[lbo-talk] Imus

Tayssir John Gabbour tayssir.john at googlemail.com
Fri Apr 13 13:17:21 PDT 2007


On 4/13/07, Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol at jhu.edu> wrote:
> I did not say that I refuted leftist positions, mainly because most
> of them are bullshit (as defined by Harry Frankfurt) that cannot be
> confirmed or refuted. I said that the left positions, especially
> those on crime, have been blown out of the water in most countries -
> meaning rejected by most normal people. And I am quite glad that it
> happened, schadenfreude if you will. Preachers tend to get on my
> nerves.

Well, where I certainly agree is that a fair number of self-described leftists and anarchists leave a terrible impression. Can't be seriously trusted, because they're more out to "recruit" people and talk at them, or are just really angry.

Just yesterday I spoke with someone who identifies with European right-wing views, and has sympathy (not much agreement though) with the US Republican party. I mentioned my thoughts about anarchism, and he said he wished there was a sane public figure explaining it, rather than these black-clad people who believe in chaos.

But to be fair to leftists, there's a couple reasons for this:

* If you conform with society, you can often rely on institutional

memory. Whereas many leftists complain of having to learn basic

skills from scratch. (I mean, many CEOs complain about this too,

but there's zillions of books for the interested capitalist, and

stable corporations to copy are are all around.)

* Dominant media systems generally won't carry your viewpoints if

you're outside a narrow spectrum. They'll show the kookiest

examples -- keeping in mind that a Comedy Central "fake news

show" is commonly considered to have more journalistic

integrity than conventional news outlets.

And I think we should be fair to leftists -- everyone's encountered bozo managers who can't act rationally to save their lives, despite widespread books and mentoring. Imagine if all those advantages were taken away. The corporate world would indeed be grim.

Tayssir



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list