> Date: Tue, 3 Dec 1996 14:42:58 -0800 (PST) > Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Tom Walker) > Subject: [PEN-L:7705] Re: Rifkin > Max Sawicky wrote, > > >I guess the most galling thing is the contrast between the > >media attention he soaks up and the lack of tangible > >political impact. This isn't simply a matter of 'just' writing > >books. If I see someone like Noam Chomsky get quoted on > >some issue, I get the feeling a political statement has been > >made. To try to be a little more specific, a political statement > >entails attaching some kind of analysis to an identification of > >friends, enemies, and some type of appropriate response, > >even vaguely described... > > Is this to suggest, then, that lack of tangible political impact is O.K., as > long as one doesn't attract media attention? A kind of media asceticism? Yes, in the following sense: I don't care who gets rich and famous writing books, except on the off-chance I might be so lucky. I do care when limited space in the liberal/left 'noosphere' (how's that for a word) is not used to best advantage. I'm not sure why this would be 'ascetic.' > The _political_ success of the Christian Right has been attributed by at > least one commentator (Phil Agre, a communications prof at UCSD) to their > success at addressing deeply felt _cultural_ issues that shape the terrain > upon which political statements can be made. Whether or not you like what > the Christian Right has to say, it's hard to argue with their success. And > it's a cop out to say "It's easy for them. They have all the money and they > pander to prejudice and ignorance." I agree wholeheartedly that cultural issues are politically vital. I'll go even further and say the left is out to lunch on culture, as far as the working class is concerned, and the w.c. is less wrong than the left (US left, to be more precise, since I have the feeling the same isolation does not hold in other countries). > I'm not sure that "making a political statement" is the same thing as > preparing the ground within which a political statement can take root and > grow. Therefore, I'm not eager to dismiss the political efficacy of > "non-political" statements. I've got better things to do than to try to > figure out whether Rifkin, as a case in point, specifically contributes to, > or detracts from, the ground upon which _others_ can make political statements. I'm open-minded too. We've probably spent too much time on this already. > I have heard -- from the horse's mouth (if I may call poor Jeremy a horse) > -- that he is more interested in opening up the discussion about work than > in being proven "right" in the final analysis. That's what he says, anyway. > It seems to me (IMHO) that a discussion about work can be an inherently more > political discussion than, say, a discussion about hairstyles or fly > fishing. And maybe -- just maybe -- that discussion can be more successfully > launched with a bit of gosh and golly techno-determinism than with an > intellectually and politically rigourous discussion of the modes and > relations of production in this or that historically specific regulatory > regime of accumulation, or whatever (if you see what I mean). I think I do, and I agree with you, especially on the 'maybe.' > All I'm trying to say is: > political efficacy = factual accuracy + analytical rigour, NOT. Yup. > Ah, maybe I've watched _Music Man_ too many times and am starting to believe > that line about "You got trouble, right here in River City..." As part of my research on contracting out in local public schools, I rented Music Man and was much entertained, but trouble is evident enough with or without messengers like Professors Harold Hill and Jeremy Rifkin. MBS =================================================== Max B. Sawicky Economic Policy Institute [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1660 L Street, NW 202-775-8810 (voice) Ste. 1200 202-775-0819 (fax) Washington, DC 20036 Opinions above do not necessarily reflect the views of anyone associated with the Economic Policy Institute. ===================================================
