[lbo-talk] Last Supper, in a leather harness

bitch at pulpculture.org bitch at pulpculture.org
Sun Sep 30 08:29:05 PDT 2007


At 04:51 PM 9/28/2007, Doug Henwood wrote:


>Besides, this pseudo-populism annoys me. In this society, there are
>advantages to being rich. Is atheism, or freedom from superstition,
>one of those advantages? And what's wrong with being educated? It
>also annoys me when highly educated people doubt the value of
>education. I just don't believe them. It's a faux populist pose.

i forgot to ask: what on earth could "over-educated" mean anyway? is there some line drawn as to what just the right (goldilocks) education is so that you aren't under- or over- educated? is there a commission somewhere that determines this?

thought you'd like this quote from a Greek working woman who participated in some of the earlier women's liberation movement. (Rita Mae Browns (Of RubyFruit Jungle fame, also wrote something along these lines, too, when explaining why the separatist commune she was in didn't work out. the presumptuousness of the leadership, meant the creation of rules about clothing and material goods that women from blue collar working class backgrounds couldn't fathom or abide by. That is, when peole from white collar backgrounds thought they were doing things in line with the way the "ordinary people" did and why, they were a little confused:

"Both Alix Kates Shulman and Cindy Cisler suggest that in emphasizing consciousness-raising as the foundation of theory, Sarachild and others were trying to counter the recondite rhetoric of the left with "straight talk and simple language." Sarachild was undoubtedly influenced by Mao, who maintained that education did not necessarily bring one closer to the truth and who cautioned revolutionaries against reading too many books, even those with a Marxist orientation. Her thinking also bears the obvious influence of SNCC organizers who, like Mao, developed a great respect, something bordering on reverence, for the wisdom of "the people" ­ a respect embodied in the SNCC slogan "let the people decide." However, some of "the people" in NYRW ­ the non-Movement women with little or no college education ­ thought it elitist of Sarachild, who after all had been schooled at Harvard, to counsel them against reading theory. For example, Irene Peslikis, a working-class Greek woman, shared Sarachild's commitment to consciousness-raising but also wanted to understand Marxist theory, and she resented Sarachild's advice that she avoid reading it. "I didn't want to be ignorant. I wasn't afraid that [reading Maxist theory] was going to destroy my authenticity." "

Bitch | Lab http://blog.pulpculture.org (NSFW)



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