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Arc Tempest
Joined: 28 Jan 2007
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Location: Oregon
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 Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 12:02 am Post subject: |
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Stephen Hawking is Chuck Barris?
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The older I get, the more certain I become of one thing. True and abiding cynicism is simply a form of cowardice. |
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Mr Gary
Joined: 30 Apr 2009
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Location: Some pub in England
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 12:04 am Post subject: |
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He was saving that reveal for his upcoming book, A Brief History Of Confessions Of A Dangerous Time.
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Him
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 3945
Location: Strange planet
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 1:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Sojobo wrote: | I don't think that's true at all. Him is not a socialist because he heard that Einstein was a socialist. That would be really weird. Really, really weird.
Him arrived at the views he holds because of the political environment he was in when he was young, modified by poignant experiences and arguments he's heard that struck him in just such a way. Those experiences and arguments would be the "natural response" to "Why are you a socialist?" |
At it's most basic I'm a socialist because I grew up and remain poor. Of course my parents being lefties didn't hurt either. Of course I could shoot of some of the basic arguments that won me over, mostly it has to do with Marx understanding of the basics of the capitalist system. That and being poor the whole "you can pick your own job if that doesn't work out why not start your own company" never made any sense to me. I do feel a bit uncomfortable being defended by Death Ray. Because you know...it's fucking Death Ray.
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"Moderation in temper, is always a virtue; but moderation in principle, is a species of vice. " - Thomas Paine |
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Him
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
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Him
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
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Location: Strange planet
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| Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 8:56 pm Post subject: |
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"Moderation in temper, is always a virtue; but moderation in principle, is a species of vice. " - Thomas Paine |
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Darqcyde
Joined: 11 Jul 2006
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Location: A false vacuum abiding in ignorance.
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stripeypants
Joined: 24 Feb 2013
Posts: 972
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| Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 4:56 am Post subject: |
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| Does anyone here have any relatively unbiased links about whether more Us folks are becoming socialists or communists? I've been curious for awhile, but my searches lead to right wing crap, or marxist, socialist and communist websites. (Also, nary a graph among them.) |
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Him
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 3945
Location: Strange planet
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| Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 5:34 am Post subject: |
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| stripeypants wrote: | | Does anyone here have any relatively unbiased links about whether more Us folks are becoming socialists or communists? I've been curious for awhile, but my searches lead to right wing crap, or marxist, socialist and communist websites. (Also, nary a graph among them.) |
You mean something like this?
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stripeypants
Joined: 24 Feb 2013
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| Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 6:20 am Post subject: |
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| Yeah, I've heard Gallup polls are pretty objective. Thanks! |
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Sam
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 8832
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| Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 12:27 pm Post subject: |
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Keep in mind, when reading that poll, what most americans define socialism as.
It's got practically nothing to do with collective ownership / marxism / communism. It just means "a government with slightly more collective service functions than what conservatives want"
us post office? SOCIALISM. obamacare? SOCIALISM. public roads? SOCIALISM. threadbare environmental protections? SOCIALISM.
were you to poll americans on socialism as, say, Socialism Party people would define it (non-capitalist marxist stuff) the number of positive respondants will be, like, .. what, two percent? three? Vaguely around the same level of fringe as hard libertarianism. |
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Darqcyde
Joined: 11 Jul 2006
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Him
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 3945
Location: Strange planet
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| Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 12:43 pm Post subject: |
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Sorry I haven't checked into this thread in a while.
Ah Slavoj Zizek, one of my top 10 favorite slovenians. Cornel West is pretty cool too. I'll have to take the time to look at that video. Thanks for posting it darqcyde.
Sam, yes, you definitely have point that what is understood by socialism is not so nailed down, even so I don't think that seeing socialism as public control over certain utilities is that far off. It's certainly a good starting point I think.
For instancehere is Socialist Alternatives commentaries to an article in The Stranger which sort of came at it from that angle.
Which reminds me, Kshama Sawant, currently running for city council in Seattle is also out on a national speaking tour.
In Chichago she was interviewed by Bill Bianchi, chair of Progressive Democrats of America section there.
It's well worth a watch.
What I really intended to post though was this debate between an Anarchist, a libertarian and a socialist from Breaking The Set, a show from RT America I believe.
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Him
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
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Him
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
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Location: Strange planet
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| Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 9:42 am Post subject: |
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So speaking of Einstein...
Albert Einstein, Civil Rights activist
Oh and given the date, let's remind ourselfes why worker's across the world rally under red banners on May the 1st. It began in the U.S after all.
"The men who were judicially murdered in Chicago in 1887, in the name of the great State of Illinois, were the avant couriers of a better day. They were called anarchists, but at their trial it was not proven that they had committed any crime or violated any law. They had protested against unjust laws and their brutal administration. They stood between oppressor and oppressed, and they dared, in a free (?) country, to exercise the divine right of free speech; and the records of their trial, as if written with an “iron pen and lead in the rock forever,” proclaim the truth of the declaration." Eugene V. Debs, 1898
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"Moderation in temper, is always a virtue; but moderation in principle, is a species of vice. " - Thomas Paine
Last edited by Him on Wed May 01, 2013 5:49 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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stripeypants
Joined: 24 Feb 2013
Posts: 972
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| Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 4:08 pm Post subject: |
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That's May 1st
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