He's with the Committees of Correspondence. I knew they came out of the CP, didn't know they had morphed into democratic socialists.
He's a good guy in any case.
On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 9:28 PM, Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> wrote:
> During the 08 presidential race Karl Davidson sneered at the maoists and
> trotskyists who didn't support Obama. Jan& I remain _very_ close friends of
> Karl's; we greet each other with joy whenever we met at conferences. We
> _never_ resented that campaign sneer: the man believes what he believes, and
> he is _serious_ about it. He's still a wonderful person. But I wouldn't
> dream of defending his 08 politics. And oh: as Lenin lay dying, one of his
> final remarks was, "And poor old Martov is dying too."
>
> Carrol
>
>
> On 10/27/2011 7:49 PM, shag carpet bomb wrote:
>
>> Doug:
>> <>
>> <> On Oct 27, 2011, at 7:39 PM, Dennis Claxton wrote:
>> <>
>> <>> Mine would be that a day or two or go you were asking who Jodi Dean
>> <>> was and now suddenly you know her well enough to brand her a red-hot
>> <>> sternly orthodox Leninist, who is moving her way down the academic
>> <>> ladder. And all that based on apparently slippery reading of her
>> <>> blog.
>> <>
>> <> Man, people do love to hate on Jodi. Me, I like her a lot. She's even
>> <> slept in our guest room, and is always welcome to return.
>> <>
>> <> Doug
>>
>> Oh for christ sake. You just pulled the EffBee Stunt. Legitimate
>> criticism breaks out about some proposition, idea, or theory and
>> people say, "Why you hating on me." "Why you hatin' on X" Talk about
>> good fodder from some blog theory about the depoliticization of public
>> life!
>>
>> It is the most assinine behavior because it is an attempt to halt
>> reasoned debate. It's a form of pre-emptive ad hominmen: ignore the
>> arguments against ideas and positions, pretend the problem people are
>> having is with a person or personality.
>>
>> I mean, everyone who's ever disagreed with you should insist on a
>> sleepover, that way you'll never say a critical word about any idea
>> they advance.
>>
>> Meanwhile, one of the more fascinating things about Polletta's
>> argument is that what was a root in the demise of 60s movements was
>> the fact that they had no models for creating consensus democracy. The
>> rejected the Old Left's methods but had no other models, so they used
>> what they knew: friendship as a model for solidarity.
>>
>> This created problems for expanding the organization. As newcomers
>> entered the fold, they were often more ideologically aligned with the
>> old-timers, but couldn't break into the friendship network. It was the
>> model of friendship - and a desire to uphold it at all costs -- that
>> lead to the hidden networks behind the scenes where decisions got made
>> in private, just among friends, that folks here have worried about.
>>
>> It's admirable that you defend friends. I'm a mama bear about that
>> myself. I like Carrol and awful lot and I think that sentiment is
>> returned. We've had some knock down drag out fights but I think it's
>> safe to say we've learned from each other. I trust that, if I advance
>> a position he disagree with, he give me crap. Thank the Dead Guy on
>> aStick for that.
>>
>> But it's horseshit to close down debate by saying, as the moderator
>> and owner of this list, that somehow we're attacking Dean as a person,
>> somehow defiling her very niceness, when some of us have been taking
>> her ideas seriously and engaging them. It'd be unfortunate if what she
>> goes to forums and panels for is to have people say, "Hey Jodi is a
>> nice person. Stop that." I can't think of anything that would feel
>> more infantilizing, more Chivalrous Charlie, as if the person
>> defending me hasn't a word to say about my ideas and can only defend
>> me on the basis of my being "nice."
>>
>> One thing about what I've heard of her on her show: she's a thoughtful
>> person who tries to embody the ideal of scholarship and engaged
>> fallibilistic pluralism. As an author and thinker, I suspect that
>> she's fully capable of engaging arguments in order to make her
>> position stronger.
>>
>>
>>
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