welshbairn Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 PM me if anyone wants a free 30 day digital subscription to the Washington Post. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crùbag Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 Read this. Great to see the US from a working-class socialist point of view. Quote The chapters on religious fundamentalism and healthcare are more shocking, given that gun ownership, from this side of the water, seems such a uniquely American signal of class division. A third of working Americans earn less than $9 an hour - the same workers who fund Christian colleges they are unlikely ever to attend, who buy $39,000 cars on credit, and who have no health insurance. Ignorance, Bageant concludes, is the greatest enemy of working-class Americans: not terrorism, or drugs, or illegals, but sheer daftness. It works both ways, with powerful leaders refusing to fund public schools properly and condescending to voters least likely to revolt, and rednecks making a creed out of mistrust and closed-mindedness. Class enslaves the mind. It's not the first time it's been said, but it may be the first time anyone has said it so well, and in the land of the free. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/sep/06/5 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullerene Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 6 hours ago, cdisaaccie said: Or Portland. Both Oregon & Washington on the west coast are blue on that map. Yeah. I was there in July. Nice place. So was Seattle. Saying that, I was also in other parts of the USA and didn't see anyone with horns or pitchfork or pointed tail. I guess your average Trump supporter might look outwardly normal. Bit of a scary thought that I would say. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 6 hours ago, welshbairn said: PM me if anyone wants a free 30 day digital subscription to the Washington Post. Bump. Genuine offer, no catches as far as I'm aware. Be the first to get the fake news scoops on Trump! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheProgressiveLiberal Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 8 hours ago, Crùbag said: Read this. Great to see the US from a working-class socialist point of view. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/sep/06/5 This article is comical. Isn't the Guardian one of the most famous newspapers in world history? How did they publish this? 1. It claims to be about the white working class, but then only gives general statistics. Half the country can't read or write fluently? Well, I'd like to see what that's based on. Then I'm gonna need to see it broken down by class and race if it's relevant to the white working class. 2. 1/3rd of working Americans earn less than $9 / hr. Again, how many of those are white vs. immigrants or the children of immigrants? How many of those are kids or young people who still live with their parents? How many are 2nd part time jobs? How many are jobs done by the wife while her husband brings home a higher wage? If you had shown up at my house when I was a senior in high school and my sisters were freshmen you'd have found 3 people working part time for less than that, and my two parents working for more. If you show up at my house when I'm in middle school you'd have found my mom working part time for less than that, my sisters and me splitting a paper route for less than that, and my dad working for more. It's a laughably irrelevant statistic on its own. 3. Public school funding: Best I could find for per pupil spending on public education in West Virginia (proxy for white working class schools) was $11,132 in 2013. This is from the Washington Post. That's more than the United Kingdom and most first world countries. So, how much are we supposed to spend to make it so that our white working class properly understands their economic interests as explained to them by European Champaign socialists and this one redneck socialist that the Guardian found in Virginia? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheProgressiveLiberal Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 (edited) 12 hours ago, JamieThomas said: My point has long been that there is that socialism in the US is utterly negligible, despite what the right wing dafties might continually bleat about. Trump and his good ol' boys = far right Hillary's mob = right Bernie's lads = centrist The alt-right basement dwellers raging at life because girls won't kiss them would suffer explosive multiple organ failure if anyone of note in the States actually espoused some real socialist policies. Reveal hidden contents Besides, I'm only going for the Taco Bell. Vive la Mexico. Yeah, real socialism is dead in the whole world except for a few backward corners if we mean the literal definition of the government owning property and the means of production. I doubt you even believe in that as a policy. The relevant left vs. right distinction right now is racial / ethnic / gender / cultural marxism. On that front the US left is as bad as any in the world. It's just as dangerous as real socialism as well. It's an impossible fantasy, but it's adherents will go to any length in an attempt to achieve their impossible goals. The end result will be the crushing of both our economy and human freedom if they win, as happened in places where Communist parties took control in the last century. Edited September 2, 2017 by TheProgressiveLiberal 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shades75 Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 2 minutes ago, TheProgressiveLiberal said: Yeah, real socialism is dead in the whole world except for a few backward corners if we mean the literal definition of the government owning property and the means of production. I doubt you even believe in that as a policy. The relevant left vs. right distinction right now is racial / ethnic / gender socialism. On that front the US left is as bad as any in the world. You're saying that socialism equals the government owning all property and the means of production? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheProgressiveLiberal Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 1 minute ago, Shades75 said: You're saying that socialism equals the government owning all property and the means of production? Or some collective authority, yes. Is that not correct? Welfare states from the US to Sweden are just shades of the same thing, which is not socialism. It's all liberal capitalism. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pandarilla Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 Or some collective authority, yes. Is that not correct? Welfare states from the US to Sweden are just shades of the same thing, which is not socialism. It's all liberal capitalism. Social democracy my friend. Something that existed in Europe and the US - until the 80s. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shades75 Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 2 minutes ago, TheProgressiveLiberal said: Or some collective authority, yes. Is that not correct? Welfare states from the US to Sweden are just shades of the same thing, which is not socialism. It's all liberal capitalism. The means of production would be owned by the workers in classic Socialism. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheProgressiveLiberal Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 2 minutes ago, pandarilla said: Social democracy my friend. Something that existed in Europe and the US - until the 80s. I was under the impression that Social Democracy was still about socialism in the end, but they just favored democratic and gradual means to get there instead of revolution. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 Whatever you call it, Liberal Democracy, Social Democracy, Liberal Capitalism... What's the Right's alternative? Belarus? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheProgressiveLiberal Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 6 hours ago, welshbairn said: Whatever you call it, Liberal Democracy, Social Democracy, Liberal Capitalism... What's the Right's alternative? Belarus? The modern US South is what I would point to for the way forward for the US as a whole and Western Europe nations to deal with the new reality of ethnic diversity. Liberal democratic capitalism tempered by cross-class national solidarity. Respect for the equal rights of minorities, but not ashamed that society and government are going to operate on the basis of the culture of the majority group. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pandarilla Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 The modern US South is what I would point to for the way forward for the US as a whole and Western Europe nations to deal with the new reality of ethnic diversity. Liberal democratic capitalism tempered by cross-class national solidarity. Respect for the equal rights of minorities, but not ashamed that society and government are going to operate on the basis of the culture of the majority group. One of my favourite posts of all time!Cross class national solidarity. [emoji2] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiG Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 (edited) Trump seemingly getting the roles of the coastguard and the media mixed up here. Why can't he just say "Thank you guys for doing such a great job"? It's not difficult. Edited September 3, 2017 by RiG 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny Danger Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 On his first visit it was suggested he lacked empathy, second time around he's trying to be empathetic. Anyone needing to be instructed to display empathy probably lacks the emotion. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage Henry Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 On his first visit it was suggested he lacked empathy, second time around he's trying to be empathetic. Anyone needing to be instructed to display empathy probably lacks the emotion. He really is an odious human being. Policies aside, Donald Trump is just thoroughly unpleasant. He has zero common decency, and it never fails to surprise. Neither does the masochism of his support. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjw Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 Trump seemingly getting the roles of the coastguard and the media mixed up here. Why can't he just say "Thank you guys for doing such a great job"? It's not difficult. He's helicoptered in and out yet can't help having a pop at the media who have been there since before the hurricane even hit the US.The other thing that you'll notice from his public slavverings is there are always police,military,coastguard etc nodding and laughing along with his full retard nonsense. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DA Baracus Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 6 hours ago, Granny Danger said: On his first visit it was suggested he lacked empathy, second time around he's trying to be empathetic. Anyone needing to be instructed to display empathy probably lacks the emotion. Psychopaths lack empathy 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topcat(The most tip top) Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 Psychopaths lack empathy It's pretty much their defining characteristic 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.