Revitalizing American Unionism

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Wed Oct 25 15:48:47 PDT 2000


LeoCasey at aol.com wrote:


>But I have to tell you, after
>14 years of daily teaching in an inner city high school which started by
>walking through metal detectors in the hopes of preventing the introduction
>of weapons into the school, the suggestion that nobody has it harder than a
>graduate students sounds so empty. It instantly evokes for me a picture of a
>whining suburban kid talking about the problems of ennui without the
>slightest conception of what it might mean to be an African-American or
>Latino/a kid in an inner city, with life and death issues confronting you on
>a daily basis. The use of such comparisons will lead to quick and complete
>dismissal on the part of folks who have actually walked the walk under
>incredibly difficult circumstances.

You're really pumping out the nonsense in industrial quantities today, aren't you? What's with these invidious comparisons? If it isn't airy-fairy intellectuals vs. the real people, it's coddled grad students vs. inner city Mr Kotter's. I can't help but notice that all these comparisons end up flattering you, though of course they're always spun as a defense of the truly oppressed against privileged whiners.

Good thing we've had a Dem president for the last 8 years, and he was able to get those inner-city schools fully funded, and do something about the maldistribution of income in the U.S., that's for sure.

Doug



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