> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]On Behalf Of Carrol Cox
> Sent: Monday, October 23, 2000 12:16 PM
> To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> Subject: Re: Survivor!
>
>
>
>
> kelley wrote:
>
> > nevermind. i give up. i'm on the path to becoming just like
> carrol about
> > this issue and i actually don't mind.
>
> I've been following this thread only intermittently, but I was
> more or less
> serious when I referred to Susi as a lab specimen. What I mean is that his
> sheer ignorance of biology, history, etc. makes his ideas, as such, of no
> interest to discuss directly. But if you take him as a laboratory
> specimen,
> then you raise interesting questions. Is this particular brand of
> no-nothingism
> merely an aberration, or can it be linked to larger social forces
> and aid in
> the understanding of those forces? My suspicion is, though I
> would not try to
> defend it very vigorously, is that he and his friends should be
> viewed as a
> high-frequency aberration. As several have noted, they exemplify
> individualism
> goe bonkers. By individualism I mean not a particular set of habits or
> attitudes but the assumption that individuals even exist and are a useful
> explanatory category. And for studying the dynamic of this fundamental
> assumption, John Milton is rather more interesting than
> Christopher Susi or
> Matt Cramer.
You are truly a work of art Carol. You feel as though you are enlightened enough that you'd come to the rescue of your fellow humans, but feel the need to refer to those who disagree with you as a "lab specimen", anti-septically studied in you're perfect little world.
With the exception of a few individuals (Martin Shiller, & Gordon Fitch in particular) I am amazed how quick the posts turned to personal attacks (outright or thinly veiled) against me for merely even stating in the original post that I often consider both sides of the equation, and then I began to attempt a discussion why I might favor the one not-so-popular view when someone called me on it. Honestly, up until Friday I held this list with some form of respect. However with the likes of retorts like "Captain Cyborg", pedantically reviewing any spelling or grammatical errors, and being labeled a "Lab Specimen" makes me question any of the pseudo-intellectual bantering posted by the self-styled intellectual elitists whom I've engaged.
To those who offered a brief discourse allowing me to toy with those ideas, I thank you. To those who weren't really up to the task, I bid my adieu.