The rise of the US capitalist anarchists
First, this article is my opinion.
Second, there are moral and fair-minded capitalists, and they drive our economy forward.
Third, human brains react to thoughts that generate chemicals (think drugs) and capitalist anarchists exploit this at your peril.
This story starts in Hitler’s Nazi Germany, winds its way to Stalin’s USSR and plops down in main street USA. A noxious weed is planted and grows, fed with greed and corruption, it’s DNA barely changed over the years while continuously undermining the foundation of American democracy.
From the book, “Dark Money” by Jane Myer, you can read about Fred Koch and how he assisted Nazi Germany with oil production technology. That gig was followed by assisting Stalin in the USSR with the same.
Fred Koch landed back in the USA and set about building his slice of big oil. On the side, with help from John Birch society, or he helped the society, lies were told about democrats- there were conspiracy theories that democrats were secretly working as communists. Money was funneled to right minded candidates who, for example, valued corporate profit over regulations that protected citizens near plants from pollution associated with lung disease, cancer, and other health problems.
Large donations to political action groups protected pharmaceutical companies from regulation or review while making Billions from pain drugs for decades. The scourge of drug addiction from promoting drugs known to be addictive, known to lose effective pain relief in 6 weeks, yet formed long term addition for millions, 500,000 dead from drug overdose, only addressed after decades of bribing Doctors and lying to the medical community. The industry suppressed data showing prescriptions issued for 100,000’s in small town pharmacies. When Purdue Pharma settlement concerning oxycodone reached $4.2 Billion, the Slacker family owners retained their wealth, did not go to jail as drug pushers. My guess is they were protected by their donations to the politicians dedicated to capitalist anarchy. No one in charge of regulating large corporations is anarchy. The immoral behavior started in 1995, with the final court settlement in 2021. The same basic scenario for big tobacco decided in 2006 because they generated large profits from a conspiracy of lies for decades to the American public about an addictive and deadly product.
Oxycodone changes how the brain perceives pain by blocking the opiate receptors and triggering the release of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is a chemical associated with pleasure and relaxation. Did you know that thoughts from propaganda alone can also release dopamine and other chemicals in your brain?
According to the book “Dark Money”, Fred Koch’s sons teamed up with Energy companies (Coal, Oil) Chemical, Pharma, big Ag, Tobacco and other large firms run by powerful corporate leaders. In Russia, these types of leaders are called Oligarchs, and they too enjoy funding politics and propaganda. These US citizens pooled their money to fund candidates for school board, city, state and federal government. They funded think tanks to vet the candidates and create propaganda, with message delivery groups funded by the Dark Money team.
Why would these corporate leaders spend $ Billions over decades and continue today? Simple, the return on investment for that money was better than any other area for them to invest in. The Trump tax cut and regulations dropped yielded Trillions for these folks and proves the investment was worth it- more than 100-fold return.
These US Oligarchs are often narcissistic and have large ego’s. There thinking is they are special and know better than the masses.
They believed that a good capitalist optimizes and maximizes corporate profits. What is good for big oil is good for America. What is good for big Pharma is good for America and so on. Short term profit and long-term profit investments were both prized. Thus, the decades long funding of single-minded candidates and production of conspiracy theories to stain the political opposition. It continues today.
But how does the propaganda work? And how can brain science be exploited to make it effective?
First you need to pick tribes or groups to target and win their support. The religious right, Americans fearful of foreigners, true believers in gun rights, independent business owners who believe that big government ruins their business with regulations, and they don’t need big government spending and tax, it is all bad. On the left, climate and environmental groups, groups dedicated to fairness or helping the poor. Will the groups on left destroy with economy by spending? Will the groups on the right allow big corporations to be free of all regulatory requirements and circle back to hurt small business owners and farmers? Will automation drive change that causes pain to all groups as the middle class shrinks and corporate profits grow?
What messages do political groups promote and how does that affect brain chemistry? And how does that affect the decision making of these groups. In short, if your message puts down the “other” and invokes fear or potential loss, the message will be embraced by the brain and generate chemicals that resonate as good. Continuous propaganda reinforcing that your tribe is good and the other is bad will harden the group to any message debating government policy. Politics is not about promoting policy alternatives, it about feeling good about your tribe and thoughts.
In the book, “Think Again” the author Adam Grant documents how the brain is affected by who you identify with and how your beliefs are very difficult to change. This happens on both the right and left. However, the republican party is far more skilled and consistent at exploiting the brain science.
Some examples of propaganda exploiting brain science.
First example is from the left. Senator Elizabeth Warren set out to demonize Elon Musk when he was made man of the year by Time. Billionaires are evil and money is all they care about. Elon is bad because he does not pay taxes. Prior to this announcement. Mr. Musk was publicly explaining why he was paying taxes in 2021. And that his tax return was super simple as he did not use offshore accounts and other tax shelters. He paid $11 Billion in taxes for 2021. More than any taxpayer in history. Elizabeth should have used him as a model for what Billionaires should do. She could have taken the time to suggest that folks with high worth due to stock value should not dodge taxes by taking out loans against their stock. If money goes in their pocket, tax it regardless of selling the stock or the money captured for yachts and such is by loans against the stock. But notice that her demonization of Musk as the other (extremely rich guys) and your tribe (working America) uses the brain chemistry value of tribe identify and danger (you lose because the rich tribe does not pay its fair share so no childcare for you).
On the right. Wow so many examples. Immigration, religion and abortion, religion and the right to not Vax or right to not wear a mask, the right to congregate and not minimize covid deaths and long term covid damage. The 2020 election was a fraud, even though republican judges rejected the claims due to a lack of evidence and lawyers were disbarred for presenting false data to the court. Or the Jan 6 mess was just true believers trying to protect their point of view. Note the lack of any issues that need to be addressed. There is no change happening in the world or industry or whatever that should be considered. My personal note, if you don’t adapt to change, you die (ok sounds like propaganda, how about there might be risks to consider).
The propaganda works. And there is no accountability. The message hardens the tribe identity and is never checked. A simple example. Trump promised to save coal jobs by reducing regulations. True to his word, he reduced requirements for pollution control for electric generation by coal plants and it did increase profits. The EPA pointed out that the higher pollution levels would expand the range of pollutions and increase early deaths by 1200 per year. Trump fired EPA scientists. Ok but what about the jobs saved? 6000 direct coal jobs were lost during Trump’s term because coal electric generation was more expensive than wind and solar so many plants were closed. No new coal plants were built so the eco system building plants laid off 10,000. So, jobs promised, but jobs were lost. Do folks in coal country think Trump did not deliver. That was never discussed, the republicans issued propaganda on many other topics like religion and freedom. The propaganda produced brain effects of chemistry changes that feel good, reinforced that Trump was good, democrats bad.
What are some of the chemicals that are released based on thoughts, based on thoughts that enter your brain from propaganda? Anger draws on dopamine and norepinephrine to feel rewarding. The heightened sense of warmth toward our tribe or group identity increases oxytocin in the brain and can foster suspicion and hostility to the other side, tribe or group. Stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline can be produced by propaganda warning of risk of loss or pain, even if made up, and increase the hostility toward the other group. The book Neuro Dharma by Rick Hanson covers the brain chemistry and thoughts and suggests that you can change your brain. Of course, quoting this book will turn off many, so take a few moments and search the web for brain chemistry and thoughts. Essentially the book suggests that positive thoughts by you about you, not dependent on any tribe identity or issues, can have positive effects on your brain. You will feel better. This is the opposite of propaganda as it suggests you control your own thoughts in a way that leads to a happier state.
“Why We’re Polarized” by Ezra Klein documents many examples of tribe identity and the rejection of any data that threatens the tribe identity or beliefs, even when the beliefs threaten the health, economics and security of the individual.
One last big corporation role in politics to consider, the profit driven use of propaganda for ad revenue. There are applications on the web that use algorithms to increase their profits by exploiting brain science associated with propaganda. These companies make money by users clicking on items the algorithm determines they will be interested in. It does not matter if the propaganda is true or not. What matters is the item matches your tribe and will evoke emotion. If so, a link is suggested and you go to yet another site, where there are ads to look at and more profit for the web service. When you go to that link, the algorithm understands that interest is growing and then suggests the link to more folks aligned with your tribe or other attributes. You are not directed to items that might be more consequential to you or folks like you. It sends you to links that will build interest near ads and reinforced by brain chemistry from the propaganda. The site is not left or right but is biased to deliver a steady diet for thoughts they know will pump your brain chemistry and continuous use of the site.
Ok. What is the call to action? No, I won’t suggest you meditate or consider alternative religions. Nor would I suggest you change your tribe or group identity. But you should ask yourself what is important to you.
Should big business have any limits? Can they increase profits by decreasing the health of citizens? Are there any government programs worth collective investment such as research in health, energy and weapons systems? Should there be investments in research to build infrastructure cheaper and better? How does your state or city compare to others? That is, is it better than all or worse or in the middle for issues that affect you directly. What limits should government have? Same question for big business. Is automation driving wages down and, if so, what is being done at city, state and federal level or should we just evolve, with the guidance of big corporation propaganda? Can you recognize propaganda designed to spike your brain chemistry?
Is every politician one dimensional and only loyal to one cult. Or are there some that have a balanced view, lean one way, but embrace change for the better when it makes sense.
Finally, give yourself a rest from the favorite web sites or news programs. The propaganda designed to evoke chemical responses in the brain may not be healthy for you long term. You can still vote the same way; the propaganda repeats continuously so you stay up to date but do it with less stress less often.
