happybadger [he/him]

https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01b.htm

The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force. The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it. The ruling ideas are nothing more than the ideal expression of the dominant material relationships, the dominant material relationships grasped as ideas; hence of the relationships which make the one class the ruling one, therefore, the ideas of its dominance. The individuals composing the ruling class possess among other things consciousness, and therefore think. Insofar, therefore, as they rule as a class and determine the extent and compass of an epoch, it is self-evident that they do this in its whole range, hence among other things rule also as thinkers, as producers of ideas, and regulate the production and distribution of the ideas of their age: thus their ideas are the ruling ideas of the epoch. For instance, in an age and in a country where royal power, aristocracy, and bourgeoisie are contending for mastery and where, therefore, mastery is shared, the doctrine of the separation of powers proves to be the dominant idea and is expressed as an “eternal law.”

Introducing standards for ideas is okay in the abstract. The Earth is demonstrably round, so Flat Earthers shouldn’t be tolerated. Vaccines are demonstrably safe, so antivaxxers shouldn’t be tolerated. The standards are set by the ruling class though. They’ll inevitably reflect white protestant capitalism and Malthusianism more than they do a naturalistic ecological niche. We saw this with the early 20th century progressive movement that quickly became eugenicist freaks.

Favourite: civic infrastructure. I turn a lever and safe water comes out. If my entire city uses the bathroom at the same time, nobody gets cholera. I’ll be warm this winter. I can bike on a flat path to a lake owned by the public, then charge my phone for it at free and browse hexbear instead of looking at that lake. When infrastructure works and meets our core needs it’s a miracle of collectivism.

Least favourite: Atomisation and the idea of isolated “first/second/third place”. There’s no reason a park can’t be as educational as a university class or as enriching as a wilderness or as productive as a homestead, other than we choose to develop it for one limited set of recreation use. Downtown cores don’t need to be hyper-commercial, hostile spaces that are unsafe to walk around but we develop them for the benefit of capital instead of pedestrians. The ideal garden city is intensely focused on critical geography and situating people in a larger socioecological project. The lines should be blurred between grey and green space, between commercial/residential/social, and between human/natural enrichment as much as possible. It’s all the worse when you bring in the separation of town and country with those rural communities alienated from civic infrastructure and cultural participation and the urban communities alienated from touching something other than grass.

At what point did the current politics leanings of the Democratic party would make up your spiritual and moral framework?

When Obama won in 2008 and didn’t end the wars or close Guantanamo Bay or provide recession relief, I knew I wasn’t a liberal and that the democrats represented a .

Before that I read the Communist Manifesto at like age 12. Its worldview made more sense than the social studies textbooks I was otherwise reading and when I found the Theses on Feuerbach it gave me a foundation for secular morality/ethics that clicked with the Sartre and Camus I was starting to read.

I don’t know what you are, but my is beeping.

I try to maintain good work relationships with managers because I want things to go easy for me. My time off requests, my ability to be promoted or transfer, the daily workload and its division, my ability to advocate for what I think is best- all of these are at the discretion of the manager regardless of my beliefs. When there’s no target on my back and I’m seen as a team player, the job is predictable and not unnecessarily difficult.

For that reason I’d apologise and explain the situation. Work smarter, not harder. You’re making your job more difficult if she dislikes you and your coworkers like her.

https://www.marxists.org/archive/brecht/works/1935/questions.htm

Who built Thebes of the 7 gates ? In the books you will read the names of kings. Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock ?

And Babylon, many times demolished, Who raised it up so many times ?

In what houses of gold glittering Lima did its builders live ? Where, the evening that the Great Wall of China was finished, did the masons go?

Great Rome is full of triumphal arches. Who erected them ?

Over whom did the Caesars triumph ? Had Byzantium, much praised in song, only palaces for its inhabitants ?

Even in fabled Atlantis, the night that the ocean engulfed it, The drowning still cried out for their slaves.

The young Alexander conquered India. Was he alone ?

Caesar defeated the Gauls. Did he not even have a cook with him ?

Philip of Spain wept when his armada went down. Was he the only one to weep ?

Frederick the 2nd won the 7 Years War. Who else won it ?

Every page a victory. Who cooked the feast for the victors ?

Every 10 years a great man. Who paid the bill ?

So many reports.

So many questions.