Wojtek Sokolowski >
> You are saying "writers" who do what, now ?
Have a tendency to whitewash (no pun intended :)) the deplorable actions and choices of the lower classes on the grounds that the oppressed people can do no wrong. Check my reply to Michael Dawson in this thread for examples of such choices.
^^^^^ CB: How about when I criticize white workers for the racism that is the main divider of the working class in the U.S. , and is a main reason why the U.S. working class has not lived up to its historic mission ? You probably have amnesia about my saying that, because you characterized it as "identity politics" , which is to say it is you, not I, whitewashing white workers by your claiming that Black complaints about racism are playing "identity politics".
Seems to me that _you_ are one of the whitewashing (double entendre definitely intended), pomo/identity politics writers to whom you refer here, with your valorizing white racism.
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I did not include any "black-specific" examples in that list but I could. These are, inter alia, gang and criminal activities that victimize poor black communities, enrollment in conservative, homophobic or misogynistic churches and religiosity in general, popular types of hip hop subculture that promotes violence, sexism, homophobia, and anti-intellectualism, as well as broadcasts racists slurs and stereotypes, supposedly "tongue in cheek, but broadcasts nonetheless.
^^^^^ CB: It is not so much that I think Black people "do no wrong" as that a predominantly white list is not the place to raise Black self-criticism. White people , like you, don't need to focus on "backward" politics in the Black community, because it gives you an excuse not to struggle against racism among white people, i.e. diverts you from your main task. It gives you a "blame the victim" escape.
I have , though, said on this list that I consider Gangster Rappers to be the Children of Reagan. The rightwing themes of gangster rap are also the result of capitalist record companies choosing the bad rappers over the progressive ones. It's sort of like the Bushes choosing Clarence Thomas, Condelezza Rice and Colin Powell, who are politically "misrepresentative" of a Black population that proportionally has more progressive types than the norm. Gangsta Rappers' politics are atypical of Black people as a whole. There is widespread criticism of gangsta rap from the Black people.
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When I critiqued these traits in the past on this list, you and others dismissed that criticism, hence my perception about "whitewashing" of the lower classes.
Wojtek
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CB: I guess you'll have to show me where I dismissed such criticism in the past. I don't think that I have said anything about anything you said about Black churches. My only recall of responding to anything like the above that you said in the past is your complaining about the loudness of some boom boxes, and saying something like the reason that white men are prejudice against Black youth is that they play loud boom boxes. My response was that the main cause of white men's prejudice against Black youth is not because of loud music.
Otherwise, I have criticized you for years for claiming that anti-racist politics is "identity politics", i.e. that there is no real, invidious ,racist prejudice against Black people. As I pointed out to you above, implicit in my criticism of white workers' racism is an assertion that is the opposite of saying "the working class can do no wrong."
In general, a fundamental difference between Marxists and liberals is that liberals conceive of the working class as only victims, that is they have a paternalistic attitude; whereas, Marxists, know that the working class is victimized by capitalism, but also see the working class as the _only_ potential force for "saving" the working class (itself ; and "saving" the Marxists , too) by getting rid of capitalism. So there is a fundamental and critical difference between liberal and Marxist "valorization" of the poor.
The claim that I have "romanticized" working class life is false. I just said to you yesterday:
"Well, for starters, the proposition (put forth by you) that the lives of the poor of the world are so finger licking good seems patently false."
Workers of the West, it's our turn !