tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post2717170205515168723..comments2024-03-28T16:08:29.578-04:00Comments on Sardonicky: A Weaponized Human Refuse DumpKaren Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-33334946765586104812014-04-11T09:57:17.345-04:002014-04-11T09:57:17.345-04:00For starters, suppose we drop the term “The Great ...For starters, suppose we drop the term “The Great Recession,” which supposedly began with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in 2008. The term is too neutral, like some kind of vague miasma coming in off the swamps of no-man’s land and related to those unavoidable cyclic financial “corrections” of American history that seem to come and go like the seasons. Furthermore, the term implies that after all, you crybabies, it isn’t as bad as the Great Depression suffered by your grandparents. Whoever called our bad times “The Great Recession” meant to disarm us. A more accurate term might enlighten average Americans in a second, set their teeth to grinding and therefore arouse them to action. <br /><br />Economic and political historians a generation from now might re-measure these endless years of hard times and find them worse on balance than the 1930s, both here and around the world. Deep economic problems (i.e., fraud) were compounded by the election (i.e., phony) of 2008. And so we suffered a perfect storm financially and politically in 2008. We did not elect an empty suit. We elected The Liar. It was he who, in eloquent terms, had promised to fix the problems both financial and political, but who worked assiduously thereafter to solidify our losses. At our expense he saved his financial backers on Wall Street and rolled back of the Bill of Rights, lest we complain. Most of us are more spied upon now than the East Germans were under the Stassi. These policies are being continued brazenly in the light of day. <br /><br />The upshot of 2008 and the years that followed is that most of us are poorer and will remain so. Get used to it; it’s the new normal. Are you even aware that you have already conceded and are trying to adapt to the new normal? God help your children and grandchildren under all that and the neglected but ever unfolding events of climate change.<br /><br />What we are living through might better be understood as “The Great Deception.”Jay–Ottawahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10360356126450612113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-20527775937789800062014-04-10T17:13:05.894-04:002014-04-10T17:13:05.894-04:00Well-said, Karen.
And the quotes you pulled from ...Well-said, Karen.<br /><br />And the quotes you pulled from Giroux do get to the heart of the matter. "creating alternative narratives" is indeed essential --- as I've argued before, true progressives need to make the case and argue forcefully <i>for</i> what they want, otherwise, stuck in defense mode and ineffective, they'll just continue to be dragged rightward.<br /><br />As Giroux said (among other things): "This demands a break from established political parties...". Most of us regulars on this forum probably agree, at least to the extent that he means the two main parties --- and perhaps the other existing parties as well, if those currently-minor parties can't demonstrate some creative political action.<br /><br />And his consumer/commodification quote also seems central. I've watched my nieces fall prey to the whole consumption mentality. If even they have adopted such view (despite my one-on-one arguments against it), I'm left wondering just what it will take for the bulk of the populace to realize what an unsatisfactory, manipulated existence that is. Do we have to experience a complete collapse of our economy, or at least a much greater deterioration than occurred during this so-called "Great Recession"? And the more time goes by before an adequate public consciousness develops, the greater the chance that the political and economic powers-that-be will have by then put in place methods of control that make it impossible to break free.Fred Drumlevitchhttp://www.freddrumlevitch.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-68324955561940274552014-04-10T16:15:16.913-04:002014-04-10T16:15:16.913-04:00I just read this on Truthout. It's an excelle...I just read this on Truthout. It's an excellent digest of Giroux's piece, which I find (in general) close to unreadable.<br />Yours is a vast improvement - we could call it "weaponized."<br />I hope Truthout will continue to post your interpretations of Giroux. I can't be the only one who finds him unreadable.<br />(To be clear: I'm a lifelong compulsive reader with extremely high verbal SAT and achievement test scores. The problem is his deeply academic style, which I've lost my tolerance for. He badly needs someone like you.)Oregoncharleshttp://www.pacificgreens.orgnoreply@blogger.com