Yes, criticism, to be usable, must be specific. There was a rather good analysis of how a Nation piece only glancingly hit its main point; Doug getting hit over the head by the Small Business is Beautiful crowd, and other examples of bad practice and incoherent dogmatism I can't recall before I get another cup of coffee.
>If any piece written by a leftist is unreadable, it can be corrected,
>through editing, proofreading, etc. If any leftist or what is done
>or written by him or her is "dull" by some other leftist's standard
>(whatever is meant by such a judgment), however, I don't think that
>there is anything that we can do about that, except to shun the
>person or his or her product. As for "despair," in my humble
>opinion, if any leftist is "despairing," the last thing he or she
>needs is conspicuous consumption of jeremiads and tirades against
>"the left in general."...
>
Nothing clears my despair, politically or personally, than getting a better understanding of something. And hearing someone make idiot tirades against the left also gets me going. So I guess I don't feel so delicate. But then, I think my own freedom is at stake and I'm fairly clear that every good thing in my life was gained by struggle, so I'm not iffy about the whole project. (I'm not saying you are, I'm just saying why I'm not easily scared off.)
Jenny Brown