tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post1822923471200288523..comments2024-03-29T09:14:53.583+00:00Comments on All That Is Solid ...: Dead Cats and PoliticsPhilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-18944537801742210082021-12-12T12:03:29.571+00:002021-12-12T12:03:29.571+00:00«The slight difference is that the 'character ...«<i>The slight difference is that the 'character assassination' of Trump is mostly true, whereas that of Corbyn is mostly lies.</i>»<br /><br />That is not a difference that is that much politically relevant, politics is not a contest for "nice guy of the year" :-). <br /><br />«<i>Trump definitely is politically a reactionary</i>»<br /><br />Indeed “<i>politically</i>“ and indeed not a character point. A quote to reinforce this point, from reactionary warmonger McCain:<br /><br />https://www.politico.com/story/2008/10/mccain-obama-not-an-arab-crowd-boos-014479<br />«October 10, 2008<br /><br />Supporter: I can't trust Obama. I have read about him and he's not, he's not, uh.... He's an Arab. He's not...<br />McCain: No, ma'am. He's a decent family man and citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that's what this campaign's all about. He's not...<br />Supporter: Come on, John!<br />Supporter: Liar!<br />Supporter: Terrorist!<br />Supporter: Obama will lead the country to socialism! The time has come and the Bible tells us: "You speak the truth and that the truth sets you free..."<br />McCain: I have to tell you. Sen. Obama is a decent person and a person you don’t have to be scared of as president of the United States...<br />Supporter: The people here in Minnesota want to see a real fight!<br />McCain: We want to fight, and I will fight. But I will be respectful. I admire Sen. Obama and his accomplishments, and I will respect him.<br />Supporters: Boo<br />McCain: I don't mean that has to reduce your ferocity. I just mean to say you have to be respectful.»<br /><br />«<i>and personally an arsehole</i>»<br /><br />That is his right, but he seems to be quite a bit worse than that; still here is my usual quote on the political aspect of that:<br /><br />https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/dec/11/simon-hoggarts-week<br />«An old mining MP called Bill Stone, who used to sit in the corner of the Strangers' Bar drinking pints of Federation ale to dull the pain of his pneumoconiosis.<br />He was eavesdropping on a conversation at the bar, where someone said exasperatedly about the Commons: "The trouble with this place is, it's full of c*nts!"<br />Bill put down his pint, wiped the foam from his lip and said: "They's plenty of c*nts in the country, and they deserve some representation." (To get the full effect, say it aloud in a broad northern accent.)<br />As a description of parliamentary democracy, that strikes me as unbeatable.»Blissexnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-90304098918188057562021-12-10T20:07:17.384+00:002021-12-10T20:07:17.384+00:00"It is just character assassination, like tha..."It is just character assassination, like that used against Trump and Corbyn"<br /><br />The slight difference is that the 'character assassination' of Trump is mostly true, whereas that of Corbyn is mostly lies. Trump definitely is politically a reactionary and personally an arsehole; Corbyn is not a terrorist, an anti-Semite, a spy, a Stalinist, etc, etc...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-20796901232724433602021-12-10T09:10:31.766+00:002021-12-10T09:10:31.766+00:00Good evening. Here is the News for parrots. No par...Good evening. Here is the News for parrots. No parrots were involved in an accident on the M1 today, when a lorry carrying high octane fuel was in collision with a hollard ... that is a bollard and not a parrot. A spokesman for parrots said he was glad no parrots were involved. The Minister of Technology (photo of minister with parrot on his shoulder) today met the three Russian leaders (cut to photograph of Brahnev, Podgomy and Kosygin all in a group and each with a parrot on his shoulder) to discuss a £4 million airliner deal ... (cut back to narrator) None of them went in the cage, or swung on the little wooden trapeze, or ate any of the nice millet seed yam, yam. That's the end of the news. <br />(Monty Python)Dialectician1noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-88369525395667215812021-12-10T08:18:30.407+00:002021-12-10T08:18:30.407+00:00«Conspiratorial politics, however, are fundamental...«<i>Conspiratorial politics, however, are fundamentally closed. Nothing can change, nothing will change. It's all rigged.</i>»<br /><br />Quite (un)funnily this is pretty much the New Labour point of view: “<i>There Is No Alternative</i>”, we can't beat them, so let's join them as the thatcherite "reserves team", which is indeed “<i>fundamentally disempowering, a paralysing fatalism</i>”<br /><br />«<i>instead it's a challenge. Disseminating the tools for understanding and analysing politics is just as important for the left</i>»<br /><br />That is very much the point: it is indeed important to both understand that “<i>it's all rigged</i>” and that it is possible to fight against that, because the upper class is not all-powerful, and relies to some extent on the passivity if not the consent of the lower classes.<br /><br />That gives some margins of negotiation beyond merely begging "Sir, please can I have some more?", it requires both understanding and struggle, that is a movement behind the party. Exactly as described by Gordon Brown in 1999:<br /><br />the usual quote from Lance Price in 1999: “<i>“Gordon wants us to be a radical progressive, movement, but wants us to keep our heads down on Europe. Peter [Mandelson] thinks that we are a quasi-Conservative Party but that we should stick our necks out on Europe.</i>”<br /><br />Replace "Gordown" with "Jeremy" and "Peter [Mandelson]" with "Keir" (or just leave it "Peter [Mandelson]") and it could have described 2015-2019 too. :-(Blissexnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-44689267575652253592021-12-10T08:02:16.683+00:002021-12-10T08:02:16.683+00:00«the dominant framing of Johnson, he is simultaneo...«<i>the dominant framing of Johnson, he is simultaneously an incompetent, disastrous oaf and a Blofeldian illuminatus pulling off master strokes on an 11-dimensional chessboard.</i>»<br /><br />It is just character assassination, like that used against Trump and Corbyn: they too were described as incompetent comical dunces and at the same time evil tyrannical masterminds. In character assassination campaigns every possible negative point is made, even if they are apparently in conflict. In these campaigns the ability to "doublethink" is quite important.<br /><br />BTW as to "doublethink" the techniques of 1984 are happening around us: for example Starmer never changed his position on the EU to arch-brexitism on becoming leader, because "We have always been at war with EUrasia" :-).Blissexnoreply@blogger.com