However, the decisions of list owners are not privileged to be excluded from political critique outside of the list. And since they have the power to exclude, their political decisions are more important than regular list commentors.
On the otherhand list owners' decisions are somewhat privileged from critique if they band together in a class, as Doug does below, in censoring political critique of Louis' list owner decision elsewhere. The only cyberspace left would be to talk about the bosses off list, like people do off the job.
Of course, Louis' list has a lot of critique of list owners who have expelled him.
Below, Doug both says he doesn't want Lou's moderating decision discussed and also circles back around; suggests a thread on the same topic here that Louis got too uncomfortable with and suspended me; and , Doug hints at a position that is against mine on that hate crimes/racism thread on Louis' list (Rakesh's argument from several months back).
Bottomline, the topic on Louis' list wasn't as dangerous as he acted like it was. It should be discussed on both lists openly - hate crimes , anti-racists reproducing race as a category, affirmative action, denial of racism, censorship of the term "racism", etc.
See Doug, I've been listening to some Nietzsche. I know how your mind works some.
Charles Brown
Detroit
>>> Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> 11/29 5:39 PM >>>
Apsken at aol.com wrote:
>But that is a different subject from attempts by r-r-revolutionary Marxists to
>stifle discussion of their own or their group's bourgeois tendencies, which in
>modern U.S. society take certain characteristic forms with unfortunate
>political consequences. As I understand it, that is the discussion which Henry
>Liu attempted to open with his reference to class struggle, and which you
>averted by reference to the short list of LBO's bourgeois advocates, which I
>thought an evasion of Henry's point. I don't understand your defensiveness on
>this topic, that's all. Why must it be thwarted?
What I don't want is discussion about Lou's moderating decision to spill onto this list; this is the soliarity of listowners. Anyone here can discuss class conflict among radicals, Marxist or not, or the construction of race, or whatever, as long as it's not dogmatic, verbose, stupid, or excessively abusive. In fact, I wish Rakesh would return to his question about whether anti-racists perpetuate race by citing it even as they seek to undo it.
Doug