#Robert W. McChesney

[emptyanddark]

weekly reading list

things i've read this week i found interesting.

In Syria, the West’s Humanitarian Claims Crumble to Dust by Jonathan Cook: as the death toll from the earthquakes hitting Syria and Turkey exceeds 46 thousand lives, don't forget that the people of Syria have been living under the collective punishment by western powers choking them with sanctions. humans can't control forced of nature but the amount of damage and human sufferings is entirely political (as it appears in Turkey infrastructure was compromised by corruption)

The Foundation of Monte Albán, Intensification, and Growth: Coactive Processes and Joint Production: authors Linda Nicholas & Gary Feinman propose their hypothesis about egalitarian, collective "good" governance in Oaxaca valley settlements.

Surveillance Capitalism by John Bellamy Foster & Robert W. McChesney: outlines the history of cooperation between USA government and private companies to present issues of surveillance capitalism.

Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit by David Graeber about creativity, innovation and imagination.

The Case for Free-Range Lab Mice by Sonia Shah: a long-overdue discussion about the limited benefit of using lab animals in biological & medical research. the questions about this practice are not only ethical, but practical.

The Evolution of Meaning – from Pragmatic Couplings to Semantic Representations: author Kevin Mitchell writes about the distinction between deriving pragmatic and semantic meanings, and proposes evolutionary theory about their development.

Three Ideas from Linguistics that Everyone in AI Should Know by Gary Marcus and Elliot Murphy: large language models don't in fact, use language, at least not as humans use it. they merely spit out words & phrases that are statistically likely to be next; the author of this article focuses on 3 key elements of language that are absent from LLMs: reference, cognitive models and compositionality.

Africa's Forgotten Colony in the Sahara by Paweł Wargan: from European imperialism, to Moroccan nationalist interests and the greed of multinational mining corporations, this articles introduces a bit of the modern history of Western Sahara and the plight of the Sahrawi people.

The Carbon Triangle: analysis by Jeremy Wallace who identifies interactions between three major economic actors in contemporary China: finance, land and real estate, and how they impact the environment.

interview with Clara E. Mattei, the author of The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism

Inside Google’s Quest to Digitize Troops’ Tissue Samples: James Bandler answers the question: what's more creepy than the US' DOD's largest collection of human tissues going back over a century? reply: Google wants to make money off it.

Lever News covering the catastrophe that is US rail, in the name of profiteering, from Rail Companies Blocking Safety Rules, Biden DOJ Backing Norfolk Southern’s Bid To Block Lawsuits, all this after they screwed overworked rail workers for daring demanding more than one (1!!) single day of paid sick leave per year, amid rail companies high profits and terrible working conditions.

[inwhichalex]

"‘If we define an American fascist as one who in case of conflict puts money and power ahead of human beings, then there are undoubtedly several million fascists in the United States,’ Wallace wrote. He explained that 'the American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information’ In the view of FDR and Wallace, a fascist power grab would not require a violent rupture so much as a quiet takeover orchestrated by elements of the capitalist class. The United States would experience its own home-grown All-American fascism. 'They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the constitution,’ Wallace wrote. 'Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection.’"

Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols-  People Get Ready

[mysticalproperties]

resources/books on capitalism and how we can look forward to the future. . food for thought here

- Neoliberal Morality in Singapore: How Family Policies Make State and Society by Teo Youyenn -

High-Tech Housewives: Indian IT Workers, Gendered Labor, and Transmigration By Amy Bhatt

Racial Capitalism & Prison Abolition Zine

Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World- Jason hickel

Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities by Rebecca Solnit

A World Lost- Wendell Berry

Soil not oil- Vandana Shiva

Earth democracy- Vandana Shiva

Work: A History of How We Spend our Time by James Suzman

Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism is Turning the Internet Against Democracy by Robert W. McChesney

- A People's Guide to Capitalism: An Introduction to Marxist Economics by Hadas Thier -

Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work by Alex Williams and Nick Srnicek -

Capitalism: A Ghost Story by Arundhati Roy -

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein

Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by adrienne maree brown -

The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming by Masanobu Fukuoka

(please add to the list)

[fundgruber]

The years 1970–1971 saw the emergence of the “Army Files” (or CONUS) scandal, when it was revealed that the Army had been spying on and keeping dossiers on over seven million U.S. citizens. [...] In the continuing Congressional investigations into the Army intelligence files, and its subversives file in particular—which the Army said had been destroyed—it was later discovered that the data had been transmitted to the NSA, "via the ARPANET, a computer network connecting more than 50 government agencies and universities throughout the country. The network is funded by the Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)….The information, according to intelligence sources, was transferred and stored at the headquarters of the National Security Agency (NSA), at Fort Meade, Maryland. The Army files were transmitted on the ARPANET in about January 1972, sources say, more than two years after the material—and the data banks maintained at the [Army’s] Fort Holabird facility—were ordered destroyed." For many Americans this was the first indication that such a thing as ARPANET existed. Already in the 1970s the NSA was thus implicated in using the early proto-Internet system as part of its surveillance operations of the U.S. public.

John Bellamy Foster and Robert W. McChesney, Surveillance Capitalism Monopoly-Finance Capital, the Military-Industrial Complex, and the Digital Age

https://monthlyreview.org/2014/07/01/surveillance-capitalism/

Zitat im Zitat aus  “Computers Carried Army Files; MIT Investigation Underway,” The Tech, April 11, 1975:

http://tech.mit.edu/V95/PDF/V95-N17.pdf

[the-canary]

what is on your reading list?

Currently Reading: City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert + 40 manga books

On List: 

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Dollarocracy: How the Money and Media Election Complex is Destroying America by John Nichols and Robert W. McChesney

Seduction: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes's Hollywood by Karina Longworth

Notorious RBG by Shana Knizhnik and Irina Carmon

Rashomon and Other Tales by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

The Maids & The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki 

The Ten Loves of Nishino by Hiromi Kawakami 

Drakengard 3 Prelude + the manga I am collecting now. 

If you have any suggestions, I would to hear them too!

[omgmariaclaire-blog]

Blog #8

In the article, “The Internet’s Unholy Marriage to Capitalism” by John Bellamy Foster and Robert W. McChesney, they discuss the origins of the internet and the “capitalist invasion” that has taken over the web. They discuss the beginning of monopolies and how the internet service provider allowed access to Americans but were only controlled by a few firms that had already dominated the telephone and television industry. Both industries had supported deregulation in the 1990s, which in turn would leave them with more power. The deregulations left a few giant companies and no regulations with mergers between phone and cable companies. The article discusses how search engines like Google “hold 70 percent of the search engine market’, with only a few other giant companies. This being another example of the internet's power over competition and consumers. The internet continues to gain capitalist development with monopolies running most of the show. As these monopolies grow in size they become more superior, kicking out other competitors. It is near impossible to do anything to stop these companies from growing, unless consumers protest them, which is a very unlikely scenario since only a handful dominate the internet.

The article continues to discuss the rising capitalist atmosphere within the internet, stating that some economists say the monopolist will only be “temporary.” However, the article disagrees and states that there is little evidence to support this and with the extreme amount of power monopolies hold, it is unlikely to see them gone anytime soon. These monopolies are also leading a decline in journalism, since most articles are now read on the internet. Among journalists, advertisers have also been forced to take to the internet since people no longer read newspapers or magazines. These monopolies are not only taking over the internet but are also destroying other businesses tactics and they way in which they make a profit. Although being one of the greatest inventions in America, the internet has succumbed to capitalism. The article discusses the factor of, Net Neutrality, the principle that an internet service provider has to provide access to all sites, content, and applications at the same speed, under the same conditions without blocking or preferencing any content. Although the Net Neutrality Act was not passed, if it was set in place, it would limit the power over monopolies, making the internet more free and decreasing the capitalist environment.

[anti-capitalist-book-club]

It is precisely in its oppression of nonmarket forces that we see how neoliberalism operates not only as an economic system, but as a political and cultural system as well. Neoliberalism works best when there is formal electoral democracy, but when the population is diverted from the information, access, and public forum necessary for meaningful participation in decision making. The neoliberal system therefore has an important and necessary byproduct--a depoliticized citizenry marked by apathy and cynicism.

Robert W. McChesney

[deifik-blog1]

The Internets relationship to capitalism: All take, no give.

Having worked as a network engineer for over a decade, and two of those years at an ISP/Cable provider, this subject has always been close to home for me.  On one hand it is nearly impossible to explain the complexities that go into planning, designing, and implementing a functioning network to those outside the field.  On the other hand I’ve always felt it important for people to understand because only then will they get a clear picture of the one sided relationship they are involved in.

As pointed out in the article “The Internet’s Unholy Marriage to Capitalism” by John Bellamy Foster and Robert W. McChesney, “the dominant wires that would come to deliver Internet service provider (ISP) broadband access for Americans were and are controlled by the handful of firms that dominated telephone and cable TV.” For context, in 1996 the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was passed in which the government subsidized large amounts of fiber optic network infrastructure through cities, and to residential neighborhoods.  A large part of this has remained unused to this day.  When you work in the industry there is a term named “dark fiber”.  This is used to identify fiber optic cabling that has been laid underground that is currently not being used.  Though a large amount of fiber has funded by the government and the tax payers we are still lacking when it comes to download speeds in relation to much of the civilized world.  As of 2018, the U.S. ranks at 22n’d [1].  Moreover, the government does not own the dark fiber sitting under our feet, this fiber is owned by the service providers which the government must rent at high prices in order to perform many government and military functions.

Another glaring issue with service providers is monopolistic practices.  Service providers have no-compete agreements for markets all over the U.S.  This lowers options for consumers to the point of ISP’s becoming monopolies.  If consumers don’t like the practices of the local ISP, that is simply too bad.  I know this first hand since I have worked in this field.

As you can see, the relationship of ISP to consumers is very one sided.  There is all take and no give.

[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/the-23-countries-in-the-world-with-the-fastest-internet-speeds-2018-7

[jnufio]

Blog Post 6

“The Internet’s Unholy Marriage to Capitalism” written by John B. Foster and Robert W. McChesney, articulates the Internets monopolized system that is ruled by very few large companies. A great quote that I found within the article was, “capitalist development of Internet-related industries has quickly, inexorably, generated considerable market concentration at almost every level…” (Foster and McCheney, pg 46). The importance of this quote goes into the statistics provided shortly afterward, they describe the power that technology companies have in certain markets within the world wide web. For example, Google holds 70 percent of the search engine market, and Apple holding 87 percent of the digital music market. Within the article, it discusses that companies that attempt to go against the capitalistic styles of the internet and create more open sourced sites like Firefox ad Wikipedia fail when competing against larger more recognizable companies. A common theme within the article was the fact that very few companies can enter into the electronic market and that most fail. Capitalism wants to have as much market power and as little competition as possible. Competition is necessary for all markets to create an honest system and to boost economic profits and spread the wealth. How the monopolies within the internet revolution occurred when cable and telephone companies became the first to enter the market and where the sole businesses investing and building the infrastructure for broadband. Building only in cities that provide profit creating a shortage or no connection to broadband in rural areas. With “deregulation” it allowed fewer enormous companies that had generated profits from other digital revolutionary services, as well as giving them fewer regulations to follow. Some areas in the United States are only owned and operated by one company creating no competition in some areas and allowing them to create any price point they want.

[tolgaulusoy]

Kapitalizm ve Enformasyon Çağı: Küresel İletişim Devriminin Politik Ekonomisi (İng. Capitalism and the Information Age: The Political Economy of the Global Communication Revolution), Robert W. McChesney, Ellen Meiksins Wood, John Bellamy Foster gibi önemli Marksist teorisyenlerin editörlüğünde hazırlanmış olan bir kitap. Adından da anlaşılacağı gibi kitap dijital devrime Marksist ve eleştirel bir tutum geliştirmeye çalışan yazılardan oluşuyor fakat orijinal basım 1998 gibi çok erken bir tarih olduğu için hızla dönüşen bu alanda bugün okunduğunda yazılar oldukça eski kalmış durumdalar. Ama günümüz kapitalist sistemini anlamak adına giriş mahiyetinde okunabilecek bir eser.

[ianmccowanfinearts]

Oreet Ashery: Subverting Neoliberalism and The Far Right Agenda

“Instead of citizens, it produces consumers. Instead of communities, it produces shopping malls. The net result is an atomized society of disengaged individuals who feel demoralized and socially powerless. In sum, neoliberalism is the immediate and foremost enemy of genuine particaptory democracy, not just in the United States but across the planet, and will be for the foreseeable future.” (McChesney)

Israeli born, London based, performance artist Oreet Ashery is making waves in Europe with installations and performances that are both visceral and thought provoking. Her work is an ideological critique of far right politics, neoliberalism, and western concepts of freedom, gender, and sexuality. It sheds light on the problems with these ideas, and how they tend towards the marginalization of certain social groups. Pieces such as those from her Party For Freedom series (2011-13) and The Space for Freedom is Getting Smaller and Less Transparent (2013-17) are great examples of this.  They create a juxtaposition between class differences, true liberation and democracy, and the falsities created under neoliberalism and nationalist ideals. (Gogarty)

Having grown up in Israel during the 1970s, Ashery has been no stranger to political, social, and cultural dynamics. The division between Israel and Palestine coupled with the hypocrisy of  her home state, fueled her early work. At the beginning of her career she was focused on critiquing the patriarchal and often misogynistic views of orthodox Judaism and Islam.  This led her to create a character called Marcus Fisher.  Over time her work has evolved to critique broader ideologies, and most recently she has been taking inspiration from Mayakovsky’s 1921 play, Mystery-Bouffe.  The original play satirized globalization and an inevitable meltdown, and  broke down social classes into two groups: the clean and the unclean. (Budzinsky)

Ashery’s Party For Freedom series is in some ways her interpretation of Mayakovsky’s ideas. It is both an overindulgent exploration of sexual and creative liberty, and a critique of the illusions of freedom perpetuated by far right political parties (such as the Deutsch Party for Freedom, where the work derives its name) and neoliberalism. This series of participatory and performative installations took place at various sites between 2011 and 2013, and culminated in a final exhibit at the Millbank Tower in London. The location’s significance came from the fact that it housed the British conservative party’s headquarters. (Perry) The series started with a sort of casting call, and the first performances were like sketches and auditions. Artists were guided by an overall theme of exploring freedom (sexually and politically), and were given various props and environments to adapt to.  The final piece was a mix of audio-visual installation, and performance; the experience situated somewhere between Surrealism, Nihilism, and Brechtian theatre.  Troupes of people in various stages of nudity acted out a plethora of Ashery’s ideas, poised against the soundscapes of four different musical artists, and interspersed with videos of various far right politicians. (Budzinsky)  The piece was and still is a successful critique of the political and economic worldviews of neoliberalism and nationalism through its elaborate engagement with the viewer.

Ashery’s The Space For Freedom Is Getting Smaller And Less Transparent is another piece that explores the hypocrisy of right-wing notions of freedom and how they tend towards isolation and exclusion.  The participatory installation begins with a large clear room inside of a gallery space.  Viewers are given the ability to paint the walls of the clear room.  Each week a new smaller clear space is constructed, and becomes painted.  This continues until the space is barely bigger than a closet, and the inside of the space becomes detached from the outside world through the lack of visibility created by the expressive paintings. This emphasizes the idea that even though western trains of thought seek to make freedom of expression a cornerstone of society, it creates a small isolated space that is removed from other societies and cultures. (Overladen)

Through her works Party For Freedom and The Space For Freedom Is Getting Smaller And Less Transparent, Ashery engages the viewer in the process of critiquing western concepts of freedom, sexuality,  far right politics, neoliberalism, and classism. She believes that there is still a lot of work to do in order to bring true liberation to people, but it starts with this critique.

Citations

Budzinsky, Nathan. “Unfinished Revolutions: Oreet Ashery’s Party For Freedom.” The Wire, Mar. 2014, www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/interviews/oreet-ashery_s-party-for-freedom.

Chomsky, Noam and McChesney, Robert W.” Introduction.” Profit over People: Neoliberalism and Global Order, Seven Stories Press, 2011, p. 11.

Gogarty, Larne Abse. “Irreplaceable.” Art Monthly, no. 381, 2014, pp.3-4.

“Overgaden: Oreet Ashery/Party for Freedom.” Online video clip. Youtube, uploaded by Overgaden,  26 Sep. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnguKVF782k.

Perry, Colin. “Party For Freedom.” Art Monthly, no. 367, 2013, p. 34.

Image Resources

Ashery, Oreet. http://www.gold.ac.uk/art/staff/ashery-oreet/

Ashery, Oreet. Party For Freedom. www.oreetashery.net

Ashery, Oreet. The Space For Freedom Is Getting Smaller And Less Transparent. www.oreetashery.net

[talofasp7]

Blog Post 12: Pop Cosmopolitanism

          Henry Jenkins III article, “Pop Cosmopolitanism” hits hard on the topic dealing with how pop culture has developed over time and on a much larger scale. Jenkins discusses many topics that we have discussed in class about how powerful people that own industries, movies, music, technology, every media source that is out there can pick and choose what they want consumers, viewers, audience, and the whole population to see and hear what they want to put out there. As Jenkins says, “ I mean this not simply in the predictable sense that American pop culture dominates (and is being shaped for) worldwide markets but also in the sense that a growing proportion of the popular culture that Americans consume comes from elsewhere” (587). The previous articles that come to mind when reading Jenkins theory are, “The Internet’s Unholy Marriage to Capitalism” by John Bellamy Foster and Robert W. McChesney, also, the article,  “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception” by  Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer.

          In the article “The Internet’s Unholy Marriage to Capitalism”  Foster and McChesney describes, how the internet has changed the game in a capitalist world. The way our world works revolves around the internet and the increasing improvement that technology has done from 1990′s to what the future holds. Which goes hand in hand with Jenkins theory and his perspective on the revolution in the digital world. Jenkins asserts, “Convergence begins and ends with... sooner or later all media are going to be flowing through a single black box in our living rooms, and all we have to do is figure out which black box is will be” (587). In other words, since our media is growing rapidly and improving by the second every media source that is out there, will soon come together and form as one large outlet or what Jenkins calls “Black box”. This quote explains more in-depth about Foster and McChesney's thoughts stating, “The internet, or more broadly, the digital revolution is truly changing the world” (43). An example I think that goes great with this is during Shelby’s discussion lead and the video she used describing what big corporations own what industries. Explaining how most of these corporations, to stay ahead of the game they try to put two corporations together to have a bigger business and out beat everyone else competing for power and profit. Which proves Jenkins, Fords, and McChesney theories within the media culture that as it expands it starts to form into that large outlet of media.

          Jenkins also says, “Cosmopolitans embrace cultural difference, seeking to escape the gravitational, pull off their local communities in order to enter a broader sphere of cultural experience” (588) and this as well, “Cosmopolitans use networked communication to scan the planet in search of diversity and communicate with others of their kind around the world” (591). Basically saying, that American pop culture tries to incorporate other cultures around the world showing that television, movies, music, and media itself portrays the diversity of all cultures. What Jenkins says ties in with what Adorno and Horkheimer discuss in their article explaining how technology influences the way businesses run and what they produce to the world in movies, magazines, radio, news, and music. They say, “Movies and radio need no longer pretend to be art.” Adorno and Horkheimer believe that movies and radio industries use to have to means towards everything they produce and give to the audience believing that it’s something good for the people. However, that has all change for the power of businesses has grown to the point that there is no meaning anymore, boss men’s get to choose what they want to produce and what they want to show the audience, because now instead of meaning it’s basically making money. Adorno and Horkheimer claim, “They are so designed that quickness, the power of observation, and experience are undeniably needed to apprehend them.” and they also say, “The result is the circle of manipulation and how retroactive need in which the unity of the system grows even stronger.” these quotes corresponds to Jenkins claim and how in today’s media we try to incorporate other cultures to increase the diversity. However, in reality, what we try to communicate to people through media in portraying culture are considered “stereotypes” and using those as the influence on culture diversity, really means increasing the views or ratings towards those ethnicities. A good example dealing with what Jenkins, Adorno, and Horkheimer say in Rachel’s discussion lead with her different era’s of music dealing with subgroups and how people those years would portray themselves. The way producers or cosmopolitans portray culture in movies and television is through subgroups. The media increases the stereotypes of different races and they influence production to use those stereotypes to increase the number of viewers towards that race to call it “diversity”. Which Rachel describes with how music era can change a person to be that artist or band since they listen to that genre or era they try to present themselves like that in society. The same way producers and cosmopolitans do in pop culture to increase those stereotypes to the population that they need to represent themselves the same way.

[duchesscat01]

The Internet's Unholy Marriage to Capitalism

Internet: a global network providing a variety of information and communication meets Capitalism: an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners then state. Together they, according to authors John Bellamy Foster and Robert W. McChesney, are a marriage made in heaven. Because for business and political it is a way to make more money.

When the internet first came out in the informational age it was to make more competition in the markets and for business, as well as to end corruption and increase human happiness, obviously it failed. 

Instead it gave the same monopolies a greater chance to gain more power over society without them realizing it. Example, how today we know the top providers for internet is Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon hade the necessary wires to deliver internet, since they are the firms that dominate both telephones and cable, they  knew that this was where the future was going and because of this they knew how much of an impact this will have on us as human being.     

They later talk about market concentration in many areas in which mean that there are many areas where private interest can get a hold of the power as well. For instance, Google hold 70% of that power, as well as Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Intel, and many, many others. This goes right into the idea that they have, that the "internet is a generator of competition and consumer empowerment". And this also falls into the same article of "The Economics of the Media Industry" that with the more subsidiary companies these major monopolies have, the more it makes other competitors impossible to compete since they don't have as much shares.

And since they don't have the shares to compete the same monopoly grow even larger in power such as Google, it keeps its power and create more blocks so other wont mess with them. Likewise with Microsoft, it has been able to lock its power for so long because it exploits the dependence of software applications, thus when other competitors try to introduce a new operating system they are meet with an "application barrier to entry". And thus the reason why iPhone and iPad were made to keep locked in customers in the commercial domain. 

"The more that a particular device becomes the interface for whole networks of applications, the more customers are drawn in, and [..] [the] scale take over". Meaning that this gaining an enormous amount of power, in which than whomever holds the most power can decide the "technological landscape". And so this also gives corporates more monopoly to conquer more areas in the internet, therefor gaining more power.

This has impact on us as a society since we use much of the internet, it has caused us to be alienated from each other. Which was not the point of having the internet, it was to be use to as an expansion of human sociability and enhanced democratic possibilities. Now it has become the opposite.  

[itunesbooks]

Science of Coercion - Christopher Simpson & Mark Crispin Miller

Science of Coercion Communication Research & Psychological Warfare, 1945–1960 Christopher Simpson & Mark Crispin Miller Genre: Political Science Price: $11.99 Publish Date: March 3, 2015 Publisher: Open Road Media Seller: OpenRoad Integrated Media, LLC A provocative and eye-opening study of the essential role the US military and the Central Intelligence Agency played in the advancement of communication studies during the Cold War era, now with a new introduction by Robert W. McChesney and a new preface by the author Since the mid-twentieth century, the great advances in our knowledge about the most effective methods of mass communication and persuasion have been visible in a wide range of professional fields, including journalism, marketing, public relations, interrogation, and public opinion studies. However, the birth of the modern science of mass communication had surprising and somewhat troubling midwives: the military and covert intelligence arms of the US government. In this fascinating study, author Christopher Simpson uses long-classified documents from the Pentagon, the CIA, and other national security agencies to demonstrate how this seemingly benign social science grew directly out of secret government-funded research into psychological warfare. It reveals that many of the most respected pioneers in the field of communication science were knowingly complicit in America’s Cold War efforts, regardless of their personal politics or individual moralities, and that their findings on mass communication were eventually employed for the purposes of propaganda, subversion, intimidation, and counterinsurgency. An important, thought-provoking work, Science of Coercion shines a blazing light into a hitherto remote and shadowy corner of Cold War history. http://dlvr.it/R3g0mj

[democracyatwrk]

Robert McChesney and John Nichols: The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy

Published on Mar 19, 2016

Humanity is on the verge of its darkest hour or its greatest moment. The consequences of the technological revolution are about to hit hard: unemployment will spike as new technologies replace labor in the manufacturing, service, and professional sectors of an economy that is already struggling. The end of work as we know it will hit at the worst moment imaginable: as capitalism fosters permanent stagnation, when the labor market is in decrepit shape, with declining wages, expanding poverty, and scorching inequality. Only the dramatic democratization of our economy can address the existential challenges we now face. Yet, the US political process is so dominated by billionaires and corporate special interests, by corruption and monopoly, that it stymies not just democracy but progress. The great challenge of these times is to ensure that the tremendous benefits of technological progress are employed to serve the whole of humanity, rather than to enrich the wealthy few. Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols, authors of People Get Ready: The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy, argue that the United States needs a new economy in which revolutionary technologies are applied to effectively address environmental and social problems and used to rejuvenate and extend democratic institutions. Based on intense reporting, rich historical analysis, and deep understanding of the technological and social changes that are unfolding, they propose a bold strategy for democratizing our digital destiny before it's too late and unleashing the real power of the Internet, and of humanity. Recorded 3/9/16 Thanks to Seattle Town Hall and Elliott Bay Books

If you're short on time listen to 32:00-48:00. That will tell you where we are really at.

[taniabnt]

In spite of the smoke

“In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. The only owner of the day of recompense. O Allah, we ask to ease the pain and suffering for all innocent mankind O Allah, forgive us, forgive all those who help us, forgive all those who take our rights O Allah, bless our scholars, our leaders, who are striving to establish peace and justice in your deen Ya Allah, let us love You as You deserved to be loved, and let us fear You as You deserve to be feared, and let us leave this world serving Your creation for Your sake.”

Mencoba mengurai the new pragmatism.

Kekhawatiran penguasaan media oleh elit politis semakin nyata di permukaan. Jika dikatakan kondisi ini tidak fair, maka ketidakadilan ini dirasakan paling mendalam oleh masyarakat awam. Bukannya menjalankan fungsinya untuk memenuhi ‘kepentingan objektif’ masyarakat, media keliru digunakan sebagai alat ‘kepentingan subjektif’ beberapa pihak. Ashadi Siregar dalam paparannya mengenai ‘Ruang Publik Patologis: Media dan Suksesi Kepemimpinan Nasional 2014’ menyatakan bahwa public interest dalam kerangka general virtue (kebajikan umum) sepertinya sudah ditanggalkan, digantikan dengan suksesi kepentingan politik. Kita sebagai konsumen media yang berakal sehat dan berhati nurani harusnya menaruh pehatian terhadap kepemilikan media yang terpusat. Kekhawatiran Robert W McChesney, seorang pakar ilmu komunikasi adalah:

“Dengan meningkatnya hiperkomersialiseme dan kontrol perusahaan, muncul bias politik secara eksplisit dalam isi media. Konsumerisme, ketidaksetaraan kelas, dan individualisme cenderung dianggap sebagai sesuatu yang alamiah, bahkan dianggap baik, tempat aktivitas politik, nilai-nilai kemanusiaan, dan aktivitas antipasar terpinggirkan.”

Bad news is a good news menjadi beken dengan bumbu-bumbu menutupi pemberitaan lain maupun mengarahkan opini publik semata. Kondisi ini diperparah dengan banyaknya media mainstream menyalurkan informasi yang tidak bertanggung jawab. Komplikasi persoalan ini membentuk mass scepticism. Hakikat manusia masa kini sebagai homo informaticus telah membuat kita bergerak cepat, dinamis, dan tanpa batas. Kebijakan, isu, desas-desus dan gossip akan tertinggal sebagai konsumsi semata mengarahkan kita menjadi pribadi tanpa kepedulian.

De Botton dalam bukunya mengatakan bahwa dalam kondisi penuh gangguan dan kebingungan yang dilemparkan ke publik, media seharusnya menarik kepedulian masyarakat terhadap kondisi dan mekanisme kompleks yang terjadi, membantu untuk memunculkan kegelisahan menuju pembaharuan dan menerima pertentangan tanpa amarah. Pada akhirnya memang kita ditinggalkan untuk merindukan media yang professional, berimbang, serta mengangkat aspirasi yang lemah dan tak mampu menyuarakan sendiri kepentingannya.

Tantangan pembangunan yang simultan adalah kemungkinan munculnya kesenjangan perilaku tradisional yang dituntut oleh pembangunan menjadikannya kompleks. Bukan dengan membelenggu opini dan kebebasan berekspresi lah tantangan itu diurai. Prof. Emil Salim dalam esainya berjudul ‘Sistem Manajemen Nasional Menanggapi Tantangan Pembangunan Masa Depan’ yang ditulis dalam rangka menghormati pemikiran Prof. Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, menjelaskan bahwa Indonesia dengan Ideologi Pancasila mengharuskan kita mengembangkan demokrasi ekonomi dan demokrasi politik sehingga bobot demokrasi adalah hasil proses pertumbuhan kualitas masyarakat, you get what you are.

Mungkin kita masih berada pada pola paternalism dominan, masyarakat cenderung melihat ke tokoh pemimpin sebagai panutan. Maka masyarakat akan melihat vertikal ke atas dalam langkah perbuatannya. Dewasa ini, Nawacita Presiden Jokowi dengan upaya mengutamakan investasi asing dalam rangka aktivitas produktif seharusnya tidak luput dari pengawasan publik. Terlepas dari investasi atau revitalisasi untuk meningkatkan pertumbuhan ekonomi yang didengung-dengungkan, bukan berarti daya kritis harus dibelenggu untuk mengamini setiap langkah pemerintah.

Bandung, 10 Januari 2017 dimungkinkan kelabunya asap (recently added playlist)

Sumber:

Esmara, Hendra. Teori Ekonomi dan Kebijaksanaan Pembangunan: Kumpulan Esei untuk Menghormati Sumitro Djojohadikusumo. Jakarta: Gramedia, 1987.

Media dalam Perubahan Zaman. Jurnal Prisma Vol. 34, No.1, 2015.

De Botton, Allain. The News: A User’s Manual. London: Penguin Books, 2014.

McChesney, Robert W. The Political Economy of International Communications. Technology, Business, and Society Programme Paper No. 11, 2003.

Homoinformaticus: A Theory of Political Influence. 2012. https://thefifthwave.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/homo-informaticus-a-theory-of-political-influence/