20081024

American Communism (According to Alexandre Kojève and Andy Warhol)

"the Hegelian-Marxist end of History was not yet to come, but was already present, here and now ... in the North American extensions of Europe. One can even say that from a certain point of view, the United States has already attained the final stage of Marxist 'communism,' seeing that, practically, all the members of a "classless society" can from now on appropriate for themselves everything that seems good to them, without thereby working any more than their heart desires."

(Alexandre Kojève, Introduction to the Reading of Hegel)

"What's great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coca Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca Cola, and just think, you can drink Coca Cola, too. A coke is a coke and no amount of money can get you a better coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the cokes are the same and all the cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it."

(Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol)