On Tue, 26 May 1998, Brad De Long wrote:
> I would agree that it does seem easier to find people around San Francisco
> who are sympathetic with those working for Nike in Vietnam (or spotted
> owls) then people who are sympathetic with poor single mothers or unskilled
> workers recently immigrated from Mexico...
>
> Why this is I am not sure...
>
I think this question brings us back to Rorty again. (granted, that might
be because I'm giving this paper on the cruelty of rorty's solidarity and
I open with the example of the SF liberals picketing in front of the Nike
store.)
Liberals like the spotted owls and Vietnamese factory workers because they (liberals) can tell themselves stories abut why they should care about the workers without actually having to deal with them in person.
The poor single mothers actually pose a challenge to liberal pieties, ditto recent immigrants, although in the latter case it might also involve some thinking the Mexicans are lucky to have made it here, and they should shut up and get to work.
Yours, Frances
Note: You seem to think they are in Viet Nam, and I was thinking they're in Viet Nam, but now I'm thinking they're in Indonesia. Or is it both? I really need to know this. Can someone let me know? Thanks.