[lbo-talk] Obama's betrayal of hope

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Fri Dec 4 06:16:23 PST 2009


I find shag's argument pretty persuasive. And perhaps I caneven add to it.

Nothing is gained by arguing agains an opinion not on the table. What drives my ire on the DP are those 122 people on the BNCPJ mailing list who never attend a meeting. But there's nothing there to argue with. So why artgue! People are not energized by arguments in any case. Nor, for that matter, expect in very special contexts are opinons changed by arguments. That's not how either agitation or propaganda work. The first appeals primarily to what the reader of it has always thought but didn't quite know she thought it. The second appeals to what the reader consciusly beliees but is having equally conscious difficulty seeing th implicatons of or grasping the whole rationale of. Arguments seem to be most important when they represent mutual self-clarification at a theoretical level.

Carrol

shag carpet bomb wrote:
>
> At 12:40 PM 12/3/2009, Carrol Cox wrote:
> >And it is the DP that regularly absorbs and neutralizes so many of those
> >who might otherwise give their time and energy to this task of preparing
> >for and perhaps 'ignitin' this kind of politcal action.
>
> see. that's where i totally disagree with you. it's like you said about the
> cons: ignore their asses. they are boring and worthless -- the DP. people
> who spend their time on the dp -- less than zeroes. who cares. focus on
> your own shit. make it work. worrying after these other folks? who gives a
> shit. it is such a waste of time. build a strong local group. build
> solidarity among one another. as you said long ago, that will be what
> attracts people to left movement: those people have something going on.
>



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