[lbo-talk] Re: Churchill's Complaint

[Joel Wendland]

The right wing has bigger fish to fry than a single lonely university 
professor or even the radical left as a whole. In another era, this may have 
been the case. But in today's world where the right has the momentum an 
dominance it has, I believe they really don't give much of a rat's ass about 
the left or even much more than that about persecuting individuals or groups 
who don't toe Bush's line – which right now is more than half the country – 
as much as they do about exerting pressure on public universities to cut and 
defund "excess."

Privatization is the strategic policy; developing ideologically-based 
culture wars to accomplish is their tactic. So let's paint a picture of 
ethnic studies professors as cooks and pretty soon every yahoo is out there 
demanding that these programs get cut. And so the next thing you know, they 
get cut. Let's try not to over-inflate Churchill's individual improtance in 
the scheme. And you don't have to agree with Churchill or keep quiet about 
your diasgreement to defend his rights or to defend public institutions and 
liberal arts prorgams or ethnic studies departments. In fact, it will take 
more than just those people who agree with WC or who wil remain quiet about 
their disagreement with his views to win on the privatization issue. It will 
take people who will denounce his views to win the thing, like it or not. If 
the argument is that the tiny protion of the "left" that concurs with WC 
alone can speak out on this or defend Chruchill (a la Robert Jensen) get 
ready to lose...again.

Joel Wendland


>But isn't it also clear that O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Coulter, etc. aren't only 
>going after Churchill, but any public person not on board with the Bush 
>crusade?  So should the leftist response be mainly to amplify Bushite 
>attacks or defend Churchill's tenure?