/lit/ - Literature

>>6026040
How to win friends and influence people is worth the read, but a lot of the advice in it is antiquated and it's only purpose today is teaching you to have a good attitude when you want people to like you.

bump

Well, I think first of all it should be said that many of the examples you've mentioned are merely a cartoon of the philosophy or movement presented. For example, regarding marxism and commodities, it's about time people acknowledge that Marx himself admired capitalism, invested in the stock market, Engels was a capitalist on the traditional sense of the word and they both believe capitalism was a necessary stage in history that should reach its maturity, instead of just assuming they're the precursors of any "the system is corrupt maaaaaan" Bill Hicks fan out there. This is just one example of how something on the surface can be "contradictory" but consistent with further analysis.

The regular joe is not really accustomed with making such analysis, so reducing a philosophy or political movement into a "life guide" and demanding its adherents to "walk the walk" is essentially a reflection of their ignorance.

The teacher you saw on TV is on the spot in my opinion. He's saying that change can come from the inside and is acknowledging that institutions and systems aren't "boycotted" out of existence, they're gradually changed and transformed into something else. So TV might even be his worst enemy, but if showed more people like him instead of sitcoms, it would be, on his view, a step forward. And he's working for it.

There's also another scenario, where an actual contradicition might actually happen, but the outcome outweigh its costs. We deep down already acknowledge this when we trust a government to kill to maintain peace or police for increased liberty, even if some people like to be cheeky and point at how absurd it is for a greenpeace activist to catch a plane from time to time.

And there's also the fact that these people honestly believe they're coming from a position of no-philosophy, no-ideology. But I'm not even going to bother getting into that.

Poor examples of things. That's the way history works. Why do you care about being radical? If you were really radical you'd just be radical, you wouldn't ask these Tibetan throat-singing enthusiasts anything.
You're a pussy and an idiot, OP.

>>6027324
>He's saying that change can come from the inside and is acknowledging that institutions and systems aren't "boycotted" out of existence, they're gradually changed and transformed into something else.


Have you seen a show called The Wire?

Spengler Oswald - The Decline of the West

>our system thinks your post is spam

>>6027331
This better not be about Hamsterdam.

>>6027336

pushing through healthcare reform was pretty monumental, even if it was more of an ideological subversion.

>>6027452

>pushing through healthcare reform was pretty monumental

>>6027456
We probably have more niggers than your country has people yet yuropours believe we can just create a healthcare system for all of the obese welfare classs

>>6027324
Interesting. On the simplistic notion of Marx, that's also part of my point: how much of it is just common sense?

>acknowledging that institutions and systems aren't "boycotted" out of existence
I think this is a crucial point as well. It's not only about having commodities, as if the problem we are talking about are material attachments (what's material about capitalism anyway?), but more so that if you search for it, you'll see a lot of misery has to exist to bring that to life. More and more people are buying products directly from China and some acknowledge the conditions of the workers and boycott those products, others don't know or don't care, but some take the unusual stance of saying that boycotting it won't help the workers and that by buying their products, even if a huge portion of the money goes to the evil CEO and so on, you are still supporting the workers. There is the position of people who simply boycott things in that even though they do nothing to stop the system from working in a certain way, they refuse to support it.

>>6027330
I'm not seeking to be radical, nor am I seeking not to be one. I want to hear /lit/'s opinions on coherence and "living what you preach".

Radicalism is only meaningful if it's ready to understand, engage and sometimes be part of what it stands against. If people simply withdraw from it, it might actually become worse as only those who are satisfied with its current status will stay behind.

>>6027500
>>>>/pol/

>>6027618
String rebuttal you fucking know-nothing bleeding heart retard

>>6027626
atleast i know how many african americans and how many europeans approx. exist
i also know that you rather invest in military contracts than education or healthcare.
i'd respect your differentiating opinion if the sheer stupidity wouldnt ooze out of your post

>Can a religious person defend Marxism?

hardly, marxism is a materialist method of social analysis, there is really no place for religion in marxism.

>And can a Marxist have an iPhone 6?
By this logic a Marxist couldn't buy any commodity.
Which is fucking stupid.
Marxist do not make a difference between high-value (or should I rather say price?) and low-value commodities.

>>6028575
>no place for religion in marxism.
http://www.newsweek.com/i-am-marxist-says-dalai-lama-299598

>By this logic a Marxist couldn't buy any commodity.
That's not what follows logically.

Perhaps it's not about high-value or low-value, but about preferring commodities that are engaged in warranting basic worker's rights and not those that are unnecessary tech devices that explore economical situations like those in China. The point is never its price, marxists don't have to make a vow of poverty, but that the high price does not correspond with a healthy industry in a way marxism can get behind. The brand makes it expensive (not its material qualities) and at the same time, the workers involved don't get shit.

Moot needs to hurry up and make /ps/eudo-intellectualism so we can talk about fucking books here for once.