For more information go here:  http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/01/2012115121928594335.html

While having a political discussion a bit of time ago, I came upon an instant realisation.  I already understood the concept and was well aware of it but never really felt it was quite so important.  What I realised is that many of these political discussions are being conducted from different perspectives.  While one side is attempting a dialectic, the other side is attempting a debate.

A brief overview, for those not immersed in political science, philosophy, or a similar discipline:

A dialectic is when several parties (2 or more) discuss their perspective and argue their points in a method of persuasion so that everyone involved can work together to uncover the truth.

A debate differs from a dialectic because each party (at least 2 parties) defend their viewpoints aggressively in an attempt to dismiss all other perspectives, or at least gain supremacy of their own perspective.  Typically a debate has a judge and there is often a winner with a prevailing point/perspective.

When I discuss a topic, my perspective is that of the dialectic method.  I welcome challenging viewpoints so that I can consider their merit and adjust my view accordingly.  I defend my perspectives in order to evaluate their own merit.  I’m not trying to “win.”  I’m not trying to make my perspective the only valid perspective.  I’m trying to uncover the truth, for myself and for others.

While both methods demand the members of discussion defend their perspectives, the dialectic and debate differ greatly.  In a basic sense, in a debate everyone is trying to win, but in a dialectic, everyone wins or loses.

Another area that I think is worthy of discussion is the difference between epistemology and ontology, as well as the difference between a positivist and a normative claim.  I think these differences are more dishonest, personally.  I find many people trying to pass normative claims as positivist claims and epistemological claims as ontological claims.  More often, a person counters one with the other.

In a nutshell:

Epistemology is the philosophy of the nature and scope of knowledge.

Ontology is the philosophy of existence.

Is this a steer?

There are many examples that contrast the differences of these claims.  Basically, ontology would say that this photo is a steer, and epistemology would ask how we know this is a steer and what makes it a steer.  To avoid issues of castration and genitals, we could also say:  Ontology says this is a bovine, epistemology asks how come this is a bovine and what makes it a bovine.

Positivism and normative claims are a bit simpler.  Basically, positivism claims that everything is scientific and/or mathematical.  That physical science can explain everything.  Normative claims are more broadly based on how things “ought to be” or how things “should” be.

For this new year, I am going to do my best to maintain the relevant perspective and take the time to separate when appropriate.  If I make a normative claim, I will not insist that it is a positivist claim.  I will not give an epistemological answer to an ontological question.  And I will not debate a point, but rather discuss it from a dialectic perspective.

Herman Cain is not even a legitimate candidate for President.  Neither is Perry or Bachmann.  But all of these people have been very successful in framing Mitt Romney as a reasonable and moderate candidate.  Will he be George Bush III?

OWS is heating up, with no one to guide the counter-hegemonic force… will it continue to grow?  Or is it just a reaction to the current state of affairs?  Personally, I find it is very similar to prewar Europe… especially prewar Germany.  Will the Brown Shirts win again?  How long before the Police and the Tea Party start to legitimize any opposition to their support of cultural dominance?

Is President Obama ever going to do anything from the Left?  Or will he continue to behave like Nixon and still be slandered as a “Far Left Socialist” – even though he is behaving like a classical Conservative?

I’ll try to add more in the near future.

Stay tuned . . .

Tea Party Birther's are not racist?

First, just to be critical, let’s look at the image.  What it is implying is that President Obama is a Kenyan citizen and not a valid president.  The innuendo in the image is quite obvious.  He is wearing a Kufi, which is often considered a Muslim hat, but is predominant in West African heritage (and African Americans).  It says “Africa Kenya” on the “Birth Certificate.”  There are bones on his necklace.  The Obama button is now earth tones, instead of Red, White and Blue.  The imagery is just degrading.

The Kufi is not a “Muslim” hat, but typically West African.  Kenya is in East Africa.  That does not mean they do not wear such adornments in Kenya, only that it is “stereotypical” of the West.  It would be similar to showing a Virginia teenager with a surfboard and a VW Bus.  Farther, the year Obama was born, Kenya was part of the United Kingdom.  The correct name of the country in 1961 was “Colony and Protectorate of Kenya.”  Prior to this, it was just officially called East Africa Protectorate, as part of British East Africa.

Then we get to those bones on the necklace.  This is just racist imagery.  The portrayal of the “African Savage.”  And is he sitting on hay?  I can’t even figure that one out.  How is this not a depiction of racism?  It demeans the character of the President of the United States because of the colour of his skin.  It attempts to invalidate he capabilities simply because he has a West African phenotype.

On Tuesday, a man was convicted in Knoxville, Tennessee of using a firearm with the intent to “create civil disorder.”  This man was incentivised by the ideology that President Obama is not an American born citizen.  People still believe this crap.  Why is this funny?  What year is this?

I have to say, as an American abroad, this is all highly embarrassing.  People from all over the world see this.  The sad twist is that they do not see President Obama as the one spiralling America into decline.  They see a racist population (possibly a minority of the population) doing whatever they can to make conditions so deplorable that the “black guy” gets out of office.  This is not just a British perception, or even just a European perception.  I have heard similar statements from Norwegians, Germans, Argentinians, British, Germans, Mexicans, Indians (South Asian), even Greek and Italians.  It is embarrassing to be compared to such nonsense.  And all this is doing is sliding the level of respect towards the United States downward.

Part of it may be the down side to the recognition that the election of Barack Obama received in the 2008 election.  It was a “Vote heard around the world.”  People rejoiced from Kenya to England to India to Brasil to Argentina to Turkey… it was a monumental step forward.  (I doubt the Chinese rejoiced, or even gave much thought to it.  I’m pretty sure, as a culture, the Chinese did not care much at all.)  The atmosphere of hope and belief in progress was palpable.  Then, the next few years came and went and we all got to see President Obama not be allowed to do anything.  (Best way I could construct that sentence.)  It is evident to everyone watching that the primary reason the President is facing such strong opposition is racism and reactionary fear.  The ideology doesn’t seem much to be opposed to, as President Obama has proposed very little in regard to “Far Left” policy.

Many are happy.  They are glad that the United States appears to have no reason to tell other, developing countries how to “behave.”  Also, the Tea Party has accomplished something fairly impressive:  They are internationally recognised.  People all over the world know who the Tea Party Movement is in America.  They also, pretty evenly, equate them with a reactionary and racist movement.

So, what is the intent of images such as the one above?  To incite violence?  To mock the president?  Or to damage the international integrity of the United States?  Whatever case:  Mission accomplished.

The image also solidifies one more thing:  The conviction that the Tea Party and the GOP are motivated, or at least utilising, racism as a primary motivation.  How can anyone claim that the Birther claims are not racist, when faced with the image above?

How does it feel that the whole world is casting dispersions aspersions and looking at you like a bunch of ignorant hicks?

We constantly hear this mantra from Conservatives that “Big Government” is the problem.  They claim to be the party of “Freedom” and “Small Government.“  Really, it has reached the point where Republican politicians are no different than the tailgate of a pickup truck in Alabama.  If you see one, just read all the bumper stickers – that is the totality of everything any Republicans have to say.

I’m going to start with my ace, go backwards, and probably end back where I started.  If anyone can follow Conservative logic, I promise it won’t be that much of a tautology.

Just to prove I didn’t make this up:  New House Bill Would Impose U.S. Drug Laws Worldwide.

Yes.  A Representative in the House of Representatives put forward a new bill that makes it illegal to plan on, or consider, using substances banned in the United States – while in another country.  It does not matter if it is illegal in that country.  The bill was sponsored by Texas Republican and Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith.  Yes, a Texas, Tea Party Republican introduced a bill that makes thinking about illegal activity a crime.  What a fascist fucking pig.  (almost)  THIS IS CRAZY.  For example, (from the article linked) drinking a beer under 21 in another country would not be illegal.  Planning on drinking a beer under 21 would be illegal.  An American telling another American under 21 to drink a beer in Germany would be illegal.  THOUGHT CRIME!

These “Conservatives” claim to be the last bastion for “personal freedom” and “individual liberty.”  But, let’s look at this:

• They want the government to decide who can marry whom
• They want the government to decide which theology is appropriate or correct
• They want the government to decide when a person has the right to decide what to do with their own body
• They believe the state can decide to end a person’s life
• They want to decide who can serve the country based on sexuality and/or sexual orientation
• They do not want to protect the environment of American citizens
• They do not want to make sure Americans are informed about the content of their food

I could go on, I guess, but those are the pivotal points that immediately come to mind.  How is this “small government”?  How is this “individual liberty”?

What is seems like is that Conservatives today want limited government intrusion in their own lives.  They want less taxes for themselves.  They want personal liberties for themselves.  They want religious freedom for themselves.  They want to impose all of these judgements on everyone else.

For the American Conservatives to continually use this circular logic and hide their true intent is just dishonest.

They do believe in liberty and freedom:  for the wealthy.  They want corporations to be free to manipulate labor situations to increase profits.  They want to decrease environmental standards that allow companies to pollute the environment.  It really goes on and on.

If you really dig into it, they even lie about wanting to “cut government spending” and limit government jobs.  Of course they want to cut government jobs – because every job that the government cuts is a contract that can be awarded to a private company or corporation.  Every time they get a contract, do they get a kickback?

At the very root of this movement is the essence of selfishness.  We saw the GOP/TP willing to destroy the American economy in order to make the Democratic Party look bad.  They want to decrease standards that protect citizens so that companies they are connected to get higher profits.

Herman Cain gave an interview on his opinion of the Occupy Wall Street movement.  “I don’t have facts to back this up, but I happen to believe that these demonstrations are planned and orchestrated to distract from the failed policies of the Obama administration,” Cain said.  Srzly?  “I don’t have the facts to back this up, but I think Herman Cain is a fucking twat.”

I don't have the facts to back this up, but I think Herman Cain is a fucking twat.

To jump around a bit, Cain said:

“Secondly, if you really want to do something to create jobs in this country, why don’t you go and picket the White House. “

Two Thousand people were arrested at a protest in front of the White House a week or two before the Occupy Wall Street movement got going.  It barely made the news.  And, really, he just doesn’t seem to get it.

“If you look in the mirror, you will realize that the only person that you can blame for what you don’t have is the person you’re looking at in the mirror. “

I’m sorry, Mr. Cain, but when I look in the mirror, I do not see Wall Street CEOs that have record profits and refuse to create jobs.  I do not see a Bank president that refuses to allow people to consolidate their mortgage to an affordable rate.  I do not see a recipient of a government bailout that has only paid back a portion of it while handing out executive bonuses.  I just see a quite attractive, undercover political nerd.  I do see someone that evidently gives these issues more thought than any of the candidate for the GOP Presidential ticket in 2012.

Cain:

so I don’t have a lot of patience for someone who believes that the government should take from one group and give to another group. That’s not how America was built. That’s not my type of America.

Fuck you, Herman Cain.  It is a damn shame that I have to point out, that IS how America was physically built.  Your type of America is some mythic creature living with unicorns and leprechauns over the rainbow, evidently.

He should address this crowd and tell them to go home and get a job, or go home and go to school, but he’s not going to do it, because President Obama is a redistributionist. He keeps talking about getting the rich to pay their fair share.

Maybe if Mr. Cain did his homework, he would see that most of the people on Occupy Wall Street are college graduates, college students, laid off workers, and employees losing their pensions due to Wall Street’s greed.  Who is the redistributionist?  Or does that only work with the debt gets stuck on the bottom and not the wealth?  Spread the debt around but not the wealth?

And so the President should, because he could set a totally new tone. But you and I both know that he’s not, because he is a redistributionist himself.

Yes.  The tone of Ronald Reagan, the great redistributionist.  Does Herman Cain really believe this bullshit?  Sometimes I think they make it up as they go along.  Other times, I think they really believe what they are saying and because it is full of such contradictory ideology, they don’t even realize the circles they are swimming in.

Anyway, it is insanity.  The InsaniTea Party – which is a part of the GOP – is just foolish, at best.  They want a authoritarian theocracy, as long as it lets them do what they want to do.

Restriction can be freedom if you never pull on the restraints.

]]> http://www.sighedeffects.com/neo-fascism/2011/small-government-solutions/feed/ 31 http://www.sighedeffects.com/racism-2/2011/racist-goptp-sigh/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://www.sighedeffects.com/racism-2/2011/racist-goptp-sigh/#comments Thu, 06 Oct 2011 05:54:05 +0000 Adam Baum http://www.sighedeffects.com/?p=1380 This video made the rounds today.  Personally, I think it says everything in under 2 minutes.  (Of course, I’ll have plenty to say, anyway.)  Just watch it, if you have not seen it.  It’s absolutely brilliant.

I know this was technically “edited.”  That doesn’t change the fact that the very things President Obama is stating are the same things President Reagan stated.  So, why are there all these claims that President Obama is a “radical socialist”?  Or that he is trying to fulfill some “radical agenda”?

Well, let’s take a look at some of the Tea Party members and what they really have to say.

Did anyone see these darling clips on the mainstream media news that is evidently so biased with a liberal agenda that it spends an inordinate amount of time ignoring the Tea Party and misrepresenting them while always covering Liberal events like the Occupy Wall Street movement?

And let’s look at how reasonable these Tea Party members are:

Nice guy.  All he was asked was if he wanted to shut down the Veteran’s hospital because it was government funded medicine.  Of course, us “commies” on the left (of Fascism) think the government should provide healthcare for people who risk their lives in defense of this country.

See, when people claim the Tea Party is a racist movement, THIS is why.  Because this President is saying the same things Ronald Reagan said.  Even though the Right has moved so far Right that Reagan is now in the middle, they are claiming Obama is a “Communist” or a “Socialist” or perpetrating some Radical agenda, even though there is not ONE piece of legislation even proposed to suggest this.

And then they make these racist comments when they think they are off camera.

I have been to Tea Party rallies.  And I have been to Occupy Wall Street.  I can say, without a doubt in my mind, that the media is representing both of these movements inaccurately.  You can almost taste it at these Tea Party events… the “it” is the hatred.  It hangs in the air like a miasma of hatred sticking to anyone “different.”  And it is exacerbated by preprinted signs and flyers by FreedomWorks and Charles Koch.  (Their names are on the bottom.)  They are carted around on buses to make it look like there are more of them than actually exist.

The #occupywallstreet movement is really diverse.  It is also pretty economically poor.  There is a lot of anger in the air, but also a lot of hope.  A lot of people seem to be finding solace in the fact that they are not alone.  That it is not their fault.  That things may actually change.  That it doesn’t have to be like this.  There are ten times more of them then the media is reporting.  And you see White people and Black People and East Asians and South Asians and Africans and Latinos and Eastern Europeans and tons of other people all together… all mad as hell.  They are basically leaning out the windows and screaming, “I’M MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE.”

Small amount of people at Occupy Wall Street October 5 2012

They don’t have any answers at OWS.  They don’t pretend to have answers.  They don’t even always pretend to know the problem.  Of course, there are the “End the Fed” people marching around like Ron Paul lemmings trying to figure out what phrase to carve into their gun rack.  But most of the people at OWS just want things to change.

They have even evolved a system of “rules” for the OWS movement.  Pretty much, they want:  No one to make disparaging remarks about supporters, from Unions to Anonymous to Michael Moore to Russel Simmons.  If someone supports OWS, than OWS supports them.  They want no candidate specific messages, no support or condemnation of Obama, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, or Gordon Brown… nor Party specific politics either… along the same lines.  And they want no “isms.”  This is a bit more difficult, but basically, they do not want anyone to isolate other supporters… for example; condemnation of socialism isolates socialists but full support of socialism isolates the free market capitalists.  It is not about isolation it is about cooperation.  (These things kind of go in the face of a lot of the news that CNN is reporting and some of the local radio assholes.)

The Tea Party and the GOP want to go back to the way things were.  They are reactionaries.  They want to remain blind to the reality of the way things are and the way things are going. They envision a future where America looks like the 1950s:  The White Man is in charge and everyone else in the world is second place or below… and everyone goes to church and everyone has a family and no one really cares about anything but consuming whatever they are told to consume.

#occupywallstreet is about the future.  It is about questioning everything we accept and finding new solutions.  It is about ending the division between phenotype (appearance) and sexuality and income/class.  It is about everyone having a right to be healthy and happy.  Educated voters are more democratic voters and education and nutrition support this end.  So they want a more robust democracy in the future.

I really hope they also want robots.  I hope I didn’t give so much support to a movement that does not want giant robots.  I have not fully decided to endorse Occupy Wall Street, but I do strongly support them.  I want them to make something of this.  I want this to be a good thing.  It definitely has the potential.  And they definitely have the right idea.  Maybe, if they demanded giant robots I could do more than offer support and offer official endorsement… but, for now, support will have to do.

Watch Live!

#occupywallstreet is amazing.  There is a media blackout, currently.  Although some reports are making the mass media, for the most part, the occupy movement is spreading through word of mouth… through Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, and other social media.  I think a large part is that the media cannot even figure out why these people are protesting.

This is probably because there was no funding or organization from the Koch Brothers, Americans for Prosperity, or FreedomWorks.  These are really people who are just mobilizing because they have had enough.  It is completely organic in nature.  The signs of the protesters range from “Unfuck the world” to “The poor have nothing to eat by the rich” to “This is my occupation” to the iconic “I am the 99%.“

I just learned, as I am writing this, that several Marine veterans are coming to join the #OccupyWallStreet.

I will definitely have more to say, but for now, some sage advice from an American Icon:

Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who
That it’s namin’.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside ragin’.
It’ll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin’.
Please get out of the new one
If you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin’.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’.

]]> http://www.sighedeffects.com/news-2/2011/we-are-the-99/feed/ 5 http://www.sighedeffects.com/definitions/2011/class-warfare/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://www.sighedeffects.com/definitions/2011/class-warfare/#comments Tue, 20 Sep 2011 02:25:01 +0000 Adam Baum http://www.sighedeffects.com/?p=1358 I have written about “class warfare” and the misuse of this term by the American Conservatives quite a bit in the past.  The issue reared its head up again over the current economic debates in Washington recently.  Yesterday, Paul Ryan stated:

Class warfare may make for good politics, but it makes for rotten economics. We don’t need a system that seeks to divide people. We don’t need a system that seeks to prey on people’s fear, envy and anxiety.

While he is correct about class warfare not necessarily being good politics, his statement is one of misdirection. President Obama finally stated, “This is not class warfare. It’s math.”  He is completely correct, on most accounts.  But, I’m not really focused on President Obama’s speech today or his new fiscal proposals.  I’m really focused on the rhetoric, tactics and aims of the GOP, especially the Tea Party.

Class warfare is taken from the title of a book of interviews with Noam Chomsky in 1996.  Prior to this publication, the term was “class conflict.”  Class conflict is a Marxist term.  There are several forms of class conflict:  direct violence, indirect violence, coercion, or ideology.  All of these ideals are concerned with poverty, labor conditions, union power, starvation, government propaganda, and similar themes.  All of these ideals are concerned with the wealthy forcing the less wealthy to support their system of power.

Even this whole “Big Government is the problem” ideology is antiquated and unsubstantiated.  The Tea Party and their candidates continually insist, “the government is the problem.”  Or that “Big government is the problem.”  They constantly claim that taxation should be minimal.  So, they want a nonexistent government and almost no taxation?  They are seriously advocating that the United States be run like Somalia?

As of July 2003, Somalia had no national government.  In 1986, income tax in Somalia was between 0% and 19%.  In 2003, the sales tax rate was 10%.  Really?  This is the nation we want to aspire to be?  Somalia?

They also claim that National Health Care is oppressive and destroys freedom and financial growth.  They claim that unions and labor organizations stifle the economy.  They claim that outsourcing labor is responsible for the destruction (or erosion) of the middle class.

There is a country that has no “at will” employment.  Employees are guaranteed 24 paid vacation days per year, though most get 4 to 6 weeks.  Maternity leave and working conditions are legislated at a high level.  This country also opened up six more factories in a cheaper country this year, so far.  Germany is hardly the same picture as Somalia.  They make cars that automatically avoid accidents (if the driver isn’t paying attention) and parking lots that automatically stack cars underground.  Germany also has 6.1% unemployment.

Are we really to believe that there is “sound reasoning” behind the GOP/Tea Party ideology? And back to the Conservative rhetoric:  Class warfare?  Really?   They also claim to be against “Big Government” – yet, they want the government to legislate who can get an abortion, who can get married, what religions are valid – and they want the state to execute people.  How much more power can you give the government over the right to take people’s lives?  The point of all this is not to turn the American Democrats into saints, or even to validate them as effective or even validate them as valid… only to point out that the American Conservatives are full of empty rhetoric.

A few weeks ago, the American Conservatives claimed that Congresswoman Waters advocated violence by stating, “The Tea Party can go straight to hell...” in response to a Tea Party members’ statement that the Democrats were plantation overseers.  On Sunday, Andrew Breitbart stated that the American Conservatives/Tea Party were armed and ready for conflict with the “Liberals” – and claimed American military would support them.

I’m under attack all the time. They call me gay, there are death threats… There are times where I’m not thinking as clearly as I should, and in those unclear moments, I always think to myself, ‘Fire the first shot.’ Bring it on. Because I know who’s on our side. They can only win a rhetorical and propaganda war. They cannot win. We outnumber them in this country, and we have the guns… I’m not kidding. They talk a mean game, but they will not cross that line because they know what they’re dealing with.

….

And I have people who come up to me in the military, major named people in the military, who grab me and they go, ‘Thank you for what you’re doing, we’ve got your back.’  And, so … So…

They understand that. These are the unspoken things we know, they know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHslkhZWzUQ

Just to be clear… Breitbart elaborates more here:

He says, “… to be clear … I’m talking about civil war … ”

If American Military officials are telling him they will support an armed insurrection against American citizens, they are committing high treason.  If he is complicit in the act, he should be tried for it, too.  This is a high crime.  One of the highest.  And this guy is an asshat.  He edited videos that destroyed community service organizations and sabotaged Shirley Chisholm’s career, by selective editing.  He is not a journalist, he is a propagandist.

When Breitbart states that military officials have confided in him that they would support an armed insurrection, where is the support of the Patriot Act and Homeland Security procedures that the Tea Party so consistently endorses?  I think Dick Cheney should Waterboard Breitbart until he names every single military officer that confided in him to endorse high treason.

At the very bottom of it all… the Tea Party and the GOP are all empty rhetoric.  We already know they hate science, so there is no science behind their claims.  They hate half of America, at least.  They consistently espouse Marxist rhetoric to condemn Marxism, Communism, Socialism, and even most forms of Capitalism… really, the Tea Party prove more every day that they are nothing but contemporary, American Fascists.

Finally, what ever happened to Sarah Palin?  I know I shouldn’t care… but Palin quotes are the gift that keeps on giving.