[lbo-talk] Moore on Mumia

Dwayne Monroe idoru345 at yahoo.com
Fri Oct 17 07:17:19 PDT 2003


Joseph Wanzala asked:

What do you think of Wesley/Moore - or Moore's statement about Mumia?

********

Regarding Moore's endorsement of Clark...

If you look closely at the American political scene, you'll notice that both liberals and conservatives of conventional mind exhibit certain habits of thought and behavior when it comes to choosing candidates. Hero worship is common and moves hand in glove with a marginal grasp of history and an underappreciation of complexity and nuance. There are no systemic problems, only 'good' and 'bad' men and women who have 'good' or 'bad' characters.

Moore chose to back Clark, to the extent that he has, because, as a man with a "distinguished career of service", Clark's seen as a candidate who cannot be challenged as being "too liberal" by either the rest of the Democratic field or the incumbent.

This is an extraordinarily bland and predictable assessment of the situation and is built upon a lack of or willful disregard for the full facts.

To call Clark a 'war criminal', as he surely is, would be to break out of the bounds of polite conversation. Indeed, it would represent a questioning of the idea both conservatives and liberals share that the US is a benevolent actor on the world stage. When irrefutable evidence of American crimes is unearthed, liberals call these examples of systemic perfidy "mistakes" while conservatives say, following Stalinism, that the means were justified by the ends sought.

This is the small amphitheater in which media-visible political discussion occurs in America. Moore's endorsement of Clark is an uncontroversial, and yawn-inducing, addition to the productions available.

Regarding Moore and Mumia...

Moore's statements do not seem unreasonable to me. You can debate the accuracy, but he's arguing rationally from the point of view of someone who believes in Mumia's guilt.

As a Philadelphian, and an African American, I've been told, over and over again, that I should be passionately involved with obtaining 'justice for Mumia.'

I've found both the Police Department and the legal system's manipulations along with the hero-worship-dependent antics of the Free Mumia group(s) to be off-putting and suspect.

Capital punishment is wrong; everyone deserves a fair trial.

Beyond these generalities, I cannot say anything else of value as I lack hard facts.

DRM

__________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list