Bravo!
Eric Beck wrote:
>
> On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 9:36 AM, MICHAEL YATES <mikedjyates at msn.com> wrote:
> >But they are far, far outnumbered by
> >
> > people without much knowledge of anything, with backward views on all sorts of subjects and perfectly willing to
> >
> > express them to anyone who will listen. Racism, mindless patriotism, religious zealotry of every kind, rampant passive-aggressiveness,
>
> This is true, of course, but I think leftist intellectuals make a
> fatal mistake in thinking of these traits as arising from a lack: of
> education, consciousness, self-interestedness, etc. So for the left
> then the job is deliver its message to people, which will convert them
> and arm them with the knowledge to fight racism, sexism, and of course
> capitalism. It's a messianic politics, with varying degrees of
> messianism.
>
> This gets it totally wrong. Stupidity isn't an absence of
> knowledge--it's actively produced, like iPods and Tide. The same with
> racism, sexism, etc. Those things don't just exist a priori and have
> to be cured. They are fully constructed. So instead of generalizing
> about the American psyche or bitching about people's stupidity--which
> is also exactly what the right does*--a political act would be to try
> to disrupt these productions and scramble their distribution.
>
> *It would also be helpful to stop thinking that USers are uniquely
> stupid, which is just an inverted expression of American
> exceptionalism.
>
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