File spoon-archives/habermas.archive/habermas_2001/habermas.0111, message 51


Subject: HAB: Re: Behemoth
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 21:08:28 -0500


Thom,
     yer right...public opinion in a bourgeois democracy is a bell-curve
function,... the vastest part having no capacity for independent judgement
are easily led by the tiny front area constituted by the dominant
institutions, viz., wealthy corporations (GE, eg) who control the means of
production of public opinion.

But the issue i was intending really goes to the question of the
progressivist possibility of the modern bourgeois liberal state.  The
Bush-Rumsfeld easy up-ending of the structure of humane law, the
quintessential shibboleth of secular enlightenment, as the geneva
conventions, powerfully argues the abscence of any germ of progress.
...america's not got one iota beyond the simple jungle condition of nature
red in tooth and claw,...its solemn professions of the constitutive
authority of law, is not more authentic than the medievals' fealty to a god
of love for the little ones.

bob


----- Original Message -----
From: Thom . <therebeing-AT-hotmail.com>
To: <rscheetz-AT-cboss.com>
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2001 3:09 PM
Subject: Behemoth


> Bob:
>
> A strong majority of the American electorate support the Bush
> administration. Would you dictate policy without regard for public
opinion?
> I suppose not. Democracy wouldn't be democracy without minority voices,
such
> as yours. But you seem contemptuous of the majority, and this isn't
> democratic.
>
> Thom
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
>



     --- from list habermas-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
   

Driftline Main Page

 

Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005