tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post3086547968531094529..comments2024-02-12T23:25:09.583-08:00Comments on Overweening Generalist: Donald Trump...POTUS? (Vol.2)michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-45296666027899157662016-03-14T19:04:24.431-07:002016-03-14T19:04:24.431-07:00@Tom Jackson-
True: both parties are neoliberal, ...@Tom Jackson-<br /><br />True: both parties are neoliberal, which means "free trade" which means jobs will go wherever it's cheapest to do business. How "long term" do think the "trend" will be?michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-21010091156031670022016-03-14T13:03:47.207-07:002016-03-14T13:03:47.207-07:00I don't buy into the "shipped our jobs ov...I don't buy into the "shipped our jobs overseas" rhetoric; it seems to be that between automation and globalization, this is part of a long term trend, not something that can be pinned on a few convenient villains. But I agree that Trump is doing a good job about stoking resentment of "elites" and the sour direction that the economy has taken. Cleveland Okie (Tom Jackson)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07810736442596736041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-79309138001806596482016-03-11T17:32:55.262-08:002016-03-11T17:32:55.262-08:00Terrific piece. The tarot has 22 Trumps. You'v...Terrific piece. The tarot has 22 Trumps. You've give us just as many. Eric Wagnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04312033917401203598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-11937475980163825962016-03-10T09:51:56.917-08:002016-03-10T09:51:56.917-08:00Love the term, "jeremiad", by the way.Love the term, "jeremiad", by the way.Sue Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02042694919673009972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-38685781906923913732016-03-10T05:58:14.448-08:002016-03-10T05:58:14.448-08:00Good point: the standard generalized "the Lef...Good point: the standard generalized "the Left" and "the poor" and "intellectuals are..." and "conservatives think..." etc seems too much part of the internalized Game Rules of political writing.<br /><br />I think a lot of smart folk get stuck on the political circuit (remember Leary, who said the only appropriate way to discuss politics was when you're down on all fours?) and this generalized language seems to save effort and partly hypnotizes the reader at the same time. Eventually, I think many seem to think these generalizations "are" true. <br /><br />Korzybski has, on one lingering level, always seemed too tall an order to internalize.<br /><br />michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-20047899158761230592016-03-10T05:36:42.638-08:002016-03-10T05:36:42.638-08:00Hedges: "College educated elites, on behalf o...Hedges: "College educated elites, on behalf of corporations, carried out the savage neoliberal assault on the working poor. Now they are being made to pay."<br /><br />I read this and thought: well, I was college educated, I had a job in a financial services corporation and got a decent salary for a while. Shit! Hedges is talking about me! I'm to blame, I carried out the savage neoliberal assault.<br /><br />Then I realised he's talking about the USA. I live in the UK. Phew!! Seriously though, I do find it puzzling and worrying that prominent smart, erudite folks on the "left" write in these sweeping generalisations in which broad, ill-defined classes of people are savaging other classes. This kind of rhetoric seems very popular and common in the UK too. Sometimes it comes from far-right populist demagogues (with just a few parameters switched, but essentially the same logic and level of generalisation). Perhaps we tolerate it more when it comes from our "side".<br /><br />Not that it doesn't contain a minimal "core" of validity, in some sense, but then probably so does much of what actual Fascists say in their crowd-pleasing speeches. And if I'm stating the obvious here, I wonder why it doesn't appear obvious to folks like Hedges (since, presumably, if it were obvious, he wouldn't do it?).Sue Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02042694919673009972noreply@blogger.com