1984 Foreword "fascistic disposition"

[Mike Weaver]

Jbor:

> > All the "democracies" of which you write are liberal capitalist economies.
> > You cannot separate the political and economic aspects of a society.
>
>Are you saying that democracy is dependent upon capitalism? Or vice versa?
>They aren't. Or are you suggesting that totalitarianism is preferable to
>democracy? What, exactly, are you proposing as an alternative to a
>democratic system of government?

Unless you are talking entirely theoretically you are contrasting 
capitalist democracies with states you call totalitarian. I'm saying you 
can't separate out those aspects. You aren't talking about democracy in the 
abstract, you are talking about capitalist democracies.
         I haven't expressed any preference, merely suggested that for the 
majority of people within the capitalist democratic sphere of control and 
influence life is not as rosy as you believe.

>But "well off", "doing okay" and "along the bottom" as compared to what? To
>1853? To 1503? To the lost city of Atlantis? Against what standard are these
>demographic categories being defined? How does "doing okay" -  standard of
>living, I assume - in Britain or the U.S. compare with the same middle
>percentile groups in Zimbabwe or Iraq under Saddam? All that aside, this
>economic scale has nothing to do with the levels of political equality and
>intellectual freedom which exist in a society.

Bouncing along the bottom means, effectively, not having the time or 
resources to appreciate and exploit the levels of political equality and 
intellectual freedom you believe generally exist within our societies. That 
economic scale has rather a lot to do with our capacity for participation 
in our political systems. You don't stay in power very long unless you 
pander to the rich. That's political equality is it? A-and as long as we 
don't seriously threaten their position we are free to intellectualise as 
much as we want.
Trouble is for a lot of people that intellectual freedom is constrained by 
lack of personal resources, lack of social resources and lack of 
inspiration. Pynchon's focus on 'the slime coming out of our TV sets' is 
very relevant here. Our lords and masters sussed that years ago. Big 
Brother doesn't watch you - YOU watch Big Brother!

>What, apart from your own political bias, is the "realistic context" you're
>offering to this discussion.

That you have contrasted the healthy state of western democracies with 
totalitarian regimes while conveniently ignoring the suffering in our 
(economic) dependencies without which that health would wither.

BTW I haven't made any reference to Bush or Hitler - you must be confusing 
me with someone else...
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