Brokeback Watchtower

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Posts by Brokeback Watchtower

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  94

  Karl Marx Genius Of The Modern World

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  he was all for getting rid of religions and their delusions for the betterment of mankind.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mydmc1wio8.

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  Brokeback Watchtower

  The future of historical materialism:

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_materialism
  

  Marxist beliefs about history[edit]

  "Society does not consist of individuals, but expresses the sum of interrelations, the relations within which these individuals stand."

  —  Karl Marx, Grundrisse, 1858[9]

  According to Marxist theorists[which?], history develops in accordance with the following observations:

  1. Social progress is driven by progress in the material, productive forces a society has at its disposal (technology, labor, capital goods, etc.)
  2. Humans are inevitably involved in production relations (roughly speaking, economic relationships or institutions), which constitute our most decisive social relations.
  3. Production relations progress, with a degree of inevitability, following and corresponding to the development of the productive forces.
  4. Relations of production help determine the degree and types of the development of the forces of production. For example, capitalism tends to increase the rate at which the forces develop and stresses the accumulation of capital.
  5. Both productive forces and production relations progress independently of mankind's strategic intentions or will.
  6. The superstructure—the cultural and institutional features of a society, its ideological materials—is ultimately an expression of the mode of production (which combines both the forces and relations of production) on which the society is founded.
  7. Every type of state is a powerful institution of the ruling class; the state is an instrument which one class uses to secure its rule and enforce its preferred production relations (and its exploitation) onto society.
  8. State power is usually only transferred from one class to another by social and political upheaval.
  9. When a given style of production relations no longer supports further progress in the productive forces, either further progress is strangled, or 'revolution' must occur.
  10. The actual historical process is not predetermined but depends on the class struggle, especially the organization and consciousness of the working class.

  Alienation and freedom[edit]

  Hunter-gatherer societies were structured so that the economic forces and the political forces were one and the same. The elements of force and relation operated together, harmoniously. In the feudal society, the political forces of the kings and nobility had their relations with the economic forces of the villages through serfdom. The serfs, although not free, were tied to both forces and, thus, not completely alienated. Capitalism, Marx argued, completely separates the economic and political forces, leaving them to have relations through a limiting government. He takes the state to be a sign of this separation—it exists to manage the massive conflicts of interest which arise between classes in all those societies based on property relations.
  

  The future[edit]

  In his analysis of the movement of history, Marx predicted the breakdown of capitalism, and the establishment in time of a communist society in which class-based human conflict would be overcome. The means of production would be held in the common ownership and used for the common good. In the mention of "human liberation" one should not neglect that, in the level of production, solely the working class is the most oppressed. But either way in the prediction of the future, one shall first know of the past (i.e. the establishment of capitalism and the transitional part of feudalism).

  
  
• 
  94

  Karl Marx Genius Of The Modern World

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  he was all for getting rid of religions and their delusions for the betterment of mankind.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mydmc1wio8.

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  Brokeback Watchtower

  Jal,
  

  I think the same is true in Capitalism only difference might be instead of the collective we could insert Capital(ist) concerns dominate human rights.
  
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  94

  Karl Marx Genius Of The Modern World

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  he was all for getting rid of religions and their delusions for the betterment of mankind.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mydmc1wio8.

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  Brokeback Watchtower

  Cof,

  I would expect since you're British that you would have different back round then the us in the US toward Marxism. Please share some of your thoughts on what specifically you find troubling about it.
  
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  22

  Do You Hope Donald Trump Makes Jestures Of Mending USA With Russia Relationships?

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. social
  2. current

  i think the problems the us and russia face are mainly ideological.

  the cold war these two countries have been in needs to be stopped and common sense needs to be applied i hope trump can push thing in the right direction and that he has good advisors.

  i'm all for these two major world military powers to put away their differences and find way to work together on common problems they face.. they need to cooperate with each other even in their cyber warfare.

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  Brokeback Watchtower

  I take the spy game between the two to keep playing out as a form of national security,, but see them working together to combat some of these common threats by radical elements as technology increases.

  For this they need a little more mutual understanding of each other so they can come to more productive agreements. Governments all have basic needs and to understand these needs for the two governments call on them to be rational with each other and a recognition that we are all humans with the same good and bad or not so good traits. Russians aren't all bad and neither are Americans, we are human and our governments want the same basic things but have different ideologies to attain it. But woefully mistrust abounds I hope that ends in the near future.
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  17

  Does Christianity Promote Self Hatred?

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i think that christianity's teachings pose a very unproductive world view and are a danger to our survival.

  their teachings that man is sinful and worthy of death and in need of a savior to rescue him and free him of his sinful tendencies or else feel the wrath of god.

  these things that condemn man as sinful are his own powerful drives given to him at conception which he now must deny due to indoctrination and consign to his shadow(jungian).

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  Brokeback Watchtower

  CS,

  Their teachings that man is sinful and worthy of death and in need of a savior to rescue him and free him of his sinful tendencies or else feel the wrath of God.

  This is only one of the iterations of Christianity. It's not a biblical teaching, nor will you see any of the apostles that taught it.
  

  Well I wouldn't want to do any biblical hop scotching to make each individual point so I just said it in as little words as possible or in a nut shell if you prefer.

  Thank for the added scripture it adds some depth to our discussion of how the bible promotes these ideologies of self hatred of our own inherited nature as something sinful and to be done away with.

  Many Christians are speaking of man's fate without Christ and they assume sinners don't have that safety net. But yes, part of the reason we're placed on Earth is to combat our own natural tendencies to do evil. Through Christ, man achieves the ability to become like God.

  Well I understand that to be your reality tunnel, That you have a sinful body that you must conquer to be like God(whatever that is?).

  You must realize I'm sure that evil is not some universal thing "out there" but what we think is evil due to our programing or religious indoctrination as to what is Evil.

  So that what we have been programed to think of as evil may in fact not be evil at all but merely our human drives that made our survival possible. Thus the better our understanding of this the better can harness those drives for ourselves and others good as well. Suppressing them because we think them evil is not the way to get mastery over them, unbiased understanding of them opens the way not denial.
  
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  22

  Do You Hope Donald Trump Makes Jestures Of Mending USA With Russia Relationships?

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. social
  2. current

  i think the problems the us and russia face are mainly ideological.

  the cold war these two countries have been in needs to be stopped and common sense needs to be applied i hope trump can push thing in the right direction and that he has good advisors.

  i'm all for these two major world military powers to put away their differences and find way to work together on common problems they face.. they need to cooperate with each other even in their cyber warfare.

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  2. 
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• 

  Brokeback Watchtower

  I think the problems the US and Russia face are mainly ideological. The cold war these two countries have been in needs to be stopped and common sense needs to be applied I hope Trump can push thing in the right direction and that he has good advisors.

  I'm all for these two major world military powers to put away their differences and find way to work together on common problems they face.

  They need to cooperate with each other even in their cyber warfare. Technology shared and work together I'm sure there must be away of these two ideologies to work together.
  
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  94

  Karl Marx Genius Of The Modern World

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  he was all for getting rid of religions and their delusions for the betterment of mankind.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mydmc1wio8.

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  Brokeback Watchtower

  Frank Zappa on McCarthyism:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRYX6QHxGv4
  
• 
  94

  Karl Marx Genius Of The Modern World

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  he was all for getting rid of religions and their delusions for the betterment of mankind.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mydmc1wio8.

  1. 
  2. 
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  Brokeback Watchtower

  LUHE,

  Sorry for the long post I tried to edit it but was unsuccessful. But on the upside there is a lot to click on to make readers and posters more informed so that our discussion can be more factual and perhaps remove some prejudice from future comments.

  America went through a period of McCarthyism in the 50s, where the Feds were cracking down on people who were or merely seen with some communist and were black listed. I think the government actions a bit overboard and more of an alarmist reaction to a ideology that was at odds with its capitalist ideology.

  Some of that opposition remains in my generation the 1950s and the further away from the 50s one generation starts the less of this government propaganda effects them. Just sayin.
  

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism

  McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence.[1] The term refers to U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy and has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from 1947 to 1956 and characterized by heightened political repression as well as a campaign spreading fear of influence on American institutions and of espionage by Soviet agents.

  It originated with President Truman's Executive Order 9835 of March 21, 1947, which required that all federal civil service employees be screened for "loyalty." The order specified that one criterion to be used in determining that "reasonable grounds exist for belief that the person involved is disloyal" would be a finding of "membership in, affiliation with or sympathetic association" with any organization determined by the attorney general to be "totalitarian, Fascist, Communist or subversive" or advocating or approving the forceful denial of constitutional rights to other persons or seeking "to alter the form of Government of the United States by unconstitutional means."

  — Robert J Goldstein [2]

  McCarthyism soon took on a broader meaning, describing the excesses of similar efforts. The term is also now used more generally to describe reckless, unsubstantiated accusations, as well as demagogic attacks on the character or patriotism of political adversaries. During the McCarthy era, thousands of Americans were accused of being communists or communist sympathizers and became the subject of aggressive investigations and questioning before government or private-industry panels, committees and agencies. The primary targets of such suspicions were government employees, those in the entertainment industry, educators and union activists. Suspicions were often given credence despite inconclusive or questionable evidence, and the level of threat posed by a person's real or supposed leftist associations or beliefs was often greatly exaggerated. Many people suffered loss of employment or destruction of their careers; some even suffered imprisonment. Most of these punishments came about through trial verdicts later overturned,[3] laws that were later declared unconstitutional,[4] dismissals for reasons later declared illegal[5] or actionable,[6] or extra-legal procedures that would come into general disrepute.
  
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  20

  Watchtower study today - best practice in word

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  due to family reasons gorby was present today.. the watchtower study was about refugee's.. how to treat refugee's, jw and non believers, and help them spiritual, not financial.

  nothing new.. what i mentioned is the juridical message underneath the whole story.

  don't talk politics, listen to government regulations etc.. most bizar is that a whole congregation that normaly avoid giving any aid to people in need, this morning gave the best practice in word about what to do with refugee's.. if the subject was not that serious, this hypocracy could be funny.

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  Brokeback Watchtower

  O God I just had a flash back about how much time I spent listening to utter bull shit being pushed down our throats during WT study/indoctrination meetings, utterly stupid Public talks based on a fairy tale figure Universal Sovereign. I think I'm going to puke.

  I guess humor can make it less painful when you got/forced to go for whatever reasons, you have my sympathy man.
  
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  94

  Karl Marx Genius Of The Modern World

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  he was all for getting rid of religions and their delusions for the betterment of mankind.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mydmc1wio8.

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  Brokeback Watchtower

  I think we need to discuss Marxism and be more specific about what you do or don't know about him. Because I think a lot of this is gut reaction to what we've been indoctrinated by our government to believe.
  

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism

  For the political ideology commonly associated with states governed by Communist parties, see Marxism–Leninism.

  Marxism
  Theoretical works[show] Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 Theses on Feuerbach The German Ideology The Communist Manifesto The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon Grundrisse der Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy Das Kapital Dialectics of Nature
  Philosophy[show] Dialectical logic Dialectical materialism Economic determinism Historical determinism Historical materialism Marx's method Philosophy of nature
  Economics[show] Capital (accumulation) Asiatic mode of production Capitalist mode of production Crisis theory Commodity Exploitation Mode of production Law of value Scientific socialism Socialist mode of production Surplus product Surplus value Value-form Wage labor
  Sociology[show] Alienation Base and superstructure Bourgeoisie Class Class consciousness Class struggle Commodity fetishism Communist society Cultural hegemony Dictatorship of the proletariat Exploitation Human nature Ideology Immiseration Proletariat Private property Relations of production Reification Working class
  History[show] Anarchism and Marxism Philosophy in the Soviet Union Primitive capital accumulation Proletarian revolution Proletarian internationalism World revolution Communist society Young Marx
  Aspects[show] Aesthetics Archaeology Criminology Film theory Geography Historiography Literary criticism
  Schools of thought[show] Analytical Austro Autonomist Budapest School Classical De Leonist Marxist feminism Frankfurt School Freudian Marxist humanism Impossibilism Instrumental Left communist Leninist Libertarian Luxemburgist Neo-Marxism Neue Marx-Lektüre Open Orthodox Post-Marxism Praxis School Structural Western
  People[show] Karl Marx Friedrich Engels Karl Kautsky Eduard Bernstein James Connolly Georgi Plekhanov Rosa Luxemburg Vladimir Lenin Alexander Bogdanov Leon Trotsky Chen Duxiu Che Guevara Mao Zedong Louis Althusser György Lukács Karl Korsch Antonio Gramsci Rudolf Hilferding Antonie Pannekoek Raya Dunayevskaya Herbert Marcuse Maximilien Rubel Guy Debord
  Socialism portal Communism portal Philosophy portal
  v t e

  Marxism is a form of socioeconomic analysis that analyses class relations and societal conflict using a materialist interpretation of historical development and a dialectical view of social transformation. It originates from the mid-to-late 19th century works of German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

  Marxist methodology originally used a method of economic and sociopolitical inquiry known as historical materialism to analyze and critique the development of capitalism and the role of class struggle in systemic economic change. According to Marxist perspective, class conflict within capitalism arises due to intensifying contradictions between the highly productive mechanized and socialized production performed by the proletariat, and the private ownership and appropriation of the surplus product (profit) by a small minority of the population who are private owners called the bourgeoisie. The contradiction, between the forces and relations of production intensifies leading to crisis. The proletariat through the alienation of labor, social unrest between the two antagonistic classes will intensify, until it culminates in social revolution. The eventual long-term outcome of this revolution would be the establishment of socialism – a socioeconomic system based on social ownership of the means of production, distribution based on one's contribution, and production organized directly for use. As the productive forces and technology continued to advance, Marx hypothesized that socialism would eventually give way to a communist stage of social development, which would be a classless, stateless, humane society erected on common ownership and the principle of "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs".

  Marxism has since developed into different branches and schools of thought, and there is now no single definitive Marxist theory.[1] Different Marxian schools place a greater emphasis on certain aspects of classical Marxism while de-emphasizing or rejecting other aspects, and sometimes combine Marxist analysis with non-Marxian concepts; as a result, they might reach contradictory conclusions from each other.[2] Lately, however, there is movement toward the recognition that the main aspect of Marxism is philosophy of dialectical materialism and historicism,[3] which should result in more agreement between different schools.