Subject: [OPE-L:1670] Re: is a crisis in the US economy immanent?
From: Jurriaan Bendien (djjb99@worldonline.nl)
Date: Sat Nov 13 1999 - 16:50:19 EST
I would say Doug's article is good in making the valid point that "crisis"
is an over-used and abused word, and that the left has had a propensity for
catastrophist perspectives. But if you see through sexual symbolism and so
forth (which LM frequently plays on in a sophisticated way), I think the
real problem of most of the Left is that it underestimates the depth of the
world-historical crisis of capitalism and of civilisation as such.
Capitalism ISN'T "working well". Part of the decadence of Western culture
now is that we tend to become inured to images and information about
oppression and real disasters - never mind the big picture, we just want to
have sex and consume. The bigger the problems become, the more we shut them
out. To take just the example of flooding in Vietnam - who gives a shit
about it in the West ? Perversely it can become interpreted as a sort of
sexual joke, sort of like "have you heard about the flooding in Vietnam ?".
I don't think having sex and consuming is a bad thing, I need it, but
there's a lot more to life than a theoretical jerk-off.
Cheers
Jurriaan
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