[lbo-talk] left is to blame for tea party

[shag carpet bomb]

i was thinking that it was this: chomsky thinks that, basically, people are 
wired for libertarian socialism. hence, all the propaganda is an effort to 
convince people to do what they would otherwise not want to do naturally. i 
seem to recall that this came out in his debate with Foucault back in the 
60s, and debated extensively here. so, the position of the left, for 
chomsky, is that we have it easy. 1. most human beings are naturally 
inclined to libertarian socialism, and 2. only live in capitalism because 
they must and because they are systematically deluded by propaganda into 
supporting a system that's against their natural desires. therefore, the 
job for Leftists is really quite simple. Counter the massive resources 
mobilized on behalf of capital with our minuscule resources. We don't need 
massive resources to get our messages across - only capitalism does. It's 
not a problem of capitalist state power and massive resources against us. 
It's a problem of us not getting it together enough to deliver a really 
simple message with posters, email, zines, web sites, and hanging out a 
local pub explaining the facts, in a down home way.

hmmm. shades of Liberal Enlightenment thesis going on: well-informed people 
will naturally love Liberalism so it's all about getting the facts and 
truth out there and they will naturally vote for Democrats.  in this 
version of the liberal enlightenment world view, we just get the facts out 
there, inform a citizenry, and the veil of ideology will be lifted.

i am reminded of Judith Butler's evisceration of the anti-pomos in an essay 
called "Merely Cultural" where she points out that anit-pomos, in the name 
of class solidarity, effectively reinstantiate the very fragmentation on 
the left they claim to deride.

shag

At 12:49 PM 5/9/2010, Carrol Cox wrote:
>Chomsky is an honorable part of the past, and it's time to put him on a
>pedestal and then not worry about his present performances.
>
>Anyhow, you know The Left is respsible for milk turning sdour.
>
>Carrol
>___________________________________
>http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk

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