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H/T Pete H
Monday, 20 September 2010
Anti-Intellectualism and the Marxist Idea
I had a brief exchange the other day with Brendan of BJKeefe blog. I don't normally go over there, but his link showed up in my Sitemeter and I found a post suggesting that someone should "take the shovel away from Donald Douglas." Brendon apparently thinks leftist demonization is a barrel of monkeys, and as I disabled comments to avoid the abuse, Brenden writes: "Nothing like the wingnutosphere's love for the frank and open exchange of ideas!" Check the post for what follows. Actually, it turns out Brendan's not so intellectually prepared for the "open exchange of ideas." For starters, I left one of the Sadly No! sample comments from my blog: "... you're nothing but a bag of meat and your thoughts and desires are meaningless and you are a worthless piece of" shit. Sure. And I guess that's quality high-octane exchange for lefties. So I respond to Brendan, "So you wanna debate, bonejobkeefe? Bring it on." And what's he do? Runs from debate!
Thanks also for the invitation to debate. Perhaps someday we shall. I do not think it likely in this case, however. Take whatever admiration you have for David Horowitz and multiply it by -100, and that will approximate how I feel about him. On this matter, to borrow from someone whose name I have forgotten, sorry, but our views of reality do not overlap sufficiently to make discussion possible.Two things of interest right away: (1) The complete dismissal of David Horowitz's ideals as sheer lunacy, and (2) the rejection of my use of the phrase "freakish nihilism" to describe the ideological agenda of the left. There's a word for this: Anti-intellectualism. And that stance marinates in a devilish sauce of hard left-wing hubris and deceit. It's further soaked in hatred, for to hate one's enemies is to categorize them as beyond the pale of reason and civilization. Perhaps there's some psychology at work for Brendan. Someone as esteemed as David Horowitz, who lived through --- in direct participation --- all the cultural revolts of the last couple of generations, is ridiculed as a crazed milk crate screamer? Brendan certainly thinks he's got it all figured out. But I doubt he's actually read the book in question, Horowitz's The Politics of Bad Faith. I respond at the post, in any case:
For the record, my own sense of Horowitz is this: If in the past decade he's said anything beyond "Yes, waitress, I'll have some more coffee, please" that isn't utter lunacy, it's escaped my notice. One does not engage with so determined a conspiracy theorist. One simply abandons him to his milk crate at Speakers' Corner and seeks more worthwhile voices elsewhere.
I would say in particular that this phrase from your blurb of his book -- "the freakish nihilism of the radical left" -- doesn't even make sense in light of what this book of his is supposed to be about: "the Left has continued to advance its socialist schemes …" Stipulating for the moment that We have such an Agenda, it can hardly be said to be nihilist to have one -- to seek to advance a different social order (or to foist one upon you, if you insist) is not at all the same thing as wanting to do away with any and every social order, just for the sake of destruction.
I guess we have nothing to talk about then, since with the exception of Melanie Phillips, I can't think of someone more penetratingly clear on the left's ideological campaign of death and destruction. (And you're down with that, apparently.)Now note something here: This is substantive. There are ideas on the table, postulates to consider. It doesn't matter who's producing them. A hypothesis is just out there, to be evaluated. And how does Brendan respond? With more anti-intellectualism. My comment was caught in the Blogger spam filter, and Brendan takes that as a launch pad for some wise cracks, and then the non-response:
And seriously, you should at least read the book (cited at the link below) before you blow off "nihilism." The left has recycled Soviet Marxism-Leninism, giving a pass to the murder of 100s of millions. When those apologies for totalitarianism --- what leftist refer to as "actually existing socialism" --- become a defense of a failed ideology, all you have left is utter nothingness, hence nihilism.
I have to say, now that I have restored your comment of 1:57 PM, September 18, 2010, maybe I am not completely surprised that it got flagged as spam. Because it sure does read just like the wingnut chain emails one sees on Snopes, for example. Are you really a college professor? At an accredited school? And not, say, teaching math or something?And so, David Horowitz, and myself, apparently, are out standing on a corner, on milk boxes, raving like alleged lunatics? This is what Brendan calls debate. As I said, concepts are in play here. Ideas have consequences. Why is it that Democrats utter nary a peep when declared Stalinist ideologues wind up gaining access to the top levels of the Obama administration? These same folks, including many Democrats in Congress --- including dozens who have open affiliations with the Democratic Socialist Party of America --- call for and implement a Castro-style healthcare regime in the U.S. Of course, these people blow off the mass murder and desolation of the such communist thugs. It's not what they do, it's the ideals of humanity and transcendence that count! And thus with Brendan, to contemplate the nothingness in the wasteland of leftist neo-communist ideology is to scream "BLAARRGGHHH!!"
Anyway, our discussion so far:
You: Let's debate! Let's talk about David Horowitz and how great he is!
Me: There, we have nothing to talk about.
You: Let's talk about David Horowitz and how great he is! No, how he's greater than great!!!1! Because left nihilist leftist soviet Marxist death evil left effete dark side BLARGH BLARGH blargh …
Me: Nice milk crate.
Yeah. And how about that "exchange of ideas" Brendan was pumping up? Not so much, eh?
But that's not all. Brendan tells me to "grow up." No kidding:
I was not typing "Blargh" in response to your effort to twist the definition of nihilism to fit your own preconceived notions. It was in response to everything else.This is pure dismissal. It's definitely not intelligent discussion. Check the link to the post. I'm not going to waste more time on someone who is that closed-minded, at least not at that entry. What you see here is the notion that leftist ideology is UNCHALLENGEABLE. There's nothing that can penetrate the hard-shell of neo-communist ideology. Anyone with a different idea is literally a "Flat Earther."
Seriously, Donald, be your age. Do you really think you're going to interest me in any sort of discussion where you start off by howling how everything Left is irredeemably evil? I'd just as soon discuss spherical geometry with a Flat Earther.
Truly amazing. Meanwhile, these people and their grand schemes for a nationalization of the U.S. health delivery system under ObamaCare socialism are running for the hills. It's not working. Costs are not going down. Firms are responding by not hiring, precisely at the same time that unemployment keeps rising. It's statism that's failing, and the idea that state planning --- THE CENTRAL COMPONENT OF ALL SOCIALIST IDEOLOGY --- is proving just one more disaster rammed down American throats by the mandarins of the Democrat-Socialist Party in Washington.
I don't know how old Brendan is. He is idealistic. Perhaps the real world will intrude sometime in his life, and he'll learn to appreciate an actual argument for what it is an not the twisting evasion of some wingnut hokus pokus.
In any case, sometimes it's necessary to actually read the writings of your political enemies. (I didn't love wading through Markos Moulitsas' American Taliban, but I don't begrudge him for writing it. I know exactly where he stands now, and I'm all the more determined to resist him.) Perhaps Brendan might actually exhibit a little bit of personal maturity and actually attempt to engage some of these ideas, for example, this passage on Page 57 of The Politics of Bad Faith:
Totalitarianism is the possession of reality by a political Idea --- the Idea of socialist kingdom of heaven on earth; the redemption of humanity by political force. To radical believers this Idea is so beautiful it is like God Himself. It provides the meaning of a radical life. This is the solution that makes everything possible; the noble end that justifies the regrettable means. Belief in the kingdom of socialist heaven is faith that can transform vice into virtue, lies into truth, evil into good. In this revolutionary religion, the Way, the Truth, and the Life of salvation lie not with God above, but with men below --- ruthless, brutal, venal men --- on whom faith confers the power of gods. There is no mystery in the transformation of the socialist paradise into Communist hell: liberation theology is a satanic creed.
Cross-posted from American Power.
America's lost decade$......from Rico
Yes, that was a plural decadeS.
Our economic 40# brains and the talking heads/teleprompter readers tell us about Japan's "lost decade" but fail to mention something:
America has just had it's "lost decade."
a. in real (inflation adjusted) terms median wages are about 5% lower than they were in 2000.
b. The poverty rate is at a 15-year high.
c. The S&P 500 is about 20% lower than ten years ago.
But cheer up and pour three fingers of Das Hopenchangen Koolaid!
- In typical American we can do it bigger style, while the last decade may have been the worst decade for America in fifty years another "lost decade" is just ahead (thanks in no small part to a bloated government and spendaholic politicians and corrupticrats)!
Three cheers for Kenyan Keynesian Socialism! 
Colonoscopy ~ Patients' Comments
A physician claimed that the following are actual comments made by his patients (predominately male) while he was performing their colonoscopies:
1. Take it easy, Doc . You're boldly going where no man has gone before!
2. Find Amelia Earhart yet?
3. Can you hear me NOW?
4. Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?
5. You know, in Arkansas , we're now legally married.
6. Any sign of the trapped miners, Chief?'
7. You put your left hand in; you take your left hand out...
8. Hey! Now I know how a Muppet feels!
9. If your hand doesn't fit, you must quit!
10. Hey Doc, let me know if you find my dignity.
11. You used to work for the Inland Revenue Service bad payers division, didn't you?
12. God, now I know why I am not gay.
And the best one of all...
13. Could you write a note for my wife saying that my head is not up there?
H/T DML
MICHAEL CAINE, ROYAL FUSILIER
Michael Caine on his service with the Royal Fusiliers, in Korea:
"It didn't give me nightmares, because the Army brutalizes you . . ."
Read the rest . . . . . . . . . . . . . STORMBRINGER
Catch This.......
A US army soldier with the 101st Airborne Division Alpha Battery 1-320th throws a fragmentation grenade as Combat Outpost Nolen on the outskirts of the village of Jellawar in the Arghandab Valley came under Taliban attack on September 11, 2010
News..........
Day 73 – 20th September 1940
Magersfontein & Boer Foreign Volunteers
BUT WAS IT ON THE TELEPROMPTERS? Barack leaves "by their Creator" out of the Declaration of Independence.
Ruthlessness—What McCain’s Miracle Shows Patriotic Immigration Reformers Need
Frontline soldiers forced to repay up to £6,500 of wages after MoD salary blunder
British troops hand over Sangin in Afghanistan to US forces
China halts senior government contact with Japan as boat row escalates
Diamonds sharpen Zimbabwe power struggle
The IMF itself has become the problem as Europe's woes return
The former Marxist guerrilla who is set to become Brazil's first woman president.
We're Not Going 'To Turn Afghanistan Into Any Sort of Switzerland'
and finally.....
Top Secret Aircraft that Officially Do Not Exist
Movie Review: 'Harry Brown'
Short Review: He's going down the road to Hell and he's keeping his blinker on the whole trip.
Full Review Here
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Great Tribute: Billy Fiske Memorial Flypast Goodwood Revival 2010.
Billy Fiske was a real American hero, who came to Britain during the WW2 and joined the RAF as a volunteer reserve.
The Goodwood Revival event held a special memorial for him, culminating in a flypast with Spitfires and a Hurricane leading the formation.
Becoming the next Zimbabwe.......from Rico
Looking at the Arms of the country formerly known as Rhodesia (pre-1980 for graduates of government-run schools) I am reminded of the old FDR-era joke:
"The Lord spoke to Moses and said pick up your shovels, mount your asses, and lead your camels and I will show you the Promised Land...; later FDR spoke to the people and said lay down your shovels, sit on your asses, and light up a Camel because this IS the Promised Land!"
Rhodesia was once very much like the Promised Land, but by the efforts of the people unfettered by the Government,.
Then came Robert Mugabe and Socialism.
- The efforts of the people are subsumed to the Government.
Compare the Arms of 'old' Rhodesia and of the 'new' Zimbabwe.
- The miner's pick has been dropped, and the Red Star of Socialism (symbolizing an equal society) has been added...
.....and it looks very much to me like in place of the pick we are being 'flipped off' (given the finger).
In very few years the Country and its people have been financially ruined, but Socialism HAS made everyone there a Trillionaire many times over.
- Worthless Trillions mind you, but 'whee' they're all equally rich!
Our Kenyan Muslim Socialist is changing us and leading the way over the cliff of Socialism.
- Bet you can't hardly wait to be a Trillionaire yourself, huh?
Zimbabwe-Socialist-Hyperinflation looked like this: (year x annual rate-of-price-increases)
- 1999 56.9
- 2000 55.22
- 2001 112.1
- 2002 198.93
- 2003 598.75
- 2004 132.75
- 2005 585.84
- 2006 1,281
- 2007 66,212.3
- 2008 231,150,888.87 as of July...beyond this time the calculators froze and the US Gov't had labeled Zimbabwe a "Failed State"
- 2009 the 100 Trillion Z-Dollar notes are introduced
- 2010 game over - don't go there on holiday
As Winston Churchill famously said of Socialism: "...the inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of misery."
And we CAN have this type of Socialism [read: misery] here!
- Our Dear Reader is helping us to become the next Zimbabwe [read: change you can believe in]
Sunday, 19 September 2010
The Sunday Best......
Day 72 – 19th September 1940
Guardian: Ecofascism isn't working, let's execute corporations instead
Memo: to all members of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy..
Catty Comments About Ines Sainz
Why It's Time for the Tea Party
Our moral code is out of date
NY GOP governor hopeful sends trash-scented flier
Statue for 'British Schindler' Sir Nicholas Winton
10 Most Sexist Print Ads from the 1950s
Britain goes halal... but no-one tells the public: How famous institutions serve ritually slaughtered meat with no warning
Tory blitz on compensation culture is revealed
RAF Typhoon jets grounded amid safety concerns
Village life dying out as country pubs close
Victoria Cross Winner Johnson Beharry plans to quit the Army in frustration
Far-Right party poised to take first seats in Sweden's parliament
Somali pirates: eyewitness account of the threat to cruise ships
and finally......
The Year The Army Stopped Niagara Falls
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Congressional ethics......from Rico
I was just reflecting upon the Democrat's 'promise' to provide the "most ethical Congress ever" when they began their pillaging of the average taxpayer.
Our current crop of corrupticrats is NOT the finest government money can buy, but it is bought-and-paid for.
This gallery (attached) could be Rangel, cold-cash Jefferson, Nancy Reid, or Harry Pelosi....well, it's an awfully long list of crooks, liars, thieves and scoundrels who have said one thing and done another so I won't list them all here...I think we have a pretty good idea predicated on the single-digit approval ratings of Congress.
- In all fairness, they do act with smugness, arrogance, and clueless ignorance as befits wretches that consider themselves America's uber-class and prance about like frivolous minor royalty.
It's time to bring back the venerable tradition of tar-and-feathers.
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