• Rittenhouse verdict
    It was good to hear the verdict because the American justice system is usually a woke joke.NOS4A2

    Dog brain
  • Currently Reading
    Michael Roberts - The Long Depression: How it Happened, Why it Happened, and What Happens Next. A defense of Marx's thesis on the 'tendency of the rate of profit to fall', in light of the post-2008 world economy.StreetlightX

    :gasp:
  • Randian Philosophy
    The approach of coddling stateOscarTheGrouch

    lol just going to throw my hands up at this one
  • Randian Philosophy
    Objectivism is attractive to me given the current state of the world. It is empowering to internalize some of her concepts like: "money being a manifestation of ones best efforts", "action without thought is mindlessness, and thought without action is hypocritical", "celebration is for those who have earned it", etc.. Objectivism has empowered my individuality. It has helped me organize my thoughts and default to reason whenever I feel overwhelmed or exhausted.

    This is me explaining a bit of what I have gained from objectivism not as a defense of it but as a statement about why I have appreciated my first foray into philosophy. I understand many of you may think of objectivism as blasphemy so please give me the next logical step in my philosophical journey. I would greatly appreciate thoughtful recommendations on texts to begin reading.
    OscarTheGrouch

    Objectivism is useless, especially as a starting point for a "philosophically journey", as Ayn Rand had an exceptionally naïve grasp on philosophical questions and concerns, and the shallow understanding of socio-economic conditions of Capitalism that she voraciously advocated. This is in part stemming from the fact that she wasn't well read. She likely didn't venture far from Aristotle and Nietzsche and had a poor grasp of both.

    Statements like "money being a manifestation of ones best efforts", "action without thought is mindlessness, and thought without action is hypocritical", "celebration is for those who have earned it" etc. read like platitudes from a self-help book, rather than serious philosophical concepts.

    I do suppose that Objectivism can sound attractive because in some ways it is reflective of the state of the world, and I mean that in a very dire sense.
  • Currently Reading
    Family Values: Between Neoliberalism and the New Social Conservatism by Melinda Cooper
  • Currently Reading
    The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin
    Chasing Homer by László Krasznahorkai
  • Currently Reading
    Thanks for reminding me this was coming out in English, just picked it up. Interesting concept.
  • Currently Reading
    He's upcoming for me later this year. I hear he's excellent.Manuel

    I admittedly don't read a lot of novels but I do love me some Krasnahorkai.
  • Currently Reading
    1000 pages, one sentence (yes, one.),Manuel

    Krasznahorkai is shaking right now.
  • Currently Reading
    Let me know what you pick up. I have a list but want to be a bit selective since I want to get an order from Haymarket too.
  • Currently Reading
    Palestine: A Socialist Introduction edited by Sumaya Awad and Brian Bean

    @StreetlightX looks like the Verso end of year sale has started. Could have sworn it was 50% off last year though.
  • Currently Reading

    Monsters of the Market Zombies, Vampires and Global Capitalism by David McNallyMaw

    Yeah so read this book
  • Currently Reading
    Two months ago is cute, try two years ago.
  • Currently Reading
    Yeah Quinn Slobodian's book is excellent! Was going to recommend Wendy Brown's In The Ruins of Neoliberalism, but looks like I was beat to the punch. Incidentally was looking to start Melinda Cooper's Family Values by the end of this year or early next.
  • What Are You Watching Right Now?
    I enjoyed Dune

    @180 Proof did you see Dune yet?
  • Currently Reading
    Faust by Goethe

    Monsters of the Market was interesting. Some of the analogies are a bit ham-fisted and awkwardly argued, but I really appreciated his discourse on zombies, and ultimately his insistence on emphasizing the monstrosity of capitalism.
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    Someone get me out of this shit country
  • Socialism or families?
    Ironic that Tucker Carlson had a recent segment on Fox criticizing the concept of paternity leave that many conservatives jumped on board to agree with. Seems like the question should be Capitalism or Family Values, eh?
  • What Are You Watching Right Now?
    Has anyone else watched Satantango?
  • Currently Reading
    Will do!

    Loved loved How Revolutionary. One of my favorite reads of the year. Intellectually dense, and with acerbic wit and confidence that I admire.
  • Currently Reading
    Monsters of the Market Zombies, Vampires and Global Capitalism by David McNally
  • Currently Reading
    Bela Tarr, the Time After by Jacques Rancière
  • Socialism or families?
    Funny how people can dress up paying over $1000 per month for formal child care as "Family Rights"
  • Why Black-on-Black Crime isn't a Racist Deflection.
    I find your comments to be self-indulgent and poorly written.ToothyMaw

    lol
  • Currently Reading
    Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming by László Krasznahorkai
  • Currently Reading
    That's very sad to hear, he was quite young to pass too, I very much enjoyed Black Rights/White Wrongs: The Critique of Racial Liberalism several years back
  • Currently Reading
    The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World by Vincent Bevins.
  • Madness is rolling over Afghanistan
    The Other Afghan Women

    Entire branches of Shakira’s family tree, from the uncles who used to tell her stories to the cousins who played with her in the caves, vanished. In all, she lost sixteen family members. I wondered if it was the same for other families in Pan Killay. I sampled a dozen households at random in the village, and made similar inquiries in other villages, to insure that Pan Killay was no outlier. For each family, I documented the names of the dead, cross-checking cases with death certificates and eyewitness testimony. On average, I found, each family lost ten to twelve civilians in what locals call the American War.
  • What Are You Watching Right Now?
    It tackled the themes from the original from different perspectives and angles, not necessarily as successfully as Blade Runner did (and I prefer the original anyway), but thoughtful and stimulating all the same, IMO. As you said, gorgeous movie, and great acting (apart from Leto), and Ana de Armas could strangle me and I'd thank her for it.
  • What Are You Watching Right Now?
    (i forgive him for the gorgeous failure of Blade Runner 2049)180 Proof

    :brow: :down:

    ........

    :love:

  • Madness is rolling over Afghanistan
    Well, western liberalism teaches that men are worthless racists and misogynists and all that matters is refugees,elephants, rhinos, and polar bears.Apollodorus

    This is simply correct, what's the problem?
  • Madness is rolling over Afghanistan
    If the US Government actually cared about women's rights they'd be invading Texas right now
  • Madness is rolling over Afghanistan
    Wow I can't believe the Taliban are offering a $10K reward to any Afghanistan citizen willing to sue another person who, in any way, helped make an abortion possible. We really need to reinvade the country for women's rights.
  • Madness is rolling over Afghanistan
    You probably just drank too much coffee.frank

    I know it must be hard for some people, perhaps like yourself, to understand that there are people out there who are sincerely happy for the conclusion of a "forever war" that was unjustifiable in the first place.
  • Madness is rolling over Afghanistan
    Absolutely giddy over the week plus meltdown by the media, pundits, and other elites across the liberal-conservative spectrum, at the prospect of America's limited ability to maintain overseas Empire.
  • Free Markets or Central Planning?
    Free markets are vital so when I go to Walgreens to pick up toothpaste I am confronted with 60+ options