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by Cassiodorus
Here's the theory, Tribunesters. There is an elite consensus around the notion of "saving capitalism for a dying planet." The idea is that if "growth" (which we desperately want and need if we are to maintain our positions as representatives of capital) is to continue, planetary concerns for the future will have to be ignored, even with reckless oil and coal consumption levels causing a runaway greenhouse effect. That is what is behind the G8 agreement, so wonderfully diaried by Devilstower.
(crossposted from DailyKos) Read more... (1 comment, 1307 words in story) by Cassiodorus
Crossposted from DailyKos
This is a political engagement with the writings of Richard Rorty, to add to LithiumCola's wonderful obituary here. Here I wish to contrast Rorty's attitude toward academic discourse with that of "academic writing as real estate," which renounces democratic impulses because it has "an insensitivity to the dialogue requirements of public speech and prose," (Agger 123). Against the concept of academic writing as real estate, Rorty sought to debunk the absolutist claims of academic conversationalists of all stripes. In concluding, I wish to address Rorty's later political stance, especially as regards his assertion on p. 15 of Achieving Our Country that "The academic Left has no projects to propose to America, no vision of a country to be achieved, by building a consensus on the need for specific reforms." This should be read, I argue, as a provocation to act, and in this context I would like to propose an academic Left with a political project: a global, ecologically-sustainable society. Read more... (1 comment, 2153 words in story) by Cassiodorus
Promoted by Steven D.
(Crossposted at DailyKos) Al Gore's The Assault On Reason is largely an extended critique of the Bush administration?s policies. But, in suggesting in his introduction that Chapters 1 through 5 of The Assualt On Reason, the first half of his book, would be about the "enemies of reason," Gore suggests a theory of the media, of history, and of reason that identifies Jurgen Habermas' characterization of "the refeudalization of the public sphere" as a trend of the present era of politics (18). So for this book review I will consider both Gore's (2007) book and Habermas's (1962, originally) book as analyses of media history. Here I will concentrate upon the similarities of Gore's template to Habermas's. Read more... (13 comments, 2047 words in story) by Cassiodorus
This post-2006-election period may be an ideal time to rehabilitate Antonio Gramsci's concept of a "war of position." Until last year's election, arguably, the "war of position" in American politics was the property of the Right, whose plans for extending what Gramsci called "hegemony" were well-organized. The Left, on the other hand, felt obliged as a group to line up behind politicians who appealed to the "swing vote," thus conceding the war of position in order to gain political office. After last-year's election, I argue, a space within American politics has been opened for the Left to re-enter the "war of position." Through Carl Davidson and Jerry Harris' piece on "Globalization, Theocracy, and the New Fascism" in Race & Class, I summarize Gramsci's position on how politics builds upward from philosophy and culture. We ought to be following this strategy, I argue.
Read more... (3 comments, 1632 words in story) |
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