Where are these defeatist democrats I keep hearing about? I’ve never actually met one. I’ve never had a conversation, even a casual one, where someone on the left is like, “Well, at least I can still afford my bag of rice…” But every fucking political meme I see has these shitbrain democrats that are just puttering around with no purpose like some limp dick avatar of social justice. Stop making up positions and then applying incorrect labels to them, you aren’t helping anyone.
Considering it’s being contrasted to anarchism, the comparison of ‘Life could be worse’ with ‘Life can be better’ is accurate. Democrats are generally liberals who want to refine the system, not tear it down and build a better one. “Representative market capitalist social democracy is the best and most stable we’ve found, so let’s not fuck it unnecessarily.” Whereas anarchists are generally in favor of tearing down current extant institutions to be replaced with other systems of economic and social organization. “The current system is cruel and you cannot refine it. It has to go for life to meaningfully improve.”
And, of course, Republicans seeking to tear everything down and build an intentionally worse system in its place.
I’m always interested in the comparison with programmers who want to start from scratch to make it better, only to make it just as bad as before, but after spending a lot of efforts.
It’s always an interesting question to explore. I have some anarchist sympathies, though I wouldn’t count myself in their ranks. I definitely get their criticisms of the current structures of society, and anarchism isn’t nonviable. But at the same time, I don’t know that it’s the way forward.
All I know is that capitalism has outstayed its welcome.
I thought anarchists wanted no system at all. Without being anar, the current system has to be replaced with a better one, because we’re on track to our demise wirh climate change and limited resources to fix the problems (limited copper, which needs clear water, or sand. Check out limits to growth). We’ll see the consequences in a few years…
edit: onkyo is right.
I thought anarchists wanted no system at all.
Tell me you know nothing about anarchism without telling me you know nothing about anarchism
If you say that this is from the Anarchist’s perspective, then it is disingenuous or completely blind to reality, and I’m not sure which is worse. Truth and perspective aren’t mutually exclusive. Painting democrats as they have been in the comic isn’t an accurate depiction, and instead of trying to find an ally it seeks to further divide and aggravate. I say the same thing to Anarchists that I do to Libertarians. If your ideas are so great, why doesn’t everyone follow them? A political party shouldn’t need a hard sell, because that means that there can be no compromise, and like it or not, without compromise, you’ll die on the vine.
The everyday media consumer can see it a bit on American pundit shows, especially ones like Morning Joe Scarborough and variously on things like the Cspan callin shows.
I.e. you got to seek it out and willfully steep youself in poltical punditry.
That said, if you ever find yourself working on the political campaign of a progressive challenger to a conservative Democrat, you’ll get it directly. But I have never seen the defeatism assocated with anything leftist, always more as the criticism of Democratic party conservatism.
Calvin being an anarchist explains a lot about my politics.
Thank you for teaching me something about myself.
Rereading Calvin and Hobbes as an adult is surreal. All the things you loved as a kid were still there, but you understand the philosophical musings so much better. Those wagon rides were wasted on 7 year-old me.
A couple lifetimes ago I worked for a company that provided web metrics for GoComics. We had a meeting to go over them, and I was so excited to see that Calvin & Hobbes comics had 5X the views of every other comic.
So I got on the phone and I pointed this out to the marketing drones on the call, and one of them said “Yeah, that doesn’t make any sense to me. Why don’t people like our new comics?”
And I felt a deep, deep sorrow for them.
Some people play Disco Elysium and think the story and characters are lame. I don’t believe in a soul, but some people are more soulless than others.
I dunno, I see Democrats more as Calvin’s “Life could be a whole lot better too!” Then they poll to find out how life could be better, make lofty campaign promises that inevitably become watered-down half-measures when they have to build a coalition around their various corporate interests, get stonewalled by Republicans who call them un-American socialist scum on Fox News for even trying to make life better, go on the political talkshow tour to sheepishly defend their character, get ignored, then give up and do nothing until the next election cycle.
That is the thrust behind, “Why does Christian god let’s the evil happen ?”
This is the Epicurian Paradox, for those interested.
The Christian god is presented as all powerful, all knowing, and all good/benevolent. We see evil acts EVERYWHERE plain as day, but taking the Christian god at face value, it shouldn’t even be possible for evil to exist:
- If a god knows everything and has unlimited power, then they have knowledge of all evil and have the power to put an end to it. But if they do not end it, they are not completely benevolent.
- If a god has unlimited power and is completely good, then they have the power to extinguish evil and want to extinguish it. But if they do not do it, their knowledge of evil is limited, so they are not all-knowing.
- If a god is all-knowing and totally good, then they know of all the evil that exists and wants to change it. But if they do not, it must be because they are not capable of changing it, so they are not omnipotent.
This really reminds me of https://crimethinc.com/zines/calvin-and-hobbes-guide-to-daily-life
