[lbo-talk] The Necrosocial

[Max Sawicky]

Writing about the factory the way that piece was written about the U,
yes, another waste of time.  Who is supposed to be the audience for
that sort of tract?  For anyone to read it, they would have to be
forced at gunpoint, unless it was some required college assignment.
Reminds me of what Tony Downs once said about Brookings Institution
reports:  "Once you put it down, you can't pick it up."

I vividly recall the reaction, decades ago, when I was among the
workers, projecting disdain for privileges I had the benefit of, and
it was not pretty.  Disdain for one's own privilege is conspicuous
consumption.  It's offensive.

Maybe I'm overreacting to the style and academic jargon, though at
some level that becomes content.

On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 1:08 PM, Eric Beck <ersatzdog at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 11/23/09, Max Sawicky <sawicky at verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> My point went beyond vocabulary.  Criticism of the university as a
>> bastion of bourgeois/capitalist/alienated (take your pick) culture is
>> a colossal navel-gazing waste of time.
>
> So bitching about the factory as a bastion
> bourgeois/capitalist/alienated culture is also a colossal navel-gazing
> waste of time? I know, the factory and the university are not the same
> thing. But I think what most of the protesters and their communiques
> are saying is that they are a lot closer to being the same thing than
> they were in the past; the university is more closely tied up with the
> reproduction of capital. I'd say their evidence -- rehearsed here and
> elsewhere, so I won't repeat -- is pretty compelling. I think to make
> the assertion you make, that it's a suspension of and autonomous from
> real life, you would need to make arguments against their arguments.
> Do you really think the site of struggle is neutral?
>
> As for the "privilege" stuff, I think that's just silly.
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>