[lbo-talk] Re: Purer Than Thou

ravi ravi at platosbeard.org
Wed Jan 24 09:17:42 PST 2007


At around 24/1/07 11:43 am, Chuck wrote:
> Carrol Cox wrote:
>> Marx on Proudhon easily translates into
>> Marx on free software programmers who hallucinate that their work is
>> anti-capitalist.
>
> Much of that work is consciously anti-capitalist!
>

I think this is lingo confusion/cleverness. Anti-capitalism is not a mantra. It (and "capitalism" itself) is a particular term of a particular set of "hallucinating" radicals whose epistemology is unproven. So, there is no need for other kind of radicals to explain themselves in this language, nor does their ability to do so (or not do so) impact their credibility (the proof, among other places, is in the pudding). Chuck, as an anarchist (which I assume is a superset of epistemological anarchism), I hope that you would see that.


> The tone of this discussion and its pissing on the free software
> movement reminds me of how the Left is so skilled at snatching defeat
> out of the jaws of victory.
>
> FOSS is something that we can be happy and proud about. It shows that
> our ideas can work.

No kidding. Not just our ideas, but that underlying theories of human natures and so on have flawed but significant evidence.

--ravi



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