"Brave New World" or "the Soul of Man under Socialism"? (was Re: Desire & Scarcity)

[Eric Beck]

Yoshie,

>Why do you imagine a world of "emotional barrenness" when you hear someone
>say that communism might make possible "the beginning of pleasant surprises
>& lasting friendships"?

Communist societies of the past certainly did not lead to this, and many in
fact were more oppressive and regressive than their predecessors. That's
not to say it isn't possible, but in your voluminous posts over the last
year or so I've seen nothing in your vision--if hubris and random
speculation can be called "vision"--that differs from them.

Obviously I am not as deterministic as you. I believe that some human
relationships are not completely dominated by the material, and that a
simple change in economics will not erase oppression, domination, etc.
History agrees with me, even if you don't.

Per usual, your other posts have tangled, distorted, and misrepresented my
original, quite limited comments. It would be impossible to unravel it all,
so I won't try. I'll just adapt one your phrases: Your disagreement is not
with what I said, but with yourself.

Eric