Revolution happens after institutions change. If you want to know what institutions have changed, and how, ask an old person. Someone who remembers life before email, when sending snail mail to a pen pal in another country was something special. When the only video you saw was broadcast on one of three broadcast television networks owned by media corporations who made money by selling ads. When your small town had a local daily newspaper, which made money by selling ads. When seeing President Nixon's complaint about a "damnable lie" on the front page of the daily small town paper upset your grandmother.
Which is to say that the media institutions have changed, and continue to change. The legacy media is owned by corporations that also have businesses besides media. The world wide web allows other media platforms to replace legacy media. In a nation of over 300,000,000 people, a 1% audience share for a TV program is considered astounding. But every day, people take their supercomputer from their pocket and communicate with other people around the world. You can forget about manufacturing consent. But organizing protests? Boycotting? Disinvesting? It's happening.
The US is heading towards the end of its hegemony in the world. The US people are in for a very bad time. The US government is losing legitimacy. The trillion dollar corporations are losing legitimacy. The billionaires are losing legitimacy.
People say we need direct election of the President, but removing the Electoral College requires amending the Constitution, which was written by slave owners to protect slavery. Well, if the Constitution can't change to keep up with society, then we need a new Constitution. After all, the current Constitution was not the original constitution of the US. A new constitution could establish direct elections, proportional representation and human rights. That would be revolutionary.
The Constitution is almost, what, 250 years old? I agree it needs to be amended or even changed. But the problem is, from my point of view, for direct election, if most people still get their knowledge from billionaire-owned media and algorithmic feeds, I’m afraid direct election will not fix much.
I think it’s very important to educate people, to encourage people to look at the outside worlds and to form their own opinions. Then a revolution will come naturally. A true salesman does not force people to buy. A good salesman educates people and helps them come up with their own ideas and decisions.
Thank you for breaking this down. I'm a retired blue collar worker, but was never in a union. My hope is that my fellow Americans will wake up to the facts, stop listening to the religioys/patriotic babble they have fallen for, and unite to bring change.
It is a very good column. It describes very well what has to be done to strengh the position of those who does not possess the means of production with real commodities and artificial commodities (all kind of services). Democratic socialism is probably the way to achieve this. The main question therefore is how can gain sufficient power?
Revolution happens after institutions change. If you want to know what institutions have changed, and how, ask an old person. Someone who remembers life before email, when sending snail mail to a pen pal in another country was something special. When the only video you saw was broadcast on one of three broadcast television networks owned by media corporations who made money by selling ads. When your small town had a local daily newspaper, which made money by selling ads. When seeing President Nixon's complaint about a "damnable lie" on the front page of the daily small town paper upset your grandmother.
Which is to say that the media institutions have changed, and continue to change. The legacy media is owned by corporations that also have businesses besides media. The world wide web allows other media platforms to replace legacy media. In a nation of over 300,000,000 people, a 1% audience share for a TV program is considered astounding. But every day, people take their supercomputer from their pocket and communicate with other people around the world. You can forget about manufacturing consent. But organizing protests? Boycotting? Disinvesting? It's happening.
The US is heading towards the end of its hegemony in the world. The US people are in for a very bad time. The US government is losing legitimacy. The trillion dollar corporations are losing legitimacy. The billionaires are losing legitimacy.
People say we need direct election of the President, but removing the Electoral College requires amending the Constitution, which was written by slave owners to protect slavery. Well, if the Constitution can't change to keep up with society, then we need a new Constitution. After all, the current Constitution was not the original constitution of the US. A new constitution could establish direct elections, proportional representation and human rights. That would be revolutionary.
The Constitution is almost, what, 250 years old? I agree it needs to be amended or even changed. But the problem is, from my point of view, for direct election, if most people still get their knowledge from billionaire-owned media and algorithmic feeds, I’m afraid direct election will not fix much.
I think it’s very important to educate people, to encourage people to look at the outside worlds and to form their own opinions. Then a revolution will come naturally. A true salesman does not force people to buy. A good salesman educates people and helps them come up with their own ideas and decisions.
Excellent column, thanks. Legally binding shareholder value adds to the dilemma
Thank you for breaking this down. I'm a retired blue collar worker, but was never in a union. My hope is that my fellow Americans will wake up to the facts, stop listening to the religioys/patriotic babble they have fallen for, and unite to bring change.
thank you for reading this!!
It is a very good column. It describes very well what has to be done to strengh the position of those who does not possess the means of production with real commodities and artificial commodities (all kind of services). Democratic socialism is probably the way to achieve this. The main question therefore is how can gain sufficient power?
through education, and more people need to talk about it.