Writing cover letters while watching Grandma. She has the O'Reilly Factor on. Insane. Completely insane.
Cute little Michelle, who is subing for Bill, is an absolute fascist (Oops! Already fulfilled Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies). Everyone on there is hung up on communism. THE COLD WAR IS OVER, PEOPLE.
There was a clip of Pat Buchanan and Bill arguing about the culture war. Pat maintained that Paris Hilton and the generally immoral culture of things "that would have never have happened in the Fifties" WERE EXAMPLES OF MARXISM TRIUMPHANT?? WTF? Thanks to Dr. Sanders, I can confidently state that Marx did not actively promote a consumer society such as ours. That's all Keynesian, my friend.
THEN, while Michelle was arguing with Francisco Hernandez on immigration:
Michelle: "We have laws and we should support immigrants who are here legally."
Francisco: "In the 1960s, our laws were unjust and people fought against them."
Michelle (quite vindictively): "And they paid the price!"
Hernandez (bemused): "Um...yes they did"
Michelle: "Thank you Francisco, and good luck to you and your fellow travelers..."
I was paraphrasing, but they really did say the bits about the Fifties, Marxism, punishing civil rights, and fellow travelers.
And don't get me started on the Fifties.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Hi Michaela. Pat Buchanan isn't saying anything new or crazy. In the 1920's some German Marxists believed that the Bolshevik model was not going to work in the West and another approach was needed. A group of them formed the Frankfurt School to explore ways of achieving their goals outside of the class struggle/seize power model. They saw that path to power would be realized via culture. Since the Frankfurt school people were both Marxist and Jewish, they hurried off to the US in the 1930's where they founded the New School for Social Research in NYC. In the years 1930 the Trotskyite wing also turned away from the Soviet model under Stalin's direction. These revolutionaries eventually repackaged themselves as neo conservatives. You know all about them. But to get back to the Frankfurt School. These cultural Marxists believed that revolution could best be achieved via culture. In particular, undermining the values and ethics of the Christian majority and replacing them with the glorification of what we used to call vice. Paris Hilton's lifestyle. for example. Some of this thought has also poured itself into identity politics, pushing racial issues with an eye to deligitimizing the white, European history and culture. And some have moved into environmentalism which they see as a promising means of reshaping society. Tom Hayden, Jane Fonda's former husband, has evolved from an old line class struggle marxist into a new age environmentalist. Pat is not crazy. The class struggle, seize power for the proletariat Marxism is long gone. But the Frankfurt School variety is alive and kicking.
jpe
That's interesting, John. I still don't consider immorality to be a consequence or fulfillment of Karl Marx's philosophical system, though. The Frankfurt School is a particular interpretation of Marx, just like Stalinism was, and there is no evidence that Paris Hilton or Miss Nevada adhere to it. That would be rather like blaming Austrian economists for Microsoft or any other manifestations of capitalism in our society. Just because they adhere to pure capitalism does not make them responsible for all capitalist ventures.
There have been many societies -- including "Christian" societies (such as Byzantium) that were just as decadent as our own. They didn't need Marxism to bring them down. It's called human nature and the natural progression of civilizations.
I'm certainly not saying that government interference has nothing to do with the over-blown consumerism of our society. That's why I mentioned the influence of Keynesian economics. Certainly, government interference has caused people to spend more and save less.
I merely take issues with the use of the term "Marxism." Marx himself espoused nothing like the botched capitalism cum soclialsm of the U.S. When someone says "Marxism" people automatically think "Bolshevism"--the most famous outworking of the Marxist doctrine. If Buchanan instead refers to a school of critical theory, he needs to disambiguate, or to refer to socialism in the generic sense.
While European society has certainly had its benefits, if "deligitimizing white, European history and culture" means recognizing that slavery, Jim Crow laws, the massacre of the Native Americans, and the Spanish/Philippine-American Wars were wrong and a (major) blight on our civilization, I guess I'm with the Frankfurt School. Ditto for "environmentalism," if that means that we must consider how human action affects the planet.
One question (if you're still around): could you explain the connection between neo-cons and the Frankfurt School? That fascinates me, because I know many neo-cons identify themselves with the Republican party -- the traditional bastion against Marxism.
Michaela, I don't think anyone -and definitely not Buchanan- is suggesting that the Parises, Lindsays and Britneys of our world hit the clubs each night in order to advance their Marxist agenda.
There is no denying, though, that their antics are splashed across every media outlet in the US. Their lifestyle is presented as being acceptable, perhaps even admirable. that's not their doing. that is the result of larger forces at work in our society.
I also think you're confusing economic and cultural forces. the genius of the Frankfurt school (what I know of it, at any rate) is that it got away from the economic element of Marxism and turned to culture instead.
I can't buy your argument that because Byzantium went decadent without the Frankfurt school, it means today's West also went decadent without the Frankfurt School. Different cultures change and evolve for different reasons.
and, Michaela, please please please don't start the whole bashing Western Civilization thing. that's so "community college."
Yes, westerners have been very immoral sometimes, but don't throw the baby out with the bath water.
Our Western European heritage has produced Bach and Mozart. If you prefer the Frankfurt school, does that mean you'd replace St. Matthew's Passion with "Hit me Baby One More Time"?
I don't intend any of this to be insulting. I'm just thinking out loud. I have great respect for your intelligence.
Do I sense a hint of sarcasm?
Emma -- yes -- I'm sorry -- I didn't detect your serious tone. Damn electronic communication.
Seriously, I guess I just disagree that our society started going bad post-1930s. It seems to me that decadence has been setting in since at least the 1920s, if not since the Enlightenment. I think we can both agree that Bach was one of the great men of our civilization.
Post a Comment