>Finally, let me say that David Harvey is not the only person to have come
>on the list and been repulsed by the food fights. A good number of people
>have left in disgust. I only know about the once that have contacted me.
>
>Their departure is a loss for the list. Better behavior would make this
>list much more productive.
> --
>Michael Perelman
Actually, I can tell you exactly how things became personalized here. I
cc'd PEN-L with a letter that I wrote to the Solidarity national office. I
stated that I was disgusted by the appearance of a deeply polemical attack
on an author who had died only a few months ago and who could not reply. If
it is out of bounds to make such points on PEN-L, I will unsub right now.
Frankly, I was happy to be off PEN-L and concentrate on my own list which
gets 7,000 visits a week, more readers I suspect than all of those print
journals put together. I only resubbed because Michael Perelman said that
some people complained that I had left. We all know that anybody with my
kind of politics is always getting into clashes on PEN-L, from Henry Liu to
Jim Craven to Michael Yates to Mine Doyran. I only post here because I feel
obligated to defend a kind of Marxism that will get you an FBI file and not
invitations to speak at an academic plenary.
After my letter to Solidarity was posted here, I began a series of articles
dealing with the politics of Wood/Brenner. The politics. Period. It
wouldn't have made any difference if the subject heading was different.
People would have still taken the tack they did, which is about how I have
an "enemy's list" like Richard Nixon. After hearing this the 35th time, I
begin to get sarcastic. If Michael Perelman was interested in civil
discussion, he would have nipped that crap in the bud.
In any case, I might be out of here in a while anyhow because I am tired of
the baiting and the hostility myself. If Michael Perelman could make up his
mind about what kind of list he wanted, a lot of these troubles would be
avoided. Right now, PEN-L is a battleground just like LBO-Talk. The same
people antagonizing each other and the same dialog of the deaf and the
dumb. I prefer my own list and lists like it, where there is at least a
consensus about the goals. Who needs to fight with people that I wouldn't
spend five minutes talking to in real life.
Louis Proyect
Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org
