>Well, that's just the point. To *you* it doesn't seem enlightened. I
>don't think I'm presuming too much when I say that you probably take
>that view in part because you're promoting a political strategy for
>the left to ally with religious Muslims, to view Mahmoud Ahmedinijad
>as "our man in Iran," etc. Leftists with other strategies and other
>priorities (and coming from other historical traditions) will see
>things differently.
Yoshie's attitude reminds me of Foucault getting all excited about Khomeini. That really didn't turn out too well. On the one hand she's complaining about the weakness of the Western left, and on the other, she's exhibiting a classic symptom of that weakness, getting a vicarious thrill out of some people who are really no friends of the values that have characterized the Western left.
Doug