Changing the World
I'd Love to change the world
But I don't know what to do,
So I'll leave it up to you.
"Ten Years After, I'd Love to Change the World, 1971"
[video:https://youtu.be/LnP3IlW3kbY]
But I know I can't leave it solely up to you. You don't know what to do either. Nobody really knows what to do or we would have done it already. I thought I could start my own blog and save the world. Then I thought that probably wouldn't work either. Alot of people have started their own blogs and not one of them has saved the world. Nada. Zilch. We know that because the world still needs saving.
"You say you want a revolution
Well, you know we all wanna change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know we all wanna change the world"
"I think all our society is run by insane people." John Lennon
[video:https://youtu.be/BGLGzRXY5Bw]
Then I thought, what if all those people who want to save the world and started their own blogs actually joined together to save the world. Like combine all their blogs into one giant Save the World blog. Or maybe call it, the One and Only Definitive Save the World blog.
At least then you'd have all the bloggers who wanted to save the world in one place . But the fact still remains that no blog has ever saved the world. So even if we got all the people who wanted to save the world and who had started a blog all in one place on one blog, the odds would still be very long relative to the primary mission of Saving the World.
Now, what if all the people who wanted to save the world and had started blogs got together in one place and gave voice to all the other people who want to save the world but haven't started a blog? What if ALL the people who wanted to save the world could actually come together into one voice? Maybe then we might get somewhere. Maybe then that blog could actually contribute to saving the world.
There are tons of people around the planet that want to save the world, but they don't know what to do. They're leaving it up to you and you're leaving it up to them. Obviously that's got to stop, it's getting us nowhere. We can't keep leaving it up to somebody else. Look where that's got us.
If we can just find the key. We need to find the key, man.
Comments
Key man?
Come now. Women are just as likely to lead revolutions!
Maybe we should each commit to doing something outside this blog and reporting back.
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That was just me using the slang "man" after
stuff I say. Sometimes I write like I talk.
But ya, that would be an interesting exercise.
I knew an English teacher who was paid to testify in court
as an expert witness in a product liability case on the meaning of a comma in the instructions that were in the package of the product in question. I'm no expert, but....
seems different from
zule?
is that you baby?
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Tribes, packs...
humans can't get past that.
Maybe we should just re-parcel the planet
and get it over with. The key is understanding our limitations.
Special Snowflakes
But... but... each of us is a special snowflake. Mom told me so.
That's why I get the sads when I see pleas for us to come together to lift us all up, etc. I love those ideas -- power to the people! I have hippie in me. But my cynical side is stronger than ever, and is growing daily during this election cycle. Mostly I feel we're pretty much doomed. Our species is greedily, irreparably harming the biosphere.
"There’s nothing revolutionary about a movement that retreats into an endorsement of the lesser of two evils." Scott McLarty @ CounterPunch
Tribes are fine, you just need to control the sociopaths
Before agriculture, you are a sociopath in the tribe, you get to spend your life, alone, and probably much shorter, in the wilderness.
In France they used the guillotine.
We haven't had a good clearing out of the f*ckers since WW1. Then you throw leaded gasoline and paint into the mix and *boom*.
Ramble on. I really do think about my kids and grandkids
People say that but how many really think about it. I've got one who turned one today. Happy Birthday Jerrick. Born in 2015. So if he lives a long, healthy life as I hope, he'll make it to the 22nd Century. That's a long time. I think about all that happened between 1916 and 2000 and can't even imagine what this century holds. The way it feels now, I can imagine hard times more than good times. But that's a big part of why I rabble rouse. We need to change the world.
We are right in an inflection point
You can almost taste the electricity on the air.
It started in 2000. The GWB & the GWOT gave it a giant shot in the arm. OWS radcialised a leadership cadre. Sanders activated the disillusioned, the disenchanted, the marginalised.
BLM has no address. It has a distributed leadership. The youngs have learned the tactics that fit todays fight and their OODA loop is much, much shorter than the states.
The only questions I have are how long until victory and what will the butcher's bill be. Minimising both is the work.
we were wondering what Doctor Who would do
He always somehow gets to the right people. Somehow he finds himself in a room with the baddies.
So what would he do to save our world? Did you ever see "A Boy and His Dog"? There's a nasty robot named Michael who's a killing machine but the hero overcomes him. I forget how....but the leader of the community, played by Jason Robards Jr, says "get another Michael out of the warehouse..."
Shaz said if Doctor Who somehow overcame "Hillary" they'd just get another "Hillary" out of the warehouse. Maybe they'd call the next one "Elizabeth". The point here is that Hillary (or Obama...or Bush) is both a player in this nasty drama and a figurehead. So Doctor Who would likely go find the people behind Hillary. Those who are the real power brokers. Rich people? Military people? Doctor Who would suss them out. Can we?
And if we identified them could we take them on?
Anyway, thinking about a fictional character has made me look at this in a different way.
Seems to me they've been pretty well identified
but whether we can take them on is a big question. I think we'd better find a way.
Not in an actionable way
I'm afraid to post what I just actually typed (and then cut) re: they've been identified. What's to be done?...
I don’t think they have been identified to the average person.
Otherwise the mainstream media would be full of the secrets and unfitness to rule of the entire global elite of wealth and power — among which Donald Trump’s peccadilloes would be a tiny drop in the ocean.
Face it: if Donald Trump were Saudi, everyone denouncing him right now would happily sell him billions of dollars worth of arms and ignore a holocaust if they thought that’s what it took to shore up the royal throne.
If the people pulling the levers were truly being made known to the average person, mainstream media might look a lot more like the type of journalism that is usually deprecated as conspiracy theory.
Hmm — what about, for example, the people behind 9/11?
https://off-guardian.org/2016/10/01/why-did-john-gross-claim-he-had-no-e...
Can we really even come close to saying the original plotters have been correctly publicly identified?
In terms of what officialdom and mass media say, a case could be made that, to date, whoever it was has very successfully been able to resist being identified.
Ya good point.
I think we can pretty much guess, circumstantial evidence points the finger directly at many, but key participants obviously have well covered tracks.
Several times over the past two decades
Thing is, if people acknowledged they know who the enemy is, they'd have to confront what needs to be done. And that latter is something no one seems to want to do. It is clear that marching, protesting, voting is not getting it done.
It is time to shut the system down. There are so many ways to do it - take automobile moving violations. If every single person started protesting every ticket as much as possible, as long as possible. In CA that would be first waiting the max time, then doing a trial by written declaration which requires the officer to restate the event. Doesn't matter if you win, makes them work more and costs you nothing but returning the docket with a statement of explanation no more detailed than "Not guilty". You'll lose that, so you then wait the max time again, then request court date. Then you postpone the court date as many times as you can, as late as you can each time. Then when you get to court you suck up as much time talking as humanly possible. Ask as many questions as possible.
Their revenue generating engines would freeze solid overnight.
The system only works with our consent. We withhold our consent and the system ceases to function.
Shar, your comment reminds me of a tv show
Where people would use a time machine to go back to charge the past.
One episode was about killing Adolf Hitler when he was a baby so that he couldn't grow up and kill 6 million people in the concentration camps.
They went back and disposed of the baby and that was supposed to be the end of the threat.
But when they gave the new baby to the adopting parents they named the baby Adolf. And that's how the show ended.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
Yes, I absolutely like this approach.
Stepping back to reflect. What would Doctor Who do? What questions would Sherlock Holmes ask himself?
“Sherlock Holmes” being shorthand for approaching things with the awareness that everything is not necessarily as it appears or as has been reported. Means, motive, and opportunity? Cui bono (who benefits)?
Patiently studying the various angles, working out the connections — disassembling the “code,” reverse engineering the “system,” finding the “vulnerability,” applying the “fix”: but metaphorically, in social–political–psychological terms.
Sooo — who wants to show up as Doctor Who at our next meeting?
https://news.usc.edu/109307/who-wants-to-show-up-as-gandalf-at-their-nex...
Victory through cosplay.
But seriously, the inventors foresee this stimulating people’s minds to open up, enabling them to unleash their creativity.
Um, Democrats? The Fifties called, they want their Russian bogeymen back.
American politics could use some creativity.
I like that direction
I think that's the way we need to go.
Beware the bullshit factories.
First, we have to acknowledge what has not worked and stop
expecting it to work. Next, we have to try other things.
What I think could work: finding systematic ways to join together with people of all political views issue by issue, especially locally and by state.
As far as the lyrics to Revolution, I don't think we should take anything off the table, which is about all that Revolution does, other than being an okay song. Why would four billionaires want armed revolution or communism? "Pretty good little rock and roll band," as Sir Paul likes to say, but not an agent for positive change for the 99%.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_(Beatles_song)
Was Lennon sincere in 1972 or trying to have it both ways? I have no clue, but it does not much matter in 2016.
BTW, I don't think the Tet offensive itself sparked demonstrations. Johnson had promised de-escalation. No doubt the promise coming in a Presidential election year was the sheerest of coincidences. /snark Then came news of the Tet Offensive and America escalated instead of de-escalating. I believe American escalation sparked the protest. I have to wonder how many of the protestors believed there even had been a Tet Offensive. After all, in 1964, the next prior election year, Johnson had lied about the Gulf of Tonkin.
Viet Cong troops pose for pics with AK-47 rifles and American radios
Now, we equip Al Qaeda and Isis. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
.
Which reminds me: Why in hell did we not learn from the French failure in Vietnam? Or from our own limited success in Korea, when cannon failed to overpower sling shots?
LBJ
Lyndon Johnson inherited the war. He escalated it on the advice of the Kennedy advisers he inherited. He knew what it was doing to the Great Society, the dream of his life.
People knew damned well that there was a Tet Offensive. The body bags came home, followed later by the wounded and then those who made it through physically intact.
Johnson's efforts in the peace talks were legitimate. There is a real possibility they would have succeeded if powerful Nixon supporters in 1968, including Hillary's BFF Henry Kissinger, hadn't persuaded the South Vietnamese government they should hold out because they'd get a better deal with Nixon.
The left's revulsion over the war in Vietnam, which I shared, caused people to turn away from everything Johnson. Opposition to the war was used to destroy what was left of the liberal consensus. Democrats had already lost southern whites over the Civil Rights Act. When they lost a significant portion of the left too, there wasn't enough for a governing coalition. Since the 1968 election Democrats have had 3 presidents, Carter, Clinton and Obama, not a liberal among them.
Thanks. I come at some of those events differently.
Wikipedia is not Wikileaks
What Wikipedia says about John Lennon's song is just the work of some semi-informed writer, and by no means "the gospel" on Lennon.
I've read a lot of interviews, and John Lennon was very clear in interviews about his intentions, and expressed in clear terms that he was strongly very anti-establishment at that time (all his life actually - as he was always an outspoken, free-thinker, and a critic of "conventional wisdom"). Not only was he against the Vietnam War, he was against Militarism and government brainwashing on a far, far more broader level than just the war itself. Lennon was very much advocating for genuine Revolution -- he just did not want to repeat the mistakes of past efforts, and wanted peaceful revolution rather than calls for another violent one.
Lennon's view was that Revolutions of past history had failed, because they were violent, and one form of authoritarianism was just replaced by another -- and the same things just kept happening. The United States Revolution has to be looked at as a abject failure as well, because although we revolted against the British Empire, and its global colonization, and The Rothschilds Bank of England debt-based money system, (which led to the famous tax revolt) -- just look at what The United States is today: a global oppressive Military Empire far beyond what England was, and also mired in historic debt and a corrupt debt-based money system ("Federal Reserve" Wall Street monopoly). No change, and no hope (and no true Independence).
John Lennon was advocating Revolution of the mind, and that's why the lyrics go: "You better free your mind instead".
So for Wikipedia to make the claim Lennon in 1968 was somehow not really anti-establishment is woefully uninformed.
Listen yourself:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_dJNzDo8SQ width:640 height:480]
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[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO0WnWlb5Qs width:640 height:480]
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Unlike Paul McCartney (who never rocked any boats), John Lennon was extremely knowledgeable about the World, and he was a committed anti-establishment voice, and genuine voice of protest. He stood up, and never minced his words for long.
The lyrics say what they say.
The world has to want to change
That usually means crisis. Maybe if we can figure a way out of the crisis before it hits. Lots of people think survivalist skills.
That should not be plan A in my book. Beyond this, I don't really know.
"If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back" - Regina Brett
The Democratic brand is crisis
Another reason why I'm not a D anymore. Carville (Clinton campaign) the bastard spreads violence all over the world, him and Tad Devine (Bernie campaign), I hate to say that but there it is. They both star, along with other neo-lib consultants who are "out to save the world" and make millions off the suffering of others. When is a non-profit hella profitable? When it's in California! Probably New York is the same, haven't been there lately. Is it the same all over? Cut it out.
West County breaks my heart, it is personal. "Linkages" are not permanent housing, the local rag reports Chamber of Commerce view almost exclusively. The other day I posted a comment about the Hip Chicks cooking for Bloody Obama @ the white house! Hello?
George’s Hideaway in Guerneville may become a homeless services center
Long-term support because they don't plan on permanent solutions that would cut their gravy train is how I see it. It is the appearance of doing good, a few street people get some help and neo-libs get richer on the "public-private" proceeds. Sounds like rentier society to me, nothing in common left to share.
seriously? brand new key?
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Well, for starters, people
Well, for starters, people need to stop electing leaders via popularity contest. Just because they are capable of being charming, well, we need to do what the Iroquois Council did, we do not just elect whoever the hell wants the damn job, they are the worst picks as we have seen for decade after decade.
Mental Hygiene screening is needed, no more Sociopaths, no more Psychopaths or Narcissistic idiots should ever be allowed to have control. The wise women of the tribes discussed who was best in Physical/mental/emotional health of the tribe and had a good spiritual standing as well. Why do we just seek someone physically fit, but we never make sure they actually have good mental and emotional traits for the jobs?
Instead we get the preening, overbearing and most unfit nut-bags to get into positions where the damage they do is immeasurable.
That at least would be a step in the right direction. Keep those who want the job of leading as far away from the job as possible and only select and elect those who are of sound mind/body and will do the job because they actually have to and they can leave after one term if they like.
We need to end that practice of electing insane people.
Next is cleansing the money and lobbyists etc out of the whole deal. Corporations are supposed to be answerable to the government/People, not the other way around.
Everything is Backsidewaysupwards and Topsy turvy, and the media has helped make that seem okay.
So long, and thanks for all the fish
Ann Wright and “Women’s Boat to Gaza” are acting on their ideas
http://davidswanson.org/node/5303
I’m listening to Dave Swanson’s interview with Ann Wright (podcast in mp3 format) right now.
Thanks for the reminder of that.
redacted /nt
"First United Church of the Cosmic Smorgasbord."
Age 15 in 1974. San Francisco side. Crowd singing was a thing, big mass of loving unity. The Dead and Airplane playing free in the park all the time it seemed. The Haight was still there. And today? Hmph. Someone who can still afford to get across the Golden Gate without jumping, please tell me because I don't know.
Todd Rundgren - Sons Of 1984 ends like,
Sorry about that!
So ready to break free it ain't funny, that's where I'm at man.
Sometimes I feel like ... Richie Havens - Freedom
Peace
Until the people rise up,
change will not be forthcoming. Mother Nature might have her way with change, though.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
What if ALL the people who wanted to save the world
could actually come together into one voice?
Great question I've been musing for many days now... because I've been thinking about how the music of the 60's/70's seemed to be a 'cultural glue' for political strength. We don't have that now. We have the internet-- which is, of course, an unprecedented venue for international communication-- but where is the musical/artistic expression that brings us back to the basics?
Well, I think the that the last thing
that should happen would be to get all the people who wanted to change the world into one single physical location: it'd make it too damned easy for TPTB to drone them out of existence.
Any force for change had better be widely, widely distributed: that would make it much less cost-effective to wipe them out. A serious consideration needs to be making such an effort very, very expensive to suppress or destroy- and I'm not being facetious there. TPTB are *miserly* fucks.
Ya, there is that.