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Well, I did it
Sep. 13th, 2010 09:01 pmI let myself get sucked into a discussion about talk radio on a certain radio gossip site. In response to someone citing Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz as among the "scant few" "on the left" who are "entertaining and engaging", I wrote:
"From what I've heard of these folks -- admittedly not a lot -- they come across as mainstream liberals. As such, their perspectives really aren't much different from those of their conservative rivals, except superficially (e.g. Clinton invading Kosovo = good; Bush invading Iraq = bad). True leftists would look beyond the superficial and examine issues such as the growing concentration of wealth in the hands of the super-rich, the skyrocketing costs of necessities like education and health care, and the growing dysfunction of our political institutions in the face of pressing economic, social, and environmental problems. Are we experiencing an existential crisis of capitalism like that predicted by Marx? Does "the proletariat" or "the working class" exist, and if so, who exactly are they? Am I one of them? Why do some of us seem to be so easily persuaded to vote against our own best interests? What is socialism, and why would anyone take President Obama for a socialist? Etc., etc. I daresay it's been a long time since I've heard any such discussions on the radio."
"From what I've heard of these folks -- admittedly not a lot -- they come across as mainstream liberals. As such, their perspectives really aren't much different from those of their conservative rivals, except superficially (e.g. Clinton invading Kosovo = good; Bush invading Iraq = bad). True leftists would look beyond the superficial and examine issues such as the growing concentration of wealth in the hands of the super-rich, the skyrocketing costs of necessities like education and health care, and the growing dysfunction of our political institutions in the face of pressing economic, social, and environmental problems. Are we experiencing an existential crisis of capitalism like that predicted by Marx? Does "the proletariat" or "the working class" exist, and if so, who exactly are they? Am I one of them? Why do some of us seem to be so easily persuaded to vote against our own best interests? What is socialism, and why would anyone take President Obama for a socialist? Etc., etc. I daresay it's been a long time since I've heard any such discussions on the radio."
