For several decades there has been an internal battle waged within my conscience, to resist a (more than) reflexive urge to demonize those of limited intellect, as clueless and deluded pawns utilized by far more powerful political and economic institutions, to create false justifications for a bogus, and ultimately self-defeating “revolution.”
Just as tens of thousands of Americans were sacrificed to the confirmed lie that a supposedly unprovoked attack in the Gulf of Tonkin was responsible for the escalation of the Vietnam War, our current dance of economic collapse mired in debt, unchecked militarism, and regulatory capture, bears an ultimately scripted ending.
During an age that corresponded with my childhood, it might have been possible to deny the obvious incursions of the military-industrial-entertainment complex into our personal lives, and the associated subversion of the democratic process itself. Today, such manipulation involves a totality so all-encompassing, that international reports on mainstream outlets are automatically suspect, and often not because of what they say… but because of all the information they choose not to include in their coverage.
National Public Radio (NPR), has proven itself (more than) willing to promote U.S. Government propaganda in regards to Ukraine over the course of the past month. Though many would choose to justify this as acceptable due to the nature of the relationship between our government and this broadcast network, the fact is, NPR only receives 10% of its total funding from any governmental source, whatsoever!
So, while we continue to waddle down the path to fascism in our red, white, and blue Elvis jumpsuits, perhaps it’s about time we invested a wee bit more effort in the process of exposing the negative consequences currently amassing at the borders of Mordor. One can only repetitively shout three syllable slogans for so long (even while high on meth), before ultimately crashing in search of some sort of moral sustenance.
Control structures in the past, although focused on submission to authority, were far less likely than nation-states to promote ignorance as the norm. The prevalence of legal statutes within the past 100 years, seeking to protect the ignorant from the harms created by their own actions, has been compounded by blanket immunity for those within law enforcement specifically chosen for their proven lack of intelligence.
SEE: https://www.aele.org/apa/jordan-newlondon.html
Jordan v. New London established in an unchallenged precedent two decades ago, states unequivocally that any person of intellectual capacity exceeding that of the average member of law enforcement, can be subject to discriminatory exclusion from any American police organization- without right to legal recourse, or monetary relief.
While hordes of decidedly uninformed reactionaries continue to attract attention to themselves using violence, threats of violence, and justifications based upon spurious assertions of oppression, our collective economy teeters on the brink of total collapse.
Although the United States has weathered many challenges including the Great Depression and the Influenza Pandemic of 1918, we have never confronted the daunting complication of both disease and economic catastrophe simultaneously. Even more distressing to the fiscal system, is the fact that we have surpassed $30 trillion of national debt, following decades of declining national economic output.
There is no simple solution to debt, especially when your chief creditor is also your most competitive business rival. Not only has China chosen to embrace more than a trillion dollars of American debt, but it continues to remain invested in the fortunes of our country… even as internal political conflict inevitably leads to further division.
We cannot simply ascribe to national bankruptcy in order to purge this hideous trail of corporate greed and military aggression. Even though weapons of war have never been, and will never be, a reasonable substitute for agricultural commodities and durable goods, our current economy (and foreign policy) remain irretrievably linked to such products. Neither major political party appears to be inclined to change this fact.
As we slouch towards Gomorrah in typical Neo-liberal fashion, there simply is no substitute for understanding the implications of economic policies, than in-depth review by those with the training and experience to know better. The link below provides excellent context courtesy of Harvard-educated professor, Richard D. Wolff.
Cultural materialism is an anthropological theory which posits that most aspects of human culture can be described in material terms. Please provide an example of modern human culture that cannot be described in material terms without resorting to religion or "spirituality." I'll wait...
Perhaps your obsession with pigeonholing those with whom you disagree, has resulted in the inability to accurately comprehend the meaning of the terms you seek to utilize in searing moral indictments against "Leftists" and their "liberalism." One would expect "a doofus with way too much optimism" and absolutely no written work of their own, to be slightly less confrontational (or at least familiar with a dictionary.)
The term materialism, has nothing whatsoever to do with the term cultural materialism. They are two separate and distinct concepts, which have been inappropriately confused in your paragraph-length, run-on sentence. I would normally attribute such an error to sheer ignorance rather than ill-intent to confuse, conflate, and obfuscate the issue. In your case, who really knows?
Materialism and the profit-driven thinking it creates, continue to be the key motivations responsible for the ongoing Anthropocene destruction of our host planet... and tens of millions of other innocent species thoughtlessly sacrificed by humanity in that process.
Cultural materialism is a spun-up delusion of grandeur. Leftists need to come to grips with this…I’d even go so far as to say “materialism” itself is nothing but a cognitive and semantic kind of cancer that is eating away at liberalism at the most fundamental layer….cut out the tumor of a metaphysically untenable hypothesis like materialism, and the ground beneath your liberal ideas will be way firmer to build upon.