I’m beginning a new practice of posting quick notes and thoughts, short works in progress, as I consider news of the day. This is the first one.
Nothing brings out the venom and divisions like an American election. I’m deeply, deeply critical of Hillary Rodham Clinton, and not that impressed with either Bernie Sanders or the American electoral system. This is, according to the popular wisdom of the day, a terrible and even untenable position: I must believe in one or the other. All of this is inevitably accompanied by a great deal of finger-wagging, something I’m familiar with as a long-time critic of mainstream gay politics and of Obama.
I’m seeing a lot of pompous windbags on the purported left complain about how some of are just too “ultraleft.” They demand to know: how dare those of us who claim to be “radicals” tell the rest that perhaps the visions they aim for are simply not enough, not daring enough, that the “lesser of two evils” argument is shit, or that electoral politics are not where we focus our energy. We are told, over and over, that we are simply spoilt brats, in essence, and that we simply don’t care enough, and so on, and why don’t we actually do something. Of course, all this comes from people enmeshed in and enamoured of a deeply corrupt and flawed “election” system which is really the silliest in the world: Hey, your vote counts except, like, you know, at the very end — when it totally doesn’t.
It should come as no surprise that many of these potshots at those of us called “ultra lefties” and silly radicals are hurled by people safely ensconced in secure jobs, in and out of academia, who make a living off their punditry. Which is fine, really it is, but at least have the honesty to admit that your criticisms are more about hoarding and shoring up your social cachet as We Who Speak Truth and not the result of actual engagement with our ideas. Funny how you like to dismiss the rest of us as being too dismissive — in the most dismissive ways.
I’m constantly reminded of Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore’s words: “Our imaginations have become so small.”
If it is blood and snark and ultra lefty arguments you seek, along with several critiques of all the nonsense you see around you in what will prove to be an intense and, I think, heartbreaking (because I already see friendships ending, including some of my own) election: You are in the right place, darlings. Fasten your seatbelts.
Don’t plagiarise any of this, in any way. I have used legal resources to punish and prevent plagiarism, and I am ruthless and persistent. I make a point of citing people and publications all the time: it’s not that hard to mention me in your work, and to refuse to do so and simply assimilate my work is plagiarism. You don’t have to agree with me to cite me properly; be an ethical grownup, and don’t make excuses for your plagiarism. Read and memorise “On Plagiarism.” There’s more forthcoming, as I point out in “The Plagiarism Papers.” If you’d like to support me, please donate and/or subscribe, or get me something from my wish list. Thank you.
