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, July 2, 2011

Brainwashing the Corporate Way

Click here to access article by John Pilger from Global Research. 
One of the most original and provocative books of the past decade is Disciplined Minds by Jeff Schmidt (Rowman & Littlefield). “A critical look at salaried professionals,” says the cover, “and the soul-battering system that shapes their lives.”
I entirely agree with Pilger regarding this book. It has long been on my blog list. I regard it as essential reading in order to understand how the fake democracy works at its best (or worst) in the United States.

What passes as higher education in the US is loaded with indoctrination: history. literature, sociology, psychology, etc, is laced with the values and perspectives of the capitalist class. The latter depend especially upon their highly trained managers to serve their interests and the perpetuation of capitalism. That is precisely why they pay them so much. It is not because the key managers of the system are indispensable, but it is to insure their loyalty to the system and its beneficiaries.

The extraordinary benefits that the ruling class bestows on their key managers of the system was likely influenced by James Burnham in his book published in 1941 entitled, The Managerial Revolution, in which he foresaw the rise of a new managerial ruling class to replace the capitalist class.