Chapter 6: Yo Dawg, I Herd U Liek Class Analysis And Revolution, So I Class Analyzed Revolution So You Can Tank While You Tank

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Form versus function goes back to the will to power and the triangle compass. Liberals observe and idealize form, while socialists and fascists both observe and idealize function.

In a way, it's that old process argument, the Boondock Saints gunning down a mob boss in a courtroom. Liberals are abhorred by that, because there is a process, a ritualized legal form, that the mob boss and society is entitled to. It doesn't matter if the legal forms allow the mob boss to go free; form trumps function in the liberal world, and justice is therefore subservient to what can be made to successfully pass through these forms. Socialists support gunning down the mob boss, because function trumps form; we all know the mob boss is guilty, so put a bullet in his head because the liberal never will. Fascists are the mob boss, and have made a lucrative career out of making their function adhere to liberal forms, to the point where the only way true justice could ever be served and South Boston saved from criminal enterprise is by vigilante.

Speaking of the mob, another way this played out was with a compulsively manipulative ex-girlfriend of mine. She would try to manipulate me, I would catch her and tell her what she was doing. Every time, she would first deny she was doing it. Then when confronted with the obvious evidence, she would apologize and say she meant well. I would point out that every time she did it, she made me trust her a little bit less. She would then say that I should trust her anyway, because her caring form trumped her manipulative function. Anyone who's ever dated a manipulative person already realizes that's bullshit, which is why it's so scary that our entire legal system is built on this bullshit principle.

This isn't to say that I advocate harsh justice for everyone who's ever run afoul of the American legal system; not at all. Most of our "criminals" are oppressed nationalities doing the same drugs white people do and caught by a gleeful system jacking off to the legal slavery about to ensue before their asses even land in the back of the patrol car. They shouldn't even be in there in the first place. But we do need a justice system, to deal with the thieves, rapists, CEOs, and neo-Nazis, but I repeat myself. That justice system will more resemble the Boondock Saints than duelling law degrees at high noon. Socialist society will criminalize far fewer things, and deal with the few serious remaining crimes far more harshly.

I say all of this because we need to pay attention to the rotten function of the liberal legal system, not the nice forms. The function of the liberal legal system is perfectly aligned with the fascist function, because the fascists game the forms. Both being capitalists in our triangle compass, liberal bougies and fascist petties only appear, in their forms, to be opposed. Hillary lecturing the deplorables for being "problematic" has the same fascist function as Trump calling Mexicans rapists. Your gender studies-majoring, privilege-checking woke overlords drive the working class away from leftism, because their class precludes them from the education necessary to exercise power in those circles; you can't win an argument about anything if you've never heard the academic terms they use to describe it. (I feel compelled to note that last sentence is a criticism of bougies, not trans folk; we are absolutely valid.) Then, the fascists come along, and apply the mass line in reverse to make their fascism sound like conservative common sense, and a chunk of the working class is thus fooled by the most insidious of false consciousnesses. Signalling your wokeness is a nice form. But if the function of your wokeness performance makes it harder for socialists to organize and easier for fascists to organize, then you're functionally indistinguishable from a fascist, no matter how many colors you dye your hair.

It is important to note that liberals and fascists only performatively oppose each other, because it is the first key to understanding the nature of revolutions. For our purposes here, a revolution is a conflict that changes either political or economic forms in society; I will treat both World Wars as revolutions, as well as the American Revolution and the American Civil War, as well as many others.

Continue reading Part II