tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339045.post5192404337550667214..comments2024-03-26T15:19:23.091-07:00Comments on false dichotomy by charles davis: What Ronald Reagan's stupid face taught me about capitalismCharles Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06005070529766546097noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339045.post-27755108545526290132012-12-08T19:41:10.459-08:002012-12-08T19:41:10.459-08:00Also, thanks ohtarzie.Also, thanks ohtarzie.Charles Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06005070529766546097noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339045.post-77966325159685917212012-12-08T19:40:47.541-08:002012-12-08T19:40:47.541-08:00Kris,
If the American government vanished tomorro...Kris,<br /><br />If the American government vanished tomorrow, that would probably be bad as the sort institutions that necessary for a less coercive society to thrive haven't been developed. What I aim for is social revolution, from which a political revolution can follow. You need a society of anarchists for an anarchist society to thrive; not utopia, but a majority that abhors the use of violence to exploit and is willing to organize against efforts by others to employ it.<br /><br />I'd just throw this out there, though: You raise the possibility of the rich, freed from the state's limits, going full-on fascist with private armies. I'd argue that's more or less what we have now, with the state working as capital's policeman to keep the pitchfork-wielding proles away from their mansions. Wither the state, though, and you can no longer call in the national guard when the townsfolk decide to collective the local power plant.Charles Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06005070529766546097noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339045.post-53963494692942533932012-12-08T18:58:11.621-08:002012-12-08T18:58:11.621-08:00Kris -
That hypothetical is weighted down with a ...Kris -<br /><br />That hypothetical is weighted down with a lot of assumptions. But even putting that aside, all you're saying is that state thugs are better than private thugs. The reason why is not obvious in this era of mass incarceration, disposition matrices and drones. Then there's the fact that you haven't disproven any of Charles' claims but you are a good deal less entertaining. <br /><br />I give you a C with a sense of regret. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339045.post-60328188401108243442012-12-08T11:26:31.998-08:002012-12-08T11:26:31.998-08:00How did I miss this the first time, through?
I l...How did I miss this the first time, through? <br /><br />I love everything about this piece from the title on. Perhaps, it's just because I'm in a good mood, but I am fairly sure this is the most entertaining polemic against capitalism ever written. <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339045.post-83442691269049796022011-03-04T12:22:42.332-08:002011-03-04T12:22:42.332-08:00Too bad there isn't honesty like this in our p...Too bad there isn't honesty like this in our public media!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339045.post-64499869300619668752011-02-10T18:53:56.676-08:002011-02-10T18:53:56.676-08:00In stiches, Charles. So true. Amazing thing is peo...In stiches, Charles. So true. Amazing thing is people keep buying this shit on and on...GodFreeSensehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12404218734623675456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339045.post-10744462799060097342011-02-09T13:54:25.292-08:002011-02-09T13:54:25.292-08:00I was there in 99 and our company won the shit and...I was there in 99 and our company won the shit and went to that dinner. Me and this guy Dean were the PR department and we didn't even get a share of Colecovision stock (think I'd have remembered that) but DID win an all-expense-paid tepid handshake from Robert Enterprise Eberly. Only speech I remember was from some syndicated cartoonist who told us how God showed him how to draw Fred Flintstone. Also failed to hook up - fuckin' state capitalism, I tell you!Market Zeronoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339045.post-22476374492980691622011-02-09T11:50:55.062-08:002011-02-09T11:50:55.062-08:00What? A Chevette? That must suck when you think ab...What? A <i>Chevette?</i> That must suck when you think about it -- conceived in a Chevette. Couldn't have been something more romantic, like the protagonist in the Allman Brothers' "Ramblin' Man":<br /><br /><i>...and I was born in the back seat<br />of a Greyhound bus<br />rollin' down Highway 41!</i>mike flugennockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794510018915607552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339045.post-43858190133004435152011-02-09T11:47:42.471-08:002011-02-09T11:47:42.471-08:00My father was born and raised in Greenville, PA, n...My father was born and raised in Greenville, PA, near a Bethlehem Steel plant, as I recall; he used to tell me about how the soot was so thick in the air that he could mash his face against the screen door and come away with a thin black grid printed all over his skin -- and being a young boy at the time, thought this was pretty cool.<br /><br />His dad (my grandfather) worked at a rail car factory in town. One of Dad's summer jobs in high school (mid/late '40s) was pouring ingots; of course, safety regs were for shit back then, and Dad was constantly coming home with little burns on his arms from splattering molten metal.mike flugennockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794510018915607552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9339045.post-28334540853008225542011-02-09T11:07:37.795-08:002011-02-09T11:07:37.795-08:00ahhh... that's excellent, Charles.
Pennsylvan...ahhh... that's excellent, Charles.<br /><br />Pennsylvania is at the top of Exploitation Central since the Nation's founding -- it's still largely rural, had lots of oil (relatively speaking) and coal, both of which guided its growth during industrialization (read: mechanized exploitation). Pittsburgh's sooty skyline was a great emblem of that period! And there's still all that "undeveloped" rural land to exploit! Tycoons and robber barons, gather round!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com