Lefty despair

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Fri Sep 20 09:50:06 PDT 2002



>Brian O. Sheppard x349393 (is that a telephone extension or part of
>a name?) quoted:
>
>>"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)
>
>Yup. I don't see how anyone can deny this, unless s/he's one of the
>extremely self-sacrificing survivors, or under some political
>inhibition about speaking the truth.
>
>Doug

Let's put it this way: constant jeremiads that "the left in general" is fixated on self-sacrifice, manipulative, given to guilt tripping, outright puritanical, etc., etc. are likely to give not only leftists who don't fancy jeremiads, but also those who may go left given a chance, indeed "more pain than pleasure." If I were not a leftist already, reading the passage cited above (which makes it sound like being among leftists is bad for health) certainly would motivate me _not_ to become one. Perhaps, jeremiads about "the left in general" do give pleasure to some self-sacrificing LBO-talkers who seem insatiable for them. I can only say that such jeremiads are, well, dull.

De gustibus.... -- Yoshie

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