnotes, new article, on Znet:
www.zcommunications.org/znet
Update: HuffPo sub-headline top of home page, Sat. 10/15, 5pm is How Obama will use Occupy Wall Street Against Republicans in 2012. The Occupy Wall Street folks will not be used.
And I'm happy to say that Disabled in Action (The url is)* .disabledinaction.org is going as a group to join the Occupation event in Manhattan tomorrow. I'm too ill to go, but there in spirit.
*I did not get to the site with
www.disabledinaction.org from here but was able to via google, typing in Disabled in Action.
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Interested11342 wrote:
And the dems founded the kkk, so? What about now? If you believe that the democratic party is better for you, you're lost.
The Democratic Party did not found the KKK. The KKK was founded by former officer in the Confederate army. Probably the founder was a member of the southern branch of the KKK. But the Democratic Party, like the Republicans, was divided into into right wing, centrist and left leaning elements.
The KKK members would belonged to the right wing, segregationist wing of the Democrats. However, you also found (and still find) KKK among right wing Republicans. And this especially so after the Civil Rights movement triumphed under liberal Democrat administraions of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Not surprising, LBJ stated that with the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the South would probably be lost to the Republican Party. It was, especially with the "southern strategy" of Richard NIxon (and later Reagan) of appealing to white racist resentments to win over formerly Democratic white voters. Dixicrats became Republicans. Some started moving in that direction with Republican rightist Barry Goldwater, an stauch foe of the Civil Rights Act..
The fact of the matter is that the RIGHT, both Democrat and Republican, have been opponents of civil rights and racial equality.
But there used to be moderates and liberal left in BOTH parites.
There still are right, center and left among Democrats. Republican Party has been hijacked by the Right. And the most deepseated, stubborn and adamant forms of racism have nearly always come from the Right.
-Savant
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Sam its true white people pay good money to see n_____ act like this. This is exactly why the worst kinds of hiphop sell the most records. Black people continue to look pass this ignorance because of the millions of dollars being made from it. But the sole reason we avoid speaking out against someone who is making tons of cash, is because it only results in accusations of being jealous of the wealthy- meaning the argument is rendered futile automatically. The old Jewish white guys that control mainstream rap music, determine what the records are going to sound like, and if the record isn't radio friendly ( Dumbed Down ), its not going to get any promotion.
The profits are too large to be concerned with, how this degrading representation makes black people look. In a materialistic society like ours objective measures are held in higher esteem than subjective measures, this is why we can look pass ignorant shit. But if white people didn't consume so much of this ignorance, don't you think rappers would have to stop dumbing down lyrics and start emulating the intelligent wordplay of rappers who have intellectual prowess like Andre 3000, Jay Electronica, Common and Lupe Fiasco.
These intellectual rappers don't necessarily give white americans confirmation about black intellectual inferiority, so their creative artistry suppposedly isn't a true representation of black people in racist white peoples eyes. Whats even worse is that black fans of commercial rap music even believe socially conscious rappers are square and uppity and their complex lyrics alienate the black people who identify with the anti-intellectual redneck culture of machismo called "The streets" . This black redneck culture has been commodified via mainstream rap music, thus the black inferiority complex has been commercialized in this racist society.
Unconscious racism is prevalent, and white americas unconscious racism is exactly what killed hip hop culture, and black peoples own internalized racism only adds fuel to the fire. Mainstream rappers use their wits only to brag about how many hoes they have, these men use their intellectual prowess for self dramatization, hell even use their vocabularies to downplay educational attainment. A genius way to put ones intellect to use allegedly.
-Humbleguy
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BLACKstarPAYNEin reply to RACISTIwbfreeASmitty
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Note by Me: I am not a Democrat or Republican, but I see where Anne is coming from.
By Timothy
Interested11342 wrote:
And the dems founded the kkk, so? What about now? If you believe that the democratic party is better for you, you're lost.
At some point, at least some of those Democratic KKK members became Republicans. While there were undeniably Republicans who
took part in the Civil Rights movement or aided it, there were also Democrats who did so. By the same token, there have been both Democrats and Republicans who have worked to hinder it. The
GOP's record of 2011 has been about cozying up to the corporate class at everyone else's expense, and that overshadows the good they did in the past. I love the way people harp on the honorable past of the GOP and the dishonorable one of the Democratic Party, while apparently ignoring the fact that their roles have been reversed. By that logic, blacks may as well not be part of the American system, since the system once tolerated slavery. Apparently, people who harp on the past believe there is no possibility of change, which causes them to ignore what the GOP has become.
As a black woman, I see nothing in the GOP of today that would induce me to vote for them. While they decry welfare for the poor, they have no problem with corporate welfare. There are Democrats who think the same way, AKA Blue Dogs, but the party as a whole is much more inclusive. They are far from perfect but they are indeed the "lesser of two evils." If we ever do again vote Republican, Herman Cain is not someone who would induce us to do so. He is a success as a businessman, but politically, he is as dumb as a box of rocks with all the crazy things coming out of his mouth. Furthermore, he seems indifferent to things that are about progress, including the very Civil Rights movement that has been instrumental in the success of him and other African-Americans.
He is affiliated with the empathy-and-ethics-challenged
Koch brothers, which is another big mark against him.
-Anne
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whowantz2knoin reply to Scapegoat4URLife
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soultry-soulin reply to Scapegoat4URLife
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN1VR9dj90c&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ICM3qhzrIc&feature=related
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whowantz2knoin reply to soultry-soul
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Mark says:
Yes. Read Donald Dewey’s excellent 1996 biography where it says:
NBC producer Hal Kanter was shocked when Stewart insisted on firing black actor Hal Williams from The Jimmy Stewart Show. Kanter recalled, “One day somebody comes running into my office and says you better get down and see Jimmy, he is absolutely furious. I go down to his dressing room, and he’s really hot. The problem was he had just found out that we were casting Hal Williams and he related that to a script for a show in which there was a cop lashing into the professor character. ‘Blacks are bossing white people all over the country,’ he says to me angrily, ‘and now we’re going to have the same damn thing on prime time television? A black is going to be lecturing me with millions of people watching? No way. I get casting approval and Williams is out.’ I couldn’t believe it. Aside from everything else, he’d screwed up the shows, because Williams had been hired to play an FBI agent on another episode. But his anger about the thing was frightening. He acted chagrined when I told him about the mix up he’d made, but both of us knew that he’d let one cat out of the bag that he would have preferred not to. He didn’t have an easy relationship with blacks even as fictional characters.” Others had seen the cat at least in the bag for some time. Director John Ford had picked on Stewart’s Achilles heel during the filming of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Readers of interviews over the years may have been struck by everything from his descriptions of the antics of “dusky” housekeepers before World War II, to his complaints during the 1960s and 1970s that motion pictures had fallen under the influence of special interest audiences, among them “teenagers and colored people.” Beverly Hills friend Leonard Gershe recalled, “I don’t think there’s any question that Jimmy was uncomfortable with black people. But I wouldn’t lay it all on Indiana, either. This is Beverly Hills, USA. It is possible to go to dinner parties for years and, except for maybe Gregory Peck’s home, never run into a black person, even the rich ones like Sidney Poitier and Quincy Jones. When you consider that Jimmy has spent almost his entire life in either Indiana or Beverly Hills, and is of a certain generation, you’re not talking about someone who figures to be particularly sensitive to race. Like a lot of people with his kind of mentality, any kind of militancy, like the civil rights demonstrations in the 1960s, made him very uneasy, were just another threat to the way he was used to living, like admitting women to Princeton.”
Stewart’s problems with black people are also described in the more recent biographies by Michael Munn and Marc Eliot.
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whowantz2knoin reply to Adonis
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the black community has beaten racism to the point where they can start and we all of us can start attacking economic inequality. we must redistribute the wealth. and today with people like lil wayne and jay -z at the fore front of black culture we stand no chance. they perpetuate the abundance of oppulence and materialism that keeps us subservient to the capitalist fat cats. VIVA CUBA LIBRE. VIVA LA REVOLUCION
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Brother Kwame Ture was full of fire because he exposed the racist Uncle Sam powers that be of their gross acts of murders after murders.
If Brother Kwame was hear now, he will always come for us.
4 hours ago
Conservatives have the nerve to say people voted for our current President because he's black but have nerve to insult us further by arguing with our rejection of a candidate who is black.
Don't you get it? It's about more than skin color and at one time, there was no alternative but white candidates. So does that mean whites voted for their candidates because they are white? With this recent, revealing insult, it would seem so.
Herman Cain is an Afro-puppet controlled by the Koch brothers: