Cultural Detritus, Reviews, and Commentary
Link to an article by Mark Hertsgaard and Mark Dowie:
“How Big Wireless Made Us Think That Cell Phones Are Safe: A Special Investigation”
Other examples of similar industry behavior include concussions in football, leaded gasoline, certain pharmaceuticals, etc.
Link to an article by Russell Mokhiber:
“Patricia Harned on Ethics Compliance and Corporate Conflicts”
This is all about taming capitalism and putting a happier face on it, in order to try to stave off attempts to end capitalism.
Link to an article by Miya Tokumitsu:
Bonus links: Friedrich Engels‘ personal motto was “take it easy,” and On Boredom
Bonus quote: “No more doing evil, it’s vacation time.” Film Socialisme
Link to a “video” from a symposium by The Modern Money Network about the book The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives (2017) by Jesse Eisinger:
“The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives”
Admittedly, this “video” is really just audio. But Bill Black‘s introductory comments make very clear how U.S. Department of Justice (non)prosecution of financial sector crimes is a matter of shifting ideology, or, more precisely, the activities of federal prosecutors really represent the outcome of an ideological war and class war over which class and which ideology will control the state and its judicial apparatus.
Bonus links: …And the Poor Get Prison and Why Not Jail? and The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology and The Fragile Absolute and The State and Revolution
Bonus quotes:
“Does the masses’ struggle for emancipation pose a threat to civilization as such, since civilization can thrive only in a hierarchical social order? Or is it that the ruling class is a parasite threatening to drag society into self-destruction, so that the only alternative to socialism is barbarism?” Slavoj Žižek, Afterword to Revolution at the Gates: Selected Writings of Lenin From 1917 (pp. 209-10).
“Little thieves are put in the stocks, great thieves go flaunting in gold and silk….” Martin Luther
Link to an article by Daniel Zamora:
“The Case Against a Basic Income”
This article does make some incorrect statements about taxes and budgets regarding governments that utilize fiat money, from the standpoint of Modern Monetary Theory, but the rest of the article stands despite that.
Link to an article by Connor Kilpatrick:
Link to an article by David Crisp:
Link to an article by Richard Wolff:
“Beyond the Minimum Wage Debate: Let’s Move Toward a System That Works for All”
Link to an interview with Paolo Pedercini conducted by Will Partin:
Link to an article by Andre Damon:
“Evidence of Google Blacklisting of Left and Progressive Sites Continues to Mount”
Bonus links: “Google’s new search engine bias is no accident” and “Social Media Giants Choking Independent News Site Traffic to a Trickle” and “Google Suppressing World Socialist Web Site Content in its Search Results for the New York Times’ 1619 Project” and “Facebook Security Officer: Not All Speech Is ‘Created Equal’” and “Facebook’s power is to sort what people see and to screen information. That’s basically what Google does, too” and “Facebook Wants You to Know if You’re Getting Your News From the Wrong Government” and “Tulsi Gabbard vs Google Goliath” and “‘We Are Moving Into a New, Controlled Society Worse Than Old Totalitarianism’ – Zizek on Google Leak” and “Monopoly Media Manipulation” and “What Google and Facebook Are Hiding” and “Hawkish, Gov’t Funded Think Tank Behind Twitter Decision to Delete Thousands of Chinese Accounts” and “Twitter’s Ban on Political Advertisement: A New Move to Censor the Internet” (“The underlying assumption is that the determination of what is truth and what are ‘crazy lies’ is a purely objective process, unrelated to class or social interests.”) and “Liar, Liar” (“Capitalism is not inevitable nor is it some kind of natural law. Its a fact that Google and Facebook censor socialist sites. Why would they do that if they were not afraid? The authority structure, the proprietor class, they want you asleep. That’s the idea.”)
Bonus quote:
“Even when we don’t believe what the media say, we are still hearing or reading their viewpoints rather than some other. They are still setting the agenda.”
Michael Parenti, Inventing Reality: The Politics of the News Media (1986)
