--
> "If I were a capitalist, I would resist union organizing by all means
> at my disposal." _Would_ without moral endorsement.
> --
> Yoshie
"If I were you, I would do whatever it is that you do." Why are you defending this stupidity, Yoshie?
-- Luke
Your reformulation "if I were you..." doesn't say anything about social structures, so it says something different from statements that begin with "if I were a capitalist...," "if I were an Afghan refugee enraged by the West's war on Afghanistan...," "if I were a woman trapped in a violent domestic relationship...," and other "if" clauses that refer to social conditions.
As long as many Americans think that ethical choices of individuals matter more than social conditions, we'll never get any Left off the ground here. For instance, if you think what needs to be changed is the "attitude" of capitalists, the "attitude" of Afghan refugees, the "attitude" of Western journalists like Robert Fisk, the "attitude" of ghetto kids, the "attitude" of cops, etc., rather than social structures that create exploitation and oppressions, you might as well give up on left politics and turn to a prayer.
Yoshie