{"product_id":"2940032834342","title":"The Revolt of the Spectacular Society","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 signalled the end of not just communism but also of capitalism. The removal of its dialectical Cold War enemy allowed capitalism to release the brakes and bring about an enormous transfer of wealth from the ordinary people to the privileged elite. It is estimated that the richest 400 Americans are worth as much as the 150 million poorest Americans!\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese figures spell doom for capitalism. The arrogance of the super rich now rivals that of the French aristocracy in 1789. The numerous stock market crashes that have occurred since 1989 have exposed capitalism as fundamentally unstable and destroyed the claims of the capitalist elite as trusted and competent stewards of the economy. Moreover, the elite have transferred to the taxpayers the debts their financial mismanagement incurred, while retaining the excessive profits they made when they were sowing the seeds of the greatest “bust” in history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe elite traditionally control not just the economy but also how people think. To maintain their power, they have to seduce and condition the ordinary people into sharing their value system and acknowledging their wealth as legitimate rather than stolen and absurdly disproportionate. By controlling what students are taught at schools and colleges and by ensuring that the media reflects only their ideology, the elite exercise total mind control over the population.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThey create a “Society of the Spectacle”, full of images of perfection and of captivating, beguiling events staged on a monumental scale. The people, entranced, worship at the cathedrals of capitalism. They are addicted to the spectacle, to the perfect lives of celebrities, royalty and the super rich.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYet it has proved a disaster for capitalism to over promise and under deliver. People want their own taste of paradise now, but they are realising that the doors are open only to the elite. Anger, frustration and discontent are growing everywhere. All of the conditions that fostered the French Revolution are being recreated.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Situationist International, the Dada movement, the Futurists and the Punk rockers were all revolutionary groups of the twentieth century who opposed the ruling order. Has their time come again? The Communards were Parisian revolutionaries of 1871, whose revolt was put down with ferocious violence by the authorities. Will the 21st century international brigade of Communards succeed where their spiritual predecessors?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat is the difference between “Catholic” and “Protestant” thinking? Do Catholics have more respect for expertise while Protestants believe themselves smarter than any experts? Does the 19th century racist, American “Know Nothing” Party sum up Protestantism?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDo capitalism, Protestantism and democracy go together while community, Catholicism and meritocracy are a rival set of natural partners? Does a New World Order require the overthrow of the WASP - White Anglo-Saxon Protestant - political and economic model? Democracy and capitalism must be obliterated. It’s time for meritocracy and a new economy based on education not capitalist consumption as the central driver and focus. Humanity progresses through advancement of the mind and spirit, not through the acquisition of material objects.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLearn about the Meritocracy Party and why this is the inevitable, dialectical successor of democracy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe New World Order envisioned by the Pythagorean Illuminati is one where merit and equal opportunities replace privileged elites, and meritocracy - rule by the most talented - replaces WASP democracy - rule by the manipulated puppets of the Power Elite.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mike Hockney","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47160981881072,"sku":"2940032834342","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940032834342_p0.jpg?v=1763641967","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940032834342","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}