Re: Yoshie, Leona Freed and the Native Indian question

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>It was my impression that Yoshie was suggesting exactly that, before she
was so
>rudely interrupted.
>
>Richard Fidler

I think that there are 2 things that Richard overlooks. One the discussion
had become extremely polarized due to Alan Maki, who was functioning on
this mailing list the way he has functioned on the left since the late
1960s. I would think that Richard would be a little embarrassed by
solidarizing himself prematurely with somebody whose claim to a political
refugee status in Canada is that he was arrested 60 times in Grand Rapids
for "expectorating" on the sidewalk.

The other thing is that Yoshie had been "pushing the envelope" since the
autumn.  I have discussed this matter with Richard off-list and it won't
hurt to repeat publicly what I told him privately. Yoshie's problem is not
that she "flames" people. It is that she adopts a condescending attitude
while defending positions whose underlying logic is that one and only one
side can be consistent with Marxism. I don't have to tell you how corrosive
that sort of thing can become on a list like this. In fact the old Marxism
lists were only partially destroyed because of flames. Another more serious
problem is that we attracted very mild-mannered, "civil" sectarians whose
every post questioned the ability of the other person in the debate--if not
the entire list--to understand basic Marxist principles.

In reality very few people found themselves on the other side of a debate
with Yoshie except me, Mine, Mervyn, and Gary. In nearly every instance the
temperature began to rise measurably. As most people know, Anthony from
Colombia is remarkably even-tempered but even he lost patience with Yoshie.
Here is the second post I received from him that I declined to forward to
the list. The first was much more angry.

Hi Lou:

Post this if you feel like it, otherwise I will be
back online with this list in the next decade.

Dear Yoshie:

Please calm down, and give me a fucking break.

Speaking of which, let's talk about urban sex.

Sexually trannsmitted diseases have always killed
people. In a low population density situation, maybe
the whole tribe gets wiped out - and the tribe over
the hill doesn't notice.

Take a course in public health. Aren't you an
intellecutal at a big time U?

Urbanization caused all kinds of problems you should
study.

Tall tale. My ass. Well founded speculation for sure.
Give me a break. I will try to be polite, but your
condescension is below your warrior-scholar status
awarded by Lou.

Anthony


Louis Proyect
Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org/