[lbo-talk] Berlet on Democracy Now

David Green davegreen84 at yahoo.com
Thu Jan 13 21:50:50 PST 2011


Berlet:

"I have written about the dangerous views of the neocons and explained their role in promotiong neoliberalism and militarism.

  I write about the flaws of centrist/extremist theories and the way in which they demonize dissidents on the left and right.

  You claims here are false and malicious. They are personal attacks. I do not care if you are ignorant, lazy, a liar, or a provocateur. "   DG:   Mr. Berlet's publications, as listed and easily accessed at Wikipedia and publiceye.org, show no interest in neoliberalism or neoconservatism. They indicate no interest in the activities of the U.S. government. Their interest in the radical Zionist right is limited to Meir Kahane.

  Mr. Berlet, I don't care whether your activities stem from intellectual laziness, or megalomania. Your record speaks for itself. Everyone has a right to their peculiar political passions. Those passions should not, however, be represented as broadly analytically sound and politically productive unless they address fundamental issues of wealth, power, inequality, violence, and propaganda. Your work is, at best, of trivial and peripheral interest.  At worst, it provides fodder for misguided apostles of "anti-hate" in the political establishment.

  My primary and initial concern, however, is not with you. I am concerned that someone like Amy Goodman turns to you for your views, instead of to those who have far greater contextual understanding of current events. I think it's symptomatic with general problems on the "progressive" left which I have written about on the ZNet website.   There is also, as I have repeatedly stated and you have yet to seriously address, the problem of a double standard between Jewish and gentile haters. I would suggest that that is because Jewish haters are generally aligned with more respectable establishment views, which you are ideologically unable to criticize. A swipe at Steven Emerson does not change my general view of your proclivities in this regard.   Your general analysis avoids addressing the sources of oppression in our society. That seems to be a pretty major problem with someone who, if not challenged, poses as some sort of leftist, at least on this list and on Democracy Now.   David Green



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