i happen to think rightwing attacks on the left are repellent. a cause worth my efforts, though not always. true, it can be a waste of time--which is I guess why these comments are ignored? it's why carrol, for example, advocates that we filter some folks? is this what you're saying, "let's just ignore the right-leaning posters on the list"? i don't know, it's a sincere question. i would like to know why you have a problem with what i'm saying? i'm not accusing you of redbaiting -- and i understand why you're sensitive, since you were once strung up as a redbaiter here and at pen-l, if i'm not mistaken. but i don't think that's redbaiting since it seems more like internal critique among people sympathetic to leftism. but what went on in this thread is quite different since the comments are made from the positions of hostility to the left.
all in all, i feel some responsibility when the list is subjected to attcks from the right on the part of matt and reese and chris susi, since they came here because of me and i smoothed ruffled feathers early on, arguing that we shouldn't attack them as ignoramuses, etc. so, when they continue to attack from a right perspective i feel they both test the good graces and tolerance of people here. i mistakenly assumed these fellows were here to learn--that's what obth matt and reese told me, offlist. but what i see after 6 months is obstinate combativeness that proves carrol right.
reese won't be surprised by my comments, i've told him this many times and i told him that if he wanted to flame people from a right perspective on LBO, then i'd be the first one to broil his butt. matt pretty much knows that i don't pull any punches, but may be troubled by the fact that i refuse to pull any punches. i generally tell it like i see it.
so, perhaps that explains my tenancity here -- reese and matt aren't just any old poster, but people who are here b/c i cross posted elsewhere and people who've i've defended as people wanting to learn about the left. when they exhibit a studied resistance to learning about the left and continue to harbor misunderstandings and prejudices, i get pissed off at ignorance on the part of two people i know to be fairly intelligent and worse, two people that bandy about the term "sheeple" to describe everyone else -- including, i'm sure, most of us here.
kelley