[lbo-talk] internet connectivity as vice and other bull dada

snitsnat snitilicious at tampabay.rr.com
Sun Mar 27 14:11:27 PST 2005


At 11:32 AM 3/27/2005, Michael Pugliese wrote:
>
> > I don't understand his/her use of the term "surplus." How in the world
> > can one determine what is surplus and what is not in one's personal
> > life. "Surplus" is intelligible only as referring to capital, not to
> > wages (be they high or low). We can argue about the proportion of a
> > leftist's income which should go to left organizations, etc. but I at
> > least have no interest in any discussion of what I should or shouldn't
> > buy with my disposable income (and I suspect that is what Tully means by
> > "surplus").

He wants EVERYONE to live as he does. I AM curious if he even has a theory about this one. If everyone did, then they'd all be collecting EIC, subsidized housing fi they kept their 2 person income below $8k [otherwise, market rate for you chump!], and using the *cough* public health care system. Nothing wrong with that, but I think it's pretty shitty to BRAG that you live on $5k (income courtesy of taxpayers), when in fact you live on over twice that and you manage that b/c you have no mortgage or rent.

IOW, the taxpayers that he derices are subsidizing over twice his salary. _That's_ the only way he can afford to live on $5k.

He's a Voluntary Simplicity Chucklefuck, also. So, Carrol, dont be thinking you can have DSL *and* french vanilla ice cream. You get one VICE. Internet connectivity is a VICE. Love that SIN thing goin' on there. Don't be thinking you can sit comfortably in your chair and read a magazine. Go to the library you wasteful person and SHARE because ordering that magazine is WASTEFUL.

I'd like to know what his *theory* is for how this would work. Everyone should live off government largesse *choke* AND everyone should cut back on their spending so as to punish the Big, Bad corporations (because, dog knows, there's not a small business that exploits people or engages in *snicker* wasteful, destructive environmental practices [I know, I know, I should give 'im the benefit of a doubt and I'm using fallacious reasoning to slam him. what.the.fuck.ever.])

And don't forget to go dumpster diving! The last date the partner and I had was an hour of dumpster diving. It was awesome! We found a buncha 2x4s, carpeting, milk crates, and a broken down bookshelf. Now the kitty that adopted us two months ago has a scratching post and we will have another bookcase. All because people consume, consume, consume! Except me, of course. I just live off the stuff they dump on the side of the road. That means I'm special and everyone should live like me!

So, you are able to live so simply -- and supposedly on $5k-- because

1. you paid off your house long ago when you had two incomes.* 2. you are subsidized by the taxes paid by the big, bad

corporations and all the people like yisself only they

are CHUMPS! 3. if you dumpster dive, you live off the spend/consumer cycle

of others. 4. and don't forget the nice tax write off for that house

he's paying no mortgage for. I assume he's contributing

NOTHING for property taxes and apparently thinks. He

sounds like the anti-property tax fucks around here that

whine because they pay 1% and then complain b/c the skools

suck.

When a load of people are doing that, I can see how, in a Piven and Cloward kinda way, you might be going somewhere. But without the political movement and some serious theoretical thinking and engaged political practice, I'd like to know what these people think is going to happen.

With all that "I got mine, fuck you" thinking, with all that moralizing bull dada, what kind of people does such a Voluntary Simplicity movement cultivate? For instance, if you are completely unconscious of the ways in which your LIFESTYLE, as simple as it is, is supported by the way the reviled OTHERS live, what kind of thinking are you cultivating? "I got mine, fuck you" doesn't sound to me like the kind of thinking we'd need under conditions of serious economic and political crisis.. Sounds like a recipe for......ooops, not gonna go there.

And, btw, what do you mean by the below, Michael? Who are these people? What's their vision of the world. I'm lazy and I gotta get to the grocery store and consume, consume, consume coz they gots the, get this, Buy One Get Two Free special going on at the Winn Dixie.

I'll be sure to tell the cashier that I'm voluntarily and freely stocking up on .25/lb boxes of pasta (that probably destroy the environment). I'll bet she'll be so impressed she'll sign up to live voluntarily and freely!


> Those Google Spnsored links that Gmail autogenerated from keywords
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>Doug and I know too much about these, "National Anarchist, " "National
>Bolshevik" , "Third Position. " Che, Mao and Adolf lovin'
>neo-fascists.
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>
>--
>Michael Pugliese
>___________________________________
>http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk

"We live under the Confederacy. We're a podunk bunch of swaggering pious hicks."

--Bruce Sterling



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