Slog Comments
A Con Artist Who Preys on Con Artists, "defiant faggotry," and the Half-Blood Blues
1
I'm not sure about why Faggots are so scared of Faggotry but I for one am a little old school. I actually think that the two big perks of being a cock loving queer was I never had to worry about getting married and never had to worry about going off to fight corporate wars. Yeah, I get idea of we should all be equal and blah blah blah. But if being equal means we can die for Halliburton and go broke having high prices weddings and the "consumer lifestyle" of buy until you choke...well I guess we've finally made it.
2
Anyone who thinks that sexual orientation was implicitly a call to anti-capitalist revolution was always, always deluding themselves.
...and for a bunch of quasi-marxists (an assumption, but I think a safe one), are displaying a profound ignorance of what Marx understood capitalism to be. You don't need to slog all the way through Kapital to get this, he covers it thoroughly in the Manifesto: all that is solid melts into air, bitches. The only thing capitalism cannot dissolve is class. (And that's an axiom: that which is left undissolved is the set of things we call class, and hence vice-versa.) Faggots, dykes, and yes also the transgendered and the intersexed are well within capitalism's solvent powers: you will be absorbed, swirled around and then finally centrifuged into your class strata. You're not gonna start the revolution because of who you sleep with, and that's okay: the revolution happens when capitalism cannot solve its own problems any more.
...and for a bunch of quasi-marxists (an assumption, but I think a safe one), are displaying a profound ignorance of what Marx understood capitalism to be. You don't need to slog all the way through Kapital to get this, he covers it thoroughly in the Manifesto: all that is solid melts into air, bitches. The only thing capitalism cannot dissolve is class. (And that's an axiom: that which is left undissolved is the set of things we call class, and hence vice-versa.) Faggots, dykes, and yes also the transgendered and the intersexed are well within capitalism's solvent powers: you will be absorbed, swirled around and then finally centrifuged into your class strata. You're not gonna start the revolution because of who you sleep with, and that's okay: the revolution happens when capitalism cannot solve its own problems any more.
4
Mattilda's reading at UW is actually next Monday. You can verify that on her events page: http://www.mattildabernsteinsycamore.com…
5
@2: I dunno, depends on whether you believe in the rapture, er, revolution or not.
(I think the accumulation of evidence is looking pretty strong against it right now: Leninism/Stalinism poisoned the pool thoroughly, and meanwhile capitalism seems to have weathered larger crises than Marx ever saw in his lifetime. But of course that only means we haven't found the breaking point yet.)
(I think the accumulation of evidence is looking pretty strong against it right now: Leninism/Stalinism poisoned the pool thoroughly, and meanwhile capitalism seems to have weathered larger crises than Marx ever saw in his lifetime. But of course that only means we haven't found the breaking point yet.)
6
(And, obviously, none of this is to say that it's a bad idea to advocate for a more humane society inside capitalism's structures at the same time that we try to conceive of a life in its absence.)
7
@2 Yeah. It's kind of weird to assume that dudes-sexing-dudes should be some kind of magical exception to the superficial consumerist lifestyle. Didn't these people ever read anything by the paragon-of-once-gayness Truman Capote?
It's interesting that the same people who seem to think of Capitalism is an irreparable decaying hold over from the Gilden Age of 19th Century injustice then go on to hold up the theories of Marx as some sort of modern scientific solution. Marx died in 1883, people.
Man. Can we stop looking back? What ever the solution is I doubt very much it'll time tunnel its way from the Industrial revolution.
It's interesting that the same people who seem to think of Capitalism is an irreparable decaying hold over from the Gilden Age of 19th Century injustice then go on to hold up the theories of Marx as some sort of modern scientific solution. Marx died in 1883, people.
Man. Can we stop looking back? What ever the solution is I doubt very much it'll time tunnel its way from the Industrial revolution.
8
The more you gradually give people their rights, the less likely they are to begin a revolution. Lenin understood this even as a teenager when he opposed his family's charity to the peasants victim of famine.
In other words: Christ, what an asshole.
In other words: Christ, what an asshole.
9
I'm not sure gay culture has changed so much as the stereotypes about it have. The fact that the blurb conflates the two suggests that the essays aren't very perceptive or they're being deliberately provocative. In either case, it doesn't sound very interesting.
10
And "backrooms" are an example of anti-consumerism? The bars with back rooms were run by the mafia, for Christ sake. And bathhouses and clubs were always capitalist enterprises. The Club Baths and Man's Country were chains that made millions.
11
Paul, thanks so much for mentioning Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots -- a lively conversation is certainly what I'm hoping for!!! And, TotesFierce it's right that my reading at UW in the Allen Auditorium isn't until next Monday, March 26 -- but, my Seattle launch will be tomorrow, March 20, 7 pm at Elliott Bay -- I encourage everyone to come out to the event, it should be delicious...
12
Paul, thanks so much for mentioning Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots -- a lively conversation is certainly what I'm hoping for!!! And, TotesFierce is right that my reading at UW in the Allen Auditorium isn't until next Monday, March 26 -- but, my Seattle launch will be tomorrow, March 20, 7 pm at Elliott Bay -- I encourage everyone to come out to the event, it should be delicious...
13
@11 If I can't behave, fall in love, marry, do what I dream of doing then screw your revolution. My penis or heart is not your vehicle of idealist ascetism.
I am what I am because I was raised to be what I am. I can change, but I won't suffer to make others proud of my great revolutionary behaviour. And to be honest the point, which @2's missinterpreted lenin-anecdote kinda leads to is that all attempts to create a new society by changing its inhabitants first to fit a utopian society has always failed.
The idea is to change the society in which we live to allow us to be different. Thats why the current society-changer we call the internet is such a society changer (where trade value as a concept has totally changed and morphed) where as for example Saudi Arabia still has theft, murder and rape no matter how hard they punish it.
A change of gender roles based on our forced changed behaviour will never fully pan out because it demands complete idealism of all within society. Where as for example split parental leave and parental support have changed society where its implemented and created less strict gender roles within parenting (for example).
@2 Thank you.
@8 great way of missing the point. I'm not a leninist but its kinda a thing about why solidarity differs from charity. And to tie into the subject: why bread is more relevant than morals.
I am what I am because I was raised to be what I am. I can change, but I won't suffer to make others proud of my great revolutionary behaviour. And to be honest the point, which @2's missinterpreted lenin-anecdote kinda leads to is that all attempts to create a new society by changing its inhabitants first to fit a utopian society has always failed.
The idea is to change the society in which we live to allow us to be different. Thats why the current society-changer we call the internet is such a society changer (where trade value as a concept has totally changed and morphed) where as for example Saudi Arabia still has theft, murder and rape no matter how hard they punish it.
A change of gender roles based on our forced changed behaviour will never fully pan out because it demands complete idealism of all within society. Where as for example split parental leave and parental support have changed society where its implemented and created less strict gender roles within parenting (for example).
@2 Thank you.
@8 great way of missing the point. I'm not a leninist but its kinda a thing about why solidarity differs from charity. And to tie into the subject: why bread is more relevant than morals.
14
@7 Marx is the theoretical basis of a lot of current social and political theory. Theory is a living thing, few people, and no one worth listening to, is a "fundimentalist" old-school Marxist, the world and how we understand the world is far more complicated. But as #2 said, all that is solid melts into air...
Anyhow, go read some Cornel West and maybe some Zizek and get back to me, it's a great, fun time!
Capitalism needn't be stable or ideal to function, it's just the only game in town, and the game is rigged, humans need models that analyze and understand why that is to offer a valid critique. And really, it's not like the world has answer Marx's critique of capitalism whatsoever.
Anyhow, go read some Cornel West and maybe some Zizek and get back to me, it's a great, fun time!
Capitalism needn't be stable or ideal to function, it's just the only game in town, and the game is rigged, humans need models that analyze and understand why that is to offer a valid critique. And really, it's not like the world has answer Marx's critique of capitalism whatsoever.
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