Sucks Or Rules

It made sense to me. As for the manifesto aspect, I never knew anyone personally who took it serious enough to start a fight club, so it's hard for me to have the same response I have for most of what people do, which is indifference. Some guy in South America tried to blow up a cafe because he wanted to be Lestat from the Rice books. I don't know why anyone would do that, either. It's a long list.

I saw irony in Project Mayhem, and the elimination of identity. As for the violence and rage that it supposedly says "Yes!" to, most of the fighting and violence is self harm, or fighting in the Fight Club. Nobody fighting doesn't have to be there. As opposed to countless other movies that violently and gratuitously kill...everyone. And I empathize strongly with Ed Norton's character (and Pitt). It's extremely well-written and directed, as well.

Some of the script angers me, but it's provocative and smart. And I don't recall Fight Club having a great impact on violence among young men, but I may have missed it.

I didn't even think it was misogynistic.

I think the "five men to a pothole" argument is bogus, especially today. Even when it was in its prime back during the New Deal (CCC, WPA, etc.) it wasn't true. We all hate to see inefficiency, and I see it in every human endeavor. Corporations are both inefficient and also have a cross-purpose with people.

For some reason, many people get more annoyed at the union "inefficiency" myth you point out than real inefficiency that hurts so very many people, the corporate sort. People don't like either, but for some reason a billion dollar golden parachute is more reasonable to most Americans than a high minimum wage, or other "rule" of the type you mention.

Your beef seems to be with human institutions in general, not unions in specific.

As for Fight Club, I don't know where "logic" fits into it. Any more than logic is part of any artistic endeavor. Fight Club is full of ideas, and energetically explores all of them. It talks about class, media portrayals of men and women, consumerism and terrorism with more intelligence than any more I can think of. While it is a movie about rage and violence and anger, it also intelligently explores what is making everyone so fucking angry, particularly young men. It truly is a great movie. It's a movie, not a manifesto, and I think you're confusing your feelings about the message of the movie with the acting, directing, writing, set design, and special effects (used sparingly and cleverly).

I'm not going to start a battle "Do you like Fight Club, Yes or No?" because I lack confidence in this crowd. A loss or a victory would be meaningless.

The only reason I think that unions as they are today are broken is due to said boobery. And not just one person's boobery, it is accumulative boobery. Things like needing 5 guys to fill one pothole. If there are a bunch of potholes to be filled, then yes, I understand. But the laws in unions, much like the laws in government, need to be flexible and be used properly, instead of blindly stuck to in all situations.

That said, I think the accumulated boobery in big government is MUCH worse than the accumulated boobery in the union system. The layers of bureaucracy are ridiculous in big government, and the amount of time wasted on pandering to lobbyists is astounding, and really goes beyond the ken of most of the public. This country is not run by the people, it is run by corporations, because corporations can give the candidate money which can get the candidate re-elected. Its a broken system.

Not as broken as the logic in "Fight Club" though.

In any union there are going to be some things with which you disagree. The risk is always there that a boob will get elected...in unions and in government. Nothing is perfect.

That said, collective bargaining and unions in general are all that stand between the lower and middle classes and wage slavery. Even if you're not in a union, and only 9% of people are these days, every worker benefits by countless laws that would not be in place without unions, mainly politicized unions.

I know you know all this, but I was a "Socialist Scholar" for three years, and am annoyingly opinionated in these matters. And verbose. I'd love to talk about how capitalism cannot function without regulation, because the prime direction of every corporation is to make a profit. Even if that means eventual self-destruction and environmental, social and economic degradation in the extreme.

But I'll stop. Happy May Day! I know you're a Democrat, AC, but I still say that "Fight Club" is a very good movie.