Sweet Baby Marx
5th January 2013, 01:07
Hello forumgoers of revleft - well, at least to those who do browse this section.
I'm Sweet Baby Marx, or just "Baby" for short.. or what ever kind of nickname you may come up with, as long as I am made aware of being the adressed individual, you may call me as you choose.
I come from a mixed household: My grandfather was in the CP in his time. My other grandfather a farmer and a catholic - and therefore rather right-wing in his beliefs. My father a life-long rebel, and a self-thaught 'everything'.. It would be just only to call him a dissident and an individualist. My mother is a self proclaimed fortune teller - that's all there is to be said on her.
Me, however, I was always interested in the system and how it works: 'what is money?', 'how can there be famine?', 'why do we fight wars?' and so forth..
Basically as far back as I can remember, I've had this fascination with "whats and hows" of the system. To put it more metaphorically - I wanted to understand the inner mechanisms of the world.
School never did fulfill that want and passion for understanding, so over the years of bad capitalist school system, I've learned to store this feeling somewhere private, for i've learned that understanding the system was not primary for having gain from it, but rather the contrary - learning and conversing about it would make me an outcast among friends who chose to watch television and play soldiers, so I just played along.
In highschool, however, we had this teacher that let us review books of our own choosing and she would grade our "public speaking ability" ( ... ugh). For some reason I chose an old greek book - a philosophy book - by an author called Aristotle with the title "Nicomachean Ethics".. And his logical, mathematical approach fascinated me. It was the first time I was reading a philosopher and it opened the world to me.. I didn't need to discuss this with friends - I could open a book and discuss it with smart dead people!
So it wasn't untill I started to attend college and feeling the system crumble around me that I started to consider confiding myself to Marx.
I first read The Communist Manifesto and I remember it fillng me with the greatest of warmths - I knew from the start that he'll surely be one of my best friends.
Not long after that I read the first volume of The Capital, which was hardly the best thing to do, since then I had to read all of those other philosophers Marx told me were wrong .. Good thing I at least knew a little something about Aristotle.
Reading it, however, finally put it in some perspective. But that want for understanding the system was long before understanding it completely replaced by the fiery need to see it crumble...
Today, where I live, I feel disinfranchised, the politicians are corrupt, the elite is water tight and I feel more and more driven to express my passion for progress with the force of nitroglycerin (just quoting Trotsky - Relax). Expanding my horison with books can only take me so far.. My ideas have no use-value to me - so I have to exchange them!
And that is my short essay of a "humble introduction". I hope I didn't bore you, and I look forward to many insightful discussions on this forum.
I'm Sweet Baby Marx, or just "Baby" for short.. or what ever kind of nickname you may come up with, as long as I am made aware of being the adressed individual, you may call me as you choose.
I come from a mixed household: My grandfather was in the CP in his time. My other grandfather a farmer and a catholic - and therefore rather right-wing in his beliefs. My father a life-long rebel, and a self-thaught 'everything'.. It would be just only to call him a dissident and an individualist. My mother is a self proclaimed fortune teller - that's all there is to be said on her.
Me, however, I was always interested in the system and how it works: 'what is money?', 'how can there be famine?', 'why do we fight wars?' and so forth..
Basically as far back as I can remember, I've had this fascination with "whats and hows" of the system. To put it more metaphorically - I wanted to understand the inner mechanisms of the world.
School never did fulfill that want and passion for understanding, so over the years of bad capitalist school system, I've learned to store this feeling somewhere private, for i've learned that understanding the system was not primary for having gain from it, but rather the contrary - learning and conversing about it would make me an outcast among friends who chose to watch television and play soldiers, so I just played along.
In highschool, however, we had this teacher that let us review books of our own choosing and she would grade our "public speaking ability" ( ... ugh). For some reason I chose an old greek book - a philosophy book - by an author called Aristotle with the title "Nicomachean Ethics".. And his logical, mathematical approach fascinated me. It was the first time I was reading a philosopher and it opened the world to me.. I didn't need to discuss this with friends - I could open a book and discuss it with smart dead people!
So it wasn't untill I started to attend college and feeling the system crumble around me that I started to consider confiding myself to Marx.
I first read The Communist Manifesto and I remember it fillng me with the greatest of warmths - I knew from the start that he'll surely be one of my best friends.
Not long after that I read the first volume of The Capital, which was hardly the best thing to do, since then I had to read all of those other philosophers Marx told me were wrong .. Good thing I at least knew a little something about Aristotle.
Reading it, however, finally put it in some perspective. But that want for understanding the system was long before understanding it completely replaced by the fiery need to see it crumble...
Today, where I live, I feel disinfranchised, the politicians are corrupt, the elite is water tight and I feel more and more driven to express my passion for progress with the force of nitroglycerin (just quoting Trotsky - Relax). Expanding my horison with books can only take me so far.. My ideas have no use-value to me - so I have to exchange them!
And that is my short essay of a "humble introduction". I hope I didn't bore you, and I look forward to many insightful discussions on this forum.