Chris, determined, sweaty, to lbo-listserve: OK...OK I'm going in...I'll-- lbo list-serve, interrupting: Man, are you fuckin' nuts, you'll get killed! Chris: I gotta take that risk...come on people work with me on this one! (A tense silence, then the realization that there is no other option...) list-serve: Yeah...OK...Go and do us proud. Go on, git! (Chris flashes a broad smile. Then, in an instant, is gone. Music rises...) (it wasn't too long before gun shots could be heard in the distance...)
>You may not LIKE my characterization of what you've said. If so,
>challenge it. But I think I've captured the essence of your folly
>rather aptly
No Paul, I continue not to like your CARICURATURE of what I said which is, in sum, this: cyberspace is obviously an important local for the critical exchange of ideas but the actual struggle for POWER does not and will not take place there and folks who say so are more likely to be, "white," male, comfy and hence, deluded. To paraphrase a great DC based balladeer, "N-words gettin' shotdown, thrown in lockdown...and whitey's in cyberspace."
What you could have said is that I failed to mention that the web can be, if used skillfully, a very helpful, if significantly limited, organizing tool. But you chose instead to get your cyberjollies by accusing me of some wacky shit I never said, eerily posting my quote as if that proves your point and then denouncing my supposed idealogical "folly." Brave, bold lefty, you.
>I didn't mean to imply you were out for other people's blood. We're all
>much too far into narcissism for that.
I'm sorry that you have a narcissim problem. I'm also sorry that your reading skill (or emotional needs) are such that you perceive in my comments a megalomaniacle desire to die rather than a degree of equivocation about my moral responsibilites as an individual who wants do the best he can to facilitate the emergence of a just and free world, whether or not that happens in my lifetime.
>> 2) Actually, that quote from Baldwin had nothing to do with supporting
>> what I wrote.
>
>I know that, Chris. THAT'S JUST THE POINT! It's just your brand of
>radical chic.
Good god. You know, I've posted that quote many time and just as many times, people have seen it exactly for what it is: an interesting non-sequiter quote at the end of an email message. Some ignore it. Others are intrigued by it and want to know more. You, however, in a first rate demonstration of rhetorical contortion, first accuse me of trying to use Baldwin to support my argument about political struggle in cyberspace, which I obvioulsy was not trying to do; then you denounce my desire to share interesting quotes with interesting people as "radical chic." Phew. And they say size doesn't matter!
>You imply that I am not interested in helping to
>> create the necessary moral climate to facilitate change. Show me the
>> evidence, homey.
>
>The above quote where you valorize your own death foretold and
>condesecend toward mere ideas.
First of all, beyond this very minor, all too macho exchange, you have no bloody idea of who I am in general or what my moral committments are in particular and judging by your comments so far, you seem more interested in hurling nasty invective than engaging in a disciplined, respectful debate. Second, I am sorry that your life is so passionless that it is impossible for you (it seems) to imagine dying for something that you believe in. I am also sorry that for you (it also seems), anybody who speculates about the possibility of dying in the service of a what is perceived to be a worthy cause is simply "valorizing" their own death (alas, more caricurature), not, maybe, struggling with difficult moral and ethical questions about facilitating positive change. Finally, your so-called evidence sucks.
>> 4) When did I ever say or imply anything about ignoring cyberspace
>> because of lack of "minority" participation or for any other reason?
>
>Once again, in the passage quoted above you put down the importance of
>cyberspace
Wrong again, cowboy. I simply put cyberspace in perspective. And it's worth repeating: I never said anything about "ignoring cyberspace" for any reason, racial or otherwise.
>You went on to further justify your choice in racial terms
>when you wrote:
>
>>> Like everything else, cyberspace is racialized: Enormous numbers of young
>>> "WHITE" people are online. Young Black people are, for all intents and
>>> purposes, out of the loop and getting more pissed by the day. Who is more
>>> likely to disturb the political status quo? Cyberitized "white" kids or
>>> marginzlized and enraged Black kids?
And SO WHAT? Is there something wrong with justifying it in those terms?
By the way, don't forget the rest of the quote: >I'm betting on Black
while
>simultaneously hoping that increasing number of "white" kids publicly
>denounce their assigned racial identity and stuggle hard against the
>relative entitlements, priviledges and power that come with it.
> Also, I should tell you that as a Black person (politically and
>> culturally, happily, but racially only by virtue of science
>> fiction masquerading as social fact), I do not appreciate being
>> reffered to as a "minority." Just letting you know, though, of
>> course, you are free to ignore my sensitivies.
>
>Political correctness ad absurdum, eh?
No, Paul. Words have history and history is important. This word has historical implications that I and many other radical Blacks find not only distasteful but, more importantly, misleading. Since, however, you're too busy being self-righteous, I'll let you figure out what those implications are--or maybe you don't care??
> By the way, how can you use that term so breezily after reading that
>> Baldwin essay?
>
>Which term???
"Minority."
>> In sum: I don't know who you were responding to but it wasn't me.
>
>It was your text, man. But that's cool. I'm not down with Derrida, so
>I know it wasn't you.
I guess if you keep telling yourself over and over again that you really did respond to what I wrote then I suppose you begin to believe it. Goodness me, you even try to toss me into the Derrida camp for good measure!