- Capitalism and Alternatives -

here is my thesis sir

Posted by: Gee ( si ) on June 30, 1999 at 13:12:16:

In Reply to: Capitalism is an ideology, not a force of nature posted by Samuel Day Fassbinder on June 30, 1999 at 10:22:18:


: SDF: You seem to be conflating motherly love (an instinct) with the desire to compete amongst those indoctrinated by capitalist society (a product of ideology).

It is simply the matter that if a parent currently has advantages and those advantages would have to be dropped in order to attain more equal opportunities for all they would likely seek to defend their current position. There is no attempt to show it as one ideology or another. Put it simply - if one set of parents lived in a rich valley of plenty, and another lived in the desert - would the first group happily share what they have with the second even if it necessitated having less for themselves?

SDF: And this example offers no proof and no suggestion that any discussion of "self-esteem"
in American classrooms is at fault, or can even be CORRELATED (not to mention the much
more difficult task of showing a relation of CAUSE)

I do hope you apply the same scrutiny to your evidences - lets see.

: Have you observed a lesson on self-esteem in an American classroom?

Youre being obtuse. You know that self esteem isnt a class like math but a pervasive idea. There is a resolution from the National Education Association, to "foster positive self-esteem.".

: Hard data please, no slippery presuppositions padded with weasel-worded rhetoric.

I am , oddly, going to have to agree with Marcos in saying that a demand for masses of research is not a counter argument, that demanding to see the details is not an evidence to disprove it. You go on to name another study - where is the hard data in that? Well youve given me the title and could rightly expect me to go look it up rather than expect you to do it for me. Likewise with the above.

: SDF: Nope, I'm observing that by your definition, the state is creating a "hitler youth" whenever it hires an individual to teach 8-year-olds their multiplication tables, because this counts as "political (accomplished with state aid, and with the political presupposition that 8-year-olds need to multiply) rearing of other people's children."

Taking the piss doesnt constitute an argument. You are also required to teach history, economics and various other 'social' subjects - the content of which is chosen for you not by an association of parents and teachers but by a mixture of pressure groups which affect through government. Hardly representative. You also seem to think that an elected representative somehow becomes the voice of 'people as a whole' even when elected by a minority and presented as a package deal to 'the people'.

: You obviously haven't been a member of any of these human societies. There is such a thing as group loyalty, just not in capitalist businesses.

No I am an alien. Loyalty - revocable and provisional.


Follow Ups:

The Debating Room Post a Followup