Madness and Mass Society (164-171)
Interview with Bruce E. Levine who thinks that many mental disorders are profit driven fabrications. The most extreme example is probably ODD (Oppositional Defiance Disorder). According to the DSM, this is a legitimate disease. ADD or ADHD is also a diagnosis that is easy to pick on. The first DSM came out in 1952 (166).
Levine thinks that the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) is a pseudo-science (165). Levine points out that a movie like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest would probably never come out today. Because so many people have "legitimate" mental disorders now, the whole issue is offensive, not to mention drug companies exercise a lot more political and legal power over society now.
Levine says that for 99% of human history people have been living in non-mass societies (168). He suggests that many mental disorders have their roots in the society arrangement instead of something that is defective with the individual. If so many individuals are being affected, should the individuals change to fit into the standardized order, or should the society change? Levine thinks that part of the problem is a dissolution of community and points out that if you take a name like Oakland, it is really a location and less of a community (168). In a functioning community, people decided what the problems are, generate solutions and do not hand these issues over to distant authorities (168). MT: Maybe this is how companies should be looked at, as being pro-community or anti-community. My guess is that the a company with a strong PR image reminding people all of the time that the company is pro-community, is really just compensating for a lack of community, possibly they are destroying the community in some way. This is also the main issue between the middle class and the working class. If you are working class, you really need your community, that is what you have to get through the tough times. If you are middle class, you don't really need community, if there is loneliness, there is always the possibility of relief. The middle class holds a powerful remote control and can change the channel whenever they please through things like travel and mini-vacations. Middle class people are always flitting around, "tasting the local flavors." If you are poor, you are the local flavor, there's nothing charming about it.
Levine says that the current atomized society is bad for many people. Specifically the lack of community and the breakdown of extended families are what he thinks are hurting people (171). He thinks a bigger part of the emotional and behavioral problems have to do with a very real sense of both being disconnected and powerless.
Common Uprisings: From the Great Mexican land Grab to the Reclaiming of Everything (87-95)
The Zapatista's rose up in Chipas on January 1, 1994, the night that NAFTA was scheduled to go into effect. Why were they so mad? Because the traditional campensino law that had protected the commons had been done away with when NAFTA was signed into law. NAFTA is evidence that traditional nation-states are no longer capable of satisfying the growth required to sate the machine of liberalism (92). Article 27 (the Ejido law) of the Mexican Constitution had been amended originally to allow for the commons resulting from Emiliano Zapata's Plan de Ayala in 1911. Article 27 had called for at least 1/2 of the land in Mexico to be placed outside of private hands. The land was to be outside of the marketplace altogether (88). Zapata had the notion of tierra y libertad —"the land is for the people who work it..." (88). With the stroke of the NAFTA pen, Mexico's century of agrarian reform ended. The system had not been perfect, it was at times corrupt and never was complete, but legally the land was protected (88).
Modern capitalism was a cluter of causes, but one contributing factor that led to its rise was the enclosure of the commons in England in the 16th century (91). Prior to that, people were not allowed to turn more cattle out to the common patures as they could stable in winter. This served as a check on overgrazing. One religious group, a group of freethinkers known as the Diggers were strongly opposed. The Diggers held that the earth was a common treasurey for all (90).
Friday, June 24, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
The Uses of Haiti by Paul Farmer
The book has two fowards, one by Kozol and another by Chomsky. Basically they say that this book will challenge the accepted lies (11.). Haiti is described as the world's oldest black republic (11). A former priest, Jean Bertrand Aristride, was elected in 1990 and overthrown in September 1991 with the help of the USA. Apparently Aristide made it clear that he was not about to be a servile viceroy to US interests. The USA imposed an embargo, a form of economic blackmail, on the Haitians of 500 million. Economic funds had been channelled from the US to Haiti during the occupation starting under Wilson from 1915-1934. After that, the Papa and Baby Doc Duvalier dictatorship lasted from 1957-1986 (52).
Hispanolia, modern Haiti and Domican Republic, was regarded as a paradise. Today it is the very symbol of despair (17). Originally a Spanish colony, the French took over. In 1796 the slaves fomented against french rule and Toussaint Louverture took over (61). What the slaves had done in Haiti, made a lot of slave owners in U.S. very nervous. (64). Outside of Haiti, there was no other case of a slave nation rising up from within and overthrowing a colonial empire. It was both the earliest example of this and is still a shocking historical case. The U.S. refused to recogonize Haiti as a nation and refused diplomacy. In 1844 the Domican Republic declares independence from Haiti (69). The Marines invaded under Wilson in 1915. By the time they left Haiti was saddled with a 40 million dollar debt (89). Under the US occupation, North American companies either bought or leased an estimated 300,000 acres of land, getting into business with bananas, rubber, sugar, sisal and a number of other resources (82). Papa Doc Duvalier took over in the 1950's and like many other leaders, protected himself under anti-communist hysteria. He made communism illegal and any associations with it, punishible to the point of death in his Articles 1 and 2 (94). USAID during this time was directed in a way to turn Haiti into the Taiwan of the Carribean (21).
Hispanolia, modern Haiti and Domican Republic, was regarded as a paradise. Today it is the very symbol of despair (17). Originally a Spanish colony, the French took over. In 1796 the slaves fomented against french rule and Toussaint Louverture took over (61). What the slaves had done in Haiti, made a lot of slave owners in U.S. very nervous. (64). Outside of Haiti, there was no other case of a slave nation rising up from within and overthrowing a colonial empire. It was both the earliest example of this and is still a shocking historical case. The U.S. refused to recogonize Haiti as a nation and refused diplomacy. In 1844 the Domican Republic declares independence from Haiti (69). The Marines invaded under Wilson in 1915. By the time they left Haiti was saddled with a 40 million dollar debt (89). Under the US occupation, North American companies either bought or leased an estimated 300,000 acres of land, getting into business with bananas, rubber, sugar, sisal and a number of other resources (82). Papa Doc Duvalier took over in the 1950's and like many other leaders, protected himself under anti-communist hysteria. He made communism illegal and any associations with it, punishible to the point of death in his Articles 1 and 2 (94). USAID during this time was directed in a way to turn Haiti into the Taiwan of the Carribean (21).
The Inefficiency of Capitalism: An Anarchist View by Brian Oliver Shepphard
Summary:
Sheppard points out that it has become automatic to think of capitalism as being efficient because this is what is oft repeated. Sheppard uses a neat list to dispell the accepted view and believes that the system is actually inefficient.
10 Inefficiencies of capitalism
1. Product duplication
2. Systematic Unemployment
3. Cost Shifting
4. Waste of Unsold Goods
5. The inefficiency of Hierarchies
6. Planned Obsolescence
7. Price Gouging
8. Creation of False Desires
9. Parasitic Jobs
10. Inefficient Distribution Patters
Notes on the Hx of Capitalism
The system developed out of feudalism after the fiefdoms and lords began to disappear (8). It is thought that serfs worked no more than an average of four hours a day. By modern standards, serfs were extremely lazy. As agricultural workers, there were long winter seasons without work to be done. The newly independent serfs found themselves needing to rent themselves out to people in order to buy their own food, pay new housing costs etc. People started moving around a lot more, seeking the most comfortable living conditions possible. Other contributions to capitalism were the rise of Protestantism, mercantilism and the Enclosure Acts that abolished the Commons (in England) (8).
Working Definitions
Capitalism - system by which there is private ownership of the means of production
Efficiency - this is a loaded term that absolutely cannot be read as being something that is automatically positive. What is efficient for a business, may be bad for society or the environment. "Efficiency" and "convenience" as applied to our modern consumer society are words used to indicate that there is about to be less service, the consumer will do the work, or pay a fee. For example, automatic checkout lines at grocery stores, fast food restaurants and ATM's are all referred to as being fast and convenient. Companies find ways to get unthinking consumers to do labor and slyly redesignate the labor as "fast" and "fun."
Inefficiency #1 Product Duplication
Classic example would be breakfast cereals and bars of soap. It appears that people are making important decisions, but all of the products are remarkably similar, overpriced, and shoddy. For example, a person could buy unbranded whole oats for 5% of the cost of the processed oats and have a much healthier breakfast, getting more fiber, less sugar in the diet etc. (14).
Inefficiency #2 Systematic Unemployment
Capitalism would not work if everybody had full time employment. "Work" meaning it would decrease profits, until the system collapsed. Economists have looked under the microscope and discovered that there is something that, like gravity, exists, and this is called the Natural Rate of Unemployment (NRU) (18). There is some debate, but economists believe the NRU is between 4-9%. When the economy dips below the NRU, the economy becomes inflationary, as workers can begin demanding better wages and there is no competition for jobs. Because one must always remember, without competition, this divine system would cease functioning.
Inefficiency #3 Cost Shifting
Private interests seek to lower costs by pushing them onto the public sector. The military industrial complex in US serves heavily as a subsidy to technological firms. Another example would be how the auto and oil industry profits enormously from public infrastructure.
Inefficiency #6 Planned Obsolescence
Vance Packard's classic 1957 book The Waste Makers discussed limited life spans of products (23). In the 1930's a GE engineer proposed increasing sales by making lamp bulbs that lasted for the duration of only one battery cycle. Many products tell consumers when a product needs to be replaced using things like indicator strips. Many of these indicators tell consumers the products wear out when in reality, the products are still useful.
Inefficiency #7 Price Gouging
Decreased supply supposedly with increase demand, so limited editions and things like that are released. Video game consoles are released gradually. A classic example is the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls in the 1980's (24).
Sources/References
Beaud, Michel. The History of Capitalism 1500-2000.
Sheppard points out that it has become automatic to think of capitalism as being efficient because this is what is oft repeated. Sheppard uses a neat list to dispell the accepted view and believes that the system is actually inefficient.
10 Inefficiencies of capitalism
1. Product duplication
2. Systematic Unemployment
3. Cost Shifting
4. Waste of Unsold Goods
5. The inefficiency of Hierarchies
6. Planned Obsolescence
7. Price Gouging
8. Creation of False Desires
9. Parasitic Jobs
10. Inefficient Distribution Patters
Notes on the Hx of Capitalism
The system developed out of feudalism after the fiefdoms and lords began to disappear (8). It is thought that serfs worked no more than an average of four hours a day. By modern standards, serfs were extremely lazy. As agricultural workers, there were long winter seasons without work to be done. The newly independent serfs found themselves needing to rent themselves out to people in order to buy their own food, pay new housing costs etc. People started moving around a lot more, seeking the most comfortable living conditions possible. Other contributions to capitalism were the rise of Protestantism, mercantilism and the Enclosure Acts that abolished the Commons (in England) (8).
Working Definitions
Capitalism - system by which there is private ownership of the means of production
Efficiency - this is a loaded term that absolutely cannot be read as being something that is automatically positive. What is efficient for a business, may be bad for society or the environment. "Efficiency" and "convenience" as applied to our modern consumer society are words used to indicate that there is about to be less service, the consumer will do the work, or pay a fee. For example, automatic checkout lines at grocery stores, fast food restaurants and ATM's are all referred to as being fast and convenient. Companies find ways to get unthinking consumers to do labor and slyly redesignate the labor as "fast" and "fun."
Inefficiency #1 Product Duplication
Classic example would be breakfast cereals and bars of soap. It appears that people are making important decisions, but all of the products are remarkably similar, overpriced, and shoddy. For example, a person could buy unbranded whole oats for 5% of the cost of the processed oats and have a much healthier breakfast, getting more fiber, less sugar in the diet etc. (14).
Inefficiency #2 Systematic Unemployment
Capitalism would not work if everybody had full time employment. "Work" meaning it would decrease profits, until the system collapsed. Economists have looked under the microscope and discovered that there is something that, like gravity, exists, and this is called the Natural Rate of Unemployment (NRU) (18). There is some debate, but economists believe the NRU is between 4-9%. When the economy dips below the NRU, the economy becomes inflationary, as workers can begin demanding better wages and there is no competition for jobs. Because one must always remember, without competition, this divine system would cease functioning.
Inefficiency #3 Cost Shifting
Private interests seek to lower costs by pushing them onto the public sector. The military industrial complex in US serves heavily as a subsidy to technological firms. Another example would be how the auto and oil industry profits enormously from public infrastructure.
Inefficiency #6 Planned Obsolescence
Vance Packard's classic 1957 book The Waste Makers discussed limited life spans of products (23). In the 1930's a GE engineer proposed increasing sales by making lamp bulbs that lasted for the duration of only one battery cycle. Many products tell consumers when a product needs to be replaced using things like indicator strips. Many of these indicators tell consumers the products wear out when in reality, the products are still useful.
Inefficiency #7 Price Gouging
Decreased supply supposedly with increase demand, so limited editions and things like that are released. Video game consoles are released gradually. A classic example is the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls in the 1980's (24).
Sources/References
Beaud, Michel. The History of Capitalism 1500-2000.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
George Lakoff's Whose Freedom?
Summary:
Lakaoff, ever the interested scholar of language—having previously tackled the metaphorical nature of thought in Metaphors We Live By—herein submits that a loaded word like freedom, cannot pass by without being analyzed. Both conservative and leftist politicians use the word freedom, but the word takes opposite meanings.
Definitions and Questions for Freedom
Basically there is a "freedom to" and a "freedom from." (78)
For example, FDR gave a speech, famously called the Four Freedoms Speech and he defined freedom as being freedom from necessity, want, hunger and fear. (7) FDR also said that freedom does not exist in the absence of opportunity (76).
The USA is committed to spreading freedom. But what kind of freedom? For who? (17)
Linguistic threats to Lakoff's type of leftist freedom
These fall into general categories that I would best describe as
•overuse - the word freedom simply gets used too much and loses all meaning, like how revolution, once a technical meaning, is now used by Verizon and many other companies to describe weekend sales "A price revolution...this weekend at select stores"
Vagueness - words tend to mean different things to different people. Certain words are loaded. Even specific words like "over" are subject to many different meanings.
Overuse
Repetition is a great way to evacuate dangerous words of any type of subversive or intelligible meaning.
Case in point. Consider the name Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. (6)
MT: The name Operation Enduring Freedom recursively gets Lakoff's point across about how freedom means different things to different political persuasions. With a name like that it is easy to ask, "Is freedom something that will endure," or "Is freedom something that must be endured?"
Vagueness
Words mean things and that is the problem. They tend to mean too much. A simple word like "over" has over 100 distinct meanings. (22). MT/MQ: So imagine how many meanings freedom has. This reminds me of Toni Morrison who said that nobody knows what anybody means when they talk about love because to some it means lust, to others it means something that looks awfully like abuse.
Take a word like art. Everybody knows what art is right? Lakoff suggests that to even begin, first you have to categorize art in some way. So you could use traditional categories like Dada, realism etc. For example if you show a realist painter canned shit like Piero Manzoni did. The artist shit into little cans, tinned them and sold them to investors as "Freshly canned shit of the artist." People gobbled them up. Of course the artist had really smart reasons and directed social criticism toward buyers, but many were not capable of understanding. Likewise if you tell a realist that Manzoni's work is art, a more traditional artist would disagree and not be able to recognize it as art. Likewise, if you tell a conservative what you mean by freedom, they don't even really understand.
A right wing view of freedom focuses on individual freedom (25). In other words, interference with individual liberty— usually by the government— is a crimp in the great hose of freedom. It actually would make sense that if you can afford to do whatever you want, that lax tax laws would benefit you.
Additional
Summary:
Lakaoff, ever the interested scholar of language—having previously tackled the metaphorical nature of thought in Metaphors We Live By—herein submits that a loaded word like freedom, cannot pass by without being analyzed. Both conservative and leftist politicians use the word freedom, but the word takes opposite meanings.
Definitions and Questions for Freedom
Basically there is a "freedom to" and a "freedom from." (78)
For example, FDR gave a speech, famously called the Four Freedoms Speech and he defined freedom as being freedom from necessity, want, hunger and fear. (7) FDR also said that freedom does not exist in the absence of opportunity (76).
The USA is committed to spreading freedom. But what kind of freedom? For who? (17)
Linguistic threats to Lakoff's type of leftist freedom
These fall into general categories that I would best describe as
•overuse - the word freedom simply gets used too much and loses all meaning, like how revolution, once a technical meaning, is now used by Verizon and many other companies to describe weekend sales "A price revolution...this weekend at select stores"
Vagueness - words tend to mean different things to different people. Certain words are loaded. Even specific words like "over" are subject to many different meanings.
Overuse
Repetition is a great way to evacuate dangerous words of any type of subversive or intelligible meaning.
Case in point. Consider the name Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. (6)
MT: The name Operation Enduring Freedom recursively gets Lakoff's point across about how freedom means different things to different political persuasions. With a name like that it is easy to ask, "Is freedom something that will endure," or "Is freedom something that must be endured?"
Vagueness
Words mean things and that is the problem. They tend to mean too much. A simple word like "over" has over 100 distinct meanings. (22). MT/MQ: So imagine how many meanings freedom has. This reminds me of Toni Morrison who said that nobody knows what anybody means when they talk about love because to some it means lust, to others it means something that looks awfully like abuse.
Take a word like art. Everybody knows what art is right? Lakoff suggests that to even begin, first you have to categorize art in some way. So you could use traditional categories like Dada, realism etc. For example if you show a realist painter canned shit like Piero Manzoni did. The artist shit into little cans, tinned them and sold them to investors as "Freshly canned shit of the artist." People gobbled them up. Of course the artist had really smart reasons and directed social criticism toward buyers, but many were not capable of understanding. Likewise if you tell a realist that Manzoni's work is art, a more traditional artist would disagree and not be able to recognize it as art. Likewise, if you tell a conservative what you mean by freedom, they don't even really understand.
A right wing view of freedom focuses on individual freedom (25). In other words, interference with individual liberty— usually by the government— is a crimp in the great hose of freedom. It actually would make sense that if you can afford to do whatever you want, that lax tax laws would benefit you.
Additional
Roussau and the Social Contract
Social contract is a metaphor where absolute freedom is traded for security. For example airplane searches are like a part of the social contract. You give up a little personal space in order to bring about greater safety. So there is a give and take. Rousseau thought that humans exchanged absolute freedom for freedom within the social order. (49)
Taxation pays to build and maintain the commonwealth (81).
Civil Disobedience
Like the social contract, civil disobedience is invoked frequently by progressives. The main idea is that, within social systems, following long periods after revolutions or chaotic events, the guardians of states tend to become corrupt (50). It then becomes necessary to disobey. Disobedience takes a number of forms, but can be divided into two main forms: Violent/Nonviolent. MLK was an advocate of the latter, whereas somebody like Angela Davis advocates the former. Davis thought that periodic, loud bursts of violents were necessary to expiate and to cleanse the guardians.
Why freedom, whatever it means to you, is important
Unhappy and unfulfilled people tend to not want others to be happy, so they bring people who are moving along nicely down, or try to bring them down to their level (75). To be empathetic it requires that people are able to feel fulfilled at some level (75). It's interesting that in America, basically the economic engine is greased through greed and coveting. God said, don't covet your neighbors wife, so people kept doing that and started coveting things like jet skis and homes that can safely house a small airplane inside of them. So to be happy, this might be another case of, it's important to have freedom from something. In this case freedom from the desire to always "upgrade." It is easier to get rid of this desire by removing from sight the images and sensory harmonics that cause desire.
Lakoff sees empathy as the basis of the progressive worldview (85). He describes Buddhism and Taoism as being major religions of empathy (86). Lakoff thinks that the companion of empathy is responsibility (86). Under a feudal society, lords had a paternal relationship to their workers. As states started to form, Kings still had a vestige of paternal care, but one who is father to all, is father to none. States at some point grow too big for empathy to check excess. States with a lot of ethnic and cultural homogeneity like Sweden and Norway seem to have effective state systems. Other states that have opened the doors to migration and neoliberal trade policies have always found it hard to pass genuinely empathetic legislation. As transnational companies have been able to set up shop in other countries, should we really be suprised that they pollute those environments and extract resources at the cheapest possible cost? Being commited to a certain land and people is absolutely a precursor for empathetic action.
Taxation
Hurrican Katrina was interesting because the social contract part of the state, FEMA, was defunded by tax breaks for the wealthy and also diverted to pay for war. So it raised the question, "what are we paying taxes for? (83).
Low income workers uphold the lifestyles of nearly 3/4 of the American population.
Aronowitz How Class Works
Summary:
Aronowitz says that the reasons for, what he believes are presently confused beliefs about social class, underwent a great deal of change in the 20th century because of new economic powers and even the terms that certain sociologists use. So while sociologists, politicians and even films are responsible for false beliefs, he seems to believe that the solution for the increased awareness that would allow for social action lies within these domains. Aronowitz tends to focus on politics and sociology, providing useful terms and statements from the people he agrees with, Marx, Bordieu, Benjamin and the terms and statements from socioligists he disagrees with, namely Talcott Parsons. He is looking for possible etiological paths of how Americans have become so puzzled about a concept that shapes so many aspects of their lives, for better or worse.
Language - includes acronyms, loaded language, and key terms
• ILO International Labor Organization (30)
• Lifestyle for Parsons "lifestyle" replaces social class along with earning power (48)
• Subaltern a term that designates not only economically abject and exploited social groups but all people who share
social powerlessness (57)
• AMA American Medical Association - this group has been opposed to gov. run health programs because it blocks fee for service and is said to interfere with the patient-client relationship. This group blocked proposed New Deal legislation that called for a national health care program in 1935 (98)
• SDS Students for a Democratic Society - their Port Huron statement charged that the system o representation democracy excluded major parts of the US population. Port Huron called for a new participatory democracy (150)
• Structural Adjustment a euphemism that is used by transnational economic powers to implement austerity programs, i.e., cutting back on social services for populations withing a country (209)
•Flexibility this is a key concept for neoliberal economic plans. (216). MT: people with flexible jobs may need to relocate or simply not know exactly what type of work they'll be doing at the job in a year. Also the term tends to allow for inconsistent scheduling of work hours.
What is Class - Thoughts, definitions and questions
In America there is a myth of classlessness (3). Pluralism is a confusing term because it supposedly denotes some type of an American classlessness (96). Globalization is another confusing term because while it sounds good, it is really involves a cluster of programs that have waged a counterattack on labor victories, not only in the US, but throughout the world Part of the myth is that Americans believe that schools serve a democratizing function (16). Many think they will move up in society, but in reality, only 1/3 of Americans will move beyond their social origins (15). Talcott Parsons uses the term "stratification" to replace class. (3).
Class is the relationship of social groups to ownership and the means of material production (4). When Marx used the word history, by this word, he basically meant "class struggle." (7). Americans are influenced primarily by Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian traditions (12). At the heart of the Judeo-Christian tradition is the surrender of human agency to a deity (13). When the 10 commandments were handed down from on-high to Moses, a key commandment was "Thou shall not steal" (13). MT: People have internalized property relations and for good reason. When the sin was against the creator, the punishment was distant. The sin now has some undesirable consequences that take the form of fines, fees, social branding and possibly incarceration. The tribal commandment that eventually found its way into Western legal and economic systems might as well have been, "Thou shall not share!" This tradition is maybe in the middle of changing with bands like GirlTalk, internet developments like the old Napster and Torrent files. Interestingly, when Napster was at it's peak in the late 1990's, crime world wide dropped to its lowest levels since recording the numbers began. It is thought that young people were using their time to engage in the legally stymied transgressive behavior. But the term property has been ever expanding, first there were patents, of an increasingly bizarre variety, followed by stocks and now web space (16). Web "squatters" have been able to make money by simply having the foresight to occupy desirable URL real-estate.
Marx's writings pointed out that economics, politics and social relations are all intertwined (39). MT: To the extent that many of these designations are, in my opinion, directly interchangeable. What goes for the law is mostly just economics under a different name and the bulk of legal work abstractly protects the economic order. I believe it's true that there are more lawyers per person in America than anywhere in the world. Similarly, there are not a lot of recognized economists from say Brazil or India, other than that one guy, Sen. It is predictable that as countries continue to modernize, they will have more lawyers and economists and develop their own law and economics schools instead of shipping them to the USA for education.
Unions, the rise of homo economicus and forgetting labor history are key parts of class in the 20th century. The 1920's saw an increase in the consumer society as production began to wane, at a greater level after the 1960's and credit systems became more innovative. Slogans like "Buy now pay later" entered the scene. The economic wheels were greased with the expanding economic system (69). Conservatives have always been opposed to workers uniting to help their own cause. Woodrow Wilson's attorney general A. Mitchell Palmer launched a series of raids, deporting 2,500 agitators in response to textile strikes in western PA and MA (66). Since WWII, America has seen new forms of capital power emerge that eventually becomes transnational with the I.M.F. and W.T.O. (61). These organiztions are more powerful than nation-states in terms of influencing economic behavior in selected countries. There is nothing built into the stars that says people should have the weekends off or that the 8-hour workday is normal. That all came from labor unions agitating. Walter Benjamin said that each generation must redeem the unfinished tasks of the past and said that every image of the past that is not recognized by the present as its own concern threates to disappear (58). In many places where neoliberal policies have been affected, economic growth has come at the expense of decreased living standards for many people (203). Aronowitz calls terrorism a sort of strategy of last resort of subaltern groups (207). The type and lack of sythesis of history is also what keeps groups from recognizing similarity and cohesiveness. For example, history from the top-down as given in many books, forgets about social aspects of history. Also there is a focus on biography. Even something called the biography channel on t.v. Biography becomes the preferred mode of social discourse which prevents useful actions (200). By focusing on the importance of certain personalities, the reality of the potential force and influence of the working classes is denied (200). A popular high school history text from the 1990's called America Past and Present devoted exactly 12 of its 1081 pages to talking about labor history (47). Also even a subtle thing like recasting the American Revolution as "The war for Independence" works to remove the subversive aspects (46).
Appeal to men to do the dishes
Class differences have had a huge impact on women. As women have gained more freedom to work, more were forced to work out of economic necessity rather than out of leisure as real wages have stagnated. A new term was coined by Arlie Hochschild called "The second shift." In addition to work outside the home, females still do the bulk of housework, baby care etc. The second shift and the increased work and stress has had a dramatic impact on families in terms of divorce rates and generalized discord. While working class women cannot escape the second shift, middle class women often have the option to hire nannies, house-keeping services, yard work services to lighten the load.
Some important dates
1871 - Paris Commune
1925 - Dewey writes The Public and its Problem
1938- Congress enacts wages and hours law, providing time and a half pay for over 40 hours
1946 - Marshall Plan - loans made to Germany, Japan by coporations and I.B.'s (Investment Banks) (122)
1959- Cuban government of Fulgencio Batista falls (124)
1960 - Daniel Bell's The End of Ideology
1964 - Marcuse writes One Dimensional Man (74)
1968 - In May students in France protest, eventually DeGaulle flees abroad (43)
1970's - massive deindustrialization (10)
1978- China embraces capitalism (203)
1980's - New Deal era farm bills slashed (93)
1983- At stroke of pen, Regan makes 1.5 trillion in tax cuts
1990's - 150 years of Monroe Doctrine effectively end, replaced by IMF and WTO in new power
1995- J. Sweeney leads the AFL-CIO (91)
1996- Welfare Reform Act of 1996 - tag of personal responsibility changed TANF to AFDC (210)
1997 - Nationwide Teamsters strike at UPS (91)
Additional
Karl Polanyi writes Myth of the Free Market - showing that at no time in history has the market ever really been "free". It has always heavily relied on major government subsidies for good functioning.
List of good leftist American journalists
Ida Tarbell
Ferdinand Lundberg
Gustavus Myers
Henry Lloyd
Bourdieu
Bourdieu criticized the functionalist take of class b/c it reduced it to simple ranked but non-antagonistic strata (49).
For Bourdieu class struggles are just as much about signs and symbols using art, food, fashion etc. as they are about earning power, education etc. (49). MT: So while education might get a person a good job, it is just as likely to brand the person with all of the fashionable cultural capital elements that make the person instantly recognizable to groups who hold some power. So the education process might, for example, in the realm of food, make a person interested in eating sushi, vegetarian or vegan, organics, drinking fine wines etc. All of these habits, while they may be healthy and admirable as activities themselves, also have the added benefit of instantly peacocking one's affinities and "tastes" to like-minded people. Not to mention, a lot of these activities are de facto class segregation practices, it's not exactly as if everybody simply "chooses" to go to the organic food store or develop a taste in good wines. It is still essentially only a choice for those who have economic stores.
Bourdieu adopted Althusser's delcaration that schools are the primary ideological institutions that reproduce class relations (50). He thought that education was mostly responsible for creating class distinction and a big part of what he called "cultural capital or social capital" (50). B. thought that the "game" of education has carefully fixed rules to ensure that the overall balance isn't capable of shifting too much at one time. For the most part, formal education helps to preserve the class structure. MT: The examples people provide of how somebody who came from nowhere, think of T.C. Boyle, while this does happen, it is still fallacious thinking, namely commiting the fallacy of the exception. It's the same thing when somebody says, "Smoking isn't that bad, my dad smoked for 70 years and lived to be 87." Sure it happens, but probably little details here and there are left out of the story, like for example, the smoking dad, probably took a 25 year hiatus in the middle, but if I exclude this detail, would there still even be a story? Oh...petty details!
Summary:
Aronowitz says that the reasons for, what he believes are presently confused beliefs about social class, underwent a great deal of change in the 20th century because of new economic powers and even the terms that certain sociologists use. So while sociologists, politicians and even films are responsible for false beliefs, he seems to believe that the solution for the increased awareness that would allow for social action lies within these domains. Aronowitz tends to focus on politics and sociology, providing useful terms and statements from the people he agrees with, Marx, Bordieu, Benjamin and the terms and statements from socioligists he disagrees with, namely Talcott Parsons. He is looking for possible etiological paths of how Americans have become so puzzled about a concept that shapes so many aspects of their lives, for better or worse.
Language - includes acronyms, loaded language, and key terms
• ILO International Labor Organization (30)
• Lifestyle for Parsons "lifestyle" replaces social class along with earning power (48)
• Subaltern a term that designates not only economically abject and exploited social groups but all people who share
social powerlessness (57)
• AMA American Medical Association - this group has been opposed to gov. run health programs because it blocks fee for service and is said to interfere with the patient-client relationship. This group blocked proposed New Deal legislation that called for a national health care program in 1935 (98)
• SDS Students for a Democratic Society - their Port Huron statement charged that the system o representation democracy excluded major parts of the US population. Port Huron called for a new participatory democracy (150)
• Structural Adjustment a euphemism that is used by transnational economic powers to implement austerity programs, i.e., cutting back on social services for populations withing a country (209)
•Flexibility this is a key concept for neoliberal economic plans. (216). MT: people with flexible jobs may need to relocate or simply not know exactly what type of work they'll be doing at the job in a year. Also the term tends to allow for inconsistent scheduling of work hours.
What is Class - Thoughts, definitions and questions
In America there is a myth of classlessness (3). Pluralism is a confusing term because it supposedly denotes some type of an American classlessness (96). Globalization is another confusing term because while it sounds good, it is really involves a cluster of programs that have waged a counterattack on labor victories, not only in the US, but throughout the world Part of the myth is that Americans believe that schools serve a democratizing function (16). Many think they will move up in society, but in reality, only 1/3 of Americans will move beyond their social origins (15). Talcott Parsons uses the term "stratification" to replace class. (3).
Class is the relationship of social groups to ownership and the means of material production (4). When Marx used the word history, by this word, he basically meant "class struggle." (7). Americans are influenced primarily by Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian traditions (12). At the heart of the Judeo-Christian tradition is the surrender of human agency to a deity (13). When the 10 commandments were handed down from on-high to Moses, a key commandment was "Thou shall not steal" (13). MT: People have internalized property relations and for good reason. When the sin was against the creator, the punishment was distant. The sin now has some undesirable consequences that take the form of fines, fees, social branding and possibly incarceration. The tribal commandment that eventually found its way into Western legal and economic systems might as well have been, "Thou shall not share!" This tradition is maybe in the middle of changing with bands like GirlTalk, internet developments like the old Napster and Torrent files. Interestingly, when Napster was at it's peak in the late 1990's, crime world wide dropped to its lowest levels since recording the numbers began. It is thought that young people were using their time to engage in the legally stymied transgressive behavior. But the term property has been ever expanding, first there were patents, of an increasingly bizarre variety, followed by stocks and now web space (16). Web "squatters" have been able to make money by simply having the foresight to occupy desirable URL real-estate.
Marx's writings pointed out that economics, politics and social relations are all intertwined (39). MT: To the extent that many of these designations are, in my opinion, directly interchangeable. What goes for the law is mostly just economics under a different name and the bulk of legal work abstractly protects the economic order. I believe it's true that there are more lawyers per person in America than anywhere in the world. Similarly, there are not a lot of recognized economists from say Brazil or India, other than that one guy, Sen. It is predictable that as countries continue to modernize, they will have more lawyers and economists and develop their own law and economics schools instead of shipping them to the USA for education.
Unions, the rise of homo economicus and forgetting labor history are key parts of class in the 20th century. The 1920's saw an increase in the consumer society as production began to wane, at a greater level after the 1960's and credit systems became more innovative. Slogans like "Buy now pay later" entered the scene. The economic wheels were greased with the expanding economic system (69). Conservatives have always been opposed to workers uniting to help their own cause. Woodrow Wilson's attorney general A. Mitchell Palmer launched a series of raids, deporting 2,500 agitators in response to textile strikes in western PA and MA (66). Since WWII, America has seen new forms of capital power emerge that eventually becomes transnational with the I.M.F. and W.T.O. (61). These organiztions are more powerful than nation-states in terms of influencing economic behavior in selected countries. There is nothing built into the stars that says people should have the weekends off or that the 8-hour workday is normal. That all came from labor unions agitating. Walter Benjamin said that each generation must redeem the unfinished tasks of the past and said that every image of the past that is not recognized by the present as its own concern threates to disappear (58). In many places where neoliberal policies have been affected, economic growth has come at the expense of decreased living standards for many people (203). Aronowitz calls terrorism a sort of strategy of last resort of subaltern groups (207). The type and lack of sythesis of history is also what keeps groups from recognizing similarity and cohesiveness. For example, history from the top-down as given in many books, forgets about social aspects of history. Also there is a focus on biography. Even something called the biography channel on t.v. Biography becomes the preferred mode of social discourse which prevents useful actions (200). By focusing on the importance of certain personalities, the reality of the potential force and influence of the working classes is denied (200). A popular high school history text from the 1990's called America Past and Present devoted exactly 12 of its 1081 pages to talking about labor history (47). Also even a subtle thing like recasting the American Revolution as "The war for Independence" works to remove the subversive aspects (46).
Appeal to men to do the dishes
Class differences have had a huge impact on women. As women have gained more freedom to work, more were forced to work out of economic necessity rather than out of leisure as real wages have stagnated. A new term was coined by Arlie Hochschild called "The second shift." In addition to work outside the home, females still do the bulk of housework, baby care etc. The second shift and the increased work and stress has had a dramatic impact on families in terms of divorce rates and generalized discord. While working class women cannot escape the second shift, middle class women often have the option to hire nannies, house-keeping services, yard work services to lighten the load.
Some important dates
1871 - Paris Commune
1925 - Dewey writes The Public and its Problem
1938- Congress enacts wages and hours law, providing time and a half pay for over 40 hours
1946 - Marshall Plan - loans made to Germany, Japan by coporations and I.B.'s (Investment Banks) (122)
1959- Cuban government of Fulgencio Batista falls (124)
1960 - Daniel Bell's The End of Ideology
1964 - Marcuse writes One Dimensional Man (74)
1968 - In May students in France protest, eventually DeGaulle flees abroad (43)
1970's - massive deindustrialization (10)
1978- China embraces capitalism (203)
1980's - New Deal era farm bills slashed (93)
1983- At stroke of pen, Regan makes 1.5 trillion in tax cuts
1990's - 150 years of Monroe Doctrine effectively end, replaced by IMF and WTO in new power
1995- J. Sweeney leads the AFL-CIO (91)
1996- Welfare Reform Act of 1996 - tag of personal responsibility changed TANF to AFDC (210)
1997 - Nationwide Teamsters strike at UPS (91)
Additional
Karl Polanyi writes Myth of the Free Market - showing that at no time in history has the market ever really been "free". It has always heavily relied on major government subsidies for good functioning.
List of good leftist American journalists
Ida Tarbell
Ferdinand Lundberg
Gustavus Myers
Henry Lloyd
Bourdieu
Bourdieu criticized the functionalist take of class b/c it reduced it to simple ranked but non-antagonistic strata (49).
For Bourdieu class struggles are just as much about signs and symbols using art, food, fashion etc. as they are about earning power, education etc. (49). MT: So while education might get a person a good job, it is just as likely to brand the person with all of the fashionable cultural capital elements that make the person instantly recognizable to groups who hold some power. So the education process might, for example, in the realm of food, make a person interested in eating sushi, vegetarian or vegan, organics, drinking fine wines etc. All of these habits, while they may be healthy and admirable as activities themselves, also have the added benefit of instantly peacocking one's affinities and "tastes" to like-minded people. Not to mention, a lot of these activities are de facto class segregation practices, it's not exactly as if everybody simply "chooses" to go to the organic food store or develop a taste in good wines. It is still essentially only a choice for those who have economic stores.
Bourdieu adopted Althusser's delcaration that schools are the primary ideological institutions that reproduce class relations (50). He thought that education was mostly responsible for creating class distinction and a big part of what he called "cultural capital or social capital" (50). B. thought that the "game" of education has carefully fixed rules to ensure that the overall balance isn't capable of shifting too much at one time. For the most part, formal education helps to preserve the class structure. MT: The examples people provide of how somebody who came from nowhere, think of T.C. Boyle, while this does happen, it is still fallacious thinking, namely commiting the fallacy of the exception. It's the same thing when somebody says, "Smoking isn't that bad, my dad smoked for 70 years and lived to be 87." Sure it happens, but probably little details here and there are left out of the story, like for example, the smoking dad, probably took a 25 year hiatus in the middle, but if I exclude this detail, would there still even be a story? Oh...petty details!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Notes over Huston Smith's The World's Religions
Chapter Three - Buddhism
Budh - Sanskrit word meaning waking up to know (82)
Buddah was born in 563 B.C. in Nepal (83)
Full name - Siddhartha Guatana of Sakyas (83)
Buddah was born into wealth. For example he had exceptional unguents, three palaces filled with 40,000 dancing girls (83)
He was handsome and his dad was grooming him to be a king. (83)
Fortune tellers read Buddah's fate as a boy. If he stayed in the world he would be a Chakravartin - the world's greatest conqueror, but if he forsook the world he'd be the world's greatest redeemer (83)
MT: Sounds a little like Achilles and how his goddess mother told him that if he goes to battle, his name will live on and in that way he will achieve a certain immortality, however, if he declines to battle for Agammemnon, he will have a long, happy life, but nobody will tell his story through the ages.
The fleshly pleasures tarted to lose their charm, sumptuous feasts no longer held the same appeal (84)
At age 29, he kisses his wife and child and begins the Great Going Forth, clothing himself in poor quality raiment. (84)
The Great Going Forth would last a total of six years. (84)
First stop was joining up with Yogis, but Buddah quickly mastered all they had to offer. (85)
Next stop is assuming the life of an ascetic. He eats as little as six grains of rice per day (85)
Through these experiences he would later develop the Middle Way - a style of living halfway between ascetisim and indulgence (85).
Buddah thought the body should be given what it needs to perform optimally but no more (85)
One day in NE India, near PD Patna, he sits under the Bo tree (short for bodhi or enlightenment) (85).
This place would later be named The Immoveable Spot (86).
The Buddham faced a temptation not unlike that of Jesus. Kama, God of desire, tempted Buddha with voluptuous women and their delectable retinues. (86).
The tempter then shift-shaped into Mara, Lord of Death (86).
Soon Buddha was able to break through in what would be called The Great Awakening. At that moment, 10 thousand galaxies shuddered, lotuses bloomed on all the trees, the earth quaked six ways with wonder (86).
The bliss kept Buddha stuck to the ground for 7 days. On the 8th day he tried to rise from the ground but another wave of bliss kept him grounded. The waves of bliss did not let up for 49 days.
Mara still had one last temptation for Buddha. Mara asked Buddha, "Now that you are enlightened, who can possibly understand?" After all, the Buddha had experienced such a speech defying revelation. Mara continued, "Why even try to explain yourself to what is sure to be an uncomprehending audience." The Buddha replied, "There will be some who will understand" (87).
The Buddha from here went on to preach his ego-shattering, life-redeeming message (87).
Buddha would challenge Brahmin society (87).
For the rest of his life the Buddha would keep up a rigorous schedule of public speaking engagements, preaching and private counseling (87).
The Buddha probably maintained his energy because he would repeat the pattern of withdrawal from society followed by reemergence. Every rainy season, he retreated for three months to restore the source of his energy. Also, each day, he retreated three times a day for exercises. (87)
Buddha died in 483 B.C. from dysentary after eating dried boar's flesh served to him by Cunda the Smith (87).
Buddha said, "Please don't pray for me when I'm gone, because when I'm gone, I'm going to really be gone" (97).
Main aspects of the 4 Noble Truths (103)
Life is dukkha (suffering)
Life is tanha (desire)
The EightFold Path is about how to deal with tanha (desire)
Right views, intent, speech, conduct, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, concentration (113)
Q: What is Nirvana? Nirvana is that state where the faggots of private desire have been completely consumed and everything that restricts the boundless life has died (113)
Apparently, the west has had trouble seeing the state of nirvana in a positive way. But it is not necessarily negative. In the state of nirvana, individual awareness is eclipsed by the blazing light of total awareness (118).
Three important developments from Buddhism have been: (126)
Mayayana Buddhism - Korea, Japan, Tibet
Theravada Buddhism - Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand
Zen Buddhism - Japan, United States, Tibet
Basically, Mahayana is the equivalent of Protestant, whereas, Theravada is more traditional and strict, requiring a full time commitment, monastic orders, etc.
Zen Buddhism - 3 important words
Zazen- seated meditation
Koan - a problem, often a word problem that is somewhat unsolveable, pointing out the futility of language
Roshis - zen masters
The Koan can take a Buddhist a long time to solve, as much time as a doctoral dissertation. Koans use paradox, non-sequitur to exasperate, confound and ultimately exhaust the mind (134).
Chapter Three - Buddhism
Budh - Sanskrit word meaning waking up to know (82)
Buddah was born in 563 B.C. in Nepal (83)
Full name - Siddhartha Guatana of Sakyas (83)
Buddah was born into wealth. For example he had exceptional unguents, three palaces filled with 40,000 dancing girls (83)
He was handsome and his dad was grooming him to be a king. (83)
Fortune tellers read Buddah's fate as a boy. If he stayed in the world he would be a Chakravartin - the world's greatest conqueror, but if he forsook the world he'd be the world's greatest redeemer (83)
MT: Sounds a little like Achilles and how his goddess mother told him that if he goes to battle, his name will live on and in that way he will achieve a certain immortality, however, if he declines to battle for Agammemnon, he will have a long, happy life, but nobody will tell his story through the ages.
The fleshly pleasures tarted to lose their charm, sumptuous feasts no longer held the same appeal (84)
At age 29, he kisses his wife and child and begins the Great Going Forth, clothing himself in poor quality raiment. (84)
The Great Going Forth would last a total of six years. (84)
First stop was joining up with Yogis, but Buddah quickly mastered all they had to offer. (85)
Next stop is assuming the life of an ascetic. He eats as little as six grains of rice per day (85)
Through these experiences he would later develop the Middle Way - a style of living halfway between ascetisim and indulgence (85).
Buddah thought the body should be given what it needs to perform optimally but no more (85)
One day in NE India, near PD Patna, he sits under the Bo tree (short for bodhi or enlightenment) (85).
This place would later be named The Immoveable Spot (86).
The Buddham faced a temptation not unlike that of Jesus. Kama, God of desire, tempted Buddha with voluptuous women and their delectable retinues. (86).
The tempter then shift-shaped into Mara, Lord of Death (86).
Soon Buddha was able to break through in what would be called The Great Awakening. At that moment, 10 thousand galaxies shuddered, lotuses bloomed on all the trees, the earth quaked six ways with wonder (86).
The bliss kept Buddha stuck to the ground for 7 days. On the 8th day he tried to rise from the ground but another wave of bliss kept him grounded. The waves of bliss did not let up for 49 days.
Mara still had one last temptation for Buddha. Mara asked Buddha, "Now that you are enlightened, who can possibly understand?" After all, the Buddha had experienced such a speech defying revelation. Mara continued, "Why even try to explain yourself to what is sure to be an uncomprehending audience." The Buddha replied, "There will be some who will understand" (87).
The Buddha from here went on to preach his ego-shattering, life-redeeming message (87).
Buddha would challenge Brahmin society (87).
For the rest of his life the Buddha would keep up a rigorous schedule of public speaking engagements, preaching and private counseling (87).
The Buddha probably maintained his energy because he would repeat the pattern of withdrawal from society followed by reemergence. Every rainy season, he retreated for three months to restore the source of his energy. Also, each day, he retreated three times a day for exercises. (87)
Buddha died in 483 B.C. from dysentary after eating dried boar's flesh served to him by Cunda the Smith (87).
Buddha said, "Please don't pray for me when I'm gone, because when I'm gone, I'm going to really be gone" (97).
Main aspects of the 4 Noble Truths (103)
Life is dukkha (suffering)
Life is tanha (desire)
The EightFold Path is about how to deal with tanha (desire)
Right views, intent, speech, conduct, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, concentration (113)
Q: What is Nirvana? Nirvana is that state where the faggots of private desire have been completely consumed and everything that restricts the boundless life has died (113)
Apparently, the west has had trouble seeing the state of nirvana in a positive way. But it is not necessarily negative. In the state of nirvana, individual awareness is eclipsed by the blazing light of total awareness (118).
Three important developments from Buddhism have been: (126)
Mayayana Buddhism - Korea, Japan, Tibet
Theravada Buddhism - Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand
Zen Buddhism - Japan, United States, Tibet
Basically, Mahayana is the equivalent of Protestant, whereas, Theravada is more traditional and strict, requiring a full time commitment, monastic orders, etc.
Zen Buddhism - 3 important words
Zazen- seated meditation
Koan - a problem, often a word problem that is somewhat unsolveable, pointing out the futility of language
Roshis - zen masters
The Koan can take a Buddhist a long time to solve, as much time as a doctoral dissertation. Koans use paradox, non-sequitur to exasperate, confound and ultimately exhaust the mind (134).
Purpose of the Blog
Let's face it. Who has the time to sacrifice at the altar of reading ? Well—"I do." The main purpose of the blog is to give you the book meat (my notes over reading), or for vegetarians, maybe you will puke less by thinking of this daring ascent as just the juice. Several years ago, I began keeping most of the books that I had annotated with the goal of returning to them down the road, hoping that my annotations would refresh the synaptic ash. I referred to this annotation process as "prepping the patient." Now, without HIPAA or OSHA violations, I return to each surgical case, you will see tummy tucks, vital organs up close, and perhaps if we are lucky maybe even a breast augmentation or two. Alas, the metaphor has changed, but I think the best one is "Juiced Books - where you come to get the Juice!"
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