> Of course, there is no _meta-historical_ baseline. The point is that
> capitalists intervene in people's self-perceptions, in order to make
money.
> If you don't think that's a form of exploitation and perversion, what
can
> one say?
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I think the entire rhetorical strategy of false consciousness and authenticity has outlived it's historical function. Full stop. Everyone is always already intervening in each other's self-perceptions; there is no unmediated self-perception. Exploitation in the labor process and the system of property and contract that make it possible, while definitely needing to be put back on the cultural 'radar screen' for the sake of collective action-transmutation, are just not seen as key determinants of people's self-perception. The US war machine is owned by the US citizenry, do you feel like a proud owner of that in the same way you feel a proud owner of the Grand Canyon, say? Or do you enjoy your own deconstruction of your identification as a US citizen so that you unown those entities? As if there were a final, objectively true theory of property and contract..........
> The ideal condition for identity-development is universal democracy,
a.k.a.
> socialism.
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Please be more specific as to the content of the last term in the sentence.
Ian