Tom Frank article in Salon

[Chuck0]

Jeff Downing wrote:
> 
> Although she doesn't fail to provide an accurate summation of "One Market
> Under God," Michelle Goldberg
> ends up wasting a lot of pixels by reverting to the critique used by
> numerous sympathetic reviewers whenever
> a thinker they admire fails to dip his nib into the oracular inkwell and
> offer us a 12-step plan to make it all
> better.  This sort of undue burden was often hoisted onto Chomsky's
> shoulders (invariably by lefties, since
> noone else would touch him, at least in the U.S.), critiques based on what
> he omitted from his books and
> lectures.  I doubt that Goldberg believes a diagnosis is invalid without a
> prescription, but this repeated call
> for mantic socio-economic exit strategies--not to mention the media's
> continued harping on our inability
> to (in Dubya's vernacular) "speak with one voi-ssss"--is ultimately
> distracting.  Moreover, if it's so durn
> important, why didn't she call Tom up and ask him herself?
> 
> http://salon.com/books/feature/2000/10/26/frank/index.html
> 
> It brought to mind the conversation I had with a young woman during the A16
> demonstration, at the corner
> of 17th and Pennsylvania (if I'm remembering correctly).  I wore my Baffler
> ballcap for most of the weekend--less
> as a fashion statement than a way to fend off the sun and rain--and received
> nary a comment from the teeming
> masses until this woman noticed it.  She looked at it, nodded, and tugged
> her vinegar-soaked rag beneath her
> mouth.
> "The Baffler, huh?  Pretty cynical."
> "Why would you say that?" I asked.
> "All that commodify your dissent stuff, it's just so negative.  So
> unconstructive."
> "How'd you change it?"
> She shrugged and said, "More optimism," before heading back toward the
> police line.

Thanks, Jeff, for the insightful comments. I never understood why so
many Leftists and anarchist expected Chomsky to tell them what to do, or
provide some list of suggestions. Chomksy is very good at what he does
and I think many of us in the trenches are very thankful for the
critical analysis that he provides. I'll never forget how that light
went off in my head while I was a college activist in the 80s, after
reading one of his books on Central America. Everything finally made
sense to me after he explained how American foregin policy was based on
the idea of "what's good for business is good for America."

Well, he said that in several pages.

Did anybody else notice Chomsky's silence after the Seattle protests? I
don't know what he was up to, but I didn't see any articles from him in
several months. I started visualizing him in his office, with his feet
up on the desk, and broad smile on his face. He was probably thinking.
"Ahhh, they finally get it."

I picked up Frank's book the other day and find it very engrossing so
far. Frank is a very good critic who is good with the acidic wit. I'd
love to hear his ideas on what activists could do to monkeywrench the
"new economy," but I'll settle for his analysis which I'm hoping gives
me a few ideas on how to monkeywrench contemporary capitalism.

I'm also glad to see that he concurs with my conclusion that the
religious right is a spent force not worth engaging in future political
fights. I'm just hoping that more of my comrades in the library
profession figure this out.

Chuck0