45 Comments

Excellent comparative explanation of classical fascism and Neo-fascism and the latter’s rise over the world. The hard right’s take over of democratic institutions with a Neo-liberal weak response and the huge defense budget in the US are major concerns. Appreciated Mr. Prashad’s thoughts on US schools and the societal culture of violence.

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After listening to these two, I am always better prepared to understand what is going on here in the US and around the world. Vijay had such great insights along with Chris on the new type of fascism and then Vijay pointed out the importance of getting out for democracy, stop being a spectator. I hope people take note but I am afraid that we are already settled in to watching the NFL (or Netflix) while drinking our Bud Light and snacking on a Slim Jim.

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outstanding ... thanks for your effort and for your work

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I am 74 years old and I remember one of the father's of European liberalism was Issac Newton and he joined with Milton and Locke to form the English Enlightenment.

John Ralston Saul is still around and as Newton said we are standing on the shoulders of giants.

John Ralston Saul is a Socratic philosopher and the authority on press freedom. When will America hear his voice. I am sure Vijay would concur.

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DORE ’24 has a nice ring to it !!

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As I wrote to the damned pro-War 'Times':

Charles {Blow], your column of yesterday, "Normalizing Mass Hysteria” exposes the shame which I would never have expected from the ’Times’ — making the famous ‘ginning-up’ of an earlier war for Empire.

In “these ’Times’ they are a-changing” posture regarding this headlined report today of "Today’s NATO meeting turns to broader views on countering Russia and China”, the ’Times’ is, IMHO, directly inciting the Insanity of ‘ginning-up’ a Global War with China and Russia.

What a provocation to Waging War — similar to Hurst’s phrase regarding the 1898 Spanish American War by propagandizing like Hurst “You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.” – William Randolph Hearst, January 25, 1898.

Today's reporting in the 'Times' titled:

"Today’s NATO meeting turns to broader views on countering Russia and China." --- is, IMHO, an invitation for this Disguised Global Crony Capitalist Racist Propagandist Criminal Ecocidal Child-Killing & War-Starting EMPIRE, controlled by the ‘Ruling-Elite’, UHNWI, <0.003%ers, TCCers, arrogantly self-appointed "Masters of the Universe", and "Evil (not-so) Geniuses" to ignite global War.

"At Thursday’s meeting, topics will include a tougher stance toward Russia as an adversary — no longer a possible cooperative partner — and the first effort by the alliance to formulate its views of a rising China and the threats Beijing could pose to Europe through cyberattacks, artificial intelligence, espionage and submarine incursions as the Arctic is slowly melting."

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Most people, most voters, don't have enough time in their lives to listen to a 35 minute discussion. I enjoyed this audio because I'm retired and I have free time. My point is that Hedges and Prashad have great insights, but they would influence more viewers if they delivered their message in 10 minute instead of 35 minute packages.

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“ACBL”?

“Twain was the Lincoln of our literature, as Lincoln was the Twain of our politics” (original attribution forgotten & best defining politics as “the art of the possible”).

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I find Chris's question and Vijay's comments about violence at 28:20 in to be of particular interest. To my way of thinking, mass shootings generally and school shootings in particular point to the pressing need for more research on and emphasis on public attitudes about guns and violence. Early on in the interview Vijay speaks about the the powerful influence of media and public relations industries, but he seems not to appreciate the enormity of the harm to society, the damage done by the deluge of violence as entertainment. the systematic industrial conditioning of huge audiences to suspend disbelief around violence, gun violence in particular. Surely that is at least as harmful, as atomizing to use Vijay's term, to society as, say, platform shopping from home or bowling alone.

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The Trump movement is a worker’s movement. It is the anti Trump parties, in government (Democrats and Republicans) , in business (big tech) and so on who are the NeoFascists.

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Vijay & Chris appear in ''Shadow World'' - 2016 - 1:35 Documentary investigation film on 20th-21st C. war profiteering that is available on Tubi ─► https://tubitv.com/movies/466944/shadow-world?start=true and probably through your library and in the online collection in Hoopla to which your library probably subscribes.

The Documentary is based on book of 2011 ''The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade'' by Andrew Feinstein, desribed in Goodreads ─► https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12152359-the-shadow-world?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=7OVBbgAvzb&rank=5 and probably through your library and in the online collection in Hoopla to which your library probably subscribes.

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Once again Chris, you've lived up to the expectations of so many intelligent, knowledgeable, and caring people all over the world. Vijay's analysis is quite poignant, in it's avid veracity of expressing something so existentially critical. " Bullyycee, " the most profound transformational approach to modern "Policing" by Michael Claude Caesar Sampson, is just out, this book is pertinently applicable to this very important dynamic.

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Let me try posting this comment again since it's not showing up in the thread. I find the thesis that people who shop online are more socially distant than people who continue to visit brick and mortar stores lacking real substance. When I visit a brick and mortar store in person, I hardly ever talk to anyone not even the cashier. My online experiences are vastly more social however. Just today I must have spent half an hour and three phone calls on the phone with a hardware store trying to figure out how to use their website so that I could arrange for a friend to pick up an item from their store 75 miles away without having to show them my debit card. Even when online shopping via door dash and instacart goes smoothly, I have many times more people in my call logs and text logs as interactions with the delivery people via chat and phone calls and texts than I do with my actual friends.

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The amount of atomization that occurs in going from shopping via walking to a store vs shopping online is a tiny amount. In actual practice I find that I speak almost nothing to no one when shopping in a brick and mortar store, but I frequently have direct interactions with the people who do my shopping for me via instacart and door dash. The instacart shopper might call me on the phone to negotiate what items I might want when there are many items out of stock. The door dash person is always supposed to call me when they drop off my order so that I can coach them on exactly where to leave it. My cell phone texting logs have more texts from delivery people showing me pictures of my dropped off items than I have phone numbers of my actual friends who I have texted that week. I have no such extensive call logs from my in person visits to brick and mortar stores. If I'm lucky, I might have a bank statement record of the transaction if I used a debit card at a brick and mortar store. I don't even get email from a brick and mortar store like I do when I do a web only purchase.

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After listening to these two, I am always better prepared to understand what is going on here in the US and around the world. Vijay had such great insights along with Chris on the new type of fascism and then Vijay pointed out the importance of getting out for democracy, stop being a spectator. I hope people take note but I am afraid that we are already settled in to watching the NFL (or Netflix) while drinking our Bud Light and snacking on a Slim Jim.

Expand full comment

After listening to these two, I am always better prepared to understand what is going on here in the US and around the world. Vijay had such great insights along with Chris on the new type of fascism and then Vijay pointed out the importance of getting out for democracy, stop being a spectator. I hope people take note but I am afraid that we are already settled in to watching the NFL (or Netflix) while drinking our Bud Light and snacking on a Slim Jim.

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