Philosophy Now Forum

Alexis Jacobi wrote: ↑Tue Aug 01, 2023 9:59 pm

Gary Childress wrote: ↑Tue Aug 01, 2023 9:43 pm ...

I am beginning to think I may be a Lost Cause.

We all need help. With each other's help, we'll get there eventually. Awareness is our first step.

Alexis Jacobi wrote: ↑Tue Aug 01, 2023 10:00 pm My *topic* is part of a larger picture.

None anybody is interested in, apparently.

… yet I get dozens of PMs every week from avid readers who have even translated my work and republished it on foreign forums, who tell me my sage words have “transformed” their existences. What is with you, IC, that keeps you in that jar and with such strange spiders!?!

Come out I say! I promise to stand by you as you emerge a glorious butterfly!

Alexis Jacobi wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 5:16 am ...a glorious butterfly!

Well, you're obviously just fooling around and trying to be colourful and dramatic -- without substance. And frankly, I don't believe a word of it.

But if you ever want to talk about Lindsay, let me know.

Alexis Jacobi wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 5:16 am … yet I get dozens of PMs every week from avid readers who have even translated my work and republished it on foreign forums, who tell me my sage words have “transformed” their existences. What is with you, IC, that keeps you in that jar and with such strange spiders!?!

Come out I say! I promise to stand by you as you emerge a glorious butterfly!

Mosquitoes in spider jars transforming into butterflies--sounds wonderful. I'll wait with the rest of the humans. How long does insect season last? Let us know. The rest of us might need to stock enough provisions to wait for the flights of the fancy to end.

Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 2:09 pm

Alexis Jacobi wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 5:16 am ...a glorious butterfly!

Well, you're obviously just fooling around and trying to be colourful and dramatic -- without substance. And frankly, I don't believe a word of it.

But if you ever want to talk about Lindsay, let me know.

What does Lindsay have to offer the wretched and unclean in place of "Maoism"? Being discarded by the people's commissar once we bring about the revolution doesn't sound very appealing. Is there some way LIndsay can re-educate us to do the right thing?

At least it sounds like the Maos and the Lindsays are in agreement--the world would be a better place without us freaks of the gene pool polluting life. Maybe after the butterflies celebrate, humans will get our turn? When we do, bring condoms and games for us.

¯\_(*_*)_/¯

Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 2:09 pm But if you ever want to talk about Lindsay, let me know.

I have been talking about him. And I may continue. You are unneeded here Immanuel. And if you are helpful in regard to him your help is limited, because you are so very limited. Clear?

Gary Childress wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 2:35 pm What does Lindsay have to offer the wretched and unclean in place of "Maoism"?

Good question.

In essence Lindsay's entire critique of radical Critical activism is intended by Lindsay to provoke a rational will to recover and reground our politics in classic liberalism. I can only assume that he would admire Isaiah Berlin and the ideas he works with.

Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 2:09 pm without substance

Please, continue forward by talking about substance. You have the floor as much as anyone. Proceed. Where now Immanuel?

Gary Childress wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 2:35 pm

Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 2:09 pm

Alexis Jacobi wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 5:16 am ...a glorious butterfly!

Well, you're obviously just fooling around and trying to be colourful and dramatic -- without substance. And frankly, I don't believe a word of it.

But if you ever want to talk about Lindsay, let me know.

What does Lindsay have to offer the wretched and unclean in place of "Maoism"? Being discarded by the people's commissar once we bring about the revolution doesn't sound very appealing. Is there some way LIndsay can re-educate us to do the right thing?

Well, let's start with one clear thing: however bad things are now, Maoism is only immeasurably worse. Immeasurably. Just imagine being one of the millions of mentally-ill in China under Mao.

So Maoism is NOT an alternative, no matter how much we may deplore things here. Period. That's the starting point.

Since practically anything is better than Maoism, even doing nothing would be better. But there's much better we could be doing, and Lindsay has some ideas...not specifically for the mentally ill, say, but for everybody.

And it starts with a much greater commitment to indvidual rights, and the elimination of collectivist thinking; it continues in proper education in liberal values, in the place of Socialist utopianism. It includes a realistic assessment of the fallibilities of human nature, and a political system that contains essential checks and balances, such as term limits and an authentic voting process...and he's got more, but that's a good start. You can get the idea of his direction from that little sampling. You can get more from listening to him.

However, here, in this letter, he's specifically warning the students, the new "Red Guard" about what the future holds for them under Wokism. As in Mao's China, it means that their volitility, political activism, manipulability for revolution and incessant demands for handouts make them an asset only until the revolution is complete; after that, they're a huge liability. And these New Maoists who are leading them will turn on them viciously and eliminate them; because the new status quo cannot afford people with their attitude to be living within a state in which the New Maoists are holding power. So once they've been used for their intended purpose, they have to be suppressed viciously.

Hello, Cultural Revolution. Not by accident did Mao root out the intelligencia, as soon as he obtained power. His first task was to make sure that nobody could do to him what he had done to China. So today's students are raising the guillotine that the next Socialist state will use to take their heads off.

That's predictable. It's what every Socialist state does. Because the one thing Socialist planners cannot allow is for there to be any rival to their plans.

Alexis Jacobi wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 3:19 pm You are unneeded here Immanuel.

Ummm... Has it even occurred to you that it's my thread? I actually started it. So if there's any "kicking off" to do...(and there isn't), then feel free to betake yourself to your heels.

Where are you going to take the topic right now Immanuel? The floor is yours.

Alexis Jacobi wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 3:44 pm Where are you going to take the topic right now Immanuel? The floor is yours.

I'm doing it. See if you can catch up.

Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 3:52 pm

Alexis Jacobi wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 3:44 pm Where are you going to take the topic right now Immanuel? The floor is yours.

I'm doing it. See if you can catch up.

It will be hard indeed! But I will try!