[Peace-discuss] Lakoff Idiocy

[David Green]

Lakoff describes what conservatives believe: 

"The market itself is seen in this way. The slogan, "Let the market decide" 
assumes the market itself is The Decider. The market is seen as both natural 
(since it is assumed that people naturally seek their self-interest) and moral 
(if everyone seeks their own profit, the profit of all will be maximized by the 
invisible hand). As the ultimate moral authority, there should be no power 
higher than the market that might go against market values."

But this, in effect, with plenty of hypocrisy of course, is what plenty of 
liberals (Thomas Friedman, etc.) believe. They may also say they beliee that 
social welfare stuff, that education stuff. But bottom line, their Social 
Darwinists. We're all Social Darwinists, unless we make a serious effort to 
promote a society that is not. But many or most Democrats (perhaps as many as 
Republicans) are, in my view, in a very real sense "market fundamentalists."

DG



________________________________
From: Morton K. Brussel <brussel at illinois.edu>
To: David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
Cc: Peace Discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
Sent: Sun, February 20, 2011 5:02:19 PM
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Lakoff Idiocy

What is it that you think Lakoff believes, he who consider himself a Democrat 
(?), and what do you think all Democrats really believe? Is it just corporate 
Democrats, or congressional Democrats (Kucinich, etc.), or party leaders, or 
just Obama, to which you allude? Do progressive Democrats exist?  


In other words, you should be more careful what you write, just as others 
should, if you or they want to be taken seriously.  Blanket statements about 
people-groups tend to be specious.

--mkb

P.S.  I acknowledge that I didn't blanch at the Lakoff staement quoted, because 
I thought that he was trying to use Obama's words to speak to Obama supporters, 
perhaps even implying the obvious hypocrisy of the guy—stating one thing and 
promoting the opposite. The words seem admirable, yes/no? Lakoff does criticize 
Democrats, even if mildly. You might peek at the comments following the article 
(CommonDreams) to get an idea about how others responded. 


On Feb 20, 2011, at 12:49 PM, David Green wrote:

Lakoff makes no attempt to discern what Obama and Democrats actually believe, 
and what explains their behaivor.
> 
>
>http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/02/20
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