Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Silly People Carrying Signs

On 15 April, I went to laugh at a local "Tea Party" rally.
Figure 1: Stupid and Proud of It

Figure 2: I'd Rather Discuss Marxism with My Dining Room Table

Figure 3: Against the War

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

well, the last one was quite correct! I'm surprised he was there... or was that a counter-protest?

As for "Marxist ideology", I'm staggered that people are saying that with a straight face. Obama as a Marxist. Crazy, crazy, crazy.

The big question is how do you discuss politics with people who believe something which is so obviously false? That is a puzzle, I must admit.

You need to spend so much time getting them to recognise the reality of the situation before discussing what socialism actually is. Not to mention the different kinds of socialism (Marxism, anarchism, social democracy, council communism, Leninism, etc.).

I've seen so many strange discussions on this on American webpages. I particularly dislike those ones who seem to think George Orwell was somehow anti-socialist! They cannot seem to comprehend that being anti-Stalinist does not equate to anti-socialist. Or that you can be a libertarian socialist and oppose state socialism alongside capitalism.

Iain
An Anarchist FAQ

Robert Vienneau said...

I was more interested in abusing and mocking the people at this rally than entering into discussion. The last person is probably a fan of Ron Paul. There were quite a few of his fans there, even a minor party candidate, Logan Bell, for the House.

atheist said...

From #1
The big question is how do you discuss politics with people who believe something which is so obviously false? That is a puzzle, I must admit.

You can't. And so you don't try to discuss politics with them. Instead you work to marginalize them and defeat them. It's a hard concept for some politically active folk to grasp: some people are so stupid that you cannot engage with them productively in any way.

atheist said...

You need to spend so much time getting them to recognise the reality of the situation before discussing what socialism actually is. Not to mention the different kinds of socialism (Marxism, anarchism, social democracy, council communism, Leninism, etc.).

You gotta understand, when you say, "socialism" you're talking about political economy. When the Tea-Baggers say "socialism" they are talking about niggers, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Hitler. Communication is not occurring on the the level you're expecting.

Anonymous said...

I cannot understand what is "so obviously false"
What is the right of the US to meddle to police the world?
Do you really believe that the government can assure health care to anyone? Do you really think that the only way to increase someone's welfare is stealing from someonelse?
Obama is not a marxist but like any marxist he belives for instance that capitalism is naturally unstable