Thursday, August 23, 2012

IT’S ONLY CAPITALIST WASTELAND (Part 2)













When I was a young lad I read an essay by Oscar Wilde, The Soul Of Man Under Socialism. It was very Wildean and somewhat naïve. Wilde’s vision was a socialist utopia where, if a machine was invented to sweep the streets, the street sweepers – instead of being tossed out to starve on the scrap heap of unemployment – would be free to write romantic poetry and perform interpretive dance in the manner if Isadora Duncan. Okay so this was gay 1890s over-the-top but utopian aspirations do tend to be forgotten in the struggle for survival in the sinking mess that is 21st century capitalism is Thus I was happily surprised to come across this comment on the Common Dreams newsletter from someone using the name Durrofix.

“Why do our leaders not embrace the policies they know to work?  Because they're not interested in solving the problem.   They're interested in getting rich, militarizing police, selling weapons, locking up the poor and so forth. The liberal dream of "work for everyone" is not a laudable goal.  The goal should be to eliminate work entirely.  Many "primitive" tribes studied by proto-anthropologists did not even have a word for "work".  The concept was completely foreign to them.  Indeed, if you study the origins of capitalism you find that no one, anywhere, voluntarily decided that working all day for a boss was a desirable way to spend the rest of their lives.  The process invariably involved expropriation of communal lands and severe punishments for those who resisted.  In England, the first "vagrants" (ie people who refused to toil all day in the new industrial factories) were subjected to extreme tortures, including branding. 
So much for the "free contract". 

Click here for “Cease To Exist”

The secret word is Idyll

13 comments:

Johnny Haddo said...

stop beating yourself up DoC with all things Amerikan..95% of 'em are cunts any way..Popular Science..hahaHa

Anonymous said...

The mixed economy model is not capitalism, it is socialism. The mixed economy model exists solely to farm up corruption fertilized with moral hazard. All empires fall. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Socialism is established by vote, while communism is established by force. They share the same ultimate destination, despotism.

The answer is found only at the individual level. I have withdrawn my participation, to leave them only ashes. There will never be a better time to be alive than right now. Mankind is not yet ready to accept freedom. It is no small blessing to celebrate with the few who are.

Woodchuck Pirate
aka Raymond J Raupers Jr USA

Johnny Haddo said...

btw DoC..have ya forgotten Harry Lime's 'cockoo-clock', it should still bring a smile to your face _

Anonymous said...

I quit being a wage slave 4 years ago at the age of 49. Now 23 years into chronic daily pain from herniated discs and whiplash received when struck by a drunk driver, life (existence) is best. Simple living isn't "work".

This past week I spent 3 entire days removing a stump on my farm. A recent tornado dropped more than a dozen trees which put me to waving chainsaw and axe, and it continues.

The storm uprooted several trees laying them over great roots still undisturbed beneath their base. With no success at turning upright this carcass of fingers, we abandoned our bucket loader for shovel and pick.

Several feet down I excavated angles and sides, to find roots each 7 inches wide. The 1948 Case VAC barely shivered the earth under this thing, before the last I found.

Drawing from 6 hours sleep split 2 nights, I dragged it from its grave. And then set myself back filling with round point in glorious pain, under constant rain, for several hours.

My point being, this was not "work".

Woodchuck Pirate
aka Raymond J Raupers Jr USA

Anonymous said...

The tengu will return!

jago said...

It might not have been work Woodchuck, but it'll probably pass as a good imitation.

stu said...

you ok chief?

comixbible said...

Hi, Mick.

I couldn't find a way of contacting you directly, so thought I would post this question here.

I'm conducting some research into the field of British underground comix from their beginnings in the late '60s/early '70s and there's one particular artist whose identity evades me.

He signed only "Jeff," and had work published in Maya, the offshoot of International times. A sample of his work can be seen here: The Inside Christmas Story.

Is any of this familiar?

Best wishes,
Victor

Mick said...

Stu -- I've not been firing on all cylinders for the last few days but I recovering.

Mick said...

Victor -- I have no idea about Jeff. He was well after my time.

Johnny Haddo said...

Sorry to hear about your demise DoC..get well soon _ JoHnny

btw; death is my destination...hahaHa ~

Anonymous said...

Mick,

I don't "know" you, but I know the narrow way, the thin tolerance of body and mind, that sustains each day, where pain threatens, and often masks with tunnel vision, erasing memory of what it was like to feel better, when circumstance reduces all whispers in my mind to apathy. Intellect reminds me that it's temporary, and I strain to find creative tension between body and mind, but mostly I "inhabit" this vessel, to study this captive place, and endure, until it lifts, revealing interconnection once again. Like first lessons in mathematics, feeling hopelessly lost, and after comprehension, I see how close I was all the time. I've spent two decades on this path, amused to consider I may endure 5 more, if biology and perils remain "optimal". Under each shadow exists more shadow, as in layers I'm not special. I am no life-form, I'm simply inspecting one. I don't "know" you, but there is no separateness. Beyond collective ego, what do you see? Is it real?

Woodchuck Pirate
aka Raymond J Raupers Jr USA

Johnny Haddo said...

Oi Pirate..lighten up m8, would ya like a piece of cake with your tea..??