My apologies. It was Sid Schniad.
>Your intelligence is only out-matched by your arrogance. I'll let others be
>the judge of your credibility. Seems you are unable to engage in discussion
>with anyone who does not dote on your every word. I did not abuse or insult
>you. I questioned your judgment. Now I question your integrity.
Okay, let me try this one more time. Somebody asserts that black people--from the looks of them--have enough to eat. He backs this up by saying anybody can get a free meal anytime they want in the US. I regard this individual as not worth having a conversation with because his comments strike me as a mixture of bigotry and ignorance. I have no idea how you think social change will come about in the US. You want to coddle people like that? We are dealing with a profound social crisis in the US which has relegated masses of black people to permanent unemployment. Substandard housing and inadequate health care have reduced the average life expectancy in Harlem to lower than it is in BENGLADESH. If we can not repudiate the sort of garbage that comes out of the mouths of "progressives," then we might as well get out of the business of politics.
As far as having discussion with people is concerned, I confess that I have trouble being polite to people who are bigoted and stupid. If that is your cup of tea, be my guest. I plan on remaining as militant in my attitudes as I have always been. When it comes to questions of how to prepare a pesto sauce or deciding who the best bluegrass band is, I can be very amiable. But when some knucklehead tells me that black people appear well-fed and that anybody can get a free meal anytime they want, I will tell them where to get off. Furthermore, in the context of 20 years of Reaganism/Bushism/Clintonism, that somebody can let such howlingly ignorant things come out of their mouth, I question whether they are naive. It is entirely possible that they are malicious.
Louis Proyect (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)