vimothy

yurp
I think if I am arbitrarily detained by the state this really will be the least of my worries. Is my point.

in what sense is this the point? I'm asking you, does the state have the _right_ to exercise its power without observing any kind of limit, and your answer is yes it does
 

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
I would characterise this position as a kind of political neo-paganism, machiavellianism -- "fascism" is another term for it (I realise that it's overloaded and overused)

Fascism steals from the proletariat its secret: organisation. liberalism is all ideology with no organisation, fascism is all organisation with no ideology.
 

sadmanbarty

Well-known member
vim, what are you getting out of this emotionally?

are you enjoying a sense of intellectual dominance?

do you find them laughable?

what is the actual emotional compulsion to entertain these kind of conversations?
 

john eden

male pale and stale
so you're an apologist for the pure exercise of power, basically

Calling it out for what it is isn't apologism. I'd personally like to see power distributed in different and more dispersed ways.

I'd like to see prisons abolished. And states.
 

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
yes. what about it? are you only just noticing that fascist signifiers have persisted in the liberal democratic state long since after 45?

Because you're edging close to being an academic stuck in his head like Miller. embarrassing doesn't even begin to cut it.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
in what sense is this the point? I'm asking you, does the state have the _right_ to exercise its power without observing any kind of limit, and your answer is yes it does

No my answer is quite precisely that it doesn't matter if it has the right to do it or not. It does it.

How we feel about that is of no consequence unless we can galvanise our own power, to create a more just system.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
But you're (Vim) saying or thinking that John means moral right when I don't think he does (dunno about 3rd though).
 

vimothy

yurp
on what basis can you call for the abolition of prisons? you've just claimed that the state has the legitimate right to imprison people arbitrarily, simply because it's able to do so
 

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
"so because the state is able to imprison you arbitrarily, it has the _right_ to do so?"

I am saying yes, yes it does. I diagnosed liberalisms pathhology a long, long time ago.

I am saying it is an inherent function of the state to exercise arbitrary moral, legal and property based right. when people say this I tend to say yes to spite them. because anyone not stuck in an ivory tower can see that the state does it. whether it should or shouldn't is a matter of complete indifference.
 

sadmanbarty

Well-known member
I'd like to see prisons abolished. And states.

vim, when he or third are writing things like that, isn't it blatantly obvious that you're not going to be able to have the kind of conversation you're trying to have with them? the parameters you're working in are so wildly different. like Wittgenstein talking to a lion.
 
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thirdform

pass the sick bucket
on what basis can you call for the abolition of prisons? you've just claimed that the state has the legitimate right to imprison people arbitrarily, simply because it's able to do so

by abolishing the states contingent and thereby the state itself, all property. ownership must not exist for any group of individuals, let alone a class. houses and schools must not exist as land.
 

vimothy

yurp
I'm not actually trying to be a dick, I thought I was being pretty clear. we can go back to the start on this because it was actually relevant to the original discussion
 
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