On Jun 29, 2009, at 3:29 PM, Dennis Claxton wrote:
> Doug wrote:
>
>> > I think there are a lot of Iranians who do share my
>> > ideas of justice, all the tendencies of the Western left to
>> > exoticize them aside.
>
> You're talking about the hipsters Doug. And let's not even get into
> Iranians marching in Los Angeles the last couple weekends. They're
> way too Hollywood to count.
But now I remember: there is no accounting for taste. Yes? ;-)
BTW, let me take this opportunity to reiterate that Doug's use of the word "exoticize" is best applied reflectively. It assumes such a universality of his viewpoint that suggesting others might have a different one is an act of exoticising them. So, if my brown "third world" woman mother has certain preferences, say when it comes to bathing attire, that do not gel with what the West prefers, then she is exoticising herself. There is even a term for this I think: "master narrative". Perhaps she exoticises herself by buying into the master narrative that she is inferior.
--ravi