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

[Dennis]

> Let's take Doug Henwood, for instance, who is a petty producer, not a
> wage worker at a university.  You & DP claim to have read his _Wall
> Street_ & admired its clarity, etc.  Have you guys looked into his
> bibliography & thought about who wrote articles & books he draws
> upon, sometimes to support his arguments, sometimes to harvest
> empirical data, other times to criticize arguments in them?
>
> Yoshie

I've only read bits of "Wall Street" (sorry Doug), but I've read reams of
the LBO newsletter. That's the Doug I've come to know.

Academic sources are fine; higher education is not a waste of time for some
people (though living in a campus town and overhearing some of the students
speak -- "Like, he is soooo poli-sci, and I'm like, 'Whoa, don't go there!
Too much info!' " -- I often wonder). My point has been that it is not the
world, it is not the end-all, be-all of intellectual growth and reflective
and analytical thought. And when it comes to dealing with "the people"
(those who barely got out of high school, for instance), academic jargon and
secret handshakes are of no real use. Among the initiated and all-knowing,
however, I'm sure it's a fine way to pass the time.

DP