All Thats Left Was This War...
I was so excited to see so many comments on my last blog post! Then I read them. I want to apologize to Anonomous (is that you Brad?) for my misinterpretation of the point he was attempting to make. I want to apologize for not reading the Sun before commenting on it. I want to apologize for any slanderous term I may have used or any false accusation I may have made. I want to apologize for any Utopian visionaries of the past whose schemes may have turned out badly, for all the idealists and dreamers whose attempts at creating a better world caused more harm than good. (And there are plenty)
I wish the Truth (historical and otherwise) were written down in one Huge Text, a combo Bible-Torah-Quoran-Book of Mormon- Sutra-Encyclopedia perhaps, so that we could just reference the Book to correct one anothers assumptions and passionately expressed points. But because it isn't, we are left with this imperfect system of discourse, this exchange of interpretations, and the best we can hope for is to agree on a map of the areas where there is disputed territory. (of knowledge, wisdom, logic, discernment) I would like all of you to stay and help with this work. But let's not fight over the territory just yet.
It's May Day and Im going to try to rally people into an organized opposition to a system which will not share power willingly, that must be prodded. I will march proudly under the banner of the Left, realizing the history of this struggle contains moments to be proud of , as well as those of which I am ashamed. We are only human beings, we try.
posted by troutsky @ 7:08 AM
17 comments
17 Comments:
May Day,
And yet my problem is still just the rent. I can safely come to that conclusion without the truth book--which I don't think would have any excerpts from the Bible-Torah-Quoran-Book of Mormon- Sutra-Encyclopedia....well maybe the Sutra and a bit from the encyclopedia.
"I was just a child then,
Now I'm only a man."
— Roger Waters
Did Hugo Chavez choose May Day to announce withdrawal from the IMF and World Bank?
Nice symbolism if I've read that right. Interesting how the western media treat the announcement, which is really only symbolic.
The rightwing papers seem to make it want to sound like he is reneging on debts. Only the moderates mention that Venezeula repayed its loans a year or so ago (and 5 years ahead of schedule from memory).
Expect ramped up propaganda from Washington and London.
Happy May Day.
Just came back from a march that was oriented toward immigrant's rights. My comrades were involved in the planning, forcing the Maoists from refraining from using the rally for Democratic Party legislation. They chanted legalization, while we chanted for amnesty.
Happy May Day to you all.
Ah a soothing post. All is impermanent, all is without a self.
I am glad you have absorbed the idea of reading something before accepting talking points about it. The NY Sun has many fine features and the best review sections of any paper in NYC.
The exchanges have grown somewhat stale and pointless. At a certain point many of you are entering theology rather than history or facts.
Theology?
"A hypocrite is in himself both the archer and the mark, in all actions shooting at his own praise or profit."--Thomas Fuller
Thats right beakerkin, it's only our fault. Stay in your world.
That is the bottom line, aaron, the "materialist" aspect which drowns all else. Rent and food, and who controls them, is what primarily determines our social relations.
May Day has real meaning in Latin America, Im sure there was a sea of red in the streets of Caracas,cringing.Hugo is helping others get out from under crippling IMF debt as well.
Thanks for this post Trout.
I've been waiting for this tone.
You've made apologies...you've invited room for rational discourse...and you've invited others to do the same.
I'm sad to see that not all others in here are--as of yet--willing to do the same and see themselves in a mirror. What a sad waste of time.
I make no apologies for Castro, Mao, Lenin or Stalin. All are authoritarian monsters that deserve my clear and concise denouncement. At the same time, I would urge others to stop make apologies for monstrous U.S. presidents, industrialists and their brutal allies and friends. Show me a state and I'll show you authoritarian coercion. Show me a Soviet crime and I'll show you an American one. The biggest difference is our crimes are carried out shamelessly under the banners of "democracy" and "freedom."
Our democracy is a sham as long as the industrial system is controlled by any form of autocratic elite, whether it's owners, managers, technocrats, a vanguard party, a state bureaucracy, or whatever. Whether State Socialism or State Capitalism, the classical liberal ideals cannot be realized under conditions of authoritarian domination or the orders of any boss including the supposedly "soulful elite" in the U.S. whose goal is profit, power, and growth.
One Love my friend! We need to talk about the role of the revolutionary political party (contradiction in terms?) and about how Councils might perform such traditional state functions as security, administration of justice, revenue collection for infra-structure etc..
My wife is trying to teach me how to be nice but I admit to lapsing on another blog and calling our "opponent" a case of herpes.My bad.
Troutsky
You are not a foe of mine in any description. You may be a comedic prop at best. This is a market improvement from those I have demoted to the produce section.
I stand by my comments on Cuba and the mindless apologists for it misery.
Im not sure how to respond to that beakerkin except to apologize for calling you "herpes".As for Cuba, authoritarian dictatorships are never a good thing but the society has accomplished amazing things in terms of health care, education and homelessness.As soon as you can understand that not everything is black or white, many of my positions will become clearer.Did you mean "marked" improvement?
Troutsky
I do not take the slings and arrows personally. You are a decent enough person who endorses some bad ideas. I do not personally dislike G either. I seperate bad ideas from lousy people.
The market is my idea of a pun. People that compare Nixon to Pol Pot get sent to the produce section.
You are still somewhere in the cleaning products aisle. Che Bob is in the processed meat section next to the Bologna. Renegade has been demoted to canned goods.
Show me a Soviet crime and I'll show you an American one. The biggest difference is our crimes are carried out shamelessly under the banners of "democracy" and "freedom."
No. The difference is one of magnitude. Have their been crimes perpetuated by American imperialism? Undoubtedly. But to compare these to the crimes of the Soviet Union is irresponsibility, bordering on madness. It's like comparing the Spanish Inquisition (some two thousand death sentences over some three hundred years) to the Holocaust of the National Socialists (some six million plus in about five years).
Please read some history. It's eye-opening.
"No. The difference is one of magnitude. Have their been crimes perpetuated by American imperialism? Undoubtedly. But to compare these to the crimes of the Soviet Union is irresponsibility, bordering on madness"
Ahem. The crimes of the Soviet Union or the crimes of Stalin?
Surely without Stalins purges and state enforced famines, the deaths attributable to Soviet policy are miniscule in comparison with those of the US since the onset of the Spanish American war.
If you throw in the deaths under the British empire in the 20th century we really are talking orders of magnitude.
And why not be adding the deaths attributable to right wing political thought under the nazis to the tally?
I'm not trying to get into a pissing contest on the numbers but to dismiss the very real criminality of Anglo/US imperialism is just not realism at all.
This is the dismissiveness that the neofascists like beakerkin use to stroke themselves I'm afraid.
Ahem. The crimes of the Soviet Union or the crimes of Stalin?
The poisonous ideology known as Communism created the Soviet State which enabled Stalin to commit his crimes. It is also emphatically false to pretend that all the crimes were committed by Stalin. You're forgetting Lenin, Pol Pot, Mao, as well as the countless members of the Secret Police who participated in mass slaughter.
Such a pattern is indicative of the problems inherent in the adherents of Communism.
And why not be adding the deaths attributable to right wing political thought under the nazis to the tally?
Please. The Nazis were National Socialists, which puts them leftward on the political spectrum. Hitler himself thanked Marx for helping him come up with Nazism.
One need not be stupid to be a liberal, but being historically ignorant certainly seems to help.
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