Great post, b - yes, hair is on fire everywhere, and we do love the stench of hypocrisy in the morning.

IMO, billionaires, by definition, are crimes against humanity and should be outlawed. But this is our world in which Property trumps People, and Profit is the meaning of life. The idea that a walking, talking, living, breathing 'crime against humanity' is at once our 'savior' of 'free speech?' Perhaps Musk is like Prometheus giving us primitives the knowledge of fire as we 'woke' ourselves into a coma.

Whatever - the fact we are in this state is an example of human failure across the board.

Posted by: gottlieb | Apr 15 2022 15:33 utc | 1

Only a few years ago, we saw Elon Musk skewered in "Sorry to Bother You", a bold satire that pushed revolutionary and socialist values.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XthLQZWIshQ

Now we see this leftist website rally behind Musk?

Posted by: Inkan1969 | Apr 15 2022 15:39 utc | 2

Twitter is fundamentally designed to make its users dumber and less able to engage in critical thought. By design. The single most distinctive feature is the comically low limit on information content in a message.

I actually think the fact that it has become a dominant means of political discourse, is the most sadistic oddity of our time... So anyway, even if there were no censorship, I would refuse to ever have an account.

As for Musk... he's full of sh#t just as much as his pro-censorship opponents, makes his money launching satellites for the NSA, ffs.

Couldn't care less what happens here, the bien-pensant's can of course go and make their twitter 2.0 anytime they want.

Posted by: ptb | Apr 15 2022 15:42 utc | 3

The multiple-author "Ghost of Kyiv" account once again manages to snag the 01st post of the thread--

Once again, spouting demonstrable bullshit:

The Russian Naval Ship "Moscow" gallantly destroyed two Ukrainian anti-ship missiles, sadly it could not make it back to port as a large storm simply capsized it.

There are sat-pics of the ship docking in port, under its own power.

It's pretty crazy what extremes the US Gov't will go to delude its electorate--and its extended coterie of deluded apologists among NATO civilians.

Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Apr 15 2022 15:52 utc | 4

The conduct of government is corrosive of trust in government.

The government does not want you to know this.

Posted by: Sushi | Apr 15 2022 15:53 utc | 5

@ptb | Apr 15 2022 15:42 utc | 4

Musk is filthy rich from public money and regulation, he is a charlatan. If he manages to disrupt Twitter and make it more free speech compatible, that would be ok but I need to see it before I believe it. If there is one thing this charlatan is good at it is to make promises that are not fulfilled.

The main thing about Twitter is to let it go and forget about it.

Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 15 2022 16:02 utc | 6

Posted by: ptb | Apr 15 2022 15:42 utc | 4

The single most distinctive feature is the comically low limit on information content in a message.
---
140 charaters is way too much. Nobody thinks that much.
70 characters is more than adequate.
Those not in my tax bracket need about half that. Say 20 characters.
Those spouting critical nonsense on any topic should get around 5 characters.
According to the World Economic Forum "You Will Be Happy"
So of those 5 characters a minimum of four should be variations on a happy face emoji.

Posted by: Sushi | Apr 15 2022 16:03 utc | 7

@8 Sushi

https://wordcount.com/

your #8 is 489 characters

Posted by: ptb | Apr 15 2022 16:04 utc | 8

@7 Norwegian
"Musk is filthy rich from public money and regulation, he is a charlatan"

Yes, very much so. And arrogant. Agree w/ your other comments as well

Posted by: ptb | Apr 15 2022 16:06 utc | 9

hey troll friends... this isn't the Ukraine thread. you're in the wrong place.

Posted by: ptb | Apr 15 2022 16:08 utc | 10

@Pacifica Advocate #5:

There are sat-pics of the ship docking in port, under its own power.

Wrong. Russian MoD has announced yesterday evening that Moskva has sunk.

Posted by: S | Apr 15 2022 16:10 utc | 11

Only a few years ago, we saw Elon Musk skewered in "Sorry to Bother You", a bold satire that pushed revolutionary and socialist values.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XthLQZWIshQ

Now we see this leftist website rally behind Musk?

Posted by: Inkan1969 | Apr 15 2022 15:39 utc | 3

We support billionaires only when, and to the extent, they are annoying other billionaires and their minions. Generally, we think billionaires should be taxed out of existence.

Posted by: Bemildred | Apr 15 2022 16:12 utc | 12

@Pacifica Advocate # 5

There are sat-pics of the ship docking in port, under its own power.

Where are these sat pics? Are you sure they aren't "file" copies? Because the Russian MoD has stated that the Moskva sank due to taking on water "in storms" (though there were no storms). The Moskva is gone, period.

Still that doesn't answer the question of how it was so severely damaged. Ukrainians claim missile strikes but so far the US has not backed that claim, even though it had aerial reconnaissance in the area at the time. Russians claim there was an onboard explosion/fire - which could have been started due to negligence, failure of a missile being launched, or even sabotage (perhaps even by a Ukrainians who defected to Russia after the Crimea takeover who served on the Moskva).

Nobody has yet released pictures of the damage to the Moskva, so it's hard to figure out what was the cause. A picture would establish whether the initial explosion was external (Ukraine's claim) or internal (Russia's claim).

Posted by: CalDre | Apr 15 2022 16:16 utc | 13

Ghost of Kyiv: [dare pondus idonea fumo] "...Chinese have halted scientific cooperation."

I can't find the citation, but I read that Russian scientists haven't been able to have access to Chinese facilities because of the COVID lockdown.

Posted by: Maracatu | Apr 15 2022 16:26 utc | 14

Ghost of Kyiv #1: "...Chinese have halted scientific cooperation."

That doesn't seem to be China's opinion: Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian’s Regular Press Conference on April 15, 2022.

On your first question, to our knowledge, China and Russia are continuing cooperation and exchange activities in science and technology as scheduled. Guided by the vision of everlasting friendship and win-win cooperation, the two sides will advance relevant cooperation in a practical manner.

Cooperation in science and technology, as an important part of China-Russia practical cooperation, has been gaining momentum in recent years. The China-Russia Year of Scientific and Technological Innovation was successfully held from 2020 to 2021, during which over 1,000 innovative cooperation and exchange activities were held, delivering fruitful results. This has opened new ground for future cooperation and testified to the immense potential and broad prospects of bilateral scientific and technological cooperation.

Posted by: Geneva | Apr 15 2022 16:42 utc | 15

i figure people should just boycott these censored sites... but i know that is naive to suggest this too... this is what capitalism ultimately looks like... all sorts of self serving interests applied across the board...

more money = more intelligent... they ought to rule the world, lol.... it is the exact opposite of how i think.....

Posted by: james | Apr 15 2022 16:44 utc | 16

“ For democracy to survive, we need more content moderation, not less.” Thought that democracy meant that you can speak your opinion even if it is not agreeable with many?

Posted by: Jose Garcia | Apr 15 2022 16:45 utc | 17

b - the change from posting on the ukraine is refreshing! what a relief in fact!! thanks..

Posted by: james | Apr 15 2022 16:46 utc | 18

Ptb @

Not enough characters for the /sarc tag

Posted by: Sushi | Apr 15 2022 16:53 utc | 19

So, does Pavel Durov aka founder of VK and Telegram, net worth reported at $15.1 billion, also count in this rogues gallery of tech billionaires opposed to unfettered free speech?

Well, no, because there is no right to free speech in Russia.

Posted by: Mdrop | Apr 15 2022 17:16 utc | 20

@21
the irony ...

Posted by: ptb | Apr 15 2022 17:17 utc | 21

Around 2008 most of the Silicon Valley and SF social media firms became coopted by the Obama regime progressive liberals. They became outspoken and radical. They favored hiring work visa holders instead of American graduates and started interfering in local governments. Since that time social media has devolved into a tool of leftist/cultural Marxist propaganda and surveillance. It is not a coincidence that at the same time social media became an integral part of the color revolution technologies. The tech space in general has not produced anything of real value to people in 20 years.

Posted by: Obamavirus | Apr 15 2022 17:17 utc | 22

Billionaires and huge corporations are fighting to best twist public discourse and the First Amendment in their preferred direction, in support of the deep state, pressed and backed by corrupt politicians. The courts and legislatures have abdicated their responsibilities to the Constitution. Oligarchy, corporatocracy, kakistocracy.

Posted by: NoOneYouKnow | Apr 15 2022 17:24 utc | 23

Although I have commented on blogs since the late 90's I have never had an interest in twitter.

I get the groupie/follower thing, uncritical thinkers have always clamored for a forum where state-sponsored mob rule reigns supreme. And Twitter from the start has been a state-run media outlet..yes..yes..until recently the state controlled "free-speech" on Twitter in a more generous fashion but, as the state's actions have become more transparently venal, more frequently employed, the velvet glove had to be removed and the iron fist ham handedly employed.

And though today's number 1 comment, offered up by a low-level disinformation-specialist didn't mean to, he/him/she/her is certainly on point, the goal of the proto-facist state is to channel "free speech" into extremely narrow lanes where only ONE-STATE-SPONSORED-ANSWER is acceptable. Thus the low-brow effort of our very own wannabe "spook-of-state"..or was that.."zombie of zi"..Perhaps.."doppelgänger-of-DC"..whatever, with all the clever names disinformation specialists give themselves..I lose track and really, why would it matter when dealing with a self-lobotomized drone?

Posted by: S Brennan | Apr 15 2022 17:27 utc | 24

@Posted by: Obamavirus | Apr 15 2022 17:17 utc | 23

Like so many Americans and others you misidentify Western "progressivism" which supports an extreme version of neoliberal capitalism which devours the social and even psychological worlds, devouring everything in a nihilistic version of monopoly capitalism. Such "progressives" utilize a version of intersectionality that ignores economic class, which is the basis of Marxist and socialist analyses.

This version of intersectionality makes the economic elites invisible while dividing the rest into smaller and smaller subsets of victims and antagonists that separates non-whites from whites though an upside-down version of racism at a time when the US was moving beyond questions of race. This was extremely scary for the elites, because without racism to divide the majority that majority may focus on the elites disgusting levels of ill-gotten wealth. Then we add in the attempts to undermine the understandings of physical biology, fully supported by the capitalist corporations (who are Capitalist and therefore by definition cannot be Marxist).

There is no such thing as "cultural Marxism" (you cannot have Marxism without it being based on an analyses of class as the basis of subjugation) and Obama was a courtier of the elites connected to the deep state through multiple family ties, a traitorous careerist narcissistic elite stooge. The legions of indoctrinated minions at places like Facebook, Google, Twitter etc. display their false consciousness with pride, not understanding that they are simply manipulated pawns of the elites. Musk is one of those elites, he is the enemy just in the same way as Trump of the majority.

What we are seeing is inter-elite squabbles as four decades of neoliberalism has also devoured elite cohesion and they more and more openly fight within themselves for the societal ill-gotten gains as the power of the US deteriorates as the rest of the world slowly throws off its shackles.

Posted by: Roger | Apr 15 2022 17:35 utc | 25

Don't we all know by now that Elon Musk is just a crass publicity seeker (a mighty lucky one, money grabbing-wise, at that though)? He simply likes to see his name flashing on MSM publications and videos as much as he can muster. If he ends up paying $40+ billion for a fleeting gadget (remember Netscape???), he is more stupid than I have thought so.

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Apr 15 2022 17:43 utc | 26

@27
“There is no such thing as cultural Marxism”
While I agree with most everything you posted, I do think that cultural Marxism is now widely recognized for what it - a radical anti white political movement. What CM does is substitute economic criteria of classical Marxism with the so-called “ systemic racism” or “white supremacy” racism and underprivileged groups are the focus of the struggle for political change as well as eco propaganda like climate change. You are correct though that CM is used in the service of neoliberalism. I used to support the old democrat party platform of the 1990s but have moved on.

Posted by: Obamavirus | Apr 15 2022 18:08 utc | 27

Bemildred #13

"Mr. B .. If I may be so bold as to state emphatically, that We Musk NOT Allow for a Multi-Billionaire Annoyance GAP!

';]

Posted by: polecat | Apr 15 2022 18:46 utc | 28

Posted by: Ghost of Kyiv | Apr 15 2022 15:21 utc | 1

Hey dipshit, try paying better attention to which thread you're posting your spam in.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Apr 15 2022 18:48 utc | 29

@Roger # 27

There is no such thing as "cultural Marxism" as the basis of Marxism and socialism is an understanding of economic class as the core basis of subjugation in capitalist societies.

Of course there is, it stems from the Communists at the Frankfurt School who later migrated to Columbia and University of Chicago. You need to re-read your Communist Manifesto - aside from the abolition of "private property" (this means, for the proletariat - the oligarchy will continue to essentially "own" it all through their control of the state), the Communist Manifesto rails for the destruction of:

* the family - and for this purpose we see pornography, promiscuity, easy divorce, anti-family welfare programs, abortion, "gay marriage", etc.;
* the nation - open borders, multi-culturalism, globalism (including global institutions); and
* religion - practically speaking Christianity is banned in the Empire, including because of its replacement by the current official state religion of "Wokism" and because its text is essentially deemed "hate speech".

The only way to destroy such fundamental institutions is progressively and that is what the "woke" religion is all about (and state support of this pathetic religion is actually quite unconstitutional, they get around that by pretending it's not a "religion" but it most certainly is): the "liberals" (the oligarch-owned and -controlled change agents, or "useful idiots" as Lenin called them) continuously struggle to implement this agenda.

Posted by: CalDre | Apr 15 2022 18:49 utc | 30

Posted by: Roger | Apr 15 2022 17:49 utc | 27 and 29

Same or similar at play with respect to the cancelation of Corbyn in Britain for the BS accusations of "anti-Semitism."

Since England never had actual chattel slavery of black people on their home turf, I guess that's all they had to throw at him.

And it worked.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Apr 15 2022 18:50 utc | 31

Posted by: CalDre | Apr 15 2022 18:49 utc | 32

In which case how do you explain the utter lack of - or opposite to - your bulleted list in the USSR and China?

Aberration of communism? Or could you be completely off the mark?

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Apr 15 2022 18:52 utc | 32

"They all are system errors of capitalism. They should not exist. Tax codes should be designed to eliminate them."

Huh?? Taxes aren't for that. And certainly capitalism is not for that. The anti-rich ideology is communism, not capitalism. Capitalism is fine with them. Indeed, capitalism needs... well, capital to exist. With nobody possessing capital to invest, that is, nobody with excess wealth apart from what is needed for daily living, there can't be any capitalism.

What capitalism needs is free market / open competition, not poverty or equality of incomes.

Posted by: Antonio | Apr 15 2022 18:54 utc | 33

Brilliant analysis, but I have never used Twitter, because I did not agree with its concept. I believe it was intentionally designed to dumb the entire world down, so that people stopped reading books, or able to write anything more than two sentences long. Thought and argument could not be developed, beyond 140 characters - same length as a text message.

Anyway, we are currently just going through a rerun of Macbeth from 1606. Long before George Orwell 1984. He just refined it a bit, and the neocons used it as a working manual.

http://shakespeare.mit.edu/macbeth/macbeth.4.1.html

A cavern. In the middle, a boiling cauldron.

Thunder. Enter the three Witches

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Second Witch

By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks!

MACBETH

How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags!
What is't you do?

Choose your midnight hags...I will give you a starter..

Madeline Albrite ""We have heard that half a million [Iraqi] children have died. I mean, that is more children than died in Hiroshima," Stahl said. "And, you know, is the price worth it?"

"I think that is a very hard choice," Albright answered, "but the price, we think, the price is worth it."

Hilary Clinton "We came, we saw, he died"

Miranda (Tony Blair) "Shit"

Posted by: tony_0pmoc | Apr 15 2022 18:59 utc | 34

@Roger # 29

You can never underestimate the elite's abilities to produce false consciousness and masking propaganda within the minds of the many.

True, and Marxism is one of those false consciousness things. The abolition of private property does not mean that nobody controls this property, it means the serf-turned-petty-bourgeoise gets to become a serf again, and work the land owned by the "sovereign" for the benefit of those who control the sovereign. Private businesses provide freedom to individuals because they avert the financial dependency on the "sovereign". Similarly, the Marxist cult is for the destruction of the family, religion and nation because these are three institutions that challenge the absolute supremacy of the sovereign, or the "Party" if you will. The powerful want full and complete control over the serfs and this requires removing any challengers to their authority, and those three institutions are the primary challengers. Parental rights are being ever more destroyed as part of the anti-family move, and we see how this is done: by replacing the parental function with state institutions, particularly public schools, which are staffed with the "priests" of the "woke religion". The advantage of the "woke religion" over others is that it has no actual foundation; it can be modified and adjusted however the oligarchs please, it is a blank slate. There is no "bible", there is only the oligarch-owned mass media to promulgate its dictates, which change daily. All of this is aimed at absolute control. The "freedom, liberty, fraternity" cry is an obvious fraud meant to get the "useful idiots" to support this global totalitarian regime.

Which is not to say there are no critiques to be had of "neo-liberal capitalism", of course there are, it's an awful system, but it's not because private property exists, it's because of the concentration of it in the hands of the oligarchs. But the "Marxist" alternative only grants those oligarchs even more power. And the "useful idiots" will not be able to control where society moves once they have completed their task of destroying the existing social fabric and order by undermining religion, the nation, the family and private property - at that point the only organization will come from the powerful and the "useful idiots" will be utterly crushed.

practice science denial (climate change is real get over it)

Of course it's real, the climate has been changing ever since Earth was formed. What isn't real is the attribution to carbon dioxide. Do you know why they changed the term from "global warming" to "climate change"? Because every single prediction that has ever been made off this ludicrous death cult masquerading as science was wrong, and under any scientific principles that "hypothesis" should have been discarded. But instead they switched to a non-disprovable hypothesis, i.e., that the climate changes due to human activity. While that cannot really be disproven because the climate does change (and always has and always will), it also has not been proven whatsoever that human activity causes these changes. In fact all facts and logic are against it.

Posted by: CalDre | Apr 15 2022 19:05 utc | 35

Global communication and the internet replicated the human neurological system. Applications like Twitter and Facebook attempt to replace the amputated reticular formation, which is why I often say the internet has made early 21st century society a Tourette syndrome. Folks like Dorsey, Zuckerberg, and the Google/YouTube algorithms are information gate keepers now and Musk wants to be part of that brainstem oligarchy.

Posted by: Wilikins | Apr 15 2022 19:07 utc | 36

b, when I saw that Pepe Escobar and Russians with Attitude had their Twitter accounts closed, I was going to compliment you on keeping yours going. To the contrary of your expectation of being shut down soon, I thought that what you posted was just safe enough to keep you from being banned. And I appreciate that!!

I am always slow to adopt new technology, from a personal computer to a cell phone and beyond. I’m not on any social media but I find Twitter to be surprisingly useful. There is always the option to link to a longer text, or to produce a thread of Tweets, and so I don’t find the character limit that problematic.

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Apr 15 2022 19:09 utc | 37

Ghost of Kyiv must be applauded for his fine sarcasm, you are just too jealous to not be able to express yourself like him

Although, the stupid stories here for two days about the fate of the Moskva were really sarcasm in itself, comedy a la carte.

Posted by: Mussorgsky | Apr 15 2022 19:13 utc | 38

I understand the newsworthiness of Musk, but I don’t think this comes to anything.
Twitter sucks. Everybody knows it, but sooooo many still use it.
Would Musk really change the public view of Twitter?
Maybe.
Does it matter?
No.
I don’t use Facebook or Twitter, and I don’t care if Musk owns either.
I still won’t use them.
Massive platforms like Twitter, FB, IG have waaaaayyy to much impact on our psychology as a society and especially individuals. The negatives outweigh the positives IMO.
So I don’t care about Musk/Twitter. He should stick to cars and rockets.

Posted by: Cadence Calls | Apr 15 2022 19:14 utc | 39

@Tom_Q_Collins # 34

In which case how do you explain the utter lack of - or opposite to - your bulleted list in the USSR and China?

The Communist Manifesto is what it is - read Part II about the abolition of the family, religion and nation. And it wasn't coined there - the Manifesto simply explains the existing Communist position and tries to defend it against criticisms. You really should read that before commenting further.

USSR was not "Communist" in the Communist Manifesto sense. They did abolish "private property" (by converting it into state property, which was still essentially private, i.e. the Marxist vision of community or worker ownership of the means of production never materialized) and tried (but failed, despite a veritable genocide) to quash religion; they hadn't yet gotten to the family and nation before Stalin succeeded Lenin (Trotsky was the designated successor, and no doubt he would have continued down the "revolutionary" road, we know this because he kept denouncing Stalin as a counter-revolutionary and having "betrayed" the revolution).

As to China, I view it as national socialist, not Communist. There's really nothing Communist about it.

Or could you be completely off the mark?

You're completely off the mark if you think Soviet or Chinese "Communism" reflects the Communist ideology of the 19th century or the Communist Manifesto. The "woke religion" being unlawfully forced down people's throats by the State (Oligarchy) is much closer to the actual Communism than USSR or China ever were; to call it "cultural Marxism" is actually a fairly accurate description, but it's actually "cultural Communism", Marx did not develop these concepts, and Engels was the primary author of the Communist Manifesto.

Posted by: CalDre | Apr 15 2022 19:17 utc | 40

Bernhard, I have absolutely no idea what you look like, except for your poets corner. I have sent you some money before.. it was not a lot 10 Euros maybe a couple of times long before covid. I feel like doing it again. You might be 75 years old, but you are currently top of your class at what you do.

I have always thought you are a good man.

Your blog is the best in the world.

Thank You

Posted by: tony_0pmoc | Apr 15 2022 19:55 utc | 41

"Mr. B .. If I may be so bold as to state emphatically, that We Musk NOT Allow for a Multi-Billionaire Annoyance GAP!

';]

Posted by: polecat | Apr 15 2022 18:46 utc | 30

Yes, that would definitely the last thing we Musk do.

I find people with too much money annoying, I try to stay away from them. We need to turn the annoyance gap around, so they stay away from us.

Musk sure looks like a dipshit to me. Having him run Twitter would be a perfect fit.

Posted by: Bemildred | Apr 15 2022 19:56 utc | 42

@CalDre | Apr 15 2022 19:05 utc | 37

Of course it's real, the climate has been changing ever since Earth was formed. What isn't real is the attribution to carbon dioxide. Do you know why they changed the term from "global warming" to "climate change"? Because every single prediction that has ever been made off this ludicrous death cult masquerading as science was wrong, and under any scientific principles that "hypothesis" should have been discarded. But instead they switched to a non-disprovable hypothesis, i.e., that the climate changes due to human activity. While that cannot really be disproven because the climate does change (and always has and always will), it also has not been proven whatsoever that human activity causes these changes. In fact all facts and logic are against it.

A hypothesis that cannot be disproven is not science, by definition. The scientific method requires a hypothesis to be falsifiable for it to be accepted as scientific. To be clear, a hypothesis that is eventually proven wrong is still science. But a hypothesis that does not have any criteria for falsification, is not science. Such hypotheses fall in the category "not even wrong".

Thank you for the excellent paragraph.

Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 15 2022 20:12 utc | 43

Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Apr 15 2022 15:52 utc | 5
"The multiple-author "Ghost of Kyiv" account once again manages to snag the 01st post of the thread--"

And the filter bans me. LOL Rule by algorithm.

RSH

Posted by: CharlesLutherThanos | Apr 15 2022 20:20 utc | 44

@Bemildred | Apr 15 2022 19:56 utc | 44

I find people with too much money annoying, I try to stay away from them. We need to turn the annoyance gap around, so they stay away from us.

We must keep in mind those people suffer from insufficient expenses, I for one am willing to help.

Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 15 2022 20:20 utc | 45

Posted by: CalDre | Apr 15 2022 19:05 utc | 37
Posted by: CalDre | Apr 15 2022 19:17 utc | 42

This is gibberish. I lived in a socialist country for the first 18 years of my life and I don't recognize your description of the conditions in that period at all, especially regarding the family policies and relationship with ruling ideology (w/e that was it wasn't communism). Neither your definitions of communism, (national) socialism is close to the truth, rather some cartoonish versions. And I see you're also climate denier. Yeah, not bothering.

Posted by: Boo | Apr 15 2022 20:27 utc | 46

Of course it's real, the climate has been changing ever since Earth was formed. What isn't real is the attribution to carbon dioxide.

Posted by: CalDre | Apr 15 2022 19:05 utc | 37

What isn't real is the absurd pretense there's anything mysterious about the greenhouse warming effect of CO2 and CH4 molecules. Anyone can measure and examine the spectrograms, detailing which wavelengths of infrared energy get blocked (thus insulating solar heat onto Earth's surface). The greenhouse effect is 200 year-old science, going back to Joseph Fourier. Cranks exhibit a pathetic, peculiar, pathological need to dwell in the ignorant darkness.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 15 2022 20:27 utc | 47

Inkan1969 | Apr 15 2022 15:39 utc | 3

While I share your skepticism as to EM's devotion to "free speech" (or anything that we would recognize as free speech) I think that the mere threat that he is posing to the rigid control exercised at present in the infosphere, is salutary, in that it draws attention to the censorship we labour under and the control that is exerted over what we are allowed to learn about and discuss.

Posted by: foolisholdman | Apr 15 2022 20:28 utc | 48

Musk may be all bad to most here but he is following the Golden Rule, he has it and can make the rules. No matter the motive he has, the end result will be more freedom of speech. Good for him and good for those who have been shut out of the public discourse.

As far as the woke employees. Grow up!

Posted by: morongobill | Apr 15 2022 20:32 utc | 49

There's is a little more to Marx than "But Da Komuniste manyfestoh say" repeated over and over again. But the conversation about it here is not worth dredging up my comments from previous years about what a neoliberal illusionist trick 'cultural marxism' is. A few pointers though: Marx was not a Marxist, class struggle is what identity politics aims to repress and people who've never read Marx but parrot dumb talking points ought to be ignored. I'm not sure anyone would disagree with the conclusions of the young Marx, whose notion of species-being is shared by many on the anti-liberal right in fact, or his critique of religion which actually praises and redeems religion in relation to civil society (in works like 'On the Jewish Question'). But the general tenor of the Redditesque know-all commentary here clearly shows no one has spent time analysing these texts, so I'm wondering why I bother.

On topic, however, Twitter is, what, 15 years old? It started somehow, so why can't an alternate platform do the same? These shills just want an echo-chamber so why pander to them? Eventually everyone will be suspended from twitter one way or another and it will just recycle its fairytales to liberal kindergarteners.

Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 15 2022 20:34 utc | 50

foolisholdman | Apr 15 2022 20:28 utc | 50

One good effect of EM's threat to open up Twitter to free speech has been Tucker Carlson's ten minute lecture on the state of censorship in the internet. In my whole long life, I have never heard such a direct, cogent criticism of the censorship prevalent in the MSM and Social Media as that, ON an MSM OUTLET.

Posted by: foolisholdman | Apr 15 2022 20:42 utc | 51

Marx was not a Marxist

Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 15 2022 20:34 utc | 52

And Jesus, of course, was a Jew -- not a Christian. And who cares? Seriously. I'm continually encountering discussions of Marx's preferences on practically anything, without sufficient background as the final, conclusive, most excellently reasonable authority on everything from biology to theology. Why should this particular person be accorded such a philosophical pinnacle?

I'm continually immersed in remote corners of philosophy. I only have so much time to read what I find most vital. Paulo Freire's work establishing the foundation of critical pedagogy, for instance, is much more interesting and useful to me than anything I've seen of Marx.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 15 2022 20:47 utc | 52

Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 15 2022 20:12 utc | 45

"Of course it's real, the climate has been changing ever since Earth was formed. What isn't real is the attribution to carbon dioxide."

My wife and I have got a big old English Victorian House, with original Stained Glass Windows.

Our home has been a happy place for us, our kids, and now our grandkids.

Carbon Dioxide is not a Problem.. We need more of it. Its great at making plants and food grow food.

It's Carbon Monoxide which is the killer.

I first realised this in my then girlfriend's house.

There was little smoke, but no ventilation.

So whilst that was long before I met my wife...

When All The Professional British Gas, and Independent British Gas suppliers...

They ensure we have got sufficient ventilation, and recommend both a Carbon Monoxide Detector and a Fire Alarm, and try and sell me a new Gas Boiler.

They clean it out. Make it like new...

And I say thank you.

I know these people.

They give me a bit of lip.

It's still working fine.

It must be about 50 years old, just wants the occasional clean

Tony

Posted by: tony_0pmoc | Apr 15 2022 20:51 utc | 53

Could it be that Elon Musk is considered to be not of the "right" religious or political persuasion to be viewed by the usual suspects as a reliable gatekeeper between the masses and any dissenting views or opinion, such as one can find on platforms like Twitter?

They would have no problem with a Klaus Schwab like figure becoming a gatekeeper and taking over of any media platform for example. They instinctively know 'those who can not be criticised'.

This brings to mind a quote from Timothy Leary:

"The first narcotics bust in history is Jehovah busting Adam and Eve for eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge."
Timothy Leary

Posted by: Paul | Apr 15 2022 20:52 utc | 54

When someone like Maxx Boot is worried about Twitter falling into the wrong hands, rest assured they are likely to be exactly the right hands to restore free speech that Maxx so desperately desires to remaim censored. IMHO, all social media platforms should be required by law to publicly reveal their publishing algorithms with the FCC for public review and comment before socail media companies are allowed to use them. Punishenet for useing secret algorithms or the politiclly biased applocation of algorthims should be the suspension or permanent revokation of internet social media licenses

Posted by: ptownpt | Apr 15 2022 20:54 utc | 55

Roger | Apr 15 2022 17:49 utc | 27

Four decades of extreme neoliberalism has also devoured capitalist class cohesion so now we witness an unending intra-elite struggle over the dying body of what is Western hegemony.
Old English proverb: "When thieves fall out, the honest come into their own."

Posted by: foolisholdman | Apr 15 2022 20:54 utc | 56

I wonder if that is a real commercial in Germany now.

https://aftershock.news/sites/default/files/u21823/photo_2022-04-15_22-57-34.jpg?s141303d1650053727

Well, it is creative, but is it even allowed to be so blunt?..

"We do not have gas, so wee cook burgers on open fire"

Posted by: Arioch | Apr 15 2022 20:55 utc | 57

Obamavirus | Apr 15 2022 18:08 utc | 28

What CM does is substitute economic criteria of classical Marxism with the so-called “ systemic racism” or “white supremacy” racism and underprivileged groups are the focus of the struggle for political change as well as eco propaganda like climate change.

Cultural Marxism has b*gger all to do with Marxism. It is simply another way of effecting "Divide and rule". Unlike Marxism which shows the overall importance of class in discussing/understanding politics, CM emphasizes the importance of race/color. As events in South Africa have clearly shown, changing the skin colour of some of the ruling class does very little to mitigate the exploitation of the proletariat.

Posted by: foolisholdman | Apr 15 2022 21:07 utc | 58

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 15 2022 20:47 utc | 54

Well quite right. I would happily spend my days reading the fragments of Heraclitus and Parmenides. Ancient philosophy, spending time with my cat and walks in the bush pretty much teach me more about being in the world than the entire Western tradition since Descartes (which has mostly been a liberal love-in anyway). The only exception would be Nietzsche who I'm sure would agree with me about nature, cats and the Presocratics. In other words, cultivating the free thinking, self-sovereign element in humanity so as to throw us far from the domesticated herd (whose pastures are Twitter, Fakebook, etc).

That said, my post was not about venerating Marx or singling him out as an expert on all things. I was just stating what shouldn't need stating, namely, what a dumb and moronic piece of misdirection 'cultural marxism' is. But like all subtle and learned thinkers Marx deserves to read and without the baggage of our epoch, full as it is with step-apes who manage to grasp only the back of every book they pick up.

Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 15 2022 21:08 utc | 59

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 15 2022 20:47 utc | 54

PS. Thanks for the Freire reference: I'll take a dip. I met Henry Giroux once when I was a visiting fellow at Penn State. That was exactly a year before 9/11, the date my respect for so-called 'progressive' academics began to wane.

Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 15 2022 21:12 utc | 60

More to the point: Musk is utter scum. Runs his Tesla plant out here in Fremont like a freaking plantation, people! Out here in the Bay Area, we're familiar with extreme creeps like Musk.

Why say such bad things? Because some people are better than others at acting as if other people have zero rights and don't matter at all -- at behaving like sociopaths. Awful orange people bubble to the top in the context of our sociopathic stew of late capitalism.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 15 2022 21:12 utc | 61

Yay, Cal Dre!
Keep posting.
I love it.

Posted by: Cadence calls | Apr 15 2022 21:19 utc | 62

"Cultural Marxism"? Marx wrote a lot. In fact, all Marx ever did was write. So in which of his works did Marx flesh out this idea of "Cultural Marxism"?

I am not implying that the criticism of what passes for "the Left" these days in the West is wrong, but simply that the delusion ideology powering the modern "Left" has nothing to do with Marx. Associating Marx with this contemporary faux left stupidity discredits Marx on the one hand and provides a false appearance of academic rigor and heritage to idiotic ideas like "Critical Race Theory" on the other hand.

As for Elon Musk, he is a lunatic by capitalist standards. No sane capitalist would offer a generous sum for a property that they consider to be in the midst of long term decline, as Musk has described Twitter as being. Musk has stated that Twitter is past its prime, and we can see that Twitter's efforts at censoring discourse since 2016 have opened up space for a number of competitors in the social media sphere. Telegram, for instance, was nothing six years ago. Same for TikTok.

Is Musk trying to "save" Twitter? Very doubtful. I seriously doubt he even expects to turn a profit on it either. Rather, I believe Musk's intentions are to have fun de-wokeifying Twitter, not to do anyone any favors but rather because Twitter's hypocritical self-righteous wokeness personally offends him. He wants to buy himself a particularly annoying anthill so he can have fun tormenting the ants.

No matter what Musk does to Twitter, it is not like he can make it worse, so lighten up folks and let Musk have his fun. He'll probably even improve Twitter, even if only as an unintended side effect.

Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 15 2022 21:20 utc | 63

Posted by: Arioch | Apr 15 2022 20:55 utc | 59

Not a real ad, it seems. Reverse image only shows vk and twitter as sources, searching for the ad in Germany reveals no hits at all.

So just your normal propaganda.

Posted by: Reveal | Apr 15 2022 21:20 utc | 64

No one becomes a billionaire without becoming a tool...of the state, or .gov.

Simply accumulating that much wealth attracts the close attention of high-levels of whatever power-structures [note the plural form] exist and, as is the nature of power, becomes both a resource and a threat that must be monitored and controlled.,,or destroyed directly or slowly-but-certainly by heart-attack [This is 2022...we can only imagine the methods]. That is the nature of human power structures.

Any "power-structure" that does not know this is not a power-structure that persists after it attracts such attention...may be famous or notorious or modestly rich, but is not a power-STRUCTURE without long and established lines of communication that you and I can only, at best, posit because we have had some contact with it.

After WW2, Japanese Emperor Hirohito was allowed to escape the noose because a/the power-structure found him a very useful tool. IMO, only inductive reasoning can "prove" the existence of a power-structure without the observer being part of one.

...and WW2 Japanese Unit 731 could only exist and do what they did with his the Emperor's blessing. [Do not rely on Wiki to explain the activities of Unit 731 biologists to colonize China, the giant of Asia. Fortunately, it was not yet known that human DNA was the vital coding mechanism that could focus bio-effects on a selected racial [human body] characteristic. Warning, it is now known as such.]

Posted by: chu teh | Apr 15 2022 21:21 utc | 65

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 15 2022 20:47 utc | 54

PPS: John Gray's Feline Philosophy: Cats and the Meaning of Life is defintely worth a read. I'm convinced that cats have a Zen pathway from which we have much to learn. My cat teaches me new ways of being in the world every day. At the risk of being gratuitous here is a poem about it I penned:

Cat
No past or future binds you.
Nothing owned nor owed.
Echo of an ancient summons without hesitation,
of purpose without reason,
of gesture without symbol,
of joy without knowledge,
of love without memory,
of gifts without requital.
Like the Sun, you gave me your day, and sat by my side
Though there were much better things to do.
18 December 2018

Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 15 2022 21:22 utc | 66

Posted by: foolisholdman | Apr 15 2022 21:07 utc | 60
Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 15 2022 21:20 utc | 65

I second everything said in these two posts.

Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 15 2022 21:24 utc | 67

Posted by: Arioch | Apr 15 2022 20:55 utc | 59

Also: There was a campaign with this web-link, but it was in April 2020 and for medical staff/free burgers as a "thank you".

https://web.archive.org/web/20200406110716/https://www.burgerking.de/heldenaktion">https://www.burgerking.de/heldenaktion">https://web.archive.org/web/20200406110716/https://www.burgerking.de/heldenaktion

Posted by: Reveal | Apr 15 2022 21:25 utc | 68

@ Patroklos | Apr 15 2022 21:12 utc | 62

Dammit! I can't even get a fight started about Marx in this bar (thanks for your response). Nothing against KM, I hate terms such as "Marxism" for which everyone has their own private definition ("God", "free market", "all natural"). Better to know what the hell we're talking about.

Nietzsche is singled out by some scholars of Orthodox history as a philosophical fork in the road, with Dostoievsky representing the other fork ("god-man" vs "man-god"). I sense a breakdown of familiar philosophical categories in stuff I read from Russian thinkers. Their academy seems to be organized differently, such that theological or moral reflections slip in and out of geopolitical observations, without the slightest clumsiness.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 15 2022 21:26 utc | 69

@61
“What a dumb and moronic misdirection cultural Marxism is”

Those that live in the US maybe are experiencing CM as a political force more than others. It is not a misdirection.
We just went through the BLM riots in 2020 and were told that they were “ mostly peaceful” and that the SCOTUS confirmation of both Trump appointees were racist and misogynistic ad nauseum. Television in the US is now completely dominated by black actors in both program and commercials. We have the Soros DAs that practice what is called “ reformative justice” where they are not prosecuted for retail crimes which has led to 90 person black mobs ransacking luxury department stores where I live and it all gets framed in the media as a racism caused phenomena. I could go on for pages…..

Posted by: Obamavirus | Apr 15 2022 21:27 utc | 70

The irony?

b,

At the beginning of this Covid thing you've removed my comment and its follow-up innocently, sincerely, logically questioning the validity of the great fear and the draconian measures and referencing some other sources.

Yes, irony.

Posted by: acar burak | Apr 15 2022 21:30 utc | 71

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 15 2022 21:26 utc | 71

Russian thinkers! Reading the MSM you'd be forgiven for thinking this was an oxymoron (haha).

You remind me how much good stuff is out there that speaks to us. Yes, Dostoyevsky, Chekhov, Kafka... Twitter was always a crime against the human intellect. I agree with Gruff: let Musk have it and break it open, like a child who wants to smash his toy and see what falls out.

The whole world has gone insane. Liberalism enters a phase of demented psychosis elevating its own contradictions to the point of absurd self-parody. Even Marx wouldn't know where to start an explanation.

I want to find an alpine retreat where I can tend flocks and dance with the Muses of Parnassus—and never have anything to do with this sewer civilization again.

Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 15 2022 21:40 utc | 72

Cats are great! Most cats effortlessly straddle being simultaneously utterly wild and domestically civilised - they approach both merciless brutality and creature comforts without affectation. Just one of many lessons but my favourite so far…

Posted by: Rae | Apr 15 2022 21:40 utc | 73

Like the Sun, you gave me your day, and sat by my side
Though there were much better things to do.

Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 15 2022 21:22 utc | 68

A mentor of mine (from Richmond Progressive Alliance) once asked me how my political philosophy originated. I've always been strange in that I can't accompany my family on a visit to the zoo, because the poor caged animals inspired too much empathetic suffering in me. I can't stand it. Many kinds of animals look you in the face, and that's communication, to me. Maybe on a wavelength not picked up the same way be everyone, I suppose. So anyhow, I told my mentor, Mike, that the most influential relationships in my life have been the dogs and cats in my life. That pretty much freaked him out!

When I tell people things like that about the significance of individual non-human animals in my life, they say they feel sorry for me. Okay, go ahead. I got no problem with that, either. Anyhow, Patroklos, our diffuse tortoise-shell has probably kept me alive with her clowning -- but she's got something called "tortitude" which usually rules out any sitting by my side.

But wait, I've got this great cat-video to link...

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 15 2022 21:47 utc | 74

NeoCon war monger Maxx Boot wants to silence people to protect "democracy" and he is a big supporter of the Ukraine (criminal govt). Maxx Boot is just like Zelensky as Zelen banned opposition parties in the Ukraine and wanted the Russian language banned.

Posted by: Jerry1 | Apr 15 2022 21:49 utc | 75

Posted by: Rae | Apr 15 2022 21:40 utc | 75

Agreed. They are everything we once were but lost. They are us before the Fall. My ginger lad cures my nostalgia for that: we wrestle and play, he wounds me and doesn't care, then he sits for hours meditating about... who knows? He is both a profound mystery and utterly intimate to me. He loves me but without claim or obligation. No human bullshit about reciprocity. He takes, he gives, according to no logic but it's honest, pure honesty. Perhaps that's it: we are a mendacious and perfidious lying creature, while the cat is violent, beautiful, inscrutable, noble and honest. We are evil, in the mud, while they are cast beyond, untouchable. They are small and mighty gods.

Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 15 2022 21:51 utc | 76

@Patroklos 74:

I want to find an alpine retreat where I can tend flocks and dance with the Muses of Parnassus—and never have anything to do with this sewer civilization again.

I hope there are no insurmountable obstacles in your way, Patroklos! You'd thoroughly enjoy it, your neighbors would be thankful you'd arrived. The natural world would lay out another place-setting at the table, and you'd be set for life.

I believe that many people are going to come around to your viewpoint. I certainly have. Took a while, but here I am!

:)

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Apr 15 2022 21:51 utc | 77

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 15 2022 21:47 utc | 76

I feel the same about zoos. They remind me too much of the crimes we have perpetrated on animals for millennia. On Good Friday we should recall the injustices and sins we have inflicted on all these beings who have the spark of the divine in them. They feel sorry for you? I wouldn't trade my cat for the whole of humanity, which has become a rogue cancerous species on this poor planet. I grew an apple tree from a core I randomly decide to plant in a pot. A beautiful vital being, it's a better thing than I am.

Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 15 2022 21:59 utc | 78

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Apr 15 2022 21:51 utc | 79

I'll set aside a place at the table for you who will always be welcome.

Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 15 2022 22:00 utc | 79

@Boo # 48

This is gibberish. I lived in a socialist country for the first 18 years of my life and I don't recognize your description of the conditions in that period at all

Try to understand a comment before you reply in knee-jerk matter, it really helps a discussion. I never mentioned the country you lived in, nor do I know what it is. I was discussing the political ideology of Communism developed in the 19th century and presented in the Communist Manifesto.

That said, I agree with you there has been no real implementation of that system, though at this point the Empire (the "West") is closer to it than any predecessor.

Posted by: CalDre | Apr 15 2022 22:55 utc | 80

@Aleph_Null # 49

What isn't real is the absurd pretense there's anything mysterious about the greenhouse warming effect of CO2 and CH4 molecules. Anyone can measure and examine the spectrograms, detailing which wavelengths of infrared energy get blocked (thus insulating solar heat onto Earth's surface).

It's a long way from spectograms to proving global warming, a long long long long long way. That you don't understand that says a tremendous amount about you - you majored in gender studies, yes?

Cranks exhibit a pathetic, peculiar, pathological need to dwell in the ignorant darkness.

You do describe yourself and all the other Climate Cultists quite well, at least we agree on something.

Posted by: CalDre | Apr 15 2022 22:58 utc | 81

here is the post on this thread that i found most interesting -

@ Wilikins | Apr 15 2022 19:07 utc | 38 - quote
"Global communication and the internet replicated the human neurological system. Applications like Twitter and Facebook attempt to replace the amputated reticular formation, which is why I often say the internet has made early 21st century society a Tourette syndrome. Folks like Dorsey, Zuckerberg, and the Google/YouTube algorithms are information gate keepers now and Musk wants to be part of that brainstem oligarchy."

thanks Wilikins ...

Posted by: james | Apr 15 2022 23:04 utc | 82

Didn't Musk try to get someone sacked for criticising the cars he makes? He's all for free speech unless it's directed at him.

Posted by: D J G | Apr 15 2022 23:15 utc | 83

@Patroklos 81: Same here; come by sometime!

:)

Tom

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Apr 15 2022 23:16 utc | 84

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 15 2022 21:26 utc | 71

Thank you for mentioning Nieztsche and Dostoevsky, I'll take a slight issue with your "man-god" vs. "god-man". It's been long time now since I read any of them - and I consider them two of the most profound thinkers I've ever read - but this made up difference between them as a fork between "man-god" vs. "god-man" concepts betrays complete misunderstanding of Nietzsche.

Firstly, Nietzsche read Dostoevsky, he was influenced by him, he even praised Dostoevsky as the most profound "psychologist" of the human soul he's ever encountered. Nietzsche wrote that he started to understand the idea of nihilism better from Dostoevsky's writings where the Nihilism is revealed as profound and fundamental condition in some of his most famous characters, Raskolnikov and Stavrogin, and to some extent Ivan Karamazov. Raskolnikov/Stavrogin is actually refered as the pale criminal in Thus spoke, Zaratustra.

Secondly, Nietzsche conception of the superman, at least in my interpretation (it's such a slippery concept), has no reference or anchoring to any god, or god-like quality, you don't need gods in Nietzsche universe since they are all dead (gotterdammerung) killed by the nihilism of the modern man. It's the search for truth beyond nihilism, even if it's deadly, that sets you on the path to superman - the famous metaphor of the tightrope walker - but in Nietzsche's conception its not sufficient to bring you to the superman status since it only çreates more Nihilism if it's not enhanced and enmeshed with "love of life" itself (another rabbit hole of meaning). The superman is not a man-god, it's what human(s) become beyond nihilism through the process of "eternal recurrence" (another rabbit hole).

Thus, all the issues I have with someone like Berdyaev who I tried to read in my younger years, but he misunderstands Nietzsche IMO. Of course, it's not just the orthodox thinkers that have misunderstood Nietzsche, but they are some of the most superficial ones. I liked Walter Kaufman interpretations - who was a leading Nietzsche scholar from Princeton - highly recommend to read his books on Nietzsche if you are interested.

Posted by: Boo | Apr 15 2022 23:27 utc | 85

I'm not on Twitter but I know it is an important source of information for normal people across the world.
I don't like billionaires but I find it hilarious to watch the liberal meltdown over the possibility that censorship be lifted.
How Dare He!
And watching self-identified liberals screaming that free speech is a Bad Thing and humans can't be trusted to say the Correct Thing and must be monitored by secret and unaccountable AI algorithms to keep them in line?
Priceless!

Posted by: wagelaborer | Apr 15 2022 23:43 utc | 86

CalDre @37.
You make the claim that the abolition of private property- " the "Marxist" alternative"- only grants oligarchs even more power.

In other words oligarchs exist independent of the institution of private property. So where do they come from? And what gives them power if it is not, as socialists suggest, control over property in the means of production?
You seem to be arguing that private property is justified because owning it allows men to be independent. Or that by owning the means of production men escape enslavement by those monopolising them under capitalism.
How does this differ from socialism which advocates the collective ownership and control of the means of production?
My guess is that you would answer that social/collective ownership and control would be preempted by oligarchical control over the state which would lead us back to the first question I asked you: If oligarchs do not owe their power to their ownership of property where does it come from?

Posted by: bevin | Apr 16 2022 0:00 utc | 87

Posted by: james | Apr 15 2022 23:04 utc | 84

I should have referenced Marshall McLuhan. When a new medium is introduced something becomes enhanced and obsolesced - The Global Village.

Posted by: Wilikins | Apr 16 2022 1:06 utc | 88

The acme of irony is liberal twittertwits being fearful that Melon "We'll coup whoever we want, get used to it" Husk is going to shut down b their warmongering and their restriction of free speech.

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Apr 16 2022 1:20 utc | 89

@ Patroklos' Cat Poem

Patroklos, that was a beautiful poem. Deep and insightful, like so many of the comments and articles on MOA and with tons of soul. The world is crazy right now, and that was a poignant reminder of what's important in life. Thank you.

Posted by: Boomhauer | Apr 16 2022 1:41 utc | 90

Well, B, after the elimination of Scott Ritter and Pepe Escobar, your time seems to be at hand. lol!
I know you'll continue on the blog but do hope you may consider a Substack or Telegram account.
Btw, I think folks are going to be awfully disappointed when Elon Musk champions censorship.
Actions matter, not words. When will folks learn that these psychopathic billionaires are up to no good and DO NOT have our best interests in mind???

Posted by: Kay | Apr 16 2022 2:13 utc | 91

@Patroklos | Apr 15 2022 21:22 utc | 68

That is beautiful. (=｀ェ´=)

I too have learned so much from cats.

One of my favorite quotes:

The cat is an example of sophistication minus civilization.

(author unknown)

Posted by: Vintage Red | Apr 16 2022 2:47 utc | 92

@bevin # 89

If oligarchs do not owe their power to their ownership of property where does it come from?

"Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun" :). Power finds many ways of expression and I can't really do the topic justice in a comment. But my point was more that the oligarchs developed Communism (I saw a Rothschild check to Karl Marx personally at the British Museum, though of course I don't rely on that, just a nice data point) as a neo-feudalism. They have no intention of depriving themselves of private property - only the serfs will return to their status as being without capital or land, and on top of that, without religion, a nation or a family. The oligarchs sure aren't giving up their religion or family, Communism is for the masses, it is specifically designed to assure the oligarchs totalitarian control. The "dictatorship of the proletariat" will always be the dictatorship of the hereditary oligarchy (e.g., the European monarchies, who are in many places officially still the "sovereign"), just like it was in Bolshevik Russia. The oligarchs financed the Bolsheviks - Lenin spent the years before the October coup in Switzerland banking centers and Trotsky on Wall Street, collecting the gold from the oligarchs that would be shipped via the sealed train to pay for the coup and, I suppose, "revolution" (in a sadistic sort of way). They had a major setback when Stalin took over upon Lenin's death instead of Trotsky, and they tried furiously to undo that development, but Stalin would have none of it and after Stalin the USSR absolutely rejected "Communism".

As to the "inevitability" of Communism, as a "development" of class conflict, that is utter baloney, it is "inevitable" (i.e. a law of nature) only in much the same sense that pre-Renaissance oligarchs enjoyed "Divine Right".

Posted by: CalDre | Apr 16 2022 3:30 utc | 93

Posted by: CalDre | Apr 16 2022 3:30 utc | 95

The name of the official state ideology in the countries of the Warsaw pact used to be Marxism-Leninism, then became Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism, and after Stalin's death reverted back to the shorter form. That used to be a subject in the high-school curriculum which I had to take.
So yeah, "Communism" was not rejected, because it was never used as offical state ideology. Also the countries were not considered communist, but socialist, a phase which was to precede communism. Moreover, China adopted their version which they called Maoism.
Cultural marxism was virtualy unknown and was created for exclusive consumpion in the West; would have been considered western degeneracy by the censors in the Warsaw pact IMO. We also had other mores to contend with.

Posted by: Boo | Apr 16 2022 4:45 utc | 94

The MoA Twitter account has 28.9K Followers ...

Although I have commented on blogs since the late 90's I have never had an interest in twitter.

I get the groupie/follower thing, uncritical thinkers have always clamored for a forum where state-sponsored mob rule reigns supreme. And²⁵

Eh?

and really, why would it matter when dealing with a self-lobotomized drone?

Posted by: S Brennan | Apr 15 2022 17:27 utc | 25

Further along, you'll know all about it. ...

Posted by: Laurence | Apr 16 2022 5:04 utc | 95

Posted by: Boomhauer | Apr 16 2022 1:41 utc | 92
Posted by: Vintage Red | Apr 16 2022 2:47 utc | 94

Thank you both very much. The praise of fellow travellers on this site is a great honour.

(=｀ェ´=) is a unicode cat-face I have never seen and is freakin' awesome!!

Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 16 2022 5:23 utc | 96

@ Boo | Apr 15 2022 23:27 utc | 87

I'm most grateful for your feedback on the Nietzsche / Dostoievsky contrast (as I am for all your contributions here). You allude to reading Berdyaev in your youth (whose analysis of Dostoievsky I have on order), so you're no doubt aware of whence that god-man / man-god business originated (with this 1957 essay, afaik):

http://anothercity.org/dostoevsky-or-nietzsche-god-man-or-man-god/

Today the soul of man no longer rests upon secure foundations, everything round him is unsteady and contradictory, he lives in an atmosphere of illusion and falsehood under a ceaseless threat of change. Evil comes forward under an appearance of good, and he is deceived; the faces of Christ and of Antichrist, of man become god and of God become man, are interchangeable.

I've never been bitten by the Nietzsche bug, truth be told. Somewhere along the line I acquired a radical equality gene. When my readings stray into discussions of different types or qualities of human beings, I instantly lose trust and interest in the writer. I'm even annoyed with Hannah Arendt for this reason: implicit in her reasoning, I perceive human hierarchies -- which I find inherently oppressive.

I'm reading an informal history of Orthodox thinking by a Brit, Fr Andrew Louth. From the stream of thinkers Louth describes, I've garnered the impression that Berdyaev is not the only one who regards Nietzsche as a philosophical foil.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 16 2022 6:04 utc | 97

To funny William Gruff:

"No matter what Musk does to Twitter, it is not like he can make it worse, so lighten up folks and let Musk have his fun"

Posted by: S Brennan | Apr 16 2022 6:11 utc | 98

It's a long way from spectograms to proving global warming, a long long long long long way.

Posted by: CalDre | Apr 15 2022 22:58 utc | 83

There's no point in engaging with such egregiously inarticulate scientific foolishness. Joseph Fourier is a "Climate Cultist" to your gang, even though he's been dead for almost two centuries. Clearly: no intelligent discussion is possible here. Not with your ilk.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 16 2022 6:15 utc | 99

@Boo # 96

The name of the official state ideology in the countries of the Warsaw pact used to be Marxism-Leninism ....

But the party was the Communist Party, not the Marxist-Leninist Party; and Marxism-Leninism is considered a branch of Communism, a sect. Though I agree, the USSR was never Communist, the project was derailed before it reached fruition.

So yeah, "Communism" was not rejected, because it was never used as offical state ideology.

Again, because the project was derailed. This derailment occurred because Stalin was able to outmaneuver Trotsky and seize the reigns of the totalitarian state, whereupon he rejected Communism (though his system was also totalitarian and extremely brutal, it wasn't Communism, which would be even worse). Like you noted, the goal of the initial system - "socialism" (even though it wasn't that at all, more like totalitarianism) - was to transition to Communism. Trotsky was the man anointed by the Western oligarchy to manage that transition.

Moreover, China adopted their version which they called Maoism.

But they also called their party Communist. Even though they are actually much closer to national socialism now than "capitalism" or "communism".

Cultural marxism was virtualy unknown and was created for exclusive consumpion in the West

No, it was always known, like I wrote above, it's in Part II of the Communist Manifesto. It just wasn't emphasized by the rulers when you attended school. In those days, in the West it became known as "critical theory" at the Frankfurt School, basically, just like the Bolsheviks, overwhelmingly Jews (with token non-Jews) who wanted to destroy the host countries in which they resided and bring about Communism - Communism really is designed to destroy a society. They don't actually believe that no family, no religion, no nation and no private property will bring about prosperity and happiness; quite the opposite, they know quite well it will bring about society's destruction. And after that destruction they wish to build their Globalist Totalitarian Dystopia.

; would have been considered western degeneracy by the censors in the Warsaw pact IMO. We also had other mores to contend with.

Precisely because USSR was not Communist. Stalin thwarted that by ousting Trotsky, who, also being one of these Communist Jews, would have continued to implement the program.

Which is not a defense of neo-liberal capitalism/"democracy" (I feel I need to write that because so many people engage in simplistic binary thinking), which is essentially a non-totalitarian system of dictatorial oligarchic rule, just that if one wants to improve the situation (and avert the slide into a far more heinous dystopia), the solution is to eliminate the oligarchy, the inbred scum that floats on top and oppresses everyone and everything, not to grant them even greater power through their Communist psyop. Unfortunately the oligarchy is advancing quickly on all fronts; the "Great Reset" is shaping up to be one giant leap toward the Communist dystopian future.

Posted by: CalDre | Apr 16 2022 6:21 utc | 100