Michael Moore Responds

[James Devine]

Louis P writes: > It is important to understand that Studs Lonigan is
everything that a proletarian hero should not be. He is a bum and a
reactionary. The final pages of the novel depict a May Day demonstration
and Lonigan on his death bed says that the cops should beat in their heads.<

this is the kind of thing that left art needs. In the film SALVADOR, the
character played by James Woods is a _total and utter_ asshole. This makes
the preachiness of the film more bearable, more able to sway the opinions
of those not already converted. I'm the type who likes novels like
Steinbeck's IN DUBIOUS BATTLE, but I doubt that anyone who isn't already a
leftist does. 

Maybe it's like e-mail messages on lbo-talk: we have to write thinking
about the others reading our messages rather than simply responding to the
person we're replying to. 

Jim Devine jdevine at popmail.lmu.edu &
http://clawww.lmu.edu/Departments/ECON/jdevine.html
"There's nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine... Been here 4
1/2 billion years. We've been here, what a 100,000 years, maybe 200,000.
And we've only engaged in heavy industry a little over 200 years. 200 years
vs. 4 1/2 billion. And we have the conceit to think that somehow we're a
threat? The planet isn't going away. We are." -- George Carlin.