January 6th, 2021:
"Nothing important happened today."
That doesn't mean nothing happened. This is not a statement of denial. Merely of importance.
I understand that some people were violent.
But violence happens every day. That's just the reality of capitalism.
That doesn't make violence good or bad. It just means I don't want to believe capitalism is the Only Reality.
And I have yet to find a persuasive argument that it is. All pro-capitalist arguments seem to rely on fundamental assumptions about the world that I do not share and that I do not think are scientifically credible.
So, as a matter of being a science-based person, I believe in less violent alternatives.
But I don't think the "Capital Protests" or "Coup" (if that's what we're calling it, it's debatable how much that word actually applies in context) was on 9/11 levels of importance as our hysterical, neoliberal-biased media, or our newest dystopian neoliberal regime, is spinning it. I suspect that want to increase surveillance and make America safe for Normies and Centrists, because that's "Real America, the Red, White and Blue" and all that shit I just don't believe.
But, other than an excuse to ramp up domestic surveillance (which would have happened under Biden, anyway), "Nothing important happened today."
I don't think a building or a symbol of government is sacred and I actually share in common with many conservatives the belief that the Federal Government should not exist. Where I differ with the conservatives what I think should exist instead (mutually associating confederations of worker-governed industrial syndicates), but I am probably even more anti-statist than they are (because I recognize the state is complicit in capitalism, not opposed to it, as the Hayek-holics and the neoliberals of the Austrian School frame it).
I don't feel anything I particularly value was threatened. I have very little emotional connection to this at all. It's like watching a football game between two teams, neither of them from Philly, and I don't even follow football in the first place.
This theatric collective catharsis we call "politics" merely masks power. It is a distraction. It is not real. There is no such thing as a "neutral moderate" or "neutral centrism" because there is no such thing as neutrality. How could neutrality exist in the same physical universe as one in which Net Effects exist? These are not existentially compatible concepts, and logically one of them must be a falsehood. Since we can demonstrate the existence of Net Effects of public policy, logically, rationally then, there is no such thing as a neutral policy.
Policy is about power. It is about who has it and who doesn't. It is about who benefits first, and who does not benefit at all. These questions are fundamental. They are NOT trivial, niche, "cultural" concerns without an economic reality attached.
Dialectical Materialism, unlike pro-capitalist ideologies, doesn't deny that capitalism exists, it offers an explanation for how it works, and why it leads to significant enough alienation of the working class that violence is inevitable. It doesn't deny reality in the way that alternative ideological systems do. It just reflects the same social science underlying the Functionalist School of cultural anthropology on our own culture and forces us to ask hard questions about how we define things like "progress," how we define our values, and how we prioritize those values, collectively, as a society. Do we do this through coercion and competition like a bunch of impulsive, rash Social Darwinists with no self control (the terrible, horrible truth of humanity, in conservative, liberal and neoliberal ideology)? Do we throw up our hands at the prospect of change and align with a status quo that works for an increasingly fewer number of people? Or do we this cooperatively like adults who are capable of reflecting on our own behaviors and the harm those behaviors cause (as socialists and anarchists believe most people, if adequately supported and nurtured, are capable of doing?)
"Realism" in the neoliberal framework and "pragmatism" and "rationality" are weaponized against hope, change and optimism. But these do not have to be opposites. There is no consistent dialectical analysis here, like there is between oppressed and oppressor. That dialectic exists. The same cannot be said for these false binaries.
"Nothing important happened today."
See, logic and rationality can also be weaponized by the Left.
We believe in a more humane and rational way of structuring society.
It is a better kind of world we believe in than the one we have, and the one fascists, libertarians and theocrats want to create.
I would rather fight and die for that world than live one more moment in this one. I would rather dedicate every moment of my life to that struggle than breathe one moment in denial of myself and my relationships.
I meet a lot of well intentioned people who tell me to moderate these positions, that I am "too radical" or "too divisive." I think they valuing order over justice when they say this, even if they do not realize it. And they seem to think I was born thinking this way, that it wasn't a long and laborious process of unlearning certain falsehoods, certain untruths, that caused me to move further away from the centrist-liberal domain of the spectrum. I would have to unlearn 35 years of personal and institutional experiences to change my mind. I would have to be convinced of a great many things. And I would need a very, very persuasive argument. I have yet to encounter one. So, logically, I do not support capitalism. No one has ever given me a logical reason. I understand it has an internal logic and I understand how it works. That's not the issue. Like I said, dialectical materialism doesn't deny reality in the way that alternatives do. It doesn't pretend things work a certain way when they don't. But it doesn't prescribe "the way things are" as ideal. And this distinction needs to be more remarked upon as we engage those who may be swayed. But that argument, if it exists, the one that would persuade me to moderate my views... I haven't found it yet. I'm open to hearing it. But I'm not particularly worried about it because I have no reason at this time to believe such a persuasive argument exists that would cause me to unlearn those 35 years of experiences. The chances of that don't strike me as very high.
I'll let you know if and when that changes.
"Nothing important happened today."
Be well, comrades, and fellow travelers. Stay safe and don't let anyone presume to lecture or browbeat you into accepting their definition of "enemy."
There is only one enemy, and it is power. And power does not reside in a building. It is not contained in whole by any ceremony or ritual or document. These things, more often than not, mask the actual mechanisms of power. And they must be deconstructed. By any means necessary.
"Nothing important happened today."