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Movement, schmovement

By Michael J. Smith on Thursday June 22, 2006 08:56 PM

That gloomy but perceptive chap gluelicker writes:
As an independent red-green with a couple thousand better things to do than track the hyperreal follies of US electoral politics, until very recently (until stumbling across MJS' killer reporting on the Kosniks' confab, in fact) I remained studiously ignorant of this phenomenon.

Now that I have been clued in to this bizarre charade, I wanted to offer a few passing observations... nothing earth-shattering really, just "thinking out loud" and probably "playing to the crowd" as well.

1. I find utterly laughable the absolute lack of awareness that the only occasions upon which the Democratic Party has tacked to the “left” (Great Depression, 1960’s-early 1970’s, etc.) is when extra-parliamentary movements (the CIO, civil rights & black power, etc.) have resorted to extra-electoral means (sit-down strikes, civil disobedience, riots, etc.) forcing the Democratic Party to adopt the most milquetoast of reforms (reforms which social democratic sellouts in Western Europe put to shame!).

2. Equally gut-busting is the notion that somehow a mutual admiration society of geeks reading one another’s like-minded blogs translates into a “movement.”

3. Perhaps the most bourgeois of all conceits is to elevate form above content, or in this case to breathlessly assert and reassert the “revolutionary” bona fides of the “netroots” while continuously eschewing ANY substantial debate over the concrete program the said “revolution” is putatively advancing.

4. It is a sad commentary on how taken-for-granted “political technologism” has become that the centerpieces of conversation are focus groups, branding exercises, communications strategies, etc. – precisely among those who style themselves as (and are styled by the MSM as) “rebellious outsiders.”

I had pretty much given up on the postmodern cartoon that is the US prior to stumbling across this site… I’m afraid that my diagnosis has only been darkened.

Comments (1)

js paine:

the glue writesamong much else
in this very solid screed

"... only occasions upon which the Democratic Party has tacked to the “left” (Great Depression, 1960’s-early 1970’s, etc.) is when extra-parliamentary movements (the CIO, civil rights & black power, etc.) have resorted to extra-electoral means (sit-down strikes, civil disobedience, riots, etc.)..."

there you say it all
my friend

though not this
site's mission
that
is the real JOB ONE

get out into the world
and raise hell

raise holy hell
where the tower titans can really feel the pinch

the best and hardest place
is of course
at
the point of profit extraction itself
inside one of our
trans nat
corporate job sites

this point can never be made often enough

five head bangs worth a day sounds like a minimum

-----------------
that said stop here

------------------

least u want to read
a couple of side qubbles


-----------------------

a geek movement
a farce only ???

i think maybe maybe maybe.... not

i'll buy itas a possibility
for me
there will always
be e a spot
in the battalion
for em

i agree glue
they're not my idea
of a shock and awe
front line first wave type of unit

not
in an all out
steel cage last class
standing grapple

they're
more special ops types

water boys mayhaps ....

-----------------------

yes the geeks debase
the word revolution
by qwacking it
over their
t squares and
mutual sympathy gigs

but it's only
a word after all

we can't take
the use of it away
from these critters

and try to reserve it
like a sunday suit
just for our
use only
and even then
only on special occasions
when a situation
meets our
rigorous
bottom rail on top standards

i agree
to me revolution
is what flies clear over
the bar

ie a system ending
state smashing
rip roar flat out
run over


---------------------------

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