On 5/18/06, Chuck wrote:
> Why do we have to care what the right wing thinks?
>
> I'm all for high standards for our own work, but I don't understand the
> leftist obsession with kneeling to the agenda of the right wing. We
> really grant them too much power and pay too much attention to them.
One thing is that right-wingers are more likely to have power over one's job than are other left-wingers. And BTW, it's a good thing if fear of the right pushes people to be more careful with their research. The left benefits from careful research more than from careless research.
I think there's a general lesson. Years ago, the mildly leftist Jesse Jackson made some stupid remarks about "Hymietown" to a reporter (thinking it was off the record). Of course, the media jumped on him (after the reported finked). This hurt the effectiveness of his work. (BTW, Happy Birthday, Jesse! He's 65.) The less one avoids carelessness, the more effective one's efforts are outside the insular climes of the isolated and scattered left in this country.
>... Take David Horowitz for example. This guy exists on the margins of the
> right wing. He's not even an important guy in right wing neocon circles.
> He's been ranting about left wing academics for years, but has anybody
> paid attention to him, other than leftists?
he gets a heckuva lot of money from somewhere, from right-wingers who see it as a worthwhile investment.
-- Jim Devine / "the world still seems stuck in greed-lock, ruled by fossilized fools fueled by fossil fuels." -- Swami Beyondananda