Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> Carrol Cox wrote:
>
> >snitsnat wrote:
> >>
> >> LOL. This is from a conservative:
> >
> >The web searches for conservative idiocies that so many leftists indulge
> >in remind me of an anecdote concerning Herbert Spencer. At one of those
> >famous British weekends at a country estate he was playing billiards
> >with a young man who defeated him consistently. Spencer remarked, "A
> >certain level of skill adds to the enjoyment of the game, but the level
> >of skill you display, young man, argues a misspent childhood."
>
> You think that agenda wouldn't attract popular support? You don't
> watch the Fox News Channel much, do you?
>
No, I assume it would. What counts, at least at the present, is what attracts decision makers. Would it attract enough organized support to become a force on its own independently of other conservative forces. I think conspiracy theories of Pearl Harbor are/were quite wrong, but their point of departure was the need on the part of the administration to overcome the extremely strong "isolationist" and anti-war forces in the u.s., which were a force on their own. Obsession with Fox news is one of the leftist habits which evokes Spencer's anecdote for me.
There are real problems, opportunities, and dangers facing the scattered leftist currents in the u.s., and responding to the far right is not really one of them. In fact the _only_ way in the middle or long run to respond to those far-right forces is by building those scattered leftist currents and their sympathizers (who are many but passive) into a visible public force in _its_ own right. The only reason I can see for paying attention to Fox news is egotism or vanity in exulting over how much smarter or more decent the viewer is than the news caster. That obsession argues a misspent adulthood as well as childhood.
Carrol