The buffoonery of Trump and his cohort provide much to laugh at. But laughing is a diversion and avoidance. Laughing provides a false sense of immunity and superiority. We laugh at the incompetency instead of reacting to the malignancy. Laughter has become a substitute for action.
I once criticized you for not using your position and well-informed insight in a more forceful manner. I now realize that I was mistaken and I am thankful for that.
With this article You have breezily touched on some major issues which I think need to be given stronger emphasis. I think that when a person of your stature says that it seems "that we need to abandon capitalism" it needs to be expressed with bold print at the very least. A growing number of people have been saying exactly what you are saying but nothing will change if this albeit radical idea is only whispered. The necessity of "growth" to catalyze the capitalist juggernaut and and the resulting consumer culture are only two of the attending destructive forces. Capitalism is what made Detroit but it couldn't sustain it, nor does it sustain much else anymore, least of all the natural environment. I would quibble with your dream of robot communilism. Farming the empty spaces of Detroit sounds much more likely (not to say that the ideas are mutually exclusive). It might be offensive to suggest to Detroit's black populace that they could help themselves by returning to the fields but taking control of the production of as much of what sustains us as possible is the wisest thing anyone can do. Of course Monsanto and Nestle will stand in the way of that too but maybe its more doable than expecting the makers and programmers of robots to share them with us. Your ideas are all good, too good to be presented so glibly. Yeah, we need new rules, but how is that going to happen? And by the way, "communilism" and its step-sib, communism are dirty words in America.
The buffoonery of Trump and his cohort provide much to laugh at. But laughing is a diversion and avoidance. Laughing provides a false sense of immunity and superiority. We laugh at the incompetency instead of reacting to the malignancy. Laughter has become a substitute for action.
I once criticized you for not using your position and well-informed insight in a more forceful manner. I now realize that I was mistaken and I am thankful for that.
LS
Mr. Cole-
With this article You have breezily touched on some major issues which I think need to be given stronger emphasis. I think that when a person of your stature says that it seems "that we need to abandon capitalism" it needs to be expressed with bold print at the very least. A growing number of people have been saying exactly what you are saying but nothing will change if this albeit radical idea is only whispered. The necessity of "growth" to catalyze the capitalist juggernaut and and the resulting consumer culture are only two of the attending destructive forces. Capitalism is what made Detroit but it couldn't sustain it, nor does it sustain much else anymore, least of all the natural environment. I would quibble with your dream of robot communilism. Farming the empty spaces of Detroit sounds much more likely (not to say that the ideas are mutually exclusive). It might be offensive to suggest to Detroit's black populace that they could help themselves by returning to the fields but taking control of the production of as much of what sustains us as possible is the wisest thing anyone can do. Of course Monsanto and Nestle will stand in the way of that too but maybe its more doable than expecting the makers and programmers of robots to share them with us. Your ideas are all good, too good to be presented so glibly. Yeah, we need new rules, but how is that going to happen? And by the way, "communilism" and its step-sib, communism are dirty words in America.
Larry Simpson