The Dictator observations thread.

Politics and other such topical creams.
Dr. Medulla
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

eumaas wrote:
31 Oct 2018, 9:25am
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/10/ ... -vote.html

I feel like they chose some of these for the stupid arguments.

Kim is voting, but I didn't bother to register this year. The probability makes it almost wholly symbolic. I guess we'll see what happens. I hope the Dems get in so we can see them hem and haw and stall and do nothing. Woohoo.
You're nuts. Republicans are confidently asserting that Democrats represent radical left values. You're finally going to get what you want with this election!
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by eumaas »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
31 Oct 2018, 9:48am
eumaas wrote:
31 Oct 2018, 9:25am
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/10/ ... -vote.html

I feel like they chose some of these for the stupid arguments.

Kim is voting, but I didn't bother to register this year. The probability makes it almost wholly symbolic. I guess we'll see what happens. I hope the Dems get in so we can see them hem and haw and stall and do nothing. Woohoo.
You're nuts. Republicans are confidently asserting that Democrats represent radical left values. You're finally going to get what you want with this election!
I’ve decided to become one of those reddit weirdos who pines for the restoration of the Habsburgs.
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

eumaas wrote:
31 Oct 2018, 9:53am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
31 Oct 2018, 9:48am
eumaas wrote:
31 Oct 2018, 9:25am
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/10/ ... -vote.html

I feel like they chose some of these for the stupid arguments.

Kim is voting, but I didn't bother to register this year. The probability makes it almost wholly symbolic. I guess we'll see what happens. I hope the Dems get in so we can see them hem and haw and stall and do nothing. Woohoo.
You're nuts. Republicans are confidently asserting that Democrats represent radical left values. You're finally going to get what you want with this election!
I’ve decided to become one of those reddir weirdos who pines for the restoration of the Habsburgs.
That's not even in the top two-thirds of Reddit weirdoness. Even removing the bots and Russian trolls, it's a remarkable gathering of what's gone wrong with the Enlightenment project.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Dr. Medulla
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

From The Doubter's Companion
MARXIST The only serious functioning Marxists left in the West are the senior management of large, usually transnational corporations. The only serious Marxist thinkers are neo-conservative.

Marxism is primarily an analysis of how society works—or rather, how it must work. This dialectic is based upon the struggle of the classes and the battle of the unregulated marketplace in which the strongest win. It is a marketplace which cannot be tempered, according to Marx. It must and will run free and so function as a battleground between those who have power and those who don’t. The marketplace will seek to maximize profits even if this is to the disadvantage of most. Profits and power are the truth of the economic struggle and economic determinism will decide the social structure.

Most functioning Marxists had stopped believing this sort of stuff by the end of the Second World War. They had come around to the ideology of stable bureaucratic management. In that they resembled the technocrats of Western governmental and corporate bureaucracies.

But these Western corporate managers and their academic acolytes were in fact thrown into a state of confusion by the collapse of 1929. It seemed as if the pure capitalist analysis, of which they were the official inheritors, had failed. An unrestricted marketplace had led not to ongoing growth and prosperity, but to total economic collapse. The ideology of a natural and general equilibrium produced by competition had been given its chance and had self-destructed for all to see and suffer the consequences.

A good thirty-five years passed before the corporate leaders were able to erase from their own memory and from that of the public this failure. They then rediscovered with a virginal ideologic enthusiasm the virtues of the unregulated market.

This time they were supported by an intellectually sophisticated explanation for the dialectic provided by a group of economists centred at the Chicago School. They were able to dispense with the idea that public institutions could achieve social stability, protect the weak or encourage a wider distribution of wealth. Their new argument would have made Marx proud. It was not that they did not wish to help the weak or promote fairness. It was the natural rules of the marketplace—the dialectic—which made the class struggle inevitable.

The only disagreement between the Neo-conservatives and Marx is over who wins the battle in the end. This is a small detail. Far more important is their agreement that society must function as a wide-open struggle.

Some people are surprised that Marxism should have reemerged on the Right. However, ideas, once launched, become public property. And they often reappear in several disguises before discovering their true form.
I laugh whenever I re-read this entry. It further reaffirms my belief that libertarians are just Communists who have switched which class to support. But the intolerant temperament and total devotion to dogma over complicating reality binds the two groups.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Marky Dread
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Marky Dread »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
16 Nov 2018, 10:49am
From The Doubter's Companion
MARXIST The only serious functioning Marxists left in the West are the senior management of large, usually transnational corporations. The only serious Marxist thinkers are neo-conservative.

Marxism is primarily an analysis of how society works—or rather, how it must work. This dialectic is based upon the struggle of the classes and the battle of the unregulated marketplace in which the strongest win. It is a marketplace which cannot be tempered, according to Marx. It must and will run free and so function as a battleground between those who have power and those who don’t. The marketplace will seek to maximize profits even if this is to the disadvantage of most. Profits and power are the truth of the economic struggle and economic determinism will decide the social structure.

Most functioning Marxists had stopped believing this sort of stuff by the end of the Second World War. They had come around to the ideology of stable bureaucratic management. In that they resembled the technocrats of Western governmental and corporate bureaucracies.

But these Western corporate managers and their academic acolytes were in fact thrown into a state of confusion by the collapse of 1929. It seemed as if the pure capitalist analysis, of which they were the official inheritors, had failed. An unrestricted marketplace had led not to ongoing growth and prosperity, but to total economic collapse. The ideology of a natural and general equilibrium produced by competition had been given its chance and had self-destructed for all to see and suffer the consequences.

A good thirty-five years passed before the corporate leaders were able to erase from their own memory and from that of the public this failure. They then rediscovered with a virginal ideologic enthusiasm the virtues of the unregulated market.

This time they were supported by an intellectually sophisticated explanation for the dialectic provided by a group of economists centred at the Chicago School. They were able to dispense with the idea that public institutions could achieve social stability, protect the weak or encourage a wider distribution of wealth. Their new argument would have made Marx proud. It was not that they did not wish to help the weak or promote fairness. It was the natural rules of the marketplace—the dialectic—which made the class struggle inevitable.

The only disagreement between the Neo-conservatives and Marx is over who wins the battle in the end. This is a small detail. Far more important is their agreement that society must function as a wide-open struggle.

Some people are surprised that Marxism should have reemerged on the Right. However, ideas, once launched, become public property. And they often reappear in several disguises before discovering their true form.
I laugh whenever I re-read this entry. It further reaffirms my belief that libertarians are just Communists who have switched which class to support. But the intolerant temperament and total devotion to dogma over complicating reality binds the two groups in their total respect for Phil Collins.
Image

Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty


We're the flowers in the dustbin...
No fuchsias for you.

"Without the common people you're nothing"

Nos Sumus Una Familia

Dr. Medulla
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-year- ... broke-ganz
Long but fascinating account of what happened to American conservatism in 1992 as somewhat of a preview of today's dystopia.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Flex
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Flex »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
05 Dec 2018, 6:50pm
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-year- ... broke-ganz
Long but fascinating account of what happened to American conservatism in 1992 as somewhat of a preview of today's dystopia.
This is a GREAT read. Very compelling.
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fa ... b99058dd3a
Appalling but not overly surprising, and further confirmation of the observation that if you're not paying for a service, you're not a client, you're the product.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Marky Dread
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Marky Dread »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 10:37am
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fa ... b99058dd3a
Appalling but not overly surprising, and further confirmation of the observation that if you're not paying for a service, you're not a client, you're the product.
As you say mate not really all that surprising in these tech riddled times. Further proof if ever it were needed of just how much we are all simply pawns in the power play of the wealthy.
Image

Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty


We're the flowers in the dustbin...
No fuchsias for you.

"Without the common people you're nothing"

Nos Sumus Una Familia

Dr. Medulla
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Marky Dread wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 10:54am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 10:37am
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fa ... b99058dd3a
Appalling but not overly surprising, and further confirmation of the observation that if you're not paying for a service, you're not a client, you're the product.
As you say mate not really all that surprising in these tech riddled times. Further proof if ever it were needed of just how much we are all simply pawns in the power play of the wealthy.
A fair trade off to learn of my existence. :shifty:
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Marky Dread
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Marky Dread »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 11:59am
Marky Dread wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 10:54am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 10:37am
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fa ... b99058dd3a
Appalling but not overly surprising, and further confirmation of the observation that if you're not paying for a service, you're not a client, you're the product.
As you say mate not really all that surprising in these tech riddled times. Further proof if ever it were needed of just how much we are all simply pawns in the power play of the wealthy.
A fair trade off to learn of my existence. :shifty:
Just be grateful that you exist at all. ;)
Image

Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty


We're the flowers in the dustbin...
No fuchsias for you.

"Without the common people you're nothing"

Nos Sumus Una Familia

Dr. Medulla
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Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115989
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Marky Dread wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 12:20pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 11:59am
Marky Dread wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 10:54am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 10:37am
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fa ... b99058dd3a
Appalling but not overly surprising, and further confirmation of the observation that if you're not paying for a service, you're not a client, you're the product.
As you say mate not really all that surprising in these tech riddled times. Further proof if ever it were needed of just how much we are all simply pawns in the power play of the wealthy.
A fair trade off to learn of my existence. :shifty:
Just be grateful that you exist at all. ;)
I didn't ask to be born in this lousy world!
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Marky Dread
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Marky Dread »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 12:32pm
Marky Dread wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 12:20pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 11:59am
Marky Dread wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 10:54am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 10:37am
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fa ... b99058dd3a
Appalling but not overly surprising, and further confirmation of the observation that if you're not paying for a service, you're not a client, you're the product.
As you say mate not really all that surprising in these tech riddled times. Further proof if ever it were needed of just how much we are all simply pawns in the power play of the wealthy.
A fair trade off to learn of my existence. :shifty:
Just be grateful that you exist at all. ;)
I didn't ask to be born in this lousy world!
Or any other world for that matter.
Image

Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty


We're the flowers in the dustbin...
No fuchsias for you.

"Without the common people you're nothing"

Nos Sumus Una Familia

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115989
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Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Marky Dread wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 3:22pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 12:32pm
Marky Dread wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 12:20pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 11:59am
Marky Dread wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 10:54am


As you say mate not really all that surprising in these tech riddled times. Further proof if ever it were needed of just how much we are all simply pawns in the power play of the wealthy.
A fair trade off to learn of my existence. :shifty:
Just be grateful that you exist at all. ;)
I didn't ask to be born in this lousy world!
Or any other world for that matter.
Well, there is a nice little planet at the far end of the galaxy that I'd be okay with.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Marky Dread
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Marky Dread »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 3:29pm
Marky Dread wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 3:22pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 12:32pm
Marky Dread wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 12:20pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Dec 2018, 11:59am


A fair trade off to learn of my existence. :shifty:
Just be grateful that you exist at all. ;)
I didn't ask to be born in this lousy world!
Or any other world for that matter.
Well, there is a nice little planet at the far end of the galaxy that I'd be okay with.
It's very cold and lonely on Hestonia. So I've been told.
Image

Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty


We're the flowers in the dustbin...
No fuchsias for you.

"Without the common people you're nothing"

Nos Sumus Una Familia

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