[lbo-talk] Terrain of Struggle was O'Reilly vs Churchill

Michael Dawson MDawson at pdx.edu
Fri Feb 18 10:33:45 PST 2005


The definition of a witch-hunt is an attack on the innocent. A classic case was the firing of Paul Sweezy by the University of New Hampshire in the 1950s.

Churchill endorsed terrorism and says he refuses to retreat "an inch" from his position, which he has not altered.

If somebody attacked Chip Berlet, that would be a witch-hunt.

Personally, I don't see the witch-hunt in the Churchill case, and I don't see the outrage in the Lynn Stewart affair. I may be wrong, but I also think it is in fact very important for us to not crawl into Chicken Little's skin. That would be adding insult to injury.

As to Mr. Cox: I would love to see he diagram of "the left" as it exists in his mind! How many saints can you fit on the head of a pin?


> -----Original Message-----
> From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org]
> On Behalf Of snit snat
> Sent: Friday, February 18, 2005 9:41 AM
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org; lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Subject: RE: [lbo-talk] Terrain of Struggle was O'Reilly vs Churchill
>
> At 09:12 AM 2/18/2005, Chip Berlet wrote:
> >Hi,
> >
> >I really agree with Carrol Cox on this. The lessons of Witch Hunts is
> >that it is crucial not to start cutting off your political colleagues one
> >by one, no matter how much it seems politically expedient to do
> >so. Making clear your own views and disagreements with others is one
> >thing, but if we let the political right determine the boundaries of our
> >movement, we are cutting holes in our own liferaft. We are in this
> >together. Carrol Cox makes me crazy sometimes, but if he was targetted by
> >a smear campaign I would expect all of us to rise up in his defense as a
> >matter of principle. Ward is not the first to be targeted and he will not
> >be the last. We are entering an ugly period in political life here in
> the
> >U.S. Ask yourself what a progressive historian will say in fifty years
> >about how we stood together or fell one by one.
> >
> >No More Witch Hunts!
> >
>
>
> Chip, exactly HOW was MY post an effort to start a witch hunt. That's the
> problem. And what about the way Carrol categorized Newman, Pug, and others
> as embarassing leftists who are best put in along with provacateurs?
>
>
> Kelley
>
>
> "We live under the Confederacy.
> We're a podunk bunch of swaggering
> pious hicks."
>
> --Bruce Sterling
>
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk



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