Language as a Means of Subjugation

It seems to me that the individuals who have the most reason to complain in society are often the less educated. Poor education, and thus poor grammar is a means of subjugating these people.

Here on the south side of Chicago, the victims of the worst of America's domestic atrocities rarely posess perfect grammar. In fact, the language they speak often could barely be considered English, and their concerns can are easily ignored by those in power, and by society in general.

Pretty much all positions of power are dominated by the "educated". Most government officials and heads of corporations come from a wealthy elite class. They are born rich, they attend exclusive schools like Harvard or Yale, which they are accepted to based entirely on who they and their parents are, rather than what they have achieved. They think they are naturally superior to those who, unlike them, have not been insulated from the harsh realities of life, and thus grow to believe that they know the needs of the underprivilaged better than they themselves do.

May Day

The international holiday, celebrated May 1st, a week from this Sunday, in virtually every country around the world except the United States, ironically began here in Chicago during the worker's struggle for the eight hour day.

On May 1st, 1886, the American Federation of Labor declared a national strike to demand an eight hour work day. Two days later, police in Chicago fired into a crowd of striking workers at the McCormick Harvester plant, killing several workers*. The next day in Haymarket Square, a demonstration was called in response to the killings. Although the demonstration was peaceful, the police attempted to disperse the crowd, and a bomb was thrown, killing several police officers*. Eight labor leaders were arrested, seven of which were not even present at the time of the bombing. With no evidence linking them to the crime, they were tried based on their beliefs, and some to all* were sentenced to death.

*In researching this holiday, I found tremendous discrepencies in the numbers. The number of workers killed by police during the McCormick Harvester strike ranges from 1-4, the number of police killed in Haymarket Square ranges from 2-15, and the number of individuals sentenced to death ranged from 5-8. The description of the history depends entirely on the source. Conservative sites, who still seem to still see this as a communist plot, manipulated the numbers in their favor, and also gave very detailed descriptions of the killed police officers' identitys and the supposed brutality of their deaths, but described the worker's deaths as simply "a shooting and one fatality when police tangled with rioters." Left wing sites were equally biased.

The disparity between accounts of the events, as well as the lack of recognition of the holiday here in the US, where it began, demonstrate that Americans are losing the struggle for workers rights. The eight hour work day is all but gone. Workers are only entitled to overtime after working more than forty hours per week, and even that is under attack by conservatives. Just last year, the Department of Labor regulations were changed, reclassifying more than eight million workers as "management" and thus not entitled to overtime pay.

May 1st was officially recognized as "Loyalty Day" in the 1920's to contrast what was seen as a "communist" holiday. In this official proclaimation by George W. Bush in 2004, citizens are encouraged to "demonstrate their commitment to our country by supporting our military, serving each other, and teaching our young people about our history and values." Apparantly, by "teaching our young people about our history and values", he actually means creating a ridiculous holiday to attempt to erase aspects of history which he would rather we forget.

Death Penalty and the "Pro-Life" movement

There was an article today in the Chicago Tribune about how lethal injection may not be administered correctly in all cases, and that there is evidence possibly showing that in approximately 40% of cases, the deceased may have actually felt severe pain. As a result, several death row inmates have appealed their sentences on the grounds that lethal injection is inhuman, and violates their 8th Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment.

The death penalty perfectly illustrates the inconsistent nature of conservatives. Their compassion extends only to those with whom they can find no fault. That is why it is such hypocricy when they claim to be "pro-life". For every case, other than unborn children (and now women in permanent vegatative states), they feel absolutely no commitment to life whatsoever. In fact, most "pro-life" individuals also oppose social programs to help unmarried mothers feed and care for their children. In essence, they want the baby to be born, but after that, it is no longer their problem. Perhaps this is due to the fact that Christians believe that at the instance of birth, every human inherits the Original Sin of Adam and Eve.

I have always opposed the death penalty. In support of this position, I give all of the standard reasons:

• Minorities and the poor are much more likely to be sentenced to death than whites convicted of similar crimes.
• In my home state of Illinois, since 1976, about twice as many death row inmates have been proven innocent as have been executed.
• It costs much more to execute someone than it does to keep them in prison for the rest of their lives, due to the tremendous cost of the appeals process.
• The death penalty is not a deterrent, as evidenced by the lack of variation in violent crime rates between states with and witout the death penalty, so from a standpoint of the safety of society, the death penalty is equally effective as prison.
  

These are all good reasons, but none of them are actually the real reason that I oppose the death penalty. The real reason is simply that unlike the "pro-life" people, I do have sympathy for those with whom I can find fault. I believe that people are a product of their environment, and that the wrong environment could drive anyone to murder. Conservatives seem to think that they posess some inate quality which makes them better than these people, that they are just inherantly incapable of these terrible acts, but they never stop to think about what it might be like to live the life of one of these people. They have no interest in fighting the poverty and violence in our society which creates murderers, they just want to get rid of the murderers. I guess this is just one of the many contradictions in being a conservative.

The Rise of American Facism

There are many readily available definitions of facism:

"A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism."

<>"Fascism is a form of extreme right-wing ideology that celebrates the nation or the race as an organic community transcending all other loyalties... Fascism's approach to politics is both populist--in that it seeks to activate "the people" as a whole against perceived oppressors or enemies--and elitist--in that it treats the people's will as embodied in a select group, or often one supreme leader, from whom authority proceeds downward. Fascism seeks to organize a cadre-led mass movement in a drive to seize state power. It seeks to forcibly subordinate all spheres of society to its ideological vision of organic community, usually through a totalitarian state. Both as a movement and a regime, fascism uses mass organizations as a system of integration and control, and uses organized violence to suppress opposition, although the scale of violence varies widely. "

"Characteristics of Fascist PhilosophyFascism, especially in its early stages, is obliged to be antitheoretical and frankly opportunistic in order to appeal to many diverse groups. Nevertheless, a few key concepts are basic to it. First and most important is the glorification of the state and the total subordination of the individual to it. The state is defined as an organic whole into which individuals must be absorbed for their own and the state’s benefit. This “total state” is absolute in its methods and unlimited by law in its control and direction of its citizens. 2A second ruling concept of fascism is embodied in the theory of social Darwinism. The doctrine of survival of the fittest and the necessity of struggle for life is applied by fascists to the life of a nation-state. Peaceful, complacent nations are seen as doomed to fall before more dynamic ones, making struggle and aggressive militarism a leading characteristic of the fascist state. Imperialism is the logical outcome of this dogma. 3Another element of fascism is its elitism. Salvation from rule by the mob and the destruction of the existing social order can be effected only by an authoritarian leader who embodies the highest ideals of the nation. This concept of the leader as hero or superman, borrowed in part from the romanticism of Friedrich Nietzsche, Thomas Carlyle, and Richard Wagner, is closely linked with fascism’s rejection of reason and intelligence and its emphasis on vision, creativeness, and 'the will.'"

In summary, the most commonly held definitions of fascism consist of strong centralization under a dictatorial government, suppression of opposition through censorship and oppression, prevalence of Social Darwinism as the prevailing ideology, and extreme nationalism. All of these aspects exist in modern American corporate structure.

The first element, strong centralization of authority, is the most immediately obvious similarity. While there is not always a single individual with absolute power, there is without fail some strong governing body possessing absolute control over all aspects of the business as well as all employees of the company. The nature of this government differs significantly from the traditional concept of the fascist leader, in that the actual identity and personality of the leader is rarely significant, and it is not uncommon for workers to be completely ignorant of even the names of those who control the company they have sworn allegiance to. Their power, however, is absolute, so long as their decisions do not conflict with the prevailing ideology of corporate society, i.e. the worship of the almighty dollar.

The next element is the oppression of opposition. There are two unique types of opposition, internal and external opposition. External opposition is met through both overt propaganda (advertising), and through attempts, usually successful, to manipulate local and national laws.

Advertising in recent years has become of paramount importance. This topic is vast, and I will only attempt to summarize the relevant aspects. In modern advertising, it is no longer satisfactory to simply attempt to persuade the consumer to purchase a product. Modern advertising seeks to redefine commonly held social norms to serve the purposes of the corporate state, and consumerism in general. To achieve this, a utopian world is presented, and through repetition, the consumer ultimately accepts it as a true representation, not of what society is, but what society should be. The nature of this utopia varies greatly between different advertising demographics, but prevalent among all are the ideals of materialism and conformity. This attempt to remake society is an essential aspect to fascism.

Aside from advertising, external corporate interests are met also through hiring of lobbyists, to attempt to directly persuade government officials to side with their employer. Corporations spend billions of dollars every year on lobbyists, to the extent that it is seen as a vital aspect of corporate business.

The next major category of oppression is internal oppression. An overt example of internal oppression is the growing corporate hostility toward labor unions. This has been attributed to many factors, such as federal regulations limiting who can legally go on strike, as well as the expansion of national non-union corporations, with whom small companies can rarely compete with.

Less overt examples of internal oppression lie in the attempts to influence the ideology of employees through propaganda. Internal propaganda can be both formal, such as posters in employee work areas with slogans like "Every Employee Contributes", as well informal through the selection of "right-thinking" individuals for management positions. While these efforts are not always directly successful in influencing the ideology of individual employees, they act similarly to external advertising, by presenting a utopian ideal, in this case the model of an ideal employee, who puts the interests of the corporation ahead of their own. Through repetition this ideal is gradually accepted as the norm. While the internal choice to conform remains up to the individual, apparent adherence to the model is strictly enforced by management.

The next aspect of fascism shared by corporate society is that of Social Darwinism, i.e. the survival of the fittest. This doctrine is the essence of capitalism on a fundamental level, and forms the foundation of corporate ideology. The driving force behind every business decision is profit. No venture is undertaken unless it is believed to be profitable. Profitability always takes precedence over all other considerations, especially the welfare of the individuals who work for a corporation and those who purchase their products. Corporations routinely find ways around providing health benefits and a safe work environment for their employees. Even the safety of products is secondary to profit. To determine if an unsafe product should be recalled, the potential monetary liability of not recalling it is weighed against the cost and further lost profit of the recall. Human welfare is a peripheral consideration at best.

The final aspect, extreme nationalism, is fairly obvious. An employee of a corporation is expected to put the interests of the corporation ahead of their own, making any and all possible sacrifices. The corporation is successful in eliciting these sacrifices by all of the means described above, as well as by manufacturing a constant state of emergency. United Airlines, for example, has routinely asserted that concessions by the unions are the only way to bring the company out of bankruptcy, while at the same time, all of the upper level executives gave themselves retention bonuses of over $200,000.

The power of corporations, unarguably, has increased dramatically in recent years. With it, the American worker has seen a proportional decrease in working conditions. In every industry, mergers have resulted in the emergence of a handful of enormous corporate entities. Real wages have gone down, and the ratio between the average worker and the average executive has skyrocketed. Health care is becoming prohibitively expensive, while insurance companies report record profits. This new form of fascism dominates almost every aspect of modern life, and the destructive results will only increase in the future.