BOURGEOIS FEMINISTS

TOM CARTER—It is not a question of “speaking ill of the dead” but of maintaining a standpoint of independence and objectivity, and of not getting swept away by the deluge of official propaganda. These campaigns of official mourning are a ritualized spectacle of American political life. The deceased is inevitably held up as an “icon,” a “towering figure” and a “legend.” Every bourgeois politician and media personality is expected to line up to render the proper obeisance, with each individual politician “paying respects” becoming a news item in itself. The accomplishments of the decedent, sometimes real and sometimes invented, are spun out of all proportion to reality. The propaganda campaign functions as a sort of loyalty test, with anyone who is not willing to recite the official slogans flagged as a possible traitor.

P. GREANVILLE—The system’s unrelenting tidal wave of shit—from the economic meltdown to the pandemic, to the incomprehensible PC cultural wars, and the endless warmongering and media lies seem to be taking a toll even on our re·doubt·a·ble Jimmy Dore! Just watch his body language: It says, what’s the use folks, I’ve seen this already a million times, and nothing changes. He looks tired, and isolated. Facial gestures of despair replace witticisms. For a comedian whose lifeblood is interactions with an audience, the lockdown has been a body blow. Of course, although amply anticipated, considering what the Democrats are made of—pure, 100%, Grade A Made in the USA Bullshit, as George Carlin would have put it—this is still disgusting.

CALEB MAUPIN—In this episode Caleb concentrates on why Kamala Harris is a disgraceful choice for VP on the Biden ticket. Below we present a discussion of the same topic by CBS, with CBS presstitute Ed O’Keefe, who’s quick to remind us Cuba is a “regime”, while critiquing the candidacy of Tammy Duckworth. Notably, CBS does not seem gaga about Harris, pointing some of her faux pas during the campaign, perhaps preferring an even more solid warmonger like Susan Rice. 

DAVID WALSH-In his own speech to the court, Weinstein explained that he thought the relationships with the various women were consensual and suggested, in the words of the New York Times, that “he was the victim of a rush to judgment.” He argued, according to the Times, “that the #MeToo campaign was similar to the Red Scare of the 1950s and compared himself to the screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who was jailed and blacklisted after joining the Communist Party. ‘I think that is what is happening now all over this country,’ Mr. Weinstein said.”

ALEX LANTIER—#MeToo’s role exposes the interaction of petty-bourgeois identity politics with the agenda of capitalist governments. Promoting gender politics in opposition to class politics, #MeToo has relentlessly moved to the right.

Macron has reacted to 16 months of mass strikes and Yellow Vest protests against its overwhelmingly unpopular pension cuts and tax cuts for the rich by cultivating far-right police forces to assault protesters. Since Macron hailed France’s Nazi-collaborationist dictator Philippe Pétain as a “great soldier” in 2018, police have arrested over 11,000 people, wounded nearly 5,000 and killed two.