I watched Newark burning as a teen riding to work, in Manhattan. I lived thru these kinds of riots though fortunately not exactly on top or inside of them, remembering now my racists' parents and their friends, saying-- believing that looting deserves shooting. Who is doing the looting? Is it ALWAYS and ONLY the disenfranchised? Do we continue to believe without question that there are no agitators? Does this not just all seem a bit too convenient and/or coincidental? Why have many stopped questioning authority? Have we literally lost our collective bloody minds as a culture, as a society, as a species?
How long can we look away and say, this does not affect me or my family? [yttribune.com]
When people fear for their family, they may well choose to look the other way for the safety and well-being of the family.
Nazi-Germany was the classic demonstration of how a formerly liberal country under the Weimar Republic, after WWI became a genocidal military dictatorship and police state (the Gestapo was headed by Himmler, who used it for his own gain, as he looked to usurp Hitler) where one wrong word could see you 'disappear' for good.
But who did the Allied Forces choose to run the democracy after the war had ended? Many were former Nazis who were selected for their leadership capabilities, probably selected for their military record, so long as it didn't include war crimes.
Nations have become increasingly segregated by their wealth and income. These disparities can have many and varied effects, such as the intelligent working class child growing up delinquent because they see the inherent unfairness of the manner by which wealth is apportioned by society, and use their intelligence to develop illegal means by which they can gain quick access to wealth, power, and respect, because they realise that society will not recognise their intelligence, and they are probably going to end up in a job beneath their abilities that may drive them slowly mad through boredom.
As society becomes increasingly automated, at a fast rate, there are fewer jobs for people, and more and more people are thrown out of work, some who are disabled, or over fifty, will probably never be given the chance to work again. The quality of a lot of the jobs that are behind are often relatively menial and it's not unknown for the intelligent to be in long-term unemployment because they are deemed to clever for the jobs that they apply for.
Boredom and frustration is the result. We are at the start of a Technological Revolution, the Industrial Revolution is well behind us, but there is one thing that it can predict, and that it can lead to revolt amongst the people and attacks on those objects that are causing them to lose their jobs and deny them a decent living.
Today, more and more people find that they are losing their jobs,or aren't given the opportunity of one; sometimes because of their age, sometimes its a disability, sometimes it's their colour, and sometimes it's their class. Every time there is a significant leap forward in progress, people lose their livelihoods, whilst the wealthy are left untouched.
They are protected by the police, whose role it is to ensure that everyone knows their place in society, and the societal hierarchy will allow them certain excesses, so long as it doesn't affect them. You will never hear of a rich person being shot by the police - ever. That is very telling of who is in control.
@LetzGetReal Throughout history, certain things have completely changed the way things were done. In prehistory, it was the discovery of fire, the change to farming from hunting (this gave more time for other things to be created, such as pottery), the invention of the wheel, the invention of democracy. In the Agricultural Revolution it was the change to crop rotation, the invention of the seed drill meant more could be produced with fewer people, just as Jethro Tull's seed drill made efficiencies in sowing seeds.
The bubonic plague saw serfs fred their enslavement to their masters and the loss of serfs meant those that survived were not just freed but could demand payment and perks for their labouring services.
The Industrial Revolution saw people moving to newly created towns to the equally newly created jobs made possible by new industrial inventions and processes, then the loss of these jobs, resulting in the Luddites causing near revolution and French saboteurs destroying macinery with their sabots.
At the dawn of the Technological Age computers meant people could do far more work because in the saving in time from the change from slow, manual methods which, incidentally, is probably why there is so much stress today,
Office computers also meant fewer people were needed, just as the invention of the loom reduced the number of weavers needed in the new mechanical process.
In the UK, the Enclosures Act pushed out small farmers, enabling lords to establish larger farms. This was a political 'reform' purely for the benefit of the wealth lords to increase their income.
Generally speaking, progress see job losses, although other jobs may come in time, it isn't a guarantee that those who have lost their jobs to technology will get a new job, or have the skilss for new jobs that have been invented.
I lost my trust in cops when I was a teenager. I've come across few who seemed like decent people.
I knew a guy who went to prison for a year. When he got out, he said he only meet 30 people in there who he believed deserved to be in prison. And only 10 of them were prisoners.
It's a mess in the world right now and these are the rumblings of change.
But we've heard these rumblings before.
@bingst @LetzGetReal I agree we've seen rioting before - I thought the need for race rioting was behind us. (Apparently not).
But there are so many big issues right now that are pushing people past their tolerances.
Whether it will be enough to cause permanent change? IDK.
I really wonder if we need our entire mode of governance to change before that can happen.
Posted by William_MaryIt rarely never fails.
Posted by William_MaryIf You Wish Someone a Happy Memorial Day, You Fail to Understand Its True Meaning The mythology perpetuated at Memorial Day benefits no one save the militarists and war profiteers.
Posted by LufahyuMedia Sources; people from all walks and ideologies peruse a variety of source material available on the Internet, some more reliable than others.
Posted by joy2loveThe Neuroscience of Illusion - Scientific American
Posted by CherokeemanBlessings y'all.
Posted by Archeus_LoreA good meme for religious people to see . . . .
Posted by William_MaryIt has been questioned if Einstein actually made this statement.
Posted by William_Mary“The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.
Posted by William_MaryHowever we have an escape-------[wsws.org]
Posted by William_MaryKeep people from their history, and they are easily controlled.
Posted by William_MaryThis fairly explains our political woes within our citizenry when it comes to the voting process that's managed within only 2 parties with their perceptions managed by propaganda designed to support ...
Posted by William_MaryI can pretty much apply this thought to just about everyone who has attempted to challenge my agenda here in this group, and my comments on social media in regards to our political arena.
Posted by William_MaryBy Apr.
Posted by William_MaryThe working class holds the strength to change the world for a better society for everyone. We just need to refuse to remain indoctrinated into their manufactured delusional reality.
Posted by William_MaryWhen the state is controlled by corporations and the ruling class.
Posted by of-the-mountainHas sanity and respect for all female, male, and children’s healthcare been suspended by these obstructionists republican fascists with their overt agenda against the people of this country!!! Are ...