[lbo-talk] why movies suck

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Wed Nov 18 11:01:22 PST 2009


c b wrote:
>
> (To Carrol C.)
> Oh, and you don't think that profit maximization has any deleterious
> effects on culture? Or does your usual railing about rampant barbarism
> exempt culture from its critique?
>
> Doug
>
> ^^^^^^^
> CB: Ok. But you like Metallica and don't like these movies ?

Actually, I don't think profit maximization has any _particular_ effect (bad or good) on "culture." Doug's argument here is the old Kautsky-Stalin-Caudwill mechanical marxism, which sees production (vulgarized conception) as mechanically creating "corrupt culture." (I admire Caudwell in some important ways, but this part of his thought is trapped in the 2d/3d Internationals.)

Doug takes "economics" in one hand, "culture" in anothr, mixes them in abucket, and thinks he has related economics to culture. But two things can't from a unity. If you start out by assuming econics and culture are different, they will always remain different in your thought, and you will never be able to grasp the connections between them.

In general it is a profound historical, political, and critical error to see Capitalism as subject to "decay" (decadence) in the way a tributary society can decay or become decadent. Capitalism is a phoenix and always arises refreshed from its own ashes with its culture reinvigorated.

This thread gets sillier and sillier, even distorting the good sense of Dennis Claxton, who forgets that metacommentary is not off-topic.

Carrol



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