> Wojtek Sokolowski writes>
>
> I generally agree with that line or argument. I also think,
however, that both Yoshie and Charles attach too much value to the contents
of this neo-racist pseudo-science. As I tried to show in my earlier
posting under the same thread, this stuff is evdently crap and can be
easily refuted on methodological grounds. Thus, its value to the ruling
class must lie in something else than the content that can so easily be
refuted.>
Charles: But if we ARE to explain why this "evident crap" pops back up now, it is related to the New Racism engendered in masses of whites by Reaganism. The neo-racist pseudo-biology may not be the main feature of Reaganite racism, but it is part of it. The average person may not form their racist attitude mainly based on a scientific and biological worldview, true. But "science" is sort of vaguely in the background, so if their is rumor that oh maybe there is some "scientific" for this, that will bolster some people's prejudice. Then there are philistine amateur scientists.The more popular forms of the new racist ideology are irrationally bolstered by the more esoteric forms. The Supreme Court doctrine of reverse discrimination has a similar esoteric, but connected effect as neo-racist pseudo-biology.
The evident crappiness of the latest racist pseudo-biology is an indication of the desparation and decadence of the bourgeoisie, but all bourgeois ideological tricks are evident crap actually. Ruling class ideologies have always been irrational, but somehow they get over - for example Christianity, the content of which is easily refuted. What exactly do you mean that we are "attach(ing) too much value to the contents..."?
>I view this stuff in the context of two phenomena. The first phenoment is
the eneromou changes taking place in the world - old empire crumbling, new
empires emerging, new technologies being introduced, entirely new
legislations to regulate them being drafted, new markets, spehres of
influences being established, public properties (space, information
technology) being transfered to corporations -- in a word, the captains of
industry re-designing the new world order on the grand scale.
The second phenomenon is th eproliferation of culture wars fought a hundred years ago: sexual freedom, abortion, school prayer, and now biological grounds of social inequalities. It seems to me that as the history shifts into the fast-forward gear in the corporate sphere, it also shifts, or rathwr someone is trying to shift it, into reverse in the public sphere.
I do not view it a mere coincidence. I think that culture wars over abortion, race and school prayer are a delibearte tactic used by th emedia owners to divert public attention form how the spoils of the cold war and new age technology are being divided. The issues, race, abortion or religion, are selected not because of their contents, but because of their one and only property -- they are highly divisive and inflammatory, thus create a perfect diversion. I bet you a beer that the next Kulturkampf will be over a flat-earth-science and geo-centric cosmogony being intriuced by some wacky group to school curriculum.
Religion and culture have always been a perfect diversion from real social problems. I do not think this time is any different. Cultural identity politics is such a nice diversion from the corporate pig-out. That, BTW, makes me almost sympathetic to the dictum by Hanns Johst (a Nazi playwright): "Wenn ich Kultur hoere, entsichere ich meinen Browning." (When I hear about culture, I cock my pistol.)>
Charles : Well that was a mouth full. I feel a little funny right here next to a quote of a Nazi playwright
This is late, late, overripe to putrified capitalism. So there are some things rottener than ever before. The bourgeosie are really desparate. Their trying to run some "evident crap" like racist pseudo-biology, denial of women's right to abortion, abolishing welfare without abolishing unemployment, free trade ( boy that's an ole one) etc., etc. cultural retreads and reretreads are some of the facts of the decadence.
It's a little disturbing how many people go for all of this evident crap and for so long . How do we wake people up ?
The private and the public spheres in "opposite directions" reflects the private nature of appropriation in contradiction with the social nature of production, the central contradiction of capitalism.
What is to be done about all this in your opinion ?
Charles Brown