Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>>The Red Purge has also had deleterious impacts on non-socialists as
>>well, as you can obviously see in the attitudes of most LBO
>>anarchists and non-socialists here.
>There's some truth to this, but there's also some bullshit to it too.
>Any critique of the politics, organization, or rhetorical style of
>the sects is dismissed by sympathizers as redbaiting.
There is zero truth to it-- just the fact that so many progressive groups are still willing to sign up with ANSWER on endorsements, despite public knowledge it is run by the WWP, shows how much bullshit the "redbaiting" card is all about. People hate particular sectarian groups because they think they fuck up meetings, screw up coalitions, are physically violent, or just bore everyone to death.
After the last month of internal withhunts within the Guild against me, culminating in almost an hour last night at the local NYC Guild chapter discussing the inappropriateness of my views on my weblog, personal email on this list, and assorted other ideological failings due to my criticism of the WWP, my tolerance for even a smidgen of defense for this "anti-redbaiting" crap is pretty much at an end.
I've never experienced this kind of ideological inquisition in any liberal group I've been a member of, despite places where I was known to have more leftwing "commie" views. My experience in life is of far more ideological intolerance from the "leftwing" sectarians than from regular progressive folks.
-- Nathan Newman