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[Zorra]

This message was self-deleted by its author (Zorra) on Fri Apr 3, 2015, 10:39 AM. When the original post in a discussion thread is self-deleted, the entire discussion thread is automatically locked so new replies cannot be posted.

[Ichingcarpenter]

1. I thought it was an interesting article

and did a good job on Helen Keller's personal journey to socialism.
The OP didn't really stress that part enough.

I don't think I'd ever hang out in the Hillary Clinton forum being a socialist and a feminist ........ its almost like being a log cabin republican.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. I would go to the first sentence

In a neoliberal era in which personal choice and triumphs of individual character are heralded above social justice and understandings of structural oppression,

I think the intent is just the opposite of how your comment under that OP seems to take it. I think the OP author (and the original author) were actually intending (and succeed in) to point out how Ms Keller was used to bolster the American mythology that sustains Republicanism. Like 'American exceptionalism', the sort of Horatio Alger story of overcoming obstacles is meant to be a sort of 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps' piece of propaganda that pushes Americans towards individualism as opposed to communal work. And everybody is aware of the propaganda, but not of the rest of what the OP points out.

So I think the intent is not to push the propaganda, but to point out that it IS propaganda that bolsters conservatism and neoliberalism.

[TBF]

3. I had to read both the OP & article a couple of times

and my conclusion is that the OP simply phrased her idea awkwardly.

In the article the paragraph is very clear:

Helen Keller is one of the most widely recognized figures in US history that people actually know very little about. That she was a serious political thinker who made important contributions in the fields of socialist theory and practice, or that she was a pioneer in pointing the way toward a Marxist understanding of disability oppression and liberation—this reality has been overlooked and censored. The mythological Helen Keller that we are familiar with has aptly been described as a sort of “plaster saint;” a hollow, empty vessel who is little more than an apolitical symbol for perseverance and personal triumph.

This paragraph is clearly stating that popular history in the US whitewashes Helen Keller's story and in fact removes pertinent details of her political leanings (socialist, Marxist). The OP seems to be supportive of Keller and this article, but awkwardly paraphrased this paragraph when introducing the article in her OP. I don't think the OP meant to take a conservative view or downplay socialism (and in my history with the OP I've always known him/her to be very supportive of both socialist and feminist theory).

Great article from ISR!

[Zorra]

4. Solved, OP forgot a comma, and it changed the entire meaning of her introductory paragaraph. nt