Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2002 08:52:37 -0400 From: Dennis Perrin <dperrin at comcast.net> Subject: Re: Lefty Despair and Re: More Michael Parenti Re: Deserving Americans
You don't see the religious aspect of this statement, "What Marx actually gave us . . ."? The guy didn't come down off the cross, man.
Tahir: Actually no, I don't see any religious aspect - explain it to me. Marx provided a method of critiquing capital and thereby illuminated a set of possibilities for humanity in a way that I believe no-one else had done. What's religious about that?
He was a brilliant analyst if a so-so human being. And his insights into capital still have relevance today. But trying to turn a pudgy, ill-kept, heavy drinking, cheap cigar smoking, cheating husband into some kind of timeless prophet is in my view a waste of time, and in the worst cases has led to some disastrous results.
Tahir: Have you seen anyone here doing that lately? I haven't.
No, I don't know what's gonna happen in the future. But here in the States I'm willing to bet that the mass of working people aren't gonna turn to Marxism for answers, much less live under a communist state. DP
Tahir: The anarchists that I know about are communists, no? So surely the anarchist in you and the marxist in me can agree that states themselves are antithetical to communism. You also seem to think that describing your education is somehow answering the question of where you stand politically. Of course you have the right not to answer my question, but then your political comments seem to me to have less value. I would be surprised if everyone else doesn't see it that way too...