What is 'cultural Marxism'?

[Robert_S]

Seth, just an observation:

You seem to attribute more coherence to the long term goals and philosophy of the left than is justified.

[JimC]

Seth, just an observation:

You seem to attribute more coherence to the long term goals and philosophy of the left than is justified.

The left is indeed a very broad church; Sandinista, at least, would claim even the term has no real meaning anymore.

Most people who would describe themselves as left leaning, or left of centre would not be arguing for centralised, planned economies of the old school, but would argue for government policies which ameliorate the damaging effects of unrestricted corporate greed, without throwing out free enterprise, property rights, the rule of law and a host of other important checks and balances in a modern democratic society. To call such people crypto-marxists is quite absurd, it displays ignorance of both marxism, and the realities of modern political life.

[MrJonno]

Most people who would describe themselves as left leaning, or left of centre would not be arguing for centralised, planned economies of the old school

Most people wouldnt describe themselves as left ,centre or right leaning , in fact most people don't prescribe to any ideology bar pragmatism which given a complex world is a very sensible position to take

[JimC]

Most people who would describe themselves as left leaning, or left of centre would not be arguing for centralised, planned economies of the old school

Most people wouldnt describe themselves as left ,centre or right leaning , in fact most people don't prescribe to any ideology bar pragmatism which given a complex world is a very sensible position to take

I supose that's true for you young folk, but I'm used to using a left-right spectrum, in the full knowledge of its imperfections and vagueness, but still finding some value in the term...

Mind you, I appreciate pragmatism with the best of 'em...

[MrJonno]

Politicians may describe themselves as left/right wing but I've never a met a Brit who would call himself a socialist/conservative etc unless they were a genuine party activist

[Robert_S]

Politicians may describe themselves as left/right wing but I've never a met a Brit who would call himself a socialist/conservative etc unless they were a genuine party activist

Good idea not having your political stance so tied up with your identity.

[Atheist-Lite]

There are two kinds of people. There are those who believe words mean something and there are those who don't. Left and right, atheist and theist or alive and dead. Some follow the party line and others don't.

[Hermit]

Cultural Marxists want communism on the proviso that they themselves are not unduly affected by it. For example, the Mensheviks wanted Marxism without the revolution, the Frankfurt School wanted Marxism without losing their tenure at their university, Situational Marxists want to preserve their hippie lifestyle in a socialist version of a Walt Disney type fairyland, and so on. In Australia they are collectively known as Armchair (or Bollinger) Communists.

[JimC]

Cultural Marxists want communism on the proviso that they themselves are not unduly affected by it. For example, the Mensheviks wanted Marxism without the revolution, the Frankfurt School wanted Marxism without losing their tenure at their university, Situational Marxists want to preserve their hippie lifestyle in a socialist version of a Walt Disney type fairyland, and so on. In Australia they are collectively known as Armchair (or Bollinger) Communists.

What about the G & T communists!

We have feelings too...

[Hermit]

What about the G & T communists!

We have feelings too...

Well, I didn't mention lapsed members of the SDS and associated pot heads precisely because they have feelings too. Drawing attention to their armchair fights and pointing to what has become of them subsequently (teaching maths in the same catholic school for 35 years, and looking forward to being pensioned off, anyone?) would be just too cruel, don't you think?

[JimC]

What about the G & T communists!

We have feelings too...

Well, I didn't mention lapsed members of the SDS and associated pot heads precisely because they have feelings too. Drawing attention to their armchair fights and pointing to what has become of them subsequently (teaching maths in the same catholic school for 35 years, and looking forward to being pensioned off, anyone?) would be just too cruel, don't you think?

[Seth]

Seth, just an observation:

You seem to attribute more coherence to the long term goals and philosophy of the left than is justified.

Not really. I just understand the core principle of all leftists: "Somebody else has more than I do, I have to work harder than somebody else, and I don't fucking like it, so I want the government to give me just as much as everybody else has and make it so I don't have to work any harder than anyone else and I can still have everything I want, but I don't want to pay for any of it."

That pretty much sums it up. Pure, unadulterated greed, envy and jealousy. That's what the left is all about.

[Seth]

Seth, just an observation:

You seem to attribute more coherence to the long term goals and philosophy of the left than is justified.

The left is indeed a very broad church; Sandinista, at least, would claim even the term has no real meaning anymore.

Most people who would describe themselves as left leaning, or left of centre would not be arguing for centralised, planned economies of the old school, but would argue for government policies which ameliorate the damaging effects of unrestricted corporate greed, without throwing out free enterprise, property rights, the rule of law and a host of other important checks and balances in a modern democratic society. To call such people crypto-marxists is quite absurd, it displays ignorance of both marxism, and the realities of modern political life.

I disagree. They are crypto-Marxists because they ARE for centralized, planned economies and destruction of capitalism, property rights and all of the trappings of capitalism.

They are just too cowardly to stand at the barricades and take the bullets like the Bolsheviks did, so they dress their greed, avarice, envy and jealousy up in all manner of pretty-pretty arguments about human rights and egalitarianism and taking care of people. But what they really mean, and what they really want, is exactly the same thing that Marx wanted; they want the bourgeoisie merchant class, nowadays called "corporations" taken down hard, and they want the wealth stripped from those corporations and their highly-paid CEO's, and they want the assets redistributed to themselves. Then they want government to run things (because somebody has to do it) and make sure that nobody has any more than anybody else, but (delusionally) that everyone will have everything they want.

Modern day leftists are not even as respectable as the Bolsheviks or Marx himself. At lest they weren't pretentious asses pretending that they were trying to make everything happy-happy joy-joy without any actual understanding of how economies work. Marx and the Bolsheviks, and Mao, understood that to create their communist utopia, they would have to break some eggs, and some heads, because communist egalitarianism doesn't work when you have seditious counterrevolutionaries in your midst agitating for the natural state of human economics: capitalism. So, they just exterminated the disruptive elements.

But leftists today are even stupider than the duped proletariat of Marx's era. They don't understand that you can't get something for nothing, and that the incentive to work hard is based in capitalist profit. They want all manner of government-provided benefits, but they don't want to work to obtain them, and they want to kill off the very people who have the capacity to produce wealth that can be taxed to provide those benefits.

They are attempting to destroy the very economic system that makes their lifestyle possible.

And stupidity is no excuse I"m afraid. They don't get a pass for not invoking Marx while invoking his principles, and the principles of Marxist tyrants everywhere. Marxism is as Marxism does.

[MrJonno]

Not really. I just understand the core principle of all leftists: "Somebody else has more than I do, I have to work harder than somebody else, and I don't fucking like it, so I want the government to give me just as much as everybody else has and make it so I don't have to work any harder than anyone else and I can still have everything I want, but I don't want to pay for any of it."

Coming from someone whose entire life has been spending daddies trust fund and sucking more money of the state than a dozen crack whores , yeah working hard

[NineBerry]

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