Greetings Economists, Carrol Cox writes, Viewed abstractly, from outside history, "their" strategy has been stupid for 500 years, and "Massive retaliation for everything" describes the crushing of rebellions in the english countryside in the 16th century, the long massacre of the 18th century described by Linebaugh, the incredibly expensive conquest and repression of India over several centuries, the long blood repression in England in the early 19th century culminating in the suppression of the Chartists, Leopold, u.s. slavery, on and on and on. It was all incredibly irrational, destructive, and horrrible -- and it worked.
Doyle I think this point is excellent. I would add that saying the opposition is stupid is a pretty empty point that usually reflects how the speaker or writer feels about the capitalist. In disability rights terms of course there is a parallel to that when one calls whomever crazy, etc. That is how we tend to see the structure of society as society appears to us in daily life. Stupid people cause trouble. Crazy people cause trouble. The key element is how we feel. Human emotion is a labor process which has a definite outcome. We feel a certain way and we act on those feelings. In historical terms managing those feelings has evolved with the structure of societies we created. So for good example because everyone is familiar with the process we practice rational thinking to exclude the 'irrationality' of emotions. Taking empty pejoratives out of every day speech in order to recognize the political impact of their usage is common to Christian sects that admonish their membership to not take God's name in vain, goddamn. Regulating emotion structure is also a pacifist tactic as in non-violence. Turn the cheek and love your enemy. That such tactics do work in some emotions of some people allows us to at least understand that certain kinds of non-verbal forms of communication of brainwork do things we can't quite rationalize in the classic enlightenment terms. The big issue in organizing people is how to manage the whole group's emotional connectivity to the group. It is not hard to understand that we belong to a group because we feel we do, not because we can rationalize belonging (speak the words). We can though say that in the case of empty phrases like 'stupid', that the solution is to make a group process that as a whole everyone feels subject to and can employ in their lives comfortably. It is not enough to say that the label 'stupid' does not apply to the capitalist. One must in some profound sense say why the system doesn't work for working class people. And they 'feel' like a part of that rationalization of the brainwork we call feeling. That when in pain the working class says 'stupid' capitalists, and puts into the empty place holder of intense feelings some thing appropriate to working class power and systemic thinking. thanks, Doyle Saylor
