Tuesday, April 2, 2013

TBGO--"Baaaah-Di-BAAAAAH...": Honest, Not Abe; Just Deserts

Abe's Words of Wisdom?
Sorry. You're gonna have to mine for those sturdy tropes of Ayn Rand-y/Liberturdian political economy somewhere else but NOT from the spirit or the ethos of poor, dead, martyred Abe Lincoln.
This is actually the creation of an arch-conservative,  pro-corpoRat, protestant sky-pilot named W. John Henry Boetker, who penned the list as "An American Decalogue," the "Ten Commandments" of "Industry."

This is quite typical of the propaganda widely spread about, starting in this period, extolling the virtues of "self-reliance," "rugged individualism," and the sins of 'communitarianism" or "collectivism," which foreshadow the now nearly universal fractionalizations and atomizations designed to promote and facilitate hegemonic control of 'the mass mind.' It is STILL a major, if not DOMINANT part  of the "mythos" of Americanism.

Not coincidentally, this corpoRat boilerplate was FIRST circulated during a period of extreme labor conflict, high levels of labor organizing, and the re-efflorescence of the Red Scares of a generation earlier.

Forecast of Woe:

Uninhabitable. The American Southwest in 75-100 years, if things go as they seem to be headed.
Whether we do anything or not.
This graphic maps the extent and range of the evolving, forthcoming "American Sahara" (circa 2075) is in DARK BROWN. Sunny weather...
NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center released its Spring Outlook on March 21. The big story for the upcoming spring? Relief for many drought-stricken areas of the United States is not likely. More info: http://1.usa.gov/127FRry

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