Everyone wants "their" America to prevail but that's no
different from the 1960s. The big differences are the
conservative intellectuals and neo-classic economists who have
given a rational for stereotyping (blacks and hispanics are
inferior but when white members misbehave it's an individual sin
and has nothing to do with a group pathology.), provincial (states
rights) greedy (objectivist) behavior. It's the sixties in
reverse and the 80s on steroids. Today they would kiss the stone
at Bittburg rather than just laying a wreath. They ignore that
the current "socialist" healthcare bill came out of the
conservative thinktank the Heritage Foundation when it was
instituted in Massachusetts. It's all about provincial
chauvinistic behavior and the preservation of it as well as the
fight for economists to be on the top of the heap over everyone and
everything else. We have absorbed so many groups with PTSD and
ADD that we have little hope of surviving as a unity. Canada is
next. Meanwhile Hilton Kramer the Neo-con Art Critic and so
called defender of classical culture died this week. He was no
such thing. He was the defender of HIS version of classical
culture and a Euro primitivist reactionary according to the
language I was taught in reservation school.
REH
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Keith Hudson
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 9:00 AM
To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION; pete
Subject: Re: [Futurework] overcoming abuse of a nation
I'm puzzled. I'm also talking about "acquiescence to domination" by
what I'm calling the 80-class. The 20-class of today is only the
modern equivalent of the 10-class of a century or two ago or the
5-class of feudal times or the 1-class of earlier times (or
dictatorships at any period in history). In each case the shaping
effects of the environment (ecological + economic) can produce
different results (not necessarily of population decline, as is
happening today in the advanced countries) and is taken advantage of
by a minority which adapts more quickly. I think Levine's use of
"broken" is a little too dramatic but I'm talking of exactly the
same process as he is.
Keith
At 10:03 28/03/2012, Pete wrote:
You must realize of course that this synthesis doesn't work at all.
"Broken" in his usage means acquiescent to domination, and there have
been no shortage of populations of such subservient condition who
nevertheless were breeding their little brains out. Most of history
sounds much like his description. In fact, the largest growth rates
are still mostly under more or less dictatorship.
Furthermore, lots of low growth rate countries are not so obviously
cowed by their governance, which in few instances looks like such
a corporate plutocracy as in the US.
-Pete
On Wed, 28 Mar 2012, Keith Hudson wrote:
> I'm surprised that Bruce.E. Levine doesn't mention the clearest sign of all
> that "Americans are a broken people". Recently they have not been not
> replenishing themselves in sufficient numbers. In this they are
following an
> even larger population of "broken" Europeans who've not been replacing
> themselves voluntarily for two or three decades now. The predominant shaper
> and selector of evolution, the environment, is at work again. In
our case the
> environment is not just the ecological one but also the economic one -- the
> new era of high specializations (and increasing automation as a
byproduct). As
> always, the environment doesn't cull in any precise way and
there's always a
> large measure of "unfairness" in the process but the end-result is always
> decisive enough. In our case -- so far -- both of the two main classes have
> been affected but there is already evidence that the 20-class are much more
> aware of the problem than the 80-class and are already taking steps to make
> sure that their numbers are maintained. They're already saying that
> educational standards must be vastly improved so, in all advanced
countries,
> the 20-class is reaching down to identify talented people from the 80-class
> (usually those with learning-friendly parents) with a variety of
meritocratic
> methods -- and at younger and younger ages -- in order to
fast-track them out
> of the steadily failing state school systems. Mind you, the political and
> business leaders of the 20-class are not prepared to release their nations'
> state schools from bondage and allow each of them to compete freely for
> quality production as their own schools do. If the 20-class did that then a
> wave of talented and qualified young people would come along from
the 80-class
> which would elbow itself very rapidly into its protective practices. That
> would never do! -- so it will have to remain a highly controlled process.
>
> Keith
>
> At 21:27 27/03/2012, Natalia wrote:
> > Sam Smith dug up another good article, posted below.
> > Natalia
> > <
http://www.alternet.org/story/144529/are_americans_a_broken_people_why_we%27ve_stopped_fighting_back_against_the_forces_of_oppression/?page=entire>http://www.alternet.org/story/144529/are_americans_a_broken_people_why_we%27ve_stopped_fighting_back_against_the_forces_of_oppression/?page=entire
> >
> >
> >
> > Are Americans a Broken People? Why We've Stopped Fighting Back
Against the
> > Forces of Oppression
> >
> >
> >
> > A psychologist asks: Have consumerism, suburbanization and a malevolent
> > corporate-government partnership so beaten us down that we no longer have
> > the will to save ourselves?
> > December 11, 2009 |
> > by Bruce.E. Levine
> >
> > Can people become so broken that truths of how they are being
screwed do not
> > "set them free" but instead further demoralize them? Has such a
> > demoralization happened in the United States?
> >
> > Do some totalitarians actually want us to hear how we have been screwed
> > because they know that humiliating passivity in the face of obvious
> > oppression will demoralize us even further?
> >
> > What forces have created a demoralized, passive, dis-couraged U.S.
> > population?
> >
> > Can anything be done to turn this around?
> >
> > Can people become so broken that truths of how they are being
screwed do not
> > "set them free" but instead further demoralize them?
> >
> > Yes. It is called the "abuse syndrome." How do abusive pimps, spouses,
> > bosses, corporations, and governments stay in control? They shove lies,
> > emotional and physical abuses, and injustices in their victims'
faces, and
> > when victims are afraid to exit from these relationships, they
get weaker.
> > So the abuser then makes their victims eat even more lies, abuses, and
> > injustices, resulting in victims even weaker as they remain in these
> > relationships.
> >
> > Does knowing the truth of their abuse set people free when they
are deep in
> > these abuse syndromes?
> >
> > No. For victims of the abuse syndrome, the truth of their
passive submission
> > to humiliating oppression is more than embarrassing; it can
feel shameful --
> > and there is nothing more painful than shame. When one already
feels beaten
> > down and demoralized, the likely response to the pain of shame is not
> > constructive action, but more attempts to shut down or divert
oneself from
> > this pain. It is not likely that the truth of one's humiliating
oppression
> > is going to energize one to constructive actions.
> >
> > Has such a demoralization happened in the U.S.?
> >
> > In the United States, 47 million people are without health insurance, and
> > many millions more are underinsured or a job layoff away from
losing their
> > coverage. But despite the current sellout by their elected
officials to the
> > insurance industry, there is no outpouring of millions of U.S.
citizens on
> > the streets of Washington, D.C., protesting this betrayal.
> >
> > Polls show that the majority of Americans oppose U.S. wars in Afghanistan
> > and Iraq as well as the taxpayer bailout of the financial
industry, yet only
> > a handful of U.S. citizens have protested these circumstances.
> >
> > Remember the 2000 U.S. presidential election? That's the one in which Al
> > Gore received 500,000 more votes than George W. Bush. That's also the one
> > that the Florida Supreme Court's order for a recount of the
disputed Florida
> > vote was overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court in a politicized
5-4 decision,
> > of which dissenting Justice John Paul Stevens remarked: "Although we may
> > never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner
of this year's
> > presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly
clear. It is
> > the nation's confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian
of the rule of
> > law." Yet, even this provoked few demonstrators.
> >
> > When people become broken, they cannot act on truths of injustice.
> > Furthermore, when people have become broken, more truths about
how they have
> > been victimized can lead to shame about how they have allowed
it. And shame,
> > like fear, is one more way we become even more psychologically broken.
> >
> > U.S. citizens do not actively protest obvious injustices for the same
> > reasons that people cannot leave their abusive spouses: They
feel helpless
> > to effect change. The more we don't act, the weaker we get. And
ultimately
> > to deal with the painful humiliation over inaction in the face of an
> > oppressor, we move to shut-down mode and use escape strategies such as
> > depression, substance abuse, and other diversions, which further keep us
> > from acting. This is the vicious cycle of all abuse syndromes.
> >
> > Do some totalitarians actually want us to hear how we have been screwed
> > because they know that humiliating passivity in the face of obvious
> > oppression will demoralize us even further?
> >
> > Maybe.
> >
> > Shortly before the 2000 U.S. presidential election, millions of Americans
> > saw a clip of George W. Bush joking to a wealthy group of people, "What a
> > crowd tonight: the haves and the haves-more. Some people call
you the elite;
> > I call you my base." Yet, even with these kind of inflammatory
remarks, the
> > tens of millions of U.S. citizens who had come to despise Bush and his
> > arrogance remained passive in the face of the 2000 non-democratic
> > presidential elections.
> >
> > Perhaps the "political genius" of the Bush-Cheney regime was in
their full
> > realization that Americans were so broken that the regime could get away
> > with damn near anything. And the more people did nothing about the boot
> > slamming on their faces, the weaker people became.
> >
> > What forces have created a demoralized, passive, dis-couraged U.S.
> > population?
> >
> > The U.S. government-corporate partnership has used its share of guns and
> > terror to break Native Americans, labor union organizers, and other
> > dissidents and activists. But today, most U.S. citizens are broken by
> > financial fears. There is potential legal debt if we speak out against a
> > powerful authority, and all kinds of other debt if we do not
comply on the
> > job. Young people are broken by college-loan debts and fear of having no
> > health insurance.
> >
> > The U.S. population is increasingly broken by the social
isolation created
> > by corporate-governmental policies. A 2006 American Sociological Review
> > study ("Social Isolation in America: Changes in Core Discussion Networks
> > over Two Decades") reported that, in 2004, 25 percent of
Americans did not
> > have a single confidant. (In 1985, 10 percent of Americans reported not
> > having a single confidant.) Sociologist Robert Putnam, in his 2000 book,
> > Bowling Alone, describes how social connectedness is disappearing in
> > virtually every aspect of U.S. life. For example, there has been a
> > significant decrease in face-to-face contact with neighbors and
friends due
> > to suburbanization, commuting, electronic entertainment, time and money
> > pressures and other variables created by governmental-corporate policies.
> > And union activities and other formal or informal ways that
people give each
> > other the support necessary to resist oppression have also decreased.
> >
> > We are also broken by a corporate-government partnership that
has rendered
> > most of us out of control when it comes to the basic necessities of life,
> > including our food supply. And we, like many other people in
the world, are
> > broken by socializing institutions that alienate us from our
basic humanity.
> > A few examples:
> >
> > Schools and Universities: Do most schools teach young people to be
> > action-oriented -- or to be passive? Do most schools teach
young people that
> > they can affect their surroundings -- or not to bother? Do
schools provide
> > examples of democratic institutions -- or examples of authoritarian ones?
> >
> > A long list of school critics from Henry David Thoreau to John
Dewey, John
> > Holt, Paul Goodman, Jonathan Kozol, Alfie Kohn, Ivan Illich,
and John Taylor
> > Gatto have pointed out that a school is nothing less than a miniature
> > society: what young people experience in schools is the chief means of
> > creating our future society. Schools are routinely places where kids --
> > through fear -- learn to comply to authorities for whom they
often have no
> > respect, and to regurgitate material they often find
meaningless. These are
> > great ways of breaking someone.
> >
> > Today, U.S. colleges and universities have increasingly become
places where
> > young people are merely acquiring degree credentials -- badges
of compliance
> > for corporate employers -- in exchange for learning to accept
bureaucratic
> > domination and enslaving debt.
> >
> > Mental Health Institutions: Aldous Huxley predicted today's
pharmaceutical
> > societyl "[I]t seems to me perfectly in the cards," he said, "that there
> > will be within the next generation or so a pharmacological
method of making
> > people love their servitude."
> >
> > Today, increasing numbers of people in the U.S. who do not comply with
> > authority are being diagnosed with mental illnesses and medicated with
> > psychiatric drugs that make them less pained about their boredom,
> > resentments, and other negative emotions, thus rendering them
more compliant
> > and manageable.
> >
> > Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is an increasingly popular
diagnosis for
> > children and teenagers. The official symptoms of ODD include, "often
> > actively defies or refuses to comply with adult requests or rules," and
> > "often argues with adults." An even more common reaction to oppressive
> > authorities than the overt defiance of ODD is some type of
passive defiance
> > -- for example, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Studies
> > show that virtually all children diagnosed with ADHD will pay
attention to
> > activities that they actually enjoy or that they have chosen. In other
> > words, when ADHD-labeled kids are having a good time and in control, the
> > "disease" goes away.
> >
> > When human beings feel too terrified and broken to actively protest, they
> > may stage a "passive-aggressive revolution" by simply getting depressed,
> > staying drunk, and not doing anything -- this is one reason why
the Soviet
> > empire crumbled. However, the diseasing/medicalizing of
rebellion and drug
> > "treatments" have weakened the power of even this passive-aggressive
> > revolution.
> >
> > Television: In his book Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television
> > (1978), Jerry Mander (after reviewing totalitarian critics such as George
> > Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Jacques Ellul, and Ivan Illich) compiled a list of
> > the "Eight Ideal Conditions for the Flowering of Autocracy."
> >
> > Mander claimed that television helps create all eight conditions for
> > breaking a population. Television, he explained, (1) occupies
people so that
> > they don't know themselves -- and what a human being is; (2) separates
> > people from one another; (3) creates sensory deprivation; (4)
occupies the
> > mind and fills the brain with prearranged experience and thought; (5)
> > encourages drug use to dampen dissatisfaction (while TV itself produces a
> > drug-like effect, this was compounded in 1997 the U.S. Food and Drug
> > Administration relaxing the rules of prescription-drug advertising); (6)
> > centralizes knowledge and information; (7) eliminates or
"museumize" other
> > cultures to eliminate comparisons; and (8) redefines happiness and the
> > meaning of life.
> >
> > Commericalism of Damn Near Everything: While spirituality,
music, and cinema
> > can be revolutionary forces, the gross commercialization of all
of these has
> > deadened their capacity to energize rebellion. So now, damn
near everything
> > ? not just organized religion -- has become "opiates of the masses."
> >
> > The primary societal role of U.S. citizens is no longer that of "citizen"
> > but that of "consumer." While citizens know that buying and
selling within
> > community strengthens that community and that this strengthens democracy,
> > consumers care only about the best deal. While citizens understand that
> > dependency on an impersonal creditor is a kind of slavery, consumers get
> > excited with credit cards that offer a temporarily low APR.
> >
> > Consumerism breaks people by devaluing human connectedness, socializing
> > self-absorption, obliterating self-reliance, alienating people
from normal
> > human emotional reactions, and by selling the idea that
purchased products
> > -- not themselves and their community -- are their salvation.
> >
> > Can anything be done to turn this around?
> >
> > When people get caught up in humiliating abuse syndromes, more
truths about
> > their oppressive humiliations don't set them free. What sets them free is
> > morale.
> >
> > What gives people morale? Encouragement. Small victories. Models of
> > courageous behaviors. And anything that helps them break out of
the vicious
> > cycle of pain, shut down, immobilization, shame over immobilization, more
> > pain, and more shut down.
> >
> > The last people I would turn to for help in remobilizing a demoralized
> > population are mental health professionals -- at least those who have not
> > rebelled against their professional socialization. Much of the craft of
> > relighting the pilot light requires talents that mental health
professionals
> > simply are not selected for nor are they trained in. Specifically, the
> > talents required are a fearlessness around image, spontaneity, and
> > definitely anti-authoritarianism. But these are not the traits
that medical
> > schools or graduate schools select for or encourage.
> >
> > Mental health professionals' focus on symptoms and feelings often create
> > patients who take themselves and their moods far too seriously.
In contrast,
> > people talented in the craft of maintaining morale resist this kind of
> > self-absorption. For example, in the question-and-answer session that
> > followed a Noam Chomsky talk (reported in Understanding Power: The
> > Indispensable Chomsky, 2002), a somewhat demoralized man in the audience
> > asked Chomsky if he too ever went through a phase of
hopelessness. Chomsky
> > responded, "Yeah, every evening . . ."
> >
> > If you want to feel hopeless, there are a lot of things you could feel
> > hopeless about. If you want to sort of work out objectively what's the
> > chance that the human species will survive for another century,
probably not
> > very high. But I mean, what's the point? . . . First of all, those
> > predictions don't mean anything -- they're more just a reflection of your
> > mood or your personality than anything else. And if you act on that
> > assumption, then you're guaranteeing that'll happen. If you act on the
> > assumption that things can change, well, maybe they will. Okay, the only
> > rational choice, given those alternatives, is to forget pessimism."
> >
> > A major component of the craft of maintaining morale is not taking the
> > advertised reality too seriously. In the early 1960s, when the
overwhelming
> > majority in the U.S. supported military intervention in
Vietnam, Chomsky was
> > one of a minority of U.S. citizens actively opposing it. Looking back at
> > this era, Chomsky reflected, "When I got involved in the anti-Vietnam War
> > movement, it seemed to me impossible that we would ever have
any effect. . .
> > So looking back, I think my evaluation of the 'hope' was much too
> > pessimistic: it was based on a complete misunderstanding. I was sort of
> > believing what I read."
> >
> > An elitist assumption is that people don't change because they are either
> > ignorant of their problems or ignorant of solutions. Elitist
"helpers" think
> > they have done something useful by informing overweight people
that they are
> > obese and that they must reduce their caloric intake and
increase exercise.
> > An elitist who has never been broken by his or her circumstances does not
> > know that people who have become demoralized do not need analyses and
> > pontifications. Rather the immobilized need a shot of morale.
> > Bruce E. Levine is a clinical psychologist and his latest book is
> > <
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1933392711/counterpunchmaga >Surviving
> > America???s Depression Epidemic: How to Find Morale, Energy,
and Community
> > in a World Gone Crazy (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2007). His Web site is
> > < http://www.brucelevine.net>www.brucelevine.net
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Futurework mailing list
> > <mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
> > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
>
> Keith Hudson, Saltford, England
<http://allisstatus.wordpress.com/>http://allisstatus.wordpress.com
>
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<http://allisstatus.wordpress.com/>http://allisstatus.wordpress.com
