So what are we going to do about it?

[Cyrano]

Most of us know we are being screwed every hour of every day. We’re being victimized by those who own most of our politicians, most of the media, and virtually everything else worth owning. And, yes, they own us too. So what are we going to do about it?

We aren’t organized. And that tends to preclude any meaningful action we can take to defend ourselves against the predators that prey on us. So what are we going to do about it?

Far too many have bought into the non-stop propaganda that’s fed to us all. And they’ll never comprehend how or why they’re being screwed, or who’s screwing them. So what are we going to do about it?

Are we going to wait for an election where some “great savior” rides in on a white horse to rescue us from those who are destroying us? That’s not likely to happen. So what are we going to do about it?

It’s easy for some to call us sheep, but that’s a baseless accusation. And the reason it’s false is because we don’t have the means, the power, the resources, or the cohesiveness to do battle with our oppressors. And if we do have any of these things, it's evidently not apparent to most of us.

So the question is not “What are we going to do about it?” The real question is “What can we do about it?”

Suggestions/solutions?

[InkAddict]

1. Seems to have better effect when outside the tent pissin in

than inside the tent getting kidney stones that block pissin altogether and are too expensive, HRC or not!

Pick some other 3rd World country really trying to be make it a better place instead of trying to destroy their home; even as poor Americans, we're richer and half-way educated; pick a place where we can help make it a better world.

[Brickbat]

2. Educate, agitate, organize.

[Cyrano]

4. The powers that be have done everything to block these three options.

[Brickbat]

5. Oh. OK then.

Seriously, what kind of attitude is that?

[Cyrano]

6. Sorry, it's not an attitude. It's nothing more than an observation.

Those who dominate us have no illusions what it takes to keep power.

Riots in the streets? Their answer is Xe, (formerly Blackwater), and others of their ilk.

Don't buy their products? How can we not? They own just about everything.

Damn, I hate to sound this negative. But the haves and have mores have really grabbed hold of the reins of power. And they have virtually absolute control.

We are so screwed. And we must -- must -- find a way out. Or we, our children, and our children's children will forever live in servitude.

[Brickbat]

7. It's a defeated attitude, and an incorrect observation, and a total disregarding of what the stakes

and costs are.

Sure, they have power. But they need us. They need our labor and our dollars. We can withhold both. It's been done, and done well, and done with great success.

I do not believe for a minute that Walmart or Starbucks are more powerful than U.S. Steel was at the beginning of the last century. The union benefits I enjoy today were bought and paid for with blood and lives, and I firmly believe that we can do it again if we just educate, agitate and organize.

Otherwise, what else is there? There is no easy way out. Organizing is terrible, difficult, thankless and devastating work. It's worse than work. And when the stakes are this high, people die. But there isn't anything else.

[Cyrano]

9. They really don't need us that much anymore.

China and India have the largest populations in the world. And our multi-national corporations have moved on to these new markets.

I guess what I'm saying is that we are no longer needed, or necessary, to the corporate bottom line. Then again, they don't yet have their hands on the final rubles to be wrung from Social Security and Medicare. But it won't be long before they get that too.

[bobbolink]

12. First you are talking about the people, and when questioned, you then turn it to the corporations.

So, which one is it you are talking about?

[Cyrano]

18. The first sentence of my OP was about corporations.

[bobbolink]

21. You know, I agree with Al Franken... I really get tired of weasel words.

You pretend to ask a serious question, then play games. Is that your way of ensuring that the predators win? Wasting our time and energy with a silly game?

This is actually serious business, and if you would rather play games, please pick up your Game Boy and go at it.

"We aren’t organized. And that tends to preclude any meaningful action we can take to defend ourselves against the predators that prey on us. So what are we going to do about it?"

You see, that actually sounds like a serious question.

It deserves some serious discussion, so either get serious or be honest that you are playing games, and leave it.

[Cyrano]

24. Wouldn't it be more productive to spend time addressing the issues I

raised in the OP than attacking my words?

[bobbolink]

25. That's hilarious!!!

YOU:

1. Raise important questions.

2. Derail any attempt at serious discussion.

3. Plea for discussion, claiming you are being attacked.

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[tavalon]

22. Form collectives and learn how to make as much of our own food, etc.

Starve the beast. We were never meant to gather in such small units. Let's get back to our village roots.

[bobbolink]

11. Where has there been a serious attempt at education that has been blocked?

[Cyrano]

19. When hasn't there been a time when a serious attempt at educations has been blocked?

[bobbolink]

20. Nice evasion, but FAIL.

So, since you want to play word games after making a serious accusation, What have YOU done to educate people, and HOW were YOU blocked?

[shanti]

3. divide and conquer

is what they have done. problem is, it's ALL of us who will suffer.

[bobbolink]

13. So, what can be done to undivide?

[cali]

8. local. local. local.

[Terry in Austin]

29. Right on -- "National" is kind of a fiction, anyway

A few propositions in support of localism:

• People don't actually live in a nation, or even a state. They live in towns and cities.
  
• Democracy doesn't seem to scale up very well. At the local level, a single voice can actually be heard.
  
• Washington doesn't really govern that much. What happens at the municipal level affects your daily life a lot more closely.
  
• National/corporate TV is what gives us the impression that what goes on in Washington actually matters to anyone but the corporations.

Even though Washington theoretically has the capacity to mess you up with this or that Big Brother-ish stunt, the odds are against it.

Which leads us to two encouraging observations (one from J. H. Kunstler, the other from Chinese oral tradition):

1. "Many of us fear that we are headed toward a Big Brother kind of governmental tyranny. I think we will be lucky if the federal government can answer the phones, let alone regulate anyone’s life, in the post-oil era."
   
2. "Heaven is high and the emperor is far away."

[scarletwoman]

30. "Heaven is high and the emperor is far away." I like that.

Really, focus on what you can do right where you are.

[jotsy]

10. And up to the batter's box we go.

I'll be having a swing at much of that, tyvm.

A significant portion of DU has a greater understanding of our situation and the gravity of it from a more intricate perspective than the masses at large. As much as the PTB own, they will never own me, or you. What they claim is ownership of the channels which feed our existential infrastructure and insist the toll for using it is ours to pay. There is plenty that can be done, it is a question of how far the arm is twisted before it sets in on the bulk that the pain being inflicted is indeed intentional.

Organization? Once again, let's take the multitude of forums here as an example. At the top of my list would be to encourage all to check in at state forums to get a feel for who's close and identify issues to address, and how. Huge subset of options here! Meaning doesn't manufacture itself via osmosis, it requires a little cultivation and consistent effort.

Deprogramming is fraught with challenges yes. Simply recommend everyone pursue all sides of a story before coming to a conclusion is a start. Encourage the bulk around us to question the megaphone, give them options in terms of informational flow. You can't make 'em drink but they can at least be shown a different direction, and be sure to remind them it is a thing you do as a courtesy. Stress FREEDOM of choice and INDEPENDENT thought, as we are taught to believe such notions are the cornerstones of a principled nation. Ask them the most revealing questions in the most curious light and watch the eyes spin.

This last summer I spent my first season in 15 years as a fresh member of an apartment community after losing my home because Wells Fargo didn't want to answer why they should get three times the amount we were behind over the space of a year. So as I supervised my young teenybopper swimming I engaged in a lot of idle chit chat with other supervisors of young swimmers. I must concur, many of the working and trying to work more crowd is feeding at the trite trough of disinformation we embarrassingly refer to as the media. So I told them. That all the news they see is brought to them by but half a dozen transnational corporations all on the same page. I let them know how the fed works and that when it all boils down that the entity is about digging a money whole no public can ever buy or spend itself out of. I recommend online venues and tell them to check blog rolls and find anything that suits them, outside traditional venues. They know more now, they share more important exchanges with their own peer groups who in turn share exponentially. I know this cuz I'm told and I'm thanked. Little swells like this can develop into a wave, which aren't random but a reflection of the tide.

This is not about saving and I personally cannot bear the idea of another election cycle to support this farce of governance that runs on institutionalized bribery. Especially in the wake of a $4 billion expenditure just to elect a body we pay $75 million to for legislating. That money could have been used to feed and house cold and hungry children, fund a school district or pay for a great many needed physical exams for the growing number of us without access to any kind of medical attention saving emergencies. The longer we wait, the worse it will get.

I'm not sure of who said this first, just that it wasn't me. Some clever DUer once expressed it like so:

~Somewhere between the freeple and the sheeple, what we have to find are we the people.~

We have to make the means Cyrano, identify the resources and learn how to use the power in the tools we forge. Cohesion will likely lend itself when the masses possess a faith that rivals the one they cling to.



A verbose vignette it was. Saw this as a spin on my game suggestion and felt obliged to respond in more than cursory fashion. This long winded wordy wench will be well on her way now. You asked, is all have to say in my chatterbox defense. I suppose a simple 'Plenty' would have done though, hunh?

Yeah, I rec'd it. A lot of good questions.

[bobbolink]

15. Very good and very doable scenario. I'm seeing some of the same results, also.

I'm thinking that there can be a more organized approach to it.

At the least, I would like to see you lay out some opening gambits, and how to direct people to better information.

Not everyone has an intuitive sense of that.

Would you consider doing an OP on this? I think you have some good starting points, and although mostly DU is used to gripe, maybe there would be enough people who would take the cues and run with them.

Worth the try.

[jotsy]

16. I appreciate it.

PM me if you would please? Let's chat.

[Cyrano]

17. Dear "wordy wench:"

There is little I can disagree with in what you have said.

But then, there is H.L. Mencken's quote that "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."

Mencken was as cynical as one can get. But that doesn't mean he was wrong.

On the other hand, I guess I still hold out some optimism that humanity will survive this current "dark age." I just hope that most of us are around to see it.

[jotsy]

32. In the spirit of the holidays Cyrano

A more contemporary, less cynical take on the matter.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wOLQDAgiy4>

[Ezlivin]

14. When all peaceful/legal methods of effecting change are unavailable

Then revolution is all that is left.

The number in nations
The God in their hearts
The justice in swine
The devil in God.

Vote!

This long hand that breaks our backs
Still casting shadows on all that we see
Unjustified...mercy killing is just a feeling
To keep our numbers from being free

Prison for praise is not worth thinking
Sin is still in and our ballots are shrinking
So unleash the dogs - the only solution
Forgive and forget, fuck no
I'm talking about a revolution

The prophet man's got a needle in his hand
Draws his dreams from your soul - bleeding minds into sand
The year of the fear has arrived decades too late
And our right to stand and fight is now
Solely sealed in fate

Prison for praise is not worth thinking
Sin is still in and our ballots are shrinking
So unleash the dogs - the only solution
Forgive and forget, fuck no
I'm talking about a revolution

One last chance mission with a vision
'Cos our lives are just cards in their stack
Our time is short but theirs is shorter
How much longer can they hold us back

Prison for praise - the obvious answer
Once had power mad - living disaster
Don't fuck with me 'cos I'm on the freedom train
That bears no name - this time
I'm voting with a bullet

The view they once knew made our nooses too tight
This justice in swine
This devil in God

So God bless my soul - I've got total control
And the crosshairs lined up dead in my sight.

I'm voting with a bullet.

Corrosion of Conformity - "Vote With a Bullet"

[Gregorian]

23. Let's put this in perspective. If you work for a living

,then every 2 hours of every 8 hours that you work, every day, goes toward funding the military.

I had a notion recently that we are supporting the rich. And after all, that is how they amass so much money. Through a large population of small payments. When we were manufacturing, that is how they did it. Now that we're not manufacturing, they have to find another way. Not like it's orchestrated. But the love of money is the root of all evil. And therein lies the motivation and potential for the problems we now face.

But the perspective I want to point out is that we are in no way paying even close to the amount toward helping out the rich as we are in helping out the military. And yet I see no one making noise about that. Not really.

Military austerity. It's how we're going to survive. The tax cuts are puny in comparison.

[scarletwoman]

26. Find whatever ways in your own life where you can stop feeding the corporate beast.

How did the beast grow so powerful? By everyone feeding it.

Do you have an account with Bank of America or any of the other monster banks? You're helping feed the beast.

Do you use a credit card? You're helping feed the beast.

Do you pay for cable or dish TV? You're helping feed the beast.

Do you have money in the stock market? You're helping feed the beast.

Do you spend your money in big box stores? You're helping feed the beast.

Are you willing to make some changes in your own life that will stop feeding the beast? It's something everyone can do -- stop helping forge their own chains.

There's no grand solution, certainly not in the political sphere. However, the first step on the road to a solution is non-cooperation with your own enslavement.

sw

[glitch]

27. Hear hear!

And making your life more about living and less about consuming has the benefit of making it much more enjoyable.
IMO of course.

[bobbolink]

31. Partly. But this isn't about individual solutions. That's always what 'Murkins want. We MUST

learn to come together, because this is going to have to be a collaborative effort, or it will never happen.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

28. we can protest, sign petitions and last but not least BOYCOTT

[Kablooie]

33. My theory is the internet is preventing us from fighting back.

it seems like it would be the opposite.
The internet allows us, nationwide, to discuss and learn about these issues so it seems like we would be organizing all over the country.

But the fact that we have free reign to discuss these things actually becomes an outlet for decreasing the tension.
We get out a lot of our frustrations here online.

Before the internet we wouldn't know as much about the issues but would still feel the pressures building up.
There wasn't any clear way to let it out for most people so at some point it would explode.
Now we have this tiny steam valve that lets out just enough of the steam to keep us from boiling over.

Perhaps someday this valve won't be big enough and things really will explode but we aren't there yet.