Bernie wrote-
Quote:Has anyone actually read Lapham?!
Yep. I have. A slick mish-mash I'm afraid. I was right to say that it's whole meaning was divulged by the time I laughed at the " hideous Satanic liberal" phrase. Only someone who likes reading the same idea over and over again could derive anything further from it from an intellectual point of view except maybe pleasure at each stroke on his ego.
The Simple Truth about Socialism was the title of a lecture delivered by Bernard Shaw to the Fabian Society on Dec. 9 1910. In it he said---
Quote: The simple truth about Socialism is that it means equality of income--a state of society in which the entire income of the country is divided between all the people in exactly equal shares, without regard to their industry, their character, or any other consideration except the consideration that they are living human beings....that is Socialism and nothing else is Socialism.
So the outcome described at interminable length in the link is exactly what you can expect with vastly unequal incomes,as a matter of simple logic, given human nature, and thus it is no surprise to me, even if it is to Mr Lapham.
The suspicion arises that to not address yourself to Mr Shaw's prescription is, in effect, to give sustenance to the situation Mr Lapham goes to great pains to expose and as this provides opportunities for the excercise of righteous indignation, always an enjoyable experience I'm told, one can readily see why only the inevitable consequence is in the frame for discussion and the cause is neatly shunted to one side.
In fact, a black propagandist of the right could well have written Mr Lapham's piece as a device to allow armchair socialists to think something is being done when nothing is being done and thus they can sit back in comfortable smugness believing themselves to be sound Socialists rather than having to trouble themselves with setting up the barricades which they really ought to do if they believe their country to be being ruined.
And the situation, from a strictly Socialist point of view, becomes somewhat more complex if the international arena is taken into account as, of course, it must be if those claiming to be Socialists wish to avoid the charge of racism and, not or, of special pleading.
One might lie back and contemplate the ceiling as all the good judges recommend.
