Comments on: Reading the New Yorker in Bed, or the Irrelevance of Liberalism http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/10/reading-the-new-yorker-in-bed-or-the-irrelevance-of-liberalism/ a radical newsletter in the struggle for peace and social justice Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:07:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Timber http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/10/reading-the-new-yorker-in-bed-or-the-irrelevance-of-liberalism/#comment-29537 Timber Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:21:53 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=3766#comment-29537 I can't provide proper attribution to the quote, but here's a simple breakdown of what I think Christy is saying: "A liberal looks at the world and says the system is broken and must be fixed; a radical looks at the world and says the system is working just like it is intended to." A recent example of this kind of insular liberalism is Naomi Wolf, who is making waves talking about revolution, but demands that her wealthy, privileged Manhattanite friends with actual influence in the culture be exempted from both any responsibility or any accountability. The consequences of revolution must be borne only by those who have no stake in the system in her view, and the view of many other pundits. Likewise, Democrats continue to define Barack Obama by comparing him to John McCain and Sarah Palin or by being outraged at the predictable attacks on Obama from the right, rather than defining him--and subjecting him to political pressure--based on his actual policy statements. We're to believe that Obama is a "liberal extremist" without any evidence to support such a claim, simply because some Fox News fascist says so. Pay no attention to the candidate behind the curtain of smiles and feel-good rhetoric, and pay no attention to the noisy negativists of the left; he must be a radical because Rush Limbaugh and John Hagee say so. I'm a person who is quite happy in my marriage, my relations with my friends and family, and even in my job, yet the larger world around me, and the delusions on both sides of the political debate that pass for political discussion, leave me in real despair and inclined to a nihilistic view of our future. I can’t provide proper attribution to the quote, but here’s a simple breakdown of what I think Christy is saying: “A liberal looks at the world and says the system is broken and must be fixed; a radical looks at the world and says the system is working just like it is intended to.”

A recent example of this kind of insular liberalism is Naomi Wolf, who is making waves talking about revolution, but demands that her wealthy, privileged Manhattanite friends with actual influence in the culture be exempted from both any responsibility or any accountability. The consequences of revolution must be borne only by those who have no stake in the system in her view, and the view of many other pundits.

Likewise, Democrats continue to define Barack Obama by comparing him to John McCain and Sarah Palin or by being outraged at the predictable attacks on Obama from the right, rather than defining him–and subjecting him to political pressure–based on his actual policy statements. We’re to believe that Obama is a “liberal extremist” without any evidence to support such a claim, simply because some Fox News fascist says so. Pay no attention to the candidate behind the curtain of smiles and feel-good rhetoric, and pay no attention to the noisy negativists of the left; he must be a radical because Rush Limbaugh and John Hagee say so.

I’m a person who is quite happy in my marriage, my relations with my friends and family, and even in my job, yet the larger world around me, and the delusions on both sides of the political debate that pass for political discussion, leave me in real despair and inclined to a nihilistic view of our future.

]]> By: Ron Horn http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/10/reading-the-new-yorker-in-bed-or-the-irrelevance-of-liberalism/#comment-29536 Ron Horn Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:08:30 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=3766#comment-29536 Yes, great article, great exposition of the irrelevance of this liberal ruling class culture for the lives of the rest of us! Too many of us, through this class's ubiquitous socializing forces, have subscribed to their values and world view as long as their domination of the world has allowed us to feed off of their rich crumbs. So wonderful to see people waking up from this dream which for others is mostly a nightmare. Yes, great article, great exposition of the irrelevance of this liberal ruling class culture for the lives of the rest of us! Too many of us, through this class’s ubiquitous socializing forces, have subscribed to their values and world view as long as their domination of the world has allowed us to feed off of their rich crumbs. So wonderful to see people waking up from this dream which for others is mostly a nightmare.

]]> By: Rev. José M. Tirado http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/10/reading-the-new-yorker-in-bed-or-the-irrelevance-of-liberalism/#comment-29534 Rev. José M. Tirado Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:22:01 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=3766#comment-29534 Life´s complicated, isn´t it? When I was sick as a child my mom had to occasionally take us to the ER to get treated. She never finished high school and my father quit school at 13. They struggled mightily against a culture that regarded them between badly and inconsequential. When my father, born in the Bronx, would bring The New Yorker home, it was to escape the drudgery of his difficult work and to fantasize I suspect, that not only could he someday visit those places in the ads but in attempting to understand the articles, partake of the "class" which to him represented his aspiration denied. My guess Christy, is that there are many who, like my father, a devoted union man and fan of Angela Davis, toil with rage at times and yet yearn for what they imagine as better: being able to read the New Yorker while sick in bed instead of having to get up and go to work to put bread on the table. Life is quite complicated. Life´s complicated, isn´t it?
When I was sick as a child my mom had to occasionally take us to the ER to get treated. She never finished high school and my father quit school at 13. They struggled mightily against a culture that regarded them between badly and inconsequential. When my father, born in the Bronx, would bring The New Yorker home, it was to escape the drudgery of his difficult work and to fantasize I suspect, that not only could he someday visit those places in the ads but in attempting to understand the articles, partake of the “class” which to him represented his aspiration denied. My guess Christy, is that there are many who, like my father, a devoted union man and fan of Angela Davis, toil with rage at times and yet yearn for what they imagine as better: being able to read the New Yorker while sick in bed instead of having to get up and go to work to put bread on the table. Life is quite complicated.

]]> By: Michael Hureaux http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/10/reading-the-new-yorker-in-bed-or-the-irrelevance-of-liberalism/#comment-29520 Michael Hureaux Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:32:26 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=3766#comment-29520 Wow. This is one of the best commentaries on liberal culture that I've seen in quite some time. I live in Seattle, which is a breeding ground for the very presumption you chronicle so eloquently here, and I'm quite certain that my thirty year adherence to marxist economics has a lot to do with exactly the attitudes you address. For me, this last eight years, the most telling feature of the pseudo-reactionary qualities of liberalism has been the apoplectic rage many liberals fly into when one mentions a vote for Ralph Nader in the years 2000 and 2004. Nader is nothing more than a Jeffersonian democrat with some idyllic notions of late capitalism, but he at least was talking about what actually needs to happen in order for the capitalist system to continue to exist. I'm not sympathetic to capital's plight, but I would have thought liberals had enough sense of self preservation- and for that matter, intellectual integrity- to see the Rooseveltian qualities of his ideas. Wrong again. It's also really something that it's much easier for liberals to direct their fire at people who voted for Nader then it is for them to attack people who voted for Bush. Their essential cowardice betrays itself in the fact that they'd rather go after a minority of the electorate with teeth bared then take a gloves-off stance with right wing reaction. And once again this year, I'll be voting third party, because you see, I really don't care who wins. I have lived on the edge or close to it all my days, from the working poor background of my family to my brief time on the street, to my years of labor in light industry. I've finally managed to secure a little more comfortable place in the economy with the completion of a 4 year degree at the age of 42 eight years ago, but I've never expected the good times to last, and am unsurprised at the recent turmoil of the market. As I said earlier, I'm a long time marxist, and have been so due to my many years on the ass end of the economy. Liberalism ain't shit, and I've known it for a long time. So let the "good times" roll, or as another group of songsters put it: The roof, the roof, the roof's on fire. We don't need no water, let the motherfucker burn. Burn, motherfucker, burn. Wow. This is one of the best commentaries on liberal culture that I’ve seen in quite some time. I live in Seattle, which is a breeding ground for the very presumption you chronicle so eloquently here, and I’m quite certain that my thirty year adherence to marxist economics has a lot to do with exactly the attitudes you address.

For me, this last eight years, the most telling feature of the pseudo-reactionary qualities of liberalism has been the apoplectic rage many liberals fly into when one mentions a vote for Ralph Nader in the years 2000 and 2004. Nader is nothing more than a Jeffersonian democrat with some idyllic notions of late capitalism, but he at least was talking about what actually needs to happen in order for the capitalist system to continue to exist. I’m not sympathetic to capital’s plight, but I would have thought liberals had enough sense of self preservation- and for that matter, intellectual integrity- to see the Rooseveltian qualities of his ideas. Wrong again.

It’s also really something that it’s much easier for liberals to direct their fire at people who voted for Nader then it is for them to attack people who voted for Bush. Their essential cowardice betrays itself in the fact that they’d rather go after a minority of the electorate with teeth bared then take a gloves-off stance with right wing reaction.

And once again this year, I’ll be voting third party, because you see, I really don’t care who wins. I have lived on the edge or close to it all my days, from the working poor background of my family to my brief time on the street, to my years of labor in light industry. I’ve finally managed to secure a little more comfortable place in the economy with the completion of a 4 year degree at the age of 42 eight years ago, but I’ve never expected the good times to last, and am unsurprised at the recent turmoil of the market. As I said earlier, I’m a long time marxist, and have been so due to my many years on the ass end of the economy. Liberalism ain’t shit, and I’ve known it for a long time. So let the “good times” roll, or as another group of songsters put it:

The roof, the roof, the roof’s on fire. We don’t need no water,
let the motherfucker burn. Burn, motherfucker, burn.

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