Ch. 1 - Rival Theories -- and Critical Assessment of Them

WildCityWoman · Intern Joined: 13 Jan 2008 Posts: 193 Items

There is something I would like to try and express . . . it occurred to me, while reading this section that were you to choose between the two - forget this jazz about throwing Freud in there; I think that's kinda' misplaced . . .

No matter which we chose - Christianity or Marxism - either system would see 'someone' telling everybody else what to do.

That 'someone', persons, that is, would gain in some way - don't think for a minute that the leaders of either practice wouldn't get the lion's share of the meat.

So there would still be . . . what would you call it?

CAPITALISM?

Yes! I would say so - because it is indeed a form of capitalism, in itself.

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Frank 013 · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 5:26 am Post subject:

Ophelia · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:40 am Post subject:

Carly,

My copy hasn't arrived yet, but I can't resist joining the fray at this stage, and add a reference to something the book doesn't seem to mention.

You wrote:

DWill · Intern Joined: 31 Jan 2008 Posts: 179 Gender: Items

The article Ophelia summarized for us sounds provocative. It makes us humans sound expert at shape-shifting ideologically in order to obtain a social advantage. With an unassailable cause as a cover, I guess it would indeed be possible to pursue the "real" agenda, or a least a side agenda, behind cover.

WildCityWoman · Intern Joined: 13 Jan 2008 Posts: 193 Gender: Items

Ha!

Like joining the Peace Corps and the first thing you're issued is a gun.

People who are really strong on anti-racism, seem to be racists themselves.

i. e.

I remember being at a discussion group at the library when a black writer made the statement that . . .

MOST CANADIANS ARE RACISTS.

I was kinda' pissed off - for her to generalize like that? To me, that's a form of racism in itself. It's not fair to say something like that.

Another library group incident . . . a young asian woman showed up one of our writing groups - she read from a short story she'd written.

She'd written the story in first person and it was about an asian woman and a white guy, in bed together.

There was conversation between the couple and he said something she didn't like.

Somewhere near the end of her story she said 'well, all white guys are like that'.

I didn't care for that attitude.

But what really ticked me off was that nobody in the group objected to it. Didn't the white guys at the table feel slightly insulted?

Same with the other group - not one person in that group objected to the Jamaican woman saying that about Canadians.

Me? I just got up and walked out the door to have a cigarette; that was my way of objecting. A person like that isn't worth listening to.

Ophelia · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 6:42 am Post subject:

OK, Carly, since this is fun time I'll tell the community about one of the most annoying things that happened to me in my year in California.

I usually tried to avoid going to meetings at school, but one evening I got caught by a clever administrator lying in wait for innocents like me and I just had to walk into the hall and listen to the talk.

The speaker was a black man, and I could see a lot of colleagues that I didn't know had come from other schools to listen to him.

Most of it was rubbish and provocation IMO but the most interesting thing was the way people reacted to it.

It seemed to me that the man thought he was Martin Luther King himself, coming back to save the world (but with nothing to say), and the audience reacted as if he were!

At one point he announced "Not every black teacher is good, and not every white teacher is bad"! (lots of "Amen" and "Thank you" from the audience).

The next day a colleague from New York asked me what I'd thought. I said this was some of the worst rubbish I'd ever heard. She laughed and said "Oh, you have to take this with a grain of salt."

The teachers at my school were remarkably unfrazzled by it all, so I suppose they'd heard it before.

If it was now I'd laugh, but at the time I was furious.

WildCityWoman · Intern Joined: 13 Jan 2008 Posts: 193 Gender: Items

Sorry I didn't get back to this thread till just now - sprained my ankle, for one thing, so I was on percodan and sleeping for about a day and a half.

Now? Well, it is a sprain, but my regular foot doctor says it's also a torn ligature - seeing as how I already have big trouble with that foot, I've gotta' watch it!

Not much walking around will be happening and I gotta' wear my orthapaedic shoes, even when just on my way from the table to the bathroom.

So I'll be here at my desk a while - ha ha!

---------------------------------

Yes, that too sounds like an annoying meeting you went to. What's really annoying is the way people get forced into sitting through meetings like that.

If you're in any kind of employment grabbing program, and you've got to attend all meetings, well, you've got to listen to everything.

I once got into a fight with a Human Rights speaker who was brought in to speak at a job-search club I was in. What the speaker didn't like was anybody asking questions, but I asked questions.

She rambled off all the things that people had rights about, in the workplace and I asked her what steps a person could actually take if an employer abused these rights - what would happen?

Well, you'd report it, of course - but what would be done about it, I asked.

Well, actually . . . nothing really . . .

I said 'well, what's the point of having the 'human rights' then?

She was really mad and told me that I could leave the room for the rest of the meeting if I wanted - I did just that - went out of the building and had a coffee. Some of the others trailed along with me.

It was infuriating to think that she was allowed to speak to all those people -most of them political refugees (at that time). Telling them they had all these rights, leading them to believe something would be there for them - oh, yeah - sure.

And she gets paid for that??!!

Geesh!

-----------------------------------------

I once worked at a law office in downtown Toronto - I was there for the week. The lady lawyer who hired me told me they were going to choose a full time law secretary this way . . . by the end of the week, there was no mention of what I was to be paid for this time. The lawyer just kept saying 'oh, we'll get to that - I don't have time to talk about it right now'.

By talking to some of the young women there, I found out she was doing that with a lot of people - mostly immigrants - people who wouldn't dare talk back, kinda' thing . . . she wasn't paying anybody anything.

I didn't stay there, of course and when I sent my bill - 15 bucks an hour - she didn't want to pay it. I had to get Labour Board into it - it turned out they had a big file on this lawyer - finally they made her pay me minimum wage for my time there.

What a sleaze.

And when I went to pick up my cheque, I found the same girls were there working - and a new one on the reception desk - a Chinese girl. I told the girl to make sure she was going to get paid.

Ophelia · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:17 am Post subject:

Hello Carly,

Sorry about your ankle, I hope you'll feel better soon.

My copy of the book has arrived now, it's not a big book, so I have no excuses for not reading it... this would be a challenge, as I've always found philosophy difficult.

Now, I don't know know how to interpret the following incident in relation to the very serious philosophical theories written about in the book, but when I clicked to give you some karma (in admiration for leading a discussion about what is for me so difficult a book) my screen just went black. When I switched the computer on again though, your karma had increased. Wink

WildCityWoman · Intern Joined: 13 Jan 2008 Posts: 193 Gender: Items

My karma increased?

Well, I guess I was doin' something right - ha ha!

lawrenceindestin · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 3:05 pm Post subject: The answer is -

The answer is - there is no answer only belief. The author of this book is rehashing the same topics from within the eggshell of a paradigm that presupposes fininte mankind can answer infinite questions. I address this issue in more depth on my BookTalk blog Lawrenceindestin. I hope to see you there and please leave your comments. Thanks,Lawrence


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