To the Editor:
Dear Mr. Brandon Byrd, my name is Eric Mathis and I am not
a “mindless vandal” but I am a student of philosophy
and political theory. Upon reading your article I got the
feeling that you believe in some Hegalian notion of idealism,
that all men should adhere themselves to the greater cause
of the state yet if the screams (i.e. mindless graffiti)
of slaves being whipped by capitalist “propaganda designed
to sway those ignorant of philosophy, politics, history,
and economics,” upsets you... You can a) listen to
them (extrinsic subjectivity) or b) dismiss them as mindless
vandals (intrinsic objectivity). Objectivist? Seems more
like some solipsistic notion of fundamental idealism.
If you are going to use terms of rebuttal like “mindless”
you should be mindful of the, in the words of Derrida, “Ear
of the Other,” “Capitalism enslaves” is
a common theme in Marxist Philosophy, and for you to attune
“mindless” to “faceless vandals”,
you are also calling Marx and many other revolutionaries
like him “mindless” also.
These actions of “vandalism” are just another
form of civil disobediance and for you to criticize this
you also criticize the very nature of “philosophy,
politics, history, and economics.” But if appropriating
human minds to idealistic notions of patriotism an subservience,
I recant and take off my hat to all those engaging their
rights of individual expression.
Eric Mathis
Junior, Philosophy & Religion
civilphart@yahoo.com
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