Human Nature #3 – The Corporate State vs Mass Movements

  By Richard from Canada | July 11, 2012 - 04:19 | ,

 

Basically Chris Hedges is saying  that we need mass movements to counter the corporate takeover.  It is a very powerful video and covers alot of territory.  I should have kept notes !  The lecture is 40 minutes followed by questions and a final reading by Chris.  Thanks to the link from Jesse’s Café Américain.

He calls a liberal not someone of the left but a person capable of acting as the safety value for capitalism.  That when it goes too far there are people around who can contribute to supporting the people.   He considers men like Clinton and Obama sell outs to corporate culture having contributed to the continuing corporate takeover.

He also says it is not about a mass movement taking power.  He points out that the last liberal President was Richard Nixon (said tongue in cheek) because he was the last President to have to fear mass movements within the US.

On the current economic crisis he says it is crazy to make all of society suffer to basically bail out the current corporate elites.  I think !

The bottom line is that we need mass movements to keep corporate power in balance for a healthy society.

Certainly worth a listen and maybe a future book read.

 

 

 

 

Written by: Richard from Canada on July 11, 2012.
Tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.
  • http://overthepeak.com/wordpress/ Mystic

    I changed the video code, so it shows up nice.
    When on YouTube, go to `share` …… which opens up the possibility of `embed` …..
    …then over bottom right `customized`, put in 600 as the width (height is done automatically) ….
    …then copy code and paste into OTP post.

    People are more likely to watch it that way.
    Thanks.

    • CSArichardo

      no thnaks to you !

      • CSArichardo

        I meant that as “thank you”

    • CSArichardo

      I have followed everything.  Now do I paste into the visual or HTML version of my draft post ?  I have actually tried both and neither appear to work for me. 

      Should I be able to see the embedded video in the preview ??

      • http://overthepeak.com/wordpress/ Mystic

         I always use the HTML, so yes to that.
        And yes, it should show up in the preview.

        You are copying the code from under the video, yes~?

        • CSArichardo

          Yes I copy the code into the html.  When I do a preview nothing comes up.  When I do a save draft the embedded htlm i [asted disappears !!

          • http://overthepeak.com/wordpress/ Mystic

             Have a look at your draft copy now.
            I have put the code in.

            Maybe read carefully the `how to do` comment I left you~!?

  • Neal

    Nice sermon.  Padded out with lots of irrelevant rad-chic  anecdotes about eastern europe and Occupy, but actually just another shoe-gazing and guilt-laden snapshot of US working class decline.

    No analysis of sovereignty behind currencies (let alone its transfer into more sustainable forms), no analysis of energy, emerging markets.  No economic meat on the emotional bones (which was readily available via Polanyi).  …also there are certainly no mass movements which currently show any signs of thinking about these things in any systematic or useful way.  Occupy and Zeitgeist are simply dry runs for the real thing.  

    Yes, the age of piecemeal reform within developed countries is officially over, but it is a mistake to think that this is the end of the story.   This is because (as a mirror image of Fukuyama) Hedges’ mind has also been so populated that he believes his own lie that ‘…all of the promises of globalisation have turned out to be a lie’.  So wrong.  Capitalism never made any ‘promises’ to anyone, it simply showed itself to be a more convincing illusion than any available competitor (none of which was ever a real viable alternative anyway).  Rather, piecemeal liberalism has in fact been replaced by piecemeal (and often explosive) expansion of new markets – a spatial fix for the wests psychic exhaustion and vanity, itself facilitated by hyper-banking as the west’s last throw of the dice.  A mere hightened awareness amongst caring people newly dis-abused of previous illusions is not going to save the day.

    All that is left for these neutered left / liberals is to act as palliative care nurses within declining states while the new global order consolidates.  History shows that if this transition cannot be completed smoothly and on time the ‘masses’ (true to their conditioning) will quickly turn from nihilistic apathy to fascism.  Vainglorious radicals / liberals like Hedges still like to delude themselves that they are safety valve of capitalism – when in fact any available scapegoat plays that role to perfection.  

    Would not go so far as to say that this is ‘Human Nature’, but it certainly the case within modern history – and those I see around me.  

    (Hedges would be more effective as part of a polemic tag team / nice cop nasty cop routine with Krugman – but probably neither of their egos would allow that to happen).

    (…no investment tips or indicators above – hence only 2 replies?!)

    • axionication1

      Your comment sadly correct…I like the man though.

      Have not watched the vid ( but have read him in heaps)

      • CSArichardo

        He does his role for the people.  They need more to stand up where he is weakest !

    • Anne Panne

      From just having a notion that something was wrong, the demonstrations made me aware of the mass of people who felt the same way.
      It wasn’t just my flawed persona but a lot of us.
      I started out on a journey into sociology, economics and personal conviction – both political and religious. I belive I am better prepared to handle the near and distant future.
      I think every movement has the potential to put some people on a similar path.
      The trick is to free one self from the left/ right- paradigm and focus on the up/down or rather good/bad.

      • http://overthepeak.com/wordpress/ Mystic

         ……..but, will you pour the milk away~!?

    • CSArichardo

      The Human Nature angle is that some people need to sacrifice for the herd.  He sees himself that way I think?  Like his father if you listened to that part !  Of course that is the human nature element.  Most people will coast because it sustains their life style, others will sacrifice for the herd when the going gets tough, etc.

  • http://overthepeak.com/wordpress/ Mystic

    Well, I got to the end of the video.
    That’s about all I can say.