[PEN-L:1967] Re: Something completely different

[akliman@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Andrew Kliman here, responding to Jim Jaszewski's ad hominem response to my
post re why I left the Marxism list.  The one thing I agree with Jim about is
 that we should be working to stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal (and
indeed to win his release).

But the rest exhibits a persistent tendency of some on the Marxism list--the
 tendency to divert the discussion.  Jim thinks that's okay, but instead of
 reproducing my comments in context, he snips bits and pieces in order to
make it sound like (a) I only care about my own needs, (b) I somehow
implied that the list could not go on without me, and (c) I was comparing
 my talents and achievements to Marx's.

This is bullshit.  My whole post, and the post as a whole, was meant to
 criticize the charges that people who've left the Marxism list have done
 so (implicitly:  that ALL have done so) because they are ivory-tower
 academics who don't care about real issues of concern to real people, and
 especially that one is not "much of a Marxist" if s/he leaves the list
 because of its "grittiness and informality."  My point about Marx is that
 his work required serious thought, patience, concentration, and discipline,
 not the continual "gritty" and "informal" diversions that characterize the
 Marxism list.  By these criteria, Marx was not much of a Marxist, because
 he sat in the library instead of being active in the mid-1880s equivalent
 of the Marxism list--spending all day and night at the pub with the blokes
 in a freewheeling inebriated banter.

And I've got no doubt that there exist enough types like this that the Marxism
 list will continue and thrive.  For those who have the time to wade through
 all the nonsense, and let their discussions get sidetracked by others so
 that development of ideas is made all the harder, I'm sure there will
continue to be gems in the Marxism list among all the junk, and I'm glad that
 the list exists for them.  As for the others on the list, let the dead
 bury the dead.

Andrew Kliman