Oppression

Glenn Greenwald's new book, "America's Lawless Elite", speaks to the leading danger to U.S.social equality and semi-democratic government. British journalist Ioan Grillo reports on the challenge to the government of Mexico by a large army of drug traffickers. Both of these men are addressing the same process in human life. Power corrupts. Corruption creates inequality and oppression. In equality and oppression create conflict and violence.

The brutal police reaction to Occupy Oakland, which left a young man nearly dead with a fractured skull, is the beginning of the violence which will unmask the social injustice in American society. The corporate media, torn between bowing to their Murdochs and reporting the truth, will be tested in this conflict. So far, they have grudgingly aired the voices of the disenfranchised. In this process, intelligent Americans will be able to see the depth of the corruption of government by money.

Oppression is inevitable in a materialistic and hedonistic society. There are not enough resources in a society driven by capitalism for everyone to have equal prosperity. Pure capitalism, the kind of capitalism now advocated by those with power in the U.S., thrives on the exploitation of the poor by the rich. It is a capitalism of social Darwinism. It is Herman Cain capitalism, a celebrity-driven egotism for more and more of everything at any expense to society. 

What is the root of this oppression? The root lies within the human mind. While greed and animal impulses of unbridled predation drive the oppressors, there is no oppression without those who submit to it. Asking the predator to be reasonable is a waste of time. Simply placating the predator is an endless and potentially fatal surrender. Resisting the predator is the only way to counteract oppression. And the sooner the better.

Bullying in the schools has become spotlighted in our society. I will suggest that this bullying is simply a reflection of the society itself. Children act out the adult behaviors which are modeled for them by parents and adult models in the media. 

Oppression by financial interests is becoming exposed in the U.S.. The Occupy movement is certainly an admirable form of resistance to it. If that form of resistance fails, then the U.S. may eventually face the form of resistance that has become an alternative movement in Mexico, the drug cartel, or the form of resistance that has developed in Afghanistan and Palestine, fanatic resistance based in religion or racialism.

The humanist strives become mindful and compassionate. The humanist seeks nonviolent cooperation. But the humanist can also become corrupted by money and alliance with power. Perhaps this is an element of President Obama's betrayal of his principles and his change-seeking constituents. In any case, he is currently on the side of the oppressors against the oppressed in America.