[lbo-talk] "The Telos Gang, was ] Russell Berman. . .

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Sun Jul 15 07:15:07 PDT 2012


Telos went through several 'stages.' For several years it was seriously useful in bringing to our attention various strands of European Marxism and various theoretical issues. Then there was a jumbled period; and then a plunge into the abyss. So voices from The Telos Gang are not necessarily uniformly toxic.

Carrol

-----Original Message----- From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org] On Behalf Of Sean Andrews Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2012 9:58 PM To: Lbo-Talk at Lbo-Talk. Org Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Russell Berman on the 60s

Oh jeez I should have read further. This is some guy from the Telos gang - or at least from their angle. Ugh these reactionaries. And this is the message I send to the list on July 14. Damn. In any case, this stuff has me in a fog and I'm really trying to nail down where Liu is coming from and I want to be charitable as some of her argument makes sense. Other times it just seems randomly polemical.

On Saturday, July 14, 2012, Sean Andrews wrote:


> This seems like a very provocative article so far. Only a few pages in,
> but surprised I hadn't heard of it. He has a scathing critique of the most
> radical elements of the late 60s - I use that term as an unfortunate
> shorthand for email communication, not as a pprovocation in itelf, Dr.
Cox.
> I may be behind the curve on this one, but I don't recall a conversation
> here on it.
>
> From 'Left-Fascism' to Campus Anti-Semitism: Radicalism as Reaction
>
> http://dissentmagazine.org/democratiya/article.php?article=226
>
> Incidentally, I was led to the article by Catherine Liu's book American
> Idyll. Doug had an interview with her a few months back. It is also quite
> provocative and I was surprised at how unusual it is - and how closely her
> argument tracks those resistant to the notion that antiintellectualism is
a
> thoroughly disabling starting position for a radical movement. She also
> digs deeply into the origins of testing in education (tying it to the
> misappropriation of Dewey and pragmatism in general by opportunist,
> reactionary elites.) I think this was the main topic of Doug's chat with
> her, but there is really a lot more to her book than that. Sometimes it
> sees to wander a bit, but that may be because this is the first serious
> book like this I've attempted to read on the Kindle. Messes with you.
>
> Anyway both seem of interest to people on the list so I thought I'd see if
> anyone had read or talked about these works. Liu also has a very nice
> recuperation and contextualizarion of Adorno's long essay on the astrology
> column of the LA Times, "The stars down to earth." Has sent me to the
> latter work, which is an amazing discussion of the irrational in culture -
> a much more sophisticated and empathetic Thomas Frank a la What's the
> Matter with Kansas. Good stuff.
>
> Hope all's well,
> Sean
>
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