# Can someone define "Cultural Marxism" Please? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 25, 2011, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262 "2011-07-25T13:26:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262/181 "2013-01-01T08:16:08Z")
> [@wildorchid](#): > > I’m not aware of hard evidence as to who funded him, but someone must have. maybe reviewing his 10 planks of the communist manifesto might supply some clues?? And what exactly do those clues tell you? The [10 planks are](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Manifesto#II._Proletarians_and_Communists): > [@](#): > > The section goes on to defend communism from various objections, such as the claim that communists advocate “free love”, and the claim that people will not perform labor in a communist society because they have no incentive to work.[13] The section ends by outlining a set of short-term demands: > > 1.Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. > 2.A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. > 3.Abolition of all right of inheritance. > 4.Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. > 5.Centralisation of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly. > 6.Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State. > 7.Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. > 8.Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. > 9.Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of the population over the country. > 10.Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form and combination of education with industrial production.[14] And, I really cannot think of any contemporary interest group (as distinct from social class) that might have fit the _cui bono?_ there. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262/182 "2013-01-01T08:22:37Z")
> [@wildorchid](#): > > it’s anti-pholisophy in a way, because it seeks to undermine Aristotle and logic, which previously had _been_ pholisophy. Aristotle was _the_ philospher… > the study of philospophy was the same thing as the study of Aristotle. Indeed. But, Aristotle was a very energetic but a very **bad** philosopher. You would do far better to study Bertrand Russell (a socialist, BTW, and not by accident, though he had very little respect for Marx). Start with his _History of Western Philosophy._ ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262/183 "2013-01-01T08:26:47Z")
> [@wildorchid](#): > > political correctness _is_ the life blood of cultural marxism . . . Actually, either can thrive without the other. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262/184 "2013-01-01T15:35:07Z")
> [@wildorchid](#): > > yes, obv not credible since they are not confirmed marxists… only _they_ have credibility… > > i love how you guys unwittingly prove my point for me. > the \>\>\>political correctness\<\<\< that’s being exhibited here… Generally, “Political Correctness” is nothing more than a phrase used by rude people to complain that they are prevented by social conventions from making inaccurate generalizations about groups of other people. You have not been constrained from being rude to entire groups of people, here, (_direct rudeness to individuals is prohibited_), so I am not sure what you are going to claim is “\>\>\>political correctness\<\<\<.” Mostly, I see you making wild, inaccurate claims and then failing to support those claims with facts or logic. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262/185 "2013-01-01T16:52:59Z")
> [@wildorchid](#): > > philosophy.lander.edu/logic/authority.html Yes, that’s a fallacy – sometimes; sometimes not. [Be careful there.](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority) > [@](#): > > “Provided you ensure that authority’s authority actually applies to the field in question, it’s as good a strategy as any.” > > —Julian Sanchez[1] > > _ **Argumentum ad verecundiam** _ or _ **appeal to authority,** _[2] when correctly applied, can be a valid and sometimes essential part of an argument that requests judgement or input from a qualified or expert source. Frequently, however, it is often a logical fallacy consisting of an appeal to authority, but on a topic _outside of the authority’s expertise]_[3] or on a topic on which the authority is _not disinterested_ (the authority is biased). Almost any subject has an _authority_ on every side of the argument, even where there is generally agreed to be no argument.[4] ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262/186 "2013-01-01T16:58:29Z")
> [@wildorchid](#): > > yes, little timmy, there WAS a frankfurt school of social research at Columbia University; that really happened… No one is denying [that.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurt_School) But nobody in this thread has shown any causal connection between that and anything outside certain fields of academia. ---
**Author:** ![wildorchid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/82dd89/32.png) [@wildorchid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wildorchid)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262/187 "2013-01-03T01:14:04Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > And “the dude” is? I’m sure you’re not thinking of [The Dude.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Lebowski) the dude is proof of cultural marxism /thread ---
**Author:** ![wildorchid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/82dd89/32.png) [@wildorchid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wildorchid)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262/188 "2013-01-03T01:20:21Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > No one is denying [that.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurt_School) But nobody in this thread has shown any causal connection between that and anything outside certain fields of academia. people are not influenced by their college professors in their values and attitudes?? in the 60-70’s people werent ‘radicalized’ on college campuses? what did ‘radicalized’ mean? Marcuse and his books have had no influence of modern popular culture? seriously? the whole idea of having a plan is in executing the plan, right?? the frankfurt school had a plan. mission accomplished is what it looks like to me. if others cant open their eyes and see it for themselves staring them in the face every day, then i cant help them see it. Its really like a domesticated animal that in the presence of his own predator, is oblivious to it, and lacks the instinct to recognize it and to preserve oneself. ---
**Author:** ![wildorchid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/82dd89/32.png) [@wildorchid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wildorchid)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262/189 "2013-01-03T01:21:42Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Indeed. But, Aristotle was a very energetic but a very **bad** philosopher. You would do far better to study Bertrand Russell (a socialist, BTW, and not by accident, though he had very little respect for Marx). Start with his _History of Western Philosophy._ you are kidding?? if not, i’m sorry about that. [http://robertmijas.com/blog/quote-bertrand-russell-on-diet-injections-and-injunctions/](http://robertmijas.com/blog/quote-bertrand-russell-on-diet-injections-and-injunctions/) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262/190 "2013-01-03T01:23:05Z")
> [@wildorchid](#): > > the dude is proof of cultural marxism > > /thread So, Cultural Marxism is awesomely cool, then? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262/191 "2013-01-03T01:57:03Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > So, Cultural Marxism is awesomely cool, then? Well that’s, like, your opinion, man. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262/192 "2013-01-03T02:23:55Z")
> [@wildorchid](#): > > you are kidding?? > > if not, i’m sorry about that. > > [http://robertmijas.com/blog/quote-bertrand-russell-on-diet-injections-and-injunctions/](http://robertmijas.com/blog/quote-bertrand-russell-on-diet-injections-and-injunctions/) [shrug] So, Bertrand Russell, writing in 1953, overestimated the potential of “diet and injections” to mold psychological character. (Clearly speaking of that as a development he **fears,** not one he hopes for.) [Science Marches On.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ScienceMarchesOn) Philosophy is not science. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262/193 "2013-01-03T02:27:48Z")
> [@wildorchid](#): > > people are not influenced by their college professors in their values and attitudes?? > > in the 60-70’s people werent ‘radicalized’ on college campuses? > what did ‘radicalized’ mean? You seem to be assuming that most or all college professors in the 1960s were radicals. Most would have been apolitical – politics is irrelevant to most subjects taught, after all, especially the hard sciences – and majority of the the rest were by no means Marxists of any kind. Marxist profs stand out visibly because, with academic tenure, academia was the one place one could openly and vocally **be** a Marxist and still have a career. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262/194 "2013-01-03T02:31:38Z")
> [@wildorchid](#): > > Its really like a domesticated animal that in the presence of his own predator, is oblivious to it, and lacks the instinct to recognize it and to preserve oneself. Your own predators mostly come from Wall Street, not academia. Big-businesscritters would not contradict that, they seem to **pride** themselves on being top-of-the-food-chain predators. As for academia, I’ve sometimes heard of academics being accused of being parasitic – it would be too utterly preposterous to call them predatory. ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262/195 "2013-01-03T07:27:38Z")
> [@wildorchid](#): > > thank you, and i take that as a complement, > > considering that it is all the biggest pile of rubbish ever, I pity the fool who gets snared into reading any of it… > and the pied pipers who are still hawking it… > Kant, ect… is essentially a step away from truth for humanity… it’s poison… > it’s anti-pholisophy in a way, because it seeks to undermine Aristotle and logic, which previously had _been_ pholisophy. Aristotle was _the_ philospher… > the study of philospophy was the same thing as the study of Aristotle. > > and my proof? how toxic is Marx and wrecking crew? > what effect did they have in the world? > > ] Mao kills 60-80 million in marxist genocide > > ]Hitler kills 12-16 mill in genocide inspired by eugenics and Thule society type mysticism. education reforms out of U of Berlin under Hegel, and Fichte (prussian model of education) instilled the ‘only following orders’ mentality in the well-meaning german people who went along with it. (we trashed freewill remember?) > > ] Stalin kills 9 million in communist genocide, but thats after the failure of the bolshevik revolution which swiftly caused the death of @5 mill through starvation under Lenin (who said it was worth it). > everyone was thrilled w/ ‘from each according to his ability/ to each according to his need’ and forgot to grow any crops figuring they all had it made now? > > but… despite the glaring track record in history of widespread misery and injustice being spawned by these toxic ‘philosophies’ which is really a word used out of courtesy to describe them, lemmings appear willing to think ‘progressive’ is a cool agenda, and will deny that its the same thing all over again, like that will make it not be that way… (wishful ‘thinking’) > it’s actually beyond redic that people are so foolish and naive as to latch onto a thoroughly failed and downright evil system, socialism, or collectivism, w/e > > btw your weak attempt at flaming me is the poorest representation of sophistry, and your use of language could persuade me to bet my eye teeth thet you are nothing what you claim to be lol. > > as for me, who cares if i understand a bunch of garbage?? you really care enough about that to transform into a professor-troll?? lol It’s _compliment_. I _complement_ you like a toilet complements feces. It’s interesting that you disparage intellectualism while claiming to have all the answers. The power of prayer, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262/196 "2013-01-03T16:31:39Z")
> [@wildorchid](#): > > also, look for Marxs (twisted) poetry and read that garbage… should make one wonder just who the f\*\*\* this guy was… I’m not aware of hard evidence as to who funded him, but someone must have. maybe reviewing his 10 planks of the communist manifesto might supply some clues?? If you’re not aware of who funded him, it’s because you haven’t done the most basic research about him. Marx spent most of his career living off Friedrich Engels’ family wealth. > [@wildorchid](#): > > people are not influenced by their college professors in their values and attitudes?? Yes, in the sense that they pick up a thing or two. Most people are not any more influenced by their college professors than they are by their favorite sitcoms. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262/197 "2013-01-03T16:34:24Z")
> [@Docta\_G](#): > > It’s _compliment_. I _complement_ you like a toilet complements feces. Perhaps you could try explaining some of **wildorchid** ’s errors instead? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262/198 "2013-01-03T16:58:54Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > … Marx spent most of his career living off Friedrich Engels’ family wealth. … “Karlo Marx and Fredrich Engels Came to the checkout at the 7-11 Marx was skint - but he had sense Engels lent him the necessary pence What have we got? Yeh-o, magnificence!!” CMC ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262/199 "2013-01-04T02:48:47Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Perhaps you could try explaining some of **wildorchid** ’s errors instead? You couldn’t pay me enough to correct his papers. But here’s a howler: He suggests above that Kant was an irrationalist–Kant, the guy who tried to save science from skepticism by establishing its rational basis in transcendental logic. The principal claim of the first _Critique_ is that empirical phenomena are possible objects of knowledge, because they find their objective unities in the unity of transcendental consciousness. Instead of locating rationality in objects, Kant sought to locate it in the mind that knows objects: knowledge does not arise when the mind conforms to objects (he thought Hume showed that this leads to skepticism), but when sensory data are organized into discrete temporal objects that in effect conform to the mind. This is his famous “Copernican Revolution.” It’s one thing to argue that Kant failed. I think he failed. It’s quite another to accuse him of irrationalism, and no decent phil major would ever make such a silly claim. He knows just as little or less about Hegel and Marx. The guy is simply name/concept-dropping, poorly. Emphasis on _dropping_. ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262/200 "2013-01-04T02:49:49Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > “Karlo Marx and Fredrich Engels > Came to the checkout at the 7-11 > Marx was skint - but he had sense > Engels lent him the necessary pence > What have we got? Yeh-o, magnificence!!” > > CMC Vacuum cleaner sucks up budgie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-define-cultural-marxism-please/590262.md?page=11)