[lbo-talk] JungleWorld

Angelus Novus fuerdenkommunismus at yahoo.com
Sun Jul 27 18:23:25 PDT 2008


Hi Dmytri!


> What do you think of Junge Welt?

I want to like it, but to be honest I think it's rather boring much of the time.

One problem, I think, is that - I guess because of their size/lack of resources - they apparently have a tighter deadline than most major dailies, and as a result, what makes it into the paper the next morning is already "old" news compared to what is in the bigger, mainstream morning newspapers, who I suppose are not as pressured into getting something laid out and ready for printing, since they maybe own their own printing facilities or whatever the reason is.

Second, the cultural/literary parts of the paper I think are boring. Even if the hipster-poseur attitude of Jungle World is irritating, I find it is good for book reviews, finding out about new music, films etc. Junge Welt caters to a different demographic than Jungle World in that respect. I am not getting any younger, but I'm still young enough to not really care about Ernst Busch or socialist realist culture.

Obviously I have my issues with the substance of Junge Welt's Anti-Imp perspective, but I would not mind so much if the tone weren't so strident and shrill. It really reads too agitational for my taste, without any sense of literary style, irony, or wit. It's not that the capitalist system doesn't generate and perpetuate atrocities on a daily basis, it's more that I don't need anyone to point that out to me by scandalizing conditions that I *already* regard as scandalous. Instead, I'd like solid background information on how, for example, derivatives function or what a "collateralized debt obligation" is.

Again, I'd really like to like JW, especially since I think a far-left daily is necessary. I just wish there existed a better one.



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