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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Great Suppression
Hell with depression. We are in a Great Suppression. There is suppression of wages and benefits. There is suppression of the ability to vote. And there is suppression of free speech, freedom of assembly and suppression of protest. What is worse is that there is suppression of meaningful news coverage by the media.
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)I think you might mean "meaningful" in the last sentence, though.
mnhtnbb
(31,318 posts)TheMastersNemesis
(10,602 posts)zeemike
(18,998 posts)It will be "show your papers" everywhere....logicaly followed by inserting a tracking chip in you so they know where you are at all times...
It is getting to be a brave new world...full of scared people.
Arctic Dave
(13,812 posts)all your data will be readily available at the scan of your face.
All for "your safety" of course.
liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)how many are allowed to demonstrate and for how long. Hmm. Makes you wonder. If the government doesn't want protesters to make them look bad what is a government to do? Simple. Deny the permit.
HenryWallace
(332 posts)Brilliant!
JEB
(4,748 posts)for cheap labor and cannon fodder.
90-percent
(6,828 posts)Suppression is necessary for the construction of the national security fascist police state we currently enjoy. We are not being dragged out of our homes in the middle of the night YET. Actually, some of us already are, aren't we?
Why build this security state infrastructure if you don't plan to use it?
"All governments lie." - I.F. Stone
-90% Jimmy
Martin Eden
(12,802 posts)But that's a big IF.
Franklin said we have a Republic IF we can keep it, but it's pretty evident we're losing it (if we haven't lost it already).
Who are we losing it to?
We're losing it to the same elites of wealth & power who have suppressed the common people throughout history ...
... be they kings, popes, fascists, etc, they are oligarchs of one stripe or another.
But in America We The People still have POWER, IF we can overcome the polarization of The People engineered by the Powers That Be through propaganda and manipulating a lot of common folks (Red State America) by playing on their fears, their prejudices, and their faith.
There will ALWAYS BE oligarchs of one stripe or another trying to hoard for themselves the lions share of riches & resources. It is part of human nature. It is up to We The People to overcome the propaganda and the fear and the hate that divides us.
A House (or a People) divided against itself cannot stand (up for our own common interests). That is what the oligarchs have engineered and that is what they are counting on.
We have much more in common (in terms of economic interests) with the common folk brainwashed by Fox News & RW talk radio than either of us have with the likes of the Koch brothers.
But as long as we're bitterly divided and at each others throats, We The People have no chance at reclaiming the Republic bequeathed to us.
90-percent
(6,828 posts)I like to seek root causes of our current problems as a species.
The people running the planet are wrecking the future of humanity in the name of enriching themselves beyond human comprehension.
How the fuck are they getting away with this?
Well, for one thing, they got this divide and conquer of the masses thing down cold!
Frank Zappa posited that television was the means of corporate control of the masses. Here's his; "I'm the Slime" , which is a good representation of his views on the subject.
I am gross and perverted
Im obsessed n deranged
I have existed for years
But very little had changed
I am the tool of the government
And industry too
For I am destined to rule
And regulate you
I may be vile and pernicious
But you can't look away
I make you think Im delicious
With the stuff that I say
I am the best you can get
Have you guessed me yet?
I am the slime oozin out
From your tv set
You will obey me while I lead you
And eat the garbage that I feed you
Until the day that we don't need you
Don't got for help...no one will heed you
Your mind is totally controlled
It has been stuffed into my mold
And you will do as you are told
Until the rights to you are sold
That's right, folks..
Don't touch that dial
Well, I am the slime from your video
Oozin along on your livinroom floor
I am the slime from your video
Cant stop the slime, people, lookit me go
Frank advised in the 60's that control of television was key to any form of revolution in the United States.
Well, we blew that, but I want to know why us in the 99% have not effectively used the internet to organize and fight back against the oligarchs?
Thanks so much for your post. Lets get to work.
-90% Jimmy
Martin Eden
(12,802 posts)YES, television is THE most effective form of indoctrination -- both consciously and subliminally.
Perhaps the steady decline of our country over the last several decades can be attributed to the fact that most people alive today have had 6+ decades of indoctrination, whereas when I was a kid in the 1960's most adults had no TV during their formative years.
Watching TV is a passive experience -- you just take in what is presented to you.
"TV programming" has a much more sinister meaning than most people realize.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)kenny blankenship
(15,689 posts)Little lambs who love and fear their protectors will be safe, as long as they are ruled by fear. And if it should turn out -as it always does- that a police state with no hindrances may act in a criminal fashion with total impunity, and may even destroy lives by its stupid mistakes, and likewise with the same impunity and absence of recourse, the little lamby-lambs will certainly understand that continuing to be ruled by their fear is the only way left to keep "bad" from instantly going to "worse." Compared to others, they will still think they don't have it so bad! "Keep your head down. Demanding your rights is just asking for trouble. The President's men have tough enough jobs keeping us safe, without a lot of people asking questions and complaining."
Little lambs have nothing to fear - as long as they are ruled by fear.
deurbano
(2,891 posts)Everything is "secret." (For our own good... for our "security."
Dustlawyer
(10,493 posts)focusing on getting Publicly Financed elections and Complete Campaign Finance Reform (CCFR). Both Republicans and Democrats should want this since the will of the people is subservient to the will of the oligarchs. We need to start the protests for this ASAP!!! Then we can break up the banks, telecoms, and the media conglomerates. We need to change how the military contracts are handled and cut the bloated military budget. All of the things we need like jobs, address global warming, education reform, medicare for all, infrastructure... could finally be dealt with.
It would be one hell of a fight since the shadow govt., guys will not give up easily. Spread the word!
dreamnightwind
(4,775 posts)We will win no real concessions from the people power without CCFR. No real poverty program, no equity in income distribution, no freedom from government intrusion into our private lives, no reform of the financial system, no real progress on climate change, no way to abolish the health insurance corporations, on and on, CCFR is needed to make these things happen. And we need to be active in this fight, not just passive voters.
4_TN_TITANS
(2,977 posts)kelliekat44
(7,759 posts)of office, the shadow government that is run by the international corporate conglomerates headed by the billionaires like Kock, the Murdochs , and others on the fascist right, jobs and opportunities will begin to open up and folks will be lulled into believing that things are ok now that Obama is out of office . BUT prices will begin to creep upward at a faster pace, and wages will stay flat even with increases because government help for the working poor will all but disappear. The RW will have accomplished what it has wanted all the time...the destruction of government aid to the people in favor of more government subsidies for farmers, oil companies, and military and prison industrial complexes will run rampant. And with the voter suppression that will be very effective by 2016, there will be little or no hope for the working poor or the permanent poor. UNLESS people wise up now and make good choices and decide which freedoms are major priorities for the welfare of the nation versus which freedoms are made to be priorities as set by the controlled media.
Phillyindy
(406 posts)fasttense
(17,301 posts)The Great Suppression. Well put.
I would add they are suppressing democracy. The lazy rich have created working environments where bosses and CEOs rule like kings and stock holder rule like lords. While workers are serfs to be discarded and allowed to starve and/or freeze to death as soon as they are deemed too old.
We need to put democracy into the work place. Rise up against bosses, CEOs and broads of directors. They can't make all those profits from your labor if you refuse to do the work.
watoos
(7,142 posts)that are directors, but I get your point.
Safetykitten
(5,162 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)Mosaic
(1,451 posts)Slithering, changing society, getting right in your face on television, on the internet, in countless discussions. I've watched them destroy unions with lame rhetoric, and suppress everything you excellently stated. The problem is we lack backbone to fight them. We want to be the true Christians, and these beasts know it and take everything by force. If we see things clearly we won't play footsie with these destroyers of America, we'll fight fire with fire, and wit, and wisdom.
kimbutgar
(20,872 posts)cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Mass deception!
pansypoo53219
(20,906 posts)Response to TheMastersNemesis (Original post)
mother earth This message was self-deleted by its author.
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)k&r
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Now that the Soviet Union is gone the PTB know we can no longer compare them to that ruthless authoritarian state. Yes, there is no meaningful news coverage.
colsohlibgal
(5,275 posts)The fat cats are taking most all the profit while paying crumbs to employees. The ratio gap from CEO to employee has exploded, and to boot the rich keep having their tax burden lowered.
People like the WalMart CEOs would still be filthy rich with 1/5 of their fortunes and then WalMart employees could be paid a livable wage.
It's corporate greed pure and simple with people like Faux News running interference to convince non rich people to carry water for the rich and fabulous. Sadly there are enough folks here that are gullible enough.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Blue Owl
(49,908 posts)n/t
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)indepat
(20,899 posts)war crimes, cover-ups, malfeasance, inhumanity, and outright pillage of the Treasury during junior's reign, knowing that if the cover were blown, it would destroy the two-party political system causing unknown upheaval and turmoil. Is that why prosecution of whistle-blowers seems to be job number one, while prosecution of those causing the financial meltdown costing the economy $14 trillion dollars by one estimate is not even a blip on the screen?
Hydra
(14,459 posts)Keep in mind that the financial meltdown was a planned event, and not a "crime" in the eyes of those in power.
The Whistleblowers are being shut up because the elites have picked a new way to run things- "Everything is fine, you guys just need to sacrifice more and not complain as much. After all, you're doing better than the rest of the slaves around the globe..."
Amonester
(11,541 posts)Suppression of train-wreck-explosion victims too, many completely vaporized.
Viva Capitalism...
adirondacker
(2,921 posts)obxhead
(8,434 posts)I started working over 20 years ago.
Today I'm making the same hourly wage I was 18 years ago.
The Great Suppression indeed.
AgingAmerican
(12,958 posts)Creeping fascism is no longer creeping. It's bowling us over.
Uncle Joe
(58,107 posts)Thanks for the thread, TheMastersNemesis.