Censorship

[des-esseintes]

You may or may not have heard of Francis Fukuyama, he is an outstanding reactionary ideologue, outstanding only in his obtuseness, he has for example released a book arguing that the fall of the Soviet Union meant the end of history. From the introduction:

The distant origins of the present volume lie in an article entitled "The End of History?" which I wrote for the journal The National Interest in the summer of 1989. In it, I argued that a remarkable consensus concerning the legitimacy of liberal democracy as a system of government had emerged throughout the world over the past few years, as it conquered rival ideologies like hereditary monarchy, fascism, and most recently communism. More than that, however, I argued that liberal democracy may constitute the "end point of mankind's ideological evolution" and the "final form of human government," and as such constituted the "end of history." That is, while earlier forms of government were characterised by grave defects and irrationalities that led to their eventual collapse, liberal democracy was arguably free from such fundamental internal contradictions. This was not to say that today's stable democracies, like the United States, France, or Switzerland, were not without injustice or serious social problems. But these problems were ones of incomplete implementation of the twin principles of liberty and equality on which modern democracy is founded, rather than of flaws in the principles themselves. While some present-day countries might fail to achieve stable liberal democracy, and others might lapse back into other, more primitive forms of rule like theocracy or military dictatorship, the ideal of liberal democracy could not be improved on...

...And yet, good news has come. The most remarkable development of the last quarter of the twentieth century has been the revelation of enormous weaknesses at the core of the world's seemingly strong dictatorships, whether they be of the military-authoritarian Right, or the communist-totalitarian Left. From Latin America to Eastern Europe, from the Soviet Union to the Middle East and Asia, strong governments have been failing over the last two decades. And while they have not given way in all cases to stable liberal democracies, liberal democracy remains the only coherent political aspiration that spans different regions and cultures around the globe. In addition, liberal principles in economics — the “free market” — have spread, and have succeeded in producing unprecedented levels of material prosperity, both in industrially developed countries and in countries that had been, at the close of World War II, part of the impoverished Third World. A liberal revolution in economic thinking has sometimes preceded, sometimes followed, the move toward political freedom around the globe...

...The experiences of the Soviet Union, China, and other socialist countries indicate that while highly centralised economies are sufficient to reach the level of industrialisation represented by Europe in the 1950s, they are woefully inadequate in creating what have been termed complex "post-industrial" economies in which information and technological innovation play a much larger role...

...Man differs fundamentally from the animals, however, because in addition he desires the desire of other men, that is, he wants to be “recognised"...

...By Hegel's account, the desire to be recognised as a human being with dignity drove man at the beginning of history into a bloody battle to the death for prestige. The outcome of this battle was a division of human society into a class of masters, who were willing to risk their lives, and a class of slaves, who gave in to their natural fear of death...

And so much more it makes you want to puke.

My question is:
How, specifically, does the system bring this guy, and other modern reactionary clowns like him, into a position of authority where they can spread such comical lies around?

And why don't i see any real Communist literature with easy theories and simple introductions to Marxism, such as on IDOM, anywhere except on IDOM? I looked through the "Communism" section of my local library and found only the classics such as Capital and the Manifesto (not much use if your a novice to Marxism!)

If we are to propagate the Marxist message, we should gain an understanding of how the current system censors and slanders us - there is no official censorship in Western nations, so what kind of censorship is there!?

comradely,
Des

[djn]

Despite what people may think of Noam Chomsky, his piece, "The Responsibility of Intellectuals" adequately explains the phenomenon. Written in 1966, just near the "official" beginning of the Vietnam War, Chomsky points out that intellectuals are "in a position to expose the lies of governments, to analyze actions according to their causes and motives and often hidden intentions." One of his better known phrases says "It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and to expose lies".  Having established that, Chomsky goes on, giving numerous detailed examples of intellectuals that support the Vietnam War through a series of illogical arguments that demonstrate class-interests, ideologoical interests, etc. It sums up that the "liberal" presses, notably the NY Times, generally refuses to print anything with a remotely non-status-quo analysis. The press prefer to give light to pro-capitalist ideas, however ridiculous they are, like Fukuyama's "end of history".

On the matter of censorship, and propaganda, Chomsky and Edward Herman wrote "Manufacturing Consent" which builds a virtually disreputable propaganda model for the US and other Western nations. Its a brilliant piece of work, and I think everyone should read it to understand modern propaganda systems in modern "liberal" nations.

[turnoviseous]

How, specifically, does the system bring this guy, and other modern reactionary clowns like him, into a position of authority where they can spread such comical lies around?

And why don't i see any real Communist literature with easy theories and simple introductions to Marxism, such as on IDOM, anywhere except on IDOM? I looked through the "Communism" section of my local library and found only the classics such as Capital and the Manifesto (not much use if your a novice to Marxism!)

Well this is in the interests of the system of wage labour exploitation, that is of the rulling classes that benefit from it.

Here I have a French book Marx´s Theory (by Étienne Balibar - translated into Slovenian) which is SO confused. If you are not familiar with Marxist ideas you won´t know shit the author writes about. He makes some really stupid critiques of Marx, but they seem kind of good if you are not familiar with Marxist theory.

comradely,