No promises on the outcome... but it's interesting that for a moment we sort of had a bridging conversation. Not bad eh?
On 3/8/12, shag carpet bomb <shag at cleandraws.com> wrote:
>
> <> On 2012-03-07, at 9:33 PM, Carrol Cox wrote:
> <>
> <> But why should any leftist be concerned with arguing against
> <> libertarians. It's a waste of time...It's harmless, but it is a
> <> fucking
> <> waste of their time and the time of other leftists…I certainly (even
> <> if I
> <> had eyes) would not choose to read a book by someone who wastes his
> <> time
> <> arguing with libertarians.
> <>
> <> =========================
> <>
> <> There's this young fellow at Yale, admirer of William Buckley, name of
> <> Henwood, I think it's worth engaging with him, serious guy even if a
> <> bit
> <> confused about how to realize his ideals, but could be a real asset
> <> for our
> <> side if we could win him over…
>
> I was thinking about that this morning, about why Robin's stuff ends
> up coming off as if he's trying to help his fellows understand why the
> hell the intelligent brother-in-law at thanksgiving dinner is a
> Liberatarian or Conservative (or whatever).
>
> In other words, although he may not want anyone to think he's
> interested in explaining what's the matter with Kansas, it's still
> there - which he why he fessed up to it in that exchange he had with
> the NYRB exchange. Whether he intended it or not, people still read
> him to see why the hell it is that smart people who seem like they
> should know better don't at all.
>
> I can see the appeal. But I think it goes to something Carrol said
> about how people equate being smart with being of the correct
> politics. There's something wrong with that sort of view and I think
> Robin is, precisely, all about undermining that claim. In fact, IIRC,
> he says it outright in his book. Which is curious why people want to
> read his book to help them understand what makes a lib tick and then
> seem to be excited about using such knowledge to win them over.
>
>
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