On May 2, 2012, at 10:38 AM, Carrol Cox wrote:
> Who is your implied reader? What change in that reader's behavior do you
> expect your argument to make? Will it in fact change the number of
> prisoners? Will it increase the number of people demanding that the number
> of prisoner's be reduced? Or will it merely make you feel more comfortable
> in your smugness?
Aren't you the one who always complains about dismissive sneers?
And, nothing smug about that remark, no.
Instead of saying, "go fuck yourself," I'll try to be constructive and ask: what's your idea for reducing the number of people in jail? Just say "abolish prisons"? Denounce anyone on the left who questions the slogan as inauthentic? Wait for that unspecified revolution of the future to take care of things? You love to say, "if you don't push it, it won't fall," but I don't get how and what you push, except for sounding really righteous on internet mailing lists.
Doug