“Monkey this up”...

by minimus 85 Replies latest jw friends

  • MeanMrMustard
    MeanMrMustard
    I think you miss my point. I don't think there *is* a "left" in the sense that you're using the word, except in the minds of those who need there to be one to use as a rhetorical strawman. It's just cheap talk-show jargon. Leftist political thought runs a very broad gamut and many left factions take very different approaches to the same issues. My own views are far removed from those of any Clintonite, either of the Bill stripe or the Hillary stripe -- I consider Clintonism to be reactionary -- and yet to the Fox News crowd we're all "the left." As if.

    This has come up on the forum a few times now. Of course there is nuance. But if we are going to use “left” and “right” like a continuum, then it should work like a continuum.

    That being said: facists and the KKK types, including white nationalists, are on the left. Their ideologies line up with that side of the continuum.

  • em1913
    em1913

    Gee, I've been Fisked. I just don't know what to do.

    I don't have any problem with being called a Marxist. I'd suggest "Wage Labour and Capital" for a good exploration of how worker exploitation functions -- some of it is a bit dated, obviously, but the explanation of labor power and how it's bought and sold as a commodity for less than its actual value in a marketplace that's heavily weighted on the side of the purchaser is still quite accurate.

    (This is the point where you pull out Adam Smith or Murray Rothbard, or the insufferable Mr. Hayek, or even Ayn Rand, and start quoting them to me. Which, as far as I'm concerned, is like being a Methodist rolling her eyes on the stoop while a JW is trying to look up references in the Reasoning book.)

    As for white privilege, the board software has twice deleted my explanation of it, and I couldn't possibly fathom why. So I am allowed merely to say that it's something you, personally, Mean Mister M yourself, have no control over -- it's the way the entire social mechanism reacts to you because you are not The Other. "White privilege" is why a white person -- any white person -- can throw up their arms and say "well *I* never had any white privilege." Because they've never had to live their lives on the other end of that equation -- they've never truly been The Other.

    That's the best explanation for that that I can give you that the board censorship algorithms will allow me to post. If it's not enough, and you're still not convinced it exists -- and I already know that you aren't -- well, That's Your Privilege.

    As for the historical rundown you don'[t seem to like, well, I was simply pointing out that Trumpie populism didn't just pop out of a hole in 2016. It's been with us in one form or another for a very long time. I could have gone back even further, thru the Southern Agrarians of the early 20th Century, back to the original Populist nativists of the late 19th Century and even back before the Civil War to the Know-Nothing movement. That this chain of thought has included some extremely unpleasant people and groups is no fault of mine. It is as it was. The burning cross and the night rider are parts of the populist heritage in America that the current populist movement has yet to fully confront, and if you'll pop over to a certain social media platform called "Gab," you'll see just how deep this particular rabbit hole goes.

    There has, incidentally, over the last eighty years, been a particular effort on the part of capitalist think tanks, foundations, and trade organizations, starting with the National Organization of Manufacturers in the 1930s, to actively promote certain views about recent American history in order to keep the working class divided and disoriented, and it's interesting to see how well that strategy continues to work. Those talking points Brother Hannity honks out on the radio don't just fly out of his own furiously-churning brain. His followers, and those of his colleagues, ought to take a careful look at just where it's all coming from before they draw any conclusions.

    As for the claim that the WN/Kluxer/Fascist types are on the left side of the spectrum, well, I guess I better check my copy of the Klan Kloran for the part where they call for worker ownership of the means of production. Hmm. Not seeing it. How about Mein K. Hmm, not seeing it. As a matter of fact, Krupp did pretty well for itself during the war, but they had a system where the means of production owned the workers. That must be where I'm getting confused.

  • minimus
    minimus

    Em, I must give you credit. You have your views but never are disrespectful or condescending.

  • minimus
    minimus

    I was listening to a radio show yesterday and they kept playing the theme song for the TV show The Monkees.....Hey hey we’re the Monkees and people say we monkey around...then they would wonder out loud if this was ok to replay.🙉🐵🙈🐒

  • em1913
    em1913

    Thank you, Minimus. I've always respected what you had to say on WT matters, regardless of politics, and hope nothing I say is taken personally by anyone.

  • minimus
    minimus

    It’s all good, my friend!

  • VIII
    VIII

    This made me laugh! If you're a Millennial, you won't know what this is...I had a crush on the one who wore a hat. I would try to avoid Field Service to watch that show.

    Now I'm going to have this song in my head...

    "I was listening to a radio show yesterday and they kept playing the theme song for the TV show The Monkees.....Hey hey we’re the Monkees and people say we monkey around...then they would wonder out loud if this was ok to replay.🙉🐵🙈🐒"

  • never a jw
    never a jw

    "That being said: facists and the KKK types, including white nationalists, are on the left. Their ideologies line up with that side of the continuum."

    ...but they show love for Trump and vote Republican because they have infiltrated and are spying on the enemy. Yep.. you fools. You really thought that the KKK and white nationalists were Republicans.

  • MeanMrMustard
    MeanMrMustard

    Gee, I've been Fisked. I just don't know what to do.

    “Fisked”? Is that commie for “opposed on a forum”?

    I don't have any problem with being called a Marxist. I'd suggest "Wage Labour and Capital" for a good exploration of how worker exploitation functions -- some of it is a bit dated, obviously, but the explanation of labor power and how it's bought and sold as a commodity for less than its actual value in a marketplace that's heavily weighted on the side of the purchaser is still quite accurate.
    (This is the point where you pull out Adam Smith or Murray Rothbard, or the insufferable Mr. Hayek, or even Ayn Rand, and start quoting them to me. Which, as far as I'm concerned, is like being a Methodist rolling her eyes on the stoop while a JW is trying to look up references in the Reasoning book.)

    Right. Good job comrade. In your last post, you said that opposition to your view comes from Exxon (or Exxon-like) backed think-tanks mischaracterizing your ideology as “COMMIE!”, as if that causes the masses to run for the hills. It tends to do that given the sheer body count emanating from that worldview. You didn’t want to deal with anyone bringing up the obvious and rational questions surrounding communism. So you dismiss the natural and rational line of thinking as conspiratorial.

    It’s the same move here. You know damn well that people like Rothbard and Böhm von Bawerk have systematically taken apart the labor theory of value. You know damn well that von Mises buried socialism with the calculation problem. Hayek was just icing on the cake. So what do you do? After stating the labor theory of value is correct as a proof for the exploitation within capitalism, you then proceed to state that the rational and logical next step ( those economists that have shown the labor theory of value to be bull shit ) are just like a JW stumbling at the door step. (Morphs Law)

    Given these moves, It seems obvious why someone might peg you as a commie.

    As for white privilege, the board software has twice deleted my explanation of it, and I couldn't possibly fathom why. So I am allowed merely to say that it's something you, personally, Mean Mister M yourself, have no control over -- it's the way the entire social mechanism reacts to you because you are not The Other. "White privilege" is why a white person -- any white person -- can throw up their arms and say "well *I* never had any white privilege." Because they've never had to live their lives on the other end of that equation -- they've never truly been The Other.

    I call BS here. I seriously doubt the board has automated software deleting posts. Above, you are just claiming the existence of some mysterious “otherness” for non-whites. It’s out there like a fart in the wind... and the only people that can smell it are non-whites. Give me a break.

    That's the best explanation for that that I can give you that the board censorship algorithms will allow me to post. If it's not enough, and you're still not convinced it exists -- and I already know that you aren't -- well, That's Your Privilege.

    And there we go. If I oppose your view, well, it just shows how much white privilege I have.

    As for the historical rundown you don'[t seem to like, well, I was simply pointing out that Trumpie populism didn't just pop out of a hole in 2016. It's been with us in one form or another for a very long time.

    The above statement reaffirms that you are “simply pointing out that Trumpie populism” is equivalent to all the groups you enumerated. I reject that grouping.

    I could have gone back even further, thru the Southern Agrarians of the early 20th Century, back to the original Populist nativists of the late 19th Century and even back before the Civil War to the Know-Nothing movement. That this chain of thought has included some extremely unpleasant people and groups is no fault of mine. It is as it was. The burning cross and the night rider are parts of the populist heritage in America that the current populist movement has yet to fully confront, and if you'll pop over to a certain social media platform called "Gab," you'll see just how deep this particular rabbit hole goes.

    “Yet to fully confront”?? Good lord.

    There has, incidentally, over the last eighty years, been a particular effort on the part of capitalist think tanks, foundations, and trade organizations, starting with the National Organization of Manufacturers in the 1930s, to actively promote certain views about recent American history in order to keep the working class divided and disoriented, and it's interesting to see how well that strategy continues to work.
    Restating it doesn’t make it true, or even convincing.

    Those talking points Brother Hannity honks out on the radio don't just fly out of his own furiously-churning brain. His followers, and those of his colleagues, ought to take a careful look at just where it's all coming from before they draw any conclusions.

    What are the talking points? I don’t listen to Hannity’s show.

    As for the claim that the WN/Kluxer/Fascist types are on the left side of the spectrum, well, I guess I better check my copy of the Klan Kloran for the part where they call for worker ownership of the means of production. Hmm. Not seeing it. How about Mein K. Hmm, not seeing it. As a matter of fact, Krupp did pretty well for itself during the war, but they had a system where the means of production owned the workers. That must be where I'm getting confused.
    If you are going to have a continuum, then it should behave like one. We start on the left where with authoritarian ideologies, and work our way right. Authoritarianism goes down... down.... down... getting farther away now, this is looking good and then suddenly: we are back to authoritarianism. It’s more bull shit. It’s not a continuum. Now, I would much rather be nuanced, but hey, if we are going to do the left/right continuum then it should work like one: the authoritarians on the left, which includes groups of people that do not agree that humans have fundamental rights just from existence, like the white nationalists. That view of rights is what feeds the atrocities.

  • em1913
    em1913

    In other words, "sorry, I have my religion."

    I don't agree that the good Austrians proved anything, except to those already inclined to accept those beliefs. But that's your religion, and those are your Scriptures, just as some people choose to believe that Jesus Christ is physically present in a cookie, or that a bunch of men in Patterson were chosen to lead God's People thru Armageddon, or that a hacky novelist from the 1940s with a rape fetish could develop a world-changing philosophy, and you can believe it if you want. And if it makes it easier for you to sleep thru the night putting the groups I mentioned on the "left,"then go right ahead and do that. It puts you completely at odds with all historical understanding of the Populist movment in the United States since the 1930s, but hey, the world is full of new ideas, and now that I think of it, I love the idea of somebody like Robert Welch actually being a leftist. Serves the old candy-coated blowhard right. Or left, as the case may be. I bet he and Ike had a good time at the cell meetings.

    I really do suggest, though, that you visit the nice folks at Gab and run your ideas by them. I think you'll find them a lively bunch.

    As far as board software is concerned, I think I've figured out what happened -- I have the habit of spacing between paragraphs for legibility, and I think the software, coupled with my particularly ancient browser, might have a problem with that -- it was inserting spaces where none existed, and cutting out any part of the post below that space. If that's what happened, I'm perfectly happy to withdraw my censorship comment. I'm a moderator myself on a board, and I know that certain software has the ability to be set to "discourage" specific people from posting by throwing various roadblocks in their path, but I'm satisified, through your own colorful language, that this isn't the case here.

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