[lbo-talk] Jezebel does Naomi Klein

[Tayssir John Gabbour]

On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 5:13 PM, Philip Pilkington wrote:
> Ah the old "But you're not putting forward any alternative/But you don't
> live what you speak/But aren't you just being cynical" line. Its a classic
> and its never failed; its at once impenetrable and self-reinforcing - sort
> of like "I know you are but what am I". While you can certainly have fun
> dreaming up the various possible circumstances this approach could be used
> to justify, I think its better to look at when exactly these brilliantly
> formulaic rhetorical ploys are usually deployed...
>
> In my experience it's when you're interlocutor has just had the terrifying
> presentiment that you might have a point!

While I agree that's a debating tactic, I also think there's an
element of sense behind it which speaks to people. Because if we
repeatedly criticize systematic problems, the question becomes "Ok,
what's an alternative system?"

A problem though is that if Klein did have an answer, she might have a
harder time being published much on that subject. If it offended
enough people.

(For example, the only alternative I happen to know is Participatory
Society. And while I can easily find ads on The Nation's website for
Russian wives and Iraq business opportunities, I never saw a single
mention of Parsoc. Despite people sending them articles on it. I don't
know the reason, but one possibility comes from the fact that media
outlets typically don't print articles which undermine their internal
structures.)

Tayssir