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Edward Lothman's avatar

I wonder how a person can be "a Marxist and a sharp writer" at the same time. Seems impossible to me. Anyone with brains knows that system has not and will not work - ever. It flies in the face of human nature, and is solely responsible itself for the killing of countless millions of people.

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Freddie deBoer's avatar

Eat shit

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David Josef Volodzko's avatar

Hey Edward, I started to reply but turned it into a post instead so check it out.

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David Josef Volodzko's avatar

He’s saying a highly intelligent GOP candidate would not constantly step on rakes and would be more effective at achieving GOP goals and therefore worse for the left.

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Edward Lothman's avatar

So it was an outing after all, just a mild one, and it was justified because your interpretation was that my response was somehow insulting? What about it was insulting? It's an historical fact that communism/despotism has killed countless millions of people, and it is stupid to hold it up as an example to follow. Period. As to Marx, once again, he was too dim-witted to understand that his own proposal would result in the same bloody thing as a monarchy... another despotic system. Please, let's stop this and just send my money back. I promise that you won't hear from me again.

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David Josef Volodzko's avatar

Refunded.

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Edward Lothman's avatar

Josef,

I was going to let it pass until you hung up the laundry front and centre, name and all. It's taken me a while to gather my thoughts so my response is a bit tardy. Here goes...

Am I mistaken and perhaps too sensitive, or was that a cleverly concealed outing? Weren't you recently the subject of an outing yourself? In place of my name front and centre, why didn't you say, instead, that what the "sharp and funny person" posted was childish and unacceptable? I mean, "eat shit" is the only thing a prolific writer can come back with? Fawk. Maybe a consequence of our higher learning institutions where correct pronouns and racial quotas reign supreme? I don't know this person, I have nothing against him and he doesn't matter to me in any way (Antoinette was his name?, I can't remember). But, when someone describes themselves as Marxist in a public forum, and they should really know better (i.e., old enough, educated with all of those books and such), intervention is required. This reply isn't about that person. It is about a much larger and important topic and also the reason I subscribed to your blog in the first place - that and to help you in a small way out of your tricky financial situation, itself created by Marxists.

To answer your points:

There is no Marxist CEO who won't end up with his/her head on a block. Read Michael Blair's recent substack on Disney for example. It's only a matter of time for that misguided individual, and the sooner the better. I now despise everything about Disney, and that is saying a lot since I grew up watching it on Sundays and loved Disney. I raised my children with Disney. I won't spend a penny on any of their offerings now. And I won't be well into the future either, even after they ditch their craziness. People are absolutely fed up with all of this woke horseshit being shoved down their throats and are beginning to speak with their wallets and will soon, hopefully with their ballots too.

As to the tally of dead under communism, the word I should have been using is "despotism". Despotism contains your convenient definition of communism - you know, that other group whose ideology does all the killing, but also includes all groups masquerading under pseudonyms which are the same exact thing; dictators, fascists, monarchists, religious theocrats, i.e., any group of ruling elites who use force against their own people, believing themselves to be the rightful (sometimes divine) rulers, and who are also willing to and often do kill their own people to remain in power. These are the people of the far left and far right of the political spectrum, and the only meaningful delineator between them all is the number of privileged elites operating within them; fascists/dictatorships few, communists many. I believe countless millions dead to still be an appropriate tally.

When Marx put pen to paper, lost in his own navel, he had many new words but no new ideas. His system of communism was merely another way of organizing society under despotism - something done since time immemorial. The world was just crawling out of despotism at the time, still is actually, and he wanted a return under different rulers. Distilled, his BIG VISION was a brave new world where the evil societal classes and capitalist pig-dogs are replaced by two new classes; a relatively small group of elites who rule because they magically "know better", and the proletariat who are all of the other people. Sound familiar? Kings, Queens, Lords and serfs? Although never mentioned because it would be unpalatable, his system, like the old one, requires the use of force because who in their right _ucking mind is going to "simply do" what elitist nutjobs say without the use of force? (No one.) What's different between that, and what it was supposedly replacing, and how in any way, does that qualify as genius?

The "why" of why communism/despotism doesn't work Josef, which you pondered in an earlier post reply to me, is that nobody but the "eat cake <shit> elites" want it, every level of society sinks to its lowest common denominator, and as a result the "proletariat" do the minimum they can to survive without getting shot. Everyone suffers; even the elites who are too stupid to realize this. Despotism, wherever it is found, in whatever measure it has been implemented, brings out the worst in everyone. It turns co-workers and family members on one another, divides society into groups and pits them against each other, creates liars and snitches who curry favour to the elites, and allows psychopaths to ply their trade openly. What kind of person launches a missile at an unarmed group of defenseless people on an aircraft, or fires missiles knowing they are intentionally bound for apartment buildings and hospitals filled with civilians? What kind of person freezes bank accounts of people who contribute a small amount of money to peaceful demonstrators rallying against unscientific, useless and financially crippling covid restrictions in the winter time? What kind of person rolls a tank over a peaceful, unarmed student who is just saying that things could be better? Psychopaths, that's who. The despotic elites of the world are too dim to understand the damage they are able to and often do effect, or too self-centered or psychopathic to care. Always been the case. Democratic capitalism, and political centrism on the other hand, new to the last 150 years, are the opposite of all of the above. They have shepherded the human race out of poverty and onward to the stars. Democratic capitalism and political centrism allow the human race to flourish.

Anything far left of centre or far right of political centrist is DESPOTISM, and once ruling, and regardless of the method of ascension to power (top down, bottom up, or sideways - it's acedemic Josef, and matters not), it drops its siren song of "FOR THE PEOPLE" in favour of its true moto, "Do as I say or I will _____ (out/ silence/ fire/ injure/ torture/ maim/ kill) you and/or your family and/or your friends". Most often, you can't get rid of it without bloodshed, and lots of it - hence the body count. It is a grand and complete irony that the system which purports to care so much for the wellbeing of "the people'' is also responsible for most of the killing.

Recall that it was the Marxists/Despotists who gave the bomb secrets to the Soviet Union from where it spilled out to the world. Being a Marxist/Despotist is not sharp and it's certainly not funny. Though there are many reasons to be ashamed of such a declaration, the biggest one is the horrific body count it has spawned. Regardless, if you still remain loyal to the notion and need to profess your fealty, either do so in groups of like-minded lunatics - well away from the ears of unsuspecting listeners (voters) who may be duped by credentials and ever-changing pseudonyms into voting for more despotism, or be honest when professing your fealty and at the time also explain where society under that idiotic idea leads. In other words, be honest and warn the listeners that your crazy idea will lead to their ruin should they be foolish enough to follow you.

Here is a challenge to all reigning despots out there today: Mr./Ms. Despot, put down your guns (said like Raegan). The miracle of East/West German reunification was accomplished by doing this. Using this same formula, the one-China dream and the reunification of the Koreas could be accomplished practically overnight, without a single shot being fired. Imagine a world with these two changes.

Please refund the unused portion of my subscription and give it to a charity of your choice (not you though and certainly not the Marxists), or just give it back to me and I will put it where it will do more good. I was intending to subscribe on a month by month basis but believe I somehow ended up with a year long subscription. I was okay with that though, because I thought, "geez, the poor fellow and his family need the money, and I was considering sending him some anyway to help out after he was summarily fired. Maybe he can get the word out now that he has been bitten". Blunder!. There has been some good writing to be sure during these past months, but I've had enough of the Radicalist. I wish you and your family well.

Edward Lothman

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David Josef Volodzko's avatar

Edward, my "outing" involved people making up disgusting lies about me then threatening to murder me, whereas I showed you grace by responding to your insulting comment with a thoughtful and good-faith post. Not the same thing. As for Marx, he did not "want" to organize society under despotism, even if you believe that was the result, and it is ahistorical to claim his "big vision" was monarchy. Besides, my post focused on Marxism in contrast to communism, arguing that most of us use Marxist analysis without realizing it, and your response is to say that communism is despotic, which is not a substantive response to the argument I made.

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Freddie deBoer's avatar

"Eat shit" remains my carefully-considered, evidence-based response to what you have to say. Your laughable comity fetishism doesn't change the fact that there's no substance to what you're saying, just broad gestures at tired redbaiting and anti-communist traditions that assert a perspective on a false vision of communism. You have no idea what Marxism is; your every paragraph demonstrates that you have no idea what Marxism is; you have literally zero engagement in this endless screed with the actual intellectual content of Marxism. You are more or less explicit in your refusal to engage with Marxism in intellectual terms. Then you peacock around, demanding intellectual engagement? Please. Eat shit, buddy, it's good for you.

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Lucas de Góes's avatar

Question: At the end, is Frederik arguing that a smarter conservative winning might be worse than trump winning? Truly just asking.

If MAGA is WOKE of the right than trump winning is can be even more damaging. Or does he not believe Trump has a chance of winning? If that’s the case I think he might be surprised ...

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