CONVENTIONAL WISDOM

TU: Herbert Marcuse ... brilliantly outlines the grim phenomenon of mass adherence to an imposed/constructed un-reality masquerading as reality via strategic cultural familiarity

Isn’t that what is meant by a MUCH simpler phrase called Conventional Wisdom?

You know the kind of tired clichés that are bantered about as eternal truths? Like, for instance, markets are so marvelously functional that they are self-correcting and so they never go wrong, go wrong, go wrong ...

Then a SubPrime Mess is dumped upon us and its a wake-up call to a nation that has been fast asleep after one of its wilder cheap-money binges. Thus creating an enormous hang-over (of debt) that Americans are still paying off—which is why this present economy is going nowhere because consumers don’t have the Disposable Income to pull it out of the pits. Not yet, anyway.

So, in true “it-ain’t MY-fault-fashion!” electors give the PotUS a mid-term shellacking because he doesn’t walk on water (which they thought he promised in his election campaign) and did not turn around the worst recession this country has seen in 80 years (since the last one, which took FDR and WW2 ten years to end).

Do you mean that sort of Conventional Wisdom?

@Brad
I don’t know where you get your facts about the lifestyles of these particular intellectuals. In some ways Chomsky has become untouchable because he has exercised his genius in so many interntational causes.
Even if Chris had ‘lots of money’ and I’m not sure how much you think that is, he’s not maintaining it by sucking up to corporate power.

RE: ...falling short of directives, suggestions…

not quite so - he’s absolutely anti-war - end the wars and the most serious problems end too

he said: Europe got Fascism we got the New Deal - elsewhere he has proposed a new New Deal, as
have others - read Tarpley, who writes about it continually - http://tarpley.net/

pretty clear: disempower the oligarchs, shut down their wars and start making useful contributions
to the human race - impose a Tobin Tax on financial transactions- must be done politically

if the ‘directive’ is to solve the problem of a sold-out liberl class,  educate, unite, vote tham out of
power and make it clear: either their with us or with the oligarchs - must be done politically

forget your Beck-Palin-Hanity stable-of-useful-fools Faux-New distractions - the Oligarchs are
everyone’s ultimate enemy

Raylan says:  “The tiresome faux morality of demanding solutions as a sancitmonious pretext for denying reality has been repeated like a primitive chant in many of these comments.”
  I’m one of those “faux moralists” to whom you refer, I suppose.  I have repeatedly suggested the need for (non-violent) solutions instead of endless hopeless analysis and comment.  I have suggested that endless hopeless analysis and comment deflates all hope of solutions, all courage to think beyond disaster to the making of a better future. I have even referred to specifics as possible ways to move forward.
  I have withstood some criticism and more of being ignored. I don’t know whether any words help or not—but just in case, I find myself trying. 
  At my age, I regret to say, I can’t do much more.  My “doing” is in the past—a period of 50 years or so of working in the now much-maligned anti-war movement. I accomplished little personally, but I did what I could. In the course of events I walked out of two jobs, but hasten to add that they were part-timers and my family decided to do without the extra money rather than my conforming to restrictions on political thought, speech and action.  We never went hungry, went to jail, or deprived ourselves of necessities.
  I am in no way denying what appears to be the present dark and dangerous reality—or rather the combination of realities converging on us due to past history, present evil behavior and future lack of willingness to respond creatively for the sake of our children’s future.  I just think we can and will do nothing so long as there is no vision of possibilities.

M.L.  Let’s give credit where credit is due:  King did a whale of a lot more than Emerson, Zinn and Twain put together, and they would all admit it. He took the responsibility upon himself (and gave his life) by leading the people to some degree of tangible hope for the future. He changed history instead of merely bemoaning it.

by saying that these ‘dissident’ columnists like hedges are not obligated to
postulate or posit solutions, one is thwarting free flow of free speech.
such utterances cannot ever be evaluated as true/false nor right/wrong.
? all columnists, priests, pols, ‘educators’ know or shld know this fact.
i suggest they do know that; thus, prevalence or solely such utterances.
in short, no matter what they say, it cannot be proven wrong or untrue.

alas, 99.99% of people do not know this fact.
however, chomsky, hedges, et al [too numerous to list; let;s say ?all of them]
never ever even postulate let alone affirm a single cause for what israel, u.s et al
do!
?all of them appear inegalitarian [fascist in diff degrees]; i.e., supremacistic. tnx

@Brad
Chomsky and Chris have received death threats. Chris was fired from his journalistic post at the NY Times.
Chris is not leading the glamorous life you think he is. He was a war correspondent in the Middle East for years - that in itself takes courage. Chomsky is rarely invited to speak on the commercial media. His reputation is hardly that of an adored celebrity lionized by thousands. He does have international recogonition outside of the US as does Chris. But here they are marginalized. They both receive contempt and hatred from a lot more than admire them.

The tiresome faux morality of demanding solutions as a sancitmonious pretext for denying reality has been repeated like a primitive chant in many of these comments. Chris is not obligated by virtue of his vision to console those in denial.

yes, some hallelujahs, exultation along with some lament wld be better.
avoidance to posit some astounding facts, such as that u.s constitution or
geneva conventions are as hurtful or protective as any inanimate piece of paper;
i.e., have zero potency. however, saying that people who interpret and/or own
constitution and god can and willl hurt and protect u, wld be quite illuminating.

u can wave u.s constitution or geneva conventions all u want it’l do u no good.  as mao had
said, et al: the power [and i add truth, justice, peace, safety] comes from barrel of a gun.
there is just one way out: follow the swiss model; it has the best structure of
society and thus governance.
? all swiss may be communist or fascist. does it really matter? we never ever
had these categories for a mn yrs.  so, why have them now?
tnx

Individualism, or individuality (2:39)? There’s a difference, Mr Hedges. I’ll give you a clue. Individualism is the opposite of collectivism. Individualism is based on voluntary association. When you take individualism, and combine it with anarchism, you get anarcho-capitalism, or Agorism.

Chris, are you a closet Libertarian? While we are dropping names, here’s a few for you:

Benjamin Tucker, Samuel Edward Konkin III, Lysander Spooner and Murray Rothbard.

I think of Chris Hedges and Noam Chomsky, for example, analysis and prognosis == cries in the wilderness, important in themselves but falling short of directives, suggestions—only pointing out what is needed by pointing out emptiness—and yet in the end, the same vague belief in “Hope” which we heard so much about in Obama’s campaign.
  Hope for what?  Obama expressed it early on as “I want you to make me do it,” which, post election,  immediately fell on deaf democratic party ears, as there was absolutely no follow-through after Obama was elected.  Having nothing better to do—that is, no directives, no suggestions from “the party,” all movement stopped, and Obama caught all the blame for “not doing anything,” “not fulfilling promises” etc. The results are more than evident.
  At the end of this interview, again, Chris, under prompting, comes up with the statement that he, too, “has hope.”  But hope of what?  How? Is he, too, waiting for “a man on a white horse” bringing propaganda and promises? Bringing anger as a necessary ingredient for action?  And bringing what plan for thoughtlessly violent revenge on some “them” versus “us”, leaving the field open to the “hired guns” of “law and order”?
  Chomsky.  Chris.  Somebody in TD editorial offices:  Come forth with some analysis of what’s hopeful and what is not, of movements from the past, how they worked and why they worked and where they came from and how they organized and learned, and kept up their spirits, and who did what.
  It’s as if there is NO history of movements and therefore movements didn’t really exist, or if they existed they failed or are not worth analyzing.  Thus the dirge of hopeless hope overlays the buried possibility of alternatives.

Dear Chris,

I disagree in part with your assessment of new media’s effect.  Though we are more easily tribal-ized within new media, I sincerely believe this is an outcome that results from the overwhelming influence of “capitalist” resources brought to bear upon the medium itself, not unlike the resources expended in all media during the recent campaigns.

I, for one, have found that new media in particular has enabled and enhanced my self-education and provides me incentive each and every day to consider what I should do personally to ferret out corruption within our government and institutions.  It can certainly be overwhelming at times.  I have to admit that I intensely dislike many of the forms of new media - I am not a member of FB or Twitter but I do enjoy the pursuit of “good” information.

I’ll never forget the image of seeing Mark Zuckerburg shaking hands with Rupert Murdoch and others in the billionaire’s club at Sun Valley this last year.  This coincided suspiciously with the FB and Twitter logos showing up on nearly every media outlet.  Even so..

I highly value good non-fiction along with the Internet and for your part in both, I am deeply grateful.

but neither hedges nor any columnist disclose causes for what happens. hedges
once said on this site [sorry folks, i do not known how to save pieces or even my
posts] a few months ago that constitution need not be changed.

so, THE FIRST CAUSE for all that happens in u.s and to ‘alien’s is ok with him! tnx

Chris pulls no punches- he, oddly a-political, simply declares the facts - the declining state of affairs in the Western world - that liberalism as a force for change is dead. He has the exact same forthright courage of Chomsky - who is not swayed an iota by the pursuasions and intimidations of the power elite, whose puppet monarchs are the politicians of Rep and Dem.The power elite who are the dominant priests of capitalism - have succesfully minstered and morally enslaved a majority of the American people. But as Jesus said -“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”