It was nice to see on the local news last night that Ukrops workers are considering unionization. I hope to see an increased spread of union activity. We need it. What are unions but like-minded people banding together to obtain their interests? It's ok when rich people do it, so why isn't it ok when working people do it?
We need fundamental changes. Those are not going to come by electing a cool new guy president then going back to our idle pursuits or life on the hamster wheel and expecting him to do it all for us. No, it's not going to take long for him to start seeing things the power elite's way when those people are the only ones he is exposed to and the only ones presenting their opinions. Fundamental change comes from the people.
Let's start rebuilding our families. Maybe the economy will force us to do what we need to do anyway, and that is recombine extended families. Atomized individuals are far easier to control from on high than are groups of people joined by powerful bonds. Why do you think the messages of the organs of social control (including every major media outlet and in particular anything you see on TV) work so hard to promote extreme individualism and an ideology of pure self-interest?
Barbara Ehrenreich is my new favorite writer. She is a wonderful social critic. Start reading all her books. I have just recently read Bright-Sided and This Land Is Their Land. I want to read several others. Nickel and Dimed was another great book. I read parts of it while browsing in Barnes & Noble a year or so ago.
Every time I sit down and watch TV, I want to try not to buy anything I see advertised or even mentioned. Everything on TV is manufactured. Every show, every ad is manufactured to manipulate the viewer. Your thoughts, ideas, feelings and viewpoint are being shaped by everything broadcast on TV, whether over the air or through cable. Every thought expressed on TV has been approved by someone with enough money to get on TV. The more we rely on TV (and movies) for our thinking, the more we permit the millionaires and billionaires to dictate our ideology. Do you think they are doing so for OUR benefit? Of course not. They do so for their own, which benefits us only so far as our interests are in line with theirs.
The Giants' season is on life support. We have to win our last three games to make the playoffs, but if we do so, our chances are good. If Dallas goes 2-1 and we go 3-0, we are in regardless of what anyone else does. Dallas has to play New Orleans and Philadelphia. I don't see them winning both of those. Of course, the Giants winning three is not much more plausible. Minnesota is at worst the second best team in the conference, and they might be playing for home field advantage. If we don't beat Washington, we don't deserve the playoffs. I don't know the third opponent. Carolina. Could go either way. Probably no playoffs with 2-1, but given the Cowboys' propensity to choke on their T-bones in December, still not out of the question.
I lost my moleskine journal. I need to find it.
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