“We’re looking at the wrong scale. Even looking at politics on a national scale, once you’ve done that you’ve already lost the game. That’s corporatism, that’s how corporatism works, getting you to think on a non-human scale… and not through true human-scale social capital.”
There’s a way in which this is true. Dewey talks about this in The Public And His Problems, relating how the advent of globalized mass media had a paralyzing effect on the public by informing them of terrible things which they are powerless to affect. It’s also true that in power-politics, power-organizations have the upper hand, another reason it’s bad that unions have been atrophying, and that it’s good that more human-centric power-organizations are emerging.
Ultimately, though, I think its imperative to strike a new balance. A simple rejection of scale in favor of local-thinking is, I believe, a dangerous cop-out on par with Pirate Utopianism. Human progress away from organized oppression and institutionalized injustice is largely the story of larger-scale interests trumping local prejudices, customs, and “primary loyalties.” We have to keep that going. It’s One World, baby, and I’m not about to leave that to the corporations to manage. I believe it’s possible to engage scale without becoming a bureaucratic toolbag by somehow (???) utilizing network rather than hierarchical thinking. That’s where I see the alternative to primitivism or neighborly parochial ignorance.
The tilt of the whole conversation reminded me of why Communists are no fun to hang out with and why Anarchists will probably never get anywhere; there’s a level of fixation with the wrongness of the now, coupled the guilt of complicity, topped off with a failure to clearly articulate an alternative world-system. This kind of thing is also debilitating to effective action. This guy is beating himself up because he’s thinking about getting an assistant. Dude! Try having an assistant! Be more productive in the things you love and help someone just getting their start get some great experience! You can existentially reject the status quo all you want, and it’s probably a good thing to do, but if that’s as far as you go you’re just a critic. And there’s nothing more boring than a critic who’s primary motive is guilt.
Corporatism
“We’re looking at the wrong scale. Even looking at politics on a national scale, once you’ve done that you’ve already lost the game. That’s corporatism, that’s how corporatism works, getting you to think on a non-human scale… and not through true human-scale social capital.”
There’s a way in which this is true. Dewey talks about this in The Public And His Problems, relating how the advent of globalized mass media had a paralyzing effect on the public by informing them of terrible things which they are powerless to affect. It’s also true that in power-politics, power-organizations have the upper hand, another reason it’s bad that unions have been atrophying, and that it’s good that more human-centric power-organizations are emerging.
Ultimately, though, I think its imperative to strike a new balance. A simple rejection of scale in favor of local-thinking is, I believe, a dangerous cop-out on par with Pirate Utopianism. Human progress away from organized oppression and institutionalized injustice is largely the story of larger-scale interests trumping local prejudices, customs, and “primary loyalties.” We have to keep that going. It’s One World, baby, and I’m not about to leave that to the corporations to manage. I believe it’s possible to engage scale without becoming a bureaucratic toolbag by somehow (???) utilizing network rather than hierarchical thinking. That’s where I see the alternative to primitivism or neighborly parochial ignorance.
The tilt of the whole conversation reminded me of why Communists are no fun to hang out with and why Anarchists will probably never get anywhere; there’s a level of fixation with the wrongness of the now, coupled the guilt of complicity, topped off with a failure to clearly articulate an alternative world-system. This kind of thing is also debilitating to effective action. This guy is beating himself up because he’s thinking about getting an assistant. Dude! Try having an assistant! Be more productive in the things you love and help someone just getting their start get some great experience! You can existentially reject the status quo all you want, and it’s probably a good thing to do, but if that’s as far as you go you’re just a critic. And there’s nothing more boring than a critic who’s primary motive is guilt.