postposting posted:

to graphically call attention to the disparity between the idyllic meritocracy which 'america' as a signifier is often used to represent and the true material basis of amerikan society. probably mostly posters on rhizzone.net. well at least one person seems to...

i think you could do that without using special spelling for things you dont like and it would probably be better writing, hth

getfiscal posted:

ilmdge's quote about la chinoise from a hoxhaist review of the movie. i think it sort of shows some of the limitations of their line.

the first thing about the review is that it focuses on the "immaturity" of the cell. the movie is loosely based on the scenario of dostoyevsky's devils (the novel is about a young revolutionary cell in russia). i don't think there's anything particularly interesting about immaturity and it doesn't take much thought to portray it. i read a somewhat bad introductory essay to 'devils' which made me put off reading it so far but they had said that dostoyevsky wanted to show the struggles involved in being "captured by an idea", both in terms of the individual psychology and as a spirit of the age. i think this focus on belief is much more relevant to la chinoise than immaturity. the film came out in 1967, the cultural revolution had only recently started and the maoist current in france had only just emerged. it was a "new idea". i didn't get "the youth are stupid" from the film so much as "the absurd conventions of our society open the possibility for its rejection through chaotic and transformative belief", which is sort of a radical response to dostoyevesky.

anyway i think it's useful to look at the hoxhaists in france today to get a sense of the alternative politics proposed. the hoxhaists are mainly grouped into the PCOF, which is part of the front de gauche (grouping of the communist party, left party and a few minor parties). it calls for a "revolutionary popular front", but this is sort of silly. the front de gauche is not a revolutionary group and holds typical left-social-democratic positions that the left of the socialist party have held for decades. they are subordinating themselves to a true believer of mitterrand. so what they are proposing, in reality, is a zombified form of the old PCF, they don't really offer an alternative to direct action but parliamentary politics and reformism in practice.

i don't really care what godard's specific political message was, i guess, but i think lenin's discussions of terrorism seem relevant. lenin always emphasized that attacks against the tsarist regime were heroic. he also applauded spontaneous actions by workers against their bosses and officials. but he fiercely attacked uncoordinated action at the level of strategic theory. that is, it was good when the regime suffered losses and humiliations through assassinations, but communists should not organize themselves on that basis. in fact, when petty-bourgeois students and such do "crazy" things in the cause of justice, it's not to be condemned or insulted, it's just that they can't win that way alone.

"and that's what i think about that" - forrest gump

I took it to be a rather affectionate satire of youthful idealism and the romance of invoking a distant and heroic struggle to give a purpose to one's somewhat more prosaic day-to-day life. In this it reminded me of nothing so much as Four Lions.

c_man posted:

postposting posted:
to graphically call attention to the disparity between the idyllic meritocracy which 'america' as a signifier is often used to represent and the true material basis of amerikan society. probably mostly posters on rhizzone.net. well at least one person seems to...

i think you could do that without using special spelling for things you dont like and it would probably be better writing, hth

thanks for the advice, semen

gyrofry posted:

post talk pls

ok I'll upload it soon

ilmdge posted:

ill be there, as well. except ill be there actually irl.

irl ftw. damn.

HenryKrinkle posted:

i've decided that stalin's mass deportation of ethnic groups was kind of bullshit and can't be justified.

Really brave of you to do that

elektrenai posted:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-1QlyxaZBRlQlB5SWd6a1hwS0k/edit?usp=sharingnot the best recording but you can hear everything he's saying

thanks