I admire both Jonathan Cook & George Monbiot immensely. Neither exists in a parallel universe of pure thought. George writes for The Guardian, Jonathan publishes on Twitter (I refuse to call it X). It doesn’t mean they compromised their integrity, but used the MSM, as they must, in order to put information out to the masses.
Jonathan you show that you can penetrate to deeper layers of insight than most of us. Thank you for your help, but please also use that capacity to look through the Global-warming-fossil-fuel-etc narrative and see the hoax it is.
Western governance ensures that any genuine socialist would be banned from just about everything in mainstream society, especially politics.
Any leader who would make a serious attempt at implementing truly humane, progressive policies — notably universal single-payer healthcare, a significant reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions and military spending, a genuine anti-war effort, and increasing the minimum wage while also reigning in stock-market abuse/corruption, etcetera — would likely be successfully assassinated [by lone gunmen, of course]. …
A few victorious social/labor uprisings notwithstanding, notably the Bolshevik and French revolutions, it seems to me that the superfluously rich and powerful essentially have always had the police and military ready to foremost protect their power/money interests, even over the basic needs of the masses.
Even today, the police and military can, and probably would, claim [using euphemistic or political terminology, of course] they had to bust heads to maintain law and order as a priority during major demonstrations, especially those against economic injustices.
Indirectly supported by a complacent, if not compliant, corporate news-media, which is virtually all mainstream news-media, the absurdly unjust inequities/inequalities can persist.
Therefore, I can imagine there were/are lessons learned from those successful social/labor uprisings — a figurative How to Hinder Progressive Revolutions 101, perhaps? — with the clarity of hindsight by the big power/money interests in order to avoid any repeat of such great wealth/power losses.
And the more they make, all the more they want — nay, need — to make next quarterly. It's never enough, and an increasingly corrupt corporate news-media will implicitly or even explicitly celebrate them.
In any event, “If voting changed anything [in favor of the weak/poor/disenfranchised] they’d have made it illegal.”
“The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms — greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge — has marked the upward surge of mankind …”
“It’s not a question of enough, pal. It’s a zero sum game — somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn’t lost or made; it’s simply transferred — from one perception to another. Like magic.”
—the morbidly greedy and corrupt bank-financier Gordon Gekko’s reply to his increasingly exasperated young stockbroker protégé Bud Fox’s blunt question: When will it all be enough money for his mentor? (Wall Street, 1987)
Afraid I find Monbiot so contemptible I haven't been able to bring myself to watch his interview with Chris. Thank you for saving me the pain with your summary.
Yes, a lot of people seem to be having a problem sharing it. Facebook, like X, doesn't like Substack much (or me for that matter!). A workaround may be to share the link below to my website version. I have added a link to Matthew's reading at the end of the piece. You could alert any followers who prefer an audio version to scroll to the end to find the link.
I admire both Jonathan Cook & George Monbiot immensely. Neither exists in a parallel universe of pure thought. George writes for The Guardian, Jonathan publishes on Twitter (I refuse to call it X). It doesn’t mean they compromised their integrity, but used the MSM, as they must, in order to put information out to the masses.
Jonathan you show that you can penetrate to deeper layers of insight than most of us. Thank you for your help, but please also use that capacity to look through the Global-warming-fossil-fuel-etc narrative and see the hoax it is.
Gerard
Thank you, i was wondering why Chris Hedges would even bother to interview him.
Western governance ensures that any genuine socialist would be banned from just about everything in mainstream society, especially politics.
Any leader who would make a serious attempt at implementing truly humane, progressive policies — notably universal single-payer healthcare, a significant reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions and military spending, a genuine anti-war effort, and increasing the minimum wage while also reigning in stock-market abuse/corruption, etcetera — would likely be successfully assassinated [by lone gunmen, of course]. …
A few victorious social/labor uprisings notwithstanding, notably the Bolshevik and French revolutions, it seems to me that the superfluously rich and powerful essentially have always had the police and military ready to foremost protect their power/money interests, even over the basic needs of the masses.
Even today, the police and military can, and probably would, claim [using euphemistic or political terminology, of course] they had to bust heads to maintain law and order as a priority during major demonstrations, especially those against economic injustices.
Indirectly supported by a complacent, if not compliant, corporate news-media, which is virtually all mainstream news-media, the absurdly unjust inequities/inequalities can persist.
Therefore, I can imagine there were/are lessons learned from those successful social/labor uprisings — a figurative How to Hinder Progressive Revolutions 101, perhaps? — with the clarity of hindsight by the big power/money interests in order to avoid any repeat of such great wealth/power losses.
And the more they make, all the more they want — nay, need — to make next quarterly. It's never enough, and an increasingly corrupt corporate news-media will implicitly or even explicitly celebrate them.
In any event, “If voting changed anything [in favor of the weak/poor/disenfranchised] they’d have made it illegal.”
—'Calamity' Jane Bodine, Our Brand Is Crisis
“The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms — greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge — has marked the upward surge of mankind …”
“It’s not a question of enough, pal. It’s a zero sum game — somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn’t lost or made; it’s simply transferred — from one perception to another. Like magic.”
—the morbidly greedy and corrupt bank-financier Gordon Gekko’s reply to his increasingly exasperated young stockbroker protégé Bud Fox’s blunt question: When will it all be enough money for his mentor? (Wall Street, 1987)
Afraid I find Monbiot so contemptible I haven't been able to bring myself to watch his interview with Chris. Thank you for saving me the pain with your summary.
I don't read theGardian nor do I read NYTs.
Jonathan you probably read both. Respect that but you be a news junky.Me...not so much
THIS has been removed too by Farcebook - again citing 'spam'
Yes, a lot of people seem to be having a problem sharing it. Facebook, like X, doesn't like Substack much (or me for that matter!). A workaround may be to share the link below to my website version. I have added a link to Matthew's reading at the end of the piece. You could alert any followers who prefer an audio version to scroll to the end to find the link.
https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2024-10-10/monbiot-wickedness-capitalism-propagandist/
Same happened when I tried to post it.