tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post5576121637144775087..comments2024-03-28T12:10:26.197-07:00Comments on One Cʘsmos: The Shiny Beast at the End of HistoryGagdad Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-27971748923992629462007-12-12T06:43:00.000-08:002007-12-12T06:43:00.000-08:00Smoov: I Ain't a grad student, but I do have a goo...Smoov: I Ain't a grad student, but I do have a good digestive system.<BR/><BR/>By the way, the Spy argues that Leftism as we know it <A HREF="http://ionthesky.blogspot.com/2007/12/canticle-for-anselm.html" REL="nofollow">was first planted sometime in the 1000's</A>.<BR/><BR/>(If you're a committed Roman Catholic you may wish to not read my criticisms of Anselm because 1. They've been better written by someone else and 2. You may have great respect for the dude.)<BR/><BR/>The argument is thus: 'Satisfaction' requires God to pay our debt (instead of cancel it.) In human justice systems this implies responsibility for the debt; implicitly making God responsible for our sins. That means we're ultimately not responsible.<BR/><BR/>Anyhow, feel free to disagree.<BR/><BR/>Van: What I was doing (earlier) is trying to metabolize what I find so compelling in Chesterton and Gatto against what seems like such madness and banality in the common anti-consumerist. It seems that most anti-consumerists are really just attack socialists. But neither Gatto nor Chesterton is/was. <BR/><BR/>I think it is better to define more clearly what 'flat' capitalism is and what 'round' capitalism is. The first is only capitalistic in appearance (like a picture) and the other is the fullness thereof.Ephrem Antony Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00032465992619034619noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-64050158493019048422007-12-12T06:02:00.000-08:002007-12-12T06:02:00.000-08:00Smoov,Uh-oh, you encouraged me... well...make sure...Smoov,<BR/>Uh-oh, you encouraged me... well...make sure your grad student has his innoculations first, or he could wind up like... well... like the current state of our wackademics.<BR/><BR/>First innoculation: "I have therefore found it necessary to deny knowledge, in order to make room for faith.", from the Preface to Kant's <A HREF="http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~ppp/cpr/prefs.html" REL="nofollow">Critique of Pure Reason</A>. Why? Here's my translation of his paragraphs 29 & 30,<BR/>'We must divert people down a false trail so that we can be secure in our pretentions to a faith we don't really have in a God we fear isn't strong enough to defend himself against the Reason he Created'(from <A HREF="http://blogodidact.blogspot.com/2006/08/would-you-trust-liar-who-told-you-he.html" REL="nofollow">Would you trust a liar who told you he was going to lie to you? </A>)<BR/><BR/>The Grad student needs to keep in mind that Kant wasn't seeking after Truth, his entire philosophy was designed to accomplish something, and that something, as he stated, was to deny/destroy Knowledge. He was worried that English skepticism, particularly Hume's, would expose 'all of God's secrets', and destroy faith. His solution was to put across the idea that we really can't know reality as it is, only our sub-knowledge level impressions of it, as reflected in the beliefs of an entire people. Enter Collectivism and Pressure Groupism.<BR/><BR/>American's answer, in pragmatism, was 'Well, if we can't <I>really</I> know what's right and true - <I>the heck with it! Let's just worry about what works!</I>. Hello Pragmatism. <BR/><BR/>Much of Kant's philosophy was silly on the face of it, and much has been 'overturned', but like a good intellectual three card monty player, those were the moves he intended everyone to see. What they didn't see, was that everyone, even those anti-kantians, bought into his real motivating idea, that we kant really know anything for sure.<BR/><BR/>Booster shot: Kant's trick, which being the good three card monty player that he was, distracting you with never ending and convoluted sentences and endless examples proving the obvious (hiding the even longer and more convoluted ones that end in an assertion only), is that he switches processes for things, and then builds upon them as if they were things. He swaps out What's for How's.<BR/><BR/>I did a few posts on where things like Chomsky came from (at root, Rousseau & Kant), and how they worked their way into America and education in:<BR/><A HREF="http://blogodidact.blogspot.com/2006/08/trees-that-bare-barren-fruit-pt-4.html" REL="nofollow">Trees that bare the barren fruit</A><BR/><A HREF="http://blogodidact.blogspot.com/2006/08/would-you-trust-liar-who-told-you-he.html" REL="nofollow">Would you trust a liar who told you he was going to lie to you? </A><BR/><A HREF="http://blogodidact.blogspot.com/2006/09/spreading-flames-part-6.html" REL="nofollow">Spreading the flames</A><BR/><A HREF="http://blogodidact.blogspot.com/2006/09/what-never-was-and-never-will-be.html" REL="nofollow">What never was and never will be</A>Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-83583733166890443132007-12-11T22:23:00.000-08:002007-12-11T22:23:00.000-08:00Thanks Walt, Mizze for those links, and Van, for ...Thanks Walt, Mizze for those links, and Van, for that telling little essay and its highlights. Ideas do have consequences.<BR/><BR/>And everything Julie said including the fuzzed brain part.Geckohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11150958111957262924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-11065209680952668922007-12-11T20:39:00.000-08:002007-12-11T20:39:00.000-08:00van:That was a breathtaking post. Really great stu...van:<BR/><BR/>That was a breathtaking post. Really great stuff, and please don't try too hard for brevity. I have read "Understanding Post-modernism" on Bob's recommendation, but don't recall him elucidating Kant's nefarious intent the way you have. <BR/><BR/>I think I need to hire a really bright grad student to just go out and digest stuff like this for me, then brief me. It works in business (it is impossible to do business at a high level otherwise) so maybe it would work in other areas too...<BR/><BR/>So much to learn -- so little time.Stephen Macdonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13474300559219020772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-29215705663238310692007-12-11T19:39:00.000-08:002007-12-11T19:39:00.000-08:00Coons,There's a new book out by a Catholic priest ...Coons,<BR/><BR/>There's a new book out by a Catholic priest called The Skies of Babylon: Diversity, Nihilism, and The American University.<BR/><BR/>http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933859350?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwviolentkicom&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1933859350vogzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04777803276210863997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-69160053227709373792007-12-11T19:34:00.000-08:002007-12-11T19:34:00.000-08:00philomathean--Good article by Wood. And you just ...philomathean--<BR/><BR/>Good article by Wood. And you just know that if the numbers were reversed, the left would make it against the law.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-62470921593539528842007-12-11T19:24:00.000-08:002007-12-11T19:24:00.000-08:00"The Attack of the Commiebots"<:::Presenting:::><BR/><BR/>"The Attack of the <A HREF="http://loosavor.org/2006/05/ola_watowa_private_property_th_1.html" REL="nofollow">Commiebots"</A>Mizz Ehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02325435271880036807noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-11214961973339924492007-12-11T19:17:00.000-08:002007-12-11T19:17:00.000-08:00oops... sorry, came out wrong, Phd's came from, st...oops... sorry, came out wrong, <I>Phd's</I> came from, started in Germany, not Wilson's particular one.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-78372162766604319732007-12-11T19:16:00.000-08:002007-12-11T19:16:00.000-08:00Excellent post, Bob. You should read Peter Wood's...Excellent post, Bob. You should read Peter Wood's article on the left in academia in today's National Review Online. It synchs well with your conclusions.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-58727190638995800302007-12-11T19:05:00.000-08:002007-12-11T19:05:00.000-08:00To which I would add that the substance of all of ...To which I would add that the substance of all of that was written, and put into practice before the communists existed, or before they even fully had control of Russia.<BR/><BR/>In 1795, Kant wrote a little essay called <A HREF="http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=357&Itemid=27" REL="nofollow">"Perpetual Peace"</A> as an outline for Global Disarmament and a basis for establishing new world order. The title of his essay, he noted in the best smarmy tone of the leftist, which would be their mark long after him, as:<BR/><I>"‘PERPETUAL PEACE ” <BR/>WE need not try to decide whether this satirical inscription, (once found on a Dutch innkeeper’s signboard above the picture of a churchyard) is aimed at mankind in general, or at the rulers of states in particular, unwearying in their love of war, or perhaps only at the philosophers who cherish the sweet dream of perpetual peace."</I><BR/><BR/>Note: he is refering to the graves in a cemetary. The joke was, he wasn't joking. That is the gift he sought to bring to all. Graves. People read Rousseau and Kant, and assume "Oh... they <I>couldn't have meant that!</I>" and immediately set about interpreting it in a more pleasant light. They meant it. And they counted on future followers to react and excuse them, just as they do. While putting what they knew would result, into practice. Read Them. Judge for yourself. Our biggest problem as Americans, is that we think the fight is for things like tax credits for education, unwittingly giving over the whole battle by letting ride the idea that the state has a say in the matter. We lose even more when we win, because we just buy the foul ideas more time to sink in. <BR/><BR/><I>"People in this generation still putting up a fuss? Hmm, ok, let it simmer another decade, and then stir again."</I><BR/><BR/>Here's a couple excepts from Kant's blueprint for the ninnymouses new order:<BR/><I>"CONTAINING THE PRELIMINARY ARTICLES OF PERPETUAL<BR/>PEACE BETWEEN STATES<BR/>I.-" No treaty of peace shall be regarded as valid, if made with the secret reservation of material for a future war."<BR/>For then it would be a mere truce, a mere suspension of hostilities, not peace. A peace signifies the end of all hostilities and..."<BR/>...<BR/>3. -- (I Standing armies (miles perpetuus) shall be abolished in course of time."<BR/>For they are always threatening other states with war by appearing to be in constant readiness to fight. They incite the various states to outrival..."</I><BR/><BR/>No distinction is made or intended to be made between Good and Bad states, Republics over Tyrannies, since it was the aim to regulate (to put it nicely, enslave to put it plainly) all states and all peoples into the New World Order. It's a long range plan. It's still enthusiastically in the works. Kant is the one who came up with the categorical imperatives such as "Never tell a lie - never! Even to a murder who asks if you hide his intended victim". He says so, and very plainly, while masking it as virtuous - its intention and affect of course being to destroy the ability to judge, act from judgement, and destroy Virtue. There are many fine sounding things which Kant said which make him sound like a swell freedom loving kind of guy. Look for the vial of poison amid the fine wine. Its not hidden, just mixed in with the rest. It only takes a little.<BR/><BR/>'Perpetual Peace' is a very short essay, about 50 pages, the translators notes are twice as long as it is, but it's historical reach has been long and devastating. Our proregressive President Wilson had it very much in mind, when he sought to establish the league of nations; probably had it in mind from getting his Phd. in Germany. Recall the discussion yesterday and today, about where the roots of Nazism first grew, where they spread, and how they've gained force here.<BR/><BR/>The Progressives put their first non-testicular tentacles into America through enforced public schooling in the early 1800's, and immediately began to push for just the issues Gecko noted above. Make no mistake folks, Rousseau, the inspiration, and Kant, that philosophic general, began a war on the English Enlightenment three centuries ago, for the expressed purpose of ending the Enlightenment of capital 'R' Reason in order to supplant it with their decadent little 'r' mockery of reason in order to also bring to an end ideas like America. Their tactic was to, as the left's has always been, pretend to promote with smiles and enthusiasm, what they sought to destroy in shadows with corrosive intellectual and spiritual acid.<BR/><BR/>Dewey and the NEA explicitly stated as their goals, to undermine parental authority and their standing in their childrens eyes, and eventually that the state should have legal authority over all children, that they should be considered wards of the state, temporairly housed with the parents. It's not difficult to look up.<BR/><BR/>Sorry for the length. Still working on that brevity thing.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-86880184859361934342007-12-11T16:59:00.000-08:002007-12-11T16:59:00.000-08:00Gecko:More.Gecko:<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/10/the_evidence_for_neocommunism.html" REL="nofollow">More.</A>walthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01388218390016612051noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-66595569478407563562007-12-11T16:53:00.000-08:002007-12-11T16:53:00.000-08:00Anon said:"You guys have a lot of hate for the lef...Anon said:<BR/><BR/>"You guys have a lot of hate for the left, considering you've pretty much taken the extremist views(which probably only represent like .01% of the population)"<BR/><BR/>And 99.99999% of the political leadership.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-49590647508540003872007-12-11T16:25:00.000-08:002007-12-11T16:25:00.000-08:00If Gagdad had time and was long winded he might te...If Gagdad had time and was long winded he might tell you that the gradual take over by the left was a conscious goal of the communist party when he was a wee lad.<BR/> This was entered into the Congressional Record in 1963, taken from a book called "The Naked Communist".<BR/><BR/>The goals of the Communist Party. Some of my favorites/working best for the Communists.<BR/><BR/>3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength<BR/><BR/>11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)<BR/><BR/>15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States. (Ed-Mission accomplished)<BR/><BR/>16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.<BR/><BR/>17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.<BR/><BR/>18. Gain control of all student newspapers.<BR/><BR/>20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.<BR/><BR/>21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.<BR/><BR/>22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."<BR/><BR/>23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."<BR/><BR/>24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.<BR/><BR/>25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.<BR/><BR/>27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."<BR/><BR/>31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.<BR/><BR/>32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.<BR/><BR/>39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.<BR/><BR/>40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.<BR/><BR/>41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.<BR/><BR/><BR/>44. Internationalize the Panama Canal. <BR/><BR/>45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction [over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction] over nations and individuals alike.<BR/><BR/>But you probably know all that.Geckohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11150958111957262924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-52041917857471374502007-12-11T15:58:00.000-08:002007-12-11T15:58:00.000-08:00Van said:‘a leftie smirking at silly old tradition...Van said:<BR/>‘a leftie smirking at silly old traditions like the Bill of Rights ...<BR/>That should appall them on so many levels.’<BR/><BR/>It SHOULD do, but does not seem to. <BR/><BR/>Gets me thinkng about a comment by an Anonodope several days ago:<BR/>‘racist, pagan, statist, irrational, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, etc.<BR/>These are issues that are either opinion, or irrelevant to politics’<BR/><BR/>Whaaaaaat???? Tell me you’re not so clueless as to think these things are not hyper-linked. Have people no idea what life is like in most of the rest of the world, right now? That silly old traditions like the Bill of Rights are what keep clueless Americans safely tucked inside their unreality-bubble, able to spout idiocy?<BR/><BR/>Today Bob talked ‘about the gradual transformation of plain old Germany into Nazi Germany’ Not all that far to go from one to the other, if Anono’s comment reflects a pervasive frame of reference/worldview, just a matter of increments. <BR/><BR/>I’m thinking it’s gotta involve: “Perverse thought eliminates the vital distinctions that make thought possible; it is literally a form of thinking in reverse... "attack(s) on linking," the links that form the foundation and infrastructure of the thinking mind.”<BR/><BR/>I’ve long been puzzled by the left-leaning of a set of friends of mine, two long-married couples, only a few years older than I am. They’re not stupid, and not rabid-leftist, just reflexively pink, as tho they fall prey to a sort of default progamming. They & I couldn’t be more different in our worldview.<BR/><BR/>Wonder whether it’s because they grew up under the fashionable radical-chic of the ’60s & ’70s in America, while I missed that whole mess by being raised outside the US, moving here for college after turning 18. They were burning their bras & protesting Vietnam, while I lived a ‘priviledged life’ as a foreigner in countries where the locals were subject to <BR/>Totalitarian rule. Plenty of my classmate’s Fathers were kidnapped by dirtbags & held for months for ransom. Lots of my friends who were nationals ‘dissappeared’, never to be seen again.<BR/><BR/>My Dad always made a point of drilling into us what foundational American precepts kept people in the US safe from the sort of things going on all around us down there. It was total culture-shock to move to the US, where my peers & teachers, for the most part, had no appreciation for what was handed them on a silver platter. <BR/><BR/>Perhaps it’s the eyes of a ‘foreigner’ that make the danger of incremental errosion of ‘American values’ so clear. This past weekend I watched ‘ Little Dieter Needs to Fly’ a documentary by Werner Herzog about Dieter Dengler, & Herzog’s feature ‘Rescue Dawn’ about Dieter’s POW escape from Laos in 1965. Werner talked about how Dieter, tho born in Nazi Germany & an immigrant to the US at age 18, turned out to be ‘a quintessentual American’, with: youthfull optimism, frontier spirit, courage, loyalty to country, self-reliance, perseverence, determination & lack of cynism.<BR/><BR/>Thanks WernerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-32734458888911390192007-12-11T15:33:00.000-08:002007-12-11T15:33:00.000-08:00left out:Some post there. I can tell you've been t...left out:<BR/><BR/>Some post there. I can tell you've been through Hell and back.Stephen Macdonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13474300559219020772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-89716484090699177742007-12-11T15:18:00.000-08:002007-12-11T15:18:00.000-08:00Must have hit a nerve.Must have hit a nerve.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-64108508936550616462007-12-11T15:12:00.000-08:002007-12-11T15:12:00.000-08:00So, you've discovered that we want to take over. ...So, you've discovered that we want to take over. Admittedly, we do. <BR/><BR/>We have an agenda. We have a plan. We want a new world order.<BR/><BR/>And there's nothing wrong with that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-9131787570180054972007-12-11T15:09:00.000-08:002007-12-11T15:09:00.000-08:00"...existing law provides that the likes of Cheney..."...existing law provides that the likes of Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld and Rice, if found guilty, could have hoods thrown over their heads, their hands bound, facing a 12-man rifle corps executing death by firing squad."<BR/><BR/>I would prefer that they are simply imprisoned. No need to be barbaric about it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-26024137233430126982007-12-11T15:08:00.000-08:002007-12-11T15:08:00.000-08:00You guys have a lot of hate for the left, consider...You guys have a lot of hate for the left, considering you've pretty much taken the extremist views(which probably only represent like .01% of the population)<BR/><BR/>You make it sound like they're monsters. I don't think you've taken time to understand the less extreme views, but then again nobody ever does. And the hardest thing you seem to not understand is separating personality from political views(actually you seem to tie personalities to both sides that aren't common of either even). <BR/><BR/>I think your dim view of the left is probably because of your rosy glasses(which are actually a shade darker, perhaps sanguine even).<BR/><BR/>Why is it you seem to have such little to say to people with different beliefs, but somehow have so much to say about them?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-59464649758306423892007-12-11T15:03:00.000-08:002007-12-11T15:03:00.000-08:00Under the category of battling leftist propoganda,...Under the category of battling leftist propoganda, apparently there were a few flies in the ointment at the "Bali Propoganda Warming Conference". A few dissenting scientists were able to slip through security and give their views on the truth about the subject. (link on Drudge).<BR/>The champion in the U.S. for people who refuse to be led down this latest primrose path of "leftist/socialist induced U.N. world dominance hysteria" has been Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma.<BR/>He's come out with a booklet entitled 'A Skeptics Guide to Debunking Global Warming Alarmism' which gives good information to battle the hysteria.<BR/>Do a web search with the book title to get a downloadable or PDF version or call his office and request a free (taxpayer paid) copy, 202-224-6176. If you call, give him an atta boy for me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-32832776066884736102007-12-11T14:41:00.000-08:002007-12-11T14:41:00.000-08:00Anonymous said... "Would PETA support or Euthanize...Anonymous said... "Would PETA support or Euthanize this Shiny Beast?"<BR/><BR/>Heh, 'fraid Peeta <I>is</I> the shiny beast, one species of it anyway.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-2627572582577173362007-12-11T14:22:00.000-08:002007-12-11T14:22:00.000-08:00River said "I've noticed that many Russian thinker...River said "I've noticed that many Russian thinkers complained about Capitalism; but the Capitalism they were familiar with was the flat, consumerist variety. And it only existed because a government was foolish enough to build it."<BR/><BR/>Note: if the Gov't built it, it ain't Capitalism - retail power peddling, and nothing more, putting a price tag on it doesn't make it capitalism.<BR/><BR/>Also, anything that requires a variant name, whether it be "Consumerist", or even "Free Market" (which is of course the common reference, but says nothing about the state of what it really rests upon...), is only putting lipstick on the Russian variety.<BR/><BR/>Capitalism requires and rests upon a Gov't that recognizes the proper Individual Rights (including, and resting upon, the Property Rights) of its citizens, and defends them against all enemies, foreign or domestic, through the police, courts and military.<BR/><BR/>Sadly, we haven't enjoyed Capitalism in the United States since shortly after the founding, and declining steeply since the opening of the 20th century. We have a blend of 'Free Market' and Statist policies, which have necessarily been corrosive to the status of our rights, and to the morals of the Nation. We do though, thankfully, still have a more capitalist system than any other nation, and hopefully we will restore it in the (near - unlikely, but...) future.<BR/><BR/>(Sorry Riv, nothing directed towards you - sore nerve today)Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-14967040363265183792007-12-11T13:40:00.000-08:002007-12-11T13:40:00.000-08:00Would PETA support or Euthanize this Shiny Beast? ...Would PETA support or Euthanize this Shiny Beast? <BR/><BR/>http://www.petakillsanimals.com/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-47158244594823343452007-12-11T13:04:00.000-08:002007-12-11T13:04:00.000-08:00About the free market/materialism: I think we've b...About the free market/materialism: I think we've been notoriously stupid about the Free Market (A.K.A. Capitalism) in the last century. There is a straw man that has been developed about it regarding the actions of certain rich men. In the end, the Free Market beats Socialism hands down, but only if the men who gain power from it are curtailed in their abuses of it. This is a real problem that Gatto basically alluded to. <BR/><BR/>What to do about the fact that Carnegie and others used their vast wealth to fund making our schools mandatory and ultimately only good for making drones? We of course can't ignore that the government played along to their tune - tabula rasa and whatnot. It is perhaps possible that without the consent of the government to force the ideas and institutions they funded, we would not have the problem we have today.<BR/><BR/>I've noticed that many Russian thinkers complained about Capitalism; but the Capitalism they were familiar with was the flat, consumerist variety. And it only existed because a government was foolish enough to build it. <BR/><BR/>Sadly, we're typically given by those thinkers a false dichotomy: Poverty and misery or consumerist capitalism. <BR/><BR/>The problem with this perspective is simply that it fails to note that free markets do not automatically produce buyer-drones and flatland worlds - they only do so at the behest of those who use them. <BR/><BR/>In other words, if it's a flatland, it's because we were flatlanders. If it became overly materialistic, it is because we were overly materialistic. It's a clear container; the water is what is colored.Ephrem Antony Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00032465992619034619noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-78575670046707062322007-12-11T12:56:00.000-08:002007-12-11T12:56:00.000-08:00(Dilys)"...and garden-variety-onward sexual perver...(Dilys)"...and garden-variety-onward sexual perversions [no cites, deference to Nomo]". What? Oh, DEference, not REference. OK, nevermind.NoMohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01100042056270224683noreply@blogger.com