[lbo-talk] wojtek, americans, etc.

cuito61 at onebox.com cuito61 at onebox.com
Mon May 5 17:01:23 PDT 2003


forgive me if i get the details wrong because i often go a couple days without reading the lbo-talk digests that accumulate in my inbox, but i think recently some list members ahve criticized wojtek for so-called "anti-american" comments, or something like that. one person even asked him "so what are you doing here" and said "america gave you opportunities," which made me think for a second i was on a sean hannity message board.

reading over wojtek's posts, however, i can't help but agree overwhelmingly with the sentiment that he espouses. i mean, lets be honest. i think when we are around other "activists" or whatever, we dont say stuff like this, but how many of us really think it?

i mean, i find myself being absolutely disgusted by most of the people i meet on a daily basis-- at what point does one finally snap and stop assigning americans' ignorance, historical amnesia, racism, jingoism, etc., to an overhelming and intricate system of indoctrination and controlled information, and just start to think that americans *want* to be that way? doesnt anyone start to lose hope like that? doesnt anyone sometimes say to themselves, "theres no hope for these people, im moving to france..." and of course, i know, this is ultra elitist and will get absolutely nothing accomplished in terms of social change, but sometimes it's just the natural thought that pops into your head...

i mean, i go to the city university of new york, and last week we were trying to organize and hand out fliers for people to show up at a rally and march which condemned governor pataki's immense budget cuts and proposed tuition hike to CUNY; framing the issue in terms of a "war budget," with clear opposition to the war stated on the flier along with opposition to the budget/tution issues.

one female student, upon taking the flier, said something like "i dont mind an increase of a few hundred, but i'm VERY pro-war. i can't take this." and i would venture to say that half the school is full of people like this... eh, maybe i'm just overwhelmed and trying to get things off my chest, but what do people think?



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