Lived to Tell
The main street demo drew about fifty folk, most were weaponized including some cute ten year old girls who made the front page of the paper. Everybody gets their fifteen minutes in our egalitarian society! The NRA says the safest place to be is at a gun show which are more popular than rodeos or prairie dog shoots up in this neck of the woods.
This showing provoked the local "progressives" to call an emergency meeting which I used to promote my anti-capitalist critique, much to everyones dismay.They wanted an action plan to counter the conservatives but I insisted they confront their own complicit compromises to capitalist ideology and not worry about the armed wingers ( they always self destruct after a few months anyway. Their featured speaker for the May Convention was arrested Tuesday for beating up his wife) This went over like a coal-filled balloon. Yet another "association" I am unwelcome at.
Anyway, I am sticking to my guns! In The Art of Being Free : Taking liberties with Tocqueville, Marx and Arendt by Mark Reinhardt I am finding affirmation on the direction of thought I have taken since first stumbling into Hegemony and Socialist strategy by Mouffe and Laclau. The greatest source of oppression is de-politicization and this nostalgic project of restoration by both liberals ( restoring the Enlightenment) and conservatives ( restoring pre-industrial Constitutional capitalism) is a fantasy born of intellectual poverty. Freedom and equality must be pursued together, as difficult and tension filled as that is and I don't mean some totalizing "sameness", but equal access to political space and political POWER. Can't happen under capitalism. The art of being free means becoming adept at living in a contested, agonistic political community, not the communitarian dream of "harmony" or dissolved subjectivities.
Tocqueville also helps fill in the blanks regarding my debate with Gregrandar over "individualism": "Despotism, by it's very nature suspicious, sees the isolation of men as the best guarantee of it's own permanence." This regressive "ism" is a retreat and it's proponents ( Ayn Randers) lack the skills of both political collaboration and resistance. They never learn the Art.IndividualISM is a "misguided judgement " about the relationship of the individual to society and such a privitized subject is in jeopardy of falling under the worst forms of tyranny.
Finally we have his take on the Spectacle,the "orderly, gentle, peaceful slavery." This form of despotism confronts it's subjects as "an immense tutelary power which alone is responsible for securing their enjoyment and watching over their fate.That power is absolute, thoughtful of detail, orderly, provident and gentle.It likes to see the citizens enjoy themselves provided they think of nothing but enjoyment...It provides for their security...it does not break men's wills but softens, bends and guides it."
posted by troutsky @ 8:42 PM
11 comments
11 Comments:
Check it out
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/splc-report-number-of-patriot-groups-militias-surges-by-244-in-past-year
Really I wonder why. Add a touch of Marx and persistent unemployment and there is bound to be counter reaction.
Of course commies freak out every time real patriots arm themselves. It just happens to be a protected Constitutional right.
As for the dullard Troutsky, individualism is the essence of America. All our rights are individual guarantees.
Speaking of racism how is it that
all the Cuban political prisoners
wearing toe tags happen to be black? Have you or the Soulless Renegade Bunion said a peep. Funny, but if you were ensconced in Cuba, North Korea or Hugo's crack house you would not be able to say a word off the party line.
kultur, Firefox doesn't trust that site but I think the latest guy attacking the Pentagon says it all. They say he was borderline paranoid -schizophrenic but I suspect most of my county would rate high on that test. This wouldn't happen in a democracy. Now the state is looking for internal "suspected enemy combatants" amongst the Alamo-wannabes creating a vicious totalitarian circle.
I will defend neither the state or the "patriots" in this movie.
Beak, I rely on your perception. They ARE reacting to a felt Marxist current, for which I deserve a small amount of credit. (humbly) My liberal friends won't admit this and their own reaction is to create bogeymen.
You also illistrate my point about individualISM. The state "guarantee" derives from power which is not expressed equally.
Also , I hearby denounce the Cuban governments treatment of political prisoners. Now you do the same for US.
Individualism involves choice. Unfortunately most "choice" in America is the Bearkerkin kind.
You "choose" from whatever is put on your plate. Fifty brands of potato chip including "lo-cal". That's all it takes to make Beak feel good.
A revolutionary individualism is going to include the choice to transform what is being offered. And that will involve questioning the profit motive, Wall Street, sustainability, food production, popular entertainment etc. All with a hope that the individual will become a participant rather than a simple consumer.
It's going to require a collective consciousness. The undercurrent troutsky refers to.
Sorry Beak, people may in fact be coming to understand the source of their discontent and surrendering to the mindless, destructive Randian "individualism" may yet lose the day.
Troutsky
What political prisoners???? Mumia should be pushing up daises. The USA does not have political prisoners. Even a clown like Bill Ayers is walking free on a technicality.
The essence of Americanism is individualism. Neither, you nor the Duck seem to get it. There is an anger in the land. People are tired of big government. They are tired of the nanny state and big education and media.
The evidence is in that endless safety nets kill economies. The unemployment did not start under Obama but his fidling with Marxism
while the house burns is annoying
the country.
"The essence of Americanism is individualism."
And until you realize this IS the problem Beak, all hope is lost.
It is the radicalization of the individual that emerged in the wake of enlightenment thinking, which has led us to the abattoir of our own prospective annihilation.
Keep smoking that shit and living the dream Beak... quick, hurry.. get as much of it as you can, before it all come crashing down.
We heard about this guy who killed himself in a Cuban prison, described as a "political prisoner." What was his political crime?
He was a common apolitical prisoner, who assaulted people not for political reasons. Since June 1990, he had been arrested and convicted several times for disturbing the peace, two counts of fraud, public exhibitionism, injury and possession of non-firearm weapons His mother in Florida, got the gusanos to take up his cause. Politics had nothing to do with him being incarcerated.
Many more kill themselves in French prisons.
Well kultur, what can be done when we are faced with a pathology like The Beak's?
Individualism that is taken to such an extreme that it destroys the very means of its existence. And you can't even get these folks to think about their position. They start waving a tea bag at you.
Ducky - I am afraid it is a disease of the modern Western soul; of course, with fairly ancient roots, it was perfected by American capitalism and thrust out upon the waters of an unsuspecting third world looking to get in on the action.
Unfortunately, it is not just the teabaggers; it is a contagious disease.. and is now a pandemic (worse than any swine or bird flu), sucking the entire life out of the planet. It cannot help itslef. It is like a black hole, created by the historico-scientific imagination, and executed to perfection.
Kultur
Make sure your Afghan buddies are giving you the good stuff. History has pronounced its verdict even if you are deaf to its verdict. I am an individual and you are mere domestic animals.
The days of wine and roses are coming to a close. The mere mention of Marx is political suicide.
The ball game is over and it is time for commies to join Hugo and emigrate.
Renagade Sphinchter
The charges are BS. The denial of water and placement of an individual on top of an air conditioning unit is MURDER. You want to cry about Abner Louima. The cop who abused him went to jail for two decades and Louima is rolling in dough.
What is your claim? This is murder and far more serious than anything at Gitmo. Do we hear excuses from
the apologists for totalitarianism.
Social Justice is when commies drink the Kool Aide prepared by other commies.
The Spectacle: ... "an immense tutelary power which alone is responsible for securing their enjoyment and watching over their fate.That power is absolute, thoughtful of detail, orderly, provident and gentle.It likes to see the citizens enjoy themselves provided they think of nothing but enjoyment...It provides for their security...it does not break men's wills but softens, bends and guides it."
Ummm...how does one know if one is or is not subject to The Spectacle? Seems there's no way out. No matter what one argues, another can say, "See, that's what The Spectacle wants you to think!" Even you, Troutsky.
Sounds like the ultimate paranoid, conspiracty theory. Not of much value except as a platform for ranting...
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