[lbo-talk] Re: Butler on Derrida

Michael Dawson MDawson at pdx.edu
Tue Oct 26 09:40:18 PDT 2004


Logocentrism? You think attacking that is a good thing? Why aren't you a stockbroker or an ad exec? Maybe you are?

-----Original Message----- From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org] On Behalf Of jimi ayler Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 8:35 AM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: [lbo-talk] Re: Butler on Derrida

for michael dawson -- short, if not sweet:


> I don't crave certainty. I crave clarity and power
> in what I read,
> particularly in nonfiction. Jared Diamond. Alain
> DeBotton. Noam Chomsky.
> C. Wright Mills. Doug Henwood.

so much for craving -- if you don't find either in derrida, well, what of it? like him or no, he walked his talk.


> What did Derrida ever argue that mattered, and how
> many verbose pages did it
> take him to say it?

oh, brother -- in chronological order, how about icriture? logocentrism? grammatology? the combination of art, literature, psychoanalysis and philosophy that constitutes the _real_ importance of deconstruction, to say absolutely nothing of deconstruction's marvelous capacity to honor the "truth" of that old saw about maturity: i.e., to be able to hold conflicting arguments simultaneously? oh, yeah, and algerian immigrants, apartheid, the charter 77 dissidents in czechoslovakia...i don't suppose you'd argue these small matters mattered, either?


> And as for his supposed greatness as a philosopher,
> it all rests on a pretty
> sophomoric view of truth and knowledge.

you don't say. actually, you don't -- rouse yourself a tad out of that comfy armchair, professor...


> He
> over-corrected an error that is
> more cleanly and powerfully corrected by people like
> Cornel West and the
> pragmatists he updates.

beg pardon? as much as i admire brother west, where has he come even remotely close to not just engaging, but _defining_, however idiosyncratically, considerations like those described above? references to post-colonial paradigms and chekhov are, to put it with extreme mildness, not the same things...i defy you to employ equal scorn to west's own eulogy for derrida on tavis smiley's show last week, really the only discussion of derrida in the "major media" (the commentary on "all things considered", to put it with extreme mildness, wasn't very considered) that really got the late philosopher.


> As for scorn, it seems Joanna and I have hit a nerve
> with Jim A. We just
> don't think the game is worth the candle with JD.
> I'd be interested to hear
> Jim's short, sweet statement of why the candle
> should be burnt.

there you go, except to reiterate that butler was writing, in effect, a thoughtful eulogy. you and ms. bujes were writing, in effect, indolent petards. spare the candle, if you wish, but, by all means, light a match.

===== ________________________________james keepnews

American generals in Iraq triumphantly announced at the weekend that they had successfully taken over Samarra and killed 125 insurgents. They failed to mention that this is the third time they have captured this particular city on the Tigris river north of Baghdad in the past 18 months...The situation on the ground in Iraq is far worse than what is portrayed by the media. Ironically, this is because it is now so dangerous for journalists and television crews to leave their heavily guarded hotels in Baghdad that they cannot refute claims by the American and British governments that much of Iraq is safe.

-- Patrick Cockburn, 7 October 2004

____music+writing+webart+multimedia performance

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