As the status quo crumbles, the state responds in the only way it knows: expand control and become increasingly authoritarian.
The Grand Narrative of the 21st century is the legitimization of the authoritarian state. The authoritarian state comes in many ideological flavors, but retains the commonalities of central control. It may label the system it controls communist, socialist or capitalist, but these distinctions are semantic: the authoritarian state controls the system, by one means or another.
Regardless of which version of the 9/11 story you believe or disbelieve, the reality is the same: the U.S. is engaged in an Orwellian global war without end, a war that doesn't just justify monitoring every communication on the planet but actively requires monitoring every communication on the the planet.
The Federal Reserve has extended its control of the U.S. economy, transforming it into a wealth-skimming machine for the top 1/10th of 1% with access to the Fed's credit creation. The Fed claims independence from the U.S. government, but this is also merely semantics: the Fed and U.S. Treasury are simply two facets of the authoritarian state.
We see the same narrative playing out around the world. In socialist France, the central state is extending its control over what little of the economy is still quasi-private; in nominally communist China, any weakening of the economy that can't be papered over with bogus statistics is soon followed by nationalist propaganda hyping one red-button issue or another (Senkaku Islands, etc.) to distract the populace from the increasingly fragile "recovery" in China's asset-bubble-dependent economy.
As the status quo crumbles, the state responds in the only way it knows: expand control and become increasingly authoritarian. This is of course a key dynamic in why things are falling apart: increasing central control only further distorts the mechanisms in the economy that seek equilibrium by self-correcting means.
Why is the authoritarian state illegitimate? Among the many reasons, we can start with three: the authoritarian state is the enemy, always and in all places, of individual liberty and free expression/the free press, and the authoritarian state is intrinsically a failed state, for the mechanisms of centralization and authoritarian control are ontologically destabilizing, regardless of the ideological flavor of the system the state controls.
Life in the Empire
Who's the enemy?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by pan on
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At first I was pretty upset about "hurting" a student who I care about. Then I got really depressed about the Sisyphean project of my life's work - how it seems that even those who appear to want what I have to offer ultimately reject it when it cuts too deep. Then I got pissed off - this wasn't someone who was new to my class. This was a student who has taken classes from me many times, who has been in my creative projects, who has experienced the Paul/teacher persona on an ongoing basis. She should know who I am and how I am. For her to use her "hurt" and "sensitive weeping" as a weapon against me because she knows that I deeply care about my students and this was a way to affect me.....I'm pissed.
This happens to me all the time. I open myself up to my students. And eventually they (or some of them) get scared by what I am teaching them so they lash out. And it is effective.
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Of course....reading the internet (especially going to Waldo's links) before going to class tends to prime me for my rants - I blame you guys!
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Permalink Reply by waldopaper on
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Scheisskopf?
The ocean is broken. Overfishing. Gaia hypothesis. This land is our land. Glitchy. How greedy. Wingnut. McDonalds advises.
Schutzengel.
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Permalink Reply by BO on
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So, how long do we have? Any guesses?
Was thinking 50 years. Now, I'm thinking ten. I'm predicting a new trend: Jim Jone's type parties for those who want to avoid suffering.
My red neck neighbor told me today he was looking to buy an AK-47 and an automatic shotgun. I told him I heard that human flesh tastes like chicken so, he might want to stock up on a huge supply of A-1 sauce.
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Been spending time onthe Guardian threads. Rather amused by the shock and outrage being put forward about Obama and the Snowden revelations. Really? You folks really think that Obama is in control? That he could stop the Shadow State even if he wanted to? They seem to think that the Panopticon was an invention of the 21st century.
Naive idiots calling for the sacrifice of a scapegoat to cleanse us of all of our sins - who have huge memory holes they tuck away their guilt for cheerleading the GWOT, the Cold War, the benefits of Empire - who haven't looked at the voting records of their Representatives and Senators who repeatedly voted away our Rights so that the Constitution is just another piece of paper.
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Lately, there's been a smattering of left-wing journalists (like Chris Hedges) calling for revolution. Something the tea partiers have been promoting for some time. Good to see the left is catching up.
As dissent ratchets up, so will the "Authoritarian State." Eventually, something's gonna break.
From http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com .....
The Grand Narrative: Legitimize the Authoritarian State
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At the risk of being redundant to something you wrote years ago - the technology to deal with our overlords in the neo-feudal state already exists:
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Just got back from Phoenix and a family wedding. We stayed at a casino. Monitors everywhere. Football... football... more football... Fox News... and football... Fox news about football... and football. People of all ages decked out in sports logos. "Development creeping up the face of Camelback Mountain. Did not see one solar panel in the desert city... because because nobody wants to subsidize your communist solar abortion panels. Because freedom. and football. and faux news... and football. Go team. Staged spectacle. Football. More football later...
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Deja vu... years ago... all old male patients.... Football... Football... Fox News... and football. Casino.
Son and nephews and friends all like to go out into the bush. It's in their blood. I was was there when all of them were born. Known them since they was babies, most of em, and all my boys do wright in da bush. I saw a whole generation... and am fierce proud of me lads and their girls... sisters, cousins, wives and betrothed.
Media bias. How the Occupy Began. Why Old Men Cry.
I walked from Ypres to Passchendale
In the first gray days of spring
Through flatland fields where life goes on
And carefree children sing
Round rows of ancient tombstones
Where a generation lies
And at last I understood
Why old men cry.And the bride and groom's first dance was "Rainbow Connection."
What are you butt-holes looking at?
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This was our first dance:
Actually that isn't completely accurate, that was our first dance during the reception, within the ceremony our friend Lily Cai performed the Peacock Dance
I think her version of it was better than the one on the video.
And then our capoeira group did Jogo de Iuna (game of the Love Birds). J & I played in our wedding attire.
As my nephew reported afterwards, "that was one of the least boring weddings I have ever been to."
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