[lit-ideas] Re: The Left Only Exists In Lawrence's Head

  • From: "Simon Ward" <sedward@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 18:30:54 -0000

Whilst not agreeing with the title of this thread, it does strike me as 
accurate to say that Lawrence's conception of 'the left' has little bearing on 
the broad spectrum of political thought that might be considered to the left of 
his views. (Which is to say the vast majority of the American populace). Those 
furthest away from Lawrence's viewpoint - the far left - might well possess 
viewpoints that coincide with Lawrence's vitriol but here's the rub, for the 
most part they have miminal power in the political process. 

Lawrence, even for him,. is spewing at the moment because his neocon project, 
the one he has been talking up for the last five years, is going down the pan. 
Of course he's blaming it on 'the leftists' - no doubt all those extremists who 
voted the Republicans out of both houses - when what really happened was that 
those right wing policies, the whole neoconservative agenda, was actually a 
crock of shit. Sure we get the odd sentence of contrition - I did wonder if 
they could see it through - but for the most part it's the opposition, the 
leftists, who are at fault. 

Which is pretty amazing since the Republicans had both houses and the 
presidency, all the political power you could want in America, and still 
managed to screw it up. What does that tell you Lawrence?

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Brian 
  To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 3:47 PM
  Subject: [lit-ideas] The Left Only Exists In Lawrence's Head


  I've been noticing the persistence of the list in using quotes about "the 
Left" and "Leftists" when Lawrence uses it and have seen it used to try and 
sidestep or ignore his points.  I see people saying that he has it all wrong 
but they don't provide much corrective and obviously take its pejorative as an 
affront.  But aren't there proud Leftists on the list?  Who here uses the word 
Leftist to describe themselves?


  Is liberal preferable and what would delineate the liberals from the 
Leftists?  I think that liberals and the Left have become indistinguishable and 
that forty years ago a liberal like JFK were for lowering taxes, using the 
military of the U.S. to fight evil, and believed the U.S. was the greatest 
nation in the world.  How many Leftists does that describe?  In Bernard 
Goldberg's Arrogance he talks about how liberals (in this case Manhattan media 
elites) don't even think of themselves as liberals but as realists (sound 
familiar?) and so don't use that word to label themselves.  They and all their 
friends and colleagues think much the same about abortion, guns, taxes, foreign 
policy, and the like and anyone who doesn't gets labeled as neoconservative, 
religious extremist, ultra-right winger, selfish, fundamentalist.


  ~Brian
  Birmingham, AL


  On Dec 12, 2006, at 8:53 AM, Irene Cassidy wrote:


    Leftists the way you use it is tantamount to bogieman


  On Dec 14, 2006, at 11:54 AM, Mike Geary wrote:



    The most aggravating thing about Lawrence's accusation that the "Left" is 
anti-American is that he's right -- the "Left" is anti the America that the 
Right wants us to be


  On Dec 13, 2006, at 8:35 AM, Omar Kusturica wrote:


    It was the conservatives
    not "the Left"


  On Dec 13, 2006, at 11:53 PM, Andreas Ramos wrote:


    The "Leftists" didn't stop Bush

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