Milos Uzelac

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  1. From the article economics of the new cold war from the Grayzone: "call it “Super Imperialism,” in 1972, because it was really the US moving towards a unipolar order, where it was not competing with other imperialisms; it wanted to absorb European colonialism, absorb European imperialism, and really be the single unipolar power. And of course that is what really has come about. The United States is trying to become the only dominant power in the world. And in today’s Financial Times [on May 5], one of the reporters said, it’s as if the United States wants to be the world’s absentee landlord, and rent collector. So we’re dealing with a monetary and a rentier phenomenon." "Well the real existential threat isn’t a trade rivalry; it’s not one of technology at all. The existential threat is to the idea of an economy based on completely a rentier system. In today’s world, the banks play the role that landlords played from the feudal epoch through the 19th century. And all the classical economics, the whole concept of free markets, from the physiocrats, with their laissez faire to Adam Smith, through John Stuart Mill, the whole of classical economics was to free industrial capitalism from the rentier class, from the landlords, and from banking and the monopolies that banks created in organizing trusts. So the US realizes that the economy has been transformed in the last 40 years, since the 1980s, since Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, when Margaret Thatcher said, “There is no alternative.” Of course, there were many alternatives. But the United States says, if we can create, if we can turn the “rules-based order” of free markets and classical economics upside down, and say our rules-based order means no government power to regulate, no government progressive taxation, but a flat tax – like we convinced Russia to have, that they still have, by the way – if we can have a rules-based order that backs the rentier class – a hereditary, financial, wealthy 1% of the population – holding the rest of the economy in debt peonage, or reducing them to other forms of dependency in a patron-client relation, then we’ve restored essentially the feudal economy. But in order for us to do that, we have to make sure that there’s no alternative; we have to prevent any alternative. And China is an existential threat, because what it is doing – its policy, which is very largely ad hoc, and purely pragmatic – China’s policy is exactly the policy that made the United States the industrial power of the world in the 19th century. China, like the United States, built public utilities to provide public services at low, subsidized costs, so as to enable its private industry not to have to pay for the costs of education, for high rental costs and housing costs, and high monopoly rents. China is doing exactly what the United States did, and what the United States now says, no other country can do what we did; we’ve pulled up the ladder, and our wealthy rentier layer of the population that got rich, now, having gained control of the United States, and its politics, we want to control the whole world. And if there is another successful economy, whether it is China, or Russia, or Iran, or Venezuela – if there’s any other economy that retains a strong state power, strong regulatory power, progressive taxation, preventing a landlord class from somehow increasing housing costs, privatizing medical and health insurance, so instead of making it a public right – well, if we can prevent that from occurring anywhere, then people will really believe there is no alternative but to let our takeover that reverses the entire last two centuries of free-market economics, and now the economy has to be free for the 1% to take over government enterprise, to privatize every part of the government, including the government itself, including the central banks especially, and including the health system, the educational system – all running either for profit or at a cost that has to be paid by credit creation, and essentially recreate the economy of the 13th century." https://thegrayzone.com/2021/05/12/new-cold-war-super-imperialism-michael-hudson/ What makes today’s Super Imperialism different from past “private enterprise” imperialism Past studies of imperialism have focused on how corporations invest in other countries, extracting profits and interest. This phenomenon occurs largely via privatesector investors and exporters. But today’s novel form of international financial 4 imperialism occurs among governments themselves, and specifically between the U.S. Government and the central banks of nations running balance-of-payments surpluses. The larger their surpluses grow, the more dollars they are obliged to put into U.S. Treasury securities. Hence, the book’s title, Super Imperialism.
  2. This is a welcome change and seen opportunity for this place, I think, for this place to diversify in terms of meeting people's current needs and states and helping them and counciling them in overcoming them. I am glad about it especially since I am currently going through similar thought and feeling patterns born out a current state of apathy and nihilism in my mind regarding some aspects of my life and life in general, and towards some people, unfortunately by my own unconscious, fearful, selfish and impulsive doing. If I am unable to fix it myself I would be really grateful if I could get some consulting and advice and how to approach and fix these mental issues by mods specializing in it on that forum subsection.
  3. Michael Hudson is a very critically oriented economist and has also real experience in consulting with American banks and his book "Superimperialism: The Origins and Fundamentals of U.S. World Dominance" first published in 1972., was also bought to be read by the Defense Department, State Department, White House, and CIA officials. He might not be the best start for novices in the topic of economics and politics (though I myself think that I am still one as well with my current knowledge and logic and learning capabilities) but I think his work is very important for illuminating better how the political and economic dimensions of the world work and he is, I think, worth the visit at some point at the learning curve. Here is an article and video within it where he discusses his concepts and the contents of his book. https://mronline.org/2021/02/09/michael-hudson-changes-in-super-imperialism/ "The reason that I’m writing a new version of Super Imperialism is that I was asked to by China, and I thought, “As long as they want to bring out a new translation and basically an update of the book, I might as well do it in English too.” I bought the rights back from Pluto and in about two or three months I will be reissuing the English language edition. The context for de-dollarization today by China, Russia, and other countries is basically “How do you make an alternative to an international financial order that really was designed from the beginning to benefit the United States in its own self-interest?” Here is a more critically oriented towards the U.S. news source and article, where Michael Hudson also discusses his concepts and book. https://thegrayzone.com/2021/05/12/new-cold-war-super-imperialism-michael-hudson/ "Well, I had originally wanted to call my book “Monetary Imperialism.” The publisher wanted to call it “Super Imperialism,” in 1972 because it was really the US moving towards a unipolar order, where it was not competing with other imperialisms; it wanted to absorb European colonialism, absorb European imperialism, and really be the single unipolar power. And of course, that is what really has come about. The United States is trying to become the only dominant power in the world. And in today’s Financial Times [on May 5], one of the reporters said, it’s as if the United States wants to be the world’s absentee landlord and rent collector. So we’re dealing with a monetary and a rentier phenomenon." "This new and completely revised edition of “Super Imperialism” describes the genesis of America’s political and financial domination. Michael Hudson’s in-depth and highly controversial study of U.S. financial diplomacy explores the faults built into the core of the World Bank and the IMF at their inception which — he argues — were intended to preserve the US’s financial hegemony. Difficult to detect at the time, these problems have since become explicit as the failure of the international economic system has become apparent; the IMF and World Bank were set up to give aid to developing countries, but instead many of the world’s poorest countries have been plunged into insurmountable debt crises. Hudson’s critique of the destructive course of the international economic system provides important insights into the real motivations at the heart of these institutions – and the increasing tide of opposition that they face around the world. Michael Hudson is an independent Wall Street financial economist. After working as a balance-of-payments economist for Chase Manhattan Bank and Arthur Anderson in the 1960s, he taught finance at the New School in New York and is presently Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri – Kansas City. He has published widely on the topic of US financial dominance, as well as “Trade, Development and Foreign Debt” (Pluto 1992) and has been an economic adviser to the Canadian, Mexican, Russian, and US governments, and to the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). “Michael Hudson’s brilliant shattering book will leave orthodox economists spluttering. Classical economists don’t like to be reminded of the ugly realities of Imperialism. Hudson is one of the tiny handful of economic thinkers in today’s world who is forcing us to look at old questions in startling new ways.” — Alvin Toffler, best-selling author of “Future Shock” and “The Third Wave” ‘One of the most important books of this century. It is the first work to synthesize the new and different forms which capitalist imperialism has assumed since Lenin.’ — Terence McCarthy, Columbia University Also, I have just found the 2003 re-published edition of the full book in pdf for free here: https://michael-hudson.com/books/super-imperialism/
  4. By ourselves and our weakness and fears most often than not, but the undying human impulse towards freedom remains there so as long as individual life and its connection and bonds to larger collective remains, ready to be potentialized and actualized.
  5. From Abby Martin's documentary Gaza Fights for Freedom: "What would happen if thousands of Gazans attempted peacefully to cross the fence that separated them from their ancestral lands?" "I looked at the birds flying at the fences without being held by anyone. Birds decide to fly they fly. I have discovered the real reason for abhorring the occupation. I hate it because it contradicts the law of nature. It forbids me to be a flying bird." -- Ahmed Abu Artema, Palestinian 32-year-old poet and journalist and great march of return lead organizer in 2018.
  6. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9556415/China-preparing-WW3-biological-weapons-six-years-investigators-say.html?ito=fbmessenger_share_article-top China was preparing for a Third World War with biological weapons - including coronavirus - SIX years ago, according to dossier produced by the People's Liberation Army in 2015 and uncovered by the US State Department. Strong evidence of conflicts of interests between Chinese scientists and PLA high-ranking military officials and scientists in joint scientific research's on viruses shown through the article. "Chinese scientists have been preparing for a Third World War fought with biological and genetic weapons including coronavirus for the last six years, according to a document obtained by US investigators. The bombshell paper, accessed by the US State Department, insists they will be 'the core weapon for victory' in such a conflict, even outlining the perfect conditions to release a bioweapon, and documenting the impact it would have on 'the enemy's medical system'. This latest evidence that Beijing considered the military potential of SARS coronaviruses from as early as 2015 has also raised fresh fears over the cause of Covid-19, with some officials still believing the virus could have escaped from a Chinese lab. The authors of the document insist that a third world war 'will be biological', unlike the first two wars which were described as chemical and nuclear respectively. Referencing research which suggested the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan forced them to surrender, and bringing about the end of WWII, they claim bioweapons will be 'the core weapon for victory' in a third world war. The document also outlines the ideal conditions to release a bioweapon and cause maximum damage." À Red Scare and a New Cold War narrative propagated on unverified claims and evidence from a single dossier obtained by the U. S. State Department? I am not sure because if you read the Article the evidence presented in it of an existing conflict of interests between scientific researchers and high-ranking Chinese military officials is quite substantial and very visible. I am of the opinion that no state should be let of the hook from an international bodies regulation and policing of suspected laboratories and institutes where such scientific research on viruses was conducted and an international commission and body of experts investigating the issue with no political pressure and conflict of interests attached to them.
  7. Thanks for the heads up I have forgotten which newspapers in the U.K. constitute as tabloids or have tabloidesque elements in their reporting, I could only remember the Sun and the Daily Sun, with the obvious aesthetic sign that they have a red top headline with white capital letters, hence the nickname for tabloids in the U.K. is, if I remember correctly, red tops contrasting more serious newspapers and press which is nicknamed broadsheets (The Guardian, The Observer, etc.). Yes, but what interested me in this dossier allegedly obtained by the U.S. State Department is the description of how the Chinese military officials and scientists connected with the PLA see how this war may be fought in the near future using these never deployed and unconventional means with bioweapons, in this case, genetically modified viral pathogens obtained from animals dispersed as aerosols in a given area and then spread like an epidemic and subsequently as a pandemic damaging the unprepared enemies medical system via the interconnectedness and codependence of the global economy. This suggests that this type of warfare done on a global level with the intent of crippling the other competing power's economy and medical system will take the highest toll and casualties on the domestic non-military civilian populace of the countries which I see as the most worrying aspect in the future if this type of warfare is seen as legitimate and effective means to pave the way for global economic leadership and supremacy. I am not, I am from Serbia in Europe which is strengthening its economic ties and dependence with China by allowing Chinese state companies to purchase and lease defunct or near-bankrupt state industries here in Serbia and employ only their workers and also undertakes infrastructural projects here in the country. The only thing I see as worrying is strengthening economic ties with a state such as China if biowarfare is their way of conducting international competition with other nations and which is also known to practice ''debt-trap diplomacy'' with developing nations in which its companies undertake these infrastructural projects.
  8. "The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preffering to deify error; if error seduces them. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever tries to destroy their illusions is always their victim." -- Gustave Le Bonn, The Crowd: The Study of the Popular Mind. "Totalitarianism is a modern phenomenon of total centralized state power coupled with the obliteration of individual human rights: in the totalized state, there are those in power, and the objectified masses, the victims. -- Arthur Versluis, The New Inquisitions "... there is in fact much that is comparable between the strange reactions of citizens of [totalitarianism] and their culture as a whole on the one hand and on the other the reactions of a sick schizophrenic..." -- Joost Meerloo, The Rape of the Mind "Menticide is an old crime against the human mind and spirit but systematized anew. It is an organized system of psychological intervention and judicial perversion by which a ruling class imprints their opportunistic thoughts on those they plan to use and destroy." -- Joost Meerloo, The Rape of the Mind "Totalitarianism is man's escape from the fearful realities of life into the virtual womb of leaders. The individual actions are directed from this womb - the inner sanctum.. man no longer needs to assume responsibility for his own life. The order and logic of the prenatal world reign. There is silence and peace, the peace of utter submission." -- Joost Meerloo, The Rape of the Mind ''Each wave of terrorizing...creates its effects more easily - after a breathing spell - than the one that preceded it because people are still disturbed by their previous experiences. Morality becomes lower and lower, the psychological effects of each new propaganda campaign become stronger; it reaches a public already softened up." -- Joost Meerloo, The Rape of the Mind "Logic can be met with logic, while illogic cannot - it confuses those who think straight. The Big Lie and monotonously repeated nonsense have more emotional appeal...than logic and reason. While the people are still searching for a reasonable counter-argument for the first lie, the totalitarians can assault them with another." -- Joost Meerloo, The Rape of the Mind "Modern technology teaches man to take for granted the world he is looking at; he takes no time to retreat and reflect. Technology lures him on, dropping him into its wheels and movements and movements. No rest, no meditation, no reflection, no conversation - the senses are continually overloaded with stimuli. Man does not learn to question his world anymore; the screen offers him the answers ready-made." -- Joost Meerloo, The Rape of the Mind "It is not for nothing that our age cries out for the redeemer personality, for the one who can emancipate himself from the grip of a collective psychosis and save at least his own soul, who lights the beacon of hope for others, proclaiming that here is at least one man who has succeeded in extricating himself from the fatal identity with the group psyche." -- Carl Gustav Jung, Civilization in Transition "We must learn to treat the demagogue and the aspirant dictators in our midst...with the weapon of ridicule. The demagogue himself is almost incapable of humor of any sort, and if we treat him with humor, he will begin to collapse." -- Joost Meerloo, The Rape of the Mind "Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." -- Thomas Paine, The American Crisis
  9. How survival shapes you. Till ten-minute video summary in Word of Leo's new video and lesson about the survival dynamic in human beings. How survival shapes you -text summary of a video lesson Actualized.org.docx
  10. Chapter Two, Neoliberal Mindfulness. "Mindfulness is hostage to the neoliberal mindset: 1. it must be put to use, 2. it must be proved that it "works", 3. it must deliver the desired results. This prevents it from being offered as a tool of resistance, restricting it instead to a technique for "self-care". It becomes a therapeutic solvent - a universal elixir - for dissolving the mental and emotional obstacles to better performance and increased efficiency." "This logic pervades most institutions, from public services to large corporations, the quest for resilience is driven by the dictum: "Adapt - or perish." "The result is an obsessive self-monitoring of inner states, inducing social myopia. Self-absorption trumps concerns about the outside world. As Byung-Chul Han observes, this reinvents the Puritan work ethic: "Endlessly working at self-improvement resembles the self-examination and self-monitoring of Protestantism, which represents a technology of subjectivization and domination in its own right. Now, instead of searching out sins, one hunts down negative thoughts." "This inevitably appeals to consumers who value spirituality as a way of enhancing their mental and physical health. Not only has mindfulness been repackaged as a novel technique of psychotherapy, but its utility is commercially marketed as self-help. This branding reinforces the notion that spiritual practices are indeed an individual's private concern. And once privatized, these practices are easily co-opted for social, economic and political control." Ronald Purser argument in his original article "Beyond McMindfulness" which inspired him into writing this book: "Decontextualizing mindfulness from its original liberative and transformative purpose, as well as its foundation in social ethics, amounts to a Faustian bargain. Rather than applying mindfulness as a means to awaken individuals and organizations from the unwholesome roots of greed, ill will, and delusion, it is usually being refashioned into a banal, therapeutic, self-help technique that can actually reinforce those roots."
  11. The full title of the book: McMindfulness - How Mindfulness became the New Capitalist Spirituality by Ronald Purser. Chapter One: What Mindfulness Revolution? "Mindfulness is mainstream endorsed by celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Goldie Hawn, and Ruby Wax. While meditation coaches, monks, and neuroscientists rub shoulders with CEOs at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the founders of this movement have grown evangelical. Prophesying that it's a hybrid of science and meditative discipline "has the potential to ignite a universal or global renaissance", the inventor of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Jon Kabat-Zinn, has bigger ambitions than conquering stress. Mindfulness, he proclaims, "may actually be the only promise the species and the planet have for making it through the next couple of hundred years." The Author, Ronald Purser: "I am skeptical. Anything that offers success in our unjust society without trying to change it is not revolutionary - it just helps people cope. However, it could be making things worse. Instead of encouraging radical action, it says that the causes of suffering are disproportionately inside us, not in the political and economic framework that shapes how we live. And yet mindfulness zealots believe that paying closer attention to the present moment without passing judgment has the revolutionary power to transform the whole world. Don't get me wrong. There are certainly worthy dimensions to mindfulness practice. Turning out mental rumination does help reduce stress, as well as chronic anxiety and other maladies. Becoming more aware of automatic reactions can make people calmer and potentially kinder. But that isn't the issue here. The problem is the product they're selling, and how it's been packaged. Mindfulness is nothing more than basic concentration training. Although derived from Buddhism, it's been stripped of the teachings on ethics that accompanied it, as well as the liberating aim of dissolving attachment to a false sense of self while enacting compassion for all other beings. What remains is a tool of self-discipline, disguised as self-help. Instead of setting practitioners free, it helps them adjust to the very conditions that caused their suffering. A truly revolutionary movement would seek to overthrow this dysfunctional system, but mindfulness only serves to reinforce it's destructive logic. The neoliberal order has imposed itself by stealth in the past few decades, widening inequality in the pursuit of corporate wealth. People are expected to adapt to what this model demands of them. Stress has been pathologized and privatized, and the burden of managing it outsourced to individuals." Author's conclusion in the chapter: "Reducing suffering is a noble aim and it should be encouraged. But to do this effectively teachers of mindfulness need to acknowledge that personal stress has societal causes. By failing to address collective suffering and systemic change that might remove it, they rob mindfulness of its revolutionary potential, reducing it to something banal that keeps people focused on themselves."
  12. Chapter One, subchapter four: A Capitalist Spirituality Part 2 ''Leaders of the mindfulness movement believe that capitalism and spirituality can be reconciled; they want to relieve the stress of individuals without having to look deeper and more broadly at social, economic, and political causes." "A truly revolutionary mindfulness would challenge the Western sense of entitlement to happiness irrespective of ethical conduct. However, mindfulness programs do not ask executives to examine how their managerial decisions and corporate policies have institutionalized greed, ill will, and delusion, which Buddhist mindfulness seeks to eradicate." "Instead the practice is being sold to executives as a way to de-stress, improve productivity and focus, and bounce back from working eighty-hour weeks. They may well be "meditating", but it works like taking an aspirin for a headache. Once the pain goes away, it is business as usual. Even if individuals become nicer people, the corporate agenda for maximizing profits does not change. Trickle down-mindfulness, like trickle-down economics, is a cover for the maintenance of power.
  13. Well that's unexpected and unfortunate. I haven't researched much what's the vaccination rate by demographic in other countries but a lot middle-aged adults here already got vaccinated though by various sorts of vaccine producers from China, Russia, through Britain and America (Sinopharm, Sputnik V, Astra Zeneca and Phyzer). Though some of the used vaccines (most notably the Chinese Sinopharm) were in phases of testing in some countries like mine and Pakistan, so it was a sort of guinea pig deal between the the government of a poorer country and the company that produces vaccines to test their vaccine patch on their populations (mostly older and middle aged Serbian adults agreed to take them as far as I am aware of here) in exchange for having lots of those vaccines available for the general population. So maybe it is good that they haven't started the vaccination of middle-aged adults in Germany if the patches of the vaccine producer haven't gone through a thorough testing process.
  14. Well Belgrade is quite densely populated and perhaps they wanted to make available the most diverse set of vaccine producers (one's that would guarantee viability of travel into the EU if Covid passports or certificates of vaccination by certain vaccine producers became a mandatory thing) for the large student population from all parts of the country residing here in the various dorms through out the city.
  15. So it's not an age thing I thought that was maybe the case why the scheduling took longer for slightly older people.
  16. How's the case that I got vaccinated with the same brand of vaccine produced in America before you via my student policlinic health insurance even though I live in a second world half-periphery country? I am waiting for my second dose on the 29th of April.
  17. Chapter One, subchapter four: A Capitalist Spirituality. "This has come about partly because proponents of mindfulness believe that the practice is apolitical, and so the avoidance of moral inquiry and the reluctance to consider a vision of the social good are intertwined Laissez-faire mindfulness lets dominant systems decide such questions as "the good". It is simply assumed that ethical behavior will arise "naturally" from practice and the teacher's "embodiment" of soft-spoken niceness, or through the happenstance of inductive self-discovery. However, the claim that "major ethical changes come intrinsically from paying attention to the present moment, non-judgementally" is patently flawed. The emphasis on "non-judgmental awareness" can just as easily disable one's moral intelligence. It is unlikely that the Pentagon would invest in mindfulness if more mindful soldiers refused en masse to go to war. Mindfulness is the latest iteration of a capitalist spirituality whose lineage dates back to the privatization of religion in Western societies. This began a few hundred years ago as a way of reconciling faith with modern scientific knowledge. The private experience could not be measured by science, so religion was internalized. Important figures in the process include the nineteenth-century philosopher William James, who was instrumental in psychologizing religion, as well as Abraham Maslow, whose humanistic psychology provided the impetus for the New Age movement. In Selling Spirituality: The Silent Takeover of Religion, Jeremy Carrete, and Richard King argue that Asian wisdom traditions have been subject to colonization and commodification since the eighteenth century, producing a highly individualistic spirituality, perfectly accommodated to dominant cultural values and requiring no substantive changes in lifestyle. Such individualistic spirituality is clearly linked to the neoliberal agenda of privatization, especially when masked by the ambiguous language used in mindfulness. Market forces are already exploiting the momentum of the mindfulness movement, reorienting its goals to a highly circumscribed individual realm. Privatized mindfulness practice is easily coopted and confined to what Carrette and King describe as an "accommodationist orientation" that seeks to "pacify feelings of anxiety and disquiet at the individual level rather than seeking to challenge the social, political and economic inequalities that cause such distress." "However", as Ron Purser points out, "the commitment to a privatized and psychologized mindfulness is political." "It amounts to what Byung-Chul Han calls "psycho-politics", in which contemporary capitalism seeks to harness the psyche as a productive force. Mindfulness-based interventions fulfill this purpose by therapeutically optimizing individuals to make them "mentally fit", attentive and resilient so they may keep functioning within the system. Such capitulation seems like the farthest thing from a revolution and more like a quietist surrender. Mindfulness is positioned as a force that can help us cope with the noxious influence of capitalism. But because what it offers is so easily assimilated by the market, its potential for social and political transformation is neutered."
  18. Chapter One, subchapter three: The Commodification of Mindfulness. "The term "McMindfulness was coined by Miles Neale, a Buddhist teacher, and psychotherapist, who described "a feeding frenzy of spiritual practices that provide immediate nutrition but no long term sustenance." Although this label is apt, it has deeper connotations. The contemporary mindfulness fad is the entrepreneurial equal of McDonald's. The founder of the latter, Ray Kroc, created the fast-food industry." "Very early on, when selling milkshakes, Kroc saw the franchising potential of a restaurant chain in San Bernandino, California. He made a deal to serve as a franchising agent for the McDonald's brothers. Soon afterward, he bought them out and grew the restaurant chain into a global empire. Both Kroc and Kabat-Zinn had a remarkable capacity for opportunity recognition: the ability to perceive an untapped market need, create new openings for business, and perceive innovative ways for delivering products and services. Kroc saw his chance to provide busy Americans instant access to food that would be delivered consistently through automation, standardization, and discipline. He recruited ambitious and driven franchise owners and continued to expand the reach of McDonald's by identifying new markets that would be drawn to fast food at bargain prices." "Similarly, Kabat-Zinn perceived an opportunity to give stressed-out Americans easy access to mindfulness vis-a-vis MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction), his masterstroke was the branding of mindfulness as a secular crypto-Buddhist spirituality." Ronald Purser concludes the chapter by stating: "Since the publication of, "Beyond McMindfulness", I have observed with great trepidation how mindfulness has been oversold and commodified, reduced to a technique for just about any instrumental purpose." "Void of a moral compass or ethical commitments, unmoored from a vision of the social good, the commodification of mindfulness keeps it anchored in the ethos of the market."
  19. Chapter One, subchapter two: À Private Freedom Part 2. "Mindfulness like positive psychology and the broader happiness industry has depoliticized and privatized stress. If we are unhappy about being unemployed, losing our health insurance, and seeing our children incur massive debt through college loans, it is our responsibility to learn to be more mindful. Jon Kabat-Zinn assures us that "happiness is an inside job" that simply requires us to attend to the present moment mindfully and purposely without judgment. Purser concludes: "Guided by the therapeutic ethos aimed at enhancing the mental and emotional resilience of individuals, it endorses neoliberal assumptions that everyone is free to choose their responses, manage negative emotions, and "flourish" through various modes of self-care." "If this version of mindfulness had a mantra, its adherents would be chanting " I, me and mine. " As Ron Purser's college C. W. Huntington observes: "The first question most Westerners ask when considering the practice is: "What's in it for me?" Mindfulness is sold and marketed as a vehicle for personal gain and gratification. The so-called mindfulness revolution meekly accepts the dictates of the marketplace." Purser sums up the chapter, from a quote from another fellow skeptic David Forbes, who sums this up in his book Mindfulness and Its Discontents: "Which self wants to be de-stressed and happy? Mine! The Minefulness Industrial Complex wants to help you be happy, promote your personal brand - and of course, make and take some bucks (yours and mine) along the way. The simple premise is that by practicing mindfulness, by being more mindful, you will be happy, regardless of what thoughts and feelings you have, or your actions in the world. Of course, this is a reflection of capitalist norms, which distort many things in the modern world. However, the mindfulness movement actively embraces them, dismissing critics who ask if it really needs to be this way."
  20. Chapter One, subchapter two: À Private Freedom. "The fundamental message of the mindfulness movement is that the underlying cause of dissatisfaction and distress is in our heads. By failing to pay attention to what actually happens in each moment, we get lost in regrets about the past and fears for the future, which make us unhappy. The man often labeled as the father of modern mindfulness, Jon Kabat-Zinn, calls this a "thinking disease." Learning to focus turns down the volume on circular thought, so Kabat-Zinn's diagnosis is that our "entire society is suffering from attention deficit disorder - big time." But as Ron Purser points out: "Other sources of cultural malaise are not discussed. Mindfulness advocates perhaps unwittingly are providing support for the status quo. Rather than discussing how attention is monetized and manipulated by corporations such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Apple, they locate the crisis in our minds. It is not the nature of the capitalist system that is inherently problematic; rather, it is the failure of individuals to be mindful and resilient in a precarious and uncertain economy." Ron Purser's points of criticism of the underlying assumptions of the movement: "The political naiveté involved is stunning. The revolution being touted occurs not through protests and collective struggle but in the heads of atomized individuals. "It is not the revolution of the desperate and disenfranchised in society," notes Chris-Goto Jones, a scholarly critic of the movement's ideas, "but rather a 'peaceful revolution' being led by white, middle-class Americans." The goals are unclear, beyond peace of mind in our own private worlds. By practicing mindfulness, individual freedom is supposedly found within "pure awareness", undistracted by external corrupting influences. All we need to do is close our eyes and watch our breath. And that's the crux of the supposed revolution the world is slowly changed - one mindful individual at the time. " But as the author comments: "This political philosophy is oddly reminiscent of George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism." With the retreat to the private sphere, mindfulness becomes a religion of the self. The idea of a public sphere is being eroded, and any trickle-down effect of compassion is by chance. As a result, notes the political theorist Wendy Brown," the body politic ceases to be a body, but is, rather, a group of individual entrepreneurs and consumers."
  21. Very interesting! Thanks a lot for explaining to me in short the history of Taiwan and the historical origin and political context behind the term. And thanks for explaining and punctuating the crucial importance of Taiwanese Semi-Conducteurs Manufacturing Company for the global high-tech market! I had no clue about their existence and importance for manufacturing the crucial components for the functioning of graphic cards on computers, laptops and smartphones! Great share here and thanks once again for the very useful information ! ??
  22. Quick question unrelated to the main subject of the topic you posted. Why do use the geographical term West China and not Mainland China when reffering to the PRC? BTW Taiwan is mostly used as geographical marker by the Mainland Chinese when reffering to it implicitly as part of their geographical territory under the One Country Two Systems Principle. Taiwan calls it itself the Republic of China and the people there reffer to themselves as Chinese not Taiwanese as far as I know.