If every time a Jew did something bad it caused me to feel self-disgust I'd just permanently be in a state of grossness. — BitconnectCarlos

Don't really know what kind of glue you're sniffing in order to interpret things this way, but it must be pretty strong.

Is that the core issue? I don't know anything about the Israeli-Palestine conflict. — Michael

ok

What is upsetting about Jews parading around with the Israeli flag? — BitconnectCarlos

Yeah nothing upsetting about Jews waving the Israeli flag, dancing and cheering as a fire breaks out near the third holiest site for Muslims.

Does that justify killing civilians? — Michael

Crazy how people just reframe the core issue, an occupying apartheid state, to this.

I haven't seen any pro-Palestinian Jews hate their own Jewishness as a result of their position, but I guess it exists on some level. — BitconnectCarlos

I'm a pro-Palestine American Jew, and having been conditioned, if not demanded, to support Israel for 30 years, it's hard not to feel a tinge of self-disgust watching Jews dancing and cheering at the Western Wall, waving the Magen David.

A consequence of demanding support for Israel from American Jews - that loyalty to Israel is a necessary condition for Jewishness - by politicians, Evangelicals, right-wing and yes, center/liberal Jews, that generally goes unquestioned by mainstream media, has lead to the end result of Jewish self-hatred from Jews who support the right of Palestinians.

I think of Israelis as civilized, and essentially civilized wrt their neighbors — tim wood

Yes very civilized!

How the West Came to Rule: The Geopolitical Origins of Capitalism by Alexander Anievas and Kerem Nisancioglu

I'm not reading all that

If you've spent "decades thinking about this stuff" and this is all you have to show for it then...well, Jesus Christ.

You can critique everything but that doesn't mean you are going to throw everything away. Capitalism is the only economic system there is. — synthesis

Except you're not talking about Capitalism tout court you're specifically advocating a vague aperçu of laizze faire Capitalism, in your own words "limited government" that "protects property" while condemning policies that could provide redistributive wealth to those below. I mean at least you could advocate for Keynesianism based on Marxian analyst but you're gleefully throwing that out the door too.

I've read a lot of Marx and his economic analysis was absolutely brilliant. — synthesis

My conclusion after decades of thinking about this stuff is that our best hope is to set individuals free within a framework of limited government that protects person and property and allow community institutions to gather the resources necessary to help those in need. — synthesis

Honestly incredible, it takes an exceptionally unique individual to say that Marx's critique of Capitalism was spot on and yet we must do it anyway.

And if you are working 20 hours each day building something that benefits billions of people and all you have to show for it is a mansion and a nice car then you are complete rube.

Always amusing when people can't admit they were wrong.

that's where equality comes in because what's more fair than that? — synthesis

Equality and fairness are conceptually distinct. It shouldn't take more than several seconds to realize this. Just be an adult and admit that "Equality of Outcome" is not a Leftist goal, particular around asinine things such as athleticism, or looks, etc. which are abstract and subjective anyway. Equity and fairness for Leftists revolve around material conditions.

Perhaps more to the point, all wealth ownership past, present, or hypothetical Leftist distribution is socially engineered. There is no natural wealth distribution.

" From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs " — synthesis

This by definition is not an equality of outcome. It's material consumption based on individuated needs.

Don't you think it's time to move on and make things better, as well? — synthesis

Agreed, time to get rid of the US Constitution

I always find it funny when @ssu inserts his opinion on subjects related to Black Americans when he lives in Finland, which has a population of 54,450 with a "close African background" or about 1% of the population.

Critical Race Theory seems to be the boogeyman du jour phrase for conservatives and as typical for conservatives their employment of the phrase is purposefully fuzzy and ambiguous, despite a multi-decade body of academic work behind it. While Liberalism did provide a philosophical justification for individual rights which are arguable indispensable, nevertheless the history behind Liberalism is fraught with violent oppression against non-white ethnicities (and some which we would consider white today), working classes, espoused anti-democracy, anti-egalitarianism sentiments in favor of a select emancipated class. Critical Race Theory can help expose and critique that verifiable history, including contemporary liberalism and even Marxist assumptions, and looks for ways to universalize emancipatory Liberalism without falling back into racialized and class-based demarcation that has typified Liberalism. Charles W. Mill's Black Rights/White Wrongs: The Critique of Racial Liberalism is a good read.

I haven't played them all but as I recall XII was the last one that received more or less universal acclaim, while subsequent titles have been more mixed. My favorite will always be VI.

But do you read Zizek? — ToothyMaw

I have two eyes and a heart, don't I

Only one Maw allowed in this forum

Verso is doing a May Day Sale. 40% off all books until May 17th.

Any recommendations? I previously bought a bunch of Ellen Wood books and Domenico Losurdo's Liberalism: A Counter History, all of which I recommend.

Guys it's pretty obvious that this is NOS4A2

Being a libertarian must be easy you don't have to juggle more than three thoughts at a time and you can make pretty easy money by writing a half-brained eight paragraph blog post like Does God Own Property? for some billionaire-backed think tank called Bastiat Institute for Individual Freedom or some shit. All the Senior Fellows are white and over the age of 50 and at least two are pedophiles.

*gets knocked off a boat, struggling to stay afloat in the open sea*

"leave me alone"

Mongrel Firebugs and Men of Property: Capitalism and Class Conflict in American History by Steve Fraser

FWIW I did think the Moretti book was very interesting.

I see no reason why this situation would forfeit his essential freedom, which can only be a result of voluntary choice, or such is my view — Tzeentch

If voluntary choice is the one true expression of freedom irrespective of socially and situational context, then we must admire the conditions of Robinson Crusoe. Shipwrecked on a deserted island, sure, but every action is done of his own will. What freedom!

Look one post above that, champ

None of which, at least initially, a result of his voluntary choice. — Tzeentch

Oh look moral voluntarism...that's just an internet philosophy

Oh, then by whom, by virtue of their existence, are they rightfully owned or to whom are they rightfully indebted? — Tzeentch

Unsurprising that someone who has a Thomas Sowell quote in their biography jumps on the opportunity to transform a metaphysical fact into an issue of property rights. When all you have is a hammer...

Humans are socially natal beings, born into a network of societal ties, absorb and are molded by the customs, mores, laws, languages, institutional arrangements, socio-political structures. Let's see how far you would have gotten in life without the social absorption of language acquisition. Let's see how radically different as a person you would be if you were born in a peasant barn in 1520 France.

In my experience "woke" is primarily a disparaging term used by conservatives which acquires whatever vague right-wing meaning is needed. I guess in this sense it means everything is fine the way it is. — T Clark

To clarify, I mean that the term is snidely thrown around by right-wingers, moderates, etc. to refer to anything left-of-center that requires thought terminating dismissal (i.e. "whatever vague leftist meaning is needed) detached from the original usage by Black Americans.

I love the discourse around "Woke". Clown's performing semantic juggling so that the term can acquire whatever vague leftist meaning is needed. I guess in this sense it means equality of outcome (an abstraction rejected by Marx and Engels).

Incidentally and with reference to the idea that 'humans are born free', the only people who can get away with saying that are people who have never so much as laid eyes on a child before. There are few creatures as so hopelessly dependant and subserviant as children. Kant understood this well: that any measure of freedom was the result of a great deal of discipline and tutelage, such that, having mastered our abilities and rational capacities by way of education, only then could anyone be called free. The individualist notiom of freedom is literally infantile. — StreetlightX

This is why Ayn Rand never wrote - could never write - about children in her novels, or as far as I'm aware, her non-fiction work. A philosophy incapable of approaching children is a philosophy without a future. Beyond infantile, individualism is inherently moribund - a dead ideology.

If anyone has any suggestions how the OP could be rephrased to make it more intelligible and perhaps less "controversial" I'd be more than happy to consider it. — Apollodorus

Just read Marx

one of the great discoveries from psychology is iq — Caleb Mercado

This and female hysteria, absolutely.

read about big five, fool. — Caleb Mercado

Yes I've watched 2 out of 3 winners of the Big Five: It Happened One Night and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Both are fantastic. Haven't seen The Silence of the Lambs though.

you know nothing about personality psychology — Caleb Mercado

How dare you, I am a proud Gemini

Statistically most people who are open are liberals. This is a fact. — Caleb Mercado

And all cats are girls, yes I agree

People in trait openness are liberal and people low on trait openness are conservative. — Caleb Mercado

I've spent the last two days talking about subdiscipline that I think is bullshit anyway and can't say that I care to explicate further than beyond what I've written in the other thread, so I'll just leave this article here and call it a night.