>Why do you fucking assume that I was not trying to figure out what she was
>saying? I actually was but was a little put off by the 'beating chest,
>smash structures' line. My attempt to disarm was in response to her and
>others attempts to disarm rather than discuss.
I'm not clear on the problem. I guess I'm having trouble understanding why you seem to be unfamiliar with what the term "manly man" means in reference to some pretty standard discussions in leftist politics and theory. It's a reference to a politics that treats class as the primary contradiction, where everything else is epiphenomenal to class. In the introduction to this list, you should have gotten something like this:
"I hope this list will be a forum for speaking across intellectual and social boundaries that have divided the left, such as it is, for too long. Among these oppositions I'd like to see worked through are ones like class/identity, cultural politics/"real" politics, Marxism/postmodernism, universal/particularist, activism/theory, economics/culture, nature/labor; nature/culture, and labor/culture."
http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/lbo-talk.html
when I used "manly man" when addressing Eric, I was riffing off something Eric sometimes says. I can't recall his exact words, but it's a reference to masculinist politics. Here's where I used the term: http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20091109/015964.html
> This is why, I think Eric, you might want to flesh out your position. It
> sounds as if it's wavering toward the manly man real politics stuff. I know
> that's not what you mean, but I can see how it's misinterpreted.
The "real" politics stuff (manly man real politics) is one of the oppositions Doug hopes we can work through.
So, maybe start from the beginning, since my questions remain unanswered. That might help. How do you understand the oppositions Doug's talking about, specifically "class/identity, cultural politics/"real" politics, ... economics/culture... labor/culture" since that is, after all, what we're talking about and have been for a decade.
shag
-- http://cleandraws.com Wear Clean Draws ('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)