[Vision2020] Blessed be the ties that bind . . .

[amy smoucha]

Uh-oh.  I don't think I've ever disagreed with Joan.  Must check my meds.

Joan, you correctly deride conservative America's most vocal 
spokesfolks--the hype-driven, intellectually bankrupt talk-show types and 
commentators, because you want "substantive political debate."  But you 
sometimes mix in those who provide that substance, but with whom we 
disagree.  Paglia certainly (and Fox-Genovese probably-I'm not caught up 
here) provide substantive debate.  They are great folks to read and to 
disagree with--they make us really work to refine our ideas, relying not 
only on ideology, but logic, facts, and interpretations of events and 
culture.  I just don't see how you can dismiss scholars like Paglia in the 
same way you dismiss the Rush-Limbaughs of the world.  Yeah I disagree with 
Camille (and aint she a tramp), but she's brilliant and knowledgable and 
worthy of real debate and consideration.

If we value the world of academia (and want to measure Wilson et al against 
its standards) we should also give credit to those within that world with 
whom we disagree, if credit is due.

Amy Smoucha


----Original Message Follows----
From: "Joan Opyr" <auntiestablishment@hotmail.com>
To: "Vision2020 Moscow" <vision2020@moscow.com>
Subject: [Vision2020] Blessed be the ties that bind . . .
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 20:02:47 -0800

Blessed be the ties that bind, though sometimes they cut off our 
circulation.

Nick Gier is quite right to point out Ed Sebesta's contributions to this 
list and to our knowledge of the Neo-Confederate movement.  Though I rarely 
apologize for my displays of ill temper, mostly because for me it would be 
like apologizing for breathing, I am sorry for the intemperance of my 
remarks to him yesterday.  I still disagree with Ed, and I still object to 
being scolded long distance on how to react to events in Moscow.  We take 
different approaches to dealing with perceived threats to our values  Ed's 
is to gather and disseminate information.  Mine is to poke holes in the 
pompous.  Doug takes himself seriously enough without any assistance from 
his critics.  We don't need to give him a captive and fearful audience; we 
need to give him a mirror.

I stick by my assessment of Elizabeth Fox-Genovese.  She threw academic 
credibility to the wind when she threw in her lot with Neo-Confederates, 
rabid anti-feminists, and right-wing reactionaries of the Southern Partisan 
ilk.  Like Camille Paglia, who horrifies me by purporting to speak for gay 
America, Fox-Genovese abandoned dry academe some time ago for the bright 
lights, big city of pop culture infamy.  Both have set fire to their 
credentials and become tired media whores.  Fox-Genovese doesn't deserve to 
be taken seriously.  She deserves to be speaking at NSA's graduation.  I 
wish Doug and Roy Atwood joy of her, and I wish the local newspapers joy of 
exploring her unsavory ideas and unpleasant associations.

BTW, it is possible to offer a sustained and thoughtful critique of our 
world from a conservative perspective.  I'm a regular reader of The 
Economist, and I liked Republican analyst Kevin Phillips long before he 
turned his piercing eye on the Bush administration.  But the list of 
thoughtful conservative critics gets shorter every day as the airwaves fill 
instead with the screamers, the emptily outrageous, and the downright 
certifiable  It's a sad fact that ratings go up when the media plays to the 
lowest common denominator, and we have only our short attention spans to 
blame.  Instead of Edward R. Murrow, we get Sean Hannity.  Instead of 
substantive political debate, we get only what people can yell at one 
another in the thirty seconds before the network cuts to a commercial for 
male enhancement.

Where is Milton Friedman when you need him?  Off somewhere taking Ener-X.

Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment

PS to Paul Duffau: Can you explain why John Kerry voted against the $87 
billion dollar appropriation for the war in Iraq without making reference to 
a Bush campaign sound-bite?  This is a challenge, but in the interests of 
furthering that serious debate business I spoke about, I'd be willing to 
answer without reference to the Kerry campaign's thirty-second 
explanation.Get more from the Web.  FREE MSN Explorer download : 
http://explorer.msn.com

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