Mike Gurstein wrote: > If one adopts a "predators" analysis which would seem obvious from the > account which focuses specifically on the role of speculators in causing the > localized starvation of the time, the question becomes where did the > predators come from ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Only a racist would ask this question.
> Are they born predators as for example some people are born Swiss (or > Hungarian) in which case perhaps some sort of genetic testing might be > undertaken and once the marker had been identified they would then be set > adrift on fast flowing rivers in reed baskets at birth? > > Are they made predators by their environment as for example living in high > alpen regions (or in the salons of Budapest) in which case if we could > eliminate the environment perhaps we could get rid of the problem. Gurstein's attempt at mocking me is illogical and inappropriate -- again. I never suggested that e.g. Soros coming from Hungary would matter (on the contrary, I opposed Ray's suggestion that it matters), and I never suggested that predators should be killed. Both racism and killing are predator concepts, and if Gurstein thinks in such concepts, that is pretty telling -- and it fits nicely to his defense of predators. > Or perhaps predators (or "billionaires") aren't born or made but are rather > somewhat ordinary if intelligent, calculating and amoral people who happen > to find an opportunity provided to them by broken > legislative/regulatory/taxation systems which they then take full advantage > of to wreck their havoc. This usual predator excuse (not the fox is to blame that the hens are dead, but the farmer is to blame because he left a hole in the henhouse fence unfixed) still opens the question who "broke" the systems in the first place -- especially when there are relationships between the fox and those who cut the hole in the henhouse fence. Think Glass-Steagall repeal, etc. > If the latter then perhaps through strengthening/fixing of the > legisltative/regulatory/taxation system we might eliminate the enabling > structures for their predation Why focus on the structures when it is the predators' personal behavior that counts? Again, Gurstein is spreading red herrings in defense of predators. With predators in place not only in political offices but also in "civil society" places (guess why Soros puts so much emphasis on these?), guess what can be expected in terms of "fixing the regulatory system"? That's like making the fox guard the henhouse. Gurstein in his position is an impressive illustration of that, especially with his recent comments. > and reduce them to once again being simple > folk exercising their amorality by haranguing other simple folk on email > lists such as this one. If anyone is "exercising their amorality" on this email list, it is Gurstein with his racist slur against another user (asserting that the user is a predator simply because all of that user's fellow countrymen are predators!). There's nothing wrong with discussing issues and criticizing what others wrote, or the actions of public figures -- that's what email lists are for, Mr. "effective use of ICT"... Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
