Comments on: Hope against Hopelessness for the New Year http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/2011/12/hope-against-hopelessness-for-the-new-year/ Informed reflection on the events of the day Wed, 15 Jul 2015 17:00:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.4.23 By: Scott http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/2011/12/hope-against-hopelessness-for-the-new-year/comment-page-1/#comment-22341 Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:25:00 +0000 http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/?p=10641#comment-22341 First: Happy New Year to all!!!!

Second: Many had, and currently are, pinning their hopes on OWS, and I had always envisioned change enacted by OWS as a cultural transformation, both politically and economically. And I think this is where hope needs to have an active component. On New Year’s Eve in Liberty Plaza, it was encouraging to see that the active component of OWS is alive and well.

Yet I can’t say whether one acts and so is hopeful, or is hopeful so then acts, but with hopelessness nothing is possible and so nothing happens. Yet hope without action can amount to the same. This, needless to say, is to be avoided. I think many had hope in Barack Obama, but after he was elected, sat back and waited for change to happen, which was a mistake. Things usually don’t happen that way. Change requires action every step of the way; I hope (there’s that word again) this is a lesson that doesn’t need to be re-learned.

That’s just my assessment; I look forward to reading Prof. Goldfarb’s book.

]]> By: Vince Carducci http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/2011/12/hope-against-hopelessness-for-the-new-year/comment-page-1/#comment-22304 Sun, 01 Jan 2012 20:56:00 +0000 http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/?p=10641#comment-22304 Jeff, Was reading Eric Olin Wright’s overview of the Real Utopias Project and there’s a good quote in it from Gramsci on the struggle for social justice as requiring: “pessimism of the intellect, optimism of will.”

]]> By: Regina Tuma http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/2011/12/hope-against-hopelessness-for-the-new-year/comment-page-1/#comment-22266 Sat, 31 Dec 2011 05:58:00 +0000 http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/?p=10641#comment-22266 Jeff,
Thanks for all of your effort on Deliberately Considered. I have always appreciated your pointing to the alternative perspective. I find myself confused and disheartened by our political scene–all the more important to make sense of it. Looking forward to more Deliberately Considered next year.
Regina

]]> By: Lisa http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/2011/12/hope-against-hopelessness-for-the-new-year/comment-page-1/#comment-22263 Fri, 30 Dec 2011 20:51:00 +0000 http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/?p=10641#comment-22263 The way I think of you is this— you believe politics are possible and going on all of the time and that, for the most part, over time, democratic politics usually prevail (not always, as you pointed out in your post on the dangers of political paranoia). I like reading what you have to say because you believe politics are possible. I find myself increasingly cynical (sign of the times) about political possibility, believing that we live in a corporate oligarchy and that the world is driven by economic interest above all else and politics are a kind of illusion we need and will continue to need. So when I think of Colbert’s roast of Dubya— in effect, calling him out and letting him know that he would not make jokes or pander and JS did the same on that bow-tie guy’s show— I am uplifted. Satire is (for me) the sign of a healthy democracy— and it has to run both ways. When the NYer did the cartoon of Michelle as a militant and Barack as a radical, it was also funny. It was playing on a (ridiculous) perception, exposing a racist fear that runs deep in the national consciousness. It had to be ambiguous to be satire and not political propaganda. Anyway, you are somewhat optimistic but that is a good thing— or at least an inspiring thing.

]]> By: Vince Carducci http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/2011/12/hope-against-hopelessness-for-the-new-year/comment-page-1/#comment-22259 Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:37:00 +0000 http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/?p=10641#comment-22259 Jeff, Thank you for the opportunity to engage in this conversation. As I think about it, perhaps “propaganda” is too severe a word. What I have intended in using it is to say that all art has political implications on some level. Your reference to Marcuse’s idea of “the aesthetic dimension” is a good one. There’s a certain aspect of utopian thinking, basically Manheim’s positing of the role of the free-ranging intellectual who must choose whether to be aligned with what Raymond Williams terms the “emergent” or the “residual.” The former are the utopians and the latter the ideologues. But there’s still a normative judgment in that equation. This is where Geertz attempts to move into a more value-free semiotic discussion. Though I have to admit that in my heart of hearts I’m comfortable with Manheim’s razor and that’s where Ranciere is having a lot to say to me these days.

]]> By: Vince Carducci http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/2011/12/hope-against-hopelessness-for-the-new-year/comment-page-1/#comment-22260 Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:37:00 +0000 http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/?p=10641#comment-22260 Jeff, Thank you for the opportunity to engage in this conversation. As I think about it, perhaps “propaganda” is too severe a word. What I have intended in using it is to say that all art has political implications on some level. Your reference to Marcuse’s idea of “the aesthetic dimension” is a good one. There’s a certain aspect of utopian thinking, basically Manheim’s positing of the role of the free-ranging intellectual who must choose whether to be aligned with what Raymond Williams terms the “emergent” or the “residual.” The former are the utopians and the latter the ideologues. But there’s still a normative judgment in that equation. This is where Geertz attempts to move into a more value-free semiotic discussion. Though I have to admit that in my heart of hearts I’m comfortable with Manheim’s razor and that’s where Ranciere is having a lot to say to me these days.

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