From: LeoCasey-AT-aol.com Date: Sun, 23 Nov 1997 14:25:14 -0500 (EST) Subject: M-TH: Derrida In a message dated 97-11-22 10:17:42 EST, James writes: << What Derrida et al do express is a kind of self-perception of a ruling class that elevates play over work, that values questions of identity and difference, that sees things in terms of consumption rather than production, and that has abandoned the sense of mission that was so important to its predecessors (the end of grand narratives). (I'll back off from slagging Bordieu, though, as I'm less confident of my ground) >> I have much respect for what I have seen as the serious, intellectually deep contributions of James to this list, but I must say that this I find this statement to be characteristic of the political space where the sectarian fades into the absurd. One starts from a Manichaean world in which there is the one true revolutionary faith and its various counter-revolutionary opponents, and attempts to show how every expression outside of the one true faith is an expression of the ruling class, no matter how it presents itself. Indeed, the greatest vitroil is reserved for those closest in the political spectrum, since they are the imposters, the devil appearing in the form of the angel. Thus, social democracy becomes, in the Third Period, social fascism. Just where is this ruling class, with its love for play and the politics of difference, which has found in Derrida its expression? Maybe I have missed it because I lack the insight of the elect. But, for me, this statement is an expression of hallucinatory politics. Leo Casey --- from list marxism-thaxis-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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