Capitalism vs. Socialism vs. Anarchism
So tonight I attended a public event hosted by a student group Democracy Matters. This student group is primarily focused on election reform. The event was a debate of which political system is the best for our country moving forward: Socialism, Capitalism, or Anarchism. I will critique the event in general and then also attempt to provide a small list of how I think events like this in the future could be better structured, as well as why events like this are important.
I think this event went really well. There was a really good back and forth between the representative of the Socialism and the Anarchist. I haven't done a lot of the readings in the Anarchist movement so I did not have a very firm background in their belief structure. With the back and forth between the Socialist camp and the Anarchist camp, I left the discussion with a strong understanding of Anarchism and Socialism points of unity as well as their points of contention.
One of the things this discussion panel did a really good job of is exposing the audience to ideologies that a lot of the audience might not have had a lot of exposure to. Socialism and Anarchism are very dirty words in our society. It was great to give some experts the opportunities to change people's misconceptions and maybe open some minds to different systems of government (or lack of government).
Now you might have noticed that I have left the capitalist out of this critique thus far. I wanted to lead with the good. The "defender" of the capitalist system was terrible. First of all he was not a true capitalist. He did not ascribe to the free-market kind of thinking or the Chicago School such as Milton Friedman. He was a very left-wing activist who attempted to defend capitalism from a progressive perspective (I think...). This seemed a weird choice to defend the capitalist system. The choice is comparable to having Obama defend Socialism (because he is a "Socialist"). Other than that line of criticism the speaker for capital was not on the same level experience as the Socialist and the Anarchist. This unfairly stacked the discussion into favor of the other two camps.
Here is a list of ways the event can be improved:
- The panel should have been given a longer change to clarify their points, counter-points, and rebuttals. 30 seconds isn't enough time to given any criticism.
- Maybe each panel could have provided the audience with the pre-panel reading material so they don't have to start at square one in their specific beliefs
- A professor from the economics department or the political science department would be a far better defender of capitalism
- a video recording would have been great to put this discussion online so a plethora of people can access it at anytime.
Events like these should be happening all over the country. They help break through the corporate media complex's representation of legitimate social movements and raises political conscience of the population.
Polls
So my first two polls on the site have closed so I will briefly discuss the results.
Supreme Court: The majority answer was No, the Supreme Court should not declare The Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. This is exactly the way I argued this issue so I was happy to see the majority agreed with me. Hopefully the Supreme Court agrees with us. I also appreciated to honesty in the next majority voting as "I don't know."
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| Winner |
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| Winner |
Rising Stars: The top winners were Emma Stone and Jennifer Lawrence. I agree with both of these choices as they are both stronger than their male counterparts. However I was surprised to see Lawrence topping Stone as I am more interested in Emma Stone as an actress. Also I was disappointed Andrew Garfield crushed Chris Hemsworth. People will learn. 2012 is the year of Chris Hemsworth.
Star Wars: I will put the new poll on the blog for-realsies tonight. :D
Occupy Homes
Just a short Occupy Homes update. Activists successfully shutdown the sheriff's sale of John Vinje's home this morning at the court house. They postponed the event 7 more week providing US Bank 7 weeks to come to the negotiating table with John.
Here's a little video if you are interested: Sheriff Sale Victory
Killing Boundaries
So the internet magazine I have blogged about for awhile has finally published its first issue!
The link to this wonderful website I am very proud of is right here.
Articles specifically authored by yours truly are:
- A review of Hunger Games (not live yet forthcoming)
- An editorial explaining why I got my Tattoo
- An editorial explaining What I am doing with my Tax Refund.
I encourage y'all to read the entire magazine though. This is a different writing style than I do in the blog it is a lot more structured and focused. The writing should feel more final and less stream of conscienceness-y. Also people smarter than me have edited the articles so they are closer to the goal of error free.
Other News
Me and my friend are currently in the process of launching a film podcast. So if you just haven't gotten enough of my on the internet here's an opportunity for more Will each week. The goal of this show is to present it to Radio K (U of M radio station) and have them pick it up as a weekly program next fall. We will see.
Well that's enough for tonight,
I hope it was interesting,
Will
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