So the Pope is a marxist.... (wait for it)

[kandrathe]

This has to be a joke. LT and Marxism have nothing in common in terms of both theory and praxis, especially the latter. Nor does LT use a Marxian analysis of Biblical thought in any shape or form, though I suppose it TRIES to.

Says the guy who couldn't be bothered to read enough to even understand what I wrote. I didn't say "analysis". LT was successfully attacked by the same right wingers with the same tactic of labeling it the evil "Marxism".

Any Marxist would laugh ... {evidently, closed mindedly at anything not Marxist...}

Let's not go here again.

LT is just another type of utopian socialism that has no relevance for Marxists, ...

Again, I never said it did.

... religion cannot be used as a tool for human liberation (nor can it be used as some cohesive theoretical framework for understanding the world),

It's just a belief system, and we've all got one.

...and the Pope is not nor ever will be a Marxist.

Here we agree on the Pope.

/thread

Its kind of obvious thread trolling if you begin a thread, but don't intend to discuss the topic.

---

And while this article speaks to the hannity / beck conversation, there are plenty out there in the insaniTEA Party who have embraced this type of ideology. It's only small government, and limited oversight of private lives, when it concerns them. The rest of us are fucked, and they are willing to deny rights, steal our shit, embrace governmental control of industry, and eminent domain of land to achieve their goals.

Do you really think it is correct to bundle all the bat crazy crap from the right, label it "insaniTEA Party", then paint everyone with that broad brush? There is much ignorance all around us. But, I get it. Sometimes you cannot help but to laugh at it. But... I think often it is a political strategy to marginalize and ridicule. It doesn't lead to educating the ignorant, or resolving any political debate. Just more buffoonery, ranting idiocy, and more ignorance. I'm just a bit weary of all of it. FOX, MSNBC, CNN, PBS et. al. As Jon Stewart said, "You're hurting America. Please stop."

Rule 11 + Rule 5.

Alinsky provides a collection of rules to guide the process. But he emphasizes these rules must be translated into real-life tactics that are fluid and responsive to the situation at hand.

Rule 1: Power is not only what you have, but what an opponent thinks you have. If your organization is small, hide your numbers in the dark and raise a din that will make everyone think you have many more people than you do.

Rule 2: Never go outside the experience of your people.
The result is confusion, fear, and retreat.

Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the experience of an opponent. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat.

Rule 4: Make opponents live up to their own book of rules. “You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.”

Rule 5: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It’s hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.

Rule 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy. “If your people aren’t having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic.”

Rule 7: A tactic that drags on for too long becomes a drag. Commitment may become ritualistic as people turn to other issues.

Rule 8: Keep the pressure on. Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period for your purpose. “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this that will cause the opposition to react to your advantage.”

Rule 9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself. When Alinsky leaked word that large numbers of poor people were going to tie up the washrooms of O’Hare Airport, Chicago city authorities quickly agreed to act on a longstanding commitment to a ghetto organization. They imagined the mayhem as thousands of passengers poured off airplanes to discover every washroom occupied. Then they imagined the international embarrassment and the damage to the city’s reputation.

Rule 10: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. Avoid being trapped by an opponent or an interviewer who says, “Okay, what would you do?”

Rule 11: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Don’t try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.

According to Alinsky, the main job of the organizer is to bait an opponent into reacting. “The enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction will be your major strength.”

And... The Stonekettle article is spot on in calling out the type of Statism advocated by some people. What about that State's rights 10th amendment bluster that they whip out when it's convenient?

These are the same buffoons who also call for using our military to police every backwater uprising around the globe where they think we've got some national interest. So, being that we're a global economic infrastructure... Where in the world do we not have a national interest?