a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by b_b
b_b  ·  4218 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: In Praise of Failure

    Marx had serious problems with people putting words into his mouth.

Well, I'm sure Jesus would have the same problem, but is the pope not Christian, because Christ denounced being rich? What Marx said, and what is meant by the common term "Marxism" aren't necessarily the same thing. Paranoid politics are all communism can ever be (whether we want to call them Marxist or not), because the system is so easily derailed (by, say, common sense). One has to expunge society of one's enemies in order for the system to survive. Certainly that wasn't what Marx intended or dreamed up, but there is no other way for such broad mind control to operate (and mind control is necessary if everyone is to buy into a highly engineered economic system).





Curt  ·  4217 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Marx advanced a theory of history that centers everything on economics. Can anyone alive in the West in the 21st Century, steeped in what passes today for "common sense," claim that he got the center wrong? We can certainly argue about many aspects of his theory, but his take on the central role of economics was, for better or for worse (mostly the later, IMHO), dead on target. Money is in the saddle and rides mankind.

Meanwhile, it seems to me a terrible idea to conflate religion and communism without giving at least nodding acknowledgement to all of the overtones of religiosity embedded in "free market capitalism." Neither faith serves the mass of the people well if left unchecked.

NotPhil  ·  4218 days ago  ·  link  ·  
This comment has been deleted.