Bijou Drains
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My idea was that it would be that it would be about possible activities, not announcements about other parties stuff. So more focussed on."here's some stuff going on, would anyone like to get involved"With the announcements section, it tends to be about what others are doing not us. I think it is very sad that we do not have a section on the forum specifically outlining what we are doing in terms of activities, offering the chance for others to get involved. Just think it would be helpful to highlight the positive stuff!!from a personal point of view, I travel all over the country with work (I'm sure other comrades have a similar work pattersn) it would be good to know that if I'm in Liverpool for instance there is a Corbyn rally I could go to and see if anyone else wants to go.
Would it not be a good idea to set up a forum section on activity!A different topic for each area of activity, for example "SWP meeting in Mugsborough 15th Julember, anyone interesting in attending"In that way active members could communicate about opportunities for activity, keep each other informed about opportunities that are spotted in different parts of the country and arrange for things like the availability of literature, etc. at short notice.We seem to do well in theoretical discussions, especially ones about the existence of reality. Perhaps if this forum was seen as a hub of Socialist Activity, rather than the director's cut of The Matrix, we might achieve some better results. (Just a suggestion)
gnome wrote:alanjjohnstone wrote:I hope rather than merely negative criticism of what they thought was wrong with Vin's attempt and what was its faults, our aspiring Oscar/Bafta judges also provided helpful suggestions and perhaps even proposals for an alternative video…or am i the eternal optimist…I'm sorry to say that four EC members condemned the video out of hand, did not offer a single shred of advice or encouragement and only differed from each other by the level of their scathing observations. I was ashamed to witness such a travesty.
so that all members know, for future reference, can you let us know which four members you are referring to.cheersTim
Wez wrote:I doubt if the likes of Theodore Adorno, Herbert Marcuse or Erich Fromme would have anything other than contempt for the DSM. The medicalisation of the psychological conditions caused by life within capitalism is almost entirely driven by the profits of big pharma and so anathema to true research into why people behave as they do.Whilst I have no doubt that many"psychological Illnesses" have their roots in the hideous social relations that are thrust on us by capitalism, I think to catagorise all psychological problems as being caused by life under capitalism is naive and actually does the case for Socialism no great service. In a Socialist society trauma will continue, parents will continue to be bereaved as their children die earlier than expected due to illness, accident, etc. relationships will break down causing distress, families will be dysfunctional and loveless, and most crucially attachment difficulties will persist for various reasons.To quote the late great Wally Preston "make no bones about it" Psychological difficulties will continue to exist in a Socialist society. I also think that to say that the medicalisation of psychological conditions is entirely driven by big Pharma, does a disservice to those workers, who have devoted their lives to research into the physiological issues involved in some mental health conditions. I don't doubt for one moment that the profit motive has been behind the work undertaken, in the same way that the profit motive has been behind the development of the jet plane, the internet or malt whisky (which have all proved their social usefulness, especially the whisky) however the outcomes of the intense work carried out by wage slaves, for which they usually have received no credit or share of the profit, has been useful in the symptomatic relief of many sufferers of mental health difficulties. For instance the modern treatment of schizophrenia (crude though it is) is to my mind much preferable to incarceration in Bedlam or enduring the fear and paranoia of the untreated condition.
gnome wrote:lindanesocialist wrote:Ozymandias wrote:The commentary might be easy for you and I to understand but surely this is a global message and the guy narrating is going to cause people to switch off abroad."For the benefit of those who cannot understand Vin's "heavy regional accent" sub-titles (in English) have now been added."Just to clarify, "Vin's heavy regional accent" could be classified as a regional variation of Northumbrian English, that is it spoken with a variation (Mackem) of Northumbrian pronunciation of English. It is probably the closest version we have to the English accent as it was originally spoken, in its true form Northumbrian is not an accent it is a dialect, possibly a language. In its pronunciation and syntax it is far less influenced by French than Reported English, and is far less influenced by Gaelic than Scots Englsih. The vowel sounds are closer to Old English and not influenced as heavily by The Great Vowel Shift.In a world where the English of Donald Trump, Jose Mourinho, DW Bush, Valdimir Putin and Bob Marley are regularly heard and understood across the world. Is it beyond the average listener to hear and understand Vin's commentary, I think not Would the same comments have been made if the commentator had a heavy African, West Indain or Indian Sub Continent accent, would the same comment have been made?for those interested, you might find this website interestinghttp://www.northumbriana.org.uk/langsoc/Keep a'had hinny
Young Master Smeet wrote:OK, my ideology is Hebridean Exophagism.That means I never get tired of being wrong. Other axioms involve a fundamentakl disbelief in the historical existence of Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels, and that knowledge emerges from social theory and practice.So, lets go.Mornington Crescent?
Brian wrote:Wez wrote:It's possible that a psychological analysis of the millions who would vote for such a dysfunctional individual would be more productive than a psychiatric assesment of that individual. Such attempts were made by the Frankfurt school, among others, with varying levels of success. The need for and belief in authoritarian social structures together with the leaders that such an arrangement produces does indicate a level of political naivety that implies some kind of emotional infantile state. Nazism and Bolshevism cannot be explained away by a psychological investigation of Hitler and Lenin.This is presuming that the DSM 5 is unbiased and does not come under the influence of Big Pharma. But think of the irony here: Trump nailed to his own petard for supporting the accumulation of capital.That's a thought. I'll have to edit my Quora answer so it includes the irony.
The influence of big Pharma is definitely there with regards to the DSM, however the influence of insurance companies on the development of the DSM is more notable. Because of the insurance based nature of the American health system, you need to have a diagnosed disorder before the Insurance Company pays for the treatment, whereas in the UK you might be feeling depressed following the death of a loved one, in the US you have to have something like "Relationship Based Bereavement Disorder" before the insurance company will pay for you to see a Counsellor. Hence the ongoing development of the DSM. You might find some of Claude Steiner's work very interesting. (He has a very good website)
Your reply seems to indicate a grandiose sense of self importance and arrogant haughty behaviours. Two diagnostic points in one sentence. Well done, only 3 to go to meet the diagnostic criteria!
Hi L BirdYou may find Brian's thread about Donald Trump provides you with a little bit of insight into your own life.
I don't think that Trump is the victim of the personality disorder, I think the world is the victim of his personality disorder.
LBird wrote:In pursuit of my Democratic Communist belief that the role of Communists is to explain complex ideas to fellow workers, so that my fellow workers can develop at a far faster rate than I did, because I sum up years of reading into simpler analogies, here is an explanation of the relationship of Marx’s ‘idealism-materialism’ to Engels’ ‘materialism’.Imagine an electrician who finds two grey wires hanging down from a ceiling. Each grey wire is an outer casing for two inner wires, a red one and a green one. The electrician wants to splice the two grey wires, but only requires the feeds of both of the green wires to be taken forward. So, the electrician gets a third piece of grey wire, again containing two inner wires, but which are both green. She connects the green wire, from the left-hand grey wire hanging down, to one of the green wires in her piece of grey wire, and she connects the other green wire, from the right-hand grey wire hanging down, to the second green wire in her wire. Lastly, she bends upwards the red wire of the left-hand feed and covers it with tape, and repeats this with the other red wire from the right-hand grey wire.So, the electrician now has a feed taking forward power from both of the input grey wires, and the input grey wires both have their unused red wires safely taped off, unwanted.Having finished her task, the electrician then moves on to other, more urgent, work.But… she has a mate, a bloke who knows nothing about electrics, but thinks that he does. We all know the sort. He offers to progress her work, and she trusts her mate, and assumes that his estimation of himself can be trusted, and so leaves him unsupervised, to continue her initial task.He, however, on finding the joined wire taking from two sources, decides that this is a bit messy, and thinks it can be simplified. So, he unfastens the join between the green wire linked to the left-hand green wire, untapes the right-hand red wire, and joins the two together. Much simpler and clearer! Now, the right hand grey wire simply continues into the connecting wire, entirely continuing the both inputs from that right-hand grey wire. Much better than having the complexity of wires being joined into a ‘Y’ shape, and he lastly pushes the left-hand grey wire back into the ceiling, well out of harm’s way, and out of sight of any other future meddlers!He assures his companion that he’s completed her original work, and simplified it into the bargain. She’s not too sure just how her work has been ‘simplified’, but she’s now far too busy with the massive new task facing her, and warmly thanks her trusted mate.Years later, some French ‘electricians’ tell her of the extensions they’ve made to her electrical work, but when she examines the powerless results, she’s astounded, and recognises immediate that this is not ‘electrics’ as she knows it, thus declaring that, if this is ‘electrics’, as far as she’s concerned “I’m no ‘electrician!’ ”.assuming that they are both working on a British system from what you've said, neither of them are much an electrician. In the first place they shoulld have used a junction box (you might want to check BS 7671:2008 the latest update to electical regulations).. They are also talking about input, which strictly speaking is incorrect. In AC current (at an atomic level) there is a herd of electrons which all run one way, then stop, turn round and run the other way half a cycle later. Since the electrons are running in both directions their is no polarity, I think the term they should have used is feed. lastly the French domestic system uses black, yellow/green (where they have an earth, which in my experience isn't that often) and Blue for neutral (red for live is becoming a little more common.) therefole how far I would trust the judgement of the electricians to make extentions is a bit limited.Perhaps a little less philosophy and a little more time spent with basic electrical engineering would benefit you
LBird wrote:Tim Kilgallon wrote:…idealistic…The usual reply by 'materialists', when questioned about modern developments in politics, philosophy and physics since the 19th century heyday of materialism, is to revert to the good-versus-evil approach.That is, materialists wear the white hats, and the evil idealists wear the black hats.They got this from Engels, too.What any worker, who knows about 20th century physics, and has read Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrodinger, Plank, de Broglie, Born, Smolin, Rovelli, etc., makes of this ancient, outdated, 'materialism'……anyway, it's certain that the 'materialists' haven't read what those physicists say about physics.They'd all be called 'idealists'.
What a very strange creature you are, L Bird. In one breath you talk about the need not to partonise the intelligence of worker, yet in another you advise the "less class conscious workers" to vote for Corbyn. You then go on to assert that current scientific thinking is undemocratic and anti the interests of the working class, yet reference the merits of reading bourgeois scientists such as "Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrodinger, Plank, de Broglie, Born, Smolin, Rovelli, etc." then to further discredit yourself you state that "it's certain that the 'materialists' haven't read what those physicists say about physics" having previously derided other contributors for allegedly holding to the concepts of certainty and truth.It makes me think of a comment by a lecturer I had back in the 80s "Philosophy is just psychology for posers"
LBird wrote:Tim Kilgallon wrote:gnome wrote:SocialistPunk wrote:There is a possibility in the future that the earth will no longer go around the sun. There's the possibility it will end up being swallowed up by the sun.Actually in around 5 billion years or so that's precisely what will happen and as I know very little about astrophysics I'm quite prepared to accept the calculations of those who do. No vote by the then inhabitants of planet earth, in the unlikely event the human species will have survived that long, will alter that "truth".
You see Gnome, that's where you're wrtong, that will only happen if the workers democratically vote for it!
More contempt for 'workers' and their abilities and potential development.Keep it coming, boys!You'll be changing your party title to the Superior People of Great Britain – tagline: The Party that knows the Truth already, so you dumb workers don't have to bother becoming active!
Actually it's not contempt for workers, it's for the idealistic claptrap you peddle in the guise of pseudo intellectualism. Your idea that we can vote away any unwanted realities, is akin to the Pope and the Catholic Church asking workers to pray to get rid of world poverty.
gnome wrote:SocialistPunk wrote:There is a possibility in the future that the earth will no longer go around the sun. There's the possibility it will end up being swallowed up by the sun.Actually in around 5 billion years or so that's precisely what will happen and as I know very little about astrophysics I'm quite prepared to accept the calculations of those who do. No vote by the then inhabitants of planet earth, in the unlikely event the human species will have survived that long, will alter that "truth".
You see Gnome, that's where you're wrtong, that will only happen if the workers democratically vote for it!
