I don't agree with some (or even most) of what Lee wrote, and I agree that his arguments begin to unravel as his metaphor is stressed, but he is not a "bullshit" artist, he is is trying to develop an analysis that sees complexity in the situation, and I had read Lee's remarks several days ago and sent them to some friends as a discussion piece. But observe that saying "Here we're presented with a reasonably constructed argument built upon unreasonable premises" is far more useful than just dismissing it as "bullshit."
I much prefer the work of Moishe Postone on the dangers of fetishized anti-capitalism, and further to the left, the analysis of fundamentalist Islamic militancy as at least quasi-fascist by Hamerquist and Sakai.
Postone, Moishe. 1986. "Anti-Semitism and National Socialism." In Germans & Jews Since the Holocaust: The Changing Situation in West Germany, ed. Anson Rabinbach and Jack Zipes, 302-314. New York: Homes & Meier.
Hamerquist, Don. 2002. "Fascism & Anti-Fascism." In Confronting Fascism: Discussion Documents for a Militant Movement, booklet, 15-69. No city listed: Chicago Anti-Racist Action, Aresenal, and Kersplebedeb.
Sakai, J. 2001a. "Aryan Politics & Fighting the W.T.O." In My Enemy's Enemy: Essays on Globalization, Fascism and the Struggle against Capitalism, second edition, booklet, 7-24. No city listed: Anti-Fascist Forum.
------. 2001b. "Q & A About Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban, and the CIA," ARA Research Bulletin 2 (Fall), 11-19.
------. 2002. "The Shock of Recognition: Looking at Hamerquist's Fascism & Anti-Fascism." In Confronting Fascism: Discussion Documents for a Militant Movement, booklet, 71-155. No city listed: Chicago Anti-Racist Action, Aresenal, and Kersplebedeb.
I try to look at this body of work in the two articles I published:
Chip Berlet. (2003). "Terminology: Use with Caution." Fascism. Vol. 5, Critical Concepts in Political Science, Roger Griffin and Matthew Feldman, eds. New York, NY: Routledge.
------. (2005). "When Alienation Turns Right: Populist Conspiracism, the Apocalyptic Style, and Neofascist Movements." In Lauren Langman & Devorah Kalekin Fishman, (eds.), Trauma, Promise, and the Millennium: The Evolution of Alienation. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
-Chip ________________________________
From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org on behalf of Dwayne Monroe Sent: Sun 7/30/2006 12:34 AM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: [lbo-talk] Eric Lee vs. Sean Matgamna of the AWL debating Israel
Chip Berlet (to Doug):
...Eric Lee is hardly a crackpot. And is Juan Cole a crackpot for suggesting that Hezbollah has engaged in war crimes? Get a grip.
......................
<SNIP>
Eric Lee, on the other hand, is saying something else.
<SNIP>
Here we're presented with a reasonably constructed argument built upon unreasonable premises.
For example, how could the IDF pursue its - in Lee's ideal world - "limited war aims" of pushing Hezbollah rockets "beyond the range of Israeli civilians" without waging war upon Lebanese civilians and, therefore, producing the very "unnecessary civilian deaths" he claims to object to?
There's a bit of confusion here - he supports militarism (but one that follows some sort of "socialist" version of 'just war theory') but opposes the inevitable results of military action.
<SNIP>
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