tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post8689455235970750416..comments2024-02-24T05:19:10.949-05:00Comments on Durham-in-Wonderland: Defending the Indefensiblekcjohnson9http://www.blogger.com/profile/09625813296986996867noreply@blogger.comBlogger219125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-46570887494676479902007-07-04T19:17:00.000-04:002007-07-04T19:17:00.000-04:00yes they canrun they cannot hide.yes they canrun they cannot hide.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-39370193172791681112007-07-04T19:16:00.000-04:002007-07-04T19:16:00.000-04:00Hah -- I see a post has been removed. Some progre...Hah -- I see a post has been removed. Some progressive saw we were getting to close to the truth. Cowards.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-78243700317767917682007-07-04T19:10:00.000-04:002007-07-04T19:10:00.000-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Tenured Radicalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05703980598547163290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-76999396421920744742007-07-04T18:38:00.000-04:002007-07-04T18:38:00.000-04:005:44 inre: Marx's work...please excuse my lack of ...5:44 inre: Marx's work...please excuse my lack of clarity.<BR/><BR/>I mean the cases, examples, etc. that he uses to define working conditions. Those were dated, but rarely challenged. It would be like considering a meat-packing plant today to one from fifty years ago. It demonstrates a complete and total lack of communion with the working-man.<BR/><BR/>More shocking is that actual reforms at some level had already been employed. <BR/><BR/>Marx is a liar and a fraud by commission and omission. <BR/><BR/>"Dim bulb"...many thanks that is the nicest thing any "progressive" has said to me all afternoon.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-62371245598152158312007-07-04T17:44:00.000-04:002007-07-04T17:44:00.000-04:00Hey 9:11: Marx's work wasn't dated when it was wr...Hey 9:11: Marx's work wasn't dated when it was written in the nineteenth century.<BR/><BR/>Dim bulb, you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-64595774291055995542007-07-04T10:10:00.000-04:002007-07-04T10:10:00.000-04:009:16 "Primary" research meaning - his lack of firs...9:16 "Primary" research meaning - his lack of first hand interviews with those impacted. He, like most all "intellectuals" wrote about people he didn't interact with at any level.<BR/><BR/>Inre: Marx in German? Does his anti-semitism, misogynic leaning translate as well?<BR/><BR/>Inre: personal hygeine? He had a choice, it was not the middel ages. He chose to live filty. Sloppy living, sloppy details, sloppy model. By the way, his body odor was not likely the reason he had few friends, maybe none besides Engels. Instead, it was the deplorable way he treated people - all people, not just the proloteriat.<BR/><BR/>Afraid of Marx? Hardly. Afraid of those who defend his fraudulent lies, well yeah I guess I am, but not for me, but for my children.<BR/><BR/>Off to a 4th of July parade. You know...unalienable rights...life, liberty, pursuit of happines...power derived from the consent of the governed...truely disruptive ideas that speak to truth and not lies.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-35676259201981149532007-07-04T09:16:00.000-04:002007-07-04T09:16:00.000-04:00No Peace,I think you'll discover his "primary data...No Peace,<BR/><BR/>I think you'll discover his "primary data" for the Manifesto were the conditions in the Manchester Cotton Mills. I think you might also discover that his work was theoretical--calling upon great economic minds whose work is still read today--but that some of Marx's ideas and conclusions soon proved to be incorrect. Marxists know this. What's the problem here?<BR/><BR/>You like Francis Fukyama, perhaps? Some of his ideas have already proved incorrect, but he's still important.<BR/><BR/>Why are you so afraid of Marx? Does he haunt your dreams or something?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-91004580530297771782007-07-04T09:12:00.000-04:002007-07-04T09:12:00.000-04:009:04It's Adolf, not Adolph. You be smarter to pro...9:04<BR/><BR/>It's Adolf, not Adolph. <BR/><BR/>You be smarter to provide background for your soundbites. And, have you read Marx in the German? I'd suggest making your own translations.<BR/><BR/>Are you advocating getting rid of everyone who doesn't bathe? Think historically: how often did people bathe in the nineteenth century? Not every day, certainly.<BR/><BR/>All good ideas are revised. Duh.<BR/><BR/>Finally, there are plenty of people in shallow graves for reasons other than Marxism. Indeed, I'm not sure Marx inspired any revolutions, although he certainly thought the Commune was the harbinger of revolution.<BR/><BR/>Surely you know that the Russian Revolution, which took place well after his death, flew in the face of Marxist ideology?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-9860375019921031022007-07-04T09:11:00.000-04:002007-07-04T09:11:00.000-04:00And another thing about Marx...The economic condit...And another thing about Marx...<BR/><BR/>The economic conditions cited in his work is horribly dated. He conjurs up problems from days gone by. He ignores reforms that were already put in place. He doesn't utilize primary data. Like most intellectuals he wouldn't be caught dead with a peasant, yet he uses their plight as the basis for his model. <BR/><BR/>If that approach doesn't make ones reading of the Gang of 88 "Listening Statement" take on new meaning, it should.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-68915870203923885952007-07-04T09:04:00.000-04:002007-07-04T09:04:00.000-04:00Marx's poem spoke of doomsday; "History is the jud...Marx's poem spoke of doomsday; "History is the judge, its executioner the proletariat."<BR/><BR/>Tens of millions whose remains are in shallow graves worldwide would likely take exception to his purported genious and the notion that others modified his Utopian ideals. <BR/><BR/>"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs" - Karl Marx? Nope, Louis Blanc.<BR/><BR/>"Workers of all countries unite." - Karl Marx? Nope, Karl Schapper.<BR/><BR/>"Money is the jealous God of Israel, beside which no other God may exist." - Adolph Hitler? Nope, Karl Marx.<BR/><BR/>"Socialism cannot be brought into existence without Revolution." - Pol Pot? Nope, Karl Marx.<BR/><BR/>Defending the indefensible is KC's apt title for this blog.<BR/><BR/>Marx was a liar and a fraud; he manipulated data, advocated violent revolution, he was a dead beat, he treated women horridly, he rarely bathed, he never spoke with those (peasants)that were used as the basis for his positions,...a picture forms. About the only thing he didn't do was bang pots.<BR/><BR/>To suggest others altered his ideas only supports the horribly failed legacy that led to the violent end of so many - poor execution of the ideal, excellent execution of those that dissented.<BR/><BR/>To teach Marx without consideration of other competing ideas is abetting a very, very bad model. But that's just me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-3300414750853056102007-07-04T08:43:00.000-04:002007-07-04T08:43:00.000-04:009:57Thanks for the argument against the Fairness D...9:57<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the argument against the Fairness DoctrineAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-71504335674923531542007-07-04T08:15:00.000-04:002007-07-04T08:15:00.000-04:00Try googling "university endowment per student." ...Try googling "university endowment per student." That information shows the relative strength/size of Duke's endowment. <BR/>Although Stanford is at the top, small schools like Grinnell, Pomona, Swarthmore, and Williams are way up there.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-24842243908234094732007-07-04T08:07:00.000-04:002007-07-04T08:07:00.000-04:00On endowments:A quick Google search shows Duke, w/...On endowments:<BR/><BR/>A quick Google search shows Duke, w/ almost 4.5 billion dollars in 2006, to have been 13th in a recent ranking. Harvard (almost 29 billion), Yale, Stanford/ the UT system, Princeton, MIT, the UC system, Columbia, Michigan/the Texas A/M system, Penn, Northwestern, and Emory occupy the top spots.<BR/><BR/>BTW: The largest private school in the US in New York University. NYU, like Duke, has graduate programs, so this skews student numbers and endowments. A small, private, and very good liberal arts undergraduate program like Pomono has an endowment of close to 1.5 billion. Ditto Swarthmore at 1.2 billion.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-5507064601464916602007-07-04T07:31:00.000-04:002007-07-04T07:31:00.000-04:00To 2:31 and others have commented upon Marx/Marxis...To 2:31 and others have commented upon Marx/Marxism. Thanks for making it clear that the history of socialism is not just Marx and post-1917 Marxist-Leninism, etc.<BR/><BR/>Let me add my bit: I think of Rousseu as a precursor to the French utopian socialists, among whom I include Henri Saint-Simon and Charles Fourier. (I always wonder how much such thinkers influenced the development of nineteenth-century French left politics, which weren't only socialist.) At the same time in England, one can talk about Owen. Ferdinand LaSalle was an early German socialist, but not a Marxist. <BR/><BR/>While Friedrich Engels, Marx's partner/patron and the son of a wealthy mill owner in Manchester, might be called one of the first Marxist revisionists, Eduard Bernstein is probably better known in this department. (It was, as you know, the Engels factories that provided examples for Marx's "Communist Manifesto.")<BR/><BR/>Socialism has a context, of course: 1789, 1848 and societal change. In the same way one can hear the beginning of concern over the way the Chinese economy is producing, there were concerns over early industrial capitalism,especially on the examples of England and France.<BR/><BR/>One doesn't have to like the subsequent application of Marxist ideas, although I LOVE Sweden, to appreciate his thought.<BR/><BR/>And, that he had a brilliant mind, doesn't mean he was easy to live with or a good family man. And, yes, Engels pretty much bankrolled Marx, etc., all those years he sat in the BL writing _Capital_. <BR/><BR/>Happy Fourth of July!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-54673455373879683722007-07-04T07:18:00.000-04:002007-07-04T07:18:00.000-04:00Glad you boys could have a reunion.Who brought the...Glad you boys could have a reunion.<BR/>Who brought the eggplant?machttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14248016116043347912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-3497140222366678312007-07-04T02:31:00.000-04:002007-07-04T02:31:00.000-04:00It speaks of closed minds that some of you would b...It speaks of closed minds that some of you would be going on about "what do you balance it with?" rather than focusing on the intellectual stimulation. <BR/><BR/>Jul 3, 2007 10:48:00 PM <BR/><BR/><BR/>The obvious, (and correct), answer is, "I balance it with my original thought that is an intrigued by righteously skeptical reaction to the writing of a man who clearly was brilliant, but under seasoned; before his time, yet poorly informed as to the real world; and ultimately susceptible to manipulation of his thoughts by evil people beyond his ability to imagine what they would do with his thoughts." Marx, for anybody who cares to study his biography, was exactly what the Gangsta's of Hatey-Hate accuse the Lax Boyz of being. He was the son of an influential lawyer who sold his soul (by way of converting his faith for political expediency)...Who was forced by Daddy to study at "proper" schools and to get a "proper" education. Leninist/Stalinist spin on Marx's philosphy (which is what most Americans...indeed most post-modern Westerners call "Communism") came much after his death. The violent, malevolent, collectivist bent of "Soviet Communism" (my terminology) was a great perversion of the Utopian dream expressed by Marx, and his thoughts of a benevolent dictator who would eventually loose the reigns of self governance to the "proletariat" were much closer to what has actually happened in the good ol' U.S. of A. than most would like to realize. I do not consider myself a Marxist, nor do I identify in any way with the collectivist/socialist bent of the G88 and their ilk. What I am is a scholar who recognizes that many great men's thoughts are perverted by others, and ultimately their legacy is not one they would be proud of.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-56871653210222960442007-07-04T02:13:00.000-04:002007-07-04T02:13:00.000-04:00Marx was a fraud, a liar, a reprobate, possibly a ...Marx was a fraud, a liar, a reprobate, possibly a misogynist, refused hygiene, and generally sloppy in thought. <BR/><BR/>That he could change history and ultimately condemn tens of millions to violent deaths, which he actively advocated hardly places him anywhere other that hell.<BR/><BR/>If that's genius, then call me Mr. Dumbass.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-51203224506842611292007-07-04T01:29:00.000-04:002007-07-04T01:29:00.000-04:00Thanks Bubba and Hamilton--PThanks Bubba and Hamilton--PAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-62049166613983609462007-07-04T00:58:00.000-04:002007-07-04T00:58:00.000-04:00Polanski,Black was my hero. When noone else would...Polanski,<BR/><BR/>Black was my hero. When noone else would listen to what I had to say, I sent my work to him.<BR/><BR/>I called him about two weeks later, actually got through to him (he was a Goldman Sachs partner) and got a "its here on my desk ...I'll let you know if and when I get to it." <BR/><BR/>It was a don't call me, I'll call you.<BR/><BR/>I was....well disheartened,<BR/><BR/>Two weeks later, I got a call...Friday afternoon...May 1992...<BR/><BR/>"Hi,. this is Fischer Black...I wanted to get back to you on your theory...you should publish this..."<BR/><BR/>Instead of publishing, I pursued commercial opportunity.<BR/><BR/>Fischer Black remains one of my heros.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for your comments.<BR/><BR/>Bubba GeezerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-32626139567542837432007-07-04T00:56:00.000-04:002007-07-04T00:56:00.000-04:00Duke's stated goal of having a diverse population ...Duke's stated goal of having a diverse population of faculty and students fail if they only look at race and sex. Group think is not diversity. <BR/><BR/>Though I thought he was a jerk, James Watt made a good point by making a sarcastic remark. Of course he had to resign 2 weeks later.<BR/><BR/>Furious when asked about the diversity of his staff, he said "I have a black, a woman, 2 Jews, and a cripple."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-11823916551026439622007-07-04T00:53:00.000-04:002007-07-04T00:53:00.000-04:00Polanski, I just came back. I don't know if you'r...Polanski, I just came back. I don't know if you're still awake, but a brief search by me turned up this regarding affirmative action mandates for government contractors (which would definitely include universities):<BR/><BR/>http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/ofccp/fs11246.htm<BR/><BR/>Notice, specifically:<BR/><BR/><I>AFFIRMATIVE ACTION REQUIREMENTS <BR/><BR/>Each Government contractor with 50 or more employees and $50,000 or more in government contracts is required to develop a written affirmative action program (AAP) for each of its establishments. <BR/><BR/>A written affirmative action program helps the contractor identify and analyze potential problems in the participation and utilization of women and minorities in the contractor's workforce.<BR/><BR/>If there are problems, the contractor will specify in its AAP the specific procedures it will follow and the good faith efforts it will make to provide equal employment opportunity.<BR/><BR/>Expanded efforts in outreach, recruitment, training and other areas are some of the affirmative steps contractors can take to help members of the protected groups compete for jobs on equal footing with other applicants and employees. <BR/></I><BR/>Now the mystery is solved as to how the likes of Holloway, Baker, Farred, Lubiano got jobs at a top flight (or even bottomrung) university.<BR/><BR/>R.R. HamiltonAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-27055163735468620612007-07-04T00:49:00.000-04:002007-07-04T00:49:00.000-04:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-57439997742534250172007-07-04T00:40:00.000-04:002007-07-04T00:40:00.000-04:00Duke really isn't large, at least in terms of unde...Duke really isn't large, at least in terms of undergrad enrollment, as compared to UNC, state, etc.<BR/><BR/>For a private university, it isn't small, but I still wouldn't call it large.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-18655711138668058122007-07-04T00:37:00.000-04:002007-07-04T00:37:00.000-04:00Have any new policies been put in place at Duke (o...Have any new policies been put in place at Duke (or elsewhere)?<BR/><BR/>I'm thinking of something along the line of whom can speak on behalf of Duke University or for a department, rather than as an individual. Or perhaps, a policy on transparancy in funding of things like ads?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-65400976527551413002007-07-04T00:35:00.000-04:002007-07-04T00:35:00.000-04:00GlenfromABQ 11: 41 said... ...Isn't Duke a state s...GlenfromABQ 11: 41 said... <BR/><BR/>...Isn't Duke a state school? <BR/>::<BR/>No. Duke is a large private and excellent university...with a rather large endowment.<BR/>::<BR/>GPGary Packwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05177986821224068759noreply@blogger.com