> To thread-tie, this makes the same assumption of the ignorance of the
masses
> that Doug was castegating in the other thread. I seriously don't think
the
> masses are ignorant that the multinationals have sweatshops or the CIA
> interferes in foreign countries or even that the reason the US cares about
> West Asia is oil. Hell, I heard the last bit said openly and grinningly
on
> Larry King!
>
> I also think that in an age of mass literacy, public libraries and the
> internet, you're as ignorant as you want to be.
Agreed. But there is mass media diversion, and often I hear people, who are filled with common sense most times, parrot what they hear on CBS, NBC, CNN, NPR (though not Fox News, for some reason). The ideological system is a powerful one, and it takes more than native intelligence to free oneself.
> Though I must say all my favorite misanthropes are from the patriarchal
> mainstream, not the feminist margins. Flaubert, for one, and Kabir for
> another. <smile>
My fav misanthrope is Florence King. She wrote a book about the subject, "With Charity Toward None." Funny and well-written, if politically wrongheaded. She pens "The Misanthrope's Corner" for National Review, which is the only reason to read that rag.
DP