[lbo-talk] We're all Hezbollah...

sethackerman1 at verizon.net sethackerman1 at verizon.net
Tue Jul 25 13:51:57 PDT 2006


On Jul 25, 2006, at 2:32 AM, www.leninology. blogspot.com wrote:


>
>> I don't much care that you think it's two-dimensional or shoddy. Glib, smug assertions have never particularly bowled me over. It is the role of the left to support the oppressed, not without criticism, distinction or discrimination, but without this Beautiful Soul narcissism in which one expects oppressed groups to live up to one's ego-ideal of liberalism.
>

I don't even buy that this is your real view. You wouldn't protest Hiroshima with the slogan "we are all Hirohito." You certainly wouldn't protest the bombing of Dresden with "we are all Nazis."

You've lost the thread of the argument. Of course the oppressed should not be expected to live up to some idealized liberalism. Their legitimate rights must be defended even when they fail to do so. But there is no requirement that one embrace or identify with a detestable ideology, for god's sake, just because it has been adopted by some subset of the oppressed. There is nothing in Hezbollah's ideology that is worth dirtying one's hands with.

Seth



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