Comments

  • Why egalitarian causes always fail
    Those who believe, as I do and against the OP, that a classless, egalitarian society is possible, probably have to face up to this. — Jamal

    Depends on what we mean with egalitarian. I think a healthy democratic society makes class largely meaningless because it won't be married to any type of (dis)privilege just being a member of a type of class. I also think that the consequences of valuing labour more instead of capital, will engender more equality as, regardless of type of job, a decent living will be made. So it will simply be more likely that I will sit next to a plumber at a Michelin-star than now. I hardly meet people of a "lower" class than I'm in, which is ridiculous when we live in the same country and have to decide on voting on things that affect all of us.
  • Why egalitarian causes always fail
    ↪Jamal
    Yes, and rightfully so. We just seem to have forgotten how that's sometimes a good thing. The French Revolution, kicking of the enlightenment, by and large was a good thing. If you are denied political expression then revolution is a good thing. Of course, whether that is currently denied is more difficult to argue, as spoon-fed we are with the liberal capitalist organisation of society. The reality is, however, that aside from some market structure regulations, we have no say whatsoever as to how businesses are run. Given the political clout businesses have, there's a huge antidemocratic influence on political decision making processes in every modern society to the detriment of those that are actual subject to it (whereas companies can up and leave, which they regularly threaten with).
  • Dilbert sez: Stay Away from Blacks
    ↪javi2541997
    Latino or latina is not offensive. Who said that? If I don't identify as either latino or latina and I can come up with a word that better describes me, why should you force me to use something I don't think correctly describes me? What's offensive is that people are so uptight they need to regulate how other people use words. How exactly, in real terms, are you harmed by the use of that word? Being offended isn't harm. I'm offended by a lot of bad quality movies but I don't go around demanding they aren't shot or shown.
  • Why egalitarian causes always fail
    Second, Marx himself spoke in favour of “revolutionary terror” and of the “dictatorship of the proletariat.” — Jamal

    THis is out of context: the revolutionary terror was to be exercised if the political expression of labourers was surpressed. In his time only rich men had a vote and he worked, putting himself in danger. He was forced out of France because of his ideas.

    And the dictatorship of the proletariat was a natural conclusion in a democratic, communal "state", whether that came about through democratic means or revolution was neither here nor there to him. In fact, he didn't want to produce "recipes for the political cookshops of the future" or something along those lines.

    So yes, he said those things, and I don't even disagree. We should revolt and overthrow the corporate capitalist order that we have now and then not skip the "democratic constitution" after that.
  • Why egalitarian causes always fail
    ↪ssu
    This is bullshit. If you are so badly educated in Marx' work that you think this has sensibly been attempted anywhere how he envisaged it then you really don't know what he wrote. On that note we can discount capitalism in its entirety as well because well... look around. The world is warming, nature is being destroyed at a record rate, over-fishing, biosphere collapse, etc. etc. Shall we now ignore what Smith wrote? Say? Mises? Only Marx is vilified because it's politically expedient. Nobody wants the common people to actually have power, to actually control the structures that affect their lives. Democracy is fine in politics but let's keep it out of economics!
  • Dilbert sez: Stay Away from Blacks
    ↪javi2541997
    So you want to prohibit bad grammar? Shall I go through your post history and delete every post where you've made a grammar mistake? Starting with the sentence I'm replying to? It makes perfect sense to me. I'm Latinx would denote that I have a latin-american heritage and do not (want to) identify as male or female. Perfectly understandable to me and I don't even live in the States.
  • Why egalitarian causes always fail
    What has in history come of the attempts of doing Marxist revolution? I'm looking at history, not selected quotes from Marx. Naturally communism ought to have democracy, but the little trouble with that is that the class enemy tend to be the people you would have in any democracy. Yeah, Marx perhaps didn't intend it, but many times these revolutions come to be at ground level things like killing the rich (and vice versa, killing working class activists). — ssu

    Yes, let's look at history. What did Marx do other than be a committed democrat during his lifetime? Your bias is obvious and your lack of knowledge and understanding of his work apparent.
  • Dilbert sez: Stay Away from Blacks
    ↪javi2541997
    Why? Why on earth prohibit the use of words? Whatever happened to free speech?
  • Why egalitarian causes always fail
    ↪ssu
    And yet you invariably demonstrate not to have actually read him. Marx wasn't against democracy at all. In the Principles of Communism:
    Above all, it will establish a democratic constitution, and through this, the direct or indirect dominance of the proletariat.

    Maybe just not mention him again? Your ideological bias is already well known without needing me to point out misprepresentations.
  • Dilbert sez: Stay Away from Blacks
    ↪180 Proof
    I don't even understand that poll question to begin with but it's nice to know it gave cover for a bunch of closet racists to reveal themselves. The censorship is interesting in that it's apparently ok to vote in racists and publish all their racist comments (because news) but not publish non-racist comics because we now know they're made by a racist.

    And this sort of censorship probably feeds the "I'm not allowed to say what I think anymore because of evil neo-Marxists, therefore for consistency sake I'm going to prohibit critical race theory, flags and "LatinX"".
  • Why egalitarian causes always fail
    ↪frank
    What's egalitarianism according to you?
  • Why egalitarian causes always fail
    ↪Jamal
    Good point. Agree. Das Kapital is after all a critique of political economy. There's plenty of social commentary throughout his analysis, beginning of course with the clear disapproval of how capitalists extract surplus value from wage laborers.

    My reading of course speaks to my own bias, where I find the economic interpretation and analysis interesting and the politics inconsistent (there's a reason volume 2 and 3 weren't published by Marx himself).
  • Why egalitarian causes always fail
    ↪Jamal
    The problem is that what's solid is his economic work. The rest is all over the place. He describes revolution as a historic necessity and the way to the one worker party. At other times just the logical consequence of democratic outcomes. Whatever politics people consider Marxism to be, it says more about them than Marx himself.
  • Why egalitarian causes always fail
    ↪ssu
    Marxism isn't a political theory but an economic one. Maybe read him some time.
  • Bannings
    He was super nice but standards and all that.
  • US Election 2024 (All general discussion)
    ↪180 Proof
    I think you're too sane to accurately predict what stupidity voters are capable of.
  • Joe Biden (+General Biden/Harris Administration)
    ↪javi2541997
    There was a reddit that claimed the photo was already in use around the pizzagate story.
  • Ukraine Crisis
    Or we get Jacques Coustea to check, :smile:
  • Ukraine Crisis
    ↪Isaac
    He predicts 2 unexploded bombs. Presumably that's easy to check? So we should know one way or the other if the Germans are in control of the investigation, which I think they're not. It's Denmark and Sweden right? The Germans are politically independent enough not to be influenced by the USA.
  • Ukraine Crisis
    @SophistiCat @ssu Almost complete silence on Hersh' article in Europe by the way. Nothing in the main newspapers. You'd think the Graun would jump at the opportunity.
  • Ukraine Crisis
    I agree, and I never said otherwise. There are arguments in favor of the Russia-did-it theory (e.g. this), and I could buy some of them, but not with real money. — SophistiCat

    Oh good, didn't mean to suggest you did. Interesting article. With regard to his Nord Stream speculation, I think the first is bullshit. If things normalise, the West isn't weaned of Russian gas: it will buy whatever is cheapest and if that's Russian gas, we will buy Russian gas.

    The second point, though, is indeed a good argument to suspect the Russians.

    Personally, I don't think the Russians are sophisticated enough to not have any evidence pointing their way after 3 months of research.
  • Coronavirus
    ↪Tzeentch
    I haven't followed it but I vaguely remember they thought people would get a false sense of security wearing masks and increase risky behaviour?
  • Ukraine Crisis
    @SophistiCat @ssu https://www.welt.de/regionales/mecklenburg-vorpommern/article243596071/Frank-Keine-Belege-fuer-russische-Sabotage-an-Pipelines.html

    Peter Frank is one of German's highest ranking prosecutors. And he's no friend of Russia as he's also the guy that communicated they found 100s of pieces of evidence of war crimes by Russia in Ukraine and called for their prosecution.

    Of course, no evidence yet doesn't mean there isn't any but I think, once again, we really don't know who's done it and we need to wait it out. I do think the hypothesis the US did it needs to be considered and investigated. If they didn't do it and give full cooperation then disculpatory evidence should be relatively easy to find.

    Another theory, but one further down the likelihood road, is that it was corporate sabotage. Certainly players that could pay for it but who would they hire?
  • Ukraine Crisis
    ↪ssu
    This means that the United States will remain the primary supplier of LNG to Europe for at least 2023. This will likely generate even greater revenue for U.S exporters after a record 2022, which totaled $35 billion through September, compared to $8.3 billion over the same period in 2021, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data shows. — Reuters
  • Ukraine Crisis
    I don't see why anyone in his place would take such a huge risk for a minor (proportionally) financial gain. — SophistiCat

    Minor? Weaning Europe of Russian gas in favour of North American gas is not minor in my book. It's tens of billions of dollars in value per year.
  • Ukraine Crisis
    ↪Mark Nyquist
    Yes, this MH17 twist is interesting. We had an extensive report in November 2015 published that was performed by the Dutch government (Raad van Onderzoek). Putin wasn't mentioned. We convicted in absentia three Russians. Putin wasn't mentioned in court either. Now a little over 7 years later he's considered guilty of it because he likely decided to provide the separatists with air support. While this is most likely true, that doesn't result in him ordering shooting down a civilian plane. We hebde to wait for this new report but in the face of it, it looks politically convenient and tenuous at best.

    The conclusion of the original report was that all parties involved underestimated the danger of flying over the region, which was regularly barred for commercial flights due to military action by the Ukrainian air force against the separatists.
  • Ukraine Crisis
    ↪Banno
    Well, I have no opinion on whether it's true or not but seems grounds for investigation by Germany and other EU members. With "allies" like that, we don't need enemies, so it's essential to either rule it out or to confirm it. I'm afraid though that even confirmation won't lead to a reevaluation of our intelligence and military relationship with the US.
  • Ukraine Crisis
    ↪SophistiCat
    how likely is it that it's actually true?
  • Argument for establishing the inner nature of appearances/representations
    ↪KantDane21
    I can't help you unfortunately as I'm not familiar with the original texts and I'm not sure I'm understanding your opening post correctly.

    The only way I can make sense of it that my experience/representation of a tree is personal and unique to me, even if you and I were to perceive the same tree from exactly the same spot at the same time and assuming identical perception (eye sight, smell etc.). I fell from a tree once and I'm reminded of it, you might not have been. Eg., there's a relational and contextual aspect to all our observations but I'm pretty sure this is not what he meant.
  • Argument for establishing the inner nature of appearances/representations
    @andrewk I think this is right up your alley based on how you answered some of my Kantian questions years ago?
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    ↪Metaphysician Undercover
    We're not living in a world where these don't exist so what's the point thinking about it? I reject the idea the divine is the source of laws, by the way. And natural law as well.
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    ↪Merkwurdichliebe
    A crime is a crime without police, prosecutor or courts being involved. When someone steals your wallet, he's a thief and committed a crime. Miraculously, that's even true when he's not prosecuted.
  • Ahmaud Arbery: How common is it?
    I simply don't understand what I'm seeing. Even without justification I can sometimes understand where people's behaviour comes from - I can follow what may have gotten them to act as they did even if I disagree that they should have. Here I can't even begin to understand what they were thinking.

    I see two things happening that would illicit some negative reaction from the cops. Nichols runs away and he doesn't seem to want to bend his arm behind his back. Running away is resolved by chasing him but instead of forcing his arms behind his back - for which they're trained (https://www.policemag.com/366760/handcuffing-suspects-3-techniques?photo=425438) they proceed to beat him to death while he poses no threat. They're fucking scum.
  • Ukraine Crisis
    ↪Baden
    I want the Netherlands out of that pact anyways.

    ↪Tzeentch
    Sufficiently likely. Another reason I want the Netherlands out of that pact.
  • Ukraine Crisis
    ↪Baden
    A mutual defence pact with a country that doesn't have the necessary checks and balances to ensure it doesn't elect a dictator or abuse minorities doesn't go down well. While everybody is celebrating Zelenskyi, let's not forget the horrible corrupt shithole Ukraine was before the war. I doubt corruption will lessen when institutions and infrastructure are bombarded back to the stone age.
  • Ukraine Crisis
    ↪Baden

    To join NATO a country needs to meet the following standards:

    • a functioning democratic political system based on a market economy;
    • the fair treatment of minority populations;
    • a commitment to the peaceful resolution of conflicts;
    • the ability and willingness to make a military contribution to NATO operations; and
    • a commitment to democratic civil-military relations and institutional structures.

      Once admitted, new members would enjoy all the rights and assume all the obligations of membership. This would include acceptance at the time that they join of all the principles, policies and procedures previously adopted by Alliance members.

    A functioning democratic political system presupposed a lack of corruption. On the other hand, Turkey is also a member, so, who knows.
  • The Economic Pie
    ↪ssu
    Don't forget the perverted incentive for directors, who are appointed by shareholders, to keep shareholders happy. In a very real sense the more dividend they pay out, the higher their salary will be. Directors that issue more dividend, will more readily be appointed later on in their career and a managerial culture is established as a result. Succesful directors are those that generate the most profit but nobody reviews how those profits come about and whether it reduces the capacity of the company to absorb shocks or basic long term fitness.

    ESG could've made some difference there but we've already seen it's just a bunch of greenwashing in most cases. And at the same time I think this will just be a new market that can be monetized. I'm not sure that's a good thing - it's an attempt at quantifying moral behaviour. How about just not fucking up the planet and being fair to employees as a basic human trait instead of having to financially incentivize that?
  • Brexit
    How's Bregret going for everyone? Fantastic growth numbers, easy to export goods too.
  • What is the root of all philosophy?
    ↪Vera Mont
    I was going for the flippant answer "half a brain" as an initial idea, which on introspection isn't even that bad.

    Happy to learn more about Sulawesi but isn't it arbitrary? Because that behaviour presupposes other behaviour that came before it. Maybe they drew in the sand before that in Spain and we'll never know. And cave art is complex so why not lesser steps leading up to cave art? So why not that earlier behaviour? Leads to a bit of regress, I'm afraid.
  • What’s wrong with free speech absolutism?
    ↪unenlightened
    When I was still working for the ministry of finance, they had a tendency to resist right to information requests, leading to those requests becoming broader and more work.

    Luckily one of the highest civil servants shared my view. The first step I suggested, and the most difficult, was, how do I do my job that I can freely talk about it when having drinks with a friend? Eg., on an everyday basis I shouldn't be working in such a way that nobody except my boss is allowed to know what I'm doing. That's asking for trouble with respect to accountability.

    Second, we changed the process, instead of resisting information requests, we started calling those who submitted them. "Hey, you're asking for a ton of information, I think we can all save time. If you tell me what you're trying to find out, I'll try to collect everything that's relevant to it and then if you still feel things are missing, just give me call, OK?" Handling time of information requests has been halved as a result. Whether the first point has made collecting information easier I don't know because it's hard to measure. Alas, that's only one ministry and the high level civil servant that thought it was important has left.
Home » Benkei