Dear Chien,
Marxism
This is where I get confused...you see my interpretation of Marxism is a lot
different from yours. It's why your analysis doesn't ring true to me, not that
I know any better about such things. I wouldn't even attempt to predict when
the next major world conflagration will be, but I do hope that it won't be in
my lifetime. I think everyone finds it difficult to make such predictions,
even the world's best think tanks with all the resources they have access to
and the best academic minds in the world, get most things wrong.
Why do I think thus: First of all because there are all different kinds of
Marxists. There are people who call themselves Marxist, for one thing, who, in
fact, aren't. There are people who are called Marxist, who in fact, aren't.
And there are people who are Marxist, but deny it! And then there is the
hidden marxists. This occurrence happens naturally, without me even defining
what I think marxism is, because you could substitute the name Marx to Bloggs.
Also, in different countries, after the death of Marx, all sorts of dissidents
were referred to as Marxists, when in fact their resemblance to anything that
Marx said, might be found in a random colour dot on a television tube. Then
there was/is the problem of the true marxist, or the True Marxist, the species
of marxist, the type of marxist, the genus of marxist, the order of preference
marxist, the superior marxist (no marxist is of course inferior, goes without
saying really); which one is true or more truer than the other. i.e.which one
would have been chosen, by the God called Marx, or any other god/God. Most of
those who do call themselves Marxists, are the self-chosen Marxists, it is a
nice sounding name, invokes fear and superiority, and shows off their hedonism.
They are, though, no doubt in their own minds, superior, therefore...they are
treading the only true path, and all others must succumb.
Of course, before Marx was born, there was still trouble in the world,
disputes, injustices, wars, conflagrations, groups struggling against one
another, vested interests, waxing and waning interests, others co-operating. I
will call them all Bloggers, for a better word...:-)
Are the chosen Marxists, either by themselves or someone else, or by God,
somehow better, than the lesser Marxists? How does one prove it? Even if one
had the evidence, it would still come down to preferences, belief systems and
interpretations from one's own mind and intuitions, beliefs, prejudices,
assumptions etc. That is the trouble with categorisation and labelling in such
matters. One moves from giving them a name to predicting how they think, how
they behave and what they are going to do next, then condemning them all, carte
blanche, because it suits some particular political or other argument one is
making, at the time. Doesn't work in my book...waste of time. A bit like
religion really...in my view...but there you are...who or what am I?...Dougie
Rankine, of course...in case you didn't know the answer...:-).
Progressive.
I was in conversation with the M.D. of one of the companies I worked for, about
a wage increase one day. Over a cup of tea and bikkies, he asked me if he could
take me into his confidence and, without waiting for a reply said to me.
"My man, I just wanted to have a chat with you before the main meeting with
the other shop stewards."
(We knew each other quite well, due to us both living in London at the time
and due to conducting negotiations over London Weighting).
He then went on to say, (he "knew" I was a Communist), that he had a
progressive wage increase for me and my members and wanted to to run it by me,
before the meeting...just to see how I felt about it, so to speak. Very
progressive he said it was, by way of reassurance; and then outlined a 9%
increase in the basic wage, and a 50% increase in the bonus, of which 25% of
the bonus would be guaranteed. And he finished with the query, "Now, don't you
think that that is a very progressive wage increase? He asked.
Now if any of you guys out there have ever done management/union negotiations,
you will know what I am talking about here. (If you haven't, read on...you
might learn sumphink...but, there again...bad advice...I think not...:-)
So, I looked at him and said, "You call that progressive?" He said, "Yes".
I said "Why?"
"Because we are giving you a bigger bonus than you asked for, so your members
will be able to earn lots more money. "
You see the assumptions here; one, he knows me, two, he knows I am a Communist.
Three He knows that Communists are Marxists, and that all Marxists are
Progressives. Four. Progressives like change, and he is giving me change...( I
hope you see the pun here, dear colleagues). But if you don't, Communists want
to get rid of money, not all communists are marxists, and progress means one
thing to one person and something else completely to another. Communism, is
after all a Utopia...like Heaven, or Nirvana, or Valhalla, or whatever the name
for it is in other religions.
I replied, " Very good, I must congratulate you on your perspicacity. There is
only a slight problem, but I think you have covered most of it..."
He said, "And what is that?"
I replied, "If you change the ratio slightly, to what I suggest, I can
guarantee that my members will accept it."
"Go Ahead", he said.
"Well, if you really want to make the wage award progressive, you could try
getting rid of the bonus system all together by incorporating it into the basic
wage, and then giving us a wage increase on top of that, of 30%. If you could
stretch your company budget to do that, then my members would be very
satisfied, to the point that they would work much harder and better because
they felt better rewarded, we would enjoy our holidays more, we would feel
better when we went sick, and our pensions would increase proportionately...and
the taxman would be very pleased too, when he saw how much more money he was
collecting in National Insurance Stamps. You would then see that there was no
need for a bonus system. All that waste of bureaucracy, accountants and time
calculating the bonuses every month, would be overcome and the company's
productivity would go up and the company profits and shareholder dividends
would go up too. You see, a win win situation. Everybody wins, everybody would
be very happy"... I replied.
He wasn't...and didn't agree...There is just no pleasing some people, no matter
what you do, no matter how much you bow down to them...no matter how hard you
try to make them happy, they just can't be. I put it down to genetics myself,
on the basis, there is nuffink else left...
I won't go any further, as I think by this time, most folks will have got the
point, or if not, fallen asleep. That is the trouble with the word
Progressive. I could go through the other categories, but I think that I would
be belabouring the point and boring to death the vast audience who are part of
this forum.
ATB
Dougie.
P.S. Have you chosen your Utopia yet?...:-).
P.P.S. What is Trump going to do next?...:-)
see url:https://youtu.be/ex9yVufsXYs
for the point of my next piece...
On 25/07/2017 05:53, Chien Fume wrote:
On Sat, Jul 22, 2017 at 8:11 AM, douglas rankine
<douglasrankine@xxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:douglasrankine@xxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Dear Chien,
Thank you for the url:
Do all Democrats hate and fear Putin? Are all Democrats Marxists? What
is a Marxist? What is a Christian? Was Karl Marx a Marxist? Was Jesus
Christ a Christian?
As you know, rhetorical questions such as those above can't really be answered.
One can usually find exceptions to general ideas. "Most rattlesnakes don't harm
people. Therefore, no rattlesnakes are dangerous."
Following that kind of thinking in rattlesnake-infested areas will result in
unnecessary death. Mind you, you'd be correct to scoff if someone said
"Rattlesnakes are snakes. Rattlesnakes are deadly. Therefore all snakes are
deadly."... one of those Freshman informal logic problems that often begins the
process of making students confused, eventually leading them to conclude all
kinds of crazy things; such as "nothing is true. everything is permitted." ...
the fabled last words of Hassan ibn Sabbah, who revived the Cairo Ishmaeli
'pay-for-slay' cult and turned it into a formidable weapon against the West.
https://youtu.be/rh4WgRzdyWA
However, regarding the Democrats... the Party Line is currently pushing the
idea that Russia is an enemy. This is the basis for the 'Impeach or Assassinate
Trump' hysteria. Also, in my several decades of activity in the Party, Marxism
was a primary influence on the leadership (including mid-level useful idiots
like I was back then).
Marxism is often called socialism, Progressivism, and many other names. All
agree the State must control all aspects of life and industry. Neo-Con
Republicans are perhaps the most ideologically pure Marxists of all.
I watched the content of the url. I didn't realise that Putin was so
personally religious. I thought he was just ex KGB. I can understand
his commitment to it, particularly the Russian Orthodox Church, as
President of Russia, one wouldn't expect anything else. The church
itself was persecuted under the label of another religion, called
Communism. God Bless Russia...and America...eh...:-)
God bless those Humans who work for freedom and equality under 'Natural Law'
(as common sense was once called).
https://youtu.be/ex9yVufsXYs
ATB
Dougie.
On 21/07/2017 04:46, Chien Fume wrote:
https://youtu.be/Y4I7Cnpirw8
