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/* Written 6:24 pm Oct 11, 1993 by odin@netlink.nix.com in igc:p.news */
/* ---------- "PNEWS ONLINE [October 11]" ---------- */
Subject: PNEWS ONLINE [October 11]
From: odin@netlink.nix.com (Hank Roth)
Reply-To: odin@netlink.nix.com
PNEWS ONLINE [October 11, 1993]
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These conferences provide an alternative for those
interested in a *LEFT* perspective and "PROGRESSIVE" issues. The
objectives of pnews conferences are to provide a cross-fertilization
of "ALTERNATIVE" progressive and dissident views---to propose and
discuss new world visions, to present ideas that CHALLENGE
PREVAILING DOMINANT VIEWS; and to advance the cause of PEACEFUL
RESOLUTION of matters that greatly concern us.
The primary emphasis for the conferences shall continue to be the
presentation of "PROGRESSIVE" NEWS, VIEWS, and occasionally some
POETRY. "Progressive," meaning that which tends to improve society,
the advancement of knowledge and visions for a better future.
Hank Roth,
Moderator/facilitator [pnews conferences]
& PNEWS ONLINE
###################################################
From: zodiac@io.org (Zodiac)
[Excerpted]
..... the Iron Law of Wages is like gravity. Wages under
capitalism, when stripped of constant exertion on the part of the
wage-slaves to lift them, fall. Toward some subsistence level.
Toward a minimum enough to keep the worker alive and able to come
back again tomorrow and replicate her work.
... Endlessly.
[...]
Henry Ford, for instance, understood that it helps to pay workers
a bit more because they can _buy_ a bit more. And this faster
circulation of money results in a multiplier effect -- it creates
jobs to service the increased demand, etc. Ford anticipated
Keynes. But, when his security of property/profit was
threatened, Ford was just another brutal, conservative,
capitalist. So, for that matter, was John Maynard Keynes.
Neither thought twice about the need to use political machines to
coerce workers into submission, to quash any sacreligious
attitudes they might harbor in their hearts toward the holy
edifice of private property.
[..]
The great bourgeois revolutions of 1776 and 1789 sought to
finally put an end to "class co-operation".
If you read Adam Smith (now the beloved economist-philosopher of
the terminally-stupid Libertarian Party right), you find lots of
passages that reflect this attitude. One of my favorite passages
deals with a discussion of where social wealth comes from.
Smith argued that all "higher culture" comes from leisure, and
all leisure comes from wealth, and all wealth comes from the
possession of value, and all value comes either from agricultural
or manufacturing. So, he noted, society has the bizarre structure
wherein the leisure-rich ruling class doesn't actually produce
anything to create its own leisure.
The labor of some of the most respectable orders of society is like
that of menial servants, unproductive of any value, and does not
fix or realize itself in any permanent subject, or vendible
commodity....
The sovereign, for example, with all the officers of justice and
war who are under him, the whole army and navy are unproductive
laborers. They are _servants_ of the public, and are maintained by
a part of the annual produce of the industry of other people....
In the same class must be ranked... churchmen, lawyers,
physicians, men of letters of all kinds; players, buffoons,
musicians, opera-singers, opera-dancers, etc.
(Wealth of Nations)
The aristocratic class most certainly hated Smith for putting
kings in the same class as clowns. (I thought it was hilarious,
myself. I chuckled quietly for a good twenty minutes after
reading that.:)
But Smith was unrepentent. He had set himself the task of
analyzing the _economic_ foundation of society, and how the
surplus product of society's labor was apportioned. He found
that all the bloated parasitical elites did was _consume_. They
belched occassionally and called it culture, to be sure, but they
actually produced nothing for the physical betterment of
humanity.
Marx admired this "fuck you" attitude toward one's so-called
superiors and the social relations which keep them in that lofty
position. He called Smith's words the "language of the still-
revolutionary bourgeoisie".
And so Smith was -- revolutionary.
Such bourgeoisie revolutionaries did not call for piddling, if
not outright demeaning, bullshit -- like asking the ruling
aristocratic class to please just lower taxes a little... (or
maybe extend the health plan to include chiropractors; or give us
an extra 15-minute break in the afternoon).
Smith pulled no punches: the ruling elite are unnecessary; getting rid of
them makes society richer.
(NOTE: Of course, once the bourgeoisie took command of the machine of
state, it became decidedly less revolutionary. It became
outright conservative -- sometimes social-democratic and
"yielding" to worker demands, sometimes police-state fascist in
determination to "break" unions, depending on the bourgeois sense
of security.
But it always operates with an eye to preserving its "legal"
property possessions. To help it do this, it now _needs_ those
legions of unproductive bureaucrats it once spat at venomously.
As the ruling class, the bourgeosie discarded Smith's
ruthless economic analysis and embraced all the lawyers,
academics, economists, hereditary rich, etc. This supporting
cast had once provided the kings with their apologia. As true
mercenaries, they could continue to produce arguments for their
new masters. Elaborate expositions on why capitalism is so darn
good for everyone. Excuses to abuse other human beings. Moral
rationales for oppression and misery.)
The Revolutionary Proletariat
Marx grew up in the social wake of the great bourgeois
revolutions, with the high-sounding talk of complete liberation,
of the end of classes and despot.
In that environment, Marx's idea seems pretty logical: why stop
there? Why stop at kings? Should we not keep the revolution
going? We got rid of the useless warts on the ass of society, the
aristocratic class. But that apparently didn't go far enough.
Look what was (is) happening now: the accumulation of capital in
the hands of a select few created a brand NEW parasitic class.
From this perspective, the conclusion is obvious.
Just as the revolutionary bourgeoisie was right to fucking well
take possession of the means and relations of production from the
aristocratic parasite...
So the workers, who actually produce the wealth, should fucking
well take possession of the means of production for themselves.
Is that the attitude of the working class?
Apparently not. And maybe......the working class ain't all that
revolutionary. It sure isn't at this juncture.
The attitude of "class co-operation" in many workers today is
akin to those bourgeois types who felt they "couldn't make it on
their own". Frightened, they swore allegience to their beloved
King. They needed the King and his Ministers to administer
affairs, they were mere commoners, what did they know about
running countries, etc. Luckily, some elements of the
bourgeoisie didn't accept such bullshit.
Unfortunately, today, the proletariat seems willing to accept its
humbled position. It seems content to work hard to help its
masters make more money... so that they might be swept a few
more crumbs from table.
It's the "House Nigger Syndrome".
"House Niggers"
Plantation slaves (as Malcolm X pointed out) came in two types:
house niggers and field niggers. The field niggers worked hard
and lived in oppression and turned to religion, and music, etc.,
whatever diversion they could muster to mask the daily misery
they lived in -- while opulence loomed a few hundred yards away.
But the house nigger is a different case. The house nigger
encourages his master. When the house nigger's master succeeds,
the house nigger feels himself successful. "We's doing good,
ain't we boss?!" Or if things go bad for the master, "Lawdy! We's
in trouble now!" Indeed. For if the plantation master is turfed
out, the house nigger gets thrown back into the ranks of the
field niggers.
Now, since things "go bad" for their masters when the field
niggers act up, the house niggers disapprove. The house niggers
scold the field niggers. The house niggers counsel the field
niggers to just work that much harder and make their master
richer, then they'll all benefit.
But some field niggers just never listened. They ran away, or
acted up. They were just too damn stupid to understand the highly
intelligent world of "economics". Damn fools.
And whadda we got today?
[...]
..... By supporting the capitalist system, you also support the
"gravitational" Iron Law of Wages. You commit yourself, as the
working class, to engage in some Atlas-like struggle to keep the
roof from falling in on your collective head.
Adam Smith and the revolutionary bourgeoisie finally overthrew
the entire stinking feudal system, along with the oppressive
classes it created to maintain it continual reproduction.
Sure, many believed the feudal system, with all its obligations
and duties, couldn't be overthrown because only chaos would
result. After all! It was ordained by "God"!
Today, non-revolutionary, social-democratic workers seem to think
there is also nothing possible to replace the current economic
system. That without a hierachical system of ownership, there
will be chaos. After all! It is ordained by "nature"! The
"free" market!
So... they seem content to plead for little "gifts" from the
bosses in return for which they pledge their undying allegience.
[...]
When will American workers finish the job the revolutionary
American bourgoeisie started?
**************************************
Civil Disobedience
[Excerpt]
by Henry David Thoreau
"I heartily accept the motto, "That government is best
which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up
to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally
amounts to this, which also I believe--"That government is
best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared
for it, that will be the kind of government which the will
have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most
governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes,
inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against
a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve
to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing
government. The standing army is only an arm of the
standing government. The government itself, which is only
the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will,
is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the
people can act through it. Witness the present Mexican war,
the work of comparatively a few individuals using the
standing government as their tool; for in the outset, the
people would not have consented to this measure."
"This American government--what is it but a tradition,
though a recent one, endeavoring to transmit itself
unimpaired to posterity, but each instant losing some of its
integrity? It has not the vitality and force of a single
living man; for a single man can bend it to his will. It is
a sort of wooden gun to the people themselves. But it is
not the less necessary for this; for the people must have
some complicated machinery or other, and hear its din, to
satisfy that idea of government which they have.
Governments show thus how successfully men can be imposed
upon, even impose on themselves, for their own advantage.
It is excellent, we must all allow. Yet this government
never of itself furthered any enterprise, but by the
alacrity with which it got out of its way. It does not keep
the country free. It does not settle the West. It does not
educate. The character inherent in the American people has
done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done
somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes got in
its way. For government is an expedient, by which men would
fain succeed in letting one another alone; and, as has been
said, when it is most expedient, the governed are most let
alone by it. Trade and commerce, if they were not made of
india-rubber, would never manage to bounce over obstacles
which legislators are continually putting in their way; and
if one were to judge these men wholly by the effects of
their actions and not partly by their intentions, they would
deserve to be classed and punished with those mischievious
persons who put obstructions on the railroads."
"But, to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike
those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not
at one no government, but at once a better government. Let
every man make known what kind of government would command
his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it."
**********************************************
"We are obliged not to take life -- we should not take the
attitude that we are doing the animals a favour by not eating
them. They have a right to live just as much as we have a right
to live." -- Isaac Bashevis Singer
"Until he extends his circle of compassion to all living
things, man will not himself find peace" -- Albert Schweitzer
**********************************************
From: Xavier Crement, M.D. [posted to pnews-L]
"Like almost everyone else, I have been dealing with assholes
all my life. For most of this time, however, I have been, like
most of society, trapped in our age-old concepts of assholism.
Failing to recognize it as a disease, I simply accepted it as a
character flaw that could be modified or eliminated at will."
"I have now come to understand the true nature of assholism. It
is an addiction as bad as alcoholism, chemical dependency, or
codependency. It afflicts major portions of the population---yet
most assholes are not the least bit aware that they are
assholes!"
**** "I'm OK, but you're an asshole"
Cardinal Pushing
**********************************************
"Fall is my favorite season in Los Angeles, watching the birds
change color and fall from the trees."
-David Letterman
**********************************************
"I tried to get a drink in the terminal bar. The bartender
asked to see ID.... I was living a nightmare. I was
stranded in a happy paranoid land where the only people
allowed to drink are people who drive."
- Kyle Baker, _Why I Hate Saturn_
**********************************************
Just recently in Indiana, a man suspected of swallowing a bag of
cocaine was refused medical help because he wouldn't sign a
confession. Other inmates called for help as he suffered
hallucinations and seizures and, finally, died. The state
trouper who arrested him is quoted as saying: "If Mr. Antecki was
really and truly serious about what he had swallowed or ate and
he was concerned about his health, then he would've gone ahead
[and signed the confession]". The county prosecuter agreed that
there was no wrong doing on the part of authorities, and declined
to press any charges.
**********************************************
From: Ribaud
Camus speaks of this fate of man being the quest which forever
eludes him in Sysphus and this view is expressed in the works of
Franz Kafka and Kierkegaard, as in "shit happens."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
**********************************************
PLAYING BY THE RULES
BY Hank Roth
Failed businesses, foreclosures, bankcrupcies,
powerlessness of the poor,
The newly homeless, locked out generations,
and much, much more.
Dispossessed, disenfranchised,
call this a recession.
To the affected,
this kind of anguish is a full fledged depression.
Where is compassion, empathy,
concern for humanity?.
This morrass and distorted morality
is more than a calamity.
How can we call ourselves an enlightened,
civilized nation,
When even basic rights, like medical care,
have been the subject of abrogation.
The news about the economy is discouraging,
no way to escape it.
Makes living feel like drowning
or falling down a bottomless pit,
Listen, they say this is America
where consumerism rules,
All you need do is go to school
and get your mighty tools.
Well, listen to me;
it takes plenty of luck and chances are thin,
This is really a crap shoot
and you'll probably not win.
Free enterprise, play by the rules,
and you'll ultimately loose.
Don't be a snook, in the end,
you'll realize its all been a ruse.
**********************************************
From: charless@sco.COM (charles stross)
The UK government's justifications for its imperialist presence
in Northern Ireland bear a striking similarity to the US
government's attitude to Central America. "It's our back yard,
our interests will be harmed if we get out, they'll go communist
if we ignore them, and anyway they aren't competent to run their
own affairs." It's a complex mixture of chauvanism, racism and
economic cynicism that dictates a profit motive for hanging on to
the occupied territories and denying that anything is wrong.
Next time you feel inclined to ask why the UK doesn't get the
hell out of Northern Ireland, just think about the last thing you
heard a State Department spokesperson say about why there are
US troops in Panama. Imagine that you are Irish, and that the
State Department is the Northern Ireland office, and that they're
talking about where you live. Now try to figure out a reasoned
response. Better still, try to imagine you're a Panamanian ...
In the same way that the stupidity and futility of
the UK occupation of Northern Ireland is a lot clearer outside
the UK -- where I happen to live -- the idiocy and brutality
of US policy in Central America is a lot more obvious if you
don't live in Missouri. But listening to what the bastards say,
then thinking yourself into the shoes of the people they're talking
about is a good way of defeating the programming.
==========================================================================
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"What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding?" - Nick Lowe
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Anyway the Left wind blows ...
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/ * /O\ * \
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"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists
elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact
us." -- _Calvin and Hobbes_
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"I live my life in growing orbits
which move out over the things of the world.
.....and I have been circling for a thousand years,
and I still don't know if I am a falcon, or a storm,
or a great song." (Rainer Maria Rilke)
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###################################################
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