Date: Sat, 4 Jan 1997 11:05:05 -0500
From: dhenwood-AT-panix.com (Doug Henwood)
Subject: Re: M-G: Dr Sendepause & Klasberries posting again!


At 8:23 PM 1/3/97, leata-AT-ix.netcom.com wrote:

>The whole point is not, of course, that bigotry against homosexuality is
>ever acceptable. All workers need to realize, for example, that the
>hard-fought struggles won by the lesbian and gay communities have benefited
>them as well. But to label and dismiss those that hold those views is not
>helpful if there is a goal to build bridges in order to overcome
>differences in attitudes. Sokolowski suggests left-wing intellectuals
>(often in the academy where individualism is valued) are so out of touch
>with working-class values they completely misinterpret them, putting up
>barriers to cooperation.

I don't know about the last statement. Academics and intellectuals may hold
values very different from those of the working class, but that doesn't
mean they don't have a good feeling for what they're like. In fact, I think
most academics and intellectuals hold too gloomy a view of (U.S. white)
working class values - seeing the (U.S. w.) w.c. as more ignorant and
bigoted than it actually is.

So what do we do about this, speaking as a non-academic intelectual?
Certainly not indulge it, right? Just because the w.c. holds some pretty
benighted values, that doesn't make them right - but I'm sure you know
this. The right wing has been quite clever at exploiting some of the less
fortunate views of the w.c. to promote an anti-w.c. electoral agenda. Do we
play along with these - bury or ignore these problems in the interest of
some "larger" more "universal" agenda? Gitlin and those like him often
argue for a more "class"-based politics, as opposed to "identity"-based
(all these scare quotes are making me feel like a postmodernist). As much
as I'm for a more class-based politics, I don't like the idea of this
coming at the expense of ignoring racism, sexism, homophobia, and all the
other too-familiar bigotries. "Label and dismiss" - that's bad. But "name,
examine, and criticize" - isn't that necessary?

Doug

--

Doug Henwood
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