>********
>Lacny's epithets are justified this time. I wouldn't respect a picket line
>of workers striking to protest the hiring of black people (and there have
>been such strikes in American history) or a picket line of police. But any
>line thrown up in the course of ordinary union-employer struggle should be
>respected without regard to opinions on the wisdom of union tactics or
>leadership. Anyone who doesn't know this has no claim to the title of
>leftist or progressive. Civility shouldn't be extended to strikebreakers.
Lacny's epithets are not justified. Responses to his arrogant slurs are justified in being just as nasty however. If someone had attacked him personally then in it would be an acceptable response. Childish angry name calling because you disagree with anothers viewpoint is rarely acceptable. It isn't as if he were addressing a crazy holocaust denier or supporter of slavery. No one was baiting him or condescending to him. Most people in this country cross picket lines every day. To claim only the picket lines he deems as such are crossable is to set him up as some sort of ultimate authority on the matter. Something no one on this possess. To show such condescension and display a complete lack of respect for others is not acceptable. We should all feel free to disagree with each other without being called "scab assholes who should go fuck themselves" by some self appointed authoritarian who feels he is "justifiably irritated" by the perceived foolishness of others.
John Thornton
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