Re: [Marxism] Kerry would have gone to war

["Marvin Gandall" <marvgandall@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Jose Perez wrote:

Boy, are you ever clueless.

(snip)
-------------------------
Most people don't consider me "clueless", Jose. In any case, the term is
devoid of political meaning, and only poisons discussion, which is not in
anyone's interest. Why you and some others on this list habitually feel it
necessary to leaven your remarks with snide personal attacks is something
which always intrigues me. It very much sounds like an effort to mimic the
polemical style of the early Bolsheviks, which may have served some
political purpose during the raucous working class debates in that turbulent
period, but which always struck me as a little demogogic, an attempt to
appear clever and to inflame the impressionable party ranks. I suppose you
could say in defence of Lenin, Trotsky, and others that at least some of
their personal attacks contained an underlying political characterization of
their opponents -- but "clueless"? In any event, though I was sometimes as
guilty as others of this mimicry, I try to avoid it now - not because I've
become more timid about speaking my mind, but because what I also learned in
the old days about "defensive formulations" seems to me to be a more
effective means of persuasion, especially in our current political culture.
When you consider that all of us -- all of us -- are are far removed from
any real life-and-death struggle, this angry pseudo-Bolshevik verbal
posturing, you must admit, appears exaggerated and ridiculous.

Marv Gandall



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