Worth a read: “Changing the World”

Mostly demonstrates the exasperation many people feel, but also some thought-provoking points.

Most of you know my longstanding analysis of why so many of us feel helpless and unable to really change things, why we can’t seem to return sanity to where it’s been lost, etc. And my longstanding prescription for real, necessary, structural change to restore fairness, justice, and humanity to our democracy and our economic system.

Part of the answer is a massive overhaul of our broken structures of democracy. We simply don’t have meaningful levers to push against, what with noncompetitive elections, big money fueling campaigns and legislative lobbying, etc. Another part is doing away with corporate personhood, as our own fictional creation has gained life, like a Frankenstein monster or The Borg, and has far too much influence on our lives and nation.

Like in the E.M. Forster story, “The Machine Stops,” we live our lives within the constant hum of corporatist commerce. Often it’s the unnoticed water we swim in. As a character in that Forster story says, after breaking free of the all-providing machine for the first time, “The machine hums! Did you know that? It’s hum penetrates our blood, and may even guide our thoughts. Who knows!”

I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit lately. Even more than usual (as if that’s possible ;). What makes a difference? Which of our everday choices perpetuate the continued existence and power of “the machine”? In what ways are we all complicit? Are today’s televised and Internet-ized bread and circuses leading us permanently astray? Are we all bound up in the system we created, unable to break free of what corporate marketers have convinced us are “necessities”? I don’t know.

One book I’d recommend to all is Douglas Rushkoff’s “Life, Inc.”. Really interesting history and analysis of our current state, and touches on many of these issues.