Greetings Economists,
Sabri Oncu writes quoting me first,
Doyle Sailor, (Sabri you misspelled my name, it is Saylor),
Let's talk about loose marbles. Two groups of e
people were churned by economic necessity, African
Americans during WWII to move to California, and from
Mexico and South America Latinos also being forced to
California.
Then Sabri observes,
This is unfair. How about Turks being forced to California by
economic necessity. Do I sense some racist tones here?
Doyle,
Yeah you are right, there are racist overtones in the charge that California
is where the loose marbles end up. Which may not be what JKS was implying,
but is what sets me off when I read about anyone accusing California as the
end point for 'loose marbles'. Saying this is where the loose marbles end
up is an attack on working class people of all kinds (including Turkish
people) who come here. And a key component of that phrase, 'loose marbles',
is the racism that shapes U.S. society which readily denigrates people who
migrate to find work. And the metaphor of 'loose marbles' also implies to
many people that California is where 'nuts' go. That is a very common slur
against California as a location.
Sabri,
Luckily, I am not an English speaking person, though I can speak
some English too, so loose marbles sounds good to me. Indeed, I
am proud to be one.
Doyle
I agree I am proud to be a 'loose marble'. But I don't embrace labels that
prejudice uses, to politically identify with. I don't believe appropriation
of words or phrases that represent pejorative attitudes really addresses
prejudice. Pejoratives are structured by the feelings of prejudice. Name
calling is emotion structure in society, not words, in which feelings are
used to divide people against each other. Address the causes of why people
feel their hurt and pain from prejudice in a material fashion and those
working people will 'feel' liberated.
Sabri,
Thanks for defending me and my likes. I tell you, I hate every
second spend in this weird country of lonely people. Did you know
that the very first letter I wrote to my best friend one week
after I arrived in North America diagnosed the main problem of
North Americans as this:
These people suffer from serious loneliness. They are extremely
lonely. No wonder most of them are not stable.
Doyle
The U.S. is not a weird country of lonely people. What has that got to do
with a class analysis? Secondly, disability rights is about defending
people who have mental disabilities against the wide spread prejudice
against having depression, or obsession, or whatever. What do you mean not
stable? You know Jim Devine was careful to make the point that he doesn't
see a difference between loony people and genius. He understands on many
levels what I am driving at, but like me will use thoughts and phrases that
reflect an unexamined thought about what sounds like a disability to me.
In regard to your remark about loneliness, the U.S. has a divided atomized
people, does that make them weird? How do you measure loneliness? Some
people are and some people aren't in the U.S. culture. Broad
generalizations easily become a vehicle for prejudice. Is that what I use
to organize someone a concern for their U.S. loneliness? Their degree of
loneliness because they live here? Organizing someone is about their
network of connections, their work, their social network inside and outside
their jobs. And in that there are varying degrees of needs and wants that
we want to overcome as reds.
Calling somebody specific, like weird, is a personal label upon something
strange seeming in your mind about them. Making them an other. Where do
you find solidarity with them by understanding why they are like they are?
You hate this country. I don't hate Turkey, but I make a distinction
between the government or state and the people also. I hope to find
solidarity with Turkish working class people. I don't see people from
Turkey, or Iraq, South Africa, Ethoipia, Turkestan, Vietnam, Argentina,
etc., as weird. I don't know much about them, but for example I read what
you write about Turkey to learn more about what is really going on there.
But finding a way to unite is no easy task either.
Thanks for the thought. You know you would be welcome in my home. I hope
if you hate me for being an American, that you could soften your heart
toward me by personal contact.
thanks,
Doyle Saylor
