"Economics 101" by Peter Joseph

[Crixus]

KEC0GT_8l_I

Other than his mangling of the history of human development (ending around the 12 minute mark) do you think he has good points concerning a planned economy? I think he's a great propagandist (not in the negative sense). It's almost like he wants to flirt with Marxist concepts- historical materialism, false consciousness, the base/superstructure , planned production, commodification, criticizing wage labor etc but it's not done right. Overall I've been watching this guy over the years and I think his analysis is getting better. Almost as if some one put some Marx in front of him since his first Zeitgeist film. I give this video a B+ as far as a more generic accessible criticism of capitalism. Thoughts?

[Bardo]

I saw this several months ago and took very little from it. Aside from my peeve with Peter Joseph, Zeitgeist and the Venus project, I didn't find any insight in this "Culture in Decline" series. He's apparently somewhat anti-capitalist, which is fine and all, but there's little constructive theory in his works that is rooted in reality.

[Crixus]

I saw this several months ago and took very little from it. Aside from my peeve with Peter Joseph, Zeitgeist and the Venus project, I didn't find any insight in this "Culture in Decline" series. He's apparently somewhat anti-capitalist, which is fine and all, but there's little constructive theory in his works that is rooted in reality.
Ya I agree, he's an idealist but his Zeitgeist stuff was just absurd. It seems like the guy is making some sort of shift into a more practical position where it's almost like he's flirting with Marxism but wont embrace it, or, I should say, the materialist analysis. I'd put Joseph in the category of idealist utopian socialist with Proudhon, Tolstoy, Owen etc. Good intentions but not what we need to end capitalism. I think what people like him may be good for is helping to spread an anti capitalist message but at the same time if the message is one that hasn't the ability to end capitalism would it be a good thing if a lot of people embrace his theory in practice. Probably not. Do you think stuff like this does more harm than good?

[Hit The North]

I was enjoying this and then a cartoon gremlin appeared. Seems to me that the guy doesn't provide a critique of capitalism (only the free market) and doesn't consider the class basis for capitalism and is, therefore, a hundred miles from Marxism.

Mr. Natural, who used to post here, would dig it though.

[tuwix]

Other than his mangling of the history of human development (ending around the 12 minute mark) do you think he has good points concerning a planned economy? I think he's a great propagandist (not in the negative sense). It's almost like he wants to flirt with Marxist concepts- historical materialism, false consciousness, the base/superstructure , planned production, commodification, criticizing wage labor etc but it's not done right. Overall I've been watching this guy over the years and I think his analysis is getting better. Almost as if some one put some Marx in front of him since his first Zeitgeist film. I give this video a B+ as far as a more generic accessible criticism of capitalism. Thoughts?

Yes. Recently he has started to mention about class struggle. But he is denying still any connection his ideology witch Marxism or communism. :)

But this is not his greatest problem. It is even beneficial because it is difficult for right-wing idiots to give him a label of communist which immediately erases any discussion because communism in so-called western world is just taboo. But his greatest problem is lack any transition plan that make any sense. The 99% of population want to live in a world where there is no need to go to hated job. And they are potential communists. But they don't believe it is possible and this is why they are not communists at all.

[Crixus]

I was enjoying this and then a cartoon gremlin appeared. Seems to me that the guy doesn't provide a critique of capitalism (only the free market) and doesn't consider the class basis for capitalism and is, therefore, a hundred miles from Marxism.

Mr. Natural, who used to post here, would dig it though.
He seems to be flirting with it, talked about people not wanting to work for bosses making the boss money. Nothing he's doing is Marxist analysis but even us Marxists, if we were to use media as he does, shouldn't get into complex theories or even use Marxist terms when trying to reach average people. Think of what a video explaining Das Capital would look like. Is it possible to explain these things in a 'fun' accessible manner? Why aren't any of us trying this? That 'Marx Reloaded' piece was garbage in my opinion.

The closest I've seen any of us get is the youtube poster brendanmcooney (link below) but even his videos, to the average person, won't sink in, wont be entertaining or 'sensational' and are helpful to people sincerely interested in Marxism but, I don't know what I'm going for here....I'm talking about some top notch Marxist propaganda with bells whistles and catchy tunes that people can dance to. Not overly intellectualized classroom style analysis or creepy commercials like the recently made commercial for communism. I think we may be dropping the ball.

http://www.youtube.com/user/brendanmcooney

[Crabbensmasher]

He's getting people to question things. That's good enough for me.
Even if the Zeitgeist movement doesn't have a transitional plan, or isn't really sure where it's taking itself, I still think the man is doing some good.

The videos on the other hand, kind of annoy me. the wacky sound effects and cartoons make me kind of cringe. It's meant to engage the "average" viewer, but sometimes he'll drone on for a few minutes before you realize you didn't catch anything of what he's saying. Like, I don't know whether it's amateur or not, but it's really not perfect.

[ckaihatsu]

I give it a 'thumbs-up' since it manages to introduce Marxist-type critiques without burdening the material with the historical baggage of "communism".

I particularly like his critique of supply & demand, and price, at minute 13 in the video, where he notes that the world's current paradigm does *not* have:

- true material economizing

- optimum allocation [of materials]

- optimum production -- proximity, technology, labor

- optimum recycling

- optimum industry


He seems to conclude with a call for a kind of 'democratic economics' -- excellent propaganda, though I commented on the term itself recently:





'[E]conomic democracy' is only a term of convenience. Treating money as something to be voted on only begs the question of its underlying value, and may simply be an exercise in redundancy.

[RadioRaheem84]

After watching this video I finally understand how some people may see us. The guy first comes off as rather pompous and trying way too hard to use an extensive vocabulary. Apparently people are too dumb to get it because they love TV?

I like Brendan M Cooney's video Manufacturing Consent a lot better. It offers an intro that says that we re-create the capitalist society everyday. It's organic and it would still re-create itself without the need of televised distractions.