Low Tech.

 

             We seemed to be completely hypnotised by modern technology it has swamped our lives, we have become dependent on it throughout our daily life. Each new piece of technology we are lead to believe it will improve our life, make life easier, but does it and at what cost? Modern technology has enmeshed us in one massive surveillance machine, the powers that be and some commercial concerns gather facts about your daily life and can use it to their advantage without your knowledge. Cameras monitor your very movement, your phone is a tracking machine and can pin point where you were at any given moment. Modern technology takes away many of your skills that helped you to be independent. It can isolate you but give you the impression that your are part of a community, social media, where some people have a thousand "friends" but have met very few. A strange world of community in isolation. 

These words from Not Buying Anything must surely provoke some thoughts        

 

Wendel Berry at work... without a computer.

       In 1987 Wendel Berry explained that he did not wish to buy a computer with which to do his writing. He never did relent, preferring the low tech and less flashy pencil and paper combo.
       His goal was always, "to make myself as plain as I can". Towards this goal he shared his standards for technological adoption.

They are as follows:
1. The new item should be cheaper than what it replaces.
2. It should be at least as small in scale.
3. It should do work that is clearly and demonstrably better than what it replaces.
4. It should use less energy than what it replaces.
5. If possible, it should use some form of renewable energy, such as solar or that produced by the body.
6. It should be repairable by a person of ordinary intelligence, provided that he or she has the necessary tools.
7. It should be purchasable and repairable as near to home as possible.
8. It should come from a small, privately owned shop or store that would take it back for maintenance and repair.
9. It should not replace or disrupt anything good that already exists, and this includes family and community relationships.
       Using such standards would mean that much of the technology we use now would no longer be produced or consumed. How much of modern technology advances the human condition, rather than advancing surveillance, control, and profit-making? Maybe we need less technology, not more, or perhaps the answers we need can only be addressed by low tech rather than high. But talk that way and most people will think you are insane. We have accepted high tech unconditionally as a good that always makes life better.
        Berry says, "The Luddites asserted the precedence of community needs over technological innovation and monetary profit. The victory of industrialism over Luddism was overwhelming and unconditional. It was undoubtedly the most complete, significant, and lasting victory of modern times.
        To this day, if you say you would be willing to forbid, restrict, or reduce the use of technological devices in order to protect the community, or to protect the good health of nature on which the community depends, you will be called a Luddite, and it will not be a compliment.

Technological determinism has triumphed."

         In an insane world, the sane will be seen as the ones who have lost their minds. Some would say that Wendel Berry was not thinking straight to consider that using a pencil for writing, and editing on paper with his wife, could not be improved upon by the purchase and use of a computer. And yet, he still resisted.
        "The individual", Friederich Nietzsche said, "has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe." He thought that if you tried it, you would often be lonely, and sometimes frightened. But, he thought, "no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself".
         You could say that Berry was off his rocker for not being an enthusiastic cheerleader for high tech. But you couldn't say that he didn't own himself. We would do well to consider his standards for technological adoption, and seriously question all new innovations before we choose to adopt them in our own lives. Contrary to what the tribe believes, new technologies are not always improvements that benefit humanity.

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info    

Buying.

 

          Some words of wisdom or food for thought, from my friend at Not Buying Anything, call it what you will, but we have choices, and the choices we make will determine the future living standards of our grandchildren, and all the other grandchildren on the planet. Our actions have reactions further down the date line. We are responsible for tomorrow. Of course the ultimate aim is to create a society without buying, but built on mutual aid, co-operation, sustainability and seeing to the needs of all our people, freed from the corrosive and exploitative system of profit.
 

             Gandhi said that the Earth can support our need, but not our greed. More truthful words can not be spoken, but how often do you hear about that today?
             The choice before us today is the same it has always been:
            1. Provide for a small population of high consuming humans satisfying their greed.
          Or
            2. Provide for a large population of humans simply meeting their needs.
            Unfortunately, the psychopaths in charge of consumer nations seem to        have chosen the first option.
            You can call it "The West", "The Golden Billion", or whatever else. It doesn't matter because the result is the same.
            Consumerism is a club, most of the world is not in it, and the plan is to never let them in because there are not enough resources for everyone to consume like we do.
           While those in charge have their own choice made, what will we, the people, choose? Because it is us after all, and how we choose to live, that really matters.

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info    

Merry Nothing.

        It's the corporate retailers "golden quarter", or it is meant to be, that time of year when you are supposed to run about mad, feeling under an obligation to buy all your friends and family lots of all those shiny boxes of crap. Stuff they don't really need and in all probability don't particularly want. However the pandemic has knocked a hole in the corporate retailers plans, even although their friends in government are doing all they can to get you back into all those shopping malls and to hell with health and safety. So let's not fall for their duplicity, we've got by in recent months without buying their pretty boxes of crap. Let's continue with that and see their heap of shining tatty, boxes of the latest whatever, that we'll be told in a few months, that it is out of date and has to be renewed, standing and rotting. Let's see all those greedy retailers weeping over their mountains of tat and froth rotting in store rooms. We don't need your sweatshop garbage to fill our cupboards and empty our purses, so you can buy another luxury yacht. 

The following is from Not Buying Anything:

 

 

     Gift giving is changing. It may never be the same again. You can thank the pandemic for that. The spell of consumerism has been broken, and you can thank the pandemic for that, too. There will be no returning to "normal", despite what we are being told.
Was normal that great anyway?
Do we really want to return to that?
Not when normal is wage slavery in order to survive.
Not when normal is a declining standard of living for most... but not all of us.
Not when normal is rich people going for all the marbles in a global takeover.
Not when normal is the unleashing of violence upon people in other countries that have resources we want, as well as upon our own people... if they are the "wrong" people.
Not when normal is working harder for less, and not having enough time to live.
And certainly not when normal is buying people things they don't want or need because of feelings of obligation, misplaced love, a large dose of advertising arm-twisting, and an even larger dose of "it's the patriotic thing to do".
     This gift-giving season, think about a more sensible approach, or consider no gifts at all.
     A pandemic is a great excuse to take a break! Do we really want to think about mindless ritual gift giving with so many other more important things going on right now?
     If you do give gifts, think of giving something appropriate for this pandemic holiday season. Highly appreciated by most would be things actually needed. And there is so much need right now. That is the way to go this year, and every year.
Gift Giving In A Pandemic
- food, water, clothing, shelter
- toilet paper (this year's hot gift for sure)
- or better yet, an add-on bidet, or tabo
- tea, coffee, and chocolate provide a moment of respite in hard times
- rent money
- books (the old fashioned kind that don't need electricity to work)
- face masks, hand cleaner, disinfectants
- help paying health care costs
- best is to give the gift of your time
       And remember, the gift of nothing is nice if the person in mind doesn't need anything.
       Sometimes nothing is better than something.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk    

Idle.

In Praise of Idleness, By Bertrand Russell:

      Like most of my generation, I was brought up on the saying “Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do.” Being a highly virtuous child, I believed all that I was told and acquired a conscience which has kept me working hard down to the present moment. But although my conscience has controlled my actions, my opinions have undergone a revolution. I think that there is far too much work done in the world, that immense harm is caused by the belief that work is virtuous, and that what needs to be preached in modern industrial countries is quite different from what always has been preached. Every one knows the story of the traveler in Naples who saw twelve beggars lying in the sun (it was before the days of Mussolini), and offered a lira to the laziest of them. Eleven of them jumped up to claim it, so he gave it to the twelfth. This traveler was on the right lines.

       This pandemic has created a lot of enforced change in the way we live, suddenly you find yourself with lots of time on your hands. At first it might be frustrating and boring, but a bit of reflection and you will soon realise that you can survive without stressing yourself out at a lousy job for crap wages, just to pay rent/mortgage, TV license, car, and other bills that come with a very busy life. Do you need all those bells and whistles, bobbles, bubble gum and popcorn that this work ethic society throws at you? After all do your really want to be running against a clock and jumping through hoops to the detriment of your health, at somebody else's dictate?

      As always when I visit Not Buying Anything blog, I find common sense in plain language, this visit was no different.

The following is from Not Buying Anything:

 

 

        Since the beginning, this blog has been promoting the idea that doing less, not more, is the way to lasting happiness.
      My personal motto is: "Do less with less, and do it less often."
     That has set me at odds with mainstream notions of a work ethic, but I couldn't be bothered to care any more. But is doing less lazy? It could be self-preservation. Or just enjoying life.
     When workaholism is the expectation, slowing down (or-gasp!-stopping) reflects a dangerous lack of ambition and initiative. Who thought that shit up?
      I don't think it was a worker that invented the work till you drop ethic. It sounds like something a boss would come up with.
       Although people in fast nations have forgotten it, not all humans have accepted accelerated lifestyles high on speed and stuff, but low on quality of life. Some cultures see no shame in cultivating the art of doing nothing, and have done so since time immemorial without being guilted into exchanging that for "productive activity". Whatever that means. Sounds like the bosses again.
     Now, perhaps those of us in North America may be finally learning something about the benefits of being idle. Just because we are in a lockdown does not mean we can't gain something from it.Let that be at least one take away - during this pandemic I hope people discover the childlike heavenly simplicity of doing nothing. On purpose, and repeatedly.
       This is an excellent opportunity to Begin Building Better. Sorry, I got a little slogany there. But I persist. How about starting a whole new life? One can do that when one finds one's self at the bottom, which is a good place to start a new foundation.
      Allowing ourselves idle time will lead to slower, more intentional ways of living, ones which have nothing to do with infinite speediness, and the endless pursuit of wealth, power, and fame. Quite the opposite. We can leave that behind us.
      This is about being in that glorious moment of non-productive bliss. This is about taking back power and control over your own person.
      For, as Tom Hodgkinson says in his book How To Be Idle, "Idleness is not a giving up on life, but a spirited grabbing hold of it."
      So grab hold of a bit of American idle today.
      You might like it.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Prepare.

      With a brutal recession most certainly coming, what should we be doing to prepare for this capitalist inevitability? Where you live and your circumstance can and will dictate a great deal of how you manage the situation, but we should always remember, mutual aid, sharing and community co-operation are key to not just surviving, but winning in this battle between survival of capitalism or a better way to live for all.  

      The covid19 pandemic taught a lot of people the benefits of mutual aid, let's not lose that knowledge, we should expand it, learn from it and take those tools with us into this battle for survival, remember, a community can grow a lot of its own food with a wee bit of co-operation and effort. When the scourge of the capitalist recession hits us, the ordinary people, it will be brutal and you can be sure the establishment's main aim will be for the survival of capitalism, no matter the cost to human health and welfare. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to reverse that plan and see to the health and welfare of all our people at the expense of capitalism. They need us, we don't need them.

     A few words of commonsense from Not Buying Anything:

 Our pantry order arrived! Not a bit of plastic. Everything is packaged in heavy paper sacks.

      We have been working on our pantry since we moved to Nova Scotia in 2014, but didn't really maximize on the space, having never had a real pantry before. We needed to get motivated. The pandemic provided us with a good kick in the butt, and this year we finally got down to business.
      When we were researching our new home area, we discovered an agri-business in the Maritimes that specializes in locally grown organic staple foods. We also found a food buying group in our community. But we had not yet connected the two.
          Enter The Virus and we had that extra bit of motivation we needed.
        We tried to order directly from the wholesaler, but were told because of the pandemic they were very busy and had to enforce a minimum order of several hundred dollars or 600 pounds of delivered weight.
         We couldn't do that. We are building a pantry, not a bunker.
      Therefore, we contacted the local food buying group, and found that they deal with the supplier! We could order whatever we wanted, in any quantity.
      They took our order by email, we paid by e-transfer, and when it came in a couple of weeks later, it was delivered right to our front door free of charge.
      As much as possible, the products are from local organic farms. All their flour is stone ground, a process which retains more fibre and nutrients than steel roller milling which causes the loss of anywhere from 20 - 30% of the good stuff.
      This is what was in our order. All of it is organic.
- 2.27 kg sesame seeds
- 2.27 kg soybeans
- 2 X 2.27 kg cornmeal
- 2.27 kg sunflower seeds
- 20 kg oatmeal
- 10 kg whole wheat flour
        I have never seen a 20 kilogram bag of rolled oats before. What a beautiful thing, if you love oats, and we do. We were buying non-organic large oats (for the same price) in 1 kg plastic bags from the store previously.
        That's 20 plastic bags we will not be using!
       Over the next few weeks we will be augmenting our progressing pantry with food from the garden. We have already made strawberry jam, and we are looking forward to drying herbs, making pesto, canning pickled beets and cucumbers, as well as tomatoes and/or salsa.
       We are also freezing things like bush and pole beans, peas, and kale.
       We have also increased some amounts of pantry items. For many things, we try to always keep 2 in stock. Now we are keeping 3 of certain items, like peanut butter. The less we have to shop, the better, and this allows us to take advantage of sales when they come up.
     Our food storage has never been this prepared before, and the timing couldn't be better. It all fits with giving up our vehicle, the pandemic, and an impending Greatest Depression.
       And who knows what else?

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Green Illusion.

       I like visiting Not Buying Anything site, I usually get some calmly delivered, topical, rational information, built on commonsense. Today I detect a little hint of frustration and anger in his words, that's great by me, we will never sort out this insanity we live in with smiles and polite dialogue alone.

      Could there be a better symbol of the futility of a mandatory car-based transportation system than the latest "big idea" out of the vehicle industrial complex? How desperate, or out of touch are they?
      Yes, here is their answer to the ongoing ecocide brought on partly by powerful interests limiting our transportation alternatives in order to sell more of their killer product.
     No, there will not be a resurgence of trains, or improved public transportation, or more bicycles, or staying home more often, or working closer to where you live. Or working from home permanently.
     Those are all bad, dumb ideas that will "wreck our economy", which by the way, is more important than the climate, and recently, even more important than people's lives.
      The manufactured for profit mandatory car culture will try to push the inevitable implementation of those ideas down the road another few decades, because the real solution is almost here.
     Yes, the real solution coming from the private mobility/ego-stroking industry is... wait for it...

- an electric Hummer!

       It will have a 1000 horsepower motor, and goes from 0 to stupid in 3 seconds.
      Buyers will be able to choose a one, two, or three motor unit, because you can't have too many motors on hand when you go to pick up your groceries, or the kids from school (if the kids ever go back to school).
      You can even take the roof panels off to "let the world in".
     "Look kids, it's the world!"
    The coal-stained air is stinging my eyes, daddy, please put the panels back on."
     Wow! The world is crumbling before our very eyes - but roof panels on an electric hummer! I'm forgetting about pollution and the pandemic already.
    But the best part is yet to come. This electrified hunk of wastefulness on steroids starts at "only" $70,000 dollars. A bargain!
       Who doesn't have 70 grand to throw around these days, speaking of waste?
       Where I live, that kind of money, if anyone actually had it, could buy a piece of land and old house. I guess one could live in the truck, but where would you put the garden?
     I wouldn't be surprised if a halo and green monks robe was included with each electric big truck purchase because the more you drive your new glorified shopping cart, the more you're saving the Earth.
     Because it's green!
    Like baby poop, except green baby poop isn't a sign that anything is wrong, and a hummer definitely is, electric or not.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Anti-consumerism.

     Once again an interesting article for Not Buying Anything, an observation that I hope is true, my only fear is that when this over and some people find they have more money than usual, they may go out on a spending binge. I hope not, I hope they keep their sanity and take stock of the things they enjoyed without spending money. Time for reflection.

     This from Not Buying Anything:

       Recreational shopping has been a pastime for decades. Similarly, leisure, or non-essential, travel has also been popular. That just changed. We will not be going back to the way it was before the year 2020.
     Shopping and traveling were fun and entertaining for many in pre-pandemic times. When it was easy. We will not have the same zeal for spending when it is hard.
       If shoppers have to wear masks, get their temperature checked at the door, sanitize their hands, and social distance once they get in to the business, consumption won't be what it was in the spend freely days of pre-pandemic times.
      And if they continue to get infected, in-person shopping will remain a shadow of the peak consumerism days of the recent past, and likely will never come back in the same way.
       Evidence for this is the largest increase in the American savings rate ever, that happened recently. When spending money becomes less attractive, savings rates increase.
     What is good for your bank account, though, is bad for the overflowing vaults of the 1%ers.
      This is the capitalist nightmare - people deciding to do other more enjoyable things instead of spending their meagre funds to buy goods and services they don't need. But that is what is happening.
      All over the world humans are waking up every day and finding healthier, less expensive, and more meaningful, ways to occupy their time. Things that aren't shopping or traveling. Or traveling to go shopping.
      This could be the end of many familiar things and arrangements. Will it be the end of consumerism, and would that take down capitalism, too? That would be welcome, because either we take it down, or it will take us down. That decision will be ours to make.
      We have the power, that much is perfectly clear. If we won't work for them, and won't shop for their junk, what can they do? They need us more than we need them and their wasteful ways.
       Our predatory psychopathic-lead system is getting morphed into who knows exactly what as the people rediscover their power to make change. Some of those changes are that we will become savers rather than spenders, and will choose the familiar home range over frivolous foreign sojourns.
       After more than a decade of watching consumer behaviour closely, I am getting the feeling that many newly re-minted community participants are tiring of spending money on non-essential things, and going in debt to do so.
We are moving on to more important, more beautiful, more balanced concerns, and say to our former rulers and their soulless system, "Thank you for your service - we will take it from here".

 

 Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Looters.

       Somethings I always expect when I visit Not Buying Anything, compassion, insight, respect and common sense. Qualities if we all acted upon, we would have arrived at that better world by now.

   Here are Gregg's latest thoughts on today's society.

Looters On A Rampage. 

 

      I was going to write about my garden, which is fully planted, but there is so much going on in the world right now I find myself needing to sow some ideas in the fertile soil of the internet first.
      So here goes with some random thoughts.
      * When you steal the contents of a store you are a looter.
     When you steal the contents of an old growth forest you are an enterprising industry leader.
     * When telling a lie, tell a whopper. Keep repeating it. If challenged, double down. 

      For example - "You are free." "We care." "TINA." "Corruption only happens in other countries." "You have Freedom of Assembly."
     * You can rob more money by owning a bank than by robbing a bank. 
     * There is never enough money for the people's projects.
     There is always enough money for propping up crony capitalism.
    * When you dump a load of steer manure on a CEO's doorstep you are engaging in "domestic terrorism".
     When that CEO dumps toxic shit in your drinking water he is engaging in "bringing jobs and prosperity to your community".
     * When a crowd of people are in the street (some with automatic weapons), disrupting traffic and screaming moistly for haircuts and a sit down fast food meal, they get a police escort.
     When a crowd of peaceful, non-violent, non-armed citizens are in the street screaming (also moistly) for justice they get pepper spray, rubber bullets and police infiltrators/provocateurs instigating violence to discredit their message.
    * When you try to save the Earth you are an ecoterrorist and will be rewarded with scorn and incarceration.
     When you succeed in destroying the Earth, if you are lucky, you will be rewarded by becoming a billionaire.
     I can see who the real looters are, and where the real violence is coming from.
      It is not the citizens I have seen in the streets, who are largely peaceful and compassionate toward each other and loving toward their communities.
    Right now the real looters are on a record-setting multi-trillion dollar rampage. It is the largest transfer of wealth in the history of large transfers of wealth.
     And the largest purveyors of violence on the planet are state authorities trying to keep our necks under their knees. "We can't breathe!"
     These truths aren't being reported while we are obsessing over The People's understandable reaction to an obviously messed up social and economic situation.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk  

Healthy Cities.

       There is no doubt that this pandemic has brought about lots of changes in the way people think and act. Of course some of that will disappear after this covid19 thing is behind us, but some will stay. hopefully we will start to put together that better world we all talked about, and hopefully organised for, while our lives were suspended to a degree. Of course for our "frontline workers" life was never suspended, it was thrown into warp speed.
      One of the changes that came about during this lockdown was the booming cycle business. People started taking to their bikes big time, new bikes old bikes all started to be seen streaming through our streets and parks. If that continues it instills a wonderful feeling of joy, as we start living in cities and towns where we can breathe much cleaner air, and see a healthier population. Of course that is only one small change we will have to make to get to the better new world we want.
     As a keen cyclist can applaud this short piece from Not Buying Anything, it has started a little glow of hope that perhaps we are seeing the demise of the car jammed roads, each vehicle belching out poison and turning our living spaces into poison pods. Here's hoping, it's a start to that better world.

Overheard the other day:
     "What is something you are looking forward to doing after the pandemic is over?"
     "Continuing the family bike rides that we have started while staying at home."
        Does anyone else feel the Earth moving under their feet?
Is that the rumble of people giving up driving for riding? Right now car sales are down, and bicycle sales are up. Guaranteed no one saw that one coming just a short while ago.
       Not only are bike sales up, bike servicing is as well as people drag old bikes out of basements and garages and bring them in for a tune up.
       Whether it is to get out of the house, get exercise, spend more time with family and friends, or have a less expensive way to commute that doesn't involve being in close proximity to other commuters, people have been turning to the glory that is the bicycle.
One of the best headlines I have read recently is "Bike Business Booming During Pandemic". That booming you feel is a mass turn toward simplicity.
        The acquisition of a bicycle, after all, is one of the most simple (and wonderful) acts a modern person can engage in.
          To alter the H.G. Wells quote a bit, I can say that, "when I see an adult get set up on a bike, I no longer despair for the human race".
And when I see large masses of adults buying new bikes, and repairing old ones, I start to think, "Hey, we might actually turn this thing around."
        Here's to riding our way to a new, better world.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

This or--?

Another thoughtful piece from Not Buying Anything:

      Humanity has some serious decisions to make right now. We should have made them 50 years ago, but we did not. Now we must, because our survival depends on it.
     Will we decide on preserving the Earth, our only life support system, or will we choose something else?

What it comes down to is,
      "You can have *this* or you can have a liveable planet. You can't have both".
With *this* being things like:

- unlimited travel
- personal motor vehicles (fossil fuel or electric)
- billionaires
- industrial food production
- unfettered human reproduction
- ruthless competition
- war/hate
- convenience
- monumental waste
- a disposable society

         I don't think it inaccurate to say that we can have a liveable Earth, or we can have those other things. As much as we have been deluding ourselves, we can't have both.
      American biologist E.O. Wilson said that "nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction."
       That is because nature is everything. In the end, nature represents our survival.
     What do all those other things represent?
     Which would you vote for?
     *This*, or a liveable planet?

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

Our Home.

       Once again some quiet words of wisdom from "Not Buying Anything", thanks Gregg.

Nature Is The Essentialist Of All Services

Nature is not a capitalist system: These are the services she provides absolutely free.

Stock markets tank, erasing trillions of dollars of make-belief wealth.
Nature rolls on.
The cogs, gears and levers of the "unstoppable" capitalist machine finally stop - with a whimper.
Nature rolls on, better than ever.
Bars close, gyms close, toy stores close, all the non-essential crap closes.
Nature rolls on.
Nature
is the
Essentialist
of all services.
No Nature,
no economy.
Let crony capitalism fail on its own.
Bail out Nature.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Profit From Illness.

       Capitalism is stateless, capitalism doesn't recognise borders, capitalism has no morality, capitalism is raw selfish greed, nothing more nothing less. Capitalism is also extremely inefficient, as the present pandemic is now proving, capitalism can't cope with large emergencies, its solutions always leave out large swaths of the public, who suffer because of this inefficiency and on many occasions die. Why do we tolerate this greed driven system to rule our lives? There are alternatives, just think about it.

Some truths from Not Buying Anything: 

 

      When corporate bigwigs raise the prices of things for no reason other than greed, they are doing their jobs. That is the system we live in, and no one says much about it since it increases the GDP, and makes billionaires like clouds make raindrops.
      A common business adage is that a good capitalist will charge as much for a product as the consumer will bear.
    However, when one of the little people feels like being enterprising and taking advantage of the "freedom of the marketplace" and "supply and demand economics", all hell breaks loose.
      $400.00 dollar hand sanitizer is likely to get a small business person scathing judgements and death threats, even though customers may still be buying at that price.
       Price gouging is considered unethical, and for good reasons. But only when the little people do it.
     Drug companies are only one area notorious for unethical practices. Reading the following list it is obvious that price gouging is taking place, and people are paying with their lives.

      The cost of Bavencio, a new cancer drug approved in March, is about $156,000 a year per patient.

       A new muscular dystrophy drug came on the market late last year for an eye-popping price of $300,000 annually.

      In 2016, the FDA appproved Tecentriq, a new bladder cancer treatment that costs $12,500 a month, or $150,000 a year.

     Even older drugs that have long been on the market are not immune: The cost of insulin tripled between 2002 and 2013, despite no notable changes in the formulation or manufacturing process.

    The four-decade-old EpiPen, a lifesaving allergy medication, has seen a price hike of 500 percent since 2007. - AARP Bulletin

       If Handwash Guy can't get away with earning a few thousand reselling his product, how does Big Drug get away with it?
      “The simple answer is because there’s nothing stopping them,” said Leigh Purvis, a health services researcher.
      So what other price gouging is taking place, since in the land of extreme capitalism there is nothing, legislation or morals, to stop them?
       Gas? Housing? Food? Internet access? Health care?
Everything?
     And isn't capitalism itself about to price gouge all of us to the tune of several trillion dollars over the next few days?
    It is obvious who the real price gougers are.

Get ready to be gouged again.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

Smiling Thieves.

      There are endless of ways to point at the insanity of our current economic system of capitalism, to point to its savage cruelty, to its gross inequality, its destruction of our ecosystems, its exploitation of people, its plundering of the Earth's finite resources, its endless wars, its infinite catalogue of other crimes against humanity. Lots of us have been doing so for many years, more and more are joining in this cry for sanity, and an end to our demise at the hands of insane greed. No doubt many more will join us before we finally end this darkest hour in human history.

       I like this accurate assessment of our economic system from Not Buying Anything:

             No one earns billions of dollars. You have to steal that kind of money.

      There is nothing to admire in the money hoarding, cheating ways of the billionaires.
      They want us to believe that their business model is based on their hard work. They want us to believe that they are richer than us, because they are better and smarter than us.
       Their story claims that they are "self-made".
      Their story is false - they have stolen their wealth using capitalism's bogus business model.

Capitalism's Bogus Business Model

- exploit workers, crush unions, don't pay a living wage, gig economy
- never acknowledge responsibility, or pay for, environmental damage
- avoid and evade taxes
- push for more government subsidies and bailouts
- privatize profits, publicize losses
- employ shady accounting practices
- use corruption, lies, coverups and cheats
- sell junk/planned obsolescence
- debut constant upgrades
- spend $1 trillion/yr on mind and behaviour altering advertising and propaganda
      We have all been the victims of the billionaire's bogus business model, which is premised on endless growth, based on infinite resource extraction from a finite planet. We can now see that model has lead us to the brink of collapse.

      As hard as it may be, we need to end this parasitic relationship. You may feel that what is happening in the world of business is not right. Trust that you are correct in feeling this way. There is nothing right about the billionaires.

     It is important for us to ground ourselves in our own reality, and have a support network that allows us to join together to cooperatively figure things out. They want us atomized and weak, so joining together in solidarity is the obvious response.
     We are pleased that this a place where that can happen. It wouldn't be possible without you, and we are grateful for your participation in this project.
     It is more effective to light the candle of truth, than to curse the darkness of the billionaires plan for us.

         "Anyone who cheers for any billionaire to win anything is a pathetic bootlicking loser. Billionaires are worthless, parasitical, untalented, unnecessary middlemen.
        “Philanthropy” is just another billionaire narrative control tool, same as buying media outlets and funding think tanks.
         Build a library named after yourself and you’ve got this “philanthropist” label that pundits use so that people call you that instead of “parasitic sociopath”.
        If wealth had anything to do with hard work, single moms would be the billionaires."
- Caitlin Johnstone 

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

Freedom Of Thought!!

       Freedom of thought is a fundamental human right unimpeded by coercion or force of any kind. Or it should be, but this freedom is always under attack, words are a means of expressing that right of freedom of thought, but words are attacked and attempts made to remove certain words, political correctness, is one such attack, we lose words at our peril, words lost are a diminishing of the ability to express that "freedom of thought". Be very wary of those who tell you certain words are bad and should not be used.

Wikipedia:

       The Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, which states that thought is inherently embedded in language, would support the claim that an effort to limit the use of words of language is actually a form of restricting freedom of thought.[citation needed] This was explored in George Orwell's novel 1984, with the idea of Newspeak, a stripped-down form of the English language alleged to lack the capacity for metaphor and limiting expression of original ideas.

      From Lucas Swaine Freedom of Thought as a Basic Liberty

      Freedom of thought has been lauded in political theory and celebrated in human rights discourse. But what kind of freedom is it? I propose that freedom of thought deserves status as a basic liberty, given the significance of thought to human life, the fundamental importance of freedom of thought in establishing and sustaining crucial rights and freedoms, and the value of being able to develop and experience one’s thoughts without undue influence from others. 

The usual words of calm wisdom from Not Buying Anything:

        Cars can be freedom machines in a way, I admit, and I have had my share of incredible moments blasting across the face of the Earth in a variety of internal combustion conveyances. But those days have been over for Linda and I since we began voluntarily limiting how much we used our vehicle. We made this decision as the rest of the world was speeding around a blind corner and on into the 2000s.
        Since then we been driving less and less and less. Overall, we have found it has not had a noticeable negative effect on our quality of life. That is because cars are sold as freedom machines, but they can only provide freedom of movement. What is the use of having an unlimited freedom to move, if we don't also have the unlimited freedom to think?
       Socrates knew that we cannot find ourselves without first thinking for ourselves. Without this freedom, we are lost.

So, do we have the freedom to think in our societies?

        Freedom of thought is the freedom to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of coercion or force to think differently.

That does not describe the world I know.

      Our freedom of expression has always been limited through censorship, arrests, book burning, and pervasive propaganda. This has destroyed any semblance of freedom of thought that we may feel we still have left.
      Educator John Dewey, himself a deep thinker, thought a lot about freedom of movement vs freedom to think, and this is what he said,

     "The only freedom that is of enduring importance is the freedom of intelligence, that is to say, freedom of observation and of judgment, exercised in behalf of purposes that are intrinsically worthwhile.
       The commonest mistake made about freedom is, I think, to identify it with freedom of movement, or, with the external or physical side of activity."

         While we have driven around our cultural obsession with cars and freedom of movement, we have found our grey matter has been thrown in the slammer. We didn't notice because we have been stuck in traffic.
In recent years I have been willing to give up a large part of my freedom of movement. However, I will not compromise my freedom to think for myself, something on which all other freedoms are based.
        You can't be yourself if you can't think for yourself. And if you can't be yourself, you can't be free.

Freedom of thought wins.

         The time I used to spend driving and being mobile, I now spend blasting around the infinite space between my ears. I would like this to continue, unimpeded by outside forces.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

Time To Be Me.

        "Not Buying Anything" is a site I visit often, and the result is always the same, I come away feeling I have learnt a little bit more of what the world could be if we all open our eyes, but I also leave feeling more eager to pick up the cudgel and do what I can to help destroy this paralysing, corrupt, unjust exploitative economic system that is responsible for so much destruction, death and misery, that will, if not brought down, eventually lead to the demise of humanity by the destruction of the Earth's fragile ecosystem.

This latest from Not Buying Anything:

 

       Like Jean Weir, "I think I experienced society like an iron vice from the day I was born." That is the main reason I find living simply so attractive - it loosens the grip of that iron vice.
      Since I was young I felt the control and exploitation that I was swimming in constantly. I thought it might drown me.
      Because I was born a sensitive, I keenly felt the stings of an obviously unjust and hypocritical system. It was everywhere - in the "father knows best" family structure, at school, the mall, in the playground and on the streets.
     I wondered, and still do, why so few could see it. Can fish perceive the water they swim in? Maybe that is the problem.
     My desire has always been to be beyond sneaky methods of control used by parents, teachers, bosses, priests and society. That is why I developed a powerful connection to nature and wild places, and honoured my desire to be far, far away from the centres of civilizational control as often as I could.
     I wanted to be away from the set of laws that seek to control everyone except the rich and powerful, who are free to do as they please.
   I wanted to leave consumerism, its garish billboards and screaming advertisements, in the dust behind me. These are the rankest forms of control of all, being subtle and based on the best neuropsychology money can buy (over 1 trillion dollars a year now).
     A saner world would see them for the mind control that they are, and resist them at every turn.
    The consumer lifestyle lulls us into creating our own gilded cages, then willingly walking into them. The authorities don't even have to monitor us after our initial training, because when we leave our cells to work for our keepers, we go right back to them at night.
    The average person prefers the cage to the perceive dangers and discomforts of more natural surroundings. Things, they say, are not convenient in nature. Therefore, it is bad, and must be controlled, destroyed and plundered.
    This shows the level of control has been complete and total. When you can successfully tear people from the land you create displaced zombies, ripe for exploitation and prone to suggestion.
     So, at an early age I decided I would not work for this sick system if that was ever possible. I had no wish to aid them in their exploitations and predations. I would rather be poor and free than complicit.
     I would go on to disassociate myself from the consumer lifestyle as much, and as soon, as I could. A life of buying less would allow me to work less. Working less would allow me to live more freely.
      Time, I thought, is the most valuable resource, and I didn't want to spend all mine working for the man. Or woman.
      Living simply is not so much about saving the world for me, although that would be a nice fringe benefit. It is about getting out of that iron vice of society.
      It is about building a real and lasting freedom for myself, and for everyone else.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk