[Xmca-l] Re: As of 2020, the American Century is Over

Mon Apr 27 19:48:04 PDT 2020

How about this Helena?:

    "Time is the room of human development. A man who has no
    free time to dispose of, whose whole lifetime, apart
    from the mere physical interruptions by sleep, meals,
    and so forth, is absorbed by his labour for the
    capitalist, is less than a beast of burden. He is a mere
    machine for producing Foreign Wealth, broken in body and
    brutalized in mind. Yet the whole history of modern
    industry shows that capital, if not checked, will
    recklessly and ruthlessly work to cast down the whole
    working class to this utmost state of degradation."
    https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1865/value-price-profit/ch03.htm__;!!Mih3wA!U0ZIjNUqNnItiZjyJjIUnKMWddqAJiWLdB_L-G5Wb6DNQLTG7uZz_Seq6oZRbIPgrIdiUQ$ 

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*Andy Blunden*
Hegel for Social Movements <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://brill.com/view/title/54574__;!!Mih3wA!U0ZIjNUqNnItiZjyJjIUnKMWddqAJiWLdB_L-G5Wb6DNQLTG7uZz_Seq6oZRbIM88h444g$ >
Home Page <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/index.htm__;!!Mih3wA!U0ZIjNUqNnItiZjyJjIUnKMWddqAJiWLdB_L-G5Wb6DNQLTG7uZz_Seq6oZRbIOjmsOLvw$ >
On 28/04/2020 5:23 am, Helena Worthen wrote:
> Andy’s paper has basically 4 parts.  One a flyby overview 
> of the history of the US — this is where the majority of 
> criticisms by people I know are showing up because people 
> have different versions of that history. Then the argument 
> that with the US going down as one of the poles of global 
> leadership. My friends and family agree with this and are 
> all, as Americans, offering examples of how they have 
> experienced this. Andy notes that there is an empty spot 
> at the top that hasn’t been taken yet.  Then comes his 
> COVID-19 point, that this is a global moment in which the 
> whole world is participating. Most of the xmca discussion 
> has been about that so far, if I’m not mistaken. And 
> finally a challenge to foresee what we will learn from 
> this experience.
>
> OK, now trying to forsee what we can learn is what I’m 
> doing.  So here is my question, appropriate for this list 
> since we are all interested in education. I found myself 
> writing the following, as part of describing the way a 
> workforce can be intentionally divided into feuding packs 
> of enemies so that we can’t take action in solidarity. 
> We’re referring to “the distortions of human development 
> under capitalism” and say that “we see this in its 
> sharpest form in the for-profit part of the higher 
> education industry. We have to look past the distortion to 
> find the original, human connection….”
>
> One of our readers asks where this concept came from. I 
> don’t remember!! It makes sense, though, doesn’t? Anyone 
> have any idea where it came from? So far I’m saying,
>
> The concept of “distortions of human development under 
> capitalism” depends on looking at human development as 
> occurring within a social, historical and cultural 
> framework – not just the development of individuals on 
> their own or within a family or even a school, but within 
> a society. Specifically we mean psychological and 
> cognitive disabilities ranging from lack of empathy, envy, 
> despair, alienation and bullying to obesity, eating 
> disorders and stress-related auto-immune illness.
>
> Thanks — H
>
>
>
>
> Helena Worthen
> h 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://helenaworthen.wordpress.com__;!!Mih3wA!UcGlX0bri43EmtmpvW-FJpbJfMb7jPTAosJ6QpYDWeFiy_BNZhBTLSo7yel8Mfwas-BdIg$>elenaworthen@gmail.com 
> <mailto:elenaworthen@gmail.com>
>
>
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>
>
>
>
>> On Apr 27, 2020, at 9:29 AM, Helena Worthen 
>> <helenaworthen@gmail.com 
>> <mailto:helenaworthen@gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>> I have been circulating Andy’s paper among close friends 
>> and family to generate discussion. What is mostly coming 
>> back is confirmation of the general arc, with examples 
>> from personal experience, but some disagreement about 
>> cause. These are “inside” views — meaning, people who are 
>> US citizens talking about us, so these are experiences of 
>> the passing of an era and what they look like from inside.
>>
>> About a year ago I realized that, for better or worse, I 
>> identify as “an American.” And I don’t mean North American.
>>
>> Chris Appy’s book, /American Reckoning/, is a pretty good 
>> history that takes us from the 1940s up to Obama and 
>> tracks the hole we fell into with the Vietnam War. For 
>> people of my generation (BA 1965 — and I mention that 
>> date rather than when I was born because 1965 connects to 
>> the draft, the lottery, the anti-war demonstrations, the 
>> asssinations, etc etc) the story told with the Vietnam 
>> War in the foreground connects very tightly to lived 
>> experience.
>>
>> Helena Worthen
>> helenaworthen.wordpress.com 
>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://helenaworthen.wordpress.com/__;!!Mih3wA!UcGlX0bri43EmtmpvW-FJpbJfMb7jPTAosJ6QpYDWeFiy_BNZhBTLSo7yel8MfzvtKpTMQ$>
>>
>>
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>>> On Apr 22, 2020, at 4:30 AM, Andy Blunden 
>>> <andyb@marxists.org <mailto:andyb@marxists.org>> wrote:
>>>
>>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/pdfs/American-Century.pdf__;!!Mih3wA!U0ZIjNUqNnItiZjyJjIUnKMWddqAJiWLdB_L-G5Wb6DNQLTG7uZz_Seq6oZRbIPiGjltHw$  
>>> [ethicalpolitics.org]
>>>
>>> Andy
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> *Andy Blunden*
>>> Hegel for Social Movements [brill.com] 
>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://brill.com/view/title/54574__;!!Mih3wA!RX_kT308fV5J979vU0HnZwn3N_ILxa76WV811I3K7Q1lByCHw_H-2IpA6g71m_bmjhN_kw$>
>>> Home Page [ethicalpolitics.org] 
>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/index.htm__;!!Mih3wA!RX_kT308fV5J979vU0HnZwn3N_ILxa76WV811I3K7Q1lByCHw_H-2IpA6g71m_aKuyy5Zw$> 
>>>
>>
>
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