What is the Relationship Between Loneliness and Capitalism? by The Anti-Social Socialist

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“However, the social, political, and economic organization of society must be recognized as a significant contributor to people’s mental health, with certain social structures being more advantageous to the emergence of mental well-being than others. Capitalism can never offer the conditions most conducive to achieving mental health. Oppression, exploitation, and inequality greatly repress the true realization of what it means to be human.” — David Matthews, 2019

MFTN: Shopping as an Act of Resistance

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The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published December 1, 2013
December 6, 2018

The holidays are at hand. Boycott Season is in effect. As the snow starts to fall, the commercial war of the season asserts its dominance. Our identities as citizens are quickly buried in a blizzard of advertising that defines us as consumers.

Our Way Of Life Must Die — Another World Is Possible

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The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
November 25, 2018

Greed is an addiction. Like lab rats choosing pain to get doses of opium, the greed that underlies our way of life is killing us – and make no mistake: our way of life must die. Pathological consumption is no more acceptable in human beings than in locusts. It will die or we will die. The question is only: will we go down with the sinking ship of our culture or will we evolve again, past the folly of homo sapiens’ dubious wisdom into a species willing to live in balance with our one and only planet?

Capitalism’s Failure of the Flesh: The Rise of the Robots by Phil Rockstroh

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by Phil Rockstroh
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published Dec. 11, 2017
November 23, 2018

Humankind, being an inherently tool-making species, has always been in a relationship with technology. Our tools, weapons, machines, and appliances are crucial to forging the cultural criteria of human life. At present, amid the technology created phantomscape of mass media’s lurid — yet somehow sterile — imagery, one can feel as if one’s mind is in danger of being churned to spittle.

MFTN: ‘Tis the Season To Wage Boycotts!

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The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published November 24, 2013
November 22, 2018

Boycott Season is now upon us. Let every citizen take careful aim. Your target is the corporate empire. Your weapon is your wallet.

Chris Hedges: American Psychosis + Hedges Says Vote for Howie Hawkins for Governor in NY

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

Amanda Zackem on Oct. 23, 2018

Pulitzer-prize winning Journalist, Author and Activist Chris Hedges, discusses modern day consumerism, totalitarian corporate power and living in a culture dominated by pervasive illusion.

Who Pays the Price for Amazon’s Free Shipping? + Alternatives by Lo

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Dandelion Salad

The Story of Stuff Project on Oct 20, 2018

Amazon promises low prices and free shipping, but who is really paying the price for these deals that seem too good to be true?

Craps Last Crap or How We Crapped Out By William Bowles

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by William Bowles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Investigating Imperialism
London, England
October 21, 2018

With crappy apologies to Samuel Beckett

It was just a question of time before the crap spilled over the edge.

But that wasn’t the beginning of all this crap. Back then, way back, crap was valuable.

Chris Hedges: Manufacturing Culture or Consent

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Oct 13, 2018

Liza Featherstone in Divining Desire: Focus Groups & the Culture of Consultation shares with journalist Chris Hedges how advertising techniques developed by early Viennese intellectual elites were adapted and coopted by US elites to control politics, consumption and opinion.

MFTN: Corporate Demons Possess Our Nation’s Soul

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The Essays of The Man From the North by Rivera Sun
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published Dec. 4, 2016
August 7, 2018

Corporate demons possess our nation’s soul. They crept in stealthily, full of trickery and deception, but now they’re lodged in place, as surely as if they had stormed our homes and halls of power with guns and tanks. Perhaps we’d recognize their coup if they had assassinated a flesh-and-blood president instead of merely stealing the souls of all our elected leaders.

Chris Hedges: Generation Wealth and The Cult of Self

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Jul 28, 2018

Photographer and filmmaker, Lauren Greenfield, discusses the cult of self and its destructive qualities shown in her new film – Generation Wealth – with journalist Chris Hedges.

It Starts with the Lie that We’re Free by Shawn S. Grandstaff

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by Shawn S. Grandstaff
Writer, Dandelion Salad
July 24, 2018

Before I say anything I have to say, I’ve never been as free on the inside as I am now. Once I understood some things and let go of materialism I realized where freedom lies. Not that I was caught up with things or it’s wrong to have them but I had to see past it. It opened up a part of me that seemed turned off. I began to see the Human side of me that was disconnected. Please don’t take that the wrong way, it’s the only way I can describe it. And maybe it’s just for me and you’ve already been there.

Something Seems To Be Missing by Shawn S. Grandstaff

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by Shawn S. Grandstaff
Writer, Dandelion Salad
July 9, 2018

I believe if we’re not self-aware, we can take on the values of the political and economical system as our own. If so we end up treating each other through that filter. We think we’ve gained individual liberties but it’s been at the expense of disconnecting ourselves from being one with each other, and nature. Rather than going with the stream of life we’re going against the current. The Earth has a frequency and we should be in tune with it. This is speculation but I really wonder if the technology we have today is throwing our frequency off. Regardless, rather than using technology to help liberate people it has been used to enslave us further by exploiting us along the way.

Creating Right Relationship by Graham Peebles

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by Graham Peebles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London, England
May 29, 2018

Within many areas of contemporary life there is a growing momentum for fundamental change. Inequality and injustice are being resolutely challenged and environments in which Right Relationships can evolve are being consistently and powerfully demanded. The establishing of right relationships is a principle hallmark of the unique times we are living in, it sits alongside those other perennial values of goodness: justice freedom and sharing; qualities that have been held deep within the hearts of humanity for eons though consistently denied and not expressed.

Living in an Age of Desire and Anxiety by Graham Peebles

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by Graham Peebles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London, England
April 6, 2018

Overwhelmed by anxiety and image insecurity a friend’s 20-year-old daughter recently quit her university course and withdrew to her bedroom where she took to self-harming. Company and environments in which she felt emotionally secure became harder to find, until she stopped venturing out all together.