Ehrenreich on fun

Liza Featherstone lfeather32 at erols.com
Thu Jan 7 05:01:29 PST 1999


Micah, I went to school in Ann Arbor and noticed the same thing. by far the best parties were on the left. maybe better than any I've encountered since. and, yeah, meetings were generally deadly dull. worse than any I've run into since. I too wonder what that's about. maybe the more stultifying everyday political culture is, the more people need to let loose.

Liza

Micah Timothy Holmquist wrote:
>
> I can not speak for the left to any large degree than what exists in Ann
> Arbor and to a lesser extent Detroit. But one thing that I have noticed
> is that leftists/activists here sure can party when at parties. But when
> it comes to meetings they tend to be as boring as cab be.
>
> Not sure what to make of this. Has anybody else noticed anything like
> this?
>
> Micah
>
> ++++ stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal ++++
> ++++ if you agree copy these 3 sentences in your own sig ++++
> ++++ see: http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/spg-l/sigaction.htm ++++
>
> On Tue, 5 Jan 1999, Liza Featherstone wrote:
>
> > as for the hair-shirt thread, I completely agree that the left has a big problem
> > with fun -- food, buying stuff, sex, movies, parties, clothes, making things look
> > nice, whatever. I liked the BE piece. I also think, happily, this whole
> > puritanical ethos is dying out and that the left is gradually (very gradually)
> > loosening up a bit and developing more helpful analyses of pleasure and um,
> > having a little more fun. I attribute this to a couple of things: changes in
> > feminism (the "pro-sex" folks basically won the very bitter sex wars over
> > pornography and other stuff, and in general feminism has become a lot more
> > culturally diverse which has helped it to shed much or mostof its anti-sex and
> > mandatory bad dressing baggage); cultural studies in academia -- much
> > theorizing about the pleasures of pop culture, etc; more perpsectives from cultures
> > which unlike Anglo-Americans, don't necessarily equate deprivation and
> > sacrifice with virtue. tho of course the hair-shirt thing still exists -- just look at
> > all the hardcore vegetarians and vegans that still populate campus progressive
> > circles ( which has often seemed to me like middle-class girl food anxiety
> > masquerading as politics).
> >
> > one thing I thought was odd about the BE piece was the notion that the right is
> > better on fun. doesn't everyone think the party's elsewhere? I think one of the
> > things the right hate even about right-wing liberals like Clinton is that they
> > seem to have too much fun. I mean, sure the Christian right can throw a good
> > revival meeting, but in terms of what they actually believe about fun (sex for
> > instance), you couldn't ask for a colder shower. the anti-fun sentiment on the left
> > is at least contested, ambiguous, and a matter usually more of innuendo and
> > implication than Biblical text.
> >
> > Liza
> >



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