I REALLY want to hear your reactions.
A few teaser quotes:
Well for one thing, avoid the comfortable idea that the mere form of government can of itself safeguard a nation against despotism.
When a competent observer looks for signs of despotism in a community, he looks beyond fine words and noble phrases. [cut to adults reciting the 1946 Pledge of Allegiance: "...for which it stands. One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Notice anything missing?]
If a community's economic distribution becomes slanted, its middle-income groups grow smaller [as wealth shifts to a smaller, wealthier group], and despotism stands a better chance to gain a foothold.
Another sign of a poorly balance economy is a taxation system that presses heaviest on those least able to pay.
A community rates low on the Information Scale when the press - radio and other channels of communication - are controlled by only a few people.Here is a little homework quiz for you. Who owns the media in your market? How easily can you find out? How many independent radio or television stations are there? How many independent newspapers? Trace the ownership to the top of the tree and see how much of your content is provided by one or two corporations. How much content is spun, filtered, screened, emphasized or downplayed due to editorial control or advertising pressure? Do you take your news from a single source, or do you make an effort to hear multiple sides of each issue?
One last quote:
...and to find out which way [your community] is likely to go in the future, you can rate it on Economic Distribution and Information scales. The lower your community rates on Economic Distribution and Information scales, the lower it is likely to rate on Respect and Power scales, and thus, to approach despotism. What happens in a single community is its own problem, but it is also a problem of us all.Where DO we rate on these scales? Surely not at the bottom, though perhaps trending that way? What do you intend to do about it?
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3 comments:
You wrote:
[cut to adults reciting the 1946 Pledge of Allegiance: "...for which it stands. One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Notice anything missing?]
I write:
You need to educate yourself. The words under god could not have been included in the Pledge of Allegiance in a film produced in 1946 because those words weren't added to the pledge until 1954. See, when you assume, you make an ass out of u and... let's just leave it there.
Interesting that you make such an assumption, Al. I never said that "Under God" belonged there. In fact, it should never have been added in the first place. You ass/u/me that I am in a snit because the phrase is gone, and rebuke me for it. Guess what? Your assumption was wrong. Thanks for firing from the hip.
Touché, my friend ;-). However, you must be kind enough to give me some leeway because your language implied something was missing, not that something was added that never should have been (we can certainly agree on that!).
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