THE ANGRY RANT THREAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Valotonin]

It's from family guy apparantly. I've never seen it before untill I ducked "kermit porn". I don't particularly like family guy.

Me neither in reality. Not my kind of humor. This does make it even stranger that I recognise it though. I used to have a couple of friends/ bandmates who had it on the telly sometimes when I was round so that is a plausible explanation.

[Cupz]

It might also be because family guy is illuminati.

[Negamuse]

The UK government's psychoactive substance bill, and the bewildering yet entirely predictable anti-scientific attitude that the government have come down on. Not because I want to trip recreationally, I'm no psychonaut, I'm a boring 40 year old dude who knows nobody in that world, or at least not that I know of. But I have suffered from untouchable depression since my teens. Think about that, I have been depressed for more of my life than I haven't been. Counselling hasn't helped, therapy hasn't helped, anti-depressants leave me a cloudy and uncreative zombie which is almost worse. Without going into my problems in depth, knowing myself - identity - plays a big part of it, being connected to my emotional state is another. I'm not mystical, I'm a scientist: I know for all it feels otherwise, a lot of my problem is chemical. And I read article after article about how LSD helps with this, or mushrooms help with that. The potential key to unlocking my problems is right there, and a more compassionate and considered government would think of people in situations like mine and see that it's worth helping people before whatever internal spring they're attatched to gets wound up so tight they lose it entirely. Fuck it, even a greedy, capitalist bunch of shitbags would say "hey, it's better if people are functional members of society from an economic point of view and I reckon we could tax the shit out of this stuff too". But no, we have this bunch of pricks and their moral panic.

[jcnporter]

Something I've changed my mind on as I got older is the worthwhileness of voting.
The main reason for the conservatism of the UK government and media is that older people vote and buy newspapers and younger people don't. It really is that simple.
Young people may not be able to vote in a government by themselves, but a significant vote for a progressive party outside the mainstream (the Greens, say) would send a signal. Scotland did it with the SNP. The rise of UKIP has almost certainly moved the Tories to the right, so the main parties take electoral threats seriously.
Relaxation of drug laws in some states in the US show that positive change is definitely possible.

[Aerial Boundaries]

Something I've changed my mind on as I got older is the worthwhileness of voting.
The main reason for the conservatism of the UK government and media is that older people vote and buy newspapers and younger people don't. It really is that simple.
Young people may not be able to vote in a government by themselves, but a significant vote for a progressive party outside the mainstream (the Greens, say) would send a signal. Scotland did it with the SNP. The rise of UKIP has almost certainly moved the Tories to the right, so the main parties take electoral threats seriously.
Relaxation of drug laws in some states in the US show that positive change is definitely possible.

Young people don't vote mainly because of decades of neoliberal propaganda and marginalisation. Solidarity, being supported by and supporting others, disappeared with the outright destruction of local communities. Combine that with the fact that until recently the only other major party pursued the same agenda, and the general narrowing of the spectrum ('centrism') in public discourse based on these axioms: socialism failed, markets are an end in themselves and the burden of the greed of finance capital must be borne by the people. With this toxic recent history it is no surprise that young people feel powerless, because they largely are when the candidates to represent them are their enemies.

I may be about as revolutionary/far-left as you get, but I certainly agree that we should be pushing to vote for socialist parties. The very pretence of democracy necessitates the existence of democratic elements in the state, and that narrow and hostile avenue can be used by working people to influence their lives. The point then is clear: Any party which wants the attention of non-voters (of all ages) must be angry, must fight propaganda, must reject austerity outright and vigorously push socialism back into the public discourse. I think Corbyn's Labour is going in the right direction at the moment. Despite an unbroken chain of smear campaigns, they have managed to put enough pressure on to force u-turns on academisation and a number of other issues, and they held their own against the predictions of catastrophe in the local elections (Scotland excluded, but that is for long-standing reasons which can hardly be blamed on the current leadership.)

I like the Greens but I think Labour are proving such a positive and visible presence that I will hedge my bets on them instead for the moment. What I want them to focus on next, apart from everything they are doing at the moment, is to find a way to nullify the pernicious influence of Blairites in the PLP who are doing everything they can to collaborate with our media in dividing the party and weakening their position.

You are definitely correct, the establishment does take electoral threats seriously. The very fact that the media has responded with such force and unsubtle bias shows that Labour finally presents that threat, having moved away from the 'consensus'.

[fujee]

Mostly in agreement with you AB, but I also think young voter apathy is down generations of intellectual laziness and a certain kind of infantilised consciousness which fails to connect the dots between theory, politics/policy and their own reality. Though, like you say, that would likely be filed under some sort of hegemony/propaganda. I am still mostly of the belief that global capital will only cease once the planet fails to provide the resources required for its continual growth. Until then, scores of people will continue to actively 'buy-in' - whether they are conscious of it or not - to the idea that this current paradigm is the only viable paradigm and thus fail to engage with alternatives (not even necessarily so-called 'radical' ones).

[Mexicola]

Correct. The evidence is there in front of us everyday. Young or old, the idle, ignorant and downright stupid are gladly exploited 24/7. Necessity is the mother of invention, and by invention you can include 'revolution'. Things have to get worse before they get better. The worrying but inevitable thing is that worse will likely equate to right wing fruitcakes gaining some semblance of power first. Again, things have to get worse before they get better.

[jcnporter]

Correct. The evidence is there in front of us everyday. Young or old, the idle, ignorant and downright stupid are gladly exploited 24/7. Necessity is the mother of invention, and by invention you can include 'revolution'. Things have to get worse before they get better. The worrying but inevitable thing is that worse will likely equate to right wing fruitcakes gaining some semblance of power first. Again, things have to get worse before they get better.

Not that the comments sections of news websites are a great indicator of public mood, but I have seen a number of Bernie Sanders supporters claim that they would vote Trump rather than Clinton, for the reason they claim that the US has to hit rock bottom before things improve.
In a strange way, I can identify with the sentiment of that. Sometimes I think, fuck it, let's have Trump, lets have Brexit, let's have Boris or Farage as PM and see how this right-wing utopia works out. At least we won't have to listen to tossers droning on about 'communist' Obama etc. and how socialism is the cause of all the world's ills.

[jcnporter]

Until then, scores of people will continue to actively 'buy-in' - whether they are conscious of it or not - to the idea that this current paradigm is the only viable paradigm and thus fail to engage with alternatives (not even necessarily so-called 'radical' ones).

'Capitalist Realism' is a good read on this very subject.

[fujee]

Yeah was tihnking about Fisher when I wrote that, and Adorno and Horkheimer and their 'Culture Industry' thesis. Still piercing and prescient all these years later.

[Aerial Boundaries]

Firstly, that book 'Capitalist Realism' has my endorsement as well. I should read it again as the last time was in college at the behest of my philosophy teacher.

Mostly in agreement with you AB, but I also think young voter apathy is down generations of intellectual laziness and a certain kind of infantilised consciousness which fails to connect the dots between theory, politics/policy and their own reality. Though, like you say, that would likely be filed under some sort of hegemony/propaganda. I am still mostly of the belief that global capital will only cease once the planet fails to provide the resources required for its continual growth. Until then, scores of people will continue to actively 'buy-in' - whether they are conscious of it or not - to the idea that this current paradigm is the only viable paradigm and thus fail to engage with alternatives (not even necessarily so-called 'radical' ones).

I think the lack of 'connecting the dots' is partly due to the way education is structured, the nature of mass media and so on. But education hasn't changed a huge amount since before Thatcher as far as I know, and I don't think the anti-intellectualism of popular media is new either (though more pervasive now.) What this may show is that the active, concious ideology which led to protests far in excess of what we experience now was less a result of an impulse for theory and more a result of exactly the kind of solidarity and community spirit we have long since lost. The solidarity is what led to the reaction of 'they know it, and they do not do it', rather than the current cynicism of 'they know it, but they do it anyway.' I'm not sure if I'm right here but this is my first reaction.

As for the intervention of looming environmental collapse, I think it can create conditions more suitable for either revolution or a meaner, leaner, fascist (in the sense of full collaboration or merging of corporations with the state) capitalism. The former would be our only hope, the later would postpone disaster indefinitely until it is simply no longer possible. Zizek points to Asian countries as examples of capitalism which can do very well without even a pretence of democracy. Actually the leaner, meaner capitalism is a phrase also borrowed from Zizek, but he used it to refer to his predictions for the long-term result of 2008; in both instances we see or will see the appearance of a major historical trope, namely diversification of the political spectrum in adverse economic conditions, and the prime example being the conditions of the Weimar republic where communists fought head on with fascists and Nazis. We can see this right now, reflected pretty terrifyingly in the resurrection of far-right politics in Europe (the Austrians almost elected a fascist party recently, UKIP gaining a bit of traction here, some party in France which I can't recall, and the conservatives in Poland won the recent election.) Unfortunately the difference is that the Left is yet to make as strong of an appearance, though it is starting to also build some steam.

things have to get worse before they get better.

Hannah Arendt asserted the importance of knowing when to take action when she said, "Revolutionaries do not make revolutions! The revolutionaries are those who know when power is lying in the street and when they can pick it up. Armed uprising by itself has never yet led to revolution." Yet real change requires a unity of (1) conditions which are a result of a historical process in which everyone, capitalists and workers both, is caught in and (2) the spontaneity of human action, which has a near miraculous character in its ability to birth whole new processes. It is not enough to wait, movements must be built, minds changed, new narratives begun in preparation of a day of reckoning. If you want to make a difference it starts now through debate, through the cultivation of awareness in yourself and those around you, and the joining of movements which share your interests (Momentum may be an example of that, in fact I joined it just a few days ago because it seems like the only group capable of transforming into something truly populist in this country,) even if the culmination is delayed by years or decades or centuries.

P.S. When I say Momentum is capable, I don't mean that it will. I mean it has the best chance because it is inextricably tied to Corbyn and its members seem to be ambitious about popular involvement. Corbyn can become the archetypal 'good guy' figurehead of a grassroots movement through social media, local groups and involvement of non-voters. We are not fully there as yet.

[Cupz]

But how do we fix it? What can a man do?

AB: How would you fix it if you where the lord of the universe?

[Valotonin]

[Cupz]

[jcnporter]

My main problem with the modern mainstream left is that it is now too wedded to nanny state solutions and identity politics/political correctness, in other words obsessing about the surface of the capitalist system without actually questioning fundamentals.
I rarely read anything inspiring these days from the left - it's all so fucking weak - about making capitalism nicer and slowing the rollback of the post-war achievements of the NHS, welfare state and free education, but all with an air of acceptance that the fundamentals of capitalism are correct and inevitable.
No wonder generations are growing up with an infantilised, individualist outlook - as well as the saturation of consumerism they're being told that the state is responsible for everything, including thinking for them and protecting them from real life.
It pains me to say it, but the right are winning the propaganda war - in contrast to the above, the libertarian right have set themselves up as the exciting revolutionaries and banner-holders for freedom and personal responsibility.
My idea of socialism is co-operatives working in a free market of goods AND labour, maximal individual freedom AND responsibility, people thinking AND organising for themselves.

[jcnporter]

I could bore on and on about this, but the left need to start arguing from first principles again - for things like creating equality of opportunity rather than enforcing quality of outcome, creating a structure where wealth is created/earned fairly in the first place rather than the state taxing and redistributing after.
The idea of what freedom means needs to be wrested back from the right - free markets as simply free individuals or collectives exchanging goods and services and crucially, the freedom to access, even the recognition of, the common wealth of nature and the land.
The argument for the freedom to live how one wishes, with the responsibility to community inferred by not impinging on other's freedom, used to be central to the left's principles. What happened?
It seems these issues are only ever discussed in the context of capitalist fundamentals (i.e. private ownership of land, requirement to pay rent to live, state intervention etc etc.)
The left's entire dialogue now is within the confines of capitalist realism and so ends up arguing relatively trivial issues while fundamentals remain unquestioned.

[A_Northern_Soul]

Sadly in many ways the right *have* won - when the mainstream left talk of a "softer" version of capitalism, it's because anything further left is not only alien to many voters, but terrifying: "what about my job?" [now Union power has been eroded so much and good jobs are scarce] "what about my mortgage/house value?" [yup - mass home ownership has got us all in the system and stuck in debt].

The rise of Corbyn and Sanders is interesting. I'll confess to not knowing as much about US politics, but am slightly concerned by comments from Sanders supporters claiming they'd vote Trump over Clinton. Yes, DT is trying to frame himself as the anti-establishment candidate, but for those on the left to support him as he's "not Clinton"? Remember- fascism doesn't arrive in tanks and black uniforms; fascism arrives as your friend. As for Corbyn - I'll be honest, I think he's useless. Too much "anti-West at any cost" baggage. Read Nick Cohen's What's Left - I find myself in agreement with much of that.

What's the answer? I have no idea - but I know I don't like the personality-cult politics of Corbyn, Trump, Sanders, the SNP and to a lesser extent Boris Johnson and Farage. The far right are on the rise - this is genuinely worrying - and the last thing the left should be doing is obsessing over non-issues and identity politics. This means claiming the centre ground, as ideogically unclean as that might sound.

[Jonse]

[the inability to express to another person exactly what you'd like to due to existing circumstances]

[TheFadeBeta]

I'm furious,fuming that we have Trump as president...

I'm both saddened and pissed off that something like nationalistic economics could even be remotely entertained by anybody, let alone our president.

Trump endorses racism,bigotry and promotes xenophobia

I hate this fucking clown........It's so clear he is woefully incompetent, i'm simply blown away(MIND BLOWN) that this guys our president....and still in office.

I wanted to write a few topics on this douche bag,however,way to many things that piss me off to write them all out.

[2020k]

I wanted to write a few topics on this douche bag,however,way to many things that piss me off to write them all out.

I can't stop you, but please don't. We have enough topics on that asshole here and it's extremely exhausting trying to navigate the world knowing at literally every turn, online or offline, there's a pandora's box of political nonsense waiting to throw itself at an unsuspecting me, who's just queued up waiting for his coffee at the café.

I understand & I'm mad too, but I want one day or space where I don't have to think of a Cheeto. I don't even like Cheetos NORMALLY.