As a person who has come from a disconnected upbringing I have been guilty of pushing all my chips onto hyper individualism and well, it hasn't gone well. Thanks for putting into words something that I have suppressed for a long time. Great work 👍🏽
What's interesting is that you're seeing a lot of this same criticism coming from the far right, especially those opposed to the Liberal (capital 'L') order.
The thing is, the far right seeks to resolve this by dispensing with Liberal society altogether and constructing homogeneous ethnostates based on shared religious and moral values. This is antithetical to Liberal democracy, which is grounded in pluralism. As a result, they are opposed to democracy. They're also opposed to "multiculturalism," which they see a corrosive for societies and believe that we need some kind of universal, old-time religion to bind us all together into some sort of "organic" whole. You see this, for example, with their admiration for Japan, which they see as an ideal "pure" ethnostate (while having no particular love for the Japanese people or culture), or for the Amish. For example, JD Vance has repeatedly pushed "Blood and Soil" (Blut und Boden) doctrines in his stump speeches (despite being married to the child of immigrants). It's no surprise that Vance is a devotee of these critics of Liberalism, many of whom are religious traditionalists.
To this end, they appeal to the artificial notion of "Whiteness", which was invented out of whole cloth but which they see as essential. At one point, southern and eastern Europeans, as well as the Irish and Jews, were not considered "White." They also invent "Christian" by lumping all forms of Christianity together into a unified whole, despite the fact that Protestants and Catholics spent centuries massacring each other in Europe (and what about Jews, Pentecostals, Mormons, etc.)? Together, these two concepts somehow constitute a coherent, unified "Western culture" which they believe is constantly under attack.
That's what the deportations are *truly* all about: creating the homogeneous ethnostate and Herrenvolk democracy of their dreams. That's why Trump wants South African Boers and Scandinavians but bans every country with dark-skinned "garbage" people who are "polluting" our (pure) country. It's ugly as hell. When people refer to MAGA as "Nazis", this is what they're talking about.
Socialism offers a way out by creating solidarity among people not grounded in race or ethnicity, but on our shared humanity. That's a much more positive vision than the strict racial and gender hierarchies of fascism offered by the modern far right (White above Black, men above women, rich above poor, naive-born above immigrants), and the only viable option in the kinds of multiethnic, multicultural societies we inhabit which aren't going away in the modern world. But it's a threat to the economically powerful, which is why it must be suppressed. As you've stated eloquently here, we need to do away with an economic system that pits us all against each other with no other organic relationships besides immediate family members which turns into a Hobbesian "war of all against all" making progress impossible. Socialism or barbarism, indeed.
Very well said! I once heard the phrase, "Antisemitism is the Marxism of fools." While the socialist argument points out how capitalists control the conditions of our lives, antisemites overlook that and believe Jews do. I think this applies to other bigotries as well.
I find the state of the young right, which is very bigoted, to be a reaction to the oligarchical control of our society. They can feel things aren't fair, but because socialism is vilified, they resort to blaming immigrants, Jews, and other minorities. My theory, which I hope will be tested one day, is that a socialist economic program would do well to calm the bigotries so prevalent in modern America.
An overly-complex society winds down into social entropy. By focusing on “Progress” and the “next new thing” we are (deliberately) distracted from the social ills left in our wake, those left behind in an uncaring world - the homeless, the insecure, the addictions, the mental issues, etc. From such deep despair can arise release by acting out against others. We can’t keep overlooking those cast aside by society - this reveals the depravity of “individualism” when instead of pacing all human actions as the responsibility of each individual to “save themselves,” a more social-centered approach is necessary.
This is what true Christianity looks like. The cannot and will not demonize the true message in the Bible. If they want a Christian nation then we should remind them of what it means.
I agree with a lot of what you're saying. But I used to get texts from I would guess was a Marxist leading workers organization based on the messages, and they made a purposeful distinction between "black, hispanic, and working class voters" which made no sense to me. A lot of the leftists I've interacted with over the years can't seem to help themselves when it comes to idpol, which is also divisive. So I don't understand why, if we agree that the first rule of neoliberal capitalism, "there is no society," is harmful, then why do the people who are allagedly opposed to it seem to want to divide people as well, just in different ways?
I agree, sometimes the identity stuff can be taken too far. I think a class-based message is better than a race-first message, for both politics and policy. That said, race is a factor in American politics that should be addressed.
Seems to me we need to coin a phrase socialist capitalism. Because as soon as you use the word, socialism tends to alienate the capitalist. But I completely agree with your thesis here Joe.
Capitalism has always been hard for me, because you are taught being successful is having a lot of money, and inevitably the best way to make a lot of money is to take advantage of other people. I want to live a better life, but not if it means I have to step on other people in a race to the top. I feel it's my sense of basic decency that makes me a socialist.
"conspiracy theories about vaccines and suicidal attempts at herd immunity have killed more Americans ..." -- Thanks for this!
🙏
Not to mention the fact that the employment relationship is also killing us!
Very much! This feeds back into people being told to "work harder" for bosses who pay them nothing.
As a person who has come from a disconnected upbringing I have been guilty of pushing all my chips onto hyper individualism and well, it hasn't gone well. Thanks for putting into words something that I have suppressed for a long time. Great work 👍🏽
Thanks Shaun! Believe me, I have an individualistic strain, too. I think we all do. A product of our upbringing in America.
We should stop scapegoating Mondays when we all know who the real culprit is.
You don't hate Mondays. You hate capitalism.
What's interesting is that you're seeing a lot of this same criticism coming from the far right, especially those opposed to the Liberal (capital 'L') order.
The thing is, the far right seeks to resolve this by dispensing with Liberal society altogether and constructing homogeneous ethnostates based on shared religious and moral values. This is antithetical to Liberal democracy, which is grounded in pluralism. As a result, they are opposed to democracy. They're also opposed to "multiculturalism," which they see a corrosive for societies and believe that we need some kind of universal, old-time religion to bind us all together into some sort of "organic" whole. You see this, for example, with their admiration for Japan, which they see as an ideal "pure" ethnostate (while having no particular love for the Japanese people or culture), or for the Amish. For example, JD Vance has repeatedly pushed "Blood and Soil" (Blut und Boden) doctrines in his stump speeches (despite being married to the child of immigrants). It's no surprise that Vance is a devotee of these critics of Liberalism, many of whom are religious traditionalists.
To this end, they appeal to the artificial notion of "Whiteness", which was invented out of whole cloth but which they see as essential. At one point, southern and eastern Europeans, as well as the Irish and Jews, were not considered "White." They also invent "Christian" by lumping all forms of Christianity together into a unified whole, despite the fact that Protestants and Catholics spent centuries massacring each other in Europe (and what about Jews, Pentecostals, Mormons, etc.)? Together, these two concepts somehow constitute a coherent, unified "Western culture" which they believe is constantly under attack.
That's what the deportations are *truly* all about: creating the homogeneous ethnostate and Herrenvolk democracy of their dreams. That's why Trump wants South African Boers and Scandinavians but bans every country with dark-skinned "garbage" people who are "polluting" our (pure) country. It's ugly as hell. When people refer to MAGA as "Nazis", this is what they're talking about.
Socialism offers a way out by creating solidarity among people not grounded in race or ethnicity, but on our shared humanity. That's a much more positive vision than the strict racial and gender hierarchies of fascism offered by the modern far right (White above Black, men above women, rich above poor, naive-born above immigrants), and the only viable option in the kinds of multiethnic, multicultural societies we inhabit which aren't going away in the modern world. But it's a threat to the economically powerful, which is why it must be suppressed. As you've stated eloquently here, we need to do away with an economic system that pits us all against each other with no other organic relationships besides immediate family members which turns into a Hobbesian "war of all against all" making progress impossible. Socialism or barbarism, indeed.
Very well said! I once heard the phrase, "Antisemitism is the Marxism of fools." While the socialist argument points out how capitalists control the conditions of our lives, antisemites overlook that and believe Jews do. I think this applies to other bigotries as well.
I find the state of the young right, which is very bigoted, to be a reaction to the oligarchical control of our society. They can feel things aren't fair, but because socialism is vilified, they resort to blaming immigrants, Jews, and other minorities. My theory, which I hope will be tested one day, is that a socialist economic program would do well to calm the bigotries so prevalent in modern America.
An overly-complex society winds down into social entropy. By focusing on “Progress” and the “next new thing” we are (deliberately) distracted from the social ills left in our wake, those left behind in an uncaring world - the homeless, the insecure, the addictions, the mental issues, etc. From such deep despair can arise release by acting out against others. We can’t keep overlooking those cast aside by society - this reveals the depravity of “individualism” when instead of pacing all human actions as the responsibility of each individual to “save themselves,” a more social-centered approach is necessary.
This is what true Christianity looks like. The cannot and will not demonize the true message in the Bible. If they want a Christian nation then we should remind them of what it means.
I agree with a lot of what you're saying. But I used to get texts from I would guess was a Marxist leading workers organization based on the messages, and they made a purposeful distinction between "black, hispanic, and working class voters" which made no sense to me. A lot of the leftists I've interacted with over the years can't seem to help themselves when it comes to idpol, which is also divisive. So I don't understand why, if we agree that the first rule of neoliberal capitalism, "there is no society," is harmful, then why do the people who are allagedly opposed to it seem to want to divide people as well, just in different ways?
I agree, sometimes the identity stuff can be taken too far. I think a class-based message is better than a race-first message, for both politics and policy. That said, race is a factor in American politics that should be addressed.
But how do you address it in a way that it isn't mainly a distraction to the issues that affect everyone?
Seems to me we need to coin a phrase socialist capitalism. Because as soon as you use the word, socialism tends to alienate the capitalist. But I completely agree with your thesis here Joe.
Capitalism has always been hard for me, because you are taught being successful is having a lot of money, and inevitably the best way to make a lot of money is to take advantage of other people. I want to live a better life, but not if it means I have to step on other people in a race to the top. I feel it's my sense of basic decency that makes me a socialist.
This is really intertwined with the libertarian mindset so widespread and fairly unexamined for coherence by many people in this country.
The beliefs seem to create a feedback loop that reinforces those individualistic and competitive beliefs about what success means.
idiots like u who for no good reason just pretend to be socialists are killing us. you useless retard
the dumbest thing ever said :
https://substack.com/@joewrote/note/c-185948541?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=64iys8
Not true. I've said way dumber things than that.