Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, a powerful enabler of power, is not power itself but an effect of power
power cares about power and nothing else: not people, not the planet
power, like gravity, pervades our world, and as with gravity, although we can’t see it, we notice its effects
power is the force that – thanks to the powerful and other enablers – shapes almost everything we care about
power manifests as – and cannot exist without – hierarchy: hierarchies of enablers
power gives more power to those in its hierarchies who play their part well: it promotes them
power takes away power from those who fail to play their part: it demotes them or sidelines them
power grows stronger when we believe stories about ourselves and, spellbound, each play our part like robots
power helps a few people amass or inherit great wealth, and this makes them powerful enablers
power makes the powerful crave even more power: the love of power is an insatiable desire
power concentrates on and is concentrated by hiding from most of us what is really happening
power does untold harm to people and the planet, and gets away with it by manufacturing consent
power decides what happens and decides what people think about what happens: “the narrative”
power won’t quit until we begin to understand it and share that understanding
power is in the mind: once enough of us make a point of understanding power, it can no longer hurt us
power continues to plague us with “war, greed, exploitation [and] systematic indifference to others’ suffering”
power, as a social disease left unchecked, is terminal
power has many symptoms: selfishness, individualism, poverty, racism, militarism, vanity, overconsumption …
power at present looks set to destroy us and almost everything we care about unless we begin to understand it
power cares about power and nothing else: not people, not the planet
power, like gravity, pervades our world, and as with gravity, although we can’t see it, we notice its effects
power is the force that – thanks to the powerful and other enablers – shapes almost everything we care about
power manifests as – and cannot exist without – hierarchy: hierarchies of enablers
power gives more power to those in its hierarchies who play their part well: it promotes them
power takes away power from those who fail to play their part: it demotes them or sidelines them
power grows stronger when we believe stories about ourselves and, spellbound, each play our part like robots
power helps a few people amass or inherit great wealth, and this makes them powerful enablers
power makes the powerful crave even more power: the love of power is an insatiable desire
power concentrates on and is concentrated by hiding from most of us what is really happening
power does untold harm to people and the planet, and gets away with it by manufacturing consent
power decides what happens and decides what people think about what happens: “the narrative”
power won’t quit until we begin to understand it and share that understanding
power is in the mind: once enough of us make a point of understanding power, it can no longer hurt us
…
Meanwhile the ruling oligarchy and its highly trained elite of soldiers, policemen, thought-manufacturers and mind-manipulators will quietly run the show as they see fit.
—Aldous Huxley, 1958
power continues to plague us with “war, greed, exploitation [and] systematic indifference to others’ suffering”
power, as a social disease left unchecked, is terminal
power has many symptoms: selfishness, individualism, poverty, racism, militarism, vanity, overconsumption …
power at present looks set to destroy us and almost everything we care about unless we begin to understand it
2021-11-08T17:17−08* / at the about* post – at bit.ly/dateposted – anyone can link to this post from its date: November 8, 2021
*a link – or not; see a note on notes and links and a disclaimer / … and maybe browse or search the archive*
image credit: Caitlin Johnstone, in a satirical piece, archived*
power … is the force that shapes almost everything (!*) / (Jonathan Cook)
hierarchy: hierarchies of enablers / hierarchies of wealth, status, and power* / (David Graeber, David Wengrow)
spellbound*
a few people amass or inherit great wealth*
the love of power is an insatiable desire / Bertrand Russell (!?, !*)
what people think about what happens* / (Caitlin Johnstone)
understanding power (!*)
“Meanwhile the ruling oligarchy … run the show as they see fit.” —Aldous Huxley, 1958 (!*)
“war, greed, exploitation [and] systematic indifference to others’ suffering”* / (David Graeber, David Wengrow)
/ the hallmark of hierarchy: indifference to the fate of those at lower levels – unless that threatens the status quo
“The well off and the secure have too often become indifferent and oblivious to the poverty and deprivation in their midst.”
—Martin Luther King, Jr.* *
symptoms: selfishness, individualism, poverty, racism, militarism, …
(/
MLK’s three evils – poverty, racism, and militarism (!?) – are symptoms;
power is the disease, and the cause of the disease is ignorance,
where the ignorance meant is of things as they really are (!*) (Jacob Needleman)
/ Chomsky – October 2021 – on manufactured ignorance, among other things:
/)
###
it’s up to us, who think we can’t, to confront powers and structures of evil (!?) by getting together and getting it together
“to make the power structure … say yes when they may be desirous to say no”:
see also: Martin Luther King, Jr. / site:nobelprize.org ! (!?) :: The quest for peace and justice* / Nobel Lecture, December 1964
*a link – or not; see a note on notes and links and a disclaimer / … and maybe browse or search the archive*
image credit: Caitlin Johnstone, in a satirical piece, archived*
power … is the force that shapes almost everything (!*) / (Jonathan Cook)
hierarchy: hierarchies of enablers / hierarchies of wealth, status, and power* / (David Graeber, David Wengrow)
spellbound*
a few people amass or inherit great wealth*
the love of power is an insatiable desire / Bertrand Russell (!?, !*)
what people think about what happens* / (Caitlin Johnstone)
understanding power (!*)
“Meanwhile the ruling oligarchy … run the show as they see fit.” —Aldous Huxley, 1958 (!*)
“war, greed, exploitation [and] systematic indifference to others’ suffering”* / (David Graeber, David Wengrow)
/ the hallmark of hierarchy: indifference to the fate of those at lower levels – unless that threatens the status quo
“The well off and the secure have too often become indifferent and oblivious to the poverty and deprivation in their midst.”
—Martin Luther King, Jr.* *
symptoms: selfishness, individualism, poverty, racism, militarism, …
(/
MLK’s three evils – poverty, racism, and militarism (!?) – are symptoms;
power is the disease, and the cause of the disease is ignorance,
where the ignorance meant is of things as they really are (!*) (Jacob Needleman)
/ Chomsky – October 2021 – on manufactured ignorance, among other things:
/)
###
it’s up to us, who think we can’t, to confront powers and structures of evil (!?) by getting together and getting it together
“to make the power structure … say yes when they may be desirous to say no”:
see also: Martin Luther King, Jr. / site:nobelprize.org ! (!?) :: The quest for peace and justice* / Nobel Lecture, December 1964