Doug wrote:
> What is it about the left that it draws so many people
of gloomy temperament who only want to see the worst
in the world? We used to be about possibility, transformation,
finding the seeds of the new in the womb of the old. Now
we're about why everything sucks and is getting worse.
A couple of possibilities:
1) Recent years have seen a huge advance in technology and material living. The tools leftists use have modernized, but most of the social structure has not. This imbalance leads to discouragement. Leftists are not gloomy by nature; their gloom is induced by the slowness of change.
2) Someone once posted (I think it might have been Doug; my pardon if I am wrong) that power is conservative. Conservatives have it easier than liberals/anarchists/progressives (LAPs) etc. To be successful as a conservative, often all one has to do is be an obstructionist.
A LAP must not only clear away the debris of the present order, but must also create, test, market and implement the new order. So combined with the slowness of progress, is the fact that LAPs have much more work to do in order to accomplish their goals.
I think this is why many LAPs lapse and become neo-cons. As they age they want to feel some sense of accomplishment (which might be something all humans are subject to) and switch horses.
Lastly, a book alert. I found an interesting book at the bookstore the other day: Modern Social Imaginaries by Charles Taylor. I am halfway through it and it is well and clearly written. He might be someone worth reading. I just had to read a book with a chapter entitled: "Provincializing Europe."
Brian Dauth Queer Buddhist Resister