Labor: Menial vs. Noble

Dennis Perrin/Nancy Bauer bauerperrin at mindspring.com
Mon Dec 18 05:42:10 PST 2000



>It wasn't Ian's posts I objected to but the very first
>appearance of it, an idiotic post which in effect claimed
>that if someone didn't use the term, he [implied he]
>wasn't a worker. I'm not interested in anyone with
>such a narrow and incredibly stupid conception of
>the working class.
>
>Workers who *do* use the term are scabs.
>
>Carrol

If you're gonna term a post "idiotic," Carrol, at least have the courtesy to identify the "idiot" -- in this case, me. Look, I know life has been hard on you (or so it seems from your heavy-hearted, wounded posts), but the fact is that workers -- scab and non-scab alike -- use very foul language on work sites. Not always (did some work yesterday with a young contractor who seemed to blush whenever I said "shit"), but often enough. This is not "narrow" nor "incredibly stupid": it is a fact. Besides, I used the terms "cocksucker" and "motherfucker" in a humorous manner, hoping to contrast this rough language to the dry, Marxist prose offered by Yoshie. I myself never use the "cocksucker" line as an epithet, for I find the practice, when done right, beautiful and "uplifting." If you consider this grounds for having me purged from the list, by all means do your worst.

DP



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list