Right. And at the risk of beating a dead horse(beat beat beat)there
is a strong message for us as a nation...as a species. How we
condition our minds goes a long way toward how we behave as a People.
Instead of getting a big guffaw at the behavior of Donald Trump, we
need to look beyond him and figure out how we modify our behavior
before we destroy ourselves and our planet.
On the ACB chat list, many folks support our capitalistic system
without understanding that while it might appear to have been the
underpinning of our modern civilization, it is also leading us humans
down a road to our own destruction. Like the Pied Piper, we are
skipping and dancing along to an unnatural tune, a fake melody that
pretends to be real, even as it is destroying the real world. We
created an unreal world, and now it controls us.
I'd go on, but I've sung the same song for so long that you can
probably plug in the lyrics.
Carl Jarvis
On 8/24/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I think Mary's father really tried. But he didn't have the self confidence
to truly break with his father and his father's expectations permanently.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Monday, August 24, 2020 1:13 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy]Mary Trump's book; an
interesting read.
And that's interesting in the very fact that this is what the strong members
of the Trump family enjoyed doing; trash talking and bad mouthing. Notice
the method Fred Trump used in keeping control of the family. It's the most
common practice we Americans use, negative reinforcement. No child is too
young not to feel the effects. And Mary did as fine a neutral job as I've
ever seen done by a family member, analyzing a close relative. But those
who support Donald Trump will probably not read Mary Trump's book, or if
they do, it will be in order to trash her and her opinions. But for me, it
gave me insight into the dysfunctional life of a family that worshiped at
the Alter of the Golden Calf.
Cathy became frustrated with Mary's father. "Why didn't he just walk
away? He didn't need his father's approval." I said that I thought it
showed just how strong our need for approval is. He did walk away
and began a successful career as a commercial pilot. But his father
continued putting him, and all his efforts, down until he quit and came
home.
Cathy cut the apron strings by the time she was 16. I was much older before
I could say that I'd made my own stand. Some people never reach personal
freedom. My older sister who died last month, went to her grave still
conflicted, and still trying to gain the approval of parents who were dead,
and unable to give her what she needed.
Carl Jarvis
Carl Jarvis
On 8/24/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I also thought it was an interesting book in terms of the family
dynamics it describes. The only negative or slightly negative words I
heard about it were from a woman who appears regularly on the Nation
podcast, Start Making Sense. I can't remember her name, but she has
appeared periodically, telling sarcastic stories about various members
of the Trump family, usually his children. But in this case, her
criticism of the book was that Mary was too young, while her father
was alive and having his conflicts with his father, to know what was
really going on so she was reporting only heresay, not fact. My
response, when I heard this on the podcast, was to remind myself that
it seems to be this woman's job to say only negative things about anyone
who is part of the family.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Monday, August 24, 2020 12:37 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy]Mary Trump's book; an
interesting read.
A little over 6 hours of well read text, available on BARD, and well
worth reading. This story would make a great Movie. But mostly it
gives flesh to the bones we already see. Beyond telling us much of
what we already suspect, Mary Trump exposes how the long term family
dynamics impact the minds of those caught up in them. We all are far
more controlled by our social morays that we want to admit. As she
views her own father's struggle to escape the family, Mary Trump
paints a picture that we can all learn from. Our claim of being "self
made" or the "rugged individual", are simply not true. We all have
been controlled to one degree or another, by our own propaganda.
Anyway, the book gives flesh and breath to Donald Trump and to all of
us, in a sense.
Carl Jarvis
dn’t be on the sidewalk so walk on the street, then
as soon as we got on the street they ambushed us.”
One unnamed city official told the press that Mayor Bill de Blasio
approved of the attack, long planned by the NYPD.
That evening, dozens OCH supporters held a march downtown in the
driving rain to retake City Hall Park, but de Blasio’s cops blockaded
entry.
In the process of the attack, cops threw away homeless people’s
possessions and camp supplies, which included food and books.
The camp’s homeless reflected the city’s homeless crisis under de
Blasio, a product of systemic racism. 80,000 are without a permanent
home, including 20,000 children.
Jawanza James Williams, the director of organizing for Vocal New
York, told BuzzFeed News that the city was “pressure-washing away the
messages of freedom, Black Lives, a world without police and prisons,
in the same ways that workers pressure-wash away the spilled blood of
Black people murdered by police for now hundreds of years.”
Williams said that even with the diminishing OCH population after the
June 30 budget vote, “The activities of political education
continued, direct actions outside of the camp continued, celebrations
and performances continued, art creation, and cultural production in
general.”
OCH took inspiration from the 2011 anti-corporate movement, Occupy
Wall Street (OWS) in Zuccotti Park, aka “Liberty Plaza,” located a
few blocks from City Hall.
In 2011, the then-Public Advocate, Bill de Blasio, loudly defended
the free speech rights of OWS, under attack by billionaire Mayor
Michael Bloomberg. Also supporting Occupy Wall Street were several
unions, including TWU Local 100, NY’s subway and bus workers.
Soon however, Bloomberg teamed up with President Obama and the
national police departments to smash Occupy. Mayor Bloomberg used a
phony pretense for shutting down OWS, citing “health issues,” despite
the regular volunteer cleaning of Zuccotti Park. Bloomberg’s “health
issues”
were trotted-out once again this past month, this time by de Blasio,
as reason to crush OCH.
Although denied by de Blasio, many pointed to the Mayor’s desire to
forestall President Trump’s threat to send in federal agents to NYC,
a la Portland, as part of the Mayor’s underlying reason to shut down
OCH.
Trump’s threats were also a possible motive for his week-long curfew
in early June, beyond de Blasio’s defense of so-called “property
rights” of big chain stores. De Blasio now boasts that he will bring
court action against Trump’s federal agents invading NYC.
Whatever the reason, de Blasio boasts that he, “always respect[s] the
right to protest,” an assertion proven false by the NYPD’s early
morning storming of OCH on June 30 at 5 a.m., the day of the vote on
the NYPD budget.
As peaceful OCH protesters chanted, “Why the riot gear? There’s no
riot here!,” de Blasio’s goons descended on the park.
“We were dancing in the street one minute, and the next minute they
were beating the shit out of us,” Jet, 23, told Gothamist. “It wasn’t
human.”
NYPD officers in riot gear rushed protestors, arresting two and
injuring several others.
One protester that morning told public radio that he witnessed a
young woman break her leg in a barrier, as cops pinned protesters.
“They were beating me every way they could, but all I could see was
her leg bent in a way it shouldn’t have been.”
But by linking arms and with tremendous bravery, OCH managed to
prevent a police rout and held their ground.
Occupy City Hall
Occupy City Hall or Abolition Plaza was located in a park immediately
adjacent to NY City Hall. It was founded on June 24 by hundreds of
anti-racist activists, including the non-profit VOCAL NY, which
demanded a $1 billion cut in next year’s NYPD budget. Some in OCH
were calling for abolishing the NYPD.
The NY City Council, dominated by Democrats, passed a $1 billion cut
on June 30. The so-called cut, with the backing of the mayor, a
self-described “Democratic Socialist,” was a sham, essentially
transferring $1 billion to the Education Department to oversee
policing in schools. City Comptroller Scott Stringer called the
changes in police spending “a bait-and-switch and a paper-thin excuse
for reform.”
The budgetary reform, plus police practice reforms recently enacted
by the City and State were the ruling class’s panicked reaction to
the size and militancy of mass mobilizations. But, in no way can some
of these necessary reforms (if ever properly enforced under
capitalism!) ever eliminate systemic cop racism, the product of a sick
U.S.
capitalist system, or more fundamentally, change who has control of
the police: the capitalists or the working class and oppressed
communities? (“NY Cop Reforms? The Whole System Has to Go!” in July
SA)
Socialist Action says, “Disarm, disband and dismantle the racist cops!
Black community control of the police!”
Socialist Action News
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--
___
Carl Sagan
“Every aspect of Nature reveals a deep mystery and touches our sense
of wonder and awe. Those afraid of the universe as it really is,
those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos
centered on human beings will prefer the fleeting comforts of
superstition. They avoid rather than confront the world. But those
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even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices,
will penetrate its deepest mysteries.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos
