Human Connectedness
and the
Disconnected Power Elite of America
I was emotional. They are only fossils,
but they have been human beings and
very quickly you make a connection with
these people who lived and died here
300,000 years ago.
Dr.Jean-Jacques
Hublin
Human
connectedness, the existence of a positive, physical, visual or mental
association between two or more human beings is like a chain across time.
Searching for one’s ancestry through DNA testing, for example, is one way to
lengthen the chain. As for Dr. Hublin, a paleontologist and director of the
Department of Human Development at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary
Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, simply seeing and holding the fossils got him
emotionally connected to human beings 300,000 years old.1 They weren’t his known ancestors. They were
simply human beings like him. He had immediately bonded with them so to speak.
I get the same feeling simply from viewing pictures of the fossils.
The Disconnectedness of America’s Power Elite
If
all human beings had the same positive sense of connectedness the world would
not be what it is, a place inhabited by countless human beings living in misery
and subjugated and terrorized by evil regimes. As it is, there probably have
been few if any cultures or countries throughout history that have not been
plagued by a certain tiny percentage of people I will call the power elite. And
throughout history America America
Some Self Portraits of America’s Power Elite
What country can preserve its liberties
if their rulers are not warned from time to
time that their people preserve the spirit
of resistance? let them take arms. what
signify a few lives lost in a century or
two? the tree of liberty must be refreshed
from time to time with the blood of patriots
& tyrants.
Thomas
Jefferson
Thomas
Jefferson was certainly disconnected from the common folk. What did he care if
some of their blood was spilt for the sake of another revolution?2
---I
am not, nor ever have been, in favor of
bringing
about in any way the social and political
equality
of the white and black races---and I as much
as
any other man am in favor of having the superior
position
assigned to the white race."
Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln
was a racist, disconnected from slaves.3 His Civil War, the most
deadly for Americans of any U.S. military intervention, was launched not to free
the slaves but to maintain the ability to expand the nation’s territory and
with it greater markets and resources.
I can hire one-half of the working class
to kill the
other half.
Jay Gould
Jay
Gould was a ruthless railroad tycoon and one of 24 robber barons during America
...I
should welcome almost any war,
for
I think this country needs one.
Theodore
Roosevelt
Despite what he
said publicly about matters of war and peace, what the consummate warrior in
chief wrote to a confidant reveals his true contempt for the common people.5
Scare the Hell out of the American people.
Arthur
Vandenberg
The disdain for the American people
shown by Senator Vandenberg in advising President Truman on how to peddle his
proposed Truman Doctrine is pro forma for America
Why do you care about the serfs?
Nick Rockefeller
Nick
Rockefeller is a member of the Rockefeller dynasty and thus also a current
member of America Hollywood director and activist Aaron
Russo saying in rejection of Rockefeller’s invitation to join the Council of
Foreign Relations
that he “had no interest in enslaving people.”7
The immigration of Jews from the Soviet
Union is not an objective of American
Foreign policy, and if they put Jews
into gas chambers in the Soviet
Union ,
it is not an American concern.
Henry Kissinger
----a
massive bombing campaign [involving]
anything
that flies or anything that moves.
Henry Kissinger
The above two
quotes are among “the top 10 most inhuman Henry Kissinger Quotes” compiled by
the late journalist, Fred Branfman.8
Medea Benjamin,
peace activist and former Nobel nominee for the Peace Prize, after dangling
handcuffs and holding signs that said “Arrest Kissinger for War Crimes,” was
tossed out of a Senate hearing where Kissinger was about to testify. In writing
about her experience, Ms Benjamin quoted the late Christopher Hitchens who said
that “Kissinger should have the door shut in his face by every decent person
and should be shamed, ostracized, and excluded."9
I think this is a very hard choice, but
the price—we think the price is worth it,”
Madeleine
Albright
That
was the heartless answer the former Secretary of State gave to reporter Lesley
Stahl’s question about whether the price of sanctions against Iran were worth
it considering half a million children died as a result.10
And before any
strike is taken, there
must be near-
certainty that no
civilians will
be killed or injured-
the highest
standard we can set.
Barack Obama
Obama’s
statement is a perfect example of human disconnectedness and moral
rationalization and disingenuousness about decisions that have cost countless
civilians’ lives.11 Obama clearly sidestepped a higher standard,
that of human morality, or even that of animal morality since few species
massively kill their own.
You go into Afghanistan
who slap women around for five years
because they didn’t wear a veil. You know,
guys like that ain’t got no manhood left
anyway. So it’s a hell of a lot of un to
shoot them. Actually it’s quite fun to fight
them, you know. It’s a hell of a hoot.
It’s fun to shoot some people.
Gen. James
"Mad Dog" Mattis.
U.S. Secretary
of Defense War
Need
more be added about this particular specimen?12
I don’t care how it’s done or its consequences
as long as it boosts our bottom line. And don’t
tell me how it was done.
Archetypical
Corporate CEO
In
an earlier article I described 255 real incidents of corporate wrongdoing that
ranged from the mundane to the deadly.13 The most egregious of them
could not have been done without either the explicit or implicit order from the
corner office (e.g., causing more climate change from production and waste than
any other source; diluted cancer drugs to boost profits; exports for sale more
weapons than any other country; makes and sells products deliberately intended
to kill; finances wars; launders drug money; builds cars “unsafe at any speed;”
etc.).
Questions About the Power Elite
What is it about
this tiny class of people throughout the history of the world that makes them
so disconnected to, so contemptuous of, and so deliberately harmful to the rest
of humanity? What causes them to be the opposite of what it means to be human
in the view of Professor John McDonnell Tierney? To him, being human means being
caring, compassionate, and kind sentient entity-stewards of the Earth.”14
I am going to
break down these two general questions into three specific ones.
1. Evil?
Evil means profound
immorality. As this definition goes, evil is simply the deepest of immorality,
so should we not expect to find among the power elite some profoundly evil
members? Does it also go without saying
that lesser degrees of immorality abound among the power elite? A.Q. Smith, a
progressive journalist, undoubtedly would think so for he has concluded that
“it’s basically just immoral to be rich,” and adds that “people who possess
great wealth in a time of poverty are directly causing that poverty.”15
For me a clear sign of immoral behavior is when the ends of power and wealth
justify the means of achieving those ends, and the means always involve
wrongdoing from the mundane to the heinous.
Pathological?
Chris Hedges,
journalist, broadcaster, and prolific author, regards the “pathology of the
rich white family [to be] the most dangerous pathology in America---cursed with
too much money and privilege [and] devoid of empathy, the result of lifetimes
of entitlement.” That statement was just his opening salvo in a long article
that ends with: “They steal with greater finesse than anyone else.”16
Psychologist
William Hirstein has mined the expansive field of research and authoritative
opinion on what a psychopathic personality is. Its signature attribute was
deemed by the medical profession in the early 1800’s to be that of “moral
depravity” or “moral insanity.” Other attributes now included by authorities
are uncaring, shallow emotions, irresponsibility, insincere speech,
overconfidence, and selfishness.17
Consider
for a moment just the 43 U.S. presidents long enough in office to be surrogate
murderers and have some experts give us their opinion, which is that being
psychopathic fits every single one of them.18 Their assessments go
as far as Obama, but we can turn now to a prestigious panel of psychiatrists
who concluded before his first 100 days in office that President Trump “has a
dangerous mental illness [and] is paranoid and delusional.”19
Greedy?
Are
the powerful elite “cursed with too much money, as Mr. Hedges contends, or are
they cursed with wanting even more money? Considering the previous two
questions, the answer to this third one might seem irrelevant except that greed
motivates evil and pathological people.
In Closing
Can
you just imagine if they were to read the quoted remarks of some of their
revered, iconic leaders what the responses would be from most Americans, having
been indoctrinated from early formative years forward by the power elite to see
what they believe?
By
the way, what, if I may ask, are your answers to the three questions, and do
you have more to raise and answer?
Afterword
It
is paradoxical that the people who rule on earth are unfit to live on it.
Endnotes
1.
Sample, I. Oldest Homo Sapiens Bones Ever Found Shake Foundations of the Human
Story. Science, June 19, 2017.
2.
Jefferson, T. A Rebellion or Revolution is Needed Every 20 Years! Amin, October
8, 2011.
3.
Zinn, H. A People’s History of the United States. Harper Perennial, 2005, p. 188.
4.
Lubin, G., Kelley, M.B., and Wile R. Meet the 24 Robber Barons Who Once Ruled
America. Business Insider, March 20, 2012.
5.
Crucible of Empire. pbs.org.
6.
Skidmore, D. Reversing Course: Carter's Foreign Policy, Domestic Politics, and
the Failure of Reform. Vanderbilt University Press, 1996, p. 17.
7. Watson, P.J. Rockefeller Admitted
Elite Goal of Microchipped Population. Prison Planet, January 29, 2007.
8. Branfman, F. The Top 10 Most Inhuman
Henry Kissinger Quotes. Alter Net, February 12, 2016.
9. Benjamin, M. Will the Real
"Low-Life Scum" Please Stand Up? OpEdNews, February 4, 2015; see
also, Hitchens, C. The Trial of Henry Kissinger. Twelve, 2012.
10.
60 Minutes, May 12, 1996.
11.
Vitkovskaya, J. 9 Revealing Staments
Obama Has Made About Transparency and Drone Strikes. The Washington
Post, July 1, 2016.
12.
Floores, R., Gen. James "Mad Dog" Mattis: 7 Memorable Quotes. CBS
NEWS December 2, 2016.
13.
Brumback, G. An Evil Root. OpEdNews,
March 8; Dissident Voice, March 15; The Greanville Post, March 20; Uncommon
Thought Journal, March 21, 2017.
14. Tierney, J.M. On Being Human,
Dreamsinger Little Books, 2011.
15.
Smith, A.Q. It’s Basically Just Immoral To Be Rich. Current Affairs, March 30,
2017.
16.
Hedges, C. The Pathology of the Rich White Family. TruthDig, May 17, 2015.
17.
Hirstein, W. What Is a Psychopath? Psychology Today, January 30, 2013.
18.
Howard, J. Psychopathic Personality Traits Linked With U.S. Presidential
Success, Psychologists Suggest. The Huffington Post, September 13, 2012. See
also, Frank, J. Bush on the Couch. Harper Perennial, 2005; and Frank, J. Obama
on the Couch. Free Press, 2012.
19. Bulman, M. Donald Trump has
‘Dangerous Mental Illness', Say Psychiatry Experts at Yale Conference.
Independent News, April 21, 2017.
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