[lbo-talk] conservatives vs. leftists

Tayssir John Gabbour tjg at pentaside.org
Sun Feb 5 14:31:26 PST 2012


Hi Wojtek,

On Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 4:14 PM, Wojtek S <wsoko52 at gmail.com> wrote:
> And this is not just my experience - I saw a lot of that in Graeber's
> descriptions of the anarchist scenes.  Graeber makes  a deliberate
> effort to portray these folks as nonviolent in the conventional sense
> (i.e. avoiding to physically attack or harm another human being), but
> what I see in his descriptions is a lot of affective violence -
> eagerness to condemn or deprecate other people on suspicions,
> differences of opinion, and superficial appearances without actually
> trying to understand how others think and react.

Do you remember where you read these descriptions by Graeber?

Thanks,

Tj

On Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 4:14 PM, Wojtek S <wsoko52 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Marv: "I'm typically attracted to people who are warm and reliable and
> alienated by those who are cold and self-centred, which I suppose is
> true for most of us,"
>
> [WS:] Ditto.  I have to admit that I met far more leftists than
> conservatives - so the self-selection bias of my observations is
> obvious - but boy, many of these lefties were the most obscene
> self-centered pompous asses, and judgmental, intolerant pricks I met
> in my life (and I've been around the world,so to speak.)  I liked
> their ideas and their reading suggestions, but I would not invite them
> to a dinner, let alone develop a more personal relationship.
>
> And this is not just my experience - I saw a lot of that in Graeber's
> descriptions of the anarchist scenes.  Graeber makes  a deliberate
> effort to portray these folks as nonviolent in the conventional sense
> (i.e. avoiding to physically attack or harm another human being), but
> what I see in his descriptions is a lot of affective violence -
> eagerness to condemn or deprecate other people on suspicions,
> differences of opinion, and superficial appearances without actually
> trying to understand how others think and react.  On a second thought,
> perhaps it is not that much different than male interaction in any
> setting, frathouse, locker room, office, social events, etc.  But
> since I avoid male-to-male interaction in most social settings
> precisely for that reason, and the main contact I have with it is the
> internet and left wing activism - it appears that the problem is
> endemic to this group.
>
> Wojtek
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> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk



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