shit Michael, you are right maybe I should have named names. I was referring to a process, "isn't that the process that goes on here" because it does go on here. That people like you and others don't engage in the process doesn't obviate that it goes on. it goes on in all kinds of venues on all kinds of topics: free market or not? planning or not? is there anything good about capitalism or western values? I'm talking about just a few responses, but they are powerful voices on this list and they declare themselves the gatekeepers quite reguarly by denouncing others as not really leftists, or not serious thinkers, etc.
and look at what's happened on this list re 9-11. how were Brad, Nathan, Doug, Dennis Perin, Peter K, etc. were treated. And, event hough i made it clear i disagreed, even the act of defending them was met with hostility by many people on this list, even peole who don't engage in gatekeeping. those were stupid attacks on these guys, especially since the attacks insisted on ignoring every thing they'd ever written before. they were expected to denounce the US repeatedly before they could take their position in support of a police action.
It's not a new debate or schism. The demand to be a 'real' lefty takes place all the time. i mean, take notice of the fact that i generalized the terms, and was not talking about patriotism or anything but the very general process of demanding that we prove our lefty credentials repeatedly by sucking the cock AND balls (this is a reference to the lesbian phallus) of the gatekeepers of "true leftism" -- that is, the people who don't hesitate to claim that you aren't a true lefty if you don't support this or that position.
freakin' chuck0 just did the same damn thing that has been done do him. he's been repeatedly attacked by carrol et al for his failed leftyism. and now he's doing it to others. and what is hilarious to me is that the content of what i say is not a whole lot different than what he says, but he won't see it because i haven't done it in just the right and proper way.
this is what i wrote:
>just to turn the tables: isn't that precisely what goes on here if anyone
>says anything in defense of US culture? isn't it the case that you have to
>suck the cock and both balls of your fellow lefties and prove you're a real
>lefty first, and even then, no matter what you've typed or said or written
>in the past, the act of saying it voids everything you've otherwise said?
>
>why promulgate a process built on the same dynamics as patriotism?
>
>you can only belong if you talk the loyalty oath and that's to never, ever
>say anything but critical things about the US?