Читать книгу Livin' la Vida Barroca. American Culture in an Age of Imperial Orthodoxies онлайн

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I guess we just forgot:

That globalization didn’t just happen, but was rather carefully planned by US, and to some extent, European political leaders during the last three decades (take a look at the genesis of GATT, NAFTA and a whole host of other trade deals) as a means of guaranteeing that our countries’ economic elites would continue exert control over grotesquely inordinate amount of the world’s valuable resources and pecuniary wealth.

That the relatively impressive middle class freedoms and security we enjoyed as kids didn’t just come about by accident. Rather, they were the result of people like your grandparents making sacrifices, and yes, sometimes even saying no to things that might have benefited them personally because they knew that doing so would have a deleterious effect on the broader progress of the community.

That being entertained is not the same as being engaged. I like ESPN as much as the next guy. But it is no substitute for the careful following of public events. Only a cadre of citizens engaged citizens able, and willing, to pitilessly call out, and yes, embarrass, elected officials on the basis of policy details and their counterproductive effects is, sadly enough, the only thing that garners their respect, and therefore the possibility of fundamental change.