[lbo-talk] Left wing loathing for the working class (Was Re: Zizek

[Chuck]

Jim Straub wrote:
> I think it has to do with the degree to which most leftists 
> self-segregate themselves into an ideological bubble.  If one lacks any 
> real personal connections to ordinary, relatively apolitical, or 
> relatively conservative (or even just non-radical) people, one is likely 
> to have a distorted view of politics,  and eventually arrive at a 
> frustrated loathing of all those outside one's bubble whose political 
> behavior seems mystifying and horrifying (which it is, in a sense, 
> but... if we hold the ideals we do, we must believe our fellow creatures 
> are more than herds of bleating ignorant sheep).  I think if most 
> leftists had friends, co-workers, partners, co-congregants and fellow 
> members of social circles and organizations whose political leanings 
> better reflected those of society at large, we as a movement would be 
> better able to 'move' the public on more issues, and have a more 
> realstic sense of what will happen and what can be changed and how.  Not 
> that transformative, sustaining vision is unimportant, but rather, we 
> can't there from here erecting a prefigurative myopiatopia around us.
> 
> In the past this sense would motivate me to try to shock my fellow 
> travellers with extreme sorts of pronunciations like that the left won't 
> get anywhere until its adherents are deported from the bay area, new 
> york and college towns, and scattered across the land to live in 
> inner-ring suburbs and exurbs and neighborhoods and the nameless cookie 
> cutter apartment buildings of decatur, dayton, new haven, houston, 
> charlotte, phoenix and fort wayne.  But really, we just to make an 
> effort to socialize broadly, value neighbors of all political 
> orientations as individuals with contradictions just like us, and 
> participate in social institutions where our views are present in 
> reasonable proportion to their presence in working peoples society at 
> large.  I think it would help.

I often wonder how much some of you interact with people who don't share 
our politics, broadly speaking. From previous list discussions, 
including the one where I was disabused of my proposition that this list 
had lots of academics on it, this list has members living all over the 
place.

My reaction to religion and to people who live inside the Fox News 
bubble is based on interacting with these people on a daily basis. I 
think that if I still lived in Arlington and rubbed shoulders daily with 
activists, my comments about religion would be less hostile. But being 
back in Kansas City I've come to interact with people, especially family 
members, who revolve their lives around religion and Rush.

I spent last weekend in the Bay Area. At some point on Friday afternoon, 
after walking around downtown S.F. for several hours, I got this feeling 
of culture shock that was rather unsettling. For one thing, I'm not used 
to seeing that many people outside, not in their cars, walking around. I 
probably saw more people walking around in one day in S.F. than I do in 
a year in Kansas City. And it was also unsettling to be around so many 
people who have similar politics.

Again, those of you who live in "liberal" places where you interact with 

  like-minded people on a daily basis should count your blessings. I 
guess the best thing about being surrounded by people who disagree with, 
and hate, one's politics is that it keeps you sharper and more 
appreciative of comrades. It's kind of hard to be sectarian in a city 
with few leftists.

On a positive note: I spent four hours this afternoon at our infoshop 
talking to people about politics. This may be the political boondocks 
for lefties, but there are still plenty of people here who have the same 
ideas and want to do something.

Chuck