If you would like to continue discussion from Kristin's Tues/Thurs class, feel free to post here. Please use your first name when posting, do not use your codeword. Please take care to address your classmates with respect (no "flaming"). I will not be monitoring the discussion on a regular basis. Enjoy! :)
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Xaipe
ReplyDelete"Free iTunes! Apple's hypocritical move to block competitors from accessing its software."
By Farhad Manjoo
Slate.com
Monday, Sept. 28, 2009
http://www.slate.com/id/2229856/?from=rss
Social change of the portable device industry is inevitable after Apple software prevented users of the Palm Pre from loading iTunes freely. This act will make the inequalities between the Apple and makers of the Palm Pre known by all in the technological industry in addition to those members of the proletariat that do not approve of the imbalance of technological power. Apple software is a propertied class that needs to distribute its wealth to workers, makers, and users of the Palm Pre and stop promoting their own self interests. In order to move beyond the capitalistic culture our society now covets, the bourgeois of Apple software should extend their USB ports to the proletariats that use and make the Palm Pre. Supply and demand for iTunes will not be affected by the addition of another software device. It is only the fear of relieving some of the effects of pauperization to other technological companies and the loss of Apple’s expansiveness that keeps Apple from opening iTunes access to everyone.
--Karl Marx
1.Bahamas
ReplyDelete2.Smuggling Europe's Waste to Poorer Countries
3.Elisabeth Rosenthal
4.The New York Times
5.September 27, 2009
6.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/science/earth/27waste.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Marx:
Exporting waste illegally to poor countries has become a vast and growing international business— our social interests are determined by our social position, and nothing else. Europe shows no care or sympathy for the children that often dismantle construction debris containing toxic chemicals or the fact that burning the excess garbage causes pollution in the air and water and releases heat-trapping gases, which is linked to global warming. Europe only cares about their self interest and what’s the easiest, cheapest way to dispose of their garbage, nobody cares about the poor countries. The European countries are seen as the ruling class or bourgeoisie, and the other countries, such as China, Indonesia, India, and Africa, are seen as the working class or proletariat. Because of these other countries economic status, it is hard to put a stop to the illegal garbage dumping, which is an illustration of social inequality. The poorer countries are the ones that are suffering while the ruling class smuggle their waste illegally overseas.
1. Theriff2
ReplyDelete2. Bills Stalled, Hospitals Fear Rising Unpaid Care
3. Reed Abelson
4. New York Times
5. February 8th, 2010
6. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/health/policy/09hospital.html?pagewanted=2&ref=business
In this article president Obama tries to attempt to fix the healthcare system, but the debt just keeps rising. More and more people are becoming uninsured, 49 million currently, and more hospitals are losing money to the uninsured ones that end up in the emergency room. This is a prime example of why Marx’s communism predictions will probably unfold in the next century.
Despite the United States having some of the best technological innovations in the world, Only the Bourgeoisie can afford healthcare and have insurance while they are also the money makers of hospitals and health care institutes. As more people aren’t able to pay for their emergency hospital care, lower workers on the totem poles of hospitals are getting laid off more frequently and doctors are also started to be affected. As more proletariats live in pauperization and the gap between the rich and the poor gets bigger someone has to pay for hospital care that everybody can’t afford.
Like Welfare, uninsured citizens in the United States has become a burden for the bourgeoisie and like predicted by Marx is forcing more of them into Proletariats. Once pretty much no one can afford health care and is uninsured, this will force a sudden crises and communism will begin. In a sense, this crisis is somewhat rapidly happening already and might be the main reason the United States will become Communism in the future.
tweak
ReplyDelete"Capitalism at the Tea Party Convention"
Alex Pappas
The Daily Caller
February 6th, 2010
http://dailycaller.com/2010/02/06/capitalism-at-the-tea-party-convention/
Jeffery McQueen, a member of the proletariat and an auto-industry worker, lost his job a year ago after the government decided to mediate both the auto and housing industries. McQueen's feelings of displacement and alienation sparked social creativity, leading him to create his own website and his own version of the American Flag. Others who saw this flag resonated with the message it sent to the government, which was a loss of legitimacy or a loss of faith in the system. These resonances lead to a new class conscious and to the production and purchase of more flags. Due to McQueen's entrepreneurial skills, he makes roughly $10,000 profit a month by selling the flags. McQueen says if his sales "go viral" he will donate 95% of the money. However, if this does occur, the prodcut will create commodity fetishism for McQueen, and it will be used for profit rather than for its original purpose: revolution. This increase in profit will also alienate McQueen from both his product and others; he will see both his product and other people who are buying the product as a means for profit and no longer vehicles for revolution or change.
Shaefer, Brent, Lenny, AngelICA #10, Mackie, Zorros10, Evajom, CCHS56, 12/2
ReplyDelete1. What is Minh-ha's standpoint?
Minh-ha advocates a standpoint of recognition of the fact that in the social world there exists a dominant majority that attempts to systematically label all actors and structures in that world in reference to the majority themselves. This is flawed in that everything therefore becomes a consequence of the dominant majority allowing no room for truly independent actors to be recognized by what they see themselves as in the larger global arena.
2. What is the significance of I, We, You, and me?
Here Minh-ha is dealing with the idea that ICA #9 was based on, standpoint theory. While someone may choose to identify themselves as a student, that role changes as soon as their phone rings and mom, dad or a significant other is on the other end. While we try to statically identify ourselves using pronouns like I, you, he/she, etc. we fail to realize that our place in the world is not defined solely by what our definition is at that time but by the innumerable identities that encompass us as students, citizens, consumers, polluters, suspects, advocates, family members, and so on. While we may not recognize or give credence to each of our identities at any given turning point or decision junction, it is crucial to realize that who we are is a medley of each of our different selves that comes into play in various scenarios and at various times throughout our day.
3. Why is the statement "Third World women" problematic?
While initially the term "Third World" had a very specific meaning, in today's rhetoric "Third World" comes to represent those underprivileged and disadvantaged, marginalized from the dominant group. The reason the term "Third World women" is problematic is because it is not used solely to indicate women who actually reside in Third World states, but to also represent those women who are systematically disadvantaged in First World countries. Those in the First World countries are irritated and annoyed when sociologists suggest that within their state their exists a Third World, of which certain women are underprivileged. For those in the dominant group, the term "Third World women" carries with it notions of attachments to their origin countries or of their ancestry. They neglect to realize that there is a struggle of gender and racial hierarchies within their own country which establishes certain women in a "Third World."