American war

art - a child's face

Our society is influenced and held together by a variety of forces. The uninitiated may be skeptical of the idea that certain forces—classes, organizations, interests—consciously seek to control society by controlling its citizens. Control can be simply built-in and institutional to a given system as well as specifically conspiratorial and conscious.

There is a dangerous tendency in US society to characterize the suspicion or study of controlling forces as “paranoid” and “delusional.” Instead, we are encouraged to simply “have faith” and not wonder about what or who is influencing our lives.

The often repeated attitude that “things are just crazy” or “nobody controls things” or “the world is just chaotic” is a particularly anti-intellectual, anti-questioning and anti-democratic perspective. This attitude seeks to unburden itself of responsibility for understanding its own world and doing anything to make it better.

Social control can range from covert policies of influence or manipulation to overt use of force—policing, incarceration, etc. READ MORE by Reese Martinez

flag & weapons of war from Brown Eagle