3 Things That Must Happen for Us To Rise Up and Defeat the Corporatocracy

I'm cleaning out the posts I'd star'd in Google Reader and came across this one from last August.  Yes.  August.  Anyway it's a thought piece outlining what "we" need to do to "defeat corporatocracy" given that we are pitiful weak individuated citizens.  It's an interesting read given what's happened since August, namely the campout in Zucotti Park that sparked the Occupy movement.  Especially as the Occupy movement is all about the pitiful weak individuated citizens coming together to join forces to in part defeat corporatocracy.

The article starts with this assertion, using these three points as the outline for the discussion

Transforming the United States into something closer to a democracy requires: 1) knowledge of how we are getting screwed; 2) pragmatic tactics, strategies, and solutions; and 3) the “energy to do battle.” 

Followed by

The majority of Americans oppose the corporatocracy (rule by giant corporations, the extremely wealthy elite, and corporate-collaborator government officials); however, many of us have given up hope that this tyranny can be defeated.

I suppose this is the first "HUH" piece of this, because isn't the U.S. supposed to be a Democracy anyway?  Well, our government is actually a Republic.  Remember in the Oath, "... and the Republic for which it stands ..."?  

In any case the first step ("knowledge of how we are getting screwed") just strikes me as the first step in a 12-step program, where you first have to admit that you're addicted to the thing.  In this case we have to collectively admit that we're collectively addicted to an unsustainable unhealthy undemocratic society and way of life.

Harriet Tubman (the pre-Civil-War activist who freed a thousand or more slaves) is quoted saying “I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.”  Amen, sister, if only more people in the U.S. would admit just how deeply controlled we are.  I do object however to applying the word 'slave' to us.  I don't know what the correct word is, but I disagree that the correct word is "slave".

It is true that we are "... ruled by so many 'industrial complexes'—military, financial, energy, food, pharmaceutical, prison, and so on" and that the control (rule) is so insidious and ubiquitous that it's difficult for us to truly see the depth of control.  There are many decisions being made by corporations that are out of the hands of anybody but the corporations.  Governments have been rendered ineffective in their role of oversight over corporate behavior.

"it is also necessary to have knowledge of strategies and tactics that oppressed people have historically used to overcome tyranny and to gain their fair share of power."   

I suppose what the article says here is that it's useful to have examples of successful revolutions so that we have a glimmer of hope that we, Americans, can throw off the chains of these corporate overlords?

The final point, "the energy to do battle", is especially apt considering the lengths to which the Occupy groups have gone, and the Police have gone to undermine the Occupy groups.  Several months of camping out full time is not cheap and requires extreme levels of commitment.  At the same time the role of the Police is to maintain order, and in many ways it can be said that an Occupy encampment is not exactly order.  Or it can be said that the Police are being used as a tool of the corporatocracy to keep the rest of us from gaining any measure of real freedom.

The issues are deeply entrenched and insidiously ubiquitous in our society.  To address the issues in any meaningful way will mean a long, very long, perhaps 10 years if we're lucky, process of continual work.


3 Things That Must Happen for Us To Rise Up and Defeat the Corporatocracy

Change starts "here"; Change starts with "you"; Change starts with "me"

We have problems galore ecological, environmental, climate, energy supply, rise of corporate fascism and more. As a result many voices are calling for change, change in how "we" do things. When an oil spill or nuclear meltdown occurs a call goes out to stop doing that dirty stuff. It's an environmental disaster, yes, that threatens to harm all of us, yes, and perhaps it should be stopped. I've watched (or listened to) dozens shows recently reacting in horror to the nuclear catastrophy, or to natural gas fracking, or to last years oil spill, and vehemently calling for those operations to stop. I hear them say this, and while I agree, I scream at the radio or podcast asking them if they themselves have stopped using the products of those technologies?

All of us who enjoy the fruits of modern energy technologies are in part responsible for the existence of oil wells, coal mines, tar sands strip mining, mountain top destruction, nuclear power plants, and all the rest. The freedom to leave a light running without thought is a gift brought to us by those facilities. (And, yes, I had three lights still on even though it's mid-day, and I just turned them off)

At the other end of that light bulb is an electricity generation plant most likely burning coal or natural gas. Here's a couple videos I recorded about this:

The pattern is one of pointing at others such as the government demanding that "they" do something about this mess. Right? Why does the government allow the oil companies to keep drilling for oil? Why is the government ignoring environmental laws and allowing nuclear plants to be built on top of earthquake faults, or allow oil drilling to happen when the oil industry has no effective tested method to stop blowouts, etc? Why are "they" allowing "that" to happen?

Okay, there's some truth to these questions .. but the real question is, what are you (and I) going to do to change our own habits?

These companies doing the oil drilling or coal mining etc aren't in it because of evil intent to purposely trash the planet. It's just a means to the end of running a profitable business, a business that provides a service to paying customers. You, me, everyone. I have a gasoline powered car sitting outside which in a few hours I'll drive to a place 20 miles away to visit with a friend. A hundred years ago, before the age of oil really kicked in, that journey would have taken all day. Today it's a 30 minute drive.

That freedom was gifted to me by the oil companies and oil wells and I am in part responsible for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster last year. And so are the rest of us who enjoy the gift of oil derived fuels.

There's a two way street of responsibility. Yes, "they" are responsible for operating their machines in a wise and safe manner, and "they" are failing at doing so. But more importantly "we" are responsible for wisely choosing the products we buy, the services we enjoy, and our lifestyle. "We" are also failing at responsible wise product choice and seem instead to be collectively intent on buying cheap poisonous crap.

If we as individuals or collectively change our habits I firmly believe that "they" will (eventually) take notice. It won't be easy because of entrenched investments "they" will want to defend and therefore act to keep "us" tied to the habits "they" have given "us". We must be strong in making wise and responsible choices to change our way of life.

See also:

Stand up for Real Change

This world doesn't have to become an uninhabitable nuclear radiation poisoned wasteland

Higher Purpose: Japans earthquake and nuclear crisis asks us what we really want

The Daiichi nuclear meltdown and the need for deep change

What do you do when the powers-that-be are steering society in the wrong direction? What do you do when the CEO of the company you work for is making horrible stupid decisions that you see will bankrupt the company? What do you do if the leader of your religion are acting contrary to the teachings of your religion? What do you do if you feel your job, career, and lifestyle is incompatible with your vision of the way life should be lived?

Those are the same question, just placed at different levels.

A couple years ago I worked for a large multinational software company on a software product used by millions of software developers around the world. Management began making horrible decisions I thought undermined the software and seemed to doom the company. Indeed that company ended up croaking, and was bought up by another company, who made even worse decisions. I was in a leadership position and had a choice. I could have hunkered down (the recession of 2009 was coming) doing whatever the bosspeople told me to do. Or, I could take a stand for what I believe in. I took that stand, speaking up to my manager (and others) about the wrong decisions. I was eventually assigned to work on the project I thought shouldn't have existed, and had a horrible few months trying to do my job while disagreeing completely with the goal I was forced to work toward. After six months of this pain I was laid off when the company was beginning its death spiral and laying off a boat load of people in a desperation move.

Today we have a confluence of several events going on which look just as wrong to me, and I hope to many other people. These events collectively call us to question what is our response when the leaders are making insane decisions.

What do we the people do?

I suppose the first question is - what's going so wrong? Well, financial meltdown, peak oil, global warming, tea party idiots and theocracy idiots threatening democracy, nuclear meltdown, corporate interests running roughshod over the people, faux media/news outlets used to lie to and manipulate we the people, and more.

Some of those things are relatively minor only in contrast to the others which clearly threaten the survival of humanity.

What do we the people do? What do I do individually?

Do we say the problems are too large? As individuals we can easily say "I'm just ____, who am I to do anything about this"? But if that's what we all do then nobody will stand up. The wave of revolutions sweeping the Middle East right now are due to one fruit seller in rural Tunisia who took a stand. His stand was self-immolation, not exactly the recommended method of getting attention to problems, still it demonstrates the power individuals sometimes have. Perhaps the better example is the peaceful non-violent protests in Egypt and Wisconsin where large numbers of people banded together.

Do we deny the problems? Do we stay numbed out by the latest false celebrity scandal, or the latest sports upset, or the latest twist in hair styles, or the latest new shade of black? Those are some methods used by the powers-that-be to keep we the people from noticing what's really going on, by filling our lives with nonsense fake tea-pot-sized scandals.

What do we do? You, the one who is reading this, what do you do? You, the one who is writing this, what do you do? You, the one who doesn't know this blog post exists, what do you do? You, the one forced to read this by a friend who thought it was funny, what do you do?

Many people think the world is going in a wrong direction. Unfortunately there's a fair bit of disagreement over just what the problems are, what constitutes a wrong direction, and what would be the best direction to take. As the French say, Vive la Differance. Except that the stakes are high and it behooves we the people to make the best decision possible given the deeply fractured splits.

Unfortunately some of those splits were manufactured by corporate interests who now have free(er) reign due to that idiotic Citizens United decision last year.

In any case our world situation calls for action and change. Change we can really believe in and makes a real difference. Change that's wholly unlike the retread appeasements Obama is now giving to the corporate interests after inspiring us with the Audacity of Hope and Change we were supposed to Believe in.

Given the widely split set of ideas out there all I can suggest is to get engaged. To stand for what YOU believe in. To question what the bosspeople tell you, to question what the goal really is, and to question whether you believe in the goal the bosspeople want you to believe in.

See also:

Change starts "here"; Change starts with "you"; Change starts with "me"

Stand up for Real Change

This world doesn't have to become an uninhabitable nuclear radiation poisoned wasteland

Higher Purpose: Japans earthquake and nuclear crisis asks us what we really want