CK MacLeod wrote:

brains are bourgeois

Very funny. From your younger days. Hmm. The quote smells suspiciously like marijuana.

CK MacLeod wrote:

Are you referring to something else?

No, that was it. Not sure if the "acidification" is connected to the lower levels of oxygen issue, but from what I've read, that's the real problem.

CK MacLeod wrote:

Oh – and Rex is far from illiterate!

I knew I should have added the "Judt and Burkje" part of that comment-quote. Rex referred to himself as an illiterate as far as their philosophies go. Jeez. You know what I was referring to. Trouble maker.

Asked and answered. Thank you. It's no longer topical, but my least favorite capitalist "externality" is the killing of the ocean.

Scott Miller wrote:

With the author’s recent passing in mind, I found myself going through his words with special care and intensified focus, more conscious than usual of the reader’s role in resurrecting the spirit of a writer – just as, when I write about the book, I become more poignantly aware of the convention that requires us to discuss an author’s arguments in the present tense:  “Judt argues…,” one will say, as if he is holding forth in the other room or is currently on a nationwide speaking tour…

It just hit me that I wrote "Judt's calling..." as in "Judt is calling..." You're right about the convention. Glad you really are holding forth.

CK MacLeod wrote:

It is typical of bourgeois ideology – your ideology – to exclude all disturbing and disruptive externalities

If you have an extra moment, could you explain why Miguel's ideology is bourgeois? I'm confused. I understand if there's too much backstory involved to fill me in.
Also, thanks for the Judt rundown. Like Rex, I'm illiterate, but if I understand you correctly, and if I can get away with a gross simplification, Judt's calling for an authentic conservative base to balance out people like himself. Sort of? I could be projecting because that's what I would like.