Basic Gramsci Theory

Like Marx, Antonio Gramsci believes in a war of oppressed vs. Oppressor.

The oppressors are the homogeneous ruling class who either by force or hegemony dominate the values in society. In America, the oppressor would be the heterosexual male WASP. His values that he uses to control the oppressed are present in schools, churches and everyday society.

The oppressed are subordinate to the homogeneous ruling class. Groups included are women and minorities among others. Because of the cultural hegemony exercised by the WASP male oppressors, these groups are unaware that they are being oppressed (false consciousness), hence that is why there is no worker revolution as prophesied by Marx.

In order to give the subordinate classes a new kind of consciousness, the leadership “organic intellectuals” will seek to dominate the media, educational institutions, and other mass organizations (film industry and literature. The revolutionaries will seek to replace the ruling class concepts and values and educate the subordinates of their oppression. Values held dear by the old culture will be destroyed. Once the oppressed are giving their new consciousness, then they will begin the Marxist revolution. Ironically, by raising the “oppressed”’s consciousness, they will then oppress them under Marxism! Kind of a trick.

(thanks to Stephen Yates and Wikipedia)

Modern liberals are definitely influenced by Gramsci, perhaps more than Lenin, who started an outright revolution. This is definitely evident in the political movements of the 1960s. Now the Gramscians are raising the consciousness of illegal immigrants (well actually, mainly the Mexicans who crossed the border) (another thought, what the heck is Bush doing??)

In order to fight the liberal’s war on our culture, (I hope I have proved here that “culture war” is a liberal concept originally rather than a Buchananian concept), those who are against Marxism and socialism and a culture of victimhood must again seek to control the media and educational institutions. That movement has been in place, but I do not think that most of those who are against socialist movements know exactly what we are fighting against. This is an organized movement seeking to destroy good values like freedom, equality, and patriotism.

Quote of the Day

“Give me the child for six years, and he will be a Marxist forever.”
—reportedly by Lenin

Understanding the Cultural War

This is a great article on the cultural war of the 21st century.

Stephen Yates, the writer, divides the groups of people fighting this “war” as Gramscians (liberal) and Tocquevillian (conservatives) and other (libertarians, paleoconservatives, fringe groups)

I will write more on Gramsci and de Tocqueville in the coming week.

Arrogant, Selfish, and Exclusive

“They [Western countries] are nervous because of their arrogant, selfish and exclusivist tendencies”
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (from BBC.com)

I think Mahmoud Ahmadinejad just described himself.

Another– Hugo Chavez, who is near hilarious in his arrogance. If the USA is the evil empire and if Bush is the terrorist that Chavez says he is, Iraq would be over, I mean literally. Compare the “invasion” of Iraq to the invasion of Manchuria by IMPERIALIST Japan. (true fascists) Chavez makes himself sound ignorant.

Ahmadinejad needs to learn a lesson from Libya.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4774305.stm

“Libya is an important model as nations around the world press for changes in behaviour by the Iranian and North Korean regimes – changes that could be vital to international peace and security.

We urge the leadership of Iran and North Korea to make similar strategic decisions that would benefit their citizens.

For Libya, today’s announcements open the door to a broader bilateral relationship with the United States that will allow us to better discuss other issues of importance.

Those issues include protection of universal human rights, promotion of freedom of speech and expression, and expansion of economic and political reform consistent with President Bush’s freedom agenda.”

–Condoleeza Rice, bbcnews.com
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4774029.stm)

The Trouble with Immigration Enforcement

I have heard all day, forget the border, enforce the immigration rules we have now! The trouble with that is the corporations are not, um cooperating. I know at least in the Tennessee and Georgia area, whenever they raid the carpet mills, they were sued. Many corporations are cheating the system and even bussing illegals from Mexico across the border. I will search for the exact dates of the lawsuits and the names of the businesses involved. I know, I know, there is a new law in Georgia, but I am talking about what went on in the past.

Can we have our own day without the immigrant boycott and boycott companies that cheat the system and hire illegal immigrants? I probably would not be able to eat Chinese or Mexican for a while, but is that a way to send a message?

Quote of the Day

“Are you OK with Al Qaeda only having to subscribe to The New York Times and The Washington Post to learn how America’s spies are trying to track them down?” from John Gibson, Fox News, “My Word” May 12, 2006

It does seem that the media is anti-government and doing anything necessary to get rid of the Republican Congress, even if it hurts our security. The media can find many things wrong with the Republican Congress, why do they have to attack the CIA and the NSA among other organizations? Are they still bearing a grudge over the CIA role in fighting Communism during the Cold War? (not always perfectly I admit, but still)

Attack the Republican’s hypocrisy about spending, or their weak stance on illegal immigration. Keep our nation secure. We are now fighting Islamofascism, not Communsim, perhaps far more dangerous. These Islamofascists are related to groups who supported Hitler during World War II. We don’t want that nightmare again!

NSA and AT&T

From Worldtribune.com- “The National Security Agency worked through telecommunications giant AT&T as part of a program to trace telephone calls from Al Qaida terrorists to the United States, according to a former company technician.

Mark Klein, who spent more than 22 years with AT&T in New York and California, said in January 2003 that NSA set up a room adjacent to an office in the AT&T central office on Folsom Street in San Francisco to route and screen public phone calls.

Additionally, in October 2003, Klein said he learned that the secret NSA room was used to tap into AT&T’s WorldNet Internet room, which included large routers, modems and other equipment.

Fiber optic cables from the NSA room tapped into the WorldNet Internet equipment by splitting off a portion of the light signal.

The circuits broken into were called Peering Links that connected WorldNet with other networks throughout the country and world.

Klein said the NSA equipment included a Narus STA 6400, known as a semantic traffic analyzer, used to sift through large amounts of data in the search for pre-programmed targets.

The U.S. government has filed a States Secret Privilege notice to prevent further disclosure of the wiretap details, according to a former intelligence official.

The terrorist surveillance program has produced valuable intelligence on Al Qaida communications, according to Gen. Michael Hayden, principle deputy director of national intelligence and President Bush’s new nominee to head the CIA.”

Ok, some key points:1. NSA traced calls from Al Qaeda TERRORISTS to the United States
2. It was a TERRORIST SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM

Opinions on DaVinci Code and the Passion

This was an interesting article from foxnews.com

Still, I think protesting the book and movie only make more people want to read the book or watch the movie. Though I don’t agree with all of Dan Brown’s theories, his theories about Christ and Mary Magdelene are not new. I have read about those theories before. You read the book, watch the movie, be entertained, and choose what you accept or will not accept for yourself.

By the way, I did not like the movie “The Passion of Christ”. I thought it overhyped and dark and dreary. I was weird in that I agreed with Jewish groups. The “Passion of Christ” was another overhyped movie that in my opinion did nothing to glorify Christ. It was based on 11th or 12th century theology when the death and suffering of Christ was emphasized over his resurrection (also a time of Crusades and of anti- Semitism).

People making such a big deal over “The DaVinci Code” are simply making Christians look bad. If you want to protest the movie, don’t overhype it!! I would rather Christians protest the porn industry, or the over-sexed programming on prime time television. I have, by not watching the filth and supporting shows which are good. I also hate the liberal slant that a lot of Hollywood films have. I simply don’t watch or buy the films.

I think it is interesting that Da Vinci Code does make you think. As a Christian, one should never be afraid to question. Finding lost books or reading the Gnostic literature does not threaten my faith. In fact, I love reading about the early Christian church before Constantine. The Catholic leaders should also not fear. Neither should any “Biblical” Christian.

I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and divine, that is why the Gospel of John (written in the 1st century) is my favorite book of the Bible! “The DaVinci Code”, a mediocre book in reality, only strengthens my faith in what I already believe is true. Again Angels and Demons is ten times better!!!

Why all the hype over the DaVinci Code?

I read the book. No big deal! In fact, I didn’t like it. The big secret was that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and that they had children. I read this as a child in some Reader’s Digest book my mother had. It has long been a myth in Europe. So I was not shocked by that revelation.

Here is the fact— It is not known whether or not Jesus was married. It does not straight out say in the bible “Jesus was married” or “Jesus was single”. The only people who are wrong are those who definately say that Jesus was or was not married. Some claim they are biblical. But give me the the verse in the Bible where it says Jesus was not married. I personally do not know. It was obviously not for us to know. If someone wants to write about this theory, then they have that right.

That doesn’t mean I agreee with Dan Brown’s theories in the book. There are many things I personally disagree with. In fact, when I read fiction, I usually don’t believe it as a fact. It is a fictional novel!!! Read it for fun!

I think it would have been better to make a movie out of “Angels and Demons”, in my opinion, a much better book.

New NSA scandals

This is an article from Foxnews.com.

As a former employee of both AT&T and MCI I wondered if the government actually looked at call patterns. I was a customer service representative dealing primarily with international phone calls. Part of my job was to analyze the callers call patterns in order to give them the best plan possible. There were times when the call patterns were suspicious even to me. Keep in mind, this was before 9/11.

When I heard this story, I was not surprised. The government would be stupid not to analyze calling patterns. Don’t worry, unless you are an Arab calling Pakistan, Sudan, Kenya, UAE, and Saudi Arabia in one month, I don’t think you have to worry too much. Even if you do, it should be easy to prove that you do it for business only.

In other words, I certainly did not work for the government and I saw thousands of call records as an At&T employee. Your call records aren’t as private as you think. Everytime you call and complain about your bill, the person on the other end has complete access to your records. We are bound to keep them private, but if, right before 9/11 you saw someone from Florida making many calls to Saudi Arabia, Europe, and Africa in one month, wouldn’t you feel a bit guilty that you did not say something? Maybe the person is innocent, but what if they were not and now 3,000 Americans are dead? I saw several people make calls like this. Usually a foreigner only calls one country, maybe two but not more than four in one month.

I think this is a political move to prevent Hayden from gaining control of the CIA. I am not sure how I feel about Hayden personally. Would it be better to have a military man as the head of the CIA? I don’t know. But I am honestly sick of all of these political wars and cannot wait for the November elections to be over.