Beware the New Normal

In the US, a wealthy, powerful and privileged plutocracy has defined a new normal that fails normal people, according to an article by Anand Giridharadas in TIME magazine (December 2-9, 2019), His observations apply equally to the elite hyperwealthy who govern in many countries throughout the world. Those who Giridharadas calls plutes know how to mask their influence by using the following tactics real normal people need to recognize and reject.

They:

• Emphasize job creation, when they expect tax breaks where they locate a new business, contribute to climate change, or disregard environmental and worker safety laws. 
• Benefit from ongoing corruption involved in constructing a sports arena that provides a day of entertainment for fans.
• Offset massive returns from investments of questionable social value, such as production of sugary soda drinks, by making some do-good investments and philanthropic contributions.
• Learn to describe their fear of losing wealth to taxes as harmful to those who benefit from their philanthropy and research to develop new products and drugs.
• Win elections by posing as the ones who are providing the food supplied by humanitarian organizations.
• Prefer paying fines, even major ones, to making actual reforms of harmful and unfair practices.
• Hire public relations' experts to brand harmful and unfair practices with deceptive labels and descriptions that sound like public services.
• Blame poverty on the victims of government policies or people who just don't like to work.

Whatever a person's religion or lack of religion, the Christmas season offers a reminder that it takes a god to be a savior. The world is too complicated for a wealthy individual to govern alone; it takes an administration. Fair elections enable lucky voters to choose between a one-person administration dedicated to maintaining a wealthy elite or an administration with a president, cabinet, congress, and courts devoted to the rule of law and institutions that serve the public interest.

No Time To Be Stupid

China's leader, Mr. Xi Jinping, asserts every country's government is legitimate, even one like his that censors everything a person sees and says and uses facial recognition technology to monitor the activities of every citizen. There are numerous ramifications of acknowledging despotic governments that ignore human rights and theocratic governments that require all people to follow the same religious beliefs and practices deserve the same respect and fealty as governments founded on democratic principles.

     Take the example of neurotechnologies capable of inserting electrodes into a brain to temporarily reduce the time it takes to memorize multiplication tables, a football playbook, or the codes and plans of a military enemy. Invasion into a brain also has other effects. Blood leakage into a brain's compartments from such an insert eventually reduces normal cell activities, such as memory and thinking. The impact on one brain function also can "cross talk" to impact other brain functions, such as the moral ability to discern right from wrong.

     Some scientists devote themselves to technologies that enhance the individual, commercial, and military applications of human individuals, robots, and drones. Other humans use technology to binge-watch shows, socialize on smartphones, or order lipstick and mascara. Around the world, everyone has a stake in supporting governments devoted to: 1) promoting technologies that are good for society and 2) impeding the development and controlling the use of technologies that injure humans.