stuartw2112
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There's democracy and there's democracy. I'm sure the Greens are fairly (even extremely) democratic by the standards of their peers (though I have no direct knowledge or experience). But as someone raised politically within the SPGB, every democracy (with the sole exception of Occupy-style democracy, which can be as impressive, even better in some ways, but with different problems) I've ever experienced has been found seriously wanting. The internal democractic culture of the SPGB is probably one of the things the party can be most proud of. Although, sadly, it's hard to get anyone to believe you because most people's experience is with the democracy of the fraudulent kind.
"Chomsky and Kropotkin, for example, both display an immense faith in rational thought, Enlightenment values, and science."What's the alternative to such "faith"? Surely not all that continental theory twaddle?
LB: All you can do is spin the same old record, over and over again, even when the subject of discussion is why you continue to spin the record. I'm proud to accept the "saint" label. Better a saint than a (unconscious) Stalinist. Over and out.
LB: Have you considered that it is your very ideology and your insistence on the importance of it that makes discussion with you so fruitless? After all, if you've got your ideology and I've got mine, and this rules our perceptions, and there's no such thing as individual opinion or any objective reason why we should believe one thing rather than another, what purpose conversation? And what could "workers power" based on such unthinking ideology be other than a grotesque tyranny – one indeed that the world has only in living memory seen the back of?
LB: You used my post as yet another excuse to drivel on about ideology again! Was it satire? Was the joke on me? If so, very good!
I think the IEA are making rather the same point from their own (Thatcherite) position – ie, having a pop at central bankers and policy makers for not understanding how capitalism really works! Thanks for the link
PS Actually I think "scientism" is the wrong word. Perhaps more pretentiousness dressed up in scientific jargon.
"Wasn’t Chomsky’s universal grammar thing firstly an anti-thesis or critique of previous standing theories that I think are far more dingbat than Chomsky’s are?"Yes, Chomsky burst onto the scene with his critique of BF Skinner's behaviourism – a kind of materialist, cultural determinist attempt to explain language. As Knight rightly put it, Chomsky's review was one of the most devastating intellectual demolition jobs of all time. It's worth digging out and scanning – it's on Chomsky's website I think. It's a master class in clear logical thinking and the dangers of scientism.
A comrade once pointed out to me the difference between political engagement and fanaticism. If someone comments on the price of bread and then offers an idea about the causes of inflation, then that is a reasonable basis for a political discussion. If, however, someone turns to you in the bus queue, rolls their eyes, and comments on how typical it is for the bus to be late, only a fanatic would use that as an excuse for launching into a diatribe about privatisation and the commodification of human relations. I say this, LBird, because I'd be interested if any bus has ever turned up in this forum that you don't see as a legitimate reason for launching into your half sensible/half looney claims about "ideology"?
The big question that always comes up is, what's the alternative? Perhaps it's the lack of convincing detail on this score – or, more likely, the horrors or failings of living or recently dead examples – that is the biggest barrier. Look at Russell Brand. People like him. But he still can't answer the question. Can anyone?
It's not banker fiddling that determines investment and hence the business cycle – it's the profit outlook.http://www.iea.org.uk/blog/monetary-policy-overrated
Thanks Hud, glad you liked the interview. At the very least, what I learned from it is that Chomsky is a highly skilled operator in debate – as Chris would agree. You have to get up very early in the morning indeed to get one past him. Cheers
I agree with you Alan, as does Chomsky, as you say. There are no political implications. Not are there with so called "biological determinism". Stalinists found "cultural determinism" perfectly congenial after all.
