Hi Ted and All,
I put the word, "Absolute" in the same bucket as, Always or Never.
Very limited application. Especially when talking about human
behavior.
I "Always" have a cup of coffee first thing in the morning...except
when I don't. I "Never" spanked my children...except for once each.
And as for, "absolute equality"? I can't get my head around the concept.
When I talk about a One Class, or Classless Society, I am not talking
about equality as we believe we know it.
I am talking about a system where our wealth is in, "We, the People",
not in jewels or gold or property. In that world, all of us respect
the potential of each human Being to have a meaningful role in our
People's Government. Using another person's labor for personal profit
would be a crime against the People.
None of us would own property in the present sense that a piece of
land or a pile of gold belongs to us personally.
But absolute equality? That brings to mind my own family. In my
immediate family there are my wife, our three children, their spouses,
ten grand children and one great grandchild. If my math is correct
that totals 20 people. In this "family society", we are all members
of the same Class. The Jarvis Class. When asked, each one of us
considers ourselves to be as important to all other family members.
But each one of us brings different skills and talents to our one
class family. Each of our three children are quite different from one
another. Our eldest daughter is a bubble of generosity, giving love
and sunshine and comfort to anyone fortunate enough to be around her.
Our son is hard working, quiet, and a committed and loving father.
Our youngest daughter is brimming over with confidence, believing that
her positive approach to life will move mountains. She is also our,
"Too bright for her own good", daughter. Yet, none of these children
believe themselves to be superior to the others. And so it goes
through all of our family. Cathy is the practical glue that held us
together during hard times, and I serve as the family dreamer,
spinning positive, yummy dreams of a future that is even better than
the one we now live in. We encourage one another. We share with one
another with no concern over one or another member taking more than
they need from the rest of us.
If it works within our family, it can work within our community. If
it works within our community, it can work within our nation, and
eventually within our entire world. But that can only happen when
enough of us understand that it can work, and are willing to teach
this belief to others, and encourage them to take the message and
teach others...and to practice it in their lives.
Not absolute equality. Rather, we salute our differences and respect
their contribution to our total society.
Carl Jarvis
On 10/17/14, ted chittenden <tchittenden@cox.net> wrote:
> Carl:
> Absolute equality between human beings is impossible, both because of our
> inability to create classless societies and because of the differences
> between us in physical and mental capabilities. That said, relative equality
> and equality before the law are achievable goals that should be sought.
> --
> Ted Chittenden
>
> Every story has at least two sides if not more.
> ---- Carl Jarvis <carjar82@gmail.com> wrote:
> My problem with talking about a society that permits the existence of
> Classes, is that there can never be equality. Just discussing
> Classes forces us to name them. We might say, Working, Lower, Middle,
> Upper and Ruling Classes. Right away that sets up a ladder and
> positions each Class in position, each being higher or lower than the
> others. So let's get around that by calling them, Class 1, Class 2,
> Class 3, and Class 4. Oops! One is usually held to be higher on a
> scale than 2... We would have the same problem with "A", "B", "C".
> etc.
> So, Classes force us to place value on them, leading to unequal status.
> The same is true of dividing ourselves into nations. We begin
> comparing ourselves with one another, determining whether we are
> "better" than anyone else.
> In fact, we pit states, cities, and communities against one another.
> Men verses women, measuring differences to see which sex is actually
> the better.
> From all of this it is natural that some of us believe that this
> behavior is ingrained in our Human Nature. But what if we decide that
> it is actually Learned Behavior? What if we find that we can alter
> this competitiveness as misdirected and destructive energy? Is it
> possible to decide that Capitalism is a destructive system, and that
> it can be eliminated? What if we decide that measuring a person's
> worth is not in how many marbles and bobbles they can take from
> others, but rather, we measure one another on our contribution to the
> People and to the Earth? And what would happen if we declared
> paranoia and greed to be antisocial, and destructive behavior? Can we
> dare to think in new, or different directions? Is it possible to
> teach old dogs new tricks?
> Rather than putting up a stone wall of resistance and proclaiming that
> we have always done it this way and will always do it this way, can we
> at least talk about what we would have to do to begin making a change
> in our perception of our world? It's taken us thousands of years of
> bumbling down a wrong turn in the Road of Life to arrive at this
> place. We are driven by Greed, Hatred, Suspicion and Lust. If this
> is Human Nature, then the planet will be the better for our self
> destruction. But I believe it is a corrupted nature, and can be
> rebuilt. There are so many great adventures in this Universe. I
> would think that alone would be incentive for wanting to see our
> People survive.
>
> Carl Jarvis
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 10/16/14, Roger Loran Bailey <rogerbailey81@aol.com> wrote:
>> Now you are stating a false characterization of what I have said. I
>> suggested executing the so-called business class? Absolutely not! The
>> only thing I have said about executing anyone is that it may have to be
>> done to people who are determined to do it to yourself. After all, What
>> are you going to do with them? It is a matter of plain self defense. If
>> the bourgeioisie do not engage in such dangerous behavior then I habve
>> no problem with just giving them good jobs and letting ythem participate
>> alongside everyone else in building a just society. Let me remind you of
>> what a strawman argument is. It is when you argue against another
>> position by mischaracterizing the opposing argument and arguing against
>> that
>> On 10/15/2014 10:54 AM, ted chittenden wrote:
>>> Miriam wrote in part:
>>>
>>> "If one uses the Soviet Union or China as an example, one would be
>>> mistaken, however
>>> because although they are called Communist, that isn't the kind of
>>> communism that we're talking about."
>>>
>>> But both the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China started out
>>> with the goal of making a classless society and it didn't work. And it
>>> didn't work in North Korea or Laos or North Vietnam or Cuba either. And
>>> the ultimate reason it didn't work came from the get-go. In all of these
>>> cases, these societies attempted to weed out the bourgeois class by
>>> execution, the taking of lands, and other means. But enough of these
>>> people survived along with freethinkers in all of these countries to
>>> make
>>> these people an ostracized and unacknowledged social class and class
>>> entered the picture again. In addition, it was soon discovered that
>>> people
>>> could not fully rule themselves without outside regulations. Left to
>>> their
>>> own devices, people claimed land that other people said was theirs.
>>> Fights
>>> ensued where the losers were usually killed or chased away. The bringing
>>> in of leadership and rules ultimately meant the creation of a class at
>>> the
>>> top.
>>>
>>> Thom Hartmann has commented in the past that pure Marxism can and does
>>> work in small groups where participation is purely voluntary. However,
>>> even here, there is a class structure, though it is not acknowledged by
>>> the participants. There is a pecking order of who makes the decisions of
>>> what crops to plant and what bills to pay. The people who make these
>>> decisions are part of the group's leadership class, though again, they
>>> often refuse to acknowledge it.
>>>
>>> Roger commented on my initial response that it is impossible for upper
>>> classes to treat lower classes fairly all of the time and I concur with
>>> that. But it is equally impossible (and much more dangerous) to have a
>>> classless society. Even Roger's own ideas of getting rid of the
>>> bourgeois
>>> classes (which he has discussed in earlier posts) are very much about
>>> class creation--"Let's execute the business classes and then the workers
>>> will take over."
>>>
>>> So both ideas in their purest forms are impossible to meet. However,
>>> mine
>>> does have the advantage of attempting to satisfy human greed which is
>>> very
>>> much a part of all of us, whether we acknowledge it or not. So the
>>> ultimate best that we can hope for is to use tax and other incentives to
>>> force the upper classes to return some of the money they've earned back
>>> to
>>> the lower classes so that everybody has a better chance at fully
>>> participating in the economy. Ultimately, there is no other long term
>>> way
>>> forward--all of the other choices will lead us back to primitive
>>> barbarism.
>>> --
>>> Ted Chittenden
>>>
>>> Every story has at least two sides if not more.
>>> ---- Miriam Vieni<miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
>>> The reason for that is probably that the propaganda has convinced people
>>> that living in a society in which there are no economic classes and in
>>> which
>>> people cooperate together to produce and consume goods and to build
>>> sustainable lives is somehow a bad thing and akin to autocracy. If one
>>> uses
>>> the Soviet Union or China as an example, one would be mistaken, however
>>> because although they are called Communist, that isn't the kind of
>>> communism
>>> that we're talking about. I wouldn't want to live in an autocratic
>>> state
>>> with few goods and services either. The problem is, we're supposed to be
>>> living in a Democracy and as time passes, our society is turning into
>>> precisely the kind of state that all those anti communists rail against.
>>>
>>> Miriam
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Blind-Democracy [mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On
>>> Behalf Of ted chittenden
>>> Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2014 12:20 AM
>>> To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
>>> Subject: Re: Cornel West's 8 Most Eye-Opening Critiques of Barack
>>> Obama's
>>> Presidency
>>>
>>> Roger:
>>> I'll buy that in prehistoric societies, there were less class structures
>>> than there were now, though I would not necessarily say they didn't have
>>> any. That said, that is not the kind of society I would wish to live in.
>>> It
>>> was ultimately the development of these class structures that allowed us
>>> to
>>> have the kinds of material creature comforts that we have now. And
>>> outside
>>> of yourself, a few others on this list, and a few philosophers, I know
>>> of
>>> absolutely nobody who really believes that 1) a Marxist society is one
>>> that
>>> is worth seeking; and 2) that the majority of human beings would be
>>> willing
>>> to live in such a society.
>>>
>>> Finally, I strongly suggest that you read up on how we know groups
>>> actually
>>> workbefore you go spouting off about how human beings could become like
>>> primitive societies once again. I have observed enough human behaviors
>>> in
>>> and outside of my family to know full well that individuals want to be
>>> free
>>> to be able to make their own choices and not have to do everything for
>>> the
>>> good of the group. Even more importantly, all groups do have leaders,
>>> even
>>> if neither the members or leaders recognize who is playing what role,
>>> and
>>> all groups exclude certain people who don't fit in with the group norms,
>>> thereby creating a class of nongroup members.
>>> --
>>> Ted Chittenden
>>>
>>> Every story has at least two sides if not more.
>>> ---- Roger Loran Bailey<rogerbailey81@aol.com> wrote:
>>> Yes there has. There you go with that historical myopia. Read up on what
>>> happened when Europeans tried to impose class relations on the
>>> Australian
>>> aborigines. They finally did it, but it took a long time for them to
>>> even
>>> get the concept. Working for wages was alien to them. They were used to
>>> working collectively for the benefit of their community as a whole. Read
>>> up
>>> on some of the interactions of anthropologists with the Efe in the
>>> Congo.
>>> In
>>> my readings of Turnbull the anthropologists and the people they were
>>> studying had trouble coming close to understanding the assumptions about
>>> the
>>> ideas of social organization that the others had.
>>> It seems that social myopia tends to be common among primitive
>>> communists
>>> too. Try reading about the first contacts between Europeans and the
>>> Inuit.
>>> The Inuit consisted of small family bands who lived on the tundra and
>>> who
>>> had to cooperate with one another to survive at all.
>>> They depended on each other and if one person in a band - it would just
>>> about have to be one person because the bands were so small - tried to
>>> become the ruler then that one person would likely find himself riding
>>> an
>>> iceberg all alone very quickly. Those are just some examples of
>>> prehistoric
>>> people living in historic times. If you go back far enough everyone was
>>> living in primitive communism.. They had to. Until someone figured out
>>> how
>>> to monopolize resources and defend that monopoly with force it was easy
>>> enough for the oppressed just to pick up and leave and let the oppressor
>>> fend for himself. Ted, just because you have lived your own short life
>>> with
>>> everyone around you doing things a certain way it does not mean that the
>>> way
>>> you see things done is the only way they have ever been done or ever
>>> will
>>> be
>>> done. That is ethnocentrism at the very least. Look around you and learn
>>> about other cultures through history and into prehistory. There are a
>>> lot
>>> of
>>> ways of doing things that you and the very few people you surround
>>> yourself
>>> with never even thought of.
>>> On 10/14/2014 1:39 PM, ted chittenden wrote:
>>>> Roger:
>>>> There has never been a time when human society wasn't divided into
>>> classes.
>>>> --
>>>> Ted Chittenden
>>>>
>>>> Every story has at least two sides if not more.
>>>> ---- Roger Loran Bailey<rogerbailey81@aol.com> wrote:
>>>> It is what I have recently taken to calling social or political myopia.
>>>> It is the kind of thinking that assumes that the way things are is the
>>>> only way things can ever be. Ted expresses this myopia in almost every
>>>> message he posts. If current human society is divided into classes
>>>> then the only way human society can ever exist is in classes and the
>>>> fact that it used to not be that way must be ignored in order to
>>>> maintain that class is human nature. Every proposal and strategy to
>>>> rectify the current situation must also be ignored. But it really
>>>> takes the cake to say that the best that can be hoped for is that
>>>> classes will treat each other fairly as if class can even be fair at
>>>> all. It is the same as saying that it is okay for someone to rob you
>>>> as long as he treats you fairly when he does it. It is kind of hard to
>>>> imagine that a robber can rob you and treat you fairly at the same
>>>> time and that is exactly what is happening when economic classes even
>>>> exist, but in order to maintain the illusion that the way things are
>>>> can only be the way things have to be it is necessary to say that
>>>> robbery can be conducted fairly. The absurdity is incredible. Yet I
>>>> hear
>>> some variation of it almost every day.
>>>> On 10/14/2014 9:32 AM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
>>>>> My mother used to say, "Can't never did anything".
>>>>> Are we so conditioned to accepting a Class Society that we can't even
>>>>> think outside that confining box?
>>>>> Was it old Abe Lincoln who said, "A house divided against itself
>>>>> cannot stand"? As long as we have nations, and as long as we have
>>>>> Classes, and as long as some of us think our ways are so right that
>>>>> we must shove them down everybody else throats, then we are doomed to
>>>>> extinction. No two ways about it.
>>>>> We must begin thinking in new...or maybe in really old ways.
>>>>>
>>>>> Carl Jarvis
>>>>>
>>>>> On 10/13/14, Roger Loran Bailey<rogerbailey81@aol.com> wrote:
>>>>>> Now, how can you have classes that treat each other with fairness
>>>>>> and dignity and still have classes? The whole concept of economic
>>>>>> class is that some classes will not treat others with fairness. If
>>>>>> there was fairness there would be no class. To say that a privileged
>>>>>> class can treat an oppressed class with fairness and dignity is just
>>>>>> plain doublespeak.
>>>>>> On 10/13/2014 1:36 PM, ted chittenden wrote:
>>>>>>> Miriam:
>>>>>>> Not isn't it only not what happens but having a completely
>>>>>>> classless society is absolutely impossible for human beings,
>>>>>>> especially in the long term. The absolute best that can be hoped
>>>>>>> for is 1) classes that treat each other with dignity and fairness;
>>>>>>> and 2) fairly easy mobility between the classes.
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> Ted Chittenden
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Every story has at least two sides if not more.
>>>>>>> ---- Miriam Vieni<miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
>>>>>>> Isn't that what "the oppressed" always want, to become the rulers?
>>>>>>> The Communists want the "dictatorship of the proletariat"?
>>>>>>> Theoretically, people should want a classless society with no
>>>>>>> rulers at all. But that isn't what happens.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Miriam
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>>> From: Blind-Democracy
>>>>>>> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On Behalf Of Carl
>>>>>>> Jarvis
>>>>>>> Sent: Monday, October 13, 2014 10:34 AM
>>>>>>> To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
>>>>>>> Subject: Cornel West's 8 Most Eye-Opening Critiques of Barack
>>>>>>> Obama's Presidency
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> To my thinking, Doctor Cornel West saves his most telling point for
>>>>>>> number 8.
>>>>>>> "8. To Be Successful and Black, One Must Turn One's Back on the
>>>>>>> Poor "To be a highly successful black professional or politician is
>>>>>>> too often to be well adjusted to injustice and well adapted to
>>>>>>> indifference toward poor people, including black poor people. The
>>>>>>> black prophetic tradition is fundamentally committed to the
>>>>>>> priority of poor and working people, thus pitting it against the
>>>>>>> neoliberal regime, capitalist system, and imperial policies of the
>>>>>>> U.S. government."
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> This is not unique to Black Americans. Most oppressed People
>>>>>>> experience the same phenomena as they struggle for equal status in
>>>>>>> a society.
>>>>>>> In fact, I am very familiar with this process within the Organized
>>>>>>> Blind Movement.
>>>>>>> All too well I remember the time when the National Federation of
>>>>>>> the Blind was the outside underdog, fighting the cruel
>>>>>>> establishment of sighted caretakers and oppressors. The NFB
>>>>>>> leadership told its members what to think and how to behave toward
>>>>>>> the sighted world.
>>>>>>> Those who questioned or challenged the "Proper Thought", were
>>>>>>> ridiculed and cast to the side of the road. I was taught that
>>>>>>> there was one way and only one way to train blind people. The
>>>>>>> Federation Way. Men and women, we were all "Blind Guys". We
>>>>>>> received our monthly teachings via tape, from Doctor Jernigan
>>>>>>> Himself. We were instructed to never speak to those wrong thinkers
>>>>>>> in the ACB. We were not allowed to negotiate with the evil agency
>>>>>>> directors without careful instructions from Doctor Jernigan.
>>>>>>> We "manned the barricades" and swore the solemn oath that we would
>>>>>>> "Never Go Back!"
>>>>>>> Then the NFB was embraced by the establishment. As grants and
>>>>>>> government contributions began to trickle in, the NFB began looking
>>>>>>> more and more like the very establishment whose attitudes they had
>>>>>>> set out to change.
>>>>>>> Today the NFB looks very much like the American Empire. The Ruling
>>>>>>> Class, those blind people in the top circle, directing a carefully
>>>>>>> selected core of hard working field hands, and suppressing the
>>>>>>> Masses, the ignorant blind whose thinking must be controlled.
>>>>>>> Thus, the struggle comes full circle. The evil sighted oppressors
>>>>>>> have now been replaced by the elite blind oppressors.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Carl Jarvis
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 10/12/14, Miriam Vieni<miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
>>>>>>>> Point 2 is the one most emphasized in many of the articles that
>>>>>>>> I've found on Black Agenda Report. But basically, all of the
>>>>>>>> points are included in the material.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Miriam
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org) Cornel West's
>>>>>>>> 8 Most Eye-Opening Critiques of Barack Obama's Presidency
>>>>>>>> ________________________________________
>>>>>>>> AlterNet [1] / By Terrell Jermaine Starr [2]
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Cornel West's 8 Most Eye-Opening Critiques of Barack Obama's
>>>>>>>> Presidency
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> October 6, 2014 |
>>>>>>>> Very few progressive voices articulate more vitriol and
>>>>>>>> uncompromising disdain for President Barack Obama than Cornel
>>>>>>>> West. During Obama's six years in the White House, West has
>>>>>>>> critiqued every layer of the president's policies, from his use of
>>>>>>>> drones in the Middle East to what he feels is the president's cozy
>>> relationship with Wall Street.
>>>>>>>> In 2011, West wrote in the New York Times [3] that Obama has
>>>>>>>> fallen short of epitomizing Dr. Martin Luther King's dream.
>>>>>>>> "The age of Obama has fallen tragically short of fulfilling King's
>>>>>>>> prophetic legacy," he wrote. "Instead of articulating a radical
>>>>>>>> democratic vision and fighting for homeowners, workers and poor
>>>>>>>> people in the form of mortgage relief, jobs and investment in
>>>>>>>> education, infrastructure and housing, the administration gave us
>>>>>>>> bailouts for banks, record profits for Wall Street and giant
>>>>>>>> budget cuts on the backs of the vulnerable."
>>>>>>>> West's commentary is a breath of fresh air for some who feel
>>>>>>>> they'd be blacklisted in liberal circles for criticizing the
>>>>>>>> president, while others see his remarks as coming from a space of
>>> personal bitterness.
>>>>>>>> Regardless of where you stand on West's opinions, his remarks are
>>>>>>>> always worthy of further inspection. In an excerpt from his new
>>>>>>>> book [4] Black Prophetic Fire, West outlines why he believes Obama
>>>>>>>> has turned his back on the black philosophical traditions that put
>>>>>>>> him in the White House. Here are eight of the most insightful
>>>>>>>> quotes.
>>>>>>>> 1. African Americans Have Done Worse Under Obama "The great irony
>>>>>>>> of our time is that in the age of Obama the grand black prophetic
>>>>>>>> tradition is weak and feeble. Obama's black face of the American
>>>>>>>> empire has made it more difficult for black courageous and radical
>>>>>>>> voices to bring critique to bear on the U.S. empire. On the
>>>>>>>> empirical or lived level of black experience, black people have
>>>>>>>> suffered more in this age than in the recent past. Empirical
>>>>>>>> indices of infant mortality rates, mass incarceration rates, mass
>>>>>>>> unemployment and dramatic declines in household wealth reveal this
>>>>>>>> sad
>>> reality."
>>>>>>>> 2. Leadership In The African-American Community Has Weakened
>>>>>>>> "First, there is the shift of black leadership from the voices of
>>>>>>>> social movements to those of elected officials in the mainstream
>>>>>>>> political
>>>>>>> system.
>>>>>>>> This shift produces voices that are rarely if ever critical of
>>>>>>>> this
>>>>>>> system.
>>>>>>>> How could we expect the black caretakers and gatekeepers of the
>>>>>>>> system to be critical of it?"
>>>>>>>> 3. Upward Mobility Is The Worst In The Modern World "Second, this
>>>>>>>> neoliberal shift produces a culture of raw ambition and instant
>>>>>>>> success that is seductive to most potential leaders and
>>>>>>>> intellectuals, thereby incorporating them into the neoliberal
>>>>>>>> regime. This culture of superficial spectacle and hyper-visible
>>>>>>>> celebrities highlights the legitimacy of an unjust system that
>>>>>>>> prides itself on upward mobility of the downtrodden. Yet, the
>>>>>>>> truth is that we live in a country that has the least upward
>>>>>>>> mobility
>>> of any other modern nation!"
>>>>>>>> 4. Leaders Who Challenge the Statue Quo Are Silenced "Third, the
>>>>>>>> U.S.
>>>>>>>> neoliberal regime contains a vicious repressive apparatus that
>>>>>>>> targets those strong and sacrificial leaders, activists, and
>>>>>>>> prophetic intellectuals who are easily discredited, delegitimated,
>>>>>>>> or even assassinated, including through character assassination.
>>>>>>>> Character assassination becomes systemic and chronic, and it is
>>>>>>>> preferable to literal assassination because dead martyrs tend to
>>>>>>>> command the attention of the sleepwalking masses and thereby
>>>>>>>> elevate the threat to the
>>>>>>> status quo."
>>>>>>>> 5. Mass Media Ignores Voices That Take on Issues Such as Use of
>>>>>>>> Drones and War Crimes "The central role of mass media, especially
>>>>>>>> a corporate media beholden to the U.S. neoliberal regime, is to
>>>>>>>> keep public discourse narrow and deodorized. By 'narrow' I mean
>>>>>>>> confining the conversation to conservative Republican and
>>>>>>>> neoliberal Democrats who shut out prophetic voices or radical
>>>>>>>> visions. This fundamental power to define the political terrain
>>>>>>>> and categories attempts to render prophetic voices invisible. The
>>>>>>>> discourse is deodorized because the issues that prophetic voices
>>>>>>>> highlight, such as mass incarceration, wealth inequality, and war
>>>>>>>> crimes such as imperial drones murdering innocent people, are
>>> ignored."
>>>>>>>> 6. Obama Doesn't Really Care About Protecting Working People "The
>>>>>>>> state of black America in the age of Obama has been one of
>>>>>>>> desperation, confusion, and capitulation. The desperation is
>>>>>>>> rooted in the escalating suffering on every front. The confusion
>>>>>>>> arises from a conflation of symbol and substance. The capitulation
>>>>>>>> rests on an obsessive need to protect the first black president
>>>>>>>> against all forms of criticism. Black desperation is part of a
>>>>>>>> broader desperation among poor and working people during the age
>>>>>>>> of Obama. The bailout of Wall Street by the Obama administration,
>>>>>>>> rather than the bailout of homeowners, hurt millions of working
>>> people."
>>>>>>>> 7. First Lady Michelle Obama Legitimizes Obama's "Symbolic Status"
>>>>>>>> "Needless to say, the presence of his brilliant and charismatic
>>>>>>>> wife, Michelle-a descendent of enslaved and Jim-Crowed people,
>>>>>>>> unlike himself-even more deeply legitimizes his symbolic status, a
>>>>>>>> status that easily substitutes for substantial achievement."
>>>>>>>> 8. To Be Successful and Black, One Must Turn One's Back on the
>>>>>>>> Poor "To be a highly successful black professional or politician
>>>>>>>> is too often to be well adjusted to injustice and well adapted to
>>>>>>>> indifference toward poor people, including black poor people. The
>>>>>>>> black prophetic tradition is fundamentally committed to the
>>>>>>>> priority of poor and working people, thus pitting it against the
>>>>>>>> neoliberal regime, capitalist system, and imperial policies of the
>>> U.S.
>>>>>>>> government."
>>>>>>>> Toward the end of the book, West writes how modern black
>>>>>>>> leadership has abandoned the traditions that have helped position
>>>>>>>> it and President
>>>>>>> Obama.
>>>>>>>> "What does it profit a people for a symbolic figure to gain
>>>>>>>> presidential power if we turn our backs from the suffering of poor
>>>>>>>> and working people, and thereby lose our souls?" he writes. "The
>>>>>>>> black prophetic tradition has tried to redeem the soul of our
>>>>>>>> fragile democratic experiment. Is it redeemable?"
>>>>>>>> [5]
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> See more stories tagged with:
>>>>>>>> cornel west [6],
>>>>>>>> barack obama [7]
>>>>>>>> ________________________________________
>>>>>>>> Source URL:
>>>>>>>> http://www.alternet.org/cornel-wests-8-most-eye-opening-critiques-
>>>>>>>> bara
>>>>>>>> ck-oba
>>>>>>>> mas-presidency
>>>>>>>> Links:
>>>>>>>> [1]http://alternet.org
>>>>>>>> [2]http://www.alternet.org/authors/terrell-jermaine-starr-0
>>>>>>>> [3]
>>>>>>>> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/opinion/martin-luther-king-jr-wo
>>>>>>>> uld-
>>>>>>>> want-a
>>>>>>>> -revolution-not-a-memorial.html?_r=0
>>>>>>>> [4]
>>>>>>>> http://www.salon.com/2014/10/05/cornel_west_the_state_of_black_ame
>>>>>>>> rica
>>>>>>>> _in_th
>>>>>>>> e_age_of_obama_has_been_one_of_desperation_confusion_and_capitulat
>>>>>>>> ion/ [5]mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on Cornel
>>>>>>>> West's
>>>>>>>> 8 Most Eye-Opening Critiques of Barack Obama's Presidency [6]
>>>>>>>> http://www.alternet.org/tags/cornel-west
>>>>>>>> [7]http://www.alternet.org/tags/barack-obama
>>>>>>>> [8]http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org) Home > Cornel
>>>>>>>> West's 8 Most Eye-Opening Critiques of Barack Obama's Presidency
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> AlterNet [1] / By Terrell Jermaine Starr [2]
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Cornel West's 8 Most Eye-Opening Critiques of Barack Obama's
>>>>>>>> Presidency October 6, 2014 | Very few progressive voices
>>>>>>>> articulate more vitriol and uncompromising disdain for President
>>>>>>>> Barack Obama than Cornel West. During Obama's six years in the
>>>>>>>> White House, West has critiqued every layer of the president's
>>>>>>>> policies, from his use of drones in the Middle East to what he
>>>>>>>> feels is the president's cozy relationship with Wall Street.
>>>>>>>> In 2011, West wrote in the New York Times [3] that Obama has
>>>>>>>> fallen short of epitomizing Dr. Martin Luther King's dream.
>>>>>>>> "The age of Obama has fallen tragically short of fulfilling King's
>>>>>>>> prophetic legacy," he wrote. "Instead of articulating a radical
>>>>>>>> democratic vision and fighting for homeowners, workers and poor
>>>>>>>> people in the form of mortgage relief, jobs and investment in
>>>>>>>> education, infrastructure and housing, the administration gave us
>>>>>>>> bailouts for banks, record profits for Wall Street and giant
>>>>>>>> budget cuts on the backs of the vulnerable."
>>>>>>>> West's commentary is a breath of fresh air for some who feel
>>>>>>>> they'd be blacklisted in liberal circles for criticizing the
>>>>>>>> president, while others see his remarks as coming from a space of
>>> personal bitterness.
>>>>>>>> Regardless of where you stand on West's opinions, his remarks are
>>>>>>>> always worthy of further inspection. In an excerpt from his new
>>>>>>>> book [4] Black Prophetic Fire, West outlines why he believes Obama
>>>>>>>> has turned his back on the black philosophical traditions that put
>>>>>>>> him in the White House. Here are eight of the most insightful
>>>>>>>> quotes.
>>>>>>>> 1. African Americans Have Done Worse Under Obama "The great irony
>>>>>>>> of our time is that in the age of Obama the grand black prophetic
>>>>>>>> tradition is weak and feeble. Obama's black face of the American
>>>>>>>> empire has made it more difficult for black courageous and radical
>>>>>>>> voices to bring critique to bear on the U.S. empire. On the
>>>>>>>> empirical or lived level of black experience, black people have
>>>>>>>> suffered more in this age than in the recent past. Empirical
>>>>>>>> indices of infant mortality rates, mass incarceration rates, mass
>>>>>>>> unemployment and dramatic declines in household wealth reveal this
>>>>>>>> sad
>>> reality."
>>>>>>>> 2. Leadership In The African-American Community Has Weakened
>>>>>>>> "First, there is the shift of black leadership from the voices of
>>>>>>>> social movements to those of elected officials in the mainstream
>>>>>>>> political
>>>>>>> system.
>>>>>>>> This shift produces voices that are rarely if ever critical of
>>>>>>>> this
>>>>>>> system.
>>>>>>>> How could we expect the black caretakers and gatekeepers of the
>>>>>>>> system to be critical of it?"
>>>>>>>> 3. Upward Mobility Is The Worst In The Modern World "Second, this
>>>>>>>> neoliberal shift produces a culture of raw ambition and instant
>>>>>>>> success that is seductive to most potential leaders and
>>>>>>>> intellectuals, thereby incorporating them into the neoliberal
>>>>>>>> regime. This culture of superficial spectacle and hyper-visible
>>>>>>>> celebrities highlights the legitimacy of an unjust system that
>>>>>>>> prides itself on upward mobility of the downtrodden. Yet, the
>>>>>>>> truth is that we live in a country that has the least upward
>>>>>>>> mobility
>>> of any other modern nation!"
>>>>>>>> 4. Leaders Who Challenge the Statue Quo Are Silenced "Third, the
>>>>>>>> U.S.
>>>>>>>> neoliberal regime contains a vicious repressive apparatus that
>>>>>>>> targets those strong and sacrificial leaders, activists, and
>>>>>>>> prophetic intellectuals who are easily discredited, delegitimated,
>>>>>>>> or even assassinated, including through character assassination.
>>>>>>>> Character assassination becomes systemic and chronic, and it is
>>>>>>>> preferable to literal assassination because dead martyrs tend to
>>>>>>>> command the attention of the sleepwalking masses and thereby
>>>>>>>> elevate the threat to the
>>>>>>> status quo."
>>>>>>>> 5. Mass Media Ignores Voices That Take on Issues Such as Use of
>>>>>>>> Drones and War Crimes "The central role of mass media, especially
>>>>>>>> a corporate media beholden to the U.S. neoliberal regime, is to
>>>>>>>> keep public discourse narrow and deodorized. By 'narrow' I mean
>>>>>>>> confining the conversation to conservative Republican and
>>>>>>>> neoliberal Democrats who shut out prophetic voices or radical
>>>>>>>> visions. This fundamental power to define the political terrain
>>>>>>>> and categories attempts to render prophetic voices invisible. The
>>>>>>>> discourse is deodorized because the issues that prophetic voices
>>>>>>>> highlight, such as mass incarceration, wealth inequality, and war
>>>>>>>> crimes such as imperial drones murdering innocent people, are
>>> ignored."
>>>>>>>> 6. Obama Doesn't Really Care About Protecting Working People "The
>>>>>>>> state of black America in the age of Obama has been one of
>>>>>>>> desperation, confusion, and capitulation. The desperation is
>>>>>>>> rooted in the escalating suffering on every front. The confusion
>>>>>>>> arises from a conflation of symbol and substance. The capitulation
>>>>>>>> rests on an obsessive need to protect the first black president
>>>>>>>> against all forms of criticism. Black desperation is part of a
>>>>>>>> broader desperation among poor and working people during the age
>>>>>>>> of Obama. The bailout of Wall Street by the Obama administration,
>>>>>>>> rather than the bailout of homeowners, hurt millions of working
>>> people."
>>>>>>>> 7. First Lady Michelle Obama Legitimizes Obama's "Symbolic Status"
>>>>>>>> "Needless to say, the presence of his brilliant and charismatic
>>>>>>>> wife, Michelle-a descendent of enslaved and Jim-Crowed people,
>>>>>>>> unlike himself-even more deeply legitimizes his symbolic status, a
>>>>>>>> status that easily substitutes for substantial achievement."
>>>>>>>> 8. To Be Successful and Black, One Must Turn One's Back on the
>>>>>>>> Poor "To be a highly successful black professional or politician
>>>>>>>> is too often to be well adjusted to injustice and well adapted to
>>>>>>>> indifference toward poor people, including black poor people. The
>>>>>>>> black prophetic tradition is fundamentally committed to the
>>>>>>>> priority of poor and working people, thus pitting it against the
>>>>>>>> neoliberal regime, capitalist system, and imperial policies of the
>>> U.S.
>>>>>>>> government."
>>>>>>>> Toward the end of the book, West writes how modern black
>>>>>>>> leadership has abandoned the traditions that have helped position
>>>>>>>> it and President
>>>>>>> Obama.
>>>>>>>> "What does it profit a people for a symbolic figure to gain
>>>>>>>> presidential power if we turn our backs from the suffering of poor
>>>>>>>> and working people, and thereby lose our souls?" he writes. "The
>>>>>>>> black prophetic tradition has tried to redeem the soul of our
>>>>>>>> fragile democratic experiment. Is it redeemable?"
>>>>>>>> mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on Cornel West's 8
>>>>>>>> Most Eye-Opening Critiques of Barack Obama's Presidency
>>>>>>>> mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on Cornel West's 8
>>>>>>>> Most Eye-Opening Critiques of Barack Obama's Presidency[5] See
>>>>>>>> more stories tagged with:
>>>>>>>> cornel west [6],
>>>>>>>> barack obama [7]
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Source URL:
>>>>>>>> http://www.alternet.org/cornel-wests-8-most-eye-opening-critiques-
>>>>>>>> bara
>>>>>>>> ck-oba
>>>>>>>> mas-presidency
>>>>>>>> Links:
>>>>>>>> [1]http://alternet.org
>>>>>>>> [2]http://www.alternet.org/authors/terrell-jermaine-starr-0
>>>>>>>> [3]
>>>>>>>> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/opinion/martin-luther-king-jr-wo
>>>>>>>> uld-
>>>>>>>> want-a
>>>>>>>> -revolution-not-a-memorial.html?_r=0
>>>>>>>> [4]
>>>>>>>> http://www.salon.com/2014/10/05/cornel_west_the_state_of_black_ame
>>>>>>>> rica
>>>>>>>> _in_th
>>>>>>>> e_age_of_obama_has_been_one_of_desperation_confusion_and_capitulat
>>>>>>>> ion/ [5]mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on Cornel
>>>>>>>> West's
>>>>>>>> 8 Most Eye-Opening Critiques of Barack Obama's Presidency [6]
>>>>>>>> http://www.alternet.org/tags/cornel-west
>>>>>>>> [7]http://www.alternet.org/tags/barack-obama
>>>>>>>> [8]http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
>>>>>>>>
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