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[Diane Monaco]

At 10:13 AM 6/5/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>At 05:16 PM 6/4/2002 -0400, Diane wrote:
>
>>You state that "...identity politics is reactionary in the truest 
>>sense."  So then black activists and feminists are not really radical in 
>>their politics at all but rather reactionary?  Are you saying that 
>>members of oppressed groups continue to be underrepresented and powerless 
>>because they shun technology?  And furthermore if they become proficient 
>>in the latest technology everything else will just fall into 
>>place?  Yeeeoow, now that sounds a bit reactionary!
>
>
>Here we go again.  I do not lump people into generic categories like black 
>or feminist activists - - too broad and too vague to serve any analytic 
>purposes.

Activists work toward the amelioration of bleak conditions for those 
oppressed and exploited.  Generic lumping, as you call it, is needed to 
know if conditions are improving or worsening.  Generic lumping tells us 
that in April 2002 the unemployment rate for black males (over 20) was 9.3 
compared to 4.8 for white males.  Or 37.3 for black males (16-19) compared 
to 15.3 for the same white male age group.  It is beneficial for us to know 
this.

Generic lumping tells us that while women account for nearly 50 percent of 
the work force in the US they only account for 12 percent of the corporate 
officers.  And as corporate officers 60 percent do not have children at 
home, in contrast to 60 percent of men in the same position who do indeed 
have children at home.  We need to know this.

Are you willing to forgo the information "generic lumping" can give us to 
catch a few black activists who organize gangsta rap events?

Btw, isn't your use of the Polish peasant to make a point a sort of generic 
lump?

Diane