Cockburn and Militias

William S. Lear rael at dejanews.com
Wed Jun 3 12:53:02 PDT 1998


On Wed, June 3, 1998 at 11:43:29 (+0000) Alex LoCascio writes:
>William Lear asked for "concrete citations." I'm sorry if I don't have
>anything right in front of me at this moment, but I don't think anyone
>will dispute Cockburn's increasingly pro-militia stance. Not anyone
>who's been reading his column for the last year and a half, anyway.

I've been reading his column(s) in the Nation and elsewhere for the past twelve years, thank you, and I don't consider Cockburn "pro-militia".

I agree with Doug, that one of Cockburn's points is that "Instead of calling the FBI, 'the left' ... should talk to them. They're deeply alienated and confused, and there are plenty of real fascists happy to take advantage of this. Demonizing them will make the Nazis work easier." Here, Doug evinces his "pro-militia" stance, undeniable to anyone who has read Doug Henwood, etc.

To put it simply, I think Cockburn (as does Doug, as do I) sees potential to help people who have nowhere to turn and who are (largely) ignored by the left. Conflating discernment of potential for organizing these people with a "pro-militia" stance is, to my mind, outrageous.

Incidentally, Cockburn made mince-meat of macho-man Clint Eastwood (for whose macho-man movies I have a decided fondness) and his plans to get government to subsidize one of his development projects.

One thing that disgusts me about 'the left' is the willingness to engage in petty and thoughtless name-calling without bothering to provide a shred of supporting evidence. Reduced transaction costs of computers have apparently exacerbated this, especially on these sorts of lists. Let's have some evidence, or let's drop the name-calling...

Bill



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