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Profile of mosesherzog
We're already there
It's called Corporatism. It's commandeered what used to be called a Free Market Economy. It forces poor people in poorer countries to accept goods from richer countries. It forces those poor people off the land that should belong to them into crowded cities with low wages. It sterilizes the culture. It sanitizes information for our protection. It accepts nothing less than every minute tendency of human beings in order to properly serve us. This is not capitalism. In fact it's very possible we've never truly had it. It's a kind of business totalitarianism. We need to call it by it's proper name in order to defeat it. It's called Corporatism and it won't stop until it's under your skin and inside your brain.
Disney
Disney changed the concept of evil. It used to mean something that flows from every human heart. That we all have a dark side. That, under the wrong circumstances, I might resort to violence of some type. Under this old, and true, definition, the root of all evil is the core of all human hearts. Disney's version divides the world into the "good" and "evil" people. The good are doe eyed. Unendingly sweet. The evil wring their hands and grit their teeth. This is the vision commaneered by American neo-conservatives in their "war on terror". Under this newer, false, definition, each person develops their own theory based on a personal predilection informed by media. Many in America, for example, are convinced that Arabs all over the world are "evil", and they are also convinced the source of their evil is a kind of fundamentalist religiosity. Our political leaders call them "evil doers". I don't agree with this assessment as I see the problems in our world in more complex terms. Hence my answer to the question is NO.
words, words, words
Words that we've lost, the sounds of which reflect their meanings. The nature of these words invite easy learning and ready solitdarity. Words sniffed at by elite. Words replaced by machine noises. Words dreamed of by infants before the great corporate squashing, the great conforming of unique spirit to models deemed appropriate by statistics.
Ultimately
I believe the meaning of life occurs to us when we think for ourselves. I believe it's very hard to truly think for yourself. Don't just let the world wash over you. Examine everything. Deconstruct everything. Magazine ads. All ads, in fact. If you're waiting for a bus, deconstruct that big ad that looms over you at the stop, designed to affect every passerby in some way. Ask yourself--what is the person who designed this trying to say to me? Every word out of the mouth of anyone speaking on tv or radio, or writing for the press should be examined. Ask yourself questions--why are they telling me, for example, about a university study that says that coffee cures baldness when most people in the world are in some kind of serious need. Do they really think I'm so stupid I won't recognize advertising contained in a journalistic piece? Do they really think they can distract me from what's really important? Ask yourself--why are they telling me about something that happens every once in a while to not very many people when a preponderance of the people are engaged in a serious struggle? In a world of billions, is something that happens to one person news? Why? Ask ask ask ask ask and don't stop examining and asking questions. Ask yourself the question "Who am I?" Should I be defined by one of two labels carved out for the entire population? Masculin/Feminine? Black/White? Liberal/conservative? Hutu/Tutsi? What if I fall somewhere in between? Or somewhere outside? Should I really feel separated from at least half the people living in my land? Ask yourself if you think it's possible for the lives of the common people to change when they fall for the separation trap--that tendency to define ourselves by skin tone or haircolor or the length of toenails or whatever definitions they're coming up with to further fracture the masses. Also ask yourself if, perhaps, there is profit in bipolar separation, that those in power stay in power because noone is really watching them (because we're busy watching the other "group".) Perhaps the ultimate meaning of life is contained somewhere in the act of overcoming mass hypnosis and mass deception.
Power
I think it depends on what you mean by power. The world becomes more harmonious, with increased diversity in culture and discourse if women have more power over their own lives. However, nothing changes with more power over the common people in the form of political "leadership". All our problems stem from the existence of power by few over many. You can dress the few up any way you want, but nothing changes.
Truth is
Truth is whatever is right in front of you. It's what you look at when you are allowed to look about freely. It's what you hear when you're really listening. It does not ever come from a photographic image, or the editorial viewpoints of radio commentators. It isn't edited or calbrated to tug at the collective heart strings. Truth is never spoon fed. It isn't easily digestible or palatable. It challenges you. It makes you think. It doesn't fuel your bigotry. It destroys it.
Corporate Power
It's because governments work for and with corporate power. Corporations don't have values. They consist of humans, but they aren't human. Their religion is the bottom line, or profitability. There is an excellent book out there you might be interested in called When Corporations Rule The World. It's an older book, but the premise remains alive and well.
Humor
Jokes are used in the U.S. to demonize the political process. Normal people don't get involved because they see the process as being solely ludicrous or laughable. "They're just a bunch of liars" many people say. That's how jokes are used here. The consequence is this--people wave off the political process. "It's no use." "I can't change anything" "What's the point?" Hence the huge non-participating populatiion. I wonder how these Republics differ from this country. It would make an interesting study.
The Official State Religion
There is a book you will find in the local U.S. corporate bookstore called God Wants You To Be Rich. You will find this book, not in the Religious section, but in the business section. So it isn't GOD wants you to be rich. But rather, god wants you to be RICH. Money is religion now. The fervency of religious services has been replaced by the fervency of sales meetings. People jumping up and down in some kind of ecstatic bliss over how many people they tricked into buying something they didn't need. The founding fathers in the U.S. barred the establishment of a state religion. The void was filled by corporatists who rule now, and far into the future.
Almost
We're almost there. One more big disaster, and then the legislative push toward the total marketing system in the guise of "safety" and "security". You'll have to scan yourself into buildings and such. It isn't a futuristic vision anymore. It's almost here.
Lies, damned lies
How about people of different races or ethnicities in the same culture somehow never being able to get along with each other. I guess the lie in a nutshell might be phrased "You can't talk to them because you speak different languages."
HELL
NO!!!! Vapid conversations conversations in public places, adults ignoring their ltlle children to engineer real estate deals, the perfect device to avoid normal human contact. The devil invented these things......and I hear that they're confusing the bees as well. You won't see a documentary about THAT!
Inviting people to speak
You can't make people anything. What you have to do is make the creators of entertainment repsonsible to something other than the bottom line. You have to regulate media so no one person can own a televison station AND a newspaper, or more than one radio station. We need ALL MEDIA to be independent and freely expressive. No assembly line thinking or editorials that are actually designed to foster the desire to buy useless products. We need media that invites people like CAROM to express freely the independent thoughts that come from the individual. We do not need media that is in any way tied to gigantic companies that have a vested interest in a divided working class. This way, you don't need to coerce anyone--the people will FLOCK to communicate their opinion.
Interesting
Given the current state of culture, and the slavery of the arts to corporate interests, "yelling fire" in the crowded theatre might be the most organic, exciting moment of your entertainment evening. Your point is interesting because it made me think about the distinction between censorship by the state over individuals as a separate issue from self-censorship. I believe that censorship by the state relies on the belief that people cannot be trusted to use self-censorship. I don't believe this. and I don't support using random occurences as a justification to throw the big blanket over the populace. (My last trip through an airport witnessed a sweet little old lady getting the once over by overzealous security. This is what the state does, and we can't allow this type of thing.) We need a full return to the principles of rugged individualism that give bite and variety to our culture. We don't need a culture sanitized for our protection.
