Civilization's Malcontents: Contemporary Civilization of America: The Challenge to Democracy by Technopoly & Technique

Defining Technology And Civilization

Some thoughts and Ruminations

Ours is not a new nor the first civilization to come into being. Our civilization is still young compared the past civilizations. Civilization is, according to the Random House Dictionary "... an advanced state of human society in which a high level of Culture, Science, Industry, and Government has been reached…"

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It is easy for us to give meaning and definition to what we want to understand without any ambiguities and 'grey' areas. We attempt to make simple and clear all the phenomenon that perplexes us. Clarity helps us deal with life in a much more concrete manner. We know for a fact there was the Egyptian, Atlantis? Mesopotamian, Aztec, Mayan, Chinese Dynasties. Monomotapa, Zimbabwean and other different civilization throughout the millennium, all of which flourished successfully until their demise.

Their inhabitants were mostly responsible for the Empire's and their final end and destruction. When they were building their civilizations, the primary focus was on unity as a nation and in unified action. In most cases, the leadership brought down their civilizations through decadence, incompetence, corruption, fraud, unaccountable, abusive, self aggrandizing, lewd behavior, and other untold actions, behaviors, and shenanigans.

With the state having been obscenely depleted of every meagre resources, through wars, monstrous magnanimous lavish spending and waste, the polity disgruntled, downgraded, oppressed and rendered poverty stricken, contributed to, and inadvertently weakening the state and the cohesion of the civilization.

In the end its enemies triumphantly run rampant, overrun and quicken the final destruction of the Empire. The above scenario, repeated over and over during the past millenniums, in its many and diverse and varied combinations, facilitated for the crumbling of some of the mightiest civilizations on record.

"...High level culture, science, industry, and government..." reminds us what it takes to be a civilized 'part' of the human race; highly skilled, technical and powerful civilization. To be where we are did not start with al the 'glitz' and 'blitz' of latter-day affluence, but from the frontier with it's wooden cabins and the whole bit.

The Constitution, the laws and American due to the genius and ingenuity of the American populace have propelled the present civilization to the present heights. As a budding, young and powerful civilization, we ought to be cognizant of historical lessons and admonishing. It is paying attention to how high is our culture, and if our science is advanced and is quickly evolving and how efficient and well-developed; is our government propelling our civilization ahead, further, and beyond.

And that depends whether our Empire has grown to from our learning the lessons of our history that we are no more an Adolescent Empire but a State maturing as it goes though the rigors of growth. Adults admonish children whenever they stray, as we mature, we shall have to find new ways of relating to one another, and admonishing and tolerating one another.

Citizen American

The citizenry in most of these civilization becomes the lame-duck of the state, the army, the businessmen, the ramparts and rascals of our society. Jobs were created after the Depression, homes built, infrastructure built anew and that was the change that we desired. There was a lot of invention and investment both domestically and internationally. We had several Wars going on, Korea and then Vietnam; there was great civil unrest which led to the passage of Civil Rights Acts. Presidents were elected, re-elected and assassinated.

There were anti-war protests; There was the Baby-boomer generation with their Woodstock; there was also some form of sexual revolution; We went to the Moon; then came the gas shortage, the crash of the stock market; anti-communist wars and sponsorship; the removal of heads of states, the impeachment of one president; scandal of another; the actor-President; the hawk president followed, we have had the last eight years of the present 'Best' sitting US president.

The present President is the first African American President. Up to that point, our civilization was in a state of evolution and catharsis; all these gyrations and terrible highs and lows have landed us in a very compromised state that we need to really look at it for what it is. The changes that took place to pull us up from the doldrums of a depression, need to be followed-up with replenishing the changes we made, finding and utilizing new ones. We need to work in united action to remodel the Empire. As we have demonstrated in the recent election, we made our presence known through the use and application of technological gadgets and their capacity to connect all of the people.

The silence of the lambs makes me recall the German people during WWII, who acquiesced with their government and said either they knew or did not know about the atrocities they committed in Germany and elsewhere around the world. All civilizations, long living and short-lived, war has been their Achilles heel. War sucks out national wealth morals and morale. Through the eons it has brought great economies down, and great civilizations and splendid societies to their knees.

As pointed out above, history is abound with many examples of those civilization, to whom war was part of their effort at building their civilizations, also, went broke and gotten run down by these war efforts. In all these unnecessary war expeditions, the citizens of these powerful Empires acquiesced and partook in them. They never voiced their displeasure publicly, by there was a lot of discontent, grumbling and occasional revolt or rioting. There was routine bloody suppression followed by brutal show of force. In the end, though, these Civilizations imploded and disintegrated.

The citizen had long been swept aside and all they could do was to silently watch the demise and end of their civilization. Not one made a bleating sound. I had a sense that participation in our government entailed paying attention to what our government does, which we know a lot of about Washington, and writing letters and e-mails, texting, twittering and so forth,which we do so much, will enable us to change any recalcitrant regime when voting time comes around.

We are still practicing this option and begun practicing it when the elections came around this time. We are not addressing the growing discontent enough and this creates even more tensions. Right now the citizenry is worrying as the shrill of revolt is beginning to reach pitch level as splurged on our TV screens and from the howls on the net. Is silence another way to voice displeasure or are acquiescing?

The sitting President has been allowing events to unfold without interrupting. It is somehow instructional how he always responds to the rallies, abuse, threats and the like we witnessed during the summer, with some saying that he is a 'good speechmaker,' reactions. Maybe people are not lambs, but are watching a new President deal with the issues of governing for change, and wondering at the same time what next and where to? The year is about ended, and things are not looking as dire as they did earlier on when the new administration took over.

The "Troubles"

In the years leading to 2008, we have seen some of the most troubling aspects of this economic debacle. The infrastructure needs some serious rebuilding; schools are failing and failing; the health care costs are soaring and health systems is in shambles; the economy has been tanking and has slowly bottomed; the banking system is in bankruptcy because of underhanded business deals and transactions along with poor investments, greed and waste, we are now hurting.

Housing has millions of mortgage defaults and abandoned housing; jobs have been lost at an extremely alarming rate; millions homeless; poverty has become a norm; millions are losing their healthcare; companies and shops are closing; some jobs have been shipped overseas; some want a smaller government; others say big government must take care of its citizens; others are howling that government stay out of health care(meanwhile receiving government sponsored Care), others say that universal coverage and health care for all Americans; the automobile industry is in shambles; many people are receiving unemployment checks whilst other are surviving on food-stamps.

We are seeing the emergence of 'birthers,' "deathers," questionable "Tea Parties" and rowdy "Town Halls" gatherings; we are hearing vitriolic and vicious racist rhetoric and with gun-toting gun rights advocates displaying their hardware and flaunting intimidation. Others trumpeting the fact that they would like to see Obama fail, others holding a sign that has "death to Obama" scrawled in small letters. We have a very agitated and gregarious motley crew ranting and raving all over the bloggerspheres, TV, other internet, radio, in small groups and organizations and some newspapers.

There's a lot of malcontent, dissatisfaction, disaffection, anger, uncertainty, distrust,that there is nothing that is happening which is appealing to our better sides. The television, one way or another has been inflaming passion of all concerned. The internet has been crushed by the vast rush of logging and we thus we are experiencing and seeing a local, global community morphing as a thoroughly technologized society which is disaffected along with their leaders, businessmen, clergy, government, etc., decrying the abuses of the State. While they are all opining about how to put together splinters debris of destruction we're experiencing in this implosion.

This is the gritting and gnawing of teeth within the milieu in this contemporary civilization. The Great Debate rages on… Some are saying the economy is looking up, and we are beginning to see the Dow consistently up for some months, some jobs have been save and a thousands or more have been created are being created. Others complain that nothing was happening and the Stimulus package was twenty-thousand not working,some are reporting that they are seeing some progress. Polls show that the majority of Americans are in favor of the President's health care proposal or outline.

There are those that say Obama's Heath Care proposal is a nightmare and must be scrapped and started all over again; reports are coming in that about close to twenty-thousand people lose their health care today. The Insurance companies are working hard to derail the health care change proposed by utilizing different strategies of agitation and disruption; this adds to the confusion and indecision that people are already experiencing.

The Congress has been debating the new Health Bill and the trend has been towards passing a Bill that creates a lot of disagreements. The $800 billion or so bill has the liberal progressive wing crying foul and that it is not robust enough. Some on the Right Conservatives side believe its a waste, and the higher ups in the Republican part feel that their sponsors(The Insurance companies) would loose, so would they too.

The new Health Bill proposed comes with the hard-fought-for option called the Public Option. Some feel and claim that it's not robust enough and they wan t so see included in it the single payer system. Some decry the fact some lawmakers in the government do not want poor people receiving the same Health care they now have, and some say Obama's campaign promise made it clear that's the type of Health care overhaul he would like to see: ordinary Americans receiving the same health care as to the members of Congress.

President Obama is also presiding a seething opposition in reducing the production of new fighter planes and a presidential helicopter. He has also opted toward reducing nuclear weapons and production of military projects and armaments embedded within the budget for Defense. Then there is the issue of the on-going Bush's Iraq war from where he has announced American withdrawal.

He is also facing an unstable Pakistan where elections were voided as being unfair. Now he has to del with a country who leaders are now at logger-heads about the run-off election due to one party threatening to pull out and a dissatisfied electorate. Afghanistan is exploding with skirmishes, bombing, attacks on military garrison in selected stations throughout the bordering towns of Pakistan and Afghanistan. President Obama has to make a decision as to what's America next move?

Send in more troops, or wait for the outcome of the run off results to deal with a legitimately elected leader. Meanwhile, pressure is mounting that he should make a quick decision about protecting the troops that are under attack in Afghanistan. Those who sympathize with Obama say they like the fact that Obama is not 'rushing to judgement' about the issue of sending troops now or after some issues discussed above pan out.

Silence...

Muted deafening silence is enveloped by cascading cacophony of a loosely organized humdrum of and disparate protestations. When Obama was making his rounds as a candidate for the President of the US, multitudes thronged to his rallies and many fainted and were enthralled to no end. Record crowds left us in awe and wonderment to this unfolding historic occasion, because that lost hope had been choking the very air we were breathing, that is, in the past administration.

Obama collected money from the masses using the Internet and other new technologies being unfurled at a rapid pace to the consumers. The connection of the electorate to each other facilitated for better organization and information distribution at lightning speed giving advantage to the masses to be one step ahead of the media and the politicians. The citizenry in this young and budding civilization were abuzz with excitement and anticipation of the coming new era.

They had witnessed mismanagement, carelessness, sloppiness, corruption, incompetence, slothfulness, unaccountability, domestic spying and draconian laws tightening, torture of enemies, deportation of illegal aliens and a myriad issues with the past regime, and they wanted change. The Media, cable dish, Internet and other media outlets were at peak production. They still are regurgitating and spinning the issues based on their intake of cash and ratings. The Public is gobbling and gulping it all without let-up, and in turn resetting and spinning it to their specifications

. The polls are the gut that puts some perspective on the amorphous data sphere we imbibe, and the Internet has afforded the users access to different polls from different outlets and organization. The rambling and nattering that is on the ether and the Web has been so large, that it seems like people thought that we had reached the zenith of things hoped for. Change in our time as we're were the ones it was waiting for, seemed attainable and reachable, if not possible.

It seems like we have reached the highest pitch of a crescendo, and now are in a free fall and cast our lot with what we believe and see can be different and is possible, or as others have observed, that, once you have the government in all things, nothing happens and the government does no care and cannot be in the business of running free enterprise. I still like to see the synthesis of these matters and what its effects and affects could be or might be on the national conscience.

For the past eight months, there has been a lull in enthusiasm and a lot of agitation of those who were watching the long lines of voters historically electing Obama to be the President of the USA. This lull and silence is very loud and deafening. Maybe the multitudes who were changing America know and are giving our President time(some say its now 8 months later), or they are nursing doubts and fear that this is Washington redux.

The polls do show that the numbers are still relatively high for the President in popularity, but the nay sayers are shouting loudest that he his irrelevant and no longer holds a sway amongst his followers. Well, who's to say, because the silence coming from those who voted for him is disconcerting. But that does not seem likely that the response is not there, or maybe they(those who would like to see Obama succeed) do not see what all the fuss is about.

The opposing view makes it clear that they cannot make sense as to why everything is rushed into Law, that they want to know where is all this money coming from; some say we are leaving a huge debt to our children with the Stimulus money. The polls show that people want Universal health care coverage for all the Americans, then there are those who are asking how and who is going to pay for it?

Obama in his latest speech to congress addressed this issue, someone in the Congress House called him a liar, but went on to profusely apologized. In some quarters, people are asking the opposition what are their plans and it seems like they are still lagging in ideas The silence is occasionally punctuated by statistics which show that the American majority want universal coverage and are in agreement with the President he still holds a high rating in terms of favorability.

With these turbulent times bobbing in the horizon, it is very important that the debate be as passionate from those who do not like the president as it should be from those who like the president. One of the things that Obama has done was to raise America's favorability overseas.

The very in-depth coverage given to his opponents on the media, and the participation they display, should be matched by his supporters, with the same if not more intensity that has been shown heretofore. The negativity that has be thrown his way should be balanced by the positive responses highlighting his progressive deeds both domestically and internationally. This will allay the fears of our fellow earthlings elsewhere, and manage to give the US a better face.

Although there is some coverage given to those who favor Obama in some networks. But silence is not an option, and will not help with managing our civilization in all fronts and formats. The people who voted Obama into power were malcontent with various issues in regard to how America was being run in the past administration. But sitting on the sidelines to see what will happen next has never helped change nor solve the dire problems we are seeing and feeling as part of the teetering civilization.

We cannot sit idly and watch the world and time goes by. As Americans, that is not in our gene pool nor our social genetic wiring, we cannot sit silently and let others in our midst steer the ship and we riding along as passengers. We are all captains of our ships and we need some response to the push back from those who do not want change and progress, as Obama said, 'for the character of our country,' and that, 'we need to replace acrimony with civility'.

As a civilization, we are only as great and good in so far as we are able to take care of the weakest of our group. In the past eleven months, we have seen a lot of discontent emanating from the opposition to the President's party, policies and rule.

It is also worth noting that at the start of Obama's administration, we have sen and heard how the opposition wants him to fail in all his endeavors to fix the economy, to close Gitmo, to help American Main Street get up on its feet, to help the failing banks from going under, unfreeze loans so as to prop-up the crumbling housing debacle, prevent the bankruptcy of the automobile industry, redevelop the crumbling nation's infrastructure, improve on the failing schools and pay teachers more.

It is amazing that a thriving civilization reacting in the way we have seen the Republicans have. What happened and taken place during the past eight years of Bush, there was no uproar when the economy was being mismanaged and the international image of the United States was at its lowest ebb; or, when we went to war against Iraq and ignored Pakistan and Afghanistan, tortured detainees and contravened the International law on how we conducted the war, and the rising national debt incurred by the outgoing Bush regime. There seems to be some double standards in doling-out judgment on Obama than we saw during the Bush embarrassing rule.

It is also important to pay attention to the opposition against the present sitting president when we see the opposition to his policies being attacked at any given or invented excuse. Obama has been accused of pandering to the "lesser" leaders of the world in trying to make it possible that American credibility much more better.

There were demonstrators, called the Tea Party disgruntled polity made up of mostly Republicans who lost in the 2008 presidential elections. Whenever and whatever Obama does, it's either, according to his detractors, he is doing things too fast, and when he took his time to make the decision about sending troops to Afghanistan, as being too slow and is inexperienced as a leader. It seems that whatever he does or does not do, he is attacked assiduously and at times, viciously, given the 12 months he has been president.

Now, more recently, when Obama received the Nobel Peace price, he has been vehemently attacked by, mostly Americans, that he does not deserve it. His trips to the Muslim world to promote his diplomatic policy of an 'unclenched' fist he has been presented and seen as a weakling, a president who bows to foreign leaders, and who apologizes too much to the world for American indiscretions and bully tactics in their foreign policy to the world. As a matter of fact, the polls indicate that Obama is highly respected and liked more overseas that in the country he is leading.

Some aver that he needs to be more aggressive; others say that his policies suck; in some quarters he is viewed as not black enough and not even addressing issues of race fully; there is also an outcry from the out-of-office Bush official relentlessly attacking anything from foreign policy, to handling of Gitmo, to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as being incompetent and not suited for the job. At the same time, the opposition has conveniently forgotten how deep the hole Bush dug for the country, and that Obama is left having to spend the first year of his rule, clearing the mess and incompetency that was left by Bush and his crew.

Yet, the economy has stopped sliding, some new jobs have been created, although not enough. From where we were when he took power, much has been achieved, and the Health Bill, in whatever form it is now as of the writing of this hub, has now come to a point of being passed, and he is about to move the Gitmo prisoners to Illinois, whose inhabitants are happy for the jobs it is going to create; this is all happening in the face of the wish that he fails.

It is so strange that the year started with a plan to sabotage anything he was going to do, propose or implement, whether good or bad, to make sure that he does not succeed. In the year he took power, it is interesting to note that those who oppose him want to see him fail, and some say he ought to be impeached, when in the last few weeks and days he has been working on a Job summit to create more jobs. Some states who did not want the stimulus money form Obama, eventually took it and are now thriving on it.

It is like whatever he does and succeeds, it is not good enough, and what he will still be doing is not good enough because he does not know how to lead. Success of Obama in any area is failure and just not enough; failure in what is still to be done by the president is not good enough because he is not fulfilling. It is also interesting to note the glee at his falling polls amongst the TV talking heads.

All this is happening amidst the mess he inherited form Bush, and in his trying to do al the big promises he made during his run for the presidency. Some Have asked the question whether on the Web or TV as to whether all these attacks are due to the fact that Obama is Black or something-the jury is still out with the answer for that.

The Sane Society and Civilization

"Every civilization of a settled population," Petrie observed. "tends to incessant decay from maximum condition; and this decay continues until it is too weak to initiate anything, when a fresh race comes in and utilizes the old stock to graft on, both in blood and culture. As soon as the mixture is well started, it rapidly grows on old soil and produces a new wave of civilization.There is no generation without a mixture of blood, parthenogenesis is unknown in the birth of nations."

To build a basic civilization, you've got to have enough resources food and the ability to pay craftsman and technicians to sustain oneself. When you've got enough and some left over, you build an intellectual civilization that explains and preserves the original civilization.

For example, the Nile civilization contributed organized societies, social order, the concept of coming together, the concept of the village uniting with other villages creating the cities, the concept of cities uniting with other cities creating a state, and of other areas(cities) uniting with other areas creating a concept that would later be called diplomacy.

Furthermore, the Nile Valley civilization contributed to the idea of getting together, one to the other, creating a concept of human relationships and survival. They created the world's first massive agriculture, and developed a technical class and laboring class which could be taken care of.

People down his valley gravitated toward the end of the river and brought technical skills, goods and services. Therefore, they made the river the world's first cultural highway. Civilization for the good of human makes people participate and be vocal in the changes brought about by the civilizing spirit of their milieu from time immemorial to present day modern civilizations.

The French revolution resulted in an upsurge of the spirit of nationalism that led to the Napoleonic Wars, and ultimately turned Europe into an armed camp. World War I in 1914 was a turning point; for the Europeans had formed a habit of murdering, robbing, and oppressing the downtrodden colonials of Africa, Asia, and the Americas; but now they turned on each other. Europeans slew each other by the millions and then drafted the so-called inferior races to help them murder their own blood brothers.

This carnage brought on the Russian Revolution, which established communism as a force to be reckoned with. A world-wide economic depression prepared the ground for the second World War. The so-called democracies of Europe of Europe and America decided to pit the Nazism of Hitler against the Communism of Stalin. Hitler refused to cooperate, so the so-called free world had to destroy Hitler and, at the same time, they were forced to aid and abet Stalinism.

World War I brought on a Communist Revolution; World War II not only helped to consolidate this totalitarianism, but established it on a solid foundation in China. The Europeans are trying to hang on to what is left of their days of greatness, but the age of European dominance in the world is on the decline and there is no sign that this trend will ever be reversed.

If we regard ourselves as an advanced civilization, we need to act like one. For instance,how beguiling is it to listen to some of our elected officials tell us what we want, even though they are negated by some serious polling institutions that point out that what we want is not what these elected officials say we want.

There is too much acrimony that come out our collective historical experiences as Americans. The media present a lopsided view as to our concerns and needs in relation to health, jobs, housing, education and so forth. A lot of these politicians tell us that what we want is what they have designed and put together in some smoke filled rooms. The media regurgitates what the politicians think we want. We now, as the citizens of this country seem to be acquiescing, that is, silently taking it all in and being in cahoots with those who want to derail our democracy.

What the people of the US did in the 2008 elections, is that they have shown that we are not the silent lambs we are made out to be. The present status quo, the Republicans, tell us that we, the majority, who voted the present government and party into power, do not want this present rule, that we do not want the health care that we want for everyone.

They bravely stand in front of microphones and blurt out our vision, hope and view for this country, which is from the minority losers in the last elections. In the same breath they conveniently forget that the whole American society wants change, and they are still backing the government, to this moment, about the change they wish for and have been waiting for.

We will be judged by history as to whether our civilization did manage to care of its poor, weak, and destitute; or whether we let the rich people decide and run this country and government for us. But is seems like, at the very end, we, as the People of the US, always have the last word, and we get what we want, by hook or crook. We are not necessarily the silent lambs acquiescing with our detractors, we are a people, who even through times that are hard and harsh, we still dig down deep into our consciences and do the right thing.

Models of modernization are incomplete without the dynamics of leadership. Regardless of political philosophy, the process of change revolves about the charisma of leaders to a greater degree than is generally admitted. The complexities of modern government force them to diversify functions which increase bureaucracy, but it also gives more people an opportunity to become exposed to decision-making processes.

The more liberal forms of government embrace more extensive areas of citizen involvement, but this does not imply that the degree of change is greater, or that it is more receptive to progressive influences. Dynamic leadership consists in the ability to incorporate as many capable people as possible into positions of influence, without prejudice to the several arms of government. There are still a lot of people displeased with Obama and his modernization programs, but it seems like as time goes on, the changes he has implemented will be for the good of this civilization and democracy.

Erich Fromm writes: "Democracy cannot work in an alienated society, and that the way our democracy is organized contributes to the general process of alienation. If democracy means that the individual expresses his conviction, and asserts his will, the premise is that he has a will."

The facts, however, are that the modern, alienated individual has opinions and prejudices but no convictions, has likes and dislikes, are manipulated in the same way as his taste is, by powerful propaganda machines — which might not be effective were he not already conditioned to such influences by advertising and by his whole of alienated way. The average voter is poorly informed too. While he reads his newspaper regularly, the whole world is so alienated fro him that nothing makes real sense or carries real meaning.

He reads of billions of dollars being spent,of millions of people being killed; figures, abstractions, which are in no way interpreted in a concrete, meaningful picture of the world. The science fiction he reads is little different from the science news. Everything is unreal, unlimited, impersonal. Facts are so may lists of memory items, like puzzles in a game, not elements on which his life and that of his children depends.

It is indeed a sign of resilience and basic sanity of the average human being, that in spite of these conditions, political choices today are not entirely irrational, but that to some extent a sober judgment finds expression in the process of voting. Voting is an important part of democracy for the American people, and have worked assiduously had to impress it on other people the world over...

Fromm has this to say about civilization and this is closely related to what the discourse is all about within this Hub: "

The task of impressing on people the guiding ideals and norms of our civilization is, first of all, that of education. But how woefully inadequate is our educational system for this task.

"Its aim is primarily to give the individual the knowledge he needs in order to function in an industrialized civilization, and to form his character into the mold which is needed: ambitious and competitive, yet co-operative within certain limits; respectful of authority, yet "desirably independent," as some report cards have it; friendly, yet not deeply attached to anybody or anything. ..

"A sane society must provide possibilities for adult education, much as it provides today for the schooling of children. This principle finds expression today in increasing number of adult-education courses, but all these private arrangements encompass only a small segment of the population, and the principle needs to be applied to the population as a whole."

Once a civilization is well developed, it means it has a sane streak about itself and for its people. Occasionally there are those issue which when these arise, make for some advanced social engineering for the good of all society. Fromm again informs us in this manner:

"No sane society can be built upon the mixture of purely intellectual knowledge and almost complete absence of shared artistic experience, college plus football, crime stories plus Fourth of July celebration, with Mothers' and Fathers' day and Christmas thrown in for good measure.

In considering how we can build a sane society, we must recognize that the need for the creation of collective art and ritual on a nonclerical basis is at least as important as literacy and higher education. The transformation of an atomistic into a communitarian society depends o creating again the opportunity for people to sing together, walk together, dance together, admire together, and not, to use Riesman's succinct expression, as a member of a 'lonely crowd'.

Fromm concludes thus: "Man today is confronted with he most fundamental choice; not that between capitalism or Communism, but that between robotism, or Humanistic Communitarian Socialism. Most facts seem to indicate that he is choosing robotism, and that means, in the long run, insanity or destruction. But all these facts are not strong enough to destroy faith in man's reason, good will and sanity.

"As long as we can think of other alternatives, we are not lost; as long as we can consult together and plan together, we can hope. But, indeed, the shadows are lengthening; the voices of insanity are becoming louder. We are in reach of achieving a state of humanity which corresponds to the vision of our great teachers; yet we are in danger of destruction of all civilization, or of robotization. A small 'tribe' was told thousands of years ago: "I put before you life and death, blessing and curse — and you chose life." This is our choice too."

Erich Fromm's words are prophetic, and they are as contemporary and fresh as when he wrote that the American society is facing many of the issues he is talking about above. There is some present-day insanity that has ben gripping the country now for more than a decade, and it is when the American people, who when they vote in 2012, they will be able to hit the "reset" button of real life and redirect the ship in which we are all captains and passengers by virtue of our democratic values and practices.

Therein, too, lies the hope to resuscitate the presently fledgling democracy. As Jesse Jackson had said, and as I say, for us to see the re-emergence of a twenty-first century America, we will need to "Keep Hope Alive."

The State of Black America

In 1967, Stokely Carmichael wrote the following:

"...We are now talking about why, where and in what manner Black people in America must get themselves together. This talk is about Black people taking care of business-the business of and for Black people. The stakes are really very simple: if we fail to do this, we face continued subjugation to a White society that has no intention of giving up willingly or easily its position of priority and authority.

"If we succeed, we will exercise control over our lives, politically, economically and psychically. We will also contribute to the development of a viable larger society; in terms of ultimate social benefit, there is nothing unilateral about the movement to free black people. ...Anything less than clarity, honesty and forcefulness perpetuates the centuries of sliding over, dressing up, and soothing down their true feelings, hopes and demands of an oppressed Black people."

Mild demands and hypocritical smiles mislead White America into thinking that all is fine and peaceful. They mislead White America into thinking that the path and pace chosen to deal with racial problems are acceptable to masses of Black Americans. ...Thus we have no intention of engaging in meaningless language so common to discussions of race in America:

"Granted, things were and are bad, but we are making progress"; "Granted, your demands are legitimate, but we cannot move hastily. Stable societies are best built slowly; Be careful that you do not anger or alienate your White allies, remember, after all, you are only ten percent of the population: We reject this language and these views, whether expressed by Black or White; we leave them to others to mouth, because we do not feel that this rhetoric is either relevant or useful."

Stokely(Kwame Ture) further states: "Rather, we would suggest a more meaningful language, that of Frederick Douglass, a Black American who understood the nature of protest in this society : "Those who profess to favor freedom yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.

...Power concedes nothing without demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people any people will quietly submit to and you have out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blow, or both.

The limits of tyrant are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." Black Power means that Black people see themselves as part of a new force, sometimes called the Third World".there is only one place for Black Americans in these struggles, and that is on the side of the Third World.

Frantz Fanon in The Wretched of the Earth, puts forth clearly the reasons for this and the relationship of the concept called Black Power to the concept of a new force in the world:

"Let us not decide to imitate Europe; let us try to create the whole man, whom Europe has been incapable of bringing to triumphant birth. Two centuries ago, a former European colony decided to catch up with Europe. It succeeded so well that the United States of America became a monster, in which the taints, the sickness and the inhumanity of Europe have grown to appalling dimensions.

"...The Third World today faces Europe like a colossal mass whose aim should be to try to resolve the problems to which Europe has not been able to find the answers ... Ig is a question of the Third World starting a new history of Man, a history which will have regard to the sometimes prodigious theses which Europe has put forward, but which will also not forget Europe's crimes of which the most horrible was committed in the heart of man, and consisted of the pathological tearing apart of his functions and the crumbling away of his unity.

"No, there is no question of a return to nature. It is simply a very concrete question of no dragging men towards mutilation, of not imposing upon the brain rhythms which very quickly obliterate it and wreck it. The pretext of catching up must not be used to push man around, to tear him away from himself or from his privacy, to break and kill him. No, we do not want to catch up with anyone. What we want to do is go forward all the time, night and day, in the company of Man, in the company of all men...."

These issues discussed above by Stockely who cited various revolutionaries, will now be looked at from the perspective of the 1990s. Although I delved a little bit into Stockley, we will now look at how the situation of African Americans evolved to be like in the 1990s. In this instance, we will use an article written by Playthell Benjamin titled the state of Black America wherein he writes:

Almost a century ago, when Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois was writing The Philadelphia Negro, a pioneering work in American urban sociology, he recognized the need for an ongoing research program to investigate the true condition of Black people in American society. Du Bois's dream lay dormant until 1922, when it was briefly revived by Charles Johnson, the distinguished author of the outstanding study "The Negro in Chicago," who became national director of research and investigations for the Urban League and the first editor of its Journal, Opportunity.

The dream again lapsed into dormancy until the first Urban League-sponsored State of Black America report was issued in 1976 This report, employing a team of mostly Black scholars, provides a penetrating look at the conditions of Black American that is indispensable for those seeking an intelligent discussion of African American life. Supported by a variety of statistical charts and graphs, the arguments advanced these in these reports are well documented, and the policy of recommendations cannot be easily dismissed by public officials committed to the realization of a peaceful and just society.

In 1991, John Jacob, CEO of the National Urban League(NUL) observed: "For Blacks in America, the year started with anticipation that the freedom surge sweeping across the world wold come home to its origins, here in the United States(Just as the Arab Spring revolution in the Middle East, has now come back to the United States is the form of "Occupy Wall Street" and all else is doing). As the NUL celebrated its 80th anniversary, the hopes of African Americans was stymied by greed and waste was ending and a new decade of progress toward racial parity would begin.

Those hopes were dashed on the rocks of fiscal austerity, continued national indifference to african American aspirations, the veto of the Civil Rights Act of 1990, and the crisis in the Persian Gulf. Except for the end of the Persian Gulf conflict and the passage of the watered-down version of the civil rights bill which President Bush signed in order to distance himself from the politics of David Duke(the politics of the KKK group-my addition), and mend fences with White women's groups-all the problems that caused Jacob's concern remain with us.

In a 1992 report by many principal researchers, several themes emerged. Some of them are: Black America is in a deepening crisis; the federal government is indifferent, if not hostile; we must mobilize all of our resources to force the government to take positive action to address the crisis." Apparently, as of writing this Hub at this point, African Americans are the poorest, highest number of unemployed people, living in squalid conditions and totally ignored and are facing a renewed racist tide engendered by the Depression and Recession that is currently affecting America."

The Constant Consistency Of Black Oppression

Benjamin aptly adds:

"The participants in the State of Black America in 1992 covered a wide range of issues critical to understanding the true position of Black folks in contemporary American society. They observed, like Lincoln did that, "A society half slave and half free cannot long endure," it is also true that a modern society of affluent suburbs and decaying cities cannot long endure.

Sylvester Murray and Robert Bullard addressed this question with erudition and candor in their essay, 'Clear and Present Danger: The decay of America's Physical infrastructure.'

" Dr. Bullard, the author of Dumping in Dixie a major work documenting the siting of toxic waste dumps in Black communities, says, "When I was analyzing the data on the choices for toxic waste sites, the one consistent variable was race. You find some of these hazardous waste dumps in poor White communities, but rarely among affluent Whites. Among African Americans, however, class is not as important.

"This is a matter of race, not class. This is a critical issue for lack Americans, because African American children of families earning less that $6,000 represent 60 percent of lead poisoning cases, and African Americans in the nation's largest cities are threatened by toxic waste time bombs. The situation has grown so critical that Black inner-city communities are increasingly becoming "urban sacrifice zones" and the objects of "environmental extortion/" where Black people are coerced or seduced into exchanging safety jobs . This policy is detrimental to the entire economy because it tends to "stifle any future revitalization and development strategies."

To this , sylvester Murray ads the following:

"Our society's well-being is at risk because the infrastructure of our central cities is in decay. This includes roads, bridges, public transit, water supply, waste and water treatment, public housing, schools, pubic buildings, solid waste disposal, and public parks.

"The Black population in our central cities is increasing and unemployment among the black Population is increasing. Dr. Lenneal J. Henderson corroborates Murray's view: "Investment, generally has not kept up with the growth of the Gross National Product. For example, total public spending on physical infrastructure was 3.6 percent of the GNP in 1960. It was 2.6 percent in 1985, and 1.9 percent in 1990.

"The monies being invested in public projects are driven by large-scale corporate and business interests at institutional level and suburban interests at the household level. Demographically, this increasingly places African Americans and other non-White central cities at severe economic disadvantage."

African Americans were being pummeled from all sides and This is told byDr. Henderson who stated that: "Millions of antipoverty program dollars found their way into corporate coffers in the 1960s. , and this affected the declining urban economy and causing the rise in Black poverty rates. Dr. Samuel Myers Jr. and William A. Darity Jr. further explored the impoverishment of Black America in their essay, "Racial Earning inequality Into the 21 Century." Starting from statistically demonstrable premise that, 'earnings inequality among Black and White family heads has widened in recent years,' and this observation gives rise the question:

"In the face of arguably reduced discrimination, increased educational attainment, and the like, how can we explain the persistence of the gap between Black and White family earnings?" Myers and Darity investigated such factors as the relationship between welfare policies and the proliferation of female-headed households, the reduction of the labor force participation, and the "growth of poor Black families." The flight of young Black professionals to suburbia and how the "marginalization of Black Males" by unemployment and incarceration-one often leading to the other-contributes to family disintegration are also explored."

The effects and affects of such social dysfunction are further made starkly clear by these authors when they state:

"Educational attainment yields uneven returns based on location; that, anti-discrimination efforts, especially during the 1980s, ceased to be effective in raising Black incomes and reducing Black-White earnings inequality; and that, the age of composition shifts in the black community and are yielding more and more young female-headed families whose members are disproportionately represented among the lowest earners.

Even more frightening, Dr, Myers observations about the underground drug-based economy, according to him, "The drug trade is classic example of how Blacks have turned to alternative income opportunities when legitimate opportunities were unavailable," and Myers goes on to say, "I won't go so far as to say the entire drug problem is caused by the lack of opportunity; I'm just saying you can't solve the drug problem in the absence of other economic opportunities; the use of drugs-as opposed to drug sales-is a sign of "distress in the Black community."

"And this helps create the demand, without which selling drugs would be unprofitable. In other words, there is a symbiotic relationship between the psychological distress of the Black community and small-time dealers who haunt the street corners; one feeds off the other. And while we often hear the argument that Whites comprise the largest share of the drug market, there is a lower prevalence in the Black community for every drug except heroin. But there is a higher addiction rate among Blacks for every drug."

Playthell informs us further thus: "It is clear that the absence of some dramatic changes in the political economy of the United States, the problems growing of the prolonged depression[and present-day recession, I might add] in the American cities-drugs, crime, homelessness, joblessness, etc.-will persist."

Dr. David, Playthell cites him saying that, "Even though we are at the peak of the longest recovery in the last five decades, the degree of racial inequality is higher as we began the 1990s than at any other time in the last 20 years[the situation is even far worse in the 21 century-2011-[my addition]. Moreover, recent evidence suggest that we are about to enter another period of economic slow-down. If this downturn has an impact similar to the last few recessions, African Americans will bear a disproportionate share of the hardships."

This has in fact come to bear, meaning that the recession has hit in the last 5 years leading to 2011, and African American are bearing the hardships wrought and brought about by the economic decline in the United States, and racism is on the rise is one were to witness the rhetoric and vitriol spewed by the Tea Bagger, and the House of representatives, run by the Tea Baggers and the traditional Republican party who are bent on making the super rich even more richer, and take away social programs and other public programs and cutting the taxes for the millionaires and billionaires at the same time.

What these scholars were predicting has come to pass and is the reality today for the majority of African Americans.

Playthell further adds that, "The data gathered by Dr. Swinton for the 1992 report confirms that Black continue to have a very unequal economic position in this country, "The disadvantaged economic status of the African American population is a permanent feature of the American population.

"Moreover, the two main major efforts at economic intervention by the US government on behalf of African Americans-have both been repudiated by a torrent of rancorous rhetoric from a succession of right-wing Republicans administration[Bush's, for one, and the Tea Bagger, another and the whole bit-[my addition]. And the concessions won from White America by the Black struggle are now being swallowed up by the competing claims from other "minority" groups and White women-the principal beneficiaries of affirmative action [policies.

"This situation is addressed by Dr. Julianne Malveaux of MIT in her essay, "The Parity Imperative as follows: "Demographic and population trends make it difficult for African Americans to claim the sole benefit of set-aside and other affirmative action programs. Indeed, White women, gays and lesbians, and others who claim 'disadvantage' or 'discrimination' have had heir claims recognized by legislation at either the national or local level."

Playthell continues: "With the federal government in full retreat from the commitments of the Civil Rights Era and the fortunes of Black America in dramatic decline, how reliable are the traditional avenues of advancement, education and electoral politics [as we are witnessing the 'block the vote' attempts for the oncoming elections which needs voters to produce and ID government issued card, which will ultimately hurt the African American turn-out, thus, maybe, defeating Obama in the process-my addition].

With the federal government in full retreat from the commitments of the Civil Rights Era and the fortunes of Black America in dramatic decline, how reliable are the traditional avenues of advancement, education and electoral politics? These questions are examined by educational theorist Dr. Shirley McBay in her essay "The Condition of African American Education Challenges" wherein where in she elaborates:

"We know what works and that America has the resources and expertise to implement these successful strategies. What is at question is the national commitment and will to do what must be done to ensure quality education for all?" Playthell afterwards comments: "This is more than a rhetorical question, because all over the country school funding is being cut in the neighborhoods that most need educational services.

"In New York City, for instance, more than $100 million is projected to be cut from an already inadequate school budget. The cuts that have already been made have left the nation's largest school system too poor to inoculate children against a potentially deadly tuberculosis epidemic. In a school system confronted with a health crisis of this magnitude, issues of basic safety can overshadow questions of pedagogy."

We Learn from Playthell's article that: "Like others who have studied the problem of inequity in school funding. Dr. McBay locates the trouble in the taxing formula. Speaking of the horrible conditions of some urban schools polluted playground soils, bathrooms with no toilet paper, etc.-she says of government officials, They don't care. It's unbelievable they way we treat children in this country. Their explanation is that in the districts where they are spending more money-these funds are generated from the tax base there. For instance, these communities will have business that don't exist in poor Black communities."

Dr. McBay's observation is precisely why longtime education advocate Jonathan Kozol-who sits on the board of the Quality Education for Minorities Network, a policy institute headed by Dr. McBay-passionately opposes the present formulas for school funding in his new book, Savage Inequalities[ See my Hub "The Miseducation of Africans: Savage inequalities in Four Part Harmony…]"

While a variety of educational snake-oil salesmen tell us that the answer to failing public schools lies in privatizing education. Dr. McBay, advocates measures to upgrade public education. And she places the responsibility for this task where it properly belongs-squarely on the shoulders of government: "I think there are many things the federal government can do if it decides that saving the public schools is in the national interest. For instance, they can establish an ROTC-type program to recruit talented people into teaching."

Playthell continues to inform us that: "It is certain thatAmerica 2000[and onwards-my addition], the program now being pushed by the Bush Administration, will not solve the educational problems o the poor children. Taken as a whole, The State of Black America 1992 is a comprehensive document that integrates the different factors that contribute to a full understanding of the problems and prospects of African Americans.

"The papers discussed here are complemented by others that consider questions ranging from the position of Blacks in science, the tole of the private sector in solving public problems, and strategies to revive the cities. Robert B. Hill's "Urban Redevelopment: Developing Effective Targeting Strategies, " Sandra T. Gray's "Public-Private Partnership" Promise, Problems and Prospects for the General Welfare," and Walter E. Massey's "Science, Technology and Human resources" Preparing for the 21 Century" are splendid cases in point.

"The league, however, is not interested simply in defining the problems that Black America faces, but in providing solutions. The principal effort in this regard is its "Marshal Plan for America," a blueprint for addressing many issues that threaten the health and stability of the United States" (Benjamin)

We also learn from Benjamin that: "Under the leadership of Dr. Billy J. Tildwell, director of research for the National Urban League and principal author of the 'Marshall Plan,' the document analyzes America's declining ability to compete with the world's leading industrial powers and details the disinvestment in the public sector that is largely responsible for this decline.

The plan's investment recommendations are divided into two categories: human resources and physical infrastructure(What Obama has been trying to get across to the American people, but is being stymied by the Tea Baggers and the Conservative Republicans-my addition). The human resources section calls for massive investments in educational programs targeted to the disadvantaged. These programs would include preschool, elementary and secondary education.

They would also include a variety of job-training efforts, a revived and expanded job corps among them. The major goals of the physical infrastructure section are the construction of a "world-class transportation system" to rebuild and upgrade, "water supply and treatment facilities as well as to relieve the crisis in solid waste," and "the development and application of advanced telecommunications technology."

"The arguments in favor of the nation undertaking this year.$500 billion effort are couched in conspicuously nonracial language, preferring instead to stress the "national interest." (which, again, to date, Obama has been trying to implement through legislature but is blocked by the Republicans and the Tea Bagger since coming to power, and as we are now going into the 2012 election period, which the Republicans have vowed to sabotage and deny Obama's second term-not because he is bad, but because he is Black/Mixed African-my addition)

Playthell concludes with the citation of Frederick Douglass who spoke these words: "History no more holds august claim than where there is no struggle there is no progress. Men who profess to stand for freedom yet deprecate agitation would have corn without plowing the fields. Rain without thunder and lightning.... The ocean without the awful roar of her many waters. Power concedes nothing without demand. It never has and it never will. Men may not get all that they pay for in life, but they shall sure as hell pay for all they get!"

I used the articles/writings from Playthell Benjamin and Stokley Carmichael to make the point that, as we speak, today, the condition of African people in America has worsened, and there is no end in sight. What Playthell was writing about in 1992, he might as well as revamp the article, change the dates, and add the issues brought about by the coming of Obama into the Presidency, the Tea Baggers, and the "Just Say No" to anything Obama wants to improve Republicans and the disdain and dislike they have for him-along with the disrespect they have been showing to him.

The repression has been consistent and deepening. In the process, in some ways, American standards are behind those of the emerging economies around the world, and with Obama in the Presidential spotlight, are showing the 'napping' racism they still have for people of African descent. Contemporary American civilization has not yet completely gone over the 'hump' racism and the notion of a superior and civilized nation to move on to other stages of human development and evolution.

Technical Civilization and its Discontents

Anomie,nihilism, and Anarchism

One of the great and decisive trends in civilization today is the escalating role of technology in our lives. This began with the industrial revolution, continued with the telecommunications revolution, and continues today with computers and the Internet. The social changes that have followed these revolutions have been dramatic and heart-wrenching. So that the industrial revolution is an ongoing process, transforming or world as we peak, also because, so that some effort is required to keeps it has become a little passé to speak of the industrial revolution,so that some effort is required to keep our minds fixed upon the most basic and fundamental strategic trends shaping the world, and not to be distracted by fads, fashions, and passing fancies…

Society is driven and developed not according to an ideal or social consensus, but entirely by emergent strategic trends that are sufficiently robust to shape the lives of individuals and nation-states alike. The emergence of high technology, mentioned above, is amongst these trends. In absence of any explicit social direction, the strategic trend develops according to its own internal logic.

Thus, we see spikes of uneven development in society and industry as particular trends emerge and are rapidly developed simply because that is the only vision about which individuals can organize themselves at the moment. Whenever something comes along, everybody wants to jump onto the bandwagon. So they want to make money, some want to get famous, some want to socialize, some want to perfect the nascent idea — the motivations are legion, but the result is the same: everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon.

If one were to take time and familiarize oneself with the history of civilization, one will find that social vision and ideal has often trumped pragmatic concern. A high level of technology was available in the ancient world , and there was hemispherical civilization in Egypt and Greece and the whole of the Mediterranean basin that systematically exploited this technology, but according to contemporary parlance, this remains a historical development and it never happened.

Despite the technical capacity of classical antiquity, technology was a sideshow for them In places like Rome, the main events were attending a chariot race or socializing int Baths. For contemporary man living in a technological society, technology remains and is the 'main event' — technology, and economic development, and improving living standards, and a myriad other expressions of a consumer-driven society whose efforts are what Rousseau called "the will of all."

The technological civilization that we are creating by default — and is giving us higher standards of living, but it is not living us a higher civilization. These were epochs of civilizations very much driven by social visions rather than by technological expedients. We have a civilization, on the contrary, driven by technological expedients.

A civilization based on technological expedients, however impressive its achievements and accomplishments, cannot on this basis alone, survive. It must, in the fullness of time, arrive at some points when that is fully peculiarly human is valued above the benefits of bandwagon development, or that civilization will give way to something very different from does value which is peculiarly human, because this is ultimately the only thing to contribute to history.

In the meantime, and in the absence of ideals and social vision, we agree to disagree — often violently. The sociological analysis of anomie, the emergence of social attitudes like nihilism, and the emergence of social movements like anarchism are nearly pure expressions of 'willing of nothing' in the absence of substantive ideals and in view of the alternative not to 'will anything' at all.

The Challenge of the Era of Technological Abundance

Without local democracy, there can be no culture of democratic practice; without security and time, there can be only a weak citizenry; without decentralization, it is difficult to mobilize democratic practice and accountability; and without major and far-reaching new forms of wealth holding, there can never be adequate support for the conditions and policies needed to build a more egalitarian and free democratic culture.

The United States is the wealthiest nation in the history of the world. By the end of the twenty-first century it will have the technological capacity to increase the income of all its citizens many times over or to radically reduce work-time and thereby allow a new flowering of democracy, liberty, and personal and community creativity. The new century could be — should be — one of innovation, hope and excitement.

Few Americans approach the century this way. The future is clouded by problems by problems rather than opportunities; it appears as an era of great political difficulty and danger. At the most obvious level is he threat posed by terrorism and war — and the many challenges to liberty that very zealous approaches to both have produced. At another level are the growing social, economic racial and other difficulties catalogued in the Hub. Critically, confidence that the great traditional values at the very heart of the American experience can be sustained has been declining rapidly.

A society committed to enhancing equality, liberty, and democracy that is unable to achieve such values in practice — indeed, that is moving in precisely the opposite direction — is committed to a morally incoherent politics. If such a politics continues through time, ever greater cynicism must develop; and with it, an ever deepening sense that American society has lost its moral compass, that government policies are merely the result of power plays and brokering between interested parties that do not and cannot claim any deeper democratic or moral legitimacy.

This can be seen in the 'cliff hangers' as they are perpetuated by the Republican which with its recalcitrant and negative form of governing. The fits, stop and starts of the Deficit Reduction, along with the over the tawdry "Fiscal Cliff" fiasco and now the near catastrophic, the constantly pushing of the Obama presidency, has an accumulative effect of raising much discontent. By this I mean, the GOP, is ridiculously avoiding governing because of "Racist" mind set of the members of this decrepit Party. Morality is an ancient casualty of this struggle, and it manifests itself in the refusal to work with Obama in a bi-partisan manner.

A political-economic system can continue to violate the values it affirms for a very long time without major consequences. It is unlikely, however, to be able to do so forever. The question is: can a meaningful, morally coherent, and ultimately positive politics be constructed in the emerging era of technological abundance? Can a new direction be set that acknowledges the systematic nature of our problems and openly posits a concrete alternative and a process that might move in a new direction? Can the system be changed?

The way I see, the system cannot be changed at all because it is set in its way and is set up to operate by devouring itself. Racism has not helped America in many ways, and the lingering reality of its being a 'go-to solution in dealing with race matters,' has now begun to set this country backwards and it now play second or third-fiddle to the Emerging economies like China and India.

By this I mean that these emerging economies, as they are sometimes referred to, are building their infrastructure, revamping heir armed services, beefing up tier economies, applying and innovating on the new and emerging/merging technologies; exploiting the natural resources of the so-called Third World countries. For now, the American opposition and ruling elite GOP is enamored and caught up with denying American advancement, if Obama promises to take care of it(whatever) and even if those ideas were the ones that were proposed and worked on by the GOP. So