A View from Outside

It has taken the system, the regime, the hidden government, the establishment, the deep state, or whatever the power that rules the United States is identified as, a long time to change the culture of American people to what we witness today, scientifically and successfully. It takes someone from outside who had been raised in a different culture to notice it, because the culture manipulation and the setup has been so successful that a person raised in America would not even notice that he or she has been trained throughout the years and decades to believe and accept whatever the establishment propagates, and stay compliant. When PG&E, the energy monopoly in California announces that electricity has to be shut down in order to prevent a fire that may be ignited because of lack of maintenance of many of its infrastructure for decades, instead of objecting or protesting, people rush to purchase generators and other equipment to keep their televisions on. It means pursuing a rather individualistic life, with an air of arrogance (American exceptionality and leadership) and as a result, ignorance and lack of compassion towards the rest of the global population. America, in fact, had been the utopia for many people around the world, and for many decades after the Second World War and until late 1970s and early 1980s. There are many reasons why America became a great nation for three or four decades, and why Americans still feel exceptional. It has been a proposition for the historians to delve into the history of this country, from the time when Europeans landed on different parts of the continent, to the Second World War, when an opportunity arose to claim global supremacy. Someone from outside of this great country may look inside with a different view.

When Marco Polo traveled from Venice to China in 1269, he was adventuring on a trip that was courageous ‎and exploratory. He was only 15 years old at the time, accompanying his father and his uncle. When he ‎returned to Venice, he was almost 40 years old. They sailed from Venice to the port of Antioch (three ‎decades before it became Ottoman Empire and today’s Turkey), and travelled on land through the great ‎Persian Empire (including today’s Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan) to China. At the time, technology ‎and modernity was bright and glorious only in Eastern countries, especially in the great empires just ‎mentioned. For ‎instance, on his return trip, Marco Polo used the advanced Chinese naval vessels for most of his trip ‎back. ‎In fact, when Europe was experiencing a semi-nomadic lifestyle, Eastern countries were ‎glowing with the latest technological advances, crafts, and arts. ‎ Marco Polo and his party flabbergasted by astonishing ‎achievements of those people, were welcomed to ‎stay in China for one and a half decades.‎ ‎Copied books and crafts they imported into Europe, amazed Europeans who had not seen anything like ‎them before. ‎ ‎Persian books in medicine were taught in European universities until hundred years or two ago.‎  Today, with the mention of meals such as macaroni, pasta, spaghetti and other such cuisines, ‎Italy comes to mind. In fact, noodles and noodle-based meals became a staple of food in Italy after Marco ‎Polo returned from China and introduced noodle manufacturing to Romans. In addition to technological ‎advances, Marco and his party introduced Chinese medical treatments, which have been practiced since. ‎Therefore, the beginning of Western progress coincides with opening a door to the East and learning about ‎Eastern achievements. However, there was one item that Marco borrowed from China and introduced to ‎the West that was a game changer and the major entity in achieving continued progress by all Western societies. Chinese ‎culture encompassed so many different celebrations. Chemists of China found chemical elements with ‎certain characteristics, which would produce fire with a terrific blast. We know this creation as brimstone (sulfur), ‎which was used in China for peaceful and celebratory ‎occasions. ‎ However, Westerners discovered that such a potion could be used not only for peaceful and ‎celebratory means, but it also had some destructive features. This was the beginning chapter of pre-nuclear ‎gun technology, which enabled European countries to expand their lands and create empires by attacking ‎and destroying other lands, including China and other of Eastern countries. That was also the beginning of ‎the demise of those great empires. Although the same conquered nations copied gun manufacturing from ‎Europe in desperation, development of ammunitions in Europe always preceded other countries. This also ‎changed global relationships as well, when Westerners dominated Eastern countries one after another.‎

‎ We hear from the racist president of the United States and his like-minded administration claiming that ‎immigrants are terrorists. Of course, this is an old political ploy to divide people even further across the ‎wealth and poverty line. Generally speaking, race is indoctrinated in American mind according to a century ‎old assumption that white people are more intelligent and they are more sophisticated than other races, and ‎therefore they deserve to be on the top of the food chain. Interestingly, there is an expansion to this ‎assumption. It is ingrained into the minds of Americans of every race that they (American citizens) are ‎more sophisticated than other nations to some degree as well. It has been historically the case that ‎countries with advanced military attack weaker nations to exploit their resources, such as oil and other ‎minerals, in addition to vegetation and crafts and other resources. They also bring back the best human ‎minds to their native countries. When an imperialist nation becomes rich and scientifically advanced, ‎knowledge and expertise from other lands are attracted, and people with means or knowledge desire to live ‎in the more progressed nations. In that case, immigration benefits the empire and hastens its achievements ‎even further. That is the time racism does not appear to be prevalent. When globalization benefits large ‎multi-national corporations and they take their factories to countries with less wage structure and ‎restrictions, cheap labor becomes abundant in the country of origin as a result of unemployment. In that ‎instance, racism against laborers seems to be the policy of the government. In addition, it is the nature of ‎capitalism to have booms and busts every so many years. During the boom-time, immigrants are ‎welcomed and during the bust years, there is no need or desire to have them among many already ‎unemployed. Having the knowledge of such circumstances can justify the policy of the government ‎regarding immigration. When dividing by race becomes a government’s policy, smaller wealth of the nation ‎gets distributed among those races believed to be inferior, and as a result, they live in poverty and struggle ‎for means of survival becomes more important than education and well-being. ‎ ‎As a result, the case the government is making, considering inferior races less educated and filling ‎the ‎prisons as a result of their crimes (since there is no other way to provide necessities) becomes evident. ‎In ‎fact, such government policies, and capitalism in general, creates an army of poor and neglected.

One of the most influential persons in changing the culture and habit of Americans, the person who ‎established consumerism as an addiction, was a man by the name of Edward Louis Bernays, also named as ‎the father of propaganda. Bernays operated a marketing agency, and he was in fact the first person to coin ‎the phrase “Public Relations”. He was the nephew of the famous psychologist Sigmund Freud and during a ‎trip to Europe and from his uncle he learned how to manipulate people psychologically. From the time the ‎New World was discovered by Europeans, consuming tobacco was learned from the natives and it was ‎accepted and widely used by people. However, people of other nations did not have much of a taste for the ‎bitter and dizzying effect of this product. Cigarette companies used various diplomacies to make it more ‎popular among American men. If they could popularize it amongst women, their sales would double. With a ‎very successful campaign, Bernays helped tobacco companies to promote their product and make it ‎acceptable by women. Securing a contract from cigarette companies, he popularized certain brands of ‎cigarettes among women by calling it “torch of freedom”. He had certain definition for morality which would ‎not be accepted by majority, and based on that, he would work for anyone who paid him. Edward Bernays ‎believed that because of a herd instinct, crowd could be psychologically led to desired outcome. With such ‎philosophy, he successfully toppled the popular presidency of Guatemala in 1954, through a contract from ‎the CIA. Bernays, who according to associates would speak of his uncle, the famous psychologist, about ‎ten minutes into any conversation, seemed to have greatly been influenced by Freud. It is clear that he had ‎received many advices from his uncle in manipulating one’s mental and cognitive capacities in order to ‎convince the person into a behavior that had not been acquired previously. He created innovative and ‎interesting tools in order to popularize commercialism. His impact on the way propaganda works in ‎realigning people’s mind was so successful that the information minister of Germany during the Third Reich ‎and Nazi propaganda machine, Joseph Goebbels, read his book on the issue. Many of public relation, ‎marketing, and advertising companies of today are still following teachings of Edward Louis Bernays. He ‎was a definite game changer in the early twentieth century America. Global capitalism is forever indebted ‎to Edward Bernays.‎

When our leaders speak of liberty and the land of democracy, we should examine what this liberty is and ‎when and how this land became democratic. Founding fathers had no intention, nor desire, for democracy. ‎The political system they had in mind seems to have been republican in nature. We know that the first ‎political party in the US was called Federalist. Then, Democratic Republican was added, while the political ‎direction seemed to be more republican than democratic. When constitution was written and ratified in ‎September 1787, two and a half centuries ago, only white male with property who were able to pay toll tax ‎could vote. This would encompass about 10 to 20 percent of those who had reached their legal voting age, ‎which is out of the four million population (according to 1790 census). The 19th amendment to the ‎constitution of the United States gave women right to vote as late as 1920, behind almost all Western ‎countries. At the same time, anyone who owed taxes could not vote. It was in 1964 that voting was ‎allowed to a more general public, the last Western country to lift voting restrictions of such. However, other ‎tactics were utilized to limit poor and non-white from voting, the best of which is achieved by the penal ‎system. Currently, there are four conditions to enable one to vote in the United States: be a citizen of the ‎United States; have resided in the precinct at least 30 days before the next election; be at least 18 years ‎of age on the day of the next general election; not currently be incarcerated for a criminal conviction. The ‎last item excludes a large portion of non-white citizens. The question is; does a person’s vote ‎count for the candidate the person meant to vote for? The answer is negative as everyone votes for a ‎delegate, and that delegate elects the desired candidate. The best example of how a person’s vote can be ‎dismissed was the election of 2016, when Hillary Clinton received the highest number of votes, but not ‎enough delegates, and therefore Trump was elected. Polling system in the US is an outdated and ‎increasingly behind the technologically advanced polling systems of most countries. People have to wait in ‎long lines in order to enter their ballots. Reading those ballots does not follow the same standards ‎everywhere and many legitimate ballots do not get counted. An example for this case is the turn of the ‎century election, when everyone was convinced that Al Gore was elected, but the final decision was made ‎by a republican judge, who of course selected the Republican candidate. Interestingly, Bush was ‎considered the worst president ever (even behind Truman), although lucky enough to be downgraded to ‎second after Trump! All these obstacles aside, when one pays attention to contributions rich people and ‎corporations make to support their own agent, voting becomes an imprudent choice one makes every other ‎year or so. This is the democracy that even people on the opposite side, such as Bernie Sanders, are ‎proud of. When United States attacks other countries to topple undesired elected governments, or creates ‎quo-de-tats in order to install its own brand of the dictator, America turns out as the land of democracy in ‎comparison to those puppet governments. The first nation the United States attacked, with justification to ‎banish Spanish rulers, was Philippines islands. Many people could not believe that a short while after its ‎own independence from British Empire, United States would exercise such imperialistic adventures. Ex-‎president Grover Cleveland, famous writer Mark Twain, Henry Adams and many others were flabbergasted ‎to learn that Philippines Islands were purchased from Spain for $20 million. Andrew Carnegie who was one ‎of the richest men at the time offered to reimburse President William McKinley, in a hope that the ‎impoverished country would be left alone. The president did not go for it, and that was the beginning of ‎American Empire.‎

Some may be old enough to remember Ronald Reagan, the actor, the acting cowboy who became a part of Hollywood, not because of his great acting but because of naming names during the McCarty era. Some may remember how he changed the direction of this country with a quick turn to the ultra-right. Those who remember him, can also remember how Khomeini helped him become a US president. Yes, Khomeini who was helped to gain power during Carter administration, as the Shah’s useful period (such as other American installed dictators; Marcus and Noriega and Saddam Hussein and many others) was expired, stabbed Democrats on the back by helping a Neo-Con to replace the sitting president upon expiration of his term! After Carter’s disastrous rescue mission to free American personnel kept as hostages by Khomeini’s thugs in the embassy in Iran, Reagan was successfully able to keep hammering him on that event, and Khomeini, as the last gift to Reagan’s presidency, did not release hostages until Reagan’s inauguration night. Ronald Reagan had been the governor of the famed progressive state, California. His most infamous act was sending National Guard in1969 to combat occupants of People’s Park. The viewer from outside remembers his presidential debate with Carter very well. The professor whom I was taking an evening college class with, allowed breaking the class, for the students to move to the university’s conference room to watch Carter-Reagan debate. I did not know much about the two candidates, but during and after the debate I could hear from the great majority of the students that it was impossible for the low grade actor to be elected as the president of the most prestigious nation at the beginning of a new decade (1980). But, they were all of course wrong, since candidates are not elected by the voters necessarily, and many other factors including the ones just mentioned, can tilt the vote. Those former students are probably convinced of this now, considering the election of the present president. Reagan’s economy was very simple and easy to follow, called trickled down economy. Imagine a rich person cupping both his hands together and someone pouring coins into his hands. When his hands are filled with coins, by pouring some more coins, some of them trickle down from his hands and fall on the floor. Other people, who are not as rich, kneel down on the floor and pick up small coins falling down. This was his economic philosophy, meaning that for poor people to have any livelihood, there should be wealthy people with so much money that the riches trickle down from their hands for those in need. His proponents call this Reagan Revolution! He was successful in enriching the rich. However, if he were alive today, he would die in joy to witness the huge disparity between the rich and the poor!

There have been many historical events when people from all over the world dreamed to migrate to the United States. At the beginning, there were adventurers who submitted to long travels to come to this land, for a fortune they could not find in their birthplace. Some were victims of various political and religious conditions and some were criminals who were fleeing retributions, and some were just looking for better opportunities in life. One factor that certainly attracted many Europeans to the new world was free land, as much as one desired, stolen from natives, coming with free slaves to work on them. Of course, they had to have certain characteristics to enable them to become successful in the new world. They were mostly ruthless, cruel and brutal people who had no benevolence for the native population, and their characters are truly depicted in many “Old West” stories. Since tolling the land was a fierce hard work, this callousness helped them in working their slaves to death. The year 2019 is in fact four centuries from the time that the first slave was brought into the US in 1619. Atlantic was the slave trade route and Portuguese sailors were the first to ship slaves from Africa. Needless to say that slavery had previously been established in Moslem countries long before, and it used to be a part of the Islamic tradition to enslave soldiers and their families conquered in wars. In fact, slave traders sailed to Africa and purchased their goods from African kings and tribal leaders who sold their prisoners of wars first. Traders were also from all over the world, mostly Europe, and from different cultures and different upbringings. However, old west is famous for its abrasiveness and violence. Considering these facts, the only instrument to receive landowners’ cooperation, collaboration and unity, was creating a national identity. In order for the colonies to become citizens of a country, nationalism was an important tool. After the War of Independence, Civil War ended with the establishment of a nation-state. Supremacy of the United States, however, initiated after two disastrous wars in Europe, when this country became the lender and exporter of all materials needed by other countries to recover from a prolonged devastation. The sense of nationality and belonging to a strong country became more and more visible and enjoyable by citizens. In fact, more people desired to enter this country and become a part of the rich nation. Today, it is not common to find citizens of any nation raising flags of their country on their rooftops or in a flagpole in front of their houses permanently, as much as white Americans. One should consider that nationalism, racism and capitalism are so much inter-twined that it is almost impossible to separate them from each other. The sense of family that is very strong in other cultures is replaced by belonging to a likeminded group. This group may consist of supporters of some sports teams, political organizations, fraternity clubs, or KKK. In general, family unity, and in many cases tribal membership, is replaced by belonging to a religion, sport, or social club in the United States. America has been the land of discovery. Many of our technological advances culminated in the U.S. Beginning of race recognition also began with this country. Someone once said (probably James Baldwin) that “White man” was phrased with the discovery of the United States. Before that, people were called Irish, British, Danish, French, African, and so on. Race, as the color of skin, was discovered in the United States, by separating natives as Reds and slaves as Black and Chinese workers as Yellow, under the supremacy of Whites.

In the long history of mankind, humans have created so many tools and devices, from pre-historic hunting spears to today’s hand held devices. These devices are not only everyday necessities, but also they are used for research, learning, and communication. There have been many inventions utilized more for destruction than service, such as swords and guns and bombs, and other such destructing apparatus. However, no invention has ever been as harmful as religion. Has anyone ever asked which of all these over 4200 religions is good for wellbeing of humans? We take an inherited religion for granted; which we either ignore or cherish, but never delve into the reasons for its existence. Religions are either passive or negative. Passive religions are those that create idleness. They are perfect in their applications, depending on the culture it is borne in, and by following the advice of the prophets or masters of such religions. Most of the South-East Asian religions are of the sort. Negative religions are those that force themselves into the culture in a very aggressive way. Abrahamic religions are of the sort, philosophizing that the first human was thrown out of heavens for committing the original sin, and mankind should strive to return by following certain commands. Of course, believers of both camps are bound to follow preaching of agents of those religions, priests and monks, in order to reach salvation. The interesting thing is what those agents promise their followers, a life after death, which no one has experienced and of course cannot experience. But this is only a general view of religions, and the bottom line is exploiting and enslaving the followers in order to benefit a few. The doctrine is very similar to capitalism. That is why governments, which are mostly in the business of stupefying masses to benefit a few, cherish and practice religion of the land. The more undemocratic and exploitive a government, the more religious it is. Just think about all the governments of the world and compare each nation’s politics with the religiosity of the nationals. One of the most effective tools of enslaving people has proven to be the word of God. A God who ‎banishes his creations (whom he loves) from heaven for eating a fruit that is abundant on earth, and then he ‎sends prophet after prophet and messengers and priests and rabbis and mullahs year after year and decade ‎after decade and century after century to guide them back to his heaven. Anyone who has the irrationality ‎to believe such non-sense, which is followed by many more and one should read wholly books to find ‎them all out, can believe in anything. The first thing religion teaches is that there is the one supreme being ‎who has more power than anyone and can do anything he wants, and the guilty sinner better to listen to him and obey his ‎commands. When one accepts that, the person is prepared to accept leaders and bosses and powerful ‎people, no matter how much these masters exploit and enslave him or her. This follows with other commands to ensure full obedience. The ‎more religious a country, the more citizens can be abused. It does not happen by itself or by chance or by ‎this or that brand of religion that masses are deceived and subjugated. It is a conscious and theorized system that creates a ‎religious culture. All around the world, the more compliant, are those with more religious ‎aspirations. According to a 2012 study by Pew Research Center, 84% of the global population is affiliated with some sort of religion. American society does not equal the rest of the Western world in religiosity. The ones who have wealth and ‎power, such as the leaders of both US political parties, act more religious. Every American government has had a religious agenda, while the government of the United States claim to be a secular government.

Let see what else can dumb out and stupefy people. There was a time when physical force was important. A man had to kill an animal as large as himself, and carry that animal from the jungle to the tribe for dinner. A bulky man filled with large muscles would definitely be useful for his strength. He would also make a good husband since his gene had the possibility of passing on to next generations. When humans lived in caves, it was a man’s job to go hunting, and the woman would take care of children, farm, and manage the household. This put female in charge, and since there was a possibility that a man at the hunt may never return, he was only a member of a household led by a women was in charge. At some point this role was switched, which could be again due to the man’s physical strength claiming that might is right. If the most powerful country on earth has the largest military budget, almost as much as the rest of the world combined, the beginning of such condition can be traced back to when men became leaders. Men decided how to make tools and weaponry, to use them against other tribes and weaker groups. When Germany had the most powerful military, taking over the world became the policy of the government. Most of the technological advances culminated from military research in producing more powerful military forces for the event of first strike. Internet and wave technology is not necessarily a 21^st century technology. It was the brainchild of an early 20^th century genius, but concealed by the US government whose agents rushed to Nicolai Tesla’s house and collected all his notes. Those notes may have been the guiding map in the early research. With the advent of technology, physical strength lost its value. However, sport, which is exhibition of physical strength, continued to be admired. We have all the gyms and activity clubs to keep us in shape, as well as building our bodies in order to be able to compete in sports. Why are team sports, and sports in general so important in the world, and promoted by each government? Principles of capitalism begin with competition. What it means is that two products, which have the same end usage, are introduced to consumers, who would select the one that has better characteristics they are looking for, such as quality and price. In order for a manufacturer to sell more, it should keep quality and price above and below other manufacturers’, which means competition for the good of the consumer. This is of course more in theory than practice, and it definitely does not apply to today’s monopolistic and commercialized markets. The idea is that since competition is good for business, then a sense of competition should be encouraged, and the best way to do it is through sports. If capitalism is based on competition, it is in exact opposition with socialism, which is based on cooperation. Of course, there are many differing factors between the two, but race and rivalry versus compassion and cooperation are principles of each theory. Thus, the sense of competition is extended to every aspect of life. The most popular television shows of today such as reality shows, that are supposed to entertain people, are mostly based on competition. There are prizes given to the best of anything. To keep people at each other’s throats, there is always a number one that receives handsome prizes. The sense of competition destructs all social norms. No wonder half of marriages, as statistics show, end up in separation and divorce.

The major reason for all the social ills in Western societies is the elevation of isolation and individuality, promoted as it benefits capitalism. It leads into drug usage and self-destruction through suicide or homicide, thanks to availability of gun, and a so-called gun culture. Acquiring a gun is not suppressed or demoted in America, and it is in fact promoted by companies, and the government supporting the gun culture. There have been many attempts to curb any attempts in gun control and propagating results of gun violence and statistics related to aggressiveness as a result of owning guns, such as Dickey Amendment and Tiahrt Amendment. As a result, 39,773 Americans lost their lives in 2017 and 1,625,000 Americans have died from gunfire since 1968. Federal research funding for causes of death from 2004 to 2015 had been $182,668 for HIV research, over $10,000 for lung, cardiovascular, Alzheimer, sepsis, liver, hypertension, Parkinson, and aspiration diseases, and only $63 for gun violence. In 2015, number of deaths by firearms in the United States was six times other high-income countries combined. It is estimated that about 13% of suicide attempts succeed in this country, however up to 90% of attempts using firearms result in death. This ratio and other statistics mentioned here are gathered in the most prosperous country in the world. Some other interesting statistics comparing US with other countries considering health of Americans are life expectancy at birth, and age, while we know that in the rating of happy nations America ranks 18, followed by Israel. Around 2016, life expectancy in the US was below 42 other countries. It should be considered that health expenditure in the United States as a percentage of GDP is above 34 other countries, including Mexico and Turkey. United States also ranks 26^th with an average life expectancy of 79 years. It was also determined that almost all Western European countries had a longer life expectancy than the United States.

From the time that woodblock printing was designed in the first century, until Gutenberg invented printing press about six centuries ago, book reading had become a professional affair. However, after the printing press, reading book became a form of leisure for anyone who knew how to read. When planning for a town or a city, one of the integral part of the design was building a library. Until ten years ago, libraries were filled with people searching for reading materials, among other interests. Although a large portion of library’s or bookstores’ cabinets were dedicated to romance books, research and investigation into any subject was one of the main use of libraries, especially larger libraries of universities. Nowadays, with the advent of cellphones and distribution of visual clips, reading has become a bygone affair. Newspapers are replaced with electronic media owned by a handful of profit seeking companies, who act as the mouthpiece of the government, a government that propagates news for the benefit of corporations, in return. Ninety percent of news media is controlled by six corporations. Social media, such as internet, television, clips for the use in cellphones, and other such visual media are widely used, that occupy the time people would have spent reading books and papers. News are distributed faster, however sources of such news are very limited. There are a few sources owned by a few multi-billionaires that design the news to match certain criteria benefiting themselves. Although there still exists a few internet sites or television and radio stations supported directly by the users that promote real news, the agenda of the large networks is to keep people in dark about the crimes of imperialism.

With the election of Donald Trump, the media reacted as a shock. The prediction was for Clinton of course, while the number Trump supporters and his mastery in controlling the poles had not been anticipated. They were less in numbers than those who voted for Clinton, but by a small margin. We know that voting Americans, a small majority, are divided between Democrats and Republicans. The difference between number of votes received by Trump and those received by Clinton was less than three million votes. Considering that United States has a population of about 330 million people, and assuming that half of them are in voting age, this represents less than two percent of the population. Again, we should consider that a little more than half of this group may ever vote. On the other hand, number of states voting for Trump was almost three times of those who voted for Clinton. Bearing in mind that Trump is easily replacing George W. as the worst president in the recent memory, this also reflects Clinton’s popularity, or lack of it. The interesting thing is that when past presidents are compared with each other, we realize that they all have been protecting a certain and a very thin minority, and they are financially and ideologically supported by that minority, Democrat and Republican presidents, black and white, from wealthy or working class family. No one has used government’s coffers for public as much as Roosevelt, and we know that if he did not show that generosity, he would have had a revolution on his hands. There are few political parties such as Green and Peace & Freedom and other smaller ones with popular agenda, but combined votes of all these parties does not even reach five percent of total votes. The reason is that the slim minority mentioned not only has the money to buy votes for candidates, but the media is generally in support of them, as most of the media is owned by them. In the United States and Western Europe, money and power are political forces determining political landscape in each country.

Age of surveillance Capitalism started with the help of computers, electronics, digital technology and wireless or Wi-Fi, and as a result a new business model has been created from the beginning of this century. In this model, you do not have to purchase anything, although ads are abundantly within your reach if you desire. You can communicate with others with no charge and free of any payment, through Facebook, Tweeter, and Google, or applications such as Telegram and WhatsApp. Companies mastering the technology earn their income by selling your profile and many other personal features, modes, and characteristics of you, such as attitudes, habits, and communication trends. The most deep pocketed customer is the government, that uses such data in order to keep citizens orderly. We talked about Edward Bernays and his marketing inventions by studying consumers’ psychic. Although the result is the same, but the present gismo is in a much more sophisticated platform and in a wider scale. Not only buying habit of people is systematically checked and reported to interested companies, material necessary to keep people on check provides adequate information for the “big brother”.

Capitalism is a new day kingdom along with all its courtesans, such as Lords and Sirs and Counts and Marquees and Earls and Comtes and Viscounts and Barons and all other noblemen and women. If these titles were inherited from the ancestors, nowadays money determines who should have the same lifestyle. There used to be one king and his extended family, in addition to noblemen and other people with those titles who would benefit the most out of the labor of the majority of people, assuming that kings would protect the country from foreign attacks. In fact, emperors with the help of their noblemen tended to extend their kingdom to benefit the labor of a greater number of people, and when in need, courtesans and aristocrats and feudal land masters would provide the king with whatever he needed to win a war, such as soldiers or ammunitions. Today’s noblemen who run multi-national corporations, each are dictators in their own respect. There is one exception however. These noblemen are not subject to the king, but they are kingmakers themselves. They use their money and their influence to elect or install the one who has their benefits in mind. Therefore, presidents and all his administrative staff are subjects of the rich. Since there is more than one rich person, there are many kingmakers, from two opposing similar parties of Democrat and Republican. If there are dictatorship in some Asian, African, Eastern European and Middle-Eastern countries, there are many dictators in Western Europe and more in the United States, who rule over more than 95% of the population. With the advent of Neoliberalism, this trend is changing as corporations find cheap labor outside of their borders. Finding market outside of the borders of one country was the beginning phase of globalization, which later expanded to finding cheap labor. The same ships that used to take American products, for instance, to the far-reaching countries of the world, are on the same waters carrying the same merchandise made by the same manufacturer and benefiting the same owner, but in the opposite directions, resulting in more benefits for the same owner.

Surprisingly, predictions were made a couple of centuries ago by those who witnessed imperialism in a different nature and system for the general trend of today’s societies, and present form of capitalism was predicted. They prophesied that capitalism would reach its highest stage ending with a few monopolies following a neo-liberal state policy. It has also been a common knowledge that a nation that rises to such height, will eventually fall. Countries in imperialistic nature rise through expansion and domination, by stealing natural resources from other lands and enslaving its habitats, to such stage that the division between haves and have-nots widens to the point of explosion. Empires of the past make good examples. At the end, such nations turn inward and attack their own people, those who do not submit to their dominion. If powers of the past comprised of many bourgeois or feudals in each nation, powers of today are shared among a small number of capitalists whose net worth exceeds half of the global wealth. Governments have always been the tool or the front for such powers. It is not amazing that whistleblowers and contemporary heroic figures among us, such as Edward Snowden, Julianne Assange, and Chelsea Manning, have to flee to foreign countries or face penitentiary. That is another reason why leaders who repeat the same treatment of natives, such as the treatment of Palestinians by the Israeli government, are fully supported by the United States governments. Of course, crimes of the US governments go back to the treatment of Indians and slavery, which continues in different forms and shapes through creation of wars all over Meddle East and Africa, and can be zoomed into agonizing prisons, such as Abu-Gharib, and internment camps for immigrants across the US borders. This has to continue until the empire reaches the point of self-destruction. However, next downfall will be very different from the old repeated collapse of empires. This time human survival is in jeopardy. With the rapid environmental degradation and control of the global natural resources by a few, one day human being will become the only species who destroys its own kind knowingly. The most powerful country by far, the United States will change its course by those who may put band aids on the deep wounds of humanity, candidates such as Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, or the like, which would make capitalism last longer and the system may collapse without taking the rest of the world with it, or face a bloody revolution. Otherwise, this great power will bury all living things in a massive grave called earth, through its atomic bomb or the loss of the environment livable by human kind and similar organisms.