[lbo-talk] Ellen Willis dies

Dwayne Monroe idoru345 at yahoo.com
Fri Nov 10 08:28:56 PST 2006


Jesse:

...there has been hideous rant here, over-the-top stuff. Can you imagine a couple of hours decent interval before the rant? This stuff is hurtful to whole communities, though clearly not to the LBO community.

..............

Let's review the record, available online here -

<http://search.lbo-talk.org/search/swish.cgi?query=ellen+willis+dies&submit=Search%21&metaname=swishtitle&sort=unixdate&reverse=on>

tiny url - http://tinyurl.com/usqq2

Doug:

<snip> She was a cranky, difficult person with an unfortunate Zionist streak, but she was very talented and smart. It's sad to see her go.

Dennis Perrin:

<snip> She was very friendly and supportive. Good thing the panel wasn't about Israel and the Palestinians. I doubt the good vibes would've lasted past the opening remarks.

Bitch:

<snip> Trying to get mainstream feminists interested in her work, particularly when she cremates the notion that you can buy / dress/ personally behave your way to revolution is like banging your head against a concrete wall.

Now here's where the trouble actually starts and where the focus shifted from Ellis' work and life to the evil of LBO vs. the virtue of Jesse.

Jesse:

What a kvetchy announcement, Doug! Can we locate the url for her magnificent debunking of Tom Frank in Stanley's new journal, Situations(?). Is that article what's eating you, Doug?

and later...

<snip> But what I sense here, with the body only a few hours cold, is vast disrespect, fairly customary on this list, for feminism and for this major feminist figure. Shameful beyond belief.

And so on.

What we've witnessed is some mild mention of Ellis' unfortunate Zionist ideas met with a mounting onslaught of hyperbole from you Jesse.

With each turn of the screw, you've gone up (or down, as the case may be) the ladder of denunciation, declaring your opponents to be worse and worse - indeed, members of a "vile gang".

Leading to this moment's crowning glory:

...there has been hideous rant here, over-the-top stuff. Can you imagine a couple of hours decent interval before the rant? This stuff is hurtful to whole communities, though clearly not to the LBO community.

This excess (and describing the use of "cranky" as "hideous rant" is spectacular excess) is deeply odd and leads me to wonder what else is going on over there.

In fact, it's pointless to continue. Your headline grabbing is the real "male rage" on display here, the real hijacking of any consideration of Ellis' life and work.

I raise the white flag in the face of your profound strangeness. You win Jesse; everyone's mad, bad and dangerous to know.

Except, of course, for you.

.d.



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