Like a lot of people I watched pro-Palestinian protesters get bludgeoned on my work computer. I was in the office with a bunch of others who, with the tension of a horror movie, stayed silent about it. We were at work, of course, where we don’t have a constitutional right to free speech. So we ignore the silent screams.

Thankfully, the student protesters have remained mostly peaceful, even as they are attacked from all angles. In their actions they appeal to the traditional humanitarian in us, which was based on the Enlightenment in the west. But those days might be considered officially behind us now. Again, judging by actions, the United States has finally overcome the democratic value of humanism. Now, to the protesters’ pain and dismay, we all see that the value system of a corporate oligarchy has transformed the American moral doctrine.

In Israel, Palestinians have no rights. Therefore no rights are violated when they are murdered. They are animals, as we have heard Israeli government officials describe them. And American citizens pay for such a value system? And still call themselves humanitarian?

We have been transforming, shedding our old skin. Across many sectors, we are different now. More than ever, we live our lives as if we are at work. Ignoring silent screams under a corporate oligarchy’s value system. Less than ever do we live under the value system outlined in the Constitution, inspired by the Enlightenment.

There is a new doctrine being enforced. A doctrine that no longer occupies a moral high ground. Even its most important figures such as the President of the United States of America no longer pretend that this country’s policy is based on humanism. Modernism is dying off. More and more we live in a postmodern world where there are no universal themes such as humanism. Now there are only collectives. The strongest collectives win. The weaker are bludgeoned, like we see on campuses.

It’s time to accept that the Age of Reason has now passed into history. We have crossed a threshold. And for many, this is a sign of moral decline. As the 2024 election is now in full swing, roughly half of the country supports an authoritarian for a corporate oligarchy. The other half supports a figurehead for a corporate oligarchy. Take your pick. Both are occupied and embrace it.

A corporate oligarchy would have us all fight each other over race, gender, abortion, Taylor Swift, sporting events and other cultural issues. But not money. By acting against Israel, the current student protest movement came to realize that in reality they had bumped into money, the lifeblood of a corporate oligarchy. And the protesters were dealt with brutally.

What does that say about US education? That it too has been subjugated by a corporate oligarchy? Yes, higher education has also been transitioning and is now so thoroughly enveloped in the capitalist value system that its presidents are mere fundraisers since it is now forced to survive in the free market. Not to be run by a bunch of professors who have no business sense. This transition has been long in the making and is now bare naked in front of us.

But the transition of higher education is not an anomaly. Patterns and similarities can be found elsewhere.

Politicians are actors now, playing the part a corporate oligarchy would have them play. Waving in the funds from the country’s valuable tax revenue. Blocking bills that have no value to a corporate oligarchy. Politicians are rhetoricians again, like a barefoot Cicero in Washington. Framing all arguments on stage in front of us as if they were literally implementing Bertrand Russell’s Emotive Conjugation in order to control narratives. Our disagreement among each other being a corporate oligarchy’s opportunity. And when a majority of citizens want reasonable gun laws, it doesn’t happen because of the gun lobby. When a majority of citizens want a ceasefire to stop a genocide with its tax money, it doesn’t happen because of the Israel lobby, pincer moves of a corporate oligarchy.

It’s been many years since the Frankfurt School proclaimed that media and entertainment would turn into a Culture Industry. An industry owned by a corporate oligarchy to spread messages that benefit them. And suppress messages that don’t, before they even get out to see the light of day. And all in the good name of art.

In Citizens United the Supreme Court chose the liberty of corporations over the equality of US citizens. This has weighted the balance of influence in favor of corporate interests by allowing them to control legislators and elections by dangling much-needed blood money for their campaigns to survive. Yes, our representatives too are forced to survive in the free market, which is the value system of a corporate oligarchy.

Media has transitioned too. Ownership has merged and been bought out by the corporate sector over many years to the point that its values no longer are concerned about educating the public, but rather improving ratings with click bait, sensationalism and the framing of arguments that must first serve the interests of a corporate oligarchy. Objectivity, another modern Enlightenment-era backstop against the accumulation of power, has folded to the postmodernist notion that there is no such thing as objectivity. And that there is only individual subjectivity through the perspective of your ethnic, religious or social group.

A coup has taken place and we have barely noticed. A corporate oligarchy owns the media to control narratives. A corporate oligarchy owns the entertainment industry to offset our frustration of having to work in a corporate oligarchy. A corporate oligarchy bombards us with advertisements which promote a morality that benefits it. A corporate oligarchy determines who will represent us and what stance they take on issues. A corporate oligarchy educates us at school. Everywhere a corporate oligarchy influences and enforces its value system. Its brand of morality. And when citizens protest this, the police are called in, the courts are summoned, laws are passed, the media frames the arguments and entertainment is encouraged to divert attention.

All to the benefit of a corporate oligarchy.

Eamon Loingsigh