Is the Blogosphere Killing Activism?
I think it’s time that we take a hard look at some reasons why the American people, including ourselves, seem to be a collective bunch of do nothings. And, I am not just speaking of our X-Box, IPOD, expert computer whiz generation of children, but those of us who lived through the 60’s and 70’s during the Viet Nam era. Those of us who saw what really happened back then, and compare those times to today's world.
Thanks to freeacre and Murph, I have some reasonably reliable statistics to work from. In general, it appears that somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 million people visit various blogs while surfing the internet on a daily basis. That definitely has its upside; information is available to the masses that once was not. Those of us who choose to blog put out vast quantities of information, both good and bad, that would otherwise be unavailable. It ranges from wild speculation to sound; fact based, reasoned “news.” It covers the conservative view, the progressive view, and everything in between. It comes with a slant that does not exist in the Mainstream Media, for reasons that range from, on the one hand, the iron fisted corporate grip on the MSM, and on the other hand, to the general lack of oversight of blogs. You can see it all out there in cyberland. We bloggers often beat the MSM on stories that they choose to cover, sometimes by days. Most stories they don’t cover at all. So, a necessary service is provided. As Rockpicker stated, it inhibits the ability of our government to lie to us. Here is how Rockpicker put it, which is probably much better than I can.
“I will hope, on the eve of this supposed holy season, on the advent of the winter solstice and the newly dawned Fifth day of the Eighth Level of consciousness, (a time during each level when the big shit happens,) that Boosh will give a war and no one will come.
The aspect that guides our consciousness now, at this eighth level, is ethics.
Truth. Light. Ethics. Isn't it a nagging want, a hole in the side that seems to be bleeding our souls away, a need to be told the truth, straight- up, unsweetened and uncensored, that each of us deep down longs for, like rescued miners gasping our first clear air?
The Internet came into being, on queue, at the beginning of the Eighth level. It provides us a way to communicate, as we can all see this happening, even as it makes this circle possible. THEY can't lie any longer. Oh, they can try. But how effective have they been? And how is their effectiveness doing? THEY are failing, because each day more and more of us are seeing the light of truth. You can feel it happening. You can see it in the faces of the people around you. Our consciousness is changing, collectively.
So my hope for all of us, all of you who attend this small council fire, you thoughtful and holy keepers of the flame, and truly, all the rest of our brothers and sisters out there, whether hurling stones or shielding themselves from missiles, my sincere hope is that the ethical abrogation implied by joining Boosh in his murderous fantasy will overwhelm those human hearts involved, and true heroes, armed and able, will stand down, in courage, and say 'no.'”
Yes, our consciousness is changing, collectively. Yes, you can see it in the faces of the people around you. Truth, Light, Ethics. Yes, that is what we all want. THEY cannot lie to us anymore, this is true. At least it’s true for those who seek the truth, to those capable of tossing every third word that is spoken by those in positions of leadership into the garbage disposal. The internet is mostly responsible for this new way of communicating, this newfound well of knowledge that exists today, again for those who seek it. But, like everything else, it also has its downside.
Do they even care that they cannot lie to us anymore? Does it even matter? While undoubtedly reversing the dumbing down of the American populace, and the world populace, has it also created a virtual world of "desk potato" thinkers? Has it created a whining, sniveling bunch of “inactivists?” In terms of the Iraq war, has it prolonged the event and prevented the very actions that led, in a large way in my view, to the end of that conflict in Viet Nam? That being the real protest versus the cyberspace protest?
I have said on more than one occasion that I think we should have 50 million people sitting on Pennsylvania Avenue until we are completely out of Iraq and Booshco is thrown out of office. I absolutely mean that. I pointed out that in a relatively short amount of time, illegals were able to piece together impressive protests all around the country. At the same time, we are lucky if we can get a hundred Americans to show up for a peace rally, when our kids are getting killed at an alarming rate in a war that cannot be won. We can’t put more than a handful of people together to demand that the American President, who is obviously insane, and a few of his cronies be held to account for rewriting the constitution in order to cover their crimes. But boy, we're real good at talking about it here and in other places.
Is this the fault of the internet and the blogosphere? I think it partly is, and maybe more than partly. It is easy to find a blogsite where you are comfortable, pick a time that is most convenient for you, and let the world know what you think. Much easier than it is to take off work, travel to Washington, sit in the cold, and be threatened by arrest. But which is more important, and which is more effective? Though we all know that they could not possibly arrest 50 million people, we sit and do nothing to stop the travesty that is occurring in our name. Other than bitch and moan on the blogs, I mean. We are clearly doing that at a record rate. But, in the grand scheme of things, what good is it doing? Is it letting our newly elected Congress know that we are deadly serious about our wish to have true reform in D.C. and that we are deadly serious about bringing home our troops? Is it letting Boosh know that we are deadly serious about regaining the rights that he and his goons have stolen from us, and that we are also deadly serious about his getting our troops home NOW? I tend to think not.
I sometimes feel like one who is an enabler, and I don’t mean that in a good way. The Real Deal and similar sites may be no different than the neighborhood drug dealer providing a fix for the “jonesin” user. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate what this site has accomplished and appreciate each and every one of you who visit here regularly, some many times per day. But, I can’t help but wonder, aren’t there better and more effective things that we could be doing? If no one had the “internets,” would we be marching in the streets or would we just add to those intellectual giants who are enthralled with who will be the next American Idol?
I don’t have the answers to these questions, but I do have my doubts about the overall impact of the blogosphere and its long term consequences. Like everything else, it has its positives and its negatives. I sometimes think that technology has outrun our ability to effectively deal with its ramifications. At a minimum, these are things that each and every one of us need to consider, and consider seriously.
Don’t worry; this is not the Death Knell of the Real Deal. We’re not going anywhere, anytime soon anyway. Instead, it’s meant as kindling that will hopefully lead to some inspired discussion.
Cyclone
posted by cyclone @ 8:41 AM
50 comments
50 Comments:
Cy,
Good observations.
I don't think the blogs are killing activism. I suspect there are other factors that are keeping mass protest in check. If we take a look at open rebellion in other societies in the past, even recent past, it occurs when enough people are directly and unmistakably threatened by actions of the government. They have to become desperate for a change. That break over point has not yet arrived in this country, and whether it will is open to speculation. Look at the atrocities and oppression that the Soviet Union impressed on their population and there was no popular mass uprising.
To add to this, is the extreme corporate control that most nations are experiencing. The corporate state has no law, no moral obligation, no ethics. It is only the pursuit of wealth and control. That is what we are really agitating against. The heads of state are only a figure head of the problem. How do you force corporate control to relinquish that control? If that can be accomplished, then we can start changing the government. At this time, the corporate control, mostly in the form of bankers, has to be broken and the government will not voluntarily do this. The people in the government are made up of corporate shills. Removing those presently occupying the government will only change faces, not concepts of government, as shown by the results of the last midterm elections. Looks to me that the general population has to get a bunch more desperate before that will even be addressed, much less acted upon. As long as the Wal Marts, the Monsanto’s, the Halliburton’s, the central banks and all the rest of them are in the drivers seat, nothing will substantially change.
You know, Cyclone, I often ask myself if I am spending too much time surfing the net and the blogs. And, maybe I am. But, I live too far away from Washington DC or any power centers to be able to participate in any meaningful way in street demonstrations. But, even if 50 million people were demonstrating, how much coverage would it get in the news? Mexico has been demonstrating in the streets for months and seems to be on the verge of revolution, and there hasn't been a peep about it on the network news.
Only about 40% of the electorate voted in the last national election. With that lackluster amount of participation, I have to assume that the inspired bloggers must have been a decent percentage of the voters. The House and the Senate leadership were both overturned.
MoveOn.Org, Code Pink, Take Our Government Back (or whatever it's called) and other internet based organizations, do seem to have an impact, with their advertising and their petitions.
The downside of street demonstrations is that it seems to generate more repression and calls for beefed up laws to incarcerate the demonstrators. More tazers, more Mace, more Robo-cop armor, shields, weaponry, and incarceration. I think the paramilitary measures that the city and state police have been trained and armed to do, together with the changes in laws, relaxing of the constitution, and concentration camps fully ready to house hundreds of thousands, has moved the venue of dissent off the streets.
I think that the appropriate terrain for this revolt, for now, is on the internet. As our imaginations are inspired, the streams of our lives in the real world are diverted. Changing habits: like not paying to watch their bullshit programming and commericials; refusing to buy all the petro-chemical food and products; shunning the stores and products created in corporate sweatshops. Creating the consciousness necessary to change the habits we collectivly share that support this shameful monstrocity - that's the task that the internet is uniquely qualified to do.
In the end, it is the new story we tell ourselves that will change the way we live. New possibilites, new expectations, new ideas lead to new alliances, new friendships, new networks, new projects, new jobs, new markets, new governments. Bottom up, not top down. How about a "buy nothing new" year? That would get their attention.
"Isn't it a nagging want, a hole in the side that seems to be bleeding our souls away, a need to be told the truth, straight- up, unsweetened and uncensored, that each of us deep down longs for, like rescued miners gasping our first clear air?"
This isn't meant to divert attention from Cy's point and valid concerns. I'll comment on that later. But first, in the spirit of RP's words, I want to bring attention to a Robert Perry piece published today on Consortium News titled The GOP's $3 Billion Propaganda Organ.
Everyone here needs to read this and distribute it liberally (no pun intended). It is an extensive analysis in 3 parts of the role of Sun Moon as a HUGE factor in bringing the present day GOP to power over the past 30 years.
It might, just might, get us 1 step closer to the steps of Washington.
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/122706.html
murph @ 10:29
"How do you force corporate control to relinquish that control? If that can be accomplished, then we can start changing the government. At this time, the corporate control, mostly in the form of bankers,..."
Excellent point and question Murph.
Solution: Vote with our money!
1) Open check book, read name of bank. If it is a big nation- wide, close account and open acct with a LOCAL COMMUNITY OWNED BANK or Credit Union.
2) Open wallet, take out credit cards. Take scissors and cut up any card issued by the biggies. If that leaves zero credit cards and you can operate without any then all the better. But for most it is wise, at least for now, to have this option. Unfortunately for some it is even a necessity.
So use credit cards issued by local entities, ie, that local bank. Another good option are those issued by your favorite non-profit, ie, American Rivers Assoc.
The operative word is DECENTRALIZE. And we don't even have to leave home to do it. In fact, leaving our money at home, in our communities, is exactly the point and it WILL make a difference.
Rockpicker's words should not be lost on us. He is talking about the collective consciousness and when we vote with our money by taking every opportunity to support our communities in getting our needs met not only do we deprive the multi-nationals we contribute to the intent of the collective consciousness in a positive way.
If we have to play the game then lets play it to our advantage in every way we can.
From Belgium,
Is the blogosphere killing activism? Well it either is or it isn’t but since I don’t know for sure, it could be one or the other, I think.
Apologies for that, but as Cyclone has indicated, this is a real yes and no answer.
I would expect that the PTB would anticipate some measure of resistance from whatever quarter and have taken measures to quell it but the bottom line is that they probably don’t care. At their disposal they have everything from FEMA using pastors to guide the confused along the right path, to the Military Commissions Act to quell the less than confused, so I would guess they consider they have every base covered.
Will the Dems be better able to stabilise the situation both from next week onwards and possibly from 2008? Again the only thing I can say is that politicians in office hardly ever reverse policies they voted against whilst in opposition. They have to deal with the status quo rather than resort to issues of principle, especially if the new situation happens to be working rather well for them.
I, too am probably guilty of being an ’internet intellectual’ with a dubious right to stand on Pennsylvania Avenue, except that what happens in America first will follow in the rest of the world shortly afterwards. But even if every daily blogger turned out and refused to go away, it would still be 20% short of Cyclones target. Most organisers of protest rallies measure their success in turnout rather than in effectiveness in achieving their objective. It was the Vietnam Vets who had lived through the horrors of a pointless war, together with some students and some concerned citizens who were the backbone of the 70’s protests. It was these Vets who, in protest, threw their war medals at the White House but that never stopped the military recruiting more to take their place. Now the present debacle in Iraq is soaking up soldiers like blotting paper with the result that they are being recycled so quickly there are none available for protests.
It has been reported that the protest by Illegal immigrants was organised by CIA. That’s where the laundered drug money is being spent, on short term political expediency but have you heard anything of these protesters or their lobby since the spontaneous event.
The Internet gives a feeling that individuals are not standing alone and that those who are writing critical articles will know what to do when the time comes but this is more than likely a false sense of security.
Maybe a Rumsfeld type small, highly trained technological elite capable of causing maximum disruption is the way to go however it would have to operate in secret, a bit like today’s Black Panthers. Maybe such a thing already exists but how would we know about it. At least, when it all comes down, there will be a bit over 13% of the population who will not be surprised.
The short answer to Cy's question is an empahatic NO!! In this time of sometimes blatent but often incredibly subtle control and twisting of information the internet has been our salvation to educate ourselves. We are fast approaching the time of action.
BUT.....
As Freeacre @ 11:15 pointed out...
"I think the paramilitary measures that the city and state police have been trained and armed to do, together with the changes in laws, relaxing of the constitution, and concentration camps fully ready to house hundreds of thousands, has moved the venue of dissent off the streets."
FA is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT! To emphasize I suggest we take an analogous lesson from the Viet Nam war... one obviously lost on this pentagon and administration. It has become painfully obvious that traditional military tactics that have historically won wars are now either impotent or must ultimately end in nuclear holocost to be "successful". So, unless the sides are willing to go nuclear, just as it became in the jungles of Viet Nam so it is now in the jungles of the streets of Bagdhad - conventional military tactic is defenseless against the type of opposition faced in Iraq. Personally, that, except for the nuclear option, is a step in the right direction because I have never been one to support military wars anyway most of which have been created at the whim of the power brokers.
And so it is now with revolutions. FA has already argued the futility of a conventional street revolution so no need for me to labor the point that this would only trigger marshal law. And for that, TPTB are ready. The internet can inform us and confirm just how unwise such a movement would be and just how prepared for such they are. I know most of us want to see our military out of Iraq. But so they can home to help enforce marshal law is NOT my idea of withdrawal. And don't think for one minute that because we have so many boots over there that it can't be enforced over here without them. State and local police are in play and at the ready.
BUT.........
50 million people marching in the streets is only a FORM of revolution. Revolution can take many forms. And the choice is ours!! I can tell you this, what we have to do will, in the long run, be alot harder to do than going off willy-nilly on a street revolution because it involves LIFESTYLE CHANGES. What Freeacre referred to as "changing habits".
Unfortunately these don't change by sitting in front of a computer screen reading Freeacre, or Cy, or me, or anybody else. We needed to get informed but sooner or later we have to get proactive. But before that, in the space between becoming informed and going into action, we need to get brutally honest with ourselves and identify the ways we are in bed with the very things we are so adamently opposed to.
I think that RP is onto something about this "Fifth day of the Eighth Level of consciousness" thingie which "ethics is the guiding aspect of". I believe what he is suggesting is that there is help now from a higher consciousness to guide us to... well, a higher consciousness. Thats kinda woo woo but I can dig it becasue this would not be the first time. History and providence are filled with evidence of such.
BUT.........
We need to ask a hard and painful question about the results of such events all of which have ultimately led to some form of reversal. Somehow, for some reason, society, humanity, has not learned the lessons and we end up with something that looks more like de-evolution than evolution.
The painful question ALWAYS ignored is: What Are the Real Causal Factors?
So I suggest that, as we look to ourselves to audit our own personal footprint left on the fabric of our lives and the lives of our fellow man, we question ourselves about our ALIGNMENTS, sometimes blatent but often subtle, with what amounts to TPTB that show up as reflections "out there". We need to ask ourselves; COULD THIS BE THE CAUSAL FACTOR? Could my denials, my alignments, my judgements, my ideologies, my habits, my lifestyle, my actions, my inactions, my apathy, my hatreds, my terrors be contributing to the empowerment of these anti-life, anti-love power-over agendas that have us all by the short hairs?
A wise man once said: The government is a REFLECTION of the people. We could substitute the word "corporatocracy" or the words "military industrial complex" for the word "government" in that observation. Too bad we haven't even begun to learn the lesson. We can begin when we begin to see the unseen role of denial and how that, along with the other dynamics I mentioned, is what Pogo was really talking about when he said...
"I have met the enemy and he are I."
30 milliojn in the streets! Sounds like a great thing! Remember Woodstock? Everybody has this wild idea that it was all this wonderful deal! Well guess what! BULLSHIT!!! It was a fucking disaster scene with a soundtrack!!!! I know, I was there! I was only 9 years old, and I went with my cousin in Virginia,
as one of my parent's wierd "Connect with the older male family bonding trips!" but I was there! And that was only 500 thousand people!!! What's more everybody knew they were coming!
50 million people would freak Bush out of his mind! he'ld be like a trapped rat! Trapped rats are DANGEROUS!!! Trapped rat's that hold unsteady fingers on a thousand nukes are GENOCIDAL!!!
We're going to have to be patient! Look how far we've gone in the last year! Look at the victories won! Bush is on the way down for the count, and WE DID IT!!! It's not a victory that had all the romance of Woodstock, but at my age, I'll take what I can get! We're going to have to pry Bush of the thrown finger, by finger! Oh know it takes time and finess, but that's the way it's going to happen! It is what it is!
Palooka,
Right on man. When I suggested to a friend that maybe 30 million people protesting would be a bit much for law enforcment to put down, he mentioned cluster bombs. We must not underestimate the savagery of these people in power.
Interesting that you brought up that governemtn is the reflection of the values of the population. I've written about that several times, namely, we have gotten exactly what we voted for over time. Of course the next question is; what shall we do different? Vote for more Repugs and Demologues? Indeed, we have not learned much from 5000 years of recorded history.
The short answer is NO. The longer answer is that it hasn't even been around long enough to kill it. How long have blogs been around? A few years? Activism started dying off many many years ago. If anything, I think blogging has actually helped activism. As has the net in general.
Why? Because it has helped like minded people find each other, educate themselves and organize, etc. Most people don't know how difficult the civil rights days really were. MLK's March on Washington took an army of volunteers to plan and coordinate. Today, all that work can be done by two or three people with a computer and a net connection.
I also agree that the days of that kind of activism are over. And for all the reasons cited above. However, I also don't think that changing our lifestyles could, on its own, bring down the system. It could change it, but not bring it down. But that's a much longer discussion, and something I'm working on for an essay of my own.
re, the last post and the city planning commission: no, it did not go well, to say the least. I have never seen a more corrupt bunch of goons in my life. MF: the problem with buying the land is that its worth almost 7 million all told, and to preserve it we would have to raise enough money to pay taxes on it into perpituity (read: forever). Maybe I can raise enough to buy the ten acres nearest my house where the hawks nest, but that's about it. I'll look into the options and get back to you. Thank you everyone!
RAS, do you have enough room on your property to tent house some people?
How many people would it take to lay down in front of the Caterpillars before enough attention was garnered to stop the fucking mess of the PTB? how many brothers and sisters to go to jail...? would someone have to actually be run over by one of those giant land destroyers for a spark of compassion to flicker forth from the Idol thing that people talk about and which i have no clue to what the fuck that is.But it sounds real important.
We could all watch it on television, no way huh?
Be just a little to squishy for modern folks right?
Goddam it i really am shit full of being and seeing the sons a bitches railroading the week willed worms that call them selfs two legged and them just taking it!!
On a closer note, i personally plan a battle with the fucking school as soon as it resumes its insanity it calls education, and is nothing but a colossal joke, no, worse then that! My sixteen year old son received his very own personal invitation to join the Montana National Guard and i'm going ballistic on the principal as to how this came to be when i told them not to put my sons files in the government data base!!
I may go to jail over this but i will have satisfaction, will let you know how it turns out...see its different when it comes to visit in your own house, i plan to get other mothers and or fathers together and ask them if they are ready for their sons and daughters to be slaughtered in bush's little pet project.
I swear the teachers seem to be trying to construct some sort of twisted ass ego from the dregs of their own useless upbringing by being able to pounce on the young lives in their charge, and i watch the kids for the most part just go along with the program like a bunch of scared minnows, and i'll bet its not much different anywhere else either.Also i watch some of the parents suck up to the teachers just like they did when they were kids!! HOLY SHIT!!
RP , I think we might be ready for a little Collective Consciousness to take place, and just how does that take place anyway? Is it like the hundredth monkey?
If there is such a thing i think its really in crappy shape,and could use an overhaul,anyway just a thought.
Good post CY,
And comments also, thanks guys.
peace if possible
mf
To All,
This post has done what I had hoped it would do, bring out the most thoughtful ideas of a few readers. It gives me hope when a small collection of folks put their minds to a particular issue and express coherent thoughts. More than anything, it shows me that we need a commune!!! We would, collectively, survive whatever is before us quite well I think. I actually do agree with most of what has been said here. This post was meant to serve simply as a starting point for thinking about change(s), not necessarily to advocate a particular type of change. I appreciate the thoughtfulness that went into all of these comments, and hope that more arrive before it comes down.
Long live the internets!! (and blogosphere)
Cyclone
MF -the courts ruled last year that all schools have to open their files to the military. Not only that, but in some states (Kansas I know for sure, because my brother finished high school there a couple of years ago) high school kids are required to take the Military Aptitude Test. It sucks and it's wrong -you go get 'em! I'm looking at my options right now for my little mess. I don't think anyone getting killed would hardly make the local news and if it did, it would just be one of those "them crazy stupid activist at it again" stories.
Cy -I think partly the lack of activsm right now is due to the generational alignment of things. The remaining Civil Rights activists are either too old to protest or are doing so on a much reduced scale. Most of the Boom has either sold out or is in "political remission" while they finish raising their families. And let's face it -GenX will never be very active unless you draft them and take away their IPODS and cell phones. Then they'll riot in the streets.
The next generation of true activists I believe will be my own generation -GenY, born from the early 80s to 2001. I'm on the leading edge, pretty much on the border. Our leading way is barely 25 -the majority of us aren't old enough yet to make much of a difference. The teenagers are very active, as active as kids that age can be. And us young adults have for the most part noticed the game is rigged and the deck is stacked -and we don't like it. Will anything collective come of it? It's too soon to tell I think.
comrad simba,
BUTCHERING YOUR OWN PIG!!! I think that's great! I was just suggesting to Murph that we should experiment with getting a goat and a sheep and raise them for meat. Not sure that the experience might turn me into a vegetarian, though. I've been reading the latest posts from cryptogon about the cloning and gene alteration going on with the food supply, and it makes me want to puke. I don't know what is worse - a collapse that gives us scarcity or no collapse and we are surrounded by micro-chopped genetically adulterated abomimations. Let us know how it goes with the pig.
A sobering view from the other side.
New post at Baghdad Burning:
http://tinyurl.com/ylxwfv
Rebecca Solnit has an article published on Alternet today ennumerating some of the great small advances we, the people, have made in the past year in our adversarial relationship with the PTB. It is uplifting to recount our furtive gains. It is instructive to note that, despite deliberate avoidance by the MSM, these little skirmishes were fought and won. News will out. And like she says in the article, "we are winning." The road ahead won't be easy. Many of us won't make it through this imminent darkness. But many will. And we who stand for light and truth and equality will eventually weather these fearsome times. These times are sponsored by the elite of the material worshippers, and their time is nearly up. A new time approaches. Take heart. Stay abreast. Do good. Encourage everyone you meet to question convention. Demand reasonable explanations. Keep asking questions until those around you begin asking questions for themselves.
Have faith. Everything in it's own time...
anonymous 6:53
Thank you for the link to the young woman's blog in Baghdad. What a horror it must be to live there. And tonight, after Saddam's execution, it will probably be even worse. I pray that the right lessons will be learned from all of this, and that eventually peace will prevail. The short run is grim, however.
You know, Cyclone, we just watched "This is What Democracy Looks Like." It's a documentary that you can rent on Netflix. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and was reminded of the powerful and important elements of a street demonstration, as was experienced in Seattle against the WTC. I know I said that "perhaps the venue has moved from the streets". But there's nothing like seeing each other and interacting with each other and feeling, not just the power of the moment, but also being another of the waves over time in history that have washed away the illegitimate rulers of their lives.
I think we need it all. Internet, voting booths, streets, boycots, workplace - any kind of actions that we can think of. We need the internet to reach out and inform each other. And we also need to express ourselves one way or another. If we do not, we risk becoming a new version of the "Silent Majority." This silence, though, would be the silence of slavery.
Planman,
Welcome to our campfire. Hope you stick around. Good points. I like the term "Meatspace." lol. I'd never heard that one before. I feel so lucky that my child is 27. It was hard enough to get him to that point, but now it would be even more difficult. More and more of the joy of life is being squeezed out of us as the corporates tighten their grip. My new year's resolution is to not buy sweatshop made clothing or other stuff having to be shipped thousands of miles if I can do so. Already cancelled the satellite and cable TV. The only thing these sons of bitches care about is money. So, it's about becoming aware of what we are enabling with our money and stopping it. I have not shopped in a Walmart in about 7 years. I do shop in our local Bi-mart, but it is employee owned. Next year, though, I will be the queen of the thrift stores.I ain't buying their shit anymore. I think that should be a song....
LOLOL Sort of like "Ain't Gonna Work On Maggies Farm No More"
"How do you force corporate control to relinquish that control? If that can be accomplished, then we can start changing the government. At this time, the corporate control, mostly in the form of bankers,..."
Excellent point and question Murph.
Solution: Vote with our money!"
Palooka's Revenge is absolutely right. The only thing that can put the brakes on everything that's going on right now is to pull our money out of the system that feeds on death & destruction.
50 million people might turn out in the streets to protest, but then when they get in their cars and drive home, they've cancelled whatever message they're trying to send. The new message becomes "we don't know what fungible means. Please ensure our oil supply so we can drive to future protests."
What would stop the war faster -- if 50 million people turn out to protest, or if 50 million people stop buying imported crap and food that's been trucked in from 2500 miles away? That's why this war is happening, to ensure the oil supplies on which globalization, and the profits of global corporations, depend.
If 50 million people shifted their money to local spending, globalization would become unprofitable and the war would end. If 50 million pull their money out of the big Wall Street banks that are profiting off Halliburton & KBR investments, the war itself would become unprofitable and it would end.
Decentralizing the economy by relocalizing spending makes everything the PTB do unprofitable by driving up their costs. NSA spying, for example, is justified because one "terrorist" hit against some centralized target -- say, a meat processing plant or Wal-Mart warehouse -- can cause massive damage to our economy. The cost in freedom and in dollars is offset by the cost of the managed risks. If 50 million people start buying meat from their local farmers, the potential economic impact of a hit against a small-time slaughterhouse is tiny, the big meat processors receive little risk-management benefit, and they will shriek about the taxes they have to pay to fund spying activities, and NSA spying will end.
This formula can be applied to every last slimy thing the government does. It's all connected in a web designed to centralize the planet's wealth. The primary thing any one of us on the ground can do is to stop participating in the centralization of the planet's wealth.
Its all about the money, and it always has been. No matter how much protesting goes on, if people don't get wise about the money and the fact that we-the-people are on the losing end of an economic war, nothing is going to change. Protests stopped Viet Nam perhaps, but what got changed? Nothing. Viet Nam was a battle in a much, much wider war, and we-the-people are losing in a massive way. The whole world is worse off now than it ever was. The Earth will be destroyed because it is profitable to do so, and if we want to win we have to make killing the Earth unprofitable. That is the absolute, only thing that is going to make any difference.
You know,
a friend of mine came over last night, a body healer and as i lay there withering under the assaults of acupuncture and pressure, yes you are right i awoke with a new body and a new light on what it meant to have breasts,(ever look up the meanings of that word?)
Any way my friend asked me a question in regard to the solutions presented here as having any validity and of course i gave the right on answer that we all love so well.
And that is who in the fuck really can predict the future??
Don't it always come back to that? and my friend whom has three, count um bosoms, the wonder of the knife makes all things equal so all you young things out there, welcome and your words are welcome, and thank your words,,,but would you have a spare AK 47?
mf
Right on ADAPTATION!! That's what I am talking about - only you said it better. Fifty million shutting off the fucking cable and boycotting Walmart and the GAP and not buying a new car or much of anything made oversees. Growing "freedom gardens". They'd be brought to their knees! And, what are they gonna do - TAZE us to go shopping?? Ya, mon, I'm with you!
Adaption,
Welcome to the council. Hope you stick around.
I agree completely with your comments concerning tactics. However, would 50 million people not buying be enough? I rather suspect that unless the 50 million was made up of what is left of the middle class (the big spenders) it wouldn't make a hell of a lot of difference. Those with 20-30 grand incomes (and less)just don't have that much disposable income after the absolute necesities of modern life.
I also have no idea how you would get that kind of idea to have traction under the present social thinking. Over the last few years I have gotten pleas for a variety of 'lets not spend our money on (X) and get them to lower prices, or some other goal'. Hell, I often wonder if we could get 50 million people to agree about anything under the present circumstances.
Planman,
Welcome to you also. Thanks for the comments. Hope you have more.
Yup, if we started only buying local produced and made items instead of overseas stuff, it would probably have an impact. Of course that also means that people would have to do without all the neat doo dads that the stores are filled with. Doubt that is gonna happen till we have a really big economic crunch.
i suppose that back in the sixties something was akin to a revolution but let me tell you this young sprouts,there was no head other then the bla bla bla and we listened but the radicals of the time were not laying down in the field of love with draft cards and bras flying in the wind like blossoms off a cherry tree you know.
And us guys were surrounded by women that matched that same energy and therefore there are many more of us then you will ever know about,....maybe??
Last commemt by mf in remission,
mf
From now until November we are in the fifth day of the galactic. Carl Calleman, who is credited with deciphering the Mayan calendar, says history repeats itself, and that certain types of events recur during specific "days" of each level.
For the fifth day, he's suggesting we might see a world-wide economic meltdown. During the fifth night, which begins next November and runs about a year, he says the PTB will install a new economic order, and probably restrict many more of our freedoms, including freedom of movement.
But the good news is that the PTB are engaged in a losing proposition, and we will eventually move beyond the oppression of governments and even the multi-nationals. And all this happens in a relatively short time frame.
The entire ninth level takes only 260 days to run its course, culminating with the end of the calendar on Oct. 19, 2011. Big day. I've marked it on my Gregorian.
To everyone here, check your connections, fasten your seat belts, trust your intuition. You will know what is the right course of action. There will be no mistake.
Cy, thank you for providing this venue.
"These pages that bring us together are the fire in the cave above the stream..."
i breathes more white master,thank you fer the air
mf
do we understand us? yet?
murph writes: "However, would 50 million people not buying be enough? I rather suspect that unless the 50 million was made up of what is left of the middle class (the big spenders) it wouldn't make a hell of a lot of difference."
On the contrary, it would require far less than 50 million people to make a big difference.
Nearly all of the companies complicit in killing the Earth and her inhabitants are publicly traded. Because they are publicly traded, their worth is calculated at a multiple of their actual earnings. You've heard the news models state that Company A is trading at "10 times earnings" or whatever, yes? That means that whatever happens to Company A's earnings is multiplied by ten.
For us, that means it would take just 5000 people to have the impact of 50,000.
A couple years ago, Catherine Austin Fitts launched a campaign to get just 600,000 people in the world to switch to local banks. She wrote then: "We estimate that 600,000 is 1% of 1% of our worldwide population. Since our financial system is highly leveraged, a relatively small shift (on the order of 1% of 1%) in customers from big banks to local financial institutions can cause a dramatic decentralization in political and economic power."
Just some food for thought.
murph writes: "I also have no idea how you would get that kind of idea to have traction under the present social thinking. Over the last few years I have gotten pleas for a variety of 'lets not spend our money on (X) and get them to lower prices, or some other goal'."
This is what I mean when I say we have to get wise about the money. Activists are accustomed to working with a particular set of political tools that are useful in political situations, but that are, in my opinion, backfiring in the current circumstances.
The issues we face are largely business and financial problems, not political ones, and fighting them in the political arena is a lost cause as far as I'm concerned.
Getting people to spend their money differently is pretty easy. Its just marketing. We're losing because we suck at marketing. Protesting is negative marekting -- it makes people not want to associate with the cause. The minute a political agenda is attached to any particular goal -- say, getting people to shop locally -- you've automatically alienated half the people who might otherwise participate. If instead you make shopping locally an upscale, cutting-edge trend, you're going to make a lot more headway much faster.
Another general aside, FWIW -- if the war in which we're engaged is economic and financial, then victory is going to be measured in dollars, whether we win or someone else wins. If we hate and fear money, then we hate and fear victory, and our defeat is assured.
From singapore to rockpicker posted at 10.15am:
Updates since the last time I was here, I bought 3 x 2.5 litres vacuum flask that can also store food hot 100 degrees C or cold -20 degrees C for max 20 hours @ US$45 on sale each, 3 x 7 litres (Meant for 9 people) vacuum cooker that can also store food hot for max 10 hours @ US$80 each. The food after boilfor 10 minutes, put inside vacuum cooker where the remaining heat continue cooking and warming. Considering the lack of time, as I expect economic crash of NYSE some time between this week and end of Jan 2007, there are 2 things that I did not have enough time to do (1) near my place, there is unused land approximate size of 2 foot ball fields, previously I have soil tests done and the soil is too clay for food growing, I lack time to grow crops locally , as I expect the economic crash soon and forced to grow crops locally as no fuel for transport as no sale of fuel until a new banking and economic system is established (2) I only managed to complete front piece tattoo, backpiece tattoo anticipate complete march 2007, I booked for left sleeve tattoo (Vincent Van Golf's starry starry night painting) in July this year, I did not managed to complete my objective of full body suite as started too late. For info, the fastest full body suite I know took 5 years to complete, 1st year he did 2 full sleeve, 2nd year he did full front piece, 3rd year full back, 4th year and 3 months into 5th year is his 2 complete legs and he still has not done his public and ass area. His is now in 6th year and he is doing his complete face new zealand style and neck too, and he works at the tattoo shop where he tattoos himself with help of a mirror for past 6 years. For traditional Japanese style using hand pushing, the fastest possible speed is 10 years as the speed is about 1/2 of electrical method for full body suite. The reason for full body suite is for ease of identification upon death and to make sure I do not get eaten up.
OK. 2006 is over. 2007 begins. Let's declare this year to be one where we cultivate those feelings in our hearts that will give us the strength of purpose and peace of mind to accomplish our goals of preparing for our physical needs as well as formulating a new vison for localization. I am encouraged by adaptation's, palooka's revenge,planman's and others input. When the recession hits, and the gas prices rise substantially, even the chamber of commerce crowd will turn to localized sources of food, community banks, and conservation. It will just make sense, especially if we are able to present some reasoned leadership.
Catherine Austin Fitz is a hero in my book. We can take direction from her when it comes to financial models. My own challenge is to not lose site of the transformation that is taking place in our world. Sometimes the idea of the pain and suffering that will no doubt come to pass is overwhelming. Despair and fear can slide in and be debilitating for awhile. At those times, it is good to express oneself, and let the others who are not in that place at the time, help to call one's spirit back.
Montana, I call your spirit back. Let me remind you of who you are. You are our Elder, who has a great reservoir of love and peace and wisdom from which we have derived much comfort. You can hear the voices of the winged creatures,four leggeds and the six legged, and bring us their wisdom. You have great compassion for the children, and they know that you love them, and they need you.
It is a new day. We have good and noble things to do. Don't make me have to go there and throw a bucket of ice water on you to snap you back !
Good to hear from you, too, Singapore. There seems to be an element of magic in your tatoos that I find quite charming.
Rockpicker, maybe there is a Mayan symbol for the new consciousness that would make a good tatoo. What do you think?
Adaptation,
I think I agree with you on every point, with a bit of reservation about the 5000 people affecting a companies earnings.
So lets take a look at a practical example. It is now winter in this hemisphere. Where I live, there is very little local food production at all, much less in the winter. If we want to eat, I have to buy from the grocery store whose shelves don’t have a single item that I know of that is locally produced. Same thing for replacing my worn out clothes, my broken or lost tools. and broken dishes. If I insisted on buying only organic fresh food, we would have to drive 30 miles, (using foreign oil) to pay twice as much for organic food at a national chain, ‘Wild Oats’. I rather suspect this is gong to be true for most of the people in this country.
One of the interesting very small movements going on is the ‘Don’t buy new’ movement. Maybe you have heard of it? It’s a lose group that take a pledge not to buy any new hard goods for a year at a time. Read some of their accounts of just how difficult that is. My conclusion is that it would take a hell of a lot of people to accomplish an economic impact on the transnationals. I am quite familiar with the 10 to 1 ratio in value, in fact, part of the problem is that ratio is much higher, thus inflating the value of the company beyond any reason.
I am also familiar with Cahterine Fitts. I agree that her suggestion for impacting the transnational banks would work. But--- I further imagine that most people live where there is no such thing as an independent local bank within 50 miles. And, even if they were available, if people started shifting money to them, all that would happen is that the big transnationals would buy them out. I would suggest that the problem is using banks at all. By the way, have you tried to rent a car lately without a credit card from a transnational?
I do like your suggestion about making buy locally concepts hip and in vogue. To do that means there has to be local production, which for the most part simply doesn’t exist. Got a local shoe maker in your neighborhood? Or a local craftsman turning out bicycles, or tires for your car, or pottery for you to eat off, or a repair shop to fix almost anything where it doesn’t cost 2 to 3 times as much as buying a replacement?
I don’t think it is that simple. The infrastructure is gone except for very localized and small areas. It will take time to make your ideas a practical reality and I rather suspect that it will be forced on us rather than being influencial in changing where the money goes.
I agree it is primarily a money problem, specifically in focusing wealth into fewer and fewer hands rather than spreading it around. We have for years now allowed the ending of local production of much of anything and the local marketing. The infrastructure is largely gone, and a great many of the skills needed are disappearing also. An example of this is local farming. For the most part, that is gone, and the people that know how to do it are old and retired or long since dead. What used to be common in communities, the local blacksmith, is now an oddity for tourists to watch, same with wagon makers and all the other skills needed for a powered down economy. I seriously doubt that 1% of our population would have the faintest notion of how to raise and keep a flock of chickens for their own use and to supply neighbors, or a couple of milk cows, or milk goats.
I think we are just going to have to sit back and wait for the PTB to self destruct from greed and mismanagement and lack of consideration of consequences. Then, hopefully, there will be enough savvy people left to pick up some of the pieces left and get on down the road.
Personally I believe that history has shown that protesting is quite ineffective. America pulled out of Vietnam due to the realization that they were in fact losing the war, it became blatantly obvious in and of itself in the end.
This war is not one the American economy can afford to pull out of, after all the last remaining oil reserves of the world lay in the Middle East, and oil is so vital to our economy. This war is the beginning of a war to end all wars in our modern era. It will outlive us….
Anonymous 5:04,
I couldn't agree more. We are now officially the "perpetual war machine" that I first wrote about in 2005.
Cyclone
Murph, I'm part of the 'don't buy new' movement -and you are correct it is much, much harder than it looks. I've cheated a couple of times. Not often, but sometimes I had no choice but to buy something I needed new. For example, the boards I used to build my new garden beds last fall. I couldn't find enough scrap in the right amounts and sizes in the time I had, so I finally had to go to Home Depot. Grrr. Planman is right about leaving the machine -but it ain't easy.
I agree that "the crash" comes in increments that are difficult to perceive. Due to drought, higher shipping costs, falling dollar, etc., grains this year are becoming more and more expensive. This will, of course, also raise the prices of meat, since animals eat grains, too. Anyway, once again, we are on our way to Costco to stock up on more grains, sugar, olive oil, evaporated milk, Crisco, etc. Cookies are about 3 dollars a pack now. Two packs per week, starts to add up. Same with loaves of bread. So, it looks to me like now is the time to start seriously relying on homemade cookies and bread. When you buy in bulk, like 50 pound bags of flour, etc. you need smaller containers to work with on a day to day basis. Found myself looking at new containers, then snapped out of it and decided to go to a thrift store instead to get used ones. Just when you think you have enough, you remember that friends or family might need a place to stay and then we'll have more mouths to feed, and the dollars now will go further than the dollars later when they are devalued, so might as well get it now and avoid the rush.
It's hard to know what the priorities should be. I've always wanted to go to Europe or to Asia (or both). If the shit does not come down, I'm going to be pissed that I've got a garage full of flour and chocolate chips, and that I could have used the money to go to Paris or Thailand. Damn.
Freeacre, A great representation of the yin/yang symbol, Mayan-style, is displayed alongside an article titled The Mayan Calendar and the Arc of Evolution. Website is: www.astroalchemy.com/articles/mayan.html
MF; Hang in there, brother. Cup your cracked hands in shelter for the flame. Preserve the light, torch-bearer. Crack the angry darkness with your smile. Let goodness stay. Break and chase the dark clouds away with the rising light of your heart. aho.
Oldensoul and I have been discussing the anticipated economic collapse, as depicted by various writers on this site, but neither of us are schooled in economics and we find the entire topic a cobweb of confusing supposition and unanswered questions.
Is anybody out there capable, for instance, of explaining, in plain English, how this "perpetual war" is being paid for? Where is the money coming from? Who is financing this self-destructive madness? Is the war-machine the very basis of our economy, and thus, the imperative feature of it?
What sort of event could trigger a collapse of the international monetary system?
Is it a case of the dragon eating it's tail? Is it the world's financial investors, large and small, who perpetuate the war, because it's good for business?
Thanks Freeacre,
for the snapback, i never would have imagined a duel to the death would be a part of my mental makeup and that it could happen so fast over a word!! A word!!!..It just goes to show how fragal peacefull existance actually is. In one second its gone,and i knew right then the life i have enjoyed has the bite of illusion beyond measure. I thought i was immune to all of that reactive combat but now know its bullshit and hopefully the future will show more awareness to the possibility of compassion rather then war.
Thank all of you in allowing the insanity to be expressed for what it is,i ask for forgiveness from the person that i could of broght harm to in a microsecond and i forgive him for being human just the same as me. My careless mouth which could of done so much damage in the future will be guided with more consideration and awareness of how unstable our minds can become,in the space of a heartbeat.
The slight feeling of superior self awareness is now erased and i am humbled in that light and look for love once more in the eyes of everyone i see.
And Freeacre, thank you for the really groovy recipe, i will try it out today now that Leif is back in the detention center, ( school )he has been making cookies like theres no tomorrow, i have been truly blessed to have the honor of being a part of his life/.
Activism in the historical sense changed certain cirumstances but never the underlying structure. The increasing concentration of capital and power into enormous corporate fiefdoms leaves us serfs with few choices. We can remain serfs in order to take advantage of the limited "protections" of the fiefdom ie. health care, money for the purchase of our various needs, credit for those emergency situations, and a generally comfortable couch in a splendidly decorated jail cell. Or we can choose to start abandoning the system of control. Considering the implications of both global warming and peak oil I think this is the only ethical choice. If we don't start building a new mode of survival for our grandchildren while we still have access to a few resources, then we are no better than the automatons who never think or even the corporate slave drivers and their government shills.
In my house we have 10 people (sharing space means saving money that would otherwise go to the corporations). We dumpster the vast majority of our food (I know this sounds weird to those who've never done it, but the stuff is wrapped in three layers of plastic on average, there's enough of it we can pick and choose ie. one rotten apple in a whole bag of good ones can be composted and the rest washed off, and we don't use the meat, we have venison and local free-range beef when we want meat). We buy mostly from second-hand and thrift stores for clothing and shoes. I personally don't take a job unless it's under-the-table so no taxes. We brew our own alcohol, cook big family meals instead of going out. We have almost a cottage industry of hand-made crafts that we trade, sell or gift. In any situation where we need some service, we try to barter first. All of this saves money from disappearing in the trickle-up economy that is designed to keep us debt enslaved for life. This excess funding is being used instead to purchase a piece of land nearby. We are building housing with sustainable, off-grid, eco-friendly designs from dumpstered materials as much as possible(total estimated cost of the first building is less than 10$/sq. foot). We are planting fruit and nut trees and starting gardens, as well as learning about all the wild edibles already freely available. One of the women in the group is currently pursuing midwifing (she's a doula right now). There's a million other little things, but this in essence is the only chance for hope I can see for the human race. Activism might or might not be able to bring our troops home, but there will always be another war until we abandon those systems that demand resources from foreign countries to provide for our consumer wants here at home. Stop buying! Especially new things. Learn to dumpster, everything you need can be found for free and you can barter for what you want.
Thanks for listening to the rantings of someone new to this site.
Epimethean,
Glad you are with us and welcome to the camp fire.
I agree with you that activism does not change the underlying structure of a society or governance. It is a reaction to a decision and events the government has undertaken and does not often represent the thinking of the majority of the population. Thus it becomes sort of a propaganda tool to change minds about some issue.
I have been hammering away with post I have written that we need to have a change in the structure of our government. While it is obvious that unless a vast majority of the population sees this need, it isn't going to happen. So a demons ratable alternative is about all we have left. This society, like most, is so taken up with its origins and edifying its past thinkers and policy makers that we lose sight of the consequences of that thinking and policies.
It appears to me that we do not have hard, down and dirty, idealism statements anymore, especially for general dissemination. We have no real vision statements. I found the republican platform statement to be nothing more than the codifying of what G.W. Bush has done. The Dems platform is nothing more than platitudes. Nothing I have seen to date gives a vision of what the society should or will look like under different circumstances. There is a reason for this I think. No leader in today's politics stands outside of the elite circle. I think they intuitively know that if they stated their true agenda and vision it would be flat out rejected by most people. So it has to be approached from a much more oblique angle. That most of the population cannot perceive that this is the case indicates a lack of critical thinking.
I applaud your living experiment. I wish it a good outcome and suspect that we will see much more of it as our society declines. What you have described sounds much like what is going on with the anarchist groups in Oregon.
By the way, I am unfamiliar with the term ‘doula’. What is it?
RP,
I can't find your email address. Please send it to me, I'll try to help with your questions.
Cyclone
RP,
Never mind, I just found it. You'll hear from me soon,
Cyclone
I have yet failed to be amazed by the people at this council fire. The wisdom, the passion, the dedication to helping birth a better world out of the rotting embers of what is left of the old, are nothing short of astounding. I want to express my gratitude to Murph and Cyclone for working so hard to keep this site going, and for all those who post here.
MF –welcome back. Do not be too hard on yourself. You are only human, after all, as are we all and you can not be perfect. Such things happen to remind us of that fact, and to help us grow into better people. No one here is upset with you.
Freeacre –chance are you’ll use most of that stuff even if things don’t crash. And if you don’t and it gets close to expiration, you can always send it to the local soup kitchen and help feed those who might not have a meal otherwise. How then would the money be wasted? You might not have used it to see the Eiffel Tower (something I also deeply wish to see, btw) but it will still be put to good use.
RP –lol, I don’t think anyone understands exactly how the economy works right now. Here is how I see it. For the past 60 years or so, the dollar has been the world’s reserve currency. That basically means we’ve forced the rest of the world to price anything that’s traded internationally in dollars, or else. Oil, food, clothing, etc. The war is being paid for by borrowing. Americans buy things from China using credit cards that create money out of thin air, that money goes to China, and China loans it back to the government. The government also borrow from China directly by sending them shiny, U.S. Treasury securities printed by the Federal Reserve, and also created out of thin air. The government itself is dependent on this borrowed money; it has to borrow something like $30 million per day (or maybe it’s per hour, I can’t remember) just to keep the lights on. The basis of the rest of the economy is debt, mostly resulting from the housing bubble. See the Mogambo Guru for some really funny insights into the state of the economy.
Anyway see anything I said that was wrong?
I just wanted to send everyone here a new year's greeting of hope and optimism as we try to grow in awareness and adapt to the many challanges we see before us in 2007 and beyond.
Rockpicker and I ushered in the new year standing beneath a timeworn shagbark hickory firmly rooted in the farmland of his youth, as windgusts blew chilling rain around us. To me that was symbolic of how we need to stand together, our ever-widening circle of friends here. We need to search for ways to stay rooted by learning new practices. How we live our lives is a very important form of activism, as we exhibit a strong sense of purpose aimed at salvaging our rights, our freedoms, our humanity, our dignity, and our sense of direction as people in balance with the workings of the natural world.
May we continue to support each other here as we explore ideas, compelling issues, and an honest caring for those here in this circle. Peace to all.
epimethian,ras, Oldensoul, and all... I am encouraged as I wake up and touch base with our little cyber tribe. I would hope that my son will someday hook up with others as grounded as the group epimethian is a part of.
Another interesting post from an astrological point of view from Bill Herbst at www.billherbst.com today. His wisdom is great, even if you don't care a bit for astrology.
Murph,
There are some political platforms out there that are somewhat forward thinking and idealistic...I liked certain planks in both the green and the libertarian parties in the last presidential election. The corporate MSM will never allow them to be heard though as this might allow actual change to happen. Other individuals within the two party system that have a bit of idealism (Cynthia McKinney, Dennis Kucinich to name a few) end up smeared publicly at every turn or at best disregarded by their own parties and the MSM. Just a couple more reasons why abandoning the machine of state seems to make more sense then "Trying to change it from within" even by protest or activism, legitimate or otherwise.
A doula is sort of an expecting mother's pregnancy assistant, educator, coach and "delivery room defense attourney" and generally speaking a midwife in training. In most hospital deliveries drugs (epidurals) are encouraged, they will also all but force a c-section (over 70% of hospital deliveries in some places) for insurance purposes, and almost immediately after birth the baby is stripped from its parents for hours. These can be both harmful and dangerous but a woman in the midst of childbirth very rarely says no to a medical professional. This is where a doula's advice and coaching come into play.
I'm reading Gerald Calente's "Top trends for 2007" in an interview by Linda Moulton Howe of Earthfiles and thought it worthy to revisit this thread to post what Calente had to say that speaks directly to Cy's question.
Calente is considered by many to be one of the most acurate trend prognosticators on the planet.
Quote...
Internet Candidate
YET, LOOKING BACK NEVER SOLVES THE CRISES OF THE PRESENT. THAT IS A QUESTION ON SO MANY PEOPLES’ MINDS TODAY: HOW DO WE CHANGE THE UNITED STATES? HOW DO WE PUT THE POST-9/11 GENIE BACK IN THE BOTTLE AND RETURN THE UNITED STATES BACK TO AN ENTREPENEURIAL, FREER SPIRIT IN WHICH IT IS NOT TURNING INTO SUCH A CLASS NATION? THAT LEADS TO ONE OF YOUR BIG TRENDS IN 2007 AND THAT IS THE QUESTION OF EMERGING INTERNET CANDIDATES.
That’s right. It all ties together. How can we do it? It’s very simple. Think for yourself. That’s our motto. When you turn on the TV or pick up a newspaper, they are all telling us how to think. Or they are bringing experts on, ‘General, what do you think? Oh, Senator, what do you think?’
What do I care what he thinks? There is enough information out there for me to make up my own mind. What’s happened is that the internet has become the new Alexandria Library – that famous library that was built by Alexander, The Great around 300 B. C. that was burned down seven hundred years later. It’s said it held all the ancient wisdom of the world.
Now, the internet is holding that ancient wisdom again. Rather than the half a million books that the Alexandra Library held, today the internet has billions of books and trillions of pages. You can find the information and decide for yourself what is fact and what is fiction. We’re going to see, we believe, an internet candidate that is going to run outside the Two Party system.
By the way, the latest CNN/Gallup poll came out. Only 15% of the people have any high regard for Congress. That’s how low it is right now. People are looking for a new way and an internet candidate with an internet party, we believe is going to emerge in 2007, going into 2008. The difference with this campaign is: it’s not going to be about the personality. It’s going to be about the principals and facts and what the platform is. We think it is going to be the beginning of a third party movement in the United States.
End quote. I happen to agree with Calente. Howard Dean gave us a look into the future back in 2003 then committed political suicide in about 2 minutes on a cold Tuesday in Iowa.
You can read the full interview here... http://earthfiles.com/news/news.cfm?ID=1179&category=Environment
More from Celente....
Technotribalism
LMH: HOW DOES THAT RELATE TO ANOTHER TOP TREND IN 2007 ON YOUR LIST THAT YOU CALL ‘TECHNOTRIBALISM’?
GC: We call it ‘technotribalism’ because you already see it with places like MySpace.com and FaceBook and so on. Not only are people communicating around the world with each other and forming little cliques, but also a stream of consciousness, a belief system. We believe that the technotribalism is going to unite people in ways, via the computer, that we’ve never seen before. They are going to have a very strong voice in organizing and bringing people together to bring changes that they want: negative, positive, whatever the changes might be. They are going to be able to ally a lot of forces.
We have to put the whole internet into perspective. When I wrote Trends 2000 – it first came out in 1997 – words like ‘portal’ and ‘e commerce’ did not exist. When you go back into the end of the 20th Century, it was only like 17% of the people even had internet access! This trend is just being born. The internet – as long as it’s free and not controlled by governments and we don’t know what’s going to happen in the future – we’re going to see a peoples’ revolution that won’t be able to be stopped. We think technotribalism is the foundation of that.
Having visited Ecuador last spring I can atest to the power of an indiginous uprising against the big oil companies and an incredible success story about a grassroots local organization that forced a major gold miner to abandon a proposed project and LEAVE the area! The people were/are right!!
I know its hard to imagine tribes isolated by mountains or jungles yet still connected now by the power of the web but its happening and with great success.
And the term "tribe" is not limited to the literal implication. Since beginning to read this blog about 3 weeks ago I have seen the term applied liberally and correctly so.
In cahoots, Palooka
palooka,
Interesting stuff from Celente. I'm sort of a fan, but hadn't seen this. Thanks,
Cyclone
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