What's your point? I went to grad school and law school and so . . . .?
> You were our insiders.
Meanimng? And I've let you down? What was I supposed to do.
> I say' you 'assuming you were of that generation or
> close to,
I'm 48, whatever that means.
> Instead of getting down to work all we saw were
> silly pranks, if I
> wanted to make my place of employment better sitting
> in the lunch room
> chanting wouldn't have got very far.
Then you weren't looking while people actually won right rights for women and gays, ended Jim Crow, helped stop the nuclear power industry and the Cold War, helped end the war in Vietnam and probably prevented nuclear holocaust from starting there. We failed to revive the US labor movement. At least in the case of my comrades, that wasn't for lack of trying. My friends in Solidarity who have worked in the union movement yea these thirty some years aren't given to silly pranks. Susbcribe to Labor Notes, you'll see what I mean.
> political commentators are like soccer mums, a lot
> of screaming and
> shouting but they have been side lined, they're
> there for those who
> want to listen and for appearances sake but actual
> effect is
> negligible
The actual proof that anything anyone does makes any difference is very hard to come by. If you demand such evidence, you will probably conclude that not only political commentary, but all political action, includind demonstrating and (needless to say) voting is futile and irrational. All radical political action, including commentary, is based on the faith tahts omehow a lot of small imperceptible changes will cumulatively matter. And that keeping the torch lit will help when the qualitative break occurs, and ordinary people start to organize themselves again, so they will not have reinvent the wheel (too much).
>
> >
> > In some ways the world is worse in some ways,
> better
> > in others. Don't indulge in this Golden Age
> fantasy.
>
> As I said I'm quite aware of the world I was born
> into, I didn't
> mention any golden age so I don't know why you
> brought it up
>
> >For money money there has been
> > considerable improvement
> > >since, say, November 1942,
> > midnight of ther last century, with the Nazis
> knocking
> > at the doors of Stalingrad, Jim Crow and lynch law
> > firmly entrenched in America, Japanese militarism
> > dominating the Far East.
>
> and how exactly have things changed, different cups
> different saucers same tea.
That's a silly thing to say. The defeat of fascism was not a trivial thing -- and if the Nazis had won, I'd be dead, so I sort of take this personally. Nor is the end of Jim Crow a trivial matter. When I grew up in Virgina in the 1960s the schools were segregated by law; my first girlfriend was black, and it would have been worth our lives to engage in PDA south of the Mason Dixon line. Gays were in the closet, women were sidelined into domestic occuaptions, same tea indeedPerhaps us older rads should take responsibility for failing to teach the younger generation the way things used to be and what we did to change them.
Obviousl;y things have not been an unbroken rolling road of glory, after these 25 years of Reagan, the Bushes, and Clinton, it's obvious that we did not succeed in our goals,a t least only partly. if you hold us responsible for that, well, OK -- go thou and do better. Show us how and we will help.
> workers and their conditions ? have they got
> better ?
No. Worse.
>
> >But even if
> > it were worse overall, it is absurd to blame that
> on
> in part ?? If your adversary is playing the game and
> all you do is
> write on how your adversary is playing the game what
> will happen ? The
> students of the 60's were supposed to be the leaders
> of today, and I'm
> not talking just political but commercial as well.
You are making assumptions that cannot be justified. But again, I will say, great, go and organize a movement to improve the conditions of the workers. If you knwo what to dok,l please don't keep it a secrety. I am not being sarcastic.
But I suspect this whole exchange is guided by your initial remark: your comments are not proposed seriously, since they arge unargued and rather unaccurately expressed generalizations. They are a vent. If venting bothers you, don't do it.
> If the present rate
> of incarceration continues one in four citizens will
> have spent time
> in prison, we saw how survivors of a great natural
> tragedy were
> treated, like criminals, send in the military first
> to secure the
> area, can the US worker afford WalMart prices ?
Yeah, there is a lot that's fucked up.
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