Darryl, forgive me, but you're being arrogant here. You seem to have
found the true path when nobody else has. I've known many people,
including members of my own family, who were really quite aware of what is going
on in society, but who are just too damn busy staying alive to do very much
about it. I've known other people who have been kicked around so much that
they are in a state of confusion, not ignorance. Where do you get you
superior knowledge? Who has entitled you to it?
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2003 7:58
PM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Local living
economies
Ah. Ed, now I understand.
I remove the term masses. I must presume it stems from, "The masses are
asses." Which, from my recent encounter with those of the lower trades and
undereducated, crudely, but justly, describes their being. NO, I have nothing
against them other than I do not understand why they prefer to be ignorant of
that which is controlling their lives i.e. government and big business. They
do not wish to educate themselves in any way beyond what they currently have.
They do not wish to think at all. And they are equally as determined to
"bust welfare" as are the wealthy who want bigger tax cuts; completely
disregarding the fact that it costs more to place these people in jail after
they get in trouble with the law while trying to feed themselves or their
families (if the family is still together) than it does to care for them on
welfare and to REALLY give them a hand up through decent education.
They see paring government and other public institutions to the bone as
good because their "crumb" of a tax break may be bigger yet. They do not see
the cost to the community through poorer services for all or the eventual
higher cost of the "privatized" service if you want quality.
Many of these people were very keen on the idea of joining the armed
forces to go and help the Bushniks do their dirty deed if Canada had only
signed on to the crusade. Whether they would have joined or not; who knows?
They do not seek information other than the newspap that is dispensed by the
P.R. corps. of the presidential palisade. If they are informed of grandpaw
Prescott Bush's brush with a senate inquiry on supplying money to the Nazi
party in pre-WWII and the steel and expertise to build munitions factories,
they close off because "You is agin us".
P.R. and mass control is difficult to see through when it hits you from
every turn, every billboard, radio and t.v. station and every newspaper. And
when the chance for quality education for the "masses" is dropped (I
mean being taught how to find the answers, how to best
search for the truth; not being made into an automaton for the business
gurus), then they are willing to accept anything that is presented to them so
long as they do not have to think. This means that the conglomeration of
media and news services can now forward the beginnings of a New Dark Age at
the whim of those in charge.
As McLuen said: "The media IS the message." And that message is
control.
So, Ed, If you have another term that I could use for the Masses that are
now being used in the same way as the masses of the past, please let me know,
because from the way you talk, from your concern for community and life, I
cannot count you as one of the masses. You are something greater, or, if that
is too much to handle, something apart.
Darryl
P.S. Canada, in the good old days, I used to place between 10 and 15
years after the U.S. (as far as innovating good ideas). However, with what has
occurred in Ontario and now in Alberta and B.C., I place us about 3 to 5 years
behind and in some instances we may be the guinea pigs and most of the ideas
are not good.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2003 9:08
AM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Local living
economies
Darryl, we may not be too far apart. The following
excerpts from an email I sent to a friend this morning might reveal
something of my point of view:
I too mourn the passing of the left. People like J.S.
Woodsworth, M.J. Caldwell, Douglas, Stanley Knowles and the Lewises played
a huge role in shaping the universal public services that Canada has
been noted for. With the demise of the left and the ascent of the
neo-cons, these services are deteriorating, lending credence to the
neo-con argument that they should be privatized. Minimizing
government intervention and staying out of the way of business has become
more important than ensuring that all Canadians, rich or poor, have an
approximately equal chance to be healthy, to be educated, to be properly
housed and to have enough food for their kids. Many of the
things that people like Douglas insisted were the duties of a modern state
to its citizens are being left to NGOs and the churches, which, despite
noble efforts, simply can't afford to do very much.
I don't know if you've been following the situation in the US, but
it's far worse and more blatant than here. Bush's tax cuts have
favoured the rich and will do virtually nothing to stimulate the
economy. They will lead to huge budget deficits, probably meaning
huge cuts to services like Medicare and Social Security on which many
millions of Americans depend. Transfers to states will be cut as
well, meaning that state governments will not be able to afford good
schools and many of the other services they operate. What we may see
in the next decade or so is a huge increase in the American underclass,
people who are not very healthy, undereducated, underemployed and, of
course, because the American myth is that everyone can make it to the
top if they but try, vilified for it.
I must say, however, that I don't like the term "masses".
I thought that kind of went out with the death of Stalin and Mao. It
suggests that everybody should jump up, flag or banner in hand, and march
off in the same direction. But to what? Pol Pot's killing
fields? Stalin's gulag?
Best regards, Ed
