On Wednesday, February 18, 2004, at 07:50 PM, Joseph Wanzala quoted Tom Frank:
> "...I encountered a spectacular version of (this) pathology at a
> leftist gathering in Chicago. After listening to a devastatingly
> accurate critique of the media business, I stood up and pointed out
> that dozens of regular, church-going people across the Midwest shared
> the premises of the critique without knowing it - they simply mistook
> "liberalism" for the economic and corporate forces that actually do
> control things. I encouraged the speaker to make an effort to connect
> with those regular people and to try to turn their class resentment
> right-side up. I was corrected almost immediately by another audience
> member, who angrily said that she wanted no part of any effort to make
> an outreach to the Ku Klux Klan.
I know some leftists fit this description (some I have known personally, in fact), but fortunately not many.
Frank is right that there is fertile soil in the "mid-country" for leftist agitators who can perform this feat of turning class resentment right-side up (I was born and raised in Indiana, and know these folks pretty well), but it's quite a feat. It'll be interesting to see how the "Bush-hating" vote turns out in the Midwest in November.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ When I was a little boy, I had but a little wit, 'Tis a long time ago, and I have no more yet; Nor ever ever shall, until that I die, For the longer I live the more fool am I. -- Wit and Mirth, an Antidote against Melancholy (1684)