The ABCs of Jacobin
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The ABCs of Jacobin
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Re: The ABCs of Jacobin
#2[deleted]
Re: The ABCs of Jacobin
#3This 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 capitalism's successes), but there definitely seems to be an underlying kernel of truth. Turns me off of Jacobin even more.
Re: The ABCs of Jacobin
#4Jacobin is one sharp publication. Baskar runs a tight ship, and somehow the books are even in order! Who would have thought?
Re: The ABCs of Jacobin
#5To name your magazine after the frenzied murderous excess of the French Revolution reminds me of how rabidly violent the far left is. And when we have so many examples of radical collectivism leading to mass suffering (much of humanity's gains in the last 40 years can be traced to China's rejection of it in the late 1970s), and an intellectual foundation based on patently false dogma like Marx's 'labor theory of value'.. I wish the left would adopt some new role models and theory based on reality
Re: The ABCs of Jacobin
#6To name your magazine after the frenzied murderous excess of the French Revolution reminds me of how rabidly violent the far left is. And when we have so many examples of radical collectivism leading to mass suffering (much of humanity's gains in the last 40 years can be traced to China's rejection of it in the late 1970s), and an intellectual foundation based on patently false dogma like Marx's 'labor theory of valu…
Please keep generic ideological flamewar off this site. I realize the article is tempting in that direction, but there's also an interesting story there and plenty of specifics.
"Frenzied murderous excess" of whoever is the last thing the internet has anything new to say about, and in addition to being tediously repetitive, these discussions get hostile very quickly. Those are two reasons why they're off topic here.
Re: The ABCs of Jacobin
#7This 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…
Jacobin is really good and Catalyst, its long form companion publication, is even better.
They're certainly surprisingly radical for the US; they're "leftists" in the European sense (not in the US sense, where a light-pink centrist such as Bernie Sanders is seen as some sort of rabid Bolshevik by many).
Re: The ABCs of Jacobin
#8To name your magazine after the frenzied murderous excess of the French Revolution reminds me of how rabidly violent the far left is. And when we have so many examples of radical collectivism leading to mass suffering (much of humanity's gains in the last 40 years can be traced to China's rejection of it in the late 1970s), and an intellectual foundation based on patently false dogma like Marx's 'labor theory of valu…
Please keep generic ideological flamewar off this site. I realize the article is tempting in that direction, but there's also an interesting story there and plenty of specifics. "Frenzied murderous excess" of whoever is the last thing the internet has anything new to say about, and in addition to being tediously repetitive, these discussions get hostile very quickly. Those are two reasons why they're off topic here.…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobin - the second paragraph talks about the guillotining of 17,000 political opponents. I apologize if my comment seemed too ideological, but I think it's fair to assert that they're a provocative thing to name your magazine after, and the piece mentions Jacobin's featuring the guillotine as well.
Re: The ABCs of Jacobin
#9The 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 especially love that the subject matter is political but not reactionary, taking a longer view of social and economic issues rather than just producing articles focused solely on the outrage of the week. Only the writing in The New Yorker is better.
Re: The ABCs of Jacobin
#10This 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 them because they really are irrelevant. They know that your antiquated styles of protest — your marches, hand held signs, and gatherings — are now powerless to effect real change because they have become such a predictable part of the status quo. They know that your post-Marxist jargon is off-putting because it really is a language of mere academic dispute, not a weapon capable of undermining systems of control. They know that your infighting, your splinter groups and endless quarrels over ephemeral theories can never effect any real change in the world they experience from day to day. They know that no matter who is in office, what laws are on the books, what “ism”s the intellectuals march under, the content of their lives will remain the same. They — we — know that our boredom is proof that these “politics” are not the key to any real transformation of life. For our lives are boring enough already!
0. https://crimethinc.com/2000/09/11/your-politics-are-boring-a...