Surviving Capitalism (Not) : With Arab Despots on the Run, America Remains Hypnotized

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, January 29, 2011

With Arab Despots on the Run, America Remains Hypnotized

by Russell Mokhiber from CounterPunch.

All throughout the Arab world, the despots are on the run.

Fueled by Facebook and Twitter, the Arab street is aflame.

In the United States, instead of fueling the resistance, social media is like a hypnotic drug.

See also Washington's Blog and his take on complacency in the US in the article entitled, "Inequality In America Is Worse Than In Egypt, Tunisia Or Yemen".