[PEN-L:7719] RE: Re: petit-bourgeois scribbler/parlor dilettante

["Craven, Jim" <jcraven@xxxxxxxxx>]

I just react to see someone pass off as a serious academic (never mined
progressive or otherwise) come out with such pedestrian and sophomoric and
rabid stuff like Mao a "murderer" of 30 million. A single cause from a
single person? History? Context? Imperialist encirclement? Social systems
engineering? Natural Disasters? Land Tenure? Class/Strata? ghosts and forces
of reaction? goals? sources for numbers? Alternatives? Kuomintang
viciousness? Legacies of Fedudalism and dependent capitalism?
Intentions/powers of foreign interests?

It is tragic that Berkely has sunk so low that this person can be regarded
as a serious "analyst" or "scholar" of anything.

Again, how many miles of the Long March would delong last? Has he ever lived
for years in a cave with war going on all around him? Has he had to see
stacks and stacks of bodies all around--some of which were personal friends
who sacrificed their lives as a result of orders Mao had to give? Has he
ever had to consciously deploy forces for tactical and strategic purposes
knowing that many would inevitably die?

Sorry, as a registered "savage" I am not polite in my language when dealing
with academic scribbler/know-it-alls/legends-in-their-own-mind scholar
experts who reveal, underneath the veneer of civility and polite language,
that they can utter the most pedestrial and sophomoric "analysis" and remain
"experts" in little ponds surrounded by even smaller frogs. No one talks
about the desecration of the meories of all of those revolutionaries who
sacrificed in ways that our pampered scribblers could never do or even dare
undertake.

As they say in Kerala: For the little frog in the well, the sky is as big as
the mouth of the well.

Now go ahead and thrown me off the list too.

Jim Craven


-----Original Message-----
From: Henry C.K. Liu [mailto:hliu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, June 04, 1999 9:04 AM
To: pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: [PEN-L:7713] Re: petit-bourgeois scribbler/parlor dilettante


It applies to whoever voluntarily feels the heat.
At least there seems to be general agreement that "petit-bourgeois
scribbler/parlor dilettante(s)" is not a flattering term.  That is progress.

I understand Michael's need and obligation, as moderator, to keep diversity
alive on the list.  So we will respect that.
In Chinese revolutionary tactics, the Party is kinder to targets of united
front candidates than it is to veteran comrades.  In fact, when one is
treated with kid gloves, that is a sign that one is ideologically retarded.
We should afford Professor Delong and others who identify the proper decorum
indeed.

Henry C.K. Liu

michael wrote:

> I don't think that there are any "petit-bourgeois scribbler/parlor
> dilettante(s)" on pne-l (unless you mean me, since I am not sure about
> myself).
>
> Such language does nothing to further any discussion.  All it did was to
> reignite a flame.
>
> --
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
>
> Tel. 530-898-5321
> E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx