> Geez Yoshie -- sometimes you sound Vulcan. Ever go bowling? Down some beers
> and shots? Yell at the moon?
I think the following comments by writer/translator/small press operator (and personal acquaintance) Chaz Bufe are relevant. I deeply admire the humanist spirit in which they're made, even if I have mixed feelings about a couple of the suggestions he makes:
"Leftist groups have never recognized that people are, by and large, *not* altruistic. Instead, they're fearful, insecure and, above all, lonely; and most join political groups as much to meet their own social needs as they do to advance the causes of the groups. When their needs aren't met or, worse, are ridiculed, they leave in droves. What this means is that any successful movement for social change must pay considerable attention to the social and emotional spheres... Of course, this approach would be unworkable under extreme circumstances, as in Nazi-occupied Europe, but in relatively open (and anomistic) westerns ocieties, it makes eminent good sense.
[...]
"In order to provide those benefits, any successful movement will need to provide its members considerably more pleasure than pain. One of the main reasons that the left is so dull is its emphasis on self-sacrifice to the exclusion of pleasure, and its use of guilt as a means of manipulation; many leftist groups are outright puritanical, and even the most enlightened usually treat pleasure as something frivolous, as something unworthy of attention. As a result, participation in most political groups is about as enjoyable as a visit to the dentist. The results of this are a high dropout rate and the continued participation of only the most self-sacrificing members - who, of course, feel justfiied in demanding (or at least expecting) similar self-sacrifice from everyone else, which contributes to the high dropout rate, and so on."
- from A Future Worth Living: Thoughts on Getting There (See Sharp Press, Tucson, AZ)
Brian
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"And Mr. Block thinks he may / Be President some day." - Joe Hill, "Mr. Block"