Hi Doug,
Sure discourse has power. Why else do we bother to think about it?
I am reminded of another anecdote. In the 19th century various ships
visited the islands of Tonga, a country where no one ever starved, or
died of cold. A visiting ship's captain - American I think - tried to
persuade King Finau I - the Tongan equivalent of Qin shi Huang except
without the terror, to introduce coinage. Finau refused, on the grounds
that if they could stack up specie, the Tongans would cease to take part
in the exchange of food and feasting which formed the backbone of the
social system. They did however accept pigs, which when you think about
it are simply ambulatory refrigerators. Warm stores, you might call
them. A store of value, but self-limiting in that you cannot allow
yourself to be overrun by pigs in the way that you can continue to put
money in a bank. Pigs do not seem to have upset the ecology of exchange.
The agents of Western liberalism, the IMF, the World Bank, etc have
continued the American ship-captain's campaign. They want to force the
Tongan govt to accept 'reforms' in exchange for 'assistance'. Their
package was originally worked out for countries deeply in debt and with
an impoverished, suffering, population. The conditions of Tonga are
significantly different. So far they have refused.
The moral of the story is that other ways of thought are possible.
Cheers,
Nesta
Sure discourse has power. Why else do we bother to think about it?
I am reminded of another anecdote. In the 19th century various ships
visited the islands of Tonga, a country where no one ever starved, or
died of cold. A visiting ship's captain - American I think - tried to
persuade King Finau I - the Tongan equivalent of Qin shi Huang except
without the terror, to introduce coinage. Finau refused, on the grounds
that if they could stack up specie, the Tongans would cease to take part
in the exchange of food and feasting which formed the backbone of the
social system. They did however accept pigs, which when you think about
it are simply ambulatory refrigerators. Warm stores, you might call
them. A store of value, but self-limiting in that you cannot allow
yourself to be overrun by pigs in the way that you can continue to put
money in a bank. Pigs do not seem to have upset the ecology of exchange.
The agents of Western liberalism, the IMF, the World Bank, etc have
continued the American ship-captain's campaign. They want to force the
Tongan govt to accept 'reforms' in exchange for 'assistance'. Their
package was originally worked out for countries deeply in debt and with
an impoverished, suffering, population. The conditions of Tonga are
significantly different. So far they have refused.
The moral of the story is that other ways of thought are possible.
Cheers,
Nesta