[Peace-discuss] Another interesting article that speaks to the illusion that so-called liberal/progressive democrats actually turn out to be such.

[Morton K. Brussel]

Laurie,

Please explain your meaning, in simple sentences; I didn't understand  
what I presumably was supposed to understand after reading Solomon's  
article (which I thought made an important point).

And as an aside, relevant to your criticism of academia, I certainly  
agree that we should talk about the military-industrial-academic  
complex that largely determines and supports government policies-- 
I've often used that term myself. But as a retired academic, I feel  
that the university is not solely an instrument of the power élite.  
It is also a center (not necessarily the center) of criticism,  
protest, and analysis of government power and policies. It is also a  
forum for contrary views not easily expressed elsewhere.

Chomsky and Zinn are (retired) academics, even as they roundly  
criticize their colleagues and institutions for remaining passive to  
injustice and indeed promoting injustice by collaborating with the  
military-industrial complex.  And of course there are others who have  
found a voice from their niches as academics, Cornel West just  
yesterday on Democracy Now!, David Roediger who just responded to  
your comments,  and Edward Zaid to mention just three more who  
immediately come to mind.

I come from the physics department here, and recognize that its  
faculty constitutes no progressive bastion, but I've also seen  
members of its faculty contribute  their expertise to shoot down the  
"star wars" propaganda of the Reagan (and subsequent) years and to  
fight for a nuclear weapon free world.

A basic corrupting influence, of course, in the university comes from  
the fact that it heavily relies on government (and corporate)  
largesse for its operation and growth, and contract support for its  
faculty. "He who pays the piper… "

I think you have a deep understanding of complexity, but your  
comments of the academic world don't quite reflect it.

--Mort



On Nov 20, 2008, at 3:41 PM, LAURIE SOLOMON wrote:

> For those liberal, reform-minded, hopeful progressives who are  
> banking their hopes on Obama doing the right thing  by them and  
> actually representing the ordinary work-a-day world man-in-the- 
> street, the interests of common good as seen by  the everyday  
> person, or change in any really significant and fundamental way in  
> which society is structured or works, I think that they really need  
> to take a clear look at history and accept the facts of the  
> countries historical past.   Experience should have taught them,  
> but evidently it did not, that deluding one’s self into believing  
> that things are going to change if they only complain LOUD ENOUGH,  
> if they only petition Obama ENOUGH, if they threaten him that they  
> will hold him accountable come the next election, and if they work  
> hard enough to move the center more to the left.
>
>
>
> Given this, I respectfully submit the following for your edification:
>
>
>
> t r u t h o u t | 11.20
>
>
>
> Norman Solomon | A Media Parable for "the Center"
>
> http://www.truthout.org/112008A
>
> Norman Solomon, Truthout: "It's been 16 years since a Democrat  
> moved into the White House. Now, the fog of memory and the spin of  
> media are teaming up to explain that Barack Obama must hew to 'the  
> center' if he knows what's good for his presidency. 'Many political  
> observers,' The San Francisco Chronicle reported days ago, say that  
> Obama 'must tack toward the political mainstream to avoid  
> miscalculations made by President Bill Clinton, who veered left and  
> fired up the 1994 Republican backlash.' This storyline provides a  
> kind of political morality play: The new president tried to govern  
> from the left, and Democrats lost control of Congress just two  
> years later. But, if facts matter, the narrative is a real head- 
> scratcher."
>
>
>
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