Not Sure How Else to Respond

OK, this is weird. Somebody actually left a really great, insightful comment on this post. So, naturally, I have to post it here, since, really, it might be the last one. Special thanks for the Antiseen tag.



Josh said:"That's it. That is the height of Left political strategy. (Poor) people are stupid. They don't vote their interest (which, of course, no one remembered to tell them about) and so there you have it: they're just dumb."The problem, as I see it, is that, at least down here, the "poor" do vote their interest, but only on the periphery, and therefore miss the whole f'ing point of it all. It's about keeping mah guns and fighting the gay peoples, and of course, those dirty muslim terrists. The radical Right has succesfully placated and catered to the machismo, base fears of the "working poor man," and that is why they are winning.I certainly don't consider working people dumb, but we are generally ignorant when it comes to politics (if only because we are too busy working to find time to read, but that's a bit of a cop-out), and easily swayed by emotional arguments. The fact that Bush, who could not argue his way out of a paper bag, convinced a majority to vote for his illiterate ass illustrates this.The most vitriolic opposition I find against the Left comes from the working class, at least here in the South. Nevermind that the Left is, theoretically, arguing for the benefit of the workers - the Right invokes Jebus, and therefore wins, as religion is the fundamental source of comfort for the unwashed masses in the West.Herein lies one of the two problems with the Left. Outside of the Unitarians, the Left lacks a material, social structure in which to proliferate its ideals - Christian churches. The Right has all the other churches, more or less, and here in the South, it's all about church. You can't argue, rationally, with Jebusland. Nevermind that Jebus was something of a leftist himself - Christianity has morphed into some bizarre chimera that has nothing to do with Jebus anyway, as the Dobsonian lambasting of SpongeBob makes frighteningly clear.More to the point, as far as I can see, the Left has done a conspicuously poor job of articulating its strategy and intent, especially to it's most important constituency - the working poor. All too often, what with the alignment of the Left and Academia, the arguments are lost on the voting populace. The Right has shown that rational arguments are irrelevant in the political sphere (Plato was apparently right on that), but the Left is lagging in a counter-attack. The motives and goals of the Right are clear, whereas the Left is some nebulous hodgepodge of good ideas and a whole hell of a lot of utter bullshit.Our ideas as Leftists leave us at a disadvantage in playing politics, cause we believe in progress and reality. But we are far too pusillanimous in articulating a workable strategy. It is clear that the rules of the game require the winner to use unsavory strategies. This is definitively opposed to Leftist ideals, I think.Therefore, I think the Left should begin to play the moral game, which has worked quite well for the Right. I mean, we're supposed to be the relativists, but the Right is currently playing moral relativism to the extreme - abortion wrong, killing Iraqis right. WTF? I think we can beat them on the issue of morality, and perhaps that's the card we should begin to play. There, we can certainly win. Now if only we can appeal to Jebusland on this, we'll get a foothold. . . .Jamie"stuck in charlotte, north carolina" - antiseen



At 10:07 PM, Josh said...
Excellent points, all. I agree with your assessment of both the problems of the Left (and I think you'll agree that those conditions you describe pervade everything the Left attempts) and the incredibly stupid politics of the Right.But, I still wrestle with the problem as I see it: I just can't lose my faith in something called "the People".Maybe it's guilt, maybe it's stubborness, maybe it's the fact that, to my mind, admitting the idiocy of the masses would be the same as proclaiming the superiority of the rich and educated (the Right and Left, respectively). I have to believe that there is, in fact, at least one other group out there, one unconnected to either party in a permanent way.From my experience with dumb-ass country fucks, I can say that they are, in fact, extremely thoughtful, surprising people (for the most part; there's bound to be shit in any group). These are people who know Bush is retarded. They know Republicans are selfish whores. They KNOW we're getting fucked; THEY'RE getting fucked--but yet they voted for the party of privilege, waste, oppression, and so on. I cannot figure it. They deliberatley hurt themselves and I am asking "what for?" It can't be as easy as Jesus made them do it. What DID they think they were doing?Which is why, though I share your view of the Left and its problems, I have to think there is something more to the Right and its (temporary?) followers that we both do not see. NOBODY would fall for that Jesus shit, right?



right?