greenwarbler
5th May 2011, 19:31
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/298711-1&buy
http://timeoutofmind.com/wordpress/2011/04/18/c-span_after_words_with_kevin_williamson/
Notes -- May 04, 2011 --
K. Williamson, "After Words"; KW assumes that socialism entails 1) "Public distribution of non-Public goods" and 2) Central-Planning; to understand "Socialism" beyond the context of Soveit-style state-bureaucracy is completely beyond his understanding [thus far:, and it is determined within five minutes of the interview [4:11] that "the central planning aspect renders it [socialism] ineffective," because "how can you plan into the future how many pairs of shoes you buy a week"... or "how much orange juice" [...]; he also remarks that "human relations are too complex for central planning." [3:37] That human social relations have a material aspect hich determines their content "that man creates his environment, as his environment creates him" is not an idea that crosses KW's mind -- ever: people will always buy orange juice at the grocery store; they will always buy thirteen pairs of cheaply-made imported shoes at the local mall; etc.
That the conversation sputters -- instead of discussing the really existing ground of what constitutes "socialism" (which is doubtful the interviewer/ee ever have in mind) -- into a semantic discussion of the semiotics and hermeneutics of the _term_ socialism; instead of discussing the idea(l)s of progress "socialism" and "socialist" projects entail, the two discuss its congruence of the former with Obama's campaign and his administration.
[14:13]"Socialism is not merely an economic system; it is also an philosophical system";
"Socialism" will "lead to mass murder"; "has an absolutist notion"; "there is inherently a problem with socialism, or it is inherently the most unlucky philosophical system"
His assessment of North Korea [18:00] as "a place where people eat grass" is not only wrong, it is unlearned and vulgar -- anyone who has read basic economic texts on the post-war Korean economy will know that -- until ca. 1979-83, the N. Korean economy -- which recovered _much_ more rapidly than did that of the South -- was _far_ advanced beyond the latter (the fact that most natural resources and also heavy industry are and were located here [that is, in the North], certainly contributed to the quick recovery); the fact that without the continued and sustained presence of the United States military, South korea would _not_ exist as a viable entity is a fact Williamson seems unwilling to deal with -- but then, facts can be too representative of reaility -- which he seems unwilling to give the time of day.
Not only is this an extreme oversimplification of
[28:00] Although India was a non-aligned nation, it "still had Soviet weapons"; the consideration, why weapons are being produced in the first place, and distributed among and between and to developed states does not seem to cross his mind [perhaps Soviet weapons were more advanced; reliable?]
[30:00] "A little bit of capitalism can do a great bit of good -- a little bit of socialism can do a great deal of damage"
What follows is a dicussion on how Sweden is "not a socialist country", which no one -- except maybe Friedmann has argued, ever.
[38:00] After this point, the interview scuttles very quickly into nonsense: Obama represents "an ideological shift"; education & health-care [cf. "Obama-care"] "a non-public good"; Socialism "does not help the poor" -- his argument to this effect is that of Adler [cf. _The Paneida Program_: that education is in essence qualitatively unegalitarian], but is much poorer articulted, and winds up a straw man argument, by means of which KW attacks the idea of public education in itself; [42:00] "human beings tend to be goal-oriented and short-term oriented".. "there is little introspection going on"...; other apologetics for the present system [...]
[40:21] "Planned systems tend to benefit not those who they are intended to benefit, but benefit the planners" [41:30] What the "evidence" is that the system of education "does nothing" for students is, is never discussed -- probably because such evidence is non-existent.
[45:00] ObamaCare is Socialism... (etc)
http://timeoutofmind.com/wordpress/2011/04/18/c-span_after_words_with_kevin_williamson/
Notes -- May 04, 2011 --
K. Williamson, "After Words"; KW assumes that socialism entails 1) "Public distribution of non-Public goods" and 2) Central-Planning; to understand "Socialism" beyond the context of Soveit-style state-bureaucracy is completely beyond his understanding [thus far:, and it is determined within five minutes of the interview [4:11] that "the central planning aspect renders it [socialism] ineffective," because "how can you plan into the future how many pairs of shoes you buy a week"... or "how much orange juice" [...]; he also remarks that "human relations are too complex for central planning." [3:37] That human social relations have a material aspect hich determines their content "that man creates his environment, as his environment creates him" is not an idea that crosses KW's mind -- ever: people will always buy orange juice at the grocery store; they will always buy thirteen pairs of cheaply-made imported shoes at the local mall; etc.
That the conversation sputters -- instead of discussing the really existing ground of what constitutes "socialism" (which is doubtful the interviewer/ee ever have in mind) -- into a semantic discussion of the semiotics and hermeneutics of the _term_ socialism; instead of discussing the idea(l)s of progress "socialism" and "socialist" projects entail, the two discuss its congruence of the former with Obama's campaign and his administration.
[14:13]"Socialism is not merely an economic system; it is also an philosophical system";
"Socialism" will "lead to mass murder"; "has an absolutist notion"; "there is inherently a problem with socialism, or it is inherently the most unlucky philosophical system"
His assessment of North Korea [18:00] as "a place where people eat grass" is not only wrong, it is unlearned and vulgar -- anyone who has read basic economic texts on the post-war Korean economy will know that -- until ca. 1979-83, the N. Korean economy -- which recovered _much_ more rapidly than did that of the South -- was _far_ advanced beyond the latter (the fact that most natural resources and also heavy industry are and were located here [that is, in the North], certainly contributed to the quick recovery); the fact that without the continued and sustained presence of the United States military, South korea would _not_ exist as a viable entity is a fact Williamson seems unwilling to deal with -- but then, facts can be too representative of reaility -- which he seems unwilling to give the time of day.
Not only is this an extreme oversimplification of
[28:00] Although India was a non-aligned nation, it "still had Soviet weapons"; the consideration, why weapons are being produced in the first place, and distributed among and between and to developed states does not seem to cross his mind [perhaps Soviet weapons were more advanced; reliable?]
[30:00] "A little bit of capitalism can do a great bit of good -- a little bit of socialism can do a great deal of damage"
What follows is a dicussion on how Sweden is "not a socialist country", which no one -- except maybe Friedmann has argued, ever.
[38:00] After this point, the interview scuttles very quickly into nonsense: Obama represents "an ideological shift"; education & health-care [cf. "Obama-care"] "a non-public good"; Socialism "does not help the poor" -- his argument to this effect is that of Adler [cf. _The Paneida Program_: that education is in essence qualitatively unegalitarian], but is much poorer articulted, and winds up a straw man argument, by means of which KW attacks the idea of public education in itself; [42:00] "human beings tend to be goal-oriented and short-term oriented".. "there is little introspection going on"...; other apologetics for the present system [...]
[40:21] "Planned systems tend to benefit not those who they are intended to benefit, but benefit the planners" [41:30] What the "evidence" is that the system of education "does nothing" for students is, is never discussed -- probably because such evidence is non-existent.
[45:00] ObamaCare is Socialism... (etc)