The moment I saw your illustration I thought to myself: "a lighthouse of the damned." No escaping this light of surveillance and monitoring. Aye, the genie is out of the bottle and has fled with the stopper.
We made Amazon what it is -we fed the surveillance- the data collecting monopoly...we as serfs-as consumers rather than citizens. Consumerism- instant gratification. Efficiency is our God and the likes of Amazon Meta Telsa X... delivered. We cared for that consumerism material growth over using that space we lost to monopolies. Ralph Nader told us for over 50 years we were losing our freedoms because we were too busy as consumers and not active as citizens. We did not care-we wanted more consumer goods in the social disease of more...never having enough. Be it social media or substackers...it's all-instant takes-consumerism behind our screens. Depth and understanding are lacking. We have no time for careful slow inclusive takes or for civics beyond being arm-chair critics. If you want an example of depth Bill read Iain McGilchrist's The Master and His Emissary or his The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World. Bill I am not a freeloader but do you not have enough? Do you need this substack to sustain you financially. Are you free of the disease of more? Would you publish less often and go deeper if you did not feel compelled to publish daily?
Yes, I have enough. No, I'm not free of the disease of "more."
I write here for many reasons. First, I enjoy it. I enjoy the comments too. The process helps me to keep my sanity. My ego says I'm doing something valuable--I hope.
Readers who decide to subscribe: it's like a tip jar. A gratuity. I'll continue to write irrespective of the number of paid subscribers.
Substacks I pay for include Matt Taibbi, Lee Fang, and Chris Hedges. There are also sites I read and don't pay for.
So, it's all up to the reader. Tip or no tip, I'll keep writing.
I also subscribe to Simplicius the Thinker on Substack who always gives excellent analyses of current events. Brian Berletic's YT channel is excellent, and so is Nima's show on YT called Dialog Works.
Bill, your articles are certainly of VALUE!! Doubtless "TruthSocial" has many more followers, but value??? Only as more income for The Donald I reckon. What our society no longer values, it seems, is the art of independent thought and analysis of unfolding events. Every time a Trump or similar politician proclaims that "illegal migrants" are the root of all our societal problems, millions of mouths (minds?) start to salivate. Dr. Pavlov would be gratified!
For whatever difference it makes (none) I've given up giving Bezos the satisfaction of a click on his Amazon site for a l-o-n-g time now, similarly have avoided Google by using DuckDuckGo instead. Also, I have refused to grant Wikipedia with any semblance of reliability by clicking them as well.
For quite some time now, Google's been trying to insert itself into many of my online activities. Check the weather forecast? Google wants me to access it via my "Google account," which I was given via using Gmail. What the hell advantage is this supposed to give me?!? I guess Google wants to know what ads I see online, so they can steer still more ads my way.
The issue of course is that I never gave my consent to being bombarded with ads. Oh, some internet operations allow one to "opt out" from (some) ads, but I'm a captive audience against my will. Another grievance I have with Google is that Gmail automatically "corrects" my use of "creative spelling," forcing me to back up and correct their correction. I have tried many, many times to kill that Gmail feature, to no avail whatsoever. Grrrrrrrr!!
I have Yahoo Mail for backup, but of course they throw ads at ya too. I don't enjoy having to notify friends of a change in my email address, so I stick with Gmail (for now).
Do set aside some time to check out the piece in James MacLeod's "Truth Decay" website I referenced elsewhere on the iPhone 16. Beyond dystopian, and you can't do anything about it.
It IS possible to train oneself to resist the deluge of marketing efforts for stuff like the latest iPhone. Alas, few of our fellow citizens are capable of that. I understand that Canada teaches school kids about how marketers will try to ensnare them. Or at least this was said to be the case a few years ago.
"I understand that Canada teaches school kids about how marketers will try to ensnare them."
Of course Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), attack poodle for Miriam Adelson and recipient of $360,000 from top-donor AIPAC in the 2024 election year, is at the ready to introduce legislation to block any measure calling for such teaching in the US.
By the way, I wish pics could be uploaded to Substack sites, I'd attach one I've had for years now, showing the red maple leaf symbol of Canada along with a depiction of a (characteristically) smirking Dumbya, with the saying, "Canada: America Done Right."
Good stuff! This is the stuff of General Strike we need. In a consumer society we don't mind a Panopticon reality as long as it is marketed as something else. Good marketing has using talking about everything, but the prison we are actually in.
In my smattering of readings in political philosophy, e.g., Plato, Aristotle, Burke, even Nietzsche, I don't recall any reference to "marketing" as being integral to a "good society" - with the arguable exception of Machiavelli - except when it comes to the "dollarized democracy" of America.
Right. Marketing is simply the modern term for advertising, which is integral of course to a Capitalist/consumer society. Sometimes it feels to me like half the employed population of USA is working in that field. There's no real way to escape this except moving deep into the country--what's left of "the wild"--and terminating all contact with the outside world. But you could wake up one morning to the sound of bulldozers and learn that Trump has sold the land you're camped on to the Oil Industry or private real estate developers. [This is sort of fantasy, anyway, since currently-controlled-by Fed. Gov't land isn't really friendly to "squatters." Supposedly some Viet Nam War veterans have adopted such a lifestyle, but we don't really get reliable info on such matters.]
Just about the worst advertisements now are for (legal) drugs. Which always show happy people having the time of their lives (even if they're close to death). Happiness, of course, is predicated on taking whatever drug they're pitching for whatever bizarre condition that you probably don't have.
Side effects may include nausea, vomiting, bankruptcy, and sudden death.
Yeah, this has been going on for decades, "Ask your physician about Product XYZ"! The FCC eased the rules on this stuff for broadcast media long ago. RFK Jr. says he wants to crack down on this stuff, which might be a positive from his reign at HHS. Likewise, though I don't think artificial food colorings, etc., are the cause of our society's decline, I kind of agree with him on banning such materials. Here's a sterling example of the dumbing down of our society: in one of the radio ads for some pharmaceutical product, one of the "slightly negative" [joke] potential side effects is "Paralysis--the inability to move"!! Yes, paralysis has to be defined it seems!
"Marketing is simply the modern term for advertising, which is integral of course to a Capitalist/consumer society."
It all began in 1917 with Wilson's Committee for Public Information, the (George) Creel Censorship Committee, and Sigmund Freud's nephew Edward Bernays, which means let's not forget that war propaganda (still a thriving business) was at the core of the whole thing. Poke around on Dumbya's (remember WMDs?) Interweb to learn more, it's worth a peak to learn that "the fix" has been in the making for over a century now.
Yes, the Pentagon has a large staff in its PR Dept. Haven't heard of any DOGE-induced layoffs there. And I gather from recent news reports that Trump ordered the manufacture of "new intel" that will confirm his claim to have "obliterated" Iran's facilities. We have seen this movie before, haven't we? Starring Dick Cheney, G.W. Bush and Colin Powell. I gave that movie ZERO stars out of a possible five!
“But you could wake up one morning to the sound of bulldozers and learn that Trump has sold the land you're camped on to the Oil Industry or private real estate developers.”
Here's a second to the recommendation for McGilchrist's books. It was through plain serendipity that I happened upon The Matter With Things..." , a weighty tome of 2 volumes that I persuaded my wife to get me for Christmas. After diving in, I realized it would probably take me more than the next year to digest its 1000+ pgs, and, wanting to get more quickly to his conclusions about HOW the left hemisphere became dominant in Western society (to our detriment, it appears), I got a copy of The Master and His Emissary, which seems to be a bit more condensed even at 530-some pgs. Absolutely fascinating, and it explains so much to me about why things are as they are and why I feel so often like a stranger in a strange land; and I'm hopeful it might offer some antidotes. Anyway, you're the first person I've encountered who's actually aware of / read these important works.
Wonderful to hear. Then you too probably sense how left-brained most of what Bill writes is. The fact that we don't have time for attending to the world free of the disease of more leaves our "productivity" ill- productive. Bill's "insights" spins are shallow and usually a waste of my time but his reactionary responses-his short fast takes provide fodder for the book I am writing.
There is always a risk, from any such impressively ground-breaking reading, that one might begin to interpret and frame their experience of the world (and people) too much along certain, defined lines. As I see it, the framing itself can be 'dangerous', i.e. counterproductive because it then repeats the same kind of reductionist / binary / thinking and categorizing (left hemisphere) that narrows our perception of the other. Though right-hemisphere dominant (it seems), I've long found myself needing vigilance to avoid falling into the same trap which I sense others have, and about which McGilchrist so knowledgeably writes.
Applying this, my sense is that Bill is contributing at a high level, doing what I can't: write and share observations with such frequency. In fact, somewhat surprisingly, I am often more inclined to read his posts because of their succinctness... I just don't have the time to read ALL of the great writing that is 'out there' on the 'net these days.... much as I would like to. I do have a long list now, of what I think are fine minds coupled with shared moral principles and insightful experience- too many to list here. But I'd spend my entire days trying to keep up with all. And I suspect that may be the case with many people of similar interests. Sometimes, for me at least, it's more about making the connections with kindred spirits (for which we, in our fractious world seem to have a greater need at present).
Sometimes Bill's short essays do trigger me to write an expansion of the topic, because my observations and thoughts about it had been building for some time. Too often, though, I save them on my hard drive and forget to publish them on my own Substack; yet I intend to do it.
In short, I think all of us - Bill, his readers, and others who are trying in our ways to speak out- perhaps to connect, perhaps to inspire- towards needed changes, are doing what we can and should. We all will hopefully be making differences that add up over time; though we do not always immediately see the results we'd seek. And I imagine and hope that we be better able to to these things over our remaining time...
Hey, I'm just happy to have informed readers! If my writing encourages further, deeper thought and reflection, so much the better.
Sincere thanks to everyone who reads my stuff. And to the both of you for taking it seriously and for finding some value in it, however limited or restricted or imperfect.
Ivan Illich was saying much of what McGilchrist is getting at back in the 1970s and 80s...I was writing about our attending deficits back in the 1980s...Erich Fromm was getting at it back in the 1940s...
See the continued conversation between Bill and I.
Bill, your takes have hints of right hemispheric wisdom and are refreshing compared to Matt Taibbi's glib fickle smart ass takes. Seldom do I think you are wrong, but almost always I think: take that thought further. Don't publish for a day or 6 and follow that observation through. Matt Stroller puts things into better CONTEXT. Both Taibbi's and Matt Stroller wrote about Zohran Mamdani and I posted on Stroller's site: Excellent analysis Matt! After reading Matt Taibbi's glib fickle smart-ass take reading your comprehensive report was refreshing! Keep up the great work.
Matt does not publish daily. Matt has faith in our anti-trust laws. That if they were actually enforced could get at breaking up Google like Standard Oil was broken up by them. My more right hemispheric response to Stroller is that our definition of monopoly and overreach are far too limited-narrow. Victories like we had with Standard Oil don't get at the root of the problematic system but that may be the best we can do for now. I applaud his Ralph Nader like research and efforts. Bill, I love when you write about how our Security Complex- Our CORPORATE military industrial complex makes us LESS Secure. That's quite right hemispheric-that's Jeffery Sachs! Bill McKibben only publishes once a week and he too is quite right hemispheric but I question his support of the Democratic Party.
Yes, some of my pieces are more knee-jerk reactions; others are more in-depth. I like to write frequently, usually 3-5 pieces per week. Others, as you note, write less frequently.
Use what you can use, discard that which is useless, and please keep reading and commenting.
Will do! And thanks for not taking what I wrote as arrogance. I question my assumptions daily. Finding the right words to be critical but not a put-down artist like Taibbi... Finding the right words period is difficult because words are left hemispheric and always short-change right hemispheric contextual making of sense. I am guilty of being reactionary-left brained too. After all, we live in a left-brained world. Never leave home without your left brain engaged but try to make your right brain the master and your left brain just the emissary.
Another Excellent piece, Bill; one of Your most significant ever. It is a pleasure and a privilege to watch You use Bracing Views to explore higher and broader overviews, and dig deeper in analyses of The Crisis confronting this Nation.
As regards The Panopticon:
~ That is the added third “T” to “MICIMATTT”; as in "Tech."
~ The Panopticon is more than merely a “Surveillance State.” It is also a Secrecy/Security/Censorship/Propaganda/proto-Police State.
~ And it is but one element of America’s Ruling Political Class/Caste’s autocratic, oligarchic, plutocratic Deep State: the military-industrial-congressional Complex, the banking-finance-printing press Web, the techno-infotainment Matrix, the petro-food-guns-n-drugs Cartels, the pharmo-medico-insurance-legal Cabals, and that Panopticon that owns, operates, commands, controls, and scripts the elected Politicians, entrenched bureaucrats, and anointed Appointees at center stage in America's Reality-TV Soap Opera Extravaganza; and America's $ 1 = 1 Vote system of Government and Governance that gets, puts, and keeps them there.
Bill, some other sites make provision for 1 time donations. You should change your site to accommodate such crowd funding. Take these sites for the example. I've made periodic donations depending on my monthly financial circumstances:
I'll try (yet again!!) to be brief, before reading others' comments BTW, so forgive me if I duplicate some stuff. 1.) The internet, initially promoted as The New Wonder of Humanity, which would spread information, maybe even enlightenment, all over (well, in societies wealthy enuf to access it!), has obviously become the favored means of spreading the kind of xenophobia, racism, HATE and DISinformation that returned Trump to the White House for his second term. But that is not the fault of the inanimate entity of the internet. A tool can be used for good or evil, it's up to the humans wielding it; 2.) Andy Warhol said something like "In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes." The desire to "go viral" has led some colossal idiots to do things like live-streaming themselves driving 120 MPH on public roads (NOT the famous Autobahn, which I assume still has no speed). And it seems to never occur to these folks that they are leaving an electronic trail of bread crumbs for law enforcement to follow! I'll limit myself to that example, but a lot more idiocy is broadcast on social media; 3.) Bill Astore, IF you are willing to answer this question publicly, I'd like to know if subscribers departing your feed here have given reasons, such as opposing your criticism of Israeli actions or the US Military Establishment in general.
Hi Greg: No one has given me a reason for not renewing their paid subscription. Which is fine with me.
It could be they realize that there's no "bonus" to paying other than my undying gratitude. Or it could be a few people don't like what I've said about the Red and Blue teams, or Israel, or the U.S. military, etc.
It's all good. I think you need to become a "founding member" and send me big bucks. Maybe some Dark Money. A few million wouldn't hurt. :-)
I see. Silence can be deafening, eh? I will personally underwrite your work as soon as I win PowerBall!! Unfortunately though, I gave up my even rare purchase of lottery tickets. My father taught me that that stuff is "strictly for suckers"! Oops. The wisdom of the elders!
I think most of us are addicted to Social Media because we are social animals. If you keep it in balance like everything/anything no harm, no foul. Self esteem & ego gratification I see as well being big factors. Every man needs a hobby too. Myself I've been assimilated as the ST "Borg" would say. I don't charge for my Writings because-- hopefully this is refreshing to hear I am no "Expert" on anything! lol and admit it. I'll never get my Picture on the cover of "National Geographic" like Mr. Mayor thought "Hoopah" wanted as the Marine Biologist in "Jaws" Now in its 50th. Anniv., and I could care less...! "Big Brother Is Watching!!"
Yes, social media has utility, value, and can change people's lives for the better, just as it can make some people lonelier, more envious, angrier, etc.
When social media becomes an "addiction" (however that is measured), that could be cause for concern. A good remedy could be to unplug. Turn off the devices and get involved in other things.
As with many things in life, it's "a question of balance."
Yes, its crazy how much time some spend on Social Media seeking Validation..! I think some have delusions of grandeur and think if only I can get my Voice out there on the Interweb they can be the next Einstein, Newton, or even dare I say God..! Self delusional Poppycock!!
I was thinking "Surak" the greatest Vulcan who evah lived in "The Savage Curtain" Kirk : Who!? Spock: The father of all we became..! lol Philosopher who saved the Vulcan Race during their violent period in Vulcan history. Wars that would've otherwise tore their civilization apart.
When I was on Facebook, I admit I spent way too much time posting comments to what friends and acquaintances had posted. That's no issue now, since some computer chip at Facebook had a little "mental" breakdown and BANISHED ME FOR LIFE!! For no discernible/legit reason whatsoever. I enjoy the extra time I now have for other activities!!
WJA - First, after posting this, I gotta go and rectify my freeloader status.
Second, you are spot-on in your comments (warnings!), for more see this absolutely chilling piece on the iPhone 16 by going to the jamesmacleod.substack[dot]com “TruthDecay” site and search for the entry “The Glass Narc: How Your iPhone Is Becoming a Warden in Your Pocket” (“Forget privacy. Apple’s devices are built to observe you, judge you, and maybe even betray you. All in the name of ‘safety’ — but whose?”).
You've got me beat. I have an iPhone 7, though we recently bought one of the new ones so my wife and I could each have our own spy/tracking/surveillance device :-)
Speaking of tracking devices, RFK Jr's genius new idea is to give everyone a fitness watch to track their health (and send the data to the panopticon). I had to comment on his LinkedIn announcement that he wasn't going to make America healthy with AI gadgets if everyone's cortisol level is through the roof and they are in a panic about how to pay the bills. I suggested that to be healthy, Americans had to be happy, with good jobs with excellent pay and benefits. You know, socialism. Somehow, I don't think it is going to make a dent in his plans for data mining us all.
According to the most extreme "conspiracy theorist" idiots, all of us who accepted vaccination against Covid have already had the chips implanted, courtesy of Bill Gates! Yeah, talk about a microchip! It can fit thru the needle opening of a syringe!! :-)
Of all Trump's colossally unqualified appointments, I think RFK Jr. takes the cake!! Rewarded for being an opponent of vaccination! (Though he's been waffling on this.) I wish there was a vaccine against IDIOCY!! But someone like Bobby Jr. would have to be roped and tied, immobilized, for such a thing to be administered!
Yeah, it's a tight contest! At least most of the other appointees had experience more or less related to the areas in which they now "serve." RFK Jr.'s connection to medicine, health in general? He was a darling of "conspiracy theorists" spreading disinformation about vaccinations. Period. ["Conspiracy theorist" gets the quotation mark treatment from me because it's an oxymoron. A theory is based on observed FACTUAL information to present a plausible explanation for some phenomenon.] Any actually useful information Bobby Jr. might share he has stumbled upon by accident.
The problem with any cell phone is that you can be tracked with it - even if location services are turned off. The cellular network can be used to track a device's location by triangulating between towers - soon to be made worse with 5G and its much finer mesh.
"I should write a few articles just for paid subscribers, I suppose. I used to do that."
Your call, so I go without eating a coupla days a week, I figure it's worth it to lend some support to the good cause, that is until they hustle you off to the CECOT luxury resort in El Salvador.
The moment I saw your illustration I thought to myself: "a lighthouse of the damned." No escaping this light of surveillance and monitoring. Aye, the genie is out of the bottle and has fled with the stopper.
We made Amazon what it is -we fed the surveillance- the data collecting monopoly...we as serfs-as consumers rather than citizens. Consumerism- instant gratification. Efficiency is our God and the likes of Amazon Meta Telsa X... delivered. We cared for that consumerism material growth over using that space we lost to monopolies. Ralph Nader told us for over 50 years we were losing our freedoms because we were too busy as consumers and not active as citizens. We did not care-we wanted more consumer goods in the social disease of more...never having enough. Be it social media or substackers...it's all-instant takes-consumerism behind our screens. Depth and understanding are lacking. We have no time for careful slow inclusive takes or for civics beyond being arm-chair critics. If you want an example of depth Bill read Iain McGilchrist's The Master and His Emissary or his The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World. Bill I am not a freeloader but do you not have enough? Do you need this substack to sustain you financially. Are you free of the disease of more? Would you publish less often and go deeper if you did not feel compelled to publish daily?
Yes, I have enough. No, I'm not free of the disease of "more."
I write here for many reasons. First, I enjoy it. I enjoy the comments too. The process helps me to keep my sanity. My ego says I'm doing something valuable--I hope.
Readers who decide to subscribe: it's like a tip jar. A gratuity. I'll continue to write irrespective of the number of paid subscribers.
Substacks I pay for include Matt Taibbi, Lee Fang, and Chris Hedges. There are also sites I read and don't pay for.
So, it's all up to the reader. Tip or no tip, I'll keep writing.
Please DO keep writing, Bill. As i've said before: You are a voice of Sanity in a Nation and Planet on the verge of Insanity.
I also subscribe to Simplicius the Thinker on Substack who always gives excellent analyses of current events. Brian Berletic's YT channel is excellent, and so is Nima's show on YT called Dialog Works.
Bill, your articles are certainly of VALUE!! Doubtless "TruthSocial" has many more followers, but value??? Only as more income for The Donald I reckon. What our society no longer values, it seems, is the art of independent thought and analysis of unfolding events. Every time a Trump or similar politician proclaims that "illegal migrants" are the root of all our societal problems, millions of mouths (minds?) start to salivate. Dr. Pavlov would be gratified!
For whatever difference it makes (none) I've given up giving Bezos the satisfaction of a click on his Amazon site for a l-o-n-g time now, similarly have avoided Google by using DuckDuckGo instead. Also, I have refused to grant Wikipedia with any semblance of reliability by clicking them as well.
For quite some time now, Google's been trying to insert itself into many of my online activities. Check the weather forecast? Google wants me to access it via my "Google account," which I was given via using Gmail. What the hell advantage is this supposed to give me?!? I guess Google wants to know what ads I see online, so they can steer still more ads my way.
Yup. Same here, Greg.
That is exactly what they are doing, Gregory. And why wouldn't they if they could?
The issue of course is that I never gave my consent to being bombarded with ads. Oh, some internet operations allow one to "opt out" from (some) ads, but I'm a captive audience against my will. Another grievance I have with Google is that Gmail automatically "corrects" my use of "creative spelling," forcing me to back up and correct their correction. I have tried many, many times to kill that Gmail feature, to no avail whatsoever. Grrrrrrrr!!
Greg: Are there no alternatives to Google and Gmail?
I have Yahoo Mail for backup, but of course they throw ads at ya too. I don't enjoy having to notify friends of a change in my email address, so I stick with Gmail (for now).
Do set aside some time to check out the piece in James MacLeod's "Truth Decay" website I referenced elsewhere on the iPhone 16. Beyond dystopian, and you can't do anything about it.
It IS possible to train oneself to resist the deluge of marketing efforts for stuff like the latest iPhone. Alas, few of our fellow citizens are capable of that. I understand that Canada teaches school kids about how marketers will try to ensnare them. Or at least this was said to be the case a few years ago.
"I understand that Canada teaches school kids about how marketers will try to ensnare them."
Of course Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), attack poodle for Miriam Adelson and recipient of $360,000 from top-donor AIPAC in the 2024 election year, is at the ready to introduce legislation to block any measure calling for such teaching in the US.
By the way, I wish pics could be uploaded to Substack sites, I'd attach one I've had for years now, showing the red maple leaf symbol of Canada along with a depiction of a (characteristically) smirking Dumbya, with the saying, "Canada: America Done Right."
Good stuff! This is the stuff of General Strike we need. In a consumer society we don't mind a Panopticon reality as long as it is marketed as something else. Good marketing has using talking about everything, but the prison we are actually in.
In my smattering of readings in political philosophy, e.g., Plato, Aristotle, Burke, even Nietzsche, I don't recall any reference to "marketing" as being integral to a "good society" - with the arguable exception of Machiavelli - except when it comes to the "dollarized democracy" of America.
Right. Marketing is simply the modern term for advertising, which is integral of course to a Capitalist/consumer society. Sometimes it feels to me like half the employed population of USA is working in that field. There's no real way to escape this except moving deep into the country--what's left of "the wild"--and terminating all contact with the outside world. But you could wake up one morning to the sound of bulldozers and learn that Trump has sold the land you're camped on to the Oil Industry or private real estate developers. [This is sort of fantasy, anyway, since currently-controlled-by Fed. Gov't land isn't really friendly to "squatters." Supposedly some Viet Nam War veterans have adopted such a lifestyle, but we don't really get reliable info on such matters.]
Just about the worst advertisements now are for (legal) drugs. Which always show happy people having the time of their lives (even if they're close to death). Happiness, of course, is predicated on taking whatever drug they're pitching for whatever bizarre condition that you probably don't have.
Side effects may include nausea, vomiting, bankruptcy, and sudden death.
Yeah, this has been going on for decades, "Ask your physician about Product XYZ"! The FCC eased the rules on this stuff for broadcast media long ago. RFK Jr. says he wants to crack down on this stuff, which might be a positive from his reign at HHS. Likewise, though I don't think artificial food colorings, etc., are the cause of our society's decline, I kind of agree with him on banning such materials. Here's a sterling example of the dumbing down of our society: in one of the radio ads for some pharmaceutical product, one of the "slightly negative" [joke] potential side effects is "Paralysis--the inability to move"!! Yes, paralysis has to be defined it seems!
"Marketing is simply the modern term for advertising, which is integral of course to a Capitalist/consumer society."
It all began in 1917 with Wilson's Committee for Public Information, the (George) Creel Censorship Committee, and Sigmund Freud's nephew Edward Bernays, which means let's not forget that war propaganda (still a thriving business) was at the core of the whole thing. Poke around on Dumbya's (remember WMDs?) Interweb to learn more, it's worth a peak to learn that "the fix" has been in the making for over a century now.
Yes, the Pentagon has a large staff in its PR Dept. Haven't heard of any DOGE-induced layoffs there. And I gather from recent news reports that Trump ordered the manufacture of "new intel" that will confirm his claim to have "obliterated" Iran's facilities. We have seen this movie before, haven't we? Starring Dick Cheney, G.W. Bush and Colin Powell. I gave that movie ZERO stars out of a possible five!
“But you could wake up one morning to the sound of bulldozers and learn that Trump has sold the land you're camped on to the Oil Industry or private real estate developers.”
This is getting positively creepy, just yesterday I signed up for Diane Ravitch’s blog, and she led off with “Trump Strips Protection from 58 Million Acres of Wilderness.” The link is https://dianeravitch.net/2025/06/24/trump-strips-protection-from-58-million-acres-of-wilderness/
Public, schmublic.
Ahh, shades of "The Matrix"!!
Here's a second to the recommendation for McGilchrist's books. It was through plain serendipity that I happened upon The Matter With Things..." , a weighty tome of 2 volumes that I persuaded my wife to get me for Christmas. After diving in, I realized it would probably take me more than the next year to digest its 1000+ pgs, and, wanting to get more quickly to his conclusions about HOW the left hemisphere became dominant in Western society (to our detriment, it appears), I got a copy of The Master and His Emissary, which seems to be a bit more condensed even at 530-some pgs. Absolutely fascinating, and it explains so much to me about why things are as they are and why I feel so often like a stranger in a strange land; and I'm hopeful it might offer some antidotes. Anyway, you're the first person I've encountered who's actually aware of / read these important works.
Wonderful to hear. Then you too probably sense how left-brained most of what Bill writes is. The fact that we don't have time for attending to the world free of the disease of more leaves our "productivity" ill- productive. Bill's "insights" spins are shallow and usually a waste of my time but his reactionary responses-his short fast takes provide fodder for the book I am writing.
There is always a risk, from any such impressively ground-breaking reading, that one might begin to interpret and frame their experience of the world (and people) too much along certain, defined lines. As I see it, the framing itself can be 'dangerous', i.e. counterproductive because it then repeats the same kind of reductionist / binary / thinking and categorizing (left hemisphere) that narrows our perception of the other. Though right-hemisphere dominant (it seems), I've long found myself needing vigilance to avoid falling into the same trap which I sense others have, and about which McGilchrist so knowledgeably writes.
Applying this, my sense is that Bill is contributing at a high level, doing what I can't: write and share observations with such frequency. In fact, somewhat surprisingly, I am often more inclined to read his posts because of their succinctness... I just don't have the time to read ALL of the great writing that is 'out there' on the 'net these days.... much as I would like to. I do have a long list now, of what I think are fine minds coupled with shared moral principles and insightful experience- too many to list here. But I'd spend my entire days trying to keep up with all. And I suspect that may be the case with many people of similar interests. Sometimes, for me at least, it's more about making the connections with kindred spirits (for which we, in our fractious world seem to have a greater need at present).
Sometimes Bill's short essays do trigger me to write an expansion of the topic, because my observations and thoughts about it had been building for some time. Too often, though, I save them on my hard drive and forget to publish them on my own Substack; yet I intend to do it.
In short, I think all of us - Bill, his readers, and others who are trying in our ways to speak out- perhaps to connect, perhaps to inspire- towards needed changes, are doing what we can and should. We all will hopefully be making differences that add up over time; though we do not always immediately see the results we'd seek. And I imagine and hope that we be better able to to these things over our remaining time...
Hey, I'm just happy to have informed readers! If my writing encourages further, deeper thought and reflection, so much the better.
Sincere thanks to everyone who reads my stuff. And to the both of you for taking it seriously and for finding some value in it, however limited or restricted or imperfect.
Ivan Illich was saying much of what McGilchrist is getting at back in the 1970s and 80s...I was writing about our attending deficits back in the 1980s...Erich Fromm was getting at it back in the 1940s...
See the continued conversation between Bill and I.
My writing has utility. Fodder for GB! Would love to read your book when it's published, Glen. Please let me know.
Bill, your takes have hints of right hemispheric wisdom and are refreshing compared to Matt Taibbi's glib fickle smart ass takes. Seldom do I think you are wrong, but almost always I think: take that thought further. Don't publish for a day or 6 and follow that observation through. Matt Stroller puts things into better CONTEXT. Both Taibbi's and Matt Stroller wrote about Zohran Mamdani and I posted on Stroller's site: Excellent analysis Matt! After reading Matt Taibbi's glib fickle smart-ass take reading your comprehensive report was refreshing! Keep up the great work.
Matt does not publish daily. Matt has faith in our anti-trust laws. That if they were actually enforced could get at breaking up Google like Standard Oil was broken up by them. My more right hemispheric response to Stroller is that our definition of monopoly and overreach are far too limited-narrow. Victories like we had with Standard Oil don't get at the root of the problematic system but that may be the best we can do for now. I applaud his Ralph Nader like research and efforts. Bill, I love when you write about how our Security Complex- Our CORPORATE military industrial complex makes us LESS Secure. That's quite right hemispheric-that's Jeffery Sachs! Bill McKibben only publishes once a week and he too is quite right hemispheric but I question his support of the Democratic Party.
Thanks, Glen.
Yes, some of my pieces are more knee-jerk reactions; others are more in-depth. I like to write frequently, usually 3-5 pieces per week. Others, as you note, write less frequently.
Use what you can use, discard that which is useless, and please keep reading and commenting.
Will do! And thanks for not taking what I wrote as arrogance. I question my assumptions daily. Finding the right words to be critical but not a put-down artist like Taibbi... Finding the right words period is difficult because words are left hemispheric and always short-change right hemispheric contextual making of sense. I am guilty of being reactionary-left brained too. After all, we live in a left-brained world. Never leave home without your left brain engaged but try to make your right brain the master and your left brain just the emissary.
Another Excellent piece, Bill; one of Your most significant ever. It is a pleasure and a privilege to watch You use Bracing Views to explore higher and broader overviews, and dig deeper in analyses of The Crisis confronting this Nation.
As regards The Panopticon:
~ That is the added third “T” to “MICIMATTT”; as in "Tech."
~ The Panopticon is more than merely a “Surveillance State.” It is also a Secrecy/Security/Censorship/Propaganda/proto-Police State.
~ And it is but one element of America’s Ruling Political Class/Caste’s autocratic, oligarchic, plutocratic Deep State: the military-industrial-congressional Complex, the banking-finance-printing press Web, the techno-infotainment Matrix, the petro-food-guns-n-drugs Cartels, the pharmo-medico-insurance-legal Cabals, and that Panopticon that owns, operates, commands, controls, and scripts the elected Politicians, entrenched bureaucrats, and anointed Appointees at center stage in America's Reality-TV Soap Opera Extravaganza; and America's $ 1 = 1 Vote system of Government and Governance that gets, puts, and keeps them there.
Next comes The Dictatorship.
Bill, some other sites make provision for 1 time donations. You should change your site to accommodate such crowd funding. Take these sites for the example. I've made periodic donations depending on my monthly financial circumstances:
https://ejmagnier.com/2025/06/23/sovereignty-under-siege-iran-the-west-and-the-illusion-of-choice/
https://soundeagle.wordpress.com/
That's OK, Ray. I'm not looking for donations of that type.
And of course, any chance that any of our personal details were still private went out the window when Elon and his DOGE-ers arrived on the scene.
My computer engineer friend told me 15 years ago that privacy no longer existed.
There's a reason for the pervasive surveillance and invasion of privacy . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyV3zCq1OHM
I'll try (yet again!!) to be brief, before reading others' comments BTW, so forgive me if I duplicate some stuff. 1.) The internet, initially promoted as The New Wonder of Humanity, which would spread information, maybe even enlightenment, all over (well, in societies wealthy enuf to access it!), has obviously become the favored means of spreading the kind of xenophobia, racism, HATE and DISinformation that returned Trump to the White House for his second term. But that is not the fault of the inanimate entity of the internet. A tool can be used for good or evil, it's up to the humans wielding it; 2.) Andy Warhol said something like "In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes." The desire to "go viral" has led some colossal idiots to do things like live-streaming themselves driving 120 MPH on public roads (NOT the famous Autobahn, which I assume still has no speed). And it seems to never occur to these folks that they are leaving an electronic trail of bread crumbs for law enforcement to follow! I'll limit myself to that example, but a lot more idiocy is broadcast on social media; 3.) Bill Astore, IF you are willing to answer this question publicly, I'd like to know if subscribers departing your feed here have given reasons, such as opposing your criticism of Israeli actions or the US Military Establishment in general.
Hi Greg: No one has given me a reason for not renewing their paid subscription. Which is fine with me.
It could be they realize that there's no "bonus" to paying other than my undying gratitude. Or it could be a few people don't like what I've said about the Red and Blue teams, or Israel, or the U.S. military, etc.
It's all good. I think you need to become a "founding member" and send me big bucks. Maybe some Dark Money. A few million wouldn't hurt. :-)
Just renewed that FM status, Colonel. Well worth the price of admission.
I see. Silence can be deafening, eh? I will personally underwrite your work as soon as I win PowerBall!! Unfortunately though, I gave up my even rare purchase of lottery tickets. My father taught me that that stuff is "strictly for suckers"! Oops. The wisdom of the elders!
Sorry, should read "speed LIMIT" obviously re: Autobahn!!
I think most of us are addicted to Social Media because we are social animals. If you keep it in balance like everything/anything no harm, no foul. Self esteem & ego gratification I see as well being big factors. Every man needs a hobby too. Myself I've been assimilated as the ST "Borg" would say. I don't charge for my Writings because-- hopefully this is refreshing to hear I am no "Expert" on anything! lol and admit it. I'll never get my Picture on the cover of "National Geographic" like Mr. Mayor thought "Hoopah" wanted as the Marine Biologist in "Jaws" Now in its 50th. Anniv., and I could care less...! "Big Brother Is Watching!!"
Yes, social media has utility, value, and can change people's lives for the better, just as it can make some people lonelier, more envious, angrier, etc.
When social media becomes an "addiction" (however that is measured), that could be cause for concern. A good remedy could be to unplug. Turn off the devices and get involved in other things.
As with many things in life, it's "a question of balance."
Yes, its crazy how much time some spend on Social Media seeking Validation..! I think some have delusions of grandeur and think if only I can get my Voice out there on the Interweb they can be the next Einstein, Newton, or even dare I say God..! Self delusional Poppycock!!
I am Kirok!
I was thinking "Surak" the greatest Vulcan who evah lived in "The Savage Curtain" Kirk : Who!? Spock: The father of all we became..! lol Philosopher who saved the Vulcan Race during their violent period in Vulcan history. Wars that would've otherwise tore their civilization apart.
When I was on Facebook, I admit I spent way too much time posting comments to what friends and acquaintances had posted. That's no issue now, since some computer chip at Facebook had a little "mental" breakdown and BANISHED ME FOR LIFE!! For no discernible/legit reason whatsoever. I enjoy the extra time I now have for other activities!!
WJA - First, after posting this, I gotta go and rectify my freeloader status.
Second, you are spot-on in your comments (warnings!), for more see this absolutely chilling piece on the iPhone 16 by going to the jamesmacleod.substack[dot]com “TruthDecay” site and search for the entry “The Glass Narc: How Your iPhone Is Becoming a Warden in Your Pocket” (“Forget privacy. Apple’s devices are built to observe you, judge you, and maybe even betray you. All in the name of ‘safety’ — but whose?”).
I'm content with my iPhone 6.
You've got me beat. I have an iPhone 7, though we recently bought one of the new ones so my wife and I could each have our own spy/tracking/surveillance device :-)
Speaking of tracking devices, RFK Jr's genius new idea is to give everyone a fitness watch to track their health (and send the data to the panopticon). I had to comment on his LinkedIn announcement that he wasn't going to make America healthy with AI gadgets if everyone's cortisol level is through the roof and they are in a panic about how to pay the bills. I suggested that to be healthy, Americans had to be happy, with good jobs with excellent pay and benefits. You know, socialism. Somehow, I don't think it is going to make a dent in his plans for data mining us all.
They should just get it over with and implant us with chips.
According to the most extreme "conspiracy theorist" idiots, all of us who accepted vaccination against Covid have already had the chips implanted, courtesy of Bill Gates! Yeah, talk about a microchip! It can fit thru the needle opening of a syringe!! :-)
Elon has that handled with Neuralink. I suppose we should be happy - at least for now - that he and Trump have had a falling out.
"... he and Trump have had a falling out."
Major court battle looming over who gets custody of Vance and Rubio.
"I suggested that to be healthy, Americans had to be happy, with good jobs with excellent pay and benefits."
Your prescription is just what the doctor ordered.
How true!
Of all Trump's colossally unqualified appointments, I think RFK Jr. takes the cake!! Rewarded for being an opponent of vaccination! (Though he's been waffling on this.) I wish there was a vaccine against IDIOCY!! But someone like Bobby Jr. would have to be roped and tied, immobilized, for such a thing to be administered!
"Of all Trump's colossally unqualified appointments, I think RFK Jr. takes the cake!!"
S-o-o-o hard to tell...
Yeah, it's a tight contest! At least most of the other appointees had experience more or less related to the areas in which they now "serve." RFK Jr.'s connection to medicine, health in general? He was a darling of "conspiracy theorists" spreading disinformation about vaccinations. Period. ["Conspiracy theorist" gets the quotation mark treatment from me because it's an oxymoron. A theory is based on observed FACTUAL information to present a plausible explanation for some phenomenon.] Any actually useful information Bobby Jr. might share he has stumbled upon by accident.
The problem with any cell phone is that you can be tracked with it - even if location services are turned off. The cellular network can be used to track a device's location by triangulating between towers - soon to be made worse with 5G and its much finer mesh.
I guess the family that links together is surveilled upon and entered into the mega- - or is that MAGA? - database together.
Thanks for throwing some $$$ into the pot, XK!
I should write a few articles just for paid subscribers, I suppose. I used to do that.
"I should write a few articles just for paid subscribers, I suppose. I used to do that."
Your call, so I go without eating a coupla days a week, I figure it's worth it to lend some support to the good cause, that is until they hustle you off to the CECOT luxury resort in El Salvador.
:-) Oops, make that :-( !!