MP wrote:
[I kind of like this system that's evolved where people give speeches in shortened sentences to suit the People's Mike, and then release the full transcript. I'm not a big fan of Zizek or Naomi Klein, but I enjoyed both their speeches. This seems yet another unexpected benefit of this discussion rather than demand format. It seems to produce much better speeches and get them much more attention. The speeches are about changing the terms of discourse rather than details. Establishing the premise that we have to change the terms, because the old ones don't work, is more important than any particular term. And OWS has created a focal point that amplifies the attempt.]
JG writes:
Thanks for the intelligent analysis of the virtues of the "People's Mike." A lot could be said about Zizek and his speech. I'm one of those who tends to see Zizek as a self-promoting buffoon, and not a heavyweight thinker. But I won't go into that now. IMO there is some good stuff in this speech. But when he sounds off about China, he sounds like a right-wing social democrat. All that crap about today's remaining communists being the most ruthless capitalists, and now (for the first time ever, huh?) capital accumulation being severed from bourgeois democracy. Great, just what you want to tell a crowd where more than a few need to be weaned off sub-literate (and sometimes outrightly nationalistic) economic populism.