<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 8/28/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Jim Straub</b> <<a href="mailto:rustbeltjacobin@gmail.com">rustbeltjacobin@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
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</div><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">I think that singling out retailers like Whole Foods has more to do with<br>blue collar anti-intellectualism (your use of vernacular seems symptomatic)
<br>and silly resentment and kulturkampf against "yuppies" than any serious<br>effort to advance the cause of labor in this country.<br><br><br><br>Wojtek</blockquote><div><br>
Ha ha ha! Are you seriously saying this?<br>
<br>
It's true I find yuppie intellectuals as distasteful as the fancy
cheese they overpay for at fancy scab grocery stores. But I
believe my "blue-collar anti-intellectualism" is actually part and
parcel of "any serious effort to advance the cause of labor in this
country." <br>
wink chuckle ; )</div></div></div></blockquote><div><br>Jim, <br><br>Woj, is completely serious. But more, he thinks that workers are stupid and that he is their superior, and only "educated" middle class professionals should lead them. (I think basically this is even a conclusion that he has come to in his academic essays on professionals in Eastern Europe, though I may be wrong on this because I have only glanced at his papers.) He thinks anybody who thinks otherwise is giving into dangerous populism. He also doesn't believe in replying if you actually argue rationally or present facts.
<br><br>So fair warning. But....<br><br>He is also sometimes interesting. He provokes, simply because he has a psychological need to be provocative. But sometimes he will say a few things that are worth thinking about if for no other reason than that he makes you go back to basics in order to refute him. This is as far as my defense of Woj, will go.
<br></div></div><br><br>Jerry <br>