Something to chew on in light of several OPs recently. Rather long read:

[freshwest]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026737942

Just in case anyone wants to go there and post on it. I really have settled my mind on it, been in and out of that way of thinking, but hope the minds here in AA can decipher it. Lot of buttons to some, perhaps makes sense to others. I'm not posting on it.

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. Wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole, but I sure am tired of being told my feelings aren't valid.

[freshwest]

5. Yes, those who tell others they don't know what's in their 'best interests' are doubling down!

I skimmed and decided it was not worth the entire read, but it is relevant to what we've been talking about lately. I sure ain't gonna post on it...

[Behind the Aegis]

2. ....

For a group constantly crowing about how social and economic inequalities are so entwined, they are really going out of their way to say the except fucking opposite!

[freshwest]

6. That, and the pic nails it. We're just bailing so hard we ain't got time for the... whatevers!

Just because we don't refute, doesn't mean we're incapable of understanding.

Some confuse understanding with approval as if we would have to agree!

And again, that is an awesome pic, it shows so much!

[1StrongBlackMan]

15. Whoa ... Did you read the linked article?!? ...

It's even worse than the cartoon! Walter Benn Michaels is asked whether anti-discrimination (social justice) stuff impedes economic stuff ... he answers no, then uses Stone-wall (and SSM) to, in effect, say it does because the time, resources, and effort spent on SSM could be better spent on opposition to capitalism!

The most vivid image of that is going to be same sex marriage. I mean Stonewall was, what, in 1969? So, it’s almost exactly forty years ago, and the idea that gay rights would include or should include same sex marriage was seen as . . . I don’t know if anyone even had that idea, I mean I’m old enough to have been around then, and I might have missed it, but I don’t know if that was on anyone’s agenda even as a utopian fantasy. Today it’s going to be a reality; it is in five states, on its way to being a reality in six states. That’s not been produced primarily by academics, that’s due to a shift in American society itself. And it is on one hand a completely admirable shift, I don’t think there is any doubt that you have a freer, more just society if you allow same-sex marriage, but on the other hand it is a shift that is in no sense oppositional to capitalism.

[Number23]

3. Fresh, I am so sorry. I didn't even see this OP from you before I started SCREAMING about the

half-baked, half-assed stupidity of that OP and the book it's about.

I won't post one damn word in that thread because for one thing, the assholes that love that kind of crap would just dismiss anything I'd say. But all of that wordy shit is just a pseudo-intellectual, quasi-academic exercise in typical white male whining about "political correctness". He would have saved himself a ton of time by just typing "stupid SJW's."

It's like AverageJoe went to community college, learned some big words and typed that shit. I just keep thinking about MADem's characterization of these people and I swear it grows more true by the SECOND.

[sheshe2]

4. Most of the Ops, and there are several in GD

were spawned by mine.

And no, I never called him a racist. I was trying to make a point.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026737025

[freshwest]

8. You are very bad... n/t

[JustAnotherGen]

9. I read through your thread

Trickle down.

It has never worked in the past - why should we expect it to work now? I get where you came from.

[sheshe2]

13. Thanks Jag~

[Number23]

14. sheshe I saw your OP. I didn't rec it because I wasn't entirely sure what the article was saying

But I have to say that the attacks against you in that thread are some of the most unhinged bullshit I've ever seen here. It is clear that a lot of these people have loudly and openly lost their minds and I don't know if posting something like that in this current environment is helpful.

And it was clear that you never called him racist in that thread. The fact that so many saw you doing so says a shitload more about them than it ever will about you.

[freshwest]

7. Instead of 'pseudo-intellectual, quasi-academic' I'd say mental masturbation.

Like, 'It feels so good in my echo chamber, don't you dare try to make me stop or I'll smack you!'

[BainsBane]

10. That is hateful

Far right-wing crap couched in the language of leftism, but the piece is at is essence bigoted. The author is an academic. I encountered some of his type when I was in grad school. They believe women and people of color get unfair advantages, and the essence of their concern is a bemoaning of the demise of some of their privilege.

The article has nothing to do with Sanders. The OP has been promoting it for some time for his own purposes, which claim be plainly surmised from the content of the piece.

[MADem]

12. I was going to say "He thinks that Obama and Clinton are tokens" but I like the points you've made,

better.

I posted his photo downthread. He obviously has had no shortage of role models who walked, talked and looked like him while he was growing up. He looks like most of the guys that always owned the boardroom.

His scolding does likely have more to do with having to now 'share' with people who don't look like him.

"And the horse he rode in on," I say...

[MADem]

11. This is tangential to the article, and its theses, but that magazine is

a) Not enamoured of Sanders overmuch;

b) Really gets a kick out of kicking Clinton;

c) An outlet for the "Trendy Sorta Socialist" POV.

I mean, look at THIS article about Sanders--talk about "Damn him with faint praise!"
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/05/bernie-sanders-president-vermont-socialist/

And this "reporting" on Clinton is so rife with errors that can be blown through with a simple Google--it isn't actual reporting, it's regurgitated pablum. https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/05/hillary-clinton-president-walmart-business-feminist/

Their motto should be "Jacobin--Everybody Sucks, And We're The Smartest People in the Room. Waaah. Waaah. Waaah!" Because that's frankly how their shit--and that's a fair term for it--reads. Insufferable hubris!


Their "ABOUT" page has a decidedly pale and mostly male perspective (none of the top-touted cheerleaders are POC):

Raison d’être

Jacobin is a leading voice of the American left, offering socialist perspectives on politics, economics, and culture. The print magazine is released quarterly and reaches over 10,000 subscribers, in addition to a web audience of 600,000 a month.

Well-Deserved
The appearance of Jacobin magazine has been a bright light in dark times. Each issue brings penetrating, lively discussions and analyses of matters of real significance, from a thoughtful left perspective that is refreshing and all too rare. A really impressive contribution to sanity, and hope.

— Noam Chomsky

Jacobin, whose ninth issue just landed, has certainly been an improbable hit, buoyed by the radical stirrings of the Occupy movement and a bitingly satirical but serious-minded style.

— Jennifer Schuessler for the New York Times

I really like Jacobin — it’s very explicitly on the radical left, and sort of hostile to liberal accommodationism. There’s a lot in there that I don’t necessarily agree with, but it’s bracingly rigorous and polemical in a really thought-provoking way. It’s a really well-done publication, almost preternaturally good.

— Chris Hayes, host of All In w/ Chris Hayes

I love Jacobin, both the content and spirit. In a time of torpor bordering on despair, it’s great to see the youth embracing radical politics and serious thinking while also having some fun. And it’s a print magazine that looks great, too. Everyone should subscribe.

— Doug Henwood, Left Business Observer

I don't blame you for not posting on that mess. Here's the guy who wrote it:



Looks like he writes the sort of college textbooks you try to buy used, because you don't want to spend a bundle and you know you won't get any money back on resale.

Here's another essay by that guy, written in 2008....you will notice some ....errrr...familiar themes:

http://newleftreview.org/II/52/walter-benn-michaels-against-diversity

Not saying he's a one-trick pony, but, well...