CSPAM Book Club

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > CSPAM Book Club

AnimeIsTrash: Jun 30, 2018

During the first wave of covid lockdowns I came to realize I am really loving stupid so I should probably start reading again. It's pretty boring reading a book and not discussing it with anyone else and I tend to miss things that other people don't. I was thinking we could do a monthly book club, where we all read a book and talk about it. We can split it up by chapters, or just talk about it in it's entirety towards the end of the month.

Since it's the start of the month, and holidays are just around the corner we can start with something "short" like Black Skin, White Masks

January - Black Skin White Masks
Feburary - Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of imperialism
March - Capitalist Realism
April - Art and the Working Class

AnimeIsTrash has issued a correction as of 02:26 on Apr 6, 2023

# ? Dec 1, 2022 22:03

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 8, 2024 11:26

paul_soccer12: Jan 5, 2020; by Fluffdaddy

reserved

# ? Dec 1, 2022 22:03

slave to my cravings: Mar 1, 2007; Got my mind on doritos and doritos on my mind.

I ain�t readin poo poo you dork

# ? Dec 2, 2022 02:06

Tiler Kiwi: Feb 26, 2011

i will read

# ? Dec 2, 2022 02:13

Obama2: Oct 22, 2021

Brave new world by the mescaline guy please

# ? Dec 2, 2022 02:15

Filthy Hans: Jun 27, 2008; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 10 years!)

for a nice short read I highly suggest The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh

edit: it's very socialist, in a sense

Filthy Hans has issued a correction as of 02:20 on Dec 2, 2022

# ? Dec 2, 2022 02:15

slave to my cravings: Mar 1, 2007; Got my mind on doritos and doritos on my mind.

I�m a big fan of I love you to the moon and back. https://a.co/6cysual

really change my perspective on things

# ? Dec 2, 2022 02:19

Honky Mao: Dec 26, 2012

Book tip: you can listen to audiobooks during your entire work shift and get through like 3 books a week . You can get audiobooks for free through a library

# ? Dec 2, 2022 02:53

Pepe Silvia Browne: Jan 1, 2007

AnimeIsTrash posted:

During the first wave of covid lockdowns I came to realize I am really loving stupid so I should probably start reading again. It's pretty boring reading a book and not discussing it with anyone else and I tend to miss things that other people don't. I was thinking we could do a monthly book club, where we all read a book and talk about it. We can split it up by chapters, or just talk about it in it's entirety towards the end of the month.

Since it's the start of the month, and holidays are just around the corner we can start with something "short" like Black Skin, White Masks

what if we all read a different book and give a book report

# ? Dec 2, 2022 03:01

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
Lucky there's a man who positively can do
All the things that make us
Laugh and cry

sounds good to me OP. black skin white masks seems interesting

i've been reading Studs Terkel's Hard Times which is a collection of oral interviews and recounts of the great depression. some good stuff and some guys are very cspam, but i don't know if it's really something worth discussing

quote:

Judge Samuel A. Heller
Retired.
�
I SAT in the Morals Court for a year or so. One day I had twenty-three defendants, prostitutes. About five or six visitors attended. They were obviously slumming. I said to them: �It�s fortunate that we don�t have people here to come to revel in the misery of others. I�m delighted that sensitive people of your type are here.� (Laughs.)
The girls were all broke, not a penny among them. I thought the visitors were touched. One, the daughter of a former mayor, said, �I want to donate $25 for handkerchiefs, so the girls can wipe away their tears.� Handkerchiefs!

In the Thirties, I sat in many police courts. Monday was usually the most crowded day. Most of the drunks were picked up on Saturday night, and kept in jail over Sunday. This police officer was walking up and down with a biily. He hit them in the shins: �Stand up, you�re in a courtroom.� I said, �Get out of this court and come back without the club.� He said, �They�ve got to respect the court.� I said, �Do you? How dare you bring a billy into this courtroom?�

One of the fellows was bloody. He said the police hit him. This same officer said, �He was talking against the Government.� I said, �He�s not an enemy of the Government. You are. He has a right to his opinion.�

Those forty men were terror-stricken, standing in line. I said, �Are you afraid of me? Would you be afraid of me if you saw me on the streets? Please relax.� I saw some of them I had discharged scrubbing floors. One was washing an automobile. He said the captain told him to do it. I told the captain to pay this man fifty cents. Since when is he entitled to free labor?
Some men I had already discharged were being lined up against the wall in the back of the room. I discovered that a railroad agent was telling them: If you don�t work for us out in Dakota, the judge will send you back to jail. I said, �Get that man.� He ran out.

I called the railroad office. �There�s a man making an employment agency out of my courtroom. What�s his name? I�m issuing a warrant for his arrest.� They didn�t know, they said. So I threatened to issue a John Doe warrant and arrest whoever is in charge of that office. If it�s the president of the company, he�ll be arrested.

The man showed up the next day. He said the police and the other judges always let him do it. That�s how they got day laborers. They�d send �em out west for six or eight weeks and let �em bum their way back.

There was a judge in those days who had fun with drunks. He�d say, �Hold up your hands. Ah, you�re playing piano.� Some of them had the shakes. I said to him, �My God, what are you doing? These people are scared stiff.�

These same judges who had fun with the wretched, oh, did they humble themselves in civil courts! They�d look at the names on the legal briefs. If it was a big firm, oh boy, did they bow! A lot of votes there from the bar association. These same judges, who were so abusive to the poor, were so scared here. You have a chance if the person coming in is as weak as you are�or as strong as you are. There are rights. Everybody�s got rights on paper. But they don�t mean three cents in actual life.

While sitting in the Landlord and Tenants Court, I had an average of four hundred cases a day. It was packed. People fainted, people cried: Where am I going? I couldn�t bluff them and tell them to make an application, there�s a job waiting. I was told my predecessor had taken down their names and qualifications. He promised them help. On my first day, I came across thousands of cards in filing cabinets. I told the clerk I was going to examine these files to see how many of these people got jobs. My mistake. Within twenty-four hours, all the files disappeared.

A woman with three children, one in her arms, walked all the way downtown. No carfare, no defense. Oh, they were all desperate and frightened. When I�d come in, they stand up. I would tell them: Will you please sit down, so I can sit down?

These defendants all had five-day notices: if you don�t pay rent in five days, suit to dispossess is started. There is no legal defense. Out of a job means nothing, sickness means nothing. I couldn�t throw these people out. So I interpreted the law my way: five days was the minimum. No maximum was set. I gave everybody ten days. Of course, I offended the real estate brokers. I made them still more angry by allowing an extra day for each child in the family. Finally, I was giving them thirty days.

About that time a group of real estate men invited me to lunch. Each was introduced: this one was five thousand tenants, that one, eight thousand. There were about sixty thousand tenants represented�if I may use that word�by these few men. After the meal, the man who had cordially invited me, suddenly became hostile. The others smiled, as though they knew what was coming up. He said,�I�m going to speak straight from the shoulder. Isn�t it a fact that judges favor tenants because there are more voters among the tenants than among the landlords?� All of them laughed.

I got up and said, �You didn�t speak straight from the shoulder. If you did, you�d have said, �Are you playing politics in court?� Now I�ll answer straight from the shoulder. If I were playing politics, I�d play politics with youse guys.� I purposely used the vulgar expression. �Because you have long pockets and long memories, and you support those who serve you. Who are these tenants who come into my court? They�re destitute, out of jobs, poverty-stricken. When election day comes, one�s out looking for a job, another will sell his vote for fifty cents to buy his baby milk, and most will forget it. There�s no political reward in helping the poor. But what makes you think the man who sits in judgment between the landlord and the tenant must have the mentality of a renter?

�Someday you�ll succeed in intimidating the judge who sits in my place. He�ll have the chance of throwing four hundred families out on the streets of the city each day. When a man is hungry and out of a job, and nobody knows it, he can control himself. But when his few pieces of furniture are thrown out into the street, his neighbors know it. He has nothing to lose. A wise man comes along and says, �Idiots, why don�t you organize? Quit paying rent. When you get the five-day notice, ask for a jury trial.� �

One of the real estate boys said to me, absolutely astonished, �Can they ask for a jury trial?� So I said to this brilliant man, �What makes you think the right of trial by jury is limited to rent collectors?

�With a jury trial, you can hardly try one�at most, two�cases a day. At the rate of two thousand cases a week, in four months you�d have 32,000 people asking for jury trials. If they closed every court in this state, you still wouldn�t have enough judges to try your case. And then you�d wish there were a man like Heller, who had the courage to tell you: Why don�t you mind your own business and let him mind his business?�

One of them said, �I admire your candor, but you�re not doing yourself any good.� He was right. When I ran for office, the real estate organizations sent out thousands of letters: I have no respect for private property. They defeated me. They keep score. The poor are so busy trying to survive from one day to the next, they haven�t the time or energy to keep score.

There was a man running against me, who said you can evict people without notice, if it�s done peacefully. We agreed to have a public debate. He didn�t show up. In the election�in the very neighborhood where many of the tenants live�he got thousands of votes and I got hundreds.

During those hard times, I learned a good lesson. A good deal of the misery that the poor suffer�and ignorance�is due to the fact that they�re not organized. They�re isolated, brainwashed. I could have remained on the bench until I died. If I could have degraded myself . . . just go along. I couldn�t do it. But I was on the bench for twenty-one years�and that, to me, is a miracle.

Xaris has issued a correction as of 03:06 on Dec 2, 2022

# ? Dec 2, 2022 03:02

mila kunis: Jun 10, 2011

everyone should read blackshirts and reds by michael parenti. i've posted quotes from it elsewhere

life under communism, warts and all

quote:

We have been taught that people living under communism suffer from "the totalitarian control over every aspect oflife," as Time mag�azine (5/27/96) still tells us. Talking to the people themselves, one found that they complained less about overbearing control than about the absence of responsible control.

quote:

There was the manager who regularly pilfered the till, the workers who filched foodstuffs and goods from state stores or supplies from factories in order to service private homes for personal gain, the peasants on col�lective farms who stripped parts from tractors to sell them on the black market, the director who accepted bribes to place people at the top of a waiting list to buy cars, and the farmers who hoarded live�stock which they sold to townspeople at three times the govern�ment's low procurement price. All this was hardly the behavior of people trembling under a totalitarian rule of terror.

quote:

Not surprisingly, work discipline left much to be desired. There was the clerk who chatted endlessly with a friend on the telephone while a long line of people waited resentfully for service, the two workers who took three days to paint a hotel wall that should have taken a few hours, the many who would walk off their jobs to go shopping.

quote:

If fired, an individual had a constitutional guarantee to another job and seldom had any difficulty finding one. The labor market was a seller's market. Workers did not fe ar losing their jobs but managers fe ared losing their best workers and sometimes overpaid them to prevent them from leaving.

quote:

Communist economies had a kind of Wonderland quality in that " prices seldom bore any relation to actual cost or value. Many expen-sive services were provided almost entirely free, such as education, medical care, and most recreational, sporting, and cultural events. Housing, transportation, utilities, and basic foods were heavily sub�sidized.

I listened to an East German friend complain of poor services and inferior products; the system did not work, he concluded. But what of the numerous social benefits so lacking in much of the world, I asked, aren't these to be valued? His response was revealing: "Oh, nobody ever talks about that." People took for granted what they had in the way of human services and entitlements while hungering for the consumer goods

quote:

The upheavals in Eastern Europe did not constitute a defeat for socialism because socialism never existed in those countries, accord�ing to some U.S. leftists. They say that the communist states offered nothing more than bureaucratic, one-party "state capitalism" or some such thing. Whether we call the former communist countries "socialist" is a matter of definition. Suffice it to say, they constituted something different from what existed in the profit-driven capitalist world-as the capitalists themselves were not slow to recognize. First, in communist countries there was less economic inequality than under capitalism. The perks enjoyed by party and government elites were modest by corporate CEO standards in the West, as were their personal incomes and life styles. Soviet leaders like Yu ri Andropov and Leonid Brezhnev lived not in lavishly appointed man�sions like the White House, but in relatively large apartments in a housing project near the Kremlin set aside for government leaders. They had limousines at their disposal (like most other heads of state) and access to large dachas where they entertained visiting dignitaries. But they had none of the immense personal wealth that most U.S. leaders possess. The "lavish life" enjoyed by East Germany's party leaders, as widely publicized in the U.S. press, included a $725 yearly allowance in hard currency, and housing in an exclusive settlement on the out�skirts of Berlin that sported a sauna, an indoor pool, and a fitness center shared by all the residents. They also could shop in stores that carried Western goods such as bananas, jeans, and Japanese elec�tronics. The U.S. press never pointed out that ordinary East Germans had access to public pools and gyms and could buy jeans and elec�tronics (though usually not of the imported variety) . Nor was the "lavish" consumption enjoyed by East German leaders contrasted to the truly opulent life style enjoyed by the Western plutocracy. Second, in communist countries, productive forces were not orga�nized for capital gain and private enrichment; public ownership of the � means of production supplanted private ownership. Individuals could not hire other people and accumulate great personal wealth fro m their labor. Again, compared to Western standards, differences in earnings and savings among the populace were generally modest. The income spread between highest and lowest earners in the Soviet Union was about five to one. In the United States, the spread in yearly income between the top multibillionaires and the working poor is more like 10,000 to 1.

life after

quote:

Most people living under socialism had little understanding of cap�italism in practice. Workers interviewed in Poland believed that if their factory were to be closed down in the transition to the free market, "the state will find us some other work" (New Yorker, 11/ 13/89). They thought they would have it both ways. In the Soviet Union, many who argued for privatization also expected the government to continue providing them with collective benefits and subsidies.

Reality sometimes hit home. In 1990, during the glasnost period, when the Soviet government announced that the price of newsprint would be raised 300 percent to make it commensurate with its actual cost, the new procapitalist publications complained bitterly. They were angry that state socialism would no longer subsidize their denunciations of state socialism. They were being subjected to the same free-market realities they so enthusiastically advocated for everyone else, and they did not like it.

quote:

They discovered they could no longer leave their jobs during the day to go shopping, that their employers provided no company doc�tor when they fe ll ill on the job, that they were subject to severe rep�rimands when tardy, that they could not walk the streets and parks late at night without fear, that they might not be able to afford med�ical services for their family or college tuition for their children, and that they had no guarantee of a job and might experience unem�ployment at any time.

# ? Dec 2, 2022 03:13

Filthy Hans: Jun 27, 2008; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 10 years!)

SorePotato posted:

Book tip: you can listen to audiobooks during your entire work shift and get through like 3 books a week . You can get audiobooks for free through torrents

# ? Dec 2, 2022 03:13

Pepe Silvia Browne: Jan 1, 2007

I read this book "You Can't Win" about a hobo, that was pretty good. might read that one again.

# ? Dec 2, 2022 03:27

Tiler Kiwi: Feb 26, 2011

audiobooks are nice but i feel like i get more out of a book if im sitting and reading things. you can easily pause and reread stuff or flip back and forth to connect thoughts easier and you dont have other things to distract you as much.

im reading a tome about the biography of the romanov dynasty and its been really helpful to have a reading spot set aside so i can focus entirely on the stuff; seeing some name or event and being able to set the book down and look up some additional details to help connect stuff together in my head and poo poo. or to just lean back and stare at some burning candle as i contemplate the idea of a monarch directed wedding between a man forced to behave as a chicken for decades, and the ugliest woman the monarch could find, at an ice palace where the bride and groom were locked in an icy tomb and expected to freeze to death, all done because the emperess thought it would be funny

Tiler Kiwi has issued a correction as of 03:30 on Dec 2, 2022

# ? Dec 2, 2022 03:28

Good Soldier Svejk: Jul 5, 2010

I like audiobooks for my falling asleep noise. Have one called SPQR going about the Roman Empire that I make it about 20 minutes a night through before passing out.
I miss some things sure but it's not like... critical information. It's just neat poo poo to have in my brain

# ? Dec 2, 2022 03:29

Obama2: Oct 22, 2021

Secrets of the Great Pyramid by Peter Tompkins is a really good, ISBN 0060143274. Definitely do not go somewhere like Library Genesis to download books, ZLibrary got shut down for a reason because piracy is IMMORAL and WRONG!!!!!!

# ? Dec 2, 2022 03:56

Obama2: Oct 22, 2021

Also if you're ever wondering why all the Egyptian artifacts are in the UK, it's because the Arabs that inhabit the region now have a habit of destroying them for being idols

e: Lot's of coptic iconoclasts too. Wasn't until Napoleonic era that preservation began to be taken seriously

(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)

Obama2 has issued a correction as of 04:05 on Dec 2, 2022

# ? Dec 2, 2022 03:57

vyelkin: Jan 2, 2011

AnimeIsTrash posted:

During the first wave of covid lockdowns I came to realize I am really loving stupid so I should probably start reading again. It's pretty boring reading a book and not discussing it with anyone else and I tend to miss things that other people don't. I was thinking we could do a monthly book club, where we all read a book and talk about it. We can split it up by chapters, or just talk about it in it's entirety towards the end of the month.

Since it's the start of the month, and holidays are just around the corner we can start with something "short" like Black Skin, White Masks

Good idea OP, and Black Skin, White Masks is an excellent choice imo. I think splitting it up by chapters or segments will probably get more discussion going than trying to read the whole thing over a holiday month and talk about it at the end. Did you have a reading schedule in mind?

# ? Dec 2, 2022 13:06

AnimeIsTrash: Jun 30, 2018

slave to my cravings posted:

I�m a big fan of I love you to the moon and back. https://a.co/6cysual

really change my perspective on things

thats very cute

# ? Dec 2, 2022 16:20

Greg Legg: Oct 6, 2004

Excellent thread. Thank you! I was too timid to post in your last one, but I've just checked out a copy of this and will be getting started.

# ? Dec 2, 2022 23:21

mawarannahr: May 21, 2019

Obama2 posted:

Also if you're ever wondering why all the Egyptian artifacts are in the UK, it's because the Arabs that inhabit the region now have a habit of destroying them for being idols

e: Lot's of coptic iconoclasts too. Wasn't until Napoleonic era that preservation began to be taken seriously

�this is not why they�re in the UK.

# ? Dec 2, 2022 23:26

err: Apr 11, 2005; I carry my own weight no matter how heavy this shit gets...

last time i did a cspam book club, i was the only one to finish the book and the OP got banned for posting cartoon chipmunk porn

'a fine balance' was a great book though

# ? Dec 3, 2022 00:09

croup coughfield: Apr 8, 2020; Can't post for 90 days!

Obama2 posted:

Also if you're ever wondering why all the Egyptian artifacts are in the UK, it's because the Arabs that inhabit the region now have a habit of destroying them for being idols

e: Lot's of coptic iconoclasts too. Wasn't until Napoleonic era that preservation began to be taken seriously

shut the gently caress up obama 2

# ? Dec 3, 2022 00:09

CRAZY KNUCKLES FAN: Aug 12, 2022; by Fluffdaddy

This thread sounds like a good time, I'll give my thoughts on the book when I finish unless we're breaking this into segments.

# ? Dec 3, 2022 00:57

Cloks: Feb 1, 2013; by Azathoth

I'm going to get into F Anon

# ? Dec 3, 2022 01:00

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

went book shopping today for christmas gifts and one goal was to find a copy of black skin white masks for myself. three locations of the same store chain all said the next one had the one copy in town and i never found it. i got shadowbanned from half-price books

# ? Dec 3, 2022 03:12

Weka: May 5, 2019; That child totally had it coming. Nobody should be able to be out at dusk except cars.

mawarannahr posted:

�this is not why they�re in the UK.

If you think about it, grinding up a mummy and using it as paint is the best way to preserve it.

# ? Dec 9, 2022 07:06

net work error: Feb 26, 2011

Obama2 posted:

Also if you're ever wondering why all the Egyptian artifacts are in the UK, it's because the Arabs that inhabit the region now have a habit of destroying them for being idols

e: Lot's of coptic iconoclasts too. Wasn't until Napoleonic era that preservation began to be taken seriously

(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)

I was going to shitpost ITT but holy moly lmao

# ? Dec 9, 2022 15:28

Greg Legg: Oct 6, 2004

Bumping. I got sidetracked but I'm starting chapter 6 today. Hopefully other people chime in, because I'm not too smart when it comes to theory and I'd appreciate the discussion. I wish I had read this sooner.

# ? Dec 11, 2022 16:33

Cloks: Feb 1, 2013; by Azathoth

Greg Legg, :justpost:

my copy just showed up at the library but I'm waiting for the new Chris Hedges as well

# ? Dec 11, 2022 16:36

Smythe: Oct 12, 2003

black skin white mask and the wretched of the earth are both very good & way better than the 99999999 hours of corporate EDI trainings you'll have to take over the course of your career, by like, orders of magnitude. the scene when fanon is on the bus and he's got this incredible desire to deck that bitch and he realizes that this is internalized self loathing manifesting through being for others stuck with me hard.

also the scene when he is practicing french in the mirror and comes to hate himself also.

another good scene is when he returns home and realizes that he is now unwanted and mocked at home, but will never truly be parisian too, speaks to the subtly destructive power of colonialism.

my copy had a foreward by sarte which i liked, but it's lampooned for being unable to resist the continental call towards secular cosmopolitanism. i liked that angle i think fanon probably did too but a lot of people dont, think its reductive.

if i had to add a book to the reading list i'd put debords society of the spectacle on there. that book blew my mind. i actually read it in highschool and didn't like it one bit, but returning as an adult i got a lot more out of it reading it in the context of mass media, social control, and the psychological enslavement of the proletariat. i guess. im very stupid however.

# ? Dec 11, 2022 20:59

vyelkin: Jan 2, 2011

Now that book discussion has started in earnest, I'm going to stick this thread until the end of the month.

# ? Dec 12, 2022 14:11

Mayor Dave: Feb 20, 2009; Bernie the Snow Clown

AnimeIsTrash posted:

During the first wave of covid lockdowns I came to realize I am really loving stupid so I should probably start reading again. It's pretty boring reading a book and not discussing it with anyone else and I tend to miss things that other people don't. I was thinking we could do a monthly book club, where we all read a book and talk about it. We can split it up by chapters, or just talk about it in it's entirety towards the end of the month.

Since it's the start of the month, and holidays are just around the corner we can start with something "short" like Black Skin, White Masks

Black Skin, White Masks is an excellent choice

# ? Dec 12, 2022 15:49