tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post858674192374490777..comments2024-03-22T05:20:44.167-07:00Comments on The Disaffected Lib: Peering Through Inequality to Discern the Spark of RevolutionThe Mound of Soundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-58879494194036574312014-01-27T09:08:56.103-08:002014-01-27T09:08:56.103-08:00Cuba emerged from a civil war. It had a leadershi...Cuba emerged from a civil war. It had a leadership structure and a means of enforcing order. <br /><br />Uprisings, like we see in today's Syria, tend to be disjointed and often have anti-government forces vying among themselves for control even to the point of attacking each other. We also saw that in Libya. They always have a dragged out, brutal aftermath. The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-3276017556445598402014-01-27T00:58:58.860-08:002014-01-27T00:58:58.860-08:00The Terror in France wasn't so bad. Bunch of ...The Terror in France wasn't so bad. Bunch of Aristoi bit the biscuit and there was some infighting between factions, but in terms of overall bloodshed and cruel exercise of the "law" it was still nothing compared to what had been meted out to the plebes on any given year just a few years previously. <br />The revolutionaries guillotined people. But the aristocratic rulers had always done fun stuff like breaking on the wheel, drawing and quartering and so forth; just killing your enemies flat out was a major step forward in mercy (which the US has not matched yet, with its elaborate poisons and frying with electricity).<br /><br />It is probably true that a violent revolution in Canada would be messy and get hijacked by autocratic elements. I don't think it's <b>always</b> the case though, and I do think there are cases where a revolution is necessary and a violent one the only kind that will happen. Cuba, for instance, wasn't really hijacked by anyone, although because of outside pressure afterwards they ended up going on a war footing and in a way never leaving. Its possibilities have been greatly stunted, but not because the revolution was violent. Even so, I get the impression that many modern "democracies" are effectively more autocratic than Cuba.Purple library guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01930984683714519212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-32410779897065495032014-01-26T18:56:23.532-08:002014-01-26T18:56:23.532-08:00Re: plutocrats and intelligence. When I was about...Re: plutocrats and intelligence. When I was about 10 I heard the word plutocrat and asked what it meant. My mom answered, "more money than brains." <br />I can't help but think it every time I see/hear the word.karenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11131927710530023725noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-86488419344306940562014-01-26T13:19:56.688-08:002014-01-26T13:19:56.688-08:00Again this is a point discussed at some length by ...Again this is a point discussed at some length by Chris Hedges. He advocates strongly for some sort of measured, controlled reformation rather than defaulting to the chaos that inevitably arises out of revolt.<br /><br />Many countries are already primed for revolt and that will likely be callous and brutal. Crane Brinton's 1938 classic, "The Anatomy of Revolution," should be required reading for today's younger generation. These things do tend to follow a pattern.<br /><br />Revolution, counter-revolution, rebound revolution. Revolutions get hijacked by extremists. That is how the Bolsheviks took over the Menshevik Revolution in Russia. It was that same process that led to "The Terror" in France.The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-9999529600487095262014-01-26T12:53:18.818-08:002014-01-26T12:53:18.818-08:00The scarey thing is and I think think this is a bl...The scarey thing is and I think think this is a blind spot for Progressives, in which direction does this revolution go? For the past 50 years in the United States there has been a lot of infrastructure and social support put in place for Christian Fascism. We quite literally could have a societal wide breakdown which allows a charismatic leader to emerge on the right and seize power. <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-76906228520770092112014-01-26T12:36:04.579-08:002014-01-26T12:36:04.579-08:00On what basis do you claim that plutocrats have hi...On what basis do you claim that plutocrats have higher intelligence? The brightest types I know are certainly not among their ranks. You could say that Donald Trump is a plutocrat. Do you ascribe some world dominating intelligence to him or those of the Trump class?<br /><br />I think your premise is deeply flawed.The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-41836710455306943522014-01-26T11:36:06.213-08:002014-01-26T11:36:06.213-08:00The very interesting phenomenon is that generally ...The very interesting phenomenon is that generally plutocrats = higher intelligence.<br />And it is very difficult to get intelligence via other way than direct genetic transfer from mom&dad.<br />That would mean 2 general classes of people in the future: wizards and the rest of us.<br />A..nonAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com