Friday, November 7, 2014

Dodging Leftward

Apparently, BrightAbyss disagreed with my assessment of him as a Leftist using Marxist tactics, as expounded in my previous post: Christians and Boiling Pitch.

He feigns ideological neutrality on Twitter: 
1h1 hour ago
- ya, the problem is I'm neither "leftist" nor Marxist so your ideological frames just don't fit. Sorry.

This is typical of Leftists. They are persons without virtue, they have a dual set of morality. They shamelessly lie to those in the out-group. I decided to take a moment to peruse BrightAbyss's Twitter timeline to see if his interests really were not Leftist or Marxist. Guess what I found? Wait for it... a boatload of Leftism and Marxism. 

Why does he lie? Because he must. As I stated in the previous post, it is the business of Leftists to spread lies and discontent. BrightAbyss, you do know that I can read your Twitter feed, right? Why play this game? I had you pegged from that single tweet of yours that I referenced.

I have documented BrightAbyss's tweets below. But my absolute favorite is his retweet of the article Piketty, Marx, and the Political Economy of the Internet, which states (emphasis mine):

all three reactions do not help the task of creating a New Left that is urgently needed in the situation of sustained capitalist crisis. Marxists will certainly view Piketty’s analysis of capitalism and political suggestions critically. I argue that they should however not dismiss them, but like Marx and Engels aim to radicalise reform suggestions.
Wow. Interested in creating a New Left to take on that whole capitalist crisis, are we? The Marxists are having some internal discussions on the topic? But you're not a Marxist are you, BrightAbyss? Are you sure we shouldn't take another look at those ideological frames of mine?

Here's what I found on the rest of his Twitter feed. It seems that BrightAbyss is extremely concerned about Climate Change and Ecological Disaster. He thinks that all aspects of our lives should be re-oriented to address climate change. He implores President Obama to DO SOMETHING. He Tweets about oppressed minorities being crushed under the Capitalist boot. He retweets on behalf of the journal of Decolonization, which is anti-colonialist. He retweets against the evil Koch brothers. He calls for riot and a Revolution Now at some Occupy Wall Street rehash. He calls to gang rush the Capitalist Devils. He defines nationalism as pathology. He mocks others for calling out him and his causes as Marxist agitation - insisting that Communism and the Cold War are dead. (nice deflection) He tweets about how disgraceful it is to be wealthy and honored in an unjust society. Oh, wait. That sounds awfully like social justice to me. He tweets that real men support gender equality. He defines Whiteness as entitlement. He accuses others of ideological projection, while pretending that he has none. He's openly anti-Christian, but I didn't bother documenting that.

So we have: radical climate change support, anti-capitalism, class warfare, anti-colonialism, anti-nationalism, social justice, gender equality and anti-racism. Really, BrightAbyss? My ideological frames just don't fit? Ha! They fit you like a glove.

Let's look at Eric S. Raymond's list of Leftist memes infecting the West and propagated by Marxists, enumerated in his Suicidalism post:

Consider the following propositions:
  • There is no truth, only competing agendas.
  • All Western (and especially American) claims to moral superiority over Communism/Fascism/Islam are vitiated by the West’s history of racism and
    colonialism.
  • There are no objective standards by which we may judge one culture to be better than another. Anyone who claims that there are such standards is an evil oppressor.
  • The prosperity of the West is built on ruthless exploitation of the Third World; therefore Westerners actually deserve to be impoverished and miserable.
  • Crime is the fault of society, not the individual criminal. Poor criminals are entitled to what they take. Submitting to criminal predation is more virtuous than resisting it.
  • The poor are victims. Criminals are victims. And only victims are virtuous. Therefore only the poor and criminals are virtuous. (Rich people can borrow some virtue by identifying with poor people and criminals.)
  • For a virtuous person, violence and war are never justified. It is always better to be a victim than to fight, or even to defend oneself. But “oppressed” people are allowed to use violence anyway; they are merely reflecting the evil of their oppressors.
  • When confronted with terror, the only moral course for a Westerner is to apologize for past sins, understand the terrorist’s point of view, and make concessions.

Having read Raymond's list, read through BrightAbyss' tweets that I have selected below. I think the tweets speak for themselves.

BrightAbyss, you are a Leftist and a Marxist agitator and a liar.

Boiling pitch for you.

--

 ·  Nov 6
"Whiteness" as kernel of essentialist racial ontologies is not about biodiversity but rather about existential entitlement.


[m]: retweeted
We can't afford a climate movement that's just an ethical add-on to business-as-usual. Climate action must become the new business-as-usual.


[m]: retweeted
ICYMI: As Casualties Mount, Scientists Say Global Warming Has Been "Hugely Underestimated"


[m]: retweeted
Piketty, Marx, and the Political Economy of the Internet … great new essay from comrade


If I read the word 'neoliberal' one more time I'm going to punch something in its pinky toe. Let's call it what it is: corporate mafia. Thx.


Monsanto has a revenue of over $10.5 billion per year, yet it is currently suing farmers in poor countries who make less than $500 per year.


“To be wealthy and honored in an unjust society is a disgrace.” - Confucius


[m]: retweeted
Our new issue is OUT! Check it here, and please share!  

Note: Overview of Decolonization Journal
Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society is an undisciplinary, peer-reviewed, online Open Access journal committed to supporting and advancing decolonization scholarship, practice, and activism within and, more importantly, beyond and against, the academy. We believe in connecting decolonization struggles across locations and experiences, in connecting academics, activists, and artists - and their production - within larger communities of decolonial struggle, and connecting knowledge production to histories of resistance to colonial power; we believe in a lived out decolonial praxis. Decolonization is not new and we do not aspire to meet the academic demand for new and invigorating paradigms; it is not the academy we are interested in invigorating. Instead, we seek to ground decolonization in the lived experiences and histories of those individuals and communities that have and are living out decolonization, seeking to invigorate connections, struggles, and knowledges that reside beyond the academy.

[m]: retweeted
Inside the Koch Brothers' toxic empire:


Northern Cree occupy Manitoba Hydro dam over longstanding grievances


the COMMIES are coming the COMMIES are coming! For yer guns and yer monies!!!


- commies?! LOL you do know the Cold War is over? The Red scare is not necessary. Do you have any real thoughts?


"We cannot condemn our children & their children to a future that is beyond their capacity to repair" < THEN DO SOMETHING


do you have a right-wing nutter bingo card you need to fill? Your tired arguments are all ideological projection


Insurrection is the appropriate response to inappropriate social conditions.


Emma Watson to men: Gender equality is your issue too Real men support gender equality


The cops would be powerless to stop hundreds of thousands of people rushing Wall Street with riotous intent. REVOLUTION NOW

. Stop Capitalism. End the Climate Crisis. LETS GANG RUSH THOSE DEVILS!!!

That unawkward moment when an interview with your 15 year old activist daughter is interviewed on p.2 of the daily newspaper.

Nationalism is pathology but regionalism is an opportunity to align local priorities with geo-affordances via infrastructural innovation.








2 comments:

  1. I like that you did your homework.

    Couple things:

    Just because I support gender equality, revolution, re-engineering society to mitigate climate change, and i'm against the plunder and domination of vulnerable populations by dominant institutions doesn't mean in "leftist", at least not how I understand it. Why? Because I don't see the world through the prism of high school poli-sci heuristics. Those are your labels and lists, and that is the simplistic framework upon which you want to demarcate things and people to create your in-group. Yeah for you. But ‘Left/right’ is meaningless to me, and so I refuse your categories and rhetoric and all the bullshit antagonisms and logics (decisional binary sets) that go with it. Ideology is not my focus and ultimately meaningless to me – although unavoidable in subtle ways.
    I’m a pragmatist and an empiricist. So I’m ‘against’ all things damaging to the human (and other) species and ‘for’ all things that might lead to a more health inducing arrangement of populations. Those are my guiding commitments. So I’m not lying I’m just refusing your game. Period.

    I’m against the Koch bros because they put profit over ecosystems and do some in illegal and brutal ways. I’m against Marxism because it puts bureaucracy and ideology over people. I’m for reorganizing the economy to decrease carbon emission in order to mitigate global warming. I’m against involuntary taxes (socialism) because it consolidates money in the hands of wayward institutions. I’m for small government. I’m against financial oligarchy. I’m for valuing the family and individual responsibility. I’m against identity politics and the culture of blame. I'm for collectivising modes of production (for efficiency). I'm against fundamentalism.

    And I draw from a lot of sources – left and right, but mostly empirical studies. Doesn’t mean I am committed to every organization or theoretical stance I re-tweet or draw from. Life is messy and so is one’s intellectual growth. SO where do these commitments put me on your color by number chart? Left-right?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I responded in another post:
      http://poseidonawoke.blogspot.com/2014/11/dear-butch-am-i-leftest.html

      Delete