
jaywalker
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Everything posted by jaywalker
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robbin Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > jaywalker Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > > > "...in Bourdieu's language, the original Marx > (and > > Lukacs) hope was that 'workers' are the only > ones > > who do not misrecognise the socio-economic for > > what it is: a system of symbolic violence in > which > > privilege is transmuted to sociodicy (the > illusion > > that one's privilege is warranted, achieved by > > solipsistic acts of self-justification...)" > > Classic! Only on the EDF!!! > > BTW thanks for providing a bracketed explanation > of the difficult to understand big words for us. > Much appreciated. I do find this kind of response quite difficult to deal with. On the one hand, of course. Sorry if I sounded patronising (in the past I've had posts like yours because I used words I did not explain. The term 'sociodicy' is exceptionally useful: but few people know it, even in the university). On the other, it was in response to a specific question: why the strange use of 'worker' by Corbyn. I am really not sure that one can answer this question without recourse to the self-referential esoteric terms of Marxism because that is the worldview in which he uses it.
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I think DaveR is pointing to something more sociological Lordship. In this reading 'workers' qua proletariat: zero contract, temporary, minimum-waged, unemployed, manual, no human capital (and little or no social or cultural capital), unpaid (housewives/househusbands, those staying at home to look after the elderly or infirm). That is why DaveR is not a 'worker' even though he works. in Bourdieu's language, the original Marx (and Lukacs) hope was that 'workers' are the only ones who do not misrecognise the socio-economic for what it is: a system of symbolic violence in which privilege is transmuted to sociodicy (the illusion that one's privilege is warranted, achieved by solipsistic acts of self-justification e.g. those who inherit gifts come to think of themselves as gifted in the education system). Unfortunately, as Bourdieu also saw, the 'workers' as so defined are subject to a reverse sociodicy of disillusion and stoic acceptance of their lot - partly because capitalism has dissolved the proletariat into 1. the precariat (the 'workers') 2. the aspirational consumer or highly paid unionist (e.g. tube worker). So they never rise up to fulfill Marx's promise, except in ways that are self-defeating (as in the ressentiment of Brexit).
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the concept that haunts that discourse (but cannot be spoken) is proletariat. If (not my view, but it is of some) they are in the vanguard of the move to enlightenment (the bourgeois being too blinded by self-interest, desperately clinging on to their privileges by solipsistic acts of self-justification) then it is only through the proletariat that humanity can progress. 'worker' is useful term for the far-left here: identifying the proletariat having become a little difficult (especially since most of those eligible seem to be voting Tory this time around, which is not quite what Marx would have had in mind I suspect).
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'the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable' as Oscar Wilde put it.
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civilservant Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > i see that it is said to thrive in soil with high > (alkaline) pH, so i thought that lowering the soil > pH might make it harder for alkanet to do well and > also help my chlorotic hydrangea > > any suggestions for reducing the alkalinity of > soil? the wonder treatment for anything chlorotic like that (and acid loving) is seaweed extract with sequestered iron (you need the version with the iron as it is also available without). It also smells wonderful to apply (like the sea) and is quite green for the environment. Excellent for Camelias, ferns, rhododendrons, magnolia, acers and hibiscus which all tend to struggle on our clay based soil. Truly revivifying.
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Nigello Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > https://www.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/martin > harper/archive/2017/05/04/manifestos.aspx?utm_sour > ce=may_homepage > RSPB (claims it) manages to be a-political when it > comes to its raison-d'etre. I really don't think this will do. Bird welfare is political through and through. You want cheap crops, I want country song-birds unharmed by pesticides. I want cheap housing, you want gabled housing built to benefit swifts. Birds are always-already involved in the human, and the human is always-already antagonistic and political. You do not need to read much of what is posted on this forum to realise this. I like birds in a pie and birds singing in my garden. I am human, riven.
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TE44 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It's poison, dig them up and if you're not able > to, ask your neighbour (who may grow > organically). > I'm sure they'd help you dig them out for you. > > http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/roundup-qui > ck-death-for-weeds-slow-and-painful-death-for-you/ My reaction to this is I don't know. How could I? So be careful how you use it. Yet, it has been around for a while and the toxicity to humans does not show up in meta-data (hence the EU's reversal of its earlier decision). This is NOT to give it a clean bill of health: just that it is not like, say, smoking and humans.
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robbin Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- >> > Btw, if I am asked to pay 50% on my income, in > keeping with others I am highly likely to stick > more into my pension, so Jezza won't get that part > of it. I think you will find that is covered. Your pension pot can be taxed. Even this government is taxing it at the margin by extraordinary amounts if you exceed the shrinking investment limit. > What is not difficult to > predict is that our debt is highly likely to > increase even more. Maybe more debt is fine for > oldies, but maybe not the future generation - > suppose it depends on where your priorities lie. but the government is currently able to borrow on 10 year gilts at 1%, and even on 50 year gilts at 3%: with inflation at 3.5% today, I think Corbyn can borrow as much as he likes and there will be no adverse effects: actually, it would be equitable inter-generationally - the wealthier old ones (like me) paying more in real terms in the early years of the debt, the younger ones paying virtually nothing in real terms (look up how quickly real debt halves if inflation is 3.5%! on nominal interest rates of 1 or 2%) > And as for Trident - the Labour manifesto is to > keep it! But, to keep it while removing any > actual value as a deterrent ... To make this statement requires that you say under which circumstances you would push the button. I am struggling to think of any such circumstances. For example, if N Korea send off a ballistic to Japan or the USA, the USA know full well that to eviscerate N Korea in exchange is MAD (mutually assured (environmental) destruction). The computer simulations suggest a global winter that would kill all unbunkered Americans (and us of course).
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Sue wrote: "If you are really desperate Roundup (contains glyphosate, a systemic weedkiller which carries the glyphosate through the plant and kills them from the roots up) would probably work. It takes a while to see results as the leaves die last. But you have to do it on a day with no wind (or forecast rain) and shield other plants very carefully for obvious reasons, so it may not be practicable." My experience is that Roundup works well on this. Actually, with this plant the leaves die within a few hours of being sprayed, it takes longer to get down to the root, and a second application may be required for a large group of plants. As Sue says, take precautions (this chemical is probably not carcinogenic, but was recently thought to be so by some so the EU were in the process of banning it. They only changed their mind in March this year). Do not inhale (the other reason for choosing a calm day) or use the roll-on version. Wear plastic disposable gloves. Above all, do not rub your eyes until you have thoroughly washed your hands. I have found to my cost that any overspill will kill what it touches. It will also kill anything living in water so avoid pond areas etc. The garden centre on Croxted Road also has a super-powerful version that will kill pretty much anything, but you really don't need that for this.
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Dear me, GG. The Tory party's expression of stability and order and adulthood. My word, you think that Green issues are not political? And as such they are boring? Swifts are just birds that may or may not go extinct (its nature, God will provide???). Well, sounds political to me, as with your identical ready-made word-for-word response to mine on foxes: no danger of boring, repetitive, infantile posts with you! I have so much to learn from you GG - I am truly grateful! Burbage, I absolutely agree with you. My cat is breathing heavily (too many road restriction bumps causing particulates that are killing children and animals). The air in London is often foul and designated as dangerous by the EU (this is a boring, repetitive, infantile, political point - we are leaving the EU so no one need care, its just how it is).
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And what do all the Conservative voters who read this forum hope for Barry? To be clear, if the Tories win, his country cousins will be torn apart by packs of dogs.
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Sir Keith used to eat babies for breakfast (as it were). He was the one who thought social classes too low in the alphabet should be 'dissuaded' from having children. Very bright man discursively (fellow of All Souls) meets real life outside the academy: train crash. Yet Thatcher gave him almost as much credence as Enoch.
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Vote: What /Who will you be Voting for Election ?
jaywalker replied to natty01295's topic in The Lounge
It will not be the labour party afterwards. The Labour party itself will simply become another socialist-worker style party (even if they keep the name). Those centre-left who are left will leave, to force remain. Many will be left: look at the labour party share of the vote on the recent polling moving-average on the BBC news website (UKIP sinking without trace, the LibDems getting absolutely nowhere): they are now on a higher share of the vote than at the last election. This is partly because the cosmopolitan 'labour-remain' vote is holding strong in the cities and university towns. Although labour-leave have higher majorities elsewhere, they are being very squeezed by the rather amusing sight of working-class and lower-middle class voters decamping from UKIP to, of all people, the Tories. They will reap what they sow. If only someone would get the opposition parties to muster an anti-Tory alliance (so that rival candidates stand down), May would be in danger. Without that it is the following election that will be the return to sanity. -
Yes, you are absolutely right. The swift population has been declining quite markedly in recent years - and this is partly the problem. In my childhood we had a C20th house which had gables and the swifts were a real treat each year as they first mud-patched last year's nests and then swooped in to feed their young. Then we moved to an older one and the tradition continued. The decline may also be due to a lower concentration of flying insects (e.g. the recent drought will not have helped). As with bats, we should pay much more attention to providing shelter for our native fauna. Instead we have a return to fox-hunting promised by the woman masquerading as the 'people's' prime minister. Truly unspeakable.
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Suggested names for the nouvelle vague: xeno (phobe) pluto (as in 'Pluto's Republic') verbena (as in 'Lemon') idy (as in March) dull (from Dulwich) free (as in 'free cash' on cash dispensers)
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Vote: What /Who will you be Voting for Election ?
jaywalker replied to natty01295's topic in The Lounge
Wasn't it a bit like the food - bloody terrible then? I remember it well: no avocados, no olive oil, parmesan more like sawdust than cheese. This was nothing whatsoever to do with the relations of production: just a long time ago before IT, before the switch to a service-based economy (in school calling people by their first names rather than surnames) etc. So we have from the Tory party (what a surprise) an atavistic reactionary stupidity against any progressive re-imagining of civil society (where we might work together to get to work on time on, say, trains). -
Lordship 516 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > jaywalker Wrote: > > > > Second, Hayek was an intelligent man. He knew > that > > Friedman-esq justifications of the free-market > > economy were nonsense. > > This is very true. There is a great difference > between what Hayek held & what Friedman & his > bankster friends have spread around the world. Hayek is (if at first sight paradoxically) quite close to Herbert Simon. For him, markets are the best we can hope for given the overwhelming information problem (for him deficit, for Simon surplus) involved in any 'rational' attempt to solve resource allocation problems. They satisfice (they do not optimise) to adopt Simon's language for Hayek against Friedman. This is obviously true in its own terms, but too limited in scope. The IT revolution (Moore's law particularly) has made state-sponsored resource allocation potentially rational (you can even, in the virtual reality that is imminent) get real-time updates on consumer preferences just by recording where they look in either the VR online store or in "meatspace" (Gibson)). Many of Hayek's arguments are then false simply because he did not anticipate the technology (in a way, the Soviets did: just rather too soon). Friedman was a political-philosophical imbecile. He read his own financial and economic-theory success (the 1967 breakdown of the Phillips Curve article is a work of genius and one which had a disastrous effect on Thatcher) as a justification for his atomistic notion of 'freedom' - one that stands no scrutiny (Marx summarised this pretty well in his early writings over one hundred years beforehand). Posters have said we should get back down to earth. But politicians read these things (Thatcher underlined the works of Friedman in three different colours) and we all pay the consequences.
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Vote: What /Who will you be Voting for Election ?
jaywalker replied to natty01295's topic in The Lounge
Hitler could not exist now. If the identical genome was replicated today (from some fragment that survived the cremation) it would not result in Hitler. He would probably grow up to be a minor artist, kind to his animals (as he was). I do think we should stop thinking of named people as in-themselves-essentially anything to do with historical processes. For example, read Bauman - The Holocaust and Modernity. -
Vote: What /Who will you be Voting for Election ?
jaywalker replied to natty01295's topic in The Lounge
I am considering voting Green. Do we have a candidate here? They seem to be rather more ??point than the Lib Dems. I fear I will have to resign my membership. -
Lordship 516 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I used the word abject poverty on purpose - going > to bed hungry may be a 'relative' measure to you > but it is reality to the hungry person. 'Relative > poverty' is a term that has relevance to > statisticians; hunger is very relevant to the 4 > million poverty stricken children in the UK today > & tomorrow and....... We are obliged to do more > than just wring our hands & keen at their plight. > > And yes, if things improved & there is no > reasonable trickle down of the gains then these > children would still be hungry. This is why > society needs to step in and assist these people & > their families to escape their poverty. The > neo-liberal solution is to let them die and then > there is no longer a problem - it's the market, > stupid!. > > Nietszhe - "?There is nothing more terrible, than > a class of barbaric slaves who have learned to > regard their existence as an injustice, and now > prepare to avenge, not only themselves, but all > generations.? . > > His contemporary, Carl Menger who is regarded as > the father of the Austrian school that gave us > Friedrich von Wieser & Eugen von B?hm-Bawerk who > in turn educated Hayek, Ludwig von Mises and > Joseph Schumpeter . B?hm-Bawerk and Wieser > promoted Menger?s work and their students Mises > and Hayek extended the Austrian school > neo-liberalism to the whole world. Unfettered by > ethic or decency it has given us a ruinous system > whereby the vast majority of humanity has been > made slave to the oligarchy of financial > overlords. > > The neo-liberals separate economics from ethics > and philosophy - capital & land have more value & > power than labour and labour must be subservient > to that capital god - the market. We are not > allowed to have a free market for labour - htis > would debase their insistence that it is money & > money alone that controls our existance. Well. There are two things that might be said here. Nietzsche was an ironist who in Turin (in his final moment of sanity) threw himself on a horse who was being cruelly treated to protect it from its bastard human owner; who was no doubt inflicting on the horse what Nietzsche was to so clearly understand in his writings: ressentiment. The psychological moment (and here seen so clearly even at the beginning of his writing) is the identification of ressentiment as the product of the slave-mentality (the important resistance here is to the utopian dialectic of master-slave adumbrated by Hegel). The critique of ressentiment is NOT to justify the conditions which give rise to it. But we live very much under the shadow of this phenomenon (and have done for two centuries at least, probably since the enlightenment: it was Nietzsche's genius to articulate the problem). It was also Marx's great failure (with the misfortune of writing a generation earlier) to understand this. It is why we should be very afraid in a world that possesses nuclear weapons, of any government that seeks to represent 'the people' and also why we should realise the May phenomenon for what it is (and Trump etc etc). Second, Hayek was an intelligent man. He knew that Friedman-esq justifications of the free-market economy were nonsense. He wrote (after personal and direct involvement in WW1 and with the experience of Leninism visible) in the hope that unregulated markets (and unregulated money-supplies! - i.e. privatised ones) were the best route to avoid the ressentiment arising from the serfdom that Nietzsche correctly berated. I fear the jury is still out on this solution (although Bitcoin etc). It is not my preferred outcome: but nation states and their calls to infantilism are sorely trusting my patience.
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Yes, these are becoming seriously fashionable. From my childhood: mildred (who quickly adopted 'millie' as much more thoroughly modern :-)), olive, florence, doris, elsie, and mould (sic) - the last apparently a contraction of mathilda.
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I'm not sure where to start, but as a cat owner I'll say this: Most cat poo is recycled by bacteria, beetles and worms. It fertilises the garden. Probably if you do not have a pet your garden is underfed anyway :-). Yes it is unpleasant if unburied. If that is happening then probably best strategy is to provide one small area with fresh earth (replace the top two inches each week). Yes I know not your problem, but cats are not biddable. If you have vegetables then you need cover for them - but you would anyway in this area (foxes, butterflies, other insects, snails and slugs). For the first time on this forum I feel that uncleglen is being a bit stigmatised for his / her post. Other people's loved ones (as Evelyn Waugh put it) are a source of real angst for people who do not 'get' pet ownership (it is how I feel about the dogs that terrify my cat). it was obvious from the post that he means no harm to cats: just that this was his annoyance. By far the best solution is to buy your own un-castrated Tom. He will see them off and provide years of entertainment (and of course, increase the population of our wonderful felines).
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OK, I think this is what will happen next. Tories fib their way to a 200 seat majority landslide. They take many core traditional labour seats, but not so in cosmopolitan remain seats (like ours). That reduces the parliamentary labour party to a rump of corbynites (he will not even be able to form a shadow cabinet), but also 80 to 120 pro-remain, enlightened, social-democrat labour MPs. Looks like the Lib Dems will be squeezed and get no more than their current 8 seats. THEN we will catch up with French Macron time. My guess is Chuka Umunna - he would be excellent. They form a new, en marche style party - very attractive to the young and the cosmopolitan and educated. This new grouping will form the official opposition (the largest opposing party does). THEN May has a serious problem. If she follows through on her ludicrous 'brexit means brexit' and the economy starts falling apart (as it would) then the pro-remain Tories will simply leave and set up their own centre-right party (as in every other European country - we are the only ones with this stupid polarising system). This is already happening in France as parliamentarians are faced with la r?alit? as they head to their elections. This could even happen during the negotiations: if May is too tough they can ditch her (Tories very good at doing this unlike Labour) and join a central coalition with Umanna (or Ken Clarke who is not too old to be PM if the Tory group was the largest). I do not think that the Tories would even have to form a new party to do this: they can simply force the Brexiteers out - they will try to reform UKIP. Their first move as a coalition is to bring in PR. End of May, Brexit and the swivel eyed ones of far left and right.
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One senses that this is the start of the end-game. Even Fox News last night was in disarray. Pence will be President before the end of the year - this is what the House has always expected and schemed for. Trump was always only a fall guy.
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Perhaps Corbyn actually is one? BBC tonight has May on a massive three figure majority (by tracking the kind of constituencies she is targeting with her visits - ones with very large Labour (sic) majorities). The general population do not want socialism, they want Brexit, they crave 'strong leadership' for 'ordinary working families' and an 'end to immigration'. May's parish-pump politics promises all this. By default they will vote for tuition fees, reduced welfare benefits, sharply rising energy bills (the cap causing a collapse in investment) a chronic shortage of labour in key sectors (the NHS, schooling), inhuman and insane spending on nuclear weapons, and the shameless incarceration of extraordinary numbers of people designated as refuse. There have been calls for newly elected labour MPs to decamp and set up a new party just after the election. Perhaps those newly-elected Tories who are pro Europe, anti fox-hunting, anti the obvious divisiveness of grammar schools, and whose social conscience is real rather than simulated might like to join them?
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