I've heard this guy being recommended multiple times, it's a shame bc some of his analysis may have some value, but this is inexusible amounts of stupidpol, he has many other endorsements of transphobia and homophbia on his twitter and it's always through the lens of saying gender essentialism is the materialist stance (more dunks in comments)

  • viva_la_juche [they/them, any]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Yeah hakim recommends him sometimes. I have towards a new socialism on my reading list and I think I may have even read the first chapter but he’s been consistently a ding dong about stuff like this from what I’ve seen and heard

    • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I'm reading it now and it's very compelling, not noticing any of these brainworms leaking through (though that may be because of his co-author Cottrell keeping him in check).

      Really fucking sucks when someone who actually does have some decent cybernetic adjacent ideas about modern socialism is such a reactionary moron.

      • viva_la_juche [they/them, any]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Yeah also probably helps it’s specifically about economic issues

        Really fucking sucks when someone who actually does have some decent cybernetic adjacent ideas about modern socialism is such a reactionary moron.

        :yea:

        • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          It's not even about economic issues, just what data would be needed for running a central planning system and the algorithms and data structures needed to iteratively compute labor value. They also go into a sort of labor token economy and how it would work within the planning system (I do actually think they are into something with some of that, at least using a labor token system in a transitional stage of communism).

          • viva_la_juche [they/them, any]
            ·
            2 years ago

            Lol I just meant it’d be weird for him to be like “and this algorithm can keep track of the bread production for the populace, ok now let me to tel you about the trans agenda…!”

            The subject matter probably provides less space than say an analysis of “the left” in America would. And well apparently he has published some works about lgbt people passed off as that kind of analysis

            The parts you’re talking about def sound interesting tho. I need to get back around to reading it I think I even have the pdf somewhere

            • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
              ·
              2 years ago

              Here's a passage from the opening of the book that's kinda sus:

              All political class struggle requires both a class-conscious leadership and a program of demands around which the class can be united. So far, perhaps the most important issue in women’s political struggle has been the struggle over abortion rights. So long as the domestic mode of production persists, control over fertility is essential to women who wish to control their own labour time.

              The struggle of women as a class against domestic exploitation can take on a revolutionary character only if its objective becomes the replacement of the domestic economy by more advanced forms of production relations. Unless there is persistent propaganda for alternative ways for people to live together,  prepare food, care for children and provide each other with emotional support, it will not be possible to raise the contradiction between men and women out of personal politics up to the level of political class struggle. In this sense we can view the contradiction between men and women as still being a suppressed or latent contradiction in British politics.

              We believe that women’s struggles can best be given a revolutionary content by putting forward a concrete image of a communal way of life that can supplant the present day patriarchal family.

              I think they're just saying that abortion rights are important, but they aren't revolutionary because they don't necessarily change the economic relationships that perpetuate the domestic economy? It does kinda read as "abortion isn't that big of an issue", but it's worded in a way that still says it's important.

              But yeah, chapter 12 is basically the only chapter that deals directly with this stuff. The rest is just planning system algorithms and charts.

              • Awoo [she/her]
                ·
                2 years ago

                Unless there is persistent propaganda for alternative ways for people to live together, prepare food, care for children and provide each other with emotional support, it will not be possible to raise the contradiction between men and women out of personal politics up to the level of political class struggle. In this sense we can view the contradiction between men and women as still being a suppressed or latent contradiction in British politics.

                This seems absolutely correct to me, and I have absolutely no fucking idea how someone can write this and also be against "gender ideology" when it specifically pushes propaganda for alternative ways for people to live together, it could do a lot more of that if we really pushed it to.

                Feels to me like they're on the right track but with some brainworms mixed in. If they can be dewormed there's something of value here.

                • Mardoniush [she/her]
                  ·
                  2 years ago

                  View it in the lens of someone who is hardline Bioessentialist in the 70s feminist (sub)tradition and you see the sus begin to seep out.

                • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
                  ·
                  2 years ago

                  Yeah, which is why I'm so befuddled by this shit that he's on right now. Maybe the brainworms developed after the 90s?

                  Still would recommend reading TaNS, but definitely keep in mind his current bigotry. I haven't seen it pop up really, but maybe I'm missing something. Overall the book is useful as a tool for looking at possible systems for maintaining a socialist project with technology.

                  • Awoo [she/her]
                    ·
                    2 years ago

                    I wonder what he thinks of Cuba's treatment of lgbt and specifically trans people these days. Does he believe Cuba is desperately being taken over by bourgeoise ideology? What does he think their new family legislation is and who the driving forces behind it were?

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        This is why it is so vital to kill your heroes. If someone has useful ideas or information then take it without making apologies for the person.