Date: Sun, 6 Apr 1997 10:16:15 -0700 (PDT) From: Ralph Dumain <rdumain-AT-igc.apc.org> Subject: Re: M-TH: Spoons fiascos My heartfelt thanks goes both to Lou and to Scott for their constructive spirit and good sense in responding regarding the general state of the marxism lists. The society in which we live, of which we are all a a part no matter how we oppose it, is not organized to bring out the best in all of us. We need mechanisms by which we can conduct our business and productively pursue our agendas, without having to be subject to the emotional pressure 24 hours a day of competing with what we deem to be the harmful influences of others on our ideological environment. That means sometimes we have to associate separately so that we can do what we do best or at least the best we can do. Hence there should be various lists centered around various approaches to various subject matter. There should be lists pertaining to political strategizing, one for the sectarian parties to duke it out, one for the Monthly Review nucleus and/or other political strategizing projects, and so on. The same should hold for theoretical projects. Aside from the specialized lists on Bourdieu and Bhaskar and the like, which do what they are supposed to do, and are free of the problems that better us, we do not need separate lists centered around science, theory, philosophy, etc., esp. considering the low volume of activity in all of them, but rather lists centered around various mindsets related to all of these theoretical matters at once. If people want to debate whether Engels is gospel or Antichrist, they should be able to do so in their own little cage. If people want to explore other issues regarding dialectics, the sciences, political economy, etc., they should have another forum in which to do so. However, when you lump everybody together, the debate centers around trying to repel your opponents instead of developing ideas. Opposition in itself is not a bad thing, because it can help in the process of development and clarification. But obviously much of our opposition is stagnant -- things go round in the same circles over and over again, and there is no progress, especially when it comes to debating hoary issues such as Stalinism and diamat. I have no desire to interfere in other people's discussions when I don't approve of their orientation as long as they stay out of my space. Most of us have at one time had something useful to say about something. But since we all lead busy lives we cease to introduce new subject matter for discussion, become reactive instead of active, and only come alive when someone provokes our anger, negativity being naturally a more powerful stimulus than any other. Every reorganization of the lists has resulted in exhaustion. Thaxis has rarely exhibited the vigor of m2 or the original marxism list. Perhaps we have demanded too much of spoons and too little of ourselves. We appeal to spoons as arbiter when fundamental ethical and organizational questions come up, when what we need is an array of strong moderators representing all permutations of possible list philosophies to sort out our business before mixing spoons up in our craziness. --- from list marxism-thaxis-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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