Who Is IOZ?: Exogenous vs. Endemic

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Exogenous vs. Endemic

The controversy over Chamber of Commerce election funding raises a very real and important issue: the genuine threat posed to our political system by unknown funders who can pour massive amounts of money into negative ads while hiding who they are.

-Glenn Greenwald

Caveat lector: Glenn goes on to criticize the hysterical and hypocritical whining about "foreign money" by those who take the delightfully fungible stuff themselves, and yet, nevertheless, I think you see in the above excerpt the core of Glenn's and my disagreement, why despite sharing certain, uh, proclivities, we will never see eye-to-eye. Glenn is concerned about threats to our political system. I think that our political system is a threat.

61 comments:

Charles F. Oxtrot said...: Wee Glennie is never wrong. He is America's Constitutional Lawyer. He will fight tooth-and-nail to ensure Our Noble System is never reformed in any meaningful way. He is a powerful gatekeeper, and only he has the key to the gate that separates Libbies and Pwoggies from their American Valhalla. Naturally, therefore, he is correct. Always.; 1:41 PM
la Rana said...: Even without your anarcho premises, Greenwald believes he spends his days highlighting the ways in which this democracy can be "fixed," when really his is a catalogue of reasons why it can't be.

Perhaps this can be said about American edcuation and conformism: it convinces people like Greenwald, who observe that the boat is too slow, too heavy, its masts are not high enough, it doesn't catch enough wind, it doesn't steer well, and it is not stable enough, to conclude that we need to fix those things, when the obvious conclusion is that we need a new fucking boat.; 2:00 PM
Anonymous said...: Wait...we're building another boat?

Reading this blog is getting to be hard fucking work.; 2:04 PM
Mr.Fundamental said...: Glennis the Constitutional Esquire; 2:09 PM
Anonymous said...: Fuck off! Judean People's Front! We're the People's Front of Judea!; 2:37 PM
Anonymous said...: @'Nony 2:04:
HA! my thoughts exactly...; 2:58 PM
Michael Smith said...: I like the idea of a fucking boat. There's not nearly enough fucking on my boat.; 3:13 PM
IOZ said...: Yeah, la_rana, didn't anyone ever tell you that what matters is the motion of the ocean!?; 3:26 PM
Justin said...: "The controversy over Chamber of Commerce election funding raises a very real and important issue: the genuine threat posed to our political system by unknown funders who can pour massive amounts of money into negative ads while hiding who they are."

Glenn Greenwald should read Glenn Greenwald,
"I'm also quite skeptical of the apocalyptic claims about how this decision will radically transform and subvert our democracy by empowering corporate control over the political process. My skepticism is due to one principal fact: I really don't see how things can get much worse in that regard. The reality is that our political institutions are already completely beholden to and controlled by large corporate interests (Dick Durbin: "banks own" the Congress). Corporations find endless ways to circumvent current restrictions -- their armies of PACs, lobbyists, media control, and revolving-door rewards flood Washington and currently ensure their stranglehold -- and while this decision will make things marginally worse, I can't imagine how it could worsen fundamentally."; 3:47 PM
stras said...: So... Glen Greenwald shouldn't care about the influence of corporate money in American politics, because he has already stated that the influence of corporate money in American politics is very bad?; 4:03 PM
Dumbo said...: Maybe you should retire recipe Fridays and start posting boat blueprints instead.; 4:16 PM
Justin said...: "Glen Greenwald shouldn't care about the influence of corporate money in American politics, because he has already stated that the influence of corporate money in American politics is very bad?"

Correction - he stated that there was so much corporate money/control, that any marginal contribution would make very little difference. According to Citizens United Glenn, the system is already rotten to the core, so it can't get anymore rotten.

According to Chamber of Commerce Glenn, allowing more money to influence our political system would be a disaster.; 4:21 PM
Michael Dawson said...: I propose exile to Nicaragua for each and every one of the mouthpieces for this trope. Assignment: Labor as ditch-diggers while inquiring into who foreign power purchased the 1990 election there...

Oh, and for entertainment, all they get is a giant-screen television that cannot be switched off or turned down, on which runs an endless loop of all current election ads that have received no foreign money.; 4:31 PM
Paul Alexander said...: America is a cool boat. It has a really rich captain, a gigantic galley of slaves and an enormous chamber of cells down below for the mutinous and badly behaved. The captain just needs to wake up so we don't crash into the harbor and everything will continue to be smooth sailing!; 4:35 PM
stras said...: According to Chamber of Commerce Glenn, allowing more money to influence our political system would be a disaster.

No, "Chamber of Commerce Glenn" isn't talking about allowing "more" money into our political system. He's talking about an existing status quo which currently is a disaster.

But by all means, let's keep up with the meaningless hair-splitting. It's how we define ourselves, yes? He's right, but for the wrong reasons! He's wrong, but in the right way! Splitters!; 4:39 PM
George Jones said...: I would vote for anyone you please in exchange for 100 euros.; 4:41 PM
Dumbo said...: Does this make some of us the rats feeding off the grain sacks, chuckling at the slaves, but still on the same boat as everyone else?; 4:43 PM
Anonymous said...: Perhaps this can be said about American edcuation and conformism: it convinces people like Greenwald, who observe that the boat is too slow, too heavy, its masts are not high enough, it doesn't catch enough wind, it doesn't steer well, and it is not stable enough, to conclude that we need to fix those things, when the obvious conclusion is that we need a new fucking boat.

Or maybe he just accepts that we'll probably have a government for a while now, not least because those most emphatically inclined toward new boats or no boat are currently overwhelmed with the vital work of parsing Digby. Since there are pretty radical variations on just how bad government is, might be best to err on the side of damage mitigation.

Whatever his motives, it seems to me he is doing a better job of convincing many readers of the monolithic evil of our government and, in particular, the current president, than anyone in these parts. I don't think anyone inclined toward anarchism will come away from Greenwald doubting themselves. For the most part, I don't see him as all that much more inclined to offering remedies than IOZ, though today he did endorse Prop 9, as if decriminalizing drugs actually matters. I mean, California will still have a government afterwards and we all die anyway.; 4:46 PM
Justin said...: Yes, Chamber of Commerce of Glenn is talking exactly about that. Did you read the Citizens United quote? He said that he doesn't buy the argument that lifting any limitations on how much money corporations can pour into politics could possibly make anything worse. That doesn't square with the Chamber of Commerce Glenn, who posits that allowing all this money will pose a 'genuine threat' to our political system.; 4:47 PM
Anonymous said...: La Digs is having a crisis of faith to such an extent that she's now hoping that Obama is lying because the truth is too painful for her to contemplate.; 4:48 PM
LA Confidential Pantload said...: I know who the Captain is supposed to be. Who is the Rooster Randy?; 5:06 PM
Anonymous said...: Yes, Chamber of Commerce of Glenn is talking exactly about that.

Wasn't it Andy Warhol who said that in the future everyone will be CF Oxtrot for fifteen minutes?

Looks like it's Justin's turn.; 5:23 PM
Picador said...: As several have said above: lay off Greenwald, at least for this. Jesus. Talk about the narcissism of small differences.

Many of the things Greenwald writes about could realistically be reformed and would thereby measurably improve many people's lives. The complacency of some of the comments here is pretty distasteful.; 5:26 PM
Justin said...: "Wasn't it Andy Warhol who said that in the future everyone will be CF Oxtrot for fifteen minutes?

Looks like it's Justin's turn"

I like Charlie, but that is a good dig. Fuck it, let's go bowling.; 5:33 PM
Paul Alexander said...: Yeah, leave Glenn alone with all your mean words! You're going to prevent him from measurably improving many people's lives!; 5:39 PM
K. Ron Silkwood said...: I don't like this talk of boats. I can't swim, and I am afraid we are too far out for wading to be of any use.; 5:56 PM
la Rana said...: A complacent boat, to be sure. But not the fucking. The fucking will not be complacent.

"Many of the things Greenwald writes about could realistically be reformed" - This would be the hopelessly erroneaous premise underlying your entire worldview. The dispute with greenwald is not whether the emporer needs a cravat as well as a dickey.; 5:59 PM
la Rana said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5:59 PM
zencomix said...: "Never get out of the boat!"; 6:03 PM
Gridlock said...: Rum, sodomy and the lash.; 8:41 PM
Charles F. Oxtrot said...: Justin is more original than I am.

******

Lay off Greenwald? Why? Because it's okay to be dead wrong, as long as your heart has a Donkey tattoo?; 8:43 PM
Anonymous said...: Yeah, la-di-dah, we're above it, we don't care, we're too cool to get involved. I look forward to seeing all of you lined up next to me against the wall, comes the revolution, so I can watch you pissing yourselves. Fuck off.; 10:52 PM
Enron said...: "we're above it, we don't care, we're too cool to get involved."
Where, the courtroom?; 1:07 AM
stras said...: Oxtrot, do you ever get tired of being stupid, or is being an inveterate moron just a point of pride with you?; 6:12 AM
Anonymous said...: All your boats are belong to us.; 7:08 AM
Nonny Mouse said...: Greenwald is correct far more often than not, and if the idiot commentariat here wasn't so enthralled with the narcissism of small differences, they'd realize that the 99% of things they actually agree with Glenn about are more important than the 1% they don't.

Oxtrot, on the other hand, is a consistent moron, day in and day out, but because he repeats all the tiresome Starbucks anarchist cliches like a good boy, he's politely ignored.; 7:54 AM
respjrat said...: hey

Glenn is concerned about threats to our political system. I think that our political system is a threat.

that is not a 'small difference'; 9:13 AM
Anonymous said...: "Get off my fucking boat."

-John McCain; 9:55 AM
Anonymous said...: Make me.

Capt'n Obvious; 10:06 AM
IOZ said...: I will gladly lay off Greenwald for a mere $1,000 worth of measurable improvement to my life a month, in cash or equivalent merchandise.; 10:52 AM
Anonymous said...: I don't understand what's wrong with foreign money anyway. Aren't these people always going on about "American leadership"? Well? Shouldn't the led have a say in the leadership? Democracy!; 11:05 AM
la Rana said...: Thats a steal for the last 1%, with diminishing returns an all that.; 11:35 AM
Happy Jack said...: Is la Rana a boat? Is so, I like the cut of your jib. However, as a straight male, I can't show the same admiration for your mizzen mast.; 12:31 PM
Mr.Fundamental said...: Yeah, la-di-dah, we're above it, we don't care, we're too cool to get involved.

yes because I'd like to get more blood on my hands. thanks!

keep trying! we'll keep pointing out the bodies and such.; 2:35 PM
Anonymous said...: Blood on your hands? Maybe you should give your poor beleaguered pud a rest, Fundy.; 3:25 PM
Anonymous said...: Correction:

All your fucking boats are belong to us.; 8:31 PM
Anonymous said...: "I will gladly lay off Greenwald for a mere $1,000 worth of measurable improvement to my life a month, in cash or equivalent merchandise."

So. You will accept golf balls. Thought so.; 9:58 PM
Anonymous said...: Don't you have blood on your hands from any and all economic and social transactions? The more so, in fact. I don't understand this fetishization of electoral politics. It's, like, the least consequential aspect of our infinite daily intersections with the Leviathan. You are soiling your hands in blood let by the American imperium far more thoroughly by eating a burger than you could possibly do contemplating a mail-in ballot for five minutes, affixing a stamp, and mailing it in.; 5:42 AM
respjrat said...: i don't eat burgers, firstly. second, if it's so inconsequential, why would i give a fuck in the first place .. ?

anyway, your premise makes literally, joe biden, no sense. "any and all economic and social transactions", oh so uh ... um.

uh

uhhh; 3:31 PM
Anonymous said...: "we will never see eye-to-eye. Glenn is concerned about threats to our political system. I think that our political system is a threat."

And this is why American life will get worse,until enough of us can admit that Capitalism is the problem and that Democracy is impossible until Capitlalism is dealt with. Greenwald has a lot of good things to say, and he's frequently right, but he makes the same mistake American "libruls" always have in seeing reformism as some kind of "progressive" middle ground. If Capiltalist Imperialism is the cancer, then it must be removed. If it can only be "reformed", held in check by treatment but allowed to live, then the patient is still dying of it, and will ultimately not survive.; 5:32 PM
Inkberrow said...: Anon @ 5:32---

Greenwald has the good sense to keep his prescriptions inside the box. The House That Capitalism Built---modern First World nation-states and the recipients of their largesse---is far and away the apex of human civilization, and provides you the very means and opportunity for the sophomoric navel-gazing you favor. As they learned in the old Greek city-states, "democracy" is impossible without mob rule after a certain level of population and diversity is reached. The cult of the Lowest Common Denominator promises a stultifying equality, but at a terrible price. Either it's Loincloth And Spear regression, or a friendly totalitarian despotism in the name of the People. Count your blessings.; 12:47 PM
Montag said...: LOINCLOTH AND SPEARS! let this fucker burn.; 3:33 PM
Anonymous said...: @inkberrow

" freindly totalitarian despotism"?and Im the one doing the "sophmoric navel gazing"???

Inkberrow your problem is that your a soft, squishy, spineless coward. A parasite content to live off whatever your benevolent masters hand you, in return they (for the present) dont interfere to much in your soft, flabby, recieved consciousness.AND you think everyone else is a pud just like inkberrow too. Ive said many times we're degenerating into feaudalism, and people like you prove it.; 4:17 PM
Inkberrow said...: Anon @ 4:17---

I lack the courage of you, Pol Pot, and John Holdren.

Let me guess, you've got a sociology degree, right?; 7:46 PM
Anonymous said...: @Inkberrow

I have a Chemistry degree. So, anyone who refuses to agree with you that, Global Capitalism, propped up by American millitarism creates the best, most proseperous and wonderful society in all of human history (an "Apex" civilization) is = Pol Pot? Just keep your head immersed in Tom Freidman and David Brooks and the occasional Ken Burns fluff-o-mentary and maybe history will ignore you when american imperialsm finishes imploding.; 8:13 PM
Anonymous said...: i don't eat burgers, firstly. second, if it's so inconsequential, why would i give a fuck in the first place .. ?

anyway, your premise makes literally, joe biden, no sense

Translation: 'I don't understand your premise and haven't yet gotten to the developmental stage where you learn that closing your eyes does not make the world go away. Plus, I don't understand the impersonal second person.'; 8:49 PM
Anonymous said...: @813

'Dealt with?' By whom and how?

Between the Central Committee and the CFR. The one and only choices.

Fuck off, scum.

Capt'n Obvious; 8:52 PM
respjrat said...: or, you know, you aren't really putting out anything that bears deep analysis or consideration. "any and all econ.. socia..", uh, say i sell some stuff on craigslist.

when does the blood start showing up, is it gonna be stigmata or something less noticeable? leave the sweeping to the cleaners.; 12:23 AM
Anonymous said...: Well Einstein, resale value is a key variable in the price of any commodity. Hence, by promoting the circulation of manufactured goods on Craigslist...

You may find this helpful.; 1:26 AM
Inkberrow said...: Anon @ 8:13---

I'm no progressive, so the "apex" is a least of various evils (but it's no less an apex for that). We're talking logical extensions, aren't we? Inexorable negative concomitants of particular worldviews? Capitalism's Woe Index and body-count are high. But the endgame of your dormitory pabulum is Mao and Pol Pot, and that's considerably worse. The sheer utility of modern Western capitalist republics is greater than any other format in history, past, present, or future.; 11:04 AM
Anonymous said...: @inkberrow

oh, as long as we all agree with inkberrows rules and definitions, inkberrow is never wrong. Actually i thought you meant "ape-x", so i wasnt disagreeing with you. HOWEVER, anyone who disagrees with annoymous is engaging in sheer petite bourgouise clap trap, and therefore, according to the inkberrow law of utility, inkberrow is always wrong when he argues with annonymous.; 5:10 PM

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Exogenous vs. Endemic

61 comments:

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