Naomi Klein - The Shock Doctrine
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nomadthethird
more issues than Time mag
Une Femme est une Femme
Who says it? Which scene?
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"Clausewitz's view of war is instrumental; it is a tool of state policy. This premise underlies his analysis."
But who wields this instrument? The state itself surely cannot wield instruments - they have to wielded by individuals. But then the patterns and programs of a state serve to severely restrict what is, or is not, possible, by any given actor in any given place. But these operations become increasingly complex the further up you go in society. The pressures acting on the man with his finger on the nuclear button serve to modulate him more sensitively then they serve to modulate the street sweeper.
Or do they?
**
"Clausewitz's view of war is instrumental; it is a tool of state policy. This premise underlies his analysis."
But who wields this instrument? The state itself surely cannot wield instruments - they have to wielded by individuals. But then the patterns and programs of a state serve to severely restrict what is, or is not, possible, by any given actor in any given place. But these operations become increasingly complex the further up you go in society. The pressures acting on the man with his finger on the nuclear button serve to modulate him more sensitively then they serve to modulate the street sweeper.
Or do they?
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
nah it doesn't sound like fun but I realized a year or so ago that I actually could learn a lot, you just have to be focused, it always seemed so pointless & inevitable in my teens but then I realized that just cos most kids (the ones who can of course) go to college for lack of a better idea doesn't mean that one can't learn, you just to have know what your purpose is, what you're trying to learn. which I kind of wish I had understood then. not that not going was terrible - I have a lot of what you might call "life experience", at least for a middleclass honky from the burbs. plus it was nice for my parents, they didn't have to shell out major $, spent on on my sister instead & now I just turned old enough to get better financial aid.
there's just stuff, some of which is worthwhile, which it is impossible to do without a degree.
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
what about non-state actors then? I guess you could say, a la Josef, that the War makes the State...tho, & not to be cryptic, there are wars & there are wars aren't there.
nomadthethird
more issues than Time mag
The main female character, whose name escapes me, played by Anna Karina.
She's constantly pouting, spazzing out and acting cutesy. She pleads with her boyfriend to have a baby, and he says no repeatedly. When her boyfriend pokes fun at her for being so silly acting she says she something like it's beautiful when women cry or there's nothing more beautiful than a woman crying. Something like that. Then she goes on to say that "modern women" get it all wrong when they try to act like men and not flighty and hysteria-prone.
The entire scene makes more sense in the context of the film--it being a cheeky take on the musical-comedy genre (at one time big in Hollywood, with stars like Doris Day in them). Seems a sort of whimsical but cynical take on the perqs and perils of domesticity.
vimothy
yurp
I would say no, but perhaps I'm not sure what you mean. On War is not a justification for all-out-war, whatever the cost, but a book about strategy (and the practicalities of fighting).
"She's constantly pouting, spazzing out and acting cutesy. She pleads with her boyfriend to have a baby, and he says no repeatedly. When her boyfriend pokes fun at her for being so silly acting she says she something like it's beautiful when women cry or there's nothing more beautiful than a woman crying. Something like that. Then she goes on to say that "modern women" get it all wrong when they try to act like men and not flighty and hysteria-prone."
Do you agree, do you disagree?
EDIT: More importantly - is this saying that woman sometimes strategically throw tantrums? This is blowing my mind.
Do you agree, do you disagree?
EDIT: More importantly - is this saying that woman sometimes strategically throw tantrums? This is blowing my mind.
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padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
this is a good question - pointing out the obv. problem that there is no such thing as the State, as such. like WWI, the tool quickly, almost immediately, broke free from the grasp of its' wielder.
nomadthethird
more issues than Time mag
See I think you're in a much better position now to get the most out of college than you probably were in your teens. I know I am more now than I was then. I spent 8 years, wasted a full-scholarship to undergrad, and a whole lot of student loan money taking humanities courses essentially because I didn't want to be bothered taking chem and physics labs on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.
I've always been much more intrigued by medical sciences, but it's not until later in life that I'm ready and willing to do buckle down and do it. So I'm "transferring" my credits from my first BA into another bachelor's of science program in cellular biology so I can get the courses I need to qualify for med school. I actually have a plan for myself now, whereas all I had as a teen was vague aesthetic interests and even more vague ambitions (that included finding a job where you earn a lot and work a little).
Degrees do open doors, though. It's just best to go into a degree program as certain as possible that you want to make the best of it.
nomadthethird
more issues than Time mag
This is what Deleuze calls the "war machine."
nomadthethird
more issues than Time mag
I think it can be beautiful when someone (male, female, trans, hermaphrodite, whatever) cries, or it can be ugly.
I think people should be able to act however they like as long as they don't violate anyone's person or property.
I think a lot of different people strategically throw tantrums.
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
what is that business about "the absurdity of a principle of moderation" if not a, well not a moral justification cos it's a book about strategy, but a conclusion that leads to all-out-war? I don't think he's wrong, really, mind, just that it's a very unfortunate truth. that business about Chechnya was perhaps a little glib which is inappriopriate for such a serious topic - though don't you think Clausewitz would have admired a man like Putin?
vimothy
yurp
"If the successful operations against Islam's enemies and the severe damage inflicted on them do not serve the ultimate goal of establishing the Muslim nation in the heart of the Islamic world, they will be nothing more than disturbing acts, regardless of their magnitude, that could be absorbed and endured, even if after some time and with some losses."
Ayman al-Zawahiri, Knights under the Prophet's Banner
Ayman al-Zawahiri, Knights under the Prophet's Banner
“The main difference for the history of the world if I had been shot rather than Kennedy is that Onassis probably wouldn't have married Mrs Khrushchev.”
Nikita Khrushchev
EDIT - I was trying to find a quote where Krushschev said something like "war is a terrible monster that consumes all before it" but I was unable to so. I think the principle of moderation cannot apply, because the principle of moderation is not a stable principle.
EDIT 2 - The crying stuff seems sensible.
EDIT 3 - Maybe moderation means in some sense negotiation... In which case, this is something that political leaders are always in some sense doing.
Nikita Khrushchev
EDIT - I was trying to find a quote where Krushschev said something like "war is a terrible monster that consumes all before it" but I was unable to so. I think the principle of moderation cannot apply, because the principle of moderation is not a stable principle.
EDIT 2 - The crying stuff seems sensible.
EDIT 3 - Maybe moderation means in some sense negotiation... In which case, this is something that political leaders are always in some sense doing.
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vimothy
yurp
I have no idea. I suppose he may well have admired him. I know some people consider that Clausewitz may have added to the paranoia in Germany that led to WWI. But really Clausewitz describes how, even today, states think of themselves at war. He even describes, Zawahiri quote, e.g., how non-state terrorist groups think of themselves at war. How are we fighting of course begs the question, why are we fighting?
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
actually I want to go to medical school as well. the desire just struck me out of nowhere one day, stronger than I think anything else ever in my whole life - it's not exactly practical at this stage in the game but hey I think I can do it. I haven't started yet cause I want to be as you say, certain about the how of it, but I think either the summer or fall term.
vimothy
yurp
But the principle of moderation is something that Clausewitz considered in separation to war, who's principle is in many ways the antithesis of moderation, but which nevertheless is still subject to it: "From the social condition both of States in themselves and in their relations to each other... War arises, and by it War is... controlled and modified."
nomadthethird
more issues than Time mag
Medicine is truly a calling. I've worked with people with MDs and MD/PhDs who only went to med school because they thought being a doctor was good money or because their dad was a doctor or because their parents talked them into, only to realize during their residency that actually practicing medicine was the last thing they wanted to do. So they ended up in biotech or medical publishing.
You really do have to feel that inexplicable "I really really want to do this" out of nowhere feeling or you'll rue the day you went to medical school.
A bonus is that lately, because the dropout rate is so high for med school students who are under 25, they prefer to accept students who have work and real world experience. The average age of a first-year medical student is 30.