The BOJOs. Awards for posting excellence 2012.

[J.K. Gregg]

How is there an odd number of votes? Someone is being a dingus.

[Medius]

[JDHURF]

[broken robot]

I thought Hargreaves was the smartest member of the entire forum, he read new left review and was a Marxist yet he was undogmatic and entertained new ideas even of the post structuralist sort. He didnt accept lazy thinking or glib justifications either, you had to be willing to pursue critical thought to its limit, however informally on an Internet forum. Several discussions we had on role of Hamas tactics in palestinian struggle, postmodernism and political theory, Marxist stages of social evolution, and other topics that won my respect. A model of good behavior, I truly miss his presence and that of other folks.

I was kalu. I remain committed to the above principles though increasingly unsure of which space to have these types of informal yet critical conversations in the age of blogs and the internet. I don't impugn the people who participate here based purely on their privileged background--hell, I'm privileged--but theres a certain amount of parochial culture, cliquish language and in group references that deflects serious debate. In some ways whats going on here is an experimentation with new forms of sociability on the internet--hey lets use gifs as retorts--but on the other hand I find it annoying and a way to avoid dealing seriously with the problems Internet poses for actual face to face contact and discussion. And again by serious debate i mean being willing to question ones own theoretical and political assumptions. I don't buy the notion that this and other forums are simply an extension of some wider ideological conflict in the real world that is won and lost by each post. that's why I miss og pcf rad hq, for a brief moment people used this forum in a more interesting, exciting way to ask unorthodox questions.

Sorry this explanation wasn't really directed toward anyone. I'm buzzed and want to continue elaborating my philosophy.

[Medius]

[broken robot]

Yeah maybe I'm being a bit pessimistic and looking for excuses, but there's no denying that other people sharing similar standards facilitates the conversation and makes it more effortless and engaging. Right now the attitudes of others makes it feel more like im squeezing the last drops out of a lemon. Either way perhaps I'll keep promoting the above vision in the hopes of generating a more visible constituency of this sort for the forum. In that regard glad to know you co sign these sentiments.

[The Comrade]

having closed off groups, aka HQs, would do a lot i think. i don't think i'm the only one here that isn't interested in discussing serious issues about certain political theories due to the influx of absolutely stupidity that will follow it from those who merely wish to combat what they see as wrong.

[broken robot]

Yeah but we've also had nasty disputes in rad hq, some would say based on "personality." (my issue here is more general sense of shared standards and what debate entails) moreover you can have very interesting discussion between critical thinkers of all political stripes, so I think this issue transcends forum affiliation and need for cloistered spaces for conversation, though based on personal experience I like using the specific example of og rad hq as an example of open conversation.

[JDHURF]

I believe that there is a lot of idealization going on here. While the OGPCF radhq was one of my favorite online Left forums, going back through some of the discussions I saved now, there was a whole lot of nonsense there as well and it was sad to see some of the degeneration (reasonable leftists turning into raving Maoists and so on). There was also the chaos of PoS arguing in favor of fascism, especially in the "problem with democracy" thread "Kalu" started, before he was removed from the radhq (PoS, that is).

As far as the utility of having enclosed party hq's, I believe that is indisputable. I know I cannot be the only one who hasn't even posted in a particular thread or another just because I didn't care to deal with the partisans and by partisans I mainly refer to those on the Right.

I thought Lord Hargreaves was easily one of the best posters at OGPCF. We would never be able to agree on sectarian issues such as Leninism and anarchism and Adorno and so on, but he wasn't dyed in the wool and could be reasoned with. He would try to imbue his understanding of post-structuralism with rationality and imbed it in reasoned thought. I believe I recall a time when he wasn't even a leftist, he was just some sort of Hitchens fan, perhaps even leaning towards libertarianism. I appreciated his presence. He posted on RevLeft, but stopped years ago. I just went back there and searched his name and he has posted as recently as 2011. It's possible he could make his way round these parts. I'm sending him a PM at RevLeft in any case.

Kalu, lol, that sure does explain a lot. I don't think we got along all too well at OGPCF either.

[Boris Johnson]

Wildest expectations succeeded.

Keep it up, its all victory lap at this point.


So I hear the race for second place is still tough. You know Com's still winning it right?