I might participate in New York's Walk to Prevent Suicide

Really?!? That is excellent. So do I!

But I find him terribly difficult to falsify. What be your problems with him?

 

He took the material conditions out of Marxism.

 

In relation to relations of power?

 

You got it.

 

You don't see it as an astute observation on the changing nature of western relations?

 

No. I think it's cute, as most things academic.

But you could tell me why you think otherwise, I'll listen.

 

Why? Why its not cute? Why its not academic?

Because we don't toil in the fields anymore.

 

:talk2hand

 

bah whatevs.

 

pft, whatever youuu

 

Ok. Just to give you a response that ISN'T cranky:

1) I am weary of sectorizing power relations in the Western World. For personal reasons, too.

2) I think so long as human beings need goods, food, chairs, bricks to build homes, etc. Which is to say, so long as we have bodies, we're "toiling in the fields."

Granted, in some western countries a situation arose in which they don't produce what they consume. But somebody is still toiling in the fields for them. And not just machines either. And in any case, building machines is also "toiling in the fields".

3) For the ones toiling in the fields in the third world, it would be difficult to argue that power "has no center." Or that power is "knowledge."

That being said, I no longer derive much benefit from discussing political economy. Cynical of me?

I don't know. I've wasted years of my life dealing in abstractions. These days I like small...I like work, relationships, neighborhood, and, here and there, focused policy directives.

I've lost interest in abstractions devoid of physical application and empathy. But I might be underestimating Foucault and the post-modernists.

 

what kind of alarms? I'm curious because "prevention" is the buzz word for just about every mental and physical illness these days and I'm wondering what sort of alarms go off for you. Or is it just "prevent" in relation to suicide?

yes, I'll admit I'm stretching... but I think a lot of people misunderstand suicide as a choice that comes completely out of free will. Untreated mental illness causes people to do a lot of things they normally wouldn't do with help, guidance and acceptance. People are often in a dissociative state when they commit/attempt suicide. If more families realized how common suicide is, they may be more willing to react immediately when someone they love says they need help. Anecdotally, the mental health forum here is full of threads started by kids who feel they are depressed or anxious and are dismissed by their parents when they ask to see a professional.

 

Suicide is one of my favorite themes and subjects. I would do nothing to make it stop.