Dear Roger,
Thanks for forwarding AOC's message.
I feel good every time I see her "take down" some bullshit icon and replace it -- however momentarily -- with a vision of defiance, uplift, community and broad-spectrum justice.
Just five days ago, Hedges -- one of America's most experienced, studious and insightful "voices" -- presented the following panoramic view of contemporary American socio-politics with "up to the minute" analysis of our current election season.
Chris Hedges "The Politics of Cultural Despair," October 18, 2020
(This talk is not easy to hear: the outlook is bleak and the corporate underpinnings of our political system make it unlikely that Biden/Harris will be able to turn the tide.)
In "The Politics of Cultural Despair," there is an especially dour litany of America's bi-partisan political absurdities, from the 24:35 mark through 34:00, and you may wish to skip this section - or at least delay viewing until later.
Please note that a Q&A begins at the 1:03:30 mark and is enlightening in a qualitatively different way.
Chris Hedges
Wikipedia
Hedges is the son of a Presbyterian minister, holds a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard and ran a church in Roxbury - Boston's most dangerous neighborhood.
A war correspondent for two decades, Hedges confronted deadly situations with such regularity that his organism "learned" to "get high" from having his nose pressed against the glass of eternity - large caliber bullets kicking up the ground wherever he'd been forced to "hit the dirt."
I do not know if I've sent you Umair Haque's writing but Haque, like Hedges, should (in my view) be on everyone's radar despite his bleak outlook.
Umair Haque: "2020 is Such a Terrible Year Because Our Civilization is Beginning to Collapse"
Umair Haque: Compendium Of Writing By The Only Columnist I Always Read
Wishing you well my friend, and hoping we secure a reprieve on November 3rd.
We will also hope that a Democratic victory includes the Senate and that we will -- at least -- have a fighting chance to take on The Beast, regardless the well-structured absurdity/monstrosity/plutocracy/oligarchy arrayed against reason, peace and justice.
Pax tecum
Alan
PS Here is a video of Hedges elaborating on themes probed in his prophetic 2010 book, "Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle."
PPS My bottom line recommendation is that you invest 14 minutes in "American Psychosis" which prophesies, with remarkable precision, the deadly - and deadening -- reification wrought by ubiquitous commodity culture and our rapid decline from reality to Reality TV mediated by The Great Showman himself.
On Fri, Oct 23, 2020 at 6:40 PM Roger B wrote:
Fred
A further note - Sharing an AOC message I just received and which I'm sure you can appreciate. I'm just sad I'm not allowed to contribute legitimately to her Campaign - but I'm with her in spirit along with Kamala - good inspired women that I admire
Hang in there my friend
Roger
Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:
From: Team AOC <info@ocasiocortez.com>
Date: 23 October 2020 at 23:23:53 BST
To: Roger B
Subject: Our future
Roger Barcant,
Last night, Trump said that Biden’s campaign was actually going to be controlled by “AOC plus 3.” He attacked the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and our progressive movement as a whole. Here’s three things that are weird about that:
First, Trump’s claim that he doesn’t like Medicare for All because it’s “socialized medicine” is pretty odd. He didn’t take issue with socialized medicine when he was receiving free, tax-payer funded treatment at Walter Reed. That’s because he wants one standard of care for himself, and another for the rest of us.
Second, the Green New Deal doesn’t kill jobs. When we pass it in Congress, we’ll create millions of high-wage, union jobs updating our energy grid, producing solar panels, researching new tech, and saving the future of our planet.
Third, it’s not “AOC plus three.” It’s AOC plus 115, because that’s how many legislators cosponsored the most progressive and ambitious climate legislation in history. And with the new progressives headed to Washington next term, that number’s only going up.
If Donald Trump can’t stop talking about us, it means we must be doing something right. He’s afraid, and he should be. Will you help us continue building this progressive movement, supporting new allies, and advocating for real change with a donation?Contribute $3
Donald Trump can keep attacking us all he likes. It won’t change our resolve to win true economic, environmental, social, and racial justice for all.
In solidarity,
Team AOC
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