This is truly messed up. Libraries—right now—likely even in Calgary—are destroying books by the hundreds. Of thousands. We’re not just talking Twilight, but apparently all sorts of old, potentially even treasured books. This is from Cracked, a comedy site, so the reading is lighthearted, but wow, I can’t really fathom how shocking of news this is to me.
This stat-filled article actually has me pretty convinced that were in for some tough times ahead—and worst of all, that the Baby Boomers (my parents) will likely bear the grunt of the burden :(
Here, fellow thinkers, is an example of a fucking good article.
It deals—very broadly speaking—with “cultural ignorance [as the precursor for cultural stupidity] generated by American hyper-capitalism in the form of junk affluence.”
Below are some disjointed excerpts that struck me as both highly relevant and astute. (My intent is not to reduce them to pastiche; just to shorten the lengthy read into chunks that might actually get read amidst tumblr’s unflinching shallowness).
The full article can and should be read here. The emphases are in the original (and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say this writing is occasionally fairly Maddox-y, for those of you who are fortunate enough to have previously experienced his fuck-tastic musings).
Anyway, on with the show:
Our hyper capitalist system, through command of our research, media and political institutions, expands upon and disseminates only that information which generates money and transactions. It avoids, neglects or spins the hell out of information that does not.
Cyberspace by nature feels very big from the inside, and its affinity groups, seeing themselves in aggregate and in mutual self reference, imagine their role bigger and more effective than it is.
(The Stewart rally was nonetheless culturally historic; we will never see a larger public display of post modern irony congratulating itself.)
But in the big picture [Wikileaks] will not change the way the top lizards in global politics, money and war have done business since the feudal age — which is to say with arrogant disregard for the rest of us. Theirs is an ancient system of human dominance that only shifts names and methodologies over the centuries.
Still, I for one am in favor of giving Assange the Médaille militaire, the Nobel Prize, 15 virgins in paradise and a billion in cash as a reward for his courage in doing damned well the only significant thing that can be done at this time — momentarily fucking up government control of information. But “potentially stimulating a new age of U.S. government transparency,” (BBC) it ain’t.
Since the industrial revolution, the struggle has been between capital and workers. Capital won in America and spread its successful tactics worldwide. Now we watch global capitalism wreck the world and attempt to stay ahead of that wreckage clutching its profits. A subservient world kneels before it, praying that planet destroying jobs will fall their way. Will unrestrained global capitalism, with all the power and momentum on its side and motivated purely by machine-like harvesting of profits, reduce the faceless masses in its path to slavery? Does a duck shit in a pond?
The required spiritual and philosophical language has been successfully purged by newspeak, popular culture, a human regimentation process masquerading as a national educational system, and the ruthlessness of everyday competition, which leaves no time to contemplate anything.
Deconditioning from cultural ignorance is at the heart of any insurrectionary politics.
Deconditioning also involves risk and suffering. But it is transformative, freeing the self from helplessness and fear. It unleashes the fifth freedom, the right to an autonomous consciousness. That makes deconditioning about as individual and personal act as is possible. Maybe the only genuine individual act.
Unfortunately, no-one had a clue what I was talking about, and must have assumed I was a right-wing Big Oil supporter looking to sidestep—by way of a change of subject—the vast human and environmental costs associated with the Alberta Tar Sands.
Not so!
Check the website: natcap.org (the brief summary there is enough to give you a general idea).
The jist of it is this:
P.S. You can also download all the chapters free from their website (here).
Personally, while I generally wince at the very sight of business suits—let alone their politics or morals—I think this is by far the most reasonable sounding argument for the …saving of the Earth(!).
If only we could stop the corporations in question from ultimately corrupting anew… (and this is a major issue, no doubt).
P.S. The comic above deals with ‘Green tax shifts’—a key component of Natural Capitalism—though I doubt the author of the comic is even aware of the natcap project (no one is).
The Century of the Self - Part 4 of 4
There is enough insightful material in this series to teach a university course around. This is unquestionable.
Interestingly, however, even though I know the following question gets asked a lot in the rhetorical sense, I genuinely wonder why my high school social studies curriculum (or any of my schooling, for that matter) didn’t/doesn’t mandate screening this in its entirety?
Moreover, I find it strange and silly that I should have to resort to crass motivational tricks to try and convince casual readers into devoting time to this kind of self-education (fucking important as it is). Granted, occasionally I don’t have the free time or mental energy myself, but I always bookmark stuff like this for later. (On this note: how can people ever claim to be bored? The next time you find yourself refreshing Facebook waiting for updates, just pull up one of these bookmarked links and let your mind explode. You’ll even sleep better!)
Anyway, to put it simply: just by watching this video, I honestly think people can reach an entirely new level of understanding of how Western civilization works, and what drives modern society, economy, and politics. I sure did, and I’ve been consciously pursuing, internalizing and criticizing this kind of information for years now.
So of course I feel you should set aside a couple hours of your time to do the same (Twitter says: “that’s no more than a Twilight movie!”). Coming from a major procrastinator, you can be sure that when I say ‘getting over that first hurdle is by far the toughest part (of anything really),’ I’m being entirely sincere. This time, I’m just really confident you won’t regret it. Nay—I’m not just reasonably convinced—I’m 100% certain.
Consider yourself prodded.
