Deepening our Knowledge

“[T]he great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do. It could scarcely be otherwise, since it is to history that we owe our frames of reference, our identities, and our aspirations.” —James Baldwin, quoted in History Holds the Antidote to Trump's Fascist Politics by Henry Giroux, Truthdig.

Giroux lists the many symptoms of this "state of crisis that touches every aspect of public life" --  economics, massive inequality,  crisis of ideas, agency, memory and politics. 

"Within this new nexus of power, anti-democratic principles have become normalized, weakening society’s democratic defenses" Giroux warns.  Exploitation, unchecked militarism, matched by a politics of disposability and terminal exclusion.   

How this was achieved was mostly vast wealth within the hands of an organized oligarchy.  For many centuries innocent working people have been corrupted, raped and pillaged, then brainwashed, above and beyond their own capacities to see or understand what is happening to them.

People like Arendt, Klein, Angelou, Atwood, Solnit, Giroux, Orwell, Hedges and Chomsky -- have managed to send warnings to us who are struggling to survive and who are vulnerable to a rage we are not supposed to express.  Now democracy is a bat for blaming whoever is at the bottom. 

The love of conquering, killing and controlling others, is the drive, not the economic benefit or civilizing claims.  If capitalism and technology is about making life easier -- it has to accompany a method of social justice, otherwise its just another device to clear the commons for the hidden bank accounts where money sits, achieving nothing. 

Giroux's article is long and his premise is disturbing, but if our survival is worth anything, its worth the "eternal vigilance" of society.