> I still maintain there's a lot of
> intellectual energy being wasted on
> a "propaganda struggle" which can
> only erode rather than develop the
> broadest possible opposition to US
> policy against Iran, which both sides
> claim to want.
It doesn't have to be a waste, if we keep our cool and don't mix up our views with our personal character. But I admit that it's difficult to keep our cool, so I can see Marv's point. So, I'll refrain from further response.
> Whether leftists defend the Iranian
> leadership along with Yoshie, Julio,
> and LT, or defend Iran while indicting
> the leadership, as Dabashi, Doug, and
> others do, will have virtually NIL
> effect on US policy towards Iran, or
> how Americans react to that policy.
I don't know about the effect being nil. I tend to think of the views expressed on this list as somewhat representative of views held by broader groups of people outside of the list. In any case, that assumption helps me separate the views expressed by a list member from her/his personal character. (I know very little of most people here, but I can only assume the best of them. I know for a fact that Doug and Marv are decent human beings, whom I admire.)
But, for the record, I don't "defend" the Iranian leadership. I defend the need not to defend them while advocating for a change in *our* policies and society. Although, as world citizens, we cannot elude responsibility for the conduct of fellow human beings anywhere in the world (a responsibility that calls for action), for the time being there are realities called nations and states. We'll ignore them at our peril.