LUMPENPROLETARIAT—In the summer of 2016, America just wasn’t looking in such hot shape. “From poisoned water and police violence in our cities, to gun massacres and hate-mongering on the presidential campaign trail, evidence that America [was] at war with itself [was] everywhere around us. The question [was] not whether or not [it was] happening, but how to understand the forces at work in order to prevent conditions from getting worse. Henry A. Giroux [offered us] a powerful, far-reaching critique of the economic interests, cultural dimensions, and political dynamics involved in the nation’s shift toward increasingly abusive forms of power. His analysis [helped some] of us […] frame critical questions about what can and should be done to turn things around while we can.”  That is, before the fascists finally succeed in a violent coup and permanently close our open society, as Naomi Wolff warned us back in 2007 with The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot.  Unfortunately, not enough Americans are reading these days.  Our political, historical, and intellectual tools must always be sharpened. And the best way is to read, or listen to, books.  Watch informative videos.  Be true to reality.   Find like-minded people.  Self-educate for correct political action.

“Reflecting on a wide range of social issues, Giroux contrasts Donald Trump’s America with Sandra Bland’s to understand who really benefits from politically fueled intolerance for immigrants, communities of color, Muslims, low-income families, and those who challenge state and corporate power. A passionate advocate for civil rights and the importance of the imagination, Giroux argues that only through widespread social investment in democracy and education can the common good hope to prevail over the increasingly concentrated influence of extreme right-wing politicians and self-serving economic interests.”

That was 2016.  Everyone underestimated just how dangerous Trump can be.  Now, it’s 2021.  America has reached over 24 million COVID-19 infections and almost 400,000 covid-related deaths.  National Geographic reported last April that the American death toll has surpassed the so-called Vietnam War. Many Americans understand Trump failed his nation with his narcissistic abuse and gaslighting, acting like there was no problem until many of us were infected.  It bears repeating, but liberals, who were surprised by the fascist events of January 6th, need to read up on their American History X. Dr. Peter Dale Scott is a good place to start for adults.  Dr. James Loewen or Dr. Howard Zinn are good places to start for kids.  The problem is, we, Americans see what we want to see and hear what we want to hear when it suits us.  Too many of us have veered off into our own little narcissistic bubbles, where we attempt to deny the pain and suffering of everyone around us, so that we can feed on narcissistic supply. 

I suspect the latest literature on narcissistic personality disorder spectra, particularly around “reactive narcissism”, as explained by Dr. James McIntosh on Pacifica Radio this week, will give us many tools to help us explain the psychological dimensions of this mental illness known as “racism”.  We may find these social pathologies may constitute a cluster of disorders, similar to how we have “Cluster-B” personality disordered type people.  We may find common features to mindsets, like “racism”, fascism, and narcissism.

“Reflecting on a wide range of social issues, Giroux [contrasted] Donald Trump’s America with Sandra Bland’s to understand who really benefits from politically-fueled intolerance for immigrants, communities of color, Muslims, low-income families, and those who challenge state and corporate power. A passionate advocate for civil rights and the importance of the imagination, Giroux argues that only through widespread social investment in democracy and education can the common good hope to prevail over the increasingly concentrated influence of extreme right-wing politicians and self-serving economic interests.”

Alas, I’m afraid not enough of us were up to that task, which Dr. Giroux and others laid out for us back in 2016, and even earlier.  It’s clear the solution involves action.  We begin to self-educate for correct political action.  Then, we take action.  Let’s get involved in any way, which feels right to us.  As we grow, mature, and evolve, so can our politics and our civic engagement.

As I’m taking my spare time to study and understand the fascist events of January 6th, I’m returning to the warning signs many of us missed.  It’s never too late to learn to identify red flags, whether in interpersonal relationships or in politics.  Dr. Henry Giroux has been clueing us in to many of those red flags.  Bourgeois politics has simply failed to provide a meaningful response to the neoliberal assaults on human beings around the world.   In retrospect, Dr. Giroux’s book, America At War With Itself, seems prophetic at this particular historical moment.

@LumpenProles

***

Here’s what people have been saying today about the Events of January 6th and more about the current state of our nation. Consider downloading the Pacifica Radio app for easy access to some cool free speech radio stations across the nation.  We can also listen live online, or access audio archives at KPFA, WBAI, WPFW, and KPFK. For now, these are our notes, which will serve future scholarship.  If they help you help America be better, good.  If not, we always appreciate constructive criticism.  May we always think of others…

Friday, January 15, 2021

04:35 PST, WPFW > music (blues)

04:38 PST, WBAI > talk. linguistics, “out-of-Africa theory”, etc.

04:00 – 05:00 PST, KPFA > 04:42 PST, talk/babble (satirical jibberish)

KPFK > Something’s Happening A > […] > The Thom Hartmann Show (rerun) > […] 04:40 PST, [TP] On the fascist events of January 6th.  04:45 PST, “I’m more convinced that this is more sinister than we imagine.”  TH:  ‘I believe within the party that there is some bifurcation. Some were in on it.  Some weren’t.  At least ten weren’t willing to LIHOP.’  I dunno, Tom.  Those ten could be shills for the GOP, just to give liberals like you that flimsy talking point your upholding about a bifurcation. A 50/50 split, even 60/40 might seem like a “bifurcation”.  But just ten Republicans.  No.  04:48 PST, Greg Palast [TP] corroborated report about women’s group plan for rally, keystone cops ‘were told there would be no rally’.  But black folks, in the east coast, especially on WPFW, have been saying the DC mayor was asking for police staffing and back up before Wednesday.  But her requests were put on hold, on review for approval, and were ultimately ignored. Palast seems unaware of this notion that the cops were caught off guard.  The first person I heard push this narrative was an FBI man interviewed on Pacifica Radio this week. Let that sink in.

05:00 PST – 06:00 PST, KPFK > Something’s Happening B > Democracy Now! News Headlines. […] 05:17 PST, First Look/The Intercept fired Laura Poitras.  WTF?!  Okay, Jeremy Scahill, what now?  The Intercept is looking quite vile now. 05:18 PST, The Tom Hartmann Show (rerun)

05:00 PST, KPFA > […] Prof on the deplatforming of Donald Trump. > 05:33 PST, On MLK history […, 05:43]

05:00 PST, WPFW [DC] & WBAI [NYC] (simulcast) > Democracy Now![…] 05:44 PST, polio vaccine documentary, Around the World, excerpt.

05:00 PST, KPFK > […] Economic Update > 05:44 PST, On the fascist events of January 6th. Tp who is working class?

06:00 PST, The Stephanie Miller Show > […] 06:31 PST, “Corey Bush is my new spirit animal.”  Clip. “I could feel their sphincter snap shut!”  […]  “Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!”  “You know what made my blood boil?  [They side-stepped metal detectors to walk in armed.]  It was Blue Lives Only Matter.”  […] Capitol Police officer killed himself after this. […] [TP]

06:24 PST, Meanwhile, I’m getting a report from my ‘cousin’ commuting on 580 West out of Tracy (CA) toward the SF Bay Area of one of those giant trucks with a giant flag waving in the fast lane on a giant flag pole.  When I see those trucks going by, usually aggressively speeding past everyone in some vulgar display of white privilege and male patriarchy, I feel that sinking feeling, which Meredith Miller describes at Inner Integration when one feels the approach of a narcissistic abuser.

06:00 PST, WPFW > […] 06:35 PST, music (hip hop; ’90s jazzy style) 06:37 PST, interview about climate activism, “scarcity to abundance”, “mobilize to organize”, “What is Afro-Futurism?” Destiny Hodges(sp?).

06:00 PST, WBAI > Brent Michael Phillips, again, “you will clear hundreds of subconscious blocks” “I’m also including my trauma clearing process”, which uses a special encoding based on aural beats, which puts your brain into a theta state.  “It’s amazingly powerful.”  Yo, that’s some far out shit.  I’m gonna call it snake oil, though, if this dude is price-gouging Pacifica Radio listeners.  I never really heard of this guy before I turned on Pacifica Radio to tune in for coverage of the fascist events of January 6th.  We ain’t got time for this bloke right now. If he’s legit, or not, leave your comments below.

06:47 PST, Amy Goodman implicitly cheerleads for vaccine corporations by holding up the polio vaccine.  But the primary mode of polio transmission is a fecal-oral route.  We can see how sanitation and a vaccine could virtually eliminate the polio virus.  But the coronovirus doesn’t need a fecal-oral route.  As far as we know, the existing science and literature is clear that people with symptoms are contagious via saliva, droplets and breathing in confined spaces.  News reports after the 6th reported that Democrat congress members have become infected with the coronovirus after being confined in close quarters with Republican congress members, who refused to wear a mask.  The coronovirus is like the flu virus, in the sense that it is expected to be seasonal and to mutate.  We’ve already seen at least one variant, which may render the first vaccine useless.  If it takes a year or more to develop a vaccine, but the variants are coming faster than the new vaccines can be developed, produced, distributed, and administered, then we can see how this may be an uphill battle to contain the pandemic.  It’s disappointing Amy Goodman didn’t point this out, apparently, in her zeal to counter ant8-vaxxers.  The public discourse gets dumbed down in the process, however.  06:54 PST, Noam Chomsky clip; then back to interview with the son of polio vaccine inventor.  “Who profits from these vaccines, Dr. Salk(sp?)?”, asked Amy Goodman.  “There needs to be a creative cooperation […]”

07:00 PST, KPFA > Biden:  “We can’t not not afford to […] [?] 2020 is the hottest year on record, each year has been hotter than the previous year for the last six years.  Our planet is clearly heating up.  Greta Thunberg appeals to the apathetic bourgeoisie around the world, who reply with a collective yawn.  >  UpFront > host Janine Edder(sp?) > topic: Uganda > guest: Prof. Horace Campbell.  “Idi Amin” “brutal” leader.  Ugandan history is about British colonialism.  South = coffee.  North = ?  British used a divide and conquer strategy, which is like the narcissistic abuser behavior of instigating conflict and then sitting back and feeding on the narcissistic supply.  (Cf. Meredith Miller, Inner Integration)  […]

07:00 PST, WPFW > […] Dr. Gerald Horne […]  07:14 PST, “the money was apparently transferred from western Europe” […] to fund the so-called ‘Insurrection’.  This corroborates what anti-racist watch observers have been saying.  There are social networks being established by northern Europeans.  YouTuber Lasse Burholt is one example, which started popping up on my YouTube feed, after I started monitoring right-wing media.  07:19 PST, “Headlines & Happenings”

07:00 PST, WBAI > […] 07:20 PST, talk, interview about guest’s craft of preparing “comfort food” […] 

07:00 PST, KPFK > SojournerTruth with Margaret Prescod > 07:23 PST, “deep patriarchal” structure.  Jackie Goldberg. [TP]  Are we, Americans, so afraid of the word conspiracy, such that we don’t see the Q-Anon conspirators sitting in Congress?  “I do think that this is a very dangerous time.”  “These death threats […]”

08:00 PST, WPFW > […] 08:40 PST, talk, last 15 min were bullshit bourgeois analysis, name-calling and ad hominem attacks against the demonstrators and rioters.  (See audio note.)  All apologies, but these liberal talking heads sound sedated and politically comatose.  Earlier in the hour, a male caller tried to expand the analysis and explanations for the fascist events of January 6th beyond a simple race narrative.  The caller pointed out the crimes of state, which Obama presided over, evidencing the police state and imperialist nature of the Obama administration.  These bourgeois talking heads dismissed him, then proceeded to spout platitudes. Presumably, they’re partisan Democrats, who can’t take criticism, like lame narcissists.  I’d like to debate these blokes on this pont because it’s a serious one.  We need to be clear on our analysis, as Carl Dix reminds us.

09:00 PST, KPFA > Democracy Now! > […] [TP] 0930, guy just gave good analysis, but his blind spot is white nationalism.  He underestimates how deep racism goes at the core of the American deep state (cf. Dr. Peter Dale Scott) […] [TP] Nina Simone – ” I Wish I Knew How It Feels To Be Free”  Indeed.  Cf. The Idles.

10:00 PST, KPFK > The Michael Slate Show > real talk about the fascist assaults of January 6th. […]  This was a scrappy broadcast, but a very important one.  I have never felt such authenticity from her before.  She represented the non-intellectual working class types in a way.  She brought diversity to the discussion. Growing pains.

11:00 PST, KPFK > Global Village > music (tropical, Brazilian)

11:00 PST, WBAI > Neurodiversity > White-sounding lady talks about her politics around autism spectrum self-advocacy and advocacy.  People of color can benefit from taking her certitude, white privilege (perhaps), language of identity politics, but use it to be more demanding about our requirements for human dignity.  Natalie Tanduway(sp?).  Julia from Autistic Advocacy Network.  Maybe people of color don’t; maybe I’m projecting. Hm.

1100 KPFA VOMENA(?) “Palestinian””ethnic studies” California. CDE rollback of ethnic studies.

11:30 PST, WBAI > EcoLogic.

11:00 PST, WPFW > 11:44 PST, talk. [TW] On the fascist assaults of January 6th.

12:00 PST, KPFA > KPFA News Headlines [TP] Reports say pro-Trump loyalists in DC last week planned to assassinate politicians. > Special Broadcast on the fascist assaults of January 6th. [TW] White-sounding guy began with introduction.  ‘Ali Alexander has gone into hiding.’ Earlier it was reported the guy with horns author Talia was talking about with KPFA’s Mitch Jeserich. Is that guy really a terrorist?  He struck me as an anti-statist hedonist, an individualist. […]  12:20 PST, “The first block is the soft coup block.” [TP]  ‘The second block is the hard coup block.”  […]  “The thin blue line is this idealized space.”  […]  ‘Rudy Giuliani called the wrong people, leaving voicemails to conspire for the 6th.  […]  “the new militias” are not like the Michigan militias, which were pro-Constitution motivated.  These guys are white nationalists.  Let’s not forget about CIA disinformation in right-wing media.  This white-sounding guy is providing excellent analysis, which is quite consistent with our perspective here at Lumpenproletariat.  We need more experts like this guy, also the guy from Southern Poverty Law Center we heard on Pacifica Radio last week.  […]  On Q-Anon:  ‘Following Q-Anon hurts my brain.’  But the anti-semitic Q-Anon narrative has some grains of truth to it with the whole Epstein scandal and Bill Clinton’s exposure and others implicated in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking and blackmailing scandal. […]  12:36 PST, ‘messianic narratives and the end times, like ISIS.  The speaker isn’t saying it, but I’m reminded of K Street and an interview Mitch Jeserich about the house on K Street, where The Family lives.  Netflix made a documentary series based on the same book, I think.  But “The Family” is a cult-like group, who are influential in Washington, D.C. and Congress.  These elites believe that an apocalyptic conflagration between good and evil will take place, which will usher in the return of Christ or something. So, in that narrative ), funding and backing Israel is essential.  So, this may help explain America’s exorbitant expenditures in backing up the illegal occupation of Palestine.  […]  it’s “a death cult”. 12:44 PST, From listening to this analysis, it seems that CIA, et al have mastered manipulating ‘useful idiots’, peaking with 9/11-related terrorism.  And, now, turning their cross hairs towards  their ultimate enemy—Americans. […] 12:49 PST, On the contrast between the benign depictions or “optics” on TV versus the violent reality on the ground. That smacks of a corporate media ‘stand-down’, as it were. […] 12:55 PST, ‘They didn’t just kill the cop. They knocked his ass out, dragged him, then beat him to death.’ Let that sink in, America. These thugs have overdosed on hate speech and have become outright fascists. We need to listen to these experts, who have been monitoring these groups. They are being used and manipulated by the American ruling class to advance an anti-working class, anti-labor, antidemocratic, pro-fascist, pro-capitalist, racist, and narcissistic agenda.

12:00 PST. WPFW > […] 12:11 PST, “The Fantastic Friday Show” with Bobby Rocks(sp?).  12:12 PST, black-sounding American with a rant of righteous indignation. Well said.  12:13 PST, jazzy hip hop instrumental track. […]  12:47 PST, music; later-era Marvin Gaye sounds.

12:00 PST, WBAI > […] 12:15 PST, On the fascist assaults of January 6th. [TW]  “There will be violence.”  No wonder Trump’s wife had announced she was planning to divorce him recently.  Maybe she knew something we didn’t.  Maybe she wanted to avoid culpability in what she saw as a losing strategy. But I’m only speculating.  It’d be interesting to investigate and see where that question leads.

12:00 PST, KPFK > […] 12:50 PST, music (Brazilian).

13:00 PST, KPFA > Project Censored Show > Kevin Gastola(sp?) with an update on the 6th, Assange update, and more. [TW]

14:00 PST, KPFA > On the fascist assaults on January 6th, and parsing the loyalist mob groupings. Bundy Family and other standoffs

“American Reckoning – A PBS NewsHour Special Report” by PBS NewsHour, 15 JAN 2021.

[These are my raw notes. I will expand and edit, as time constraints allow.  TP = transcript pending volunteer labor. Please help transcribe breaking news and information. It’s urgent that we document the people’s narrative of the events of January 6th.  Please, also monitor corporate media and right-wing media, too.  Solidarity. ]

***

[14 JAN 2021]

[Last modified on 6 MAR 2023 at 18:34 PST]