Bill “Bonehead” O’Reilly recently denounced economist Robert Reich as a communist, and Reich responded to this absurd charge by challenging O’Reilly to debate him. The debate I’d like to see, which will never take place, would be between O’Reilly and philosopher/funnyman/motormouth Slavoj Zizek, a genuine communist and an admirer of both Karl and Groucho Marx.
Here is Zizek in The Guardian, all wound up and addressing the dilemma of all who identify with the Occupy Wall Street movement:
Economic globalization is gradually but inexorably undermining the legitimacy of western democracies. Due to their international character, large economic processes cannot be controlled by democratic mechanisms which are, by definition, limited to nation states. In this way, people more and more experience institutional democratic forms as unable to capture their vital interests.
It is here that Marx’s key insight remains valid, today perhaps more than ever: for Marx, the question of freedom should not be located primarily into the political sphere proper. The key to actual freedom rather resides in the “apolitical” network of social relations, from the market to the family, where the change needed if we want an actual improvement is not a political reform, but a change in the “apolitical” social relations of production. We do not vote about who owns what, about relations in a factory, etc – all this is left to processes outside the sphere of the political…
More here.
Watching Bill O debate Reich would be like watching an NFL running back play offense against a field of bunny rabbits – no contest and an absolute waste of Reich’s talent.
Reich should have brushed this clown aside and moved on to more important things.
Or shouldn’t the question of who owns the means of production (factories, machines, etc.) be put to a vote? The Bourgeoisie Capitalist would answer that question with an emphatic ‘NO’ for obvious reasons. Whereas the the worker (Proletariat) would vote ‘Yes’ to eliminate the middleman (Capitalist) standing between what he/she produces and the profit gained from its sale. The Capital (money) of the 1% is of no value unless it’s working. And it can’t work without labor producing. “Workers of the World Unite!” General Strike May 1st.
So, are you a fellow-traveling communist dupe?
Do you have any idea what communists do with liberals?
Do you have any idea what Fascists do with liberals? It’s damned if you do and damned if you don’t. What pray tell is a Communist dupe? Is that anything like a Republican dupe? Or a Democratic dupe? Or a Libertarian dupe? Keep in mind that Hegel was talking about a ‘religious’ struggle not a ‘social’ and economic struggle. It was left to Feuerbach and Marx to speak about those. What is your reasoning in Heraclitus’ dialectic Mr. Gaius Gracchus?
GG — have you considered fully emulating your hero, or is your appropriation of his name just a cynical ploy?