Iniquiry

Chavez, rah

2009-12-02T19:53:00.001-08:00

Apparently Sweden's like the best country in the world. Still inherent inequalities though. I'm rooting for Chavez. As long as he doesn't become Stalin.

Terminology Ideology Terminology

2009-11-16T04:52:00.000-08:00

I find use of the term "libertarian socialism" preferable to use of the term "anarchism" not only because of sort of image considerations (like how "anarchism" is so very denigrated), which I think are useful, but also because I feel as though "libertarian socialism" is more descriptive to the uninitiated. When people think "socialism" they seem to think of authoritarian regimes such as those of the former USSR, Cuba, and China. But, of course, libertarian socialists find such regimes as repugnant as anyone. So, while one may be able to argue such regimes are socialist (and even this is disputed), libertarian socialism departs from the ideologies of these regimes in its emphasis on "bottom-up" rather than "top-down" organisation. Use of the word "libertarian," then, positions libertarian socialism as opposing authoritarianism like that of the aforementioned regimes. On the other hand, the term "libertarian socialism" also marks itself off from the capitalism promoting libertarian crowd from the denotation "socialist." To anyone willing to put in the effort, this terminology seems most effective at putting across the fundamental ideas.

Notes From Underclass

2009-11-16T02:36:00.000-08:00

To think of capitalism as maximising freedom seems very similar to viewing murder as okay. We see murder as something people shouldn't do and even capitalist-types see it as okay to restrict the availability of murder as an action people can undertake. But the reason it's okay, in this view, to disallow murder is because murder constitutes the infringement of someone else's freedom, so excluding it as an option actually increases a society's freedom. The same is true of capitalism. Yes, we could allow people to appropriate resources for their own use, and in a sense, this is the same sort of act of freedom that committing a murder is. But we exclude murder as an option (whether through agreement or coercion -- I greatly prefer agreement), and so we should also exclude this sort of resource appropriation as an option also, if we are to be consistent, since it represents the same kind of freedom-infringement as acts such as, but not limited to, murder. I use murder as an example not because I think it's necessarily comparable to capitalism in terms of its harm or because I want to be provocative; I use it because I think it works very well to bring out the distinction I want to make between the kind of liberty proponents of capitalism often advocate and the kind of liberty I advocate, and because I think it points out an underlying inconsistency in capitalist thought. So, yes, I advocate minimizing state intervention (if not eliminating the state altogether), but I also advocate eliminating the extent to which free market activity acts to limit human freedom also. This is something people who advocate for free market activity virtually never realize. In this way, I believe I can be seen as advocating a more cogent and even stronger version of liberty than that of which capitalist thought is capable.

Power

2009-11-15T05:13:00.000-08:00

Take, for example, Boogie Down Production's "Dope Beat," on their record Criminal Minded. What we have here is the recontextualisation of a standard cultural figure, AC/DC's "Back in Black." This song was a way for AC/DC to proclaim it's own power and return to form after the traumatic loss of Bon Scott. But AC/DC is known for it's marginalising and demeaning treatment of women. The band's music, then, often represents and reinforces existing power structures. It supports the practices of capitalist institutions in their attempts to divide working class members and oppress power-minority groups such as women. AC/DC come, actually, from such a working class background themselves, which only attests to the success power structures have in setting the oppressed against itself. AC/DC has no realisation of the ill-effects of its treatment of women.

KRS-One announces his own power in the face of such oppression. He's taking the power away from oppressive structures. Even poetry, that long-held academic-elitist reserve, is no longer monopolised. KRS-One sets it free for us all.

Rigor

2009-11-12T22:00:00.000-08:00

It's empty without the sex.
In bed it's magic,
Your eyes
Full of the light
Your lust exudes.
We know each other
Then, mutually understanding
And sensitive to our pasts
Together and apart.
There's nothing to say,
But it's okay,
Because I feel your heart
And I know where it is
Under the warm skin
Spread over you.

But when we go to the cafe,
There's nothing to say,
And I can't meet your eye
While my mind scrambles
Blankly for the words
To salvage the moment
From the weight of our
Strange discomfort.

Then I imagine the bed,
Once beautifully florid
In the splendor of our heat,
Now void from where we sit
In the artificial comfort of
What we wish was our
Favorite place,
Void and cold,
Awaiting the arrival
Of your corpse
Once the sex gets old.

You Know, Christ

2009-11-12T08:29:00.001-08:00

Laughing Stock's a masterpiece. You can tell because it's kind of weird but not totally so. We can still get a grip on it (I think). I wish I'd thought of that. Of course, all it got Talk Talk was the unceasing admiration of jerks like me. Mark Hollis must be kicking himself. Tim's basking in the glory (if he's not dead).

Spiderland, Incidentally

2009-11-11T22:24:00.000-08:00

Slint's Spiderland is a fantastic record, one of the best I've ever heard. It creates (evokes if you like) a panorama of bleakness within which the trails and cracks in the earth map on to the inner recesses of one's mind. Allusions to fortune-telling and such mysticism relate to us on a primal level, generating thoughts of humanity's pre-civilized past. Ultimately, the record reminds us of modernity's terrorizing aspect, and it seeks seclusion from this while struggling with it's aftermath.

blog

2009-11-11T18:06:00.001-08:00

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