Carl Remick wrote:
>
> >Right now -- those words again -- peace doesn't have
> >a chance.
> >
> >mbs
>
> Until the cruise missiles begin to fly, peace always has chance however
> remote it may be. Besides that, there is the historical record: The left
> should not be stampeded into condoning retribution that in retrospect will
> be recognized as excessive and indeed imperialistic.
>
"_that in retrospect will be recognized": Those are the key words, and reflect the reality that Max seems simply unable to deal with. _Nothing_ Max or anyone else on this list says now will have any effect _now_. In the 36 years since I became involved in political activity I've made innumerable mistakes, some of them real humdingers, but only one I regret. I felt in 1966 that I should write a letter to the l should write a letter to the local paper predicting (with great arrogance) that Vietnam would be a disaster. But like Max I gave too much attention to what would be heard "right now," and like Doug too often I was too afraid of being wrong.
But the reality is that being wrong at the time ("right now") is utterly harmless -- everyone soon forgets. But being right, not now but weeks or even years from now, can be very powerful. Max prefers to babble about the present, when no one is listening to him anyhow, and thereby guarantees that what he has to say will never make any difference.
Carrol