On Thu, June 5, 1997 at 11:31:27 (-0700) Gerald Levy writes: >William S. Lear wrote: > >> Anyway, we have RI -> DUI -> DA (Radical Intellectuals produce >> Democratically Useful Information, which will/can lead to Democratic >> Action). But my little model misses something, RI -> DTM -> DUI -> >> DA, where DTM is the Democratic Transmission Mechanism. I'm curious, >> being a not-yet-activist-intellectual, which DTMs do folks (activists >> and people) find most (cost) effective? Radio? Magazines? Internet? >> Direct contact and speaking engagements? It seems TV would be the >> best, but for obvious reasons that's pretty hard. > >I have no such confidence in the role of "radical intellectuals" to bring >about change *especially* when those RIs view the line of communication to >the masses as one-way (as above). A preliminary step for activism might be >for the RIs to *listen* to what working people have to say and to >*participate* in their struggles without preaching to them or acting like >know-it-alls. As I mentioned, my model was incomplete. As is obvious, RIs must be engaged in two-way communication. However, to assume that identical information is being transmitted both ways is ridiculous. Folks working 70 hours a week have little time to investigate things in depth. They need people who have privileged positions to provide *information* (not direction), who can be used as resources. And, obviously, the fact that there are such positions of privilege is, as Noam Chomsky remarked, "a social defect to be overcome". Thus, my "one-way" information flow would be a "pull" model (including listening to or dialog with popular groups) where those who use RIs to provide information would direct RIs to study and report on relevant issues. The presumption that RIs which provide such information are necessarily "preaching" or "acting like know-it-alls" tells us more about your personal concerns (which are certainly important, and not to be ignored) than the intrinsic value of such a project. >> how do we recruit more >> "workers" to join the project? > >Perhaps it would be better to humbly join *their* progressive projects >rather than to "recruit" them to your projects. There is no need that RIs should join every project to which they are invited to give information. Why should Doug Henwood "join" the Battered Women's Shelter here in Austin were they to invite him here to speak on economic topics, providing general information about society which to them is sorely lacking? Bill
