On 2 Jan 2001 you wrote:_
I too remember reading the literature of the 1960s and 1970s and still have
some of it on my shelves. Stuff based on Marx and Freud; Marcuse, and Erich
Fromm. At the level of the idealist in me, there are still times when I
wish people could transcend themselves and become something greater and more
human than they are. But the realist, or perhaps cynic, in me doubts that
it's likely. Nobody has to turn us into commodities. In our market driven
society, we do it to ourselves, and willingly. Most of us don't even think
about it anymore.
Ed Weick
I have been following this thread with interest and am astounded by the
high level of generalised language and concepts being employed to address
the socio-economic, political and ecological complexity which increasing
numbers of people around the planet appear to be concerned about.
Merely 'wishing' that (otherwise) rational human beings..."could transcend
themselves and become something greater and more human than they are" is
surely a quite scarey approach to our current dilemna, as is the conclusion
that...."Nobody has to turn us into commodities. In our market driven
society, we do it to ourselves, and willingly. Most of us don't even think
about it anymore."
Such assertions obfuscate, for instance, the central (and, to date at
least, most successful) role being played by the highly-rewarded
'executives' of the global advertising industry who expend (waste) BILLIONS
of dollars annually manipulating people around the world to consume a
mind-boggling array of mass-produced commodities.
But then the extant phase of the now globally-dominant Capitalist mode of
production is characterised by the ideological hegemony facilitated by not
only the parasitic advertising industry but the broader Capitalist media
industry (of which it forms part), and what is euphemistically referred to
as the (western) 'education' industry as well.
With the "scientific advances/progress" in the capacity of contemporary
nuclear/biological weapons to totally eliminate ALL life on the planet
arousing public concern - along with rising widespread social inequality
and ecological despoliation and destruction - the imperative for the ruling
Capitalist and bureaucratic/managerialist classes is to ensure that they
are able to maintain the upper hand in the 'ideological' warfare which is
proving essential to protect and preserve such an anti-social and
contradictory/irrational mode of social production AND RE-PRODUCTION.
It is because of this reality that we have been witness, over recent years,
to an escalation of the ideological warfare ( backed up of course in
'recalcitrant' states by overt and, in the case of Yugoslavia and
Iraq, 'example' militarism) being waged from well-funded and highly
influential right-wing/conservative 'think-tanks', 'institutes' and the
like, from which have emanated the Thatcherite/Reganite 'strategic policy
initiatives' and so on....('De-regulation', Re-structuring',
''Privatisation' etc) which continue to transform both our natural and
social milieux. At both the ideological and everyday ' world-of-work'
level, a central pillar of the dominant mindset/worldview driving the whole
process has been neo-liberal economic ' theory', underlaid or supported by
the intellectually anarchic 'paradigm' of
post-structuralist/de-constructionist theory of public discourse.
Now whilst the Marxian 'paradigm'/theory (and its Marcusian etc acolytes)
left much both unexamined and un(der)-explained, it was nevertheless
sufficiently compelling/efficacious as to transform the
socio-economic/civic/political relations of millions of peoples around the
world. Thus, we are where we are today because of the 'success' (a la
Fukuyama) of Capitalist ideology over alternative worldviews and concrete
modes of (social) production and distribution/exchange. But as
social/political and ecological events AND THEIR MOUNTING COSTS continue to
demonstrate, the historical ' victory' of Capitalism over any and all
communitarian/socialist alternatives is likely to prove a pyrrhic one....a
reality which even Mr Fukuyama has apparently at least partly conceded!
The other contributing factor to the 'success' and dominance of the widely
despised Capitalist system is the abject disarray of its sworn opponents, '
the left'. Of course with many of the 'leaders' of the numerous Left
factions ensconced in well-rewarded sinecures, from whence they continue to
launch their attacks on those considered not to be ' true believers', how
can the managerialist/capitalist classes not succeed?!
What those of the left have thus far failed to achieve is to re-educate and
re-unite the hundreds of millions of decent ' working class ' people around
the globe who continue to be increasingly marginalised and alienated from
one another including, in particular, the well-credentialled (but poorly
educated and pretentious) members of the so-called ' middle class '.
The widening gulf between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots' around the world
- including of course within the so-called ' rich countries ' - surely
confirms the ancient wisdoms and injunctions enunciated in all of the
mainstream Christian texts regarding the importance and nature of a 'just
and equitable' society. Marx merely revealed the socially divisive nature
of the Capitalist mode of production (he was actually impressed with many
of the technological innovations and benefits deriving from within this
particular socio-economic system), and called for a more humane and
civil-ised society wherein each contributed according to their ability and
received according to their need.
john foster
