Philosophy Now Forum

PRAXIS: practice as distinguished from theory.
''the gap between theory and praxis, text and world"

So, praxis is about the actions we take, the acts we perform...not
the thinking about it or in theoretical thinking....

I alluded to this in another thread, but we are limited in our acts,
our actions.... both in the law of physics and the laws of morality/ethics...
if there were no god, we are still not able to do or act as we might wish
to.... we are limited, both in the laws of man and the physical laws of nature....

let us turn to the world around us... what do we see? we see apathy and
indifference and alienation and despair... and this is why so many
people take drugs or creep into a bottle... or engage in other
addictions... for most people, their actions, are limited...
we are so tied up in what we can or cannot do, that
real actions are not even possible these days...

for example, what can I do, as far as actions go?
I can go to work.. and spend my 8 hours, making the company money/profits,
of which, very little goes to me, very little.... and what else can I do?
I can do minor actions that mean very little, walk on a beach, or go downtown,
watch a sunset, go to the bar and watch a game.... as long as it is
"socially approved" I am able to commit some actions...

but if it goes outside of being socially approved... watch out...
for example, being drunk in public or having sex in public are both
arrestable offences... and why? because we "might" offend someone...

but this restrictions on actions, also have an effect on us....
we have no ability to recourse in any actions in our lives...
to hit someone, or to steal something or to break something, will
get someone in trouble with the law...

but not only do we have severe restrictions in our actions,
but we have severe restrictions in our political and
economic world... our voice means nothing politically
nor does it mean anything economically...

for example, the various right wing boycotts of Disney, of bud light,
of Barbie, have all failed....along with boycotts of Target and Chick-fil-A
and the baseball team, the Dodgers.... the big companies don't care if you
boycott them because of a couple of reasons... for example, the bud light
boycott... which beer took over as the number one beer in America?
why it was Modelo beer.. which is owned by the same people who own
bud light... you haven't cost them a dime... that is one of the
things that has happened in the modern world.... for example,
that 95% of ALL media in America is owned by 6 companies...
boycott one and you don't move the bottom line because chances
are that media you turn to, will be owned by that same company...

one of the other reasons that companies don't care is that a boycott
of a couple thousand people isn't going to damage the bottom
line of billions of dollars.. when thinking about billions of dollars,
who cares is something might cost a million dollars? for a big company,
a million dollars is pocket change.. and you can probably write it off
in taxes...

and this is why we have no voice in terms of public actions such
as boycotts... but we also don't have a voice in our economic life
because we are simple disposable workers at our workplaces...
I have been told dozens of times, that I can be easily replaced
by a younger and cheaper worker...where is my voice in that case?

and politically, we have no voice because we are no longer a
democracy... we are a corporatocracy...

CORPORATOCRACY: is an economic, political and judicial system
controlled by business corporations or corporate interests...

and that perfectly describes America today...do we, as average citizens
have any say in the corporate America we have today? no, none at all...
our government is bought and sold by corporate interests.. for example,
the Kock brothers make no pretense about the fact they have
bought the entire state legislators of such states as Wisconsin,
Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa... citizens in these states have no say
whatsoever in the running of their state... the Kock brothers
run it... and in doing so, they have run most of these states into
the ground... in fact, both Kansas and Wisconsin, have severe
state financial problems.. in which they have spent years trying to
get out of...( those states were run with GOP models in mind,
thus they gutted education and most governmental services,
and they lowered taxes to the point where the states couldn't
function anymore)

given this, does a citizen of these states have a voice?

it doesn't seem like it... money talks and the money given to
the politicians of these states, means they don't have to listen to
their constituents...

so, modern day America doesn't give it citizens, a voice or a
mean of acting...we are forced to silent and have no freedoms
to act with...hence we see why Americans are engaged with
drugs or gambling or other addictions along with playing video games
and other avoidance of reality type of actions...
my wife watches the "Real Housewives" of whatever...
that is a means to avoid dealing with reality in which she
has no control over...economically, politically, or socially...
she has no voice, and I have no voice and you have no voice
in the operations of how this country is run,
politically, socially, economically....

so, what response to you make? well if you are like 200 million
Americans, you tune out, you take drugs, you gamble or
you partake in other addictions.. and you focus your time
and energy on other matters... matters in which you'
have a say in, not in America today.. where you have no voice
in anything worth doing....

Kropotkin

but we have another ''brick in the wall''
regarding praxis.. and we can thank Marx for this little bit...
the fact is that we told over and over and over again,
that we are unable to act as a group...and the ongoing
attacks on Labor unions kinda proves the point...
we are allowed practice, praxis on a certain level and no
other ... we are told that for to make changes, we must
work through the law, through political parties, through
non-violent means... and why this way? the current group
of leaders have the exact same fear of people that the
founding fathers had, which is of the mob, the uncontrolled mob...
and that is one of the major reasons why Marxism isn't taught in schools today..
for fear of the "mob", taking this idea of grabbing control of the state..
the firmest/strictest laws in America are about crowds and marches...

the greatest fear in America especially in the rightwing, is an out of control mob.
governments spend a great deal of time, money and effort keeping
people from collecting into groups which can turn into a mob...

we are not taught about Marxism because the basic point is that
a class, which is a group of people from a certain economic group,
can take over... from the Marxist standpoint, the class that owns
the means of production, are the owners of a society/state...
the laws and means of control over the populous work for this class..
and we find this true in America today... we have a two-tired legal
system.. where the rich and powerful, don't get punished, or get lightly
punished by paying a small fine... whereas a man who is accused of stealing
a loaf of bread can spend months in jail because he can't make bail...

a kid named Jack Teixeira, was caught putting top secret files on
the internet and he has been in jail for months.. IQ45 has been accused
of stealing and giving out top secret documents and yet, he remains
free, why? why the double standard? Because IQ45 is powerful and
Teixeira is poor... we cannot expect any more given that the law
and the courts and the police, all give wealthy, powerful people
one standard and the rest of us, another standard...

but what can we do about this? grind our teeth and
lose interest in what America is all about?
and that is the goal.. of those who have that power...
to be able to control both the narrative and to hold the power...
which is why the 95% of the media is owned by 6 companies
who are only beholden to their CEO... Certainly, not to the stockholders..
for they have no power of any kind given that the board of directors in
most companies are directly tied into the CEO.. the CEO and the owner of the company
decides who sits on the board of directors, not the stockholders and
certainly not the workers in any such company...
there is no level of oversight in the board of directors, which is one of
their problems...

so you want to solve the problem facing America? you have to unite
as many people as possible into a group and fight back... the fact
is that political parties are owned by those who also finance takeovers
of states.. in other words, the political parties are owned by
big business...and political parties are simple the arm of political
action by big business.....

so, we can think about it like this... big business owns the GOP/MAGA party...
and the GOP/MAGA party can only advertise through big business.
and that the FOX news is a media arm of GOP/MAGA party...
and so, directly and indirectly, big business owns every aspect
of politics... from owning the parties, to owning the media to
owning the politicians of those parties...

and where to the "people" fit into this? no where.. there is no room
for people to fit into politics or economics or business...

and how do we, the people, begin to take control of our lives?
Well that clue is given by Marx... become aware of what is
going on.. that we in America are owned by corporations..
and the only solution is to unite and fight back.. and that
will be done illegally because groups like this are deemed
to be dangerous and a menace to society....

and how is the group of people who united like say, BLM,
are seen? as a danger to society, as violent and corrupt
as possible could be....the media war against BLM is still
going on... and will continue to go on until they are completely
destroyed... because any group, white or black that unites to
make things better are a danger to the ruling corporations...

that is the reason for the public animus toward ''BLM''
that the media made it sound dangerous when it was marching
for civil rights.. it is a threat to the ruling parties, nothing more...

so, how can we unite into actions when every single group
that unites to provide relief is deemed to be dangerous?

the very possibility of praxis is deemed to be dangerous to
the country.. how do we overcome this media driven belief?

Kropotkin