On Mon, Oct 20, 2008 at 9:53 AM, shag <shag at cleandraws.com> wrote:
> Sandy is a long time list member ...
It was more of a rhetorical question. There are plenty of anarchists on the list and there is generally little sympathy for the state in general so it is strange to see a longtime list member act like this kind of thought is somehow beyond the pale--or that being exposed to it would suddenly enlighten us.
> (Sandy's a big open source software guy)
I'm always intrigued by this combination: libertarian AND open source.
Radically individial yet committed to the collective production and availability of value. I know there are all kinds of articulations which can round out the pegs for the holes, and maybe he's just being provocative: consider me provoked.
> the funny thing is, if memory serves, Sandy used to get ridiculed for his
> "lefty" positions on one of those lists. :)
I guess this depends on what you mean by "lefty." Marcuse was sort of a lefty, but he was all about the libertarian standpoint, a combination Woj likes to remind us of often.
> To my knowledge, there are about a dozen folks here, generally lurkers,
> who aren't necessarily leftists who read the list nonetheless.
I know, but shouldn't that mean that they are familiar with it? What was so unique about this interjection? That he talked about the contingent nature of the idea of rights? The coercive function of the state? Broke some puritanical barrier by talking about the sex trade? None of this seems unusual. I'd be interested to know how he would characterize the list, but, in any case, it was more of a rhetorical question/observation.
s