Cultural Marxism
A conversation at my local the other night got me thinking about Marx and Engels would have made of notions like "white privilege" and so forth that are used in what is often referred to as "cultural Marxism." The context was that the bartender and another patron (a mildly impoverished young man), both of whom had talked about Marxist analysis a moment before, seemed to be taking the idea of "white privilege" very seriously.
Here's my guess: Marx and Engels would have thought this was a great ruse on the part of the ruling class: convince some white guys making $10 or $15 per hour that they are "privileged," and that Vernon Jordan, Colin Powell, and Barack Obama are victims of their privilege, and the rulers have them right where they want them.
UPDATE: Changed to give Vernon Jordan the correct last name.
Here's my guess: Marx and Engels would have thought this was a great ruse on the part of the ruling class: convince some white guys making $10 or $15 per hour that they are "privileged," and that Vernon Jordan, Colin Powell, and Barack Obama are victims of their privilege, and the rulers have them right where they want them.
UPDATE: Changed to give Vernon Jordan the correct last name.
Forgive me, but I can't figure out why you have Vernon Smith, Colin Powell and Barack Obama in the same category. Powell and Obama are both African Americans, but why is Vernon Smith (the pony-tailed economist?) in there? In his pictures he doesn't look African American to me, is there something else that links the three...I am sleepy, maybe I am missing something...
ReplyDeleteNo, I was really sleepy: I meant to write Vernon Jordan.
DeleteI see what you're doing here. You want to be a conspiracy theorist but you are afraid. So you pretend to be a hypothetical Marxist making the analysis.
ReplyDeleteConspiracy theories are class interest analysis with training wheels.
Delete