Date: Sat, 17 Feb 1996 08:44:01 -0500 (EST)
From: Louis N Proyect <lnp3-AT-columbia.edu>
Subject: Jerry Levy: kvetch


On Sat, 17 Feb 1996 glevy-AT-acnet.pratt.edu wrote:

> 
> Aren't we lucky to have Gary and Chris as "co-moderators"?
> 
> Jerry
> 

Louis: I see it is that time of the month in which Levy picks up on his 
favorite thread, the degeneration of the Marxism list and the 
responsibility of the co-moderators for such degeneration.

Meanwhile, he has grown bored with the rather finely nuanced discussion 
on "subjectivity" which involves participants from 4 continents, a thread 
he himself got started.

You know what Jerry is? I'll tell you in Yiddish: he is a kvetch. A kvetch 
is a complainer. In politics, that is the sort of person who loves to sit in 
the last row of a meeting and complain about the speaker and all of the 
participants endlessly, except himself. In Jewish society, kvetching usually 
applies to the quality of food in a restaurant, the performance of actors 
on stage, the "younger generation". Neil Simon's plays generally feature a 
lot of kvetching. The kvetch typically is played by someone like Walter 
Matthau.

Kvetching is a chronic condition.

Now in a Neil Simon play it can be charming and amusing. In a Marxism 
list it is a minor annoyance. I, in my capacity as non-moderator, INSIST 
that we simply ignore Jerry's kvetching. We went through this with him a 
month or so ago and it took up far too much band-width. Anybody who 
disobeys me gets a snapping-turtle in their knickers.

Perhaps one day Jerry will discover a theoretical topic that can occupy 
his mind for more than a day or two. In the meantime, let him have his 
occasional kvetch. If it helps him get through the day, we'll be better 
off for it.


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