On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 3:20 PM, Eric Beck <ersatzdog at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 3:04 PM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
>> How can an American be a radical without a critique of the gross excesses of
>> our society? "Moralizing" blames individuals for their choices, which isn't
>> right, but there's an awful lot of revolting crap that comes down the pike
>> every minute.
>
> I don't see how "revolting," know matter how society-wide its
> application, is not a values-based (moral) measure. My problem with
> accusing people or a country of "excess" is that you--in this
> instance, you personally--have determined a proper level of
> consumptive behavior and anything that goes beyond that is, what,
> evil? bad? Whatever the word, its deciding how others should conduct
> themselves. And once, excessive levels of, say, food have been
> discovered and declared, it'd be pretty easy to judge other excesses:
> sex, art, etc.
>