Hello everyone, welcome to episode two of the Dylan Ratigan Show. I am Dylan Ratigan and. My thinking going into this second episode. Is influenced by. Discussions and events. Over the past week, all of which seem to be driven by. Power or the abuse of power, or. The desire for power, and I thought it would be worth discussing a little bit some of the dynamics of power that are not so much political power political power. Obviously we all know is driven by lies, deceit, manipulation and propaganda on both sides. I'm talking more about structural power. Whether it's in systems that prevent opportunity without sort of this blind passive resistance, or systems that provide implicit support and creativity. None of which have anything to do with obviously a political parties or or political power. It's more of a human power. Now with that said. The stage apone which our world our shared world presents itself as obviously the sort of the lowest common denominator, tends to be the most primitive. Set of facts. And so the primitive dynamics of the past week that played out I think, are something that we we all know pretty well. The most obvious one being murder, the specifically the murder of George Floyd. But more broadly, the issue of policing in the United States and the specific abuse of black people. There is a second issue which is marijuana. Which actually ties back to the first issue. The annual marijuana holiday 420 was celebrated this week, and of course there's a widespread movement towards legalization in the United States and globally of the drug. But also that drug was largely used as a means of oppression specifically. Enever Astin, incarceration, specifically a black people. The number of white people that smoke and use marijuana is certainly no smaller than the number of black people that smoke in use marijuana. And yet the number of black people placed in prison for the use or possession of marijuana relative to the number of white people. Is without comparison even to this day there's a stunning number of individuals who are held in prison. Black individuals specifically who are held in prison for marijuana convictions, which. Is one of the biggest structural incarceration structural abuses that exists. And then the last subject, I suppose, as the dynamic of power play out, have to do with the prevalence of massacres as a cultural standard in the United States, where again, there's a. It's one and a half mass shootings every day in America, and but all of these things, whether it's the dynamics with policing, whether it's the dynamics. With the now movement to legalize marijuana, or whether it's the generalized culture of making machine guns readily available for widespread slaughter at will in the United States, all of it has to do. Ultimately with power. An more specifically I. Beasa sense of powerlessness. And so the real root of understanding this dynamic, particularly in the United States, where it seems to be obviously the most extreme in the way that it plays out, whether it's with murder, marijuana, or massacres, is 1 where at its root. You have an issue. Where young men specifically. Clearly have a sense of powerlessness. Or disempowerment. That is then playing out through either overly aggressive policing. Overly aggressive engagement with gun culture. Again, while there are hundreds of millions of guns in the United States, the vast majority of the guns in the United States are only owned by about 5% of the population, so it is very specific, almost a mental illness. That has to do with a sense of a lack of power. Lack of. Up a self if you will that then plays out through an attempt to recover self, particularly young men through the possession of 1020 thirty fifty 100 different weapons. Now you know people will point to Canada, which I think is a great example of where there is a very healthy gun culture and we can go into that conversation and I. And I had made a meaningful distinction between. The culture that exists globally, whether it's in Europe, whether it's in Russia, whether it's in the United States, Canada, South America, around sporting clays and bird hunting and hoarding, military weapons for no apparent reason. Those are two different things. That same dynamic also plays out on the other side. It's not just the aggressive policing, it's the sense of recklessness and engagement towards social disruption that exists throughout the entire world and specifically in the United States. Driven by this energy of chaos, and so you have this perpetual sense of risk in chaos that exists specifically. In them, young male communities, and frequently in the young black male communities. But again, the police tend to be young men as well. Young black men, young white men. The criminals obviously tend to be young men. I mean there's a broader discussion here around. Why do America's young men feel? So, disempowered.
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Hi Dylan, I am a $100/year subscriber and have read the text -- it is completely corrupted. Was that automated translation or something?
Also - how do I listen to your podcast?
are you OK? This looks like it was written by a dementia patient!
and that is no criticism on content