[lbo-talk] chavez, bush, the devil and jon stewart

[Carrol Cox]

Leftists should avoid using rightist slander terms. "Legitimate critic"
is shorthand for "someone who supports imperialism, bombing Iran, and
torture, but thinks the Administration isn't clever enough in
itsimplementation of these policies." Someone who invokes "legitimate
critics" as a standard is _either_ rather naive or him/herself rather
soft on these issues. "Devil" will of course reverberate beautifully
throughout the oppressed and exploited peoples of the world, and
negative reactions to Chavez using it have at least a whiff of "The
White Man's Burden" -- i.e., the assumption that truth & justice depend
in the long run on the good will of the white imperialists.

Carrol