He's a smart guy who gets it.

Gotta give him credit for at least giving off the perception of being humble when he said something along the lines of... 'I'm just incredibly lucky to have been born when I was, where I was, to whom I was, and in the circumstances I found myself in.' Glad some of those 0.01% get the big picture though. Obviously I'm not saying he's uneducated or anything either, just restating what he said.

eom

They do not deserve any better treatment.

Thanks, bonobo!

This is the TED talk that TED dared not post on their site for some time. It was apparently too controversial for typical TED attendees who pay thousands to listen to 20 minute talks by smart people.

Not to malign TED. They produce a lot of good stuff, for instance Pamelia Kurstin.

Beautiful!!!

In this case the theremin is more than a gimmick; the music itself being played is worthy. Excellent accompaniment by Ozone. I doubt that the theremin would lend itself to really intricate soloing, just because of it's nature. I mean, your hands are floating in air; you'd have to be a robot to make some of those intervals at a fast pace.

Theremins are pretty kool. My Dad made one when I was in high school. All my friends enjoyed playing with it.

Wonderful video.

And it convinces those effected with it that power is forever and complete. It has been that way throughout history.

And they know history too, but this time they feel they know how to deal with it by controlling the mind through media...we shall see if that is true.

"Accept in your mind that anything that can happen can happen to you."

I think keeping this in mind would save everyone a lot of trouble.

invincible. I was told when my babies were little that the only thing babies fear at first is falling. I suspect that being held by their ankles and patted on the backs to assist breathing might actually be the cause of that one.

So we think from birth that we are safe and for the rest of our lives we keep learning that is not so.

"We control the warriors, the money, and the food. How can they win?" This time it's a little different when it's AR-15s vs predator drones and cops with tanks, but hard to go up against millions even with those. Wow I took this into a dark area.

But there is no winning with violence...because when the violence is over the ones who love power and control will be in charge...it's like the words to Won't Get Fooled Again.

We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
...
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

The only wat to win is a non violent revolution and one led by a moral principle.

The French Aristocracy never saw it coming either!

I'm thinking of the old song "Bastille Day," performed by one of my favourite bands, Rush.

Oddly enough, the lyrics were written by former Ayn Randist (and newly-minted U.S. citizen), Neil Peart.

There's no bread, let them eat cake
There's no end to what they'll take
Flaunt the fruits of noble birth
Wash the salt into the earth

But they're marching to Bastille day
La guillotine will claim her bloody prize
Free the dungeons of the innocent
The king will kneel to let his kingdom rise

Bloodstained velvet, dirty lace
Naked fear on every face
See them bow their heads to die
As we would bow as they rode by

And they're marching to Bastille day
La guillotine will claim her bloody prize
Sing, o choirs of the cacophony
The king will kneel to let his kingdom rise

Lessons taught but never learned
All around us anger burns
Guide the future by the past
Long ago the mould was cast

For they marched up to Bastille day
La guillotine claimed her bloody prize
Hear the echoes of the centuries
Where power isn't all that money buys

Lyrics by Neil Peart
Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson
Published by CORE Music Publishing

I call it the "slot machine theory of capitalism ". To avoid revolution,with real change, small advances that benefit a few people are touted as progress. Bread and circus. Pay off just enough to keep them playing.

and you don't need a mob to use them. I am puzzled that nobody has taken a shot at the Koch brothers, for example. Perhaps that has already happened and the information has been suppressed- which is what you would expect...

moves at this point. And I am talking about violent moves as I do think that political moves have been happening including Occupy and the protests against black deaths in Ferguson MO and other cities.

One of the problems is that we do not have the knowledge of exactly who to target. You mention the Koch brothers - but who else? As to corporate headquarters - we do not even know who the stockholders are let alone who to hit.

I hope that our political revolution works as I hate to think what will happen with a violent one. They hold all the power - we have only pitchforks.

Of course most of them are in the hands of the people who are clueless about economic inequality. They blame minorities and immigrants for all our problems.

are in the hands of people we do not want them to be in. Makes no sense to jump out of the frying pan into the fire.

What I am thinking regarding power is the military and the police. The revolutions we are most familiar with are the one in Russia in 1919, in France against the royalty, in South American countries and our own Revolutionary War, etc.

None of them had the kind of military and police we do today. They could take small arms and attack central government and win. The only hope we will ever have is if the military and police stand back. I do not see that happening.

And finally I think that we have already seen a change in how the government looks at power and people. They have handed out all kinds of military weapons to local police forces with the full understanding that they are for use against the people. When I was growing up in the 50s that would have been absolutely unthinkable that we use weapons of war against the people of the USA.

It would not take much more for them to use the actual military against the people.

IMO the only way we are going to bring the change we want is through political revolution. And even that is a long shot.

at their disposal to crush any kind of a revolution with the full force of the military. Only if the members of the military were fed up enough... but that is just a pipe dream. They are too indoctrinated. Oh well, we have to have some kind of hope.

as to whether the uniformed military would turn on the people. They remember the fall of the Ceaucescus; the Romanian military simply refused to attack the people, sealing their doom.

And that is one reason why the kkkop shops have been given so many military playthings. The kkkops would gleefully mow down the populace with never a second thought. They already think of ordinary people as their sworn enemies.

military. They are not quite as brainwashed or as mindless as you might think. However I never discuss these things with them. It is strictly off limits as a topic of conversation.

last decades. No more are they all brainwashed regarding which political party to support. Maybe they do have an open mind now. One can hope.

under conditions like we have now would be very different from those older revolutions where for the most part you just had to over throw the existing government in their centralized strongholds and establish your own government.

Here in the USA we have military bases all over the country and federal buildings representing the government in every area of the country. It is not just the idea of getting rid of the guys in DC. The guys are all over.

Oh, well I don't think it is going to come to that any time soon so it probably does not matter. We the people are far from organized. If a revolution should start on one side of the country the other side would probably ignore it.

I vote for peaceful revolution. Violent revolutions tend to be captured by the most extreme factions: The Jacobins in France, the Bolsheviks in Russia.

will listen? Not a chance. Their greed makes them deaf to all reason. They can't help
being the way they are. And if a revolution should come, they will try their best to make
some profit out of that, too.

of square miles of tarpaper tent shacks (probably that cheap blue plastic tarp crap they sell at Harbor Freight today) and a few hundred square feet of gated communities for the .00001% that are left after the coming unpleasantness. And games.

We will put the rest in a palace and worship them, caring for them.

Because if we lose those precious few we will have to deal with freedom, and that just scares the shit out of too many people.

He's talking sense to addicts. From experience I know that common sense will not work. It will take an intervention. A synonym for that is a revolution. People with power will never share it or cede any of it without the use of force. That isn't the way I think it should be, but merely the way it is.

Nothing will happen unless there is a GENERAL STRIKE.

He gives 2 options. 1-pay your fair share, pay workers a decent wage, and treat all people fairly. Or 2-run to your mansions, lock the gates, hoard your wealth, and wait for the pitchforks.
Shortly after this became popular, they chose #2.

to control the world. He was a multibillionaire who wanted more, more, more. At one point he says to a character played by Richard Pryor, whom he has coerced into using his computer genius to facilitate the evil scheme, "It is not enough that I win; everyone else must lose!"

That is a major part of the problem--the wealthy and powerful all too often get much, even most, of their pleasure from their wealth from observing the abject state of those they lord it over. It simply infuriates them when the plebes seem to enjoy any degree of comfort and ease.

Bernie is my pitchfork of choice!

change over time. The current system is based totally on oneupmanship, greed and hoarding. The distribution of wealth is so far skewed, absolutely incredible. TPTB know that, hence the buildup of DHS and militarization of police.

They've been preparing for massive social unrest since at least the 1980s when it slipped out during the Iran Contra hearings that a Florida newspaper (I think the Miami Herald) had reported that Oliver North (Reagan official) was heading up a domestic internment camp program. Since then, little bits have slipped out about more such camps (some in converted older military bases) and new crowd control weaponry ostensibly earmarked for occupied middle eastern countries. Then we have these "John Galt" rightwing militia types who think they're going to "fight back" against the government, blind to the fact that there is no way their arsenals could hope to withstand the U.S. military. So physical revolution would be extremely difficult, and horrible, to carry out -- unless perhaps the military were to sympathize with and get behind the people. Or very carefully carried out guerrilla tactics.

But it would be worlds better if we just could do it the Bernie Sanders way: politically.

So glad I finally checked in on it. It's great to hear an oligarch state these truths; we should share this video and/or the transcript with rightwing relatives & friends because, whether they're rich or poor, they'll always listen to a rich man. I also appreciate his citing the French Revolution, as delving a bit into that in the 80s was what helped me understand where our country was heading after Reagan began elevating the rich and sinking the poor/middle class.

When people stop blaming minorities, immigrants, gay marriage, abortion, etc. for the reason this country is so f'ed up and start realizing "HEY, it's the 1% that is making life a living hell for ALL of us!"? None of this other crap matters unless we can support ourselves and our families. When will economic survival matter more than hate and religious bullshit?

but not quite there yet. The American population is (to quote our local Moaist group of which I am not a member) "bought off."

They are STILL running as the "reformers" that will charge into DC and eliminate all of the nameless, faceless bureaucrats that only exist in their mind and cut taxes that don't exist. Their claim the rich are overtaxed and business is over-regulated was the campaign that got them into power 35 years ago.

They forgot about the second part. The part where the typical worker joins their campaign to lower taxes and regulations on their boss so their boss can afford to pay them what they're worth.

The working class gave them everything they asked for only to see their former boss on TV in a yacht race after their job was outsourced.



They voted for Reagan in the 80s expecting a payraise and didn't get it and the canned answer from the other party has been to tell these former workers now in their mid-50s they need to "learn the jobs in the new economy" because a skilled machinist is as obsolete as a skilled blacksmith. In other words, start over from scratch ten years from retirement by going back to school. On the bright side there's "talk" of making it "affordable".

1. General strike..... but the proles are so scared, it would turn into a 5% strike. That is, if we are lucky.

2. George Metetsky and Teodore Kaczynski.