[lbo-talk] Make more jails and Let's Lock Up 14% of All Men Who Have Ever Married!

Yoshie Furuhashi critical.montages at gmail.com
Wed Oct 25 05:03:05 PDT 2006


On 10/24/06, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> On Oct 24, 2006, at 1:32 PM, Dennis Claxton wrote:
>
> > Steve wrote:
> >> --Actually (Yoshie's) done a solid job responding to and refuting
> >> many of the more bizarre ideas you've floated or endorsed
> >
> > She's also done a solid job letting pass characterizations of her
> > arguments as bizarre, gibberish, trolling...etc.
>
> I gotta say that even when Yoshie is annoying me by tenaciously
> arguing a position I disagree with, I admire the way she doesn't take
> things personally or insult other people. Rare in this medium (me
> included).
>
> Doug

The thing is that the same people are seldom so disrespectful when they interact with others in person.

Max Elbaum said in an interview:

<blockquote>Slapping labels on people or ideas one disagrees with, or stressing every possible area of difference rather than unity -- these are not behaviors that were left back in the 1970s. And a downside of today's "internet culture" is the tendency in at least part of it to foreground snap judgments, rapid escalation of disputes, and even harsh personal disrespect and mean-spiritedness. These are off-putting and counter-productive to say the least.

I find it hard to imagine how we will be able to revitalize the U.S. left without a maturation in our collective political culture. It is a daunting task to establish the left as a powerful moral, intellectual and political force in nationwide politics. I think attracting millions requires forging a democratic atmosphere of flexibility, openness, generosity of spirit, respect for every individual, and fundamental belief that people (including ourselves) and the world will change. <http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/jacobs161006.html></blockquote>

There's a "downside" to faceless communication, of the sort that Max points out. So, to have a meaningful debate on the Net, one needs to make conscious effort to counter that "downside." -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>



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