1855: God is dead. – Nietzche. ~~~ 1965: Nietzche is dead. – God
That was on the cover of Time magazine in 1965. There was a rumble about it in a few of the years before that really came up again, and Time took on the subject. But this isn’t about Nietzche.
Friederich Engels joined Karl Marx in creating the pamphlet titled “Communist Manifesto” and Das Kapital, and edited some of his books after Marx died. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Friedrich-Engels He was, in fact, the primary influence that sent Marx into communism as a philosophy, as well as a ruling government.
“In Bremen, Engels also demonstrated his talent for journalism by publishing articles under the pseudonym of Friedrich Oswald, perhaps to spare the feelings of his family. He possessed pungent critical abilities and a clear style, qualities that were utilized later by Marx in articulating their revolutionary goals.
After his discharge {from the military] in 1842, Engels met Moses Hess, the man who converted him to communism. Hess, the son of wealthy Jewish parents and a promoter of radical causes and publications, demonstrated to Engels that the logical consequence of the Hegelian philosophy and dialectic was communism. Hess also stressed the role that England, with its advanced industry, burgeoning proletariat, and portents of class conflict, was destined to play in future upheavals. Engels eagerly seized the opportunity to go to England, ostensibly to continue his business training in the family firm in Manchester. — Britannica
How did this affect Marx? The difference between them is rather obvious: Engels was organized, pragmatic, and goal-oriented, whereas Marx was a sloppy, unfocused slacker with no clear direction, someone who depended on the kindness of “others”, such as Engels, to do his work for him. We would refer to him now as a lazy jerk who wanted people to do everything for him and knew how to take advantage of their egocentricities and their weaknesses. In this case, it was Engels’ willingness to do things for him to make him look good. But while the pamphlet “Communist Manifesto”, Marx’s first publication, appeared to be inviting, welcoming and warm, it was, in fact, drivel. And it still is drivel to this day.
In reality, Marx was one of those people who, in the 19th century, found opportunities to sponge off of other people by getting himself invited to someone’s dinner as a philosopher, during which he’d daze the dinner guests with his profundity and perception. Slacker makes good, especially with Engels’ willingness to provide him with the edited material that he could use to confound dinner guests with his brilliance.
Essentially, he was a bum who had no money and no job, but had a wife and 7 children, and when he died, he left behind the magnificent sum of £250, whereas Charles Dickens, well-known for his novels that indirectly criticized British society, left an estate worth £93,000 when he passed in 1870.
One semester of philosophy was required long ago. It was considered part of the Humanities. The drivel that philosophers create hasn’t changed much since Aristotle, that bugger for the bottle, managed to confuse his audience as much as possible and sponge off anyone willing to throw a few coins at him.
Marx styled himself a philosopher, as did Engels. Philosophical scribblings are on the same order as that mind pudding music from the New Agers: all noise with no substance. Trying to wade through the first chapter of “Communist Manifesto” was something on the order of ‘read this if you really can’t get to sleep”. It was mind pudding drivel. And guess what we had to read as part of the Philosophy semester. Go on, just guess. Well, one chapter of it, anyway.
Don’t go away. There’s more to come.
I believe that Monty Python may have had the right idea about philosophers, right here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4d-HSP0wEc
And for a bit more entertainment, for those of you who are bored, I give you the Communist Quiz Show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ9myHhpS9s
Category: "The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves", Dumbass Bullshit
I feel cheated, I thought you were going to take on the nihilistic charm of looking into the abyss and having the abyss look back, and you pulled the old bait and switch and left us with a discussion about two freeloaders who lent the basis to several nations of commie rat bastards..
Sometimes I’d just rather have Monty Python’s version.
That’s why I included those links, SFC D. 🙂
Love you, too, VOV.
Now you’ve made me blush my dear…and smile…
I appreciate the sentiment!
I wish I could get Youttube at work….I miss the entertainment!
Cue the Seagull to show up and defend his shining star. You mustn’t call old Karl a bum.
What…? Huh? Well, I did, as I always do, provide links to stuff and nonsense.
“Bums” are mostly harmless.
That shitbag lunatic inspired the murder of 100 million humans.
And counting.
Marx sounds a lot like Bernie Sanders.
Why, yes. Yes, he does.
Damn, a flash back to civics class, Jr high. Won’t ever forget that teacher either Mrs. Janie M. Brick outhouses were pea green with envy that they weren’t as well constructed as she was. Legs to her neck, loved to wear mini skirts and perched on her desk while keeping every guys rapt attention on the subject matter. Her father had fought in WWII, under Patton, and the Godless Commies in Korea. Her father had imparted to her the need to have moved on the Russian Communist as soon as the Nazis were defeated. More reasons why history is not taught in school anymore.
Reading the descriptions of Marx and Company, again, wasn’t sure if you were still talking about Marx, or Bernie, or Larsie boi the spapos seagull. Would fit all three.
One school of study had Karl and Old Abe as pen pals.
The attached is one of the places I had planned on visiting on my drive north to Dakota.
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/battle-warbonnet-creek-nebraska/
This quote from Marx’s Manifesto did get it right in my opinion (not that my opinion is worth much)…I take it that from time to time even those we find abhorrent to our way of thinking can still provide observations that contain truth in them. Thus it’s always a wise idea to read those we disagree with to both confirm our suspicions and learn to defend our own beliefs by understanding those with whom we disagree, vehemently or otherwise.
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.
Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guildmaster and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, that each time ended, either in the revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.”
The rise and fall of a variety of societies is the one constant we find in the history of mankind. Marx had this part right in that each society, once the classes are sufficiently separated, tends to come apart whether violently deconstructed or peacefully devolving into simple shadows of former heights.
That said his analysis of a better option is inherently false and thus leads to the inherent failure of those societies that use it as a basis for new governments and nation states.
From each according to his ability to each according to his need sounds great until it’s time to implement it and we realize that humans are far more self interested than community interested so some will always be inclined to work and gain more selfish reasons than they would for community reasons.
Which is why communism always fails.
The takers always outnumber the makers.
That, VOV, is why I said it is mind-pudding drivel.
It sounds great, wonderful, delightful, on paper, but reality is a very harsh mistress.
Thank you for your feedback on it.
He simply enabled another set of oppressors, with new slogans and shoddier boots.
And the supreme takers are the party leaders, the corrupt political elite.
Any system can be gamed. Insiders usually do well, regardless of game.
What does the game do for the nobodies? Can they play to “better” ?
The free market, as realized here in the USA, is one of the few games where nobodies can consistently get ahead, even win.
Which is why folks from so many other games try to get here, and why some of those other games needed minefields to prevent escape.
Also why the folks who want to be insiders of rigged games have to wreck ours first.
Take your pick, KoB.
Philosophy is mental masturbation without the fun parts. My academic and personal experience has been those who are immersed in that world tend to use (insert philosophy) to excuse their boorish behavior.
Agreed. It’s why PhD stands for piled high and deep.
I always like Fermi’s (purported) discussion about obtaining his various degrees as a physicist…
He is rumored to have said that upon obtaining his Bachelor’s he realized he knew everything there was to know about physic, but when he obtained his Master’s he realized he didn’t actually know anything about the vast field of physics.
Then he said when he obtained his PhD he realized neither did anyone else…
Tucker Carlson’s take on some of the politics going on now. I figure most of y’all see the same news feeds I do. The ones on the destruction of statues always catch my attention. As I have commented so many times, this was never truly about all things Confederate, and it was/has been a systemic attack on our Country by foreign and domestic enemies.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-the-real-reason-mobs-across-the-country-are-tearing-down-american-monuments
Hong onto that thought until tomorrow, Gun Bunny. I have something lined up on that subject.
Some Friedrich Nietzsche quotes:
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.
That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.
The value of philosophy to my mind is the idea that we can take a deeper look at how humans behave and discuss the meaning of that behavior to better understand ourselves.
Each one of these three quotes makes sense for me, the first explains why so many of us put up with shitty jobs at a minimum or shitty life experiences simply to survive for our family, for our own inner drive to succeed.
The second quote is a direct result of the first, if you have that reason to survive and you bear almost any how in order to do so you come out stronger on the other side of that experience. You learn your own inner strength and fortitude.
The third quote is one my favorites, the idea that we can fight monsters and remain unaffected is patently false, as is the idea we can look into darkness repeatedly without being affected by the darkness.
Even the bible warns against that, Ephesians I recall something about the darkening of their understanding and the resulting hardness in their hearts separating them from their God….
Therein lies the value of observational philosophy, pointless to some but defining for others.
How old is that squirrel that was on the 1965 time magazine cover. The squirrel must have gone nuts waiting for the photographer to snap the pic.
Do you serve butter and jam with those puns, Jeff?
The squirrel photo is one I shot about five years ago. She would show up every morning, noon and evening for anything I put on the porch railing for the birds, so I also put out peanuts for her. She was quite fat in that photo because she was carrying a squirrely litter. It’s how you tell the girl squirrel from the boy toy.
Looks like I’ll have to stock up on squirrel and bird food this fall.
Thanks for the info on miss squirrel Ex, I was going nuts on how the squirrel wound up on the 1965 time magazine cover. That really was a nutty thought on my thinking. OH nuts, I’d better quit while I’m ahead or go nuts. Bye bye.
Jefafa, you may as well go nuts. You’ve been squirrely for a long time.
Well, squirrels can fly when they want to, so maybe they are also time travelers? Nothing would surprise me less.
My kids call me the squirrel king because for some strange reason squirrels seem to like me. I have pictures of wild squirrels just chilling out on my palm.
Awwww, that is SO cute!
Heinlein described philosophy as like cotton candy. Nice to look at, impressive, even tastes good, but soon fades to nothing of substance.
Sounds great David, like cotton candy would go great with Heinlein kin’s beer.
In the words of the immortal Socrates:
“I drank -what-?”
To Do is to Be.
To Be is to Do.
DoBeDoBeDoooooo
Mel Brooks was right!
https://youtu.be/IF2RYhNhBdw
Ain’t it ironic that modern marxists bitch and whine constantly about the evils of “the patriarchy,” when their lord and savior Marx shamelessly embodied everything they claim to hate, especially “rape culture?”
The whole Marxist-spectrum disorder is based on falsehoods and sophistry. Expecting truth from them, or even consistency, is kinda pointless.