How to Fight THING

Nothing new here, just felt like organizing it in a nice list, because I like lists. But I’m pretty sure most of you have noticed this already, so I’m probably not telling you anything.

  1. THING is bad. All right-thinking people hate THING. This goes without saying.  Those who disagree are obviously evil.
  2. THING is not only bad, it is the worst. All other problems are secondary to THING.
  3. To question point #2  is to excuse or justify THING and be as bad as a THING-er.  You should be immolated.
  4. Any action to combat THING is justified.  Those who want human rights for accused THING-ers are THING supporters.
  5. To question Point #4 is to support THING and be as bad as a THING-er.  You should be immolated.
  6. THING is much broader than you think. There are a bunch of other things that look relatively harmless but are really just a part of THING or will lead to THING.
  7. To question Point #6 is just making excuses for THING and makes you as bad a THING-er. You should be immolated.

(Note for you dimwits who want to turn this back on me and replace THING capitalism, no.  #1: False.  Many, many people do not oppose capitalism only because they don’t understand it, or because they don’t see an alternative.  This does not make them evil.  And blaming capitalism does not “go without saying,” that’s why we say it so much.   Also, 3#: False. #4: False #5: False  #7: False.  But I will give you #2, and #6 works with a bit of bending.)

 

 

 

The Police and the Army: A Question

I’ve been having some trouble explaining this, which always means I don’t understand it well enough.
 
History tells us these institutions are not at all the same, particularly when entering a revolutionary period. The army will inevitably be shaken by whatever social crises have precipitated the revolutionary upsurge. In the worst case, only the most courageous soldiers will break away to join the masses. In other cases, whole units will set down their rifles and “come over.” Sometimes they will “come over” with weapons in hand, in formation, banners flying, bands playing, led by their own officers (usually at gunpoint). The success or failure of an insurrection is determined above all by to what degree it is supported by the army (which, of course, is determined by a number of factors that are beyond the scope of my question).
 
So far as I can tell, there has never been a case of a cop doing anything except either throwing support to the ruling class, or, at best, running and hiding. Certainly history has never shown us units doing so. By the time society has entered into a revolutionary crisis, the police are hated, loathed, despised by the masses. Every time. And they return these feelings with interest.
 
And yet, if we ignore social and historical context and simply line up factors in a purely formal way, they’re so similar: Both drawn largely from the toiling classes, both used as instruments of repression by the state, both turned against their own people as soon as there are signs of social unrest.
 
So, comrades (I’m looking at you, Don Barry) , what are the social and historical factors that make them so different? We know they are different; we’ve both read about it and many of us have had personal experience of the difference; it’s easy to talk to soldiers, we have nothing to say to cops. Why?

Contradictions of Capitalism vs the Bionic Eye

If you have heard about the bionic eye and don’t think it’s cool as hell, what are you even doing reading my blog?

Scientists are close, probably within ten years, of being able to cure blindness in a massive number of cases—that is, as I understand it, among everyone except those whose disability is caused by damage to the visual cortex.  How cool is that?  How wonderful, how human, how proud we should be to be a member of a species that can do this!

How was it done?  At a University.  At public expense.  I repeat, at public expense.  Tax money well spent indeed!

What will happen now?  Well, a couple of things I want to point out.

One of them is that people with loss of vision will be able to see—if they can afford it.  If not, sorry for ya.  That the technology was developed at public expense does not mean the public is entitled to its benefits.

Here’s another thing that will happen: Someone will develop an elegant solution to some of the remaining problems, such as the interface between the eye and the brain, or maybe something else—very likely at another University and at public expense.  He will patent it.  He will start a company to produce products based on it.  He will make incredible amounts of money, and official society will widely proclaim him a hero, especially when he donates a hundred units of his product to the poor in Rwanda.  And, as he checks his bank balance, he will loudly decry the waste of money going into institutions like Universities, because, he will say, taxation is theft.

And he won’t even be aware of the irony.

On Morality

I’m watching a Facebook discussion on taxation and health care, in which an arch-reactionary is attacking the concept that health care is a human right; specifically, attacking it on moral grounds. Yes, of course, your immediate reaction is to laugh, or perhaps roll your eyes. But for me, there is a significance to this that is important.
 
It is a reminder that morality does not exist above society, is not handed down from God, is not inherent in the air we breath or the water we drink, but rather is a product of society, of human interaction. Moral systems, moral codes, are invented by human beings, and in class society, any moral system serves the interests of a definite class. In feudal society, to oppose the king was immoral. As the bourgeoisie began to gain power and influence, they created their own morality, in which, eventually, resistance to the king was laudable. In the antebellum South, opposition to slavery was immoral; but to the abolitionist, who represented the future and the interests of Eastern capitalism, and to the slave, whose deepest interest was emancipation, slavery itself was immoral. Today, failure to respect private property is immoral.
 
Then there are those who attempt to place themselves above society, and either make judgments about the worth of various moral systems as if reflecting eternal values; or, worse, take themselves entirely out of the conflict and make observations about all moral systems as if they were all equal and we can pick one based on whim and it would be no better or worse than any other; or still worse, and still more common, that the value of a moral system can be determined by only examining the system itself, outside of its social and historical context.  These people, too, serve definite class interests.
 
I am willing to make judgments about certain actions as being good, or bad, or heroic, or vile. I do this based on the morality I have chosen, which is a morality that, to the best of my ability to understand, serves the interests of the working class. All ideologies in class society serve class interests, and that especially includes our sense of right and wrong. If you have not examined your morality, if you have not thought about where it comes from and what class interests it serves, it may be worthwhile to take a moment to do so.
Recommended reading: Trotsky: Their Morals and Ours

Trotksy Their Morals and Ours V 4

 

Differences and Commonalities

Sometimes I get the urge to just lay out my beliefs on a certain subject in as few words as I can manage.  This will not, of course, convince anyone of anything, as it consists of assertions rather than arguments.  But it sometimes helps other discussions to have the basics clear.  So here are my beliefs about differences and commonalities between and among people.

On differences:

I believe there are greater differences between individuals than between genders.

I believe there are greater differences between individuals than between races.

On commonalities:

I believe the poor and the working class of the world have more, and more fundamental, interests in common with each other than with the oppressors or the economically privileged in their particular geographical location.

I believe the poor and the working class of all races and genders have more, and more fundamental, interests in common with each other than with the oppressors or the economically privileged of their race and gender.