Capitalism, Marxism and Related Matters

[padraig (u.s.)]

there's no orgiastic storm the palace moment of "abolishing capitalism"

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

anyone here using Marxist tools of critique (or third, the only actual Marxist I'm aware of) isn't talking, I'd imagine, about "state communism" i.e. the USSR

 

[version]

Version what's that Pynchon thing about the man killing dodoes? He's going on a mad dodo killing spree he don't even know why. Kill kill kill

The Dutchman, Frans van der Groov.

"If the species were not such a perversion," Frans wrote, "it might be profitably husbanded to feed our generations. I cannot hate them quite so violently as do some here. But what now can mitigate this slaughter? It is too late. . . . Perhaps a more comely beak, fuller feathering, a capacity for flight, however brief. . . . details of Design. Or, had we but found savages on this island, the bird's appearance might have then seemed to us no stranger than that of the wild turkey of North America. Alas, their tragedy is to be the dominant form of Life on Mauritius, but incapable of speech."

That was it, right there. No language meant no chance of co-opting them in to what their round and flaxen invaders were calling Salvation.

 

[version]

I like that that book made some sort of permanent mark, even if you weren't that arsed about it in the end. That or it's just been burned into your brain due to my only reference points being Pynchon and the Jamaican Voodoo Gang from Predator 2.

 

[Mr. Tea]

I like that that book made some sort of permanent mark, even if you weren't that arsed about it in the end. That or it's just been burned into your brain due to my only reference points being Pynchon and the Jamaican Voodoo Gang from Predator 2.

It's dread, mon. Truly dread.

 

[version]

They say you want to talk to me. They say you offering me favours. Tell me why, Babylon, Mr. Policeman.

 

[entertainment]

that's very largely a strawman

there's a difference between claiming to have an answer and trying to imagine what an alternative world would look like

the former is far more prevalent than the answer

if you want to conceive of an alternative you have to grapple with how it would like, which does sometimes lead to absurdities

applying your thinking to various problems isn't the same as claiming to have prophetic answers

of course it's not a bad idea to imagine an alternative world, but there's always going to be a million arguments, all as unfalsifiable as the next, pulling that world in either direction. in that process, you're going to have to make assumptions about things like fundamental human behavior and those are undeniably going to be swayed by your ideological conviction. this kind of debate always seems to drive people further apart, making the other worldview seem more incompatible with your own. sooner or later you start disagreeing on really wicked things, taking positions that you can't abort.

 

[luka]

I like that that book made some sort of permanent mark, even if you weren't that arsed about it in the end. That or it's just been burned into your brain due to my only reference points being Pynchon and the Jamaican Voodoo Gang from Predator 2.

It's not that I wasn't arsed. It's a very long book. A bit of a slog and more chaff than wheat. Like moby dick in that sense. But I'm glad it exists. It's a great book.

 

[version]

Ah, fair enough.

 

[luka]

I got fed up multiple times and then got enthused again. It's a bit like that isn't it? I'd be surprised if anyone loved every minute of it.

 

[version]

I've never read Moby-Dick. I've got a copy, but I'm anticipating a slog so keep putting it off.

 

[luka]

It's a terrible slog if you read every page. My advice would be to skip the boring bits.

 

[version]

I got fed up multiple times and then got enthused again. It's a bit like that isn't it? I'd be surprised if anyone loved every minute of it.

Yeah, I'm yet to find a big book that doesn't have peaks and troughs tbh. I dunno that anyone can sustain a level through an undertaking like that. I quite like how romantic Bolano was about them.

“Without turning, the pharmacist answered that he liked books like The Metamorphosis, Bartleby, A Simple Heart, A Christmas Carol. And then he said that he was reading Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's. Leaving aside the fact that A Simple Heart and A Christmas Carol were stories, not books, there was something revelatory about the taste of this bookish young pharmacist, who ... clearly and inarguably preferred minor works to major ones. He chose The Metamorphosis over The Trial, he chose Bartleby over Moby Dick, he chose A Simple Heart over Bouvard and Pecouchet, and A Christmas Carol over A Tale of Two Cities or The Pickwick Papers. What a sad paradox, thought Amalfitano. Now even bookish pharmacists are afraid to take on the great, imperfect, torrential works, books that blaze a path into the unknown. They choose the perfect exercises of the great masters. Or what amounts to the same thing: they want to watch the great masters spar, but they have no interest in real combat, when the great masters struggle against that something, that something that terrifies us all, that something that cows us and spurs us on, amid blood and mortal wounds and stench.”

 

[luka]

Yeah well that's a bit fruity in that Latin way but I know what he means. Brothers karamavoz is a big book without longeurs

 

[version]

That's another I've got but never read. Somehow ended up with two copies as well.

 

[Woebot]

apparently birds hoard objects too

 

[polystyle]

apparently birds hoard objects too

That blue string of baubles looked worth snatching

 

[catalog]

Matthew 6:26
Living Bible
26 Look at the birds! They don’t worry about what to eat—they don’t need to sow or reap or store up food—for your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than they are.

Read full chapter
Matthew 6:26 in all English translations

 

[Woebot]

Matthew 6:26
Living Bible
26 Look at the birds! They don’t worry about what to eat—they don’t need to sow or reap or store up food—for your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than they are.

Read full chapter
Matthew 6:26 in all English translations

ha ha! wrong AGAIN.

but gifting here.

 

[polystyle]

ha ha! wrong AGAIN.

but gifting here.

Crows are really some crew ... here they luv to mob the redtail hawks ,
in Himal near Tengboche it felt like we struck up a conversation with one alpha type
in Japan ... well they rule the streets and so big authorities had to adapt and requite all gomi be secured or else the crows were all in it.