24 - On the PMC Question by Superstructure
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@moltopopulare joins co-hosts Natalie Smith, Will Beaman & Maxximilian Seijo to problematize unquestioned leftist critiques of the “Professional Managerial Class,” or “PMC,” past and present. As exemplified by a recent episode of The Dig podcast, leftists frequently invoke the epithet “PMC”--as well as its cousin, “ultra leftist,” or simply “ultra”--in order to shore up class solidarity against capitalist cooptation and ward off allegedly unfeasible political aims. Yet in reality, the Superstructure gang argues, the left PMC trope conceals deeply zero-sum and exclusionary logics that undercut universal emancipation and caretaking. Often stemming from a place of self-loathing or a desire for self-exculpation, such logics not only police leftist discourse according to a univocal workerist ethos, but also violently divide supposedly legitimate from illegitimate horizons of contestation in a manner that reduces universalism to exceptionalism. Tracing the PMC figure’s theoretical and historical roots, the episode culminates with a sustained reading from Karl Marx’s controversial essay, “On the Jewish Question.” Link to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MoLsuperstructure Music: “Yum” from “This Would Be Funny If It Were Happening To Anyone But Me” EP by flirting. http://flirtingfullstop.bandcamp.com Twitter: @actualflirting

All Hegelian Podcasts Are Radlib Nonce-sense. AHPARN

It's obvious why these people are uninterested in talking about the alienation of workers, or why they whine about the "hypocrisy" of PMC people criticizing their own class. Academic Marxist philosophy is a glowie CIA funded program for fake-Marxists, they're not interested in having solidarity except with each other. These nerds are paid to ignore and mystify structural violence, why wouldn't they also ignore their role in doing violence? Its easier to instead whine about how oppressed they are by being called Karens and how frightened they are by "populist" rhetoric

https://www.pastemagazine.com/politics/liberals/lectureporn-the-vulgar-art-of-liberal-narcissism/

I turned this bullshit off half way, but apparently they talk about Marx's historical materialist take on jewishness? Which is ironic since these class traitors did not do any of that in the first part of the ep. These fucking idealist Hegelians rambling about Jews is probably literally the least valuable contribution to the discourse I can imagine lol

  • Steely_Gaige [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    This show had Matt on once, I think the episode was called Close Encounters with the Dirtbag Left (or similar). I found the episode fascinating in a weird way, but based on the two episodes I've heard, your analysis seems very fitting. It came off as esoteric self-aggrandizing weird shit that I barely understood.

    It's like on the surface their worldview is geared towards helping workers, but they're like MMT people. And that comes off to me as a very top-down approach, where the workers are still alienated from the process and the rich are still allowed to flourish?

    I may be misinterpreting it. Like I said, I didn't really get it.

    I have no clue who the audience of this shit is, it's so inaccessible. I'm like, educated or whatever and I had a very difficult time following their thoughts.

    • el_principito [he/him,none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I found out about it through Matt’s feature also.

      Matt literally exhausts himself in that episode. Homie keeps up with their stupid verbiage and can’t get them to admit it’s all about praxis.

      :matt:

  • thrwdwnaway [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Probably the last good observation Terese had on what's left was when she did a deep dive into the origins of the online left and talked about when she was a normal DSA type person reaching out to the circles that had the Bruenigs, Matt, Amber, etc before things solidified into what we see now. The most interesting part of it was her talking about how it was all based around Gawker/Buzzfeed type media work and there was just no real coherent political project to it at the start. Instead of being a socialist effort that went online, it was more a type of left politics that evolved specifically for being able to control online spaces and defend online media. Dirtbag left media could flourish in a way normal jerkass media couldn't. It could wield a type of moral authority at a time in the Internet's history when otherwise clout just went to whoever was charismatic and well connected.

    It really clarified to a large extent why twitter and the whole podcast sphere is the way it is. It was also a sort of bittersweet thing because I think if she hadn't alienated so many people the information could have been more widely understood, but the alienation is the only reason she is able to share the things the rest of the circle doesn't want to acknowledge. You can put it together with Matt's observations on the demographics of left twitter along with its inability to engage the working class and Terese's observation is the unspoken key to why that is.

  • Mrtryfe [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I listened to Superstructure twice and all I could think of was how exhausting it must be to just talk like you're reciting a thesis paper every time you get on the mic