Atomized America of Late Capitalism

[marmar]

from Consortium News:


Atomized America of Late Capitalism
August 15, 2012

America’s late-stage capitalism, built upon the imagined glories of global empire and the deep deceptions of personalized propaganda, has created a nation that has lost touch with genuine human empathy, a place where mass shootings are weekly events and politics is shouting, observes Phil Rockstroh.

By Phil Rockstroh


A couple of decades ago, upon returning to Atlanta, Georgia, after spending a year abroad, I would frequent an independent bookshop that contained a small coffee shop/cafe, where I would sip tea, read books and periodicals, and engage in the nearly extinct art of long form face-to-face verbal discourse with other habituates of the cafe. To this day, I have long standing friendships with a number of people I came to know during those years.

Yet even then, I noticed how the atomization inherent to the internalization of the corporate state (the manner that the domination of commercial and work space had all but eliminated the public commons) had diminished so many people’s ability to converse on all but the most superficial level.

Any invocation to deepen conversation or an assertion that arrived outside of the realm of status quo consensus caused all too many to simply go haywire. People checked out, went blank, testiness ensued. … Comfort zones were mobilized for a siege. The space between people became a no man’s land, stippled with a minefield of sensitivities.

In short, approaching life and one’s fellows from a mode of mind evincing aspects of the human condition that existed outside the realm of workplace expediency and consumer desire had been diminished to the point of being rendered all but absent. People seemed adrift — bereft of the ability to cohabit public space. The will towards communal engagement had atrophied. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2012/08/15/atomized-america-of-late-stage-capitalism/

[kenny blankenship]

1. Oxford Bookstore, if you're out there somewhere

We miss you everyday.

[limpyhobbler]

2. capitalism is the leading cause of clinical depression. nt

[fasttense]

3. The last stages of capitalism are always the same.

Karl Marx was right about the destructive force of capitalism, though his solution was wrong.

But look around you. The rich are honored as royalty. Their property is protected at all cost, even though the rich pay very little in taxes. The middle class and poor's property is up for grabs and they carry almost all the tax burden. If someone walks across a rich man's yard or walks into a corporate building, the police can and will prosecute for trespassing. But if someone were to cross your yard, simply walk across it, no one would support your claim of trespassing. Does the government take the mansion homes through eminent domain to build malls, commercial centers and highways? Or does the government take the poor and middle class homes to hand over to corporations to build their commercial ventures? Yet it is the poor and middle class who pay most in taxes and get the least in government services, just like in ancient Rome.

The corporate monopolies and government join forces to support only the rich. Corporation over produce homes, food, cars while people are homeless, hungry and lack transportation. Soon it will once again hit a brick wall and crash while the people will once again bail out the uber rich.