Hadn't visited my parent's house in over a year for obvious reasons. When I got there today I couldn't help but notice this book facing outwards on my dad's bookshelf. Obviously he was fucking with me.
It's written by some fox news guy who thinks that Marxists are taking/already have taken over the country (tho he's just playing to the swine right? He's gotta know this is uhh not even close to true). I love how christian conservatives, who control almost every lever of power, do this weird projection thing where they are the victims and the true oppressors are a group that has literally zero power.
Chances that this guy has actually read any Marx beyond the communist manifesto are slim to none but I reeeally can't be bothered to do any hate reading about this fox news chud.
Opened to a random page and he of course mentions antifa and blm and calls marx a utopianist (?)
American reactionaries' perception of Marxism rests upon 4 pillars:
1.) More taxes
2.) Just your standard liberal positions on social issues. You know, things like "LGBT people are valid" and "racism is more than just not using the n-word". Though they sometimes think Marxism adds a more menacing element to all this, i.e. Marxists want to push an agenda specifically on kids. Drag queens reading books to kids is evidence of this agenda.
3.) Atheism. Because this is something they legitimately believe Marx was all about more than anything else.
4.) "Post-truth" or at least what they think "post-truth" is based on what some Evangelical blogger said about it once. Marxism means there is no truth and literally everything - including ideology - is equally true as everything else. This was a particularly important pillar to Jordan Peterson, as I think this is basically what he thinks "cultural Marxism" is.
“Post-truth” or at least what they think “post-truth” is based on what some Evangelical blogger said about it once.
it was Jordan Peterson :jbp:
"Post-truth” or at least what they think “post-truth” is based on what some Evangelical blogger said about it once. Marxism means there is no truth and literally everything - including ideology - is equally true as everything else. This was a particularly important pillar to Jordan Peterson, as I think this is basically what he thinks “cultural Marxism” is.
Moral relativism, intrinsically closely related to your third point
Engels distinguished “utopian” socialism from “scientific” socialism in 1880
Long before that, they devote part of the communist manifesto to diss on utopians.
once upon a time christians were crucified, tortured, fed to lions, etc. so modern hyper-nationalist hyper-conservative christians who are incredibly divorced from the life and teachings of Christ like to project that narrative onto themselves.
And even then, persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire was much, much less than they make it out to be.
all attempts to make the world a better place are “utopian” and “naive” and “bound to fail.”
In addition to just being an excuse to not even try to make the world a better place, this ties into their beliefs about "human nature" and the the inherent sinfulness of man that is so critical to their religion.
Well I did read a couple (glowing, right wing) reviews and I guess Marxist just means woke now. So he probably didn't even do Jordan Peterson level research for this book. Just got mad reading tweets about cancel culture
I saw that cover and thought “oh cool, is that a history of leftists pre-McCarthy? I’d read that!”. No. Of course it’s not.
:sadness:
Maybe we could have a subversive version that uses the exact same title but is about history instead.
These types of books are grown up versions of fairytales and feel good confirmation belief material. They already agree with everything the book is gonna say, none of it is particularly different than what they already know or have been told to believe, but maybe the author uses a few new buzzwords that fire off endorphins when reading to make the reader feel like they're actually learning something.
I use to hate read Ron Paul awhile back and to be truthful it was a bit interesting for a short while. But it became such a drag real quick with how repetitive it got in the belief that the government shouldn't do anything cause all people are somehow inherently able to become well off enough with their own two hands, which, even around 2006 or so when I read it was obviously not true. It just sorta drones on about the same few topics but in different scenarios. Not a fan of hate reading nonsense like that anymore. But skimming a few pages and laughing is always fun while it lasts.
I saw a few quotations from this book, I don't think the author has read a single page of Marx. He understands jack shit about Marxism.
Actually the chapter where he tackles surplus labor value is very enlightening.
For real though, I read a quote where he says corporate boardrooms are hotbeds of Marxist beliefs.
i read some Amazon reviews of it awhile back. its something like universities are incredibly liberal and teach marxism. liberals want to give you free college and hate everyone who doesnt go to college. liberals are forcing you to become marxists
They keep repeating the lie, people believe it and it acts as a smokescreen for the way leftist professors are actually treated by universities.
Damn in my business school I don't think I even heard mention of Keynes lmao
Literally saw this prominently displayed at my local target yesterday
