"This conversation is being recorded...."
"In order to ensure quality this conversation is being recorded..."
HUHHHH!!!????
WHAT THE??!!***expletive deleted
THIS IS TYRANNY, NOT DEMOCRACY
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Class Warfare
Class Warfare; i.e. the increase of low-wage jobs with no security and no health care.....
i.e., the planned and deliberate elimination of decent jobs.... in order to increase profits...
i.e, in order to increase inequality...
i.e., in order to return to a more feudal social organization....
http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6694
(Thanks to Brian Leiter at the "Leiter Reports" for drawing attention to this article.)
i.e., the planned and deliberate elimination of decent jobs.... in order to increase profits...
i.e, in order to increase inequality...
i.e., in order to return to a more feudal social organization....
http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6694
(Thanks to Brian Leiter at the "Leiter Reports" for drawing attention to this article.)
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Plato's "Cratylus'
Recently I received Plato's dialogue "The Cratylus" as a gift.
This allowed me to renew my memory of one of my favorite passages in Plato, which I will now paraphrase:
Pluto has a bad reputation. But, he can't be as bad as people think.
Why do people stay in the underworld? If they stay there, finally, it's got to be due to desire, not compulsion or necessity.
Desire is stronger than necessity or compulsion.
Nothing is a stronger force for a living creature than the thought that by associating with someone else this will make us better.
That's my very rough paraphrase. This is a version of the famous doctrine that "all desire is for the good", and that everything we do is done with the thought that it will make us better.
There is a bit of autobiography that is relevant here... I am sorry to say that I've not defended this thought when I might have, when I worked in high schools in Slovakia.
I was astonished to see the extent to which high school managers rely upon force and compulsion, threats. In fact it made me sick to see it.
I regret that I did not object to it more loudly.....
This allowed me to renew my memory of one of my favorite passages in Plato, which I will now paraphrase:
Pluto has a bad reputation. But, he can't be as bad as people think.
Why do people stay in the underworld? If they stay there, finally, it's got to be due to desire, not compulsion or necessity.
Desire is stronger than necessity or compulsion.
Nothing is a stronger force for a living creature than the thought that by associating with someone else this will make us better.
That's my very rough paraphrase. This is a version of the famous doctrine that "all desire is for the good", and that everything we do is done with the thought that it will make us better.
There is a bit of autobiography that is relevant here... I am sorry to say that I've not defended this thought when I might have, when I worked in high schools in Slovakia.
I was astonished to see the extent to which high school managers rely upon force and compulsion, threats. In fact it made me sick to see it.
I regret that I did not object to it more loudly.....
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Agatha Christie
Recently I enjoyed watching a BBC version of an Agatha Christie story.
At one point, something like the following dialogue occurred between a wealthy young man and a young "radical":
Angry young "radical": "Aren't you ashamed of yourself indulging in such a frivolous pastime as boating?--at a time when families are starving, when men have no work?"
Privileged Aristocrat: "Well, I don't know how to build a boat myself or take care of it, and I employ men to do it for me...."
There the conversation ended. But Agatha Christie plainly did not understand the real young "radicals" of the world because the conversation might have continued:
"But what I object to is precisely that--the fact that you--a man with no real talents--have the power to hire and fire other people. That you--a man who has no broad social vision, a man in no way better than anybody else, and maybe even worse than many--have the ability to decide where and how social resources are used."
Even today we have a so-called "crisis" because those with power are now taking resources away from the rest of us.... and this is not being done in order to create a better world, but merely to guarantee that the richest and most powerful continue to be the richest and most powerful.....
At one point, something like the following dialogue occurred between a wealthy young man and a young "radical":
Angry young "radical": "Aren't you ashamed of yourself indulging in such a frivolous pastime as boating?--at a time when families are starving, when men have no work?"
Privileged Aristocrat: "Well, I don't know how to build a boat myself or take care of it, and I employ men to do it for me...."
There the conversation ended. But Agatha Christie plainly did not understand the real young "radicals" of the world because the conversation might have continued:
"But what I object to is precisely that--the fact that you--a man with no real talents--have the power to hire and fire other people. That you--a man who has no broad social vision, a man in no way better than anybody else, and maybe even worse than many--have the ability to decide where and how social resources are used."
Even today we have a so-called "crisis" because those with power are now taking resources away from the rest of us.... and this is not being done in order to create a better world, but merely to guarantee that the richest and most powerful continue to be the richest and most powerful.....
Friday, November 26, 2010
imaginary conversation
"[I]t wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing....."
---President Dwight D. Eisenhower
(Quoted in Alperovitz 1995, reference below)
a: Those South Koreans won't stand for that!
b: (silently) what is this? a sporting match?
a: Yeah, but there wont' be another nuclear war.
b: Did you know that we are the only country to ever use nuclear weapons.
(unsaid: so what are you talking about? another nuclear war? It wasn't a war; it was a massacre...)
a: ??
b: And did you know that American prisoners of war died in Nagasaki?
(correction: and Hiroshima.... and also American wives who happened to be visiting
their husbands' families when the war started)
a: That's not true. I am a history buff and I would know.
Now the conversation really does become imaginary...
b: Well, just play along with me for a moment... What if the USA is the only country
ever to use nuclear weapons, and what if our leaders lied to us about their reasons,
and what if they were willing to sacrifice innocent Americans?
How would that change your picture of history?
And would it make you so eager to see South Korea attack North Korea?
Would you be so sure that North Korea is bad? --because they have nuclear weapons.
Maybe they have nuclear weapons because they want protection against the sort of people who would use the atom bomb against their own people, if it were necessary to get what they wanted......
WARNING; the above is incomplete, inaccurate, and distant from reality.....just a fairy story...
RECOMMENDED READING (not fiction)
Gar Alperovitz, The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb, Random House 1995.
---President Dwight D. Eisenhower
(Quoted in Alperovitz 1995, reference below)
a: Those South Koreans won't stand for that!
b: (silently) what is this? a sporting match?
a: Yeah, but there wont' be another nuclear war.
b: Did you know that we are the only country to ever use nuclear weapons.
(unsaid: so what are you talking about? another nuclear war? It wasn't a war; it was a massacre...)
a: ??
b: And did you know that American prisoners of war died in Nagasaki?
(correction: and Hiroshima.... and also American wives who happened to be visiting
their husbands' families when the war started)
a: That's not true. I am a history buff and I would know.
Now the conversation really does become imaginary...
b: Well, just play along with me for a moment... What if the USA is the only country
ever to use nuclear weapons, and what if our leaders lied to us about their reasons,
and what if they were willing to sacrifice innocent Americans?
How would that change your picture of history?
And would it make you so eager to see South Korea attack North Korea?
Would you be so sure that North Korea is bad? --because they have nuclear weapons.
Maybe they have nuclear weapons because they want protection against the sort of people who would use the atom bomb against their own people, if it were necessary to get what they wanted......
WARNING; the above is incomplete, inaccurate, and distant from reality.....just a fairy story...
RECOMMENDED READING (not fiction)
Gar Alperovitz, The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb, Random House 1995.
disconnected observations
a rough list.....
In El Paso, Texas, it never rains--so, the streets become flooded when it does...
and, incidentally, it rains much more now than it used to forty years ago.,.
In El Paso, Texas, the winters are very mild (and people are always in their trucks anyway)
so, there's not much by way of winter clothing to be purchased....
And with free markets or neo-liberalism or pie-in-the-sky, you can always get a better job if you don't like the one you have, so SHUT UP!
And then since the "free market" is so efficient you can always get what people really want.
I actually can't find shoes that fit in El Paso. Therefore, the free market has decided for me that
there's no need for shoes that fit. That, again, would seem due to the disproportionate amount of time El Pasoans spend in their trucks. They don't need shoes that are good for walking
because they ride most of their lives.
And if you don't like it HERE, it's a free country, so you can just move;; so SHUT UP!
In fact any problems you may happen to have are just due to your inability to accept reality, the way things are and the way things have to be and the way things are everywhere, so shut up and stop whining!
(The latter recommendation is a favorite among people who haven't really lived anywhere else than here....)
But, apart from an unpleasant encounter two nights ago, I've found that in casual conversation with strangers I meet, most people accept some version of the claim that the economy doesn't work to serve their well-being as well as the claim that the health care system in the USA is in bad shape.....
And when I've complained about the miserable bus system, other people have mentioned better experiences in other cities of the USA.....(but then that's a selected minority of people who actually use the El Paso buses).....And I even heard one person say that there is a small group of wealthy people who really run El Paso, and that they would not like the minimum wage to get higher.....in which case El Paso rather resembles Honduras...... and in fact (they have told me) the small group of people who run El Paso want nothing to change.... Well, that was a very interesting comment....It made me think that, in this respect, El Paso is governed by the same laws as the rest of the world..... a small elite is content with the status quo, does not want change, and will do everything in their power to keep things the way they are now.
In El Paso, Texas, it never rains--so, the streets become flooded when it does...
and, incidentally, it rains much more now than it used to forty years ago.,.
In El Paso, Texas, the winters are very mild (and people are always in their trucks anyway)
so, there's not much by way of winter clothing to be purchased....
And with free markets or neo-liberalism or pie-in-the-sky, you can always get a better job if you don't like the one you have, so SHUT UP!
And then since the "free market" is so efficient you can always get what people really want.
I actually can't find shoes that fit in El Paso. Therefore, the free market has decided for me that
there's no need for shoes that fit. That, again, would seem due to the disproportionate amount of time El Pasoans spend in their trucks. They don't need shoes that are good for walking
because they ride most of their lives.
And if you don't like it HERE, it's a free country, so you can just move;; so SHUT UP!
In fact any problems you may happen to have are just due to your inability to accept reality, the way things are and the way things have to be and the way things are everywhere, so shut up and stop whining!
(The latter recommendation is a favorite among people who haven't really lived anywhere else than here....)
But, apart from an unpleasant encounter two nights ago, I've found that in casual conversation with strangers I meet, most people accept some version of the claim that the economy doesn't work to serve their well-being as well as the claim that the health care system in the USA is in bad shape.....
And when I've complained about the miserable bus system, other people have mentioned better experiences in other cities of the USA.....(but then that's a selected minority of people who actually use the El Paso buses).....And I even heard one person say that there is a small group of wealthy people who really run El Paso, and that they would not like the minimum wage to get higher.....in which case El Paso rather resembles Honduras...... and in fact (they have told me) the small group of people who run El Paso want nothing to change.... Well, that was a very interesting comment....It made me think that, in this respect, El Paso is governed by the same laws as the rest of the world..... a small elite is content with the status quo, does not want change, and will do everything in their power to keep things the way they are now.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
an apt quotation
In light of recent blog entries, the following line from Keith Oatley's "Best Laid Schemes"
lept off the page at me:
"Whole structures of unconscious attitude and intention pervade cultures."
(p. 337)
lept off the page at me:
"Whole structures of unconscious attitude and intention pervade cultures."
(p. 337)
possibly paranoia
Chance run ins with police or security guards... nothing serious.... aggressive drivers unfriendly to pedestrians...
Those are some of the ingredients which can lead to a minor case of paranoia.
When unbalanced by friendlier encounters, they can dominate your consciousness.
I believe that this describes my recent history in El Paso, Texas. So, readers of this blog might like to take that into account.
The damn thing is that I am a citizen of this country, speak the language, and was educated here; yet, I really do not really feel comfortable here....
And on second-thought:
Yes there are real devices of social control, and this is a very hierarchical society. This invisible daily oppression is largely invisible to the residents. Moreover, if you have a comfortable location in the overall set-up, it just doesn't bother you as much... Your being bothered is not at the center of your life, while for me these days I wouldn't exist if I weren't being bothered---or, so it can seem.... There is such a thing as the intellectual apprehension of inequality and injustice and the mere nuisance-factor in daily living, but if you are located at a higher level of the social pyramid, your daily problems are not so severe...
Just to be concrete, and, perhaps to repeat myself:
If you happen to be out at night, on foot, and a car appears from nowhere and shines very bright blinding lights on you, how do you feel? Scared? Annoyed? You are, so to speak, in their sights. In this country they could be armed.
thus have I been greeted by the El Paso Police Department on two occasions--occasions on which I had done nothing worthy of such scrutiny. Hyper-vigilance might be the term to describe their behavior....And those unpleasant experiences were exactly the goal of that police behavior--a kind of aggressive display of force, which for me stands part-for-whole demonstrating the true character of social relations in the USA.... As I've said before, I never experienced such aggressive scrutiny before. I've lived in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Austria, and I have been out at night many times--but never, never, never was I treated in the way I have been treated in the "land of the free".....
Those are some of the ingredients which can lead to a minor case of paranoia.
When unbalanced by friendlier encounters, they can dominate your consciousness.
I believe that this describes my recent history in El Paso, Texas. So, readers of this blog might like to take that into account.
The damn thing is that I am a citizen of this country, speak the language, and was educated here; yet, I really do not really feel comfortable here....
And on second-thought:
Yes there are real devices of social control, and this is a very hierarchical society. This invisible daily oppression is largely invisible to the residents. Moreover, if you have a comfortable location in the overall set-up, it just doesn't bother you as much... Your being bothered is not at the center of your life, while for me these days I wouldn't exist if I weren't being bothered---or, so it can seem.... There is such a thing as the intellectual apprehension of inequality and injustice and the mere nuisance-factor in daily living, but if you are located at a higher level of the social pyramid, your daily problems are not so severe...
Just to be concrete, and, perhaps to repeat myself:
If you happen to be out at night, on foot, and a car appears from nowhere and shines very bright blinding lights on you, how do you feel? Scared? Annoyed? You are, so to speak, in their sights. In this country they could be armed.
thus have I been greeted by the El Paso Police Department on two occasions--occasions on which I had done nothing worthy of such scrutiny. Hyper-vigilance might be the term to describe their behavior....And those unpleasant experiences were exactly the goal of that police behavior--a kind of aggressive display of force, which for me stands part-for-whole demonstrating the true character of social relations in the USA.... As I've said before, I never experienced such aggressive scrutiny before. I've lived in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Austria, and I have been out at night many times--but never, never, never was I treated in the way I have been treated in the "land of the free".....
Moreover, some of the unpleasantness I've experienced has undoubtedly been connected to my fondness for actually going about on foot. Without a car I've been a target. And, that, too is not a human universal. It is a very specific characteristic of the country with more destructive power than any other.
Now, someone might reasonably say: But the police themselves are scared. This is a sort of defensive maneuver on their part.
And I say: Yes, I know that. I am not talking about the rationality or lack thereof of individuals. I am talking about social patterns. What sort of society has that sort of aggressive behavior? Not every one does. And you can guess the sort of society I would like to live in....
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
local scenery
The picture above is a different beer bottle, broken on the neighbor's territory...I just don't get it. Okay, I can understand drinking beer. But, why would you break the bottles?
And why throw a bottle over the fence onto your neighbor's yard/property?
I should have taken a picture of the fence to the left. I think it's about six feet high,so you'd have to deliberately throw the beer bottle over the fence....
I don't get it. You drink a beer, you feel good (or bad or sad?).... and then you throw the
I don't get it. You drink a beer, you feel good (or bad or sad?).... and then you throw thebottle over the neighbor's fence? Is that a local custom?
a military town
Some earlier posts need to be cleaned up. I hope to get to that in the next couple of days.
I am afraid that I just had a very unpleasant experience here in El Paso, Texas. I don't think I can write about the details just now.... but it might be relevant to remind our readers that El Paso is a town with a high percentage of soldiers and ex-soldiers.
I just had a very unpleasant interchange (it can't even be called a conversation) with one
ex-soldier. It involved the police--really. Apparently my recitation of some litle known facts of history put me under suspicion....
I will only comment on one facet of the interchange now.
I heard the following, "I defended this country for twenty years."
I regret that I wasn't cool-headed to ask for the details.
I mean the United States has not fought a defensive war since World War Two
and the man who said those words was too young to be a WWII vet....
But, as I said, I wasn't cool-headed enough to make this obvious point.
I am afraid that I just had a very unpleasant experience here in El Paso, Texas. I don't think I can write about the details just now.... but it might be relevant to remind our readers that El Paso is a town with a high percentage of soldiers and ex-soldiers.
I just had a very unpleasant interchange (it can't even be called a conversation) with one
ex-soldier. It involved the police--really. Apparently my recitation of some litle known facts of history put me under suspicion....
I will only comment on one facet of the interchange now.
I heard the following, "I defended this country for twenty years."
I regret that I wasn't cool-headed to ask for the details.
I mean the United States has not fought a defensive war since World War Two
and the man who said those words was too young to be a WWII vet....
But, as I said, I wasn't cool-headed enough to make this obvious point.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
like communism only worse...
The kind of spying by private tyrannies (colloquially known as "corporations") on Michael Moore is reminiscent of Communism....
But with communism, everyone had health care...
Footnote:
"Communism" in ordinary American is a term used to refer to the political and economic system which existed in Central and Eastern Europe after World War Two until the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is arguable that it is not accurately described as "communism". For example, some commentators speak of "state capitalism". Moreover, 'communism' in the parlance of students of Marx (and I'm not one!) seems to refer to a hypothetical end-state of human development. It is also worth pointing out that scholars who read and study Marx say that Marx gave no blueprint for the creation of a better society.
With all those qualifications in mind, we might better say:
The sort of repression experienced by Michael Moore as he made "Sicko" and afterwards is similar to the repression endured by citizens of Central and Eastern Europe (e.g., Czechoslovakia) between the end of World War Two and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Insofar as the USA propaganda system teaches that the US system is diametrically opposed to the one formerly present in countries such as Czechoslovakia, it is, to say the least, greatly ironic that the repressive practices of the (so-called) Communists are used by the corporations of the USA.
Reference: See Moore's interview on "Democracy Now."
But with communism, everyone had health care...
Footnote:
"Communism" in ordinary American is a term used to refer to the political and economic system which existed in Central and Eastern Europe after World War Two until the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is arguable that it is not accurately described as "communism". For example, some commentators speak of "state capitalism". Moreover, 'communism' in the parlance of students of Marx (and I'm not one!) seems to refer to a hypothetical end-state of human development. It is also worth pointing out that scholars who read and study Marx say that Marx gave no blueprint for the creation of a better society.
With all those qualifications in mind, we might better say:
The sort of repression experienced by Michael Moore as he made "Sicko" and afterwards is similar to the repression endured by citizens of Central and Eastern Europe (e.g., Czechoslovakia) between the end of World War Two and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Insofar as the USA propaganda system teaches that the US system is diametrically opposed to the one formerly present in countries such as Czechoslovakia, it is, to say the least, greatly ironic that the repressive practices of the (so-called) Communists are used by the corporations of the USA.
Reference: See Moore's interview on "Democracy Now."
Monday, November 22, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
misery
There are many sorts of misery and many sorts of sadness.
The misery and sadness of aging.
An old man who was, when young, an athlete, and who today is almost crippled.
That is a very sad thing.
But in this country, this so-called "great" country, I see not only sadness,
but also disrespect, a lack of fundamental humanity,
in the absurd hierarchies of doctors and nurses and medical workers,
with their needless slavery to the corporation's greed for profits,
the greed for money and power by the already rich and powerful...
an obscene spectacle
And, then, too there are the banal and mundane stupidities,
banal and mundane obscenities of Puritanism,
such as
when I was about to cross the street,
I was stopped by a young man, a teenager, asking me if I woudn't buy
beer for him....
that is obscene. A crime against humanity by a blind society ignorant of how to live.
Why should this young man have to ask strangers in this way?
what secret dangerous wicked concoction must beer be?
Obviously it is more poisonous than I have ever guessed if it so jealously hidden, and
guarded from young adults.
So superstitious is this country in its Puritanism.
And so evil the way this puritanism feeds into an obscene glorification of the slavery which is falsely dignified with the name"work".
Then, too, at KMART I saw UGLINESS.
The workers at KMart desperately need to unionize.
I spoke with a woman there who told me THEY ARENOT ALLOWED TO DECIDE WHEN THEY WILL GO TO THE BATHROOM. They can only urinate or defacate on schedule.
That means that the corporation KMART treats them disrespectfully, in complete contempt for their dignity and autonomy as human beings.
KMART ... . yet another private tyranny in a land where only the word "democracy" is heard, while the concept, the thing itself is dead.....
Then too, signs of the greed of our ruling class are everywhere in KMArt: loud music telling me to be happy, telling me to shop... all brutal in its ugliness. . . . shameful in its disrespect.. . . I think I might stop buying in the month of December just to avoid the sounds of lying cheerfulness.........
The misery and sadness of aging.
An old man who was, when young, an athlete, and who today is almost crippled.
That is a very sad thing.
But in this country, this so-called "great" country, I see not only sadness,
but also disrespect, a lack of fundamental humanity,
in the absurd hierarchies of doctors and nurses and medical workers,
with their needless slavery to the corporation's greed for profits,
the greed for money and power by the already rich and powerful...
an obscene spectacle
And, then, too there are the banal and mundane stupidities,
banal and mundane obscenities of Puritanism,
such as
when I was about to cross the street,
I was stopped by a young man, a teenager, asking me if I woudn't buy
beer for him....
that is obscene. A crime against humanity by a blind society ignorant of how to live.
Why should this young man have to ask strangers in this way?
what secret dangerous wicked concoction must beer be?
Obviously it is more poisonous than I have ever guessed if it so jealously hidden, and
guarded from young adults.
So superstitious is this country in its Puritanism.
And so evil the way this puritanism feeds into an obscene glorification of the slavery which is falsely dignified with the name"work".
Then, too, at KMART I saw UGLINESS.
The workers at KMart desperately need to unionize.
I spoke with a woman there who told me THEY ARENOT ALLOWED TO DECIDE WHEN THEY WILL GO TO THE BATHROOM. They can only urinate or defacate on schedule.
That means that the corporation KMART treats them disrespectfully, in complete contempt for their dignity and autonomy as human beings.
KMART ... . yet another private tyranny in a land where only the word "democracy" is heard, while the concept, the thing itself is dead.....
Then too, signs of the greed of our ruling class are everywhere in KMArt: loud music telling me to be happy, telling me to shop... all brutal in its ugliness. . . . shameful in its disrespect.. . . I think I might stop buying in the month of December just to avoid the sounds of lying cheerfulness.........
YG's dictionary
"internet": noun; (a) A device whereby governments and the private tyrannies known as "corporations" are able to monitor the activities of citizens; (b) a high tech method whereby money moves from your pocket into the pocket of someone who needs it much less than you do, as quickly as possible; (c) a distraction
less freedom on the internet
This is just an incidental remark...
But I believe that the Internet is becoming more and more vicious.
You buy a computer and it's so designed that once you connect it to the internet, it takes you to certain places--without asking first, without giving you a chance to say no...
And lots of stuf requires registration....
more advertisements that are supposedly targeted to my "unique" profile as...
not a human being
not that
but as (forgive the obscenity)_ a "consumer" (ycccchhhhh) NO i am a citizen,
a member of a society, not merely a "shopper" yccccccchhh
and who is keeping track of where I've been?
who is keeping track of the pages I have visited?
A bad trend.
How to fight it?
Those with power and money are becoming more adept at manipulation......technology only gives them a new weapon to use in the class struggle against the rest of us.
But I believe that the Internet is becoming more and more vicious.
You buy a computer and it's so designed that once you connect it to the internet, it takes you to certain places--without asking first, without giving you a chance to say no...
And lots of stuf requires registration....
more advertisements that are supposedly targeted to my "unique" profile as...
not a human being
not that
but as (forgive the obscenity)_ a "consumer" (ycccchhhhh) NO i am a citizen,
a member of a society, not merely a "shopper" yccccccchhh
and who is keeping track of where I've been?
who is keeping track of the pages I have visited?
A bad trend.
How to fight it?
Those with power and money are becoming more adept at manipulation......technology only gives them a new weapon to use in the class struggle against the rest of us.
Friday, November 19, 2010
more stupidity, still more
TANKS in Afghanistan???!!!!??????*****
some people never learn...
but others pay for their folly ...
others suffer
some people never learn...
but others pay for their folly ...
others suffer
Thursday, November 18, 2010
a stupid country
This is a stupid country.
This afternoon I drove 24 miles (round trip) to deliver a bottle of urine to my father's kidney doctor.
This was the second time I made the trip. The first time I made the trip they refused to accept my offering because the appropriate medical worker was not present. (Apparently, they did not have a free refrigerator where I could leave the urine.)
There has got to be a better way.
On top of wasting more than an hour of my time, the whole process needlessly contributes to global warming.
This is a stupid, idiotic way to run a society.
An After-Thought: The Provincial Ethnocentrism of the West
The incident described above involved a series of interchanges with people who were, from one point of view, consistently friendly and polite.--Consistently friendly, smily and polite, yet my ease at getting done what I needed to do was not existent.
And, in general, having been away and returned to the USA, this is my consistent impression. Here in the country with the ability to cause more death and destruction than any other, politeness masks arbitrary power and does not replace it or eliminate it. (I think of the "friendly" and "polite" bouncer at KMart who I've described in previous blogs.)
Recently I spoke to a young resident of the UK who remarked in passing on the bad behavior of people in shops in the Czech Republic. I wonder if that citizen has ever experienced the blunt and intrusive and arrogant questioning style of the UK border control bureaucracy....I have.. and as I think of it now, I believe that the citizens of the UK and the citizens of the USA really have no reason to count themselve superior to Czechs or Slovaks... not on the score of the quality of human relationships.......
This afternoon I drove 24 miles (round trip) to deliver a bottle of urine to my father's kidney doctor.
This was the second time I made the trip. The first time I made the trip they refused to accept my offering because the appropriate medical worker was not present. (Apparently, they did not have a free refrigerator where I could leave the urine.)
There has got to be a better way.
On top of wasting more than an hour of my time, the whole process needlessly contributes to global warming.
This is a stupid, idiotic way to run a society.
An After-Thought: The Provincial Ethnocentrism of the West
The incident described above involved a series of interchanges with people who were, from one point of view, consistently friendly and polite.--Consistently friendly, smily and polite, yet my ease at getting done what I needed to do was not existent.
And, in general, having been away and returned to the USA, this is my consistent impression. Here in the country with the ability to cause more death and destruction than any other, politeness masks arbitrary power and does not replace it or eliminate it. (I think of the "friendly" and "polite" bouncer at KMart who I've described in previous blogs.)
Recently I spoke to a young resident of the UK who remarked in passing on the bad behavior of people in shops in the Czech Republic. I wonder if that citizen has ever experienced the blunt and intrusive and arrogant questioning style of the UK border control bureaucracy....I have.. and as I think of it now, I believe that the citizens of the UK and the citizens of the USA really have no reason to count themselve superior to Czechs or Slovaks... not on the score of the quality of human relationships.......
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
what a lousy place to live
A Bad Country and a Bad City; not a nice place to live......
This is really just a pathetically awful place to live, but my parents live here god damn it!
Don't they deserve better?
And don't their neighbors deserve better?
When I lived in Bratislava, there were three places within easy walking distance where I could buy fresh fruit and vegetables.
And, oddly enough, the fruits and vegetables were not of uniform size. Nay, sometimes they weren't even pretty to look at.
But, guess what? They tasted good! Much better than what's available at the local "Albertsons"!
And another thing. Let's talk about Walgreens. In Europe pharmacies do not sell groceries and grocery stores do not sell prescription medicines. At least not the last time I was in Vienna or Bratislava. And, I think that's a good thing. It cuts down on monopolies.
But here in El Paso, Texas, we buy food in Walgreens--and we also routinely purchase over-priced medicines which are over-priced because the government of the USA does not represent the people of the USA---but guess what? Every Sunday sale prices are advertised. And by Wednesday everything of any interest is gone--OK, let's not say 'everything', let's be careful and say: lots of stuff, or a significant amount of stuff. I wanted, e.g., today (Wednesday) to buy a sugar free breakfast cereal. God knows there are not many of those, and the one I know of was on sale.
But, guess what? This being Wednesday, when I arrived at Walgreens after a walk that may be good for myhealth but wreaks havoc on my aesthetic sense, there was (you guessed it) none of the advertised breakfast cereal! Of course, I can get something called a "rain check", but in the past fourteen months or so, I have collected a few "rain checks", and guess what? The items that I got a rain check for have not yet appeared on the store's shelves.....hmmmmm. Why the hell pretend the sale goes from Sunday to Saturday when for all practical purposes it ends on Tuesday?
Who are we kidding here? But then again, this is the organization that has the nerve to push flu vaccine with aggressive advertising (E.g. the t shirts worn by workers)... They are flaunting their social deficiency when they should be ashamed of themselves. Public health is good for everyone and it should not be for sale. Some brain cells are lacking here, or maybe there's a hole in the conceptual nets of the citizenry or maybe just the ruling class--an idea like public good is too hard to grasp? A dangerous idea? I don't know, but there must be some explanation...But, getting back to the point:
This is a bad place to live. It is not a good place to live. This is a badly run, badly managed country, and a badly managed ugly metropolitan center. (I refuse to mis-represent this mess by calling it a "city". )
(And, let's not forget, as if it weren't bad enough....that we have all this ugliness and misery at home,....on top of that we have to export death and destruction to Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and a few other countries we might mention if we had all night.....thank you very much. Nothing good or admirable about that....)
About my unpleasant walk to and from Walgreens---- the sort of thing that starves and diminishes and damages any sense of beauty, proportion, harmony, etc. etc. etc.:
I noticed (once again) the painful UGLINESS of this place again as I walked through what seemed to be mile after mile of asphalt---parking lots for cars---on my way to Walgreens....everywhere bright lights and ugly advertising....but (n.b.) the actual neighborhoods (where people, not cars, live) are poorly lit. The lighting in my neighborhood is as bad as COMMUNIST lighting--I know. I've been there.
This is really just a pathetically awful place to live, but my parents live here god damn it!
Don't they deserve better?
And don't their neighbors deserve better?
When I lived in Bratislava, there were three places within easy walking distance where I could buy fresh fruit and vegetables.
And, oddly enough, the fruits and vegetables were not of uniform size. Nay, sometimes they weren't even pretty to look at.
But, guess what? They tasted good! Much better than what's available at the local "Albertsons"!
And another thing. Let's talk about Walgreens. In Europe pharmacies do not sell groceries and grocery stores do not sell prescription medicines. At least not the last time I was in Vienna or Bratislava. And, I think that's a good thing. It cuts down on monopolies.
But here in El Paso, Texas, we buy food in Walgreens--and we also routinely purchase over-priced medicines which are over-priced because the government of the USA does not represent the people of the USA---but guess what? Every Sunday sale prices are advertised. And by Wednesday everything of any interest is gone--OK, let's not say 'everything', let's be careful and say: lots of stuff, or a significant amount of stuff. I wanted, e.g., today (Wednesday) to buy a sugar free breakfast cereal. God knows there are not many of those, and the one I know of was on sale.
But, guess what? This being Wednesday, when I arrived at Walgreens after a walk that may be good for myhealth but wreaks havoc on my aesthetic sense, there was (you guessed it) none of the advertised breakfast cereal! Of course, I can get something called a "rain check", but in the past fourteen months or so, I have collected a few "rain checks", and guess what? The items that I got a rain check for have not yet appeared on the store's shelves.....hmmmmm. Why the hell pretend the sale goes from Sunday to Saturday when for all practical purposes it ends on Tuesday?
Who are we kidding here? But then again, this is the organization that has the nerve to push flu vaccine with aggressive advertising (E.g. the t shirts worn by workers)... They are flaunting their social deficiency when they should be ashamed of themselves. Public health is good for everyone and it should not be for sale. Some brain cells are lacking here, or maybe there's a hole in the conceptual nets of the citizenry or maybe just the ruling class--an idea like public good is too hard to grasp? A dangerous idea? I don't know, but there must be some explanation...But, getting back to the point:
This is a bad place to live. It is not a good place to live. This is a badly run, badly managed country, and a badly managed ugly metropolitan center. (I refuse to mis-represent this mess by calling it a "city". )
(And, let's not forget, as if it weren't bad enough....that we have all this ugliness and misery at home,....on top of that we have to export death and destruction to Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and a few other countries we might mention if we had all night.....thank you very much. Nothing good or admirable about that....)
About my unpleasant walk to and from Walgreens---- the sort of thing that starves and diminishes and damages any sense of beauty, proportion, harmony, etc. etc. etc.:
I noticed (once again) the painful UGLINESS of this place again as I walked through what seemed to be mile after mile of asphalt---parking lots for cars---on my way to Walgreens....everywhere bright lights and ugly advertising....but (n.b.) the actual neighborhoods (where people, not cars, live) are poorly lit. The lighting in my neighborhood is as bad as COMMUNIST lighting--I know. I've been there.
murdoch media (again)
I remember now what it was about Fox that really made we want to throw up.
A fancy hollywoodish well-produced slick tribute to the courage of soldiers....
and then a request ....
a request for what?
It wasn't clear, but I took it that the message was: the brave soldiers need help. You can help them get the medical care they deserve...
If you send us money...
Hello! Who is paying for the wars? First, citizens who pay taxes--so, not corporations, and not the super-rich...
So, once again, we should pay twice?
True enough, soldiers are not getting what they deserve. Who is? Well, some people are getting more than they deserve--the people sometimes described as the "ruling class", a small minority of the USA, something like one percent of the population; but that's another story... or, is it?
A fancy hollywoodish well-produced slick tribute to the courage of soldiers....
and then a request ....
a request for what?
It wasn't clear, but I took it that the message was: the brave soldiers need help. You can help them get the medical care they deserve...
If you send us money...
Hello! Who is paying for the wars? First, citizens who pay taxes--so, not corporations, and not the super-rich...
So, once again, we should pay twice?
True enough, soldiers are not getting what they deserve. Who is? Well, some people are getting more than they deserve--the people sometimes described as the "ruling class", a small minority of the USA, something like one percent of the population; but that's another story... or, is it?
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
the unplanned and unexpected intervenes.....
coming soon: an example of technology multiplying the bad consequences of human error....
errr...no, not soon...actually, blogging temporarily suspended.....hope to return soon....
This was to be a description of an unpleasant experience recently.... wasting my time...
the inefficiency of the medical bureaucracy...the stupidity of the citizens of EL Paso, Texas who cannot imagine another way of life, and mindlessly propagate themselves and the stupidity....
needlessly adding to global warming, and all the rest.... really just par for the course in this country, and this city...regrettably I am still trapped in this hell which is called "El Paso, Texas"...not even a city really ... sorry but it's not funny, and I don't know when I'll get round to saying something sensible...
maybe tomorrow...
maybe never....
errr...no, not soon...actually, blogging temporarily suspended.....hope to return soon....
This was to be a description of an unpleasant experience recently.... wasting my time...
the inefficiency of the medical bureaucracy...the stupidity of the citizens of EL Paso, Texas who cannot imagine another way of life, and mindlessly propagate themselves and the stupidity....
needlessly adding to global warming, and all the rest.... really just par for the course in this country, and this city...regrettably I am still trapped in this hell which is called "El Paso, Texas"...not even a city really ... sorry but it's not funny, and I don't know when I'll get round to saying something sensible...
maybe tomorrow...
maybe never....
Monday, November 15, 2010
Fox News and anti-democratic doctors
Today I had the dubious pleasure of waiting with my parents in the waiting room of a doctor they go to. The room was dominated by a large flat screen tv tuned to "Fox".
The content of the programming deserves mention, but prior to that:
I had a conversation with one of the women working there and learned that the doctor forbids them to change the channel or turn the TV off. "And what if someone would prefer to read in quiet?", I asked. No matter, the doctor forbids it. In other word, one is a captive audience to Rupert Murdoch's propaganda.
Indeed, the woman I spoke with explained that people working there would prefer to have a non-news channel, but the doctor (who, it would appear, doesn't even watch the TV) forbade it.
Three cheers for scientific medicine and tyranny!
As for the content: a diatribe against government. What evil crime was government committing? Lying about the unemployment situation. Indeed, governments lie.
But the solution to the problem is not less government, or a government that gives money to back up dubious financial transactions. What's needed is a form of government or social organization which actually is democratic and aims at producing the common good--something the USA does not have. (And specifically that part of the common good which involves the creation of decent jobs!)
Details escape me, but Fanny Mae and its partner were mis-represented as wholly government run. Somehow, the facts that they were for-profit and their top managers generously rewarded according to performance were left out of the story. (As I recall Fanny and Freddie have been partially privatized...)
In any case, the complaint was that failed mortgages were costing tax payers money. We were told that they've got to get the people out of the houses, and sell them.
Yes, that would be good for the banks who made bad loans, and behaved irresponsibly in the first place, but what about the people who ostensibly Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac were serving?
Sorry, but people can't pay their mortgages for a variety of reasons--largely because the homes were over-valued in the first place, but also because people were given housing loans without proper vetting. One way to keep people in their homes would be to change the terms of the mortgage--i.e., attempt to arrive at a more accurate valuation of the homes. It would appear that banks won't do that, and are relying upon taxpayer money to guarantee their over-valuations..... And banks won't do that because it would mean that their on-paper account of assets would shrink....(Notice it doesn't mean they would lose money and therefore bank employees or managers would starve; it means they would become less profitable--not unprofitable, but less profitable...)
But that's not the story on Fox. The story on Fox left out any reponsibillity on the part of the financial institutions and did not explain that the financial institutions made bad deals which now are being covered by the money of ordinary citizens. It was made to sound as though this were merely bad behavior by government.
I've forgotten the other anti-government nonsense I was subjected to, but I have one final thought. Rupert Murdoch's status as a war criminal is owed to the fact that he used all of the resources of the newspapers and media he controls to encourage a war of aggression against Iraq. And, it was plain at the time that the war was not a response to any real threat. (I recall very well that an Art Historian or someone with similar credentials published a one page analysis (in "Nature") of C. Powell's performance at the UN, and pointed out that it was unconvincing and inconclusive. And he didn't have to use fancy mathematics or sophisticated reasoning to reach that conclusion.) As a consequence of that war, about a quarter of the population of Iraq has been forced to leave their homes. It would seem that through Fox news Murdoch is aiming to have another gluttonous feast of evictions--right here in the land of the free and home of the world's greatest collection of weapons of mass destruction....It's not enough that a quarter of the Iraqi population is displaced (the country in ruin, a million dead), but now Murdoch is aiming to wreak havoc in the land of the free and home of the brave...
The content of the programming deserves mention, but prior to that:
I had a conversation with one of the women working there and learned that the doctor forbids them to change the channel or turn the TV off. "And what if someone would prefer to read in quiet?", I asked. No matter, the doctor forbids it. In other word, one is a captive audience to Rupert Murdoch's propaganda.
Indeed, the woman I spoke with explained that people working there would prefer to have a non-news channel, but the doctor (who, it would appear, doesn't even watch the TV) forbade it.
Three cheers for scientific medicine and tyranny!
As for the content: a diatribe against government. What evil crime was government committing? Lying about the unemployment situation. Indeed, governments lie.
But the solution to the problem is not less government, or a government that gives money to back up dubious financial transactions. What's needed is a form of government or social organization which actually is democratic and aims at producing the common good--something the USA does not have. (And specifically that part of the common good which involves the creation of decent jobs!)
Details escape me, but Fanny Mae and its partner were mis-represented as wholly government run. Somehow, the facts that they were for-profit and their top managers generously rewarded according to performance were left out of the story. (As I recall Fanny and Freddie have been partially privatized...)
In any case, the complaint was that failed mortgages were costing tax payers money. We were told that they've got to get the people out of the houses, and sell them.
Yes, that would be good for the banks who made bad loans, and behaved irresponsibly in the first place, but what about the people who ostensibly Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac were serving?
Sorry, but people can't pay their mortgages for a variety of reasons--largely because the homes were over-valued in the first place, but also because people were given housing loans without proper vetting. One way to keep people in their homes would be to change the terms of the mortgage--i.e., attempt to arrive at a more accurate valuation of the homes. It would appear that banks won't do that, and are relying upon taxpayer money to guarantee their over-valuations..... And banks won't do that because it would mean that their on-paper account of assets would shrink....(Notice it doesn't mean they would lose money and therefore bank employees or managers would starve; it means they would become less profitable--not unprofitable, but less profitable...)
But that's not the story on Fox. The story on Fox left out any reponsibillity on the part of the financial institutions and did not explain that the financial institutions made bad deals which now are being covered by the money of ordinary citizens. It was made to sound as though this were merely bad behavior by government.
I've forgotten the other anti-government nonsense I was subjected to, but I have one final thought. Rupert Murdoch's status as a war criminal is owed to the fact that he used all of the resources of the newspapers and media he controls to encourage a war of aggression against Iraq. And, it was plain at the time that the war was not a response to any real threat. (I recall very well that an Art Historian or someone with similar credentials published a one page analysis (in "Nature") of C. Powell's performance at the UN, and pointed out that it was unconvincing and inconclusive. And he didn't have to use fancy mathematics or sophisticated reasoning to reach that conclusion.) As a consequence of that war, about a quarter of the population of Iraq has been forced to leave their homes. It would seem that through Fox news Murdoch is aiming to have another gluttonous feast of evictions--right here in the land of the free and home of the world's greatest collection of weapons of mass destruction....It's not enough that a quarter of the Iraqi population is displaced (the country in ruin, a million dead), but now Murdoch is aiming to wreak havoc in the land of the free and home of the brave...
get me out of here!!!!ycccch
Oh NO! NO!
the most kitsch most consumerist time of the year is coming
shit!
I forgot all about it.
Would that I could quickly speed away to some place far from this capitalist misery.....
the most kitsch most consumerist time of the year is coming
shit!
I forgot all about it.
Would that I could quickly speed away to some place far from this capitalist misery.....
GUEST BLOGGER
Professor LLL:
"Cities? Ha ha ha. There are no cities in the United States. You have so-called
urban centers and they are not nice..."
"New York?"
"Ah, but that's a special case; anyway rents in the actual city are unaffordable.."
"No, it's not a livable country... not at all..."
Opinions expressed by LLL are his own and may not be widely shared. \\
L3 has kindly agreed to answer the editor's query:
Editor: Well, Look L3, aren't you just being obscure, elitist, and dogmatic? What do you mean by 'urban center'?
L3: "Well, look! You've got these collection of homes where the guiding principle is making things accessible to cars--cars, not people. The proof of this is the cultural artifact, a truly ugly invention known as the "parking lot". Someone has thought about providing access to the car, but not to the person. As soon as you leave your car, you are on your own, bravely dodging other vehicles and trying not to get struck by one. You see all the planning focuses upon the car, not the actual human being.... and that's just one example..."
"Cities? Ha ha ha. There are no cities in the United States. You have so-called
urban centers and they are not nice..."
"New York?"
"Ah, but that's a special case; anyway rents in the actual city are unaffordable.."
"No, it's not a livable country... not at all..."
Opinions expressed by LLL are his own and may not be widely shared. \\
L3 has kindly agreed to answer the editor's query:
Editor: Well, Look L3, aren't you just being obscure, elitist, and dogmatic? What do you mean by 'urban center'?
L3: "Well, look! You've got these collection of homes where the guiding principle is making things accessible to cars--cars, not people. The proof of this is the cultural artifact, a truly ugly invention known as the "parking lot". Someone has thought about providing access to the car, but not to the person. As soon as you leave your car, you are on your own, bravely dodging other vehicles and trying not to get struck by one. You see all the planning focuses upon the car, not the actual human being.... and that's just one example..."
I accuse...
I ACCUSE!
but who?
It's not clear exactly whose name I should list. Who exactly can I blame? That takes the steam out of my anger.
Nonetheless, it is increasingly clear to me that there is a kind of conspiracy involving doctors, private companies which sell health services, and government, a conspiracy designed to make it difficult for citizens to obtain the health care they deserve, the health care which is necessary for a minimally decent life.
Of course, all that is complicated for an eighty-something year old person living in the wilderness which is El Paso, Texas, a city without proper public transport, where it might be necessary to travel for twenty or thirty minutes for a doctor visit. (But do I cheat? Is public transport necessarily better than a private car if you are in your eighties? No, not necessarily, but it is better if you are not able to drive, and it's grotesque and senseless that everything is so far away. It is grotesque and unnecessary... And it doesn't seem to be changing--worst of all! The government is building more and more highways instead of building trams, metros, etc. etc. As if we weren't running out of oil... as if people were not actually dying every year as a result of climate change... as if climate change were not real.... as if professors of this or that at UTEP who might actually know something about climate change were silent......)
So, the inadequacy of the national transport system is a contributing factor in this denial of dignity and decency.
(Or, perhaps, the insane way that cities are not really designed --or designed to achieve perverse purposes---has the consequence that life is harder precisely when it should be easier--harder after a lifetime of work! Hypocrisy in a country which prides itself on the so-called "work ethic". Shameful hypocrisy....
This is not all that I have to say on this topic, but it is all I can say right now.....
but who?
It's not clear exactly whose name I should list. Who exactly can I blame? That takes the steam out of my anger.
Nonetheless, it is increasingly clear to me that there is a kind of conspiracy involving doctors, private companies which sell health services, and government, a conspiracy designed to make it difficult for citizens to obtain the health care they deserve, the health care which is necessary for a minimally decent life.
Of course, all that is complicated for an eighty-something year old person living in the wilderness which is El Paso, Texas, a city without proper public transport, where it might be necessary to travel for twenty or thirty minutes for a doctor visit. (But do I cheat? Is public transport necessarily better than a private car if you are in your eighties? No, not necessarily, but it is better if you are not able to drive, and it's grotesque and senseless that everything is so far away. It is grotesque and unnecessary... And it doesn't seem to be changing--worst of all! The government is building more and more highways instead of building trams, metros, etc. etc. As if we weren't running out of oil... as if people were not actually dying every year as a result of climate change... as if climate change were not real.... as if professors of this or that at UTEP who might actually know something about climate change were silent......)
So, the inadequacy of the national transport system is a contributing factor in this denial of dignity and decency.
(Or, perhaps, the insane way that cities are not really designed --or designed to achieve perverse purposes---has the consequence that life is harder precisely when it should be easier--harder after a lifetime of work! Hypocrisy in a country which prides itself on the so-called "work ethic". Shameful hypocrisy....
This is not all that I have to say on this topic, but it is all I can say right now.....
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Communism in the USA
When I lived in Slovakia, I frequently heard the following story about life under "communism":
there was no incentive to work hard. If you worked hard you got the same rewards as someone who was lazy.
Equally, there is a problem with motivation today in the USA, though it's a slightly different problem.
You can work long hours with intensity and still get little by way of reward--aka low pay and few or no benefits.... You may have no health insurance, or once you retire you find that your retirement package has disappeared or diminished....
One's motive is not the hope of a better life, but the fear of starvation.
Not a pretty picture. You tell me that it's better than communism? No one had to fear starvation under communism.
Communism (so called) was a deeply un-egalitarian system, and therefore hypocritical in its maintenance of what Michael Albert calls a "coordinator class", but,
at least there was a material minimum below which people were not allowed to fall--and that does not exist in the land with the greatest destructive capacity in history
And, I will add as an after-thought (stimulated by something I heard a Hungarian social scientist say): those societies which we call "communist" did have a vision of a social minimum. There were some things which, simply put, every community had to have--such as a cultural center in every neighborhood, a social good available to all. I didn't live in Slovakia during communism, but I saw first hand the remnants of the old system. And people living in Eastern Europe remember this idea that every community, every neighborhood should reach a minimum level, and it influences them--especially the older part of the population. The young, by contrast, are often animated by a wholly unrealistic and unsupportable form of "market fundamentalism" and are blind to these ideas...they are, indeed, fanatical and ruthless in their devotion to this new way of getting ahead... as fanatical as perhaps another younger generation was in its pursuit of "communism".....But I hasten to add the the word "often" in that last sentence is not a sociologist's "often", the product of careful counting, but merely the expression of something I've noticed that was salient at the time....significant though its significance is not easily quantifiable...
[Perhaps the word "often" is merely an indication that the very the ruthlessness of the new believers in capitalism impressed me with their audacity and narrow single-mindedness, as if they were fleeing the past with all possible haste, not looking over their shoulders, and refusing to engage in any form of self-reflection, or hear any doubts about the direction in which they were moving.]
And that idea of a minimum level of decent life either does not exist at all or exists in an atrophied form in the USA. Individuals may have that idea, but it does not rise to a level where it actually influences social organization...Indeed the trend is currently downhill, toward a more feudal style of organization...
Note: If you asked me to support the claim that market fundamentalism is unsupportable, I might begin with citing or developing arguments in John Quiggin's Zombie Economics, Princeton UP 2010.
Complaint: No one had to fear starvation!?? But what about torture, political oppression?
Funny thing, that. I read somewhere that there has been torture in the USA, and I think I even read somewhere that someone had gotten in trouble for their political opinions too, like FBI raids early in the morning. But, then again, maybe I only imagined it.....
there was no incentive to work hard. If you worked hard you got the same rewards as someone who was lazy.
Equally, there is a problem with motivation today in the USA, though it's a slightly different problem.
You can work long hours with intensity and still get little by way of reward--aka low pay and few or no benefits.... You may have no health insurance, or once you retire you find that your retirement package has disappeared or diminished....
One's motive is not the hope of a better life, but the fear of starvation.
Not a pretty picture. You tell me that it's better than communism? No one had to fear starvation under communism.
Communism (so called) was a deeply un-egalitarian system, and therefore hypocritical in its maintenance of what Michael Albert calls a "coordinator class", but,
at least there was a material minimum below which people were not allowed to fall--and that does not exist in the land with the greatest destructive capacity in history
And, I will add as an after-thought (stimulated by something I heard a Hungarian social scientist say): those societies which we call "communist" did have a vision of a social minimum. There were some things which, simply put, every community had to have--such as a cultural center in every neighborhood, a social good available to all. I didn't live in Slovakia during communism, but I saw first hand the remnants of the old system. And people living in Eastern Europe remember this idea that every community, every neighborhood should reach a minimum level, and it influences them--especially the older part of the population. The young, by contrast, are often animated by a wholly unrealistic and unsupportable form of "market fundamentalism" and are blind to these ideas...they are, indeed, fanatical and ruthless in their devotion to this new way of getting ahead... as fanatical as perhaps another younger generation was in its pursuit of "communism".....But I hasten to add the the word "often" in that last sentence is not a sociologist's "often", the product of careful counting, but merely the expression of something I've noticed that was salient at the time....significant though its significance is not easily quantifiable...
[Perhaps the word "often" is merely an indication that the very the ruthlessness of the new believers in capitalism impressed me with their audacity and narrow single-mindedness, as if they were fleeing the past with all possible haste, not looking over their shoulders, and refusing to engage in any form of self-reflection, or hear any doubts about the direction in which they were moving.]
And that idea of a minimum level of decent life either does not exist at all or exists in an atrophied form in the USA. Individuals may have that idea, but it does not rise to a level where it actually influences social organization...Indeed the trend is currently downhill, toward a more feudal style of organization...
Note: If you asked me to support the claim that market fundamentalism is unsupportable, I might begin with citing or developing arguments in John Quiggin's Zombie Economics, Princeton UP 2010.
Complaint: No one had to fear starvation!?? But what about torture, political oppression?
Funny thing, that. I read somewhere that there has been torture in the USA, and I think I even read somewhere that someone had gotten in trouble for their political opinions too, like FBI raids early in the morning. But, then again, maybe I only imagined it.....
Saturday, November 13, 2010
CAPITALIST RESENTMENT
I've worked hard all week.... endured the degradation implied by following a boss's orders.... had to smile when I didn't mean it... in short, I had to eat shit.
But now the weekend is here, and I can do whatever I want.
I can play my music so loud that my neighbors get annoyed, but hey, F. them!
It's my music and my house.
And I can let my dogs run free in my fenced in lawn. And they can shit and bark at anyone they choose. It is my lawn and it is my shit.
Now I can experience the pleasure of freedom, capitalist freedom...
No, I've never read Frederick Douglass's "Life of a Slave". Why do you mention it?
But now the weekend is here, and I can do whatever I want.
I can play my music so loud that my neighbors get annoyed, but hey, F. them!
It's my music and my house.
And I can let my dogs run free in my fenced in lawn. And they can shit and bark at anyone they choose. It is my lawn and it is my shit.
Now I can experience the pleasure of freedom, capitalist freedom...
No, I've never read Frederick Douglass's "Life of a Slave". Why do you mention it?
Friday, November 12, 2010
war crimes
As I learned at Brian Leiter's "Leiter Reports", there is important information about US war crimes at Alan Gilbert's "Democratic Individuality" blog,
http://democratic-individuality.blogspot.com/
You'll want to see the entry of Wed., November 10, 2010
At Gilbert's blog, you will learn that there is reason to add the name "Petraeus" to the list of prominent North Americans who are guilty of war crimes.
http://democratic-individuality.blogspot.com/
You'll want to see the entry of Wed., November 10, 2010
At Gilbert's blog, you will learn that there is reason to add the name "Petraeus" to the list of prominent North Americans who are guilty of war crimes.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
guest blogger
New Special Feature: A Guest Blogger.
Professor Louis L. Lucas (hero of "A Neurotic in an Exotic Land") comments:
You've seen the headlines:
"Violent Protests"
"Protests Turn Violent"
How many times does the press talk about "violence" when what's really happened is only damage to property?
(Oh, yes, there may be pushing and shoving between demonstrators and police, but the question is whether the press routinely and systematically exaggerates in order to promote a negative view of legitimate protest....)
Professor Louis L. Lucas (hero of "A Neurotic in an Exotic Land") comments:
You've seen the headlines:
"Violent Protests"
"Protests Turn Violent"
How many times does the press talk about "violence" when what's really happened is only damage to property?
(Oh, yes, there may be pushing and shoving between demonstrators and police, but the question is whether the press routinely and systematically exaggerates in order to promote a negative view of legitimate protest....)
Comment/Objection:
Are you saying that if a protester throws a bottle at a policeman, that's not violence?
LLL replies: If you throw a bottle at someone, that is an attempt to injure them. That is an attempt to do physical violence.
But, then again, was the policeman protected by a riot shield? What damage was really done? To be sure, policemen, like soldiers, are doing a job and they are not members of the rulling class......So, what I am really saying is that we need more context. And I am suggesting that there is a broad tendency to portray events in one direction, so as to under-mine any legitimate grievances. The same thing happens when unions who strike in France are portrayed as lazy--not by exactly using that word, but by more subtle shading of the reports....
if I only had the time...
If I only had the time, I would like to mention Baby Bush's recent interview on network television promoting "his" book...(did he really write it--all by himself?)
As an author without a publisher, I take such questions very seriously...
(My book--a short, comic novel which is a cross between James Bond and the Nutty Professor--is available through "Wordclay", and there's a link below...)
Not to mention the actual content of the so-called interview...
not to mention Bush's attitude: a combination of arrogance and shameless stupidity...
as if he were thinking, "I have to do this but I really find this guy annoying and his questions an annoyance..."
Torture? Legal? The lawyers told me it was.....
Is torture really so technical a matter, so hard to figure out?
Possibly my favorite piece of arrogance is the suggestion that the poor man's feelings were hurt..
He played that card a couple of times... I presume that someone told him to do it....
Ohhhhhh Poooor Baby Bush! Does he lay awake thinking about all those who were massacred in Iraq? (I doubt it!)
But even more important: ?Why can't doctors visit sick patients? My imagination is filled with the thought of the elderly and the sick travellilng to their doctors....
I have heard that in France doctors still make home visits....
But I really haven't got time to say anything today...
As an author without a publisher, I take such questions very seriously...
(My book--a short, comic novel which is a cross between James Bond and the Nutty Professor--is available through "Wordclay", and there's a link below...)
Not to mention the actual content of the so-called interview...
not to mention Bush's attitude: a combination of arrogance and shameless stupidity...
as if he were thinking, "I have to do this but I really find this guy annoying and his questions an annoyance..."
Torture? Legal? The lawyers told me it was.....
Is torture really so technical a matter, so hard to figure out?
Possibly my favorite piece of arrogance is the suggestion that the poor man's feelings were hurt..
He played that card a couple of times... I presume that someone told him to do it....
Ohhhhhh Poooor Baby Bush! Does he lay awake thinking about all those who were massacred in Iraq? (I doubt it!)
But even more important: ?Why can't doctors visit sick patients? My imagination is filled with the thought of the elderly and the sick travellilng to their doctors....
I have heard that in France doctors still make home visits....
But I really haven't got time to say anything today...
Friday, November 5, 2010
in passing
I was dumb-founded when I hear some politican called Boehner say repeatedly that
the USA has the "best healthcare system in the world."
This is not true according to any reasonable interpretation of "best".
Short argument: There is a chart in "The Spirit Level" which compares expenditures against life expectancy. The USA spends more per citizen on health care, but the citizens of countries which spend much less live longer (on average) than do citizens of the USA...
Possible explanations:
a. Boehner does not know what the word "best" means.....
b. When Boehner says "best" he means the USA pays more per capita...
c. Boehner doesn't know what he is saying.
d. Boeher is dishonest or craven or a liar, or possibly a demagogue....
Well, strictly speaking Boehner did not say the USA has the best system.. He only said that Ob ama was threatening to destroy the best system... maybe he was thinking of another country's health care system...(Sweden or France or Germany.... )
Source: I heard Boehner say this more than once on "Democracy Now". Presumably they re-played it because they were themselves amused/surprised/ or possibly even outraged....
November 4 2010
Democracy Now: http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/4/headlines
Emotions, Language, and Fiction
If you are interested in the emotions, language, and fiction, you might wish to look at the article I've just posted at my other blog,...."A Neurotic in an Exotic Land."
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
a stew of ignorance and resignation
There are many shocking and disturbing features of life in the USA.
Recently, talking to citizens of this country, I have been struck by a combination of ignorance and resignation. Believing that things are somehow not exactly good or right, the people I've spoken to seem to adopt an attitude of measured resignation.
Yet, this is not tempered by actual knowledge of how bad things really are in the United States.
If I were to recommend one source for the claim that things are bad, I might recommend The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson (I misspelled his name earlier--whoops!) and Kate Pickett. There are a variety of charts there which measure quality of life--and in all of them the USA winds up on the bottom--as compared to other industrialized countries.
Another source might be Erik Olin Wright and Joel Roger's American Society; How it Really Works. (This is not a work I have studied carefully, but I did read parts of the internet pre-publication post.)
But, that general phenomenon is not new. I have a clear memory of regularly reading in the Slovak press what various UNESCO studies had to say about the low quality of life in the USA.....
A disturbing rhetorical trend is the American's willingness to justify a corrupt and unjust system with the remark "every system [[health care, political, economic...]] has its problems." That represents an evasion. It frees the mind from focusing upon the real problem. It's the sort of universal thought-avoiding solvent that could be used to justify all sorts of tyranny and worse.
The problem isn't about tinkering around the edges to make something smoother or better; it is about fundamental inequality and injustice.....unnecessary misery and suffering, the degradation of our humanity...
Note:
"The Spirit Level" has stirred up a good bit of controversy. However, to judge from the Wikipedia article about the book, the authors have taken the time to answer critics..... Anyone interested in knowing more might take a look at Wikipedia.... There seem to be a good number of links there....
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
walgreens
30 minutes waiting in line for medicines... two of them were supposed to be ready yesterday, but were not--and yesterday I also waited inline 15 or 20 minutes....
yes, I remember that's what they used to say about communism: people waiting in lines....
yes, I remember that's what they used to say about communism: people waiting in lines....
Monday, November 1, 2010
no communism here
I went to Walgreens to pick up medicine for my elderly parents.
I waited in line... how long? don't know precisely,
but at Walgreens about 90 per cent of the time I do....
The medicines were not ready...
but if I wanted to wait an hour...
Funny! I remember that during Communism people were always waiting in lines...
Ah, but with Communism health care was universal
And even today in Slovakia, a post-socialist (former Communist) country, medicines are
cheaper.
And when I lived there I never had the kind of problem I have at Walgreens--e.g., waiting in line to find out the medicine which was supposed to be ready is not.... No, I had no such problems...
I believe that the modern Slovak health care system is very similar to that which they had under communism...
I waited in line... how long? don't know precisely,
but at Walgreens about 90 per cent of the time I do....
The medicines were not ready...
but if I wanted to wait an hour...
Funny! I remember that during Communism people were always waiting in lines...
Ah, but with Communism health care was universal
And even today in Slovakia, a post-socialist (former Communist) country, medicines are
cheaper.
And when I lived there I never had the kind of problem I have at Walgreens--e.g., waiting in line to find out the medicine which was supposed to be ready is not.... No, I had no such problems...
I believe that the modern Slovak health care system is very similar to that which they had under communism...
Blue Cross Blue Shield
As it happens, my father has insurance through "Blue Cross/Blue Shield". I've just been
looking at the CD they sent in the mail...
I wonder....
How much money do they spend paying actors to pose for photos?
Oh, yes, they are nice photos..
Handsome men and women...
Nice clothes...
etc...
but couldn't the money be better spent elsewhere?
looking at the CD they sent in the mail...
I wonder....
How much money do they spend paying actors to pose for photos?
Oh, yes, they are nice photos..
Handsome men and women...
Nice clothes...
etc...
but couldn't the money be better spent elsewhere?
The American Way/the American RIP OFF
A basic axiom of warfare is that combatants grab whatever is to hand.
This applies equally well to CLASS warfare.
Thus so-called health insurance providers will now require citizens to own computers,
and print out information.
Instead of providing printed information, we, the citizens must pay for the paper and
ink....
the United States of BAnks
a country where the RICHEST are constantly engaged in classwarfare with the rest of us....
This applies equally well to CLASS warfare.
Thus so-called health insurance providers will now require citizens to own computers,
and print out information.
Instead of providing printed information, we, the citizens must pay for the paper and
ink....
the United States of BAnks
a country where the RICHEST are constantly engaged in classwarfare with the rest of us....
in passing/the grouch reads
the grouch reads and comments in passing on....
Naomi Reshotko's Socratic Virtue....(Cambridge UP)
On page 50, Naomi quotes Penner and Rowe:
"In general people are well aware their conceptions and descriptions of the people they are referring to are inadquate."
(quoting their 1994, "The Desire for the Good; is the Meno inconsistent with the Gorgias?", p. 6, in Phronesis 39 (1), 1-25)
Now here's my in-passing remark (which I make with some trepidation, as these things can be complicated)....
One might want to emphasize that the remark concerns referring to people. But my first thought goes something like this:
That sort of openness to correction--though it is certainly the wise policy--did not characterize my work experiences from 1996 to 2009. My employers didn't want to hear any sort of corrections of their mistaken views--unless that happened to be asked in an extremely restricted, technical context. (E.g. one pompous and arrogant woman decided that a school "needed" a dress code, and left the teachers to decide exactly which length of skirt was acceptable for proper young ladies...)
When I speak above of "their mistaken views", you may think that I am dogmatic or
arrogant; you could equally say: they just didn't want to discuss or consider alternative views once they had decided--and it wasn't necessarily the case that I was allowed to participate in the decision-making process.
And, when it comes to it, when I worked in high schools, the discussion of particular people, i.e., students, was omnipresent and largely unfair. I always felt as though we were acting as judges and juries and there was too little space for someone to speak in defense of a particular student. So, again, the idea of openness to correction seems to have been squashed...
I do feel some trepidation in airing this remark, but I offer the following as a partial resolution....
Maybe openness to correction is, in a sense, pefectly natural (not merely the metaphysical truth), and maybe our institutional structures (economic and political) war against it.
Or, the people I've had the displeasure of meeting in the past were simply foolish.....(though, in many cases, they were able to decide that my employment contract should not be renewed...)
Or, maybe in the case of individual students, I was too tired, cowardly, and depressed to argue that they had been condemned unfairly.... maybe my former colleagues would have had to listen... Or, maybe they would have become annoyed at me and accused me of not being a team player.
Naomi Reshotko's Socratic Virtue....(Cambridge UP)
On page 50, Naomi quotes Penner and Rowe:
"In general people are well aware their conceptions and descriptions of the people they are referring to are inadquate."
(quoting their 1994, "The Desire for the Good; is the Meno inconsistent with the Gorgias?", p. 6, in Phronesis 39 (1), 1-25)
Now here's my in-passing remark (which I make with some trepidation, as these things can be complicated)....
One might want to emphasize that the remark concerns referring to people. But my first thought goes something like this:
That sort of openness to correction--though it is certainly the wise policy--did not characterize my work experiences from 1996 to 2009. My employers didn't want to hear any sort of corrections of their mistaken views--unless that happened to be asked in an extremely restricted, technical context. (E.g. one pompous and arrogant woman decided that a school "needed" a dress code, and left the teachers to decide exactly which length of skirt was acceptable for proper young ladies...)
When I speak above of "their mistaken views", you may think that I am dogmatic or
arrogant; you could equally say: they just didn't want to discuss or consider alternative views once they had decided--and it wasn't necessarily the case that I was allowed to participate in the decision-making process.
And, when it comes to it, when I worked in high schools, the discussion of particular people, i.e., students, was omnipresent and largely unfair. I always felt as though we were acting as judges and juries and there was too little space for someone to speak in defense of a particular student. So, again, the idea of openness to correction seems to have been squashed...
I do feel some trepidation in airing this remark, but I offer the following as a partial resolution....
Maybe openness to correction is, in a sense, pefectly natural (not merely the metaphysical truth), and maybe our institutional structures (economic and political) war against it.
Or, the people I've had the displeasure of meeting in the past were simply foolish.....(though, in many cases, they were able to decide that my employment contract should not be renewed...)
Or, maybe in the case of individual students, I was too tired, cowardly, and depressed to argue that they had been condemned unfairly.... maybe my former colleagues would have had to listen... Or, maybe they would have become annoyed at me and accused me of not being a team player.
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