Appropriate title, the aim is total domestication and control. That Ursula woman is the very embodiment of a controlling “mother knows best”. I am sure the permit to kill the wolf was her doing and backdated a day before the pony killing to make it look that she wasn’t responsible. Though I don’t have an intrinsic aversion to killing wolves as humanity is meant to be the planet’s wise and discerning alpha predator and we are to wield death appropriately. But wisdom snd discernment is unfortunately in short supply.
It's thanks to writers like you that I have a remarkably different perspective now on organizations like the EU, compared to my understanding of Euro politics circa Brexit--the first time in my memory when Americans were pretending to have opinions about the EU. Granted that on both ends of the spectrum my grasp of the relevant issues was (still is!) surface-level, but I like being to be able to look back on that time and finally understand the side of the story that wasn't being treated as serious or reasonable by the likes of, uh... John Oliver and Steven Colbert. (Very serious journalists, ofc.)
As ever full of stuff to think about. However, Rhyd, I find your use of the term 'Utopian Socialism' unhelpful. I'm now past my mid-70s converted to Marxism in its Trotskyist variant over fifty years ago but never at one with its authoritarianism. Like many I sought naively to reform the Labour Party and failed - faced with its social democratic reformism. Thus for nearly 30 years I have sought to pursue an autonomous journey in alliance with libertarian socialists/communists.liberals. Across those years I have often been criticised for being utopian. In this context I find it bizarre that you define opportunist, careerist social democrats utterly wedded to the capitalist state as utopian. You are correct that this top-down ideology is at odds with any notion of liberation from below. Their technocratic future is surely one of dystopia, Best as ever and solidarity.
Like Tony Taylor, I was confused by the use pf the term Utopian Socialism. I've only heard that term used to describe pre-Marxian socialists like Owen and Fourier. It sounds like what you're describing is reformist liberalism - attacking social problems from the top-down, as matters of individual morality rather than social structure.
Come to think of it, isn't it a weird coincidence that the "Wolf-Killer" is called Ursula?
I also knew the term "utopian socialism" only as a sort of pre-marxist socialism. Also, didn't many (if not most) communist revolutions end up putting in place utopian socialist regimes? Anyway, the title is very accurate, in that the whole political situation here in Europe seems to be in a deadlock, and sometimes it is hard to find hope. That's why it is nice to read at least an accurate analysis of the situation.
Do you think the French Revolution substantively changed anything? It sounds to me like the EU isn't really much different than any monarchy.
Appropriate title, the aim is total domestication and control. That Ursula woman is the very embodiment of a controlling “mother knows best”. I am sure the permit to kill the wolf was her doing and backdated a day before the pony killing to make it look that she wasn’t responsible. Though I don’t have an intrinsic aversion to killing wolves as humanity is meant to be the planet’s wise and discerning alpha predator and we are to wield death appropriately. But wisdom snd discernment is unfortunately in short supply.
It's thanks to writers like you that I have a remarkably different perspective now on organizations like the EU, compared to my understanding of Euro politics circa Brexit--the first time in my memory when Americans were pretending to have opinions about the EU. Granted that on both ends of the spectrum my grasp of the relevant issues was (still is!) surface-level, but I like being to be able to look back on that time and finally understand the side of the story that wasn't being treated as serious or reasonable by the likes of, uh... John Oliver and Steven Colbert. (Very serious journalists, ofc.)
Appreciate the work you do, Rhyd.
As ever full of stuff to think about. However, Rhyd, I find your use of the term 'Utopian Socialism' unhelpful. I'm now past my mid-70s converted to Marxism in its Trotskyist variant over fifty years ago but never at one with its authoritarianism. Like many I sought naively to reform the Labour Party and failed - faced with its social democratic reformism. Thus for nearly 30 years I have sought to pursue an autonomous journey in alliance with libertarian socialists/communists.liberals. Across those years I have often been criticised for being utopian. In this context I find it bizarre that you define opportunist, careerist social democrats utterly wedded to the capitalist state as utopian. You are correct that this top-down ideology is at odds with any notion of liberation from below. Their technocratic future is surely one of dystopia, Best as ever and solidarity.
This has given me so much to digest and think about. Thank you very much.
This was so good I had a cigarette afterward. Sharing.
Good analysis.
Like Tony Taylor, I was confused by the use pf the term Utopian Socialism. I've only heard that term used to describe pre-Marxian socialists like Owen and Fourier. It sounds like what you're describing is reformist liberalism - attacking social problems from the top-down, as matters of individual morality rather than social structure.
Come to think of it, isn't it a weird coincidence that the "Wolf-Killer" is called Ursula?
I also knew the term "utopian socialism" only as a sort of pre-marxist socialism. Also, didn't many (if not most) communist revolutions end up putting in place utopian socialist regimes? Anyway, the title is very accurate, in that the whole political situation here in Europe seems to be in a deadlock, and sometimes it is hard to find hope. That's why it is nice to read at least an accurate analysis of the situation.