Vicky Cookies: Naked Capitalism – One of the Few Worthwhile Things

By Vicky Cookies, a Marxist writer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. For the last year, Vicky has worked alongside pacifists, students, Muslims, Quakers, and Marxist-Leninists to raise consciousness around the genocide in Gaza, and to exert pressure on public figures. The last grade Vicky completed was the 8th

The recent excitement, however organic, for Kamala Harris illustrates just how acute is the desire for something to believe in in a world and political scene packed to the gunwales with crises, polycrises, and, in general, bad news.

I have some good news for us: Naked Capitalism is one of those rare Good Things, its clear value surviving the very reasonable, and very considerable cynicism of we in the commentariat. The effort to fund the site is a cause in which we may feel good about participating. The vibes may not always be joyful, but the content, the policy, the meat, is all there. So please go to the donation page and support this worthy endeavor.

A few months ago, Naked Capitalism survived a ham-fisted, automated attempt at demonetization by the censorious Google Adsense algorithm. Happily, the same dogged devotion to fact-checking and close reading which make the site’s content so worthwhile helped repel the attack, which is worth celebrating.

We cannot, however, be too comfortable in supposing NC invincible. The site’s hardworking authors and moderators rely on you and I to continue their careful work. The Tip Jar, over there to your right, calls us.

A World Without Naked Capitalism

To highlight the disorienting contrast between Naked Capitalism and the field, let’s briefly survey the media landscape, dystopian to be sure. The major media can be characterized by concentration, partisanship, and an infidelity to fact, as well as by the class semi-consciousness of the PMC. Entertainment, distraction, and the generation of ad revenue are their prime functions outside of election years; within those lamentable years, the mobilization of hate and in-group consolidation give them purpose.

Before discovering Naked Capitalism, Columbus-like, my news diet consisted mainly of these media, along with the few lefty sites bequeathed to me by my ex-communist father. Cheerless, desolate days, they were. Readers are urged to recall those inky, stygian times for themselves: where in the desert did you wander? Occasionally, I will browse The Independent, in the thrall of a nostalgie de la boue; it’s a bit like using a papyrus scroll or some other ancient technology: one is immediately grateful for the timesaving advances made. It is this attitude we ought to let mobilize us to give generously; the Tip Jar, again, is right over there.

What We Have

Both the regular writers and the commentariat daily construct a journalistic and intellectual atmosphere which is at once live, earnest reporting of the institutional entropy which defines our age and a contribution to the historically accumulated evidence of Homo Sapiens as a creature whom – while also creating reality TV, strip-mining the planet, and making constant war – genuinely attempts to understand the world together; NC hosts the considered opinions of those whose opinions should be considered.

This author is grounded by the careful analysis of Yves Smith, Conor Galagher and Lambert Strether, as well as enriched by the wild reminiscences and lower-case genius of Amfortas the hippie, remarks upon the British ruling class by Colonel Smithers, and the lyricism and wit of Wukchimi. Polar Socialist, Terry Flynn, DJG, Reality Czar (from his undisclosed location); the estimable Rev Kev, Aurelian, IMDoc, Rob Urie, Michael Hudson, and the rest of our cast provide breathtakingly wide, nearly panoramic context and detail.

For such community as this, what’s a few bucks, anyhow? Think again of the Tip Jar, and what its name implies: recall the dictum that if one cannot afford to tip, one cannot afford go out to eat.

We ought to express our gratitude for Lambert’s spelunking in the dark abyss of COVID-19 wastewater data and mainstream election coverage, surfacing with time, and health-saving views. For Yves’ posting of tantalizingly suggestive and hopeful articles as exercises in close reading and critical thinking we ought also to open our hearts and wallets.

Pardon me for gushing.

Not Just Good Commentary – Fearless Commentary

NC has been unequivocal, timely, and clear in its views of the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians, and courageous in its writers’ turning-over of the possibilities for the future of that ironically God-forsaken piece of land. For this, I am most grateful, personally; for the last 10 months (and counting) I have been with Palestinian friends in the streets, in City Halls, and on university lawns. Anyone can check the archives from last October on and see our hosts’ clarity on the subject. While easier than living in Gaza, it has still not been easy to share these views: many have lost jobs, or been beaten and arrested. Having had to face down police many times since then, this un-shrinking writing has had my respect.

From the perspective of those of us who have been engaged in organizing events, and raising consciousness for the purposes of expressing solidarity with Palestinians, Naked Capitalism has been pro-Palestinian in the same sense that Che Guevara remarked that “reality is Marxist”. The commitment to intellectual honesty, to analysis which requires a fortified and resilient constitution, contribute raw information and interpretation which aid in building grounded, sober plans. Bad analysis leads to bad strategy, which is why I have relied so heavily on Naked Capitalism

From an admittedly parochial experience, I can say that Naked Capitalism is one of, perhaps the, leading light among the networks of writers and intellectuals whose thinking, in a roundabout manner, helps inform movements like these. Most participants, our more occasional rally attendees, have neither the time nor the inclination to search out and utilize the tools made available by Yves, Lambert, Conor et. al., and the commentariat; many get their news and views from TikTok. Those of us who are in such a position can have not insignificant influence by introducing the facts and viewpoints on offer here. It seems worthwhile, and will be the subject of some exploration in one of the writing projects I am undertaking, to investigate the ultimate sources of the information and perspectives which make their winding way to becoming the “content” which makes up the media environments of many organizers and protesters. Having been in both roles, I can say that in my case, Naked Capitalism, and the networks of which it is a part (check the blog roll, and the links many in the comments section post) is the source par excellence; I suspect that I am not alone in this throughout the U.S. and elsewhere.

This is of course not to say that without Naked Capitalism, the movement would not exist; merely that Naked Capitalism is an example of the best the community of writers can make available to peoples’ movements generally.

That’s why I’m giving some dough to the folks here. Please join me at the Tip Jar.

Looking forward to learning with all of you for years to come.