The left: still dying (was Re: European Unions)

[Carl Remick]

>Carl wrote:
>
>>As for supposed lefist "anti-intellectualism," we have to maintain
>>the always -- throughout the ages -- critical distinction between
>>true intellectual achievement and idle pedantry.  E.g., Pope:  "the
>>bookful blockhead ignorantly read, with loads of learned lumber in
>>his head," "words are like leaves, and where they most abound, much
>>fruit of sense beneath is rarely found," and so on.
>
>You can't make such a distinction by issuing a blanket dismissal of
>"academy," "academic books," so-called "academic Marxists," etc.
>That's absurd.
>
>Name names if you want to criticize idle pedantry & explain why.  Be
>prepared to be challenged in return if you name names incorrectly.
>
>Yoshie

Candidly, I'm not prepared to handle *any* additional challenge right now, 
Yoshie.  My wife and I were just getting ready to move to a new house when I 
got word I was being fired.  Right now -- in the midst of dumping 20 years' 
accumulation of household items into boxes for the move -- I have energy 
only to stop by this list occasionally to create and demolish straw men.  
Pretty soon now, I'm going to have to disassemble my PC also; it will be a 
miracle if I can remember which wire goes where post-move, and I'm not 
highly confident the cable company is going to get me back online as quickly 
as promised.  Who knows, by the time I'm back on the list, any taint of 
scholasticism may well have been expunged from the left.  Should such occur, 
my querulous criticisms would be, er, academic.

Carl

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