[lbo-talk] Marjane Satrapi: Revolutionary Spirit

[Miles Jackson]

ravi wrote:
> On 23 Oct, 2007, at 2:07 AM, andie nachgeborenen wrote:
>   
>> So, I take, Yoshie, that your answer is that instead
>> of imposing bourgeois wealth and liberties on the
>> unwilling masses in typical imperialist fashion, we
>> can let the clerics impose Sharia law, stuff the women
>> into chadors, authorize honor killings of raped women
>> who disgrace their male relatives, beat clean-shaven
>> men, hang the queers and stone the adulterers, and
>> build a bomb. That way we can be good
>> anti-imperialists.
>>     
>
>
> What do you think? Do you figure that's what she is recommending,  
> based on what she has written? I cannot imagine anybody on LBO  
> preferring the alternative you paint, and that is not what I read  
> from Yoshie's many, many detailed and patient posts on the matter of  
> Iran.
>
> 	--ravi
>
> _
In the conflict resolution literature, andie's lawyerly gambit here is 
called "sucker's choice":  Set up a dichotomy, present one of two 
alternatives, and force the listener to choose among them.  Be sure to 
represent your own position in the binary as the reasonable one.  
Granted, this is probably a good technique in the courtroom, but if the 
point is meaningful discussion that elicits new ideas, the sucker's 
choice is a poor strategy. 

That said, Yoshie's LGF comment was completely inappropriate.  All it 
did was close down discussion and create ill will.  Call me optimistic, 
but I think we can engage in civil discussion about this stuff; however, 
it will require a genuine attempt to understand positions we don't 
hold.  That should be happening more in this thread.

Miles

ps.  My comments above notwithstanding, sign up me in the "Free Yoshie!" 
brigade.  If slinging personal slurs were the consistent criterion for 
removal from the list, LBO would be a very lonely e-space.