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The ABCs of Jacobin

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Re: The ABCs of Jacobin

#21

Post by randallsquared »

shanghaiaway wrote: post #11
abvdasker wrote: post #9

The quality and depth of the writing in Jacobin's stories is what keeps me coming back. They go very in-depth in each story and aren't afraid to use a diction that's probably a bit more academic than the average American is comfortable with. Each piece is exactly as long as it needs to be, and they don't dumb down the content or try to soften their ideological views the way most mainstream publications do. I especial…

It's a leftist publication, of course it's not reactionary. It's Marxist, of course it uses obscure language.

They meant "reactive".

(I also thought that "Reacting to the past rather than anticipating the future, not predictive." was one definition of reactionary, but not according to https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/reactive and https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/reactionary ).

Re: The ABCs of Jacobin

#22

Post by rayiner »

djrobstep wrote: post #15
Dowwie wrote: post #14

While I think it is important to consider arguments across the entire political spectrum, reading Jacobin takes effort. It promotes a fictional world view where a command and control society makes purely altruistic, utilitarian decisions to maximize economic and social equality. Good and evil are too quickly ascribed to actors without consideration of attribution error. There is too much black and white thinking..

If your version of "across the political spectrum" stops short of democratic socialism, perhaps it's time to try harder to expand your mind.

What people call “democratic socialism” is more accurately called “welfare capitalism” (where the means of production remain private). That’s not what Jacobin espouses.

Re: The ABCs of Jacobin

#23

Post by zozbot123 »

abvdasker wrote: post #9

The quality and depth of the writing in Jacobin's stories is what keeps me coming back. They go very in-depth in each story and aren't afraid to use a diction that's probably a bit more academic than the average American is comfortable with. Each piece is exactly as long as it needs to be, and they don't dumb down the content or try to soften their ideological views the way most mainstream publications do. I especial…

> I especially love that the subject matter is political but not reactionary

And for those who do like reactionary subject matter, there is a nice alternative publication - which is of course named Jacobite https://jacobitemag.com/

Re: The ABCs of Jacobin

#24

Post by peisistratos »

Dowwie wrote: post #14

While I think it is important to consider arguments across the entire political spectrum, reading Jacobin takes effort. It promotes a fictional world view where a command and control society makes purely altruistic, utilitarian decisions to maximize economic and social equality. Good and evil are too quickly ascribed to actors without consideration of attribution error. There is too much black and white thinking..

> a command and control society

If peacetime USA 2018 is not an industrialized command and control society, I don't know what is. The difference is all is geared towards the heirs who expropriate surplus labor time, instead of those of us who work and create wealth.

Re: The ABCs of Jacobin

#25

Post by orhmeh09 »

rayiner wrote: post #22
djrobstep wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your version of "across the political spectrum" stops short of democratic socialism, perhaps it's time to try harder to expand your mind.

What people call “democratic socialism” is more accurately called “welfare capitalism” (where the means of production remain private). That’s not what Jacobin espouses.

That describes social democracy. I found an explanation of the differences on the magazine’s website: https://jacobinmag.com/2018/08/democratic-socialism-social-d...

Re: The ABCs of Jacobin

#26

Post by bitwize »

rayiner wrote: post #22
djrobstep wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your version of "across the political spectrum" stops short of democratic socialism, perhaps it's time to try harder to expand your mind.

What people call “democratic socialism” is more accurately called “welfare capitalism” (where the means of production remain private). That’s not what Jacobin espouses.

You're thinking of "social democracy". Democratic socialism is where the people decide how resources are to be allocated, not the elite few.

See: https://jacobinmag.com/2018/07/democratic-socialism-bernie-s...

Re: The ABCs of Jacobin

#27

Post by barking »

I googled Jacobin and on the results noticed a tweet from the Jacobin account

Angela Merkel has resigned as CDU leader. Her failed promises of "prosperity for all" are leading to the disintegration of the traditional mass parties.

Reads bit sacred scripturey to me, as in Marx tells us in chapter X verse XX

I wonder if they address one another as comrade?

Re: The ABCs of Jacobin

#28

Post by hopler »

tuxmascot wrote: post #10
Ar-Curunir wrote: post #3

This article gives me the feeling that the folks who run Jacobin have a "holier-than-thou" attitude towards the rest of the left. I get the feeling that they look down upon more idealistic leftists, and think of themselves as pragmatic and grounded, a quality they deem that the rest of the left lacks. Might be the way the article is written (it seems to try hard to portray Jacobson's success as a demonstration of cap…

A large portion of the radical left feels this way about Jacobin. I enjoy some of their articles, but it doesn't come without critique. Famously, a post-leftist, anarchist organization called "Crimethinc" published an essay called "Your Politics Are Boring As Fuck"[0] which addressed some of the problems with the attitudes of "Jacobin Leftists". I really like this quote: > The truth is, your politics are boring to th…

Does crimethinc do anything more impactful than write screeds lie Jacobin does?

Re: The ABCs of Jacobin

#29

Post by zozbot123 »

peisistratos wrote: post #24
Dowwie wrote: post #14

While I think it is important to consider arguments across the entire political spectrum, reading Jacobin takes effort. It promotes a fictional world view where a command and control society makes purely altruistic, utilitarian decisions to maximize economic and social equality. Good and evil are too quickly ascribed to actors without consideration of attribution error. There is too much black and white thinking..

> a command and control society If peacetime USA 2018 is not an industrialized command and control society, I don't know what is. The difference is all is geared towards the heirs who expropriate surplus labor time, instead of those of us who work and create wealth.

Very true, of course. I'd like to see less expropriation of labor effort, and more expropriation of unavoidable natural resource rents (as well as an institutional framework that's less vulnerable to rent-seeking in general!). But it's not clear that the radical left - even the 'pragmatic' radical left that's reflected by Jacobin Mag - meaningfully shares these policy goals.

Re: The ABCs of Jacobin

#30

Post by geofft »

barking wrote: post #27

I googled Jacobin and on the results noticed a tweet from the Jacobin account Angela Merkel has resigned as CDU leader. Her failed promises of "prosperity for all" are leading to the disintegration of the traditional mass parties. Reads bit sacred scripturey to me, as in Marx tells us in chapter X verse XX I wonder if they address one another as comrade?

And? I'm not sure what point you're trying to make / what you're trying to communicate.
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