The use of "oligarchy" is a ~2,300 year old mistake commenced by Aristotle (Wikipedia: Oligarchy), but it is still in use by a lot of people in the alternate media who contemplate the structures of our "economy."
As the video at the bottom of this post shows, Chris Hedges uses the word "oligarchy" tens of times, as Aristotle was wont to do, in order to describe what is technically a plutocracy (Wikipedia, Plutocracy), not an oligarchy.
The improper use of the term, however, does no damage to his understanding of the Ferengi system (Life In The Ferengi Home World - 3) he is describing.
Truth be known, the economic system is complex, so, analyzing it is somewhat akin to the ancient story of the blind men describing an elephant.
The economic system looks and feels a bit different, depending on the part of it that one uses for an analysis.
For example, I have used the terms "plutocracy", "plutonomy", "wartocracy", "military-oil-media-complex", and "American Feudalism" to describe "it."
IMO, the main thing, in any valid analysis of "it," is to determine what is being done, in terms of doing the common good v. doing the common bad (The Common Good, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9).
The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.
Interview of Chris Hedges:
Interview of John Perkins (reformed economic hit-man) ...
Man, there's some psychopathic, sociopathic and environmentopathic people screwing this whole show up, eh?!
ReplyDeletei'm one of a group of people who actually dislike humanity because we can't seem to help ourselves do the right thing (by the environment or each other for that matter) and continue, even when we "get" what we're doing isn't working or helping - we continue doing it anyway and make all kinds of twisted, bullshit arguments and "logical reasons" with ourselves why we have to keep it up. Yeah, of course some do much more harm than others, but in the end, our species has gone rogue.
Everyone on the planet is in some way completely daft. Where do you want to start? Oh, the Pope? Yep, how's that "no birth control" policy you organization's been hawking for centuries going? Actually, all "important people" are, practically by definition, completely fucked up and do more damage than good. All heads of state, in fact government on all levels, is total lunacy. The industrial economy is a giant crime - worst idea in human history - and we're all part of it, making us stupid beyond words. Education is indoctrination, psychology is there to keep you doing the very things that make you 'disturbed,' the medical community aren't there to "cure" anything - it's about capturing you when you're at your weakest and vacuuming all your wealth away as a trade for your shitty life. Agriculture, public works, environmental organizations - they're all phony self-aggrandizing, humanity-destroying, ecosystem parasites.
Oh, but it's all about LOVE, right? Nope, just more human-concocted bullshit. If we had the faintest clue about love we'd have kept our numbers down and remained hunter-gatherers back in the dawn of our time, living short, intense lives and having very little impact on the Earth. Now love is just another four-letter word, used like currency and, like currency, has become cheapened and tainted.
Thanks for the post, Dredd. Really got me with that one.
Tom
There are people who have a social conscience, and those who do not.
ReplyDeleteThe human species is not uniform in behavior, understanding, or experience.
I don't blaime one individual for another individual's wrongs.
Identify a problem such as fossil fuel use, then go to the source of the problem and make corrections there.
Treating the effect rather than the cause is a fundamental error.
Particularized guilt is proportional to the ability to cause or prevent a particular wrong.
For example, the toddlers who take loaded guns out of their Mom's purse and shoots someone with it is less guilty than the Mom who negligently made the weapon reachable.