[lbo-talk] cruise update: the Ralph angle

[Chuck]

Doug Henwood wrote:
> Man, is Ralph Nader odd up close. His funereal demeanor almost never  
> lifts except when he's laughing at his own occasional jokes. The  
> laughter of children leaves him uncharmed. He had some factotum  
> running around announcing when he'd be holding audiences - he'd come  
> to tables in the bar at 10:30 and disclose that Ralph would be  
> speaking in the library in 10 minutes - when almost everyone was  
> interested in chatting and having a nightcap. He refused to come to a  
> speakers' dinner last night because the restaurant would be too loud  
> to have a "substantive" exchange - by which I suppose he meant listen  
> to Ralph hold forth, because we were all having quite pleasant and  
> intelligent conversations. Instead he stayed on the ship. One of the  
> people who'd joined him for a bit coughed, and Ralph, alarmed, asked  
> if she had a cold. She said she had a little one, so Ralph demanded  
> she re-seat herself on the other side of the table and never looked  
> up for the rest of the time she was there. This confirms my suspicion  
> that his trade obsession really is at base an anxiety about  
> contamination by foreign pathogens. He's a very smart guy, and has  
> done some admirable things in his life, but is really kind of a dick.

I saw Nader in person several years ago at the Luna Cafe in D.C., which 
is just East of Dupont Circle. I think this must have been around 1999, 
before he ran for President in 2000. This was the middle of the 
afternoon and Nader and his friends were leaving. Nader seemed to be 
joking and bantering with them, so to me it seemed like he had some 
personality.

Is it possible that Nader has something like Asperger's? He remembers 
lots of facts and has odd social skills.

I would rather think that Nader comes across cold because of his fame. 
When you are a famous person, you are in the public eye all of the time. 
It's like being on stage constantly, hence the tendency to be more 
reserved and standoffish.

This happened to me around the time of the post-Seattle movement. You 
get some press coverage and all of a sudden people treat you 
differently. If you are doing politics, you get attacked by people all 
the time, which leads one to be more defensive and circumspect.

I always thought I was a personable and open guy in person, but my 
public persona changed to the point where several friends have pointed 
it out to me. One best friend told me that she thought I was very 
standoffish and impersonal when she first met me. I think my initial 
coldness to her was because I was a bit put off that a middle-age white 
woman was attending a black bloc meeting.

Nader is probably a complex person like the rest of us. In the big 
picture, his personality is irrelevant.

Chuck