A very few have always controlled the many

[Cyrano]

Today, the majority of human beings in the world are being herded, used, conned, robbed, and murdered by a very small minority. But there’s nothing new about this. It’s been true throughout human history.

Whether those in charge called themselves Pharaohs, Emperors, Shahs, Khans, Kings, Presidents, or CEOs, the game hasn’t changed. It’s all about the power of the few over the lives of everyone else.

Basically, most of humanity has not had the opportunity to learn anything from history and are therefore incapable of grasping what is happening to them today. In short, we seem to be a species that has been bred to follow “leaders.” And those who do understand the past and present, seem helpless to change anything.

Every time I get depressed about our current situation, I have to remind myself that “the good times” for the human species have been few and far between. And it makes me wonder how long it’s going to take for us to “grow up.” (That’s assuming we don’t destroy this planet first.)

So for those of you who think my view of history and the world is bullshit, let’s hear your view. And for those who agree with my perspective, do you have any ideas on how we can help the human species mature more quickly?

[RKP5637]

1. A first step would be to get the money out of elections. The money flowing

into elections is ridiculous.

[mrdmk]

5. Hear, hear! That will be upward fight, I am all for it

Two major hurdles:

1) The media, both air, cyber and print. They make a lot of money off an election season through the sales of ads.

2) The courts. The U.S. Supreme Court (Roberts and Company) will find more ways to throw this type of reform out than you or I can count.

Not to mention, do not go looking for the likes of the ACLU to help. This group is under the impression that free speech equals money.

What needs to be done is a death by a thousand cuts. To achieve this there needs to be local groups at the county or parish level that are self sufficient, at the same time having a nation group coordinating strategies for press releases and other resources. To keep a long story short, lots of people with lots of skills will have to involved for the long run. There will also have to be battles won to keep the movement going, that means a short and long term working at the same time...

[TheKentuckian]

2. Don't disagree but don't "get" the point. This is the tide we fight not ride.

[Cyrano]

6. Fair enough. How would you suggest we fight it?

And this is not sarcasm. Given today's realities, I really don't have a clue as to how we would go about fighting the powers that be. They're holding all the cards, not to mention all the money and they have thugs like Blackwater (now Xe), and others, to put down any uprisings.

[TheKentuckian]

9. Make them have to put them down. Exact cost. Go after them where they live and work.

[Octafish]

3. Leo Strauss inspired the Neocons

That guy said it's OK to use the "noble lie," as well as religion, drugs, whatever is needed -- just control the proles.

[txlibdem]

10. Noble and not so noble, some were downright blatant and vile

Just helping make the point...

[BeHereNow]

13. And Carl Schmitt inspired Hitler...

If memory serves me.
BHN

[Marr]

4. Well, yes-- but here's the thing.

The few at the top of the heap are primarily interested in maintaining the status quo. They will make concessions when they must, in order to maintain the societal structure that provides them with such unequal benefits.

Occasionally, this class has been unwilling to recognize that reality and refused to make concessions when they should have, and they lost everything as a result.

But they will not make concessions until they have to. And you are simply not part of the political equation until you are a threat.

[Cyrano]

7. There was a great line in the movie "Contact"

Jody Foster's character is being considered as the one to (possibly) make contact with aliens far more advanced than us on the evolutionary scale.

Under questioning, she's asked something like "What would you say to them?"

She responds, "I'd ask them, how did you do it?"

The questioner asks, "Do what?"

Her reply is "How did you survive your adolescence?"

On some days, I think we humans might "survive our adolescence." On other days, I tend to lose hope. But regardless of what I think, we will either "grow up" or perish.

[Uncle Joe]

8. I believe the Internet to be the first step toward surviving our adolescence.

Thanks for the thread, Cyrano.

[Kaleko]

11. So do I, Uncle Joe.

Information is the key. Through the internet, the world population is rapidly gaining knowledge of what is actually *done* by the few wealthy puppet masters in power, rather than what is said in media outlets they have owned and controlled for decades.


WikiLeaks, Openleaks and other press platforms spawned in their wake may be the actual turning of that key in its deliberately clogged-up lock.

[Odin2005]

12. And every ruling class has an official ideology based on lies.

In the Middle Ages it was the threefold division, ordained by God, between "Those who work for all" (Commoners), "Those who fight for all" (Nobility), and "Those who pray for all" (Clergy). Today it the is the claimed "necessity" of the exploitative Capitalist as investor, and that the exploiters "earned" their money by hard work". Our elites appeal to their supposedly "scientific" economic ideologies much like how 1000 years ago the elites appealed to God's Will.