Is the end inevitable?
Revolution is hard, and that’s not an excuse not to participate in your community. But we have to be realistic about the possible near- and medium-term outcomes for this system, and there aren’t any good ones. We have to deal with capitalism soon, or it will deal with us.
Sean Illing
The very last thing you say in the book is that millennials will have to become either fascists or revolutionaries. Is the choice really that binary? Are you convinced revolution is the only answer, knowing all that that implies?
Malcolm Harris
Yes, is the very simple answer. It’s not for me to say what must be done, but people can look at the world and decide for themselves. What I can tell you now is that we appear to be running out of options for reform.
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If the looters are convinced that there is no option but to scrap the system, have we reached the tipping point where we cannot steer back to a rational society? Seems like there is no need to strike, but just prepare for the rebuilding.
Sean Illing
The very last thing you say in the book is that millennials will have to become either fascists or revolutionaries. Is the choice really that binary? Are you convinced revolution is the only answer, knowing all that that implies?
Malcolm Harris
Yes, is the very simple answer. It’s not for me to say what must be done, but people can look at the world and decide for themselves. What I can tell you now is that we appear to be running out of options for reform.
*
If the looters are convinced that there is no option but to scrap the system, have we reached the tipping point where we cannot steer back to a rational society? Seems like there is no need to strike, but just prepare for the rebuilding.
More evidence that we are ruled by mobs of anitlectual idiots. [that is the danger of demonocracies].
We don't refer to it as the Kakistocracy for no reason.
"Most of what people think is the problem of capitalism is actually the problem of statism interjected into a capitalist system."
Bingo. Once government gets in bed with business, equality of treatment and opportunity go out the window. And capitalism corrupted in such a way is no more capitalism, but cronyism.
Capitalism is not based on "equality of the individual"; it requires equality under the law.
"Even many religious theocracies" deny the rights of the individual? They typically do that.
There hasn't been any free market capitalism since the 19th century, much less extreme capitalism.
This is no more than whining ignorant socialist propagandists. They have received the economic benefits of improved productivity but can do nothing but complain that they aren't being paid more. News flash, there are people overseas who work just as hard and produce as much for lower pay. This competition has been happening for centuries and the inventions that result from that competition are a primary reason for the standard of living that we in the West enjoy.
Get over it and learn to compete, or expect to have a reduced standard of living. Complaining and handing control to government will do nothing but make the stagnation worse, since government meddling and interference in the free market is a primary reason for the higher cost of doing business in the US.
Banking is run fascist style, with private banking money being completely controlled by fascism
The VA is socialist medical care
Medicare is run fascist style
The internet started out as a capitalist thing, but is turning fascist
The more I think about it, we are primarily run by a fascist government with just enough capitalism allowed to keep the economy going
The internet isn't turning fascist, it is threatened by progressively growing fascism to controlling, starting with the mass surveillance.
The mass surveillance is not just from the government; it has become an immoral "business model" exploiting a lack of laws protecting individual property and privacy against stalkers and thieves. Government also exploits the "business" surveillance in addition to its own, as proved by the Snowden document dump.
There is a lot more about this government and culture that we don't sanction but have no control over. Not living as a hermit or committing suicide is not an acceptance sanctioning it.
It is true that many today don't care, or subjectively rationalize to themselves that the surveillance doesn't matter, but there seems to be an increasing rebellion as it becomes better known.
This isn't about public forums. Everyone knows that public forums are public, and usually use them because of that. It's much more effective than letters to the NYT -- which wouldn't print them.
I don't think he's right about millennials being unusually troubled. People always say, "kids these days..." He says they're troubled because of increased social problems. I think social problems have actually decreased. He blames the increased social problems on capitalism. I think capitalism is what's making social problems decrease. So Harris and I are 180 degrees out of phase.