>From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
>To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
>Subject: Re: The anti imperialism of fools?
>Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2001 10:56:31 -0400
>Exactly. Didn't the article make the point that we should distinguish
>between the U.S. ruling class and its state, on one hand, and the
>masses and our culture (both pop and high) on the other? I don't
>think it'd be news to anyone that I despise the American imperial
>state.
I think the article far too easily exempted the masses. First of all, anyone who really wants to divorce the opinions of the masses from the actions of the elites is arguing that the US isn't any kind of democracy, which would not sit well with the article's argument. And anyway, does anyone really believe the masses didn't approve of the Gulf War or the Welfare Reform Act? As Adolph Reed points out, lynchings and anti-integration riots were also *popular* movements. Why are the people who voted for the Southern Strategy any less representative of the "masses" than those who supported Sacco Vanzetti? There were a lot more of them!
And as for high culture, uh, does anyone really want to go there? I wish I could remember the exact words Gore Vidal used, but paraphrasing, it's only American nativism that American high culture has ever equaled the high culture of England or France. And the less said about relative cultural literacy, the better: just compare the NYTimes and say, the Guardian or the Hindu. If it wasn't for the BBC, I don't think I could have survived watching tv coverage on S11.
I won't demur on the merits of Hollywood movies and hiphop, but I wouldn't be surprised that people could combine a fondness for either with a general anti-American sentiment, just as white Americans can enjoy aspects of black popular culture and be perfectly racist.
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