Hi Steve:
>I'm not inclined to read Doug's posts as 'bouts of despair over the state
>of the left.' For example, his posts from Seattle and Washington were not
>filled with any sense of despair. He employs Marxist categories of
>political economic analysis with the same level of sophistication and
>enthusiasm as he did in his book *Wall Street* (and I expect in his
>forthcoming book on the "new" economy. Doug is upfront about what he is
>skeptical or optimistic about, to paint him as 'despairing' doesn't seem
>accurate really.
>
>I can say all that and not necessarily agree with everything he's
>written...eg. on this market socialism debate, I'm much closer to your or
>Michael Perelman's arguments...but that wouldn't move me to see Henwood as
>a despairing writer. Just my two cents...whatever that exchanges for in
>market socialism...
I look forward to Doug's book on the "new" economy, and _Wall Street_
(especially the part about Keynes and the postmodern) is one of my
favorite books. And yes, about Seattle, A16, etc. Doug's far more
enthusiastic than I am, in fact. I was just poking fun at him for
sulking off:
At 3:23 PM -0400 7/15/00, Doug Henwood wrote:
>Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 15:23:54 -0400
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [PEN-L:21807] Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Harry Magdoff on
>market socialism
>
>Carrol Cox wrote:
>
>>I think you should
>>seriously consider that there may in fact be good reasons for leftists
>>to be a bit more concerned about "heretics" than are rightists (if that
>>is indeed the case).
>
>I'm not talking about the need to ferret out spies and agents
>provocateurs. I'm talking about an intellectual impulse to
>scrutinize every statement for unorthodox sentiments or missing
>pledges of fealty. It's happened here about 10 times in the last
>week. Jim Devine tells me he's tired of my learning experiences.
>Fine. I'm going to step under a cone of silence on PEN-L for a
>while. If it weren't for all my sunk costs, I'd be tempted to give
>up on the left, whatever that is, entirely. Since I don't like that
>feeling, maybe the best thing to do is to avert my eyes for a few
>days.
>
>Doug
BTW, I don't think of my posts (the ones that disagree with other
leftists' conceptions of this or that) as "heretic hunting" at all,
in that I don't consider others' views (least of all Doug's) as
"heretical" and my view as "orthodox." Disagreement is just that --
disagreement; and without vigorous disagreement now and then,
left-wing cyberspace would be tedious indeed. I don't think we are
quite like a herd of cats, but we ain't no dittoheads either.
Yoshie
