"There is not a single American institution that is not seriously corrupt"

[Aristotelian]

"There is not a single American institution that is not seriously corrupt"

Morris Berman.

I am late to the party when it comes to Morris Berman, but in watching this video of him discussing the overall ideas of his book Why America Failed, I find his argument compelling, esp. against the background of his thesis of how and why
our American values and beliefs operate to keep us in the dark.

Much like the thinking of Howard Zinn and Chris Hedges, btw.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GzgY20d2MtU[/youtube]

DUmp Link

RKP5637 (25,287 posts)
1. Americans, the country of good mushrooms, always in the dark and clueless. n/t

Response to RKP5637 (Reply #1)Tue Apr 16, 2013, 08:33 PM
 proverbialwisdom (1,517 posts)
2. The media's fault.

Response to proverbialwisdom (Reply #2)Tue Apr 16, 2013, 09:20 PM
 RKP5637 (25,287 posts)
4. Yep! Exactly! n/t

Response to proverbialwisdom (Reply #2)Wed Apr 17, 2013, 10:46 AM
midnight (23,015 posts)
14. "I don't know when it became journalistic protocol to give the benefit of the doubt to people who

lie to us, but that was not a good day for the First Amendment."

I just finished reading something that questioned this very thing....

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/04/16-6

Response to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)Tue Apr 16, 2013, 09:09 PM
just1voice (1,326 posts)
3. Outstanding, this guy nails it.

I've only watched the 1st 12 minutes so far but he's correct in stating that it's not the media's fault by "pulling the wool over our eyes" it's the people's fault for being so easily duped.

The best trainers in the field of psychology know that adult training means teaching people to think for themselves, not simply telling them what to do.

Response to just1voice (Reply #3)Tue Apr 16, 2013, 09:27 PM
 dixiegrrrrl (30,126 posts)
5. Further along in the talk, he cites facts we have discussed here at DU

examples of America being dumbed down, and no mass outcry at the loss of our civil rights.
Really worth the time to listen to him.

He cites a U of Michigan study that ran for 30 years beginning in 1979, and now shows there has been a 48% drop in empathy among college students, in the ability to understand another person's point of view.

(I see that reflected here on DU, when serious comments become hijacked often, by infantile name calling and insults.)

Response to dixiegrrrrl (Reply #5)Tue Apr 16, 2013, 11:46 PM
Plucketeer (6,192 posts)
10. I was seriously chastized

earlier today when I posted a piece about how everyone's SO DESPAIRED over what's happened in Boston while there's relative silence about the DAILY wave of killings that happen across the nation. Murders - not accidents, of course. Why is it that we've become numb to this ongoing wave of violence? Why isn't it labelled "terrorism"??? Could it be that to do so would point up SO MANY failings to the futile efforts against such? Is there a suppressive force that's loathe to connect the flood of guns with that word? Why wasn't Newtown called terror? Are not trhe people of that community terrorized? I guess it has to be a bomb or a 737 to get something labelled terror. The media has a HUGE hand in defining things for us dweebs. And we're all too ready to repeat just as we're told.


Collectively (and with steering help from the NRA) we've conceded that mental health may be a root cause. Anyone heard of budgeting for more mental health works??? I know the presidednt's trying his BEST to protect his beloved military from any meaningful cuts under the sequestor. After all - the military's served us SO WELL as a terror deterrent. Whatcha wanna bet the Boston bomber was scared sh*tless at the prospect of an F-35 Strike fighter getting a bead on him??? Right.

Response to just1voice (Reply #3)Wed Apr 17, 2013, 12:54 AM
lrellok (17 posts)
12. ehhh, maybe

he is working on alot of false corollaries here. 11;40 "Take away a slave and the master is nothing" true, but take away the master and the slave is everything. Simply because a movement defines itself in opposition to some other movement does not mean that it has no content. It must think beyond its opposition.

Response to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)Tue Apr 16, 2013, 09:43 PM
90-percent (4,557 posts)
6. My bumper sticker

Our institutions are infested with corrupt sociopaths

And they've reached the point where they really are going to break the system, the social fabric that keeps us civilized. We are starting to behave like rabid animals. What of the greater good? Who gets joy from their selfishness creating so much misery?

-90% Jimmy

Response to 90-percent (Reply #6)Tue Apr 16, 2013, 10:04 PM
 dixiegrrrrl (30,126 posts)
8. about 3/4 of the way thru the talk, he gives his reasons why civil breakdown will happen

and that he thinks the violence will be from the Right....
and why he left the country.

Response to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)Tue Apr 16, 2013, 10:01 PM
 bbgrunt (3,794 posts)
7. "violence is reflective of a search for identity"

thanks for posting this. This culture has become an absurd parody of its outward boasts of superiority. If I could I would leave too.

I recall M. Moore's basic question in "Bowling for Columbine" about the need for violence and guns in this culture--I think this author has given us a very clear answer: we are hollow hucksters.

Response to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)Tue Apr 16, 2013, 10:17 PM
 ljm2002 (7,195 posts)
9. Yikes...

...well worth watching, but you won't feel better after watching it.

I think he's right in most ways, but I refuse to give in to the hopelessness. But that may be the "woo" part of me, always wanting to believe that things can get better in spite of all evidence to the contrary.

Response to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)Wed Apr 17, 2013, 12:29 AM
 WCGreen (44,727 posts)
11. Shit I could tell you that years ago....

Response to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)Wed Apr 17, 2013, 06:18 AM
 PotatoChip (1,500 posts)
13. I wish I had more time to comment on this.

But for now, all I can say is that this video highlights a very disturbing and depressing reality regarding past and present American culture and thought. Worrisome to say the least, and this trend seems to be getting worse...

Recommended.

Response to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)Wed Apr 17, 2013, 12:49 PM
 MrScorpio (54,771 posts)
15. Now I know that I'm not crazy…

Mr. Berman has just confirmed everything that I have understood about this country.

Response to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)Wed Apr 17, 2013, 01:15 PM
drynberg (444 posts)
16. I agree with most of Mr. Berman's discussion, however

I am standing against the Tide of Shit and see two primary issues dominating our global future:

Global OverHeating (Climate Change) is gonna claim so much so fast...perhaps this can be a little less terrible by stopping evermore burning of hydrocarbons and stopping horrendous projects such as the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, or the fracking of America.

The other major impediment towards having our democracy in the USA is the Supreme Court decision of Citizens United and how MONEY TALKS LOUDLY AND CONTROLS OUR POLITICS. This has to be changed as another 6 Billion $$ election like we had in 2012 is gonna gut our Nation like an ole carp, rendering her lifeless and without merit...

These two issues pale all others in my humble opinion, and are my focus. Other points such as American's general ignorance of history and basic facts and the loss of empathy are indeed troubling, however, the primary focus remains with the two issues mentioned for me. Enjoy your Spring and every hour we have.

I wouldn't bother watching the video - the entire lecture is essentially "America is wicked and perfidious, and has always been"...precisely the sort of thing that the DUmp likes.

[txradioguy]

But don't EVER dare to question a DUmmies patriotism.

 

[jukin]

The DUmmys are right but for the wrong reasons. Leftists have infiltrated almost every institution (particularly the media) and that is the real reason the country has gone down the tubes so far.

[Wineslob]

Gee, another White Tower "academic" who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground, EXCEPT he hates America. No wonder the DUmmies love him.

[Dori]

Gee, another White Tower "academic" who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground, EXCEPT he hates America. No wonder the DUmmies love him.

Yeah, he couldn't take it anymore so he moved to that utopia called Mexico City.

[Aristotelian]

Yeah, he couldn't take it anymore so he moved to that utopia called Mexico City.

That's the only good thing he's done - at the end of the lecture he advises others to leave the U.S. - sounds like a good idea to me, all the DUmmies leave the U.S. leaving the sensible folk to tidy up the mess that they've made.

[Dori]

That's the only good thing he's done - at the end of the lecture he advises others to leave the U.S. - sounds like a good idea to me, all the DUmmies leave the U.S. leaving the sensible folk to tidy up the mess that they've made.

That works for me....

But Mexico City?  really?   He bitches about corruption here and moves to one of the most corrupt places on the planet.

Liberal logic evades me.

[JohnnyReb]

I am an elite, super smart professor with a PhD from Hardfart University....now let me tell you DUmmies what to think.

[Ptarmigan]

That works for me....

But Mexico City?  really?   He bitches about corruption here and moves to one of the most corrupt places on the planet.

Liberal logic evades me.

Stupidity runs deep in the left.

[RayRaytheSBS]

That works for me....

But Mexico City?  really?   He bitches about corruption here and moves to one of the most corrupt places on the planet.

Liberal logic evades me.

But but but... Mexico city is soooo much more upfront about it, thus not being hypocritcal about it like those ugly, evil, Gun-toting Americans. [/DU off]

I can see this oxygen-thief explaining it away like that. Since Mexico is known for it's corruption, it's alright. The only good thing he has done has left America. Hopefully he can convince others to leave too.

[Aristotelian]

That works for me....

But Mexico City?  really?   He bitches about corruption here and moves to one of the most corrupt places on the planet.

Liberal logic evades me.

Liberal logic is like a unicorn - a good idea but one which does not exist in reality.