This Is How They Mess with our Minds – Peters Parents

Written on November 29th, 2014 in politics Comments Off

Published on ZNet, by Cynthia Peters, Nov 27, 2014.

… So, parents, this is how they mess with our minds:  

You walk away from reading this article feeling like it’s all on you to raise a moral child and that it’s your exact behaviors that matter. In addition to all the other parenting stress you were experiencing, you’ll now have another stress: “Wait. Was I supposed to praise character or behavior?” But, don’t worry; you can memorize your lines. You’ll get it over time. You’ll practice your disappointed face in the mirror. Make sure it’s not an angry face! Or a shame-inducing face! And remember to role-model being nice. Just make sure you don’t talk about it because, after all, that wrecks the effect.

Worse: While you’re parsing out these methods for raising a moral child and self-consciously scanning the horizon for an opportunity to role-model being nice, you will wisely block out all the messages about greed and ownership and one-upmanship that your kid is getting from about a billion other sources. After all, our culture is saturated with messages that acquisition is a moral imperative, that the way to be good is to have lots of stuff, and that the way to be the best is to have more stuff than anyone else. Greed is considered an inherent good; it is the motor that drives our entire economy, and so endless resources are spent justifying it, propping it up, and making it seem like a worthy quality rather than a depraved one. You’ll want to block out these messages because if you take them in and look at them next to the mission of raising a moral child, you might get…I don’t know…a little discouraged. And who wants to feel that? Best to do what the advice column says, and just go ahead and focus on what you can control – like your choice of phrases when praising your child and your facial expressions when scolding your child.

And, finally, worst of all: The article will distract you from the real moral problems we face, and believe me they have nothing to do with how readily our children give marbles to poor children. The real moral problems are so large, so omnipresent, so threaded into every aspect of our existence that we forget that they are human-made problems that can therefore be fixed by humans. For example, in this wealthy country where there is more than enough for everyone, why is there even such a thing as “poor” children? How is it moral that we have systems in place in our human communities that allow the result: poor children? And is it moral to spend who-knows-how-much-money making experiments about giving marbles to poor children rather than using those resources to figure out how to replace the systems that give rise to dramatic inequality?

The corporate media, handmaiden of corporate greed, does not want us to ask or answer such questions. The parenting advice they offer is just one of the ways they keep us in our place. And you’re not immune from it if you don’t read the New York Times. Start noticing the messages aimed at parents, and you’ll see that these types of directives from the experts find their way into the parenting books, the magazine columns, and the little pamphlets you pick up at the doctor’s office. They’re everywhere. They are delivered as helpful bits of wisdom, but they are in fact narrow prescriptions aimed to keep us focused on our own private micro-behaviors instead of joining with others to challenge the macro-level madness of our greed-based institutions.

(full text).

Links:

Angel Merkel forces David Cameron to retreat from EU migrant cap, on The Guardian, by Patrick Wintour and Ian Traynor, Nov 28, 2014: Prime minister disappoints Eurosceptics by softening message on immigration after German intervention

Egypt police clash with Islamists, Two dead, on BBCnews, by , Nov 28, 2014: At least two demonstrators have died in clashes between Islamist protestors and police in the Egyptian capital Cairo;

videos on Basic Income Guarantee BIG, on Humanitarian Texts, Nov 28, 2024;

Redefining imminent, on Intrepid Report, by Brian Terrell, Nov 28, 2014: How the U.S. Dept. of Justice makes murder respectable, kills the innocent & jails their defenders;

Crisis of a community, on KASHMIR and IDPs, by K.N. Pandita, Nov 27, 2014;

Egypt: Exploitation of religion, on Al-Ahram weekly online, by Amany Maged, Nov 27, 2014: Islamists are preparing for 28 November, day of the so-called Islamic Revolution

Frank Mankiewicz: SECRET INTERMEDIARY TO CUBA, on The National Security Archive, Electronic Briefing Book No. 494, by Peter Kornbluh and Justin Anstett, November 24, 2014 (4 Docs):

  • Famous Political Figure Carried Messages from Kissinger to Castro,
  • Mankiewicz Played Key Back-Channel Role in Secret 1970s Effort to Normalize U.S.-Cuban Relations;

The Fall of the Berlin Wall, 25th Anniversary, on The National Security Archive, Electronic Briefing Book No. 490, by Thomas Blanton and Svetlana Savranskaya, Nov 9, 2014 (12 Docs):

  • Documents show accident and contingency, anxiety in world capitals,
  • East German crowds led the way, with help from Communist fumbles, self-fulfilling TV coverage, Hungarian reformers, Czechoslovak pressure, and Gorbachev’s non-violence;

We are the 99%’s on their website; and on en.wikipedia;

Dirk Müller zu den Unruhen in der Ukraine - Teil 2, 9.16 min, von Michael Molli am 10. März 2014 hochgeladen;

Voici comment la Russie a piègé l’occident et récupéré la Crimée sans tirer un seul coup de feu, dans Cameroon Voice, by Jean-Paul Pougala (ex-docker clandestin), Yaoundé, le 8 mars 2014 … (ce qui explique la furreur du soi-disant empire);

Supporting Strategic Litigation under the Optional Protocol to ICESCR, on ESCR-net.org, August 30, 2010: Draft Background Note, 18 pages:

  • By Malcolm Langford, Norwegian Centre for Human Rights,
  • Bruce Porter, Social Rights Advocacy Centre,
  • ulieta Rossi, International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ESCR-net.org);

20 Steps towards a Modern, Working Democracy, on Dwatch.ca, not authored nor dated;

… und noch dies:

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