----- Original Message ----- From: "Wojtek Sokolowski" <sokol at jhu.edu> To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org> Sent: Friday, September 30, 2005 17:37 Subject: RE: [lbo-talk] losers [ was: Lyndie England
> Victor:
>> You could have written this about the "ideas" of the American left
> some
>> 35 years ago.
>
> This was tongue-in-cheek, Victor, a mockery. You are attempting a serious
> analysis of the problem, and that is a big mistake on this medium. Many
> people who post to this and many other internet lists are more interested
> in
> sniping from behind the corner or hammering down party lines than engaging
> in a bona fide discussion. I have no way of knowing if these folks are
> like
> that in their everyday lives (I hope they are not) - but there is
> something
> about this medium (perhaps anonymity?) that encourages this kind of
> behavior.
>
> I spent most of my life around lefties of various stripes, did my share of
> marching and protesting , and finally am getting fed up with the stale
> mantras repeated like a broken record over and over again. It gets on my
> nerves because it really undercuts the only social connection I have in
> this
> country (I personally cannot stand GOPbots, and have little in common with
> most of 'ordinary' suburbanites), and also because these mantras are
> disingenuous - if they were told by someone else, they would be denounced
> as
> double standards, if not worse.
>
> So every time I get on this list I promise myself not to get engaged in
> these meaningless shouting matches (there is plenty of good stuff to read
> here besides that) - but somehow end up being drawn to them. I guess I
> need
> to do a better job picking up fights that are really worth fighting.
>
> Wojtek
>
WS,
Worry not, your irony was quite successful.
As a graduate student I was quite active in the movements against the VN war, for civil rights and for greater student participation in university governance, perhaps even a leader of sorts. One my closer friends was my opposite number on the right, a Kirk reactionary who enjoyed shocking even his own following by proclaiming the US was a country in sin for rebelling against its annointed king, George III. The tactical basis of our friendship was undoubtedly the principle of keep your friends close and your enemies even closer, otherwise he was one of the more interesting conversationalists among the grad students. One afternoon while sitting together in the student union drinking cold coffee and arguing over some archane moral issue, a group of YAF undergrads rushed up to him to ask his advice on how to respond to the latest provocation of the radicals. As soon as they left he turned to me and asked if the left-wing students were as intellectually deficient as their right-wing counterparts. I leave you to imagine my elitist answer to that.
Victor
>
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