During most summers in the U.S., one can expect soundtracked montages of pure Americana: music festivals, camping trips, BBQs, an onslaught of smash’em’up Marvel movies, beach parties, and 4th of July fireworks. But this summer, the world over, regardless of nation-state hallucinations and the petty borders carved by ancient violence, Mother Earth coughs up plagues, spits out wildfires, and vomits forth hurricanes. It’s been a nonstop clusterfuck of catastrophes. Doomscrolling through our social media feeds, paralyzed by anxiety, we see how millions face unemployment, healthcare loss, and eviction. The entire West Coast of North America is now threatened by the largest conflagration in modern history. We live in a time of great calamities. But those calamities have an origin story that must be identified, criticized, and undone in order to build a world of The Golden Square. The origin of these calamities lies in the toxic designs that Jesse & Matt collectively call The Poison Pyramid, a rotten triptych composed of hierarchy-producing machines: 1) Religion; 2) Capitalism; and finally, 3) Celebrity. We are living in yet another summer of this Poison Pyramid—best illustrated in a stunt orchestrated by amerikkka’s greatest huckster: Donald J. Trump, a raggedy pastiche of a man who trolled his way to the presidency. On June 1st, this flabby but unflagging con-artist directed police to deploy tear gas and violent tactics of domination to cleave through the George Floyd protests along Lafayette Square, so that he could stage a photo-op in front of St. John’s Church. Waving a bible haphazardly in the air, Trump became the pure apotheosis of The Poison Pyramid run amok—the toxic fumes of religion, capitalism and celebrity enmeshed in an expensive, violent, & vacuous nonevent. A fundamental matrix of domination, The Poison Pyramid circumscribes a comprehensive series of hierarchies within hierarchies—a nesting doll hiding other cold cruelties. To design a world of dignity, this gross idea-shape must be dismantled from its insides, and the sick myths of this matrix must be discarded. We must follow the abolitionist arc of emancipatory struggle to dismantle these roadblocks to human flourishing. Only socialism will do.
Mentioned In This Episode:
Quarantine Karaoke on Facebook - {Snoop Dogg’s Celebrity-Drenched Money Bomb Was Taken Down, for Reasons Unknown, but He Did Do a Karaoke Performance on the UK Facebook Page for the London-Based Music Channel Capital Xtra, which you can watch here.}
Wu-Tang Clan’s C.R.E.A.M.
To Watch Matt’s Inland Equity CLT Fundraiser on Facebook, Go Here.
To Contribute to Our Inland Equity Community Land Trust for the Inland Empire Region of California, You Can Donate Here.
Our Global Pandemic: Knvul Sheikh and Roni Caryn Rabin in The New York Times: “The Coronavirus: What the Scientists Have Learned Thus Far”
Economic Collapse: Josh Zumbrun in The Wall Street Journal: “Coronavirus Slump Is Worst Since Great Depression. Will It Be as Painful?”
Historic Unemployment: Samuel Stebbins in USA Today: “Unemployment Rate Remains Historically High: These US Cities Are Among Those with Highest Jobless Rates”
The Endless Police Violence & Lynchings of Black People in Public: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, Jacob Blake, Daniel Prude... as Explored by Jorge L. Ortiz in USA Today: “'It's Nothing but Pain': The Latest on the Cases of Violence Against Black People that Sparked America's Racial Reckoning”
Rochester, NY - Police Hooded and Pinned Down a Man who Needed Care - Daniel Prude: As Explored by Michael Barbaro in The New York Times: “What Happened to Daniel Prude?”
Kenosha, WI - Jacob Blake Shot in the Back 7 Times by Police: As Explored by Christina Morales in The New York Times: “What We Know About the Shooting of Jacob Blake”
A Brutal Heat Wave: It Was 117 ºF in Riverside, CA on the Day of This Recording: As Documented in Newsbreak: “Brutal Heat Wave Continues in Inland Areas: Chino at 121 and Riverside at 117”
Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs in The New York Times: “Lights Dim and Worries Mount as a Heat Wave Roasts California”
Climate Emergency: Sophia Blog & Dale Kasler in The Sacramento Bee: “Newsom Vows to Fast Track California’s Green Goals ‘in the Midst of a Climate Emergency’”
Maanvi Singh in The Guardian: “‘A Summer Unlike any Other': Heatwaves and Covid-19 Are a Deadly Combination”
Charlotte Hartley in Science Magazine: “Antarctic Ice Sheet Collapse Could Add 3 Meters to Sea-Level Rise”
The 2020 DNC: Starring Mostly Republicans & “Moderates,” Leaving Just 90 Seconds for AOC - Who Wouldn’t Have Been on the Billing if not Invited by Bernie to Second His Nomination. For More on the DNC, an article by Branko Marcetic in Jacobin: “The Democrats’ DNC Plans Show They Aren’t Even Pretending Anymore”
Even the Pathetic PMC-Coma Journalist Chris Cilliza Agrees that AOC should have been given a Prime Speaking Slot, as Noted in CNN: “The Short-Sighted Silencing of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez”
RNC: Racist St. Louis Couple Mark and Patricia McCloskey Get Their Minute of Fame Extended – as Documented by Aaron Feis in The New York Post: “RNC 2020: Viral St. Louis Gun-Wielding Couple Goosts Trump, Bashes Dems”
A 17yr Old White Nationalist Terrorist Emboldened by Trump & Protected by Police: Christina Maxouris in CNN: “Kenosha Shooting Suspect Faces More Homicide Charges”
The Presidential Coup of 2000: G.W. was Anointed by the US Supreme Court After Losing the General Election: As Explored in Will Hutton’s Op-Ed in The Guardian: “Right-Wing Coup that Shames America”
The ‘Other’ Presidential Coup: Trump Loses the 2016 General Election, but Is Granted the Presidency Because of the Racist Backstop of the Electoral College. Wilfred Codrington III in The Atlantic: “The Electoral College’s Racist Origins”
Adam Marletta in Red Flag: “The Democrats: History’s Second Most Enthusiastic Capitalist Party”
Paul Heidman in Jacobin: “The Soul of the Democratic Party Has Always Belonged to Capital”
Victor Grossman in Jacobin: “Why I Stood With Henry Wallace”
Henry Wallace - Vice President under FDR: A Wikipedia Biography
John Nichols’ The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party: The Enduring Legacy of Henry Wallace's Anti-Fascist, Anti-Racist Politics. Published in April 2020 by Verso Books.
Mary Harris in Slate: “Is Trump Sabotaging the Postal Service?”
Zack Stanton in Politico Magazine: “How Trump’s Attack on the Post Office Could Backfire”
Larry Neumeister, Colleen Long and Jill Colvin in The Chicago Tribune: “Steve Bannon Arrested on 150-foot Yacht by Postal Inspectors: Charges Allege Fraud Related to Online Fundraising Campaign for Border Wall”
Ari Breland in Mother Jones: “The Summer QAnon Went Mainstream”
THE POISON PYRAMID – FIRST EXPLORED IN EPISODES 1-3:
RELIGION: Episode 001: “The Desire for Certainty”
CAPITALISM: Episode 002: “The Invisible Hand”
CELEBRITY: Episode 003: “Star Fuckers”
Donald Trump’s Photo-Op at St. John's Church on June 1st, 2020: A Wikipedia History
Gina Gerbasi’s Op-Ed in The Washington Post: “I’m a Priest. The Police Forced Me Away from St. John’s Church Grounds for Trump’s Photo-Op”
Martin Pengelly in The Guardian: “A Photo Op as Protests Swirled: How Trump Came to Walk to the Church”Erin Vanderhoof in Vanity Fair: “A Brief History of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Site of Trump’s Tear Gas Procession”
On Patriarchy & Religion & the Emergence of Hierarchy: Murray Bookchin’s Ecology of Freedom: The Emergence and Dissolution of Hierarchy. Re-Published in 2005 by AK Press.
A Life Sliced Short: The Activist, Anarchist, Anthropologist, David Graeber, Died at Age 59 and Was the Most Cited Thinker on Our Podcast: His Legacy & Influence Are Explored in Moving Memorials:
James Butler in Novara Media: “The Opposite of a Cynic: David Graeber, 1961-2020”
Roar Magazine: “Remembering the Many Lives of Our Friend David Graeber”
Astra Taylor, Molly Crabapple, Marshall Sahlins, Beka Economopoulos, Melissa
Flashman et al in The New York Review of Books: “David Graeber, 1961-2020”
Sam Roberts in The New York Times: “David Graeber, Caustic Critic of Inequality, Is Dead at 59”
Nathan J. Robinson in Current Affairs: “What David Graeber Noticed”
Benjamin Balthazer in Jacobin: “A Jewish Goodbye to David Graeber”
Michael Hardt in Jacobin: “Remembering My Friend, David Graeber”
One of the Many Great Quotes from David Graeber:
“The ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make. And could just as easily make differently.”
The Social-ecological Model (aka: Ecological/Systems Framework) – Based on a Theory of Human Development by the Psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner.
Matrix of Domination / Matrix of Oppression – A Sociological Paradigm that Explains Interconnected Issues of Oppression: As Explored in Patricia Hill Collins’ Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Originally published in 1990.
Intersectionality – Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw introduced the theory of intersectionality in 1989 in her paper written for the University of Chicago Legal Forum (Volume 1989: Issue 1): Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics.
Zoë Bernard in Business Insider: “People are donating money to Kylie Jenner to help her become the world's youngest billionaire”
Notes on Jesse's Theory of Emancipatory Struggle:
An Abolitionist Trajectory
Our world has been shaped by four poisonous cornerstones:
Mythologies of Hierarchy
becoming justifications for
Relations of Dominance
which create
Systems of Oppression
maintained through
Institutions of Violence
Therefore, we must work to undue compounding layers of harm, concurrently, but in order of priority through:
Abolishing Institutions of Violence
Dismantling Systems of Oppression
Eroding Relations of Dominance
Erasing Mythologies of Hierarchy
Lester Spence in Mother Jones: “The NBA Wildcat Strike Is How a Revolution Starts”
Aqsa Ahmad in Jacobin: “With Their Wildcat Strike, NBA Players Have Pointed the Way Forward”
Ricky O’Donnel in SBNation: “How Barack Obama Helped Convince NBA Players to End Their Strike and Return to Play”
Yes, religious folks and celebrities can help move culture in an emancipatory direction, such as the eloquent and fiery public intellectual Cornel West, who is willing to chafe decorum and say the quiet parts out loud for socialism & justice:
Glen Ford in Jacobin: “Why They Hate Cornel West”
Connor Kilpatrick in Jacobin: “Everybody Hates Cornel West”
Azad Essa in Al-Jazeera: “Cornel West: 'Obama was never the revolutionary Mandela was'”
Amy Goodman & Democracy Now: “Tavis Smiley, Cornel West on the 2012 Election & Why Calling Obama “Progressive” Ignores His Record” . . . An Excerpt and Opening Salvo from Cornel West:
AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to be with you. So we’re right here in the president’s city. In fact, he just flew out on Wednesday after his re-election. Cornel West, the figures—who is ahead? Who isn’t? As your book is titled The Rich and the Rest of Us.
CORNEL WEST: Well, one, I think that it’s morally obscene and spiritually profane to spend $6 billion on an election, $2 billion on a presidential election, and not have any serious discussion—poverty, trade unions being pushed against the wall dealing with stagnating and declining wages when profits are still up and the 1 percent are doing very well, no talk about drones dropping bombs on innocent people. So we end up with such a narrow, truncated political discourse, as the major problems—ecological catastrophe, climate change, global warming. So it’s very sad. I mean, I’m glad there was not a right-wing takeover, but we end up with a Republican, a Rockefeller Republican in blackface, with Barack Obama, so that our struggle with regard to poverty intensifies.
Kathleen Falsani’s Op-Ed in The Washington Post: “The Worst Ideas of the Decade: The Prosperity Doctrine”
Joe Kennedy III’s Measly Twitter Provocations & Half-Measures on Healthcare, Foreclosure and More: “What You Need Is a Lawyer by Your Side . . .”
Ed Markey Defeats Joe Kennedy III as Explored in Depth by Russell Berman in The Atlantic: “How Ed Markey Defeated Joe Kennedy”
Notes on Jesse's Functional Ecological Theory of Class Dynamics & Collective Agency:
Three Typologies of Class Delineation in the 21st Century Neoliberal Capitalist Hellscape:
Wage Slaves
Do Productive Work
Have Jobs
Have Debt
Pay Rent
Want to Be Famous
Influencers
Do Ideology Work
Have Careers
Have Wealth
Are The Establishment
Want to Be Rich
Tyrants
Do Mythology Work
Own Companies
Have Capital
Are The Ruling Elite
Want to Be Gods
Welcome to The BezoLands™: Olivia Erlanger and Luis Ortega Govela in Fast Company: “The Origins of the Silicon Valley’s Garage Myth”
TJ Lane’s Op-Ed in The San Francisco Chronicle: “Myth of the Silicon Valley Garage, and Loss of a Dream”
Elon Musk’s Twitter Puke: Item #795344 - “We Will Coup Whoever We Want! Deal With It.” - Vijay Prashad & Alejandra Bejarano in Counterpunch: “‘We Will Coup Whoever We Want’: Elon Musk and the Overthrow of Democracy in Bolivia”
Elon Musk’s Twitter Puke: Item #795345 - “Another Government Stimulus Package Is not in the Best Interests of the People IMO ” … followed by… “As a reminder, I’m in *favor* of universal basic income”
Driving Home While Black: “Weston, Florida: Former NFL player Brandon Marshall Was Trying to Move into his New Home. Security Called the Police. His Net Worth Is an Estimated $18M”
Walking Home While Black: Henry Louis Gates Arrested by Cops While Attempting to Unlock the Door to His Home: As Reported by Abby Goodnough in The New York Times: “Harvard Professor Jailed; Officer Is Accused of Bias”
Harmeet Kaur & Skylar Mitchell in CNN: “States Are Calling Racism a Public Health Crisis. Here's What That Means”
City Councils Across the Country Saying “Racism Is a Public Health Crisis” as Seen Ryan Hagen’s Article in The Press-Enterprise: “Riverside Declares Racism a Public Health Crisis”
Raven Smith in Vogue: “The Safety of Ellen DeGeneres Has Been Compromised—But What Does It Mean to Cancel Her?”
Madeline Berg in Forbes Magazine: “Why Ellen Degeneres Won’t Be Cancelled”
Rachel Charlene Lewis in Bitch Media: “A Queer Icon, a Terrible Boss: Why It Matters That Ellen Can Be Both”