Sunday 6 March 2011

Ah! Mon Chevalier


Serge Gainsbourg - La Horse



UPDATE: I have found the perfect accompaniment to this instrumental track via The Waspsnest - video shot from the boosters for a Space Shuttle launch. I could watch and listen to this all day... but then I'd never get anything done.

7 comments:

alison said...

She priddy ...he creepy! (sorry)

By the way - I've always always felt there was a connection between cultural marxism and libertarianism. So this took me by surprise. One artcile - so much sense when evaluating how we got to where we are culturally. I'm not saying that they are libs - but they certainly have borrowed it all rather well to get to where they are today - running school boards etc

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyyoung/100078659/leftwing-nutters-go-bonkers-over-west-london-free-school/

Trooper Thompson said...

Never mind, he's still a musical genius (a mon avis).

Regarding the article, I think you have to look past the use of a word, to what it's being used to describe. In this case, clearly, I would say incontrovertibly, it is Toby Young who is putting forward the most libertarian case. The free schools plan is one of the things I am hoping will bring positive change from this government, and I very much wish Toby Young good fortune. He describes himself as a 'classical liberal' which is an overlapping category with libertarians (insofar as many people call themselves both). I'm not a fan of JS Mill, though, as I think he can be blamed for sending the liberal movement down the wrong pathway, towards government intervention, mainly because of his poor understanding of economics.

I'm not sure what a 'libertarian communist' is, never having met one, and libertarianism is usually attacked by the left, which rejects the concept of individualism and laissez-faire capitalism, indeed identifies capitalism as the number one problem, which is the opposite of the liberal/libertarian position. Ludwig von Mises wrote that liberalism and capitalism are almost synonymous.

If I were to meet a self-described libertarian communist, I would want an explanation of what it actually means. Insofar as communists and libertarians are both usually set against the status quo, I suppose there is a common enemy, but on the one hand, the libertarian wants to limit the power of the state, on the other the communist wants to seize this very power. The main issue is around collective action. If this is entered into on a voluntary basis, there's no problem, but communists rarely do voluntarism.

alison said...

I know Toby is the libertarian. My point was maybe minsunderstood. And unfortunately tumblr jumbled my post on this. tant pis. A libertarian is someone opposed to the state - put simply. In this case so are these lefties in so far as how much the state acts as an imperial force against the workers. I can see how they might act and I can see how they have used this modus operandi even today. Hell I'm sure even Shami indulges it as she sees fit quite regularly. I was just relieved to see that it has history and that I hadnt made this up in my own mind. They existed - exist - and operate school boards.

Trooper Thompson said...

I may indeed be misunderstanding the point you're making (je m'excuse).

The people involved in villifying Toby Young, whatever their political views back in the 1970's, seem pretty much in love with the state. Even though their party is out of government, they will fight reform in every institution, and especially in the educational establishment, which has been controlled by what I would call fabianism, by which I mean socialistic-bureaucratic-managerialist-control-freaks, on the outside limp-wristed liberals, on the inside sado-masochistic authoritarians.

I think these erstwhile 'communist libertarians' have acted more like communists a la Gramschi, gaining control over the institutions, seeking cultural hegemony. Unfortunately libertarians aren't so organised!

James Higham said...

The sacrifices, the sacrifices.

alison said...

The point was made on my blog not here and you dont read my blog - I forgot that, hence all the confusion apologies.

I know. They are only in love with a left wing State. If its a right wing state then they become libertarians and see the State as big elite guy picking on poor little guy.

I see another revolution has ended in failure. Egypt. The Coptic Church of St Mina and St George near Cairo was torched by ‘thousands of Muslims’ and Egypt’s 10 million Coptic Christians are now being religiously persecuted.

As were women under the French revolution incidentally. All revolutions end in failure.

Hopefully anything we do here will be limited and relatively civilised - aimed at bureaucrats only.

Trooper Thompson said...

Fittingly, I have responded chez toi.

"All revolutions end in failure" - 'all' is a bit strong - there has to be at least an 'almost' in there. Besides, it depends how you define failure. If failure means not ushering in the New Jerusalem, when the lion lies down with the lamb, then you are right. But look at Central and Eastern Europe. There communism fell with hardly a bullet fired. And the American Revolution is worth celebrating, no matter what.