Date: Sat, 23 Nov 1996 06:29:35 -0500 (EST)
From: Gerald Levy <glevy-AT-acnet.pratt.edu>
Subject: Re: M-TH: Juan's evasions and misrepresentations


KHOO Khay Jin wrote:

> [...] his more than
> disingenuous broadsides against Juan (how disingenuous everyone I believe
> will appreciate if someone were to call Jerry an
> "American-Jewish-academic", assuming for argument's sake that the guess
> about the Jew part is correct), and Juan's increasingly testy responses.

First: you seemed to have missed the *content* of my question to Juan and
its *context*.  The context concerned Juan's recent assertion that Andrew
Kliman and Alan Freeman were basically vulgar economists. The content was
a challenge to him to indicate who *are* Marxists, other than himself, who
are writing on the subject of political economy.

Second: I welcome Juan's latest post since, despite additional
misrepresentations, it at least represents a movement away from the
position that Marxists like Kliman and Freeman are vulgar economists.

Third: you must be unfamiliar with previous exchanges by Juan and myself
on marxism2 or (while it was still alive) marxism1. If you read those
posts, you might have a very different perspective.

Fourth: [to address your specific comments]:

a) If someone were to call me an "American", they would be (basically)
correct. I live in the "Americas" (as does Juan). A better description
would be (not that I'm proud of it, but at least it's accurate). "U.S."

b) If someone were to say that I was Jewish, that would be misleading
since I am an atheist.

c) If someone were to say that I was a academic, that as well would be
accurate (although Juan's continued assertions that I am a bureaucrat are
way off-base).

To say that Juan is Argentinian is accurate, not a slur.
To say that Juan is an accountant is accurate, not a slur.
To say that Juan is a "genius" is not a slur. It is *sarcasm*, a form that
does not always come across as sarcasm on the Net. To understand why I
used the word "genius", you have to read Juan's posts.

In any event, there was *nothing* that was nationalistic in my posts. Had
I said anything that was *even remotely* national chauvinistic,
then you can rest assured that *many, many* people on this list would have
(rightly) denounced me (just as others denounce listmembers if they make
sexist and/or racist comments).

Jerry




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