(Fuente: nickoftime, vía starsinhereyes)
"Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say, Napoleonic times."
— Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five
Is the American dream fading?
With more people living on the breadline in the US, we ask if it is time to abandon the American dream.
- Drew Carey: John, welcome to the Price Is Right, where ya from, John?
- John: California.
- Draw Carey: California, what do you do in California, John?
- John: I.. uh.. I just lost my job.
- Awkward.. don't feel too bad, John cause here's a chance to win a new fucking motorcycle... Cause when you can't feed your family you can at least look cool riding around on shiny brand-name shit.
- (Note: This really did just happen... my Dad's watching The Price is Right in the next room.. John really said he lost his job on national television, the studio audience is still cheering...)
"You can’t win one car, you can’t win two cars, you have to win all three cars."
—
Drew Carey, The Price is Right
We live in a world where there’s games in which you HAVE TO WIN THREE CARS… during a major economic recession… and every one is cheering and hollering. I just.. I don’t understand this society. I’m sorry.
Driving through Calistoga, California in December 2010. Absolutely stunning. Quite possibly one of the most beautiful wine regions I’ve visited.
This will be called home in 10 days. Sadly, not on a vineyard…
For many years the oil industry in Iran was controlled by Britain. However in 1951 it was nationalized with overwhelming support throughout Iran.
To combat these measures US and British forces led a coup against the democratically elected leader of Iran.
They helped install a leader who would support the west: Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. He also turned out to be an authoritarian dictator.
During his 26 year rule of Iran Britain and the USA would make overwhelming sums of money from Iranian oil.
However the Shah faced a revolution in 1979 amid accusations of being the west’s puppet and allegations of brutal crimes against his own people. He fled into exile.
His replacement was Ayatollah Khomeini. Under Khomeini’s rule, Iran was turned into a theocracy, and became heavily anti-western. Under theocratic rule there has been a lack of civil rights and especially women’s rights. This is still the case today, a little over 30 years later.
August 19, 1953 - 58 years ago today.
(Fuente: picturesofwar, vía hall0weenjack)
"What’s the purpose of it(US invasion of Grenada)? Capitalism would not collapse if Grenada remained revolutionary. And Reagan was right, it wasn’t a matter of direct resources that you needed from that country. He said, “Nutmeg is not the question.” I mean, that was Grenada’s biggest export, we could get perfectly good nutmeg from Africa, you don’t need Grenada’s nutmeg. So why did they invade Grenada? They invaded Grenada because they were serving notice to the people of the Caribbean, and to the people of Latin America, and to the people of the world, that you cannot drop out of your client-state free-market system. That if you tried to take an independent source, and that if you use your land, your labor, your resources, and your capital, and your markets in a different way, in a collectivist way, if you use them to benefit the needs of your people, rather than to be milked like a cow for foreign investors, if you do that, this is what’s going to happen to you."
— Michael Parenti
while I’m gone from tumblr for a while, do me a favor. watch and ruminate on this.
