> Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 03:32:20 -0400 (EDT) > From: Gerald Levy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [PEN-L:247] Re: principles > Previously, I wrote: > > > A few days ago someone on pen-l commented on the sad state of the Left. > Here we are in 1998 and a group of "progressives" can't agree that > homophobia, cop-baiting, anti-labor snitching, etc. should be condemned. > Woe be the revolution! > > If someone had *publicly* and *in writing* voiced outrageously racist > and/or sexist comments, would/should we also be silent then? > > In the name of "unity" and opposition to "flames", basic > socialist/radical/progressive principles are being abandoned. > > What price "unity"? "Unity" with whom? Perhaps it is time to > take the "P" out of PEN-L. > The issue here is not principles but the politics of praise: whoever praises your intellectual-academic standing is your political friend. I am human. I know praising matters. For this very reason praising should mean something; it should have some connection to the merits of an argument, even beyond ideological attachments. It is not as if we are the representatives of a mass ideological party. We are not debating the Gotha Programme. If we keep to the merits of an argument -yes, induding politically committed ones - we may avoid the personal attacks, and perhaps also the politics of praise. ricardo that > > > > > in case there are ***any*** doubts about Mark J, remember what he had to > > > say: > > > He wrote that: > > > ***THE _NEW LEFT REVIEW_ IS A "FAGGOT-VALHALLA" CONTROLLED BY M16!*** > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
