Lefty despair

[JBrown72073 at cs.com]

> Brian O. Sheppard: 
> >"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)
>
Doug wrote: 
> 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.

Sure, the self-sacrificing guilt-tripping thing is a world-class loser.   But 
what's this pain-pleasure distinction he's got going?

I'm in a movement (feminism) which is constantly baited for being overserious 
and humorless.  But more exciting and interesting meetings you won't find, 
because we're talking about painful truths.  The pain doesn't come from the 
group, it comes from the way we're treated in our lives.  We've got the pain 
already: dull, self-blaming pain.  Then we experience more pain as we find 
out there is nothing that we can personally do to fix it (since every other 
woman in the room had the same experience).   At the same time, we derive 
unmatched pleasure from these thunderclaps of clarity, and from learning that 
we have less power than we thought, but more power than we knew. 

I just hope people don't read this 'Future Worth Living' person and think 
their meetings need to be 'fun' and 'light' or they'll drive people away.  
More likely, if the serious content is downplayed (and I've seen this happen) 
people will wander off cause they can think of something better to do for 
entertainment.  I can *always* think of something better to do for 
entertainment. 

But what about sanity, clarity, hope, a sense that your life has meaning, and 
watching the oppressor scurry for cover?  Only through great effort can these 
be made boring, though I know some who seem to have a knack. 

Jenny Brown